I don't own Naruto!

Good morning everyone. Merry Christmas. I wish to start today's chapter off by reminding everyone that in this story, the romance is taking a back seat. If you have complaints about how I named her or anything else about it, get over them. She is not truly important to the story. She will be about as important to the story as a filler character in the anime. If you're reading this story and seriously care that much about the name of a character who is not truly important, then stop reading and go to a different story. For those of you who must know, Alexis was a character idea given to me by a friend.

Now to respond to some reviews I received last night...

For those wondering why Danzo did not use the Sharingan in his fight, I am sticking to the idea that it was incomplete since the fight occurred in the early time of Naruto's life.

For those who believe that Naruto is going to immediately forgive all...nope that won't happen. He will be professional, and even friendly to some, but other than that, the village will earn their forgiveness. Naruto has deep emotional scars, but he is smart in the fact that he doesn't apply that hatred to everyone.

For what will happen to Naruto's wife while he is gone, I can promise that she will be safe...for now. Things will change in the future.

Finally, my last piece of info is that I will post up to chapter 14 today, I think, but based on the people (you) I will see whether or not I will continue this story. I have some other ideas for other categories, and even a story from Naruto, that I want to finish (or start in some cases). So whether or not this story continues is based on the number of reviews I get today up to New Year's. I'm looking to have at least 60 by January 22, as that is when I normally update. If I don't have that, this story will be finished (though I may place it up for adoption).

Thanks for reading, don't forget to review. See ya!

Chapter 10

Naruto awoke in a cold sweat to see that it was now dark. He glanced to his left to find Alexis lying next to him, her arms wrapped protectively around him. Naruto gently pushed a strand of blonde hair out her face. She slowly opened one eye, and, realizing that Naruto was awake, jumped up to hug him.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine. Why? What happened?"

"After you fell asleep, I noticed that you had a fever. I tried to wake you up for lunch and dinner to see if eating something would help, but you wouldn't wake up. I was worried."

"I'm sorry about that. I was having a dream. What time is it?"

"A little before midnight. What was the dream about?"

Naruto proceeded to tell her all about his dream and the happenings therein. When he finally finished, he wrapped his arms around Alexis and fell asleep. He awoke again just before dawn and started getting ready to leave. He wore the same outfit that he had worn to the Hokage's office, and after a make-out session with Alexis, left to meet Kakashi.

When he arrived at the west gate, Sasuke and two others were already there. They were just waiting on Kakashi. One had fairly long jet black hair tied in a spiky ponytail, narrow brown eyes, and studs on both ears. He was as tall as Naruto and Sasuke and wore a flak jacket, along with a black long sleeved shirt paired with matching pants and sandals, and green lined mesh armor on his wrists and ankles. His headband was on his upper left arm. The other had very thick eyebrows, and large, rounded black eyes. He wore his hair in a bowl cut. He also wore a horrid green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers, and a red forehead protector as a belt. He wore a flak jacket on top.

"Kakashi's late again," Sasuke told him. Sasuke was wearing all black, same as he had the day they had come to get Naruto.

"Troublesome, you must be Naruto Uzumaki. I don't believe we've met before. Name's Shikamaru," said the man with the ponytail.

"I am Rock Lee!" said the one in the jumpsuit.

"Nice to meet you guys," Naruto replied coldly. As they waited, he thought back to his dream the night before and glanced around the village. 'Danzo may have died for these people, but how could he expect me to? After everything that happened…I will not forgive them so easily. I will fight with them because it is my job, but after that, nothing. No one in this pathetic village deserves anything from me, and I'll make sure that that is what they get!' he thought.

"Good to see you are all here," said Tsunade as she walked up with Kakashi. "You've all been briefed. Come back alive. Now get out of here."

The five nodded and headed out. They were going deep into enemy territory, so they would have to be careful. No fires and minimum noise once they crossed the border. After the first day of travel, they found a small clearing in the forest near the border where they would make camp for the night. They set up the tents and gathered firewood for their first and only fire. After getting everything set up, Naruto and Kakashi broke away for a spar.

The found another small clearing far enough away for them to be able to spar without causing the others in the camp to intrude and started stretching. The spar began soon after. Naruto started with a left hook, which Kakashi easily dodged. Kakashi was preparing to retaliate when he felt the wind get knocked out of him. He looked down to see Naruto's foot in his stomach. Kakashi, reacting quickly, grabbed Naruto's leg and threw him away. Naruto landed gracefully on his feet as Kakashi aimed a roundhouse kick with his left leg at Naruto's jaw. He missed as Naruto easily ducked under the kick.

Naruto now went on the offensive once again. He swept his right leg out, sweeping Kakashi's leg out from under him. The older man sprawled out, using his hands for balance. Naruto now brought his left elbow down into Kakashi's stomach, causing the man to fall to the ground. Naruto jumped back and waited for Kakashi to lift himself off the ground.

Kakashi staggered to his feet and clutched his ribs. He noticed one cracked rib. Naruto had apparently held back. He looked at the blonde and smirked. He brought his hand up and removed his headband from covering his Sharingan eye. He immediately charged at Naruto. He sent a speedy uppercut into Naruto's chin, propelling him into the air. Kakashi then jumped up above Naruto and sent an axe kick to the boy's face. The boy hit the ground hard, creating a crater from the force of the impact. Kakashi landed next to the crater and sighed.

"I expected more," Kakashi said.

Suddenly, Kakashi felt something impact his chest. He was sent flying from the force of the strike. He was about to right himself, but was instantly caught by another blow to the left side of his jaw. Next was an uppercut to his chin. He flew up into the air, and was then met by a barrage of punches and kicks. Kakashi tried in vain to defend himself, but even with his Sharingan, the attacks were coming too fast for him to see, much less react to. He realized that this was Naruto's payback to the village. Naruto was venting his anger. Finally, an axe kick met his head and knocked him into the same crater that Naruto had created, making it bigger.

Naruto landed next to the crater expressionless. He looked down at the crumpled form of Kakashi and grinned. Now that felt good! To his surprise, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke. Before Naruto could react, he felt the cold touch of a kunai pressed to his throat.

"Got you, Naruto," said Kakashi from behind.

"No, Kakashi, you don't."

Kakashi glanced behind him to see Naruto standing with two clones. The real Naruto had a kunai to his throat. The other two had knives pointed to his back.

"Good job. I didn't expect you to react so quickly. Good spar, Naruto."

"You, too, Kakashi. Now, about my parents."

Kakashi chuckled, wiping sweat from his forehead before he replaced his headband.

"A deal's a deal. Your father's name was Minato Namikaze. He was the Fourth Hokage."

Naruto's eyes widened as he realized the underlying truth of Kakashi's words.

"Minato-sensei was a genius among shinobi. When he was still young, he met your mother, Kushina Uzumaki. He instantly fell in love. One day, she was kidnapped, and she left a trail of her red hair for her trackers to follow. No one noticed but your father. He saw the hair and followed the trail. He found your mother by himself and saved her. They were inseparable after that."

"But…the Nine-Tails…"

Kakashi sighed. "Yes, Naruto, he sealed the beast into his own son."

"W-Why?" Naruto whispered.

"Your father would never ask something of someone else that he wouldn't do himself. He couldn't ask something of another man that he would never do. It would have been against his morals."

Naruto listened intently and watched as Kakashi's eye took on a faraway look.

"Minato-sensei was on the verge of tears when he last spoke to me before he sealed the beast into you. He said that he wanted you to be regarded as a hero." Kakashi chuckled bitterly. "So much for that."

"That stupid village! They left the son of their greatest hero out on the streets to die! I can't believe their stupidity. One day, they'll see, Kakashi. They'll see what mistakes they made!"

A small tear fell from the older man's eye and stained his mask. "I'm sorry, Naruto. He left it up to me to protect you, but aside from scaring the villagers to death every time they tried to hurt you, I wasn't much help. Please, if anything, hate me instead of the village. It was my fault." He wiped his eye with his glove and smiled under his mask at Naruto.

Naruto stared ahead silently.

"He had wanted you to be as normal as possible. He never wanted the village to hate you. He was probably rolling in his grave when he saw that. Regardless, he would be proud of you now. You've grown, Naruto."

"Tell me about them," Naruto whispered.

So, Kakashi and Naruto spent the rest of the night talking of Naruto's father and mother. Had anyone heard the laughter shared by the two that night, they would have smiled at the brotherly bond that had formed between Naruto and Kakashi.