Sometimes, I feel myself blaming Naruto for my sensei's death, for the deaths of everyone I cared for. I know it's wrong to think like this, but I still distance myself from Naruto. I never go out of my way to hurt him, I just... Avoid him, ignore him, pretend he's not my student.

I know my sensei is looking down on me with disgust as I watch the scene in front of me without doing a thing. I know Kushina wants to bash me up for not helping her son. I know that they hate me for letting Naruto get hurt by his own teammates. Yet I still watch, never moving a muscle.

I watch as Sakura slaps him, I watch as she whispers something in his ears and I watch as a small smile spreads on his face, his eyes tearing up. The expression on his face is pure relief, as if he's allowed to finally do something that he never thought he'd get to do. My stomach cramped up inside of me, something wasn't right.

Naruto's been acting erratically ever since the incident with Sakura. He seems to be less energetic, less empty-headed and less care free. It's almost as if he's a completely different person. His chakra signature is still normal, his appearance is still ordinary and his diet is the same... Yet it feels like he's changed. He's made it through two whole days without hassling Sakura, he's no longer challenging Sasuke whenever the chance arises and he's no longer begging me to teach him more jutsus. I have no idea about what's going...

Yet, even if something is happening, it's probably none of my concern. The Chunin exams are coming up, I can't get carried away just because Naruto is acting a little bit differently.

I watch Naruto as he skips towards the training ground. 'See,' I tell myself, 'He's completely fine.'

Author's Note: Ummmmm, I know some Kakashi simps might hate this but I want to bring out certain attributes that Kakashi showed (how he ignored Naruto). Yeah, anyways, *sigh* This note was brought to you by 'Icha Icha Paradise'!