🦊Naruto Hatake🦊

Chapter 18

We Just Wanted to Become Stronger...

He was so still, so very still.

Kakashi knelt down and put his hands on Naruto's shoulders. For a moment, he was afraid to turn him over, afraid that his face had been smashed or his eyes punctured by the flying debris.

Shuddering profoundly, coughing as another tide of smoke blew across his face from the burning ruins behind him, he finally rolled him gently onto his back. His face was unmarked. There were smears of dirt but no cuts or fractures, and the rain was swiftly washing even the dirt away. He couldn't find any blood except the dry blood stain on his cloths.

His eyelids fluttered Open. His eyes were unfocused. He had been merely knocked unconscious.

The relief that surged through Kakashi was so powerful that it made him feel buoyant, as though he were floating off the ground. He clutched him close, and when his eyes finally seemed to focus, he held up three fingers in front of his face and asked how many he saw.

He blinked and looked confused.

"How many fingers do you see, pup?" he repeated.

He coughed a few times, getting smoke out of his lungs, and then said, "Three. I see three fingers."

"Now how many?" Said Kakashi holding up two of his fingers.

"Two."

Kakashi asked him, "Do you know who I am."

He seemed baffled, not because he didn't know, but because he couldn't figure out why he was being asked such a question. "You're my daddy."

"And what's your name?"

"Don't you know my name, daddy?" he softly asked.

"I want to see if you know it," Kakashi replied.

"Well, sure I know it," he said. "Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki Hatake. I'm your son, daddy." He put his small hand on Kakashi's cheek in concern. "Are you okay, daddy?" he asked worriedly. "You're acting weird."

Kakashi now was sure that his son was not suffering from concussion. Relieved, he hugged the boy tight. "I'm fine, pup." Genma crouched down beside them, coughing smoke out of his lungs. His forehead was cut above his right eye, and blood covered one side of his face, but he wasn't seriously hurt.

"Can he be moved?" Genma wheezed. At Kakashi's affirmative he said, "Then let's get out of here. We need to take him somewhere safe before they come to see if the explosion took care of us." The rest of the men quickly joined them. Kakashi cradled the boy in his arms, stood up, and turned to see three sets of Sharingan eyes ten feet from him.

Fugaku took a step forward and said, "Hello son, or should I say traitor."

Itachi tonelessly replied, "I am not the traitor, you are, father. You have completely lost all sense of honor and dignity. You brought shame to the Uchiha name."

Kakashi slowly moved closer to Genma and placed the boy in his arms despite the shinobi's protests. "I am one of the Hokage's personal bodyguards. I can fight. You should be the one protecting Naruto. You are still weak."

In a low undertone, Kakashi said, "I trust you above all others to keep him safe. I need to combat them; Sharingan against Sharingan. Stay close by, I don't know how many more there are and I don't want you two to get ambushed." Genma nodded, holding the boy close to him. The copy-nin caressed Naruto's face and kissed his forehead before saying, "You can depend on Uncle Genma. He's a real tough shinobi. He won't let anything happen to you. Be brave a little longer for me, ok pup? "