Title: Student against teacher

Rating: G

Pairing / Characters: Konoha's eleven, Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Sasuke

Word Count: 1, 675 words

Warnings: Nothing

Summary: Naruto and Kakashi face off, an unexpected figure makes a surprise appearance

A/N: I had my doubts about using Sound territory, but I think I managed to work around it without including Orochimaru. I have good reasons for doing that, don't worry (o)

Tired, unable to keep running, Naruto curled up against a tree, leaning his head against the rough bark. He ached inside, a pain that was strong enough to be almost physical.

He didn't know where he was.

The area was completely unfamiliar, and something told him that he was no longer in Fire Country, but he no longer cared.

Slowly, Naruto's eyes slid shut, and he fell into a troubled, restless doze punctuated with nightmares. It might have been hours, it might have been days before his eyes flew open. Someone was coming.

Naruto leapt to his feet, reaching for a kunai and backing up until he could feel the tree behind him. Wide blue eyes darted around, trying to get a sense of the location of whoever it was that was around him.

Seconds later, a tall, slender figure walked out of the trees, distinctive silver hair shining in the sunlight. Kakashi's hands were at his sides, clearly empty, but Naruto didn't know if he could trust him. It could have been a trap… they would want to take him back to Konoha, to finish him off properly…

'Naruto, please put the kunai down,' Kakashi said quietly. 'I'm not here to hurt you.'

Naruto shook his head. 'No… you're just like everyone else… you hate what I am… you also just see the monster… no one ever sees me, just – just a demon… a troublemaker…'

Naruto saw several figures emerge from the tree line behind Kakashi, and he paled.

'See, I knew it – you want to take me back… you want to –'

'Naruto, please listen to Kakashi-sensei,' Sakura pleaded. 'Of course we want to take you back – Konoha is your home –'

'Don't lie to me! Naruto shouted. 'Do you think I don't know how you all see me? Worthless, pathetic, someone who can't even hold his own on a mission – a burden –'

Kakashi suddenly understood what was going on, and behind the mask, his mouth tightened. It had nothing to do with his friends, and everything to do with the nine tails – the reason he had been taken in the first place. Kakashi was about to move towards him, when Hinata darted out from behind Chouji.

'Hinata, no!' Kakashi snapped, but it was too late.

Hinata ran forward. 'Naruto-kun – please don't do this – please, we just want to help you, we –'

Naruto didn't think, he acted, pushing her away from him hard enough to make her fall.

'Get away from me!' he hissed. 'Don't come near me –'

Kakashi saw trouble. Moving swiftly, he put himself between Naruto and Hinata, pulling her to her feet and pushing her backwards.

'Get back to the others, Hinata,' Kakashi ordered calmly. 'The rest of you, stay back and don't come any closer!'

Naruto stared up at his sensei, unaware of the play of emotions on his face.

Kakashi turned around slowly.

'Naruto, listen to me,' he said quietly, but firmly. 'No one here wants to hurt you, I know you realize that inside, even if you can't trust yourself. I know what they did to you, I know, but you have to start trusting again, or we can never help you.'

Naruto shook his head vehemently. 'No… it's not that and you know it – its not me, it's you – even before you never treated me like the others – everything I did – the hate – all I ever wanted was to be loved, cared for – but it's just a stupid dream like all my other stupid dreams – I'll never be anything more than a burden to the village – no matter how much I care about other people they'll never see me as a person…'

Kakashi took a step forward – Naruto truly believed that his life was in danger – and he attacked his teacher without hesitation.

Neji had an arm around Hinata's shoulders, not only trying to comfort her, but also to keep her from trying to interfere in the fight. Ino clearly had the same idea, because she was visibly restraining Sakura, who looked horrified.

Neji didn't blame her – none of them really understood what was going on. Naruto was distraught, that much was obvious, and in Neji's mind, the fact that he had attacked his teacher meant that Shikamaru's theory had been spot on.

Naruto really did consider them to be his enemies.

Silently, his silver eyes narrowed, Neji watched – and waited.

Kakashi ducked, lifting his arm to block the kunai, ignoring the sting as it bit into his arm. Swearing, he rolled to one side, avoiding a low thrust, trying not to hurt Naruto anymore than he'd already been injured.

The situation was tricky – not only could he not injure his student, but any sign of resistance, any sign of opposition, and there was no telling what Naruto would do. And already Naruto was under the impression that Kakashi wanted to kill him…

Kakashi considered and discarded several different possibilities, before settling on the one that seemed most likely – suppression.

Pin him, keep him down, remove the genjutsu, and go from there…

Kakashi rose gracefully, visible eye narrowing as Naruto leapt forward, kunai raised. As his student flew towards him, Kakashi simply stepped to one side, grabbed his arm, and swept his legs out from underneath him.

Naruto landed hard on his injured arm, the kunai falling from his suddenly nerveless fingers. Chest heaving, Naruto stared up at Kakashi, his eyes horrified. Even as he made to pull himself upright, Kakashi was kneeling over him, one foot across his wrist, knee planted firmly in his chest. Naruto's breath caught in his throat as Kakashi clasped his hands together, molding chakra.

The silver haired jounin formed the release seal, murmured the word 'kai' beneath his breath, and laid his hand against Naruto's head.

Naruto stiffened, his eyes sliding out of focus, the fight draining from his body.

'Kakashi-sensei –'

Kakashi got off him, slipping an arm behind his back to lift him up. 'Try not to move too much, Naruto. You're hurt, I want Sakura to heal you before we go any further.'

Naruto's head drooped. 'I don't think she'll want to,' he mumbled. 'I – I did some things –'

'You mean like fighting me?' Kakashi asked, a faint trace of laugher in his voice. 'Yeah, I know.'

Naruto risked a glance up at his sensei, blinking in confusion. 'Kakashi-sensei – you – I mean, I –'

'It's not your fault, Naruto,' Kakashi reassured him gently. 'We know exactly what happened.'

Naruto remembered, and blanched. 'No – they know about – about the nine tails, they know he's sealed inside me!'

'No, they don't,' Kakashi told him firmly. 'You were trapped in a genjutsu, Naruto. Whatever you think happened, never did.'

'But I thought he stabbed me –'

'He did. Shikamaru believes that he managed to place you under a genjutsu before the guards pulled him off you, and he sent for me immediately. I'm just glad we caught up with you before you went any further.'

'You are?'

Kakashi chuckled faintly. 'You have no idea where we are, do you?'

Naruto shook his head. 'No…'

'Sound territory,' Kakashi replied. 'We're closer to Otogakure than even I'm comfortable with.'

'You should have left me,' Naruto whispered. 'I really am pathetic, Kakashi-sensei, I haven't been able to do anything since we left Konoha…'

Kakashi opened his mouth to reply, but a voice interrupted him.

'Naruto-kun!'

Hinata had watched the fight between them, her heart in her throat. It didn't seem fair, it didn't seem right that Naruto was suffering so much when he hadn't done anything to deserve it.

Her silver eyes had seen Kakashi release the jutsu, and help Naruto up, and she hadn't hesitated at all, breaking free of her cousin's grip and flying forward, oblivious to Neji and his attempt to call her back.

She knew it was safe, even if no one else did.

Hinata knelt down beside Naruto, her eyes searching his face anxiously. 'Naruto-kun, you're hurt – but don't worry, Sakura will be able to heal you so we can get back home –'

For a moment, blue eyes and silver eyes locked, and Naruto was the first to look away.

'I'm sorry, Hinata. I think I hurt you –'

Hinata went pink. 'No… I just fell, but honestly, you didn't hurt me –'

'I pushed you away.' Naruto's voice was toneless.

'You thought we were your enemies,' Hinata pointed out. 'We all know that, Shikamaru-kun told us.'

Naruto hadn't been expecting that, and it showed. Kakashi squeezed his shoulder lightly, and felt some of the tension drain away.

'Yeah… I guess I must have.'

'You total moron, why are you the only one of us who can't recognize a genjutsu if it bit you in the behind?' Kiba demanded.

Kakashi's lips twitched at the sudden irritation he saw on Naruto's face before he could quell it.

'Kiba, you blockhead, why the hell are you such an irritating creep?' Naruto demanded, on the verge of getting to his feet when Lee pushed him back down.

Kiba grinned at him. 'Welcome back, moron.'

Naruto glared at him, and then winced as Sakura peeled away his jacket so she could get to the wound.

Kakashi got to his feet, glancing around. He hadn't been lying – they were far too close to the Sound village for his comfort. They couldn't afford to waste time, but neither did he want to leave Naruto unattended to until they reached Konoha. Some things were simply more important than his own wellbeing.

'Right,' he said abruptly. 'We need to get moving. Naruto, do you think you're up to it?'

Naruto was pulled to his feet by Lee and Shikamaru.

'If he's not, we'll take him,' Lee assured Kakashi.

'I'm fine,' Naruto replied. 'Let's get out of here.'

The twelve of them took to the trees, none of them noticing a slight figure standing in the shadows. He blinked, and dark eyes were suddenly stained crimson. For a moment he watched the figures retreat before he walked away.