Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I do, however, own the plot to this story and Hikari.
Summery: It's strange how you don't realize how much you've ingrained someone into your life until they're gone. The village of Konoha found this to be true the day Uzumaki Naruto's light was put out. Now the Nine-tails is still showing no signs of reforming and the Leaf Village has hired a trio of unclaimed ninja to help retrieve Sasuke from Orochimaru. But the subtle similarities between the groups leader and Naruto are startling, and Kakashi doesn't know how long he can handle this partnership before he finally loses his sanity.
Rating: T for now
Four years earlier
He figured it out! It had taken many failed methods and giving himself a concussion or two, from falling on his head in exhaustion, but he knew how to do it! To jump tree to tree upside down he had to imitate a toy Iruka-Sensei had given him when he was six.
His brunet Sensei had told him that the toy, a ball attached to a paddle with a rubber band, would help him with his reflexes and make him a better ninja. The toy hadn't left his hands even to eat or sleep until it had been ripped from his hand by an older child and broken in front of his eyes. Naruto winced and pushed the painful memory away in favor of celebrating his accomplishment. By using the toy as a model he'd realized that using his chakra as a rubber band, himself as the ball, and the tree branches as the paddle he could use his forward momentum to carry him to the new branch, and his chakra to pull him back to the branch against the gravity that tried to force him to the ground. After using the method repeatedly with success he was ready to show his Sensei so he could learn something new!
The blond boy ran around trying to locate the Copy Ninja for what he could swear was hours before he found him sitting against a tree up closer to the Hokage monument. He made to run up to him, stopping when he noticed Asuma-Sensei striking up a conversation. Naruto had been told off more times than he could count for interrupting adults in their conversations. So he wouldn't interrupt this time, he decided. He'd just move closer, and wait until they finished. Once he was a few yards away, he could hear them talking. Naruto cackled rubbing his hands together, maybe they would talk about something he could use.
"I happened upon Naruto yesterday, and he told me you were the one who had him trying to jump tree to tree upside down. Care to explain why that is."
Naruto squinted at the two ninja this wasn't something he could use, he'd already learned that technique. Confusion filled him; why did Asuma-Sensei seemed so upset over it. Was it a forbidden technique?
His Sensei sighed. "Mah, It's just to keep him busy for a few days. After I finish teaching Sasuke the technique we're working on I'll teach Naruto something that'll make him give up on figuring it out. Besides I didn't actually tell him it was possible."
The brunet ninja frowned around the cigarette in his mouth, "You might as well have. Kids are more observant than you give them credit for, Kakashi-San. Naruto will be upset when he finds out you had him working on something that no one could achieve."
No one could achieve? Naruto was confused. How was it something that wasn't possible if he figured it out?
"Mah, you worry too much, Assuma-san. Naruto works hard, but he isn't that bright. If I teach him something cool enough he'll forget about it and never know that he had no chance of completing the fake technique he's been working on."
Naruto felt like he'd been chakra punched in the gut. His Sensei disliked him so much that he'd rather have him spend days learning a technique that he wasn't supposed to be able to do, than give him something to actually work on? Stunned, the blond ninja turned and began stumbling aimlessly away from the man he had thought cared. He thought people were finally starting to respect him, that he'd found people who wanted to be his friends. Finding out that he was wrong, and being treated like an annoying kid you gave something to do so they'd leave you alone, was more painful than sitting on the swing at the academy enduring hateful glares. That he'd taught himself how to live through. This, though, this he didn't have experience with. Having a man he looked up to think he was an idiot and a waste of time? It made him wish he could stop caring.
His wandering led him back to the forest on the opposite end of town. He sat heavily on the ground, flopped onto his back, and stared listlessly up at the sky.
"Such a shame..."
The deep voice startled Naruto, causing him to jump up and glare at the woods around him. "Who's there?" He yelled.
"Poor boy. No one should ever be treated so horribly."
"Show yourself!"
A harsh chuckle seemed to echo in his head. "I'm inside you, boy. I've seen how they torment you... let me help."
Naruto's eyebrows furrowed, he didn't understand what was happening and he wanted answers. "How can you help? Who are you?" He demanded.
"I am Kurama, the Nine Tails Bijuu sealed inside you. I can help. All you have to do is follow my instructions."
Now
They'd finally reached their destination. The fast pace they'd been forced to adopt, after the fight delayed them, had gotten them mostly back on schedule. Tucked behind some boulders, a ways from the entrance to the hideout housing Sasuke, Kakashi waited for Gaara to locate the Uchiha with his Jutsu. Gaara sat with two fingers held against his eye while he worked, the dark making his face even harder to read than usual. A few more moments passed before Gaara dropped his hand, "I found him. He's still awake, but the others seem to be asleep."
"We should move now while most of the occupants are unaware," Kakashi stated.
"Hai." Ryu nodded.
They made a chain, like they'd agreed on the first day of planning; Ryu leading, Gaara, Kakashi, Sai, and Sakura following while Hikari took the rear. Once they were all connected, Kakashi felt a light vibrating energy travel from one hand, through his body, to his other hand. It went through each of them, cycling from Hikari to Ryu and then back through to Hikari before it settled down to a more un-noticeable state. She gave a nod and they set out.
Kakashi could admit to himself that it was nerve wracking not having either himself or someone he knew and trusted in charge of keeping them undetected. Despite the nerves, the guards in front of the caves didn't so much as twitch in their direction. In fact, they looked completely at ease; bored almost.
They slipped through the tunnels, Gaara giving cues to Ryu whenever they came to a crossroads. After a few minutes of navigating a sharp jerk came from the back of the train, and the lowkey buzz abruptly cut off. Kakashi snapped his head around expecting a fight, only to see Sakura peering tensely around the corner they just turned, before relaxing a second later. Hikari scrambled sheepishly around the corner, grabbing a hold of Sakura's hand again with a whispered. "Sorry; tripped."
When the electrifying sensation of the jutsu returned they moved forward, once more hidden from view. Adrenaline from the anticipation of a possible fight was slowly dissipating the longer they traveled through the maze of tunnels. The deeper they went into the labyrinth the thicker the air became. I was almost stifling, and Kakashi wondered how the ninja living there could stand feeling like they couldn't get enough air into their lungs. After a time, Gaara indicated one of the many wooden doors set into the stone walls with a tilt of his head. Ryu pushed the door open slowly, hoping to avoid detection, but as they entered Kakashi noted that Uchiha Sasuke's blood red, Sharingan filled eyes were already latched onto them. Going undetected this far was all they could really ask for, he guessed.
The others in his group seemed to come to the same conclusion, dropping each other's hands in favor of settling into defensive stances.
"When are you going to give up," Sasuke asked, face expressionless. "I told you I'm not going back."
Before Kakashi could reply, Ryu shifted on his feet and crossed his arms over his chest. "You don't get a choice, Teme."
Sasuke's eyes snapped to Ryu, the only person who'd ever called him that to his face was Naruto. Emotions flitted across his face before settling on a rage that twisted his expression into an ugly snarl. "Don't call me that!"
It was a childish response. The kind that Kakashi hadn't heard from the young Uchiha since Naruto, and Ryu latched onto Sasuke's reaction with a satisfaction that Kakashi didn't understand, "Why not, Teme?"
The deliberate taunt felt personal in a way that made the silver haired Ninja feel like he was missing something, but before he could begin analyzing it Sasuke attacked.
In a blur of movement Sasuke swung the sword he'd been training with at Ryu, but was met with air when his target disappeared to the space behind him. Sasuke spun gracefully, his focus on the young man provoking him, but Kakashi didn't believe for a moment that he was any less aware of the other people in the room.
He's proven correct when Sakura took a swing at Sasuke while he made another move towards Ryu, and she received a swift fist to the skull that sent her sprawling to the ground in a daze. He saw rage build in her eyes as she breathed through it and got back to her feet. Jumping back into the fight.
Each of them began to move in a coordinated ebb and flow, trying to pull Sasuke's attention long enough for Hikari to get a hand full of chakra on him, but as Kakashi drove what would have been a harsh kick towards Sasuke's head he ducked under while bringing his katana up to slice at Kakashi's ankle before angling it to sweep ellegantly at Hikari's middle, forcing her to retreat to avoid the devastating blade. Black ink splashed against their faces as the creatures Sai tried to use were swiftly cut down.
This was the same problem they'd been having since they'd began trying to bring the damn Uchiha back. He refused to listen to reason and was almost entirely impenetrable in his defences, making it impossible to incapacitate him long enough to restrain him. Sasuke managed to force them all back at the same time, a smug air radiating from him almost palpably. Kakashi made to move for another strike when a hoarse boyish voice made him freeze in place.
"You suck, Sasuke Teme!"
Kakashi saw Sasuke standing just as still as himself, eyes wide and thin lips parted slightly in shock as he stared at the owner of the voice. Turning slowly in the direction it came from, Kakashi felt the air seize in his lungs. Standing there with petulantly angry look on his face, arms crossed over his orange clad chest was Naruto exactly as he was before he left them. For what felt like a millisecond and a small eternity rolled into one, Kakashi could do nothing but stare at his student; unable to process what his eyes were seeing. Before he could shake off the paralyzing shock, the image disapeared in a poof of air and Ryu was left standing in the middle of it as it dispersed. The raven haired ninja rushed between Hikari and the still stunned Kakashi to help a heavily breathing Hikari where she stood supporting a now unconscious Sasuke. Kakashi did a double take, and confirmed that there was a second, unexplained Hikari in attendance.
Kakashi wanted to scream and demand an explanation, but the mission came first and everything became a rushed blur as Sai, Gaara, Hikari, and Ryu formed a line similar to the one they used on their way in, forcing Kakashi and Sakura into the formation with tight grips on their slack hands, and Sasuke slung over Ryu's shoulder in the lead.
They make it a mile away from the cave before they stop, Ryu setting Sasuke down, before he started placing smooth, jade, kanji engraved rocks in a circle around them.
A sharp, inferno like rage coursed through his body at the casual way Ryu and his fellow nin were conducting themselves and Kakashi felt his control slip. He moved too fast to be stopped when he suddenly grabbed Ryu and slammed his back against one of the many large boulders.
"Who the hell are you!" He snarls, "How did you know about Naruto!"
A commotion draws Ryu's attention from the direction they've just come from. Distantly, Kakashi knows that means they've been found out and will soon be pursued, but it doesn't register past his anger. He slams Ryu against the rock again, "Answer me!"
He's being too loud, but it isn't his sense returning that causes him to let Ryu go, it's the absolute terror in his eyes as he hisses, "I'll tell you! I swear! Once we're safe! I swear!"
He releases his grip with a start because Ryu isn't scared of him, he keeps glancing back towards the cave like he's terrified that they'll be dragged back. No, Kakashi realizes, that he will be dragged back. Kakashi doesn't understand why the fear makes him want to protect Ryu, but it does and he's going to have to deal with that later. Ryu puts the last of seven rocks down in a rush, tells them to each pick rock to place a finger on, and begins making signs with his hands once they do. On the final sign he touches his own finger to the last open rock. Kakashi saw the light from the moon go black in an instant, his body felt like it was being compressed, forcing the air from his lungs, and making his bones ache.
Just as suddenly the moonlight returned bringing with it oxygen for his lungs, and the sight of desert and forest for his eyes. After a minute he realizes they're back at the border between Konoha and Suna. Ryu wiped at his nose, slowly collecting the rocks from them, pulling the one from under Sasuke's finger last before picking the ninja himself up to move deeper into the cover of the trees.
They don't move very far before stopping for the night. A deep exhaustion made their bodies heavy, each step felt like they strapped two of Gai's leg weights onto each limb.
Kakashi moved closer to Ryu. The fatigue dulling his anger only slightly, "I would like answers now."
Heaving an exhausted sigh, Ryu leaned heavily on a tree, "We did our research."
"That's not good enough."
Ryu scowled at him, but Gaara spoke up calmly from his left, "We asked your Hokage if there was anyone who could tell us more than what we knew from you, and she pointed us towards his other sensei, Iruka-san. He gave us his opinion of what the main causes were for the Uchiha to leave Konoha, and those were believing he was too weak to avenge his family and and too weak to stop Naruto from dying. What we did was the distraction we needed."
"You had no right!" Sakura snapped, anger boiling over as she pushed past Kakashi and stabbing her finger in their direction.
A frigid cold seeped into Gaara's normally impassive voice, "Naruto was my friend. If anyone has no right it's you, who treated him like dirt."
A strangled noise escaped Sakura's throat as she raises her hands like she wanted to choke the red head, but she had no retort. Spinning around on her heel she made to stalk off when the thump of a body hitting the ground startled her back around. Ryu lay in a motionless heep on the ground, with blood slowly dripping from his nose. Kakashi blinked in a slow measure of shock, barely hearing Gaara mutter a curse before the red head moved to check his friend.
Sakura frowned at Gaara, "What happened?"
"Strain from the Jutsu."
Gaara didn't elaborate further, and Kakashi saw the dissatisfaction on Sakura's face that surely matched his own beneath his mask. Frustration was quickly becoming Kakashi's friend where Ryu and his team were involved.
If this was the result of using that jutsu, then why use it? His mind flashed back to the depths of fear in Ryu's eyes before they'd escaped using the jutsu, and he thinks he has his answer. There was history there. At some point in his life, Ryu had encountered Orochimaru's group, and it had left him terrified. Kakashi found himself beginning to question why they'd agreed to this mission if there was such a traumatizing connection for their leader. It was something he'd be looking into personally when he got the chance. Too many questions and not enough answers was no longer something he was willing to put up with.
A/N: Bet you thought I gave up lol.