The Child Of Prophecy (A Naruto Fanfiction)

Chapter 11

Naruto kept to himself a lot more after the incident at the chunin exams. Gaara had ended up talking to him, and it helped him to clear his mind but he still wanted time to himself to really figure out what it was that he wanted. He ended up avoiding his dad and mostly just spoke to his teammates and Kakashi.

As they continued to go on missions, Kakashi could tell that Naruto was restless, always wanting to do more, or get something more difficult, but he never once went to their mission briefings; he would just wait outside for everyone else to come out.

"Naruto, you need to be at the meeting this time. You can't keep skipping it." Kakashi spoke quietly as he pulled Naruto to the side, his voice unusually serious.

"Do I really have to go, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto scratched the back of his head as he looked away, clearly unhappy and unmotivated. "It's not like being there in person or hearing it from you later will change the information. I'd rather just wait here, ya know."

"Not this time." Kakashi didn't even try to hide the annoyance in his voice as he grabbed Naruto roughly by the ear, pulling him along until they were inside the Hokage's office. Naruto was obviously peeved as he refused to make eye contact, openly staring out the window in disrespect.

Minato decided to let Naruto ignore what he was saying, knowing that it was better to let him be then to push him further. I'm just glad he's actually here this time. He kept this thought in the back of his mind as he began to explain the mission.

Everyone listened as he explained how they had gotten a request to stop a group of thieves that were robbing caravans at the border of the Land of Fire. It was going to be their job to catch the thieves so they can be put in prison before anything worse starts to happen. It wasn't supposed to be difficult, C-rank at the very most, so he wasn't too worried about giving it to Kakashi's team. At the very least, with Kakashi there, things should be just fine.

As he finished explaining everything, Minato made eye contact with Kakashi, a silent plea to keep Naruto safe, no matter what. He couldn't help but be nervous. Kakashi understood right away, nodding slightly to show his promise.

When Team Seven finally made their way back outside, Kakashi turned to the three genin, telling them to get ready so they could leave as soon as possible.

Minato watched from his window as Naruto ran towards their home. His thoughts were still racing, trying to figure out how he can mend their relationship. I know this mission isn't very hard, but I feel an uneasy chill down my spine. I just don't want Naruto to get hurt again. But I still feel like I should have said something before he left.

* * * * * *

It didn't take long for Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto to get all their things together for their mission. They had more than they normally would because they would be going further away than they typically do, but all of them were packed lightly, anything big sealed away in scrolls to make traveling easier.

The three of them ended up waiting at the gate to the village for Kakashi, him being late like he always was. None of them were surprised when he showed up scratching the back of his head, all of them ignoring the lame excuse he was muttering out.

"Can we go now, please. All this waiting is killing me, ya know." Naruto felt jittery as he thought about going out on a long mission. He couldn't wait to get away for a bit, figuring it would help him get all of his thoughts in order.

"Yes, let's get going before it gets any later. We want to get as far as we can before it gets dark." Kakashi just nodded, ignoring the annoyance in Naruto's tone and the four of them left, not looking back as they got farther and farther away.