Disclaimer: This is a non-profit work of Fan Fiction. I do not claim ownership of Naruto or any related franchises.

"That's bullshit."

Silence suddenly reigned within the clearing. Two children and an adult stiffened in shock, wondering if they'd just heard correctly.

Three pairs of eyes sought out the offender, a short blonde boy in a glaringly orange jumpsuit. The little fellow in question was obviously worked up. The finger he was pointing at his teacher was shaking from the force of his anger.

"Excuse me?"

Kakashi Hatake was known around Konoha for three things beside his shinobi prowess – his perpetual disregard for punctuality, his preference for adult literature, and the permanent hangdog expression he wore on his face (or what was visible of it, anyway).

Only now the bored expression was nowhere to be seen. His lone eye was narrowed down at his student, but the blonde remained unmoving in face of an expression that would've sent battle-hardened assassins running for their mother.

"You heard me, pervert. That's bullshit."

Obito's eye was stinging behind his mask. Kakashi felt the urge to pull it down and give the young Genin a good dose of killing intent, but managed to keep his calm instead.

Barely.

"Pray tell me, Naruto - " Kakashi's voice lightened, almost like he was commenting on the weather. Something about his disposition, however, made the other two young ninja back away almost unconsciously.

Naruto, of course, held his ground. If only because he was tied to a log.

" – why is it that you think my life's philosophy is, as you put it, bull?"

The jonin might or might not have released a small cloud of murderous intent to make his point. Sasuke and Sakura backed away further.

The blonde took a deep breath, lowering his head until his eyes were shadowed by his yellow locks.

Then he looked back up at the Jonin, who was struck by the shining determination in his eyes. He'd seen those same eyes so many times in the past, but then it had been Kakashi who'd been looking up into them.

The blonde recited quietly, "The Hokage's first and utmost duty is towards his village, and it's will of fire. In life or death, in times of peace and war, his highest priority is always the village, and nothing but the village."

And suddenly Kakashi could see a tall, cloaked blonde man's image superimposed in the blonde, looking at him with that same steadfast expression, delivering those very same lines. Unbidden, he took a step backwards at the intense déjà vu.

The silence in the woods had solidified to the extent that Sakura was sure that she'd be able to cut it apart like a slice of cake if she pulled out her kunai. But she couldn't deny that Naruto's words had shaken something within her in a way Kakashi couldn't manage. Even Sasuke was looking at the boy like he'd never expected something that deep to come from him.

"Is that so?" Kakashi was trying to hide how unnerved he suddenly felt, looking into those unflinching eyes. "Tell me, Naruto, would you abandon Sakura to her death if it meant completing the mission?"

He'd finally managed to shake his young charge. Both him and the girl flinched, exchanging quick, uncertain looks.

But Naruto didn't protest.

Academy reports had indicated that Naruto was infatuated with Haruno Sakura, so why was he hesitating to answer the question in the expected, loudmouthed manner?

Sakura was staring at Naruto in shock, unable to believe that he was taking so long to answer the question. To hide the troubled look that crossed her face, she moved to punch Naruto instead, but Kakashi raised his hand.

"Let him answer."

Naruto licked his lips and shot a glance at his crush, but she was studiously avoiding his gaze.

"Say we were on a mission," he began, his tongue rushing out to move over his lips again. "We'd come across some super-secret information –" Sasuke snorted, but it went unnoticed, "that the village needed to avoid war. And, and –"

The blonde scrunched up his face in distress, a flash of doubt entering his eyes again. But Kakashi was unmoved. His philosophy was something intrinsic to Konoha's own nindo, and Naruto had to understand it if he were ever to be a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village.

"There were enemies after us, and we were all really tired. And Sakura-chan was really, really hurt." Again he looked at his teammate, but she was much too interested in the ground. "Of course," Naruto seemed to receive a second wind, "we'd been carrying her all the way through enemy ground, because she's my friend, but then we were really tired too. And we really had to get the message to the village, because the Hokage needed it." Naruto trailed off, not wanting to finish his trail of thought. The message, however, was clear.

"You'd leave her in enemy territory? You?" Sasuke was looking at Naruto incredulously, and Yondaime's son seemed to shrink in on himself a bit. But there was no hiding the steel in his voice and his heart, because he only gave a single nod.

Kakashi couldn't pinpoint when the world had tilted off its axis and rolled right off, because this was Naruto and he was Sensei's son and his father had stabbed a sword through his own gut –

Sakura was ominously quiet, but Kakashi could see the droplets of water that were wetting the grass in front of her toes.

"You're worse than scum." Kakashi's voice was almost surprised, like he was coming to a conclusion that he'd rather not realize at all. "You, of all people, Naruto –"

"Yes, me." Naruto's chin was back up again, daring Kakashi to go further, staring him down every bit of the way. "And I have faith in Sakura-chan. She'd be the one to insist we put her down herself, because that's just how a good shinobi is."

Kakashi could tell that Naruto had watched the latest Ninja Hero movie, but suddenly cynicism didn't seem to cut it anymore. "And could you do it, Naruto? Could you bring the kunai to her throat and slash it yourself? Watch her bleed to death before your eyes?" was all he asked.

Sakura leaned over and vomited out what bile she had in her empty stomach. None of the men noticed, too tense to care.

"Could you slow down to save her, sensei?" Naruto shot back. "Could you kill all the people in the village, all the husbands and wives, and babies who wouldn't even understand what was happening! Could you live with yourself, knowing that little children would be orphaned and thrown out on the streets and treated like trash, simply because you couldn't get a scroll to the fucking Hokage?!"

Kakashi's punch caught Naruto clean across the face, making his head snap back viciously. And then sense returned and the jonin was horrified at what he'd done, but the bloody smirk on Naruto's face was proof that the little bastard knew that he'd won, and Kakashi's world was crumbling around him –

"You fail. All of you." He gestured weakly at his hand, cutting Naruto's bonds lose so quickly that none of the genin could follow. "Leave, now." The pain in his eye was no longer a phantom sensation; he could feel the burning and the need to let loose the copy-wheel and watch the blonde demon burn- "Leave!"

"Fine." Kakashi's eyes snapped to the only genin who'd remained silent until now. Of all the people to accept failure, Sasuke was not the one on whom he'd bet. And then Kakashi became horribly aware that he was looking at the last of the Uchiha Clan, the clan where husbands and wives and babies had been slaughtered – "Dobe, Sakura, let's go."

"But, Sasuke-kun –" Sakura had regained some sense of equanimity, even though she was now standing next to the Uchiha, as far away from Naruto as she could.

"There are things far worse than dying honourably." Sasuke answered quietly. "I would know."

Sakura reared back like she'd been slapped. But Naruto met Sasuke's eye and something unspoken passed between them. The Uzumaki could tell that it had cost his teammate to admit that.

The three of them walked quietly out of the field, and strangely, it was Sasuke debating whether they'd be allowed another jounin sensei, because this one would promote treason rather than the protection of Konoha. Of the Creed of Fire.

As they neared the edge of the training ground, Sakura finally felt coherent enough to speak full sentences.

"Shinobi Rule Number 7," she whispered, catching both boys' attention, "a Ninja knows when to sacrifice for the village, to protect the Will at any cost."

"You're right, Naruto. I'd ask to do it myself." The three of them looked at each other and smiled tentatively, and suddenly there was something between them, something intangible, that none of them could place, but all of them were excited about.

Haruno Sakura went on to become the kunoichi on a team that many would claim equalled – or even surpassed – the Densetsu no Sannin. She'd always maintain that her first lesson on the path to greatness came from her own teammate, who'd taught her the Hokage's Doctrine first.

Rokudaime Uzumaki Naruto said it all began when he went to steal the Forbidden Scroll after being fed false information by his Academy teacher, but found a Forbidden Scroll instead. It had belonged to Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage and the Rokudaime's father.

Hatake Kakashi died twelve years later as reinstated ANBU Captain. He went back for a teammate against all odds, and took a kunai to the chest for his trouble.

He died content in his own beliefs.