(A/n) sorry for not updating last week. I have no excuses. Again, this chapter is pretty bad. I'm haven't been feeling particularly. . . motivated lately so sorry if the next few chapters are a little fast paced and just horribly written.
Kakashi glared at the back of Naruto's blonde head. The man had plucked him from his apartment where he had been peacefully reading, saying that they - Minato and himself - needed him for mission. He made it clear that it was optional so Kakashi could have refused, but come on, that was unlikely. The boy wasn't really mad so much about that, more so that they were almost six hours into said mission and he still didn't know what exactly it entailed. Something about a friend? Kakashi went through the list of all his friends - which didn't take long because he only had like, two if he reluctantly counted Gai - and one of them was in the village while the other one was accompanying him, and he was pretty sure they didn't need his help just then. But here he was, off to who knows where to do who knows what. He asked Rin but she didn't know what was going on. He asked Minato, but his kind, informative sensei just smirked ruefully and said that since it was Naruto who dragged him along, Naruto can be the one to explain. Naruto glared at him for that and pelted him with a rock.
Kakashi didn't want to get pelted with a rock so he stayed quiet and tried wait patiently for Naruto to tell him on his own. It wasn't working. Kakashi was becoming insufferably impatient and Naruto could tell from the hole he was sure was forming on the back of his head.
Minato called camp an hour early just to make sure Naruto would have plenty of time to explain, in detail, the mission and why they were only just finding out that their beloved comrade was still alive. He was once again pelted by a precisely aimed pebble. Kakashi noted oddly how the two seemed closer and more relaxed around eachother than when he had last seen them. Particularly Naruto, who had always been so reserved.
After camp was all set up and a fire was going and the beds were made, Kakashi and Rin (and Minato) looked expectantly at Naruto who was picking hangnails from his fingers.
"Hemhmm." Kakashi cleared his throat pointedly making Naruto acknowledge them. "What are we doing here?" he asked harshly, staring through his one eye like he was going to rip the answers from Naruto's soul. Okay, maybe that's a little dramatic, but you get the idea.
Rin nodded along to Kakashi's question. "Yeah Naruto-Sensei, what is this mission supposed to be?"
Naruto cleared his throat before he spoke but the words still sounded a bit strained, like they wanted to clump together in his throat. "Well you see," he looked at Minato who left him hanging. Naruto sighed. "You know how Obito was crushed to death by a ton of rocks?" he asked bluntly, the two small shinobi looked like they just got slapped. Flinching at his crudeness, he rushed on before they caught their bearings and could actually say anything. "Well he wasn't actually. He was. . . rescued in a way and now he is being held in a cave so we are going to save him." he said it all in a single breath which he held when he was finished.
Rin choked and started viciously coughing. Kakashi just stared emotionlessly. "Is this some kind of sick joke?" he asked. "Because if so then you should know that it's not funny."
Naruto didn't look surprised at his reaction, on the contrary, he seemed to have expected it. He looked at Kakashi with empathy shining in his eyes. "It's not."
Kakashi looked at Minato who just nodded. He stood. He felt fury and betrayal and hurt flood through him. All this time Obito had been alive? And Naruto knew at didn't tell him? "If that's true than why are you only telling me this now?! Do you know how many sleepless nights I've had because of this?! How many nightmares?! And all for nothing huh? I can't believe you!" he said, uncharacteristically loud.
Again Naruto's eyes only reveal empathy, as if Kakashi's pain was his own. "How much worse would it have been if I had told you and you had to sit there all those nights knowing that he was alive but that you couldn't do anything? I didn't want to tell you until I had a solid course of action planned out so that we could know for sure that we had a chance." he said calmly.
Kakashi faltered for a second, sifting as if unsure whether to sit back down. He didn't. He narrowed his eye. "Why wouldn't we have a chance? Is he in danger?"
Naruto frowned and looked at Minato. The man just gestured for Naruto to go on and tell him. "Well. . . when I say rescued, I mean he was taken in by a man who. . . isn't really. . . well he's not the best man, I'll leave it at that."
"What- what if he kills Obito? How do you know he hasn't already?" Rin, who had been silent thus far, asked in a small voice.
Naruto turned his gaze on her and met her eyes. "Because he wouldn't do that. He took Obito for a purpose, killing him would be counter productive."
"How do you know all this?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto was quiet, his mind thinking of what to say. He wasn't going to lie, but he wasn't about to tell them the whole, messy, complicated truth either. He selfishly knew it was because he himself wasn't ready for them know. "Because I know this man. He doesn't do anything without reason."
"You know him? How? Who is he?"
Always with hard questions, Naruto thought as he answered him. "Well you should know him too, his name id Madara Uchiha."
Silence. And then, "Isn't he dead?"
"No. Now that's enough questions for tonight. Get some rest and we will discuss the rest of the plan in the morning." his voice and slight glare that accompanied made it clear that they done talking. So the two reluctantly obeyed.
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The quarter moon was bright and high in the sky as he jerked awake. His eyes struggled to focus on the figure above him who had just shaken him awake. At first he thought it was Naruto and he was getting ready to be extra grumpy - he was still mad - but then his sharingan caused his vision to sharpen and he saw that it was actually just Minato-Sensei.
"Are you alright?" Minato asked him, concerned.
Kakashi then realized that he was covered in a disgusting sheen of sweat. "Y-yeah." he said, his voice a little broken. The nightmare he was having still played in his head.
"Do you wanna talk about it?"
No. That was Kakashi's first thought. He was about to say so but I guess his mouth disagreed with his brain's decision because next thing he knew he was spilling his guts. He had confided in Minato about his nightmares before, but never this one. This one had always seemed to unnerving to put into words until now.
"There's this dream that I keep having over and over again." he said. "I'm fighting this man in a white mask. I know I'm probably going to die but I keep fighting anyways. He says he doesn't want to kill me yet. He wants to wait until my students get there. I look behind me and there's three people, Naruto and two others called Sasuke and Sakura. While I'm distracted the man stabs me. When I look back at him his mask is gone and I can see his face. . . it's Obito. He isn't even looking at me as he's killing me, he is staring right at Naruto." after saying out loud Kakashi feels strangely better. He looked up from his hands to his sensei who was looking at him impassively. Kakashi wondered why he was so bothered over a dream.
"Are you sure it was Obito?" he asked. Kakashi furrowed his brow and nodded. He didn't see why this was quite relevant. It was just a dream after all.
Minato pursed his lips and nodded. "Do you want to keep watch with me? I switching out with Naruto in an hour, but you can keep me company until then." he offered, knowing Kakashi wouldn't want to go back to sleep.
Kakashi accepted. Despite the company, Minato didn't speak for the rest of the night. An hour passed. And then two. Knowing that Naruto hardly slept, Minato let him be figuring he probably wouldn't sleep for the rest of the mission. Besides, he had some thinking to do.
Kakashi's dream troubled him. Minato knew these dreams were actually memories from Naruto's time's Kakashi. But could this really be a memory? Had that really happened? He couldn't imagine Obito killing Kakashi. There is no way that would ever happen. But Naruto had been hiding something from him. Minato hadn't pried figuring it was probably just personal but couldn't be that important if he had felt okay with omitting it from his summery of the future. But this seemed pretty fricken important. Not just that, but made sense too. He remembered when they first found Naruto in the forest and had taken the risk to bring him back to the village. Half way there he had woken up and when he first laid eyes on Obito his glare was almost feral, like he wanted nothing more than to kill him. And even after that when Minato supposed Naruto had figured out what had happened to him, he took an extra long time to warm up to Obito compared to everyone else.
Minato definitely needed to talk to his son before this mission was over.
***
So some of you asked to see my kittens. Here they are. That little one in the corner that is shunning it's brothers and sisters is called Leo and he's absolutely adorable.