Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

The Fox's Brush.	By : spookymuffin Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1114 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
With the way that Kakashi had hurried her this morning Sakura had not expected to be waiting this long for the Hokage to show up for their mission briefing. She had gotten here almost half an hour ago, Yamato had arrived not long after her and then maybe ten minutes ago Kakashi had reappeared with Sai and Naruto in tow. The way that Naruto kept shooting angry and slightly mortified looks at Kakashi (who was ignoring Naruto completely in favour of listening to Yamato talk about some obscure aspect of the architecture of the building) told Sakura all she needed to know about the circumstances that Kakashi had probably found her teammates under when he went to fetch them this morning.
It was for the best really, she thought to herself. Keeping secrets from your teammates (especially your team captain) was never a good idea.
Finally she heard the sound of heels clicking in the hallway and stood up quickly from where she had been sitting on the floor.
The door banged open violently and Sakura bowed deeply in greeting when Tsunade marched into the office (Shizune close at her heels). She felt the familiar twinge of annoyance when Naruto didn’t do the same.
“I hope you’ve got a super awesome mission for us, Baa-chan” Naruto started eagerly “I haven’t been out of the village for weeks!”
Sakura didn’t approve of his methods but Naruto was right, she couldn’t think of the last time they’d gone this long between missions. If she hadn’t had her work at the hospital to keep her busy she probably would have gone stir crazy by now.
Tsunade ignored him, striding past them and coming to a stop behind her desk; she slapped her palms down against the wood with enough force to make everything on the surface of the desk jump, the stack of papers closest to her tilted perilously to one side and Shizune quickly stepped forward to save them before they could go skittering over the edge.
Any thoughts about Naruto’s inability to show proper respect to his superiors or their recent lack of work slipped from Sakura’s mind when she saw just how serious the Hokage looked.
“Team Kakashi!” Tsunade barked and everyone in the room hastily stood to attention, she surveyed them with sharp eyes before speaking again “This morning at approximately ten o’clock an attempt was made on my life-”
“Shishou!” “Hokage-sama!” Sakura and Yamato both exclaimed at the same time.
“Who was it?” Kakashi asked in a much calmer tone of voice.
Tsunade’s scowl deepened and she made an annoyed noise through her teeth “It was two of my own ANBU.”
The statement hung in the air for a moment, the full extent of it sinking in. ANBU were the shinobi closest to the Hokage, personally selected not only for their skill and discretion but also for their loyalty… for two of them to betray Tsunade meant that she couldn’t trust any of them.
There were only a handful of ninja that the Hokage could count on if her ANBU had been compromised and a good portion of them were standing in this room; it was suddenly very obvious why Tsunade had requested Team Kakashi specifically. “They’ve been imprisoned and Ibiki is pumping them for information as we speak, but there isn’t really much point. I already know who they work for and where to find them-”
“Then what are we waiting for?!” Naruto cried and Sakura could see that he was shaking with anger. She couldn’t blame him; she wasn’t exactly calm herself.
“Naruto-kun” Shizune piped up “you can’t just go charging in without knowing what you’re up against”
Naruto grit his teeth and clenched his hands tightly into fists at his sides but he didn’t argue any further.
“As I was saying-” Tsunade started again; aiming a particularly withering glare at Naruto before she continued “for the past month we’ve been keeping tabs on an underground movement that want to wrest power from me and take Konoha for themselves. They seem to have an issue with the Third Hokage and his policies in particular… which isn’t surprising considering the origins of this group lie with Danzou and what remains of Root.”
Everyone in the room had turned their attention to Sai but his expression remained blank and unreadable, the fact that all eyes were on him either went unnoticed or he just didn’t care. Sakura couldn’t help but wonder why Tsunade had decided to involve Sai in this mission at all; surely his loyalty would be suspect if they were dealing with people that were part of Root?
As if Tsunade had read her mind she addressed Sai directly “I’ve had you under surveillance for the entirety of this investigation and while this whole fiasco has made it clear that I can’t be 100% positive about these things, I am quite sure that you haven’t been involved in any plot to overthrow me. Am I right in thinking so?”
“Yes, Hokage-sama” his response was immediate and accompanied by one of his fake smiles. Sakura felt awful when she realised she wasn’t sure if she believed him.
Yamato opened his mouth to say something but Tsunade raised a hand and he closed it just as quickly “I know that including Sai in this mission is risky, regardless of where his loyalties lie, but Danzou was a secretive old bastard with a lot of tricks up his sleeve and having someone who used to be a member of Root with you is an advantage that we can’t afford to pass up. Understood?”
“Understood”
“As you all know, shortly after Danzou’s death I officially disbanded Root and all of the former members were evaluated to see if they were fit to return to duty. More than half of them had to be demoted to ranks lower than ANBU or completely discharged, of course we expected some kind of backlash at the time but years have passed without so much as a peep from them… that was until we received reports of unauthorised shinobi activity on the outskirts of the country a few weeks ago.”
“How have they gone unnoticed for so long?” Sakura asked.
“Their base of operations is close to the eastern border of Fire country; the area is mostly dense forest, a few abandoned settlements and disused trade routes so there is very little to no civilian traffic. Of course I send ANBU out on border patrol every few weeks… but it’s become obvious that the reports that I was given may not have been entirely accurate…”
“How did you find out about them then?” Naruto spoke up again and Sakura was glad to hear that he’d calmed down a bit.
“I was just getting to that, brat!” Tsunade admonished “An old man came to us because he had heard that there were people scavenging in what was left of one of the temples out there. He wanted us to find and capture the scavengers, simple enough and a D-rank mission at best so I sent a team of genin out there…” Tsunade paused and looked at them thoughtfully. Sakura’s heart was thumping loudly in her ears and she swallowed thickly; she didn’t need to see the others to know that they were all probably wearing identical expressions of concern. The idea of three genin and their sensei going up against rogue ANBU was almost a joke; it wouldn’t be a battle, it would be a massacre.
“Don’t worry, the kids are safe.” Tsunade said and Sakura released the breath that she hadn’t realised she was holding “It was Hyuuga Neji’s team; they’re fresh out of the academy and nowhere near ready to fight other ninja, if they had had any other jounin with them then they might not have been so lucky. Neji spotted the enemy long before they could have seen him or his team and rather than risk investigating a potential threat with three rookies in tow he doubled back to report what he saw.”
When had Neji been assigned a team? Sakura wondered to herself. He had been a jounin for over four years now but it was still unusual for a ninja to take on a team of genin before they were in their mid to late twenties; if at all. She wanted to ask about it but knew that this wasn’t really the best time… she could always get the scoop off of Ino when she got back from this mission anyway.
“Word has probably already reached them that the assassination attempt this morning was a failure and that two of their allies are currently in the care of the interrogation squad; this means that we’ve lost the element of surprise.” Tsunade said gravely “Early intelligence suggests that there are usually no more than fifteen to twenty individuals in their base camp at any one time, this coupled with the fact that they’ll be expecting an attack means that a small team that can infiltrate the enemy encampment without being noticed is more preferable to sending a larger force. I need to know how many of my people are actually working with them and I need to know as soon as possible; it would be best if you could get in and out with this information without actually engaging them in combat”
“You don’t want us to fight them?!” Naruto asked incredulously.
Sakura saw the way that Tsunade’s eyebrow twitched and knew that Naruto was walking on thin ice; training under the Hokage had made her hyper aware of the little tells that indicated when her master was very close to losing her temper. It was only natural that Tsunade would be a little less patient with Naruto than she usually was, considering the circumstances.
Tsunade pointed at Naruto with one perfectly manicured finger and when she next spoke her tone was dangerous “Speak out of turn again, Naruto, and Team Kakashi will be going on this mission as a four man cell while you scrub bathrooms in the academy with a toothbrush… and no kage bunshins to help you. Do I make myself clear?”
Naruto stared back at the Hokage, still looking defiant and Sakura tried her best to make him keep his mouth shut with sheer force of will alone. Wonders never cease, Sakura thought to herself with relief when he broke eye contact and looked down at the floor petulantly; obviously realising that this was not an argument that he was going to win.
“After you return I will, hopefully have all the information that I need to assemble a force to deal with this problem” she paused and pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger “You need to come to terms with the fact that you will most likely find out that people that you know… people that you thought you could trust might be a part of this.”
Sakura knew that for her and Naruto that wasn’t really a big risk, even if their identities were kept secret she was pretty sure that no one out of their circle of friends had made ANBU. Kakashi and Yamato on the other hand would probably not be so lucky.
Shizune moved from her spot beside Tsunade’s desk and handed Kakashi a scroll that Sakura assumed contained a truncated version of what they had just been told, a summary of the intelligence that Tsunade’s agents had gathered in the past few weeks and a map to their target.
“Is that everything, Hokage-sama?” Yamato asked.
“No, I have one more issue that I’d like to address before you leave” she said, leaning back in her chair and stretching. It was only for a second but Sakura noticed the ghost of a smile that pulled at the corners of Tsunade’s mouth before she spoke again. “The second that the five of you return from this mission there will be a team evaluation and it will be mandatory. I’d have arranged for you to have one now if there weren’t more pressing matters that need to be dealt with first.”
“Why do we need to be evaluated?” Sakura asked, although she had a sneaking suspicion that she already knew the answer to her question.
“Fraternisation within a squad can adversely affect the team dynamic-”
“Baa-chan, I don’t even know what that word means!” Naruto cried, his face scrunched up in a disgruntled frown.
Sakura cringed in anticipation of her master’s explosive reaction to being interrupted again but she was surprised when Tsunade just laughed under her breath instead. Sakura looked up warily but was relieved when she saw genuine amusement on Tsunade’s face; it was good to see her in better spirits… even if it was at Naruto’s expense.
“I think she’s referring to our relationship, Naruto.” Sai provided, looking a little confused by The Hokage’s sudden mirth.
“Oh…” Naruto said, turning from Sai and back to Tsunade who looked like she was trying to stifle another laugh behind the back of her hand “Oh!” Naruto said again, realisation finally dawning in his eyes as he turned more red with every passing second. He spun on his heels and pointed an accusatory finger at Yamato before almost screeching “You said that you’d wait until I told her first!”
Yamato took a step backward, raising his hands in a defensive gesture and smiling sheepishly “I haven’t said anything to anyone, Naruto.”
Naruto didn’t look convinced and was just about to launch into another tirade when Tsunade spoke up.
“I already told you that I’ve had Sai under surveillance, Naruto” she explained “I’m sure you can guess how difficult it is to tail someone with ANBU training without them noticing so I had to choose someone even better for the job.”
“Ah, thank you for your praise, Hokage-sama” Kakashi said, the corner of his visible eye crinkled in a smile. “Although I did end up observing more than I bargained for”
Sakura’s eyes flicked from Kakashi to Naruto when he made a weird choked noise. She couldn’t help but smile to herself; she almost felt sorry for him.
“I read all about it in your report.” Tsunade said with a chuckle. “The part about what happened yesterday before training was particularly interesting.”
Her interest piqued, Sakura wondered if she could get Sai on his own at some point later and ask him what exactly was so interesting.
“Baa-chaaaan” Naruto whined and Tsunade relented.
“Okay, Okay, you’re dismissed. Go gather what you need for the mission; I want the five of you out of the village before three. Understood?”
“Understood!” they said in unison, Sakura bowed again before leaving.
oOo
Yamato leaned against the wall just inside the village gate and closed his eyes as he tried to drown out the sound of Sakura and Naruto squabbling about what sounded like manners or being polite. He heard Sai pitch in at one point only to be silenced aggressively by an angry sounding Sakura. Yamato sighed heavily, for two nineteen year olds they still managed to behave remarkably like small children sometimes.
“You’re late!” Sakura and Naruto cried out together and Yamato didn’t need to open his eyes to know that Kakashi had finally arrived.
“It’s not three just yet” Kakashi said simply. A quick look at his watch showed Yamato that Kakashi was right, even if he had made it here just thirty seconds before the deadline.
“We’ve been waiting here for nearly an hour, Kakashi-sensei!” Sakura said disapprovingly.
“I had some business to take care of…”
“Liar!” Naruto and Sakura chorused. Yamato winced and wondered if this was something that they were really going to have to do at the start of almost every mission. It was really beginning to wear thin.
Kakashi just laughed them off before speaking again in a more serious tone “If we travel through the trees and make as few stops as possible we should reach our destination in less than two days.”
Naruto ran towards the exit of the village and called out enthusiastically “Come on! What are we waiting for?”
Yamato pushed away from the wall and smiled. He supposed that their youthful exuberance could be endearing sometimes too.
oOo
Once they left the area that immediately surrounded the village they travelled in relative silence on the very small chance that there might be enemies nearby. They were making good time despite getting caught in a summer shower that had drenched them to the bone and slowed them down considerably, they had still covered over a quarter of the journey in six hours. The sun had set, they were cold and they hadn’t made any stops so far (other than the odd toilet break) so when Kakashi saw a patch where the trees were sparse up ahead he signalled for his team to stop.
“We’ll make camp here for the night” he said as they landed beside him in the clearing “Sai, Naruto and Sakura I want you to check the perimeter and gather some firewood.” The three of them shot off in different directions and Kakashi turned his attention to Yamato. “I’ll leave the camp to you, Yamato… although I don’t want anything too high profile.”
Yamato nodded before quickly forming the necessary hand seals and slamming his palm down against the ground. Kakashi watched as wood burst up from the ground and knit together neatly to form five small separate shelters in a circle. It wasn’t going to be anywhere near as comfortable as the almost mansions that Yamato usually made for their away missions but it was still better than sleeping in the open air, especially if it started raining again.
“Good work” he said, smiling and pitching the other man a thumbs up.
“Thank you, senpai.” Yamato replied, sounding a little embarrassed and looking inordinately happy with himself.
Kakashi eyed Yamato for a few seconds; wondering how his co-captain could still manage to be flattered to the point of blushing by such simple praise when they had been working together for years.
Kakashi’s train of thought was interrupted when his stomach growled loudly “…I’m going to go and see if I can find us some food.” he said as he headed for the edge of the clearing.
oOo
Naruto jogged back towards base camp with the largest armful of branches he could carry, proud that he had managed to find so many that were dry, unfortunately they obscured his view of the ground and he didn’t notice the exposed root in his path until he caught his toe on it. He lost his balance and let out a cry as he landed (face first) on the ground with a thump, several of the branches breaking under him with the force of the fall.
He groaned and was just about to push himself up when he heard a soft chuckle to his left. He looked up and saw Sai standing there holding his own firewood and watching him with a small smile.
“Don’t just stand there! Help me up!” Naruto grumbled, pushing himself to his knees and pulling at a twig that had become tangled in his hair.
Sai shifted his branches to one side, supporting them on his hip and holding them in place with one arm before he offered Naruto his free hand “Are you hurt?” he asked, although Naruto was sure that he heard more amusement in the question than concern.
Naruto took Sai’s hand and grinned up at him mischievously before pulling hard. Sai’s eyes went wide as he lost his footing and fell forward; he put his other hand out to save himself (dropping his firewood in the process) and barely managed to avoid repeating the spectacular face-plant that Naruto had executed moments before, instead landing on his knees in the dirt beside Naruto with a surprised grunt.
“You did that on purpose” Sai stated, sounding a little hurt.
“Not so funny now, is it?” Naruto snickered.
Sai just looked confused now “If it’s not funny then why are you laughing?”
That just made Naruto laugh even harder and he had to clap one hand over his mouth to try and muffle the sound, knowing that he shouldn’t be making so much noise; not if he didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention to their camp.
Sai continued to look at him like he’d lost his mind for a few seconds before he made a move to get up but Naruto tightened his grip on Sai’s hand. “I’m sorry, okay?” Naruto said, still grinning “I just had to get back at you for laughing at me when I fell”
Sai didn’t look convinced, his eyebrows still drawn together as if he didn’t quite believe that explanation. “You won’t try to knock me down again when I stand up, will you?”
Naruto just smiled and leaned in to press their lips together, feeling a giddy little thrill at the way Sai almost melted against him.
oOo
Sakura had arranged her firewood in the pit that Yamato had dug out and now she was trying to get yet another match to light without much success. She sat back and blew the hair out of her face and debated lobbing the box of matches into the forest in frustration.
“Need a hand with that?” Kakashi’s voice came from directly behind her and she just barely contained the squeak of surprise that jumped in the back of her throat.
She stood up and brushed at the front of her clothes “I can’t get them to spark. I think that they may have gotten wet earlier when we got caught in the rain.”
Kakashi shrugged and dumped the dead boar that he had had slung over his shoulder onto the ground beside the fire pit unceremoniously before going through the seals for a fire element jutsu and setting the firewood alight.
“Thank you, Kakashi-sensei” she said and he smiled back at her. She watched with morbid fascination as he sunk a blade into the belly of the dead hog, gutting it in a clean and efficient motion. It was disgusting but she was almost hungry enough not to care.
She caught some movement from the corner of her eye and turned just in time to see Naruto and Sai enter the clearing. She took in their dishevelled appearance with annoyance; their clothes were rumpled and covered in mud and if the fact that Sai’s lip was bleeding again was any indicator she had a pretty good idea how they had gotten that way.
Sakura marched over to them and felt her ire increase when she saw that most of the firewood they had brought with them was damp. “We can’t use these” she said, jabbing her finger toward the bundle of branches in Naruto’s arms “look how wet they are!”
He at least had the decency to look a little ashamed “It wasn’t my fault, I swear! They were dry, but then I fell and they got all wet!”
“And what about yours?” she asked sarcastically, looking to Sai “are you going to tell me that the same thing happened to you?”
Sai looked to Naruto (who was nodding desperately) for his cue “Yes… I also fell”
She only just resisted the urge to slap her palm to her forehead in exasperation, they really weren’t fooling anyone.
“Get back out there, Naruto” she said, pushing him back towards the tree line “And find us some firewood that we can actually use” He managed a few spluttered protests before he gave up and stomped off into the forest with his hands shoved deep in his pockets.
“Maybe I should go with him…” Sai said as he watched Naruto go.
“Oh, no you don’t” Sakura said, catching him by the upper arm and pulling him towards the centre of their camp “you’re coming over into the light so I can get a good look at that lip”
Once they were out of the gloom she grasped his chin in her hand and turned his head “Sai, this looks worse than it did yesterday”
“Naruto likes to bite” he offered blandly.
Kakashi’s hand hesitated for less than a second before he snorted in amusement and continued preparing the pig to be cooked; on the other side of the fire Yamato had started coughing uncontrollably.
“Yes, I can see that” she said, proud of how calm and level her voice sounded despite the way that her cheeks were burning “But it’s never going to heal at this rate.”
She brought both of her hands up to his face and let her chakra flow out to cover the wound. The flesh knit back together neatly and she was glad to see that it didn’t look like he was going to end up with a scar.
“There, all done”
oOo
After dinner Kakashi told the others that they were going to be leaving before sunrise so it would be best if they headed to bed now. He would take the first watch, then Yamato would relieve him in an hour, Sakura would have next watch, followed by Sai, and then Naruto. Kakashi and Yamato would take a second shift each after that meaning that they would all get at least five hours sleep.
He watched the four of them set up their sleeping bags in their little wooden shelters and knew that they wouldn’t be awake for long.
He sat, cross legged in front of his own little hut for the first half hour; hearing nothing but the sound of Naruto’s snoring and the odd nocturnal animal moving in the undergrowth. His mind wandered, as it often did in these situations, to the other member of Team Kakashi. He wondered where Sasuke was right now, they hadn’t heard anything about him in months and Kakashi knew that it wasn’t going to be long until Naruto started getting antsy.
Thinking of Sasuke led him to think about all those years ago when Team Kakashi had first been formed. He could still remember it clear as day.
oOo
Kakashi appeared a few feet behind The Third Hokage, removing his ANBU mask and dropping to one knee as a show of respect. The Third hadn’t moved straight away, continuing to look out the window and across the village silently for a few moments before turning around to face him.
“Kakashi-kun” he started and Kakashi felt his eyebrow twitch. How many years had it been since someone had called him that? “I need you to do something for me.”
“Hokage-sama?”
“They have just finished grading the academy students who are going to be graduating this year; I’ve been working with the teachers to assign the children to their teams and to choose the best jounin available to become their new mentors.” The Third paused and stroked at his beard thoughtfully “Uchiha Sasuke is among the new genin and he’ll be coming into his sharingan soon…”
“You want me to take his team.” Kakashi responded, keeping his tone level to mask his exasperation. Teaching a team of genin was not mandatory for a jounin, but you wouldn’t know that from the way that The Third kept pushing kids onto him.
On paper all of the teams that he’d been assigned previously had failed because they showed a lack of personal initiative and an inability to work as a team; it wasn’t a lie but it wasn’t the whole truth either. Kakashi was more than content with his position within the ANBU, having been made leader of a squad of shinobi that he trusted and respected; not to mention that he hated most kids and liked the idea of being responsible for three of them even less. He had been hoping that the Hokage would finally give up and just leave him be after he had failed the last batch.
But this situation was different and it made sense at first glance, Kakashi conceded. The kid would need guidance on how to manage his chakra while using the sharingan; something that another Uchiha would be best suited for… although considering the only other Uchiha left had been the one to slaughter their clan and abandon the village, Kakashi supposed he was the next best thing.
“And what if he fails the bell test and has to go back to the academy?” Kakashi asked, testing the waters.
“Then you’ll take him on again when he graduates again, Kakashi-kun.” The Hokage’s tone was mild and dismissive; Kakashi knew that it wasn’t up for discussion.
oOo
Telling his ANBU squad that he had been chosen to lead a team of genin had been easy enough, they had obviously assumed that he’d fail the kids and be back to them before the month was out; it wasn’t like it hadn’t happened before.
Kakashi didn’t bother to correct them, knowing it would be easier that way. Instead he filled out the appropriate paperwork to recommend Tenzou as his successor. He knew that it might ruffle a few feathers since Tenzou was the youngest and newest member of their squad but he also had a perfect performance record and was the most suited to taking the position of leader in his absence.
They were a good team, if not the best, and he knew they would get over it.
oOo
He hadn’t found out who else was on his team until the Hokage summoned him to his home two days later. The Third had handed him the academy files for his three future students before heading off to make tea and Kakashi had started to leaf through them absentmindedly.
Sasuke’s had been on the top, the picture clipped to the inside of the cover had been taken on his first day in the academy and showed a small boy with a shy smile and colouring typical of the Uchiha clan. What he saw in the rest of the file was that Sasuke was top in his class in ninjutsu, taijutsu and genjutsu but had developed a bit of an attitude problem after his first few months in the academy. It was unsurprising considering what the kid had been through, Kakashi thought to himself, his eye had been drawn back to the smiling face in the picture and he spared a moment to wonder if there was anything left of the child who had posed for that photograph before closing the file and moving onto the next.
It had been Sakura’s and Kakashi remembered that he had barely even registered the name when it didn’t ring any bells. Her picture had shown a little girl whose smile looked strained; she was red around the eyes and holding the hand of someone off camera, obviously having had a case of the first day jitters. Her performance breakdown showed high grades in theory, problem solving and genjutsu but relatively low ones in ninjutsu and taijutsu. If he was honest with himself, he had thought that she was nothing special and it made him cringe looking back on it now.
As he was moving onto the last file The Hokage came back into the room, shuffling in his long robes before setting the tray of tea down and retaking his seat across from Kakashi.
Kakashi lifted a hand to pick up his cup but he froze mid-reach when he saw the name on the cover of the last folder. He flipped the file open, thinking that he must have been mistaken (in retrospect he realised how stupid he was being, how many kids were running around with names that ridiculous?) but he was greeted with a familiar shock of bright blonde hair and blue eyes; the similarities to his sensei ended there however, the mulish look of defiance that the child was wearing was entirely his mother.
It had been more than ten years since Kakashi had seen the boy up close, having made a few awkward visits to the safe house where the baby was kept out of some misguided sense of duty to his dead teacher. He had only just turned fourteen and didn’t really know what to do with a baby or how to behave around the caregivers that looked upon their charge with such cold eyes and his visits had slowly decreased in frequency until they eventually stopped altogether. His increased workload as a jounin and then as a member of ANBU had made it easy to forget. Maybe if he had been older… or maybe if Rin had still been alive it would have been different.
“I thought it would be appropriate” The Hokage spoke up and Kakashi had silently agreed with him.
oOo
To say that they had gotten off to a rough start would be an understatement. First they had had the nerve to prank him with a falling eraser and after their less than thrilling introductions it had begun to look like the three of them were much too self-involved to understand the basic concept of the bell test, never mind actually pass it.
Fortunately (for all of them) they had proven him wrong and shown that they could value the welfare of a teammate over their own success, even if it was only something minor like sharing their lunch despite orders to the contrary. Kakashi had been more than a little surprised; he had fully expected to be booting the three of them back to the academy at the end of the exercise.
After that first shaky day the three of them slowly began to come into themselves, learning how to cover for each other’s weaknesses instead of playing off them.
Kakashi had expected to see Obito in Sasuke but other than the superficial family resemblance they had very little in common; Sasuke was bitter and damaged in ways that reminded Kakashi only of himself. He saw much more of Obito(and Rin) in his other students, in the way that they could still be carefree and smile regardless of how bleak things became or the way that they pestered Sasuke endlessly; slowly pulling him out of the darkness and back into the light.
Kakashi watched them grow from selfish children into fine young shinobi; he had been reluctant to admit it (even to himself) but they had managed to worm their way under his shell. He had briefly wondered if that was why The Third had always been so insistent that he take on a team of genin for all these years.
Of course then things had taken a turn for the worse, they lost Sasuke to Orochimaru and Kakashi would always blame himself for it. He had known that Sasuke was wavering, saw just how strained his relationships with Naruto and Sakura were becoming under the crushing weight of his duty as an avenger; but all he’d done was lecture the boy about his own mistakes. And then he’d left Sasuke alone… something his own sensei never would have done.
How many times had he replayed that night in his mind? Thinking about what he should have done instead?
oOo
Kakashi was pulled from his reverie when Yamato crawled out of his shelter and smiled at him across the fire. “It’s my watch now, senpai…” He must have seemed off because Yamato’s smile dropped “Are you okay?”
Kakashi sighed and tried to smile reassuringly “I’m fine, Tenzou.”
The corner of Yamato’s mouth twitched at the name but he didn’t try to correct him. “Thinking about the past?”
“Mmm” Kakashi responded half-heartedly as he climbed into his sleeping bag, he suddenly felt very tired.
“Goodnight, senpai” Yamato said softly.
“’Night…” Kakashi closed his eyes and was asleep within minutes. His last thought before he drifted off was of that night, but instead of leaving Sasuke alone to make the decision himself he reached out, put a hand on the boy’s shoulder and invited him back to his home.
oOo

A/N
There's the sixth chapter anyways. The more that I get into the story the more I'm finding it hard to avoid doing things that could eventually contradict the canon... so this is going to be Kakashi's little Team 7 back-story in this universe even if it gets thrown out by Kishimoto at some point in the future. The same goes for Rin's death (who I've decided died during the Kyuubi attack on Konoha) which Kishimoto has left dangling in limbo for a ridiculous amount of time.
I'm trying to make the story a little more plot heavy and it's making me nervous, any comments or (constructive) criticism are appreciated.
And now onto the reviews!
cinder1013: I don't think that you need to be too worried about Naruto being embarrassed of Sai, he's just a little awkward about the whole situation but he'll settle down eventually. I'm sure that if his partner was anyone other than Sai they would be just as embarrassed by the silly situations that I stick them in!
cocopower1: Flustering Naruto seems to have become my new favourite hobby, lol. He's just too cute! I still haven't decided if I want to take the KakaYama any further than Yamato's hero worship/crush yet, but we'll see!

For any readers that are still feeling a little leery of KakaYama I feel that I should mention that I didn't ship them until I saw Ishi's gorgeous art (http://ishicat.livejournal.com/), you should totally check it out!
- 5
- 6
- 7
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The Fox's Brush.