Two Tails:Is busy stuffing his face with ramen: Enh? Go away I'm busy. Mmmmm Ramen

Rose: You lazy Beta reader! You Beta'd, TT, and forgot to do the disclaimer.

Two-Tails: Slurps his ramen with Naruto speed.

Rose: Do the disclaimer now TT

Two-Tails: You say something Rose

Rose: Sigh (Mumbles A mothers work . . . ) Anywho folks I don't own Naruto. . .Thank godness. (He'd probably be more like Charlie Brown if I did.)

Chapter Nine

After the Rage

After he had calmed down, Naruto began a lazy swim to the shore. He picked up on the chakra signatures waiting there. Iruka and Kakashi. Just great. Now he'd have to put up with a lecture from them as well as having to return the clearing to normal. Well there was one blessing in the situation. Kakashi wouldn't ask any questions about why he'd torn things up so bad. He wasn't that smart . . . or maybe it was that he wasn't involved enough to care. All he'd be concerned about was Naruto fixing the mess he'd made.

He climbed out of the water and took the clothes Kakashi held out to him. Other than a small nod he gave no indication that he recognized either of his senseis. Sitting down to dry off a little he placed the pants and shirt on the ground beside him. Iruka-sensei sat on his left and waited without saying a word. He knew Naruto wasn't ready to talk yet and trying to force him would only make him angry again.

"Make sure he puts the clearing back to it's normal appearance, Sensei." Kakashi said. Then he just turned and walked away. He knew Iruka was better to deal with this then he was. Naruto and Iruka had a bond he knew he'd never have. Fact was Naruto didn't trust him like he did Iruka and although Kakashi tried to pretend it didn't matter it hurt every time the boy shut him out. Yet at the same time he knew it was his own doing. He had paid more attention to the Uchiha's training then he ever had to Naruto's. But he'd known more about how and what to teach the Uchiha. They had the same element and the same eye, thanks to Obito. So he was more suited to teaching the Uchiha than anyone else. His head drooped as he meandered his way back to the village.

On the shore Naruto decided he was dry enough to get dressed again and put his clothes on. Then he and Iruka began the walk back upstream. They arrived in the once peaceful clearing and after a brief exclamation of surprise began setting it to rights. Iruka worked along side Naruto, moving heavy rocks back into their normal positions and forcing the growth of seed pods from destroyed trees. Naruto wrung the excess water out of the saturated ground and directed it back into the stream. It was dark by the time the clearing was back to normal and they were both exhausted and filthy. Putting nature back was a lot harder than destroying it was. When you destroy nature you didn't have to worry about balance. When they were done they sat on the bank to rest before beginning the long trek back to the village proper.

Iruka finally asked, "So you ready to tell me about it?"

"No. It's over now. Sometimes even smart people can be stupid I guess."

"Who was stupid now Naruto?"

"Doesn't matter. It's done and I just have to live with it."

Iruka nodded knowing that he'd get no more out of the boy about it. "Come on. I'll walk you home and we'll get some Ramen on the way."

"You buying?" Naruto perked up.

"Yeah I'll buy but only five bowls. Not much money this close to payday."

"That's cool, Sensei." Naruto jumped to his feet and helped Iruka up.

At Watarimono's house in the village Kakashi sat at the kitchen table observing his new daughters through the doorway. They were in the living room playing a complicated game with a deck of cards and talking in a language he didn't understand.

"What are they saying I wonder? I can't understand a word of it," he asked Watari. She was busy fixing the evening meal and answered him absently. "It's what's known as twin speak. Children of a multiple birth often develop their own language before they learn the language everyone else speaks. If you're around them a lot then you'll pick up a word here and there but only they will ever know exactly what they say."

"So do you know what they are saying right now?"

"Yes. They're talking about you . . . and me. Hey watch your language!" she shouted at the twins. At his raised eyebrow she explained, "I have learned to recognize when they're saying things they shouldn't be and would get in trouble for if it was the common language."

"Oh so they swear in their own language but not in common. Well, I guess that's a blessing." He studied the girls for a few more minutes. "But what exactly are they saying?"

"Oh they're wondering when you are moving in since you stayed here last night and seem to want to stay tonight." Kakashi got a speculative look in his eye but since she was busy at the stove she didn't see it. He had to admit she was a good looking woman and he did enjoy her company but to move in would be the same as committing to the three of them and even though he was sure she didn't lie about them being his daughters he just wasn't sure about giving up his single lifestyle. For one thing a commitment to her and the girls he was sure would mean the permanent loss of his beloved mask and no way was he willing to give that up. There were still too many people alive who remembered his father and not all of them saw the old man in a good light.

The girls came into the kitchen and began setting the table. Watari set dishes full of hot food on the table as the girls placed dishes and silverware down. When everyone was done they ate in silence and after the meal the girls cleared away and did the dishes while Kakashi and Watari retired to the spare room to talk.

Kakashi sat in a chair by the window watching the sun set over the Hokage mountain. Watari could have sat in the chair across from him but she wanted to be closer so she perched on the arm of the chair he sat in. Without thinking about it he snaked an arm around her waist and held her in place while she rested her chin on the top of his head.

"So did you find out what made Naruto so upset today?" he finally asked.

"Umhmm. Tsunade did. She told him he can't go on any more out of town missions until I give the ok. I'm not sure why that should upset him that bad though. Surely your team has been held back from things before to get a mental clearance."

"Uh, yeah. Now I get it and yep he had reason."

She raised her head and twisted around to look at him. "What do you mean? Your team has never had a mental exam before?"

"No, we've had them. It's required when someone is killed during a mission. But the person doing the eval has never been a civilian before. Basically Tsunade just told him that unless he can conform to what a civilian, who doesn't understand ninjas, thinks is normal he'll never be allowed to work as a ninja again. And that means he'll always be stuck here in this village with people who hate him, never having the chance to prove their hate is misplaced."

"Well, what does my being a civilian have to do with anything? People are the same whether they are ninjas or not. We all bleed alike."

Now it was Kakashi's turn to just look at her. "That may be true Watari," he finally said. "But we don't think alike and we never will."

"I'm not sure what you mean by that. I'm sure Ino thinks just the same as anyone young woman. She wants to find a man and settle down and raise a family."

Kakashi quirked his eyebrow at her and said, "She is a ninja. She has been raised as a ninja and no she doesn't think like a civilian girl would about a possible mate and family. She has already made plans for who will tend her children for her while she is out on a mission and who will raise them if she doesn't come home from a mission. That is way more important to a kinoiche than who the father of said children will be. A ninja has a short lifespan as a rule. We all know the chances of us dying in bed old and grey are slim to none so we make plans accordingly. No kinoiche worth her salt would ever abandon her team just because she has a child. They are trained exactly like the boys to be killing machines to ensure the completion of any mission they are given and they know that sometimes that is going to mean they will not make it back home."

"She seems just like any other eighteen year old girl I've met."

"Well, she isn't. Have you noticed when you are with her, she doesn't walk into a room without having already scoped it out? That she never seems to be surprised by who is in said room when she does walk in? That when given her choice, of where to sit, she will always sit with her back to a wall and facing the door and window whenever possible? These are marks of a well-trained kinoiche but not of a civilian. A civilian will never be afraid or even aware of the danger of a mis-thrown kunai but a ninja always will knowing that even an accident can end their life."

Watari wanted to scoff at this but thinking it over she realized he was right. Ino did always sit facing the street and with her back to something solid. Idly she wondered what else she didn't know because she wasn't a ninja. "Ok that may be true for Ino but I still don't see what it has to do with Naruto."

"Naruto was right to be upset because he knows you don't understand. All his life the boy has been hunted and hurt by civilians who think he's evil. And now someone who should know better, someone he respected and trusted, has just told him he has to kowtow to you a mere civilian. He doesn't trust civilians and there is absolutely no reason whatsoever that he should just give you a chance. His whole life has shown him that civilians are idiots who only want to hurt him."

"But, I'm not going to hurt him. That kid has been through enough already. I'm only going to help him," she exclaimed surprised that Kakashi would even think she would hurt a child.

"First off he's not a kid. He's almost eighteen. He's been a man of this village ever since he, Sasuke, and Sakura passed their genin exam. Second how are you not going to hurt him? You propose to rip away his protection from the cruelties of this world and expose him to all of his enemies so they will have more ammunition to cast at him and cause him even more hurt. What you plan to do will hurt him more than any kunai ever could because at least when he gets hit with a kunai the Kyuubi will heal that wound. But who will heal the wounds you'll cause?" Kakashi closed his eye and leaned his head back against the chair. "I'm not saying that Naruto doesn't need to remove his mask. I'm just saying that he won't see it that way. To him, you are going to hurt him more than anyone else ever has."

Watari sat letting the silence grow as darkness filled the room. She had never looked at the work she did in such a negative light but she couldn't deny that what he'd said made sense. Finally she whispered, "Kashi? You don't think I'll hurt him do you?"

"I think that anyone who tries to make Naruto remove his mask is going to hurt him. But I think a lot of others will get hurt also. His mask doesn't just protect him. It protects us all and I'm not sure any of us are really ready to see underneath the underneath where he is concerned."

"Why? What could he be hiding under it that would be that frightening?"

Again Kakashi gave her a look that questioned her intelligence. "You're kidding right?" he asked. She shook her head. He sighed and closed his eye again. "Naruto has been hiding under that mask since his academy days. A lot of people have mistreated him and others have done things they wish they hadn't myself included. But I get the feeling that he really doesn't like very many of us here. For all that he seems to like us all, and forgive those who cause him even momentary hurts, I'm not altogether sure that he actually does. He's been my genin since he was twelve and I don't really understand him any better today than I did then."

Watari stood up and said, "I need to get the girls to bed. Are you going to stay tonight?"

From his chair, Kakashi nodded before turning to stare out the window again. She couldn't help but notice his back was to the wall and from where he sat he could not only see out the window but every square inch of the room. Funny she'd never noticed this tendency before. She normally noticed everything a person she was working with did. Maybe there were things about being a ninja she didn't know or understand.