Gentle Fist, Will of Fire
Well, here you go. Chapter no. 3! A special thank you to all of you who reviewed my first two chaps:
jabberwalcky, Gaming Ikari, nonengel, PaulRap Raptor, MissNaye, Han-Ko, and Loner Kitsune Girl: Whoop! Thanks for the praise! Hope chappie 3 lives up to your expectations!
Disclamer: I don't own Naruto or any of the other characters featured in this story (Actually, I don't even own the first chappie!!) No copyright infringement was intended when I wrote this fiction.
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/Naruto's POV/
I awoke early the next morning sprawled on my back on the living room floor. The sun wasn't up, but already I felt like I was missing something. Eyes closed, I felt with my right hand for that something, though only my subconscious could tell you what at that point. I found it, a small hand that had found it's way from under the covers in the night. I took hold of the hand, smiling to myself. The small hand was warm and seemed to warm my entirety with it's touch. I smiled wider and tried to go back to sleep.
Suddenly, I felt like I was being watched. I waited for the feeling to go away for a few minutes, but fiinally I could stand it no longer. I opened my eyes to see a masked figure crouched over me, messy silver hair hanging everywhere. The figure smiled at me, his one visible eye crinkling up.
The first thing I did in reply was take in a breath. The second thing I did was scream.
"AHHHHH KAKASHI SENSEI WHY ARE YOU IN MY HOUSE?!?!" I screamed, flailing my arms and legs wildly. The dark haired girl beside me immediately woke and began to scream too, and our voices combined woke up the other for sleeping beside us. When Lee was awakened, he saw the man standing over my head and immediately jumped over towards him, attempting to kick him in midair to get him away from me, apparently thinking he was a rouge ninja.
Kakashi stood straight and reached out, catching Lee by the ankle. "Whoa, whoa, Lee, calm down," He said, voice as apathetic as it always had been. A twinkle could be seen in his visible eye, and I could tell he was smiling. "I know my team and Team Gai have always been rivals, but to attack the sensei? Shame, Lee, shame."
"Kakashi sensei?" Lee asked, eyes as wide as dinner plates as he looked up at the man who'd grabbed his ankle, dangling helplessly.
"Ka-Kakashi sensi, put him down!" Sakura cried, voice filled with concern rather than humor as she watched Kakashi continue to dangl Lee by his ankle. The man shrugged and dropped Lee, who landed with an "Oof!" on the floor. Seeing this, Sakura looked like she was just barely stopping herself from running to Lee's side, asking him if he was okay.
"Back to Naruto's question, how did you get inside, Kakashi sensei?" Shino asked, rubbing sleep from behind his dark glasses.
Kakashi shrugged. "Naruto didn't lock the door. Honestly, Naruto, that's not really all that smart. Someone--" Kakashi shot me a warning glance, and I knew who he was talking about-- "could've walked in during the night and killed you all, you know."
"Okay, okay, give it a rest already," I grumbled, standing up slowly. Stretching, I mumbled, " Just let me shower real quick and then we can get on the road."
"Oh no, not this time, Naruto," Kakashi shook his head, earning a dissaproving glare from me. "We'll all be able to take showers once we get away from the village, but for now we need to leave when no one's awake to see us go."
"Fine," I grumbled again, folding my arms. I felt a hand rest on my shoulder, and for some reason the touch calmed me. I looked over and saw Hinata, smiling at me through the dark.
I smiled back, my entire mood changed by simply gazing at this girl. In my fully conscious state, I couldn't remember that hers was the hand that I'd groped for earlier, before Kakashi sensei had walked into my apartment. Though her touch calmed me, it also brought my senses about me also. I wasn't going to let another incident like this happen. If the wrong someone had walked through that door, all of our lives would be over, even this tender, sweet, shy girl beside me. I wouldn't-- no, couldn't-- let an incident like this happen again and threaten the lives of my friends. On my nindo, I swore.
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Kakashi allowed Sakura, Lee, Shino and Kiba to run to their houses and pack "only the necessities", claiming that Tsunade had told their parents that they were going on a mission that morning and wouldn't be back for a while. He also told us that she'd informed Iruka sensei and the Hyuga family of this news, though the latter didn't seem to care much. Hiashi had told the Hokage that he'd gotten rid of all Hinata's clothes and such, claiming that he shouldn't keep objects that didn't belong to the family. Tsunade had replied by giving Hiashi a bit of a lecture. For lying to her about Hinata's misfortune, Tsunade had subjected him to house arrest, forbidding him to leave the household and informing him that the entire clan would be watched over by ANBU officers. Leaving the steaming man, Kakashi said that Tsunade was quite proud of how she'd handled Hinata's spiteful father.
After hearing that Hinata had nothing to take with her, I felt bad for her. After packing a bag of my own, I got another out of my closet and threw in one of my extra toothbrushes and a bottle of toothpaste. I also put one of my pairs of Gama-chan pajamas in her pack, one that didn't quite fit me anymore-- Hey, I like frog jammies! What's wrong with that?-- and I also put in a frog nightcap. As a bit of an afterthought, I put in a picture of her and myself posing while sitting on the Hokage monuments, a photo that had been taken about a month after I'd returned from my trip with the Toad Senin. I also put in the ointment that she'd given me so long ago, but then decided against it-- instead I put it into my own pack, feeling a bit uncomfortable without it. Don't ask me why-- I didn't even know myself.
Once I'd finished packing, I went back into the living room, where Hinata and Kakashi were sitting on the couch waiting for the others to return. I handed Hinata her bag, smiling widely. "Can't leave without the necessities, can we, Hinata-chan?"
In reply, she smiled up at me. Not the half smile she always used to favor me with, but a broad grin that made her eyes close. "Arigatou, Naruto-kun." Her smile almost mirrored my own, and I was stunned with how pretty she looked when she smiled like that. I made a note to make her smile more often, then plopped down beside her.
Whenever the others finally got back, it was almost sunrise. "We're running late," Kakashi muttered, glancing at the watch on his wrist before announcing that we were leaving. "Naruto, please, lock your door this time, would you?" All he got from me was a glare, but at least I remembered to lock my door this time.
We launched ourselves over the rooftops, seven ninja and one overgrown dog, silently heading for the wall that ran around the entire village. We jumped the wall, and right afterwards Kakashi told us to take off our forehead protectors.
"Nani? Are you kidding?" I cried, counenance incredulous as I looked up at my sensei. This forehead protector was the only symbol I had to show people that I was a ninja, a sign that I was going to be Konoha's strongest one day. How could I show people that I was so strong if I didn't wear my forehead protector?
He raised an eyebrow at me, slipping his own band off of his head and letting his silver hair go absolutely crazy. "According to the Hokage, this is an S-ranked mission, and we need to lay low until we get to my friend's house. I don't need to remind you what those words mean, do I, Naruto?"
I grumbled as I slipped my forehead protector off, throwing it in my pack. Kakashi started to walk, and I followed after. It wasn't until we'd gone about five feet away from the wall when we noticed that the others weren't following. We turned to see the five of them plus Akamaru staring at us, having either taken their forehead protectors off or was in the process of doing so. Twelve pairs of incredulous eyes were locked on Kakashi, and he frowned back at them. "What are you all doing? C'mon, Kiba, take that thing off. Why are you all staring at me?"
"Y-you just said S-ranked mission," Sakura whispered, eyes wide. She clutched at Lee's arm, who turned slightly pink as she held on to him.
"B-but we're all o-only Ch-Chu-Chunin!" Hinata squeaked, eyes misting over once again.
"Naruto's only a Genin," Kiba reminded her faintly, untying his forehead protector as he spoke. Akamaru whined in agreement.
"How do you expect us to pull off this mission? We're so low in rank..." Even Shino looked apprehensive as he tucked his forehead protector away in his pack.
I marched back to them all, hands on my hips. "Does the rank make the ninja? Look at me! I'm a Genin, yet I was able to defeat the genius Neji, and I almost won against Sasuke!" Both Sakukra and I winced at the mention of our old friend's name, but I couldn't let that stop my speech. "If the Chunin exams hadn't been postponed three years ago, those two might've even become Jonin! Did my rank allow me to beat Hinata's cousin that day? No! Does the rank make the ninja? You answer that." I turned around and marched back to Kakashi, praying to the Gods that my peers followed. If they didn't, then they really believed that the rank made the ninja, that they were weak if they weren't a higher rank, and they would be useless on this mission.
Kakashi fell into place beside me, and I snuck a peek behind me. Sure enough, all five of my friends had dropped into place. I smiled and turned back around, screaming Yes! Yahhh! How's that for motivational speaking, Iruka sensei?! in my head.
The wide grin on my face was still shining brightly whenever the sun began to warm our backs. I was happier than I'd been in a long while. My friends all believed in me now. More importantly, they believed in themselves. That's what really made me happy. Sadly, my joy didn't last long as Kakashi offhandedly told us that we'd have to travel like normal people, actually walking instead of jumping through the trees, at least for a while.
"NANI?!?" I yelled, scaring drowsy birds out of the trees above. "But why?"
"The concept of laying low is foreign to you, isn't it?" Kakashi replied, putting emphasis on the two words. Not exactly the answer I was looking for.
"I know what laying low means!" I growled back, putting the same emphasis on the words, trying to mock him.
As if he didn't even hear my reply, Kakashi suddenly turned to Hinata. "Hinata, activate you Byakugan."
Looking slightly concerned, Hinata nodded and activated her bloodlimit. What she saw nearly made her faint. "There's four of them," She gasped, eyes wide with worry. "Two on either side, up in the trees. They're closing fast. They sort of look like ANBU officers, but something's wrong with their masks. I don't know..."
Kakashi nodded. "Thank you, Hinata." Slowly, he reached up and pulled his mask down, only enough to reveal his sharingan eye to be shown. He hissed. "UBNA."
As if called to place, four nin leapt out of the trees, one behind us, one on either side of us, and one before us, facing Kakashi. Their outfits did look a lot like the ANBU's did, black and silver with some armor, but their masks weirded me out for some reason. They were shaped like animals, sure, but somethng was wrong with them.
Sakura tugged on my shoulder, leaning over to whisper in my ear. "Their eyes, Naruto. Look at their eyes!"
I looked. Sure enough, the eyes of the masks shimmered crimson. Not only that, but they were mere slits instead of the round eyes traditional ANBU officers have decorating their masks. Apparently Hinata was frightened by the crimson slits too, becuase she gasped and scooted a little closer to me.
"Name the village with whom you are affiliated, sir," The nin before Kakashi declared, folding his arms.
"We are loyal to no village," Kakashi lied, turning his head so that his sharingan eye was hidden behind his mass of silver hair. He hoped they were going to be able to get out of this without a fight, but with the UNBA you could never be sure what was going to happen.
The nin before Kakashi suddenly unfolded his arms and leaned forward, as if he was surprised. "Hey, wait a minute... You're Copy Ninja Kakashi, aren't you?"
Shit. "What makes you say so?" This was bound to get messy.
The nin chuckled while his subordinates shared glances. "Don't be so modest, Hatake. It's been forever since we've seen each other! You're gonna lie to us already?"
All of a sudden a kunai whizzed past Kakashi's head and impaled itself in the ninja's shoulder pad. "What the--" The kunai exploded, apparently attached with an exploding tag, and the man's arm was blown apart. Screaming, the nin went down.
A shadow clone of myself appeared behind the nin before Sakura and I and kicked him up into the air, screaming "NA!" Another clone appeared before me, and I jumped off of his back into the air. When I reached the nin, I kicked him up farther, calling out "RU!" A clone jumped up to me, then used me as a stepping stone to reach the nin. He kicked him up even farther, screaming "TO!". I jumped up to him using several other clones to reach him, and I plus four other clones kicked the nin back down to the ground, finishing the move: "UZUMAKI SUPER RENDAN!" The nin hit the ground, a bloody pulp of the man he used to be.
One of the remaining nin began to scream, clutching at his mask. Bugs were crawling from Shino's sleeves up the nin's body to slip under the mask, and apparently they were mutilating his face from underneath. While he was preoccupied, Hinata launched herself at him, hitting his vital chakra points. When she was done, she moved and Sakura jumped in, landing a solid punch against his chest. The nin flew backwards, no longer screaming, and hit a tree.
The last nin was dealt with accordingly. Smiling serenely, Kba handed Lee a bottle of sake, and the green clad nin took a swig. All of a sudden, he started swaying back and forth. The final masked ninja, though frightened, chuckled. "How's a drunken opponent going to defeat me?"
That was a question that need not have been asked.
Lee went out of control. He was a blur, attacking the nin from one side, then another. The man tried to block the attacks, but his attempts were futile. Lee's final attack, a drop kick to the head, sent the nin crashing to the ground, body disformed and brusied.
Kiba and I seized either one of Lee's arms, and Sakura shoved a blue pill down his throat as we held him back. After a moment, he calmed, and his eyelids drooped as he began to snore. "Kiba and I laid him down, our eyes as big as dinner plates. "Hey, Sakura-chan, what was that pill you gave him?" I asked, smiling admiringly up at her. "That pill put him right to sleep!"
Sakura grinned as she gazed down at the now snoozing Lee. "It's a pill I developed a while back. It counters the effects of alchohol on the body and puts the user to sleep until they can function normally again. Works really fast, doesn't it?" Kiba and I nodded, and we continued to watch Lee sleep until a voice brought us back to the present.
"Bravo, Hatake, bra-vo," The first nin said, standing. He clutched at the bloody stump that used to be his arm and hissed in pain, though a sinister smirk spread across his lips as he looked at the group. "I can't believe your students actually defeated my subordinates. You've trained them well. I can see we have our work cut out for us with this generation. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do..."
Before Kakashi could stop him, the nin vainished in a puff of red smoke, as did the bodies of his teammates.
"Dammit," Kakashi hissed, and turned to the six of us. "Well, that went well." With a slightly visible glint in his eyes, he asked, "Who threw the kunai with the exploding tag attached?"
"Me," Sakura admitted, bowing her head. "I had a feeling that those creeps were gonna attack us anyway, so I thought, 'Well, why don't we make the first move?' Gomen, I know it was kinda stupid of me, but--"
"Sakura, I'm proud of you," Kakashi interrupted, causing the girl's head to snap up. "I myself was thinking of a way to get us out of that little predicament, and I had no ideas whatsoever. I'm just gland I've got such a quick-witted team watching my back." Tugging the mask back over his sharingan eye, he winked at us all. Before turning forwards again, he glanced down at me. "Did you just make that technique up, Naruto?"
Smiling a little sheepishly, I nodded. "Hai. I guess I got caught up in the moment or something." I missed the look of approval and praise that I got from a pair of lavender eyes behind me.
Kakashi grinned wider and turned around, walking forwards again. "You know, that was great teammwork back there. I can't imagine how you six were chosen for this mission, but I can't imagine it being a success without each and every one of you. You do realize, though, that another battle with the UBNA will be more difficult. I expect those four were simply scouts, and plus we took them by surprise, so they didn't have any time to fight back."
"Who are they?" I asked, running up to walk beside our sensei.
"Hai, Kakashi sensei, who are the UBNA and how do you know them?" Sakura added, walking on the opposite side of Kakashi.
The apathy was back in his voice as he replied, "That is a question for a later date."
"UBNA? Opposite of ANBU," Shino mused, watching Kiba lay the unconscious Lee akwardly on Akamaru's back.
"Mmm, strange," Kiba muttered, absentmindedly scratching Akamaru's head as he walked beside him. "Maybe they're a sister organization or something."
"But, why were they asking what village we came from?" Hinata added, dropping in beside Kiba. "And why were they going to attack us, even when they knew who Kakashi sensei was?"
"Enough questions, all of you," Kakashi called, silencing his students. "I promise I'll answer your questions later, but for right now let's just walk in silence. Hinata, every few minutes or so I want you to scan the area around us for more followers. Okay?"
"Hai, Kakashi sensei."
"You still got more of those exploding tags, Sakura?"
"Got a whole bag of them, sensei," Sakura replied with a smile, shaking her pack.
"Kiba, I'm not one to lecture, but where did you get that sake? And, while we're on the subject, do you have more?"
Grinning sheepishly, Kiba nodded slowly. "Okaa-san gave me the sake. She told me that I might need something to drink on this trip... Ano, I've got three more full bottles left, plus the one Lee drank out of."
"Good." His answer surprised us all, and I began to snicker. So far, this trip had been sort of fun.
We reached a small village by sundown and had the luck to find a motel that still had room for us. We rented three rooms, one for the girls, one for the boys, and one for Kakashi sensei-- I asked him why he needed his own, and I got bonked on the head for asking-- and after we'd unpacked, we met outside of the hotel. We went out for supper since we were all practically starving, and then we came back to the hotel. I myself was exhausted, and I'd fallen asleep before my head had even hit the pillow.
Hai, so far this trip has been sort of fun.
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So there it is, the awaited third chappie! Hope you liked it, tell me how I'm doing!! Thank you all for reading my fics, it means so much to me!! ARIGATOU!!