Authors Note: Hello! Thank you everyone for your reviews and thanks to those who gave suggestions too, I'm always open for those :). But for now I'm at a lack of words so I'll just give you chapter three :-D
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Kakashi sat perched on a high tree branch looking over the forest that surrounded the Hidden Leaf village. He sighed to himself wondering why he was out here. This was hardly a level 'A' mission; it was probably a 'C' mission at best. The hokage had said there had been reports of unusual happences around the outskirts of the forest and that he wanted him to check it out for a week, basically meaning hang out in the woods watching over everything and not come back home for a week… though he did get to go back if he had anything to report. But that was one of the things that was bugging Kakashi. He had been out here for three days now and there was nothing… nothing! Nothing at all to report. If there was something out here besides himself and what was supposed to be there… it was doing a damn good job of hiding itself. He shook his head and leapt down from the tree deciding it was time to hunt down some dinner. As he looked around he saw what he was certain to be the same fox he and Naruto rescued from under the tree, and in its jaws it held a rabbit. Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest and regarded the fox with a mild curiosity.
"So what are you doing here?" He asked the fox not really expecting a response. The fox stood up and walked over to him nodding her head up and down jostling the rabbit in its mouth. She sat down in front of Kakashi then looked up at him pawing him gently. Kakashi knelt down then held out a hand to pet her.
"What? What's up with you?" the fox simply pushed the rabbit into his hand and let go before running off into the woods. Alright then… Kakashi thought to himself, a fox is providing me with dinner. As if that wasn't enough for Kakashi to contemplate over, the fox returned carrying a large branch in its jaws and laid it down in front of him before going off again to get another one. Rather than sit and think about it at that time he went and gathered a few branches himself not wanting to just sit there with a dumfounded look on his face. Not too long later he had gotten a fire going and was cooking the rabbit over it, the fox lying next to him keeping by the fire. Kakashi kept looking from the rabbit to the fox.
"You can't talk can you? Because I don't think I could take another surprise." He asked the fox finally, his voice mild. She just simply looked up at him, obviously understanding, but she ether didn't or couldn't talk. So Kakashi just simply attended to dinner which he served out evenly for the both of them. While it was odd company, Kakashi found it still nice to have… after all it was better than nothing. After they ate the fox curled up next to him and after awhile Kakashi found himself talking to the fox. Fist he just talked about the mission he was currently on at the moment and the irrelevance at it all, then about some of the people he knew about the village and some of the other Jonin and their teams. And the fox seemed to listen through out it all, looking at him in an understanding way until she finally lay her head down on one of his outstretched legs and fell asleep. Kakashi chuckled and petted the top of her head before looking around them. This seemed a good a place as any to sleep, he thought, but to be sure he slipped his head band from over his Sharingan eye and looked around the forest. Nothing at all, but just as he placed his hand over the head band he looked down and thought he saw a bright glimpse of charka. Kakashi looked down at the fox wondering if that's where it came from, but the fox looked plain and simple enough… kind of muddy, like it hadn't groomed itself in a while, but nothing out of the ordinary. Kakashi sighed and just dubbed it to be a figment of his imagination out of the fact that he was so bored out here on his grade 'A' scouting mission. It wasn't too long until Kakashi drifted to sleep his hand resting gently on the foxes head.
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The past few days had been quite different for Team 7. With Master Iruka as their acting sensei till Kakashi got back, they found they only had to wait about five minutes for Iruka to show up and there was no 'capture the bells' or really hard training lessons, just simple every day grade 'D' training missions that made Naruto feel like he was going to go insane from the repetitive boringness of it all. Sakura felt sorry for the energetic blond and often found herself trying to cheer him up. Oddly enough it usually didn't take too much, she just had to say something encouraging to him and he'd grin happily as he did. She even offered to go with him to take food to the fox, even though there was something about the fox that really bugged her. No matter how hard they had tried, they were never able to get the handkerchief back from the fox. It had felt like they were dealing with Kakashi, as they had the same amount of success with the fox as with Kakashi. She had even seen Sasuke use his Sharingan eyes but to no effect. But Sakura just shrugged, for some reason it didn't seem to important to think about. Master Iruka had just left and Naruto was muttering to himself obviously about to throw a fit about today's missions, she couldn't really blame him; their missions had basically consisted of babysitting, weeding, household cleaning chores and alike. It was almost noon and the three were walking over to the bridge after playing with the fox all morning since Master Iruka had told them that their missions would begin at noon since he didn't have any morning training sessions for them. The three walked up to the bridge Naruto and Sakura chattering with Sasuke even joining in the conversation now and then.
"What's up Sakura? Why'd you stop?" Naruto asked when she stopped and simply stared ahead in surprise. Turning to see what she was looking at Naruto saw Kakashi leaning against the bridge railing reading his usual book.
"Kakashi Sensei!" Naruto yelled out as the three of them hurried over.
"Well this is a first; I never thought that I would be the one to wait for the three of you to show up." Kakashi said a smile in his eyes as he put the book away. Naruto laughed and ran over to his teacher stopping only a few inches from him.
"Hey, hey, Kakashi sensei, did you finish your mission early? What was it? Did you have to travel really far from the village? Or or were you stopping a threat that was just outside the gates huh huh?" Naruto asked his teacher in a flurry of words his eyes shining excitedly wanting to know what had gone on.
"Well I'm afraid the mission is not over yet, I was simply allowed a day back to check on you while the Hokage talked to a few of the other Jonin about what's going on, and I'm afraid I can't tell you about the mission Naruto, its classified." Naruto let out a big 'awwww' and slouched down looking at his feet. The mission wasn't exactly classified, but Kakashi didn't exactly want to tell the eager blond that all he'd been doing is hanging around in the forest.
"So what will our first task be today Kakashi sensei?" Sakura asked.
"Well I know you've all had your breakfast… but I'm guessing you haven't had lunch yet am I correct?" Sakura nearly joined Naruto in his disappointment slump. True anything had to be better then the nerve ranking simple tasks they'd been doing lately… but they had been running around nearly all morning.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'. Come on now everyone." Kakashi called as he walked off.
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"Now I'll set the timer for four o'clock, and this time as a treat I've brought more than just simple box lunches." The three looked up at him curiously as he set the clock down on the stump. "And I've brought three of them too. Forget what I've told you before about this training exercise for just this one time. You see none of you have managed to get a singe bell from me yet, so as a one time motivational treat… if anyone manages to get even one of my bells you all get to eat the lunches I've brought today, how does that sound?" Kakashi didn't even need to wait for a response. Naruto threw his arms around his teachers neck hugging him and thanking him while Sakura jumped up and down.
Three hours had gone past and while their efforts to get the bells had improved greatly with the promise of nice food (especially with Naruto) they still couldn't seem to manage to get the one bell, plus the fact that they had been running around that morning hadn't helped.
"Much better all of you, but your still going to have to pick it up a bit more if your going to get one in the next hour now." The team let out a small sigh and braced themselves ready but faltered when Naruto started shouting and waving his arms at the trees to his left.
"Naruto what are you…" Sasuke began sounding irritated, turning to see what he was looking at he saw the fox sitting in the shade watching them.
"Come on Naruto the fox isn't going to help us." Sasuke chided.
"Hey! Can you come and help us get the bells from Kakashi sensei!" Naruto shouted causing everyone else to nearly fall over in surprise.
"Naruto, now is not the times for jokes, you have less than an hour left." Kakashi said pulling his book from his side pouch.
"But sensei, you said if anyone gets one of the bells we can have lunch, so why can't she help?" Naruto continued as the fox trotted over to him and began to circle and yip at the blond giving the impression of wanting to help. Kakashi sighed ruffling his hair with his free hand.
"Alright, she can help get the bells."
"Yes! Thank you sensei!" Naruto said joyously and immediately sat down as if he didn't intended to participate anymore.
"Aren't you going to help her Naruto?" Kakashi said, a teasing tone in his voice. Naruto shook his head still grinning. Sasuke, who had been looking from the fox to Kakashi, had been trying to compare the speed of the two in his mind. They had no more managed to get the handkerchief from the fox than they had the bell from Kakashi. This is going to be interesting, he thought to himself and sat down next to Naruto propping his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers together he rested his head on his fingers. Sakura sat down automatically, almost as if she were just simply going with what the rest of the group was doing. Kakashi just stood there looking at them not sure what to do, so he just gave a small shrug and turned back to his book.
"If that's how you want to spend the last fifty minutes that's up to you, come on then fox, come and get the bells." He said in a mild barely challenging voice. The fox simply pranced over to him and tried to merely reach over and take the bells. Kakashi simply stepped aside. The fox continued in this fashion, simply walking up to Kakashi and trying to take the bells away. Kakashi was beginning to think this was the teams idea of a joke, but then again Naruto was the only one usually in on the jokes, and they all seemed to be watching the fox intently as if they were expecting something to happen.
The fox made a bigger lunge and as Kakashi moved to side step it, she came up short and jumped again but too high. Before Kakashi could move the fox had slid the book from his hands in its jaws and was prancing off with it.
"You're supposed to get the bells." Kakashi said sounding a little exasperated. The fox simply gave a muffled yip its tail waving madly behind it. Not wanting to try and pull his book from between the fox's teeth he turned back to his team.
"Well you have about forty-five minutes left so–" Kakashi stopped short at the sound of growling and tearing. Turning around he saw the fox shaking its head growling causing the pages to tear.
"Hey!" Kakashi leapt hand out to grab the book, but the fox jumped away leaving empty air between his hands. "Come on give it back." He called out and began to run after the fox. The fox, looking quite pleased with herself, turned and ran. The three sat and watched as fox and sensei ran back and forth in front of them, the fox always managing to keep out of Kakashi's reach. Even with the added efforts of a few small techniques… even trying to grab from under ground with the Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu, the fox still somehow managed to leap away just fast enough to miss getting caught. In another run past the three students again, Kakashi was preparing another technique when the fox turned around suddenly and ran right into him. The two tumbled over and over for a few seconds before coming to a stop Kakashi lying on his back the fox sitting on his chest. The fox then gently placed the book down over his face, still open to the page he was at. Kakashi reached for it muttering a small thanks, but before he had even lifted the book from his face he heard a small jingle sound from his side. Quickly taking the book from his face he whirled around and grabbed at his side with his free hand only to see the fox running as quick as it could back to Naruto with both bells in her jaws. Kakashi just sat up looking at the fox stunned as the fox let Naruto take the bells from her then laid down at his feet.
No one said anything for a good while, but after a moment Naruto burst out laughing and began to hugging the fox. Sakura laughed too and petted the fox while giving words of congratulations, even Sasuke gave a small smile and scratched the fox behind one ear. Kakashi simply sat and watched them; that was in no way an ordinary fox. An ordinary fox would not be able to keep out of reach of a Jonin, though he had to admit… the way the fox had gone about getting the bells by getting him to chase her instead of the other way around…. that was intelligent, another uncommon factor of a simple fox. Kakashi reached up with one hand for his headband to see it with his Sharingan eye, but then decided not to bother. He hadn't seen anything last time, so would now be any different? Plus the fox didn't seem like it meant any harm. He stood up and walked over; pocketing the book he looked down at them still congratulating the fox.
"You know you should really give the fox a name Naruto." He suggested simply. Naruto looked up at him then down at the fox who was starting to wiggle slightly due to hold Naruto had around her neck. "But why don't we think about it over lunch hm?" The three gladly agreed as the clock sounded telling them it was four o'clock. Naruto's stomach rumbled in reply as the three of them walked over to where Kakashi usually kept the lunches.
They found he hadn't been kidding about brining something better then boxed lunches. Naruto immediately sat down and grabbed a bowl of ramen while the others took up plates and picked out what they wanted from a variety of sushi, Gyoza, fried Shiitake with green peppers, white rice, soy sauce to go with it all, and of course… ramen. They ate happily, Naruto occasionally giving the fox a dumpling in thanks for helping them win the meal. As they ate the thought of what to name the fox continued through Naruto's mind. Kakashi was right, it's not like he could keep calling her 'fox' the whole time.
"Tao." He said after swallowing a mouthful of noodles and broth. The others looked up at him questioningly. "I'm going to call the fox Tao." He thought that was a good name, he had always liked the name of the girl from his dreams… now it was almost like she was outside his dreams too. That would be cool, he thought to himself, if she was real then all the stuff I was learning in my dreams would be real too.
"Tao it is then." Kakashi said raising his cup like he was making a toast. The others laughed and raised their cups too bumping them together slightly.
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By the time Naruto got home it was late, but he didn't really care. Today had been fun, and he had eaten so much that he didn't really care for dinner. He simply got into his pajamas and slipped into bed wondering what kind of mission Kakashi would be returning to the next day.
As he slipped into the familiar grassy planes of his dream world he began to look around for the dream Tao.
"Naruto, good to see you again." She heard him calling from behind him. He turned around and grinned at her
"Hello!" He called to her waving as she walked over. "What are you going to teach me today huh huh?" he asked her excitedly.
"Well," she said smiling down at him "I thought I'd teach you the Zenton Hotarubi." She said smiling down at him.
"What's that? What does it do?" he asked folding his arms across his chest tilting his head to one side.
"It's a technique that allows you to teleport something from one place to another."
"Can I teleport myself from one place to another?" he asked her excitedly.
"Well… that's a very advanced version of it, so for now let's go over the hand techniques and the words you must say while you form the hand sigils." Naruto nodded and for the rest of the dream they drilled the words and hand movements over and over again. In the waking world, while Naruto slept, his fingers twitched as he mumbled in time to the words in his dream.
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Hey everyone! Thanks as always for the reviews…. Sorry this chapter took me a bit, it proved to be a bit tricky so I hope it came out ok ! Please R&R and I'll see you in chapter four.