Hi Huge thank you to everyone that reviewed the last chapter I can't thank everyone enough for your kind words and feed back. Thank you Animemad glad your enjoying the story so much, pyshco-uchiha I'm egarly anticipating your review,Lightningscar your the one that's come the closest to getting it right, Turmanarmothank you so much for the review I really aprchihate it, thor94 thank you for reviewing when you read the next couple of chapters I think you'll understand, vivi Thank you for your reveiw hope this didn't take too long, DaughteroftheMafia thank you I grantee you'll see a moment between Kakashi and Iruka, SilverRose242 thank you glad your enjoying it, Tdbank316 thank you hope the weight hasn't killed you, Big Sis of 8 glad you liked that line, Adimera lol! I love it when my reivewrs get frustrated it shows me I'm doing it right, GiuliaZe thank you glad you liked the last chapter I'm surprised how many thought that line was funny, Thank kidney 4luch glad you liked the extra Pakkun moment dont fret there maybe some more Pakkun coming.
ATTENTION: You may want to just reread chapters 1-3 before you begin just in case you get confused.
I am so Sorry this chapter took so long write, I hope you enjoy it and I'll explain at the end why.
Attraction
Nether ninja spoke as both Sakura and Sai the continued on their journey to the next town. They'd been walking for about an hour the Sakura was the one to break the silence. "I hope Naruto's ok." She said hoping to make conversation.
As usual the socially awkward teen didn't know what to say. He could sense she her concern. After thinking about the best way to respond he settled with reassuring her. "I'm sure Yamato and Kakashi will take good care of him." Sai replied.
Seeing her friend didn't understand what she meant the girl went into more detail. "I'm not just talking about today, What I mean is that Naruto's been acting strange for the last couple of months. And today he ran away from us like he was scared. You two seem close I was wondering if you knew why." She said.
"No, I don't have any idea what could be wrong with him. Let's focus on are mission for now, then we can go back home and ask him together." The pale ninja wasn't at all worried for his team-mate's welfare, or concerned that he'd talk to anyone until he got back. "I can't wait to see Naruto again, I'm sure he'll be fine until I get back." He thought to himself.
What Sai couldn't predict or know was that at that very moment the secret he'd worked so hard to keep buried was about to surface.
The blond took a deep breath and got ready to tell them, dreading revealing his secret. "It started six months ago. They were really nice to me. at first." He started.
Six months earlier.
If went through the various rooms none of his friend's bedroom still looked unkempt with scrolls lying on the floor. Usually you'd find a teenager running round the house or see him eating a new flavour of ramen. But instead of being loud and pulling pranks on his friends, Naruto lay quietly on his bed while he tried to make sense of the day's events.
Early that morning Tsunade summoned team seven. The main topic their recent attempt to bring Sasuke home. For the first time in Naruto's life he'd actually listened to every word the blonde woman said. She didn't ask them for any details or ask questions. Just before as the meeting finished his superior revealed the meeting true purpose that he'd be going to train with Kakashi.
If Tsuande had told Naruto this a few weeks ago, he'd still be hugging his teacher to death while demanding that they start as soon as possible. But instead of feeling eminence joy and excitement at the news. The young blond felt just the opposite he felt sick inside, he even turned down Sakura's offer to treat him to ramen to celebrate.
As the teen recalled one nagging question he kept asking himself. "What if the fox tries to tempt me again?" This wasn't the first time the jinchúriki had experienced the same way a few years ago. While training under Jiraya the teen almost killed the sage when he tried to learn to control the foxes power. Even after powerful master fully recovered from his injuries the deadly attack still left him with a hideous scar on the man's chest. A scar wasn't the only mark left behind. Racked with guilt Naruto couldn't look at the perverted hermit for weeks without feeling sick.
After that incident he'd trained hard and swore not to use the foxes chakra again.
He'd kept that promise for almost two years. However in a short space of time, he'd broken that promise twice.
The first time it happened because he found Gara dead. It wasn't the first time the young shinobi had felt the urge to kill. He'd experienced this situation many times during those moments when his comrades were in danger. But on this particular occasion a new killer instinct awakened. "I didn't just want to just kill, I wanted to see that guy's blood on the ground, I wanted to make him suffer." Just remembering what happened to his close friend caused the same intense anger to stir. Naruto swore the fox's evil chakra rising again, alarmed the youth quickly calmed himself down by reminding himself, that Gara was alive and well.
Even after what happened the youth still hoped that the first time was just a one-off. But never the less he didn't want to burden his friends and teacher with his problems. "They're already risking there lives to protect me from the Akatsuki. I shouldn't burden them with my stupid problems as well." So far he'd hid the fear by keeping up his happy-go-lucky persona.
When a chance came up to go and meet Orochimaru's informant, the youth couldn't help but feel hopeful that this time could redeem himself by bringing back Sasuke. Maybe this time he could redeem himself. "This time I'll show them just how much I've grown."
unfortunately things went wrong before team seven even left the village. Naruto didn't get on with his new team-mate, Sai. Not just because the youth was socially awkward to the extreme, but the blond didn't like idea of someone taking Sasuke's place. But the hyper-active teen was prepared to coöperate with anyone if it meant there was even the slightest chance he could bring his best friend home. Things got even worse when his new team met Orochimaru. The knew just how to push Naruto's buttons and easily provoked the teen into a blind rage.
After years of searching and training they'd finally found Sasuke. As the cool raven stood right in front of him, the blond could hardly move or speak. The raven quickly showed off the results of his training by easily overpowering the four of them. But before Sasuke could carry out his threat, Orochimaru and Kabuto appeared and the three vanished from sight.
Not too long after returning home, a dark cloud descended. The youth didn't want to eat and sleeping felt impossible. Every time the teen dared to close his eyes he could hear Sakura scream in pain, he'd wake up in cold sweats panting and unable to fall back to sleep. Because of the lack of sleep and food it wasn't long before the fake mask he'd relied on for so long started to crack. Faking the smiles and laughs got a lot harder.
Because of the last time the thought risking the wrath of the nine tails terrified the boy.
Instead of preparing for the upcoming training session. Naruto went to the library instead hopping to conquer his fear by himself. But no matter which book he read they words were always same. "The Kyuubi's chakra is filled with pure hatred and can corrupt even the purest of hearts." Learning about the fox only frightened him even more.
The only option left was to talk to somebody about his worries. The list of people Naruto trusted wasn't long. As he slowly went though each person, very time he thought he'd found the right person to confide in; the blond found a whole list of reasons why he couldn't talk to that particular person.
The first person that came to mind was surprisingly Jiraya. The teen wished he could talk to the perverted teacher, he'd defiantly know what to say. But there was just one big issue, the hermit left again soon after returning to the village, and the blond had no idea when he'd come back.
The next person he thought of was his Kakashi-Sensei. Although silver-haired man wasn't known for having a warm personality, Naruto if he asked his teacher he would help him. But ever since he'd returned from his training, the pair hadn't spent that much time together. But that wasn't the main reason he couldn't tell him. "Kakashi-Sensei just got out of the hospital, I shouldn't bother him while he's still recovering." The blond cringed a little when he remembered the reason for his teacher's recent spell in hospital. "That's my fault as well. If I hadn't pursued that blond guy from the Akatsuki Kakashi-Sensei wouldn't have overused his new sharingan."
The next person on his list was Yamato. Strangely the creepy Jónin felt like a good choice. The wood user knew a lot about the foxes chakra and could even suppress it. But he didn't know the ANBU captain very well and didn't feel confident enough to confide in him. "I'm pretty sure Captain Yamato doesn't like me. I wouldn't blame him after the way I put my comrades in danger, I'm surprised he even wants to help me train."
His pink-haired team-mate was out of the question. "How on earth can I ever look at Sakura-chan, after I just let the Kyuubi control me so easily? I didn't even try to stop it. I can't even remember what I did. She even lied to me when I woke up. I'm supposed to protect her."
The last person on his list was Iruka. There wasn't anyone he trusted more than his old academy instructor. But unlike the rest of the people Naruto quickly ruled him out. "There's no way I can talk to Iruka-Sensei about this. The fox killed his parents. I don't want him to think the same thing could happen to someone else." The youth didn't want to lose the person he respected the most. "If I told him about this, then he'd probably fear me like the villagers did back then."
With no one else to turn to the youth felt not only afraid, but alone and isolated. Disheartened Naruto buried his face into the pillow surprised to find the fabric slightly damp. It wasn't until the orange clad wiped his eyes did the teen realise he'd been crying. But rather than forcing the tears to stop and scolding himself he let the tears continue to fall.
In a matter of minutes the once quite house, echoed with the sound of sobbing. After crying for a while the tearful blond warped the covers around his tired body so no one could hear him. After a few minutes the youth cried himself to sleep.
"I'm glad you were able to meet me." As his superior continued to talk, Sai found he couldn't focus and barely added to the conversation. His mind wandered to a different subject.
When the young ROOT member first met team seven he wasn't even the slightest bit interested for someone as disciplined as himself this was just another mission that needed completing. He wasn't out to make friends or become an active member. If anything he thought his new assignment not very challenging. Being put on the team was just a cover. The real goal was to kill Uchiha Sasuke.
"Killing Sasuke won't be too hard." Like always Sai accepted his secret mission without question. But deep down he thought his new aim wasn't challenging his skills. He found new his team-mates just as boring and easy to read. But for the purpose of completing his mission, the youth analyzed his fellow team-mates.
He quickly deduced Yamato was an exceptional ANBU captain that he respected mainly because of the Jónin's rank, the brunette's ability to use wood jutsu only held his attention for a moment before he moved on to his younger comrades.
The girl named Sakura was both smart and strong, it took less than a day for his perceptive nature to work out the young girls motives. "She's a typical girl controlled by her hormones. But her medical training makes her a vital asset to the team." He'd met many girls but Sai found them all annoying and loud.
But in all the missions he'd never met anyone like Uzumaki Naruto. When he'd first met the young shinobi he interested to study the boys skills in battle. "Intelligence below average, Strength and speed average." Upon antiquated himself with the jinchuriki, Sai quickly decided that Naruto wasn't a threat to his plans to kill Sasuke.
Usually his study would end there, and he'd focus on completing his mission successfully. But the more time he spent with the hot-headed boy the shinobi threw himself into battle without even thinking. Sai wondered how on earth the hot-headed ninja was still alive. But as the mission progressed Sai started finding the blond a little interesting. The ROOT ninja couldn't fathom why Naruto wanted to save someone who betrayed the hidden leaf. He turned to Sakura for an answer. The girl explained Naruto's bond with Sasuke. Upon learning this, his interest grew. Sai wanted to see Naruto's bond with Sasuke first hand.
He didn't need to wait too long to witness such an event When Naruto fought with the Sannin he could see and feel the hatred that radiated off the blond. "This is unreal, Orochimaru only said Sasuke was his and that sent him into a blind rage, can a bond really make someone this strong?" He'd asked himself. As a child he'd been taught to bury his emotions, but now he wanted to feel and know what friendship felt like.
"This recent failure proves how naïve the fifth has become. "
His masters sentence quickly reminded him that he'd failed to complete his true goal. "Forgive me I for failing you, I'm afraid I took Sasuke too lightly." He apologised.
Danzó seemed surprised by the apology. "The Uchiha brat isn't important at the moment. I'm more concerned about the jinchúirki. We can't allow it to continue to do as it pleases. The fifth is being foolish by letting the boy continue to train after what happened on that mission For the jinchúirki to lose control so easily is both dangerous and irresponsible."
Feeling a little confused Sai casually spoke up. "So, what are your orders Danzó-Sama?"
The elder was quick to respond. "Since you've decided to stay with team seven, I want you to find out as much as possible about Uzumaki Naruto. I know you've already read the files. But they only tell us so much. And I think that things get left out on purpose, I want you to watch him and report back to me." He finished.
What Danzó didn't know was that his subordinate hadn't just read every file in a single night. But he'd memorised very word but also every mission, Naruto's grades at the academy, detentions and even his personal record.
After finishing the meeting Danzó finally dismissed him. When the pale ninja left he found the sun had long since set already. But rather than returning home. Sai just couldn't understand his sudden urge to check on his team-mate. "I know where he lives so why not?" He reasoned,
It didn't take long for the He carefully opened the kitchen window and jumped inside without making a sound. when he looked back he Naruto lying under the covers. The only part Just his head poking out of the covers. Carefully pulled the covers down only to find Naruto sound asleep. As the moon light came in the blonds' hair and skin appeared to glow.
Sai couldn't stop himself from staring he'd drawn dozens of pictures of the suns rays hundreds of times. But the way the light reflected perfectly on the younger ninja's hair was the most stunning sight he'd ever seen. As he continued to watch Sai's chest felt warm. "What is this strange sensation?" The youth asked himself.
As he watched his team-mate sleep Naruto begin to stir, instinct forced the pale ninja to brace himself for a surprise attack from a concealed weapon. Any normal person, let alone a ninja, would have properly panicked if the saw someone in their house. But Naruto didn't seem bothered or alarmed by his presence. "What are doing in my house Sai?" The boy asked groggy.
A quick glance questions brought even when he was at home the he always kept weapons hidden around the house for quick access. "He doesn't keep weapons around the house? I could have been an intruder." Seeing that Naruto was still waiting for an answer The ROOT member quickly thought of the most logical reason for him being in the house. "I...erm came to ask you how your meeting with Tsunade went. You didn't answer the door when I knocked so I went through the kitchen window."
"My voice sounded all wrong. My tone wasn't calm and I hesitated when I answered. He's sure to see through my lie and ask me to leave."
Thankfully Naruto seemed too tired to notice the rushed explanation or the slight change in his team-mates voice. "Oh yeah, I forgot you weren't there. Nothing much happened, Baa-Chan talked about are last mission. Then she said that I'm going to start training with Kakashi and Yamato tomorrow. There going to teach me something called chakra natures."
Sai noticed that his team-mate's reaction wasn't normal. He knew from all the reading that Naruto enjoyed training and would love nothing more than to train with his sensei. "Haven't packed your sleeping bag or cloths. did notice the lack of excitement.
Then he noticed the blonds' eyes looked very red and puffy and the dresser draw was stacked with books. He only needed a quick glance at the titles to see the book was about the nine tails. "He's been crying and I don't detect any sign of enthusiasm." These signs told Sai a great deal the he'd been very emotional "You don't sound like you're looking forward to going. And you've been emotional recently because your eye's look swore. It seems like you've been crying."
The blond wiped his already swore eyes. "Don't be ridiculous, I've just been sweating a lot that's all." He knew his excuse was awful but he was just too worn out to come up with anything else.
Sai put on a fake smile before he pointed out that sweating from your eyes was impossible. "I've never studied medical Jutsu but The last time I checked you don't sweat from the lacrimal apparatus."
Even if Naruto wasn't half asleep he still wouldn't have a clue what Sai just said. "What?"
"Oh I forgot you don't like big words. I also noticed that your training starts tomorrow yet you hadn't even started packing. I haven't known you for a long but I know you love training. And yet you don't seem happy about this."
The onslaught of questions proved too much. "Because I'm scared ok!" The blond yelled. "Someone like you wouldn't understand how that feels. Now that you know the truth leave me alone." He said before turning over taking the covers with him.
But instead of leaving like Naruto asked Sai sat on the edge of the bed. "Why are you scared? I thought you said you needed this training to catch up with Sasuke" He asked. When Naruto didn't answer he tried a different tactic. "I may not know much about fear, but I'm a good listener." He offered.
After a few minutes his blond friend finally spoke. "I don't deserve to train with Kakashi-Sensei, not after what happened." He started. Sai didn't that say a word while the teen explained his fear. "I don't want to hurt anyone. Captain Yamato's helping me train, so I know that he's there to keep the nine-tails in check. I just don't know what to do."
Sai felt surprised that Naruto seemed comfortable to talk to him and wondered if he'd spoken to anyone else. "Why didn't you talk to someone? Ever since are last mission I've read lots of books about bonds, and I've learnt that confiding in others can help."
Naruto didn't hesitate when he answered the question. "Because I don't want to worry them. I've caused so many problems recently, it doesn't seem fair to burden them even more." He explained. "Kakashi's still recovering, I don't know Captain Yamato very well, after what happened at the bridge I doubt Sakura will ever trust me again and I don't want to lose Iruka-Sensei."
When Sai thought about the blond for concealing his worries all the reasons he gave were decent. Sai wanted to help Naruto but he didn't know how. "I've never comforted someone before. No one's ever confided in me before ether." The baffled teen was about to admit defeat, when he something came to him. "Naruto, when you saw Sasuke again did the fox try to tempt you again?" He asked.
"Yeah." When the blond didn't add anything even Sai could tell he didn't want to talk about the fox.
"What happened?" Not wanting scare Naruto even more, Sai kept his voice calm when he asked the question.
"He said I was nothing without him, he told me to take his power and he'd kill anyone that stood in my way."
"What did you say to that?" Sai asked.
"I told him, I didn't want his power anymore and that I could fight Sasuke without him." Naruto answered.
Thinking that Sai was mocking him Naruto got angry. "What's so funny? I should never of told you any of this."
Sai raised his hands defensively. "Ma, I'm sorry I'm still learning. But don't you see that even when you were exhausted, and in danger you stood up to the most powerful bijuu in the world. Even when you were offered the power to you said no. Doesn't that prove you can handle the fox on your own."
Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment. "He's right! I did say no. I can protect them."
The blond couldn't stop himself from grabbing his new friend and hugging him tightly. "Thank you so much Sai!I can't wait to train with Kakashi-Sensei now." He said but abruptly let go when he remembered that he only had a few hours to get ready. "Crap! I need to start packing, I don't have that much time left." He shouted.
While the blond rushed round the room gathering things, and pulling out his sleeping bag and stuffing it into a bag, Sai sat quietly on the bed the hug left speechless by the hug. and warm. Not wanting to stay anymore Sai got up to leave.
But Naruto noticed as his friend turned to leave h called out to him. "Sai, please don't say anything not even Kakashi or Tsuande. I feel a lot better but I still don't want them to know about this."
The pale teen turned round to face him. "I won't" He promised
The next morning Naruto woke up bright and early ready for anything. In record time he ate his breakfast and ran to the training grounds. He couldn't wait to start training. A few hours later Sakura, Sai and Yamato arrived surprised to see him. "How long have you been waiting for."
"When the sun started coming up."
Both Yamato and Sakura's jaws dropped. Yamato laughed at his enthusiasm. "I'm glad your keen but Senpai's won't turn up for another three hours." Yamato pointed out.
Naruto smiled back. "I know, but I've waited forever to train with sensei. I just couldn't wait to start." He screeched.
A few minutes later Kakashi turned up remarkably early . The blond practically charged at him. "Can we start training now sensei please? Oh, and after we're done can we eat ramen to celebrate?" He asked.
The sliver-haired Jónin looked little surprised by his questions. But before the eager teen could look closer his teacher's face returned to normal. "Naruto, before we start I wanted to ask you something?"
The blond sighed with impatience. "Well, hurry up and ask me." He demanded.
"I just wanted to ask you if there something bothering you?"
"No, why do you say that?" Naruto asked.
"Well yesterday you looked like you'd given up on brining Sasuke home, but today it's as if nothing happened." Kakashi answered cautiously worried how his student would react.
Naruto tried to look confused but really he felt surprised that his teacher knew something was wrong. "Looks like both sensei and Sakura noticed yesterday. I need to try harder next time." He told himself. "Nothings wrong sensei your just getting senile in your old age, I'm fine honest. Besides I don't give up or go back on my word that's my nindo after all." He replied before finishing his speech with a good guy pose.
As soon as Naruto thoroughly enjoyed his time with his sensei. The young shinobi hadn't realised just how much he'd missed his perverted sensei. The blond enjoyed staying up late with his teacher.
But unfortunately the training was a lot harder than he thought. Naruto understood the basics, but even with the shadow clone's helping him he hadn't progressed that much. Asuma tried to help as well. When they'd started Yamato warned the teen that he needed to take care when training. The fear he'd thought he was gone seemed to return. "I need to keep my chakra in check, or I'll start using the Kyuubi's." He told himself. "If I'm more careful, then I wouldn't lose control like the last time."
To mask his fear, the blond kept asking the same questions hoping to keep his teacher in the dark. This was an old tactic he'd used at the academy to keep Iruka from knowing when he was upset or lonely. And it still worked just as Kakashi began to get frustrated just like Iruka did.
For the third time that day he passed out from exhaustion, only for his teacher to catch him. The tired teen decided to take a break and have lunch with his friends.
While he walked through the streets of Kohana. Sai raced to greet him. "Hey Sai, I haven't seen you for a couple of of days. I was just about to go to lunch do you want to join me?" Naruto could have sworn the usually emotionless face light up at the offer.
"I'd love to."
Sai started the conversation by asking about training. "Training's going fine" He lied. "But I think Sensei's getting frustrated with me though."
Sai knew all about his team-mate's training. He'd watched the blond train every day without fail. He soon found out that he could only support his team-mate during his training, much to his disappointment. During that time Sai started to understand the feeling of being left out. He'd tried drawing in an attempt to occupy his mind, he always ended up drawing the blond instead. He just couldn't get the image of the blond sleeping out of his head. "The way the moon light made his skin glow looked so beautiful. I can't get it out of my head." Not only that, lately he'd started experiencing more sensations. But they weren't warm like when Naruto hugged him. These ones left him feeling hot, his throat felt tight and stomach would hurt. But now he was with Naruto his symptoms seemed to vanish.
But when Naruto mentioned the silver-haired jónin, the tightness in his throat returned. After thinking about his friends words for another five minutes Sai couldn't stop himself from speaking his mind. "Well, maybe Kakashi-Senpai feels like he's wasting his time training you. After all, everyone knows Sasuke's his favourite student." As soon as he finished the sentence Sai knew he'd said the wrong thing. And Naruto's face confirmed it.
A few years ago Naruto wouldn't have argued, he'd gotten into a silly fight with his teacher when he'd wanted to train with his teacher during the Chuunin exams. But now he was older he understood that his Sensei's choice. "What! That's not true, Kakashi-Sensei wouldn't say something like that. The reason he chose to train with Sasuke that time was because he needed to teach him how to use his sharingan." The blond explained.
"Are you sure that's the only reason, After all Sasuke learned how to use the chidori when he was just twelve. It took Kakashi less than a month to teach Sasuke his own jutsu. You've been at this for two weeks and you haven't made any progress."
Naruto looked back at his team-mate both shocked and saddened by his reaction. "What's with you all of a sudden?" Naruto asked quietly. "A couple of weeks ago you were really nice to me, and now you're acting like you're jealous." The boy accused.
"Jealous?" Sai asked unsure what that word meant. He hadn't memorised all the emotions just yet.
Before they could talk anymore Sakura called out to them. "Naruto!"
Naruto's face lit up at the sound of his friend's voice. "Sakura-Chan, how are you?" He asked.
The girl smiled. "I'm fine how's your training coming along." She asked.
"It's going fine, thanks." He said sadly.
Out of the corner of his eye Naruto spotted Kakashi, Asuma and Yamato walking together. "There they are now." Naruto pointed. He was about to invite Sakura to lunch when an idea came to him. "Hey guys, why don't we invite them to join us for ramen, I wanted to thank them for all there help." He suggested.
Before Sai could voice his disapproval Sakura agreed. "That's fine with me." Sakura answered.
With Sakura's approval Naruto quickly caught up with his superiors just as the blond went to greet them, he just heard the end of the conversation.
"So senpai, what's it like to train with someone as talented as an Uchiha?" Yamato asked. The youth hadn't heard the ANBU captain so excited before. He knew he shouldn't eavesdropping on their private discussion but his curiosity got the better of him. Naruto slowed his pace so he could hear the rest without being seen or heard.
The teen listened as his teacher answered Yamato's question. "I can honestly say training with Sasuke is easier. He learns a lot faster, I didn't get any back chat, he did everything I told him without question."
"We all knew that would happen, but what's Sasuke like as a person to train?"
Kakashi chuckled a little before he replied with. "Focused, obedient and intelligent. When I explained chakra natures to him it took less than a minute for him to catch on and when he moved on to actually using Chidori it only took a month."
Even thought the teen couldn't see there faces he knew Yamato was smiling. "Sounds like the perfect student and the complete opposite to a certain blond we know." Yamato pointed out still unaware that Naruto was behind him. The blond wasn't too surprised to hear the ANBU captain "Looks like Captain Yamato still doesn't trust me."
As he thought about the wood users words Yamato continued to praise Sasuke. "You wouldn't believe how strong he is now I think he'd given you a run for your money now Kakashi-Senpai. I think He's closer to surpassing the Fourth than Naruto right now."
It wasn't the fact that Yamato just what hurt was his teacher didn't say anything to defend him or at least say something positive about him. "So, everything you said earlier was a lie?" He asked.
All three teachers turned round to look at him apparently shocked to see him.
After running for a few minutes the angry blond ended up back at the meadow. By the time he got there the rain that started falling soaking his cloths. The blond sat down, under a tree, to catch his breath back and get out of the rain. While he sat there it suddenly hit the teen that he'd said. Even though he hadn't meant any of it he felt ashamed of himself, for disrespecting his teacher in front of his comrades and the villagers. "What have I done?" He asked himself "It's not their fault I'm not getting anywhere, I acted like a complete brat. I'll be lucky if he ever speaks to me again.
After a while he felt a familiar chakra coming towards him. "Well, you were right, I he doesn't like training with me." Naruto said not looking up to greet Sai.
The pale ninja last down next to his friend. "What are you going to do now. I think you said some pretty mean things today." Sai mentioned.
"I know I didn't mean what I said. Maybe I should go back and apologise to Kakashi." The blond said as he went to leave Sai stopped him.
"I don't think that's such a good idea. Kakashi-Senpai looked very angry afterwards. He said that he might stop training with you." Sai warned.
For the first time Naruto looked up to see a second person next to Sai. "I didn't even notice he was here." At first the blond thought the stranger might be a friend of Sai's, but this man looked a lot older than both of them put together. As he took in the man's features he noticed one of his arm's was in a sling and one side of his face was completely covered in bandages. "This old guy looks creepy" He thought to himself. "Sai who's that old guy behind you?" He asked.
Before this team-mate could reply the stranger spoke. "My is Shimura Danzó, I've worked with Sai for many years in ROOT before I retired. When I found out he'd decided to leave and join a new team, I wanted to meet the person that changed his mind. He told me you'd started training" As he spoke the man's voice croaked like any aged man's voice would.
The old man seemed harmless enough to Naruto. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm learning how to use chakra natures."
Now that they were properly introduced the pair discussed Naruto's training. "I'm going to guess you're chakra element is wind, right?" Danzó asked.
With his throat sore Naruto nodded at the question.
Danzó suddenly smiled. "What a coincidence I just so happens I can also use wind chakra."
"Good for you." He sulked not wanting anyone else to rub it in.
Irritated by the boys lack of interest Danzó knew just how to get the blond to talk to him. "Did you know that the third Hokage was also able to use wind?" He asked, still keeping his voice friendly.
This information seemed to grab the teenager's full attention. "Really? I didn't know that old man could do that. I wonder if he went through this as well."
Meanwhile Danzó quietly cursed. "Hmm, when I said we shared the same chakra he wasn't interested. But when I mentioned the third I grabbed his full attention. Even in death you still beat me." Wanting to keep the conversation going Danzó wanted to know how much the boy understood. "Then I presume you understand how rare and special wind is." He asked.
"I know wind is the only element able that can beat lightning and you can put wind into ninja tools to make them sharper and stronger." He began.
Sai finally piped up, handing Naruto a thick book. "But it seems like you still don't understand the basics yet. I brought this book to help you."
"Thanks Sai I don't need it." Naruto said gently, handing the heavy book back.
"But you asked Kakashi questions about wind this morning. You asked how wind is weak against fire I can tell you if you like." Sai began to read out the book but Naruto cut him off.
"Wind the only element capable of beating lighting because it acts like an insulator. Which means I'd have the advantage against an attack like Sasuke's chidori. Wind can also strengthen fire and water type jutsu's." Naruto resisted.
The pale teen didn't expect the smart response from his usually dim witted team-mate. "Then why did you keep asking Kakashi questions when you already knew the answers?"
As much as he trusted Sai Naruto didn't want to reveal one of his safety blankets just yet. "Sometimes it's easier to play dumb, no one expects me to be smart." He explained glumly.
Unlike Sai, Danzó seemed more understand and praised the boy for his knowledge. "It's also a good way to hide secretes that you don't want others to know about." Naruto turned to him surprised that the old man understood how he felt. "Sorry don't mind me, you seem to know what you're doing. I'm sure with a little hard work you can cut those trees in half." He pointed towards the forest behind them.
The blond snorted at the very idea. "Yeah, but I can't even tear a leaf in half let alone a tree."
"Show me what you can do, maybe I can help." He offered.
The blond sighed and half heartedly made some shadow clones and grabbed another pile of leaves.
As Naruto struggled to complete his task the old man said nothing and just watched him. "The way that guy is staring at me feels very familiar. It's like he can see right through me."
Meanwhile Danzó watched in awe as he saw one hundred perfect shadow clones all trying to complete the task. "Amazing, I never knew just how much power this brat had. Anyone else would have dropped dead if they used this many clones." As Danzó looked on he quickly detected the problem. "Hmmm, it feels like you're not focusing which is preventing you from using your chakra effectively."
"I don't quite understand what you mean."
"How can I make that even more simple." "When a person's body or mind becomes stressed sometimes it can disrupt the flow of chakra."
The strangers explanation made perfect sense. "I'm just worried that I'll hurt someone. I know this training can be dangerous so I need to stay alert that way I can prevent it from happening." He explained not wanting to tell a person he'd just met about the demon inside him.
"If that's what's bothering you, then perhaps you should consider training without your friends. That way you wouldn't need to worry about them." The man suggested.
"He's right I don't need to worry about them now. And after the way I treated sensei today, I might cheer him up if he sees that I really do appreciate his help." He smiled at the thought. He kept his thoughts calm and thought only about the leaf in his hands. "Thin and sharp." A few seconds later he felt something shoot out of his palm. Cautiously Naruto lifted his hand to see the leaf cut perfectly down the middle. A huge chorus of yells erupted from the crowd of shadow clones. "We all did it!" the yelled.
Just as the old man turned to leave he looked back at Naruto one last time. "Time to test out that new jutsu." Danzó looked straight at the youth before saying in his gentle voice. "Oh, I think it will be best if you didn't mention this to anyone about this. You're teacher may get upset if he found out you received help."
The blond was about to ask why when a weird feeling came over him and the words. "Don't say anything. You wouldn't want your teacher to know you cheated would you?" The question whispered inside his head so clearly it was like than man was right by his ear talking to him. "No, I won't say anything." He promised.
After visiting Naruto Sai and Danzó returned to Sai's home to get out of the rain and to discuss his mission. While his superior sat quietly Sai sat on his desk reading a paragraph of words. "Jealousy: a negative emotion which involves the person feeling ether disgusted, angry, resentment, fear or anxiety. The word is sometimes used with envy. This emotion is commonly seen in many relationships. Some often describe feeling a churning sensation in their stomachs or a tightness in their throat.
The pale teen stopped reading the page. Even though the book confirmed that he was jealous, it didn't help him understand why he felt the way. "Perhaps I'm jealous that Naruto isn't spending that much time with me."
Before he could come up with an answer his superior cleared his throat. "You're very quite." Danzó pointed out, dropping his eailr fragile voice for his serious tone.
"I'm just wondering why did you want to meet Naruto so badly?" After he'd left Kakashi and Yamato, he met up with his superior. The didn't talk or long when when the man asked to meet with this blond team-mate.
"I started getting worried when you didn't report back to me." Danzó explained casually looking around the clean apartment. "I wanted to see how much you've learnt."
The pale teen knew a lot about his blond team-mate, but he didn't think any of the information was important. "I'm afraid that I haven't learnt much since are last mission. Naruto's been training for the past couple of weeks, so there hasn't been an opportunity to talk to Naruto properly." The youth explained.
However Danzó didn't seem convinced with this excuse. "Come now, you've been watching that boy constantly for the past two weeks. And I know you lied to him today. Kakashi isn't angry with Naruto and has no plans to stop training with the boy. Surely you've discovered something useful I know the brat lied during his training." He urged.
With his lies exposed Sai revealed what he knew. "Like I said nothing important, I discovered Naruto's afraid of the Kyuubi's power. And that he felt like he didn't deserve to train with Kakashi. Maybe he's still feeling guilty about hurting his team-mate's." Sai explained.
The elder turned sharply at this startling revelation. "How did you find this out?"
"The day you assigned me my new mission, I went to see Naruto that night. I noticed he'd been crying so I asked him what was wrong. He seemed reluctant to confide in me at first but after I questioned him some more he soon opened up."
"This is something I didn't expect to hear." He said surprised. "Is anyone else aware of his fear?" Danzó asked.
The teen shook his head at the question. "No, Naruto asked me not to tell the rest of the team. He said he didn't want to burden his friends even further."
"Are you displeased with my research?"
Danzó looked happy. "No not at all, this is perfect. Tsunade's even more blind than I realised. I don't think you've even noticed how easy you're making this."
"I don't understand, How is this Perfect?"
"Today I saw a glimpse of the demon brats potential. Producing one hundred shadow clones on a daily basis is no small feat. Imagine if the boy was disciplined properly what if we were able to get rid of all his short comings. " Danzo's wicked smile didn't leave his face as he explained.
"So you're saying that if Naruto was smarter, obedient, quite, calm, respectful and keep his emotions under control we'd have the perfect..."
Danzo finished Sai's sentence with one word. "Weapon." If I had the Kyuubi brat under my control the village would be protected. We could harness that strength none of the other nations would dare challenge us.
Sai thought about his superior's words he too knew Danzo was right but there was just one problem. "How are you going to do this?"
Danzo looked at his subordinate thoughtfully for a moment. "That's where you come in. From what you've told me I can see the boy is clearly vulnerable at the moment. I can use this to my advantage. In the meantime I want you to keep watching Naruto and wait for an opportunity to get closer to him. If you can, try to isolate him from the rest of his team."
"What are these?" He said as he picked up one of the many books scattered on the desk.
Not wanting his secret revealed Sai quickly thought of a plausible reason why he'd have books like that in the house. "I'm trying to learn about emotions. It's not been easy mixing with my team, I keep reading the signals wrong. You wanted me to get to know Naruto better, so I thought reading might help."
To his great rile Danzó seemed satisfied with the answer. "Oh, I see to help you blend in with your team more. Excellent idea, learning more about human emotions will help you archive your goal. Just make sure you don't get too comfortable in your life. I will need you in the future"
By the next morning not only did Naruto feel cold and wet. But the young shinobi's throat felt like it was on fire and he didn't have the strength to walk back home. "Just one more time, I'm starting to get the hang of this." With as much effort as he could muster Naruto through the weapon at the tree slicing the through the bark with ease. The exhausted boy fell to the ground panting heavily.
A few seconds later his sensei appeared followed closely by Yamato. Both of them looked relived to see him. His teacher spoke first. "Naruto are you alright?" He asked. Both his comrades laughed when they heard his squeaky voice.
They stopped laughing however when they discovered he'd been training all night.
To Naruto's surprise, both his teacher and ANBU captain looked horrified and started yelling at him. "Are you crazy? Both myself and Senpai clearly told you not to train unless we were with you." The wood user scolded.
Even though the ANBU captain shouted the youth could sense his superiors concern. "Captain Yamato looks really mad. I didn't think he'd be bothered if I got hurt." But the Jónin's face and next response said otherwise.
"You what if something happened to you. Using your chakra like that is dangerous even if you have the Kyuubi inside you." The ANBU captain raged.
Meanwhile Asuma noticed the damaged trees and asked him to show off his skills. Kakashi on the other hand seemed a little suspicious. And out right asked him, "How did you do this in one night?"
Naruto was about to tell his sensei the truth until Danzó's voice echoed again, reminding him of the promise he made. "That's right that old man asked me not to tell anyone." He thought of another way to explain his fast progress and quickly came up with a convincing lie. "I just focussed on what you told me."
When his coughing started to attract his teacher's attention, the Jónin placed his hand on his fore-head the blond hadn't noticed how hot he felt. "Naruto, you're burning up please tell me you didn't train in the rain!" He cried. Not wanting to stop training the youth tried argued that he could continue, but was overcome with another coughing fit.
Without his jacket he soon started shivering. "How can I feel hot and cold at the same time?" He grumbled. Before he could work this out his sensei pulled his trembling body closer and hugged him. The blond froze for a moment while his muddled brain took in what was happening. "Sensei, hugging me!" He thought. The blond wasn't at all embarrassed by this. He'd always believed his lazy instructor disapproved of public affection.
When Naruto was younger he'd tried to hug his teacher many times in the past but he usually pushed him away. Unable to resist the warmth Naruto snuggled into the man's vest. "Hmmm, this feels nice." As soon as the sleepy blond snuggled into his teacher's chest he fell asleep.
For some reason hearing the jónin scolding Naruto for standing out in the rain caused another feeling to stir he easily identified this as anger. But just as he was abut to defend Naruto Sakura ordered him to take off his jacket. it was only a small the glimpse of his team-mates flesh before it he was covered again by Kakashi's Chuunin vest. He'd seen Naruto naked on there first mission together but he hadn't really looked at his team-mates body.
As Sai watched the blond sleep he changed the cloth every few minutes. It was a struggle to convince Kakashi to leave Naruto with him for a couple of hours. He couldn't understand the Jónin's reservations. "I can take care of Naruto just fine." He thought to himself. Looked at Naruto again and noticed he seemed a little uneasy as he rested. Wanting to soothe his friend, Sai reached out to gently rubbed the short spikes. He expected the boys scalp to feel spiky, but to Sai's surprise and delight Naruto's hair felt soft. He began rubbing harder until his finger were almost digging into the boys skull.
Unlike Sai, Naruto found the contact uncomfortable. "Who's doing that?" He asked himself it wasn't his sensei. Whenever Kakashi ruffled his hair he was always gentle. But this person was giving him a headache. In the end the blond couldn't stand it any more, and opened his eye's only to see Sai sitting next to him.
As soon as Naruto's eyes opened The pale ninja stopped what he was doing.
"Sai, why were you rubbing my hair?" He asked carefully.
"Sorry I just wanted to see if you wanted anything." Sai knew his excuse was poor. But he hopped Naruto wouldn't remember anything in the morning.
Naruto shook his aching head. "I'm fine thanks, I feel a little hot. Can you pass me my night cloths?" He asked.
When bottle on the table caught his attention. He remembered the medical ninja giving him clear instructions before she left. "When Naruto wake's up make sure he takes this medicine. It will help with the fever and his cough." Sai looked at the medicine bottle on the table. Instead of giving it to the blond, like Sakura told him to, he slyly hid it in the draw. "If your feeling hot I'll open a window to cool you down." He offered.
Sai left the room to wait for his plan to work.
At first the blond found the cool breeze soothing and fell asleep. But gradually he felt hotter and as time passed grew more uncomfortable.
Half an hour later Sai returned to find his team-mate shivering and sweating on top of the covers. Quietly he walked up to the bed and gently shook the sleeping teen. "Naruto are you feeling ok?" He asked, fully aware of Naruto discomfort.
The blond only groaned response to the question. The ROOT ninja tried a few more times to get his team-mate to respond with little success. "Your hot again let's get you out of that t-shirt so you can cool off."Sai said.
He carefully sat the boy up and removed the T-shirt exposing his torso. The pale ninja's eyes scanned the youth's body, surprised to find no scars. "Even though Naruto's been a ninja for a number of years his skin is flawless." That wasn't the only thing that caught his attention. A perfectly formed muscles on his stomach evidence of hard training. Confident Sai placed his hand on Naruto's abdomen, he nervously waited for the youth to push the hand away but Naruto remained asleep. Feeling safe Sai continued to touching enjoying feeling Naruto's warm flesh.
Just as he predicted his sick team-mate could do little to stop Sai from experimenting. The pale ninja could feel a warm feeling growing inside his chest and made it way down to his groan. He could feel the organ in his pants grow in size. "What's going on?" The ninja hadn't experienced anything like this before.
While tried to work out what his body was doing, the blond he felt someone remove his t-shirt cooling him somewhat. But once again he could feel the uncomfortable touch return. "Who's touching me I don't like it?" The touching wasn't the only thing bothering the youth. "My skin feels like it's burning. Oh no it's the foxes chakra he's taking over again. I need help where's Kakashi he'll know what to do." He hoped.
"Kakashi!" He cried.
The very mention of the Jónin's name brought Sai out of his daydream. He sa th tried to soothe his friend. "Naruto, it's just me Sai, I'll look after you." He promised keeping his voice soft and sweet. But the poorly teen didn't seem to want him and continued to call for his Sensei. "Sens..ei. Kak..ashi It..bu..rns!" He cried.
"I'm the one giving up my day to look after you while the rest of your team made their excuses and left." He barked angrily. Shouting at Naruto only seemed to distress the teen even further.
Before things could get any worse, Sakura returned a few minutes later shocked when she saw her friend in a horrible state. "Sai, what on earth happened?" She demanded.
"I'm not sure his fever suddenly got worse." He explained.
As the medical ninja examined him she quickly saw that her team-mate was right. "Sai's right, he's even hotter than before." She carefully sat her sick friend up before opening the medicine bottle. "Naruto, I need you to take this." She instructed, it took a few attempts to get the teen to swallow the medicine.
"Thank you for watching him Sai."
After she gave him the medicine Naruto's temperature soon returned to normal. And a little while later he work up. "Sakura-Chan. " The blond rasped.
Sakura smiled back at friend warmly, glad to see her team-mate awake. "It's about time you woke up." She joked before asking how he was feeling.
Naruto forced a smile before he replied. "I feel a little better."
But his sharp-eyed team-mate saw trough the act. "I'm not surprised your feeling a little rough. But I just don't understand, the medicine I gave Sai was more than enough to keep you're symptoms under control."
Thinking quickly, Sai came up with a story to explain what happened. "Naruto woke up a little while after you left Sakura-Chan, he still seemed cold so I helped him change into some clean cloths, then I left the room to left him sleep. When I came back I found Naruto on top of the cover with the window open."
Naruto tried to remember, but the only thing that came to mind was his skin felt like it was burning. He felt like something else happened, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't remember. "I'm not sure what happened, I remember feeling really hot. Maybe I did take my shirt off and opened the window to cool down." He suggested.
Sakura sighed at her friend's reckless behaviour. "You idiot, no wonder you got worse. You're lucky Sai was here with you."
Feeling bad for causing so much trouble, the teen felt like he should at least apologise to Sakura. "Sorry I'm such a pain, I know you're busy at the hospital."
She reached out to comfort him but Naruto moved away from her touch.
Meanwhile his pale team-mate quietly observed their behaviour and didn't need to look too hard to see that there were definite cracks in their bond. "It seems like Naruto's still not completely at ease with Sakura yet. It shouldn't be to difficult to keep them apart." Sai didn't feel like he didn't need to come between the pair. "I'll leave you two alone."
With Sai gone, Naruto asked his pink-haired team-mate about their teacher. "Sakura-Chan, is Kakashi-Sensei's still mad at me for yelling at him yesterday?"
The girl seemed surprised by the question. "Naruto, Sensei felt terrible for comparing you and Sasuke like that. He even stood up for you when Yamato and Asuma-Sensei criticised you for yelling at him. And when we all took you home, he looked really concerned. Sensei even wanted to stay and take care of you, but Tsunade-Sama wanted to know how you're training was progressing." She explained.
"Really, so he wasn't mad?"
The girl rolled her eyes at her friend's question. "For the last time, no Kakashi-Sensei isn't mad at you."
"If that's true that means Sai lied to me yesterday." He thought. With the matter resolved Sakura urged her friend to rest. "Now, go back to sleep and don't open the window." She warned. For once Naruto didn't argue with her and quickly fell asleep.
For the rest of the afternoon Naruto drifted in and out of sleep. He could always feel Sakura by his side. The teen didn't need to open his eyes to know that his teacher was with him this time. Around the same time the youth felt like someone else was watching him. The presence both felt familiar and uncomfortable. "No, that person from before is still here I can feel it. He's outside watching me!" Afraid the teen tried to get away.
This time he could smell his teacher next to him. "Sensei?" He called out a few second later he could faintly hear a familiar lazy voice talking to him. "Aww, that's so sweet you missed me didn't you?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto wanted to open his eyes, but just knowing that his teacher was by his side was enough to reassure him and the blond went back to sleep.
Meanwhile outside on the roof Sai watched. For most of the afternoon he'd scoured the library for information about his problem. Once he learned it caused more questions. He'd gone through puberty like every teenager and knew how his body worked. In fact he considered himself an expert on the male genitalia. But he doubted hormones wanted to know what would cause such a thing to happen now. He scoured the library for hours until he stumbled upon the word arousal. But when he read further down the page he realised it described.
"But that means I let my emotions show." Today the socially awkward boy leant that he could feel again.
He casually looked up from his book. He saw Naruto still looked uncomfortable. Sai watched as the Jónin seemed at a loss how to calm his student. "Hmp, It looks like those two don't have a strong bond." But as he watched the scene further he saw the instructor slip the Chuunin vest under the boy's head. Whit in seconds Naruto settled down. comforted Naruto with ease by putting the green vest under the blond's head, when seconds of doing this the boy settled down. This caused more "How can a chuunin vest comfort someone?"
It only got worse when he watched the copy-ninja ran his hand though his spikes causing Naruto to smile.
The tightness in his throat returned yet again. "What's going on why did Naruto letting him do that and not me. I won't let Kakashi take him..." He remembered the words in his book. "Now I understand why I feel jealous." He slowly calmed his accelerated heart rate and smiled. "He's the first person I need to get rid of." Now that he'd chosen his first target he needed to find a way to get rid of jónin.
So much happened in the last couple of weeks. Naruto quickly recovered from his cold and he sped through his training. Not only could he cut leaves in half but split a waterfall in two. It wasn't just his training that went well his both his Sensei and Yamato seemed to be making more of an effort with him. He'd started dropping his façade a little and showed his teachers that he could be smart. When he learnt of Asuma's death he felt shocked but this only motivated the blond to train harder to help his friends avenge there sensei's death.
Now as Naruto lay on the ground, the blond didn't feel exhausted or even notice the throbbing pain in his hand. Naruto felt too happy to notice these mild complaints. Not only did he just defeat one of the Akatsuki, but he'd mastered Jutsu not even the fourth Hokage could complete. His new rasenshuriken was powerful. "I actually did it, I wish Sasuke was here to see that. I'm not just getting stronger but I'm getting closer to Sasuke as well." He thought to himself.
Sadly the happy moment didn't last long. Looked up only to see Kakashi suddenly fall to the ground panting and gasping from breathe. Everyone raced to the Jónin's side. As the crowd gathered no one seemed to know what to do, even Sakura and Ino didn't seem to know or what was wrong. But unlike his comrade's Naruto had seen this happen before. "This is just like what happened to Pervy-Sage back then." With that in mind Naruto gently pushed through the crowd. "Sakura-Chan, let me try something, I think know what to do."
Both girls nodded and gave him some space. Naruto carefully pulled his teacher's head on to his lap and started talking to him softly."It's ok, take your time doing just fine. It's ok, take deep breaths." He encouraged. In a matter of moments his teacher was breathing normally again. "Good, now open your eyes so we know your ok."
Very slowly his Sensei's eyes started opening. Naruto smiled back at his teacher. But the his superior looked really pale and sat up quickly. When Naruto asked if the Jónin was alight the man looked dazed. Concerned Naruto reached out to shake him only to get his hand slapped away.
After that, the sliver-haired Jónin staggered to his feet and walked away from him as if nothing happened.
But both Naruto and Sai thought very different things when they saw the copy-ninja fall to the ground. Sai only acted concerned while Naruto's concern was genuine. Sai found the experience very interesting. For the last couple of weeks the pale ninja tried to think of a way to come between the student and teacher. But the non stop training made it nearly impossible to get Naruto alone, he'd almost given up until he just saw the shinboi break down. "It seems like your mask has a few cracks in it Kakashi."
As soon as they talked to Tsunade the fifth insisted the he should go to the hospital much to his displeasure. For most of the of the examination the blond demanded to know what happened to his teacher. "Sakura, what happened to sensei today?" He asked as Sakura healed his hand.
"I'm not sure, he refused to see a doctor so I doubt will know what happened." She explained not taking her eye off her work.
"But you're a medical ninja you must have some idea." He protested.
Sakura seemed to think about his question for a few minutes before she answered. "In my honest opinion. I think it was a panic attack, now will you please sit down while I try to heal you've got some minor damage but your fine. But you need to stay here and rest for the night." The ninja explained.
"But Sakura-Chan I'm just fine." The blond protested.
The female ninja sighed with exasperation. "You may feel fine, but your likely to experience some pain, if that happens call the nurse and she'll give you some pain killers. Now get back into bed and sleep." She ordered before shutting the door behind her.
For about ten minutes Naruto did as he what Sakura said, and settled under the covers. But his thoughts kept going back to his teacher. "There's no way I can sleep. I need to find Sensei, he's hurting and I want him to feel better." With his mind made up, the blond slowly got out of bed and walked towards the open window. Without thinking he jumped and landed on the ground with a thump. He moaned as pain shot up his arm able to stand.
But after few minutes of walking proved exhausting. "Maybe I should have just stayed in bed." He thought.
Just as he stumbled, his fall was broken by a pair of pale arms. He looked up to see Sai's smiling down at him.
"I just need to find Sensei." He explained.
As Sai helped Naruto stand up he didn't just see a tired friend that needed help. He saw this as a perfect opportunity to finally get close to Naruto. "He's tired and alone. I bet I could get him to follow me without too much arguing." Not waning to miss his chance Sai grabbed it with both hands. "Come back to my house for a moment. Then I'll help you look for Kakashi." He offered.
Sai carefully lead Naruto towards his apartment with little protest. The pale ninja didn't usually have guests round, but knew the basics. He offered the blond food and water which he declined both the whole time he was there, Naruto wanted to find the sliver jónin.
The more the blond demanded to leave, Sai patience began to wear thin before he finally snap. "Why do you want to help him so badly?" He hissed unable to keep the venom from sinking into his words. "Kakashi's your Sensei, and yet he didn't even go to the hospital with you to make sure you were alright. It's his fault you're hurt in the first place."
Naruto seemed a little startled by Sai's accusations. "What? Its not his fault that I got hurt, no one knew how this jutsu would work."
But the teen seemed to strongly disagree with this. "He pushed you to make his new jutsu and yet they didn't even think about the consequences. You could've lost the use of your arm or worse." Sai pointed out.
Too tired to start an argument with his friend, Naruto kept his voice calm as he spoke. "Sai, I'm not a little kid, I don't need someone to hold my hand for an examination. And I know Kakashi-Sensei does care about me, even if he doesn't always show it. But today something happened after that fight and Sensei refused to see a doctor. I just want to make sure he's ok that's all." And with that Naruto went to stand up, only to wince at the movement.
Seeing Naruto's arm was bothering him an idea suddenly came to the frustrated boy. "Naruto before you go, why don't I give you some pain killers. You look a little pale and you're shaking." He pointed out.
The blond couldn't deny wasn't in pain anymore and decided to accept Sai's offer. "Ok, but then I'm leaving." Naruto huffed as he sat back down.
Sai went into the kitchen. He returned a few minutes later with two pills and a glass of water in his hand. The boy swallowed them quickly. "Sit down for a few minutes and let the medicine kick in." Sai instructed.
The pain soon vanished but a few minutes later the teen began to feel even drowsier than he did a few minutes ago."That's strange, usually the foxes chakra starts kicking in."
Sai caught the teen and carefully laid the sleeping teen on the sofa, careful to make sure he didn't lie on his injured arm. He put a pillow behind his head and covered Naruto with a blanket. As he quietly watched his friend sleeping he resist the urge to touch the boys face. "Your skin's so soft." He said as he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his friend's cheek.
"Sai, you surprise me, I didn't expect this to happen." A familiar voice called.
Sai turned around sharply to see Danzó standing in the door way. The pale ninja bowed his head and begged for forgiveness "Danzó-Sama! please forgive me I'll accept any punishment you give to me."
superior didn't seem angry. "There's no need to apologise. Lets take this conversation into the kitchen so we don't wake your guest up." He suggested.
Once the two of them were out of ear shot. Sai was eager to continued the conversation. "You're not displeased with me?"
"No, I'm not. If you'd come to me sooner I could have helped you understand your new feelings. I hope that despite your new-found feeling for the jinchiúriki you haven't become distracted from your mission." The man warned.
Sai was quick to reassure his superior this wasn't the case. "No, I haven't I'm trying to separate him from the rest of team seven like you ordered. I don't think Sakura or Yamato will be a problem, he doesn't seem too close to them at the moment. But I think Kakashi will be difficult not just because his very perceptive but Naruto trusts him completely nothing I say seems to darken his opinion of him."
"How does Kakashi act around Naruto?" He asked.
Now that he knew Danzó wasn't going to punish him. He felt more at ease. "Kakashi is a mystery to me. I'm not sure what he's feelings are towards Naruto. Before he started teaching Naruto how to use the wind chakra he seemed distracted he didn't even notice the real reason Naruto was struggling with training. Then when Naruto over heard Kakashi comparing him to Sasuke he didn't scold Naruto for being disrespectful even when his comrades told him."
This information didn't surprise the elder much. He'd long suspected that the Jónin was starting to grow attached to the young shinobi. "I was afraid of this." He said but now that he knew that Sai was developing his own feelings for the boy it may help in his plan. "I think you have a right to know that after the fourth Hokage's death, Kakashi was offered the chance to become Naruto's guardian. As you've probably guessed he refused and didn't have any contact with the boy afterwards. It's possible that he's beginning to look back on his decision."
"Does Naruto know about this?" Sai asked.
The elder snorted as if he was offended by the question. "No, and you won't find any record of that meeting. Only the third and Kakashi know. I happened to find out from an ex ANBU and getting that little information was hard enough."
"But Naruto doesn't seem to like me very much. I've tried following the books but he seems intent on rejecting my affections. I don't think we're compatible." Sai looked back to the room, where the blond slept, with a sombre expression.
Danzó chuckled a little as he held up the box of pills. "So thought you'd drug him instead, so you could take advantage of him." The watched Sai look away nether denied or confirmed the accusation.
The elder smiled at the young shinboi. "I think we might be able to help each other."
I know not much happened in this chapter but things will get more intense next time I promise. Sorry for the long wait I had a lot of trouble writing this one. It went through three rewrites! I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I wasn't going to include Sai's point-of-veiw but it didn't look right with just Naruto talking so I added him and Danzó's perspective.
I hope this chapter answered a few of your questions about why Naruto struggled with wind training.