Surival Training, Team Work Skills

Chapter Seven

Disclaimer: Naruto and related characters do not belong to me! For the 7th time this fanfiction!
Authors Note: Well you all seem to be enjoying this still. 0.o! And yay! I went from 4 stars to 5! I feel so special. Thanks for all the reveiws and the great rates guys. Love you all. I don't think I would have ever finished this if it had been for all of your amazing reactions to it. Turned out much better then I ever expected. Thanks everyone. Now enough of me, let's get to the story!!!
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Sakura blinked at Naruto for several long moments of silence. Naruto blinked back, looking a lot like a very frightened child who had just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar before dinner. Sakura's face turned to a frown as she thought about that.

"Together..." she repeated to herself. Her voice soft, she still sounded confused. That or she was just haveing a lot of trouble comprehending what EXACTLY Naruto meant by that word.

Naruto realized suddenly that he was doing precisely what Sasuke was. Trying to hide it from people. He was doing what he was mad at Sasuke for doing. He felt like an idiot for several moments before pulling up his courage and nodding. "Yes! Together! Me and Sasuke ARE together. Is in a COUPLE....At least...we were untill the BASTARD started IGNORING me!" Naruto replied. Getting upset again.

Sakura suddenly burst out into insane laughter. Naruto raised an eyebrow at her as he watched the pink haired ninja start crying she was laughing so hard. "Sasuke? Gay!! Yah right! You really had me there for a minute Naruto you moron!" Sakura laughed. She whipped away the tears as she started to calm down again when she saw the frustrated look on Naruto's face.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! No one ever beleives me! Fine! I'll figure this out on my own!" Naruto snapped at her. He had been sort of hoping, somewhere inside that maybe Sakura would help him. As rediculious as that notion was. After all, Sakura had a huge crush on Sasuke herself. Naturally she would be in denial that he was gay. Sakura starred adter him in disbeleif as Naruto stormed off.

The Kyuubi boy made his way to the faces of the Hokage and climbed up to sit on top of the head of the 4th Hokage and mope. He liked it up here. No one came to bother him and it gave a really nice veiw of the entire village.

"Stupid Sasuke," Naruto muttered to himself.

"Stupid Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto nearly jumped three feet in the air when the voice of his sensei came from behind. The blonde almost fell off his perch too, but Kakashi caught him just over the edge. He was smiling as Naruto had a freak out session while hanging in mid air. "Done now?" Kakashi asked when Naruto had stopped yelling and flailing.

"Yes," Naruto replied shortly. "NOW PUT ME DOWN!"

Kakashi laughed and pulled Naruto back onto solid ground and set him down on his head. Naruto had another breif yelling fit before righting himself and crossing his arms miserabley. "Stupid Sasuke what?" Kakashi repeated his earlier question.

"Nothing," Naruto muttered, remember Kakashi was the one who threatened to tie them to the ceiling of the acedemy and have the genin use him as target practise.

"I know you only aren't telling me because I threatened you before you left. But this does not seem to be a matter of arguement is it? So what is wrong?" Kakashi asked patiently. He had always been there for his students and he had noticed Naruto and Sasukes' strange behavior since they had come back from the 'mission'. If it had not been for him 'accidently' hearing Naruto confess to Sakura he never would have guessed the problem and he would still be clueless. But he had. And so now he was here to help his student work it out. It was no good if they were having a disagreement like this. Of course he had never intended for Sasuke and Naruto to become THAT close. Even if Naruto's crush had been evident before he had never imagined Sasuke would have gone along with it.

"Sasuke is ignoring me," Naruto stated eventually. It appeared he was tiptoeing around the problem a little bit. Kakashi smiled slightly beneath his mask. Leave it up to Naruto to still be at least a little worried about other peoples opinions. For all his acting that he did not care it was amazing to discover that he did.

"So?" Kakashi replied, like he was prompting Naruto to contiue on peices left out.

Naruto scowled at Kakashi. "He's ignoring me, and I don't want him to be..." Naruto replied, still clueless as to what Kakashi was waiting for.

"Why? Last time you left, if Sasuke had started ignoring you I am sure you would have been a happy guy. Why is it different now?" Kakashi prompted. He couldn't let Naruto know that he really did already know why. But the blonde would figure it out eventually that Kakashi had known all along anyways.

"...Because!" Naruto replied. Kakashi frowned. This was going to take more work then he had expected.

"That's not an answer Naruto," he replied his voice taking on a slight edge as he looked irritabley at him. Naruto pouted.

"Fine! I care because back in the forest...Back in the forest he was finally...nice...or as nice as Sasuke can be. And I had a crush on him and finally told him and Sasuke said he liked me too but now he's being a bastard and ignoring me!" Naruto spilled the whole bit, he was getting more and more upset the more Kakashi poked.

"You should have expected that...Naruto," Kakashi said slowly. Now he had gotten Naruto to admit it. The steps to fixing it were going to be the hard part now. He was not even entirely sure he COULD fix it. But it was definatly worth the try to get something started. He would have to go talk to Sasuke aswell.

"Nani?!" Naruto asked, jumping up. He was getting frustrated too. "Expected that!? Why?"

"This IS Sasuke...Think of all the people news like that would effect. And Sasuke has never really had someone who cared about him before publicly. He probably does not understand why you care. And he does not know how to deal with it. So he chose denial," Kakashi explained. Trying to calm down the genin.

"How the hell do you know?? Wait a second...You don't care!?!" Naruto suddenly calmed down when it occured to him that Kakashi did not care that they had become as they had. He stared incredilously at the silver haired Jounin.

"Sasuke and I are more alike then you think Naruto...And no, I don't care," Kakashi replied, smiling at Naruto reassuringly.

"You? Like Sasuke?" Naruto chuckled at that thought. Kakashi had been wondering when Naruto would start to cheer up again. It was not like him to be miserable on the outside for long. Even if he was still miserable on the inside.

"Yes. I am like Sasuke. You just can't see it," Kakashi replied. But this was not what he had come here to discuss with the genin! "But that is not the point. You want Sasuke to talk to you again right?"

"Yah..."

"Well why don't you give him a couple nights to think on his own? He probably just needs to come to terms with all his feelings," the Jounin suggested to Naruto. The blonde haired genin considered this for several long moments as he scratched his chin. Sasuke always had been touchy. And overly sensitive even if he would never admit it.

"Okay..." Naruto replied, he still sounded unconvinced but decided to agree. Kakashi usually straightened things out anyways in the end anyways. The Jounin smiled.

"Good choice. Just be patient," Kakashi then got up and started to head off. Naruto, patient? That was a laugh. But Kakashi could only hope he did last long enough for Kakashi to try and sort out what was with Sasuke. He was positive he had everything right. But odds are Sasuke would start ignoring him too the moment he tried to talk about this issue. And he might get even angrier when he discovered Naruto's slipping up and telling Sakura. Then announcing everything to Kakashi. This was not an easy situation to fix.

"Where are you going?" Naruto's voice shattered Kakashi's thoughts for a moment.

"Eh? Oh. I thought I saw trouble. Ja ne," Kakashi leapt numbly off of the head and before Naruto could yell him, he had disappeared entirely. Naruto blinked angrilly down at where Kakashi had dropped. Stupid sensei. Naruto frowned as he recalled their whole conversation back in his head. Wait a second! Kakashi had known all along! Why else would he have prompted so much? Naruto growled. Why had Kakashi not just SAID something earlier. It would have made that conversation less painfull.

"Maybe...he wanted me to admit it to him completely?" Naruto pondered as he starred out over Konoha. Yah. That was definatly the reason.

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Kakashi had not run off far before stopping and sitting down. Perched on the roof of a building just out of site of Naruto who was still sitting on the Hokage Memorial Heads. By now the blonde should have figured out what had happened there. But now it was Kakashi's turn to ponder. He was starting to think he just might have to leave Sasuke alone to think after all. If he was feeling so touchy about this situation then Sasuke would not be happy to hear that Naruto had spilled everything to Kakashi. It could make things worse.

He hoped Sakura did not say anything further on the matter or give to much thought to it entirely. Wait. Sakura. Kakashi wondered if he could trust her to help bring Sasuke and Naruto back together. Perhaps not, she was after all, bent on claiming the raven haired boys love. Much like any other girls who might have helped in this situation. Kakashi could have ripped his own hair out for his frustation. He was not happy. The silver haired Jounin leaned back against the slanted roof and lay down, looking up at the sky as though hoping that perhaps the answers would fall on his head.

Going right to Sasuke was a no. Sakura would never help, and she had not beleived Naruto anyways. Or was it denial? Sakura was a smart girl, he was sure that the pink haired girl had seen the signs of relationship between the two boys. Maybe not. A girl in love sees only what she wants to see after all.

"Something bothering you Kakashi?"

"Eh?" Kakashi looked around for the source of the voice and saw Iruka had joined him on the roof top. He wondered how the Chuunin had found him. Or why he had found him. Wait a second! Iruka would help. Kakashi sat up quickly. "I need your help for something."

Iruka looked confused. "What is it?" He asked, since when had Kakashi needed HIS help. Usually the silver haired Jounin told him to back off. Kakashi was very protective of his genin. And had proved time and time again that he always made the proper disicions concerning them.

"It's Naruto and Sasuke. Remember that mission I sent them on?" Kakashi replied hastily. Iruka nodded uncertiantly. Where was this going? Kakashi proceeded to explain the situation to the brown haired Chuunin. And soon the two of them where sitting side by side, both pondering the next step.

"I always knew this was going to happen sooner or later," Iruka mumbled. He too had always noted Narutos' attraction for Sasuke. And the cover up of chasing Sakura had always been a rather feeble one.

"Mmhmm...I had expected later though..." Kakashi agreed.

"Well they are getting older..." Iruka commented. Kakashi shook his head, as though clearing it of several thoughts. What they were talking about did not really matter. What mattered was getting them back together!

"That doesn't matter. It happened. Now I have a plan and I need you to..." Kakashi explained.
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Mwhahahaha! A cliff hanger for everyone! Wow that was a pretty long chapter. I just HAD to bring in Iruka. I was tempted to make Kakashi and Iruka a side couple but that always seems to be a little over done in fanfictions like these so I guess not. Oh well. Maybe I will do a pairing for them later. Hope you enjoyed that chapter.
Getting so close to the conclusion it hurts!