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“Kakashi-sensei, where’s Naruto?” Sakura, the only female team 7 member asked.
“I’m not sure, Sakura, but if he’s not here within thirty minutes. I’ll go look for him.” Kakashi responded, his answer seemed to satisfy her.
And so they waited the 30 minutes, minute after minute and no sign of Naruto, Kakashi was starting to get worried.
Naruto was the closest thing he had to family, all of team 7 was, Naruto was also the only thing he had left of his sensei.
He couldn’t lose him too, but where is he gonna leave Sasuke and Sakura? Kurenai? No, she’s busy with her own team, Asuma? Nope, he has
Ino.
Guy? He has TenTen, and Sakura needs positive female influence from someone who’s not crushing on Sasuke. He also has Neji who could challenge Sasuke and knock him down a peg or 2.
Naruto could also get along with Lee, Naruto being a natural stamina monster and Lee being a stamina monster through training.
With his mind set Kakashi spoke.
“Sakura, Sasuke.” The two genin straightened and looked at Kakashi.
“Yes, sensei?” The two chorused.
“I’m gonna go look for Naruto, but first I’m gonna drop you off with a friend of mine.” With his piece said and an unspoken “Follow me.”
The three set off for training ground 9.
The walk took longer than Kakashi wanted, he wanted to start looking for Naruto already, but his genin couldn’t keep up with him if he started tree hopping.
And Guy, being a ninja, wouldn’t appreciate snuck up on.
So his decision to walk seemed like the right choice, and besides he needed to get some good cardio in.
When they finally reached ground 9, they saw team Guy training.
Lee in taijutsu, TenTen in bukijutsu, and Neji in the Hyuga clan’s gentle fist.
“Yo! Guy!” Hearing the voice of his eternal rival, Guy looked up from his own Taijutsu kata and smiled at Kakashi.
“Yosh! My hip eternal rival!” Guy’s voice was loud as he spoke, he didn’t even stop his kata.
“Guy, do you mind watching two of my cute genin, so I can go look for the other? He hasn’t shown up today.” Kakashi got to the point, he was getting antsy with Naruto missing.
“Yosh, such a youthful request! Of course I wouldn’t mind, do you have any specific training in mind for your youthful students?” Guy accepted his request.
“Nothing too specific yet, mostly muscle and chakra building exercises for Sakura, for Sasuke, chakra control and chakra reservation.” Kakashi listed his students’ training and Guy listened intently, still not stopping his kata, Lee screamed something about youth.
“Alright Kakashi! Leave them to me! Go collect your wayward youthful pupil!” Guy’s voice boomed as Kakashi prepared his chakra for a shunshin.
“Thanks Guy, I knew I could count on you.” Guy could see Kakashi was getting worked up and worried so he agreed to help his friend, Guy just hoped Kakashi would be fine in the end.
Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke next to Ichiraku ramen, hoping he’d see Naruto, he didn’t but he walked toward the entrance to see if he stopped by at least.
Kakashi parted the flaps and a small bell chimed, signaling the chef and his daughter of someone arriving.
“We’ll be with you in a moment!” A girl’s voice called out, he hoped that moment went by quickly his nerves were starting to fray.
After a few agonizing minutes, the sound of footsteps caught his attention.
A girl in her late teens, Ayame ,Kakashi remembered her name from Naruto’s rambling, despite what his students think he does actually pay attention to their conversations.
“Oh! Kakashi, is it? I’ve heard about you from Naruto.” That piqued his interest.
“I hope he says good things about me.” He tried to joke and take the edge off his nerves, it only worked a fraction.
“From what I can tell, he likes you, he does call you a Perv though.” Kakashi and Ayame shared a chuckle at that.
“Anyway, what can I get you started with?” Ayame asked.
Kakashi had to tread carefully, the Ichiraku family liked Naruto and seemed to be a bit protective of him. Naruto’s story about Ayame with a knife and Teuchi with a ladle, was still fresh in his mind.
“Well, actually I’m not here to eat.” Ayame cocked her head to the side, very reminiscent of Naruto, “I’m looking for Naruto, you see, he didn’t turn up to the training ground today and was hoping he was here.”
Kakashi’s words seemed to get Ayame thinking.
“Well he was here-“ Kakashi’s hope peaked it’s head, “a few days ago.” And it died.
“But he was acting strange, he asked a lot of questions.”
“What kind of questions?” Kakashi getting more and more worried by the minute, the hokage would need to hear of Naruto being missing for longer than a day if not on a mission.
“I’m not sure, dad didn’t tell me.” Ayame just seemed to love crushing his spirit.
“Can I speak to your father then?” This was his last chance at this place, if he could get Teuchi to talk to him then maybe he’d get to Naruto faster.
“Sorry no-“ More hope died in his chest, “dad’s out getting groceries and won’t be back for a while.” Those words put the final mail in the coffin.
“Alright, thanks for your time.” Kakashi stood up from the stool he had sat on during their conversation.
“It’s no problem, and make sure to tell Naruto to stop by sometime soon!” Ayame called out as Kakashi left the stand.
Where to look now? Was the only thing on Kakashi’s mind.
His nerves started to flare, and images of Naruto dying or dead flashed through his mind, not even reading his book seemed to help.
‘ No! I can’t think like that, Naruto is fine! He’ll be smiling and laughing when I find him.’ The man’s thoughts seemed to help his frame relaxed a good deal, the shinobi watching him also relaxed.
‘The hokage heads!’ The thought hit Kakashi like a freight train, Naruto did say he likes to go up there and relax. Perhaps he just lost track of time.
A quick shunshin later and he was at the hokage mountain, on his sensei’s head to be specific. And Naruto wasn’t there.
Perhaps he likes switching it up.
He jumped over to the third and current hokage’s head and it was empty.
Two more left, another jump, the second it was empty, one left, a final jump, the first hokage’s head was empty too.
‘Okay Kakashi think! You’re a jonin, you can find a genin, you’ve done it before! Now where else would Naruto be?’ Kakashi’s facade of hip cool calmness began to crack at an extreme pace.
‘IRUKA!’ Iruka was Naruto’s academy teacher and one of the few people that Naruto liked.
Naruto even lived with Iruka for a time.
Kakashi would go talk to Iruka but it was academy hours, and he isn’t that dumb to interrupt a lesson from Iruka.
So what was he gonna do? We’ll break into his house of course, he’d apologize and buy Iruka a gift. But his student is more important.
So there Kakashi was, jumping through the village, following Iruka’s scent to his house.
As he was doing that, Naruto in worse and worse situations flashed through mind faster than his sensei could ever achieve.
More cracks formed.
After 30 minutes of jumping and scent following, he finally made it to Iruka’s house.
He landed at the front door, tried the doorknob, locked.
‘Of course it’s locked, he’s a shinobi after all.” Kakashi thought with bitterness.
But here is Kakashi, and he’s no regular shinobi either, he’s a former anbu captain and student of the yellow flash who survived the 3rd shinobi war.
Kakashi had many achievements.
So picking a lock wouldn’t be hard, what was hard were the traps set. They weren’t lethal, Iruka seemed to have taken a page out of Naruto’s book of pranking.
But once again Kakashi was no standard jonin, and easily weaved his way through the house.
It was quite homey, cream colored walls, soft furry carpet, plush chairs and couches, a clean kitchenette, pictures of his students on the walls, there was more of Naruto though.
Kakashi made it to a hallway that seemed to lead to bedrooms, he could tell which one was Naruto’s by the orange spray paint on the door.
The drawing the paint was made into was a fox, Naruto’s favorite animal.
Taking out a lockpick set, he got to work, various clicks filled the silent house. After around ten minutes, much shorter than the front door, Naruto’s old room door swung open.
And it was empty of the blonde, but was still filled with clothes that looked like they could fit him. Meaning Naruto still crashed at Iruka’s house from time to time, and by the looks of it he also stole some of Iruka’s shirts and hoodies, how cute.
The thoughts, while comforting, didn’t take away from the feeling of dread pooling in his stomach, it almost made Kakashi sick.
Scene-break
‘They all react differently.’ Was the thought of a certain blonde jinchuriki.
Naruto stood in the middle of his apartment’s living room, facing a wall, a board that stretched from end to end of the wall.
He stood there, contemplating, before walking up and sticking a thumbtack into it, then tying a red thread around the tack that connected to another.
The board held pictures of various people connected by red string, in the center of the board were two pictures.
One labeled: Uzumaki ???, the other: ??? ??? The second piece of paper was colored in the same blue of his eyes and blonde of his hair.
He took a step back, looking at the board as a whole, Uzuki Yugao, Yuhi Kurenai, Teuchi, Kakashi, Jiraiya,all the clan heads, and various other shinobi were stuck on the board.
Naruto wasn’t stupid, he wasn’t the smartest, but he’s no dummy. So he can recognize signs and signals.
He knows a lot of things he probably shouldn’t.
So when people, particularly shinobi, react to his name or looks he sees it. The way slightly flinch and twitch when looking at him or hearing his last name.
They're not looking at him, they're looking through him, at people he didn’t know or even get the chance to meet. Every clan head did it, even the Uchiha clan head’s wife when he met her when he was 6.
Some react to his name, his last name specifically, while others react to his looks.
So the name and face must come from different people, his parents. If the name and looks came from one parent wouldn’t they react to him as a whole and not only parts of him?
He’s lonely, he wants some form of closure, he needs to know his parents. Yes, he has a found family but they can’t replace what blood family can give sometimes.
So here he was, trying to piece together a picture from burnt fragments.
Uzuki Yugao, Yuhi Kurenai, Mitarashi Anko, and Teuchi all reacted to his last name.
Hayate Gekko, Kotetsu, Izumo, Shiranui Genma, and Teuchi again, all reacted to his looks
The clan heads were no better, it paid to be a child back then, whenever he pranked the clans their heads specifically would scold him and they always reacted the same.
As when they saw it was a child, they would lower their guard ever so slightly but that was enough for him to get something.
He’s been trying to find out his beginnings for a long time, and yet he’s still so far behind. People know but won’t tell them.
A mask hung from the corner of the board where it was pinned, it was ornate, white and gold were the dominant colors but others shone through. An Uzumaki spiral was carved over the right eye, it was painted red.
It felt right to have, but he didn’t know its origins, it just appeared on his front doorstep one day. Naruto loved staring at it.
He felt safe whenever he was holding or looking at the mask.
With the mask added to his clues, he felt so close but he was at his wits end, the great Uzumaki Naruto the boy who out ran jonin twice his size, age, and skill. Was at his wits end.
And he could feel himself cracking.
‘Please, I want to know them. I want to live and know their names.’ Naruto was pleading, with who? Not even he knows
‘I want to know who I am! I NEED TO KNOW WHERE I COME FROM! I..just want peace.’ His thoughts reflected his need for them, he at least deserves this, the knowledge of who his parents are.
Did they love him? Were they proud of him? Did they expect more from him? Did they abandon him? If so, why? Why was the fox sealed in him? And why did they have to die?
All these thoughts and emotions were flooding Naruto’s system and yet his face remained blank, like pristine porcelain.
Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile, hell yeah he’ll take a mile, that mile is made of everything he’s been denied.
Scene-break
‘His apartment!’ Kakashi felt stupid, he didn’t check his student’s apartment. The place the person he was looking for lived.
And with that epiphany, Kakashi set off in a leap to Naruto’s apartment, hoping he’d be there. If not he’d have to tell the hokage.
He respected the third hokage he really did, but he didn’t like how he lied to Naruto. Kakashi knows it's not easy for the old kage, considering Naruto is friends, borderline brothers with the hokage’s young grandson.
He knows the old man cared for Minato and Kushina, but that care only runs so deep, lying to your grandson’s friend and the people you cared about son? Kakashi didn’t think so.
So the old man was a last resort.
As he made it to the bottom of Naruto’s apartment building, he began to walk up the stairs. To prepare himself and to catch any sign that Naruto left this building of his own volition or not.
As he made his way up he spotted all the graffiti drawn by Naruto himself, the complex was eerily quiet and still. Unlike the boy he was looking for.
The entire building was vacant except for Naruto, with him being the only one that lived here he had to be lonely.
Perhaps he could convince Naruto to live with him, that’d be nice.
One more flight of stairs, and to the left and he’d see the apartment he’d been looking for. There was even more graffiti saying: Turn back!, Go away!, Awesomeness ahead!, There were even pictures of foxes and ramen, and foxes eating ramen.
His steps came to a halt at the top of the stairs, he turned his head left and saw Naruto’s apartment door, and he stared at it. A sense of dread overtook him.
‘I’m a jonin dammit! Why is this so hard! He’s my student, no one’s stupid enough to hurt him! He can defend himself! But what if?” He’s twitching now, he was itching to lift up his headband and scan the area for enemies.
His nose wasn’t picking up anything useful.
‘He’s okay and if anyone hurts him I’ll rain down death on them, simple as that .’ With that final thought Kakashi walked over to the door and knocked.
No answer, another knock, no answer, another much louder knock, still nothing, he tried the knob, didn’t budge.
‘Naruto I swear if you’re dead I’ll kill you!’ Whipping out his lockpick set a bit too fast, he dropped it and spilled his tools on the floor.
‘Dammit! Kakashi calm down!’ Mentally scolding himself, this isn’t how a jonin let alone someone of his skill and history is supposed to act.
Kakashi picked up his tools and set to work picking the lock, and it was much harder to pick than Iruka’s.
‘Dammit Naruto, I don’t know whether to be proud or not!’ In truth he was proud of his student for either making or picking such a hard lock, but it was still frustrating.
After an hour and clicks and progress, the door finally came unlocked. Kakashi wanted to cry but that was for later.
He stood up from his crouched position, and hesitated, he’s scared.
‘Come on! Move! He’ll be fine if I’m there!’ Kakashi was scared of what he might see when he opened the door. What if the last tether to his sensei was dead? What would he tell his team?
He felt sick, he wanted to throw up but he held it in.
After a few more minutes of psyching himself up he gained enough courage to enter the apartment with a shaking hand he grabbed the doorknob, turned it and opened the door.
And saw Naruto standing in front of a board that spanned a whole wall, multiple pictures stuck onto it. Red string connected the pictures with two pieces of paper, one had a last name and the other was colored in.
He even saw himself on the board, connected to the second piece of paper, the one that was colored in with blonde and blue…
“Naruto?” Kakashi’s voice was hoarse from stress, he winced at how bad it sounded.
“Kaka-Sensei?” Naruto’s voice was blank and empty yet still so full of emotions that Kakashi couldn’t place which ones.
“Yes, I’m here Naruto, I was looking for you. You didn’t show up to the training ground.” Kakashi was desperate, he saw his student in front of him but he wasn’t facing him. He needs to see his face.
“I’m so close.” Naruto said in a whisper.
“What do you mean?” Kakashi took careful steps towards the blonde, not wanting to startle him.
“I’ll know soon.” Naruto was obviously not in the right state of mind, it didn’t take a Nara to understand that.
“You knew..” The blonde’s voice was so shaky and fragile.
“I know a lot of things.” Kakashi tried to joke, it went unnoticed as Naruto began to shake.
Naruto turned to face Kakashi, his face was as blank as fresh paper. That wasn’t right.
Naruto is supposed to be vibrant and full of life, not whatever this is in front of him, Kakashi stared into Naruto’s blank blue eyes.
“You knew at least one of my parents.” It was a factual statement, Kakashi actually knew both of them and Naruto knew that if the board was anything to go by.
Kakashi shouldn’t and wouldn’t lie to his student, especially when they're in such a fragile state. Kakashi dodges and deflects questions but he doesn’t lie.
“Yes, I knew them both” Kakashi’s words seemed to have struck Narut in a specific place as he began to cry, still blank faced.
“So, do I look like them?” Tears flooded down Naruto’s face, he wanted, no, needed an answer.
Kakashi needed to fix this, his student was hurting on the inside. That was a place he didn’t know all too well.
He needed to answer, his silence only seemed to make Naruto worsen.
“Yes, you do.” The answer was out.
Naruto broke down sobbing, and yet he was still silent.
Kakashi’s slow steps to the blonde had finally gotten him near Naruto, and before Kakashi could do something.
Naruto crumpled to the ground and curled up into a ball. Kakashi soon followed him to the floor and hugged him.
Kakashi wasn’t good with physical touch, but hugging Naruto felt right.
“It’s alright Naruto.” He tried his best to soothe Naruto, it was working.
“Did they love me? Are they proud of me?” Naruto’s questions hit hard but Kakashi knew the answers.
“Yes they loved you more than life itself, they’re very proud of you I know it.” Naruto’s tears,that had just started to slow down, started back up.
“What were they like?” Another question.
“Larger than life, you act so much like them both it’s amazing. You do favor your mother though.” Kakashi began to run circles into Naruto’s back.
“I do?” His voice was unsure, and yet so full of hope.
“Yes, you do.” Kakashi could feel Naruto begin to slack.
“What’re their names?” This is one of the things Naruto needed to know.
Kakashi was in a predicament, the hokage had ordered everyone who knew of Naruto’s parentage to not speak a word of it to him.
He didn’t sense any anbu watching, nor the hokage’s scrying orb. Kakashi was loyal to the leaf but he was loyal to family more, and team 7 was family.
Naruto especially, his father was like a brother to Kakashi. The hokage most likely had an idea on how much he wanted to adopt Naruto but that wouldn’t have been good for either of them.
“Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato.” Kakashi was loyal to family. If team 7 needed him he’d be there.
“Was it my fault They died?” His voice was so shaky and scared Kakashi had to fix this.
“No! It was never your fault, nothing that happened to you was your fault. You grew up alone because of the fears of people who should know better. So many of us wanted to be in your life but we’re stopped at every turn.” Kakashi was crying now, he had bottles this up for years and it was all spilling out.
“I’m sorry, we should’ve tried harder.” With that final statement, Naruto was completely relaxed in Kakashi’s arms.
Soft snoring could be heard from the blonde, Kakashi picked him up and walked down the hall to Naruto’s room.
Getting to and opening the door, he walked over to Naruto’s bed and placed him under the covers.
Smiling behind his mask, Kakashi was going to call off training tomorrow, it’s about time he took a well deserved break. Naruto looks like he needs one too.