Disclaimer: still not mine, not profits made
Warnings: male/male pairing, AU, unbeta-ed version
Sasuke: 7
Naruto: 17
Itachi: 13
Minato: 25
Kakashi: 18
Chapter 12
While the mysterious blond remained unconscious in his bed, Kakashi used the time to study the other teen's room. The dominating colour scheme was both cheerful and tranquil. The silver haired ANBU was pretty sure that the room had been renovated recently; the Uchiha had never been people for bright colours.
It seemed that the young Uchiha clan head had gone to the extra trouble of decorating the room to make his guest feel comfortable. Nodding thoughtfully, Kakashi concluded that Naruto had indeed gotten under the ice cube's skin. Gleefully rubbing his hands at the thought of future Itachi baiting, Kakashi nearly startled when the figure on the bed stirred.
Quickly the young ANBU walked over to the bed and smiled friendly down into opening azure eyes. "Yo!" he greeted cheerfully.
Kakashi hadn't been sure about what to expect from the teen that had fainted at the mere sight of him, but in no way had he been prepared for the blond's eyes to tear up and strong arms desperately hugging his waist while a blond head came to rest on his stomach.
The happily shouted "Kakashi-sensei! You're back!" didn't help his confusion in the least. But he was a shinobi on a mission and as such he would try to get to the ground of things.
Trying to not reveal his confusion and giving himself away, Kakashi smiled down at the blond and replied with a non-committal "Hn.".
It seemed to have been the right reaction, because Naruto stopped hugging the silver haired ANBU and settled back into the pillows.
"I was afraid I wouldn't get top see you again. You told me you had been assigned to a long time S-class mission by Godaime herself, despite your protests." Naruto's bright smile dimmed at the memory of that time and he continued quietly: "I was so afraid I wouldn't get to see you again."
Knowing that the other teen thought of him as a sensei, Kakashi tried to play that role accordingly and true to his own character: "Maa, maa, Naruto. You don' honestly think a simple S-class mission would be able to do me in, now do you?"
Kakashi was alarmed when the blond's happy expression faded even more at that remark.
"That's not it at all, Kakashi-sensei. If Akatsuki couldn't get to you no one can. It's just...I didn't think I would still be there when you finally returned."
Kakashi's single eye narrowed at the pain and guilt obvious in the other's voice. Before he could think of anything to say or ask however, Naruto continued: "I know you were angry at me for doing that much damage to myself, for giving up and making my friends worry about me, especially Iruka-sensei and Shikamaru.
But it was either that or giving in to the rage coursing through my blood and destroying the very village I had once sworn to protect as the Hokage. Because while I still deeply loved my friends, I hated the villagers, the council and the untruthful Godaime I once trusted with all my heart.
Forgive me, Kakashi-sensei, I was too weak to face that betrayal without becoming the monster most of the village had always seen me as."
Carefully Kakashi ruffled the blond's hair, thinking about a way to make the teen tell even more about the interesting topics he had mentioned. This was the information the Yondaime needed to know.
"Don't worry about it, Naruto. What happened while I was on my mission? You look healthier." It was a shot in the blue, but from what Kakashi had read in the blond's hospital file, he had been ill for a long time.
"Tsunade forced Shikamaru to send me to the hospital. She cut his holiday in half and refused his resignation to ensure that he really wouldn't be able to look properly after me anymore. He was really angry about it.
I know it's difficult to imagine chronically lazy Shika in a rage, but Hinata-chan told me it was a frightening sight.
Anyway, I was send to the hospital where Shizune and Tsunade took care of me personally. As if I would eat anything those two gave to me." Naruto scoffed, an angry line appearing on his forehead.
"It's really good that you're back, Kakashi-sensei. According to what Neji told me, he is one of the few visiting at least every second day even though I didn't do more than lie motionlessly in the bed for the most part in the last couple of weeks, the heirs of all the old clans are furious about how the council and Tsunade handled the Sasuke-issue.
You need to tell them to stop that foolishness at once, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto's voice became deadly serious and his eyes looked into Kakashi's beseechingly. "If the village and the heirs don't reconciliate Konohagakure will be left without any real shinobi resources. Too many good shinobi have died for me to allow that to happen for my sake.
While I will always treasure the displayed loyalty of them, there is no use in revolting now. Sasuke is already dead and buried." A dark shadow seemed to come over Naruto's face and his eyes lost the last of their brightness.
Kakashi knew he had to act fast to prevent the other teen from getting lost in his mind. He needed to steer the conversation away from the Sasuke topic and back to Naruto's loyalty and lineage.
"It's noble of you to think about those who died to protect the village instead of the wrongs you had to suffer in it."
While the humourless, flat chuckle his remark earned him wasn't exactly what he had hoped for, it was better than having the blond retreat into his own mind. More importantly, it kept Naruto talking.
"You wouldn't believe what ridiculous news I was told on my birthday a week ago, Kakashi-sensei. Though since Tsunade wasn't willing to tell me, I'm less inclined to think of it as a bad joke by Ero-sennin." As Kakashi mused about who that Ero-sennin could be and what he had done to earn that title, Naruto continued: "Who would have thought that the very monster the villagers hated for "killing their beloved Yondaime-sama" would turn out to be their hero's one and only son?"
Kakashi tried to keep the shock off his face, but his mind was reeling with the implication of what Naruto had just revealed. So far it seemed that the world, universe whatever Naruto had come from consisted of the same nations and people as this world. If that was indeed true, than Naruto's world's Yondaime could be the same as here and that would mean...
"Why don't you have his name then? If you are his only heir the family name will die out otherwise."
Naruto didn't seem to think of Kakashi's calm question as suspicious and answered promptly: "Well, I think Ero-sennin mentioned something about Sandaime being afraid that my father's enemies would try to kill me if I wore his name, so he gave me a family name without any connections to it instead, thus Uzumaki instead of Namikaze."
This time Kakashi couldn't keep the shock off his face. Luckily Naruto chose that moment to look out of the window, a forlorn expression on his face.
"I had a really strange dream, Kakashi-sensei. I dreamed I was summoned into a world that was just like ours, only the timeline was different. Sasuke was only seven, but he was alive. Can you imagine Sasuke as a laughing or pouting seven years old?" Naruto whispered longingly.
"It was a really strange place, because people were younger than what I was used too and even the Yondaime was still alive. You know, that's one of the only things that really bothered me about that dream, because I didn't know how to react to the man that thought it a good idea to destroy his son's life by locking a demon up inside him.
Before I knew about Kyuubi inside me, I thought of the Yondaime as a hero, I really looked up to him. In the hope the villagers would stop hating me and calling me a monster, I swore to become an even better Hokage than him.
It's really ironic, ne, Kakashi-sensei?"
Just then a happy child's voice could be heard in the hallway, calling for "Naru-chan".
Before Naruto could move even a single muscle, Kakashi acted with the speed he was famous for and put the blond to sleep with a simple jutsu. That way, if he was lucky, the teen would believe their conversation to have been a dream and Kakashi would still be able to befriend him and earn his trust.
Tucking the sleeping teen in, Kakashi left the room, grinning friendly at young Sasuke, who had just raised his fist to knock at Naruto's door.
"Who are you?" the young Uchiha demanded, repressed fear evident in his dark eyes, his body tensed, ready to fight to keep his new friend safe.
"Yo! I'm Naruto's new guard. He's sleeping at the moment, so take care to be silent when you enter his room, Sasuke. Oh, and be so good to send my regards to your brother, ne?" Cheerfully whistling Kakashi walked past the bristling young boy and out of the house, keeping up with his role as friendly guard till he was out of sight.
TBC