Author's Notes: Hey guys! I feel really bad right now because I left this fic without an update for about a year :( Sorry! I hope you guys are still interested, though! I think things are going to become a bit more exciting starting next chapter. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING!
Chapter 7
Kakashi woke up with his brains in shambles. The feeling quickly grew to be unbearable. He felt like he had slept for days or maybe even weeks, all the while getting trampled by one of the carriage horses he and Minato-sensei accompanied to that small fishing village Kakashi didn't bother to learn about. However, his body felt no discomfort from lying on the hard ground, which drove Kakashi to correctly assume that a day could not have yet passed.
Over and over, Kakashi had relived his hellish nightmare, starting from his father leaving the village to complete that accursed mission up until he had discovered the body in his home's study. Everything from the villagers' hatred to his father's slow death; he went through it all for what seemed like an eternity.
He figured it was safe enough to pry his eyes open. He couldn't find a way out if he didn't get up. Get out and go where? Kakashi found himself wondering, to the villagers who killed Father? To protect them? We're only six! They should be treating us better. Kakashi's mind went blank for a moment. We? Us?
He didn't get long to contemplate his newest conflict. He heard a loud groan very close to him. Kakashi forced his eyes open, trying to gauge whether the groan was emitted from a potential threat or not. He narrowed his eyes slightly, hoping that would help clear his blurry vision. It took a while, but his vision cleared up just enough for him to see a black-haired boy, who seemed around his age.
Gai, he realized, but that revelation only caused him even more confusion because what did Gai of all people have in his memories that made him appear just as tired as Kakashi felt? For as long as he could remember, Gai was always proclaiming something about youth, shouting a challenge, making impossible demands of his body, just plain being a cheerful persona with little to no moments of depression. What did a cheery, youthful person like that have in his mind that could be as dark as what Kakashi had in his?
Kakashi didn't know, and he didn't want to find out either because whatever it was, it had completely ruined Gai. The other boy's face was covered in sweat, his hair was a miserable mess and his lips contorted into something that was most definitely not a too wide grin with shiny, sparkling teeth.
"Gai?" Kakashi was unsurprised at his own voice's lackluster tone.
Gai could just barely hear someone calling for him, and he desperately tried to shut his ears, squeeze his eyes tight enough so that whoever it was would get the hint and leave him alone. He didn't feel like doing anything at all, not now. He needed time to recharge, just a couple of hours to regain what everyone's insults made him lose. He didn't want to listen, and he usually wouldn't care for what anyone had to say.
But, this time… why was it different?
Because this time… I really did listen. Even his thoughts could not get him back to his youthful self. It seemed that everything has stacked up against him at the worst possible time. And this time… I knew that they were right. What chance did he ever stand anyways? Against the genius of the talented and the skilled? Did hard work ever give anyone what they deserved? Or did hard work give them false hope until they finally, finally realized how futile their efforts were?
"Gai?" Kakashi called again, unwilling to give up on the friend who forced him to be his rival just yet. The mission comes first. Kakashi knew and believed, but right now, there was no mission to complete anyways. Or maybe there was, and Kakashi had forgotten. Either way, he knew that he needed Gai's help, and perhaps, Gai needed him this time too.
The thought blew Kakashi's mind away. He never thought anyone else would need him. He never seemed to be good enough for anyone. He certainly wasn't enough for his father to remain, nor enough for the villagers to lay down their torches of hatred nor their snide remarks. He tried to stop these thoughts before they could force him into a state not too different from Gai's.
"Gai?" Kakashi whispered the name this time, feeling too drained to do anything else. Gai sighed in a very unyouthful manner, but his eyes started to flutter open, if only to shut the other boy up. Kakashi didn't like what he saw. In place of his self-proclaimed rival's determination and fire resided a calm sort of resignation, the raging fires had died out, leaving only ashes in their stead.
"The Hidden Leaf," Their captor voiced out, making both boys jump slightly in surprise, "Is corrupt. That is a fact we all know," Kakashi warily looked up at him, but Gai didn't even bother, "A fact that the village's leader is too blind to. There can be no salvation if the ways of the three past Hokages do not change,"
"Their ways?" Kakashi repeated with a feeling akin to disbelief, "The Hokages made the ninja rules. The Shinobi Rules are there to protect us, to help us. And the Hokage makes sure that the rules are being followed for our own safety," The masked man snorted loud and clear.
"What has these rules you so defend done other than bring you pain and loss?" The man asked, "Were these rules not the reason you lost your father?"
"Don't talk about my father," Kakashi spat out, but the man ignored him.
"He had always done things his way and succeeded," The older nin said. Kakashi was too busy wondering just how this man seemed to know so much about him before he said, "Worked for years for the sake of the village, for the Hokage. And yet, it only took one failed mission for him to lose everything, from the villagers' adoration," The man paused and Kakashi could hear the smirk in his voice, "To his own son's respect,"
"Yes," Kakashi hissed out, "That's what happens to people who don't follow the rules,"
"But, did you ever think, Kakashi-kun, that had these rules never existed in the first place, your father would have not been shunned for doing what he thought was right, that he would have never been convinced enough to end things permanently," He said, "Do you disagree?"
"If a person believes in something, he must defend it till the very end!" Gai proclaimed. Parts of his usual self shone through, something that made Kakashi visibly relax.
"But, it gets hard, doesn't it, Gai-kun?" Their captor asked tauntingly, "To ignore what other people say. To remain as committed to your beliefs as you are without succumbing to the will of the many," Gai looked away in a rare show of doubt, "I know your pain. I have lived through a similar experience. I, too, have always been kept at an arm's length. A sword that remained sheathed until times called for its powers,"
And the solution… Kakashi thought, is there one?
"It took me a long time to discover that the Will of Fire that has been supposedly passed down from generation to generation," The man paused and the two boys could just see his narrowed eyes behind the mask, "Is nothing but a lie. A hastily put up fairytale to keep the village as one. To keep the shinobi in Konoha willing enough to fight and die for the flourishing of the village. To make ninjas fight wars against ninjas from other villages,"
"That's the point of being a shinobi," Kakashi pointed out, irritated due to the man's speech, "To fight to make sure the village would be protected,"
"No, Kakashi-kun," The man said with mock disappointment, "Do you know why Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha first built the Village Hidden in the Leaves?" The boys didn't answer, so he continued, "Well, they hoped it would be the first step; the first step to establish peace. Unfortunately," The man's eyes seemed to darken, and they came alive with a fiery blood red that hinted at the reactivation of the Sharingan, "Their plans did not go quite as planned,"
-oOo-
How long has it been? Five hours? Minato thought as he lightly exercised his wrists. No Pakuun in sight. Minato was starting to wonder whether even that little pug could slip past Kakashi's and Gai's abductor. He didn't seem like the type to allow such petty mistakes. He held himself like a true shinobi, and his eyes displayed a certain experience Minato didn't quite yet reach and didn't even know if he could.
Fear wasn't something Minato is accustomed to feeling. Panic was an even less familiar sensation. Desperation, he couldn't remember a time when he felt that. There had always been just a sliver of hope he could hold onto, a beacon of light encompassed by the darkness yet still there all the same. Helplessness was something he had never felt before because if Konoha's Yellow Flash couldn't get the job done with his superior skills and his brains, then who could?
However, if what Minato was feeling right now wasn't a combination of all that and more, then Minato didn't know what he has been feeling for all this time.
"Minato," His teacher found him, of course he did. He was perhaps the only one who knew just what he was waiting for. Jiraiya jumped up to sit beside him. Minato knew the guards down below and in front of the village's gates were starting to wonder if he had finally gone insane, "I know what you're trying to do… but if Pakuun comes, he'll head to your apartment," There wasn't anyone in this whole village who knew him better, Kushina included, so Jiraiya wasn't all that surprised when his student didn't budge.
"Pakuun would waste a lot of time getting to my apartment. When he gets here, I'll be right over here to greet him," Minato explained, "And then, I'll solve this mess,"
"Kid," Jiraiya sighed in a way that made Minato's skin crawl, and the blonde instinctively knew that he didn't want to hear what Jiraiya had to say next, "He might not come,"
"He will," Minato denied resolutely, "He has to,"
"Minato," Jiraiya crossed his arms over his broad chest and opened his mouth to continue.
"Don't, Sensei," Minato said as he gripped his teacher's shoulder in a tight hold, "He's going to come," Jiraiya didn't want to give Minato false hope. He didn't want him to hold onto something that might never happen. He opened his mouth to tell Minato as much, but something in Minato's expression at that moment made him stumble, and before Jiraiya knew it he had closed his mouth shut, and whatever he wanted to say was forgotten, or added to the pile of things he knew he would never say, not to Minato.
So, Jiraiya sighed one last time, eased Minato's grip on his shoulder and stood up. He patted Minato on the head, like he used to when Minato was a bigger brat than he was now, and left the other sitting alone on top of the gates, hoping for something that might never happen.
Jiraiya would later look on at this moment and wonder if, maybe, just maybe, he had done the wrong thing, after all.
Author's Notes: Thanks for reading! Look forward to the next update ;)
A Response to the Reviews on Chapter 6:
love toshiro dragon: I hope you liked this chapter! To answer your question, yes, Gai is older than Kakashi :D According to Narutopedia, Gai is about a year or so older than Kakashi is, so since Kakashi is six years old in this, Gai is about seven or eight. Thanks for the reviews! :3
trollzillathefirst: Thank you for the encouragement! ^_^ I hope you still find the story interesting :D Please let me know what you thought of this chapter ;)
Until next time!
