"Hey there! Sorry it took so long, but it took a lot to finish this," I say. "I have my guest... KISAME!"

Kisame walks in with a toothy grin. "Hey there. Nice to be here."

"So Kisame. Is it true that you can breath under water?"

He sighs. "Not like this, but if I do a special jutsu..."

I nod. "Okay... Now would you please say the disclaimer?"

"Nonya owns nothing but the plot. Please read, enjoy, and review!"

"What he said," I say. "Oh, and if you haven't figured it out by now, there's going to be bashing on everyone, but... well, that'll be spoiling it for you, so I'll let you find out on your own."


Chapter 7:

Questions

Naruto limped to his team training, seeing as he missed the day before and didn't want to stay in the hospital despite the protests. He managed to get there before his other teammates and claimed the tree's trunk as his support and rested in the shade despite how much it hurt to do such simple movements. His eyes fluttered close and he forced his body to relax. It was a few minutes before Sasuke silently came to the training grounds, staying away from the blond with narrowed eyes, not knowing any reason as to why the blue eyed boy would be so relaxed and tired when usually he was hyperactive and ready for anything. Soon Sakura arrived, squealing to Sasuke. Naruto's nose scrunched in distaste and he tried to hold out for as long as he could before his cerulean eyes snapped open and his face was contorted into one of anger and annoyance.

"Shut up Sakura! You're so annoying that it doesn't even make sense," Naruto growled roughly, making his teammates jump at his sudden outburst.

This was something that never happened. He never yelled at Sakura, so they knew that something was wrong.

"How dare you?!" Sakura yelled.

"How dare you?! Sasuke and I have to sit around all day listening to your useless ass! You don't even fight, you let us protect you, and though I don't want you to die, you could at least do something!"

Sakura turned to Sasuke. "Are you going to let him talk to me like that?"

He turned his eyes away from her and grunted, "Hn..."

Her eyes held pain, but nothing like her male teammates held. She was now determined to prove them wrong and train on her own, but for now she stayed silent while Naruto rose from his seat with a small, pain filled grunt and tried not to limp as he walked towards an unexpected person... at least to Sasuke and Sakura. Hinata Hyuga was waiting for Naruto, her eyes filled with love and worry, though the worry they couldn't see from the distance.

"Hey Hinata-chan," Naruto said with a genuine smile as he gave her a hug and pecked her cheek. "What're you doing here?"

"I came to give you some homemade lunch," she said, holding up a bento box.

He grinned and took it. "Thank you Hinata-chan. Are you gonna be late for training?"

"No, Naruto-kun," she assured before kissing his cheek. "I'll see you later."

"Alright, bye," he said with a smile.

He watched her leave and quickly sealed his food in a scroll before walking with a light limp that slowly turned heavier and he leaned against the tree with sweat gathering on his brow, causing his teammates to wonder what happened to the blond boy overnight. Or rather over the course of two nights. Sakura slowly walked forward, concern in her eyes.

"What's wrong Naruto? Why aren't you happy?"

Naruto let out a humorless chuckle and shook is head in disbelief. "You're all idiots. I've never been happy, not until yesterday, and I hate everyone except for a handful of people. I hate you, Sakura-baka, and you Sasuke-teme, and even Kakashi -teme. I hate everyone."

"Did you just call me 'Kakashi-teme'?"

Naruto looked up into the tree to see Kakashi standing there with his hands in his pockets and his sole eye resting on him. "So what if I did?"

Kakashi jumped down and put a strong hand on Naruto's shoulder, making it a little painful to remind Naruto who was the one in charge. "Walk with me. Sasuke, Sakura. Stay here and if I sense you anywhere near us I will make you train with Gai and Lee to death."

Both paled as Kakashi said that last part and stayed put while the two walked away. Kakashi made a clone and had it sit in the shadows and watch the two just in case they were stupid enough to try and follow despite the threat that was serious.

"Naruto... We need to talk."

"I don't want to talk to you," Naruto grumbled.

"You're most likely mad that none of us pay you any mind. That we don't care about you... right?" Kakashi asked. Naruto didn't answer, but he didn't have to, the silvered haired man knew what he was thinking. "Well, Jiraiya informed me before I came that the secrets were coming out for you and told me to remind you not to tell a soul about all of this."

"I know not to," Naruto snapped.

"I know. He said remind," Kakashi sighed before putting a hand on his shoulder and looking into his eyes. "Now for me to tell you my secrets that Jiraiya didn't tell you."

"What secrets?"

Kakashi shook his head and sighed. "Well I hae a lot of secrets but these apply to you. As you know your father was my sensei and Jiraiya and I could tell you a lot about him and your mother, but that's not the point right now. Do you remember a dog ANBU being around?"

Naruto thought back and nodded. "Yeah... what about it?"

"That was me. I was always there for you even if I never showed myself really. I was a coward, I couldn't face you after ANBU because you look too much like Minato sensei... but now I'm telling you. I was the one of the only ANBU Sandaime-sama trusted fully with you because he knew that I cared for you, that I was going to be like a brother to you if the Kyuubi attack never happened... but it did... and now I regret not spending as much time as I could with you before. I've done everything I could to protect you from te villagers... though it was poor because I could only do so much, but I'm going to change that... the villagers will never harm you again."

Naruto tried to process this. Kakashi was always there, always helping, but had no bravery to show himself. He understood that part, and he felt that he meant that promise. Naruto smiled and nodded. "Okay. Thanks for being there Kakashi sensei."

Kakashi smiled under the mask and was almost surprised when he was hugged by the boy and slowly he wrapped his arms around him, having not had physical contact like this in years. "No... thank you."