In Loving Memory

A/N: Just wanted to say thanks for really any support on this story. To AlexR5504 I honestly thought that someone would have come up with a story like this by now, so I find it amazing that I'e done something never seen in a Naruto fanfic, so thanks for the support. Now, 抖阴社区 Style: NEW CHAPTER-NO JUTSU!!

   What remained of team 7 was on top of a hill in the Hidden Mist. They buried Haku and Zabuza there. They would take Sasuke home, to have him buried there. "Sakura," Naruto said, sorrow in his voice, "I'm sorry. If I was only smarter. If I only just stayed ouside the mirrors, I could've-" He ws cut off by Sakura hugging him, crying on his shoulder.  "Stop," she cried, "Stop blaming yourself. Sasuke is dead. You didn't kill him, and I doubt staying on the outside would've done anything! Just stop!" There was silence for a while. "Let's head back to the Bridge Builder's house. There's still a couple of days until the bridge is built," Kakashi-sensei said, walking back, "Naruto, while we're here, I'll train you." Naruto only nodded, and they headed back.

  They ate dinner, and Naruto and Kkashi left for the woods. "Where are those two going?" Tazuna asked, but got shrugs from the other three people in the house. "At least they ate," Sakura replied, before saying she needed rest, and went upstairs.

  Meanwhile, Kakashi-sensei and Naruto got to the tree-climbing spot. "Naruto," Kakashi stated, "You're a lot like me. I grew up without a mother, and my dad died when I was young. And now, we both have received the sharingan from deceased friends." "So?" the blonde asked dryly, "What point are you trying to prove?" The copy ninja stated, "Well, in a sense, you're my successor. You have the same abilities as me plus more. I'm going to train you to copy jutsus. I am known as the man who copied over a thousand jutsu. In my lifetime, you must be known as the man who copied over ten thousand." "Ok," Naruto agreed, "Now let's get this training started! I'll be your successor! The next copy ninja! What do I do next?" "Well," Kakashi said, thinking of a training excersise for the sharingan. 'Lightbulb,' Kakashi thought. He plucked out a bit of his hair. "EAT THIS!" He shouted, imitatingthe face of a buff manag charachter. "WHAT!?" Naruto shrieked back, scuttling away from his teacher, as far as possible. "I was joking," Kakashi-sensei stated, throwing the hair to the wind, and pulling out a peice of paper. "You know how you had to force chakra to your feet to climb the tree?" Kakshi asked, and Naruto nodded. "Take on of these," Kakashi instructed, "And move your chakra to your hands. The paper should react to it and tel us what your natures are." Naruto did as instructed, the paper tore in two, and Naruto threw it to the ground. "So you have a wind nature," Kakashi said, "It's rare, but its surely an interesting affinity, now, let's prctice tai-" The right side of the paper was set aflame, and turned to ash. The other half got damp. A few seconds later, frost turned up on it, and it was frozen in ice. "N-Naruto," the grey haired sensei said, "How did you get this kekkei-genkai?"

  "Hmmm," The boy said, thinking. "I got it!" he shouted, as he came up with a conclusion, "When Haku slashed me across the face, his head shot back, and a lot of his blood got in my head. So, I guess the sheer amount of blood caused his kekkei-whatsit to mix with my normality. I suppose that's the reason for the water style, too. The fire style has a similar reason. Sasuke used fire style, so I have that from his sharingan." Kakashi stood there, thinking about this idea. He nodded, and said, "Well then, let's strt training. We'll start with the first ninja combat skill, taijutsu."

  A day and a half later, Naruto and Kakashi come back to the cabin, with the student on the sensei's back. "What the hell'd you do to him Kakashi-sensei?" Tazuna asked, to which the humourous reply of Kakashi's was, "Oh, just some light training. Gotta get the kiddo to bed. You know how it is." Kakashi took Naruto upstairs, and they left the day afterwards.

  Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, and Naruto were about a kilometer from the village. Naruto learned a valuable skill while training with Kakashi-sensei. He learned the ninja art 'Mimi de miru' (seeing with ears). He focused his chakra in his ears so he could listen, but not too much, or he'd have hearing akin to a dog. He put in just enough chakra in his ears to be able to make a 3d model of everything around him in his vision, essentially allowing him to see without having to lift up his hitai-ate off of his eyes. They were on the path to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, when Naruto noticed something. A deformation in the bushes. He quickly whipped out his kunai, and threw it at teh deformation. A person jumped out of thebush, and retaliated. Naruto 'looked' at his headband. 'Hidden Sand?' He thought, before deflecting the shuriken that the ninja threw at him. Sakura watched in awe how Naruto parried, blocked, and countered his enemy's moves. 'When dd Naruto,' She wondered, 'Get so cool??' She probably didn't notice, but she was blushing. Kakashi made a mental note, and Naruto decided to stop playing around. He started to weave hand signs, and instead of saying anything, he was deadly silent. If you ere there, you would doubt he was even breathing at all. He breathed in, formed half of the symbol to focus chakra, and breathed out. 'ater bullet Justu!' He mentally screamed, shooting out large water shots. The enemy ninja was knocked unconsious, and they made their return to the village.

  When they got back, they immediately got to Lord Third. They explained that Sasuke died. The Uchiha clan was entirely wiped out, or so they thought. THe Hokage ordered a peice to be manufactured  in honor of the Uchiha. So there, in the center of the cemetary, stood a statue of the mirror eye. Well, the tomoe and the pupil, propped up by metal bars. They buried Sasuke there. The whole academy attended the funeral, team seven and Ino Yamanaka were the most deeply sorroful, and were in mourning. They had their on ways to deal with it. Sakura decided to drown her mourning by obsessing over how cool Naruto had gotten. Ino just sat in her room for three days. Kakashi visited the statue daily, and worst of all was Naruto. He trained his ass off. He broke his kuckles punching wooden dummies. He analysed with his sharingan till it hurt. In a way, it was his way of making it up to Sasuke, by being storng enough to never let that happen again. The village pitied him. The story team 7 made up was that in trying to protect Sasuke, Naruto was blinded. They had to take their word for it, and so, instead of bashing the boy into the ground, they felt sorry for him. They knew ho fournful he had to be, being so close to being able to save a comrade, but so far away.  Finally, after a week, Naruto decided to visit Sasuke's grave. Engraved on the front of the sculpture's base read, "In loving memory of Sasuke Uchiha."