Disclaimer: Kishimoto Masashi is the owner of Naruto and its characters. I am not KishimotoMasashi. Therefore, I do not own Naruto and its characters.
Naruto: Hidden-Leaf Revelations
Crossing the Line
Kakashi Hatake watched quietly from inside the Hokage's tower as leaf shinobi made their way to the Uchiha District under the glory of the crimson moon in the starless sky.
"They are going to die!" Kakashi clenched his fist tightly in an effort to stop himself from screaming in rage.
"I should be there with them. I should be fighting with my friends!" He was tempted to jump from the tower's window or to teleport his way to where the battle was ensuing. He came close to it. He made the signs necessary for a teleportation jutsu, but at the last moment he hesitated.
"I can't! My heart might be in the Uchiha District, but my mission is here. Safely watching as other shinobi put their lives on the line for the village", he added bitterly and reminded himself just how much he hated his job.
Fortunately for Kakashi and to his relief, two ANBU arrived, each one carrying small, cloaked figures in their arms.
"The mission was a success. We were able to rescue these two from the enemy", reported a female with long, blonde hair, which was tied in a pony tail. She was wearing a bird's mask.
"Their parents?" Kakashi inquired, looking at the two trembling forms in the ANBU's arms.
"Presumably dead", replied a male voice from behind a rhino's mask.
"Dead?" He felt like his heart stopped beating for a second. The ANBU's words echoed in his mind. A mental picture of the children's parents materialized. Their faces laughing and smirking back at him with joy. He would never see those faces again. The picture shattered, leaving nothing but darkness. Then just as fast as his heart stopped, it resumed with a need.
"I will kill him!"
For the second time, Kakashi wanted nothing more than to storm from the Hokage's office and end the life of the one who had caused him such unbearable pain. But just as before, he hesitated. One look at the small children in the ANBU's arms made him stop and calmed his thoughts. Now was not the time to let his emotions get the better of him. His time for vengeance would come eventually. He needed to get the children out first.
"Lower the children", Kakashi ordered. The two ANBU promptly followed his command and placed the two children in front of the silver-haired shinobi. Kakashi could not see their faces. The cloaks both children wore were too large for them, and their hoods completely covered their faces. But it was not necessary to see their faces to know both children were terrified of what they had just witnessed. There was no one who would not be terrified after having his people murdered in front of him.
"Or not", he mended as he saw the child with the male ANBU clutching his fist in the exact way Kakashi had earlier. "Hmm, this is one will be trouble."
If Kakashi had learned something about the Uchiha Clan over the past years was that they had a habit of making revenge their number one priority; a priority that eventually evolved into an obsession.
Kakashi sighed. Getting the children out of the village was probably going to be more complicated than he thought, but he had no time to waste. The moment the enemy found out that their targets were not in the Uchiha District, they would be coming here. He needed to evacuate them as soon as possible.
"But better to make it clearer to them what they are up against."
"Children listened to me carefully", Kakashi paused before saying the words that would make their situation a reality. "Your family is dead. There is nothing you can do about it."
Both children and the ANBU stiffened. They had not expected such blunt, not to mention, tactless declaration.
Kakashi ignored them and continued. "You need to get out of this village. You will not be alone. Asuka and Jun will go with you", he looked at the two ANBU standing silently behind the children.
"Why should we listen to you?" asked one quiet and furious voice.
Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow, "Why? Because if you stay, you die. Now…"
Kakashi walked over to the Hokage's desk while letting his statement sink in. He opened a drawer and took out two kunais. He then performed a series of hand seals and produced an enormous scroll.
"But that is-" Asuka yelled bewildered from her place.
"The scroll of all the forbidden jutsus sealed way by the first Hokage." Behind their masks, both ANBU stared at the scroll Kakashi was holding as if it was a ticking bomb ready to explode at any given moment.
"Asuka, Jun", he commanded, regaining their attention. "You are to use this scroll to escape with the children."
"Is he that dangerous?" Asuka asked. For them to resort to such desperate measures, their foe had to be a force to be reckoned with.
Kakashi narrowed his visible grey eye. Images of the monstrosities their enemy committed flashed in his mind.
"You have no idea. He is a genius and a formidable opponent in battle. This is our only chance. He will come after the surviving Uchiha." He then moved to kneel in front of children and handed them each a kunai.
"If they get close to you, don't die without a fight." He looked closely at one child in particular and added, "You are an Uchiha. Uchiha's don't die without a fight."
The children grabbed the kunais and held them close to their chest. Behind their cloaks, their eyes were terrified, but they were also determined. They would not die. Sensing their feelings, Kakashi could not helped but think the children were going to be fine. He stood up as Asuka and Jun once again stood behind their charges. Jun had placed the scroll under his left arm.
"I assume you both have an idea where the place you need to head is located?"
Both ANBU nodded, as they each recalled another ANBU showing them a dead-looking tree in the middle of the forest.
"In that case, good-" Kakashi broke off as the tower shook violently, breaking the windows in the process. Asuka and Jun covered the screaming children with the upper portion of their bodies while Kakashi whirled around in time to see enemy-nin making their way to the tower.
"GO!" Kakashi ordered. The ANBU placed their hands on the children and disappeared in a whirl of leaves. Kakashi saw from the corner of his eye the last of the leaves make their way to the floor before he turned to face the window and removed the headband protector from his left eye, revealing his sharingan.
"It is time for my vengeance."
Miles away from the Hokage's tower, Asuka and Jun appeared in front of Konoha's entrance with their charges. They wasted no time and settled the children on their backs.
"The plan?" Asuka asked her partner as seven enemy-nin blocked the exit to the village. It seemed the enemy had anticipated the children making a break for it.
"Follow my lead", Jun responded calmly, and the two ANBU broke in to a run. The enemy-nin prepared themselves for battle. They took kunais and shuriken between their fingers and waited for the incoming ANBU to come closer.
From behind her mask, Asuka smirked as she and Jun made seven clones of themselves and the children. Eight Asukas and Juns, each with a child on their back, sped forward, blocking the kunais and shurikens thrown at them. Then the real ANBU jumped to the air, flew over their enemy, and landed swiftly behind them. They broke into a furious run and left their clones behind to fight the imbeciles, who dared to call themselves shinobi.
Once within the forest, the two ANBU leaped from one tree branch onto another, each move was fast and silent. It took them a couple of minutes to reach the middle of the forest despite the weight they carried. The forest was too quiet, suspiciously quiet. Asuka straightened her ears to hear any suspicious noise and tried to sense the enemy. She could feel several chakra signatures far behind them, none of them recognizable.
"Asuka?" Asuka turned her head slightly to hear the child on her back. The mask she wore and the child's hood made it impossible for her to see his face. But Asuka felt the silent tears the child was shedding on her shoulder.
"Hey", Asuka said, thinking the child was afraid of being captured. "We won't let them get to you." More tears flowed from the child and a small cry escaped his lips.
Finally he spoke. "Is mommy dead?" He blurted out as if the question was one he had been holding inside and could no longer suppress.
Asuka looked to Jun, loss for words and very taken back. What could she say to a child who had just seen his family massacred in front of him? Everything will be alright? That would be a lie.
She had always been lacking in the comforting department, but she would not take the easy way out and lie.
Her distraction nearly cost her. A kunai flew down at her direction. She reacted in the nick of time, dodged the kunai, and landed on another tree branch. Her partner landed next to her. They both looked up at her attacker, ignoring the inexcusable mistake Asuka had just made.
The shinobi staring back at them was a black-haired man of slight build and grey eyes. He wore a headband protector with a slash crossed in front of it, a missing-nin from the mist. He did not speak. He did not have to. The challenge was made the moment he threw the kunai at Asuka.
Jun lowered the child he carried on his back.
"What are you doing?" Asuka demanded.
"He must be competent for us not to feel his chakra", Jun commented, thinking back at how easily they had escaped earlier. "I will deal with him. You take the children and this", he handed Asuka the scroll. The second she took it Jun jumped up and began to engage in combat with the enemy.
Asuka directed some chakra to her right arm and wrapped it around the other child's waist. With one child on her back, another in her right hand, and the scroll in her left, she turned to run with her load when another shinobi appeared in front of her.
"Damn me!"
The new shinobi smiled at her before throwing a punch.
Asuka blocked it with her left fore-arm. The shinobi smiled at her once again, taking note of the load she was carrying before throwing a kick directed at her gut.
Asuka jumped back. Both of her charges yelled in surprise, while she cursed at her inability to make any hand signatures for a jutsu. Unless she dropped the children, it looked like taijutsu was her only choice.
"Very good, woman. You are fast. But let's see how long can you keep this up", said the shinobi sadistically.
Now that she was not under attack, she could see the other shinobi. He too was a missing-nin from the mist. He had short, brown hair tied behind his head. There was something disturbing in the way he looked at her. As if she was a piece of meat ready to be torn apart and eaten up.
She did not like it, but she had to get away and fast. Asuka could hear Jun was still engaged in battle. Judging the time that it was taking her partner to finish up his opponent, it was plainly clear that both men were not regular, weak shinobi.
"And now, let the fun begin", her attacker yelled as he directed a water jutsu at her. Asuka's actions were limited to dodging the attack once again.
"I can't attack without leaving the children unprotected", she thought and gritted her teeth from a tree branch.
Just then her attacker rose before her with a large sword, pointing down at her. There was no time for a physical reaction. All Asuka could do was prepared herself for the pain that would curse through her body in a matter of seconds.
No pain came.
Jun had appeared in front and halted the attack using his ninjato.
"Shadow Clone", the enemy shinobi chuckled under his breath and momentarily glanced upwards, where his partner was still engaged in battle with the real Jun. "You truly are good".
"Asuka", Jun's furious voice made the ANBU flinched. It was rare for Jun to lose his temper in battle. "Don't just stand around but do as I say!"
"Oh, no. You are not leaving!" the shinobi said and tried to attack Asuka again. Jun forcefully kicked the shinobi in the gut, sending him flying backwards into a tree.
Not wanting to be told-off again, Asuka sprinted away. She sensed the chakras that had been behind them were now too close for her comfort. Hearing the charge on her back whimper made Asuka turned her head around.
"Hold on! We are almost at the clearing."
Asuka was not lying to the child. She could see the clearing, but most importantly, she could see the dead tree from her memories. It would take a couple of minutes before she reached it, but once there, she could escape with the children.
"Come on, Asuka. Ten more trees….seven….four…two…"
Asuka and the children landed on the clearing. Instantly, Asuka dropped both children and ignored the protest that came from one of them. She opened the scroll and began furiously looking for the jutsu that she needed.
Kakashi had not told her or Jun what jutsu to use. But it was deliberate. Just as Kakashi had known the two ANBU knew about the dead tree, he had also known about their knowledge of the jutsu. He knew Asuka and Jun had been chosen by the children's parents to be their protectors and thus shown the only way to take them to safety.
Asuka found the jutsu and read it quickly, paying close attention to the hand seals she would use. She then bit her thumb and began making the hand signals needed. Once completed, she directed her thump to the ground. Blue flames shot out from under it and quickly ran in a line. The instant the flames touched the tree; the latter began to glow blue.
"You must step into the tree", a distant voice echoed in Asuka's mind. She grabbed the scroll and was about to take the children's hands when she detected chakra signatures.
"What the –", out of thin air, a long sword went through her gray armor and pierced the lower part of her abdomen. The pain that instanly overtook her body like fire made Asuka cry out.
The sword was pulled out of her body as it collapsed with shock. A small flow of liquid escaped from her gasping mouth. She touched it and brought it to her eyes.
Blood.
"Found you. Half dead you are, but we found you. Leaf has gone soft if you are the best they got, Miss ANBU", Asuka looked up to glare at the Shinobi taunting her, but was taken back when she recognized him.
"You are… the sadist from the forest." Asuka weakly wiped the blood with her arm and tried to get up. The shinobi smiled down at her with pleasure at being remembered and seeing she still had some fight left in her.
"Your partner says hi. Don't worry, you will see him again." He kicked her in the exact place where her wound was. Asuka bit down her tongue to hold her cry from escaping again. She tried to get up from the ground, but collapse.
"Asuka!" Her charges rushed to her side, but they instantly became surrounded by a group of shinobi. Asuka saw one of the children - the one she had carried - throw his kunai at the nearest shinobi. His target yelled in pain as the kunai accurately stabbed his leg.
"You stinky brat!" the injured shinobi threw a shurinken at the child in retaliation.
"Watch out!" Asuka widen her eyes in horror as she saw the shurinken make its way. Her voice triggered the other child into action. He quickly stepped in front of the other and blocked the attack using his own kunai. But something went wrong. No one was moving. The shinobi gaped at the child like he had just grown a third head.
"Those eyes!" one of them gasped.
"What is going on?" Asuka could not see the child from her angle, but she heard another yell of pain coming from the group. She guessed another kunai had stabbed its target.
"Disable them already!" said the sadist, exasperated by a group of shinobi unable to take down two children and marched to get them himself.
Ignoring her wound, Asuka got up from the ground in time to see two shinobi spitting black liquid from their mouths onto the children's eyes. The children screamed and covered their eyes with their hands. The sadist forcefully grabbed one of them by the front of his cloak.
"You aren't much of a threat now."
"Let – me- GO!" the child struggled to get free. He tried to kick the shinobi with the sole of his feet, but the shinobi just moved his head to the side, exposing his neck.
It was an opportunity and Asuka took it.
"Didn't you hear?" a ninjato pressed against the side of his neck. "Are all Mist shinobi deaf?"
The shinobi's eyes registered five of his men lying on the floor.
"Well aren't you a sneaky woman", he said before he dropped the child, whirl around, and took his sword to meet Asuka's. But she was not there. He spun around to where the children were, but they too were missing. Suddenly, a large shadow was cast over him. He looked up to see a large hawk hovering over him, before it flew to the glowing tree.
"STOP HER!" growled the shinobi as he ran after the flying eagle. He could see Asuka kneeling on one knee on top of the eagle's head while the two children held on to her arms for dear life.
"This is the closest I can get Asuka. I cannot go beyond the portal", the hawk said.
"Distract them while we escape, Sora."
The hawk turned to face the three remaining Shinobi as Asuka, with the children clutching to her arms, jumped down. Once they were on the ground, Sora flew to attack the Shinobi. But they dispersed in time to avoid his beak.
Asuka pumped chakra, which was so low that she was sure she was using her life's reserve, into her feet and raced again. She was certain they would make it to the tree. She heard a scream.
She stopped and turned to see a thin, blue chakra string wrapped around one of the child's leg. The child screamed once again as one enemy-nin tugged on the Chakra string. The force of the tug made the child's cloak fall off revealing pink hair.
"No! Sa-" Asuka yelled and reached for one of the child's extending hands. The moment she grabbed one, she felt another sharp object go through her body.
Asuka looked down and recognized the sword that had pierced her before.
Suddenly, the world before Asuka started to become a blur. She found that her arms began to shake violently, threatening to let go of the children. She tried to calm herself by breathing, but found she was breathing rapidly and with difficulty.
"I'm dying?" she asked sadly, shutting her eyes. She could hear the children yelling her name, but their voices were an echo in the background. She lost herself to the endless memories resurfacing and playing in her head.
Her time in the academy was the best and worst in her life. Iruka-sensei would always sigh whenever she tried to produce a clone of the Hokage. Her classmates would make fun of her weak techniques. Every afternoon she would run to the forest, climb a tree, and just sit there. Mad that she was so stupid and weak.
But despite her shortcomings, she graduated from the academy and joined Jun's team. She was the worse in the team, but her determination to become the best allowed her to slowly become stronger. She became strong enough to get her idol to recognize her as one of Konoha's best. It was this memory, and one of her and Jun sitting by a sakura tree, which helped her to remember her mission was still incomplete. She needed to fight just one last time.
"Uchihas are not the only ones who don't die without giving a fight. Besides, as I once told Jun …"
"I...always…f- finish my…missions!" Asuka opened her eyes and pulled her charge's hand. The chakra string broke, but the force of the break made Asuka and the two children fall backwards into the glowing tree. Their bodies arched as they penetrated it and disappeared. As soon as they disappeared, the tree stopped glowing, and the avenue of blue flames ceased to burn.
The remaining shinobi stared at the tree with disbelief, without blinking, and not sure what had just happened.
The shinobi Asuka had called a sadist moved forward and inspected the sight. The tree was completely solid, unlike the one that had allowed itself to be penetrated a few moments ago. It was hot and solid.
He frowned. This was not good. The Lord would be furious when he found out, and he – the sadist – would not be the one to deliver the news.
"Someone go and tell the Lord our targets have escape", he barked.
"No need, Kaito. I am here, and I do believe this thing is yours", instantly all shinobi went on one knee before a tall man with flowing black hair. His shinobi stared frozen at the floor. It was not good. Whenever their leader used that sweet tone of voice, he was clearly displeased and rapidly becoming furious.
"It is yours, Kaito?" Kaito hesitantly looked at his master. The man was holding the ANBU's hawk by the neck. He could see the animal was stiff and eyes were lifeless.
Not getting a response, the man released the animal, and its body fell to the ground with a thud. He then made his way to the tree.
The atmosphere was so thick that his subordinates could hardly breathe as the man made his own inspection of the tree. They could phantom the punishment they would receive for letting the ANBU and the brats escape.
But suddenly their leader smirked, his eyes glowing while remaining on the tree.
"Well, boys. It seems you are in luck. The jutsu used is one I recognize." At this, the shinobi let out a breath of relief and took of their eyes from the floor. One of them was even bold enough to speak.
"What do we do now, my lord?"
The man tossed back his black hair over his shoulder.
"We go after them", he said pleasantly and licked his bottom lip with his tongue.
The bonds of friendship have been finally severed. As Konoha mourns, one of its own, Team Seven has finally made its decision. With one goal in mind, Sakura and Naruto train to achieve the status to kill their former friend.
Next Time in Hidden-Leaf Revelations: Sasuke Must Die!
A special thank you to:
Hypnotic Flames
Libith
Maxium
Silver Lone Wolf
TeenageNeko
You readers keep me going
