Naruto was still racking his brain for the answer when he arrived at the front gate of the Leaf Village. If I save Obito then Madara won't be able to get him and manipulate him. But if he doesn't almost die then he won't give Kakashi the Sharingan, and he uses that at the battle at Kannabi Bridge. So if he doesn't have the Sharingan, will he die in that battle? Will he learn the importance of friends if he doesn't see Obito die? Gah! I have no freaking clue what to do!

"Naruto, you're late." Minato addressed Naruto as calmly as possible.

"I'm sorry. I just sort of got lost on the path of life, ya know." Naruto scratched his head as he looked at his waiting teammates.

"Man, you're gone for just over a month and you think you can just slack off on the start of a mission. You're no shinobi." Kakashi was irritated that Naruto didn't seem to care.

Naruto walked over to Kakashi, "Don't worry little brother, I'll still kick butt. Oh and congrats on becoming a jonin! That's awesome!" Naruto gave Kakashi a big smile with the compliment.

Kakashi blushed a little at the nickname, but brushed Naruto's hand away. "Whatever. Becoming jonin was just the next logical step for someone with my skills."

"Alright." Minato interrupted the conversation. "Now that we are all here. Let's get going."

Right before they were about to leave a man came up to the group. He had short brown hair and brown eyes, and a scar on his chin. "May I have a word with Naruto before you go?"

They all turned around, surprised at the sudden voice. Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly at the man before him.

"Danzo. What can I do for you." Naruto was trying to hold the venom back in his voice.

"Well, I heard that on your previous mission you let the enemy go. You even let the Eight-tails Jinchuriki live." Danzo was speaking in a criticizing tone as you spoke. "I hope you know that on this mission, the goal is to eliminate the enemy forces, and hopefully bring this accursed war closer to an end."

Naruto let Danzo finish talking before he walked right up into his face. "Now you listen to me Danzo. I'm not one of your pets in the foundation." Naruto's voice was dripping with venom as he spoke. He wasn't holding back anymore. "If you think you can order me around, you are dead wrong. I don't go around killing everyone, unlike some people. If you try to control my actions, I promise, you will be the one who ends up dead."

Minato couldn't believe Naruto would talk to a village elder that way. Even Danzo was looking at Naruto in surprise.

"Oh, and just so you know." Naruto's voice changed to a threatening tone. "I wouldn't try going after the Hidden Rain Village. Hanzo is already taken out of the picture. So you don't have any leverage there anymore. And they are under my protection."

Danzo sent a chilling glare at Naruto hoping to scare him off like everyone else. "Why you insolent brat. How dare you talk to me that way. Do you even know who I am?"

"Oh I know perfectly well who you are, Danzo." Naruto wasn't fazed at all by the glare being sent his way. "You are the type of person who would sacrifice anyone to get more power and anything else he wanted."

"How dare you–" Danzo couldn't say anymore before Naruto cut in.

"Now, if you'll excuse us, we have an important mission to start. And don't even think about having your personal ANBU follow us. If you do, I will know." Naruto walked off after speaking his mind. He didn't care about the intense look he was getting from Danzo behind him.

Minato was staring at Naruto in awe. No one had ever dared talk back to Danzo before. He gave off so much power, everyone was scared of him, but that was the scariest he had ever seen Naruto before. Does he know something about Danzo? Minato decided he would just have to talk to Naruto about it when he got the chance.

Minato glanced at his team as they were running through trees. Naruto was doing fine, which didn't surprise him at all, but Rin, Obito and Kakashi all looked like they were on their last leg, though Kakashi was trying to hide it. "Alright, let's stop and take a short break."

"Oh thank goodness!" Obito immediately stopped where he was and collapsed.

"Why are you even a shinobi? You are so useless." Kakashi looked at Obito with contempt as he spoke. "If you're going to complain about everything then you should've just stayed home."

"Kakashi, that's enough." Naruto was the one to speak up first. His voice held authority to it, the kind that made everyone around want to listen to him. But just before he was about to say more he felt the presence of more chakra. His voice quickly dropped to a whisper. "There are enemy shinobi surrounding us."

"But I don't sense anything." Minato was shocked. He was always good at sensing chakra. But he couldn't sense anything at that moment.

"They are concealing it really well, it's very faint, but it's there."

Minato put his hand to the ground and intensified his chakra to find the enemy. "Yeah, you're right." He turned towards Naruto. "I'm sensing seventeen chakra signatures."

Naruto nodded with Minato's conclusion. "Yeah, that's what I sensed too. But the chakra seems to be from the same person."

"So they're clones then. I can use my new jutsu and take them all out!" Kakashi suddenly spoke up, gathering lightning into his palm before charging forward.

"Kakashi, don't!" Naruto tried to stop him, but he was already dodging the kunai being thrown and slicing through clones with his new chidori. "That arrogant..." Naruto stopped before he could say anything else because he saw Kakashi charge towards the real enemy, but Naruto could see that the enemy was about to counterattack and Kakashi wasn't going to be able to dodge.

Naruto ran as fast as he could in order to stop Kakashi before he could get hurt. He barely made it in time to pull Kakashi out of the way, but he still ended up getting cut on his shoulder. Naruto ran back to where the rest of the team was before setting Kakashi down. Naruto barely had to look at Minato for him to get the message.

Minato took his backpack off his shoulder and before it even hit the ground he was gone and the next moment had his Kunai to the enemy's neck. "Sorry, this is it for you." Minato finished off the enemy before transporting back to his team. He was watching Rin bandage up Kakashi's wound while Obito was in shock and Naruto seemed as cool as could be. How did Naruto put one of my own marks on the enemy? Minato was looking at Naruto curiously. "Hey Naruto?" Minato decided to speak up.

"What's up, Minato?" Naruto looked up to Minato a little confused.

"How did you put a Flying Raijin mark on that guy?" Minato figured it was best to get straight to the point. That way Naruto couldn't come up with a good excuse.

"Oh! That... well..." Naruto didn't know what to say to Minato. Shit! I did that without thinking. Now he's really going to be suspicious... Before Naruto could say anything he was interrupted by the now familiar arguing between Obito and Kakashi.

"What the hell, Kakashi! You don't have to do everything alone, we are here to help!" Obito was yelling at Kakashi.

"Oh yeah, because all you can do is sit and cry. You are the most useless one on the team."

"I wasn't crying! I just got something in my eye, that's all!"

"Now stop it!" Naruto yelled at the two bickering boys. Again the authority in his voice made everyone listen. "You two are comrades, you need to stop this endless arguing! Obito, you need to stop making excuses. You can't get something in your eye while you're wearing goggles. It's okay to be afraid, but don't let that fear control you."

"Yeah Obito–" Kakashi tried to get a word in, but was cut off when Naruto turned and glared at him.

"And you, Kakashi. Stop calling Obito useless, because he's not. Stop ignoring your team, they are here to help you. The mission is important, but what sets us apart from other villages is that we care about our comrades. Your friends and teammates are just as important as any mission. I don't want you to have to lose them to realize that." Naruto stopped to let the message sink in.

Minato was watching as Naruto lectured Kakashi. I didn't know that Naruto could be this serious. He's always smiling and joking around. He had a slight smile on his face as he addressed his team once again. "Naruto is right you two. Plus, have you considered how it makes Rin feel?" Rin was staring at the ground with sad eyes. "And Kakashi, in my opinion, you should not use that jutsu again."

"But why?! It's a strong jutsu!" Kakashi was upset that his sensei was looking down at him. "Plus I'm a jonin now. I know my limits."

"Kakashi, this isn't about strength. That jutsu is still incomplete. It is fast, yes. But it doesn't allow you to gauge your opponents counterattacks. If it wasn't for Naruto you would have been killed just now." Minato knew that Kakashi needed to know the truth.

"...Yeah, I got it." Kakashi didn't say anything else and just looked away.

"Alright let's discuss our strategy here." Team Minato started to discuss the plans that they would follow throughout the rest of the mission. "First off, that guy was probably not alone, which means there are going to be more traps along the way, we need to keep our eyes open. Our main mission is to destroy the Kannabi Bridge so the Land of Earth can't supply any more shinobi to the area. To do this we are going to split into two separate teams."

When Naruto heard that they would be splitting up his heart skipped a beat. That's when everything happens! They split up and Rin gets captured!

"Kakashi will lead Rin and Obito in a team. You three will make your way across the enemy lines, while Naruto and I will head directly towards Kannabi bridge and make a distraction." Minato missed the flinch from Naruto during his explanation.

"Kakashi." Rin spoke up after their debriefing was over.

"What is it, Rin?"

"Oh well, I got this special med kit for you as a gift for becoming a jonin. I thought I would give it to you now." Rin handed Kakashi a small bag.

"Thank you, Rin." Kakashi took the med kit with thanks.

"Well then, I have a gift for you too, Kakashi." This time it was Minato that spoke up. He was holding one of his special kunai. "I want you to have this custom-made kunai. It is a little awkward and heavy, but you get used to it." Minato handed the kunai to Kakashi who took it with more thanks.

Kakashi then turned towards Obito expecting something from him as well.

"Don't look at me. I didn't get you anything." Obito glared at Kakashi.

"Fine by me. It probably would have been something useless anyways." Kakashi turned from Obito as he shrugged his shoulders.

Naruto walked over to Kakashi. "I forgot my gift, but I'll give it to you later, okay!"

"Whatever." Kakashi didn't really care about getting gifts anyways.

After they had given Kakashi their gifts they split into their two teams to fully begin their mission. Naruto wanted to go with Kakashi, Obito and Rin, but he decided to go with Minato because then he wouldn't have to decide what to do himself. The choice was made for him.

They had been walking for about an hour when Naruto stopped. I can't... I can't leave them. I know what is going to happen, and I'm not okay just letting that happen to Obito. Naruto turned to face Minato after making up his mind. "I'm sorry, Minato. There's something I have to do. I can't go with you."

Minato looked at the determination in Naruto's eyes. He knew there had to be something going on to make Naruto feel that way. "Alright. Do what you have to."

"Don't worry! I will! I promise! And I never go back on my word, ya know." Naruto gave his dad thumbs up and turned to head the other way, but turned back to face his dad one more time. "Hey Minato... Do me a favor?"

Minato turned again to look at Naruto, his eyes had gone soft. "Sure. What is it?"

"Don't die." Naruto didn't say anything else before disappearing into the trees.

"Don't worry Naruto. I won't." Minato smiled to himself before continuing on towards the bridge.