Twin Swords Unbroken

Disclaimer: Naruto and Co belong to Kishimoto. This is just a simple little reinterpretation on my part, brought on by my dissatisfaction with the series.

Author's notes: I like Naruto and Sasuke, as a team and as friends. One of the greatest disappointments I've had in the Naruto series is how this fell by the wayside, and Kishimoto made one into an antagonist, one that's steadily becoming less and less redeemable, or more precisely, becoming less and less like a character I WANT to redeem himself.

-o-o-o-

"Hey."

Sasuke slowly opened his eyes to look up at where Naruto stood, nervously at the door outside his room, before grunting softly in return. "Hey."

"So, Kakashi-sensei says that you'll be fine in a week or so... just like Zabuza was," Naruto said quietly as he lightly shifted his fingers nervously against his jacket pockets, and for the first time, Sasuke noticed the dirt caking his teammate's body. "Which is good."

"Yeah." Sasuke nodded his head in turn, his dark eyes glancing away for a moment, staring out the window next to his bed before he spoke up. "So what's he been having you do?"

"Nothing." Naruto responded back as he shrugged his shoulders a bit. "I guess he wants us to take some time off. After everything that happened and all."

"Hn..." Sasuke grunted back before glancing again at Naruto's hands. "Then why're you so dirty, idiot?"

For a moment, the usual fire flashed through those blue eyes, before the boy settled, subdued again where he stood. "I buried Haku and Zabuza."

For a moment, Sasuke said nothing, staring at the way his teammate stood there, stiff and quiet as he could see what seemed to be tears, welling up in those blue eyes. "... What the hell are you going to cry about?"

And again, there was that familiar flash of fire, only this time, it didn't die back down as the boy clenched his fists tightly together. Slowly, he glared back at Sasuke, before he began to speak. "If I want to shed some tears for people who deserve them, it's none of your business, bastard."

"What the hell is your problem?! Did you forget they tried to KILL us?! Hell, I'm here because…" Sasuke immediately began to respond as he glared back at Naruto, only to flinch back as the blonde boy fixed him with an almost murderous glare.

"My problem…? My problem?!" Naruto repeated, quietly at first before the anger rapidly blossomed upon his lips. "I met Haku. That's what my problem is. I met someone who could have been a friend. Someone that I wish I had gotten to know better."

That glare bore down into Sasuke as he growled his words out. "I met someone… Who was called a monster, because of something he had no control over. I met someone whose father killed his mother because they had a bloodline, who had to kill his father when he turned to kill him next. I met someone with no purpose, no hope, until he turned himself into a tool, saw himself as nothing but a tool. Someone I COULD have been if I'd met someone like Zabuza."

A deep, heavy breath came and left Naruto's chest as he glared back at the dark eyed boy. "My problem, is that I watched what I thought was the death of my teammate, the damned genius, rookie of the year throwing his life away… Throwing his life away for ME! For the dead last, for the idiot, for the monster." Naruto shook his head again, tears lightly glistening in his eyes as he glared even more angrily at Sasuke. "I cracked his mask, and I found myself facing the boy who taught me that true power, true strength comes from fighting for, protecting what's important to you.

"He told me his story, then asked me to end him, because he'd failed as a tool. As a TOOL!" The blonde's eyes burned with tears now as he let off a wet, bitter laugh. "And I was going to do it too. I would have done it… If Haku hadn't seen Kakashi-sensei about to put his hand through Zabuza's chest…" The words trailed off on Naruto's lips as he shook his head, eyes fogged with tears. "He moved, he was barely standing, but he found the strength to move, to put himself between Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza.

"I watched as Kakashi sensei put his hand THROUGH Haku's chest… I watched Gato kick his body like it was a piece of trash!" Naruto growled again, a dark, pulsing thing as the air seemed to grow thick around them. "I watched, as Zabuza just… seemed to not care, and I yelled at him for it. Yelled at him for how much Haku gave up for him, sacrificed for him… How cruel that was."

As Naruto took a deep, ragged breath, Sasuke stared back at his teammate, uncertain, unsure of what to say to him, how to respond to that almost violent outburst of emotion that fled his lips, unable to look away as Naruto continued in a soft voice as he stared back at his dark haired teammate. "And… He told me I was right. He told me how Haku broke his heart to fight us. How in the end, we're all human. With tears in his eyes, he asked me for a kunai. And then I watched as he tore through Gato's thugs and ended the bastard's life.

"And finally, I watched as he died, next to Haku, staring at him, touching his face in the falling snow." Shaking his head, tears flowing freely down his cheeks, Naruto managed to glare back at Sasuke. "So, don't tell me about what I've forgotten. Don't tell me about who does or doesn't deserve my tears… you got that, you bastard?!"

Slowly Sasuke allowed Naruto's words to carefully process through his confused mind. The pure force of the boy's emotions, the depth of them, the intensity of them had driven ruthlessly deep inside of him. Still, his pride fought back, as he struggled to glare back into those penetrating blue eyes, before more of what Naruto said filtered through his mind.

"Hn…" Sasuke grunted quietly for a moment, struggling on how he wanted to respond, struggling against the words that wanted to come past his lips, before slowly, he spoke. "It's… Not easy to lose your family. To have those bonds suddenly severed, especially so cruelly."

"You think I don't know that?" Naruto shot back and growled before he crossed his arms about his chest and glared at the wall. "I… I've wanted those kinds of bonds my whole life. A family, people there for you, caring for you no matter what. People you're close to." He struggled for a moment for the words, before glancing down at the floor. "I've… watched people I've started to care for throw themselves in front of me, to protect me at the cost of themselves. I know how much that hurts. To have even stronger bonds… and have them be severed like that…"

As Naruto's voice trailed off, Sasuke could feel a spark of his own anger rising up as he glared back at Naruto. "Shut up. Just because you think you've got an idea what it's like doesn't mean you know just how deeply it hurts!" A snarl curled across Sasuke's face as he pushed himself up in his bed. "You don't know what it's like to have them torn apart right in front of you! To watch as they're cut by someone you cared for… respected, loved more than anyone else! YOU DON'T KNOW!"

"… And you don't know what it's like to have always been alone." Naruto responded quietly as he looked back at Sasuke with his tear stained eyes. "To have NEVER had those bonds. To feel cold eyes watching you. To have never had more than an empty apartment to return to. No father, no mother… no family. NO ONE!" Naruto voice was even thicker as his words became a hoarse whisper. "Just a kind old man who doesn't have time for you, that everyone respects and acknowledges."

"Mah, you know, you two can keep going back and forth on this and you'll never get anywhere." Kakashi's voice broke the moment, sending its shattered remains clattering down around them as the man smiled down at them both. "The question becomes, are you two going to sit here, going back and forth about whose had it worse?"

"Of course I'm not!" Naruto immediately almost yelled at the man as his eyes burned. "I'm not gonna insult Haku and Zabuza's memories like that!"

"Good good." Kakashi nodded his head before turning and glancing at Sasuke. "And you, Sasuke?"

For a moment, Sasuke merely studied Naruto as he thought back to the day they'd gotten their team assignments, to the way he'd reacted to Sakura's words. It took him only a moment to move from there, remembering the way that he'd seen the boisterous blonde shooting off his mouth all the time. And then, how he'd some how pull out moments of sheer brilliance and power that left Sasuke almost dumbfounded.

"Kakashi-sensei… Can I talk to you in private?" Sasuke asked as calmly as he could, his eyes flicking away from Naruto to their instructor.

"Sure," Kakashi agreed amiably as he nodded his head and turned seemingly cheerfully to Naruto. "Naruto?"

"Yeah, fine, I'm gonna get some training in before it gets too late." Naruto's voice again regained some of its former life as he still sent a mild glare at the rest of his present team then almost seemed to vanish from sight.

"So…" Kakashi arched a brow curiously as he studied his dark haired pupil with a careful, cautious eye.

"How much do you know about Naruto?" It was a quiet question that galled him to ask. To admit that he might be wrong, or that there was something he wasn't certain about.

"More than I can tell you," Kakashi answered simply as he turned his head, his head flicking slightly towards where the blonde boy had stood moments before. "And probably more than anyone other than the Hokage and one other person."

"Nothing about him makes sense." Sasuke said quietly, suddenly growling. "He's supposed to be the dead last! But, then he goes and picks up everything almost as fast as I do! He comes up with plans and ideas that are so insane they're brilliant! How the hell did he suddenly get so strong?!"

"Suddenly?" Kakashi chuckled softly as he arched a brow carefully at the boy. "Who said there was anything sudden about it?" The silver haired man smiled down at the boy, before settling in to sit down next to him.

"But at the Academy…" Sasuke began as he stared back at his teacher in disbelief.

"Mah… Some people, like you, and I suppose like me, flourish at the Academy. They're very good at taking the theoretical and using it to achieve the practical." He paused a moment, before grinning back at the boy. "Then you have people like Naruto. People their flourish by doing. You can spend days explaining the high end mechanics to him, and it'll just be a waste of time. He won't get it."

Kakashi paused a moment, leaning back as he grinned just a bit. "But, if you have him actually doing something?" He paused a bit, before grinning slightly at Sasuke. "Do you know what areas Naruto did excel in?"

"He was near the top in taijutsu, and stealth and evasion," Sasuke responded a hedging tone to his voice.

"Mhm… And if he'd had the patience and the help correcting a lot of his mistakes, he probably would have better Taijutsu than you." Kakashi paused a moment, before quickly cutting off the protests that the boy was about to make. "At least, better Academy taijutsu. But, that style hardly suits Naruto."

"…Why not?" Sasuke couldn't help but feel at least a bit curious as he stared back at their teacher with a careful look of consideration in his eyes.

"Too rigid." Kakashi grinned again back at Sasuke as his visible eye seemed to twinkle. "Can YOU imagine Naruto working in that disciplined of a style?"

"… No, not really." Sasuke admitted quietly before glaring slightly at Kakashi. "Then why haven't you done anything about it?"

"Might be I'm just waiting for you to start learning the right lesson." Kakashi responded vaguely even as he grinned back at them. "Besides… Most of what I'll be doing is teaching you to basics, giving you the tools you need to figure out your own path as a ninja."

"My… own path?" Sasuke paused a moment, considering Kakashi's words as he stared off into the distance.

"Mhm." Kakashi nodded his head. "Yup, you have to figure what suits you best and then following it through." The jounin paused a moment, lightly stroking his chin before shrugging just a bit. "Take it from the example of the Hokages. You know how each of them have had a different style of fighting, yes?"

Looking off in the distance for a moment, Kakashi reluctantly shook his head before he continued. "They found, or created styles that worked best for them. Fit them perfectly instead of trying to force themselves into their roles." Kakashi paused a moment, before he glanced down at Sasuke. "That's part of what makes the most powerful shinobi so strong."

"Only part?" Sasuke studied his teacher carefully as he waited, watching as he leaned back.

"Yup, they also need the drive, the desire to push themselves beyond everything that is expected of them." Kakashi smiled slightly back at boy. "When I was about your age… I was a jonin, did you know that?" At Sasuke's wide eyed response, Kakashi nodded his head absently. "Yeah… And on my first mission as one, I found and lost my reason for pushing myself beyond what I was."

"Found and… lost?" Sasuke looked up at Kakashi, slightly startled at the man's words.

"Obito Uchiha," Kakashi said the name with a kind of reverence Sasuke had never heard in the man's voice. "He was my teammate. Yes, he was one of your clan members… On that mission, he died, saving my life and our teammates. I didn't realize it until after he was gone, but he was my best friend."

"Is…?"

"Mmm? My eye?" Kakashi nodded his head slightly. "An Iwa nin had destroyed mine… Obito was dying, so he had Rin, a our teammate and a medic nin, transplant his eye into mine."

"… Is… that why you were assigned to our team?" The Uchiha's voice was quiet as he looked up at Kakashi, who merely smiled back at him.

"Nope!" The man's cheerful voice answered him as he shook his head. "Naruto is." Pausing a moment, Kakashi leaned in an whispered conspiratorially into Sasuke's ear. "Plus, Obito? If anyone on the team reminds me of him, it's Naruto."

"An… Uchiha Naruto?" Sasuke's mind struggled to wrap around the concept as he tried to imagine the grinning blonde with black hair and black eyes, smiling with the Uchiha fan, bouncing around his clan's district. "…Wha… how..?!"

"This was years before you were even born, Sasuke." Kakashi responded quietly before he leaned back again. "You though, you remind me of how I was back then." The silver haired man paused for a long moment, letting the words sink in before he continued. "And that isn't a good thing."

"And why not?" Sasuke glowered slightly as he stared up at his teacher.

"Because back then, I didn't care about anyone." Kakashi again spoke in that simple, blunt tone as he lightly glared down at the boy. "All I cared about was chasing ghosts."

"So, what you're going to tell me you understand my pain too?" Sasuke sneered for a moment before he could feel the sudden crack of a blow striking across his face, before he registered that his instructor had just struck him.

"I'm going to tell you this once, Sasuke." Kakashi's voice wasn't cold, hard, or even angry. If anything, it was soft, and filled with a sympathetic pity. "The exact circumstances that wound a persons heart are never the same, and thus, you'll never find someone who feels exactly what you feel." The man's voice grew sterner then before he continued. "But, just because someone doesn't feel your exact pain, DOES NOT mean that that they don't know what it's like to be in pain, what it's like to hurt."

Shaking his head, Kakashi stood up and gave one more pitying look down at the boy. "And Naruto? He knows what it's like to be in pain. He's dealt with it since before he even knew what to call it. He just deals with it differently than you do."

And with that, Sasuke was left sitting alone with his thoughts as the silenced weighed down on his shoulders.

-o-o-o-

Kakashi sighed tiredly as he found Naruto striking against a tree not far from the building, his already dirt caked hands quickly beginning to glisten with fresh blood at the boy broke through the callouses on his knuckles. Quietly appearing behind the boy, the jounin offered a single, neutral word. "Yo."

"Yeah, what?" Naruto's voice was harsh, bitter as it left his lips, even as he refused to look up from where he continued to strike against the tree trunk.

"Trying to imitate Sasuke's taijutsu?" Kakashi's voice was curious as he watched the way boy was trying to pelt the tree with short, fast punches before stiffening immediately.

Turning boiling blue eyes onto the man, Naruto growled softly. "Yeah, so? Everyone's always talking about how good he is and how bad I am, so what the hell! Not like I get any help from anyone without having to beg them."

"… Huh… Kakashi blinked slightly as he looked at the boy, his head lightly canting to the side for a moment. "So, you pretty much taught yourself?"

"Iruka-sensei helped me some," Naruto admitted quietly as he paused a bit in his blows, studying the chipped and bloodied bark in front of him with a critical eye before glancing down at his bloody knuckles. "But not fair for me to try and take up all his time, ya know?" Shaking his head, still staring at his knuckles Naruto growled again. "And the rest of the instructors… Always made excuses about helping me."

"Impressive for you to be in the top of your class for your taijutsu then." Kakashi studied the boy a moment, considering things thoughtfully as he watched the way the boy moved.

"In the top?" Naruto snorted, loudly as he glared up at Kakashi. "I'm the dead last, remember?"

"Overall, yes." Kakashi responded with a smile as he chuckled a bit. "Your failure in academics and chakra exercises brought you down. You were among the top students in your group taijutsu wise. I do believe you WERE the top in stealth and evasion."

"Right." Naruto shook his head and sighed softly. "Iruka-sensei always found me in all our exercises, so yeah, no need to try and trick me like that."

"Um, Naruto?" Kakashi blinked slightly as he stared at the boy. "Iruka was always the one to find you?"

"Yeah, why?" There was genuine confusion in the boy's eyes as he stared up at his jounin instructor.

"Naruto… in most of those exercises, your CLASSMATES were supposed to be the ones to find you." Kakashi slowly shook his head and chuckled a bit. "And… Iruka might only be a chuunin, but he's one of our best at both tracking and detection as well as stealth and evasion."

"So?" Naruto glowered stubbornly as he glared up at his teacher. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you were very, VERY good Naruto." Kakashi responded simply as he studied the boy in front of him. "Didn't Iruka tell you that?"

"Yeah, but I figured he was just saying that." Naruto lightly scratched the back of his head. "The rest of the class always used to glare at me and stuff. Not to mention the other instructors were always mad at me in it. So, I'd always try harder the next time…"

"Naruto, trust me, they weren't upset because you were doing poorly."

"If you say so Kakashi-sensei." Naruto's voice was uncertain as it left his lips before he glanced back at the tree, his shoulders slumping quietly. "It's just…"

"Mmm, Naruto. Stop trying to be like Sasuke." Kakashi spoke in a simple, blunt tone as he glanced down to where Naruto's shoulders were slumping even further. "His style doesn't suit you at all."

"I don't care what you, or anyone else says, I'm going to get stronger! I'm going to become Hokage!" Naruto glared up at the calm silver haired man. "I'm going to prove everyone who says I can't wrong!"

"That's nice, but I'm not saying you can't do that." Kakashi responded amiably as he shook his head and lightly patted Naruto's blonde hair. "I'm just saying Sasuke's style, taijutsu and otherwise, wouldn't work too well for you at all. You need a different one."

"Huh…?" Naruto stared at the man in absolute shock, his eyes widening slightly for a moment as he worked to wrap his mind around what the man had said. "But… Everyone always said how good his taijutsu was!"

"That's because he's using one that fits him rather well." Kakashi responded with a shrug as he carefully studied Naruto. "His relies on precision and speed, two things he excels at. You however…" The jounin considered for a moment, pursing his lips beneath his mask before he continued. "I think you'd do better with a more… acrobatic style. Something far less rigid and more flexible."

"Can you… can you help me with that Kakashi-sensei?" There was hope, glistening in the boy's eyes as he looked up at his teacher, before he could feel the crushing weight of Kakashi's response hit him.

"Nope!" The man responded cheerfully before smiling back at Naruto. "That doesn't mean that I can't find someone who can however." A shudder suddenly ran down the man's spine before he winced visibly. "Even if it means dealing… with Him."

"…Him?"

"One of Konoha's top taijutsu specialists. He's just a tad… eccentric." Kakashi winced slightly as he said the last word. "And he thinks of me as his 'Eternal Rival.'"

"Weirder than you?" Naruto offered up curiously, as he studied his instructor carefully.

"… I am not weird." Kakashi huffed slightly as he lightly glared down at his student.

"You call coming up with lame excuses for being late all the time, reading porn in public and shoving your fingers into people's asses normal?" Naruto countered even as he unconsciously rubbed at his backside while glaring at the man.

Kakashi opened his mouth to protest, before closing it, frowning slightly. "Hm… you have a point. Though, the Thousand Years was to get your attention."

"You did." Naruto agreed as he suddenly smiled, deviously up at Kakashi. "And one day, I'm going to return the favor." 'With a Kunai and exploding tags instead of my fingers' he added mentally.

Kakashi stared blankly at the boy for a long moment, before his voice responded in a casual deadpan. "Not if you don't start learning what you need to get strong enough."

"Then TEACH ME!" Naruto shot back as he growled softly. "I won't back down on my dream! I WILL succeed, even if I have to scrape and crawl my way to the top!" Before Kakashi could respond, the tears began to glisten again in the boy's eyes as his fingers clenched tightly back into his hands. "Please… please just teach me, so I won't be too weak to save people like Haku and Zabuza."

"Naruto… You can't save everyone." Kakashi spoke in a soft voice as he reached down and softly placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "I can teach you things… But I can't teach you something I don't know myself." For a long moment, Kakashi stood there, debate warring across his mind before his voice continued softly. "If I could… I would have been able to protect the people I cared about."

"…Kakashi-sensei…?" Tears still glistening in his wide, blue eyes, Naruto looked up at the jounin and stared in shock at the man.

"Obito died first." Kakashi's voice had lost itself in the past as he lifted his head, staring off into nothing as he stood there, his hand still settled silently on Naruto's shoulder. "He woke me up from the living death I was in and made me care again… Then he died, saving my life." His finger lifted up, and tapped his slanted headband over his eyes. "This was his final gift to me."

As Naruto's eyes widened even further, the man continued on just as quietly. "After that… Rin, my other teammate never survived the Third Shinobi war, and it was just me and sensei left." With a slow, deep breath, Kakashi closed his visible eye before he continued. "Then the Kyuubi came, while I was on a mission, and sensei did what he always did. He saved the day, just this time, he didn't walk away."

"… Y-y-you… you were trained by… by…. The Fourth?" Naruto could see a brief flash of something in Kakashi's eye, something gone too quickly for him to identify as the man gave a slow nod of his head.

"Yes, Minato-sensei… He was a good man." Kakashi settled on that as he looked off in to the distance. "I wish I would have been back in time… Maybe he would have told me what he was planning and I could have taken his place."

"But… Then…" Naruto spoke up, his eyes wide and fearful as he stared at the silver haired man, unable to quite fathom a world like that.

"Then maybe you would have been seen like a hero, like he wanted." Kakashi took a slow deep breath, letting the air whisper silently to his ear one extra bit, 'And you would have known what it was like to have a family.'

"Would you… Would you tell me what he was like?" Naruto asked, his eyes shining hopefully.

For a moment, Kakashi wanted to fall down to his knees and grasp the boy in his arms, wanted to spill the secrets that had been hidden from him his whole life, and tell him about Minato Namikaze as he should. As a man, telling a boy about his father. Instead, he forced a smile onto his face and nodded his head. "Sure, Naruto. I'd like that."

-o-o-o-

The frightened hiss of drawn steel sent Kakashi's eye flying open, wide and alert as he shifted in place, a kunai suddenly in hand. With the motions, softer than a whisper he was up, on the move as his single eye peered out into the room as the shadows slowly faltered against the rising touch of dawn. Before him, under the light of the cresting sun, the man caught glimpse of something he wasn't sure quite what to make of.

Naruto, sat there, a beaten, weathered scabbard set across his lap as he held in his hand a sword, a katana that had seen better days. Knicks and scratches covered it's length, it's edge, blunted and dulled, with a chip, broken off from it's tip. Once upon a time, perhaps it had been a grand, fearful blade, but now, it had fallen into a beaten mockery of everything it had once stood for.

"Naruto." Kakashi's voice rose softly into the air as he stood there, watching the boy looking so angrily at the sword in his hand. No, not anger he realized as he saw the way the slight crest of tears rimmed at the boy's eyes. "You're up early."

"Yeah... I couldn't really sleep." Naruto's thumb shifted down, lightly stroking over the maker's sign, over the sword's name stamped so carefully onto the blade, but weathered and worn to where it had almost seemed forgotten. "Guess there was too much on my mind."

"Where did you get the sword?" A soft note of curiosity entered into the man's voice as he glanced again for a moment at the blade the boy's eyes never left, the way they seemed lost, solemn, and pained all at once.

"Was one of the ones those thugs stuck into Zabuza." There was a slight little bit of a chuckle on his lips as he spoke, as if he'd told a joke, before he stared at the mark again for a long, long moment. "Did you know, there was a time, when I was a lot younger, that I wanted to be a swordsman?" Naruto offered the man a soft, bitter little grin for a moment, as he held the blade up, his grip too strong, too firm as he shifted it about in his hand. "Before I dove into my dream of being Hokage."

"Well, if you want to learn kenjutsu, I..." Kakashi began to offer as his thoughts turned to his father's sword, before Naruto cut him off.

"Nah. It was just a passing little idea of mine." Naruto grinned, softly, a warmer smile that seemed to light up his features just a bit. "But, you know how I get when something interests me. After a while, I got more interested in how they were made." He paused a moment again, before shaking his head. "Do you know much about swords, Kakashi-sensei?"

"A bit," the man admitted softly as he looked down at his student, curious where he was going with this before suddenly he snatched the awkwardly thrown sword out of the air as his student so casually tossed it to him. "Mah, you should be more careful with weapons, Naruto."

"Recognize that mark, Kakashi-sensei?" The blonde boy grinned slightly, a mischievous flash in his eyes as he lightly shifted just a bit holding up the plain, weathered sheath as he slowly bounced to his feet.

Frowning a moment, the man turned the blade about, studying the mark so carefully lain on its length, before his eye widened in shock. "Naruto... This... This has to be a fake."

"Nah, not a fake." The boy responded with a shake of his head as he lightly moved, almost like a ghost over to Kakashi, his foot steps silent to the jounin's ears as he carefully took it again out of the man's hands. "It's real. I think Zabuza woulda liked to have ended on one of these." Naruto slowly held the blade up in his hands, before he pushed it down into the waiting sheath as he offered another, ghost of a smile at his sensei.

"Perhaps not one like that." Kakashi's voice was soft as he watched the blade sink so easily into the sheath, it's dull, almost broken length catching the light only for an instant in a dull, warm glow that seemed thankful. "What're you going to do with it?"

"It's ruined." Naruto responded back with a soft bitter tone to his voice. "It's past the point where it could be repaired." For a moment, he lifted it up, holding it in one hand as he stared quietly at its tarnished, sullied appearance. "I came close to just breaking it and having someone melt it down, so it could forget the way it's been abused."

"Why didn't you?" Kakashi allowed a tremor of real emotion to sink into his voice as he stared down at the blade, still struggling to wrap his mind around to, to match this dirty, ruined sword to the same one he'd seen only once in the Third Hokage's possession.

"Because, I realized if I did that, I'd be no better than Gato." Naruto's voice suddenly grew thick, his throat contracting, pulling tightly on itself as his fingers tightened more firmly upon the tattered grip. "If I did, I'd be just like who I thought Zabuza was, who Zabuza thought he was himself until the end." Holding up that blade, Naruto clenched his fingers tightly upon its sheath as he let his words fall thick past his lips. "So... I'm going to keep it, and I'm never going to forget what I learned here."

"Naruto...?" The boy's instructor was at a loss for a moment, as he watched the full depth of emotion shining through those glistening blue eyes.

"You can have the best weapon in the world, a true masterpiece, a work of art, a treasure to be cherished." The words drew quietly past those lips, as the whisker faced boy stared down at the sheathed length of the sword in hand. "But, if you don't care for it, if you don't cherish it, if you don't nurture it. If you don't love it... In the end, all you're left with is a piece of trash, waiting to fail you."

Slowly, a smile curled onto the man's lips as he nodded to the boy as he reached down, lightly ruffling his hair with a gentle playfulness. "That's an important lesson to learn, Naruto. Just remember, treasure what you have. Honor it, protect it. Otherwise, you can end up with nothing but an empty life, haunted by what could have been."

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto stared up at the wistful longing in Kakashi's eyes as he lightly tightened his grip on his prize as he struggled to understand just what it was his teacher meant.

"Just reminiscing, Naruto... It's something I hope you never come to understand." Kakashi responded simply before smiling again at the boy. "How about we go check and see how Sasuke's doing?"

Kakashi's smile widened just a bit as the sudden shifting escape of feet quietly padding away reached his ears while Naruto nodded his head eagerly in ignorance. Time enough to teach the boy to be more aware of his surroundings. For now, perhaps Naruto could finally help healing the wound Itachi had left on Sasuke's heart.

-o-o-o-

Sasuke rested his chin against his knees as he stared out across the rippling sea shimmering with sparkling