Something Precious

Chapter Thirty One

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Naruto sighed as soon as he was clear of the curious Mini Kakashi-Sensei. Kakashi had always been kinda nosey, he supposed that was something he had been born with. How annoying. But these dreams Kakashi had been having, they sounded like memories. How else could he have known about Sakura when her name had never been mentioned? This could be really bad if Kakashi holds on to it, although how could he do anything less if he is always dreaming about it? What if his dreams keep getting more vivid and it affects the timeline in a bad or unpredictable way?

'You're being dramatic.' spoke a deep voice that only Naruto could hear.

"'Bout time you damn lazy fox. Do you know what is happening with Kakashi? You can't just send me to the past and then not explain anything." Naruto thought back aggravatedly.

'Kakashi is remembering because of the strong emotional bond you shared. Also because of the chakra thing.' the fox explained through a yawn.

Naruto sweatdropped. "Chakra thing?"

'You shared your chakra with him on multiple occasions, he still had a piece of it when he died so when you were thrown back it may have latched on and brought his memories back with it.'

Naruto nodded his head. "Makes sense."

This time Kurama sweatdropped. 'You don't get it do you?'

"Not at all."

'Okay imagine it like a magnet. Do you remember a bright white light just before you blacked out?' Naruto thought back before recalling said light. He nodded and the fox continued. 'Good. That was time reversing itself. One day compressed into a small fraction of a second. The fact that Kakashi held a piece of your chakra along with the close bond you shared seems to have pulled some of those memories back which are now coming to him in the form of dreams.'

"Oh I get now." Naruto said as it all clicked.

''Bout time. Thought it would take another year.' Kurama grumbled moodily.

"What was that you dumb fox?!"

'Nothing, nothing.' he grumbled, eased by the familiar banter that had become sparse as the war droned on.

"Is this going to be a problem? Kakashi's memory dream things or whatever?" Naruto wondered. The fox took a moment to consider the circumstances before he replied.

'It may become a problem in the future but for now you're good. From the looks of things important people will come back to him before actual memories and events, I'd say you have maybe a year before that becomes an issue. I suggest you tell him before that happens.'

"Is there anything I can do to stop it?"

The grumpy fox thought for a second. 'No. Unless you want to kill him.' he offered. Naruto let off a deadly aura at the suggestion to which Kurama quickly added.

'I was only joking kid, calm down.' and after a few moments he did.

"Yeah whatever. Thanks." Naruto grumbled, que for the beast to go back to his slumber.

Naruto remained that way for a while, the silence only fueling his immersive thought. He wondered how long it would take until Kakashi realised what the dreams meant. The silver-haired man Naruto had known had always been more preceptive then he let on and he assumed he was no different when he was a child, Kakashi Hatake had always been known as a prodigy after all. Naruto would have to rely on the sheer impossibility of it all to keep Sensei jr. at bay for now. But what about others? Who else shared the same circumstances? Minato? No, while he had a strong emotional bond with his father, he never shared his chakra with him the way he had with Kakashi, and he didn't think it would apply even if he had given that his father was just a reanimation at the time. So who else did that leave? He couldn't think of anyone else but opted to keep his guard up and eyes open for other possibilities or unpredictable side effects of the jutsu.

"Hey Naruto." a voice rang breaking him from his thoughts. The Uzumaki slightly glared in its direction without bothering to piece together who it belonged to. A startled Obito let out a nervous chuckle and took a step back with his hands raised in sign of surrender.

"Heh. . . sorry?" he almost asked. "You were kinda spacing out there though, it was weirding me out."

Naruto only then noted that he had wandered into the little restaurant/bar where they usually met for meals and had been sitting there for who knows how long, probably looking like an idiot as he did so.

"Oh. Sorry Obito. I was just thinking." he explained. "Private thoughts." he added when it looked like the kid was going to pry. Obito shrugged and picked up a menu. After a while of quiet deliberation, he decided to order the rice balls while Naruto ordered ramen.

Obito gave him a weird look. "Again? Do you eat anything else?"

The blonde shrugged. "It has been a while since I have been able to continuously eat something that isn't soldier pills, even longer since I've had ramen." he answered with a voice that held no silly notes as you would normally hear when someone was talking about food.

Obito had noticed that when they were alone Naruto was always fractionally stiffer, more formal and polite, it was very strange because Obito's laid back nature tended to put people more at ease. He definitely wasn't sure what to think of the newest addition to their team. On one hand, he seemed super strong and cool and wasn't afraid to ruff them up a little more than most in training, but on the other hand he was so impersonal about things, all he has said about himself is that he likes ramen and a few times he hinted that he had lost someone important, but that's as deep as it went, never how they died or who they were to him - just that they were dead. Like many others, Obito was forming an interest in the strange blue-eyed teen who seemed to have fallen from the sky as near as they could figure.