The Child Of Prophecy (A Naruto Fanfiction)

Chapter 6

"Naruto watch out!" Naruto was pulled from his flashback and saw the whips closing in towards him. He knew that it was too late to dodge and he braced for the impact. Just as they were about to hit, he noticed a shuriken and kunai flying through the air catching both of the enemies weapons in the air and pulling them away from Naruto and pinning them to a tree instead. Naruto only felt the slightest pain on the back of his hand as one of the blades sliced through it as it was pulled away.

Still in shock from his surprise flashback, Naruto watched as Sasuke jumped and landed on the two enemy shinobi, kicking them out of the way, but they were quickly able to recover. They ended up running straight for Sakura who had jumped in front of Tazuna to protect him, and before they reached her Sasuke jumped in front of her as well.

Naruto couldn't move as he watched what was about to happen. He wanted to help, but his feet were still frozen to the ground as he shook. Just as the two assassins were about to hit Sasuke, Naruto was surprised when Kakashi suddenly appeared, knocking both enemies out cold.

Huh?! Surprised, Naruto turned around only to notice that Kakashi had used a substitution jutsu to avoid the attack, only making it seem like he was killed. He was angry at himself for freezing up. He didn't think he would be reminded of what had happened that night. Dammit!...I wasn't able to do anything! And Sasuke was so cool and calm the whole time!

"Hey, you're not hurt are ya? Scaredy cat." The sarcastic, mocking tone of Sasuke grabbed Naruto's attention. He could see that Sasuke was making fun of him.

"Sasuke!" He was about to punch him in the face when Kakashi stopped him.

"Naruto! These ninja have poison in their claws, we need to remove it from your wound, so don't move around until we do."

Naruto knew that he couldn't say anything against that, but his anger wouldn't go away from not having been able to do anything to help. He was still slightly shaking, so he did the first thing he thought of to get back his common sense; he pulled out his own kunai and stabbed the back of his hand where the wound was, letting it bleed more to get the poison out.

Everyone watched in shock at what he did; no one knowing what to do. Kakashi was the first one to break out of it though, walking to Naruto and grabbing the injured hand. As he started to clean the wound, he noticed that it was already starting to heal on its own. That must be because of the fox's chakra. He thought this to himself as he finished dressing the wound. "You really didn't need to stab your own hand, you know."

"Yeah, I did." Naruto's voice was firm now as he spoke. "I will never freeze up, or run away again. I won't be saved by someone else again."

Kakashi could see the determination in Naruto's eyes as he looked at him, but he could also see how pale he was, and could still feel the slight trembling of his hand. He decided to whisper to Naruto so no one else could hear. "Are you alright, Naruto? Why did you actually freeze up?" As he asked this he could see Naruto's eyes widen slightly before turning away.

"Nothing, don't worry about it."

Naruto was silent as they continued their journey to the Land of Waves. He was lost in his own thoughts and Kakashi watched him, concerned about what had happened.

They were discussing with Tazuna what had happened, why shinobi were after him, and all about the man Gato that was trying to control the Land of Waves. Even after the explanation they still decided to continue with the mission, wanting to protect him.

When they were just about to Tazuna's home, Naruto suddenly sensed someone close to them. He stopped, glancing around but couldn't pinpoint where they were when suddenly, a sword came flying through the air.