Naruto didn't understand what was happening. One moment he had been running and the next he was unconscious. The nurses that were attending him had said he must have exhausted his chakra.

That made sense to him. After all, he wasn't even sure how long it had been since he escaped hell. The labyrinth that smelled of disinfectant and blood at the same time, where the only sounds were screams all throughout the night and gusts of wind.

The pale man had claimed that Naruto was his key, for whatever he did not know. He seemed fascinated that the blonde could heal rapidly and abused it, causing the Uzumaki to know only pain for the longest time.

What was it he had said again? Something about the mystery of nature and who it chooses to wield it. He had looked at Naruto as one would look at a toy, something to play with, break and stick back together with glue.

After meeting with the Hokage, Inu had taken him to the hospital under strict supervision. Naruto couldn't see them, but for some odd reason, he could feel them. Two were currently in the small room with him, each taking an adjacent corner near the ceiling. When he looked in their direction, he could sense their trepidation, some sort of feeling that spoke of wrong / sensor / different.

His eyes shot to the door, but no one entered. He could feel the ANBU shifting about for a few seconds until a knock was heard.

A mound of gravity defying silver hair entered his room, obscured by the face mask. Naruto allowed himself to relax a little, knowing the person as the one that saved him.

"Hey Inu-san," Naruto said with a small reserved smile. He moved to try and sit up to greet him properly.

"No need to move, Naruto. Rest, recover your strength," Inu said as he moved to take a seat next to the bed. The two sat for a moment in silence until he spoke again. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been skinned, dipped in acid and rolled down a mountain," Naruto replied, staring up at the ceiling. "It's nothing compared to..."

The ANBU nodded, "I'm sorry, Naruto. No one should ever have this happen to them. I'm just relieved that we finally found you." The silver haired man looked down at the floor, hands clenched together before he spoke again. "None of this should have ever happened."

He wasn't sure how to respond to that, so the two continued to sit in silence as Naruto could feel that Inu was trying to form more works.

"Once you're cleared to leave, if you'd like, you can stay with me," the ANBU said and Naruto cast his gaze towards Inu. "I mean, you don't have to. You can always go back to your apartment if you want…" Naruto could tell that these words were coming from somewhere else, and not because of the current situation. Why would a random ANBU want to live with him?

From what he remembered, a lot of adults in Konoha avoided him. Of course he had figured out why much later. It was hard to be in hell and not know of the Kyubi which the pale man spoke of.

"Why," he asked and Inu's emotions started going haywire. Naruto felt regret like a punch in the gut. It was pouring off Inu in waves and Naruto had to place his hands on his temples. "Calm down, please. You're going to worry yourself to death."

The ANBU looked at him with surprise written on his face, "H-how?"

"How what?"

Inu cocked his head sideways and Naruto had to smother a chuckle at how silly he looked.

"How do you know what i'm feeling," Inu asked, causing Naruto to wonder if he did something wrong.

He shrugged, "I don't know, really. I can just feel you're worried about asking me for some reason, it's smothering and makes my head hurt."

Inu nodded slowly before replying, "I'll keep that in mind, and as for why, well… What I am about to tell you doesn't leave this room. I have permission from Hokage-sama to pass on this information that is rightfully yours," the man replied as he raised his head to look at Naruto once more.

"Your father was my sensei, Naruto. You should have been raised as my brother."


Time seemed to stop ticking for Kakashi as he told Naruto about his father, the Yondaime. The kid had hardly moved a muscle during the tale of the night he was born, and the circumstances that went with it.

His nerves were shot, worried about how Naruto would react. Kakashi wanted, needed to let Naruto know that he wasn't alone, that there were people out there he could come home to. He knew first hand what it was like growing up with a parent after his father…

Then Minato came and Kushina later on. They had gone out of their way to make Kakashi feel like kin, like he was one of their own. Minato would always stay up late with him, sharing his thoughts and feelings with Kakashi without reservation, always wanting to try and fix any problem the Hatake had. Kushina was caring and such a kind woman, even being the one that bought Kakashi dog-print pajamas to sleep in when he stayed at their house. She was the one who encouraged Kakashi to try and open up more, saying he needed more friends and stability in his life.

The boy sighed as Kakashi waited… and waited. The two had fallen silent once again and Kakashi was more than willing to let the Uzumaki take his time. He had been put through alot in such a short time, and he can already sing the effects such a predicament had on one so young.

He was forced to endure, forced to mature, all the while trying to survive in the clutches of one so tainted with malice and without morals. Inoichi had already come and gone earlier, pouring through Naruto's mind for any information they could glean on Orochimaru.

Afterwards when Kakashi had spotted him on his way out of the hospital, he had looked pale with sweat still clinging to his face. He was sure he would be filled in later by Hiruzen as Kakashi knew his place not to ask questions before the Hokage knew of what Inoichi found.

"Why?"

Kakashi looked up from the interesting spot he had picked out to occupy his thoughts to look at the boy, waiting for him to continue.

"Why now? Just because of this," he motioned with his hands over himself. "I don't want pity… I - I want… I need…"

Revenge, Kakashi wanted to finish for him. He saw how Naruto's knuckles had turned white as he grasped at the bedsheet. Love, because that was what the child had wanted so long ago, someone to come home to and talk with. The thought caused him to ache as he told himself he should have been more stern, more aggressive with his declaration of raising his sensei's son.

He should have done more, but 'should' was in the past. The only thing Kakashi could do now was try to mend what should have been and move forward.

"It's not 'pity'," he said. "It's regret. You should have been with me from the very beginning, but…," Kakashi groaned, gloved hands grabbing at his own hair. "Politics, others hungry for power," he rose his head once more to look at the young, disfigured boy. "Others were not keen on one with a Jinchuriki under their name. It's not fair, I know and if I could, I would go back and tell them all to go to hell.

"But I was weak and afraid, my sens- your father died along with your mother and many others. The people of Konoha had little knowledge of the Bijuu, and only those well within their years or privy to information truly knew what Jinchuriki's were capable of."

Kakashi withheld telling him half truths, lying would only further hurt the kid as he is now. "Some sought to take you in and force you to control the beast. The Sandaime, not knowing what else to do and pressured from every side, did what he thought was best. You were to be raised by Konoha as an ordinary orphan, but that didn't pan out either…"

He shook his head and cleared his throat for the last part, "It was either you were placed in an orphanage, or the village risked a civil war, all because some of those comfortable in their own muck wanted to garner power for themselves. So I stayed within the shadows, checking on you every chance I had while in the village."

Naruto's hurt eyes widened if only for a second before a forced chuckle made its way out of his hoarse throat, "My pajamas. They were from you."

Inu nodded, he had placed them on Naruto's windowsill during his sixth birthday and watched from a tree at how the boy's smile seemed to light up the whole room. It hurt Kakashi to know that Naruto had not received any other gifts that day.

The boy sighed again, knuckles loosening from the grip they were in and heaved another sardonic chuckle. "Gods this is so messed up. I don't know whether to be angry or… or I don't know. Sad because the village isn't what I thought it was. Angry because I could have had someone the entire time. You… you're so sincere Inu-san and I can feel that there's more to this than what you've told me."

Oh, Kakashi thought, much more. But he wasn't ready for the story about his father, or why the man had done what hurt him so much, leaving him all alone.

He watched as Naruto winced, they needed to get to the bottom of the sensory ability he acquired. "Sorry, didn't mean to get caught up in that memory, and I'd like to tell you at a later time," a heavy breath, "Once I can bury my own regrets."

The boy nodded as his facial muscles relaxed, no longer overburdened by such heavy emotions.

"I'm not sure how I feel about all of this yet, but," he looked at Kakashi who braced himself for blame, ready to take on more even though his heart was already crushed and only a moment before being scattered to the wind.

"But I don't want to be alone anymore, and…" he paused, looking out the window at the magnificent hues of the setting sun. "I really don't wanna cling to 'What ifs'. It feels like I'm drowning, suffocating when I think about what should have been, what it would have been like."

Kakashi didn't dare breathe, didn't dare move at all. He could not for the life of him understand why the kid wasn't raging at the world like his younger self would have. He isn't sure if he could have handled such bombshells of revelations after torture.

"I just", and 'Oh', Kakashi thought, 'here it comes'. "I want to live but I feel so tired, my head feels heavy and thinking about the mess that is our village, hurts. Can we," and his voice came out small, so tender and wavering that the child started leaking tears. "Can we…"

He moved on instinct, holding the sobbing Uzumaki against his chest who clung to him like he would disappear if he stopped for even a second.

So Kakashi stroked his hair, trying to channel the love that Kushina would show him anytime Kakashi wasn't at his best, trying to be a sturdy anchor for Naruto in the raging tides the way Minato would have been.

He would be there, and only the Shinigami could take him away from Naruto.

Even then, Kakashi would fight tooth, nail and soul against a being of its caliber if it meant seeing that ball of sunshine smile once more.


AN: I could have possibly edited this version more, but it was coupled with Chapter one and I didn't want to make the first chapter so wordy. I also needed to get this finished and out so I can continue on with the other chapters.

Edit -Fixed wording, AN.

Trying to put yourself into a characters perspective is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Hopefully I fall more into the flow of dialogue coupled with character flaw and quirks.