Disclaimer: You should know the drill

Chapter 3 is up, it's a bit more personal then the last two, it introduces some of the characters we all know, and love.

The forest was silent. Apart from an occasional breeze that ruffled the treetops nothing could be heard. A slight buzzing sound disturbed the silence but disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. Suddenly it was there again, but stronger this time, and it was more like a thump. But just as before it disappeared.

A single figure shot out of the forest in a giant leap. As it hit the ground a buzzing sound could be heard as energy was expelled and the figure took to the air again. Moving at unnatural speed it vanished into the treetops, and just like the sounds, it was gone.

The figure zigzagged soundlessly from branch to branch in a display of supernatural grace. That illusion was soon broken, as a branch snapped and the unlucky speedster tumbled to the ground.

"Crap!"

The unlucky man got to his feet, brushed off dirt from his flak jacket and muttered various curses under his breath. His brown, dirt stained pants had torn from the impact, and blue eyes looked upset at the large gash that ran from right under the waistline, all the way down to the knee. The man hooked a finger into it and sighed.

"That's going to need stitching," he stated to himself as he ran his fingers through a mess of dirt brown locks and secured it in a ponytail. Pausing for a while, he fidgeted with a rouge stray of golden yellow that shone through the mud and dirt. Looking up he sighed again and was about to set of when something occurred to him.

"Oh, I'm already here"

Placing his right hand in front of him in a seal, the forest before him flimmered like a canvas in the breeze and faded away, revealing a cave opening. As he walked in, the illusion closed the gap behind him, hiding the cave perfectly from any prying eyes.

The cave was large, considering the small opening. A large fire in the middle of the cave produced both heating and luminance. Three people sat huddled around the fire in silence, not even looking in the direction of the man that had just walked in. At the far corner of the cave, away from the small crowd there was seated a man on a slightly elevated natural platform. The blonde man walked over to him, nodding in the direction of the people around the fire as he passed them. This small gesture was either ignored or went unnoticed. Either way it was not returned.

"Report?" came a slurred voice, as the man on the platform raised his head to meet the blonde's gaze.

"Encountered enemy patrols in sector 7 and 12, avoided confrontation, as they were heavily armed, and I felt they were really on their toes."

The silver haired man on the platform sat cross-legged and took a long zip from a flask that hung from his belt. After a pause he made grimace from the bitter taste of the contents and looked at the blonde again.

"You afraid, scardy cat?"

The blond looked at him with a hurt and sad look.

"You really need to lay of the sake, Kakashi-sensei" he stated flatly, and snatched the bottle out of his hands, as he turned to walk away.

The older shinobi flailed clumsily for his stolen possession, but quickly gave up with a defeated sigh and slumped back against the cave wall.

The blonde joined the group around the fire, only to find it the coldest place in the cave. A female with pink hair averted her eyes from the newly seated. A man with a ponytail and earrings in both ears turned his back on him. The only thing the blond felt was the uncomfortable stare of an unusually grim Hyuuga Neji.

"Which sectors did you say you covered Naruto?" came a harsh and direct question

The blonde shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny, and was silently surprised at Neji's tone of voice.

"How come you ask? It was sector 7 and 12" he answered, clearly uneasy with the questioning.

"And you did encounter enemy forces?" Neji continued in the same almost menacing tone

"Yes, you must have heard it when I reported to Kakashi." Naruto snapped, annoyed

"Why the hell, didn't you engage them?" Neji asked aggressively, raising his voice and leaning over towards the man he yelled at.

Naruto could hear the girl beside him starting to quietly sob. He looked at her with a sickening feeling growing in his gut. He snapped his head back at more yelling from the angry white-eyed man before him.

"Do you expect a 10 year old to fend for herself!" he screamed mere inches from Naruto's bewildered face.

"Hey calm down! What the hell is going on? Shikamaru?" The man with the earrings had turned back to face them, with a ready hand on the shoulder of the enraged Hyuuga. He looked at Naruto with red eyes, full of sadness and nodded at a corner of the cave. Naruto turned his head and saw the all too familiar sight of freshly upturned dirt. A grave, and an all to short grave at that. Naruto felt sick as the knot that had been building in his stomach exploded, as he realized who lied there.

"Hanabi…" he whispered tears already welling up in his eyes "How?"

"Shikamaru found her in a hastily made grave in sector 7, exhumed her, and brought her here." Sakura spoke up, between sobs

"In your damn sector!" Neji screamed and lunged at Naruto. For a second Naruto felt the hands of a man that had killed countless foes around his troth, and was terrified. Shikamaru tried to yank him back but to no use. The brawl was suddenly ended as a fast moving metal object passed between them slicing off a strand of Neji's hair, and embedding itself in the opposing cave wall.

"Hyuuga! Are you trying to thin our ranks even further?" Hatake Kakashi stood on shaky legs, looking at the group. "Cut it out, now." After this statement he stumbled ungracefully backwards and fell in a drunken haze. His actions still had the desired effect, and the commotion died down. Naruto looked sadly at Kakashi, before he got up and left.

As the fire in the cave died down and their dwelling had grown silent, Naruto sneaked back in. Sitting in front of little Hanabi's all to early grave, he sobbed, full of self contempt and frustrated anger at the sons of bitches that caused this atrocity. But the thing that hurt the most was that this was an all too familiar feeling.

The cold, raw cave air made Naruto wince, as he turned uncomfortably half asleep. As he turned over he hit sharp piece of rock sticking out of the ground. Grunting he sat up and rubbed his back. He had fallen asleep right in front of Hanabi's grave, and he felt a pang of loss in his chest, as his brain remembered the day before. Turning around, he could feel all the joints in his body aching from being so cold. He had fallen asleep a good 20 meters from the fire, and realized he was freezing. The cave was almost empty, except for a pink haired woman sitting next to the dying fire, staring blankly at the still glowing embers. Naruto walked over to her, squatting down next to her.

"Good morning, Sakura-Chan" he said with a careful smile

The kunochi turned to face him and returned the gesture

"Good morning" she replied, her voice sore from apparently just waking up as well.

She looked tired. Not tired from waking, but tired in general. Her emerald green eyes had lost its usual spark; they looked like they glazed over more and more for each passing day. She had dark circles under them, and her smile was reduced to a kind of a smirk. Naruto found it sadly ironic that she was named after a flower. Ever since the civilian coalition had imposed their first decrees, ever since this war started, she was wilting. Naruto understood why very well. Since Sasuke left all those years ago, well at least it felt like an eternity, her life, and everyone else for that matter had taken a sharp turn for the worse. The Akatsuki situation, the resulting 3. Ninja war, and on top of that, they were now under siege by a force no one had expected. So many loved ones lost, so much hurt and destruction. And the end of it all was nowhere in sight.

They sat a stared at the glowing embers in silence together for a while, before Naruto broke the silence.

"Where are all the others?"

"Neji took of early this morning, probably on a recon mission. I was asleep when he left, Shikamaru told me before he headed for a town to get some supplies." She replied staring off into nothingness.

There were still towns that traded with the shinobi. Even after it had been made illegal by the civilian coalition, money was still money to many people, in many towns. Even if they needed supplies in an area that followed the new rules, they could get it by simple use of a henge no jutsu, or plain old disguise.

"What about Kakashi-sensei?"

"Around…I think he's off somewhere training." Sakura said that with a hint of contempt in her voice. Their former sensei, the once great copy ninja Hatake Kakashi had succumbed to the lowliest of things. After years of steady service to Konoha, after countless feats of great bravery and skill, and most impressive, enduring the loss of many a friend and loved ones, the thing that broke him was alcohol.

"I think I'll go find him," Naruto stated "Will you be ok by yourself?" he said placing a reassuring hand on Sakuras shoulder. She squeezed it gently and gave him a broken smile.

"Yeah, sure.."

Silently making his way through the bush, Naruto felt a familiar presence in the forest before him. Slipping up a tree, he peaked out from the foliage, overlooking a small clearing in the dense forest. There he could see his former sensei in deep concentration, halfway into a series of practiced kicks and punches. Naruto decided not to disturb him, and continued to watch from his vantage point.

Kakashi had stopped in the middle of the clearing, eyes closed, breathing calm and controlled, arms at his sides. Naruto had noticed that Kakashi's usual flak jacket, sandals and shirt was in a pile on the ground a few meters away from him. In fact, he was only wearing his pants and the bandages that covered his calves and feet. Even his mask was off. Naruto remembered that the late Team 7 tried almost anything to get that thing of their sensei, to no avail. He almost chuckled to himself when the fond but distant memories hit him. Those were the days, they really were. He had actually seen his sensei's face on a few occasions over the years, and it made him understand why he hid it. The popular belief among the Konoha women had been partially true, even being a man Naruto had to admit his sensei was very handsome. But that was only half the truth. Running along his left cheek splitting the left side of his lip, Kakashi had an unusual scar, from a wound that had healed pretty badly by the looks of it. Naruto had guessed it was a result of a poisonous blade of some sort, but had never asked. The scar marred the otherwise very good looking mans face.

Naruto showed the thoughts to the back of his mind, and concentrated on the man below him. Kakashi raised his hands at his side slowly as he inhaled deeply. When the arms were level with his head, he suddenly exploded into action. Shifting his legs lightning quick into an L formation, resting most of his weight on the back leg, he brought his hands into something that resembled the praying mantis style, palms open and wrists relaxed. Naruto watched intrigued. Kakashi was using a rare form of sleeping dragon style; Naruto was under the belief that they stopped teaching that in the academy, even before Kakashi was a student there. Naruto had only heard bits about it from Jirayia in the days of their training. Apparently it was one of the most powerful taijutsu in the whole of Konoha, but it had been dismissed as to difficult and time consuming to master, in the times when shinobi were being shipped through the academy and into battle. All of this made Naruto very curious.

Kakashi kept his stance for a few moments, like a steel spring ready to go off. Suddenly thrusting his right hand forward, he leaned into the punch following up with his left, masterfully ducking his head in a manner that gave it cover from his arm, but did not obscure his vision of the imagined target. Suddenly leaning backwards in a defensive motion he kicked out with his right leg, twisting his upper body 180 degrees, and landed on one knee facing the other way in a defensive position. He took another deep breath, seemingly resting for a moment, and once again exploded. This time it was faster and more complex. This continued, in a pattern of either complete relaxation or explosive action. The intervals changed, and the pauses grew shorter and shorter, until the moment was a blur of kicks, punches and rolls that Naruto had a hard time following. Suddenly Kakashi stopped as suddenly as he had started, breathing heavily, covered in sweat. Naruto whistled inwardly, he was truly impressed. That display could make even the late Gai a bit envious.

Kakashi started a walk over to his pile of belongings whispering to himself, but loud enough for Naruto to make out.

"That was a good one, huh dad?"

Dad? Naruto frowned, who the hell was his former sensei talking to? He decided this was a good time to reveal himself. Jumping from his hiding place, he landed gracefully a few feet away from Kakashi.

"Impressive show Kakashi-sensei" he said casually.

"Didn't notice I had an audience" Kakashi replied his back turned, putting on his discarded clothing.

"Are you getting rusty?" Naruto half joked, trying to lift the melancholy mood. "And if you didn't think you had an audience, who were you talking too?"

Kakashi sighed and turned to face Naruto, pulling his trademark mask over his face. Naruto never liked to see the copy ninjas face. Besides his handsome features, his face and especially his eyes held so much sorrow. For a man that was known to convey all his emotion through his usually one visible eye, his whole face was almost too much to take. It was so full of repressed hurt and sorrow, it made Naruto's heart sink in his chest.

"Oh just, blabbering to myself" The taller man replied, in a bad attempt to change the subject.

"I heard you" Naruto said seriously "And I have hear you before as well. You talk to your dad, don't you?"

"And what's it to you really?" Kakashi glanced at his former pupil sideways as he rummaged through his backpack.

"It's not healthy, and my expert analysis has deducted that it might be that damn sake you always chug down." Naruto was getting irritated, almost angry.

"Oh this?" Kakashi said, holding up a bottle he found in the backpack. "Not healthy?" he took a long zip of the contents, and his behavior angered Naruto to no end. He tried to snatch it, but Kakashi sidestepped and kept the bottle out of range. Naruto lunged for it, but the older shinobi gracefully grabbed his wrist, throwing him to the ground. Naruto growled in dissatisfaction and got to his feet.

"You damn drunkard!" he yelled, frustrated

"That may be" Kakashi retorted calmly

"That stuff is making you lose your mind, can't you see that you idiot?" Naruto fumed.

"That's not the sakes fault" Kakashi sighed almost mournfully "It's all this that's killing me, this place, this war, our situation."

"We all have to deal with that, it's how things is! We are shinobi; if we get a problem we deal with it, no matter how big it is! It certainly doesn't solve anything to walk around in a drunken haze!"

"And how do you suppose we deal with this problem, Naruto-kun?" Kakashi said almost scornfully. "This is not like another war, were we kill the enemy and all is well. This time the enemy wants us dead and gone, not because of some border dispute, or power struggle. They want us dead for what we are. We shinobi are unwanted, a tumor on the civilians glorious new world order. In their eyes we are rouge, volatile and dangerous, therefore we must be destroyed. They will kill as all to achieve peace. We are killers; we deal in death, and have failed our original purpose. There can be no peace before we all die "

Kakashi's apocalyptic speech made Naruto sick. It really hurt to see his former sensei, so utterly loose hope, and even more it hurt, because his logic made sense.

"Even so, you can't drink to forget it all. It will all still be here tomorrow!" Naruto tried to remain unfazed by Kakashi's crushing speech.

"I don't drink forget, Naruto, I drink to remember." Kakashi walked over too him placing a hand on the blonde mans shoulder. "That's what you have been hearing. I drink to remember what was good in life before we all had to endure this hell. But that is my business. Sake is the one thing keeping me sane."

"Have you just given up?" Naruto asked with downcast eyes.

"Naruto…" Kakashi spoke softly "You have never lost hope, and I love you for that. Don't let the rants of a drunkard get you down"

His one visible eye cringed in a smile Naruto had known since he was twelve, and it made him feel a bit better.

"Uhm..Ok" Naruto replied with a strained smile.

"See you back at the cave, right?" Kakashi asked

"Yeah, sure"

"Ok, then" Kakashi said embracing him quickly before he left.

Naruto was left in the clearing by himself, not knowing what to feel. He felt awful, and yet felt comforted by the embrace of a man he thought of as a surrogate father. But most of all he felt angry, so angry it hurt his insides, and pounded in his head. Civilian coalition he spat. They were the ones that took away his loved ones, and caused all this despair. A new world order? They could just try to make one. They had no fucking idea what they were up against.

Naruto let out an ear-shattering scream, more feral than human.