Author Notes: Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas and a happy New Year! Now, getting down to business...I'd like to address Sonseba again, who reviewed once again anonymously with a question.
It's never 'happened' before, at least not in the period of time that Naruto/Minato exists in, if you get what I mean. There has been no definite answer as to what has really happened. The body Naruto exists in currently doesn't belong to Minato or Naruto himself – although Naruto believes it is Minato's. No one knows whose it is. After all, remember that he was zapped back in time to the outside of Konoha! Only the evil little Minato in Naruto's brain knows all...
I'm so sorry this chapter is late! Christmas and New Year celebrations kept me busy for pretty much the whole week, and I haven't had much time to sit down and actually write. And to think I left you guys with such a poor ending for the last chapter...once again, sorry to keep you waiting!
Jiraiya sighed, cracking his neck to the side. He and his team had been on the road for a few hours already, but so far none of his students had opened their mouths – a rather rare occurrence, in his eyes. Kasumi had looked like she wanted to break the silence that hung over the team once or twice; however, she stopped for some reason, biting her lip and looking down again without saying a word. Katsuo on the other hand, was drifting along the edge of the team by himself, possibly thinking of the mission they had just completed.
Naruto himself was frowning like there was no tomorrow, occasionally staring off into space before blinking, shaking his head and once more seemingly concentrating on the path. However, as soon as he did so his eyes would glaze over again, forcing him into the same loop again and again. It was as if he wasn't even focusing on where they were going – but then, everyone had to retain some kind of awareness of where they were travelling, even the most accomplished of ninja. At this rate, Naruto could be caught off guard by a change in scenery, of all things!
Jiraiya frowned too, mirroring Naruto's facial expression. Could Naruto possibly be still mulling over the assassination? Had Naruto not been ready, as Jiraiya had thought he might have been?
Abruptly, even as the Sannin was watching, Naruto froze in mid air, staring straight forward but not making any movement. Moments later, he relaxed loosely, his head slumping onto his chest and his entire body pitching forward as he began his descent downward, clothes flapping uselessly in the wind.
Jiraiya yelled out, changing direction immediately in order to catch Naruto. Kasumi and Katsuo, who hadn't yet seen what had just transpired, jerked at the sound of Jiraiya's call before they too dashed forward towards the other members of their team.
The Toad Sannin dived through the air, ignoring the air flying into his eyes and streamlining his body to reach the ground before Naruto, arms extended as the boy crashed unknowingly into him. Jiraiya groaned as the impact pushed both of them to the ground despite his preparedness to take his weight, gently lowering Naruto to the ground.
"Sensei! Minato!" Katsuo called out, landing on the leafy floor next to Naruto. He reached out, waving his hand in front of the blonde chunin's face. Naruto's eyes were wide open, staring blankly into the air, almost as if he was dead. His arms were splayed limply to the side with no strength in them at all. "What on earth...?"
Jiraiya suddenly straightened in his kneeling position by Naruto's side, whipping his head backwards to stare in the direction of the village they had come from.
"What is it, sensei?" Kasumi asked from behind him, also turning her head. "Is someone following us?"
Jiraiya shook his head, frowning. "I left a shadow clone behind earlier, before we left. It just dissipated. Those Kumo nin...they're on the way already. They might pursue us if that chakra sensor guy manages to catch sight of us. We've got to move quickly and get out of his range!"
"Sure thing, Jiraiya-sensei," Katsuo said easily, grunting as he placed one of Naruto's arms around his shoulder. Jiraiya finally let out a smile, gesturing for the genin to let go.
"Let me do that," the Sannin replied. "I can move faster than you with Minato." He took Naruto from Katsuo, slinging the chunin's inert body over his shoulder. "Let's go!"
As the company began movement again, Jiraiya's eyes narrowed minutely, silently thinking over the events that had happened.
'I'm not being my usual self,' he mused to himself. 'I haven't taken a mission like this with students before. Perhaps returning to Konoha shall do me some good.'
Naruto groaned, sitting up and spitting out what felt like slime from his mouth. He wiped a hand across his face, letting out a resigned grunt as he realised he was sitting in the sewer water of his mind.
A ray of light fell over Naruto and he looked up, squinting against the bright light that shone upon his face. He scowled. "Minato, stop with the dramatics."
Abruptly, the light disappeared, leaving the two blondes in the dank chamber once again. Minato stepped forwards, flinging something through the air. It sank into the water before Naruto with a small plop. "You're the one who should stop!" he retorted angrily, bending down to Naruto's level. "Thanks to you, the future is now unstable! Do you know what you have done?!"
Slowly, Naruto reached out a hand and searched through the water for the thing Minato had dropped. His fingers brushed against something sharp and he gritted his teeth, feeling a minute amount of blood well from his finger. Now knowing what the object was, Naruto's hand ghosted up the handle, his index finger sliding into the familiar metal ring and dragging the object out of the water.
"A kunai?" he asked questioningly, cocking his head to the side. The question seemed to tick Minato off even more, as the older man scowled more fiercely.
"Yes, a kunai!" he said, jabbing a finger in Naruto's direction. "Why? Why did you have to use a Rasengan instead of this? You idiot!"
Naruto stared at the sharp steel knife dangling from his finger. Now that Minato mentioned it...why had he used the Rasengan?
"I want Minato to use that neat little trick he played on that Cloud kunoichi. I'm pretty sure that could be classified as an assassination technique, right?"
Jiraiya's words came floating back into Naruto's head. Minato was right! Why had he just listened to Jiraiya? He didn't know anything! A kunai would have been sufficient! Naruto glanced back up towards Minato, who had sloshed towards him some more.
"You have to be careful!" the Yondaime hissed. "I don't understand how you can just simply change things just by whim. You're not acting like a shinobi! Where is your Will of Fire? You're not a Konoha ninja if you can't do these things right!"
"Shut up!" Naruto yelled, throwing the kunai towards Minato. The older blonde caught it between his fingers deftly, shoving it deeply into one of his trench coat pockets. "I asked you once before why I couldn't change anything, and you didn't give me a proper answer! I feel so useless here!"
Naruto looked away, sighing. "If I managed to change something here, then maybe it would have been for the best. Maybe...maybe Sasuke wouldn't have turned to Orochimaru. Or even...maybe Orochimaru would have never defected..."
"You can't be sure that anything good would happen," Minato replied harshly. "What if you managed to make things worse? How would you rectify it, then?"
"You're so stubborn!" Naruto shouted, throwing his fist into the water with a loud splash in exasperation. "Why don't you get it? You're not even acknowledging that there is a chance!"
Minato closed his eyes, standing up taller. "I wish the events of the past could be changed too," he said. Then, his countenance grew harder. "But that will never happen. One change is enough to affect the entire world," Minato continued coldly. "The Shinigami would eat your soul."
Naruto blinked, clambering to his knees. "The Shinigami...?" he asked in confusion.
"Do you know why you are in this body?" Minato asked. "You attempted to perform a Hiraishin, but accidentally activated part of the written seal – that is, time. Somehow, through some sheer idiotic luck you managed to pull yourself here."
Minato started to pace. "But it's not just you!" he said. "I went through this too! I activated a seal array and ended up in a six year old Minato's body. I had a Minato in my mind as well, advising me. And I followed the rules, unlike you!"
With a low growl, Naruto pushed his hands into the water, sending a huge wave towards Minato. "Go away!" he yelled. "I don't want to hear that! That was your problem. I'm going to do things my way!"
With that, Naruto squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself away from the sewer. As he opened his eyes again he saw the world around him dimming, fading into black with an urgent looking Minato reaching for him.
Naruto awoke with a start, feeling the signs of a massive headache forming behind his eyes. He groaned, blinking groggily, and suppressed a cry as he felt the world jolt before turning him upside down. His feet touched a flat surface and he looked up, seeing a familiar face staring back down at him.
"Ero-sennin!" Naruto exclaimed, realising that Jiraiya had been carrying him the whole time he had been unconscious. Jiraiya sighed, rolling his eyes.
"And here I was, hoping that you had forgotten about that phase already..." he mumbled. "What happened, by the way?"
Naruto shrugged, looking away. "I don't really know myself," the chunin muttered in reply.
Katsuo, who had been travelling on a level lower than Jiraiya and Naruto, leapt back up in file with Naruto. "Back to life, huh?" he grinned, before adopting a more serious look. "Maybe you should see my dad when we get back to Konoha. He can give you a check up or something..."
Naruto smiled faintly, but shook his head. "Thanks, but I think I'll pass," he said. He looked up ahead just in time to see Kasumi, his other teammate, drop back from where she had been taking point.
"Don't be too sure about that," she replied to his statement. "Tetsuya-san is wonderful at what he does!"
Jiraiya slowed down, letting his students take the lead. Having Naruto back again...it was almost as if he was the glue that held the team together. Without him, they all drifted away...
Well, something good had definitely come out of Naruto's awakening.
The air was getting thinner, Sakumo noted with a bare glimmer of distaste. He and his teammates had been crunching up the slope for a few hours now, with the bleak landscape that was the mountainside showing little difference during the whole trek. However, shortly before, they had passed through a tightly bunched circle of clouds – becoming hopelessly drenched in the process – which had to be a good sign. Sakumo himself suspected that the clouds had been a technique of some sort performed by Cloud ninja, although he had no evidence to support the theory. The very air around him was saturated with chakra, after all. He couldn't tell if there was any in clouds or not.
"We're going to be intercepted soon," Konoha's White Fang murmured quietly. "It's been too quiet, and there's no evidence of the –"
"State your business inside Kumogakure."
Sakumo froze, unsure if the ninja who had just stepped out had overheard him or not. He hadn't even felt his presence due to the huge amounts of chakra in the atmosphere – it had really made his chakra detection skills go awry.
The shinobi was wearing a mask that covered his entire face, with a cloth wrapped around his neck. He was wearing the distinctive Kumo chunin vest, but somehow Sakumo doubted that he was alone – or a chunin. Even through the sense-dulling chakra mist the Konoha jounin could see that this ninja clearly was not to be underestimated.
"We're travellers," Sakumo spoke up. "Visiting a relative inside Kumo. I was wondering...you see...we've been travelling for quite a while now..."
Sakumo could see the Kumo nin raise his fist and throw it in his face, and his survival instincts yelled at him to dodge, but he kept his stance, allowing himself to collapse onto the rocky, sloped ground as the punch sank into his cheek. He allowed himself to raise a hand and rub his face as an added measure.
The Cloud ninja nodded to himself, retracting his hand. "Pass on through," he grunted.
As Sakumo and his team shuffled past the man, the silver haired man let a small smile grace his features. The ninja had used a basic test to determine whether Sakumo was another ninja or not. If he had dodged the blow – which would have been too fast for a civilian to evade – the Kumo nin would have attacked him, safe in the knowledge that Sakumo was a ninja as well. It certainly was blunt, but did the trick nonetheless.
Sakumo, though...
Sakumo had seen this same base trick performed before – and Kumo was not feared because of its softness – so he had been half expecting the ninja to lash out at him.
"Hey, Sakumo," Kyougi murmured to him. "You alright?"
Sakumo touched his cheek once more before shaking his head. "I've gotten a lot worse before," he replied. "Don't worry about me."
The last member of the team suddenly spoke. "This is..." Kaisan whispered, staring.
The central mountain, which the three had climbed up, was the largest out of the collection. Small roads snaked around the circumference, with houses dotted seemingly randomly around them. Nearest to the peak was the Raikage's Tower, looming imperiously over the entire village.
"Kumo is so big..." Kaisan murmured. From the bottom, the mountain peak – and the village – had seemed to small, but up close it was almost as big as Konoha!
Kyougi shook his head. "We're going to have a hell of a time searching for this informant guy," he said. "Come on, let's leave. We've got to find ourselves somewhere to stay, and we can't waste any more time. Hokage-sama is counting on us."
It was early in the evening when Naruto unlocked the door to his apartment, slipping inside and shutting the door behind him firmly. The familiar scent of the room made him smile ruefully, and he leaned back against the sturdy wood behind him.
The apartment was in the exact same state as Naruto had left it in when he had departed from Konoha – not really a surprising fact, since no one else but him owned it – except for a slight sheen of dust that covered everything. Actually, now that Naruto thought about it for a bit, he had been half expecting a surprise awaiting him inside the flat courtesy of Kushina. It was something she would do, after all. However, his apartment was untouched, and Naruto let loose with a few Kage Bunshin to clean up the place quickly.
He shrugged off his chunin jacket, tossing it onto his bed and ducking back out of the room again, this time heading into the bathroom. After he finished splashing water on his face, Naruto looked up, smiling faintly at the chin length bangs that hung next to his face. It was just another noticeable difference between his current hairstyle and the one he had had before. Perhaps Naruto would get himself a short trim sometime.
While gripping the rim of the wash basin, the blonde chunin stared at the image in the mirror for a few more moments before turning around, drying his face in a hand towel. Then he left the bathroom, strolling into his living room and inspecting the work that his clones had done in a matter of minutes.
The result had been rather satisfactory. Feather dusters had flown through the air in Naruto's short absence from the room, and he could now safely collapse onto one of the sofas without fear of dust flaking up all around him.
With a nod, Naruto dispelled his remaining clones and grabbed a cup of ramen out of the fridge. Buying ramen every now and then was a habit he still hadn't gotten himself out of, no matter how many times he tried to resist. He guessed the ramen was just an addiction that no body switching would stop.
Naruto crammed the ramen into the microwave, at the same time opening a drawer and extracting a pair of chopsticks, rinsing them in the sink. The microwave beeped, and he extracted the ramen, peeling off the cover and preparing to dive into the food.
There was a crisp knock at the door, and Naruto paused with a single strand hanging from his mouth. He slurped it up before baring his teeth at the offending sound in a rather animalistic way before walking to the door with his ramen still in hand.
"Namikaze Minato?" a ninja wearing a flak jacket asked.
"Yeah," Naruto answered, tilting the cup backwards and taking a short sip of the deliciously warm broth.
"Hokage-sama wants to see you," the chunin replied in an abrupt manner. Naruto sighed, looking grumpily down at his ramen.
"Fine, fine," he mumbled, retreating back into the apartment to grab his keys while still maintaining a careful hold over his cup of ramen. Then he shut the door behind him, locking it firmly, rolling his eyes when he realised that the messenger had already disappeared. 'What a rude guy.'
Naruto looked down the corridor, half expecting Kushina to come bursting out of her apartment to shower him with a delightful cacophony of loud noises.
'I think the old man's getting impatient.'
Naruto whipped around at the sudden noise, inhaling sharply as he heard another, fainter chuckle.
'Relax. It's only me, after all.'
Naruto made a strangled noise in the back of his throat. "Oh, great," he huffed sarcastically. "He can talk to me while I'm awake now, too."
"Yo, old man!" Naruto called as he entered the office, slurping up the last of his noodles as he barged in through the door. "What's up?"
"The sky!" came a yell from above him. A sudden whooshing noise signified the start of something falling rapidly from overhead, and looking up, Naruto took a large step to the side, at the same time sticking his chopsticks into the plastic container. With a large 'splat' noise, a large amount of blue paint splashed onto the ground, slowly sinking into the carpet. Shortly after, the metal bucket followed, clattering to the ground with a loud clang.
Naruto eyed the mess on the floor warily. "I don't even want to know where that came from," he muttered. "Or why you were holding onto it in the Hokage's office."
"Aw, come on," Kushina laughed, slinging an arm over Naruto's shoulder and attempting to give him a noogie with the other. Naruto was able to avoid the sensation by simply moving his head and slapping Kushina's arm away.
There was a cough from further up the room, causing both of ninja to momentarily pause, staring at their leader.
"I wonder how I'm going to get that out of the carpet," Sarutobi mused, blowing smoke out from between his lips. Kushina actually blushed, raising her arm to rub at the back of her neck in a way reminiscent of the Naruto of the past.
"Uh huh. Anyway, talk to you later, Minato! I'm out of here!"
Kushina turned around and ran for her life, pulling open the doors and disappearing as they swung closed again.
Sarutobi beckoned Naruto forwards. "I have a few matters I would like to discuss with you," he informed him. "I heard your mission was a success." The sentence wasn't a question or a statement, but rather an opening for casual talk.
"That's correct," Naruto affirmed, purposefully not telling the Hokage of his use of Rasengan. Minato would be pleased. "We completed it pretty quickly."
"That's good to hear," the Hokage said, smoke drifting out of the corner of his mouth. "You see, I've been quite busy here in Konoha. I have heard that foreign ninja have been infiltrating Fire Country through our border patrols, something which is definitely not conducive to our precarious peace position. Do you have any thoughts on that matter?"
Although the Third's question was seemingly innocuous, Naruto could see the steel behind his words. "There are some things that even I didn't know about," he replied in an equally even tone. "I didn't study history until my later years in Konoha, and most of my knowledge is comprised of brief memories that Ero-sennin or Kakashi-sensei shared with me. Other than that, I'm just as clueless as you."
Sarutobi inclined his head. "I see," he said quietly. "I was hoping you would be able to shed some light as to how to combat these opponents. We have no real evidence to threaten the other villages against, and we have no idea where all these shinobi are going. Konoha is in the dark."
The Hokage allowed Naruto to digest this new information for a moment before continuing. "I have heard news that the Kazekage has disappeared from Suna," he said.
Naruto sucked in a breath, eyes flashing in anger. "Sasori," he hissed venomously. Sarutobi lifted an eyebrow.
"Akasuna no Sasori?" he inquired curiously. "What does he have to do with anything?"
"He's the–"
Naruto's mouth clicked shut. If he told the Sandaime now, would the man inform Suna? If he did, then history would be changed dramatically once more, something Minato surely wouldn't approve of.
"He's the one who kidnapped the Kazekage," Naruto said defiantly, forging on despite Minato's exclamations of anger.
Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. "Are these two events related?" he asked. "The Kazekage's disappearance from Suna and the foreign shinobi, I mean."
The chunin shook his head. "No, I don't think..." he said, before pausing and reconsidering. "I don't know," Naruto finally admitted. Truth be told, prior to launching himself to the past, the blonde really hadn't paid much attention to history, except for the small snippets that his various teachers would occasionally give.
The Third Hokage nodded, taking in this new information in stride. "Then would you offer any tactics on how to get rid of our unwanted visitors?" he asked.
Naruto started to shake his head, answering in a negative, before he thought of something that Kakashi had briefly mentioned once. "Actually..." he started. "Iwa is going to be one of our main opponents. They seem to favour using a camouflage technique – Iwagakure no Jutsu. That's probably why you'll have trouble locating them."
Sarutobi nodded. "I'll keep in mind that particular piece of information," he promised. "Now, moving onto other matters..."
Naruto tilted his head inquisitively. What else beside the new threat would Sarutobi want to talk about?
"You see, Kakashi has entered the ninja academy," the Sandaime said. "I promised his father, Sakumo, who was quite worried about his son, that I would assign him a mentor – an older student or another ninja, perhaps – who could help him if he was struggling."
Naruto didn't like where this was going. "And is he struggling?" he asked, trying to keep his tone calm.
Sarutobi smiled benignly. "Not at all," he replied. Naruto sighed, relieved.
"That is why I would like you to mentor Kakashi, Minato," he continued cheerfully. Naruto shot bolt upright in his seat, disbelief written all over his features.
"Mentor –Kaka –he –?" Naruto stuttered out, looking thunderstruck. Sarutobi chuckled, waiting for the chunin to regain his composure. "Why me?" he finally asked, crossing his arms.
Sarutobi spread his hands, smiling. "I can think of no other, better person than you, Minato," he replied. "Kakashi may not be having trouble at the academy, but you know just as well as I do that his current state of mind – no matter how advanced he is for his age – does not fit a ninja."
"Aren't you the one who sent him there in the first place?" Naruto retorted, scrabbling for a response that would not involve him teaching the silver haired kid. "I can't teach. I've never done it before, and I'm not willing to either."
'You'll end up teaching him anyway,' Minato replied easily. Naruto grimaced.
"Minato."
Naruto looked up into Sarutobi's now serious expression. "Think of it as work experience. Kakashi is still a child – so naturally I would want to pick someone who is also young, yet experienced. That certainly narrows down my field of possibilities. And out of all the shinobi in Konoha, you are the 'youngest' yet who is still by far possibly one of our strongest."
Naruto shifted, and Sarutobi pinned him down with a stare. "No other ninja in Konoha can boast that they are several years older than their body, after all."
Naruto sighed, knowing that the Hokage would somehow force it on him even if he attempted to resist. "I don't even know what I'm supposed to do," he muttered. Sarutobi's face softened into a small smile.
"You could teach him a few practical-wise things," he offered. "Perhaps mostly theory work, although I don't think Kakashi would approve very much."
"Does he even know?" Naruto asked.
Sarutobi actually laughed this time. "No. I suppose you can be the one to break it to him."
Naruto stood up, sure that the discussion with the Hokage was finally at an end. Perhaps now he could get some real food into him. "When should I meet up with Kakashi?" he inquired. "And how often should I?"
"Well..." Sarutobi considered slowly. "Perhaps you could start soon – this week, if it is possible. And I believe you have a little history with him. Another reason why I chose you."
Then the Hokage placed his chin on his hand, looking thoughtful. "Maybe you should ask Kakashi himself when he would like you back."
Naruto snorted, using the back of his knees to propel his chair backwards.
"Your teammate will be leaving for Suna in a few days, right?" Sarutobi called out when Naruto was just about to turn. The blonde paused, thinking.
"Yeah, that's right," Naruto said slowly. "He's going to be training with Inoichi and Chouza to get their teamwork up to par, so our team won't be going on missions for a while. That's good for –" Then his eyes widened in realisation. "The Kazekage is missing! Are the exams still on?"
"I imagine they are," Sarutobi replied, nodding. "I haven't received any word otherwise."
Naruto gritted his teeth. What if something happened to them while they were in Suna? What if enemy shinobi had infiltrated Wind Country as well?
"There is no need to worry, Minato," the Hokage said as if reading Naruto's thoughts. "I've already decided that I will send quite a few other ninja to accompany the teams. Not enough to put a serious dent in our forces, but enough to ensure protection, I think."
"That's a relief," Naruto murmured softly.
"Now I suppose you're tired and wanting to get back home," Sarutobi said, once more looking positively jovial. "You've just returned from your mission, after all. Shall I see you soon?"
"If you want to," Naruto grumbled, heading for the door.
"By the way," the Third's voice floated back to him as he laid his hand on the doorknob. "All those years ago, when you first told me of your true origins."
Naruto's eyebrows drew together but he didn't turn back around to face the Hokage. The hand around the knob clenched. "Yes?" he asked tightly, preparing himself for another statement that would completely throw him for a loop.
"You said your name was Uzumaki Naruto," Sarutobi replied, a faint wisp of amusement lacing his voice. "Are you by any chance related to Uzumaki Kushina?"
Naruto felt a familiar heat rising into his cheeks. "She's my mother," he muttered, before turning the knob and leaving hurriedly in a manner reminiscent of Kushina, leaving behind an amused looking Sarutobi.
On the way out of the Hokage Tower and back home, Naruto threw his empty cup of ramen into a waste bin, shoving the greasy chopsticks – after he gave them a quick wipe – into one of his pouches. As he continued his trek home, the blonde chunin was unaware of three sets of eyes watching him – each unaware of the other and observing him from different hiding positions.
Kakashi was kneeling on the grass, extracting a handful of metal weapons from a large – and heavy – tin box he had brought earlier, not really caring that his black pants were slowly becoming wet due to the morning dew seeping through the fabric. He was currently in a vacated training ground, which was fine by him – there would be less people coming over to ask him what a child like him was doing in ninja territory. Additionally, Kakashi had observed that not many ninja usually visited this place – so in his mind, it was the perfect location for training in solitude.
"Good morning, Kakashi."
The five year old twitched and stiffened, but didn't turn around or look up from what he was doing. He recognised the voice. "What are you doing here?" he asked neutrally, digging out a kunai from the box before tossing it away in disgust. Unbalanced weapons had no place in his small inventory of various items.
"I decided to take a walk and conveniently stumbled across you," Naruto replied. It was certainly a strange experience, talking to his former teacher while he was a kid. And being asked to mentor him, to boot!
"So, what are you doing?" came the same voice, but this time from a different direction. This time, Kakashi did look up, eyes widening ever so slightly when another Naruto smiled cheerfully down at him, suspended upside down from a tree branch.
"How did you do that?" Kakashi demanded, but Naruto wasn't listening. Rather, he was busy trying to maintain his chakra control due to his sudden outbreak of laughter.
"AHAHA!" the shadow clone pointed at Kakashi, snickering madly. It fell off the tree, exploding into smoke before it reached the ground. Kakashi whipped around to look at the first Naruto.
Naruto had a quizzical expression on his face for a moment before he fully assimilated the memories of his Kage Bunshin. Then, his mouth split his face in half too, before he dropped to his knees, clutching his stomach.
"What's so funny?!" Kakashi all but shouted, half rising to his feet before attempting to calm himself down. Why was he getting so worked up over the older boy's obvious amusement?
"Your – your mask!" Naruto gasped out, descending into another fit of giggles at the very thought. It made Kakashi look even more like his adult self, although the picture was still missing...something. As soon as the blonde finished articulating the sentence, Kakashi scowled, a hand rising almost self consciously towards the mask.
"Is there something wrong with it?" he challenged. Naruto shook his head, sitting back up and stifling the last vestiges of his mirth.
"Nah," Naruto flapped his hand in dismissal. "It just reminded me of something."
'Damn right!' Minato cheered in his head. Inwardly, Naruto scowled. Ever since the Yondaime had gained the ability to speak while Naruto was fully lucid and awake, he had exploited the opportunities presented and was now a constant annoyance.
Kakashi, apparently bored with just watching Naruto, turned once more back to his box of weapons, grabbing two shuriken each with each hand, whipping around and throwing them in one quick motion.
Two of the shuriken flew straight, sinking into a foam, circular target set up down the field, while the other two – obviously the ones he had held between his fourth and fifth fingers – whizzed wildly through the air. One of them glanced by the target, chipping off part of the foam, while the other didn't even touch it. Naruto, who was still on his backside, looked up lazily towards Kakashi. The boy – how odd, to call Kakashi that – wasn't quite glaring, but he was certainly giving the shuriken a fierce look.
"Don't be so hard on yourself," Naruto advised, mentally sighing at Kakashi's wound up expression. "I reckon your fellow students can't even do that, and they're all older than you."
"I don't care," Kakashi declared. "I'm better than all of them. I need to be able to do this!"
Naruto shifted, raising his eyebrows. He needed to do it?
"You can get the first two in, right?" he asked the rhetorical question. The silver gravity defying haired boy nodded. "My primary fingers," Kakashi replied, grabbing another set of four and holding them in between his fingers again, showing Naruto. "My father showed me this trick before he left."
Naruto nodded. "You can get the first two in because your fingers are accustomed to flicking them the exact amount needed to soar properly. Your other fingers, on the other hand..." he trailed off, letting Kakashi make the deduction.
"Shouldn't my hand –" the academy student started, but was interrupted by Naruto.
"Just try one," the blonde said, reaching upwards and yanking away three of the shuriken that Kakashi held in his hands. "And feel what your hand is doing."
Kakashi did as he told, flinging the weapon with an ease borne from long and hard practice. The shuriken flew true, smacking satisfyingly in the centre of the board. Against his better judgement, Naruto was impressed. He didn't know many five year olds who could do this – Itachi was an exception, and he probably wasn't even born yet.
Flicking his eyes from the target back to Kakashi, Naruto was vaguely amused to see him staring at his own hands as if they had somehow transformed into strange, alien appendages. Then his eyes clouded over, his expression turning stormy.
"I should have seen that before," Kakashi muttered, clenching his hand into a fist. Now this was more like the attitude of an arrogant genius child that an older Kakashi had proclaimed himself to be.
"Hey, I said it before, and I'll say it again," Naruto protested. "Don't be so hard on yourself. You can't be perfect all the time."
Kakashi looked hesitant for a moment before reluctantly nodding. "I guess so," he muttered, starting to walk towards the target to collect his shuriken. Seeing him move, Naruto's hands easily made the seals for the Konoha Shunshin, disappearing in a whirl of leaves and rematerialising next to the shuriken riddled foam board, easily plucking the metal projectiles from the board and throwing them to Kakashi, confident that the academy student could catch them.
Kakashi looked like he wanted to say something about the Shunshin, but shut his mouth. "Are you leaving now?" he questioned the older boy.
Naruto glanced upwards, taking note of the now clear sky, almost free of clouds. "That works too," he replied, smiling a little. "Ero-sennin probably wants Kasumi and I to meet somewhere soon, although doubtless he'll turn up late."
The blonde turned to leave, but just before he started walking away he twisted around again to face Kakashi. "By the way, the Hokage asked me to be a mentor of sorts for you...because of your unique position," Naruto said rather off-handedly, as if it was something he had forgotten to say before.
'Yeah, right!' Minato replied sarcastically. 'Throw him an oddball statement like that and see how he takes it!' But the Fourth didn't seem too annoyed, so Naruto thought that he must have done something right.
Kakashi looked surprised for a moment before nodding. "I guess that's...alright with me," he said, blinking a little. Naruto realised what had been missing when he had seen Kakashi with his mask on before. His left eye was uncovered, and there was no perpetual red Sharingan spinning.
The five year old began to backtrack, placing the shuriken back into his large box carefully before shutting the lid firmly. Naruto raised an eyebrow. That must have been heavy to carry all the way to the training grounds.
"Here." As Kakashi turned to Naruto in surprise, the chunin tossed an empty sealing scroll that he had fished out from one of his numerous pockets on his flak jacket. As the silver haired boy caught it, Naruto elucidated. "Seal that big box of junk into this scroll, if you can," he explained. "It's a lot lighter."
If I can. A test? Kakashi looked down at the scroll in his hand, a small smile – although unseen through the fabric of his mask – gracing his features. However, Naruto could see his eyes half closing in what he had come to know as a smile. "See ya," he said, turning again and raising his hand in a farewell wave.
"Minato," Kakashi said, stepping forwards. Naruto stopped, but didn't turn from his position. "Thank you, Minato," the boy said.
"No problem," Naruto replied, feeling just the slightest bit of warmth for the child. He wasn't quite attached, though. Kakashi was still Kakashi, after all.
'See Naruto, you can teach after all.'
"Shut up."
Author Notes: There's another chapter! Less scenes and more Naruto/Minato. There was also a tint of Kushina too – she's still not much of a main character yet, but she will be gaining some depth and importance in later chapters.
Next chapter will be the start of something big, I hope! Chunin exams, Cloud infiltration and more! Questions, comments, suggestions, corrections and of course reviews are very much appreciated. Until next time!
-Dream Keys
Shinigami: Death God
Kage Bunshin: Shadow Clone
Konoha Shunshin: Leaf Body Flicker