Dangerous Bond

Part 43

Sakura felt unsure. What was she supposed to do?

Her two teammates were truly at odds for the first time ever and while she also felt anger toward Sasuke, the Pinkette knew in her heart that the Uchiha wasn't meaning to push them aside.

Sakura glanced at the dark-haired genin, who had a glare set on his features, and noticed how his eyes trailed toward the ground. He was deep in thought and Sakura could only hope he was regretting his words earlier.

Kakashi had watched it all from behind the group but could no longer stand idle as they were suddenly on the verge of giving up on each other.

With that in mind, the Jounin moved forward with incredible speed and grabbed Naruto by the collar.

The genin didn't look back but was forced to stop. The two stood still for a moment as the wind blew past. The other two members of team 7 stood to the side, out of earshot.

"Naruto..." Kakashi softly called the boy.

Said boy's body slightly shook as he glanced back and it was only then that Kakashi noticed the silent tears running down his cheeks.

"This isn't over yet. Wipe your tears and come back to the group."

"No." Naruto snapped, looking down.

Kakashi sighed, wondering where he'd gone wrong. It seemed he'd taught them everything but emotional stability.

"You're acting like a child." Kakashi said simply.

Naruto whipped his head around at his sensei "so what if I am?! Why does everyone else get to act like a child? Why does everyone want to leave me as soon as they get the chance?! Why does everyone have to hate me for something that's not my fault!?" Naruto grew louder with each question.

Kakashi glanced back at the other two, luckily they were still out of earshot.

He looked back down at his charge, seeing that the problems coming up weren't just from the previous conversation.

"Everyone else gets to act like they do because you're Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki. Not only that but you're a part of Team 7 being taught under me. Who you are and what you're apart of brings a lot of pressure and distrust." Kakashi explained calmly.

Naruto seemed to lose his anger as he simply stared ahead with tears rolling down his cheeks. He remained silent which concerned Kakashi as he didn't know what kind of negative thoughts could be going through his head.

"But..." Kakashi continued, gaining the attention of the blonde "you are a part of team 7. You are Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki which means...you're special to us." The Jounin finished.

If the genin needed emotional stability training, the first step was to be gentle. Like a supporting parent which wasn't something Kakashi was very familiar with.

"R-Really?" Naruto sniffed, wiping away his tears.

"Really. Now, about what Sasuke said" Kakashi lightly brought up. He noticed the hard look returning to the blonde's eyes "he didn't mean it... give him some time-"

"I know, sensei" Naruto interrupted. The blonde cringed as he knew how much his sensei disliked being interrupted but upon glancing up at the Jounin, he simply gave a supporting smile.

"I know he didn't mean it. I just... don't want this team to fall apart because the team members don't have a common goal anymore." The genin explained.

Kakashi nodded "you three have so many common goals that you're unaware of and it's honestly annoying sometimes" Kakashi chuckled and ruffled the blonde's hair.