Chapter 9

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It was only two days later when Naruto was able to leave the hospital. Man, I have got to get some new clothes. These ones are torn to shreds now. Naruto thought to himself as he got dressed.

"Hey, has he left yet?"

"Yeah! We want to walk out with him!"

"When is he supposed to leave!"

Naruto could hear the countless number of "fans" he has acquired in the short amount of time that he has been in the hospital. They were all young girls that heard about a handsome and strong stranger that had come to the village. They were all crowded in the hallways waiting for him to leave his room. "I am so glad that my room has a window." Without saying any more, Naruto grabbed the last of his belongings and jumped out the window.

Naruto was absentmindedly walking through the village when he suddenly remembered something. Shit! I don't have any money! And I totally forgot that I don't technically live here! Where am I supposed to stay?! Naruto jumped up to sit on the roof of a building while he thought over the best option. Well the best way to earn money would be going on missions. The only problem with that is that I have a team now, and I can't go without them. I would also like to have some nicer clothes before meeting up with them, so I would need money before then to get new clothes. Dammit, I guess I'm going to have to talk to Gramps. After Naruto made up his mind, he stood up and started jumping from rooftop to rooftop to make his way to the Hokage's office.

"Oh man, they have the window open!" Naruto was laughing to himself as he decided to jump through the window into the Hokage's office.

It wasn't even a second later then he landed that he was surrounded by half a dozen ANBU all pointing kunai at him. Naruto stood unbothered, holding his hands up to show he was not a threat.

"Naruto...there is a door you know." The Hokage spoke up from behind the ANBU members, signaling to them that everything was alright.

"Oh come on Gramps! Where's the fun in that?!" Naruto stood without any regret as he spoke, noting the feeling of annoyance coming from the ANBU in the rafters. "Anyways Gramps, I was hoping I could ask you about something."

"Oh really? And what is it that I can do for you, Naruto?" The Hokage was amused at the so-called prank Naruto had pulled. There weren't many people that would enter without permission.

"Well..." Naruto started to speak, though he was nervous about needing to ask for help. "You see...I don't exactly have a place to stay while I'm here...and I haven't been able to go on any missions to earn any money...so, umm...well, you see..."

"You need some help with money, and finding a place to live." It wasn't a question. The Hokage already guessed what he was going to ask about.

"Well, yeah. Oh, but just this once, ya know!"

"Don't worry, Naruto. I already made arrangements for you. I was actually planning on summoning you as soon as you left the hospital. Though I had not received word you had left." As he said this he pulled out an envelope and a small key that he handed to Naruto. "This is the key to your new apartment and some money that will allow you to get some food and other necessities. As well as some new clothes."

Naruto was shocked. "Thank you. I promise I will pay you back once I start going on missions."

"No need to worry yourself about that." The Hokage casually brushed off Naruto. "This is something I personally wanted to do."

"Thanks Gramps...I guess I should go and get ready to meet my team tomorrow, ya know!" Naruto turned to leave, but heard the Hokage speak up before he could move any further.

"Good luck, Naruto."

He sent the Hokage one of his priceless smiles as he leaped out the still open window.

Naruto decided that getting new clothes would be the best thing to do first. He ended up getting new orange ninja pants, and new black long sleeve shirts, new wrapping, he even got new shoes while he was there and orange bands to go around his wrists. My cloak is still in good condition, so luckily I don't need to replace that. After getting new clothes he made his way to a ninja weapons shop where he was able to stock up on kunai, shuriken, wire, and even some paper bombs. He continued shopping until the sun started to drop in the sky. Alright, I've got new clothes, weapons, scrolls, and food. I think I've got everythi... he was cut off from his thoughts when he passed an old looking bookstore. I wonder... he thought to himself as he entered the shop.

"Hello, what can I do for you today?" The bookkeeper asked as he entered.

"Do you have the story "Tales of a Gutsy Ninja" here?"

"Hmm. Let me check on my list here. Give me one moment." It was only a moment later when the bookkeeper returned. "Alright here it is. "Tales of a Gutsy Ninja". Did you know this is actually written by a Hidden Leaf Ninja? He's one of the Legendary Sannin of the Leaf!"

"I knew he was from the Leaf, but not that he was any legendary ninja, that's awesome. Thank you for finding it for me." Naruto was trying so hard to lie. He had never been good at it. But no one can find out he's from the future.

Naruto left the bookstore and headed for his new apartment. He was content in what he had accomplished during the day, but now he was totally drained. When he opened the door he was pleasantly surprised at how nice the apartment was. Wow, this is way nicer than my old one. Naruto continued to venture through the apartment. There was one bedroom, the bed was nice too. The kitchen had some simple appliances, a fridge, and a stove. There was a table and some chairs. There was also a nice meeting area for guests. Naruto started putting all of his stuff away as he waited for his instant ramen to be done. When it was finished he sat down and ate.

"Alright, I guess I should lay down and try to get some sleep before tomorrow morning." Naruto made his way to the bedroom and laid down in bed for the night.

It's dark...we haven't been able to see the sun for a while now. Kakashi and I are on a secret mission to try and find the main staging area that the White Zetsu are using. There has to be a reason why more of them just keep coming, and why we seem to be no closer to defeating them.

"Naruto, we are getting close to the suspected area." Kakashi had spoken up from beside me. It was barely a whisper, but I heard it clearly.

"Yeah, I can sense them. This is definitely the spot."

We slowed down so that we could sneak up on the area, and hopefully not be spotted. It was just us two here and we couldn't afford to get in a fight. We haven't slept in days and our chakra is running low.

"It's the base of a tree?" I turned towards Kakashi to get his input on what we were seeing. "How could a tree be making more of those things?"

"Well, perhaps it isn't making more, but just releasing ones that were already made. Like a back up supply."

"Great..." I was so frustrated. This war just needs to end. Too many people have died already! "Should we just destroy it?"

"Well I assume that would work, but we must return and get back up now that we know for sure that this is the place." I couldn't deny that Kakashi was right.

"Yeah. You're right as always, Kakashi."

Just as we were turning to leave we heard rustling in the bushes around us. It wasn't long before we were completely surrounded by hundreds of White Zetsu soldiers.

"Well this is just great. Looks like we'll have to fight our way through." Kakashi spoke my same thoughts.

We were starting to get tired...we have been fighting for hours now...

"Argh!" I got thrown into a tree about 15 meters away and a branch ended up stabbing me in my back. "Dammit..."

"Naruto!" I could hear Kakashi yelling my name, but at this point my vision was starting to blur and I was getting light-headed.

"Ka...kash...i..." The last thing I saw was Kakashi running in front of me as a White Zetsu swung a blade towards me.

When I eventually came to, all of the White Zetsu were gone. I was wondering where they were when I remembered what happened.

"Kakashi! KAKASHI!!! Where are you?!" He wasn't answering. I started looking all around me and that's when I saw him. He was laying on the ground, with his head resting on the root of a nearby tree. I ran over to him and immediately noticed the hole in his chest. "KAKASHI!!" I knelt next to him, shaking him slightly to wake him up.

"N-naruto..." His voice was shaky as he spoke.

"Kakashi! We need to get back to the medical corp so they can heal you!" I was frantic. I was trying to pick him up as carefully as possible when he grabbed my arm.

"No...you n-need to get out of here a-and warn the o-others." He was having trouble talking and he started coughing up blood.

"No, Kakashi! I am not leaving you here!" I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I was not going to let him die! Not for protecting me. He just couldn't!

"Naruto... You have to live... to bring peace to the world. You have to become Hokage." His voice was getting quieter.

"Kakashi! You can't leave us! I still need your help! PLEASE!" I had tears streaming down my face now. My vision was blurry because of how wet my eyes were.

"Naruto, t-thank you for being my student. I h-have l-loved all of you...N-Naruto, I b-believe in you, completely..." That was the last thing he spoke before his eyes closed, and they wouldn't open again.

"KAKASHI!! NOOO!!"

"Kakashi!" Naruto woke in a cold sweat. His heart was racing and his breathing was ragged. He knew the nightmares would come, but he was hoping they would wait for a little bit. He turned to look at the time. It was four in the morning. He still had a few hours before he was supposed to meet his new team. "Guess I'll get ready and do some reading."

After Naruto got dressed, he pulled out his book he got the day before and started reading. He only decided to put it down when he noticed it was now six am. "Guess I'll make my way to the training grounds. I don't want to be late on my first day." With this said he picked up his cloak and his weapons pouch and walked out the door.


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