Sakumo checked on Kakashi for what must have been the upteenth time in the past hour, noting that his son was not only still unconscious but was starting to run a fever as Sakumo's chakra circulated through his body. Passing his bloodline traits to Kakashi.

They would then fall dormant and only surface from time to time through his teens as he gained more and more control and only awakening completely once he found his mate and his body went through the change's necessary to help him protect his mate.

He brushed Kakashi's hair back from his face as he shivered and was momentarily startled when the woman- er creature- er, whatever the hell she was, held her jacket out to him and waited for him to take it. "So tell me Naru, you're a ninja aren't you?"

Naru nodded her head absently as Sakumo took her jacket and used it to cover Kakashi who automatically curled up under the cotton and sighed as if relieved. "Yes. A fellow Leaf nin like yourself."

"I've never seen you before." Sakumo said in a slightly suspicious tone. Naru looked at him and he blinked and sucked in a breath. Good god the girl was a beauty! And she had such lovely, piercing eyes. Sakumo hadn't seen a woman as breathtaking as she in what must have been years.

So of course he knew that there was no way that he could have ever seen her before. Mad or not, he was pretty sure he'd remember a face like hers.

"I don't get out much-" Naru said with a shrug and he gave her an 'uh-huh' look causing her to bristle a little bit and snap, "I dislike being looked at! So I have a perfectly valid reason for staying hidden."

Sakumo's lips twitched a little bit as he moved away from Kakashi. "Then you must be a very good shinobi."

"Second to none." Naru said honestly. Sakumo raised a brow at her and then cocked his head, unsure of whether she was bragging or simply being modest. With the words 'Second to none' it was more than a mite difficult to tell. Which sort of piqued his curiosity.

"What's your clan name?"

"None-ya."

Sakumo laughed softly and shook his head at her reply. "Nice. Not very original but nice just the same. Seriously though, what clan do you come from?"

"I feel no need to answer your security questions when you're still planning to kill yourself." Naru said and was a little bit startled when Sakumo crossed his arms over his chest and leaned forward into her personal space a little bit and smirked evilly.

"You can either tell me your clan name or I'll postpone my death long enough to make you miserable."

"Not a very well thought out threat."

"It's not a threat little girl, it's a promise."

"Okay then, that wasn't a very well thought out promise."

"You're very good at thinking on your feet aren't you?"

Naru shrugged. "I have my moments. Will Kashi be okay?" A little surprised by the sudden change of subject he studied Naru for a moment then looked back at Kakashi, trying to figure out why a creature like Naru would take such an interest in his son.

"He'll be fine with a bit of rest. He's developing a fever and will probably fall into a sort of coma for the next few days."

"He won't remember what happened between you?"

"No. Probably not." Sakumo said with a small shake of his head. Naru grunted and started pacing around the room anxiously. The anxiousness she was exhibiting was palpable. Which Sakumo found strange. He caught her looking at Kakashi with a worried look on her face and felt something click in his mind. His jaw dropped open and he gaped at her in shocked disbelief before pulling himself together just enough to point at her and yell.

"You're his mate!" It sounded strangely like an accusation even to his ears. Yet Naru paused her pacing and gave him a cheeky grin and all but rubbed his nose in it with the words,

"Took you long enough. I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever catch on."

"B-B-But h-how? W-Why?" Sakumo stuttered incredulously before snapping. "He's just a damned baby!"

"Is he?" Naru asked curiously as she slowly stalked across the room and stopped right in front of him and said, "Genin at seven. Had his first kill at eight. Became chunin at eleven. Fought in his first war- He's no more a child that I. But as his father it makes some sens that you would still think of him as such."

Sakumo opened his mouth to say something then abruptly closed it and tried to wrap his mind around everything that had happened so far. As it hit him that she had just said something very, very peculiar. Kakashi became a chunin at eleven and even fought in his first war? How could that be unless... He made a funny sound and lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.

He felt a headache coming on as he tried to sort out the information he'd just been given.

Some of it he could make sense of, like the fact that Naru was his son's mate. Though it didn't exactly make sense to him why she had shown up so soon since Kakashi was far too young to claim her.

And then there was the fact that she didn't appear to be a normal human being and obviously knew some things about his son that he wouldn't live long enough to learn of first hand. This knowledge should have bothered him far more than it did, but strangely enough; it didn't. In fact he found her lack of normalcy endearing.

She would fit in with Kakashi nicely once he was grown. The two fell silent for a moment or two before Naru asked. "Do you want me to save you Sakumo?" He looked at her with a confused look on his face as she cleared her throat and did something odd with one of her hands and muttered. "So that you can see Kakashi grow up."

"There is no cure for the madness in my blood, Naru-" Sakumo said matter of factly before gently saying. "But I thank you for the sentiment anyways."

Naru shook her head, knowing that he didn't understand that she had the power to truely erase all traces of the madness from him. She could go back in time using a jutsu. She could save Kakashi's mother, Sakumo. Hell, she could save the whole goddamn clan!

Kakashi would grow up with cousin's and close blood ties. He would never be alone or feel isolated or lonely. But of course if she did this, history would change dramatically.

She might be able to keep time from unwraveling but it would be a difficult and time consuming thing. It could take her the equivalant of a hundred, perhaps even a thousand years. And by the time she was done there was no guarantee that she wouldn't be the last person in existance.

"I need to get on with it-" Sakumo said after a moment or so of silence, Naru looked up at his face and noted the lines of strain around his eyes, and mouth. "My head is starting to feel like it's splitting apart. And that's never a good thing because it means that I'm starting to lose control again. The last thing I want on my mind is your blood on my hands, Naru."

"I understand." Naru said as she moved back away from him several several steps as he pulled out the knife again and looked at the blade strangely before saying.

"I really wish that I didn't have to leave him. I would have liked to see him grow up." Naru reached out to btouch his shoulder and used one of her abilities to show him what Kakashi would grow up to be while simultaneously draining his chakara.

In her opinion a mysterious death was far more fitting to someone like Sakumo Hatake. It would be less tramatic and painful for both Hatakes to bear.

Before she left she lowered Sakumo to the floor and picked up the knife and disolved it with her chakra before examining her handiwork with a small, sad smile on her face. Sakumo Hatake died exactly on schedule on the day that he was meant too. With the exception of two things.

One was that his medical file would say that he died of an unknown cause.

And two, he'd died with a smile on his face.