the sealed kunai

Chapter 2: The Root of the Issue

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. And I will thank all of you not to bring this up to me on a regular basis... I'm sensitive about that kind of thing thank you. *sniff*

Naruto was far more ornery than usual as he partook in the usual D-rank missions that genin teams like Team 7 got. While part of him knew that this was truly necessary at this point in time, seeing as how the village was getting over the damage incurred during the invasion of Oto and Suna, the part of him that was locked away at the age of eight that was used to missions that could end with him being killed and the brash childish part of him that resurfaced after his memory had been sealed and longed for missions with potential for action like that.

With the knowledge of his sealing Naruto was able to sort out what memories were fake and which were his own. It helped that the genjutsu seal that was placed on him to change his appearance was broken, revealing the numerous battle-scars that littered his body from his time in Ne. It really helped having a visible association to certain memories; his first night in his apartment after the invasion was for the most part spent in front of a mirror repeating the line, 'Oh I remember getting that one!' over and over throughout the evening.

Over the course of the next two weeks he had to adjust to just being a normal genin with a true elite's mindset, Tora was lucky that she hadn't tried to run away since the invasion or Naruto might have killed her retrieving her... accidentally of course.

His rapport with his team, whatever he might have had, shifted tumultuously after the chunin exams. Naruto's thoughts on Sakura had changed to a clearer line of thought. The girl thought he was useless for the most part, and while compared to how he was supposed to be she was right, it stood to reason that even grossly handicapped as he had been he had still been vastly superior to her when it came to the ninja arts.

While he may have been a goofy annoyance while he had been a genin he had still been nothing but pleasant to the girl and had given his all at every corner. Her habit of fawning over the Uchiha and downplaying anything Naruto accomplished grated on his nerves at this point. Naruto ruthlessly crushed his mental facilities that she was a good person, and that he had romantic interest in her because when it came to him she was a bitch. She was his teammate, that didn't really mean they had to be close, he just had to tolerate her and work with her to accomplish his mission. He didn't see anything pleasant about trying to associate with her outside of missions.

Sasuke had taken to the habit of staring at him and trying to verbally provoke him when he offered any input into their missions. Sasuke had been feeling inadequate after seeing how Naruto not only saved him from Gaara, he had dispatched Gaara handily without too much effort, captured the Kazekage's children swiftly thereafter, and headed back to Konoha and routed an Oto ambush against a Konoha squadron.

This lead to now. He had been trying to goad Naruto into a fight so that he could really test his own capacities against the blonde, but not only was there no time for sparring as they didn't have team training while rebuilding the village, Naruto left so quickly after the day's work was done that Sasuke couldn't follow him, and he was never able to trail the boy for too long before losing him.

Kakashi had noticed quite a few changes in his blonde student since he had let him go during the invasion. While the scar over his eye was the most glaring one, his attitude was another. He didn't try to keep his team's spirits up with indomitable brightness. He still cracked jokes, and his overall timing was vastly superior now Kakashi had to admit, but they were bright flashes in an otherwise dreary day of rooting through Konoha's rubble.

Naruto no longer took to calling him Kakashi-sensei. When he reprimanded Naruto on this habit he had seemingly picked up Naruto responded by saying that he hadn't taught Naruto anything other than tree-climbing, and he technically learned how to do that years ago, he just 'forgot'. Kakashi noted the bitter tone in Naruto's voice when he said 'forgot' but didn't press too much. He figured that Naruto was still bitter from being cast aside during the chunin exams.