Apprentice

CH. 8

Team Guy had left for Wave only minutes after receiving their mission. All five had go bags, thoroughly packed with all of the necessities just in case. Guy was proud to see that all of his students, even the new addition to his team, could run at Chunin speed quite easily. At the rate they were going it would take about an hour to get there.  While Guy was focusing on his pride for his students, Naruto was actively panicking. A team of three shinobi, two Genin and one Elite Jonin, against, at the bare minimum, one Genin, two Chunin, Three Jonin with the potential for an influential backer. He had already informed the team of the development, as well as his request to take care of the protege.

Kakashi was smart enough to capture the traitor Genin when he had the chance. He was trapped in a stasis scroll for now, Naruto would send a clone home with the scroll for TI once he arrived. Until he rendezvous with Kakashi, he was operating under the assumption that Zabuza, Raiga, the Demon Brothers, and the protege were all in near perfect health and well equipped.  The thought of facing down the ice user wasn't too bad, but once supported by a Jonin and Elite Jonin, the thought suddenly became much more daunting. It didn't take long for the three of them to arrive at the bridge. 

The sight he arrived to made his blood run cold. three blades had entered Kakashi's torso. Zabuza and Raiga looked at the man with smug looks on their face, the two genin behind him were in tears over their sensei. Gai entered the 5th gate immediately and rushed forward. "Lee, stall the protege. Neji, Tenten. Kill the Chunin." The three rushed off to do their jobs, feeling the aura rolling off of him. He flashed in front of Kakashi, laying him gently on the ground. His wounds were far too deep. He was a dead man. Kakashi forced his eyes onto the blonde, stinging with tears.

"Hey, Naruto. Looks like I got myself into a real mess this time, huh." He coughed a large chunk of blood and tissue. Naruto had tears running down his cheeks as he forced a smile. "Sure did, you idiot. Went and did the one thing you promised not too." His voice cracked as he forced out the words. He gave a pained, wet sounding chuckle, spitting blood his each laugh. "Well, I've always had a hard time with promises." The tears that were stinging his eyes stung no longer as they ran down his face. "Right, Sensei?" Kakashi looked past Naruto, a soft smile on his face. Naruto grabbed Kakashi's hand tightly, putting against his face. "You kept the first promise we made didn't you?" Kakashi froze and smiled, thinking back onto his fondest memory since his team passed.

"With this lesson, we'll start your training. The Hokage trusted me with his precious apprentice so I'd better not disappoint." Naruto Chuckled a little before waving his hand. "The only way you could ever disappoint is by not giving your all." Kakashi shook his head, before sighing. "Maybe..." Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Well if you do everything you can, what could be done? If you fought every battle and lost, if you took every route just to hit a dead end, what more can you do?  Move on." Kakashi froze before smiling. "I see the Hokage is already imparting knowledge upon you." Naruto smiled, scratching the back on his head. "A little. He taught the most important thing though." Kakashi raised a brow. "Even if a teacher barely imparts any techniques on their student, what's important is that the student understands the care behind his teacher's actions. Promise me you'll care, Kakashi, and you'll never disappoint." Kakashi smiled and walked closer to the boy, before ruffling his hair. "I promise you I'll always care."

"You cared, Kakashi. You're like a brother to me." Naruto was struggling to hold in his sobs, chakra fluctuating in ways in shouldn't be. "I love you so much Kakashi, so don't you dare leave!" Kakashi had a sad, knowing look in his eyes. "I'm sorry Naruto, that's not a promise I can keep." Naruto was shivering, shaking his head in denial, clutching onto his hand in a vain attempt to hold onto his life. Kakashi faded from the world soon enough, a peaceful look on his face.

He was finally on his way to see his team, to apologize to his Father.

And Naruto sat their alone, sobbing over his adopted brother's corpse.

'He's not gone. I know he's not! He can't be. What if he is? What should I do? Why did this happen to him?' For the first time, Naruto froze up, unable to pull an answer from anywhere. He did the only thing he could to keep him going. Every ounce of sadness, of grief, of denial. Every single piece transformed instantly into power. His chakra steadied before exploding in a plume of purple chakra. Naruto screamed out in both pain and grief, as the chakra quickly flowed into his eyes. All he could feel was pain. Emotional, physical. It racked his body and his mind. On instinct his lifted his hand, whispering the name of a technique.

"Bansho Ten'in." Raiga shot forward extremely fast Naruto caught the man by the throat, eyes darkening as he snapped the man's neck.

Gai flinched as he heard the sickening crunch, and froze when he saw the impassive coldness in his new student's eyes. His steely gaze slowly moved to Zabuza. "You- You damn monster!" Zabuza turned his fear into rage and charged the boy. He lifted his sword up before slamming it down, only to stop centimeters from Naruto's hand.

"Shinra Tensei." The blade shot out of his hands, ending up goodness knows were. "Know pain, Zabuza." Naruto clenched his hand, feeling the warm feeling of blood on his skin. Gai looked on in a mixture of horror and awe. Zabuza was mangled beyond recognition. Naruto tossed the body aside like a used wrapper. He slowly turned to the forest line. Seeing a hysterical masked person. They were shaking, with what emotion, Naruto didn't know. He raised his hand to them and watched them recoil. 'It's fear.' He motioned his hand for them to approach. They were in front of Naruto in an instant.

"Ice User?" They nodded. "Information is that you were under duress. I also have no evidence of your involvement with my brothers death. You will be returning with us to Konoha. That is non-negotiable." They nodded, body loosening like they had escaped the jaws of the Shinigami. "They will be staying masked until arrival. Their true identity will not be released until we've cleared everyone present for need to know, or until Sensei deems it public information." Everyone nodded softly, either not wanting to set him off or in Guy's case, not finding a flaw in logic. Naruto picked up Kakashi's body, flinching at the coldness.

"Let's go home, ANBU will arrive shortly to clear out the infection."