184When Time Stops
Chapter 1: Clash of Time
"We're outnumbered," Naruto declared obviously, shoulder to shoulder with his sensei as they eyed their enemies. They were on a supposedly simple mission; take the haughty daimyo back to his home village unscathed by the band of nin trying to kill him, then get back soon enough to catch the big numbers on the paycheck. The lack in difficulty in the mission resulted in a mere two-man escort squad due to the fact that two of Konoha's very finest ninja had been assigned to the task. They were returning to Konoha now, and they would most likely get there mid-morning if they didn't rest, though it seemed that fate wasn't satisfied with that. Five unidentifiable ninja had suspiciously slithered out of the bushes, and were blocking their path. By their stances and the kanji sewed onto the fabric of their shirts, there were two jounin and three chunin.
"Who are you, and what do you want?" The silver-haired jonin spoke evenly behind the book he was reading, attention no longer on its pages. Something was off about these ninja - he could feel it in his gut, a feeling that was only developed after a lifetime of acting upon those exact feelings.
A kunai whizzed between Kakashi and Naruto.
"Not much for talking, are they?" Naruto mumbled, fingers inching towards his own kunai in preparation for a fight.
Kakashi looked over the enemy's headbands, a perfect circle with two small dashes branching off of it and meeting to a point in the center. A symbol he had never seen, only heard of before. The silver-haired man could faintly remember small wisps of ninja folklore that he had read at some point. If memory served him right, they were from a nearly extinct group; small in number but very, very skilled. Dangerous. "Naruto…" he whispered, an urgent tone evident in his voice. His student, who had become his equal, paid him no heed.
"Kakashi-sensei, you take the chunin and I'll take the pair of jonin. Okay?" Naruto dashed off in excitement, in no mood to wait around to be attacked.
"Shit, Naruto, wait!" Kakashi yelled, eyes wide. This was not good – very bad in fact. If what he remembered about these ninja was correct, it would take an act of god to help them survive. The three chunin suddenly surrounded Kakashi and lunged into an attack.
Naruto slashed at one of the jonin, only for his attack to be blocked and to be thrown back unexpectedly, sliding across the dirt. He pushed himself up, eyes searching wildly for his attacker. The second jonin appeared suddenly out of nowhere at his side and slashed at his arm. Naruto recoiled back several feet, covering his superficial wound with his other hand.
"What do you think you are doing?" The taller of the two asked in a very thick accent that he had never heard before.
"I'm kicking your ass! That's what I'm doing." Naruto watched the jonin carefully, the one who had spoken had turned his back and started towards Kakashi and the three chunin, calling over his shoulder, "Make sure not to kill him Leobwin, he will be essential to Kakashi's survival and care." The shorter jounin left standing in front of him grunted, turning back to Naruto and staring at him casually. Naruto spared a moment to watch his sensei, who seemed to be struggling to keep up with the three chunin attacking him.
"Why don't you just stay out of the way for a little while, hm?" The man in front of him said in his own thick, guttural language
A burst of yellow light hit the blond in an instant and before he could move, his jonin attacker had disappeared. He wheeled around, blue eyes searching, to the sound of chirping – Kakashi's chidori. Two chunin were lying on the ground motionless, the third clutching his gut. The pair of jonin stood calmly before their wounded teammate acting as a barrier, and they began to form a set of strange seals together and chant in a foreign language.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled, scrambling to his feet and running towards them as Kakashi rushed at the jounin ninja. An instant later, the strange men finished chanting and thrust their palms forward, each of them forming a triangle with their hands. A blinding white light erupted around them, consuming everything in the clearing, causing Naruto to recoil and shield his eyes. He blinked when the light had passed, his vision dark in the comparatively dim afternoon light. Slowly, his vision returned. It was blurry at first, but he furiously scanned his surroundings, searching for some sign that his sensei was alright, but saw nothing where the six ninja should have been. The strange ninja were gone and only a lump of clothing was left where Kakashi had been. He stuttered, mouth open and tripped forward before running full speed to the spot Kakashi had been. His mind became blank, unable to consider what had happened. He slid to a halt next to where Kakashi bad been and realized, upon inspection of the clothing that had been left, that there was someone left underneath Kakashi's clothes, a small boy with short silver hair, curled up unconscious inside the clothing.
The blond dropped to his knees. The boy, Naruto realized, looked exactly like his sensei, if only in the form of a child."What the hell…" he breathed, unsure what was happening. He tentatively touched the child's face, making sure he wasn't imagining things, and jerked back quickly when he felt the smooth skin of a child beneath his fingers. He stood up and clenched his fists angrily in his hair, "What the fuck did you bastards do?!" He stared, distraught at the child, "What kind of jutsu is this?"
It was obviously Kakashi – a much younger Kakashi than the one he knew. Whatever the jutsu had done, Naruto surmised, Kakashi seemed to only be a few years old - two or three by the looks of it. Or perhaps, the unfamiliar ninja had cast some kind of extremely enhanced genjutsu that was undetectable to the naked eye. He knelt next to Kakashi's small sleeping figure. He could feel a small chakra pulsing out of him, however it was much smaller than it had been only a few moments before. The blond brushed the silver hair out of the boy's face and noticed the scar over his left eye was gone. More than that, the boy seemed utterly unharmed and serene, as if only taking a short nap.
Naruto carefully scooped up his sensei-turned-child in his arms, unused to holding such a small, fragile looking human being. "We'll make camp tonight, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto started, staring down at the boy's peaceful features, carefully adjusting the overly-large shirt to cover the boy's naked body, "and tomorrow I'll take you to Tsunade - she'll fix you back to normal for sure." The words sounded unsure even to his own ears and he was silently grateful that Kakashi wasn't awake to see him worry. He picked up the adult sized clothes and fallen weapons, and jumped into the trees to find a campsite.
Naruto didn't sleep that night.
He had made a campfire and tried to make a soft little bed out of the remainder of Kakashi's clothes, but Kakashi hadn't woken up yet. He was starting to get worried as he sat next to the fire, fidgeting with his sensei's headband in his sweaty palms, but Kakashi's chakra continued to pulse faintly like any untrained young ninja. The predicament confounded him. He'd never known a jutsu that could do this and he wasn't quite sure what to do about it. Not only that, but he had no idea what to do with a little toddler – let alone one that was his sensei.
He poked a stick into the fire, stirring up a furry of embers and eyed the perimeter of their campsite, on watch for the bastards who had done this to his sensei and hoping they would show up so that he could beat their faces in and force them to turn Kakashi back.
The morning couldn't come soon enough for the apprehensive jounin. Before the sun was even up, Naruto had gathered their stuff and was soaring through the trees with a slumbering Kakashi held against his chest with one arm, Kakashi's head resting on his shoulder. He was making good time; it had been nearly three hours since they had started off that day. He hadn't stopped running - sprinting - since he had started that morning.
A subtle movement from the small person in his arm made him slow to a stop on one of the branches. He carefully moved the boy into both of his arms. "Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked cautiously, eyes filled with unmasked worry as he searched his sensei's face.
The silver-haired boy rubbed his eyes groggily with tiny, clumsy fists and peered around at his surroundings. His expression changed a bit from being tired to slightly scared by the unfamiliar surroundings and person.
"Kakashi-sensei, are you okay? How do you feel? What happened to you?"
Kakashi stared up at him with his young, scared and curious grey eyes. "Who're you," he asked hesitantly, his words mumbled together.
"Wha-" Naruto started, a wave of panic hissing him like a train. "Kakashi, it's me, Naruto - your student! Don't you remember me, Sensei?"
Kakashi stared back at him with a half-confused look on his face before he looked around and pointed at the ground.
Naruto stared at the silver-haired boy, with innocent grey eyes and untouched features. His sensei was in the body of his child-self and he had no recollection of his own student.
"Down," the boy said, pointing again to the ground, more forcefully than the first time, squirming to get out of the blond's arms.
"No, I can't put you down now, Kakashi, you'll fall off the tree." He watched Kakashi's frustrated expression.
Kakashi continued to squirm, becoming more unruly. "Down, down, down." The boy demanded, growing frustrated and scared that he was being held against his will by this strange man.
"Okay, okay, wait a second." Naruto finally gave in, jumping to the ground at a frightening speed for the young boy. Naruto carefully set Kakashi on the ground, watching his former sensei, balance unsteadily on his own two feet.
Kakashi looked around, fear evident in the boy's expression. "Daddy?" He called out, searching desperately for his parent.
Naruto pursed his lips, squatting to his young sensei's level. "Kakashi, you're dad's not here," he began, grabbing on to the boys hand to keep him from wandering off. Kakashi's eyes snapped toward him, grey eyes meeting blue ones. "He's..." Naruto continued, having gained the boy's full attention, "uh, on a mission right now. Yeah, " he nodded at his own words, assuring himself that it would do to placate the boy for the moment, "he's on an important mission and I'm going to be watching you for a while, okay?"
Kakashi nodded slowly.
Naruto smiled, "We should get going, back to Konoha, now. Let me carry you so that we can make it home on time."
The silver-haired boy shook his head furiously, pouting at the blond.
Naruto sighed and stood. "Fine then, we'll walk for a while, first." He grabbed onto Kakashi's hand again, holding it within his own and led the boy forward, walking at a painfully slow pace as his mind raced with thoughts about what had happened to his sensei.
They eventually came to a small village on the way to Konoha, still quite a long walk from the Hidden Leaf Village. He was carrying Kakashi on his side by now, the boy growing tired from walking shortly after they had begun. The citizens of the small village stared at the strange pair as they passed. "Hey, Kakashi, is it just me or is everyone staring at us?" Naruto whispered to the little boy.
Kakashi nodded and smiled, hiding his head abashedly against Naruto's shoulder.
"Hey, Kakashi-chan," Naruto poked his side, "You can't hide and leave me out here alone!"
Kakashi squeaked and pushed as far away from Naruto's chest as his little arms would reach, "Don't tickle, Nii-san!" he ordered with a smile.
"Oh alright, not where anyone can see your ultimate weakness." Naruto winked and smiled, "Beware, the attack can come at any moment."
Little Kakashi put on a look of fierce concentration that resembled a pout with his cute baby face as held up two fists.
Naruto swore he heard a chorus of 'awws' behind them.
Naruto stopped to buy Kakashi some clothes that were actually the boy's size and then made his way to a little ramen stand along the side of the road; a little run down building with faded paint and missing letters in the name.
"Ah, good afternoon, travelers!" The old man behind the counter greeted as they walked in.
"Hey, old man!" Naruto waved as he sat down and set Kakashi in the seat next to him. "Two miso ramen, please."
Their steaming bowls came out a moment later. Naruto dug in and little Kakashi easily broke apart the chopsticks and carefully lifted one noodle at a time into his mouth.
"Well, well, you're quite the skilled boy, aren't ya?" the old man noted, watching Kakashi use the chopsticks with ease for a child his age.
Kakashi looked up at the man and nodded.
Naruto and the old man laughed.
"He's a handsome young man. Is he yours?" The man asked.
"Well, no, his dad is...uhm, on a mission. I'm just a close friend, like a big brother to little Kakashi. We're on our way back home to Konoha right now." Naruto smiled at the man, lying with the ease of a well-trained jounin.
"Granny Tsunade!" Naruto burst into her office.
She looked up and set her papers down, "Ah, Naruto welcome back. How was your mission? Where's Kakashi?" She leaned to the side, trying to peer around the blond jounin and into the hallways, but saw nothing.
"About that," He started, shifting uneasily, "You'll be happy to hear that the mission was completed in good time!" His eyes flickered from the Hokage to the village outside her office window uneasily. "But, uhm, something happened to Kakashi-sensei..." the blond trailed off, glancing to meet Tsunade's eyes, searching her expression.
She raised her eyebrows, "Is he alright? Where is he?"
"He's safe. He fell asleep on the way home; he's at my house resting now. But…something happened to him on our way back. He's not himself." Naruto frowned, looking down. "We were ambushed by ninja I've never heard of before. Their headbands had a clock on them and they used jutsu I've never seen. And they used them so quick! I'm sure the battle lasted only two or three minutes. Kakashi finished off two of the chunin but the jonin used some sort of jutsu and…" Naruto stopped talking, the idea of explaining what had happened to Kakashi sounding ridiculous even to his own ears.
"And?" Tsunade asked, leaning forward, her eyebrows knit in concern.
"Well, Kakashi-sensei is a little kid now." Naruto looked up seriously at the Hokage's expression.
"That's ridiculous, is this a prank, Naruto?" The busty blond smiled.
"No, no!" Naruto waved his hands, stepping towards her, "I'm being serious Granny." His eyes met hers, filled with concern and sincerity.
Tsunade was silent for several excruciatingly long minutes and she leaned back in her seat, confused and surprised. "A clock was on their headband, you said?"
Naruto nodded.
"I've only heard – never seen – of a small group of ninja who practice jutsu that control and shape time. I'm not sure exactly what their jutsu can do, though…" Tsunade crossed her arms in thought, frowning.
"What do we do? What will happen to Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked after the Hokage had been silent for a length of time.
"For now, I want you to take care of Kakashi. Bring him to the hospital tomorrow and I'll do a full check-up on him and I'll decide what to do about his at that time. I'll have my people research these ninja and what their techniques can do."
"Alright…" Naruto replied, sad that they couldn't help Kakashi get back to normal right away. He wanted his sensei back; the man had become a close friend to him, one of his important people, someone that he looked up to and admired, and a person who had practically made him the person that he was today. He wanted to do whatever it took to get his sensei back to normal.
"It's all we can do for now, Naruto."
He threw up a smile, "I know Granny Tsunade! I'll write up the report tonight; see you tomorrow!" He yelled, already dashing out of the door.
"Here you go, Kakashi-chan," Naruto spoke as he lifted the little boy from the floor to the examination seat the day after arriving home in Konoha. "Now, Granny Tsunade is going to come and give you a check up, just to make sure you're not sick or injured, okay?"
Kakashi nodded and wiggled in his seat.
Kakashi had stayed with Naruto the entire night. Naruto had been thankful that Kakashi had slept almost the entire time, his little body worn out from the long journey.
After only a few minutes of waiting, Tsunade walked through the door, her presence demanding the room's attention. She stopped, surprised when she saw Kakashi. Naruto was right; he was just a child again. He looked exactly as he had thirty years ago. She glanced somewhat nervously at Naruto and back at Kakashi, putting on a warm smile. "Good morning Kakashi, how are you today?"
"Fine," He replied, watching her come forward and remove her stethoscope.
"That's good. Now, I'm going to put this against your chest so I can hear your heartbeat. Just breathe normally."
Kakashi grimaced at the proximity, but let her do her job. He wiggled uncomfortably, watching the strange looking doctor.
"I hear you stayed the night with Naruto last night, Kakashi."
Kakashi nodded, "Because Dad is on a mission. Nii-san is taking care of me."
"I see, and do you like staying with Naruto?" Tsunade asked, looking into Kakashi's two innocent gray eyes. It had been ages since she had seen them. They had surely never seen bloodshed before. They were no longer hard and guarded from years of pain and hurt. In them she could see true emotion, something that partly unnerved her; it felt wrong, in fact, to see Copy Ninja Kakashi so young and vulnerable.
Kakashi nodded.
Tsunade tested his reflexes and observed his chakra flow, all of which resembled a young ninja-to-be with no training.
"Can you tell me anything about what happened yesterday? What do you remember?" Tsunade asked as she wrote down the results on a clipboard.
"Dad is on a mission. And Naruto-nii is taking care of me like my big brother." He waved for Tsunade to come closer, as if to share some big secret that only he knew.
Tsunade gave Naruto a playful glance, but leaned in, face-to-face with the young boy.
"Naruto isn't really my brother," Kakashi whispered with wide eyes and a serious expression. This information was obviously S-ranked material.
"Ooh?" Tsunade gasped, feigning surprise.
Kakashi nodded, "Until Dad is back."
"Do you remember anything before your dad was on a mission, Kakashi-kun?"
The boy frowned, looking down and trying to remember. He glanced up at Naruto and then with a small smiled, "Miso!"
Tsunade laughed at the boys' shared enthusiasm for ramen.
"Anything before that Kakashi? It's really, very important." Tsunade's eyes were kind but serious as she searched the boy's thoughtful face.
"I…"he furrowed his eye brows. After a moment of thought, "Dad was reading scrolls late so I went to bed myself, and then I had a weird dream, but I don't know what it was about." He quickly looked up and swung his feet anxiously.
The woman hummed thoughtfully, and then smiled "You did great today, Kakashi. If you would excuse me for a moment, I need to have a word with Naruto in the hall."
Kakashi nodded slowly.
The two ninja stepped outside into the hall and shut the door. Naruto leaned back against it, "Well, Tsunade? What did you find out? Can we change him back?"
"According to my examination, he's as much a child as any other two- or three-year old running around Konoha. He is advanced in his motor skills and speech, although he's a little smaller than most his age, but I remember him to always be on the small side. It's certainly no genjutsu and I couldn't detect any sort of loophole to undo the jutsu..." She frowned in thought. "I also had my people research a little bit and gather some information. They've heard speculation about a certain technique that supposedly rewinds a singular person's time line. It's…never been done before – we can't even be sure that that is what was done to Kakashi."
"He doesn't remember anything either…" Naruto put in, slouching more.
"Mhmm, I assume all his memories from before have been locked away, possibly even erased, as if he's only been alive for three years. I'm not sure if they will ever come back."
Naruto turned slightly to peer through the window of the door. Kakashi was still there where they had left him, swinging his feet from the high bench. "Who's going to take care of him?"
"I'm not sure, he doesn't really have any family, unless you count Rookie 9, but you guys are hardly capable of—"
"I'll take care of him," he said seriously, receiving two doubting eyes.
"Naruto…it's no easy task raising a child, Kakashi especially. You just wait until he starts the academy, he'll be quite a handful. He'll need all your attention; you won't be able to take as many missions. And who knows how long this jutsu will last, it could be permanent, and we don't know the kind of effects it will have of his mind or body. Maybe he'll even stay this age forever, Naruto, there's no way of knowing."
Naruto smiled and looked back at the person who had been somewhat of a mother to him, "I know, Tsunade, but…I feel somewhat responsible for this and, well, Kakashi-sensei has always looked out for me. Now it's time that I look after him."
Tsunade smiled proudly, "That's quite mature of you, Naruto."
"Heh, it happens sometimes," he laughed, "but don't get used to it."
The blond leader smiled gently at the boy she cared so much for. "I'll have funds sent to your account so you will be able to buy anything you might need. Some new clothes, maybe a few toys, although I'm sure he'll be just fine without those – he never used them before, I don't see why he would now. And..." She set her hands on his shoulders, "Good luck, Naruto, you can come to me anytime for help if you need it."
Naruto nodded, "I'll let you know if there are any changes."
Tsunade smiled then walked away to her next patient down the hall.
Naruto sighed and glanced back at Kakashi through the window in the door and was met with the sight of curious gray orbs focused on him. Naruto smiled and walked back in next to the toddler. "Granny Tsunade says that you're perfectly healthy and are going to be a really strong ninja someday!"
Kakashi smiled as he jumped into Naruto's arms and was set down on the ground. "Like Dad?"
Naruto grabbed little Kakashi's hand as they started walking out of the hospital and back home, "Yup! Maybe even stronger."
Kakashi's smile widened as he jumped from one foot to the other, matching Naruto's long steps.
"Ready? Go!" Kakashi yelled before he jumped from the couch onto Naruto's vulnerable stomach down below on the floor.
"Ooof!" Naruto breathed out, pretending the young boy had knocked the wind out of him, which would be the case had he not used chakra to shield his torso from the past thirty minutes of being jumped on repeatedly.
Kakashi giggled as Naruto rolled around on the ground. "Naruto-nii! Watch this!" He exclaimed as he climbed up again on top of the couch. "Ready? Go!" He jumped and landed on Naruto's chest and continued to punch him with his tiny fists.
Naruto played the part well, grunting and groaning at each blow. "Mercy, mercy!" Naruto begged.
Kakashi looked thoughtful and then became serious, "A Hatake does not show mercy." He recited as if it had been worn into his brain.
Naruto half frowned, trying to laugh it off. He wondered where Kakashi had learned that from. It certainly wasn't something he had told the boy.
Someone banged at the door. Naruto sat up abruptly causing Kakashi to fall in a heap on his lap. His eyes were wide and searching. "Oh no! The rogue ninja found our hiding place!" Naruto exclaimed in mock panic.
Kakashi scrambled into an upright position on Naruto's lap, searching around for the infiltrators. His breathing was quiet and at a slightly faster pace than normal.
"What do we do, Kakashi-chan?"
Kakashi whispered, "A dambush."
Naruto nodded, "An ambush…" he repeated, correcting the boy's mispronunciation. "Alright, you hide and wait for my signal, I'll go distract them."
Kakashi nodded resolutely and ran around the couch where he crouched down in waiting.
Naruto stood and walked to the door. "Oh, Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, opening the door to find his female teammate.
"How long, again, does it take to open a door, Naruto?" She complained, walking past him and into the house. She stopped upon entering, examining the messy kitchen with dirty dishes and the living room which looked like it had been blown up. "Naruto, what in the world were you two doing? This place is a mess! You can't raise a child in this filth." She exclaimed with exaggerated hand motions.
"Ahaha, sorry, we were, uh, you know..." He smiled and rubbed his head.
She rolled her eyes as she began picking up thrown off couch pillows. She noticed Kakashi hiding behind the couch and turned to Naruto.
He motioned for her to keep quiet and played off the signal by adjusting his headband exaggeratedly. "Oh, that mess," Naruto exclaimed suddenly, "Kakashi and I decided that in such a case anyone try and break into our house, they would trip over these pillows, giving us time to attack them."
There was a pause, and Naruto and Sakura smiled at each other.
"I said," Naruto emphasized, a bit louder, "We would have an opportunity to attack those darn intruders!"
"Oh!" Kakashi exclaimed popping up from his hiding spot, "Get ready, rouge ninja! You're being dambushed!" Kakashi yelled, proceeding to rush to and tackle Sakura. He kicked her leg and she made a dramatic display of falling down from the injury. He instantly jumped on top of her with his tiny hand pushing down on her neck. "Dead. No mercy." He looked sternly down at her.
"Dead," she agreed with a smile.
Kakashi smiled back and slid off of her. Naruto pulled Sakura up to her feet, "That was some great ninja skills there, Kakashi-chan."
The boy beamed up at him. Naruto smiled at the boy's happiness and crouched down in front of him. "Kakashi," he said seriously, drawing the boy's attention immediately, "Who told you to show no mercy?"
Kakashi tilted his head in confusion. He looked at Naruto and glanced at Sakura. His gaze returned, "Dad says a Hatake never gives mercy."
"When did he tell you that, Kakashi-chan?" Sakura asked gently from above Naruto.
The little boy was a bit confused, looking into Sakura's thoughtful green eyes and Naruto's solemn blue ones. "Last night, Dad always talks to me when I'm sleeping."
"Oh, do you have dreams of your dad, Kakashi-chan?" Sakura asked curiously.
Kakashi nodded, "And Mama, and one time a big scary man with white hair!" the boy exaggerated.
Naruto laughed, knowing who was being referred to. He ruffled Kakashi's hair, "Well, from now on, we show mercy to everyone, alright?"
Kakashi nodded with a small smile.
"Hey, Kakashi-chan, would you like to go to the park?"
"Yes," He voiced shyly.
"What are you waiting for, then? Go put on your shoes!" Naruto exclaimed.
Kakashi ran to the front door, sitting on the step at the entrance and slipping on his sandals.
It was sunny and mildly warm, the wind rustled the leaves lightly, just enough to keep the air pleasant. Naruto and Sakura walked together on the little trail around the small park; Kakashi had already dashed to the playground. Outside of the few people he knew, consisting mainly of Naruto, Sakura, and Tsunade, he wasn't much of a social, outgoing boy. He tended to stay quiet and observe – he would play by himself, and he seemed perfectly content doing so.
"So, Naruto, how are things with you and Kakashi-sensei?" She asked casually, "He's been like this for a while now, three weeks right?"
Naruto nodded as he watched his little silver-haired boy jump from the top of a step and run around with a stick, pretending to fight imaginary enemies. "Kakashi's fine," He replied with a distant look in his eyes.
Sakura stared at him, starting to worry.
"I miss him, our Kakashi-sensei…" He supplied, looking down at his feet. "And, well…he's always looked out for me and now I'm raising him. What if I don't do it right? I might seriously screw up one of the best ninja in Konoha!" Naruto explained. A worried look plastered itself on his face, one that didn't seem to fit on his usually happy, carefree face, as he walked with hands in his pockets.
Sakura smiled and elbowed him playfully, "You're doing fine Naruto. Look, he's so happy; I've never seen him smile like that before."
Naruto shrugged and mumbled a half-hearted agreement.
"And you two have a strong bond already," She continued, seeing that her friend needed just a little more encouragement. "He really looks up to you. He's been given a second chance, you know? He'll get to live a happier life now." She smiled off into the distance, satisfied with her argument. "I mean, before, with his mother and father, Obito, Rin, Minato…he hasn't had such an easy life; it'll be good for him. And you, Naruto Uzumaki, are finally learning to act like the mature adult you should be!" She punched him playfully on the arm.
"Ow! Sakura-chan!" he whined, pouting at her, "Be careful, I have to take care of a playful three-year old now, you know."
"Almost four," She chimed, "His birthday is next week."
Naruto halted, slightly panicking, "Four? How can he be four already? He just got here. What are we going to do? Sakura-chan, I have to go buy a cake and presents!"
Sakura rolled her eyes, "Geez Naruto, relax; we have time. I'll get Hinata and Ino to help plan a party. And besides, Naruto, Kakashi is only that playful because you made him that way. Seriously, you two play all the time!" She smiled shaking her head, "You've spoiled him."
Naruto crossed his arms and pouted, "Have not."
Sakura nodded knowingly, looking over to watch little Kakashi.
"Hn…but he likes it Sakura-chan," Naruto eventually rebutted.
Edited: 05/16/13