Thank you all for reviewing! This begins the random oneshots section. Parental!Kakashi Kakanaru is addictive, let me tell you. Set during the pilot, with Iruka, Mizuki, Naruto, and added in badass Kakashi.

"Iruka-sensei!"

Naruto's scream pierced through the suffocating silence of the forest. Startled birds flew upwards in a mass of fluttering wings and frantic caws, and the leaves trembled with the rush of the animals fleeing from the panicked yell echoing through the trees. But even as the flock of birds took to the skies, Naruto remained frozen in place, the only sound he could hear being his own heart pounding wildly in his ears.

Iruka's blood dripped slowly down at a steady pace to plop onto his shaking hand, the vicious liquid cold against his skin. His tanned face, one that was meant for smiles and laughter and happiness, was contorted in pain, but his gentle smile remained through it all. Even when he collapsed, heavier frame slamming into Naruto's, giant shuriken still lodged in his back.

"Iruka-sensei!"

Naruto scrambled to get out from him, hands pushing and fighting against Iruka's limp form, and then he grasped onto the weapon and pulled, tears of frustration coming to his eyes when it refused to budge. "Come on! Move, dammit!" he cried, tugging on it again even as Iruka convulsed and slammed his fist into the ground in agony.

A blow to the side sent him careening to the ground. Naruto landed with his face in the dirt and coughed, the dust that got into his eyes causing them to sting when he inhaled a mouth full of soil, and he coughed again. He squirmed and twisted onto his back to see Mizuki standing over Iruka's prone form, foot on his torso, a hand on the shuriken. He pulled it out easily and hefted it with a harsh chuckle. "Kyuubi, not even able to lift a weapon. How far it's fallen. This brat; he-"

"Shut up."

Mizuki looked down at Iruka curiously and laughed again, seeming a little mad. "Oh? Still talking, Iruka?"

Iruka coughed and raised his head slowly, every inch he lifted it seeming to take an inordinate amount of energy, but the venomous glare he sent in Mizuki's direction was anything but weak. "Naruto is not Kyuubi."

"You're still defending him?! Face it! He's a weak little brat with Kyuubi inside of him. Sooner or later, the demon fox is going to take control and-"

"Naruto's never hurt anyone!" Iruka yelled, straining to get up, but Mizuki's foot kept him in place. "Naruto has never hurt anyone. He's suffered so much- suffered because of people like you. But he's never lost hope. All you people have done is fuel his determination to prove that he's worth more than your hate."

Mizuki rolled his eyes. "What, you believe him when he says he'll become Hokage? Please! This bastard child, who can't even make a clone? With Kyuubi inside of him? Ha!" He chuckled loudly, and Naruto took a tiny step back at his loud voice, trembling in fear. "The day he becomes Hokage is the day Konoha goes down in flames!"

Instead of coming up with a retort, Iruka instead turned his head to he could see Naruto, and he smiled weakly, though it was clearly a thin mask to hide his pain. "Naruto, you have to… have to run. You don't stand a chance against Mizuki. Get back to the village, run-"

"Yeah, right," Mizuki spat, digging his foot into Iruka's wound. Naruto flinched as his teacher's head whipped down to bite down on his own wrist to keep from screaming. "Like I would let the Kyuubi brat go. Killing him was never part of the plan, but, you know what? Kyuubi killed my parents, too, Iruka. What, thought you were the only one? No, you were just the special one, the one Sandaime noticed, the one who everyone noticed." He shook his head bitterly, then tossed his giant shrunken to the side where it splintered a tree in half with a loud crack. "I'll make this quick, Naruto. Dumbass. Should've run when your precious Iruka told you to. Not that it would have made any difference."

Mizuki cracked his knuckles and rammed his heel into Iruka's ribcage, rolling him back and behind him even as the man struggled to reach into his weapon pouch, trying to find anything that would help Naruto. "Naruto!" Iruka yelled in a panic, his eyes wide, his cheat heaving. "Naruto, run, you idiot! Run!"

Naruto stared at Iruka in terror. What was he supposed to do? What was he supposed to do?! Mizuki had taken down Iruka. Iruka was his sensei; Iruka wasn't supposed to be able to get hurt, but he was suddenly splayed out on the dark forest floor with a vicious wound in his back and his vest covered in blood- blood that was so dark and so red and Mizuki was laughing, laughing-

How dare he? How dare he laugh after he hurt Iruka? Iruka never hurt anybody, ever. He didn't deserve this.

With a jolt, Naruto realized that if he just sat there and died, Iruka would die, too.

Naruto was up on his feet before he knew what he was doing. He was so angry he was seeing red, and his hand wasn't shaking anymore as he picked up a smaller shuriken off the ground from the earlier fight and prepared to throw it.

Mizuki stopped in his approach, seeming a bit surprised. "Oh? Kyuubi brat has some spunk in him. How interesting. And what an utter waster of time."

Iruka, meanwhile, was horrified. "Naruto!" he screamed, struggling to sit upright as he gestured erratically, telling him to run. "What the hell are you doing?! Run! Run, Naruto!"

"Iruka, shut up. You're loud and annoying. Let your student fight if he-"

"You insult Iruka-sensei one more time, and you'll regret it."

Mizuki's pale eyes widened in a delighted surprise, and Naruto tightened his grip on his weapon and took a step forward, slipping into a crouch. His attacker laughed again and rolled his eyes. "Oh? What do you think you're going to do? Going to try and kill me? Bet you can't, Kyuubi. Here, I'll even give you a free shot. Go on, try and hit me."

Naruto started to shake in fury. The man's taunting, Iruka's blood, Iruka's screams- it was too much. This man had hurt one of his precious people, and he was going to pay for it.

Naruto dropped the shuriken, his hands coming together in a seal. 'Kage bunshin no jutsu!" he screamed, releasing all of his pent up rage into the technique as his vision flashed red again.

Mizuki visibly paled.

"You're going to pay for hurting Iruka-sensei!" The chorus of Narutos shook the clearing with the force of their combined war cry and Mizuki stumbled back, turning around only to see he was surrounded on all sides. He raised his own weapon now, every hint of laughter gone from his face, and Naruto charged.

Naruto's first real battle was short. It only lasted five minutes, although it seemed to last much longer to him. It felt like hours before he was tossed onto his back, a bloodied and panting Mizuki standing over him triumphantly, another wicked smile distorting his features as Iruka yelled for him to just run already. "You can do a pretty little trick with all your Chakra, Kyuubi, but you're still just a pre-genin brat. I don't care how many of you there are. That's not a threat."

Naruto whimpered as Mizuki's boot dug into his throat and the man knelt, drawing out a kunai and resting it against his skin. "Worthless moron. I don't know why Sandaime let you live, but I'm about to correct his mistake. Say goodbye, Kyuubi!"

Naruto shut his eyes tight and cringed.

And then, in the midst of utter, paralyzing terror, there was the sound of a crackle of electricity, a bird's cry, and the most comforting voice he had ever heard in his life.

"Chidori!"

The weight on top of him suddenly vanished, and Naruto heard something slam into the ground beside him and his eyes shot open, searching for the owner of that voice, because if it was really him, then he and Iruka were saved.

Kakashi was kneeling over Mizuki beside him, knee crushing into his chest and elbow pinning his throat to the hard earth. His red eye was uncovered and both were narrowed in such intense loathing and hatred that Naruto almost flinched back in fear, but his other hand- the sight of it paralyzed him.

It was hovering a few inches above Mizuki's stomach, and Naruto could think of no other explanation except that a ball of lightening was clenched in his fist. That's what it looked like, and the eerie white light lit up the entire clearing and illuminated the hate in Kakashi's masked face as the man pressed his knee harder into Mizuki's chest, and he grunted in pain.

"Move, and you die."

Mizuki's eyes widened, and there was a low whimper of fear in his throat. "Sh… Sharingan n-no Kakashi," he whispered, his voice trembling under the weight of sheer terror.

Kakashi nodded slowly, his voice nothing but a fierce growl of rage. "You have two options. Surrender immediately and unconditionally is option one. Option two is my Chidori goes straight through your heart. You have three seconds to pick, or I pick for you."

Mizuki's jaw worked for a few seconds, as if he was trying to speak, but no words came out.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "Time's up. Chidori option." He pulled the arm with the lightening back, preparing to ram it into his heart- and the sight scared Naruto almost more than Mizuki himself. That wasn't Kakashi-niisan. That man looked like… like a killer. A ruthless killer.

"N-niisan…"

Kakashi's arm froze, the lightening a centimeter away from piercing Mizuki's heart- the man's terrified scream had already left his mouth to echo around the forest. Kakashi turned his head to look at Naruto, and his eyes were wide, almost unfocused, but the mount they locked onto Naruto's frightened gaze they seemed to fall back to reality. Kakashi remained frozen for one long moment, his expression unreadable, then turned back to Mizuki, the terrifying glow of electrify on his hand dying out in nothingness.

"You're not worth my time to kill." That said, he cocked back his fist and slammed it into Mizuki's head, hard enough for a tooth to fly out of his now slack mouth, along with some blood, as his head whipped to the side, the man now unconscious.

Naruto stared, rooted to the spot by a nauseating mix of terror and shock. Kakashi stood in a heartbeat, his hands moving so fast they were blur and two shadow clones materialized, immediately dispersing to do their own work while the original went straight for Naruto. Kakashi knelt in front of him and grabbing him by the shoulder, shaking him slightly when Naruto's eyes remained wide and blank and he couldn't say a word.

"Naruto. Naruto, are you okay?"

Iruka- Iruka was hurt and had almost died and he had almost died, and Kakashi-

"Naruto, are you okay?!"

Iruka, Iruka, Iruka, Kakashi, Kakashi, Kakashi-

"Naruto! Are you all right?!"

The utter panic and sheet terror barely hidden in Kakashi's voice woke him up. He jumped, then sucked in a great gulp of air, trembling as his eyes jumped between Mizuki and Kakashi. Naruto blinked, then saw Kakashi still kneeling in front of him, and the panic barely hidden in his dark, mismatched eyes jolted him out of his shock.

"Ka… Ka… Ka…"

Kakashi's eyes widened, and he gripped his shoulder harder and shook him again. "Naruto, are you okay?! Naruto, please, answer me! Answer me!"

Naruto's lower lip trembled.

"Kakashi-niisan!" Naruto threw himself forward into Kakashi's unsuspecting arms and buried his head in the thick cloth of his vest, closing his eyes tightly and wrapping his arms around his middle. "K-Kakashi-niisan…"

Kakashi didn't react at first, but when Naruto finally felt his larger arms hesitantly come up and awkwardly move around him, he finally released a frantic sob and just hugged him tighter.

And while the original copy ninja knelt in the dirt, the boy who had grown to be so dear to him with his face pressed into his chest, the other two clones worked. One steadily tied the out cold Mizuki's hands tightly behind his back- even though it a rather unnecessary precaution- while the other saw to Iruka.

"Iruka-sensei, can you move? How's the pain?"

Iruka grunted softly into the dirt as the copy ninja began swiftly giving his wound a field dressing. "I can move. Hurts like a bitch."

"Harsh language from a man who teaches children." The clone worked for another moment, then shifted to slide his arms underneath him. "It's going to hurt, but we have to get back to Konoha."

"I know."

Kakashi was about to stand when Iruka reached up and gripped at his vest, and his brown eyes filled with concern and worry. "Kakashi-san… Kakashi-san, I don't know how much you heard, but Mizuki… Mizuki told Naruto about… what's inside of him."

Kakashi's eyes, both of them, darkened, and he gave a single slow nod.

Iruka didn't notice, but the clone dealing with Mizuki abruptly tightened the rope in such a way that his wrist broke in two places.

The original Kakashi stood, Naruto's arms still wrapped around his neck, and tried to shift the boy onto his back. "Naruto, Iruka-sensei's hurt. I need to get you two back to the village. Come on, Naruto… I can carry you but you need to get on my back."

When Naruto reluctantly started to shift his position, Iruka noticed, and he called out to him from Kakashi's clone's arms. "Hey. Hey, Kakashi-san, wait. I.. I need to give something to Naruto."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed in curiosity, but he walked slowly over to Iruka, slanting his hitai-ate over his Sharingan as he did so. He crouched so the boy on his back and the man in his clone's arms were at eye level, and Iruka reached slowly up with a trembling hand to loosen the knot of his own headband. It took him a few tries, but he finally managed the feat and held it out to Naruto.

Naruto's eyes widened, and he stared from the piece of cloth to his sensei in utter shock.

Iruka managed a weak smile. "You deserve it. …You graduate, Naruto."

Naruto gave a tiny gasp, but when he slowly reached out to accept the headband with a trembling hand, he was smiling. He was smiling, and his eyes were filled with wonderment.

And as Kakashi carried Naruto back to Konoha, back home, he wondered when the child on his back had gone from being Minato's son, Minato's precious person and therefore his, by default, to just being his precious person.

Kakashi watched as Naruto buried his head in knees again, new headband that he wore with pride pushing his hair up out his eyes and making him suddenly seem a bit more grown up. In Kakashi's opinion, it was a bit depressing that, all over Konoha, Naruto's classmates were celebrating with these new headbands, with their families- and yet here was Naruto, in a hospital room, head buried in his knees with the man he cared about the most unconscious on the bed.

Kakashi had been greeted, on return to the village, by Saindaime himself and the elders- elders who looked only too keen to execute first, and ask questions later, if only it would just finally get rid of the Kyuubi brat. Kakashi hadn't been able to stop smirking as he unceremoniously tossed Mizuki's trussed up and still unconscious body on the ground, the forbidden scroll with it, and tell them that Naruto had helped bring down a traitor to the village.

"He held Mizuki down until I got there," he had announced with yet another proud smile. "If it weren't for this new shinobi's of Konoha's quick actions, then Iruka-sensei would be dead, and Mizuki would've escaped with the scroll."

Oh, how he had loved the look on the elders faces at the words 'new shinobi of Konoha.' He also thought he had loved Sandaime's proud smile a little bit more.

Iruka had been taken to the hospital, and Naruto had gone with him. Kakashi, after giving his report, had followed to find Naruto sitting in Iruka's small little room, watching his sensei's medicated sleep like a bodyguard. Iruka was splayed out on his stomach, back a mess of bandages and head pillowed in his arms. He looked decidedly uncomfortable, but then, the doctors probably had him on the good stuff. Kakashi smiled. No one could be uncomfortable while on the good stuff.

Naruto spoke up in a small voice, his words muffled by the cloth of his pants. "…Kakashi-niisan?"

"Mmm?"

"…Why is Kyuubi inside of me? ...That's why, isn't it? That's why everyone's always hated me."

It was a matter of fact statement, a chilling one, and Kakashi could barely keep himself expressionless as he watched Naruto begin to trace a light circle over his stomach. "Yes, Naruto. That's why the others have always hated you. Your other classmates… they don't actually know about Kyuubi, but their parents do, and they listen to their parents."

Naruto bit his lip and hung his head, slumping back into the chair. "But, with that… that monster… in here," he gestured at his small frame with a trembling hand, "then… what about you? And Iruka-sensei? …Don't you hate Kyuubi, too?"

His voice was tiny and miserable, almost as if he expected Kakashi to turn on him and hate him like all the rest… as if he couldn't understand why anyone would like him just because of what had been sealed away inside of him. Kakashi's fists clenched as he looked down at the small, sad child, and he almost wanted to scream.

This wasn't what Minato had wanted. He had wanted Naruto to be a hero. Not ostracized as a monster.

"I don't have any particular like for Kyuubi, myself," he confessed aloud, and the hurt look that crossed Naruto's face almost made his resolve falter. "Though I can't speak for Iruka-sensei. But I don't see what that has to do about me liking you."

The hope that crossed his sad face was enough to lift the corners of Kakashi's mouth in a smile, and the sight of Naruto happy was always worth it, no matter what he had to go through to get him to be that way. But the hope was crushed almost as soon as it appeared, replaced by a nervous desperation. "B-but, Kyuubi's inside of me."

"Yeah, it is." At Naruto's confused and still hurt expression, Kakashi sat down beside him and let his head thump back against the wall, keeping his tone decidedly light and cheerful. "Think of it like this, Naruto. You don't like carrots, right?"

Naruto shook his head firmly, but his eyes were still wide and vulnerable, and Kakashi was quick to made his point.

"So, what happens when I sneak carrots into your ramen sometimes? Does that mean you hate the ramen? Does that mean you throw out the whole bowl just because of a little tiny bit of what's inside it?"

"Well… no…" This time, when Naruto shook his head, it was a little bit quicker, and his smile was just a little bit brighter.

"Right. All those other people out there who don't like you? Well, they throw out the entire bowl just because of one measly carrot."

"But that's stupid," Naruto said before he could stop himself. "That's such a waste of good ramen."

"Exactly. Just like ignoring you because of what's sealed inside of you is a waste of a good person."

When Naruto's eyes widened in a happy surprise, and the last vestiges of depression and misery disappeared from his face, Kakashi couldn't possibly help but smile back.

It had been a long time since he'd cared about anyone enough that just seeing them smile was enough to make him smile, too.

"You really mean that, Niisan?"

"Of course I do."

The jounin's eye crinkled up in a warm grin, and Naruto responded with a bright expression of joy so genuine it made Kakashi's heart soar.