Kakashi's View:
Naruto trained throughout the night, forcing Yamato and I to watch him closely. Aurora stayed up as long as she could, but being young she didn't last more than an hour after her normal bed time. This left me plenty of time to read my book in peace. I saw Yamato glance over my shoulder one or twice to read with me, but every time he would blush and look away. I'm not even at a good part...I guess some people didn't appreciate it.
Around dawn, Narruto and his clones cheered loudly as he cut the waterfall in half. This startled the sleeping form nearby and woke her up. At least she was over the phase where she would cry from being startled.
"I have to admit, this method is quite impressive." The wood style user said, looking overly tired from chakra depletion.
"No, it's not just the training method, his driving force is Sasuke." We watched the blonde beam for a moment before everything finally caught up to him. Using that many clones and training for full day and night did a number on him, making him collapse as his clones dispelled. I jumped up to him to make sure he was alright.
"Hu-hunrgy...so...so hungry…" Naruto was mumbling. I sighed. He really was something.
The four of us headed back into the village, deciding to treat our rembusious students to ramen. Naruto was thrilled, but too tired to really cheer, he even laid his head on the counter at Ichiraku. I noticed Ayame-san wasn't there, asking Teuchi where she was. He said she was on some trip about learning cooking styles. She usually knew what the boy wanted the moment he entered, so the new guys he had there were going to take a minute. I heard Naruto mumble his order, hoping they caught it.
Teuchi of course had it mostly prepared when he heard Naruto outside. However, as soon as the bowl was set, Teuchi took it away, wacking the new guy. He let his finger touch the food I guess. This will take a while…
The second guy slipped, burning the other, making the normally calm shop owner yell.
"Come now, Teuchi, I'm sure it happens a lot." Aurora had moved closer to me, scared at how the older man reacted.
"That's the problem!" Well...I tried…poor Naruto would have to hold on just a bit longer. I watched Aurora poke his cheek to see if he was ok, the only thing he was saying was ramen and he looked very out of it. He'd be alright, just tired.
Finally, we got our ramen and Naruto was on a second bowl. Aurora was fascinated with how fast he could eat, trying to copy him. She was only half way through her first though. I noticed Tenzōu wasn't as happy with the food choice, he wasn't a huge fan of ramen, but this was all for Naruto after all.
"Alright! I'm ready to get back to work!" Naruto cheered, surprising me that he only had two bowls.
"Easy now, I have something to show you first…" I kept my voice low so my kohai didn't overhear. This got the two youngsters attention. "I'm going to show you two something interesting." Though Aurora was already pretty good at this.
"What? What?! I wanna know." I made Naruto quiet down.
"Let's just say I have things to explain..."
"Aw, enough lectures already…" The blonde complained.
"No point in arguing, Naruto. I can sweet talk anyone…" How else would I have been able to rope Iruka into watching Aurora all those years ago, and then later to date me. But Naruto still had yet to catch on to any of that.
"What do you mean?" Aurora asked, having no idea how often I used this on her too.
"Watch." I said, getting up and motion them to get up with me. "Well then, thanks for lunch, Yamato."
"Huh?! I thought senpai's were supposed to pay for meals?" He tried, watching him panic for a moment.
"In my eyes, senpai and kohai mean nothing when it comes to mutual respect. Besides...you're probably my only kohai I acknowledge as an equal." I added the eye smile, knowing I had him. "But, you're right, I really ought to..."
"No, no! I got it!" Yamato eagerly stepped in as I reached for my wallet, getting his own out quickly. Naruto was impressed, laughing softly. Aurora however caught on, figuring out I had done that to her before. Knowing her, she'd rat on me later but I could take it. Yamato was easy to sway, at least when it came to me.
After lunch, we went back out to the training field. Aurora was supposed to be in school, but I "took her out of class for a family trip." Iruka scolded me, making a point to hit me over the head with a ruler when my clone showed up at the school. He was even more pissed by the fact I'd sent a clone and not told him in person. He would be over tonight for sure…
"So, what were you going to show me?" Naruto was ready to go again, but he needed to understand everything up till this point.
"Now, hold on. Everything has an order to it. First, let's review." This annoyed my orange clad students, but it was necessary. "Do you remember what we talked about in the beginning of this training?"
"Do I! I remember...it's…" Naruto started, but obviously forgot.
"Chakra nature and changing its form." Aurora answered, tilting her head as if she was unsure. She didn't forget of course, but she still only had a very basic grasp on it.
"That's right." I smiled at her. "Let's just pretend you forgot, for Naruto." That got a glare from him. "You remember chakra nature of course. The other is chakra form, the shape of one chakra." I re-explained what it was and used my Chidori as an example again.
"Listen closely." Yamato's tone was harsher, hoping to drill it in to his dense head. "By adding a change in form and a nature change, your attack can be exponentially stronger. Shinobi that can do both are uncommon. Our exercises helped you master wind, and you already have a chakra form attack." Suddenly it all clicked for the boy.
"My rasengan…" He grinned after it all came together. "Does that mean I can do both?!"
"Basically, yes." but he was too excited, going off and saying he'd be making new jutsu like crazy. This made Yamato and I give him a stern look, but he was oblivious.
"I'm not sure that's how it works." The redhead spoke, catching on to the look on Yamato's face.
"Heh...well...she's right. If that were the case, I would not have had to invent the chidori." This made Naruto stop. "This is the interesting thing I wanted to show you…" I held out my hand, forming a perfect rasengan in one go.
"Cool!" Aurora cheered, but Naruto was in dismay.
"Y-you can do it too, Kakashi-sensei...I didn't know that."
"Yeah, but this is it. I can't combine my lightning chakra into it. It takes incredible skill to change nature chakra into a form...or natural intuition." In Aurora's case, it was her clan abilities. "I'm not the only one to fail at it. My teacher failed to do it too." Naruto knew who my teacher had been, but Aurora did not. "That's right, Naruto, even the Fourth Hokage couldn't do it."
"But...you said he was the strongest shinobi you met?" Aurora asked.
"He was very strong, but he couldn't master nature chakra and form it. He did however master forming chakra, creating the rasengan. I can only manage to copy it." Even for me it wasn't easy, I wondered if one day Aurora could do it.
After telling Naruto that from here on out, he had to figure it out himself, he got back to it. He was the only one that could surpass the Fourth Hokage, telling him this made his drive go back up.
"You really are a sweet talker…" Yamato chided me.
"Nah…" I teased him. "Just a believer."
Aurora even took to trying again, making water bubbles from the water around the waterfall. Interestingly enough, she was able to make one of the bubbles form into an abstract elephant. It didn't last long and popped, making the others do the same. She had no control over it, but it was still quite a feat for her. And honestly it was more interesting than watching all of the Naruto clones try and try again. Sure, it was impressive too, but Naruto wasn't a cute five year old playing with bubbles.
"I can do this!" The shout Naruto gave snapped me back to him, he was determined to do this. Unfortunately, it was too much for him and a clone started turing into the ninetails.
"Tenzōu!" I shouted, forgetting his new name for a second. Aurora ran back to us, scared by the sudden burst of chakra.
"I got it!" He focused as the fourth tail appeared. The wooden wolf heads he made rushed at the clone, suppressing the chakra. "I'm not sure how much changing Naruto can take...let alone how often I can suppress him."
"This is the only way...whether Naruto can do this or not depends on you, my friend." This put more pressure on my kohai, but with my help he could do it. All of Naruto's clones burst, disappearing on us and leaving an unconscious Naruto behind.
"Yes sir…" Yamato sighed, knowing it was true. Naruto couldn't risk using the ninetails chakra, but the only way to stop it was the wood style jutsus.
Aurora got bored watching Naruto train, even though she was interested in the jutsu he was doing. She was done with making bubbles and couldn't make ice right now, unless we wanted to interrupt Naruto's training. When she was bored, she started asking questions. Of those questions, it came to where Yamato had come from. She was aware everyone had parents, but Yamato couldn't really tell her.
"Er...well…" He was still focused on Naruto, but he was listening to her. I watched, wondering what he was going to say. "I don't know my parents. They died a long time ago." She wasn't convinced that was all there was.
"Where did they come from?" She meant, what village did they come from.
"Hm...Konoha I think." He couldn't remember that far back. He lost all memories from before he was seven, if I remembered correctly. "Heh...sweetie, I'm more than happy to answer these, but right now I gotta focus. I promise to tell me more later, eh?" I saw him starting to sweat under the pressure. She pouted, but understood. He really did care about her and wanted to make sure she had his full attention if she was talking.
"Ok." She said softly, coming back over to me. This made her question me some more, but she knew what had happened to my parents. "What was you dad like?" She looked up at me, hopeful I would tell her. I didn't want to, not here.
"Well...he...um…" I remembered him being very kind and loving. "He...loved me." I had learned that with my time with Aurora. It wasn't obvious all the time, but I loved her and knew he had held the same love for me. It hurt even more that he had left me, knowing he loved me. "And...I know he was a very strong shinobi. He was known as The White Fang of Konoha." She'd heard of him, but the stories at school were nothing like him. They told of his glory, but he didn't like the attention it brought him. I remember him telling a group of fans that it was no big deal, but they were starstruck into thinking he was the greatest.
"Was he like you?"
"No." I answered harshly, which had her scared. I didn't mean to, but the pain...he had left a hole I had yet to come to terms with. The look she had had me wonder, does she look up to me in that way too?
"How did you meet daddy?" Well, that was a big jump in topics.
"Well, I met him on a mission a while back." I can't remember if it was his first mission as a chunin or not, I'd have to ask again. "He...got injured, and I think not long after he became a teacher." I remembered talking to him about Naruto as well, convincing him to give the boy a chance. "After that, I found you." It was around that time anyway…
"Daddy was there?"
"Eh, no. I...was on a different mission." ANBU stuff was a hard thing to explain to her right now. She hadn't understood that Tenzōu and I had been on a team once, not liking the fact that I used to wear a mask like him. "I asked him later if he would watch you. And...that's how it came to be." Somewhere along the line we had become dependant on each other, falling madly in love so to speak, but I doubt she'd understand the concept of love.
She wanted to ask more, but distant thunder had her clutching my arm. She hated thunderstorms, stemming back to the day I found her. I knelt down, taking her into my arms to comfort her.
"Maa...you're safe." I said as the first few drops fell. "How about this, try catching as many raindrops as you can." It was an old game we played when she was two during a storm. She had been able to stop some drops mid air, stopping only five at a time then. Now, I'm sure she could do at least twenty. More thunder sounded, making her hold tighter. "I'm sure you can do it. Make you a deal, if you can catch twenty, I'll get you a new toy." She had unfortunately broken her wooden doll Tenzōu had made her, which made her very upset. I'm sure I could convince him to either fix it or make her a new one. I had brought it with me...not for that reason but hey, it worked.
She sighed, knowing I was sweet-talking her into it. She didn't leave my side though, still unconvinced the thunder wouldn't get her. As it rained harder, she was able to catch more, but only got up to twelve at a time. At least it distracted her from the thunder and from Naruto changing again.
"Captain Yamato! Help!" I heard him call, making Aurora drop the rain she had collected and hold onto me again.
"Hold on, Naruto!" Tenzōu was working on it, but the change was happening faster than before. The other clones and the real one tried to hold it back before the changed one was sealed. They all poofed away, showing the real Naruto had been hit by the kyuubi form. I jumped to his side, leaving Aurora to bug Yamato. "Are you alright?" But the blonde was fine, just pouting.
"It's only been a day since we started adding a nature change, with over two hundred clones each time. If we do the math that's…" I thought for a moment. "Forty eight hundred hours. It's still not enough to master it…" It was going to take time, he just didn't want to wait.
"Kakashi-sensei...this drill is so hard, I can only hold two hundred clones at a time." Show off… "I feel...no matter how long it takes, there will never be enough time in the world to do this."
"Since when do you whine about ninjutsu? Are you really Naruto Uzumaki?" He couldn't give up now...he was so close.
"But...I think this time it really is impossible." He looked miserable, but he gave up too soon. If he didn't get it instantly, he sometimes wouldn't keep at it.
"You have to keep going." I urged.
"Sensei...what it someone asked you to look right and left at the same time?" I blinked at his question.
"Ah...I see…" Tenzōu gave me a look, Aurora behind him catching rain drops again. "This certainly is a difficult task…" I said making the signs for a shadow clone. "Here is how you can look right."
"While looking left." my clone finished. "Still think it's impossible?" This made a light click in him again, but I had no idea what it was about. I got distracted when Aurora cheered. Naruto looked over too, to see she had stopped the rain around her, like a small protective dome. However, it lasted only two seconds before she grabbed her arm, falling to her knees.
"Aurora!" Naruto called out, but I made it to her side before him. "What's going on?" He didn't know about Danzō yet.
"Right...you were off training. Danzō, you might know of him. He worked for the underground of Konoha. I'm not sure why, but he put a seal on her arm a few years ago."
"Can't you take it off?!" Naruto was angry it had happened to her.
"If I could, it wouldn't still be there…" I explained what Tsunade and I had done, but it still hadn't stopped it completely. If she pushed too hard, it would activate. "The only thing we can do is try to get a hold of Danzō."
"I'll force it out of him if I have to!" Naruto growled. "If I have to, I'll use this new jutsu to make him!" This made Naruto run off again to work on it.
Naruto used his clones to help him add in the chakra nature change. It was quite impressive.
"You really are something else, Naruto. I think...I'm finally starting to like you." I admitted, which freaked the boy out. He lost control, blowing himself and the clones to the ground.
"D-don't say weird shit like that! It's creepy…" I had no idea what he meant, I just meant I finally figured out why Iruka loved him so much.
"No, wait, that's not what I meant…"
"Eh, forget it…" He was about to start back up when another shinobi appeared with a report. Yamato listened, but I was watching Aurora's reaction. I saw tears form in her eyes, knowing the news was bad.
"Kakashi-senpei! We need to return to the village now!" Yamato looked serious.
"Aw what?! What happened?" Naruto calmed down after seeing their looks. Aurora ran to me, crying as she came to me. I picked her up, trying to calm her down, but she wouldn't.
"Yamato, what is it?"
"Asuma...has been killed." Now I see...I felt something inside break. Asuma was a good friend of mine, and now...he was just gone. My thoughts went to Kurenai, then it clicked. He wanted to tell me...she's pregnant.
The funeral for him was held the next day. The shock of his loss was felt throughout the village. Naruto stood with Konohamaru, comforting the boy as he mourned the loss of his uncle. Iruka was standing towards the back with Aurora, she was too upset to stay with me near the headstone. I watched as Kurenai placed lilies on his grave. I noted, Shikamaru wasn't here, but I knew he was hurt the most by it. He had been there...he had seen everything happen. I knew how it felt to watch helplessly as your sensei fought the enemy…
I sat on the back porch that night with Aurora, watching the fireflies in the yard. She was quiet, still in shock as she sat in my lap. So was I. Iruka stayed over and was inside making tea, leaving us to talk about what happened.
"What happens when we die?" She asked after a while, still watching the glowing bugs. She'd asked me before, but I still didn't have the answer.
"I'm...not sure. I think we see our loved ones again." That's what I was told by my father. It seemed to be a suitable answer, no one really knew for sure.
I let my mind drift back to Shikamaru. Knowing what happened now, I expected he might retaliate. I know I would have wanted revenge...no, I kind of did even now. I knew nothing came of it, I knew the dark path all too well. I decided then, that if he tried I would follow after him. Someone had to keep Team Ten from being reckless now. I choose for that to fall onto me.
While Iruka was tucking Aurora in for the night, I went to pack for the mission I assigned myself.
"I thought you had this week off?" Iruka caught me, standing in the doorway.
"I do, but Asuma's team might make a reckless move…" I told him, hoping he'd understand. I felt him approach and the warmth of his arms as he held me tightly from behind.
"You'll keep them for doing that, but will you be ok?" He knew I was hurting too.
""I'll...be alright." I was focused on helping Team Ten stay alive, which kept me from spiraling at the moment. When I got back though...I might be broken.
"When are you leaving?"
"I'll say goodbye to Aurora in the morning. I'm sure they'll try to leave by dawn, but I don't think they'll get far unnoticed." Tsunade had someone watching Shikamaru, so there was no doubt she'd be there before any of us if he tried anything.
"Promise me, you will come back…"
"Maa…" I turned around, holding him closely. "Don't worry, I promise…" but he knew as well as I did that there was no way to promise it. This was the Akatsuki, the two members who had taken out Asuma were not to be taken lightly...