It was in the early hours of the morning Kurama made Naruto a strange request.

"Naruto…"

His voice rumbled in her tired mind as she moaned in her bed, sluggishly attempting to detach herself from the oh so heavenly blanket that she was cuddled up to. Groaning she slammed her hand on the alarm clock that wasn't due to go off for another twenty minutes.

"Ugh…" She hazily mumbled as she looked at her clock with sleepiness and confusion. "What…?" She stretched.

"Naruto!" Kurama roared louder this time making her jump out of her bones suddenly no longer sleepy. Naruto replied not even attempting to disguise her irritation. "What is it, Kurama? If this was a joke, it's a shit one." She folded her arms across her chest waiting for a response.

"Only you would think being woken up early would be considered a prank" Kurama replied so quietly that she wouldn't have heard it if she wasn't tired.

"Whatever, I'm up now. What's going on?" She asked again, the irritation melting away as she stretched blissfully and rubbed her eyes vigorously.

"I want a shadow clone."

Naruto scratched the back of her head, "you mean you want to possess one?" She asked curiously. She had recently been thinking Kurama should be let out more. Naruto's eyebrows furrowed however when she considered the implications. "Ehh, I'm not so sure the village would be cool with me letting a chakra beast go on walk abouts."

Kurama hissed. "If I wanted to destroy this one-horse town I would have done so long ago," he growled. Naruto put her hands up defensively, "hey man. That's my home you're talking about! I don't make the rules."

Kurama continued to rumble in her head in incoherent disagreement. Naruto at this point had decided to get ready to meet at the front gates to disembark on her mission. She stared blandly at her tired reflection in the bathroom mirror.

"What brought on this request anyway? You're feeling regrets?" She asked hesitantly, maybe the whole kissing herself last night was the final straw for Kurama and he finally wanted out. Kurama remained silent for a moment, "That was quite the nightmare and could be seen a precursor for more torment to come." He admitted.

Naruto snorted and rolled her eyes. "Can't you just go to sleep? Let me guess, you're not keen to come on this mission?" Naruto chuckled snidely. "Maybe you should have considered the outcomes before you pulled that shit on me before," She smirked at her reflection in the mirror as she irritably tried to ignore the imagery of Kurama disguised as Kakashi, mocking her.

Kurama remained silent while she brushed her teeth, presumably sulking. "I don't really mind, you know? I've been wanting to let you out lately. Let you see the big wide world and all that stuff… but now isn't really the ideal time. We're supposed to be going away on a mission, it'll look weird that I left a shadow clone in the village. Especially one with red eyes and a deep dark voice. People will think you're a spy or something, and you'll be poofed out in a second unless your plan was to hide in this tiny room the whole time? Shadow clones aren't that durable y'know, at least not when they aren't pumped full of chakra and you better believe it when I tell you, you ain't getting nothing more than a regular shadow clone." Naruto ranted to her fox friend.

"I have no intention of staying within this village for long. I wish to go to Shinkyō and see what has become of the foxes during this time. I will of course be disguised," Kurama replied immediately. Naruto hummed, since her friendship that bloomed with Kurama he has occasionally mentioned that there were other foxes with nature chakra abilities in the mountains that you could make contracts with.

"Nee, Kurama?" She started, "you're a fox right?" She asked. Her mind was suddenly taken over by huge waves of scepticism from Kurama.

"I'm so humbled you finally noticed, Naruto."

She waved her hands around stupidly. "No, no, that's not what I meant- ugh!" She regained her composure. "I was just thinking if you're a fox with chakra abilities you'd be like a sage fox right? I mean you were created by the sage of the six paths and all…" Naruto scratched the back of her head awkwardly, unsure if her question was stupid and if this was something she should have already known the answer of.

"Something like that," Kurama replied oh so insightfully. Naruto frowned, well that answered it a little, she supposed. "Does that mean we technically have a contact? Like the one I have with the toads?" She continued to query.

"Not quite." Kurama once again answered not elaborating in any way. "When you go to the mountains would it be possible for you to summon me?" She continues grilling Kurama.

"That would be impossible, although I do admit I have never attempted anything like that. As I am sealed inside you, I imagine it is unlikely that I could reverse summon you to a plateau of any other realm, as I am not truly there when I remain, at my core, within you. If it was possible for a shadow clone to reverse summon their caster however that would be an entirely different theory."

Woah, if shadow clones could reverse summon that would be amazing! Naruto rubbed her nose with a mischievous grin. Hell, if shadow clones could do that the Hiraishin would become medieval in comparison. Could shadow clones make contracts with each other? The more she thought about the more confusing and appealing the idea became, how the hell did summons even work, blood and chakra? Surely there was more to it than that otherwise, people would be summoning each other all over the place.

With a sigh, she finished up and went back into her bedroom making the hand signs to release a single shadow clone. "Happy?" She asked aloud as her shadow clone blinked back at her before red quickly spilled into her twin's eyes.

"I'm like a cat who got the cream," Kurama replied, smiling viciously pleased at her. Her doppelganger quickly vanished and was replaced with a tall angelic looking man with long white hair and a light blue kimono.

Naruto eyed him up sceptically, he looked way too flashy. Not the in-your-face kind of flashy but the eye-catching kind. "You expect to get around like this? You look like a geisha." She stated lamely pointing at his appearance blandly. Kurama narrowed his eyes at her and scoffed, "No one will notice me." He replied unimpressed.

"Yeah no one would notice how some beautiful androgynous man appeared in this village out of nowhere, you won't even get through the main gates without causing an uproar!" She exclaimed. Kurama turned away briskly, his long, white hair swaying gently as he turned and waited for Naruto at the front door.

"I'm serious Kuruma!" She continued as she distractedly checked that she had everything she needed. "Change into somebody more normal looking, please, so I don't have to explain why I let the Kyuubi out for a walk!" Naruto moaned as she begrudgingly picked up her backpack to leave.

"I could get into serious shit for this," she argued pleadingly. Kurama paid her no mind though. "You are worrying too much. I'm a fox, we're notorious for trickery for a reason. No one would even bat an eye." He assured her and pre-emptively opened the door.

By the time she had finally made it out of the small apartment to walk side by side with her indiscreet companion, the streets of Konoha were relatively quiet with only the tired small business owners sluggishly drudging through their early morning routine getting ready for another day of sales.

Naruto looked around suspiciously as if someone would attack her out of the blue. When no such attack happened, she allowed herself to relax somewhat but kept a narrow eye on anyone that passed her by. She could literally feel the smugness oozing from Kurama as he smiled pleasantly beside her.

"Don't get cocky, it's too early in the morning for anyone to notice." She muttered. Kurama raised a slender hand over his mouth to hide his widening smile.

"Sure."

As they approached the excessively large gates of Konoha's only direct exit Naruto quickly pulled Kurama behind a building, out of sight of the two girls waiting impatiently.

"I'm having some regrets." She held the man by his Kimono nervously. "What the hell are we doing, I can't explain this casually at all. God, Sakura will beat the shit out of me, I'm sure. And you- you're WAY too pretty, Ino is going to go full creep mode I just know it." She cried nervously to her friend.

"If you would prefer it, you could just leave me here and I'll leave separately?" Kurama suggested reasonably.

"And then what? Without me, it's even worse!" Naruto yelled between her teeth in a hiss. "How will you get past the guards? What will you do while I'm away? Go shopping? This is so stupid Kurama, let's just forget about it and we can try again in wave country."

"That would be impossible." He replied. "I predict that once you set out of the mission your chakra will be repressed. You are going undercover as a civilian are you not?" He said matter of factly.

Naruto oogled him in disbelief. "Yeah, duh! That would be when we get to wave country! How the hell would we get there without Chakra, it would weeks to walk there on foot!" Naruto wasn't stupid, this mission was ranked urgent! There's no way they were walking right?

Kurama raised one of his annoyingly perfect eyebrows at her, his eyes still a deep rich red as they were in his original form. How annoying is that anyway, he gets to pick and choose what he wants to look like and he decided to be the most ethereal gorgeous thing imaginable?

"Naruto, just because I have taken over a shadow clone does not mean I can no longer hear and feel your sad human envy."

Naruto stuck out her tongue and made a face at him. "Whatever! What I'm thinking isn't a secret, and I am not jealous of some illusion of beauty," She growled. She wasn't! It was just annoying how much he stuck out!

Kurama made no reaction and peeked over the wall to where Sakura and Ino were getting progressively more irritated. "I shall wait here until they inevitably seal your chakra, if I am wrong I will dispel the shadow clone and we can do things as you like." His smile has taken on a more realistic feral grin that honestly had no place on such an angelic face.

Naruto frowned at his vicious face and turned on her heel ready to run before she was unforgivably late. Technically she was early! If none of these shenanigans had occurred, she would have been out that door way faster, man why does Sakura look ready to throttle someone at this point? She was only about 5 minutes late so far.

Naruto glanced over her shoulder to give Kurama one last shriveling look of despair, "Please, just don't do anything that will make people ask questions!" She called before running with a pout, he better not make her regret this.

"Still here, Naruto." Kurama echoed in her head, she just rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean," she said aloud as she approached the two girls.

She slowed down as she reached them ready to give some shitty excuse, maybe she could steal one of Kakashi's, but before she could utter a word and before Sakura could yell at her, Sai soared through the air above them landing in a huge gust of wind that blew their hair up.

He disembarked from his carrier and stood amongst the girls and bowed politely in greeting.

"Sai? What are you doing here? We're about to go. You're really cutting it close here." Ino folded her arms, waiting for an explanation. Sakura blinked confused, her finger still pointed in the air and mouth hanging open ready to lecture Naruto.

"I apologise for the inconvenience but there were some details of the mission that were failed to be briefed over. The Hokage did not have much time in making preparation." Sai said straight-faced. He looked serious too so it must be important.

He slipped a hand into his pocket to pull out three squares of paper and handed them to each woman. "These are chakra suppressing seals. It is most important you have these attached out of sight at all times. I will be escorting you on this mission." He gave a pointed look the super beast imitation of a bird that was obviously large enough to fit them all.

"We will be traveling by air." He stated blankly. Naruto looked curiously at the seal in her hand. "Uhm.. you want us to put this on now?" She asked hesitantly looking back up to Sai. The pale boy simply nodded and waited for them to apply the seals to themselves.

When neither woman made a move to apply the seals, Sai deemed it was social etiquette to elaborate further. "This is a deeply undercover operate, for the sake of time and discretion the Hokage decided that the most effective way to proceed would be to fly you three out of sight and unable to be sensed." Drawing three bank faces he continued. "In other words, we will be smuggling the three of you unnoticed into what was deemed a safe house where you will then continue your mission from there."

With a chorus of okays and a smug chuckle echoing in Naruto's head she begrudgingly placed the seal on her neck under the secure collar of her jacket. Sai also pulled out three cloaks he requested they all wear.

"Please refrain from using chakra while wearing these seals. Once you use chakra they will no longer work in concealing your signature and Hokage-sama only made so many as spares…" he then proceeded to smile in what he considered as a good smile to reflect his friendliness which honestly, only left people feeling uncomfortable and turned to disembark.

Naruto watched with desperate eyes trying to find Kurama amongst the large village of Konoha as it became smaller the higher they rose. "Please don't poof out and break my seal…" She moaned desperately in her head. Her stomach rumbled to berate her that amongst all her worries, she had completely forgotten to eat which was just another just reason to mope.

Kurama watched Naruto fly out of sight highly amused at the distress he felt through his connection with her. With not much care he turned and looked towards the Hokage tower with narrowed eyes. He had a bad track record with the Hokage's of Konoha. He will forever be unable to remove that hate that welled in his belly to the first ever Hokage. A man who entrapped him into Mito, a man who was afraid of his power just as much as he was enamoured by it.

He scowled at the memories of years in lazy darkness. Bright yellow hair flashed in his memory, the Yondaime who sired Naruto. That night he had finally tasted freedom at last only to be once again locked into the darkness of an unknowing baby.

As the Yondaime's face merged into Naruto's equally youthful grin he felt a smile play on his lips as he hummed peacefully. Perhaps he should thank the deceased Hokage for cursing Naruto with his presence.

He breathed in the fresh air of Konoha and watched as the trees swayed again the wind. The smell was nostalgic from his youth as a young kit. The heartbreak of Sage of Six Paths' departure was climactic, the assurance that these forests would be his home was a bittersweet memory amongst the horrors of his experience with humanity.

The sleepy village had started to awaken. Elderly folk were appearing to get their shopping done, not a single glance in his direction was made. A smile played on his lips once again as he felt Naruto's worry teasing him to make fun of her, he could only wish she were here to see this so he could mock her confusion.

He would have loved to see her expression of disbelief as they walked down the streets together with no one paying them any mind. His form of genjutsu was unlike anything a ninja could achieve, he didn't have to focus to be invisible. It was natural for a fox to achieve exceptional trickery with no effort at all.

Perhaps if he had kept his wits as a kit, maybe he would have never been caught and have to spend those years in isolation looking through the eyes of others. Back then he was so much like Naruto, always demanding attention, never hiding his tracks. For years he had cursed his foolishness in that aspect. If he had been more cunning in his vengeance and aggression to humanity maybe he could have avoided everything.

But then he would have avoided Naruto altogether, and that would just not do.

As walked slowly along the street a peach rolled to his feet. He paused as a toothless child holding more than their arms could carry ran up to him to pick up the fruit. He stared down his nose at the child with narrowed eyes.

The little boy picked up the fruit and looked up questionably at Kurama, the small child still bent forward, one arm holding onto the other fruit for dear life. The boy blinked at the unusually beautiful man before holding the fruit up to Kurama with a huge gummy grin.

Kurama blinked at the boy but took the offered fruit and watched the boy run away giggling. Children were always more perceptive than adults. He took a delicate bite of the fruit uncaring of the sweet taste. Food didn't do anything for him but as this was Naruto's body, he assumed it would probably do good to sate her relentless hunger.

Naruto huffed as she flopped down onto her futon. The trip was remarkably short, faster than if they were to have made the journey on foot. Sai's super beast scroll was seriously something, before they had actually arrived at the inn, they made a brief stopover in order to make them look... less noticeable.

Naruto tore off her itchy wig that was poorly applied, "it's just for check-in, it doesn't need to be perfect." Ino has insisted at the time. She glared at the corner of her room where a certain pale-skinned man occupied a lone chair.

"Why the hell are you making yourself comfortable in my room?" She growled at Sai. Sai looked up from a scroll that he had been reading studiously. "Naruto-san you may want to keep your voice down, we are unsure of the exact whereabouts of the target," Sai said softly.

The curtains of her room had been quickly drawn closed at their arrival so that no one could peek inside but perfect soundproofing was near impossible.

Naruto huffed and folded her arms over her chest while continued to glare at Sai for the sake of glaring at him. "And you had to choose my room, why?" Sai then smiled at Naruto. "I thought that as we have a past of teaming together it would be most the socially acceptable out of three women to partner with you. I did consider Sakura but as she is much more feminine I assumed it would be less appropriate." Sai stated to that gaping Naruto.

"Excuse you?" She gasped. Did people just simply not perceive her as a woman? Glowering, Naruto jumped up from her futon, roughly grabbing a small makeup bag, and stomped to the ensuite bathroom to cake her face with makeup and glared at her reflection.

She inspected her face meticulously in the mirror with a scrutinising eye struggling to see the problem. She looked just as girly as Ino and Sakura didn't she? She started with moisturising her face, her almost poreless looking face before she began on her makeup.

Naruto almost jumped out of her bones when she suddenly noticed Sai in the foreground of her reflection. "Naruto-san are you angry with me? I didn't mean to insult you when I said Sakura was more feminine than you." Sai frowned.

Naruto sweat dropped internally. Who was she to be annoyed about Sakura being pretty? She always knew Sakura was pretty! Naruto could feel a little guilt rise in the pit of her stomach for reacting so strongly. These last couple of days had switched some sort of inferiority complex in her. She had never cared about any of these things before. She knew what the problem was, no- who the problem was. She was taking out her irritation and insecurity about her own physical appearance on the people around her.

Sai softly walked into the bathroom behind her. "Would you like me to do your makeup Naruto-san?" He asked. It was a tempting offer, Sai had taken to make-up like a natural. While Naruto did the best she could with what Kurenai and even Ino had tried to teach her,it still came out quite thick and dry looking. Sai's own applications had looked so natural it was hard to tell that it was even makeup that he had applied, as it seamlessly blended into a second skin.

Hesitantly, Naruto put down the concealer she was about to apply and turned to Sai. "Uhm.. yeah sure. If you want." She blinked at him as he curiously brought out his own small makeup bag and pulled out a green-looking liquid and applied it over her scars.

"It's not much unlike painting. Green tones down red when mixing colours." He commented at her speculating face. He continued to apply the makeup in silence. It felt nice for someone else to do it, Naruto could admit. It was like a gentle creamy massage.

"For the sake of the mission the makeup is important, but I admit I do not appreciate how it looks on you," Sai commented thoughtfully. Naruto glared at him a little, he had made a similar comment before, during their training with Kurenai.

"Does it really make me look that bad?" She pouted. Sai tilted his head as he inspected his work. "Not necessarily bad, but I don't believe it makes you look any better." He stated with a blank face. Naruto sighed and allowed him to continue applying it, not bothering to complain how much those statements equally confuse and annoy her.

Without realising it, Ino has already made her way into the bathroom. "Are you kidding me? Naruto looks totally gorgeous with makeup!" Ino argued, and she and Sai continued to jab at each other about Naruto's appearance.

Sakura also appeared seamlessly from the shadows. It seemed Naruto's small bathroom had become some sort of congregation area for the team. "Sai? You're still here?" Sakura said inquisitively. "I thought you'd be outside tracking, for the sake of authenticity, seeing as we're supposed to be three civilian girls on holiday." Sakura looked at the man curiously as he finished up on Naruto's face.

"That would be an accurate summation, however, I was also advised to stakeout in the hotel in order to keep watch on any mishaps that may occur," Sai responded.

Sakura tilted her head in doubt. "What kind of mishaps, like Naruto having a bad hair day and to be her personal makeup artist?" She asked dubiously. Sai packed away his supplies and went to leave the bathroom.

"No that would not be it," He said from the doorway, his face revealing no emotion. "It's more on the chance of one of you going missing." He then left them in the bathroom to their worries and went back into Naruto's room and started painting mice on his super beast scroll.

Kakashi has been sitting at the windowsill of the Hokage's office, idly reading the last ever published novel of the Icha Icha series. As he attempted to focus on the text in front of him, his mind couldn't help dwelling on the mission and the members that would have embarked earlier in the morning.

He wondered if it was going well, he tried not to think of the worst-case scenarios. Scenarios of a certain golden-haired woman getting drugged and trafficked. Things that were unlikely to occur, yet he couldn't stop the sickening feeling in his gut as his mind refused to focus on the novel.

It was cruel. He shouldn't be focusing on her specifically. It wasn't diplomatic of a Hokage to only be thinking about one ninja. Sakura and Ino were equally at risk, except they weren't. Naruto was no doubt the weakest link there. She may be the strongest on the team, but she was the most naïve. It was bitter pill to swallow that Kurenai has approved her to go on the mission when he himself wasn't the one to pass her.

The last he had seen, Naruto's training had been a disaster. Sure, Kurenai's report was disgustingly detailed, but how could sexual harassment be grounds for a pass. He sighed inwardly and tried to focus on the provocative words written in front of him.

Rei felt so alone. Her jailor was as handsome as he was cruel. But the fear she felt when he came to visit her in the dungeon, only seemed to ignite an underbelly of excitement in her loins. The way his eyes would bore into hers, almost made her feel naked under his gaze as she waited with bated breath for the possibility of more.

Maybe this was the wrong book to be reading. He harshly slammed the book shut and scowled at the novel. Perhaps it was time he started re-reading the novels from the first volume and forget this one. He scowled at the offending book but his silent fight with a stack of papers was interrupted as he picked up an awfully familiar chakra signature.

Naruto?

His head shot up into the air like a dog sniffing for something within proximity. There was no doubt that it was Naruto he could sense, but that would be impossible? She would have left for that blasted mission. Right? He dropped the book by the windowsill and stood up to investigate.

When he finally sniffed, and I mean literally sniffed Naruto down. (She smelt like peaches and fresh grass, a combination that Kakashi didn't realise he enjoyed so much until this very moment, as the fragrance sent waves of relief washing over him) He did not expect to find a rather tall male, who looked nothing like Naruto in her steed. And then came the crushing disappointment.

"Oh, it's the dog. Kakashi." Said the man who was not Naruto, but smelt and felt like Naruto. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the statement unsure of how to proceed. The familiarity of this man battled with his need to be cautious. An imposter. He is not Naruto. Now was no time to be at ease.

"I didn't realise we had met before." Kakashi smiled, his friendly mellow tone making an easy façade for his paranoia.

"It was quite an unforgettable occasion." Said the white-haired male, "but I suppose it can be forgiven in this instance." His face drew on a feral grin. Kakashi was taken aback not only because that monstrous grin didn't belong on such delicate features but also because he was certain he wouldn't have forgotten such a man.

"You thought I was Naruto?" The man jeered, his sharp teeth pointing as his mouth stretched into an even wider smile.

(In this moment Naruto felt a suspicious amount of glee radiating from Kurama. "What the hell are you up to, Kurama!" She yelled into her head, but her calls were ignored to her absolute infuriation.)

Kakashi wiped off his aloof character and glared at the man in front of him. If this stranger wasn't going to play along with niceties, then neither was he. "Where is Naruto?" He growled just about to into a defensive stance.

"Right where you put her, much to my ire." The man shrugged off Kakashi's aggression. "Really, what were you thinking? Sending such a foolish girl like that into the belly of the beast." The man's grin fell into a scowl.

"Was it really so clever of you to send your mate to other men?"

Even in his aggression Kakashi couldn't help but feel taken aback. Mate? Who in the world was this guy, he was deranged! Kakashi's position fell, he no longer felt anger. He was confused and concerned for this delirious individual. "What are you talking about, who are you?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "You're asking for my name?" He continued looking at Kakashi curiously as if he were only seeing Kakashi for the first time in that moment. Kakashi looked at the man dubiously, "what else would I be asking for? I guess an explanation would be helpful too."

The man gave a harsh chuckle. "Kurama." He stated. It was a familiar name but he couldn't automatically connect the dots. It was as if something were fuzzing up his mind, could it be a genjutsu? Did he even leave the office or was this all some dream?

Kurama, gave Kakashi a pitying look if you could call it that. It looked like pity, but his eyes were glinting with mischief and scorn. It kind of felt as though Kakashi was being looked down on. The man turned, it seemed like he was ready to leave.

"Wait-" Kakashi started. "Kurama, why did you call Naruto my mate?" It really shouldn't have been the first question on his mind, but it was what vomited out of his mouth when he realised the mysterious man was leaving.

"That's what you two are." He stated simply and beginning to walk away. "At least that's what she seems to think anyway." Kurama gave Kakashi one last look before heading for what looked like the exit of Konoha. A funny phenomenon seemed to happen as the man's attention left Kakashi. It was a strange tingling in Kakashi's head that seemed to be telling his eyes to ignore the man walking away from him, as though his vision was fighting with his brain over recognising him. It wasn't until Kurama had completely left his line of sight that the fuzzy sensations and the tingling halted automatically.

Kurama

That's what Naruto called the Kyuubi. He was sure of it. That person who looked so incredibly human called himself Kurama. Why couldn't his brain connect those dots when he had Kurama's attention. Why the hell did he call Naruto his mate? He said that's what Naruto thinks.

Kakashi pinched his arm. This surely must be some insane dream! Why would Kurama be out and about smelling like Naruto? And if had all been a dream, why was he dreaming about Naruto and mating of all things. Everything was ridiculous.

The smell of peaches and dirt vanished, and he frowned. So, they left the village. Kakashi decided that he desperately needed to go read up on fox sages and find out just what kind of spell he had been under. Assuming that really was Naruto's Kurama.

His thoughts itched him, the accusation from Kurama, claiming that he was Naruto's mate. The words that Kurama so casually inputted continued to persist on the forefront of Kakashi's mind. Why.

And not only that, Kurama, under the assumption that Naruto was his mate, had just berated Kakashi for sending her out to other men. Kakashi scowled inwardly, it's not like he wanted her to go! This was a mission, his authority didn't allow him to pick and choose who can be protected.

The scowl that had stayed fixed in his head, slowly crawled its way onto Kakashi's face by the time he had finally made it back to the Hokage's office. Naruto was his student albeit it past, she is under his guidance to become the next Hokage, if what Kurama was he who had assumed he was (and there was no longer any doubt in Kakashi's mind that Kurama could be anyone but. How else could he simply ooze Naruto's scent.) That would mean she had let the Kyuubi out for a walk. What the hell was that girl thinking?

Apparently about you.

That disruptive thought froze Kakashi, distracting him as he searched through old books about sage chakra. That couldn't be right, why would she see him in that way? He was her teacher. He abandoned her when she was just a baby, choosing to run instead of staying to protect her from the evils of the world. The evils of the village that had condemned her.

You were only fourteen.

That little voice in his head argued, he shook it off. It didn't matter, Kushina and Minato-sensei gave up their lives to protect that baby and the village, he did nothing to help her. He was nothing. She is everything. She's the saviour of the world, she is the sunshine in his winter that thaws his brittle bones and carries him into spring.

He swallowed bitterly, she could never think of him like that. She should never think of him like that. He was nothing more than a wilting wildflower that will never truly bloom. The last thing he wanted was for Naruto to care for it, for him.

Gritting his teeth, Kakashi resumed searching through the worn old books refusing to acknowledge the cocktail of emotions swirling inside him. Fear. Fear for what Kurama has implied. Hope, the incessant little tingle that surges through him, telling him that maybe this was a good thing. And then there was anger. Anger at himself for even daring to go that path, he was nothing.

But above it all, he felt worried. Regardless of all those thoughts and feelings dancing around in his head and the unforgiving ideas, hypothesising how he should skirt around the topic (if he should even bring it up at all, or if he should ignore it) he was concerned. He was worried about what could happen to Naruto while being used as bait. A worry that wasn't fitting for the Hokage, and he hated himself for it.