The Human Blade
AN: Something I've been working on in my vacation. I have a very bad track record with completing stories, I doubt this one will be finished, either. But it might get long before I despair and delete it, so. Not a good reason for you to continue, eh?
Chapter I
When one has been in the business for long enough, you start to see all people as weapons.
You look over their height and start to guess what techniques they specialize in.
(How long? How broad? A tanto, a wakizashi, a katana...)
You examine their muscle tone and the way they move.
(How thick? Thick enough? Too thick? Too thin? Will it bend?... Will it break?)
You see their clothes and colors and guess at their personalities, the way it affects their battle style.
(Metal type? Decoration? Tilt of blade? What's that hook for- does it affect the swing?
It's a stealth weapon, the metal doesn't gleam.)
You check their faces, their normal expression, they way the smile, frown, grimace- and look for their weaknesses and handholds.
(Where must it be hit to break? Where do I hold it so it doesn't cut me? How must I wield it for maximum efficiency?
But never look into their eyes. Approach them, befriend them, seduce them, but never become their weapons.
(Don't touch the edge... touch it, grasp it, wield it, but never let it control you. You are the wielder. Not them.)
An ANBU captain must have the eyes. It is no doujutsu, chakra is not involved. An ANBU captain has to see the potential of their subordinates, what they can do, what they can't do, and what they must never, ever be ordered to do. An ANBU captain... is in control.
Hatake Kakashi nearly lost that control when the rookie walked in through the door.
The hair. They eyes, that shone through the holes in his mask. (A blank, of course, the animal markings were added after the captain assessed the rookie.) Even though Kakashi couldn't see his face, he knew. The hair was exactly the same, and the electricity of the blue eyes told it all.
It was Namikaze Naruto. Sixteen years, nine months and twenty days old. Kakashi kept track of the days that had gone by since the Kyuubi attack- and the boy had been born just then. The boy he'd carefully kept away from, even when he was younger, a somber, talented young child- graduated at the age of ten, chuunin at eleven, jounin at sixteen, and now, it seemed, ANBU.
"Rookie, reporting for duty, sir." There was quiet assurance in the tenor voice. "I believe that the memo arrived around two hours ago."
"It did." Kakashi said in his usual bored tone. "I hope," he said, a bit nastily, "that you aren't expecting any special treatment because you are the Hokage's son?"
The boy paused for a moment or two. Kakashi realized that he was waiting to see if Kakashi would continue. "No, sir."
"Good." Kakashi said crisply. "Red Owl!" he called out, raising his voice to call the short woman who was stacking the paperwork, on the other side of the room. "Spar with the newbie. Assess. I'll be watching."
"Yessir. Come, noob." she said, imperiously.
Nami- the rookie, that was, nodded and followed Red Owl out of the door. Kakashi watched them go, frozen, hands in his pockets. The rest of his posture was perfectly at ease, slouching slightly. After a few minutes, he stood up, and jerked off his porcelain mask, and rolled down the cloth one beneath. He gasped for air, harsh, jerky noises rasping from his throat.
His rare loss of control was momentary. After a few seconds, his dry sobs calmed into rough pants, and then, he forced himself to breath regularly. In, out, in, out...
He clenched his jaw and checked his face for tears. He found none- one could say that Hatake Kakashi had forgotten how to cry. He put both masks back on, stumbled to the window, and leapt out of the window with much less grace than one would expect of the shinobi. His landing was rough, but when he started to walk towards the training grounds that he knew that Red Owl and- the rookie were at, his unsteady pace sped up to his normal stalk.
They were just beginning their spar when Kakashi arrived. Their movements were slow- that is, a chuunin could see them if he concentrated. Kakashi watched the newbie. The angle he attacked from. The way his weapons moved. If he favored any side...
It was all fairly predictable. But Kakashi knew that it wasn't all. If it had been, he would not have been sent to Squad 15.
Suddenly, Red Owl blurred in midair and appeared straight behind the boy, hurling a kunai at his unprotected back in a lightning-quick movement.
The boy jerked, floundered, and became a shower of pebbles and dust. Red Owl didn't hesitate, but leapt straight up, just in time to escape the grasping hands that punched through the dirt right beneath her feet. Red Owl spun as she reached the highest point of her jump, and sent a cloud of billowing flame at the ground.
There was a terrible sound of scorching wood and a terrible, keening scream. Kakashi held himself still. This wasn't over. It couldn't be.
Red Owl knew it too. She blurred into two, and Red Owl and the kage bunshin kicked towards each other. Their sandals met cleanly, making a soft squeak of impact before the Red Owl was hurled into another direction and the bunshin dissipated into smoke- the smoke was pierced cleanly through by a spike of stone that rose like bamboo, one out of five. Red Owl narrowly avoided the nearest one.
She landed on the ground, hands first. Chakra softened the impact. Kakashi watched her somersault into safety as the spikes crumbled into smaller fragments of rock and hurled themselves at where she had just been. Boulders smashed down onto the grass.
Kakashi furrowed his brow under his mask. An earth specialist? He watched a figure rise up from the earth and walk towards Red Owl, his stride even and assured.
Suddenly, he stopped, and leapt back, kunai shoot out from his sleeves as he did so. They sailed high and fast and hit a tree somewhere to the right of Red Owl, inches apart. He stopped to deflect something invisible out of the air with his wrists, his movements noticeably faster than before. Kakashi presumed he had some kind of protective metal under his sleeves.
Red Owl appeared from a bush, from his right. The rookie didn't appear to notice, as he fought with an invisible opponent, attacks growing erratic and panicked. Red Owl walked towards him, drawing a kunai...
Suddenly, the boy stopped. Just stopped. Red Owl kept on walking, seeming not to notice this irregularity. Kakashi watched, almost impressed- the genjutsu was good. Not specialist level, of course, but good enough. Better than Red Owl- but Red Owl, while having a healthy respect for genjutsu and what it could do, was not much good at it. It wasn't too unusual, the rookie beating Red Owl in this particular aspect of the shinobi arts...
Red Owl pointed her kunai at the space that the boy had just occupied, and said in a flat, sharp voice- "Give it up. It's over."
The rookie dispelled his genjutsu. "Yes." he said pointing a kunai at the back of her head, in the exact same pose.
Red Owl swept her foot back, her motions a blur. It was her top speed- Kakashi raised an eyebrow. It made contact with his stomach.
The kage bunshin disappeared with a small popping sound.
"I haven't shown you my ninjutsu yet." the rookie said, reprovingly, as he stepped forward from where he'd been hiding, a nearby tree. Kakashi hadn't noticed him- but then again, he had been focused on the fight...
Another stepped out from another tree, just as Red Owl's arm blurred, a soft whistling sound pierced the sudden silence, and a senbon needle punched straight through the first one's forehead.
They were all bunshin. Kakashi counted six of them as they stepped out from their various hiding places, looking subdued and polite.
"I will demonstrate." the second one announced. Red Owl watched him warily as he went through seals...
He blew out a concentrated stream of fire. Red Owl stepped neatly out of the way, and watched the flame arc towards the opposite kage bunshin, who met it with a large globe of water. It all evaporated just as the fire ran out.
"Not half bad." Red Owl said critically. "But you'll have to do better than-"
She dodged out the way. Two large boulders smashed together, meeting at the place she had been.
Kakashi kept track. Fire, water, earth. Granted, the fire had been a bit unsteady- Kakashi assumed that it wasn't his natural element. He had seemed very good with earth, and if he'd gotten the water globule from the dew... nicely done. Earth and water, perhaps, being bi-elemental wasn't rare, although it was unusual-
The same kage bunshin who had summoned water send out a spray of water at Red Owl. The droplets rapidly formed a sort of bridge between the bunshin and Red Owl.
"Too predictable." Red Owl said, sounding almost derisive. "You're going to send electricity thro- argh!"
Kakashi saw the second-to-last kage bunshin explode into smoke as Red Owl bit off her scream and punched it hard in the face. It had gotten her in the leg.
She turned, limping. She jumped out of the way of the last attack, but one scything, giant wind shuriken caught her in the same leg that had received the lightning attack.
Kakashi nearly winced at that. The wind shuriken changed course a bit in midair and struck a tree, tearing off most of its leaves. Green dust rained onto the ground, and a normal steel shuriken clanged down the branches and thudded onto the ground on the other side.
Red Owl rolled on the ground, her torn ANBU robes flapping behind her as she tumbled down the sloping grass.
The rookie watched her dispassionately. And fell, very slowly, down.
He didn't seem to be panicked. "How long?" he asked, as the wounded figure of Red Owl became part of the land.
"Since you announced your ninjutsu." A voice over him said. Red Owl pursed her lips as she dispelled her henge. One of the dark gray pebbles that had clattered away from the remains of her earth bunshin. "Your concentration was scattered."
The boy was silent for a few seconds, his eyes glazed. He nodded. "Ah. I see. You used the body flicker technique... well, that was fast."
His breaths whistled in his throat. He closed his eyes.
Kakashi stepped forward. "What poison did you use?" he asked in a flat voice.
"It's just a tranquilizer." Red Owl said, stepping closer to the boy to examine him. "He's probably out like a-"
The boy's foot shot up, and caught Red Owl in the stomach. She twisted and bent to lessen the impact, but an earth bunshin clattered to life from behind her and dealt her a sharp blow to the back of her head. She crumpled, onto the rookie's prone form.
He sighed from beneath the unconscious woman. The bunshin gently pulled her off and put her down.
"I didn't mean to win." the rookie murmured, getting up. "I thought she was a bunshin. Really."
He looked at Kakashi. Kakashi stared at Red Owl.
"Impressive. You're... how old?" As if he didn't know.
"Almost seventeen, sir."
He would be. Kakashi nodded, absently. "Well done. Welcome to Squad 15. Your status is probational for two months, then we'll decide whether to keep you or let you go."
"Yes, sir."
"Your file, please."
The rookie walked over Kakashi, making to pull something out of his worn chuunin vest. Half a second after he came into range. Kakashi's fist shot forward. The rookie parried with the flat side of the kunai he'd just plucked out of his vest. His other hand pulled out a yellowy file. It was a bit thick and old-looking.
"Good reflexes." Kakashi commented, taking the file.
"Thank you, sir."
"Tell me, who was your genin instructor?"
"I was the odd one out, sir. I was privately trained by my father's jounin-sensei."
That would be Jiraiya, then.
"Do you have a summoning contract?"
"Toads, sir. It's all in my file."
"It would be." Kakashi said. "Dismissed. Report back tomorrow, nine am sharp."
"Yessir." The boy saluted, and dissipated into smoke.
Kakashi stared at the place he'd been, trying to recall... it was either when he'd parried his blow or when he'd knocked out Red Owl.
He was fast.
Kakashi spent four hours that night reading Namikaze Naruto's file.
He had enrolled rather late. Most started when they were eight and graduated at twelve. Like most clan children, Naruto had started shinobi training earlier than normal.
After several attempts on his life from foreign assassins as an infant, he had started learning chakra theory, taijutsu and apparently sealing basics from four and had started learning chakra techniques when he was nine. (Kakashi read the specifics, growing almost impressed as he did.)
Kakashi was one of the four living people in the world who knew enough to guess as to why he'd starting learning ninjutsu so late. The other two were the Sandaime Hokage, Jiraiya of the Sannin, and Namikaze Naruto himself. The demon Kyuubi had been sealed into his teacher's son when he was born. It made sense that it would still be making trouble for everyone.
He took to it like fish to water. He'd attended the Academy for eight months, passed all the tests will flying colors and graduated with near-full marks. Apparently he'd been unable to perform the standard bunshin. After graduating, he had completed the minimum amount of D-rank missions needed to take the chuunin exam in two weeks, and had disappeared off to train with his jounin-sensei.
He returned in a year just in time for the chuunin exams, and to summarize, kicked ass.
There was a memo from Jiraiya at this point.
'I put him through the grinder while we wandered through Fire Country. Much of it was concentrated on developing his wind affinity and developing his shaky chakra control.
He'll never have excellent chakra control, but he won't need it with his chakra reserves. They're (crossed out by a different colored pen) massive. He learned Rasengan, mastered it in two months. Told him not to use it, though.
Also signed toad contract, but did little practice with summoning. In special circumstances, he can summon Gamabunta. Doesn't use it much.
Tried to improve his genjutsu but gave it up. He's hopeless. He has the imagination for realistic genjutsu but not the control for it. I plan to hand him over to some other unlucky fool to help him with it.
Also has learned his mother's clan taijutsu style and a few water jutsu in his spare time. Isn't good at water jutsu but likes the element itself. Practices a lot. Seems determined to master it.'
Kakashi read it twice. Rasengan in two months? Impressive. It was... astounding, in fact. The boy had been... what? Almost eleven at that point. Good God.
He read about the Chuunin exams, which had been held in Grass Country. He skimmed everything until he got to the unchanging exam, the tournament. He had come out second. Not too shabby.
After that... Kakashi raised an eyebrow. In a span of three and half years from his promotion to chuunin and promotion to special jounin, his record was 24 D-rank missions, 92 C-rank, 73 B-rank, 17 A-rank and 5 S-rank. All except one of the S-rank missions had been with Jiraiya, and the last one was with... classified.
SS-rank, apparently.
Kakashi sat on haunches, peering intently at the file. Curious... This was just three months ago. The boy had gone for three weeks. The mission itself... was wiping out an organization... of missing nin... but that was all. No names. No numbers.
And, apparently straight after he'd come back, he'd been promoted to jounin. Private exam. Proctored by the Hokage, overseen by his sensei.
There were a few more scribbled notes from Jiraiya. 'Improved genjutsu... brief education in medical skills, little talent... added wind element to Rasengan...'
Kakashi looked at the ceiling. At the clock. And went to get a cup of coffee.
When he came back, the sentence was still there. No elaboration. Kakashi decided to ask Jiraiya about it the next day. (And maybe get an autograph on Icha Icha volume IX.)
He was nearly at the end of the file. The next to last page was a brief summary of his current skills.
Ninjutsu... natural element, wind. Mastered earth and water. Adequate and fire and lightning. Arsenal: See next page.
Kakashi took a look at it. The page was filled, with little space at the edges, with tiny print. Kakashi changed his posture to take a closer look. Jutsu of all elements. Oddly, wind didn't take the majority. Earth and water did. Quite a few of them were one-hit, unsubtle assassination techniques.
Kakashi flipped back, and read about his genjutsu. Nothing extraordinary. Good at breaking them. Decent at casting them. His imperfect control was countered by his exceptional memory for imagery. Not bad, then.
Taijutsu... three styles completely mastered. His mother's traditional clan style- 'Swirl'. Which he'd apparently added a whole new dimension to, with Kage Bunshin. A heavy, strength-oriented style, which seemed to be a variation on the Akimichi one. A bit incongruous, Kakashi thought, thinking of the boy's slight, slender build. Something like... ah, yes, the last one fit well. It was a flexible, speed-oriented one. 'Zanzou'.
And a few miscellaneous taijutsu tricks. A tacked-on memo from Jiraiya said that the boy knew, in theory, how to open the first two Celestial Gates.
Medical skills, sub-par. Sealing... Kakashi scanned the next two paragraphs. Well, well. The boy's knowledge seemed to be focused on the sealing of demons, but his basic knowledge extended to most areas of sealing, and he was quite good with C-space sealing. (Weapons in scrolls and so forth.)
Prefered weapons of choice; wakizashi, nunchaku, naginata.(1) Close-range fighter, then.
Kakashi finished his cup of coffee and tiredly turned his eyes to the last sentence. Swallowed quickly, and started coughing very hard.
S-rank shinobi?
(1) Wakizashi: medium-length sword. Nunchaku: Two sticks attached by a short chain. Naginata: blade attached to pole.