Chapter 12: Naruto in Flight?

The small group of ninja and wizards trooped out onto the grounds. Kakashi was deep in thought while still maintaining awareness of his surroundings. He deeply wished for his favorite novel to conceal where his attention lay but, since he was on a mission and a diplomatic one on top of that, he couldn't use his usual cover. Kurenai and Ebisu had seen the look before and frowned. They exchanged glances and thought that there might have to be a team meeting later for old time's sake.

Professor Jones was telling Naruto about the different brooms the school currently had but most of the facts were lost on the blonde. His basis of knowledge for broomsticks was zilch so the statistics meant nothing to him. However, the Hokage-elect let the excitable man ramble on while he considered what could have possibly set his sensei off in so short of time. The sitting Hokage had only spoken to the Headmaster for a moment or two before an ugly staring match had ensued.

When they reached the pitch the Headmaster led the group to a storage shed near the stadium. He motioned to Harry and the boy-who-lived began withdrawing brooms, handing one after another to Naruto. Naruto, who was beginning to get excited again, looked at them with wide eyes while Hinata gave them a once-over of her own. The enchantments on the broomsticks appeared almost like tag seals, ready to respond but otherwise lying dormant and only giving off a faint signature.

"I know that your chakra responds well to our healing techniques," Professor Jones commented. "This may work similarly."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed a fraction. "You've read up on us."

The two exchanged a look that was stone cold. Jones broke away first and began explaining how they taught first year students to ride. "Harry, why don't you give Naruto some instruction?" Jones quickly retreated out of the way.

Harry cleared his throat and stepped forward, giving Cedric an encouraging tilt of his head. Cedric also stepped forward. "Since you're more skilled at using your…abilities we probably can skip what they do with the first years. We'll maybe just have you try hovering right away."

Naruto eagerly took the broom Cedric offered to him in hand and threw a leg over. Once he was positioned over the broom in the same way he'd seen the Quidditch players mount he smiled. "Now what?" Naruto asked. His bright face was turned toward his teachers and the Headmaster.

When Cedric and Harry did not immediately answer, Professor Jones began speaking but stopped. Then he chuckled to himself. "Well, I don't really know precisely. I'm not sure I completely understand how your-" he trailed off at a loss for the word. He glanced at Ebisu who was next to him. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

Ebisu's eyes were narrowed at the Headmaster. "Chakra," he supplied dryly, giving no more information. He didn't believe for a second that the Headmaster had forgotten the word.

"Yes, chakra. I don't really know how your chakra works. Maybe you could enlighten me?"

Hermione held back her knee-jerk reaction to explain. Between Ebisu and Kakashi's reactions, she thought better of it and remained quiet. Harry recognized the guards' old habit of clamming up and followed their lead. He didn't know what Kakashi and the Headmaster had discussed before, but something was definitely shifting in their attitudes toward each other. The Headmaster's request for an explanation of chakra was quietly ignored.

Harry, thinking he could lead by example, picked a broom at random, mounted it, and pushed off from the ground the tiniest bit. The black-haired wizard lazily rose until his broom was at waist height of the spectators, just enough for his dangling feet to be off of the ground. He hovered there and then turned the broom around to look at Naruto expectantly.

"Just let your magic, or chakra rather, meet the broom and flow into it, like a river meeting the ocean," Cedric tried helpfully. "Try just with your hands first, to get a feel for it."

"Carefully Naruto," Kakashi warned and the blonde's expression grew a degree more serious.

Everyone held their breath to watch. Naruto focused, looking at the broom as he did so. The moment Naruto fed some chakra into the broomstick, it exploded. Splinters and sticks flew everywhere. Kakashi shielded Harry and Hermione from the debris while Professor Jones's charm protected the rest.

When had he gotten his wand out? Kakashi eyed the device, a frown hidden behind his mask. Did he expect something like that to happen?

Jones's exclamation of, "that was unexpected," did nothing to calm Kakashi's nerves. Then Kakashi saw the blood staining his student's hands and legs.

The Hokage's concern switched from Jones to damage control. "Naruto are you alright?!" His cloak swished as he placed himself between Naruto and the Headmaster. "Sakura, get over here."

Sakura, mind already jumping ahead to what Kakashi might be thinking, hurried over. Hinata also closed in on her husband. The three of them effectively blocked Naruto from view on all sides. Kakashi looked down and saw Naruto's wounds were already closing, bloodied bits of the late broomstick dropped to the ground. The hissing sound of the wounds closing was hopefully overshadowed by the false medical 'hmms' that were issuing from Sakura's throat.

Jones, resisting the urge to stand on tip-toe to see over the Hokage's shoulder, said, "our healer, Professor Park, is on call. I'm sure she'd be happy to-"

"There's no need," Kakashi said, cutting him off without turning away from his sensei's son. "Sakura's the best there is."

"Thank you sensei," Sakura said, genuinely surprised but pleased by the compliment.

"I'm so sorry Naruto," the Headmaster continued speaking to the young man he couldn't see. Kakashi was surprised to hear real remorse in the man's voice. "I had no idea that this would happen."

"It's alright," Naruto said good-naturedly. "I'm used to getting hurt, it happens all the time. Although it isn't usually in such a," Naruto looked down at the place where his legs met, "sensitive area." He turned to his teammate, "sorry Sakura." He grinned sheepishly about the situation but did not blush. The woman had literally cut his side open and manually pumped his heart to keep him alive. When someone has saved your life any other kind of medical procedure, no matter how intimate, performed by that person seems rather minor.

"Shut up and hold still," Sakura ground out, pretending to heal him. Hinata pretended to help, making her hands glow green with her own medical jutsu. After giving Hinata a nod, Sakura pronounced, "there, all done." Sakura and the three ninja stepped back to reveal a healed Naruto surrounded by the bloodied remains of the broom.

Kurenai caught sight of the shredded seat of Naruto's pants and covered her eyes, sighing. "Naruto, could you hedge into something until you can get some new clothes on?"

Naruto did blush then. He was so worried about hiding his healing abilities that he hadn't thought about his clothes. He quickly hedged into a new pair of pants and, after reassuring the Headmaster that he really was alright, began walking back to the castle with Hinata. The conversation he'd had with Kakashi before they'd left the Leaf, not for the first time, was brought to his mind.

"You wanted to see me sensei?" Naruto asked as he entered the Hokage office.

Kakashi sat back in his chair. "Have a seat, there's something I need to talk to you about." After Naruto had sat, Kakashi began telling his student a story about a couple of missions he'd taken many years ago. Then that led right up to the present and he explained the situation.

Naruto, at first, had thought that his sensei had been pulling his leg. However, as the yarn grew longer Naruto became less certain of his original assessment. When Kakashi began speaking of the political ramifications of their upcoming visit, the blonde's mind had completely flipped. "Wizards? You went and guarded wizards for two years?"

Kakashi stopped and looked at his student. He shrugged, "wizards and witches, yes. And it wasn't quite two years, the length of their school year is-"

Naruto waved him off. "There are wizards and witches in an alternate dimension that you guarded for two years and you never said anything about this?"

Kakashi stared at his sensei's son. "You never asked."

Naruto's jaw dropped but he didn't say anything else so Kakashi continued.

"I think it's important that you come with the Leaf delegation, for many reasons." Naruto straightened at this, pride swelling in him. "But I can't stress this enough, you have to hide your tailed beast chakra. I'm sure we'll have to show our powers at some point or other, hopefully not in a fight, but I don't want you to use your cloak or anything else Kurama assists you with. I don't know how they would react to that sort of power."

Naruto nodded seriously. "I understand." It was irritating but necessary. It had taken the villagers, especially his fellow ninja, years to accept him. Revealing Kurama right out of the gate was probably not the best move.

"Your student is very impressive," Professor Jones said as the group began to head back to the castle. Then he added, "she healed him very quickly. Not even a wizard could do that."

Sakura thanked the Headmaster for the compliment but caught her sensei's cold expression as he assessed the wizard. Jones was not looking at Sakura, but at Naruto as he and Hinata left the group.

Later that evening, Naruto approached his sensei in their room. Kakashi, assuming what Naruto had come to talk to him about, led the way out of Leaf Tower and into the corridor.

"What's going on between you and Headmaster Jones?" Naruto asked without preamble. "Before you were getting along well enough but earlier you looked like you wanted to fight."

Kakashi thought about sweeping the issue aside, telling his student not to worry about it. He could deal with it on his own. However, Naruto's stern blue eyes reminded the Hokage that the jonin in front of him was not a child anymore. Naruto was his student, always would be, but if Kakashi wanted him to be Hokage one day he had to start treating the blonde differently. This meant allowing him to shoulder some of their shared problems that Kakashi had always tried to handle himself.

Kakashi sighed, teaching never got easier. Cutting to the heart of the matter, Kakashi said, "Professor Jones knows that there's something different about you. It doesn't appear that he knows what exactly but he asked me about it in the hall."

Naruto's eyes widened and then he looked at the ground. "I've been concealing my chakra like you taught me." The disappointment was clear in his voice.

Kakashi tried being encouraging. "I don't believe it's your fault. That wizard seems to be particularly perceptive. He may be able to sense our chakra capacity in ways we don't even know about; yours would have certainly caught his eye. I haven't studied very deeply into the abilities of this world and even Ebisu doesn't know all the different things beings can do here."

Naruto nodded but still didn't look up. Then he glanced up and said, "what do we do?"

Kakashi smiled under his mask. Maybe for a little bit longer he could pretend that his students were still his cute little genin. "For now we watch and wait. I haven't noticed a difference in any of my other interactions with people here which leads me to believe that the Professor is keeping the information to himself. For what purpose though, your guess is as good as mine."

Naruto nodded, grasping his chin. "You think that someone, maybe the Headmaster himself, wants to use my power?"

"We can't ignore the possibility," Kakashi said. "It's hardly a new idea." They both frowned at this and Kakashi continued, "as I said, we'll keep an eye on the situation. Don't go anywhere with the Professor alone. Preferably don't leave my sight at all."

Naruto scoffed, lacing his fingers behind his head. "Come on sensei, I'm not some kid."

Kakashi's surprised eyes crinkled into a smile. Then, deciding to voice his thoughts from earlier, "no, but you'll always be my student." Kakashi reached out and ruffled Naruto's spiky hair, surprised that he had to reach his hand up instead of down to do it.

Naruto grinned. He ducked his head slightly to get away from the assault but was still smiling all the same. Kakashi was reminded of his sensei and his chest suddenly hurt. He swallowed past the tightness in his throat and stepped back into Leaf Tower, Naruto right behind him.

Author's Note: And the strangely timed updates continue! Hope it isn't too annoying.

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