Author's notes:
Naruto doesn't have sharinghan now or in future in this fanfic. The Wave arc is bigger and slower and filled with lot of flashbacks. Because this lays the foundation for Naruto. Naruto gets all his power ups within this arc. After this arc, it is about how Naruto is using it to establish him as a leader. So bear with this arc. This arc also defines Naruto's future dynamics with his team. So it is very important.
Ready for some real anime dissing for making Naruto intellectually and emotionally dumb in cannon.
CHAPTER 14
Kakashi took his students outside for training after breakfast. Naruto came with crutches and gave it to his sensei.
"Sensei, you haven't recovered your chakra. If you use chakra again to teach, you will need this", Naruto said.
"Ah...Thanks Naruto", Kakashi said to Naruto who turned to a chibi again.
"What are we going to do sensei?", Sakura asked.
"Climbing trees", Kakashi said.
"We already know how to climb trees", Sakura frowned and Sasuke scowled.
"Not like this. Not without your hands", Kakashi said and started climbing the tree using chakra.
Sasuke and Sakura looked dumbfounded and Naruto shouted, "Sensei, teach me, teach me"
Kakashi was taken aback by the sudden yelling. He got used to Naruto being serious since this mission started. When the blonde suddenly started to fade into his chibi personality, Kakashi's response was slow by a beat.
Kakashi refused to think just what pushed Naruto to perfect his mask this much but his thoughts failed him. The fury with Konoha burn anew every time Naruto acted loud and stupid inside Kakashi. Where did Konoha go wrong? Since when it made their children hide their emotions just for survival?
The thoughts only took two seconds before Kakashi reached the ground again.
"Chop… chop. You try now", Kakashi ordered.
'Making this man teach genins is a poor decision. He isn't teaching. He is giving training. Does he think we are his ANBU juniors? Just show the genins, they will do it? Teaching isn't Kakashi's strong point', Naruto noted.
"I can easily do it, dattebayo", Naruto said and proceeded towards the tree.
'I must get used to his dual personality fast before I go insane', Kakashi was baffled.
To everyone's surprise, it was Sakura who got it down fast. Kakashi explained it was because she had less chakra reserves than anybody and asked her to continue practicing this whole week to build up enough chakra if she wanted to use jutsus in future.
At the same time, on the bridge, the real Naruto was talking to Tazuna. Yup, that was a clone practicing with Sasuke.
"How long will it take you to complete the bridge Tazuna-san?", Naruto asked.
"At least a month at this rate"
"It will take longer", a random worker interrupted their conversation.
"Why?", Tazuna asked while Naruto already guessed the reason.
"Since we invited ninjas Gato threatened some of the worker's family as retaliation", he replied and Tazuna cursed.
"We are going to complete the bridge. How they can go back now?", Tazuna started and Naruto interrupted.
"It is ok Tazuna-san. We will manage. Their safety is important".
"What can we do now? The bridge may never complete at this rate", Tazuna was miserable.
"I can help you", Naruto volunteered.
"You are just one person. Well two if you count your clone", Tazuna only knew two because he saw Naruto's clone during shopping and the one practicing with his teammates currently.
"I will help you find workers. Natives won't work because of fear. I will invite outsiders who came for visit. Give me a minute", Naruto said and disappeared with a shunshin leaving a baffled Tazuna behind.
"Ninjas"
Naruto just appeared to a remote corner and created a clone. He informed his clone to gather up other henged clones he asked to infiltrate Wave as visitors except the ones in contact with Gato's goons.
He created another clone to accompany Tazuna.
The clone took the original's place near Tazuna.
"I have sent for help Tazuna-san. You tell me how I can help till they arrive".
"It is unlikely they will come"
"We don't know until we try", Naruto encouraged.
Thirty minutes later a group of workers came to the bridge. They negotiated to get paid after the bridge was done but Tazuna had to take care of their food. He agreed. Tazuna once again continued. Seeing that, some workers who wanted to quit came back to work. Naruto was not overly surprised.
The original returned to discuss jutsus with Kakashi.
"Sensei, let's go", Naruto said and grabbed Kakashi's jacket and shunshined to a place far away from the genins and Wave mainland.
"Right Naruto, why don't we start with taijutsu first?", Kakashi asked and Naruto created 20 clones.
"Just how much clones you can create?", Kakashi asked flabbergasted.
"I planned council's invasion just by clones. You guess", Naruto supplied.
"Here we go", Naruto said and started. "Sensei, I have few styles. I will demonstrate one by one. You tell my clone how I can improve", Naruto said and left behind a clone.
Kakashi was first shocked to see Naruto's strength in person but soon got in his role as an overseer. He watched carefully and noted few openings and many good points. He could even use some moves to his style and make it better. After first style was done he praised and advised Naruto's clone near him while the fighting group adjusted their positions.
This happened again and again until all of Naruto's taijutsu styles very reviewed. There were no bigger mistakes, just some improvements needed. Kakashi attributed it Naruto's inexperience and lack of sparring partner. He noted to spar with Naruto often. Guy could do too. That might help all three of them.
After it was done, Naruto showed D-rank and C-rank ninjutsus of all his affinities until lunch time. It was easy considering Naruto could make an army of clones.
After lunch they were taking rest under a tree. Kakashi was burrowing his head into his orange book and Naruto was searching something in his storage scroll.
"Sensei, I have a gift for you", Naruto and Kakashi removed his attention from the book.
"Here, take this. It will help you with chakra exhaustion", Naruto gave square shaped papers of palm size.
Kakashi took them and investigated it. They were seals.
"What seal is this Naruto?"
"Chakra storage seal"
"Chakra storage seal? I have never heard of it", Kakashi was confused. He was somewhat of a seal master himself but he never heard of this particular one.
"That's because it is new and I invented it", Naruto said and Kakashi had no more energy to be surprised at Naruto.
"You know seals?"
"Not much. I only knew what was in mom's books. When mom was moved to secret cabin two months before my birth, Dad was planning to change their single bedroom apartment to a bigger one."
"The single bedroom apartment you currently live in", Kakashi remembered.
"Yeah. So dad shifted most of his library to his cabin. So it would be easy to shift back later and the books won't be lost. I found his cabin. And seals seemed easy. I can easily understand it."
"Must be in blood"
"I think so too"
"And I started working on them. I tried lot of things and finally made this seal. I improved it bit by bit and made it simple.", Naruto chirped.
"You can draw it permanently on the skin you know?"
"I can draw it on myself, see", Naruto said and made his invisible seal glow on his wrist.
"I can't draw it on your hand though. My chakra is mingled with demonic chakra remember? It will chakra poison you. So I can't use my chakra on others", Naruto explained.
Seals are not just lines. Seals are formations constructed by a series of patterns. Each line in a pattern has a certain angle, certain curve and connection. The lines are fabricated with chakra. Every line signifies a chakra flow which represents various things.
Kakashi knew very well how complicated seals were. He was once again proud of Naruto.
"This is good Naruto. So you have mastered seals?"
"Not as much as I would like".
"That's because your appetite is big", Kakashi retorted.
Naruto smiled and explained how to use chakra storage seals and Kakashi was impressed.
"This is great Naruto"
"Yup. But it is like shadow clone jutsu. The uses are enormous but once backlashes, it is fatal"
"That is true", Kakashi agreed.
"So, keep it secret sensei. Right now, in all of Konoha, except you and me, only hokage could use it. I am not giving it to him now"
"I know Naruto. Don't worry".
"Right sensei, let's discuss some jutsus I wanted to master"
"You are already good Naruto"
"I wanted to do it quickly with least amount of hand seals"
"You could already do it with your D and C rank jutsus. For B and C rank, it could be hard"
"I know. I want to compare our methods and try to optimize them"
And so Kakashi and Naruto spent a three hours discussing various ninja topics and both learnt what they didn't know and solidified and improved what they already knew. Both were satisfied with the knowledge he gained. Naruto was repairing the shortcomings caused by inexperience while Kakashi gained new comprehension from Naruto's techniques. Since he was self-taught, Naruto had unique views that greatly helped Kakashi.
Naruto then proceeded to show Kakashi his wind and water ninjutsus of higher ranks and Kakashi could see every inch of Naruto's hard work in practicing them. Naruto was a hidden genius, a true leader and hard worker. Out of all the pranks he pulled, his weak and boisterous self was the best one in the world. Kakashi couldn't wait to see Konoha's humiliation when they discover Naruto's true face.
Naruto then proceeded with fire jutsus. This affinity required assistance from kyubi and Naruto also took this chance to test whether people without sharighan could detect him using kyubi's chakra. Kakashi couldn't use sharinghan currently but he was the strongest next to hokage in Konoha. Naruto wanted to test it. To his satisfaction, Kakashi couldn't find the difference. Naruto wasn't ready to tell Kakashi he was in contact with kyubi yet.
Naruto followed fire by lightning and earth jutsus. At that Kakashi gave him some pointers. He suggested some chakra exercises Naruto could do to improve his control to Naruto.
Naruto also didn't have many collections on earth and fire jutsus. Kakashi suggested Naruto get it from him later.
And then Naruto gave him some lightning jutsus and seal books to Kakashi from his father's library he carried with him on a storage scroll. Kakashi refused it first but Naruto said his father labelled it for Kakashi. Apparently, Minato and Kushina had wanted it to give them as Kakashi's gift for helping them guard their unborn. They wanted Kakashi to know he was part of their family by sharing their heritage.
"I did a poor job"
"I am still alive, so get over it Kaka-sensei".
"You should be a parrot instead of scare crow. You repeat the same things again and again", Naruto commented.
"Maa.. do I talk about it that much?"
"Yup. I have a good memory. So don't repeat it. Stop being narcissistic"
"Narcissistic?". Kakashi was bewildered.
"Yeah. Who do you think you are? Hokage? God? If your sensei couldn't deal with what happened then what makes you think you could have done anything? You are not omnipotent Kakashi. Things were out of control and it wasn't your fault. Out of all the things you lost, death of my parents and your parents weren't your fault. Get it through your mind. And my life has nothing to do with you. You were a child back then. You lost your family second time. You are allowed to grieve. You are allowed to be scared. It is perfectly normal", Naruto said and Kakashi tensed.
"Their deaths may not be my fault", Kakashi started.
"It is not", Naruto stressed.
"But I ignored you. If you hadn't shown your anger and sufferings that day, I would have ignored you completely. I would have pretended we had no history if you didn't speak out."
"Of course I would. Even if I don't know my parents and council, I would have called you on your bullshit and favoritism about Sasuke. Well, me not speaking out, it could have happened in a universe where I was incapable of feeling human emotions like sadness and anger or a sociopath who has zero self-esteem who lacks awareness to other's emotions which might be impossible"
"I mean even if I am not smart as I am now, I have a fox inside. I would have smelled you. I wouldn't have forget you are Inu. I could have seen academy wasn't teaching me and asked hokage jiji for help, though I wouldn't have doubted him. I would have done anything Iruka sensei or jiji told me to become ninja, so I would have studied properly. Since I would have lived alone I would have had good stealth skills, cooking skills, good in detecting KI, alert at all times because people could hurt me anytime, anywhere, better tolerance to weather, good fighting reflexes. Even if my academy skills were poor, I would be better at survival skills than most genins."
"In no universe, I would be an idiot ignorant to people's reaction to me. Since everyone hated me, I always watch people's reaction, mood and chakra to check if they are safe or harmful. It would have intensified after Mizuki. In no sensible universe, I would tolerate things that made me poor ninja, unless until someone deliberately made it that way by making me two dimensional person who lacks character development and depth", Naruto was imagining an alternate universe and Kakashi couldn't help but feel better at Naruto's antics in building parallel world.
"Well, it is good it is not happening now", Kakashi said and Naruto sighed.
"Kakashi sensei, I am telling again, I was not your responsibility. Just because my father is your sensei, it doesn't mean you have to take care of me by default", Naruto said and something in Kakashi exploded at that instant.
"You are. You have no idea how close me and your parents are. Don't say something you don't know. My sensei is my business", Kakashi raised his voice.
Naruto realized he said something wrong.
"I am sorry sensei. I didn't mean to undermine your relationship with them. I know they treated you as their family. In fact they were going to ask you move in next door to the new apartment they were buying in the name of asking you to help with the baby. Dad wanted to bring it upon you suddenly so you wouldn't refuse. And mom planned to fake baby blues to con you. They never got that chance.", Naruto explained and Kakashi calmed down. He didn't know that. But it did sound like something they would pull.
"Kakashi sensei, what I wanted to tell was that, what happened to me wasn't your responsibility. Imagine, if I was adopted by someone who loved and cared for me, you will not feel this bad right? At least if I was treated like normal orphans, like Sasuke now or my father who was also an orphan, you will not feel this bad right? Because once you were alone too. But things happened to me and that wasn't your fault. You trusted Konoha and lord third to take care of me like my father did. I am not mad at him for that and I am not mad at you either. If you blame yourself for my life, then blame my father too. And mother, she agreed too right?", Naruto spoke in a calm manner and Kakashi couldn't refute the logic behind that.
"They are not at fault. They couldn't have imagined-", Kakashi refused to blame his second family.
"Then it is not your fault either", Naruto said and Kakashi didn't know what to say.
"I don't blame my godfather, a well grown man and sannin. Why would I blame you, a teenager with emotional issues for miles?", Naruto told the last part in a teasing manner and Kakashi smiled a little unconsciously.
"He is always out of Konoha", Kakashi sounded lame even for his own ears.
"It is not your fault you are in Konoha, Kashi sensei", Naruto reminded.
"I understand the logic Naruto, but I couldn't help but be disappointed in myself. I keep thinking I failed you because I was scared to look at you. Scared at the memories it would bring. Scared that you would ask about your parents. Scared that I can't protect you like I couldn't do with any of them. Scared that I can't protect you from myself", Kakashi said and winced at the last part.
Naruto searched his face for the answer.
"I blamed kyubi for what happened. I blamed my sensei and Kushina-san for getting pregnant so the seal would not have to loosen", Kakashi said Naruto would lie if he said he wasn't hurt.
"I am sorry Naruto. I am a fool. I am fucking sorry. Please forgive me. I shouldn't have blamed you. It was kyubi's fault, not yours and you are not kyubi", Kakashi was almost hysterical.
'There goes my shot at saying it is not kyubi's fault', Naruto frowned.
"Please don't ignore me for what I have done. I understand you will be hurt after hearing this. It was my fault. Please forgive me. That was then, it is now. It doesn't justify what I have done. Shit! I fucked up, didn't I? Naruto, I-", Kakashi wasn't even sure of the words coming out of his mouth.
'What is Naruto left like he did the other night? This is worse. What if Naruto ignore me? What if he changed teams because of that? Sandaime won't allow it but I won't keep Naruto against his wishes. But I don't want him to leave? I got one shot to repent the mistakes I have done. I can't let it go', Kakashi was going in a downward spiral and was stopped by Naruto pulling his sleeves.
"Sensei, stop. I am not going to do anything. Just stop", Naruto was tired at this point.
"Look here sensei, I already told you. I don't blame you. Open you ears for once", Naruto said and Kakashi looked at him.
"Really?"
"I swear", Naruto promised.
"Kakashi, do you see my parents when you see me?", Naruto asked and Kakashi was surprised.
"Kakashi, are you being nice because I am their son?", Naruto asked.
"Yes and No"
"Then it is good. It is just I don't want you to give me special treatment because of them. I am not my parents. I have my own goals which they wouldn't have supported if they are alive. I know you want to make up to their son. And I am all for it. I can't deny that I am their son and it comes with certain people and responsibilities. I just hope you don't only see them in me", Naruto said and Kakashi's eye widened.
"I am sorry if I meant something like that Naruto. I don't only see them in you. I used to. Not anymore. Not since the past two days. But I would admit, if I didn't have a history with your parents, I would be sad for my student's past but I wouldn't have blamed myself for it. So it is a combination I think. I want to make up for sensei's son and my misunderstood student", Kakashi expressed his thoughts.
"I understand. Because you are the same to me. I want you to see me as I am because you are my sensei and you are someone who was close to them. So you are special than Iruka sensei. It is a whole lot of complicated", Naruto sighed.
Kakashi was relieved to know Naruto understood. He was worried Naruto misunderstood his words earlier. He didn't want to hurt this precious child who had lot of responsibilities thrust upon him.
"And it is ok to be scared Kakashi. I understand that too.", Naruto said.
"Do you know my first kill?", Naruto asked and Kakashi replied in negative.
"When I was in orphanage, I was mostly alone. Even though we were all orphans, I was targeted because most of them were orphans because of the incident on my birthday. They thought I put them there. So I wasn't popular with them. Except one. He was my friend. He didn't blame me mostly because he was an orphan before the incident. Anyway, unlike the other orphans who was not orphaned on my birthday, but joined others, he didn't give into peer pressure and bully me", Naruto was telling about the past and Kakashi listened attentively. He made a note to sneak into Konoha archives to get a list of children who was in orphanage alongside Naruto. A little dose of genjutsu during night will do. They must be teenagers now. It didn't count as harming people, did it?
"He was my first friend. It happened when I was kicked out of orphanage. He came to visit me once in a while. When he wanted to visit me one day, he unknowingly found two people scouting Konoha borders. They wanted to kidnap him for child trafficking, but he made noise and put up a fight. Thanks to Konoha's orphanage/bully system. You go in a child, come out a man", Naruto words were funny but his tone was anything but.
"I appeared on the scene and tried to help him. So we both got hurt. I have a fox who regenerates me but he didn't. He was severely hurt, Kakashi. The bandits did a number on him and most of his internal organs were outside his body. They wanted to kill him and missed. It was bloody. The bandits were injured too. I used poisoned kunai on them. I stole the poison they added to food in orphanage when I left and used it on the kunai. It was enough to incapacitate them not kill them", Naruto said and swallowed.
Kakashi reconfirmed his genjutsu plans and waited to see how Naruto killed those bandits. He never in a million wild nightmares imagined what came out of Naruto's mouth next.
"I went to see how he was doing. I could say he wasn't doing well. He was in lot of pain. He would barely live if he got treated immediately but he would be a cripple. I treated myself with medical books so I could see it was true. He would never be a ninja. He told me he wasn't going to live like that. The reason why he was ostracized was because his father was a missing-nin. He ran away from Konoha during a mission and named traitor but my friend believed it was not true. His father loved Konoha and wanted his son to be a ninja just like he was", Naruto was getting emotional at that point and Kakashi was holding his breath.
"He told he was going to die anyway and would rather die as his father wished, as a hero, than an orphan who lost to bandits. He wanted me to hand over the ninjas to Konoha and say he captured them so he could be buried in Konoha. And then he asked me something I wish he hadn't, which made me do something I wish I didn't. He asked me to end his life Kakashi", Naruto was burrowing his face inside his palms and Kakashi was a statue. He couldn't imagine this happening to two children of Konoha.
"He told me he wasn't capable of moving an inch of his body and he couldn't kill himself. He asked me end his life Kakashi and I was petrified. I could sense an ANBU coming and told him that he could live. He said he didn't want to live like a cripple and that he was an orphan who had no one to help. Before I could offer my help, he denied it. He said if I wasn't going to kill him, he would bite his own tongue and die. But others would find he killed himself and didn't want to die like a coward. As a friend, I should fulfill his dying wish because he was going to die one or another way, as a coward or a hero. I was confused between his begging and incoming ANBU, and finally took the bandit's knife and plunged into his heart, staged it like my friend took the bandits and he gave up his life for it. I killed him Kakashi. I ended his life", Naruto's grief could be heard on his tone and Kakashi forgot to react until he saw Naruto's trembling hands. Kakashi just put a hand on Naruto's shoulder silently reassuring he wasn't there in the past.
There was no sound for five minutes in a forest near the sea. In fact, Kakashi wondered whether the sea and wind stood still because of grief too.
"I am so sorry, Naruto. You were put in an impossible position. It would have been hard for an adult shinobi albeit a six year old child. I think you honored your comrade. He was going to die anyway and you just made sure he deserved proper death", Kakashi didn't know what he was saying but he understood Naruto wasn't at fault for his friend's choices. He only thought about Konoha's immaturity in handling children. Children weren't supposed to pay for adult's faults. He knew because he personally experienced it.
He also thought what he would do if he was in Naruto's position. If Obito asked him, he would have done the same thing probably and went insane later. Kakashi thanked kami, Naruto held his wits. Naruto was mentally strong than most shinobis. Most of them would spend several months after an incident like that in Inoichi's therapy. Naruto got his attention once again by telling the remaining things.
"After I killed my friend, an ANBU reached there. It was Shuishi. He used to check in on me often. He would come exactly the same day my friend would come and that day was the check in day. When he saw the scene and my trembling hands he understood something. He killed the bandits and put the bodies in a storage scroll. I kept saying they are right, I am a demon. I repeated it over and over until hugged me and told me it wasn't true. He cleaned the scene and asked what happened. Shuishi was one of the people I trusted, so I blurted out the truth. He said he would take care of it and he did. My friend became a hero and I became a killer that day", Naruto's tone was filled with grief and helplessness.
"I was scared of myself after that Kakashi. I was scared how easy it was for me to take a life. Shuishi carried me away and kept company through night. Shuishi became a constant in my life after that. He came to me one day and explained lot of things. My friend's father wasn't a traitor. His father name was Shin. He was one of test subjects of Orachimaru's experiment. The bandits were child traffickers sent to collect orphans for ROOT to train".
"He didn't explain like this but he did inform me some 'snakeman' was doing evil science things and some evil old man was kidnapping children, so my six year old could understand. He also warned me the evil men were watching me at all times and he was one of the people assigned to watch me. He asked me not to worry and that he would train me to escape. He taught me most of my stealth skills Kakashi. It was going very well until he died too", Naruto took a breath and Kakashi was trying to process all the information he was receiving.
"He died in front of me Kakashi and I couldn't do anything", Naruto said and the helplessness in retrospect was apparent. Kakashi was very familiar with that. It sounded like his own voice.
"Naruto, didn't Itachi kill Shuishi? You were there at that time?", Kakashi asked worried about Naruto. Kakashi was anxious Itachi made appearances in Naruto's life far more than he would like. 'Itachi is dangerous'.
"Shushi committed suicide", Naruto broke the pot.
"What?"
"Yes. He jumped into the river. Before he died, he used a jutsu on me and said his confidant will open it for me at the right time. He told me it was something that could save me and serve as a valuable tool in the future. But I don't know what it is", Naruto really had no idea about the tool but he knew the confidant was Itachi.
Naruto wisely shut his mouth and hid the fact that Shuishi introduced him to Itachi and they taught him together. They couldn't teach Naruto much since he was young. They only taught him how to sneak, escape and basic life-saving skills so Naruto could hold on until one of them came to his rescue. But neither of them were with him currently.
Kakashi was wondering what the jutsu could be. He wondered whether it was sharinghan but it would have been transplanted, not a jutsu. Both Kakashi and Naruto didn't know it was what made genjutsu possible for Naruto. Kakashi also wondered why Itachi was blamed for a suicide. He suspected Naruto didn't tell lot of things but he would know in time.
"Shuishi fell on the river and even his body wasn't found. You see Kakashi, my friend, Aoshin, his name, died near the river too", Naruto continued.
"I was scared of water bodies and avoided it Kakashi. As an Uzumaki, my clan would laugh at me. To me, a river wasn't filled with water but with blood. I avoided going to river and lakes. I am still not comfortable with it because it reminds me of them."
It suddenly made sense to Kakashi why Naruto was nervous when they first reached Wave. Poor kid.
"Aoshin was my Rin and Shuishi was my Obito. So, I don't blame you for avoiding me. I know what you were scared of and I understand", Naruto said at the end and Kakashi didn't know what to say.
Kakashi's heart ached for Naruto. He could understand Naruto's loss better. At least, Kakashi had somebody to hold him until his senesi's untimely death. But Naruto was alone. He couldn't imagine Naruto as a six year old crying over a friend he killed. It was cruel. This world was unfair to Naruto and Kakashi didn't know how to make it fair for him. Kakashi didn't feel better that Naruto understood. In fact, he felt worse. It was better for Naruto to blame him and demand an apology than a young Naruto understand the fear and loss came with deaths.
"I don't know what to say Naruto. I wish you hadn't gone through any of that"
"So am I", Naruto's tone was sad and Kakashi didn't like it.
"I wish I was there with you. I should have been there", Kakashi said.
"We can't change the past"
"I wish I could erase the past"
"It would erase our loved ones too", Naruto said.
"What can we do?", Kakashi questioned not expecting an answer.
"Maybe we should erase ourselves", Naruto's tone wasn't sad anymore. More like indifferent.
"Huh..What do you mean?", Kakashi was certain Naruto wasn't talking about self-harm. Naruto wasn't like that. So he didn't understand Naruto. How unpredictable.
To his bewilderment, Naruto was suddenly glowing like a sun and full of energy.
"Let's do this Kashi. Let's erase our past selves. The past Naruto and Kakashi who was incapable of protecting their loved ones, who was used as a tool by the power corrupt and crooked people, who were miserable, let's leave them behind. Let's start anew from now. What say you?", Naruto was like a puppy expecting treats.
"Naruto, it is easy for you to say. I killed lot of people when I was an ANBU. My crimes aren't as light as yours", Kakashi provided information.
"I know. I will do it first and will teach you how to do it. We can help each other. Just trust me ok?", Naruto said with a smile.
"Ok", Kakashi agreed readily.
"Do you still blame yourself?"
"It is more like a regret than blame"
"Ah, got it sensei"
"I wish you don't Naruto"
"Look here Kakashi. You were grieving. You were sad and you did a mistake. To make mistake is normal. To grieve is normal. You didn't abandon me. You were depressed. Abandoning me is turning blind eye to my abuse. You ignored me because you lived the same life when you were young and thought it was normal. Your grief blindsided you. Your fear made you run away. It doesn't make you worse than scum. If anything, it makes you human", Naruto said and Kakashi was choked by emotions.
"If you think you are really worse than scum, then it is ok too. I accept that", Naruto said and Kakashi winced when Naruto called him worse than scum. It became surreal.
"The question is are you willing to change it? Are you willing to make it up to me?", Naruto asked.
"Yes" Kakashi's answer was fast and true. 'Kami, yes. I am willing to make up for it till I die.'
"Good. Hatake Kakashi, you abandoned me when I was a child and became worse than scum. For making up for that crime, I hereby order you to protect and guide me till I order you otherwise. Do you accept?", Naruto was acting like a hokage, tone and all.
"I do", Kakashi was finding Naruto liked theatrics.
"Well, you can start your duty from this minute"
"I gladly accept", Kakashi smiled.
They suddenly laughed out loud. Kakashi felt some shackles on his body loosen and his soul felt lighter. He felt relieved now than when Naruto said he didn't blame him. The feeling that Naruto knew he was guilty but willing to forgive him and give him a chance, could only be described as delight. Someone knew his sins and yet still wanted to be around him.
Kakashi also felt he made peace with Naruto, his sensei's legacy and a young ninja, who had potential to change the word. Naruto wasn't only about empty optimism or a light who didn't know darkness. Naruto knew what he was talking about. Kakashi could see there was darkness in Naruto too but it only brought out the light better. Suddenly, two things overlapped and whole things came into a single picture of Naruto who carried a dark past heading to a bright future. Kakashi decided to guide and protect this young man.
Kakashi was more optimistic about this Naruto than the one he imagined. This young man would make a good comrade.
Naruto on the other hand was finally seeing Kakashi for what he was. Kakashi was not a hero, he pictured. Kakashi wasn't just an ANBU ninja whom he idolized or a person who was the last of his family he kept clinging on for approval. Naruto used to think Kakashi could never make a mistake and he wasn't to be blamed for abandoning him. But if something happened to Kakashi, god forbid, Naruto would at least check in on his sensei Kakashi's legacy. Kakashi wasn't a scum but he did make a mistake. Naruto could see this now and he wasn't sad about it as he would have imagined.
Naruto could forgive Kakashi because he apologized. If Kakashi pretended he didn't know about his father and didn't apologize for his behavior, Naruto would definitely be filled with the feeling of betrayal. He could have been hurt to know Kakashi blatantly ignored him all those years. But Kakashi didn't. He accepted his mistake and apologized. Naruto wasn't sure if he would forgive Kakashi if he apologized couple of years later. Thank kami, that didn't happen. Naruto was seeing what Kakashi was talking about. Kakashi was a man who made mistakes and killed lot of people. To Naruto, Kakashi suddenly became a real person, not a hero from Konoha's mission reports or the memories kyubi shown him.
Naruto accepted this Kakashi was better than one he imagined. He would make a good comrade.
Both of them watched the sunset and the unsettled waves in their hearts were finally settling in.
"Let's head back. Your teammates must be returning too", Kakashi proposed.
"Ah right sensei, my clone wants me to enquire me about something after dinner. I will not be in home and my clone will be there at night. I will leave few clones around for standing guard", Naruto informed.
"Are you going to sneak into Gato's den?", Kakashi wanted to know anything that involved the mission.
"No sensei. I already sent some henged clones to infiltrate them already. This enquiry has nothing to do with that."
Kakashi understood Naruto was doing something sneaky.
"Be careful, Naruto", Kakashi said and Naruto agreed and shunshined both of them near the house.