In the morning, Team 7 walked from behind the Academy to their training grounds. They expected their sensei to be early since he himself labeled this meeting urgent.

Sakura yawned as she sat on the green grass. Sasuke leaned on the tree trunk, crossing his arms and Naruto had his hands on his hips. "So what, he's gonna be late again?"

"He barely has good reasons to be dattebayo!" Naruto added. "I agree!" Sakura agreed. "Who the hell comes up with lame excuses like, 'I got lost in the path of life.' 'A black cat crossed my path so I had to take another path.' And most of all, 'Sorry I was late.'!"

"Dobe, people have reasons." Sasuke stated.

"Oh yeah? Give us a reason then." The blonde insisted. "Hn. Who knows, he might be doing something important in the morning."

"That's lame, coming from you Uchiha!" Naruto said. "Maybe Sasuke-kun is right. What if Kaka-sensei came to visit someone important? Or he has urgent business in the morning?" Naruto scoffed.

"Then who're the important people in his life? I mean, he's got nothing to lose dattebayo." The blonde stated. "You can't just say that Naruto. He might've lost a loved one, we should respect him because of that." After Sakura talked, the three heard a poof of smoke.

"Ohayō." The unenthusiastic voice of their sensei was heard. Kakashi made a small wave and jumped off of the tree branch. "Where did you go, Kaka-sensei?" Naruto asked. "Huh? Oh, nothing important." Kakashi answered.

"That's strange. I thought you'd come and yell at me for being late? And coming up with stupid excuses?"

In a snap, Team 7 froze and looked down with guilt. "What's with those faces, guys?" The silver-haired questioned them with a straight but concerned face.

"Come with me. I'll show you three something important." Kakashi urged the three and the trio looked up to their sensei. "Where are you taking us?" Sasuke asked.

"You'll see."

Team 7 walked out of their training grounds and headed to where the cemetery was. Immediately, Sakura felt a familiar rush of sadness, pain and guilt when they crossed the line.

Now, they were in the cemetery. Sasuke had his hands in his pockets while Sakura and Naruto wondered about the reason they came here.

"You three. Sit."

Naruto heard the call from his sensei and followed. Kakashi exhaled from his mask and caressed the gravestone. "Kaka-sensei, why are we here?" Sakura asked. "To show you this." Kakashi directed his palm to the names written on the gravel.

"What about it?" Naruto asked. "These are the names of people who became Heroes of Konoha. I need you to understand something."

Team 7 listened.

"Long ago, when I was at your age, the Iwa-nins waged war. Our team was sent to destroy a bridge. The bridge was named 'Kannabi Bridge', and we had to destroy it because the bridge was a vital pathway to Iwagakure's line of supply. Destroying it would help Konoha."

"During that time, I was a newly promoted jōnin."

Team 7 froze and Sakura gasped. "Jōnin? Sensei, I thought they only promote full-fledged shinobi at a certain age?"

"Not all shinobi are promoted at a certain age. Sometimes they can be promoted earlier or later, it depends on their expansion of skills. Anyways, me and my sensei were jōnin and we were sent to destroy that bridge.

In a clear forest, we made our plan that since there are two jōnins in the team, we will separate. Our sensei would do what he was assigned somewhere and I was the Team Captain that time, I lead my two other teammates to destroy the bridge.

Though on the way there, Iwa-nins approached us and things got out of hand. My female teammate was kidnapped and I was in a position where I had to choose between saving my teammate or be a hero and continue the mission.

Well, my other teammate was obviously going for the rescue, but I refused."

Team 7 were processing.

"My teammate opposed my answer and used it against me, that's when he left and came to rescue our female teammate. But do you know what he said?"

"What?" Sasuke said.

"He said, 'It's true. In the Ninja World, those who don't follow the rules are trash, but those who don't treasure their comrades are worse than trash.' my teammate left me in a stupor. But at that time, I didn't care and we both went separate ways."

Sakura had a concerned look.

"But you said we shouldn't abandon our comrades, right? So why?" Naruto questioned. "I'm not done yet, Naruto. You'll learn from what I said, after."

"Now, it was the climax and somewhere near the roots of the forest, I heard metal clanging and grunts. Also a familiar voice from afar, from that, I recognized it as my teammates and eventually, I chose to help and save both of them.

When I arrived, my teammate was surprised to see me and he thought I continued the mission. But I said otherwise, and being the sensitive type he is, he cried under his goggles. Just after reminiscing, an Iwa-nin who camouflaged attacked us from behind.

It was full of surprise attacks, but it also had a pattern. Because my teammate was just standing there, I jumped in and got this scar on my left eye. That's when he came in, and his eyes had a whole new prospect."

"Your teammate was an Uchiha." Sasuke confirmed and the silver-haired nodded. "He killed the ninja with a kunai and I was sort of struggling to see from the wound on my eye, but I was able to move. We entered the cavern and saw our female teammate in a hallucinated state.

I immediately released her from the genjutsu and we freed her from the Iwa-nin's hands, but we thought we were alone, and we weren't. We had to fight one of the guy's company again, but this time, because of my teammate's new eyes, we were able to defeat him.

Although, we didn't rejoice for long since the enemy tricked us into falling debris. The whole cave was gonna collapse any moment from where we were standing, so we ran as our lives depended on it.

I stumbled along the way and fell down unconscious, and just when I was gonna be imbedded under a rock, my teammate lifted me up and pushed me away along with my female teammate.

When I woke up alive and beside my female teammate, we noticed our teammate got imbedded under the boulder. It was horrible. I blamed myself all because of my feelings for this mission, in a way I jeopardized it by sacrificing my teammate out of my own stupidity.

I hated it.

But after all that, he asked my female teammate to transfer his right eye into my left one, replacing it completely with the Sharingan."

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto paused.

"I killed our enemies then, and eventually we destroyed Kannabi Bridge and ended with victory."

"Months after the Third Great Ninja War ended, my female teammate was kidnapped by Kirigakure ninjas. I was sent to look for her somewhere, and I successfully found her with my ninja hounds. But something was weird.

She felt weird and told me that we can't go back to Konoha. She said she felt that something was inside her, something powerful. I don't know what the Kiri-nins did to her, but I knew it was something horrible.

But once I told her we'll be going back to Konoha, we were tailed and attacked by Kiri-nins on the way. So we had to move out from our path, and out of nowhere, she told me to kill her."

Team 7 stopped.

"Did you?" Naruto asked.

"When my teammate died, he told me to promise to protect her. He wouldn't forgive me if I didn't, so I told her that but she had a weird look on her face. It was a look of refusal.

But we were chased by Kiri-nins again and we were in a desolated land. Me and my female teammate were there fighting the Kiri-nins and I planned to charge at one with my new jutsu - Chidori.

But as I ran with full power, I couldn't control my speed, I was in full thrust and I wasn't really aware of my surroundings because I was trying to get used to my new eye. Until I plunged into someone's chest.

When I looked up, I was mortified. The one impaled in my jutsu, was my female teammate."

Team 7 gasped and froze at the same time. "After she touched me on the face, said my name, and coughed out blood, the next thing I knew, she was dead, with a hole on her heart.

I felt anger, depression and shock in my veins, it got way out of control and my eye started changing into something else. Mangekyō Sharingan. After her death, I passed out. But the days after, I never spoke a word, I stayed in my house and became cold.

Those years were hell and pain combined. I lost both of my teammates, and it was all because of me. And soon after that, I lost my sensei after the Kyūbi attacked the village."

Naruto's eyes were tearing up, and Sakura felt terrified. While inwardly, Sasuke felt awful. "But I want you three to understand this."

"Always put your comrades first. No matter what. Don't let the mission get in the way of everyone's safety, it's a mistake I never want to repeat again, especially I am the Team Leader and I'll be held responsible for your lives."

The three nodded.

"Do you all understand now? How comrades are important? And how ego and pride can get in the way of your safety?" The three nodded again. "So I'll say this once again."

"In the Ninja World, those who don't follow the rules are considered scum, but those who abandon their comrades are considered worse than scum."

"Comrades come first, no matter what." Kakashi finalized and looked at the gravestone along with his team, praying silently.

'Obito, Rin...I hope you heard this.'

A/N: I ALMOST CRIED! Huhuhuhu! 😭😭😭 I hope you guys like it! I was in the mood for a little drama! See you next chapter! It's not gonna be gloomy, I promise. ;) Thanks for reading again! I love the 2k plus readers! You guys are the best! I was pressured to update honestly, haha!