Chapter 30 A day Off

It was a normal morning for Konoha and in Naruto's room he was slowly waking up. He groaned as he felt himself waking up, he prided open an eye and looked at the clock on by his bed. It was nine in the morning and he was surprised at how long he had slept in, he remembered that he was going to see Hinata today. As he got up and started to stretch out he remembered her at the monument and him taking her home again. He was a bit embarrassed carrying the Hyuga heiress on his back, but he was glad to do it. Thankfully she woke up before he reached the main gates and they made plans to meet up today since she seemed to have gotten the day off as well.

He felt a bit better than he had the past few days, he was still slightly scared of what could happen if he called on that Fox's chakra again but he would deal with that later. He did his usual morning rituals before getting dressed. He checked the time and he didn't feel like making breakfast so he'd stop by the ramen stand before going to Hinata's.

"Yo, Naruto how are you feeling?"

Naruto looked to see his dad on the couch reading one of his books again.

"Hey dad, feeling a bit better to be honest."

Kakashi nodded, "Glad to hear it, so what's up for today?"

"I'm going to see Hinata-chan today and we're going to hang out. We haven't been able to do like we used to when we were in the academy." Naruto told him.

"Alright, oh by the way I'll be cashing in the payments for the missions and handing them out to the team. I'll place it on your dresser when I get it, you should also know that the mission was bumped up to a B ranked because of the ninjas we faced." Kakashi told his son.

Naruto nodded his head and they said their goodbyes as he left to get to Hinata's home. It was kind of cool that the mission was now officially a B rank, normally he'd be excited about that but he didn't feel too excited about that mission. He was still thinking about what happened and what he was really worried about was the damn fox inside of him. If this is what happened every time he got really angry then it would mean he would have to search control his anger.

Which he admits is hard for him since he lashes out far too often but he couldn't help it that was just the way he was. At any rate he just wanted to put his problems behind him for the moment and just enjoy the day with Hinata. He quickly stopped off at the ramen stand for a few bowls and had a nice chat with Ayame and her father there, it was one of the reason he loved that stand. It had both great food with great people to talk to while there, after that he made his way to the Hyuga clan compound.

Naruto went in through the front without a problem as he was well known among the Hyuga clan and went in search of Hinata. He was wondering if he would be able to see Neji there if he wasn't with his team today, he wanted to ask him if Lee was up for a rematch at some point.

He didn't see him as he walked through the grounds so he guessed he could always have Hinata tell him later. He found her in the garden area with Hanabi as they were sitting and talking, he yelled out to them and Hanabi smiled at seeing him. Hinata blushed as usual giving him a weak wave as he walked over to them.

"So how are my favourite Hyuga girls?" Naruto asked happily.

"We're the only Hyuga girls you know personally Naruto-niisan," Hanabi stated.

"Aww why did you have to be so cold Hanabi-chan?" Naruto said in an exaggerated display of being hurt. Hinata giggled at this theatrics hiding her smile behind her hands.

"See Hinata can at least knows when to have fun," he said.

"I know how to have fun," Hanabi said crossing her arms and giving him a hard look. "Besides when my sister told me you two had a free day I was hoping you'd want to join me and Konohamaru today."

Naruto thought about it, he hadn't seen the Old Man's grandson since he left on his mission. The boy was kind of like a little search brother to him and he wouldn't mind seeing him again. He then got a sly smile on his face as an idea popped into his head.

"Oh so we're off to see Konohamaru then? Didn't know you liked boys yet man you're aftera boyfriend already you really work fast Hanabi-chan."

Hanabi looked both mortified and embarrassed. "I-I-I'm only eight years old! I don't like boys like that he's just my only friend outside of the clan!"

Naruto burst out laughing at the look on her face it had been priceless.

"N-Naruto-kun that was mean t-to Hinabi-chan!" Hinata scolded him for being mean to her little sister.

"Okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Hanabi gave him a small glare telling him that she would get even with him at some point, but that would have to be later. One of the reasons she wanted them to come was so that her and Konohamaru could work on Hinata and Naruto while they were all together. After that the small group decided they would go and meet Konohamaru at the park since he would be getting there pretty soon.

It took them awhile to get to the park but when they got there they found Konohamaru waiting there for them. He was happy to see Naruto and the Hyuga sisters as well. Hanabi and Konohamaru started to play on the equipment a bit while Naruto and Hinata had a nice talk. Mainly just to catch up with what they had been doing since the last time they really got to see another. He was glad to hear that Hinata was doing fine with her team and she really liked her sensei. Naruto had met Kurenai a few times thanks to his dad and the fact she was Anko's best friend too.

"Oh yeah she always seemed really nice," Naruto nodded his head.

Hinata smiled and nodded too, "Y-yes she's been great. S-she's so kind, gentle but also gets s-serious when she has to be. Sometimes..."

"Sometimes what?"

"She kind of reminds me...o-of my mom," Hinata said.

Hinata fell silent at that remembering the death of her mother always hurt, she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked to see Naruto there. He had his hand on her shoulder giving it a little squeeze and a comforting look to tell her she wasn't alone. She was glad for it and gave him a small smile to let him know that she was okay.

"Hey aren't you two going to play too or make eyes at each other all day?" Konohamaru yelled out making both young teens blush and pull apart.

"It's nothing like that we were just talking!" Naruto shouted out glad the mask hid a blush.

"W-We shouldn't ignore them N-Naruto-kun, w-why don't we join them?" Hinata said trying to get their minds off that.

"Yeah you're right that's why we came here right?" he asked smiling at her with his eyes closed like normal.

They started to play together, normally they either played all together or they would be split into two teams. Usually they were the girls against the boys or two older kids against the two youngest. But Naruto didn't care at all, for the moment he was just a young teen enjoying his life with his friends and that's all that mattered to him. After that mission this was the best kind of thing he could do, something that reminded him that there was still plenty of good things in the world.

They played several games together, laughing and enjoying things. The group also showed Konohamaru a few games as well one of them was captured princess. Mainly one person acted as the princess that you had to save. For this game Hinata got that, while Hanabi and Konohamaru had to tag Naruto in order to defeat him. The two kids tried their best but Naruto was great at moving to avoid people when he had to. So he managed to avoid the two kids as best he could and quickly made over to where Hinata was by a tree.

"Got ya," Naruto said as he took Hinata by the hand as that signalled that she was now safe. He had to admit it felt kind of good to play this old game again. It reminded him of when they were younger and things had been simpler.

Konohamaru walked up as he was grinning under his scarf covering his lower face. He had an idea and he hoped that Hanabi would catch on to what he had planned to help get Naruto and Hinata together. "Hey isn't the hero supposed to get a kiss from the girl when he saves her?"

Both young teens blushed at this, Hinata more so of course.

"Huh!? I-I can't do that!" Naruto blurted out. Hinata's face looked to the ground feeling depressed that he quickly said such a thing with her right there.

Hanabi did in fact catch on and schooled her face to not let it show, "What, are you saying my sister isn't pretty enough to kiss?"

"No! I mean she is one of the pretties girls from the academy," Naruto said suddenly realizing that Hinata might have taken it as an insult. He only meant it, as she was his best friend and he thought that she would be too weirded out by that. He had seen her face fall and remembered the few tips his dad gave him about girls and their moods. Girls like to be complimented and he had done the exact opposite.

Hinata's head shot up in surprised that he called her pretty. She hadn't thought that he would say such a thing about her as she thought she was just kind of plain.

'Naruto thinks I'm pretty? But why would he think that? Ino has better hair and Sakura is so sure of herself. But he things I'm one of the prettiest girls from school?' Her face grew warm at the thought of Naruto looking at her as a beautiful girl.

Konohamaru meanwhile was glad that Hanabi was catching on fast and now it was time to really put Naruto on the spot.

"Well if you think she's pretty then give her a kiss then, unless that rumour about you and the Uchiha guy was true," he said off handed. He grinned seeing Naruto's expression, he had learned about that kiss incident from Hanabi one day and he laughed his ass off at it. Apparently Hinata had come home looking all depressed and since Hanabi and her were close she had told her little sister what happened.

Naruto was both embarrassed and pissed, would that damn thing haunt him for the rest of his life? It had been an accident and now Konohamaru was calling him out on his sexuality? He wouldn't stand for that, he liked girls. Hell he read his dad's books when he could, and he noticed girls all the time.

"It's not true Naruto-nii-san?" Hanabi said innocently further making Naruto angry. "If it is then I think I know of a third removed cousin and I think he would think you are pretty cute if you like boys that much.

"I'm not gay! I like girls!" Naruto shouted out not caring how that sounded to anyone listening.

"Prove it then," both young kids said to him.

"Fine I will!" And without even thinking he turned and gave Hinata a kiss on the cheek. Sure his mask was one and it was more of a chase kiss but the effect on Hinata was immediate.

She turned whole new shades of red as her eyes widened to the size of saucers. She was frozen stiff as her mind was trying to process what just happened but only one thought was repeating in her brain.

'Naruto kissed me, Naruto kissed me, Naruto kissed me! NARUTO KISSED ME!' Hinata's mind was screaming out in joy. Sure it wasn't some deeply romantic moonlight kiss on the lips like she had dreamed of many times. But still his lips had touched her face and it was the best she ever thought that she could have hoped for in real life.

"Uh no not again," Naruto said seeing Hinata get all red in the face. She looked really dazed and she was starting to rock back and forth until she fell. Thankfully he was there to catch her but he really wished he knew why she kept fainting. Every time he asked she just stuttered so much he couldn't understand. He was thinking of taking her to the hospital to see if they could find out what was wrong with her but every time he brought it up she kept telling him it was nothing to worry about.

So he just signed and gently placed her on the ground wondering why she had such a huge smile on her face.

Konohamaru and Hanabi gave each other amused looks.

"Well so far that was a good first step but is she going to be okay?" he whispered to her.

Hanabi nodded, "Yeah this is normal for her. Now we just have to get them to spend more time with each other but she needs to be more confident if she's ever going to tell him how she feels."

"Yeah and he doesn't know that she likes him, why doesn't anyone just tell him?" he asked. She shrugged saying that Hinata had asked many people not to tell him because she was too embarrassed and wanted to do it herself. Although like she had already said she was too shy to do so.

Konohamaru made a sour face, "are all relationships like this?"

Hanabi shrugged not sure herself, she hoped not. If she ever liked a boy she planned to just tell him to his face and deal with the after effects.

"Maybe we can work on them separately, I could try and get him to notice her if you think you can get her to actually say what she feels," he suggested.

"Good plan." She nodded her head as she looked at her sister. At this rate she was going to have to start carrying smelling salts on her from now on.

-Uchiha Compound-

Sasuke was in the training yard of his compound that he used since he was a kid. He could have moved out of the house at any time, after all it was filled with the ghosts of the past. But he needed to be reminded of what his search brother had done to his clan, to their family. After the compound had been cleaned up by order of the Hokage, Sasuke had taken up residence in his old room again. It was hard to sleep that whole first month, he kept expecting his search brother to come back and finish the job but he never did come back. Eventually he got used to the quiet of the place and it became a refuge for him.

He was sick and tired of all the praises he got in the academy, or all those stupid fan girls that just wanted him because of his statues as the last of a noble clan. They had this noble idea of him as some wounded soul that needed to be healed or something foolish like that. Of course he was in pain but he needed that pain to help him push himself.

He could care less about what people thought of him, it was mostly just empty praise anyway. He didn't see why just because he was the last of his clan that he should get so much attention, when he just wanted to be left alone. So he came home most of the time to just get away from it all. No one really cared anyway, most just wanted to be close to The Uchiha like they actually wanted to know him. That was a truth he learned at a very young age, that no one really wanted to know the real him. So he pushed all that fake admiration, attention and all that other stuff away.

He didn't need illusions like that in his life, so he was spending his day training. He was by the lake trying out the new fire techniques that Kakashi gave him, although he had a natural affinity with fire it was still taking time to learn them. He wanted to totally focus on this because he knew that Naruto wouldn't be too far behind. He actually had to smirk at that thought he had been the only one that managed to push him further along in life. Sure he thought of Naruto as a loud mouth fool that sometimes didn't take things as seriously but at times he had his moments.

He was still surprised at how Naruto had dealt with that ninja on the mission, he never pictured the blonde would be able to do something like that. Plus there was that huge chakra signature as well, there were so many mysteries surrounding the Hatake family. Why they wore the masks, the strange way Naruto seemed to have such a huge chakra supply and the way he healed. Sakura hadn't noticed but he had noticed on the way back that Naruto seemed to heal from his injuries pretty quick.

There was also Kakashi's eye, he was finally able to get their sensei to explain why he had a Sharingan eye. Only the man simply said that his teammate who was dying gave it to him because he had lost one of his. To Sasuke it seemed inconceivable that an Uchiha would give up even one eye to a non-clan member. It was pretty much unheard of when he looked up information in his family history. He had seen a name crossed out that existed several decades ago in all the history. It seemed that whoever that Uchiha was his clan had wiped out his history as though the man never existed.

It seemed a harsh thing to do, even if it went against the clan's rules to wipe out someone's existence like that was a cruel search fate.

At any rate Sasuke went back to his practicing trying to get the new move down. He made the hand seals and focused on the chakra in his lungs and shouted out, "Fire Style; Dragon Missile!" With that a flaming dragon came out of his mouth and flew over the lake. It made it about fifteen feet before it lost too much chakra and faded away. He stood there panting for breath feeling his mouth dry from the effort.

"Not bad, a little more practice and you'll start to get the hang of it."

Sasuke quickly turned around to see Kakashi there standing behind him. His body was in a lazy position although his face looked interested in him.

"Although you really should have a bottle or water or something when training with that kind of fire jutsu to prevent dehydration, also be careful of your chakra level. If you use too much you'll just collapse right there and it could take a very long time for someone to find you here." He said digging out a small purse. He handed it to him and told him about the change in mission and pay. He had already stopped by the Haruno house and given it to Sakura's parents. They were nice enough people and it seemed his other genin was out with Ino. He was glad that Asuma gave the young girl time off to help out Sakura.

Sasuke placed the small pouch on the ground and nodded as he went back to the end of the dock.

Kakashi knew that the boy wouldn't open up unless you force the issue, he was never good at subtly with this kind of thing anyway. "Sasuke I wanted to know how you're dealing with the last mission. The first kill isn't always something a person can handle well at first."

"I'm fine."

"That's what has me worried," Kakashi said seriously. "You act like it doesn't effect you at all and that's very worrying."

"She was an enemy and was trying to kill me," he said simply. "I only did what I did to survive."

Kakashi sighed, "That's true but I think you're on a fine line here. Enjoying killing makes you into someone that attacks anyone just for the thrill of it. Those types of enemies are like rabid dogs who are a danger to everyone. But with being so emotionless about it, you can actually be even more dangerous. Those types are cold and methodical, they rarely make mistakes and are very patient."

"How is that more dangerous?"

Kakashi decided to hit home with the boy he knew it was low but he needed a wake up call, "Because that's how Itachi is."

Sasuke turned around furious at him for bringing up his search brother and what was worse he insinuating that he was anything like his search brother was taking things too far. "I'm nothing like him!"

"Both child prodigies, both want to become stronger and you both don't seem to care much about killing. You're starting to sound a lot like him but don't get angry at me if you can't help but face the truth. I know you want to kill him and I can't blame you. I know what it's like to have those close to you taken from you. I've lost nearly everyone that I care for with the exception of a handful of people."

Kakashi looked over the water as Sasuke mulled over his words.

"Sasuke you're on a dangerous path, you have such great potential but I'm worried where your drive will take you. You could very well end up becoming what you hate and even if you do kill him then what? If all you have in your life is hate then you'll be left with nothing when it's over. You're entire life's work will have ended before you actually started to live your life."

Sasuke looked away as he looked over the water as well. He vowed to kill Itachi for what he did, nothing could stop that. But why was this man trying so hard to make sure he didn't end up like him? Why would he care what happens to him?

"Why do you care?" Sasuke said bluntly.

Kakashi shrugged, "maybe it's because you remind me of how I used to be at your age and I don't want you to make the same mistakes I made."

Sasuke was now surprised the fact that Kakashi claimed to be anything like him at his age was laughable.

"Hey it's true. I used to be a strictly by the book ninja, never late and always serious. I was called a genius too but I never cared about that only my skills." He said smiling at the boy. "But then one day I lost someone who I found that I viewed as not only my best friend but as a search brother I never had. When I lost him everything started to change."

Sasuke thought about who it was, "It was the Uchiha that gave you the eye wasn't it?"

Kakashi nodded his head.

"I can't find any record of his name in my family records it was like they wanted to erase his memory." He then noticed a slightly angry look in the man's eye. He had never really seen the man angry but his whole body subtly changed and for a second he felt all the stories he looked into about him were all very true.

"He deserves to be remembered," Kakashi said in a tone that you could hear a suppressed fury in them. " His name was Obito Uchiha and although he wasn't the normal type of Uchiha he was someone special, someone that comes around only once in a generation I feel. People like him are very rare but I'm glad that I met him."

"How did it happen?" Sasuke asked wanting to know more about this mysterious Uchiha.

Kakashi sighed as he looked slightly depressed as he started to recall old memories. "It was on a mission, our teammate Rin was captured and I wanted to go on and finish the mission without her. He told me he was going back, he was the one that came up with the phrase 'A ninja who doesn't follow the rules is trash but a ninja that turns his backs on his friends is worse than trash'."

"I still went on but I later turned around feeling his words echo in my mind. When I caught up there were a lot of things going on I won't go into detail. There was a battle, we got Rin, I lost my eye and then that fool had to go and be noble and sacrifice himself so we could live. Half his body was crushed and I was there when he died. With his dying breath he asked Rin to put his eye in me."

Kakashi was silent for a long time remembering his old team, "I lost him...then a few months later I lost Rin when she was on a mission and she never came back. Then I lost my sensei who was like a second father to me. For a moment I had lost everyone in my life and I had no one left but then one bright moment came and that was Naruto. For the longest time he's kept me strong and that's were true strength comes from, Sasuke."

"It comes from the bonds you form, you're stronger because you fight for someone else and not just for yourself. Like how you want to avenger your clan but are you doing it for them or for yourself? You'll be stronger if you fight in their memory and not for your revenge."

Kakashi and Sasuke stood there alone silently as they watched the sun started to lower itself. He felt that he had said enough and went to turn to get back home to Naruto.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke said to him not looking away from the lake. "Can...can you tell me more about this Obito sometime?"

"Why is that?" Kakashi asked.

"Because he was of my clan and if I am to fight in their memory, then I should remember him too." Sasuke said.

For a moment Kakashi felt his heart swell at that, he always went to the memorial stone so that Obito's memory would never be forgotten as long as he lived. But now for the first time in a long time a member of his clan would know of him and remember him as well. What had been done to him was in injustice and this was a small way to ensure that Obito's memory lived on back in the clan.

"Sure thing, I have lots of stories about the most unique Uchiha that most likely ever lived." Kakashi smiled before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Next up chapter 31: Getting Stronger