(A/N: Here is the revised version of chapter 1. Be sure to check out the prologue as well.)

Naruto leaned back against his bathtub. Every couple of days he would find himself in this same position, contemplating the very same thing, and eventually falling weak to the very same pain. Naruto then started to stare at the object of his thoughts: his kunai. He would use that same kunai to inflict harm to himself. He had been hurting himself for years, but he had stopped after he became a genin and left on his training trip. But after Jiraiya had been killed, he started back up again.

Naruto sighed. "I'm so tired of this. I don't want to be in pain anymore."

'Then stop hurting yourself and get help.' The kyuubi told him. Naruto's eyes widened at the voice. The fox hadn't spoken to him ever since he started to hurt himself again. The fox had severed his connection and had stopped healing his cuts in an attempt to pinish him.

"I don't know who to turn to." Naruto responded after he got over his initial shock.

'What about the blonde woman that gambles a lot?'

"Tsunade, she's the hokage. She doesn't have the time for me and my problems."

'I doubt that. Then what about that Iruka person?'

Naruto grimaced. "It'll destroy Iruka if he heard about this. I can't hurt him like that."

'Wouldn't it hurt him more if he found out some other way?'

"Yeah but I feel bad for not talking to him earlier."

'Well, it is your fault for talking to him.'

"I know."

'So who else do you trust?'

Naruto's eyes widend. "I… no… no one else."

'Then tell Tsunade or Iruka.'

"I'm scared! Iruka will be so hurt, and Tsunade-baachan will have to take me off the active duty list. Being a ninja is what keeps me sane."

Naruto heard the Kyuubi sigh. 'Either tell someone or keep going through this cycle.'

Naruto groaned and tugged at his blonde locks. 'Ugh, I don't know what to do." Then suddenly, the kunai caught his eye again. Naruto swallowed the lump that formed in his throat and reached for the blade.

'Naruto, wait, you don't have to do this.' The kyuubi rumbled in panic.

"I know but I need to do it."

'No, you don't.'

"But…"

'Kami, I have such a weak vessel.' The kyuubi growled.

Naruto gave a weak laugh. "I'm sorry for being so weak." Naruto shakily reached for the kunai and picked it up. He pressed the sharpened blade to his exsposed wrist. He paused for a moment to study the self-inflicted scars that littered his wrist.

"I really need to stop doing this to myself." Naruto softly said. His scars were proof enough of the large amount of physical pain he caused himself in an attempt to ease the mental pain. Naruto quickly shook away the thoughts of doubt about his cutting that crossed his mind. He lightly placed the kunai against his wrist. Naruto felt a shiver of antisipation run up his spine. He started to diagonally cut the skin of his wrist, careful not to cut his vein. Blood started to run from his wrist and onto the bathroom floor. Naruto sighed in release as he felt a bit of his pain melt away. He sat back for a few moments before he was interrupted with a knock on the bathroom door.

"Naruto, you're late for our meeting." Kakashi said through the door. Naruto's eyes widened in suprise. He had forgotten about the team meeting that had today.

"Let me finish up real quick. I'll be there in ten minutes." Naruto called.

"Alright, I'll wait here." Kakashi responded. Naruto frowned as he rummaged through his cabinet for bandages. He quickly wrapped sup his wrist and pulled down his sleeves. He took a depp breath to calm himself, flipped the light off, and opened the the bathroom door. Naruto instantly noticed the silver haired jonin's nose was buried in his usual orange book.

'Pervet.' "Hey, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto loudly greeted with a fake smile. He looked at the masked man with suspision. 'Why did Kakashi-sensei of all people come and get me? It doesn't make sense; he doesn't even like me.'

When Kakashi looked up, his eye widened in shock. Naruto cocked his head in head confusion. "What?"

Kakashi's eye narrowed in suspision before he quickly hid with his famous eye-smile. "Maa, maa Naruto, didn't you know that there was blood on your feet?"

Naruto felt shock etch itself on his face. 'Crap, I forgot about the blood on the floor.'

'Hmph, maybe someone can finally find you out.' The kyuubi grumbled.

'Yeah but I don't want to be found out like this!'

'I don't care as long as it gets you to stop hurting yourself, pathetic vessel.'

'Wow, it almost sounds like you care, kyuubi.'

'SHUT UP, PATHETIC VESSEL OF MINE!' With that, the kyuubi cut him off.

'Who would have thought that the kyuubi was such a tsundere. ' Naruto mused before he shifted his attention back to Kakashi, who was studying him intently. Naruto swallowed hard and finally spoke, "No, I really didn't know it was there, but I do know why its there."

Kakashi's eye narrowed. "Oh, really. Then why is there blood on your feet?"

Naruto averted his eyes. He felt a bit of panic rise up in his chest. Kakashi must have noticed the distress on Naruto's face because he put his book away and gently grabbed Naruto's forearm. The blonde winced in pain, which caused the jonin's suspision to rise. Kakashi gently turned his student around and guided them into the bathroom. He flipped on the light to find blood on the floor and sink and a bloody kunai lying on the floor. Kakashi looked in shock at the scene in front of him to Naruto, whose sleeve now had blood on it. The mess infront of him vaguely reminded him of finding his father's body.

"Naruto…" Kakashi turned to the panicking teen next to him. The blonde's anxious eyes stayed trained on the floor. "Naruto." Kaskashi repeated. After a few moments Naruto finally answered with a soft, "I'm sorry." The blonde slowly sank to floor with faint tears making their way down his whiskered cheeks. Kakashi noticed his breathing become unevern and ragged. He squatted down and started to rub Naruto's back. "Naruto, you've got to calm down. You're having a panic attack; you need to take deep breaths and breathe in and out slowly." The blonde nodded and started to even out his breathing. After a few minutes, Naruto calmed down.

"You calm now?" Kakashi asked with concern laced his voice. Kakashi had never seen Naruto like this and honestly, it scared him. Naruto acted happy all the time but Kakashi guessed it was just that, an act. Kakashi turned his attention back to Naruto when the teen gave him a soft 'yeah'. Kakashi looked at Naruto with concern. "Do you… want to talk about it?"

Naruto looked at him with a bit of suspision. "Why do you even care?"

Kalashi looked at him in shock. "I do care, Naruto."

"You sure as hell don't act like it." Naruto responded softly.

A look of remorse flashed across Kakashi's face. "Naruto, I'm terribly sorry. I really was a bad sensei to you. I shouldn't have ignored you for Sasuke. You're my sensei's…" Kakashi's voiced trailed off.

Naruto cocked his head. "I already know my dad was your sensei and the Yondaime." Kakashi gave Naruto a double-take. "Ero-sennin left me a scroll that explained everything."

Kakashi nodded. "I'm still very sorry. I should have-"

"I don't care." Naruto said, cutting off Kakashi. "I already forgave Jiraiya for not raising me, and he was my godfather. So, I'll forgive you too. But I will say this, actions speak louder than words."

Kakashi looked into the bathroom. "Thank you for forgiving me but I think we have other things to worry about."

Naruto swallowed nervously and adverted his eyes. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Do you want to talk about it now?"

"I might as well."

Kaskashi pirsed his lips. "I suggest you start from the beggining."

Naruto leaned back against the door panel. "The villagers hate me. After everything I've done for them, they still hate me and think of me as a demon. And it hurts so much."

Kakashi looked at Naruto in understanding. "But why do you…"

"I'm getting to that." Naruto paused. "So one day, I accedentily hurt myself and it felt so good. I guess the physic all took my mind off the mental pain, so I still continued do it. Well, I stopped for a while after I became a gen in and during my training trip."

"I see. So Jiraiya really helped you, huh."

"Yeah. He was like a father to me. I felt broken again when he died."

"I understand. I felt the same when Minato-sensei died. But why do you feel broken though?"

"Well because I don't feel complete, like I'm missing something. I fake being happy and smile because maybe if I act that way, maybe I'll feel like that."

"Doesn't work, does it?"

"No, it doesn't. I really don't know what to do."

Kakashi mulled over Naruto's words. "Why haven't you talked to anyone about this?"

"I don't fully trust anyone but Iruka and Tsunade. Oh, and Jiraiya when he was alive."

"I see."

"I mean, they know everything about me, like me having the Kyuubi sealed inside of me."

"So you can't go to anyone because you're too scared to tell anyone about that."

"That's not-"

"But it is true. You're going to have to say something eventually. The Akatsuki are still after you. People like Shikamaru and Neji are starting to ask questions."

"I know but I just don't how to say it."

"Hmm, I'll tell you what: You promise to get help for your cutting, emotional problems, and tell people about the Kyuubi and I'll help you with anything you need, no questions asked."

"Oh gee, your help."

"Naru-chan, why must you be so mean? I meant that I would give you undivided support. I'm guessing there is a reason why you haven't gone to Tsunade-sama or Iruka."

Naruto looked down. "Yeah, there is."

"I understand what you're through. To deal with the death of Minato-sensei and the last of my old team, I joined the ANBU and buried myself in missions. You don't need to go down that rode."

"Okay Kakashi-sensei." Naruto softly responded. After a few moments, a spark of fire ignited in Naruto's blue eyes. "I'm gonna agree to your deal. I'm not going to continue hurting myself anymore."

"Finally!" The Kyuubi growled in his mind..

"That's good. Now let's get you cleaned up and go to our team meeting."

Naruto hesitated. "Do I have to…"

"Not if you don't want to. It's your choice."

"Okay!" Naruto jumped up to go into the bathroom but was stopped by Kakashi. "What?"

"If they haven't healed yet, may I see your cuts?" Kakashi hesitantly asked.

Naruto flinched a little at the mention of his self-inflicted wounds. "Um… just let me unwrap my wrist." Naruto pulled up his sleeve, which revealed bloody bandages that were sloppily wrapped. He carefully unwrapped the bandages. Kakashi's eyes widened at the long, angry-red cut that diagonally from Naruto's wrist to the end of his forearm.

"Why is it still…" Kakashi muttered.

"Not healed?" The Kyuubi's punishing me for being idiotic." Naruto answered with an amused look on his face.

Kakashi arched his eyebrows at Naruto's response. "It almost sounds like it cares."

Naruto laughed. "Oh he does, he just doesn't like to admit it."

"Baka! Don't go telling people that! I don't care about your stupid ass!"

"Sure you don't." Naruto thought back with a wicked grin.

Kakashi just shook his head. "Only you could have that relationship with the Kyuubi."

"Yep!" Naruto's eyes then drifted back to his wrist. He turned when he felt Kakashi squeeze his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll help you." Naruto nodded. "Now let's get everything and get going."

Kakashi patiently waited for Naruto to get dressed. He quickly bit his thumb and whispered, "Summoning Jutsu." A small brown pug appeared with a white cloud of smoke.

"Yo, Pakkun. I need you to tell Sakura and Sasuke that Naruto and I are on out way."

"Alright but why do I have to go?"

Kakashi sweatdropped. "Why must you be so lazy?"

The pug gave Kakashi a pointed look. "Aren't you one to talk?"

"You say something?"

Pakkun rolled his eyes. "I'm leaving." Pakkun left quicky out the open door.

"Hey Kakashi, I'm ready. " Kakashi looked up to see Naruto standing at the end of his hallway. He wore a 3/4 length orange shirt, bandages were wrapped around his forearms and stopped at his knuckles, long black ninja pants that were taped at the end, black ninja sandels, his black-clothed ninja headband was tied around his neck next to the necklace he got from Tsunade, and his spikey blonde bangs fell in his left eye.

"Hmm, you finally look like a real ninja. Now just get rid of of the orange." Kakashi smirked at the horrifired look on Naruto's face.

"Sacrilige! Never insult the orange; it's up there with insulting ramen." Naruto shouted. Kakashi gently laughed.

"C'mon let's not keep the rest of our team waiting."

Naruto nodded. "Umm," Kakashi looked back at Naruto. "Thanks for helping me."

"No problem, Naruto." Kakashi responded softly as he ruffled Naruto's hair.

(A/N: So tell me what you think of the revised version. Tell me if anything needs to be fixed. Thanks for reading. I'll update next month. )