Kitsune no Akuryō - Under Maintenance

Missions to Break one's will *hem* Build Character!!

Kon'nichwa minna! So..uhh...fun fact: I looked at this in October. I really did. I even looked for a picture to head the chapter and got that squared away. I don't know if I read through it, but I could have. It's just well..I forgot to press that lovely publish button at the top for some stupid reason so I'll publish this chapter for you, and then I'll publish the next chapter for this month on Monday. Team 7 has passed Kakashi's bell test, and are ready to move forward. The questions is: are they ready for the other dangers of being a ninja, like  losing your mind?

     At the moment, Sasuke and Sakura were sparing, and Sasuke was "going easy" on her. Kakashi-sensei was taking that time to play the game of observing them and talking to Naruto at the same time. Sasuke and Sakura got the short end of the stick, and between them, Sakura's end was even shorter.

    "Naruto," Kakashi-sensei was saying, "You can't leave bombs and traps all over the battlefield without telling your allies."

    Naruto shrugged.

    "If you were on a mission, and one of your comrades was injured because he didn't know about a trap that you set for the enemy, you are putting that person at risk."

   Naruto was still looking forward when he mouthed, "I have no comrades."

    Naruto could see that Kakashi-sensei had taken some more time off watching his teammates to watch the boy's lips move.

     "What was that?"

     He turned to his sensei and enunciated, "I. do. not. have. any. comrades."

      "Yes, you do." He was gesturing to the two kids sparing across from them.

      At this moment, Naruto gave him a dead-pan look. Was he seriously making that connection?

      He sighed when he looked back at the boy for a moment before turning away, "I suppose you're right, but you  have to give them time..." Kakashi looked at his unchanged expression again, "...alright, a lot of time."

     Naruto nodded and turned away thinking that the conversation was over, but Kakashi-sensei said, "You can't put them in danger though."

     The boy groaned. Why was being an ANBU here so hard? First, he had to go to this stupid school thing, and now he couldn't put his comrades in danger. Danzo always let casualties fall. He didn't even care if Kitsune died....

     He looked over at those two kids again as that thought dawned on him. They were his age. He knew the fear and anger of being thought of as an incidental loss at a younger age than them. Danzo had cared about nothing except the present mission. If someone died along the way, who cared? If Kitsune had to be sacrificed in order for a better host to be found, Danzo wouldn't mind killing the boy. Deep down, Naruto didn't want to hurt them like Danzo hurt him.

     He looked back at Kakashi-sensei. Nothing had changed since the silence had passed between them, but the boy plucked up his courage and pulled on his sensei's hand. He hated feeling helpless like this, like a child seeking his parent's attention, but he couldn't do much else.

     Kakashi looked back at Naruto as he nodded once that he acknowledge the boy who asked, making sure to enunciate, "How do I tell them?"

     "Tell them what?"

      The boy sighed, "...about things like the seal traps?"

      Kakashi looked at him for a long moment before looking away. The fight was nearing its end even despite Kakashi-sensei's attempts to lengthen it. At last he spoke as Sasuke landed the winning strike, "We all need to learn to be more patient. We'll learn how to talk to you and understand your signals. Be patient with us as well."