Kakashi crouched on the tree branch he had found for his perch and studied the battle below him with an intensity borne of living through three years of war and seven years of ANBU duties. Thus far, his students were winning.
Not that such a revelation surprised Kakashi. Whoever the two ninja from Kiri were, they couldn't be of a very high rank. Sasuke and Kaeru's combined efforts had already rendered one of them unconscious, and the other was simply staring warily at the ginger ninja in front of him.
"Sakura," Kaeru called without taking his eyes off the Kiri-nin. "Keep your position. There might be more. Sasuke, make sure that guy doesn't get up."
Kakashi noted the commanding tone of Kaeru's voice as well as the way his own students were obeying the redhead. It could have been simply because Kaeru was now the oldest, and supposedly the most experienced, of the team. But that didn't explain how Kaeru had fallen into a leadership role so easily. He claimed that he had been wondering alone, without companions, for years. He wouldn't have needed to know how to work on a team, much less how to lead one.
As Sasuke knelt to bind the unconscious Kiri-nin with a length of rope, Kaeru and Naruto faced down the last opponent. Kakashi wondered if this was part of Kaeru's strategy. He knew that Kaeru had been teaching Naruto, as both Ebisu and the ANBU that watched the boy when Kaeru was off-duty had reported. But the older genin hadn't done much with taijutsu other than that fight that Kakashi had walked in on, and that was against Sasuke, not Naruto. Either way, Kakashi had a perfect opportunity to observe Uzumaki in combat, and he wasn't going to come out until he was good and ready.
Kaeru flipped a kunai into his hand and glared at the enemy. He flicked the weapon at the man's head, but the Kiri-nin dodged the projectile easily, making Kakashi think that the kunai wasn't meant for anything other than to get the ninja moving. In response, the Kiri-nin charged for his two opponents and extended his uninjured arm, the one that was encased in a thick gauntlet that ended in a cruel-looking set of claws. Knowing Kirikugare's fascination with assassinations, Kakashi guessed that the claws were poisonous as well.
"Naruto, left!" Kaeru suddenly shouted.
Obedient to the call, Naruto launched himself to the left as Kaeru took off towards his right. With his two targets splitting up, the Kiri-nin was forced to make a choice. He apparently decided that the older shinobi would also be the most dangerous and curved his weapon-clad arm to his right, chasing after Kaeru. Kaeru waited until the last minute then let his body fall backwards. He caught himself with one hand planted firmly on the ground as the claws sailed over his head. As one leg swept towards the shinobi's leg, Kaeru grabbed the man's armor-covered arm and twisted. Hard.
The force of the pull carried the masked shinobi into Kaeru's kick, forcing Kaeru's foot to connect with the side of his enemy's knee, while, at the same time, Naruto leapt above the ground and drove his heel into the other side of the targeted knee. The Kiri-nin suddenly found his knee caught in a vice of two vicious kicks.
The Kiri-nin cried out in pain. One of his arms was now dripping blood, and Kakashi wouldn't have been surprised if the patella was completely shattered. It was impressive that Naruto—whether through instinct, observation, or simply training with his cousin—had aimed for the same place as Kaeru had. In a way, Naruto and Kaeru made as impressive a team as Kaeru did with his clones. However, with the Kiri-nin kneeling in the center of the road while Kaeru and Naruto stood over him, the battle was decidedly over. Kakashi wasn't going to see any more—
"Are there others?" Kaeru suddenly demanded of the bleeding ninja. His voice was hard and cold and left Kakashi in no doubt that Kaeru had lived through enough missions to know how to guarantee information from a captured enemy.
"A true Kiri shinobi never gives up anything to the enemy," declared the dark-haired man who had just been trying to kill them.
Kaeru pulled back a kunai and held it backwards, with the point facing his wrist as the blunt end served as the main weapon. He swung the weapon hard against the man's temple, no doubt trying for physical intimidation. However, Kaeru seemed to misjudge either the power of his own blow or fortitude of the Kiri-nin. The dark man's eyes rolled back in his head, and he slumped forward into unconsciousness. Kaeru simply stared at his handiwork, confused, and blinked twice before he recovered.
"Shit," he swore in frustration.
Kakashi supposed that this was as good a time as any to reappear. Besides, he needed to keep someone alive to answer his questions.
"Really, Kaeru-kun, is that any kind of language to use around children?" he asked with a happy lilt as he jumped out of the tree and reappeared in the road behind Kaeru.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cried in obvious relief.
Facing Kaeru's back, Kakashi could see Naruto's face brighten obviously at the sight of his sensei. Kaeru just folded his arms across his chest and turned with an annoyed look on his face.
"Took ya long enough," Kaeru muttered. "You couldn't have come out before the two guys decided to attack your students?"
The fact that Kaeru wasn't surprised to see the jounin could mean that he had sensed Kakashi's presence in the tree. Then again, the short, stout logs that dotted the road instead of Kakashi's guts were a pretty obvious hint as well.
"Well, you seemed to have a pretty good handle on the situation," Kakashi responded easily. It was easy by now to play the part of a lazy-ass who wanted to get out of as much work as possible. As long as he kept people's expectations of him low, he had a better chance of surprising them should they ever turn out to be his enemies.
Kakashi glanced around to take stock of their situation. Sakura stood in front of Tazuna, still slightly tense from the battle. Sasuke, on the other hand, seemed completely calm. The unconscious Kiri-nin had his hands tied behind his back with Sasuke's foot pinning his face to the ground. Naruto was bouncing slightly on his heels; the boy's endless energy would probably come in handy in battle if he ever learned the proper way to utilize it.
"How did you know their intentions?" inquired Kakashi suddenly.
"What kinda shinobi hides in a puddle when it hasn't rained for three days?" Kaeru rolled his eyes.
Kakashi lifted his eyebrows slightly in interest. That would explain Kaeru's sudden nervousness right before the attack. He had sensed something out of the ordinary, but it was strange that he hadn't come to the right conclusion until after the attack had started. And he had immediately gone to protect Naruto.
Sasuke suddenly drew a kunai and positioned it threateningly at his unconscious captive's throat, just next to his jugular.
"Don't bother, Sasuke." Kakashi waved one hand lazily. A sleeping man couldn't answer any of their questions.
A civilian, though, was far easier to intimidate.
"We have another source of information," Kakashi announced as he advanced onto Tazuna with a friendly smile that didn't match his tone of voice. "Apparently, Tazuna-san does not think it is dangerous to lie to shinobi about the potential enemies they face."
Tazuna's eyes widened as his throat worked convulsively.
"This has now become a B-ranked mission," noted Kakashi, pleased at the obvious nervousness that Tazuna displayed.
But the bridge builder was not the only one contributing to the increasing tension in the air surrounding the small genin team and their client. Kakashi's single eye traveled calmly to where Kaeru stood in the middle of the road. The redhead's expression was impassive, but Kakashi could feel the nervous energy radiating from him. It could have been the adrenaline leftover from the battle, but Kakashi wanted the opportunity to make sure. And if he could sweat out Tazuna at the same time, he considered it a good plan.
Kaeru took a deep breath and curled his hands into fists to conceal the fact that they were shaking. He could easily recognize the symptoms of adrenaline working its way out of his system, but it hadn't been that big of a fight. Truthfully, his shaking could probably be only half-blamed on adrenaline. The rest of it was anger, both at Kakashi for taking so long and at himself for knocking out the Kiri-nin when he hadn't meant to. Kaeru sighed and took several deep breaths through his nose as he watched Naruto shot a triumphant grin at Sasuke, who was still holding down the down-and-out ninja from Mist.
"The best thing would be to return to Konoha," announced Kakashi.
Kaeru's eyes snapped up in surprise at Kakashi. He hadn't really been paying attention to Kakashi's mutterings, assuming that Kakashi would do the same thing he had always done and continue with the mission because anyone who had been training under Namikaze Minato was simply too noble to let people down who needed help.
"What?" Kaeru snapped, his eyes flashing as he faced the jounin.
He knew it was probably a mistake to challenge Kakashi, especially when he was angry. Kakashi still thought Kaeru was a spy, or at least an unknown. He couldn't help it. This mission was important. Not only because Naruto had things he needed to learn, but Kaeru couldn't imagine leaving Tazuna and Inari and the rest of Wave under Gatou's rule. But now, Kaeru's muscles were tense, and his eyes were flashing like lightning, focused entirely on Kakashi.
"Kaeru-kun, we're not ready for this kind of mission," protested Sakura in a pleading voice. "We're not supposed to take B-ranked missions; we're only genin."
"We can keep going." Kaeru's anger faded into a soft frown and he glanced at Sakura curiously.
Sakura was nervous, that was obvious from the way she rubbed her hands together in front of her chest. Kaeru's frown shifted from Sakura to Sasuke's stoic expression to Kakashi's apparent indifference. He remembered getting injured last time, that had been the argument used for going back to Konoha: the loser Naruto had needed medical attention. But they were all okay now.
"Am I the only one who saw this time kick ass?" Kaeru demanded hotly.
Naruto shot his hand up into the air eagerly with a large smile. Kaeru only saw the boy from the corner of his eye in his determination to make Kakashi see his point.
"Okay, Sakura could work on her offense a bit," Kaeru admitted as he shrugged, not even pausing to acknowledge Naruto.
Naruto put his hand down as quickly as he had raised it and Sakura's cheeks turned a pale shade of pink at Kaeru's observation.
"Hey, Sakura-chan did good," protested Naruto loudly. "She was protecting the old drunk."
Kaeru shifted his attention from Kakashi to Naruto. The boy was frowning at his older cousin, not glaring but he was obviously displeased with Kaeru's choice of words. Kaeru flinched under the accusing gaze. He knew how important Sakura-chan was to Naruto, maybe even better than Naruto knew yet, but he also knew how much stronger Sakura would get. There was no reason for her not to start early.
"Still, we don't know the whole situation," Kakashi mused into the silence that followed Naruto's proclamation.
Kaeru frowned at Kakashi. Why was he hesitating? He didn't know anything about Zabuza yet, no one was injured, and his team had actually done a darn good job against their first enemies. Heck, he even had Kaeru along to make sure that Naruto— Kaeru's eyes suddenly widened. That was why. Because he was with them. Kakashi didn't want to get too deep into a sticky situation with a ninja who might be a danger to Konoha as well as to his team directly. Kaeru gritted his teeth and turned to pick up his pack where he had dropped it to fight.
"'To abandon one's duty is not courageous. Beneath the courageous, there is nothing.'" Kaeru's gaze was one of pure determination when he looked back at the Copy-nin. "Didn't Yondaime Hokage say that?"
Kaeru watched Kakashi's eyes carefully; after all, his sensei had been the one who first quoted Yondaime's rhetoric to Kaeru. But Kakashi retained his look of indifference, although it was hard to read a man who only let one lazy eye show. To Kaeru's slight surprise, Naruto turned in step with Kaeru and faced Kakashi, his glare matching his cousin's as he tried to stare his sensei into agreement. Kakashi simply let his gaze wander from his students to Tazuna and finally to Kaeru. Then, he lifted his shoulders in an uncaring shrug.
"All right," he acquiesced. "I guess we'll continue."
Kaeru gazed thoughtfully at Kakashi for a moment. He hadn't actually expected the jounin to cave so easily. He was going to have to be a lot more careful on this mission than he first anticipated. Then, Kaeru felt the familiar prickle at the back of his neck that told him someone was watching him. He tensed for a brief moment before he noticed Naruto staring at him, beaming wide and proud. The older Uzumaki smiled suddenly and winked at Naruto.
That decided, Kakashi seemed to get to business right away. With Kaeru and Sasuke's help—after a small push from Kaeru—Kakashi quickly tied both the unconscious ninja to a large tree by the side of the road and turned back to his client.
"Tazuna-san," began the jounin in a strictly no-nonsense voice, "tell us exactly why these ninja are after you."
The old drunk's mouth wavered a bit, but he seemed more sober now than Kaeru had ever seen him before.
"It's because of my bridge," answered the old man. "Wave isn't a very wealthy country. Most of the income we get comes from the shipping business. Building a bridge to the mainland of Hi no Kuni would make it possible for more people to trade goods and travel freely."
Kaeru remembered that bridge. It had still been standing last time he was in Konoha before everything burned. Had a good name, too.
"But because I'm building the bridge, my life has been targeted by the owner of the shipping company." Tazuna lifted his eyes to the gray-haired man he was addressing. "You probably know his name: Gatou."
Kaeru frowned. He remembered Gatou, too. A part of him wanted to just break off from the mission and murder the guy in his sleep, but there were two things wrong with that idea. For one, he wasn't sure what the effort of killing Gatou now would do to his seals or his ability to control them. For another, if he killed Gatou, Naruto would never meet Zabuza and Haku, and he would never learn the price of being a ninja, of what his dream might cost him.
"I've heard of him," Kakashi acknowledged. "He's one of the few wealthy people in the world."
"Yes," Tazuna agreed nervously. "Most of his wealth has come from his shipping company. It's the only way to transport goods around the islands or to the mainland. He also works in smuggling items on the black market or bringing in illegal items."
"So, you're his competition," ventured Sasuke. "He wants to stop you from building the bridge so that he can keep his monopoly."
"Yeah." Tazuna nodded.
Naruto huffed suddenly and shot a glare at Sasuke and his obvious show-off attitude. Kaeru looked down at the boy, realizing that Naruto probably hadn't understood the implications of what Gatou was doing or how he was hurting Wave Country. He'd have to fix that soon. Naruto always, always, fought better when he was doing it for something worth fighting for. Rule number one had always been Haku's: people were at their strongest when protecting someone precious to them.
"Well, what're we waiting for!" Naruto demanded as he started down the road again.
"Idiot," scoffed Sasuke.
Naruto bared his teeth at his largest—and basically only—rival.
"He's got a point," Kaeru noted calmly before the two boys started launching into insults. "If Gatou's rich, he'll be able to hire more skilled assassins than these two."
He finished by nodding at the Kiri-nin lashed to the tree. Kaeru looked up to Kakashi, who hadn't moved throughout the explanation.
"We should get to Wave as soon as possible," said Kaeru.
Kakashi simply nodded once in agreement.
"Naruto and Sasuke will take point," he commanded, for once sounding like the superior officer that he was. "Kaeru and Sakura will be in charge of protecting Tazuna, and I'll be the rear."
Kaeru nodded. Kakashi was putting himself in a position where he could keep an eye on his whole team, providing no one came up from behind them, but Kaeru wasn't worried about any enemies other than Momochi Zabuza at the moment. Naruto walked forward determinedly with Sasuke trailing after him with a decidedly stoic expression on his face. Sakura's lips were pressed tightly together as she took one side of their client. Kaeru hoped that he hadn't offended her with his comment on her fighting skills. His Sakura would have bashed his head in for even thinking such a thing, but this Sakura was far too timid to try it.
Kaeru shrugged on his pack and started walking on Tazuna's other side. He flexed his fingers in their gloves and looked down at his right hand suddenly. He had just realized that fighting the Demon brothers had been the second fight since this whole mess started that he hadn't felt his seals hurt him even once. They were fine when he was sparring Naruto and Sasuke, and he hadn't felt any backlash during the brief bout on the road. He quelled the hope he felt rising from his lungs. It might not mean anything. He had been trying to be careful about his use of chakra, and the scrimmage against the Demon brothers wasn't even that serious. Still, the fact that something could be different about his seals wasn't the kind of fact that could be ignored.
Naruto craned his neck, trying to see his surroundings, but the mist that surrounded the boat the genin team and Tazuna were scrunched into was too thick to see anything.
"Naruto, settle down!" Sakura snapped in a harsh whisper. "You're rocking the boat, idiot."
Naruto's shoulders slumped heavily as he sank back into his seat. Sakura had somehow gotten a seat at the front of the boat with Sasuke while Naruto sat behind them with Kaeru. Tazuna and Kakashi were lined up behind them, and a thin man with a pointed bamboo hat stood in the back of the boat, pushing them forward with a long pole.
Naruto folded his arms testily and glanced around at the people in the boat, at least that was more interesting than a bunch of water no one could see through. His gaze fell on his cousin, and he paused seriously. Kaeru was staring at his left arm, curling and uncurling his fingers in a fist like he was making sure they worked properly.
"Hey, Kaeru-nii, you okay?" Naruto asked, keeping his voice low. If Kaeru's arms were bugging him, he didn't want anyone else to know about it. Not yet, anyway. He didn't want his teammates to think that his cousin was something to be feared.
Kaeru's eyes lifted to look across to Naruto, and he smiled reassuringly.
"Yeah." Kaeru shook his hand out and brought it to rest on his knee. "Don't worry, gaki. I've got my stuff in my bag if something happens."
Naruto worried his bottom lip in between his teeth as he frowned. If something happened . . . that wasn't really a good thought, considering that Kaeru had once said that his seals were what kept the demon in him from killing him. Naruto glanced at his teammates in the front of the boat. Sakura was too busy blushing at Sasuke to notice anything wrong with Kaeru, and Sasuke looked like he was trying really hard to ignore Sakura, so Kaeru's secret was safe for now.
"Naruto," Kaeru called.
Naruto's head snapped back to his cousin, his eyes wide to prove his determination to pay close attention when he saw the serious look in Kaeru's eyes.
"Do you know why it's important to protect Tazuna from Gatou?" queried the older boy.
Naruto perked up with interest. This sounded like one of Kaeru-nii-san's tests to see how much Naruto knew. Well, he could pass this easy.
"'Cuz that's the mission," declared Naruto, a little louder now that they weren't discussing secret seals or demons. "And a Konoha ninja never abandons the mission!"
Yondaime was just about the coolest Hokage in the history of Konoha. Naruto had always thought that, ever since he had been old enough to hear the story of Yondaime's last stand against the Kyuubi no Kitsune. That respect and awe hadn't diminished when Naruto found out that the Kyuubi wasn't actually dead. In fact, it might have increased. Yondaime didn't just die in a mighty battle; he sacrificed himself in order to protect his village. That must be harder, Naruto thought, to know that the only way for someone else to live was for you to die. Besides, Naruto didn't really blame the man for picking him to be the container. He supposed that it had to be somebody, and Naruto was at least glad that no one else had to go through what he did in Konoha.
So, upon learning that Yondaime Hokage, the coolest Hokage in Konoha history, had never abandoned his duty, Naruto wasn't about to abandon his. And it was his duty to get Tazuna home safely, despite stupid shipping guys trying to kill him.
"Quiet, up there!" snapped the man at the back of the boat. "You want someone to hear us?"
Naruto flinched at the sharp reprimand as well as the glares that his teammates shot him. Sheesh, it wasn't like he was trying to get them all killed.
"Good answer," Kaeru leaned over and muttered proudly at his cousin. "But there's more to it."
Naruto's attention was once again on Kaeru, so curious that he didn't pay attention to Sasuke and Sakura listening in.
"Gatou controls all the transportation in Wave Country, so people have no choice but to go to him," began Kaeru. "That means that he can set the prices however high he wants. Like, he could charge someone twice as much as other people just because he doesn't like the guy."
Naruto frowned. He knew what that felt like. When he had first gotten his apartment and started going to the Academy, he went to the closest grocer for food. He watched an older lady in front of him pay for a loaf of bread, but when he stepped up to pay for his things—which mostly included instant ramen and all the makings for sandwiches—the guy behind the counter named a price that was at least three times as much as he had charged the old lady. It made more sense now that he knew why the guy had done that, but at the time he had been lucky enough to discover Ichiraku Ramen.
"And since he smuggles stuff in, he controls the underground market," the redhead continued, "people who sell stuff illegally, ninja for hire doing bad stuff. He gets rich, but he keeps everybody else poor."
Naruto cocked his head in thought. So the guy was rich. Rich people were generally snobs in Naruto's experience, so the guy had two things against him already: he was a snob, and he was trying to kill Tazuna.
"People are scared of him, so they don't do anything to stop him or change their lives." Kaeru's gaze drifted to the bottom of the boat with his eyes half-closed in thought. "Leaders should never rule by fear. Makes people hate you."
Naruto swallowed nervously. He wanted to be Hokage so that people would acknowledge him. So that people would see him and respect him. He still wanted to be Hokage; his role as the container for Kyuubi had only strengthened that goal. But the last thing he wanted was to accomplish his goal, to become the strongest ninja in Konoha, and to have everyone still hate him. That would be worse than never getting the hat at all.
"You speak from experience, Kaeru-kun?" Kakashi asked from behind Naruto.
Naruto twisted around to look at his smiling sensei. Kaeru just glanced over his shoulder calmly.
"I've seen both extremes," he replied. "People'll die for a leader they love and one they fear, just for different reasons. One out of loyalty and the other because there's no damn alternative."
Kaeru hung his head again, staring at the wooden bottom of the boat.
"I've even seen a leader who loved the village so much that the leader was the one who died for it."
"Where was that?" asked Sakura curiously.
Kaeru tilted his head up, looking surprised that the girl had actually spoken. He remained in that state for several moments, until Naruto was about to repeat the question. He wanted to know the answer, too, after all. Then, Kaeru's gaze turned blank as he replied:
"Konoha."
Sakura frowned at him curiously while Naruto hung his head and prayed no one was looking at him as he clutched the fabric of his jacket over his stomach. Yondaime.
"We're getting close," the boatman announced into the mist. "We should be able to see the bridge soon."
Naruto shook off thoughts of sacrifices and demon foxes and glanced up, staring through the mist. After a few moments, the heavy air parted slowly to reveal a towering support leading up to a giant structure. Naruto gaped silently, remembering the need to be quiet. The thing was huge! They could probably fit the whole Academy on the bridge and still have room to walk around either side. Beside Naruto, Kaeru craned his neck up as he stared and let out a low, impressed whistle.
"Nice bridge, old man," he commented softly. A puzzled frown suddenly crossed his face as he continued to stare at the bridge. "How many people you got working on it?"
"About fifty," replied Tazuna. "It's almost half the village. Why?"
"Just wondering," Kaeru responded and dropped the subject.
The boatman commented that they were going to take a route with lots of vegetation or something. Naruto didn't catch the whole plan, but he began to understand when they sailed silently through a wide tunnel. It was like a secret passage to the other side. When they broke out into sunlight again, the mist was gone and the water in front of them was dotted with short, fat trees that grew right out of the water.
"Wow," breathed Naruto.
He smiled, fascinated by something so different than anything he had seen in Konoha. Kaeru-nii-san was right. Scenery was cool.
Kaeru once again walked beside Tazuna as the team started down the road for Tazuna's house on the outskirts of the village. They had disembarked in general silence, except for Tazuna's admonition to get him home to his daughter and grandson safely. Even Naruto was strangely serious about the mission. Part of Kaeru was worried that he might have made too great an impression on the boy, but he ignored that part in favor of keeping all his senses trained to pick up any sign of a certain eyebrow-less nuke-nin from Kirikugare. That was the greater danger just now.
"You seem tense, Kaeru-kun," called Kakashi from the rear of the party.
Kaeru glanced over his shoulder to see Kakashi's smiling face. He was starting to get an idea of how Kakashi's enemies felt when they faced the Copy-nin. That single crinkled eye that hid a smile when there was really no cause to smile was kind of unsettling.
"Understatement of the year, Kakashi-sensei," Kaeru muttered back. He rolled his shoulders back and stuck his hands in his pockets out of habit. "I guess I'm just nervous about what happens next."
"What does happen next?" was the obvious follow-up question, so Kaeru had at least anticipated it.
"That's the problem." One side of his mouth lifted into a knowing smirk. "I don't know yet."
He sighed and paused long enough so that he was walking in step with Kakashi, leaving Tazuna's protection up to Sakura.
"Someone stronger than those two back there will probably take their place." Kaeru jerked his head backwards to indicate the road where they had left the Demon Brothers. "So, a chuunin at least, maybe a jounin."
"What rank did you say you held in Whirlpool?" Kakashi interrupted suddenly.
Kaeru looked up to meet Kakashi's eye. It was a valid question, and probably meant either to confirm Kaeru's story or to trap him in his own lie.
"I've only ever been a genin," answered Kaeru seriously and without hesitation. "Same as your students, Kakashi."
There were certain benefits to hiding the truth within a lie. It made explanations a little more complicated, but at least Kaeru didn't feel so guilty.
Kakashi's sudden glance to the woods surrounding the road disrupted Kaeru's thoughts and put him on guard instead. Kakashi had always been better than him at sensing chakra. Someone was close by.
"There!" Naruto shouted abruptly from his place at point, flinging a kunai into the underbrush in front of him.
As soon as a loud thunk signaled the kunai connecting to its target, Naruto rushed forward eagerly to see what he had caught. Sasuke followed the blond a few steps behind while Sakura withdrew a kunai and stood in a defensive position in front of Tazuna. Kaeru nodded in approval. Sakura hadn't even chewed Naruto out for his sudden shout. The kids were taking this very seriously now.
However, the mood vanished when Naruto pulled a tearfully scared and shaking white rabbit out of the bushes.
"Oh, just a bunny," the genin noted in wonder.
"Naruto no baka!" Sakura stomped the ground furiously. "Don't scare me like that. Look what you did to the poor thing."
Sasuke smirked as Naruto tried to comfort the rabbit, which by this time seemed to want nothing more than to be out of the arms that were currently trying to smother it with reassuring love. But Kaeru just frowned as the ambient noises of Team Seven faded. There was something wrong with that rabbit. He couldn't remember what, but there was something wrong—
"Naruto, forget the bunny," Kaeru snapped as soon as he realized what was off.
"Huh?" Naruto just frowned, his arms slacking almost in reflex. "Why?"
"It's white." Kaeru stepped forward just far enough to stand beside Tazuna. "To match the snow."
"What snow?" demanded Naruto.
Kaeru just gave the boy a 'no kidding' look.
"It's a decoy," Sasuke finally realized.
Kaeru noticed the whoosh of the blade almost the same time as Kakashi did, but the jounin was faster in his warning.
"Down!" Kakashi commanded.
Kaeru grabbed the back of Tazuna's shirt and yanked the bridge builder to the ground as he used the other hand to shove Sakura out of the way. Naruto dropped the traumatized rabbit and fell on his stomach with his hands covering his head in an instinctively protective position. Sasuke leapt backwards and used his hands to drop into a low crouch. Kaeru felt the air above his head part with the force of the zanbato, but he kept his eyes open. The sound of a blade sinking deep into wood signaled the end of the attack, and Kaeru stood up warily.
"So, it seems the old man brought some protection with him."
The man standing on the giant cleaver, using the blade stuck horizontally in the tree as a platform, looked slapped together at best. Bandages wrapped around his nose and mouth, and his forehead was noticeably bare except for a crooked hitai-ate high on his hairline with a deep, straight scratch through the symbol for Kirikugare. He had no shirt, just a couple leather straps that looked like they were holding up his high pants, and a pair of arm guards that reached above his elbows.
Kaeru saw Naruto and Sasuke scramble to their feet and stare at their new opponent, one in hesitation and the other suspiciously guarded. Now on his feet, Kaeru placed himself between the nuke-nin and Tazuna as the old man helped Sakura up.
"Copy-nin Kakashi," Momochi Zabuza acknowledged the masked Konoha ninja making his way to the front of the party. "Sorry, but the old man is mine."
A/N: I rewrote and reread this thing about three times, and it's still a bit short and a day late (which is also the title of a cool song by Anberlin, but moving on). I got a lot of people begging that I not kill off Kakashi after the ending of the last chapter. I'm almost disappointed that you think I would, especially given the most recent chapters of the manga. Kakashi is one of my favorite characters, even if he is hard to capture well. Sadness.
Anyway, I didn't leave you in the middle of a battle this time, so something to look forward to. Expect the next chapter in three weeks, unless I suddenly have lots of free time and inspiration).
Sincerely,
Fia
P.S. The quote from Yondaime is actually canon. Kakashi says it to Tazuna when asked why he decided to continue the mission. I just figured, given Naruto's hero worship of the man, he would know something like that as well.
