The rest of the night Naruto talked about his life. At first, he simply focused on the Fourth Shinobi War and the main points leading up to it, but Minato didn't just want to hear about the war, or about it's many tragedies. Minato wanted to hear all of it. He wanted to know every detail of his son's life.
So, with a little prodding, Naruto spoke in great lengths about everything he could remember, like when he was in the academy and his teacher Iruka. And he seemed to get lost in the nostalgia when he told Minato about when he made genin. Minato was somehow not surprised when Naruto told him Kakashi had been his Sensei. He spoke with humor as he described the Kakashi he knew in detail, his lazy nature, how he was always late to everything, and about his perverse novels he would openly read no matter the public setting.
He spoke a lot about his teammates Sasuke and Sakura. He told Minato how he had been convinced he was in love Sakura for years, up until the war started, and Sasuke whom Minato had always been curious about. It turns out Sasuke was Naruto's best friend, brother more like. He was one of the last Uchiha after someone - Naruto wouldn't say who but assured that they had a somewhat sensible reason - killed the infamous clan in a single night. He told him about Sasuke's betrayal and how Naruto went after him time and time again. But, as Naruto happily explained, he came back to them once the war started and they fought many battles side by side. As he spoke of Sasuke's death, Naruto's eyes shone with unshed tears.
Naruto told Minato about his time he spent training with Jiraiya - Minato couldn't stop laughing when Naruto told him he called Jiraiya 'Pervy Sage' and Jiraiya actually let him. He told him about his weird friend Sai and all his other friends too. He told him about his childhood dream to become Hokage one day and have his face carved beside the other Hokage faces. He told him how Tsunade became the Fifth Hokage and how Kakashi was the sixth.
Minato laughed with him as Naruto spoke of how he had mistaken a squid for the Eight-Tails and listened intently when Naruto told him about how he had befriended not just the Leaf's demon, but all nine of the tailed beasts.
Naruto did eventually speak of the war though. He never went into detail about any of his friend's death's and Minato never asked him to. He was particularly vague about Kakashi's death, leading Minato to believe that there was still something Naruto didn't want Minato to know. But he trusted that if it was important Naruto would've told him.
"I'm sorry," Minato said after a long lapse of silence in which only the faint sounds of the owl's gentle calls and the slight rustle of the wind through the leaves, broke the quiet air.
Naruto frowned at him. "For what?" he asked. "You didn't do anything."
Minato let out a small aggravated sigh. "Exactly." he looked up into Naruto's eyes. "I didn't do anything. I wasn't even there. I should have been." he couldn't believe anyone could live through life like that of what Naruto had described, and he had a feeling he downplayed the harsher aspects, and Minato hadn't been there to help his son, to give him the support he needed through those hard times.
Naruto's eyes hardened for a moment before they softened considerably. He plopped down on the grass sitting cross-cross apple-sauce and running a hand over the soft green blades. "What I meant was - you didn't do anything wrong. You gave your life for your village. In order to protect it, you made several sacrifices, including my childhood. I don't blame you for anything, and I don't regret having Kurama sealed in me. He's a piece of work to be sure-"
'Watch it brat!' Kurama growled in his mind making Naruto smile.
"But if I could go back - which I guess I have - I wouldn't change that. The first time I met you, you told me that from the moment you first laid eyes on me, you believed in me. That's already more than can be said of most. You said you believed I could do the impossible, that one day I would be able to control Kurama's power. You wouldn't have done what you did otherwise. You could have taken him with you, but you left half with me instead, because you believed in me." Naruto fully laid back so he could look up at Minato's face. Sincerity colored his features as he said, "Thank you for that."
Minato smiled back at Naruto as he took a seat beside him. There was one thing pressing on his mind that he needed to ask him about though. He hesitated as he saw how for once, Naruto didn't have that crushing hopelessness, despair and what Minato could now identify as guilt, behind his cerulean eyes. Naruto was looking up at the clear night sky, doing the impossible task of counting the little stars.
No. Minato thought. Not right now. . . but soon.
|¤|Ω|¤|
Kakashi sat among the mess of blankets that littered his bed. He absent-mindedly traced over the black marks of the seal Naruto had given him. Naruto had later explained that the seal was removable should he decide he didn't want it on his skin. It was never visible unless he wanted it to be. Kakashi could feel Naruto's warm, but oddly heavy chakra waiting for him should his own be depleted. He had honestly forgotten about it during the battle of Kannabi Bridge, but he knew it would be helpful to him in the future, he had discovered that Obito's Sharingan used a lot of chakra. He would need to expand his own reserves if he was going to use it in the future.
Kakashi frowned. He had a pen in his right hand, positioned barely a centimeter above the blank sheet of paper, but still, the white surface remained unmarked by it's black ink.
He remembered this time. He remembered three faces, clearer than he had before, but still, a little blurred - though that could have been because in this dream he was dying.
He could feel his life draining from him like a constant stream. He hadn't even been afraid, he had been. . . relieved?
'Please don't leave me Kakashi-Sensei.' he remembered someone cry. Naruto. He remembered Naruto cry.
But what really held his pen from the paper was something that had happened before that.
***
The strange man had worn a white mask. Kakashi felt like he should know this man. Like he did. His chakra was almost completely depleted and he knew he wouldn't walk away from this one.
Still, he pushed his body. Metal on metal. His kunai deflected the man's wicked blade that was already stained a sickly red. The breeze smelled metallic. There were dead bodies on the forest floor; some of them were human, but others were only humanoid. The skin looked pasty and they had yellowish-green eyes and hair.
The masked man laughed - a low gravely sound filled with madness. "Oh lookie. Your little students are coming to rescue you. Do you think they'll make it in time?" he asked. Kakashi didn't say anything; or more accurately, he couldn't say anything. "Maybe I should wait on killing you until they get here. Then they can watch as I take the life of their precious Sensei? What do you say Kakashi?"
The dream blurred through the next happenings, like a camera out of focused and muffled audio. When the haze finally cleared just in time for the man to run his sword through Kakashi's abdomen, but he couldn't feel the pain. Kakashi met the horrified eyes of Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto.
Sometime during the blurred part of the dream, the man's mask must have broke because when he looked back at him his face was visible, and the mask lay in pieces, cast aside in the mud. The face. . . he couldn't remember the details but he did remember the wicked grin that lit the man's marred features as he looked right into the eyes of Naruto Uzumaki.
Without so much as a glance in Kakashi's direction, the man pulled out his blade from where it impaled Kakashi's body, taunting Naruto as Kakashi's body fell to ground and Kakashi whispered, "I'm sorry. . . Obito."
***
This dream wasn't like the others. It was more clear and had more emotions. And it felt so. . . real.
Maybe it was? He remembered when he had the first dream, in the room at the inn that he shared with Naruto. He had recalled the name Sakura, and Naruto had confirmed that she was indeed a real person. Maybe then this was all real.
But that couldn't be. In these dreams they called his name, they used his friend's names even, which means if this was real then these things most definitely happened to him. But surely they hadn't. Kakashi had never been a Sensei. Kakashi had never been Hokage. Kakashi had never died.
Maybe Naruto was planting these fake memories in his dream? It would certainly explain why he kept dodging the subject. I mean what did they really know about him? Nothing! He could be a spy! They just found him in the middle of the forest and took him to the village, then four days later he was showing up to their team meetings and I guess he's on the team now.
Kakashi would have no trouble believing this theory. . . . before Kannabi Bridge. Before he saw the grief in Naruto's eyes as they announced those in Leaf who had given their lives that day. Maybe he would believe this if he hadn't heard Naruto speak passionately about his ideas of peace that day in the cafeteria. Maybe he could believe it if he didn't see how much Naruto cared, about him, about Rin, about Minato and about the village in general.
Maybe Kakashi would've been able to believe it if he didn't trust him.
