Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Naruto... nope, I'm not making money off of this gig... just having fun.
A/N: Originally completed 6/6/10, this was an entry in Anime Detour's fanfiction contest, April 2011. It didn't win, though. :( The horizontal lines between paragraphs of text represent scene change, passage of time, or switch in point of view (sometimes all three). Anyway, hope you enjoy the story-and love Naruto as much as I do.
Please review once you read!
Rated K+ for ninja fights.
The Bet
Kakashi-sensei had a new book. Cell 7 should have suspected trouble when he showed up right on time for training, waving hello. But none of them would have suspected that he wouldn't once put the book down—during training . . .
While they ate lunch . . .
When they were called before the Third Hokage . . .
While the Lord Third assigned them a mission . . .
And right now, as they walked down the road to Amegakure. Naruto's temper had been bubbling under the surface all day, and he finally shouted, "Are you just gonna hide your face behind that stupid book all day?"
"Well, my face is normally hidden, anyway," Kakashi calmly pointed out.
"What makes that book so special, anyway?" Naruto asked sulkily. He got a running start and leaped onto Kakashi's back, attempting to peer over his shoulder. But while Iruka was good-humored enough to allow Naruto piggy-back privileges, Kakashi most certainly was not. He shrugged Naruto off and dropped him unceremoniously onto the ground.
"This book is not for little ninja," he told Naruto, who folded his arms and pouted where he sat. Kakashi continued onward, completely absorbed in his reading. Naruto's teammates passed him, Sakura shaking her head.
"Is Kakashi ever going to put that book down?" moaned Naruto.
"I wouldn't bet on it," Sakura replied. Naruto scowled, but his scowl abruptly turned to a secretive grin.
"Hey, yeah! Bet." He stood up and waved them both over. "Let's bet on it!" he suggested eagerly.
"Bet on what?" Sakura warily asked while Sasuke raised his eyebrow.
"Look, he has to put it down sometime!" Naruto lowered his voice. "And whichever one of us gets him to do it, wins!"
"Wins what?" Sakura asked, getting into Naruto's idea in spite of herself.
"Wins whatever he wants!" Naruto answered. He grinned hugely. "Like, if I win, you both have to buy me ramen!"
"Oh, brother." Sakura rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'm in—and if I win, I want both of you to answer one question from me." Then she blushed for some reason.
"It has to be agreed on by the other two if someone claims to win," Sasuke spoke up for the first time.
"Yeah, okay!" Naruto agreed, nodding. "So you in?" Sakura nodded and Sasuke wrinkled his nose; Naruto correctly interpreted both as signs of assent. He laughed and rushed on ahead. "Hey, Master Kakashi, check out this cool new move I learned!"
"Real subtle, Naruto," Sakura groaned, putting her head in her hand. "We'll never get it out of him like that!"
Cell 7 was completely unsuccessful in their endeavor, however. Although they tried every trick in the book—wheedling, pleading, staging diversions, and even Naruto's centerfold jutsu— Kakashi never looked up from his page for more than a second, and he never made a move to set his precious volume down.
After their failure to make headway for an hour, something unexpected happened. Naruto was trailing behind the rest, complaining about being hungry, when he was snatched.
"Whoaaa!" he hollered, but his scream was cut off when he was dragged into the bushes. Cell 7 was instantly on the alert—well, Sasuke and Sakura were. Kakashi stood leisurely, one hand in his pocket and the other clutching his book, although his eye was darting all over the place. "Hey! Lemme go!" Naruto's bellow came from the trees nearby. Sounds of a struggle were heard.
"Oh, great," Sakura groused in an undertone. "Naruto's pretending to need help to get Kakashi to run off to the rescue. This had better not work." Sasuke activated his sharingan and stared around with an intense gaze.
"It's no ruse." Ignoring Sakura's "Huh?" of confusion, he leaped silently through the dense leaves that encircled the road and vanished.
Naruto was pinned to a pine tree, needles poking into his back, glaring murderously at his captor, a rain ninja. "So you think you can take me down this easy, huh? Well, let me tell you something—" But the shinobi, although holding him with both arms, had not been idle. A mask covered his entire head, but Naruto could see his eyes through two small slits, and they were narrowed triumphantly. He looked down and gasped to see a foot coming up fast to kick him in the stomach—no, stab him in the stomach. A slender knife was now poking through the sandal's sole, and Naruto knew he had no reaction time left to dodge.
Crack. Out of nowhere, Sasuke appeared and head-butted Naruto's captor. His leaf headband protected his head while doing added damage to his enemy, who unfortunately was wearing his headband near his ankle. The shinobi grunted and fell, blood trickling from his forehead. Naruto let out a relieved whew, but at the very next moment, two more ninja appeared, just behind his friend.
"S-Sasuke!" he gulped a warning. Without batting an eye or even looking back, Sasuke bent and put his hands on Naruto's shoulders. Then, using Naruto as a point of balance, he pushed off the ground and kicked backward. His feet hit the two shinobi right in the face, and they stumbled away clutching noses that were likely broken.
"That's how it's done," Sasuke declared smugly.
"Show-off," Naruto mumbled back. Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw an incoming attack, and he threw himself down, pulling Naruto along with him. A score of shuriken whizzed over their heads. Both boys got to their feet, pulling out handfuls of kunai knives. But suddenly Kakashi touched down in front of them, holding out his hands to stop them in their tracks.
"No matter what they do, we don't attack to kill," he commanded. "Remember that these ninja are from the Village Hidden in the Rain—with whom we're supposed to be negotiating." The Rain shinobi had stopped dead when Kakashi made his appearance. They seemed to be arguing among themselves, incensed, and Naruto heard one of them hiss,
"The Copy Ninja! No one said he was going to be here!" After whispering for a moment longer, they leaped straight up into the air. They looked like flying ninja, and the students of Cell 7 stared in wonder as they rose until they were out of sight beyond the canopy. Kakashi sighed and muttered,
"Well, that was almost a complete disaster." Sakura and Naruto clustered around him, beleaguering him with questions.
"Why did those ninja attack us?" Sakura asked.
"Aren't they supposed to be our friends?" Naruto added.
"Is that their idea of a joke?"
"What's wrong with them?"
Kakashi pressed a hand to each of their mouths to stop the endless flow. "I don't know yet," he replied heavily. His eye narrowed. "These ninja . . . their attack seemed impromptu. And it served no obvious purpose, other than to alienate the village whose friendship they've claimed to want. Unless . . ." He eyed Naruto in a way that started to make the genin nervous.
"Uh, Master Kakashi, did I do something wrong?" he asked uneasily. Kakashi cocked his head and, not answering, began to run his hands over Naruto, pat his pockets, even rummage through the hair on his head, squinting all the while. "H-hey, sensei, what gives?" Naruto demanded to know, trying to ward Kakashi off. "Whatever this is about, I swear I didn't do it—aah! Lay off, will ya?" Kakashi grabbed him by the ankle and upturned him without offering any explanation.
"Aha! Here it is." He pulled a bit of paper from where it was stuck to the bottom of Naruto's sandal.
"Huh—what?" Naruto stammered, still hanging upside-down. "Hey, what is it? What did you—?" Kakashi flicked his wrist and sent the paper fluttering into the forest. Sasuke blinked, taken aback.
"Master, we could find out a lot by analyzing that note!" he said to Kakashi and started moving to where it had disappeared into the trees. "Shouldn't we—?"
"I wouldn't do that." Kakashi's voice was as calm as ever, but his hand flashed out with unseeable speed to grasp Sasuke by the shoulder. That same instant, the paper blew up, sending a rocking explosion through the ground and blowing leaves, dirt, and splinters of wood into their faces. Kakashi released Sasuke, set Naruto down, and began dusting himself off. The three students stared at each other, and Sasuke looked to Kakashi for confirmation.
"So those shinobi weren't really after Naruto at all—they just wanted to plant a letter bomb on him?" he asked.
"Apparently," Kakashi replied with a nod. "But nothing is certain yet," he added. Then to his students' irritation, he pulled his book out of his pocket and continued on down the road.
"Hey, he put the book down!" Naruto pointed out excitedly.
"But we didn't get him to do it," Sakura reminded him with disappointment. "Besides, we might have more important things to worry about than our bet. If these ninja are really trying to assassinate us . . . then this mission just got a whole lot more dangerous."
"Come on, team, we're picking up the pace," Kakashi called back over his shoulder. He beckoned to them. "Stay close." He took off at a run, managing to step in all the right places despite the fact that his eyes were glued to his book, his charges sprinting in his wake. "Oh, and I know about your little bet," Kakashi continued, to their abashment. His one eye shut in what may have been a smile or a smirk. "And none of you are going to win."
"Aw, man!" Naruto complained to himself. "Busted."
"Amegakure Village, just ahead," Kakashi announced three hours later. Thunder rumbled overhead, and rain started to pour down, drenching them all. "Although you might have already guessed that," Kakashi joked. He snapped his book shut to protect it from water damage.
"This stinks!" Naruto groaned. "Friendly territory that's turned into enemy territory, and now all this rain? Man!" He shook his body like a fox.
"Stop making so much noise, lunkhead," hissed Sasuke. "'Enemy territory,' remember?" He gave his teammate a mocking smile. "You wouldn't want to be kidnapped again, would you?" Naruto gave a "Rrgh!" of anger and glared kunai knives at Sasuke, but Kakashi was nodding.
"Sasuke is right, Naruto," he said firmly. "We have to keep a low profile at the moment. From all appearances, these shinobi want our heads, and if we're discovered—"
"Oh, wouldn't that be a shame?" a bodiless voice came out of the rain. Kakashi's eye went wide, but before he could make a move, three whooshes sounded, and his cell members were gone.
"What now, Copy Ninja?" the same voice challenged him. "How will you proceed?"
"What have you done with my team?" asked Kakashi. While his voice remained perfectly steady, his eye was glancing in all directions. No answer came, and he saw not a trace of his enemies. He began strolling around almost lazily, dangling his book from one hand. "First you attack our cell while we're on the border—still on Konoha territory, I might add. Then you try to do away with us quietly. And now you're resorting to spiriting away my students. I don't get it." His tone was merely conversational, and no one would have guessed that he was in a life-or-death situation by looking at him. In fact, he had gone back to reading.
"Those who attempt to invade Amegakure and destroy our autonomy will pay," the voice vowed in a menacing growl. Suddenly the enemy shinobi were in view, three of them, holding Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura captive, kunai knives pressed against the children's throats. Kakashi looked up from his book. Slowly he began to scowl.
"I don't know what you think we're up to," he said coldly, "but the reason we're here is to hold a diplomatic discussion with Ame's top chunin. Weren't your representatives in Konoha negotiating for peace just a week ago? And didn't we agree that a Konohagakure cell would be deployed for this exact purpose?"
"Enemy ninja must never be trusted!" spat the lead amenin. "Return to your village. Tell them the Land of Rain seeks help from no one, and much less do we need it."
Kakashi let out a long sigh. "If that's the way you want it, fine. Let my team members go and we'll be on our way."
The wolfish shinobi bared his teeth and pushed the blade of the knife painfully slowly into Naruto's neck. "The message need not be delivered by four. One will suffice."
"So let me get this straight." Kakashi's voice nearly growled out of his throat, all pretense gone. Cell 7 had never seen him look so angry. "You made a show of asking Konoha for peaceful relations. You specifically asked that a cell be sent to your land to discuss this peace in further detail. And all this time your true intentions involved making a bloody spectacle of said cell to make a statement that would keep other lands from daring to interfere with your autonomy." His shook his head in disgust. "That's why you asked for a team of genin, wasn't it?"
"Little ninja are so much easier to dispose of," the Ame shinobi confirmed gleefully. His knife bit more deeply, and Naruto finally let out a screech of pain.
"No, don't!" Sakura screamed out.
"Get off me!" Naruto shouted, struggling, but his bark was worse than his bite as long as he couldn't escape.
"I'll show you how easy we are to dispose of!" snarled Sasuke, pulling out a fistful of kunai knives and moving to stab the ninja holding him.
"Stand down, Sasuke!" Kakashi warned him. "If we kill anyone, we'll have more to worry about than just a grudge." Sasuke dropped the knives after shooting his master a positively ugly look.
"That's right," the amenin jeered. "Avoid war at all costs—even at the expense of the lives of your little ninja." He nodded at his comrades, and the three Rain ninja raised their kunai to deliver the coup de grace. A soft whistling was heard, like a stick hissing down through the air. A Kakashi now stood at each shinobi's shoulder.
"Touch these 'little ninja,'" he breathed his deadly threat, "and it'll be the last thing you ever do." From in between the pages of three books, three Kakashis extracted three shuriken. Each Kakashi brandished his own weapon. Faced with an assassin's glare from eyes that were both black and red, the Rain ninja released their prey and took off into the skies once more. None of them were stupid enough to tangle with Kakashi of the Sharingan. The two Kakashi doppelgangers vanished, and the remaining Kakashi readjusted his headband and asked, "Are you okay, Naruto?" Naruto nodded, downcast at having been the one needing rescuing twice in one day. Kakashi examined the shallow cut on his neck, pulled a roll of material from his makimono pouch, and tied it around Naruto's neck like a choker. Sasuke retrieved his dropped kunai knives, scowling ferociously.
"We could've taken them on easily if we'd been allowed to fight," he made sure to say as he sheathed his knives.
"Undoubtedly," Kakashi agreed. "But we won't be fighting any more today; we're heading back to Konoha." When his students fixed him with identical stares of confusion, he held up a finger and explained. "The mission has been nullified. What was paramount before has now become obsolete. It's obvious that Amegakure lied about peace and wants nothing of the sort; so our objective no longer exists."
"But if we leave," Sasuke pointed out, "they could use that fact as an excuse to point the finger at us, and say that we were the ones who never wanted peace."
"And are you saying that we should just run when things get difficult, sensei?" Sakura pointed out. Kakashi shook his head.
"Things have gotten difficult, Sakura," he conceded. "And more complicated. We came here to talk peace. Now, if we're not careful, we could plunge Konoha into war. Do you want that?" He didn't bother waiting for an answer to his rhetorical question. "The shinobi we've fought with so far were easy to scare off, but their convictions are not so frail. And Amegakure may be smaller than Konoha, but the last thing we want right now is the Great Shinobi Wars all over again." He waited to make sure his words sank in, fixing them all with a grave stare. "Come on, then." He led them back to the Hidden Leaf Village, setting a quick pace.
"Remember that this mission was not a failure," Kakashi told them all in the town square, his tone bordering on stern. "We accomplished everything laid down within the prearranged perimeters."
"Which was nothing," Sasuke muttered, not untruthfully.
"Which wasn't much," Kakashi agreed. "But then, we didn't ask them to turn on us." He opened his book to where he'd left off and waved his hand to dismiss them. "Anyway, I'll give Lord Hokage the details of our mission. Report back in tomorrow."
"Yes, Master," Sakura replied crisply. Sasuke nodded and the two of them went their separate ways, but Naruto stayed. When his teammates had left, he began timidly,
"Master Kakashi?" Kakashi gave him half a glance over the top of his book. "Could you . . . put your book down just this once?" Naruto asked. "I-It's not about the bet—I won't tell Sasuke or Sakura, I promise—it's just . . ." He hesitated again, then rushed on. "You haven't put it down at all, not when I got dragged away from the rest of you . . . not even when we all got caught by those shinobi. . ."
"So you think that after all that, you can get me to put it down just because you ask me to?" Kakashi challenged him without taking his eyes off the page. Naruto's face fell. The next second he grinned in a half-forced way.
"Heh . . . I guess not," he admitted.
"Naruto." Kakashi did the unthinkable. He dog-eared his page, closed the book, and pocketed it. "I've got news for you . . . you won the bet." Naruto's eyes flew wide open, and he grinned one of his most winning smiles. "From me, you win a favor," Kakashi announced.
"Really? I do?" Naruto asked, unable to believe his good fortune.
"Yep. I'll do anything you want me to, short of wearing a dress," Kakashi drawled.
"Oh, man! Awesome!" cheered Naruto. "Okay, um . . . let's see . . . uhhh. . ." He paused, thinking hard. "Oh, I know!" He balled his hands into fists excitedly. "Will you come swimming with me?"
Kakashi blinked disbelievingly at him. "That's it? You can get me to do anything you want, and you chose swimming?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Naruto answered enthusiastically. Kakashi seemed to think this was funny for some reason, because he laughed low in his throat.
"You're really something, Naruto."
"I know!" crowed Naruto. "I'm a genius!"
". . . That's not exactly what I meant," Kakashi answered, but Naruto, who was running on ahead, didn't hear.
"Yeahhhh!" Naruto launched himself off the Second Hokage's nose, balled himself up, and flipped several times before splashing into the water. He was bare except for his leggings. "C'mon, Master!" he yelled up to Kakashi, who was taking off his shinobi vest. "You said you'd come swimming, remember?"
"Hold your horses," Kakashi called back. He took off his sandals and shirt so that he was dressed in simple black underclothes, then leaped down to join Naruto. But instead of entering the water, he landed on top of it and stood weirdly on the surface. He squatted above Naruto, unfazed by the way his student was gaping at him.
"Master Kakashi—how are you . . . ?" Naruto stammered.
"You'll learn in time," Kakashi replied calmly. "I said I'd swim with you, remember, not teach you new jutsu."
"Hmph," Naruto grunted sullenly. "I don't think you're getting the hang of this swimming thing, Master." He grinned mischievously and whirled around in the water, swinging his arms like a windmill. "See, you have to get wet first!" The wave he set in motion hit Kakashi squarely in the face. His silver hair flopped over comically, but his facial expression didn't waver at all.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" he asked. Naruto's only answer was an impish laugh. Kakashi sighed, put his hands together, and started forming so many katas in such rapid succession that Naruto was mind-boggled.
"Um, Master Kakashi? What're you—?" The lake water swirled around him, and he suddenly realized what was going on. "Aah! W-wait, hang on, Master, please! I didn't mean it!" But it was too late for apologies. A huge water dragon reared its head and carried Naruto high into the air.
And if any ninja passing by Hokage Rock heard a long, gargling scream cut off by a huge ker-sploosh, they chose to ignore it.
Master and pupil slogged out of the lake, both soaking wet. Not bothered by the water dripping off him, Naruto slipped on his jacket and sandals. Kakashi picked up his vest, too, but instead of putting it on, he rummaged around in the chest pouch and came up with a scroll. After writing a message upon it, he rolled it back up, sealed it, and handed it to Naruto.
"Here. Show it to Sasuke and Sakura. This will prove you won the bet."
"All right!" Naruto shouted, taking it and running off at full tilt. "Thanks, Master! Wait'll they see this!"
"Read it and weep!" proclaimed Naruto after hunting his friends down. Sakura and Sasuke looked less-than-pleased, but they took the scroll from him, broke the seal, and unrolled it.
"Unbelievable!" Sasuke muttered as he read.
"Didn't think I could win, did ya?" Naruto gloated.
"Not that," Sakura corrected him, "but for Kakashi-sensei to write a note to make sure we believed you, and then to leave—"
"All right, let's go," Sasuke interrupted her. "We'll buy you ramen, but only one bowl each."
"Yeah, and none of that expensive stuff, either," Sakura put in.
"Anything you say, Sakura," Naruto assured her.
So, of course, they headed over to Ichiraku Restaurant, where Naruto picked the cheapest item on the menu from Sakura and the most over-priced item from Sasuke, giggling to himself all the while. He ate both bowls in no time at all, and had the gall to whine when he was finished, "Man, I'm still hungry."
"Well, that's good," Sasuke remarked, taking him by surprise. "Because Kakashi left money to buy you something." He nodded over to the front counter. "Sakura's getting it now."
"No way! What is it?" Naruto begged to know. His smile vanished when Sakura heaved onto the table a tray laden with vegetables. Celery, peppers, sprouts, turnips, carrots, and radishes were piled high on the platter. Naruto looked from Sakura to Sasuke, dismayed. "Wha . . . veggies?" he whined. All the wind was gone from his sails.
"Eat up, Naruto," Sakura snickered. "Master Kakashi said to make sure you ate it all."
"What? He did not!" Naruto contradicted her. Sasuke waved the scroll in his face.
"Read it and weep," he said, smirking. Naruto stared at the paper, dumbstruck. The message read, I, Hatake Kakashi, do hereby affirm that Naruto won the bet. As you'll be taking him out for ramen, I enclosed enough money to buy the vegetable bonanza. Make sure Naruto eats it all. Naruto bewailed, bellyached, and bemoaned the unfairness of it all, and hemmed and hawed and tried to find a way out. When he realized there was no escaping his fate, he slowly lifted a Brussels sprout to his lips and sat glaring at it. Sitting across from him, Sasuke and Sakura couldn't have been enjoying themselves more.
"Well, Naruto?" Sasuke prompted him. "We're waiting . . ."
= The End =