Deleted scene written in 2012, takes place in Chapter 4 after Sword Shop scene

There was a loud growl and Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly. "You've got what you wanted, Sensei, but my stomach hasn't. Come on! I smelled this great ramen stand on the way over here!"

Sakura and Sasuke declined the offer of joining them for lunch, choosing to replenish their weapon stocks and lessening the stress on their sensei's wallet (Naruto was just going to make a hole in it soon). They agreed to meet up back at the training grounds.

Naruto sat at the stall, happily slurping up his third bowl, not noticing that his teacher was too lost in thought to even touch his own.

"Naruto," Kaka-sensei addressed him suddenly, after he'd finished up eating, "last night, you said I defended you from some thugs…"

"Yeah. So? You wanna hear more about how an awesome drunk you are?"

"I already know how awesome I am, thank you very much. So what did you do to piss them off so much?"

The man noticed a slight shift in his student's posture; his shoulders were tense, his hands gripped the bowl a little more forcefully than usual. He was hiding something.

"Well, they were drunks, right? I accidentally bumped into one and even though I said sorry those jerks started yelling at me, calling me-" He stopped himself from saying anything more, a scared look was on his face. But the silver-haired man was determined, and pushed the subject.

"What did they call you? 'Safety Cone'? 'Fashion Disaster'?" He asked nonchalantly, but kept track of the boy's reaction.

"Nothing! They just called me a stupid brat and started whaling on me and I thought I could take 'em, but one of them was a Chūnin and-"

"Naruto." Kaka-sensei said his name firmly, but not unkindly. "What did they call you?"

The boy's mouth was pressed into a thin line and his forehead was creased, and it was a while before he whispered, "They called me a monster." He turned away, not wanting to see the look of revulsion that would no doubt mar the face of his teacher. The look that everyone in this village had whenever they looked at him.

"Why?"

The question had the boy turn and look at the man who uttered it. But what he saw was not disgust and hatred directed at him; his sensei's visible eye was narrowed in confusion, and he thought he saw a spark of righteous fury within them. It was…odd.

"Oh, I forgot, you don't…you don't remember." If one less person knew, all the better.

"Remember what?"

"It doesn't matter! Why do you what to know, anyway? It's not like it's gonna help get your memories back, so why bother!"

"Because if something's causing people to hurt my students, it's my job as their teacher to do something about it. And if I don't fulfill my duties as a teacher, I'll get fired and become poor and homeless and won't be able to pay for your obscene obsession with ramen. By the way, you might want to get that checked." The man said pointedly. "I really couldn't care less if I got my memories back, actually. I don't think it'd matter, because all I care about is what's in front of me, and right now, that's you. So tell me, Naruto."

The boy stood still, overcome with emotion. He…he said he cared…about me. About me, the Nine-Tailed Fox that destroyed the village. The monster child that should've been killed. The worthless dumbass that always fails at what he does. He said he cared. Naruto didn't want to tell him, he didn't want his sensei to adopt that guarded look that he had before. In the past, before he'd lost his memory, he hid it well, but Naruto could see that Kakashi remained cautious around him, always wary of the Seal breaking. Sure, he was his teacher and was one of the few people who actually cared about his wellbeing, but there was always an air of detachment around him. Always that uncertainty. Not like this Kaka-sensei.

This one was completely open. His emotions and thoughts were worn on his sleeve and there wasn't a hint of doubt in him, because he didn't know. He was crude, childish, spouts random phrases every so often, and Naruto found that to be the most amazing thing ever. He felt guilty for wishing that Kaka-sensei wouldn't regain his memories, but he didn't want to lose it; the feeling of comfort, to be around people he could trust, people who didn't know about the demon inside him, people who were relaxed and carefree around him. People who cared.

And so Naruto told him about the Nine-Tailed Fox. Because he cared.

He told him what little he knew about the Fox itself, about what it did to the village all those years ago, and how it resided within him this very moment. He told him about his childhood, of the lonely nights by the riverside, and days spent on the playground swing, seeing other children get picked up and hugged by their parents. He told him about the frightening moments spent hiding in the dumpster, wishing that the people hunting him wouldn't find him and beat him again. He told him of the pranks he'd pull on the older shinobi, hoping that maybe one of them would recognize his skill and take him on as an apprentice, and the near-misses he'd had when some of them still bore scars.

He told his sensei this, and all the while, the man just sat and listened. He didn't move, he didn't speak, he just listened. When Naruto had finished, he continued to stare with that single visible eye. The boy realized that the eye was a deep red. That's strange; didn't Kaka-sensei only have one Sharingan? He was so focused on the strange fact that he was startled when the silver-haired man spoke.

"So…do you have any cool superpowers?"

"Uh…what?" Naruto was thrown by the question.

"Superpowers. You have a super-powerful demon in you, don't 'cha? Well, shouldn't that warrant for some super-cool abilities?" The man talked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Like, I dunno, go Super-Saiyan in times of stress? Regeneration? Grow a tail? I'm drawing all this from Jump, by the way, so feel free to correct me."

"Well," Naruto scratched his head, thinking, "I guess I do rage out a bit when I'm fighting super strong enemies, but I'm hazy on the details. And I guess I have some regeneration 'cuz the stupid old Fox doesn't want me to die 'cuz that'd mean he'd die. And I'm pretty sure I'd know if I had a tail or not." He checked behind himself just to be sure.

Kaka-sensei just sighed and crossed his arms. "Huh, I thought you were gonna be cooler than that, Beruto."

"What! What do you mean by that?" Naruto retaliated.

"Well, in every manga I've read (that's the ones from yesterday and this morning) anyone who has some sort of inner power source should be able to transform and power-up into this awesome cool Final Form. Split the earth with a single strike, have a flaming aura, grow a foot taller. But you? All I see is a little brat, eating me out of house and home. The only thing monstrous about you is your sense of fashion. So you'll understand if I don't see you as a terrifying village-destroying demon monster."

"But it's true! I do have a demon in me! I…I'm not sure how to prove it to you, but ask anyone!-"

A hand was placed on his head and ruffled his hair.

"Say what you want kid, but you still look human to me, with the exception of your monster appetite. How anyone is able to eat so much in one sitting is terrifying. Now, if it was a strawberry parfait, I could understand…" His sensei trailed off, going on about parfait and their heavenly taste or something. Naruto was surprised at how…normal his reaction was. He was expecting something like surprise, or disbelief, or even fear. Not…dessert. Nothing changed.

Naruto smiled. Nothing had changed. Sensei was still the idiotic Jump-loving amnesiac, and was still his sensei. He didn't care if Naruto had some demon in him. He said it himself; he was human to him. Just a regular little brat.

"Now, if you're finished with your third or seventh helping, let's get back to the training grounds. An angry Biscuit is a slave-driving Biscuit."

"Sasuke's gonna make it worse on you if you keep calling him that."

"What was that, Beruto-kun?"

"Go die, Sensei."

Notes: Backstreet's Back, alright