Chapter Text
Naruto groaned as he woke from his restless night of sleep. He turned on his side and squinted at the alarm clock on his nightstand, which said it was 10:20 am. He knew that by now Kakashi had most likely shown up and that he should get ready. the blonde boy mustered up what little strength he had and pushed himself into a sitting position before getting up and getting ready. Once Naruto finished getting ready he walked to the door and left to team 7's training spot. He locked the door and held back a groan at how bright the sunlight felt; the sun was only working against his headache that pounded behind his tired and usually bright blue eyes.
After a walk that seemingly lasted forever he finally arrived at the training spot. He saw Kakashi watching over Sakura and Sasuke as they spared, waiting to see if their wild blonde teammate would show up. Naruto forced a smile upon his face and yelled to them as he walked up "Hey Sakura! Hey teme!" Naruto held back a wince at how sore his throat was, which only caused his voice to sound more raspy than ever. Sakura looked at him and gasped "Naruto! Where have you been? You haven't been to training in 3 days!" The blonde boy laughed nervously and said "Sorry about that, I wasn't feeling that great but I'm all better now!" Sasuke rolled his eyes and mumbled "What a dobe." Naruto opened his mouth to say something but Kakashi walked over, saying "Hello my little gennin. Since you've arrived before we left, I'm glad to say that you got here just on time for us to leave the village!" He turned so he was facing all 3 of his students "Alright children, let's head out!"
Once the group started walking Naruto found himself thankful that they were all distracted enough to not notice how he was practically dragging himself as he walked; Sakura was engaged in a one sided conversation with Sasuke, the Uchiha was looking ahead and ignoring the pink haired girl, and Kakashi was reading his copy of Icha-Icha paradise. By the time Naruto was feeling ready to collapse he knew it was too late to go back and hide in his apartment for another day. He jumped slightly when Kakashi said "Alright my cute little gennins, it's getting quite dark out so it would be best for us to stop until morning. We will take turns keeping watch throughout the night in this order: Me, Sakura, Sasuke, and then Naruto. Everyone understand?" The three children nodded before setting up camp. Naruto couldn't remember a time where he had been so happy to sleep in the forest of all places. Once the group finished setting up camp, Naruto was the first to lay down and fall asleep.
Sakura glanced over and said "Oh, Naruto fell asleep before he had the chance to eat! Kakashi sensei, should we wake him up to eat?" Kakashi looked over and shook his head before walking over and crouching by Naruto's sleeping form and lightly pressed his wrist to the sleeping boys forehead. He frowned slightly and hummed quietly. Sasuke glanced over, masking his concern with annoyance, "Whats wrong with the dobe now?" Kakashi ignored the question and attempted waking the sleeping boy up. "Naruto, you need to wake up." When Naruto didn't respond, Kakashi felt his worry rising. "Naruto. I need you to wake up, Naruto." He let out a breath and said "Sakura, I need you to get a wet rag. Now." Sakura quickly got up and grabbed a rag out of her bag, wetting it with some water from a canteen. She brought it, along with the canteen, over to Kakashi and he grabbed gently started wiping down Naruto's feverish face before resting it on his forehead. The silver haired man took Narutos sleeping bag and unzipped it, making it so he was laying on top of it instead of in it.
Sasuke watched, now feeling even more concerned for his blonde friend. He watched as Kakashi summoned his Ninken and gave them quiet commands. The majority of them ran off back towards Konaha while Bull and Bisuke stayed with team 7. Kakashi commanded: "Sasuke and Sakura, we are going back to the village. Gather your own and Narutos items. I'll go ahead and you need to meet me at my apartment. Bull and Bisuke will stay with you two to keep you safe in the off chance of a enemy nin attacking." He didn't wait for a response before picking Naruto up and running off to the village. Sakura took a moment to think before quickly gathering her own and Naruto's items. Sasuke grabbed his own stuff and started heading back to the village, Sakura and the two Ninken following.