leosbabygirl84: I really would like to answer your questions, but that would be giving stuff away, so I can't. Sorry!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything to do with it.

Chapter 8: New Resolve

"Rin!" Kakashi called out, reaching for her in vain as the Iwa-nin swung his sword down. However, it didn't matter that he hadn't made it in time.

Obito was there. He had moved with no hesitation, unlike Kakashi. Obito tackled Rin out of the way, and the sword just sliced her side instead of killing her. The injury wasn't fatal, but it was much more than a scratch. Minato was there as well, seemingly appearing out of thin air as he stabbed the Iwa-nin in the back before moving on to the next.

Frozen, Kakashi watched Obito. The old Obito was more cowardly than this. Maybe he had gotten more courage when the girl that he loved was in danger, or maybe he was actually going to fulfill his vow of getting strong enough. Either way, this had been unexpected. Obito looked back at Kakashi, who felt as if Obito could see right through him, through all of his lies. Kakashi thought that Obito's eyes were accusing him of not getting there in time, but he knew that he was imagining this. Then Obito directed his attention back at Rin and her injury, and the feeling passed.

Kakashi was immensely relieved. He had almost lost Rin. He had almost messed up the future again. Kakashi had never been as grateful to his team as he was now, but he had also never felt so useless. Even Obito had reacted fast enough. He shook his head to clear it; he would think about these things afterwards. Right now, he had a mission to accomplish. Kakashi ran back over to Rikka, who hadn't been attacked yet due to Minato's defense. Once he saw that Kakashi was back on guard, Minato left to go track down fleeing Iwa-nin.

Kakashi was on high alert, but it wasn't necessary. Most of the Iwa-nin were dead, and the ones that were left were running from Minato, scared of the wrath of Konoha's Yellow Flash. He and Rikka walked over to Obito and Rin. Rin was still conscious, so she did her own medical treatment and requested help from Rikka for the bandaging process. However, she needed to see another Med-nin for further treatment.

Minato came back after a few minutes, and then they completed their mission, delivering Rikka to her village safely. Rin was looked at by a Med-nin there. Then, Minato carried an exhausted and sleeping Rin back to Konoha, Kakashi and Obito on either side, not saying a word to each other after Obito's fails at making conversation. They made it home by nightfall.

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Kakashi sat in front of the Memorial Stone, lost in thought. He had almost lost Rin again. Her name could've been engraved on that stone, and it still could happen if he failed. He had been holding back against the enemy ninja to hide his abilities, and that had caused him to hesitate to get to Rin. Kakashi gathered his resolve and decided that if a situation like that happened again, he would not hesitate. Even if he gave away the fact that he was from the future, he would do it. Their lives mattered more to him than preserving secrets.

After a while, Kakashi noticed a presence appear behind him. He tensed before realizing that it was Minato. Minato walked over to Kakashi and sat down beside him.

"You've been coming to the Memorial Stone lately," Minato said, and Kakashi heard the unspoken question. Minato wanted to know why. Kakashi should have known that Minato had noticed.

"How's Rin?" Kakashi asked, trying to redirect the conversation.

Minato sighed, seeing right through this, but he answered, "She's fine. It's a good thing that the weapon wasn't poisoned. She'll just stay the night in the hospital for monitoring before going home in the morning." There was minutes of comfortable silence between them before Minato spoke again. "Kakashi, you know that you can tell me anything, right?"

Kakashi looked over at Minato, surprised, before nodding. He trusted Minato with his life.

"Good," Minato said with conviction, smiling at Kakashi. "If you need to get something off your chest, I'll be here to listen."

So Minato had noticed that something was bothering him. He was perceptive, but Kakashi would bet all of the money he had that Minato had not guessed the extent of his problem. Coming from the future was probably one of the last things Minato would consider. Kakashi was suddenly very tempted to tell Minato everything, but he held his tongue. That was a last resort. If it came to the point where he had to tell someone, Minato would be the one he would tell.

Minato got up and stretched. "I'm giving everyone tomorrow off for a break, but after that, we have training again. Make sure you don't stay here too long. Get back to your apartment and get some sleep."

"Yeah, alright," Kakashi replied. Minato seemed satisfied with this response and he walked away. Kakashi really was going to head back after a few more minutes. However, he lost track of time and stayed at the stone all night, even falling asleep in front of it as the sun came up.

He dreamt that no one had made it in time to save Rin. Obito looked at him accusingly. Why did you hesitate? he yelled at Kakashi. If you hadn't hesitated, Rin would still be here! Then, the sky crumbled to pieces, and Obito threw Kakashi out of the way, sacrificing himself. Now, because of him, Obito was dead as well. Kakashi looked down at his hands, not surprised when he saw that they were covered in blood. Rin's and Obito's blood. Their blood was on his hands again.