Warning: Depression, Suicidal Thoughts, Self Harm, Abuse, Depictions of Blood and Violence.

CHAPTER 2: THE FALLEN

Kakashi was making his way to the Hokage's building, his hair was still standing even with the rain pounding down on it. His usual water resilient book was held in one of his handy ninja pouches, the man's mind too clouded to think about reading his favorite book.

This is worrisome, why would blood be coming off of Naruto and why was he sitting there for so long?

Kakashi grunted while going over the previous events in his head, Naruto and Sasuke's interaction. Sakura's dismissal of Naruto, the strange look in the boy's eyes.

All of this was swimming around the masked ninja's head as the rain beat down upon him.

MOMENTS EARLIER

Kakashi was kneeling next to a tree, the area surrounding the ninja was soaked with rain. His eyes were narrowed and if one were to look at the man they would think he was accusing the poor tree of a hateful act.

What they didn't, or wouldn't, know is that the man was smelling blood. Very few trackers would be able to sniff it out due to the rain and how faint it already was, but Kakashi was a seasoned ninja and had become very familiar with the smell.

Kakashi stood back up, cracking some of his joints in the process, and looked back in the direction in which Naruto left.

I wonder if he's hiding something, and if so… what.

10:42a.m. - Jonin Lounge

Kakashi sighed wearily as he waited for the Hokage to finish his meeting, enjoying the presence of his fellow Jonin and someplace not wet. Although, the couch would disagree with the action.

Other Jonin were relaxing there as well, trying to shelter from the rain and relax. Most of them gave their charges a day off and the ones that didn't have a genin squad were just enjoying their day off.

One of the younger Jonin entered the lounge with an annoyed expression on his face, he just had an unpleasant run-in with someone earlier in the day. Upon closing the door, the Jonin's eyes widened when he caught sight of Kakashi.

The younger man walked around the couch and sat in front of Kakashi, wet spots peppered the couch as he descended.

"Kakashi san, surprised to see you here today. What brings you by?" the man asked respectfully, although Kakashi heard the annoyance in his voice. Something that interested the masked ninja.

"Oh, you know. The usual, just waiting to speak to the Hokage is all." he said lazily.

Most people would think the grey haired man was extremely laid back and lazy, but those that knew him knew that he acted that way to give people a false sense of who he is. Underneath the laziness, the man is very alert and always ready to jump into action.

The Jonin in front of Kakashi visibly relaxed and nodded his head, "Ah, I see. Talking to him about that fox brat of yours?"

Kakashi's eyes immediately narrowed, all thoughts of the man in front of him being removed and replaced by that of suspicion.

"Excuse me?"

34 min prior

Naruto didn't want to go inside his apartment at the moment, he didn't want to be somewhere where it was quiet. Alone with his thoughts.

The market was the best place usually, people would be going down the street and conversations could be heard from the stores. Usually, this time of day, people would be going up and down the streets and it would be difficult not to get jostled by another person. Since it was raining though, there weren't nearly as many people in the streets. That didn't matter, as long as it wasn't silent he was fine with it.

Naruto held his head down as villagers passed by him, his golden hair was plastered to his head and his bangs covered the boy's eyes. Since he was looking down, he hoped the people in front of him were paying attention and would get out of his way as they walked. Although, most of the time the villagers would avoid him anyway so it wasn't much of a difference.

What Naruto didn't account for, is that somebody would be preoccupied and not notice the small boy in front of them.

Naruto was surprised to find himself laid out, flat on his back and slightly dazed. He heard someone else groan out as the boy was trying to sit up.

Naruto shook his head to clear the fuzziness, wincing as his wound started to bother him. The man he had ran into was already on his feet, his hand extended to Naruto to try and help him up.

The boy looked up, surprised to see this stranger offer assistance to him. Based on his looks, the man he ran into was a Jonin. He held a scar running from the base of his neck to the corner of his nose. What threw off Naruto was the smile on the man's face, it looked genuine and the way his eyes were closed made it seem like the man felt sorry for running into him.

"Sorry bout that, didn't see ya there squirt. Lemme help ya up, my name is Irom…" the man's voice slowly died off as he recognized Naruto.

Said boy was not surprised to see the expression die from the man's face, a lot of the times if the villagers didn't recognize Naruto right off the bat they quickly learned.

The man retracted his hand and stood straight, his nice expression was replaced by a stern one.

Naruto quickly started talking, "I-I'm sorry for running into you. I-I wasn't paying attention to where I w-"

The man interrupted Naruto, "I don't care brat, you're one of Kakash's right?"

Naruto nodded, "Y-yes sir."

"Humph, I would have expected that man to teach his subordinates more manners and discipline. Pathetic, I'm going to have to have a word with Hokage sama about your training." the man spat out at the end.

Naruto's eyes widened, "Why! Why would you do that? There's nothing wrong with the way Kakashi sensei teaches us."

The man shook his head and began walking off in the other direction, "That's of no concern to you akuma."

Naruto quickly stood up and began running to the man, his anger began increasing the more he thought about Kakashi getting in trouble because of him.

Villagers were watching the interaction between the two, none of them wishing to get in between a Jonin and the kid.

"Stop, you can't do this. He didn't do anything wrong!"

Naruto quickly grabbed onto the man's arm and pulled, making him turn to Naruto.

Anger was quickly replaced by fear from the look on the Jonin's face, it was filled with hatred. More than what he got from the villagers.

In a split second, Naruto found himself pinned on a wooden wall that cracked from the impact. A hand was tightly wrapped around his throat and a kunai was dangerously close to his eyes.

Naruto was struggling to breathe as the Jonin tightened his grip on the boy's throat.

"W-What a-are you do-ing? Let m-e go."

If looks of anger could kill, Naruto would have died right there. The look on the Jonin's face was enhanced by his scar, making him look even more dangerous.

"Don't. You. Dare. Touch. Me." he spat out each word.

Naruto was about to pass out just as the man threw him to the side, the boy had unfortunately landed in a muddy puddle of water. He coughed violently as he tried to regain his breathing, dark purple marks appearing around his neck.

The Jonin slowly walked to Naruto, each step making a splash in the muddy road. Naruto was still trying to regain his breathing as the man stood in front of him, the Jonin's fist shaking in anger.

The older man knelt and leaned over Naruto, his presence overwhelming the smaller boy. He roughly grabbed onto Naruto's shirt and pulled him up. The man was now standing as Naruto's feet were dangling underneath him.

Naruto could see immense anger and hatred in the man's eyes, he had no idea what was going to happen to him. The voices were no longer there and his chest was throbbing so much, blood began to seep to the front of his jacket.

"You need to learn how to treat your superiors, Genin, otherwise you're going to be taught many lessons." he promptly dropped Naruto, the boy's legs buckled underneath him as he tried to land on his feet.

Naruto was panting as he propped himself up with his right arm, his other clutching his chest where the wound was.

The Jonin scoffed, "You're nothing but a nuisance, a smear on the name of Kakashi Hatake. He's a great man and a great ninja, and now he's forced to train the likes of you. How pathetic, you're just dragging his name through the mud." He turned around and began walking to the tower.

Naruto sat there, looking down at the mud. Tears were forming as he watched his rippled reflection in the water, villagers continued going about their day. None of them caring one bit that an older man just tossed around a kid. None of them offering the kid help, none of them sparing him a glance.

The boy continued to sit there, lost in his own thoughts.

Am I really that much of a burden on Kakashi sensei? I-I-I do-don't know what to do? I'm just a burden on everybody.

Tears began flowing freely along Naruto's face, the boy curled up into a ball and started sobbing in the middle of the street.

PRESENT

"Excuse me?"

The atmosphere of warmth and relaxation in the room quickly changed to icy and tense. Each and every Jonin in the lounge halted their conversations and froze from hearing Kakashi's words.

All of them held mixed feelings about the Kyuubi vessel, but they all were mostly indifferent to the boy. Very few within the ranks thought differently, they all thought it was shameful of the leaf to allow the Kyuubi to live after killing one quarter of their ranks and their village leader. Unfortunately, that hate fell onto the boy that housed it.

The boy was well known as a prankster and to be very loud, most of the Jonin thought the boy to be annoying and that it was just a phase. Others thought it was the Kyuubi's influence on the boy to get back on the village for trapping it once again.

Never before had the village dealt with a raging Biju, much less a potentially unstable Jinchuriki. Word quickly spread what happened on the bridge at the wave country and that didn't help the Jonin's opinion of the boy.

Kakashi kept his sharp gaze on the man in front of him, "Care to explain what you just said, Iromen."

Iromen's expression turned from content to confusion, "What do you mean Kakashi san, were you not going to speak with the Hokage about disciplining the Kyuubi vessel?"

"And why would I need to do that?"

Iromen scoffed, "It's obvious isn't it, he needs to be disciplined more. No disrespect for you, but it seems teaching that Uchiha boy may be taking up too much of your time. The vessel doesn't seem to have the proper respect for it's seniors from what I've seen. If you want, since I don't have a team of my own, I wouldn't mind assisting you in that endeavor."

Kakashi's visible eye twitched, he unconsciously clenched his right hand after hearing Iromen speak. The masked Jonin slowly stood up and looked down upon Iromen.

"Let's get things straight here shall we, Tokubetsu Jonin, I have no problems teaching my Genin squad and Naruto has no problems with discipline. Understood."

Iromen was surprised that Kakashi had pulled rank on him, but the man wouldn't let this just go away like that. He too stood up to face Kakashi.

"It doesn't look like it to me, it seems your time failing one team after another has dulled your teaching skills, Kakashi."

Small amounts of killer intent began leaking out of Kakashi as his anger rose, something that did not go unknown from the surrounding Jonin.

"You seem to forget what Naruto has done, and been doing, for the village Iromen." Kakashi said icily.

Iromen shook his head, "No, it seems that you have forgotten what the Kyuubi has done to this village! To your beloved Sensei!" He said all of this while pointing at Kakashi.

Little did any of the Jonin in the room know, was that Naruto was just outside the door of the Jonin lounge and heard the man screaming. The boy was on his way to the Hokage to let the man know his apartment was broken into once again.

The old man had instructed the boy to let him know as soon as possible of any disturbances regarding his living space. A lot of the times he didn't tell the old man, but today just wasn't a good day for Naruto and decided to come to him this one time.

Now, Naruto wasn't known to eavesdrop on other people, but it was difficult when those people were yelling.

The boy stood frozen, just barely past the door, looking down as he heard the Jonin from before talk about him to his sensei. Naruto couldn't help but stay rooted to that one spot, he desperately wanted to hear the rest of the argument.

Kakashi's muscles tensed at Iromen's words, "Don't you dare talk about that. You could never understand what I've been through." The man's gaze was icy cold and voice was filled with venom.

"Hah! The high and mighty Kakashi Hatake, Copy Ninja of the Leaf. Mastered over a thousand ninjutsu and creator of the Lightning Blade, telling me I could never experience loss."

Iromen hardened his gaze at Kakashi, "I experienced the same loss you did that night, don't think you're special. The Kyuubi took many lives that day. It took the life of my dear love, took the lives of our comrades and their families."

Kakashi's expression didn't change one bit, "Stop."

The man shook his head and looked remorseful, "How can you not see it Kakashi! The same beast that took your sensei resides in that blond haired brat! How can you not despise him, how do you not hate him!"

Iromen was pleading with Kakashi, he wanted his comrade to see sense in his words. Kakashi was someone he looked up to, and he couldn't see the man be blinded. Not when it came to the Kyuubi vessel.

Naruto was still outside the door shaking, every word, every accusation stung the boy. He feared what Kakashi would say next.

Every Jonin in the room was silent, not wishing to add their opinion. All of them ready to jump in to aid Iromen, they all knew Kakashi could easily handle the man but they knew they would have to stop Kakashi from killing the Jonin when he stepped out of line. Unfortunately, it seemed as if he was treading along that line.

Kakashi sighed, he knew all too well where this anger, this confusion came from. "I did despise him, every time I looked at him all I could see was the Kyuubi. I couldn't bear to even think about him. My hate for him, my anger..." Kakashi trailed off and looked down in shame, his shoulders slumped.

Naruto's eyes were wide with horror, fresh tears were running down his scarred cheeks. The poor boy was finding it hard to breathe.

W-w-what, it can't be. I-I do… Why, why Kakashi sensei. I-I thought you cared about me, that I was a precious person to you. I-Is that all I am to you, a vessel?

More thoughts were swarming the boy's mind, the voices quickly returning and bombarding within his skull.

Naruto grabbed onto his head with his left hand while running from the building, wanting to get away from the people, the voices. To get away from people that didn't care for him.

A few seconds passed and Kakashi took a deep breath and shook his head, "Even at the bridge I thought it was over, the beast had finally broken free. But then I saw it with my own eyes. That vessel you speak about, he pushed away the Kyuubi's influence. Even after seeing his friend die right in front of him. He was able to push away the hatred and feel remorse for the person that killed his first friend. So I'll tell you, no, I'll tell everyone in this room. Naruto Uzumaki has one of the strongest wills and most caring of hearts in this village."

He paused for one moment and the icy glare returned in his eyes, "If anyone ever dares to speak ill of him in front of me again, you won't survive."

Kakashi then made his way to exit the room, leaving every Jonin there shocked. Even Iromen was shocked at the statement as his gaze followed Kakashi while the man left.

When he turned forward, Iromen was shocked to see that every Jonin was glaring at the man. He nervously gulped and quickly left the room.

BREAK: CHAPTER 3 NEXT

A/N:

Thanks for the reviews and favorites and such. Didn't expect to get this much traction lol. Shoutout to Sommernacht for beta reading this.

Thanks a bunch again for reading and following or favoriting the story, means a lot to me.

Anyway,

Ja Ne