MINI RANT SO READERS CAN UNDERSTAND THE STORY:
I don't understand why Kakashi allowed for Sakura to keep hitting and demeaning Naruto. Isn't that physical abuse or something? And Sakura and Sasuke to demean Naruto through what I see as practically verbal abuse? I thought Kakashi would have stopped them because IT LITERALLY SAYS IN THE NARUTO WIKI: "An abuse of one's teammates is the only thing that can makes Kakashi cast aside his normally stoic demeanor, causing him to attack without mercy or his usual sense of sportsmanship." Which means he should have totally kicked their asses for that because they were somewhat of a team. I would have. I claim that as abuse and here is where it takes me.
This is AU, some OOC and I do not own Naruto.
Please review.
Hello people. More reviewers that thankfully like me and my story!
Thank you a lot, as always.
ButterfliesInTheSkies chapter 6 .
Good job with the story and defending your self!
Beta117 chapter 6 .
You see, the thing about fanfiction is he can tell the story how ever he fucking want. The story dose not have to stay in the standards of the real thing. And honestly I like the story.
Ebony Mitsu chapter 6 . 3h
You've had ANOTHER one!? Pity they don't seem to have the balls to sign in when they review or put their names to said posts. You truly seem to find all the ones that seem intent on making you the centre of their universe, don't you hunni. Can I write my own response? Tough tit, I feel like it, and I hope like hell they read the other reviews and see this and I would LOVE to get their responses sent to my inbox, because I am totally in the mood to deal with their so-called 'opinions' right now.
Guest: Sweetie, it doesn't matter WHAT form it takes; anything that injures a person physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually and is intentionally (and sometimes unintentionally) inflicted by another person IS ABUSE. Abuse comes in many forms. I should know. I suffered it for five years. Is Naruto a saint? No. Course not. He's human and a ninja to boot. I admit, the kid tends to give as good as he gets, HOWEVER, as Annabelle has so sweetly pointed out, Kakashi's very character has a fairly contradictory flaw within the first few episodes of the whole series (after directly stating that people who treat their teammates as such are worse than scum, he ignores the blatant treatment of one of his genin by the boy's teammates). Sakura is a whiney little brat and Sasuke is a sulky little brat, both with a superiority complex to boot that neither ever lost throughout the series. And they do abuse Naruto, quite badly, but his very temperament and personal experience make him rise above it in spite of it all because, unfortunately, he's used to it. Do I hate them? No. But, I was ever so confused that this fatal team dynamic was never addressed in-series. Nobody deserves this sort of treatment. Not a jinchuuriki, not a demon, not a civilian, and not Annabelle. And sweetheart, let me tell you, you're a bloody hypocrite and the worst type of bully there is; a complete and utter coward. You should never say the words you have said to anyone, and I am ashamed to think you're a human being.
FU: I have several things to say to you, but much less than the other honeypie because, let's face it, what you wrote is far less horrifying than what the other bloody idiot wrote. Firstly, I would like to reiterate Annabelle's advice; LEARN TO SPELL! Honestly, if you're going to leave a review like that, at least make it less of an assault on my eyes. Secondly, I'm certain that SAI could come up with better insults than you. Heck, I'm certain I heard better from my cousin when she was THREE. Over fifteen years ago when kids' vocab was still in the realms of "so there!" Seriously; forget growing up sweetheart; you need to EVOLVE.
Ok, rant done.
Annabelle, darling, I like this story, I think you're a gem, I think the story is a gem, and if you cave to the pathetic miscreants telling you to acquaint your sweet sassy self with a noose I will personally summon your spirit and torment you for it.
Peace out.
Ebony xo
(A/N FOR THE GEOGRAPHY: WAVE IS FARTHER OFF THE COAST FROM THE LAND OF FIRE THAN ON THE MAP)
D-rank missions sucked. The problem with not being on a genin team was the fact that any D-rank mission Kakashi-sensei accepted was done by Naruto alone. The pro; all the D-rank money was also his alone, and that helped his wallet and eating habits a lot. The D-rank mission hated by every genin was the Tora mission, which Kakashi-sensei claimed once a week (they took three missions a week) as a means of a 'search-and-capture' mission. He wasn't allowed to harm the damned thing, either! It was a demon!
However, over the past two and a half weeks, he'd managed to achieve his goal of learning to fight blind and use his other senses properly while in the mist. He'd also gotten Kakashi's permission to run a couple of things for Aoi and taught the man a bit about dealing as if he was one of the street runners instead of a shinobi.
Kakashi-sensei and Aoi weren't truly on the best of terms, but they had an agreement to watch out for him. Naruto had also told Aoi to watch out for the Akatsuki via some notes and an extra tip on one of his runner friends that he hadn't introduced to Kakashi. He wasn't exactly exchanging the words verbally and Aoi would immediately burn the paper after memorizing it.
Problem solved over the S-rank secret.
Right now, however, the blond was just finished pulling up some weeds from a farmer's garden. His shirt and pants were splattered with mud and dirt and his kage bushin weren't much better looking at the moment. They'd nearly started a mud fight until Naruto had quietly threatened to dispel them. Sometimes he wondered if kage bushin got dumbed down because of less chakra in their systems. Seemed likely.
Grabbing his water bottle, Naruto had the kage bushin dispose of the rest of the weeds into the wheelbarrows and sent them to throw out the matted tangles of roots. Once he had gotten up and double checked everything was set, he put away the wheelbarrows and dispelled the muddy kage bushin with a glance, shoving away memories of mud and ragged ferns.
Over the three weeks, beside his personal training in his apartment, he had gotten what was promised by Kakashi-sensei. The shuriken kage bushin jutsu, the shunshin no jutsu and projection of KI had been shoved down his throat until he could do them in his sleep.
His water walking had improved as well. Now, Naruto could stand, walk, run and skate over the water for two hours. The white haired jounin had also started forcing him to spar on water and to the blond, it was harder than it looked. He could last maybe fifteen to twenty-five minutes sparring on the water and that was after a week and a half of intense practice. But at least he was making progress. His basic skills were mid-genin and Kakashi-sensei had just started on the tanto training the day before yesterday.
/FLASHBACK\
Naruto brought out the tanto that Kakashi had given him and held it out.
"Your right elbow should be bent with the tip of the tanto facing the opponent. Your grip should be firm - too tight and your arm will go numb every time you strike or catch a strike on your blade. Too loose and the tanto will get knocked out of your hands." Nodding, he adjusted his grip on the hilt to resemble how Kakashi-sensei was showing him.
"Like this?"
"Shift your fingers closer. It shouldn't slip from your hand." The jounin said quietly, moving to show him how to exactly grip the tanto. "Better." Kakashi nodded.
Naruto waited for his sensei to continue. "When you attack, you want to keep the area you strike and move in at within a rectangle; from the neck to the waistline. There should be no wide, sweeping motions due that they are easily blocked. Avoid being directly in front of the opponent unless there's not another choice."
Kakashi-sensei created a kage bushin and had it stand in a loose stance. "Watch. I'll show you a simple kata. When you stand, you should always be ready to move and dodge." The blond nodded. It was good advice.
Kakashi-sensei stood in his stance, knife arm bent in the way he had told Naruto. Then, the kage bushin shifted in its position and his sensei attacked. They moved in a sort of slow motion, which Naruto took to be the way the jounin would show him the kata.
A single sideways step had his sensei at an angle inside the bushin's guard, where he slipped through the punch aimed at his head and brought up the tanto only to neck height before slicing downward across the chest and torso through the flak jacket. The kage bushin went up in a cloud of smoke. Naruto grinned. It was simple and effective. "Naruto, what did I do?" He blinked at being on the spot.
"You... stepped sideways into his area and sliced his chest." He answered carefully. Kakashi made a noise of agreement.
"A...basic observation but you have the gist of it." His sensei walked over to him. "Now it's your turn to try."
"I'm done, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said as he walked up to the silver haired man who - funnily enough - sat reading his orange book. But he noticed the way that his sensei's eyes would flicker over the very edge of his book and glance in a wide sweeping motion, taking in everything. 'He's not really reading the book. Just a distraction.' He thought as Kakashi snapped his book closed and eyed his muddy clothes.
"Good. We'll report in and then you can take the rest of the time to get cleaned up." Naruto nodded and wiped mud from his palms.
"Hey!" The farmer scurried up to them, slightly out of breath. "Here." He shoved an envelope at Kakashi. "The kid did the work of a team that would've taken me half a month. There's a little extra with the pay." The blond was surprised. There was someone regular in Konoha that didn't hate him?
Kakashi took the envelope and Naruto thanked the farmer before they used shunshin to blur down the dirt road back to the main village. Once they had let the chunin at the gate glance over their papers, the pair were heading to the Hokage's office to give their quick report. Naruto grumbled as the secretary at the desk stared at his mud stained clothes and Kakashi let his amusement shine through faintly.
When jiji called them in finally, he was treated once again to amusement, this time from jiji. The blond huffed faintly and stared out the window as Kakashi-sensei started to give the report, uncomfortable as the mud started to make his clothes stiff.
"- Kakashi, do you think that Naruto is ready for a C-rank mission?" Berating himself for not paying attention, Naruto glanced at his sensei, waiting anxiously for the answer.
"Yes. He's ready for a C-rank." 'Yes!' He barely kept himself from shouting in joy and contained it all in a large grin that sparked the Hokage's amusement once more. Kakashi seemed to snicker for a second before Naruto glared at his sensei faintly in annoyance.
"Alright then." The man shuffled through a few folders and began glancing through them. "We have -" There was a hurried knock at the door and then a man burst into the room which made Naruto and the chunin around the Hokage twitch for their weapons. Naruto paused as he realized the man was a sweaty, red-faced chunin with a note in his hand.
"H-Hokage-sama! Urgent message from Asuma-san's bird!" The chunin rushed over and handed him the note. Jiji opened it and after a second frowned darkly.
"Kakashi, you have a mission with Naruto. Asuma and his genin have gone to Wave to escort a bridge builder and ended up meeting with the Demon Brothers and Zabuza Momochi. Asuma is injured and they are in need of back-up." Naruto blinked for half a second, letting him mind try and catch up to what jiji was saying. 'Asuma...Team Ten - that's Ino, Choji and Shikamaru! What are they doing on a C-rank? And Zabuza...I've heard his name before...'
Then it hit him. 'Shit! Zabuza Momochi - A-rank missing-nin from Kiri in the Bingo Books, former ANBU and one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist!' Biting his lip, he looked up at Kakashi. The silver haired jounin was grim, his eye darker now with the possible death of a comrade.
"Hai, Hokage-sama." He turned to Naruto and the blond waited for orders. "Pack for a month. We leave in twenty minutes at the main gate." Nodding, Naruto nodded to an also grim seeming jiji and as the Hokage dismissed them, gave a tiny wave of good-bye.
The pair split up on the rooftops and Naruto scrambled into his apartment, stripping off his muddy clothes and throwing on his extra. Grabbing a duffle bag, he tossed in spare clothes, some ramen, bread and jerky, some water bottles, a map, two Bingo books, extra kunai and shuriken, a first-aid kit, ninwire, some soap, an extra tanto, explosive tags, soldier pills, rations, a few blankets, his wallet and a tent. The storage seals he'd put on the duffle bag with Kakashi-sensei's help held the extra stuff.
Making sure he could easily reach his tanto and kunai holster, Naruto strapped on his armor and made sure his thick vest covered his throat. The extra storage scroll of supplies from Mika was once again tucked into the deepest pocket of his vest and he made sure that he had his other scrolls from Mika as well. He couldn't let the stuff he wanted safe to be destroyed if a villager or anyone hunting for Aoi decided to rip into his apartment.
One second last check around his apartment had him satisfied before he had locked up and was sprinting over the rooftops quickly. Greeting Kakashi-sensei with a nod, they began at a quick sprint from the gate. His classmates needed his help. None of them would die.
They had stopped to rest three times in the past day and a half and only for a few hours. Naruto had taken out his ration bars and jerky to eat when they stopped. Kakashi-sensei was pushing them hard to get there. Asuma was an A-rank shinobi, but the fact that he was injured put the entire group in danger until they got to Wave.
It was nerve-wracking, the wait, besides the fact he was tired. He wasn't all that fond of Ino and he'd only talked to Choji and Shikamaru a few times, but they were still classmates.
Pressing his lips together as the pair shot across the water like lightning, Naruto fingered a kunai and sighed. They were water walking across to Wave and had less than twenty minutes left until they reached land. A large amount of chakra pills helped keep them steady and above water, although Kakashi-sensei had taken to hauling him over his shoulder once or twice when he had needed to rest. He had thanked his sensei gratefully even though the silver haired jounin shrugged it off without protest.
The salty sea air had turned to mist a ways back, so while they did shoot forward like lightning, they kept close as to not lose each other. Naruto kept Kakashi's green flak jacket always in sight and would use chakra enhanced senses to locate him when he was not able to sense him otherwise. They had used the massive bridge near them as a means of prompting a faster run because it meant they were closer to land than they'd been before.
"When we get to the bridge builder's house, I'll take stock of the situation. Once everything is relatively fine and we're done resting, send out kage bushin to scout and keep watch around certain points such as the construction site and the house." Kakashi-sensei's voice made him twitch and listen closely. "Knowing Asuma, he would've hardly taught his genin much of anything. When we get the chance, I'm going to create a kage bushin to help train them. Zabuza won't die that easy and he's probably still alive."
"What will we be doing, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, now a bit curious. His sensei hadn't included him in the equation of Asuma's genin and felt his mouth go a little dry at the thought of Zabuza possibly alive.
"I'll be teaching you some elemental jutsu. I hadn't thought we'd be taking such a high ranking mission so I hadn't thought to teach you any yet, but now that we're fighting an A-rank missing-nin..." Kakashi trailed off, Naruto making a noise of understanding. The blond blinked as the water started to grow less choppy around them and the sound of water hitting rock met his ears. He grinned faintly. 'Yes! We'll be off the water soon!' That shook off a bit of his sleepiness and he nearly jumped for joy as he glared through the mist to spot a dock on a rocky beach.
Stumbling as he yawned, Naruto groaned as his foot got soaked when he missed a step. He slowed and dragged his foot from the water, annoyed as his foot was now chilly.
"Troublesome." Kakashi made a sound of amusement, but Naruto nearly got the last laugh as his sensei almost slammed into the dock when he wasn't paying attention. Skidding to a halt and sending up a spray of salt water, the blond hoisted himself up on the dock and fell onto his back with a groan, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of his pack poking his spine. Now that the chakra pills were wearing off, his legs were sore! All he wanted to do was sleep now.
"Come on, Naruto." A faint shadow was cast over his body and he groaned as he halfheartedly sat up. "We just have a little while to go and then we can sleep as much as we want until tomorrow." There was tiredness in Kakashi-sensei's eye and Naruto rubbed his legs with rubber-like fingers for a minute. "Get something to eat. The pills wearing off will starve your body." Pulling off his duffle bag, he rummaged through it and pulled out some jerky, bread and two water bottles.
"Here, Kakashi-sensei. You need something to eat too. You had more pills than I did." His sensei took some of the food and Naruto turned his back. It would be rude not to give his sensei privacy when he wanted it. Scarfing down the food, he drank half a water bottle in a few gulps, feeling slightly better.
After Kakashi had tapped him on the shoulder and handed back the now empty water bottle, he placed everything back in the duffle bag and yawned. Then he staggered to his feet and yanked his bag onto his back. The pair started jogging from the dock deeper into the area where the mist had thinned out to a faint wisp, nearly immediately finding themselves in a small, rundown town. People were in fear. The two shinobi didn't know why, but they were had a feeling they were going to find out soon.
Once Kakashi-sensei had managed to get directions to the bridge builder's house (whose name was Tazuna), they were once again running. They took it faintly slower to conserve energy so they wouldn't need more chakra pills. Naruto was irritated at how far the damed bridge builder lived from the bridge. It was hardly as long as crossing the ocean to Wave, but it felt like forever since he was so tired. As they got within a quarter of a mile of Tazuna's house, Kakashi stopped him and they walked. His reasoning was that they didn't want to set off any traps by not paying attention.
But doing that was for nothing. Naruto and Kakashi found no evidence of any traps, set or unset. Naruto wondered if his old classmates actually thought about guarding the bridge builder seriously or if they took it as a joke. 'They prob-probably took it as a joke.' He thought with a yawn. 'Choji hates the thought of fighting, Ino hardly knows how to do anything and Shikamaru is too lazy.'
The house came into view, a ragged and tall two story house on the water. Even in his state of tiredness, Naruto noticed the same look to the house as in the town. Poverty and fear drenched the place like the mist that covered the island. It was like a stench that sank into the very air.
Kakashi led him up to the house, watching all the while. He knocked on the door and Naruto didn't hold back his twitch of disgust that Ino opened the door wide, without a weapon in hand and looking surprised. She blinked at them for half a minute before asking,
"What are you two doing here? I thought Asuma-sensei sent for back up." And now he tried to keep himself from giving off KI. Kakashi-sensei gave her a look that made her back up.
"We are the back up. We ran straight from Konoha and water walked across the ocean to get here because he's injured and genin can't hold their own against an A-rank missing-nin." Ino blinked owlishly again and then stepped aside and let them in. Naruto wanted to fall asleep right then and there, but kept standing, taking in the clean but old house. From one of the other rooms in the house, a woman with long black-blue hair and black eyes stepped into the room.
"Ino-san, who are these people?" Shikamaru and Choji followed her. Ino clasped her hands.
"Tsunami-san, this is a jounin of Konoha..." She trailed off, looking slightly awkward. Kakashi took up the introductions.
"I am Kakashi Hatake and this is Naruto Uzumaki, my genin apprentice. We are the back up sent for Asuma." Tsunami frowned faintly and then nodded.
"He's upstairs resting. Do you need anything to eat?"
"No. We need beds though." Tsunami frowned again and then looked at Kakashi.
"I don't have anymore rooms, Hatake-san. You may have to take turns sleeping in one room?" She suggested with an apologetic look. Ino grimaced and made a face. Choji spoke up.
"Naruto, you can take my bed, if you want. Hatake-san, Asuma-sensei has room for another futon in his room, but it may be a bit cramped." Naruto nodded to Choji and gave a tired smile.
"Naruto."
"Hai, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Go sleep. I'll take stock of the situation and I'll give you a run down tomorrow." The blond wanted to hug him, but settled for following Choji and Shikamaru upstairs. As he followed them, he studied his classmates. Shikamaru seemed even more tired than normal, his ponytail disheveled and a few purple bruises scattered over his face. Choji had his left arm wrapped up and he had the slightest limp as he walked the steps. They both were worried about their sensei, that much was as clear as day due to the dark circles under their eyes.
"Naruto," Choji asked softly, "how did you get to Wave? With Gato's patrols on the watch, boats can't get through." 'Damn. Now I'm curious.' Naruto groaned at hearing the unfamiliar name.
"Kakashi-sensei and I water walked across the ocean with a boat load of chakra pills." Naruto replied before yawning as they walked from the stairs into second floor hallway and into the shared room. Shikamaru made a strangled noise and whipped around.
"Kami, Naruto. You and your sensei are troublesome. Chakra pills are dangerous when the effects wear off. Go to bed." Choji immediately unrolled his futon and practically pushed him onto it once hearing Shikamaru's words. Naruto gave a grumble of annoyance as he landed on his pack. Twisting, he pulled it from his back and set it beside him carefully before removing most of his armor. 'This is so comfortable.' He sighed inwardly. Choji handed him a blanket and Naruto immediantly curled up on the futon and within a few minutes fell asleep.
He was dead tired, but as the back up commander, he had to get information. But he'd make it quick. Kakashi had not thought about how rusty he'd gotten retiring from the ANBU. Running had cost him a crazy amount of chakra and a great need for chakra pills which wouldn't have happened when he'd been in ANBU. The girl, Ino, who he knew to be a Yamanaka from her hair and eyes, was nervous and frightened. She'd probably never experienced anything like this before - a true mission. The woman Tsunami looked to be a more stern woman but faintly nervous around the shinobi. Probably Tazuna's daughter.
The boys - a Nara and Akimichi - had fought or at least tried to, from their injuries.
"Yamanaka-san, give me a quick report of the mission from the first fight onwards." He said curtly. The blond genin fumbled for a minute before collecting herself carefully.
"We...we were halfway to Wave when we were attacked by two Kiri missing-nin. Asuma-sensei took out one and Shikamaru and Choji took out the other. Tazuna-san was the one they were after and I thought we should go back but Asuma-sensei said shinobi should complete the mission. Then we got on a boat and Tazuna-san started telling us what was wrong here in Wave."
Kakashi nodded for her to go on. So he was going to find out why the people here were so fearful. "There's this really bad man here, named Gato. He has his men kill and hurt people here and they starve and they can't fish too often or Gato will kill them...and it's awful!" She burst out. Glancing at Tsunami who was a bit pale looking now, he could see that she too had met hardship with this Gato man. "After we got off the boat and walked for a while, Shikamaru nearly hit a rabbit and then Asuma-sensei made us fall on the ground and a sword as tall as Asuma-sensei came over our heads."
The blonde's eyes were starting to water. "The man came out of nowhere and they started fighting and I thought I was going to die...They started using different jutsu, the missing-nin said he was from Kiri and he used a lot of water jutsu. Asuma-sensei nearly died when he got trapped in a water sphere and Shikamaru and Choji made a plan and managed to get sensei from the sphere. They started fighting again until senbon hit the Kiri-nin in his neck and sensei said he was dead.
"Another shinobi who said he was a hunter-nin came and took him away and Asuma-sensei collapsed. We got here, to Tazuna's house and sensei's patched up okay." Ino sniffled and wiped her eyes faintly, clenching her fists. Kakashi blinked. The girl needed lessons in giving reports, but he got the information he needed. 'How could Asuma be so stupid? I know he hates Hokage-sama, but once mission parameters were overreached, they should have gone back to Konoha! His genin could have died.'
Giving the lightest sigh and trying not to fall out, he said,
"Naruto and I walked for a quarter of a mile and saw no sign of any sort of set traps. As backup mission commander, until Asuma gets back on his feet, I'm in charge. I want you and your teammates setting up traps close to the house. Besides that, where is your client?" The Yamanaka balked and looked down at her feet.
"He...he left to go check something with the other builders." There was a hint of shame and nervousness in her voice when she replied.
"And none of you thought to go with him?" 'For the love of Kami...' He growled inwardly. 'Asuma really didn't teach them anything!' She flinched and snapped,
"I'm not team leader! What was I supposed to do?!"
"Excuse me, Hatake-san?" Choji Akimichi stared at him nervously with a sharper glint to the Nara boy's eyes. "Um, Shikamaru and I had Naruto go to sleep. He's really tired. Why is Ino screaming?" At that, the blond looked ready to scream louder, growing red faced and moving toward him with a balled fist.
"Enough." At his cold tone, all three genin froze. "You are supposed to be shinobi, not schoolyard brats out for a field day. This is a real mission that someone possibly will be killed on. You should have traps set around the forest and area surrounding the house. There are none. At least one of you should be out watching the client, no matter how badly beaten you are - there is no one. If the bridge builder dies, your mission fails. If you fail, Konoha gets no payment and our reputation falls. Our reputation falls, there is no more missions or source of income and Konoha falls apart."
Hearing this made the genin look disgusted and ashamed. "Nara, your clan is smart. I don't care if you are lazy - you should have enough smarts to have traps set and someone on watch, at least." This made the boy frown harshly. "Now, as I told Yamanaka-san, I am the commander until Asuma gets back to health. All three of you will be setting traps around the area. But before you have started that, a pair of you will now go out and find the client and bring him here. He will remain here unless he is working on the bridge for the next day and a half. Understood?"
His cold words shocked them, that was as clear as day. Slowly, the three nodded. "A verbal response is required, as Asuma should have taught you. All shinobi higher in rank than you receive a verbal answer unless the mission calls for otherwise."
"Hai, Hatake-san." The trio chorused with now dull expressions.
"And before you leave, as I should not have to tell you; carry at least two holsters of kunai and shuriken with you. Do not go around attracting too much attention. Nara-san, Akimichi-san, you will go to find the client. You have an hour and a half to complete this extra little side mission you have created for yourselves."
There was a series of dull thuds as the boys went up the stairs and then carefully entered their room to grab their weapons and supplies before they came back down. Kakashi turned to Ino and she turned from him to stare at the floor. "Yamanaka-san. Do you have weapons?"
"Yes." She replied, glancing at Choji who strapped on a kunai holster.
"Are your weapons ready for combat use?" She licked her lips.
"Some of them are."
"While the boys are gone, I want you to sharpen your weapons and keep a look out. If they aren't back in an hour and a half, knock on the door to wake me up." The Nara's dark eyes met his own.
"Why are you so troublesome about our weapons right now?" He asked as he pulled a shuriken holster to his hip. Kakashi sighed. He just wanted some damned rest. Was that too much to ask?
"Because I'm quite sure that Zabuza is still alive." The Yamanaka and Akimichi went pale white. The Nara looked away, his brows tighter in being drawn together.
"W-why?!" Ino gasped, her pupiless eyes wide.
"Senbon are not made for killing. A hunter-nin would have taken the head then and there and immediately burned the body. A true hunter-nin probably wouldn't have taken the entire body or used senbon." The Akimichi gulped loudly. "You have your tasks to complete. Get going." There was no pity in his voice. Just the tone of orders being given. The genin scattered to their tasks with thin panic on their faces.
When he reached upstairs with a spare futon in hand, he entered the room where Asuma was. The dark haired Sarutobi lay on the futon with even breathing. A very cautious, close up look showed that he was suffering heavy chakra exhaustion, a diagonal gash that was bandaged from shoulder to elbow and like the Nara, a huge mottling of purple and deep yellow bruises across his face and practically any other skin showing.
He supposed that his fellow jonin got away with very little despite who he had faced. It could've been his throat Zabuza gashed instead, his life's blood soaking the earth crimson. That would've been a nightmare to clean up and report. 'Okay. I've gotten too little sleep.' The silver haired jonin thought with a twitch of his lips as his mouth threatened to yawn. It had been a long day and a half, especially for Naruto. As much energy as his blond genin had, it wasn't enough to keep him running all day, night and until 3:30 pm the next day (the time they had gotten to Tazuna's house).
Setting the futon in the opposite corner of the room, he placed his pack next to it and stripped away most of his armor. The instant he lay down, he thought he was in heaven. 'Those brats better get back here in time. If I have to get up and find them, it won't be pretty.' He couldn't help but yawn this time as he fell asleep.