With every sense prepared for instant flight they nestled through the alleys, deciding to stay off the rooftops, unwilling to expose themselves. It took maybe ten minutes but then they were finally behind the row of houses next to the mountain. Ahead of them the narrow road scurried forwards into the darkness of its walls. Time for a last check, he was hesitant to turn his back on the town before he'd cleared it.

"Anything?" he asked Pakkun. The dog shook his head,

"No, I think we managed to elude them."

"Good. You go last, Naruto after me."

The other two nodded and Kakashi started forward, letting the shadows encompass him like a strict blanket.

It took a while but then the sounds of the town quieted down, became replaced with the ethereal sound of valleys and wind, mixing in a finite way. With a sigh he trudged up the stairs, he felt his blood pumping and didn't need to look at his arm to know that it was bleeding again, for now held back by the covers, but given time it would definitely begin seeping through again. He hated pushing on when he knew his body needed rest, but he had nothing for it. Mind over matter.

It was a bliss to step out onto the plateau after his hasty stair climbing. He turned to Naruto who looked if not refreshed then at least unaffected. No fair, Kakashi whined, and allowed himself a second of self pity.

"You want anything? Water?"

Naruto shook his head in response.

Farther away the plateau gave way to a road that slanted softly downwards. It was only broad enough for one person at a time, making talking uncomfortable. Kakashi was curious on what had happened with the scroll, and how Naruto had known which was the real one, and how he'd found the one that was. But discussing it here would be bothersome and so he did not.

He remembered the sights as they reappeared only now opposite order. A slow winding curve, a funny looking peak, a cliff seeming to be defying gravity and all order, perched as it was on a looming edge. They hurried past it. To their left was the sharp tips of mountains, clouds shrouded in between, as if daring all by-passers to reach out and see if they really were just as soft as they looked. The air was growing colder, among the mountains there were no homes or houses to retain the faint warmth left by the sun, all sense of comfort shuffled away as quickly as a breeze. No doubt about it, the place became downright hostile after dark. They paid no mind of the orange, taunting sky but instead kept their gazes glued to the dark gray ground beneath their feet. Some twists and turns later they left that particular mountain behind them and was directly faced with another. They were in the valley where they had gotten news by Tsunades bird.

"I want us to at least put that behind us before we settle down for the night." He'd nodded towards the trail ahead of them.

"Yeah," Naruto said.

It took an hour, but eventually Kakashi found himself growing more and more irritated. He wasn't one to develop grudges but he was well on his way this time. The trail, a sad thin thing, crawled its way up the mountainside in an angle that would on a good day be called adventurous. Traversing it upwards could only be described as moronic. Some parts were better, with solid, stomped brown earth and flat rocks to step upon, but most of it consisted of crushed rocks, pebbles, chippings, causing their feet to sink down with every step. Now and then there would be the slightest avalanche caused by one of them, and the gravel would roll downwards, threatening to bring anyone with them that weren't careful. All he wanted was to sit down on the nearest patch and never get up again, but he refused to succumb to his less stoical desires.

I've been subjected to genjutsu less depressing than this, he thought wryly.

Twenty hellish minutes later he sank down on the blissfully firm ground, nestling out of the straps of his backpack, and with a completely ungraceful motion he flopped down onto the cold, ever so slightly damp earth. He rolled over so that he was on his back, relished in the feel of having his back straightened out for the first time in hours. He groaned, slung an arm over his eyes, exhausted. He heard Naruto sitting down heavily, sighing, he too tired. Pakkun shook himself to rid himself of the microscopic raindrops that hung in the air, in the gentle fog that surrounded them. "Five minutes," he said, buying them time where there was none. They might be followed in this very instant.

Kakashi relaxed against the ground, every muscle closing down, he could almost feel them cease one by one, until he became blissfully limp. It would be hell to get to work in a few minutes but he shooed the thought away, allowed his mind to dwell on nothing. Way too soon Pakkun called out and he got up with regret in his bones. By then his muscles had grown cold and unwilling. He heaved on his backpack and they walked again, still in silence. The sun was setting, gathering up its light before it moved on but yet the world was visible. Kakashi suspected that they wouldn't have time to get off the highlands before the night was upon them.

The trail had gotten wider, well enough to contain two people and a dog. It was much easier to travel by, finally sturdy.

"What happened with the scroll?" he asked without further ado. "How did you know which was the real one?"

"The real one had a few drops of blood on it," he said curtly.

"Whose blood?" he asked, but figured it out at the same moment Naruto answered him.

"Iruka's. He defended me from Mizuki and wound up badly hurt."

His voice was devoid of any emotions. He wouldn't let it sway.

From what he'd gathered by the little bits of pieces that had made it past the red tape, Iruka had more or less thrown himself in front of a big shuriken aimed for Naruto. Would he have done the same thing?

Probably.

The only sound he heard was that of their feet upon the stony ground. The thought finished a number of laps in his mind, and he knew that there was no "probably" about it. He'd take every kunai, tanto and shuriken headed his way. He was lost. Ahead of him Naruto stepped over a rock, oblivious.

"It smelled of him", he added weakly.

Kakashi could practically see the clouds arrange in his mind, covering that otherwise cheerful demeanor with something much more sinister. He cleared his throat to get his mind off of whatever he was thinking about.

"What was it that you saw later on?"

"I saw a young guy, maybe my age, looking around, and I saw that he had something on his back. When he saw the ruckus in the alley he turned around to go another way, and I followed him. I got hold of the scroll, but by then the other guys had caught up so I had to fight them and you called Pakkun sometime by then so it took a while to get back."

"I see."

The evening unfolded itself around them, sunk into crevices and leaving nothing behind but a tangy darkness. There was no moon and the stars barely gave any light.

"We'd better get settled in for the night," Kakashi said. He didn't want to risk getting lost in the dark. Pakkun had great night vision but he needed to rest, if only for a few hours.

They decided on a spot some twenty metres away where there was a little slope, protecting them from the worst of the winds that had started sweeping brusquely across the vacant lands. He huddled down beneath a couple of rocks and took a moment to breathe, finally allowing himself to relax. He knew the risks of letting his guard down but he also knew that no one could be in a state of constant alertness forever. It was impossible to remain hyper-aware all the time. He chugged down a pre-packed meal, not especially hungry but needing to keep his energy level up for the sake of his summon. He wriggled in his sleeping bag, for the first time leaving Naruto and Pakkun to fend for themselves, too tired to care about anything else than putting his arm in a position that wasn't agonizing, and he didn't think of anything else.

It felt as if no time had passed at all, he was still hurt and tired, though by then the pain had subsided a bit. He'd been through worse. Naruto looked about as awake as Kakashi felt; only slightly. His head full of hair stood askew and he was blinking heavily to get the gravel out of his eyes. They ate a tasteless breakfast in silence, watching the gray crack get wider in the looming night sky until it was clear that dawn had conquered.

"How long did we sleep?" Kakashi asked the dog.

To his left Naruto yawned wide enough to put any lion to shame, but said nothing. Watching him, Kakashi yawned too.

"Four hours," Pakkun said and jumped down from the rock he'd been perched on.

"Let's go."

Yesterday they'd been too tired to do anything but walk the last of the distance, but now they had to hurry up. They set a pace, balancing the line between speed and the risk of fatigue. His arm wasn't hurting as much as he'd expected, now it had started to feel itchy and it was straining, he knew it had started healing.

They'd been on the move for a couple of hours when there was a gradual change in nature. The highlands gave way to a terrain with lots of cliffs scattered across the plane surface along with the occasional defiant tree. If Narutos growling stomach was any indication it was nearing lunch, and Kakashi was just about to suggest a break when Pakkun pricked up his ears. The shift was apparent in the dog- his entire stature now watchful instead of slouching, and despite that they were running he looked wary.

"I'm hungry, let's go a little further and then take a break," he said.

Code for enemies. Pakkun didn't need to eat.

"Yeah, sounds good," Kakashi said, taking out his kunai, saw Naruto prepare himself as well.

"Let me know when, Pakkun."

He did a quick sweep, resulting in five separate signatures, though he couldn't pinpoint them, just that they were further ahead.

"How about that green-looking rock?" Pakkun suggested.

"Sure," he agreed, turning to Naruto.

"They're five, it's an ambush, avoid fighting unless they're lashing out at you. Focus on keeping the scroll safe." He kept his voice low.

"Buy me time, a couple of seconds," Naruto countered.

Kakashi didn't reply, the huge rock approaching, soon they wouldn't have time-

He nodded back, having no idea what he'd just agreed to. He signed to Pakkun to join him and Naruto took off. He put his kunai back, he'd try to look inconspicuous for as long as possible.

He and Pakkun slowed down next to the massive stone that was making a huge shadow on the ground, they walked around it, Kakashi took a deep breath.

"So, where do we sit?"

They passed a corner and stood face to face with the five he'd sensed, with Kusagakure headbands. They were all alert, weapons drawn.

"Hello," Kakashi said, politely enough.

"Spread out!" one of them yelled. "He doesn't have the s-"

A flash of blue and while made him blind for a second but he was expecting it and had jumped away the moment he'd seen Naruto appear.

He must have tried to make a less destructive rasengan as all it did was knock them out.

"Good work," he said, and Naruto smiled. "We'd better hurry."

They took off again, keeping an eye out for trouble.

It was unsettling that they had tried to take the scroll even though it was on its way back to Konoha. The loyalty of Kusagakure needed to be examined and reevaluated.

An hour later they ate lunch, sitting down only ten short minutes, then they were off again, going faster than they should but still not able to shake the looming sensation of being followed.

The change in nature wasn't discernable, not when rushing by the signs. It wasn't a clear-cut line between one type or the other, a different sort of trees sprung up, filling out the spaces with shadows of green, their trunks like sturdy exclamation marks rooted in the ground.

His head felt empty after being on the road for so long and in such a haste. All thoughts that were not necessary were peeled away and exchanged for ones more useful.

How far was it? Where was it best to sleep? Was there a brook on the way?

Their water bottles were almost empty. He tried not to think about that.

"We'll stop here," he concluded.

The clearing was barely a kilometer away from the little creek they had stopped by some minutes ago. There they had drunk until their thirst had finally left them. Kakashi looked forward to getting to sleep. His arm had started bothering him around lunch and it had only gotten worse since then. It was probably an infection. He didn't have more than a basic sense of medical care, despite having stitched himself up a handful of times. He could probably do some sutures, but he suspected it would only make matters worse in his case.

"Pakkun?"

"Mm?"

"Give me four hours."

"Will do."

It wasn't nearly enough but it would have to do.

He'd barely put his head down before he fell asleep.

The next thing he knew he was staring into something green. It took a while to remember where he was and how he'd gotten there. He felt hot and cold at the same time, he knew he had a fever but pretended not to notice. He had some water, felt a little bit better.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked and eyed him. "You don't look so well, sensei."

"I'm fine," he promised. Soon they would be back in Konoha and he could put this whole debacle behind him.

Dawn was still a little ways off but it had begun brightening, enough for Pakkun to safely navigate them home. Naruto went after the ninken and kept a slower pace than before, giving Kakashi a gnawing sensation of being the one slowing them down.

The forest that usually seemed so inviting was now an eyesore, every lurch that should have shown a thinning of the green leaves was instead an irritating reminder of the fact that home was still far away. He kept on fighting, pushing forwards, ignoring the dizziness he felt. He was adamant not to fall behind, refused to become a burden. He didn't know how long they ran before stopping but the sun had risen, claimed its rightful place amongst the heavens and kept shining down with a ferocity that demanded sacrifices. He stood still, catching his breath, when he felt a nin approaching in the opposite direction they were going in. Naruto pricked up his ears as well, Kakashi became pleased as he knew it was because of the training he'd had. It took maybe a minute before the person stumbled out from underneath a particularly dense tree and revealed himself with a sunny smile.

"Hi there! You're Kakashi Hatake, right?"

It was a guy in his twenties, healthy looking with black hair, a carefree way about him that was at least partially fabricated. From years and years of painful experience Kakashi had learned to separate the real deal of easiness from the act. For now he decided to keep him at arm's length.

"Mm," he said. No point in denying it.

"...and so you must be Uzumaki?" he said and looked at Naruto, who stood beside Kakashi, still working on emptying his water bottle. He gulped the last contents down and smiled brightly.

"Yeah!"

"Tsunade-sama sent me to follow you the last stretch of the way. She said you might be tired."

Kakashi kept a neutral expression on his face but sent a spike of chakra in Naruto's direction. Naruto kept on smiling, though by then it had faded almost imperceptibly.

Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally some assistance!"

The other man seemed relieved too, nodded towards the same direction he'd arrived from. "Shall we go then?"

Kakashi nodded and then flung himself at him, tackled him and pinned him to the ground, all in one fluid motion. He pulled out his kunai, held the other man down with his body weight and a knee on his chest, the knife steady in his hand, almost touching the pale skin by his neck.

"Who sent you?"

"What-" he swallowed, making the knife's edge do a peculiar dance at his jugular. "What are you talking about? Tsunade-"

He felt Narutos chakra at his back, growing uneasy, restless, at the turn of events.

"Who sent you?"

"What the hell is wrong with you!? Hokage-sama sent me to-"

"No she didn't." He knew that beyond a doubt. "Mind telling me who you are?"

He was sure he'd seen him around, only question was during which circumstances.

It was quiet for a second, and then the man smiled back up at him.

"I wasn't sent by that old hag. I'm answering to the orders of someone a lot more high-ranking."

Kakashi tightened his grip on the knife. The man beneath him suddenly focused on Naruto, his aura growing vicious and Kakashi followed his gaze onto the blond and with a bang he found himself on the ground, harshly kicked in the chest but he scrambled up anyway, staggering to take down the other man before anything happened to...

As in slow motion he saw the man being downed by a uppercut and Naruto looking at him, skeptical.

A second passed.

"Should we somehow tie this guy up?"

A few minutes later they stepped back, admiring what their joined efforts had resulted in. Their would-be attacker was tied to a tree, still unconscious but with a regular breathing.

They started on their way back, now running fast, anxious to get inside the walls of Konoha. It felt like their quote of luck and happy coincidences surely must be emptied by now, and if they had another encounter they might not make it out of it.

"How did you know he wasn't sent by Tsunade?"

Kakashi smiled a wry, joyless smile in regards to what he knew of the fifth Hokage. She rarely ever allowed anyone (least of all herself) to grieve the loss of an operative if a job went bad. First and foremost she put the village's safety in front of almost everything.

"Sending out a guy to ease the burden? Very unlikely. Also, we haven't told her we were coming, so he couldn't have heard it from her."

She was...strict about seeing a job through. "Unless you're either dead or dying, I expect you to report to me." His eyes went back to Naruto, who nodded.

They rushed on, hurried up a particularly trying slope and then finally, finally, when they were at the top, they could see Konoha as a peaceful, stranded row of houses.

They ran the rest of the way, bags suddenly lighter and legs full of energy melted out of nothing.

He took a second to nod at the guards by the gates, then rushed past. Pakkun disappeared with a poof to go and recuperate.

Shizune told them that the Hokage was in and they practically fell in through the doorway, covered in grime, sweat, dirt, and in Kakashi's case, dried blood. He assumed he looked as bad as he felt.

Tsunade looked up from her important documents, put her pen down.

"I see you got it back. Good job. Though I expected nothing else from you two-"

"Thanks, but can we be excused?" Naruto interrupted and put the scroll in front of her.

Tsunades eyes narrowed in a dangerous way.

"Excuse me?"

"Kakashi-sensei needs to go to the hospital."

There he went again, babying him. He turned to the Hokage, "I'm fine, really."

"What happened?" She looked at Naruto expectantly and Kakashi made an exasperated sound.

Weren't anyone going to listen to him?

"He got a cut two days ago and it's infected-"

"It's nothing, it's just a scratch..."

"I think he has a fever-"

"Stop talking like I'm not here."

Tsunade turned to him, examining. "He does look a little pale."

Kakashi sighed inwardly. "We knocked a guy out and tied him to a tree. You might want to do something about that."

It became quiet. Finally.

She looked down at the scroll, made her mind up.

"I'll send someone. You-" she glared at him, "will go to the hospital. And you" she eyed Naruto, "make sure he stays there until they say he can go."

He sighed, pretty loud this time, but she was probably right. His arm did hurt. But from the way she'd said it it sounded like he was some kind of hospital-vigilante, being admitted and then running away against the doctors' orders, while the truth was that he'd only done it at most a handful of times.

They were dismissed and set out for the bright building instead. The foyer was just like he remembered it, loud and full of people. He went up to the desk to turn himself in. The nurses started smiling.

"Kakashi-san!"

"Um...hi. I think I need to see a doctor."

A voice was heard farther away.

"I can do it!" She had chestnut colored hair, was in her thirties, smiled a lot. Akane...No, Yui...? He thought another while as they wandered down the hallway in search of an examination room. She opened the door to room number sixteen and he took the opportunity to read her name tag. Saki.

He shrugged off his coat and sat down on the edge of the bed. She leaned in, put on a pair of gloves, carefully started unwrapping the bindings. It was a tedious process as they had by then gotten quite stuck to his skin. He bit down the tears. It hurt as the wound met the fresh air.

"What kind of knife?"

He thought for a second.

"It seemed to be chakra-reinforced."

She got a small scissor and used it to cut up the sleeve of his sweater.

"Sorry, but I couldn't roll it up that much."

He shrugged. "It's fine."

He was going to throw it anyway, it was beyond salvation.

She hummed, lightly touched his skin as she evaluated the damage.

"It needs to be properly cleaned, and a couple of stitches. But first I'll give you something for the pain."

He watched as she swiftly brought out a syringe from a drawer and filled it with a clear liquid. It only stung for a moment.

"I'll be back in a short moment. You might want to lie down."

He shook his head defiantly.

He didn't want to lie down, that would be pathetic. He could might as well ask Naruto to hold his hand while he was at it.

They sat in silence, Naruto had sunken down in the chair next to the door, had made himself comfortable and looked as if he'd fall asleep at any second.

At first Kakashi didn't notice anything besides the angry hurting below his shoulder, but after a while his body started to feel slanted, as if a thousand little scales were all trying to readjust themselves at once. A numbness started spreading haphazardly through his veins and he knew he was becoming affected, tried to keep himself perfectly upright but failed, not sure of how much energy he was consuming and how his body was positioned. The doctor came back and just like in a bar he tried his best to look sober.

"How are you feeling?"

"Ah... not sure."

"No pain?"

He shook his head. "Not really."

She went up to him again and must have done something because he felt a pinch and tensed, despite trying not to.

"I think you'll get another shot, it's still not numb."

He felt a prick again.

"I'll be back in a couple of minutes, okay?"

He nodded and she allowed herself a brief smile, something that had evolved beyond professionalism and into new territory.

The second shot didn't make him as tired as he'd thought, instead he felt an increasing amount of nothingness wrecking havoc with his arm. The doctor came back.

"Let's try again."

This time he didn't feel a thing, and she went on cleaning and sterilizing the wound. The solutions smelled nasty, as if burning when inhaled. Over in the corner Naruto had fallen asleep, head supported by his hand, dead to the world. The doctor looked where he looked, saw Naruto and chuckled.

"I've never had a guest fall asleep in an exam room before," she remarked merrily.

"There's a first time for everything," he said, and seeing Naruto sleeping made him want to sleep too. Or it was just the drugs kicking in.

Time moved by sluggishly in this room, the clock seemed to stand still.

She finished up and pulled her gloves off.

"That should do it. Don't get it wet, be careful when you shower. You should come back here in three days to get the stitches removed. Got it?"

He nodded again, wondered when he'd become so compliant.

The chair was empty. Where had Naruto gone?

A sadness washed over him in his muddled state. He knew he had no right to make demands over his time, had no right to wish that he was the one he spent it with. With a bitter taste in his mouth he started down the hallway, shakily. They had offered him a bed but he had refused, he wanted peace and quiet, not a hospital full of people employed to keep an eye on him. He could never fully relax there.

He'd made it out the main entrance when Naruto met up with him.

"I left your bag at your place, you shouldn't be hauling things around."

He didn't know what to say except a stiff "Thank you."

"Well, I just thought I'd tell you."

"Yes... I know now."

Through his drug addled brain mind he knew his comment hadn't made any sense and that it was quiet when he didn't want it to be.

"So, what-"

"I should-"

They were quiet again.

"I'll see you around," Naruto said.

"Mm," he agreed, and then with a final nod he went home.

He picked a more secretive road, didn't want to attract attention in his rugged state. His bag was outside his door, just as promised. He didn't have enough energy to carry it inside and so he dragged it in, locked the door, went to the bathroom, closed the blinds in his bedroom, stripped out of his clothes, and then sunk down in his bed. It took a while to get comfortable what with his arm and all, he curled up on his side like a shrimp, breathed in the soft scent of home, and then he slept.

He hated to admit it, but it was kind of nice not to work, for a day at least. The wound somehow hurt less since he knew it had been properly taken care of. He showered and put on clean clothes, his usual ones, his jounin outfit. His refrigerator was almost empty save for some godforsaken condiments that desperately clung to their shelves. He went out and bought breakfast, ate it at home. When he had finished he figured it was time to go and see Tsunade. She had probably been expecting him since morning, which meant he was four or five hours late. Then again, expecting him to be on time had always been optimistic, bordering on stupid. He did his job well, and when he had to he always met the deadline. But as long as lives weren't at stake, what was the rush? His tardiness had started sometime after Minato-senseis death. He'd dreaded to go to work and be faced with his absence, and so he fell behind, just a little bit, his feet felt like they were made out of lead where he walked alone across the dusty ground, and that day, that first day after his death, there had been no one to chide him, because the one who had always chided him was dead.

No one noticed he was late or even there at all, and so it continued, like a snowball of his own doing, it spiraled out of control, like kids left to their own means tend to do, and of course people noticed that he was late and berated him for it but nothing happened, because he didn't want anything to happen, because him being late was a protest, a stubborn whole-hearted protest against the fact that his sensei wasn't there to chastise him for it, and if people thought he was being rude he didn't care, as for all he was concerned this snowball made out of his feet that were heavy as lead, could roll away and grow as big as it pleased and if it eventually became too big, this snowball of missed appointments, if it became too big and rolled of a cliff, well, he wouldn't care. Kakashi was late, and Kakashi was protesting.

Though now, by age thirty three, he had no grandiose ambitions of riots in his ordinary life, now he didn't mean anything by it, him being late had evolved into the natural state of things, and who knew what would happen if he finally stopped. Perhaps hell would freeze over, or maybe it was like dividing by zero and accidentally undoing everything that could be seen as done and thus could be undone.

Shizune gave him a pointed look as he sauntered past her desk but he paid no mind, he knew there was no one in the Hokage's office except her and her ANBU guard, knew he wouldn't be interrupting anything.

When he entered she nodded, had suspected he was coming. "Tell me what happened."

And so he did, tried to convey everything as coolly as if he was reading from the Ichiraku menu. It took a while but she didn't interrupt. At last she nodded thoughtfully.

"You did good. No loose ends. We've gotten some additional info from your would-be attacker, the one you left by the tree. It was his brother that led the gang you fought, and he got the news on his death before we did. He moved here a couple of years ago from Yugakure, while his brother moved to Ichigakure. He convinced his brother to run for the seat as tsuchikage and deviced the whole plot to steal the scroll. He stayed behind to avoid suspicion when the scroll was taken, and it worked. We never would have found him if he hadn't gone to meet you."

Kakashi pondered the information for a while, then moved it to the back of his mind.

"At least the scroll is back now," he said, which settled the issue.

"One more thing," she said, and became business-like. "How did he do?"

She meant Naruto.

"He did very good."

Seemingly pleased she continued:

"I'm thinking about stepping down, and Naruto would be the obvious choice to replace me. As you know it's common that the Hokage has had experience within ANBU."

Minato, Sarutobi as well as Tsunade had all had more or less lengthy endeavors with the service, and now she wanted to know about Naruto.

"You know him the best-"

A thought that ate away at him.

"He used to be your student, and you've been training him for a lot of years. Knowing what you know, would you recommend that I enlist him?"

He didn't know what to say.

"He's very capable, clever, and follows his instincts, sometimes more so than his orders. There's no telling where he'll end up with proper training."

He had developed so much, just within a year.

"And?" Tsunade pressed on.

"No."

"No?"

"I wouldn't recommend it. Training, yes, but not active service."

"Why not?" She was curious, her eyes glinting like those of a wild animal in the dark.

"He doesn't have the heart for it."

She raised her eyebrows.

He tried explaining.

"He's a formidable fighter, and he rarely hesitates. But he would never set out with the intent to harm. He doesn't have it in him."

They looked at each other, finding a consensus in his words. Naruto was a lot of things, but ruthless wasn't one of them.

He was dismissed and went home to rest up.

Two days later he set out for Sound country, he waved at Genma in the guard house and when he turned his head he found himself face to face with Naruto.

"Hi," Kakashi said, tentatively.

"Hi," he replied. "Heading out?" he continued, glanced at Kakashi's backpack.

"Yeah. You?"

"I went as a bodyguard to an important merchant, or whatever he was. I forgot," he said, and smiled an apologetic smile. "When do you get back?"

Kakashi didn't feel like lying but did so anyway, was afraid that the truth would create a series of events he had not foreseen.

"Hopefully it won't take too long."

Not a direct lie, but not the truth either. When he got back Naruto would have moved along, further away from him, would have forgotten about his lazy sensei.

"Anyway, when you get back, maybe we could go eat ramen?" he asked, and Kakashi smiled despite himself.

"Sure."

Suddenly Naruto saw something and his face lit up.

"Sakura-chan!" he croaked and waved. He looked like a puppy, screaming happy! with every fiber of his being. She joined them where they stood, just by the gate.

"Naruto, Kakashi-sensei! Nice to see you!"

He felt like fleeing. "I'd better go. Nice to see you too, Sakura. Naruto." Nodded as a goodbye, smiled, and left them. He heard them talking and a bit later, laughing.

He didn't look back.