Chapter 8.
"Anything you'd like to say?" Kakashi prompted, his eyes alight with a slight anger.
Naruto moved his jaw around slowly, trying to play the waiting game as he stood opposite his Sensei nervously.
"Ummm…No?" He asked hesitantly.
"How about 'Sorry'." Kakashi glared, folding his arms.
"For what exactly?" Naruto asked. He immediately bit his tongue.
'Shouldn't have said that, brat.'
'You think?'
'I know.'
'Clever you. Want a gold star?'
'Can I eat it?'
'No.'
'Then no. No I don't.'
'Shut up then.'
"So you are not sorry for the fact that you knocked myself and Captain Yamato out. You're not sorry that you are abandoning your friends."
"Hey, I'm not ab-"
"You're not sorry that you are leaving for a gander which could endanger the whole damn VILLAGE!"
"I'M NOT! What I'm doing is going to SAVE the village," The blonde protested indignantly, "…And I'm sorry for knocking you both out…it was necessary." He added quickly as an afterthought.
His teacher stared at him hard, as if trying to figure him out.
"What the HELL do you think you're playing at Naruto?" Kakashi seethed, his eyes not leaving his student.
"Sensei?" Naruto asked, forcing out a confused look.
"Don't give me that. You're planning something."
Naruto looked up, a desperate, almost pleading look in his eyes.
"Sensei, I swear, I swear I know what I'm doing. I have a plan, and at the moment nothing can stop us…trust me on this. Please! Give me a chance to prove it…"
"Naruto. You're going to get yourself killed, and as your teacher, I'm telling you now that I cannot, and will not allow that." Kakashi said obstinately.
"I never heard you say that to Sasuke when he left." Naruto muttered.
He instantly regretted it. It was a low blow, and he knew it. Kakashi however, chose to ignore the comment, but Naruto noticed him grit his teeth slightly.
"I'm sorry…But…You have to stop treating me like a liability damn it! I know what I'm doing! TRUST ME FOR ONCE!" Naruto yelled, clenching his fists in anger.
"NARUTO! You are coming back with us, and that's FINAL." Kakashi roared back, nearly hitting him over the head.
Naruto glared for a long moment, the wind rustling his hair as the others were heard murmuring in the background. Then he hung his head before nodding sullenly, his blue eyes as cold and as sharp as chips of ice.
"Good." Kakashi nodded in satisfied relief.
"Is it ok to say goodbye at least?" Naruto asked timidly, poking his fingers together, rather like Hinata did whenever she got nervous, he nearly smiled at the thought of it, but he quickly pushed it away.
"…Hmm…I don't see why not. But make it brief." Kakashi nodded.
Naruto started to slowly walk back over to where all the Jinchuuriki's were standing. They looked up as he approached.
'Great. How are we gonna get out of this one?' Naruto asked the Kyuubi.
'Oh come on. You're not a very good ninja if you can't even come up with a simple escape plan.'
'Don't doubt my abilities. Fuzz ball.'
'…Fine then. How about…A clone.'
'Kakashi Sensei has his Sharingan active. That won't work. He'll see through it.'
'Ok….Uhh…Guys. Help us out here. The brat is being made to go back to the village.' The Kyuubi reluctantly appealed for help.
'We could dress up as bandits and steal you.' Utakata immediately offered.
'Huh?' Yugito said intelligently.
'You know slime features…That's not actually a bad idea…' The eight tailed giant Ox said thoughtfully.
'S'all very well, but who's going to do it?' Naruto asked, biting his lip.
He was running out of time.
'I will.' Utakata said slowly.
'Me too.' Yugito agreed reluctantly.
'I can't, as Kaze-Kage, and the only one who uses sound around here, they'll know it's me.' Gaara said in a monotone.
'My frame's too big, I mean I'm not a twig.' Bee rapped in irritation.
'Ok, so bubbles and nine-lives. Ok…Warn me before you do though. Ok?' Naruto asked.
Yugito and Utakata nodded in unison and Naruto pretended to bid them goodbye as Kakashi watched him intently.
Very…
Intently…
"Naruto. We're going." Kakashi said after a moment of the Jinchuuriki's bidding each other farewell.
"Hai." Naruto responded, running after Kakashi. Shikamaru, Ino and Choji all followed closely.
They got further into the woods and Shikamaru drew level with Kakashi, and Ino and Choji joined Naruto.
"So…how come you've been away?" Choji asked as they jumped from branch to branch.
"I've been…busy." Naruto replied evasively, trying not to give a direct answer as he tried to concentrate on Shikamaru's pineapple styled hair.
"Busy with what?" Ino questioned, her blonde her flicking around slightly in the wind.
"…Things…" Naruto said, starting to lose patience.
"Did it have anything to do with those people back there?"
"Ino. Leave it…please." Naruto ground out from between gritted teeth, the ground flying past far below them.
There was a silence as they continued, and Naruto felt bad for snapping at her.
"So…uh…how was things while I've been…gone…?" Naruto asked hesitantly.
Ino froze slightly, and Choji's whole body tensed as they glanced at each other. Ino stared ahead to look at Shikamaru and Kakashi, but they weren't listening.
"Asuma Sensei is dead*…those two bastards back there killed him…" Ino nearly whispered.
"That…Hidan guy was the one who actually killed him…and Shikamaru swore ultimate revenge on him…" Choji added quietly, biting his lip.
"But he's still dead…and nothing can bring him back…" Ino said bitterly, her eyes starting to fill with watery tears
"Oh hell…I'm…I'm really sorry…He was…well…He was awesome…" Naruto stammered apologetically.
"It's ok…Just don't mention it to Shikamaru. It hit him hardest of all." Ino sighed, wiping her tear stained cheeks and glancing at Shikamaru as they raced ahead.
"Yeah…" Naruto trailed off.
How could so much have happened when he was away? It was completely mystifying in his opinion.
But he couldn't help but feel bad for Team Ten…He knew what it felt like, having lost Ero-Sennin, the Pervy Sage. Naruto smiled at the memory of the white haired toad sage.
To lose someone who meant something to you…someone that you looked up to…someone who…who you knew you would protect with you life, and that they would have done the same…
It was the kind of bond that could never be broken.
Not even in death.
Naruto swallowed guiltily and closed his eyes as if in prayer. This was why he was doing this. He didn't want any of this to happen. He was trying to prevent the deaths of any more of the people he knew and loved.
But it felt awful…no…worse than awful…That he had been too late for Asuma Sensei.
There was no way he could lose anyone else.
No. Freaking Way.
'INCOMING!' A voice broke through his train of thought.
'Brace and go along with it! Fight as you like!' Another joined in.
'More fun for me Uta.' Yugito cackled.
'Yugito, never call me that again.' Utakata said bluntly.
Naruto forced himself to relax.
Then Ino screamed as a darkly cloaked figure hurtled out of the dense leaves above them and slammed into Naruto, making them both hurtle backwards at breakneck speed.
Kakashi and Shikamaru stopped and turned around sharply.
"NARUTO!" Kakashi yelled.
Shikamaru immediately put his hands into his traditional Nara style hand sign for the Kagemane no jutsu, but it wasn't fast enough.
Naruto was gone.
Utakata stared into Naruto's face intently and clicked his fingers in front of his eyes.
Naruto blinked abruptly several times ad he refocused.
"You ok there?" Utakata asked.
"Y-Y-Yeah…Hey, where's Yugito?"
"As soon as she picked you up she passed you onto me and made a henge which transformed into you. They'll be chasing her now. As soon as the game is up, she'll escape. But that isn't important. We need to head out. Now. Gaara has received some disturbing news." Utakata as he helped Naruto stand up and dust him off.
The blonde ninja frowned.
Well that wasn't good.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go kick ass!" Naruto growled in anticipation
"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE." Came Kakashi's voice.
Naruto turned around swiftly to see Kakashi standing directly behind him.
He ducked as a fist that was aimed for the side of his head sailed over the top of him.
"Kakashi Sensei! You've got to let me go!" Naruto protested.
In answer, he received a punch to the shoulder which sent him staggering.
"Fine then. If that's how this is going to go…" Naruto said, with a hint of sadness mixed with bitterness in his voice.
"Ino, Shikamaru, Choji. Stay out of this." Kakashi said, signalling the three Chuunin level ninja to stay put.
"You too Utakata…" Naruto murmured as he faced his white robotic haired Sensei.
"Naruto, I don't think-"
"Stop trying to put me off. I'll join you in a second." Naruto growled, feeling the nine-tails chakra trying to leak through.
Instead of letting it overpower him, he put his hands in his familiar Kage-Bunshin hand sign.
The small tree littered area was filled with hundreds of Naruto clones. Hundreds of thousands.
Kakashi didn't bat an eyelid.
"Chidori, level two." Kakashi said calmly. "Mi, Tatsu, Uma, Hitsuji, Tori, Inu, Ushi, U, Saru." Performing the hand seals in a quick fluid motion as he chanted along with it.
Naruto grimaced as he felt the Sennin Chakra start to power him from within. He felt the orange around his eyes start to appear and his gaze widen slightly.
"Fuuton, Rasen-Shurikan!" Naruto yelled, feeling his wind style chakra start to take form into a deadly spinning shurikan wind blade.
He ran at Kakashi who managed to evade the blast at the last second, instead making Naruto's Rasen-Shurikan hit the tree where he had been standing not moments before.
'Brat, you're facing a Sharingan. Face it, you are incapable of doing this without me.' The fox said snidely.
Naruto could feel the Kyuubi's chakra trying to seep into his own chakra system and he barely managed to keep it under control as Kakashi launched himself at Naruto with his Chidori.
Naruto used a quick substitution jutsu, and the Chidori pierced nothing but wood, and Naruto was punching Kakashi squarely in the side of the face as Kakashi removed his hand from the log.
Kakashi rolled with the blow and grabbed Naruto's arm with both hands, throwing him bodily into a tree. Naruto grunted in pain and stood up, but Kakashi was there once again, and he threw Naruto to the floor…
And promptly sat on him, grabbing Naruto's arm in an arm lock as the poor kid lay face down and struggling on the floor.
"Kakashi Sensei, let me go!" Naruto growled, trying to unsuccessfully become an owl so as to twist his head all the way around to look at his Sensei.
"No. It's either this and we can stay like this until you fall asleep or I knock you unconscious, or I drag you back kicking and screaming. I don't mind either way." Kakashi said firmly.
"Too damn bad." Naruto said abruptly.
'Have it your way. But don't kill him or harm him too badly.' Naruto sighed in worry.
'I get it, I get it. He's one of your STRONG bonds. Now watch the master at work.' The Kyuubi said gleefully, scratching his claws at the weakened bars which held him yet still remained firm.
'I don't even want to LOOK.' Naruto muttered as he crawled into the deep recesses of him mind.
The Kyuubi roared into life and immediately took the second stage without even a hesitation.
Kakashi's eyes widened and he backed up a couple of steps.
"Naruto. Stop this immediately. You're coming back to the village."
Then something strange happened…
"Yo-…You're…You're not talking to…Naruto…old man…"
"I'm not old…I'm in my twenties an-…" Kakashi trailed off from his automatic response in horror.
The miniature Kyuubi form grinned, revealing a huge set of teeth with protruding canines and almost purred with smugness.
"I get the feeling that I'm talking to the fox demon…to…to you…" Kakashi stuttered slightly, his hair ruffled slightly by the wind.
"Well done…Now good night." The Kyuubi growled, having gained better control of Naruto's newly deepened voice.
The Kyuubi roared and hit Kakashi multiple times all over the body before finishing it by hitting him hard in the side of the head with a gigantic paw.
Kakashi was thrown back to the trees where Shikamaru, Ino and Choji were watching in terror as Naruto shrank back down to his normal form.
"Take…ow…Take him back…and tell him I'm sorry…" Naruto stuttered painfully, wincing as he tried to stand.
"But Nar-" Choji tried to talk to him, but Naruto cut him off.
"Please…Tell them all…that I'm sorry…please… " Naruto gasped as Utakata raced forward and held the exhausted boy as he fell sideways to the floor.
"You better do it. I don't truly believe that he's going to return…" Utakata said as he hoisted Naruto up into his arms like a child.
Shikamaru and Choji glared and nodded once as they picked the unconscious Kakashi up between them as Ino tried and failed to heal him quickly.
"This needs to go straight to the Hokage." Shikamaru muttered as they started running.
"Hai." Ino and Choji agreed.
* The SECOND I wrote that…this track from the Naruto soundtrack came on…and I nearly started crying…
http(colon)/www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=nI1KiUoHBHU&feature=autoplay&list=WL9680DDB8530A1A64&index=19&playnext=1
It's beautiful…You HAVE to listen to it…=/
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Kaitaru.
XxxXxxX