(Ok, so I think this is an ok place to leave off at. I hope you enjoy the chapter. I know that the arc is pretty overdone with how many Naruto fics start right before it, but I like it, you know? It was fun to write.)
I was quick to signal my team to surround Tazuna, and no sooner had I given the order did a thick, chakra-infused mist fill the air. It obscured my sense of smell, weakening my tracking abilities, and if his profile in the bingo book was anything to go by, he would be hard to hear as well. The chakra in the fog was dulling my ability to see him in the mist, but I could feel rather than see that he'd made a few solid clones, probably water clones, to toy with us.
"Cute brats you got there, Kakashi. Babysitting?"
I gripped my kunai tighter, replying, "They're my team. Don't underestimate them just because they're children."
"Oh, we shall see." He began to release his killer intent then, and I cursed myself for not doing the same during training. I thought I'd have more time to work with them before exposing them to something like this. They all buckled a bit, but held their ground, guarding Tazuna with their lives. Hinata, unsurprisingly, was the one affected the most, audibly swallowing every now and then. Sasuke was also taking it hard, but Naruto was better off, used to similar feelings of contempt from everyday life. Though there was no guarantee, I had to give them confidence.
"You guys, I won't let you die here. Focus on taking care of Tazuna, I'll deal with Zabuza."
Releasing my own killer intent warded off some of Zabuza's, but only just. "Bold words, Kakashi. Are you sure you can keep your word on this? You've already got one weakness. You have to worry about our more large scale attacks getting to these children. Oh how the leaf has fallen, allowing these soft kids pass the academy."
"Just because the mist had a battle-oriented academy doesn't mean that the leaf has to."
Zabuza chuckled, replying, "Ah, well I'd already made many kills before I was their age. To each his own, just don't complain when the leaf buckles the greater powers who are willing to use more bloody tactics." I glared, but then I realized that the conversation was a distraction. Already, Zabuza was approaching the small group. To my great relief, I heard a noise of frustration before I felt the man's presence slink back into the darkness. "What is it that is preventing me from killing the old man, is it genjutsu?"
"If I told you that, it'd give you a chance to counter attack. I'm your opponent now." Zabuza grunted, but otherwise agreed and we began to clash. My moves mirrored his, and then the large scale attacks began. I wasn't as worried as he thought I might have been, my team could easily jump to the treetops with our client to avoid damage, so I focused solely on my battle.
With my sharingan, I knew I was wearing down his concentration. My movements were too seamless to be just copies, and I even finished a move before he could. Finally, he outwitted me, causing me to reflexively dodge an attack only to end up standing in the water we'd created before. I knew I was done for when he'd trapped me in the water prison jutsu.
"Everyone! Retreat, take Tazuna back to the leaf and get backup!"
It was Naruto who refused. "Are you kidding me? We're not leaving you here!"
"Naruto, Zabuza is a Jounin, you guys stand no chance against him! Now follow my orders!"
Sasuke scoffed, stepping forward to stand beside Naruto. "No can do, Kakashi. You raised us to believe that comrades come before orders." Though Hinata stayed silent, I could see her nod faintly in the background, guarding Tazuna. Before I could argue further, Naruto released three of his special shuriken. Zabuza laughed at this.
"Wooden shuriken? What're those gonna do, give me a splinter?" He laughed up until the point where despite moving his head to dodge, the shuriken shifted its movements. Realizing at just the right moment he released the jutsu holding me and dodged backwards. "What is this? How are they following me? Genjutsu?" He tried to break the 'genjutsu,' but the shuriken still followed him. Blocking with his sword only changed their direction, and they looped around to follow, but they sunk into a log the moment he used substitution. Still, they had served their purpose.
Curiously, Zabuza pulled the shuriken from the log, inspecting them. "So these shuriken follow the target, eh? Let's try them on you!" He quickly dropped the weapons as they burned him, sensing his intent to use them without Naruto's permission. "What is going on? None of this is making any sense! How did those shuriken follow me? How were you able to copy a jutsu I hadn't even performed yet? How…"
He was cut short as I appeared behind him, aiming to kill. Glaring, we continued the battle. When I was almost sure I would win, A senbon flew out of nowhere, piercing Zabuza's neck. He fell like a puppet who's strings had been cut. I'd been so focused on Zabuza that I hadn't even sensed the ninja hiding in the treeline. He was young, maybe a year or two older than Sasuke and Naruto, but I could feel that he was strong and able.
"Thank you for weakening Zabuza for me, I'd been tracking him for months."
"A hunter nin, huh?"
"Hunter nin?"
I smiled at my blond son, explaining the concept, when out of nowhere, darkness overtook me, but not before I watched the young boy lug Zabuza's large frame away. Alarm bells rang, but there was nothing I could do, at least, not at the moment. I woke up in a small, sparsely decorated room, a glass of water and a note beside me.
"Kakashi, if you're awake, then we're downstairs. There are some crutches for you if you need them."
I smiled. It may not have said much, but I knew they were worried. No need to worry them further, so I donned the crutches and made my way downstairs. Everyone was at breakfast, and upon my approach, Naruto got up and ran, tackling me with a hug. Tears were in the corners of his eyes when I looked down at his face, but I only smiled behind my mask and patted his head.
"Maa, why the long face? I'm fine. What's for breakfast, Tazuna?"
A young woman smiled at me from in front of the stove, stating, "Just a simple soup with rice. Sorry there isn't more, our country is very poor. My name is Tsunami."
"Good to meet you, I'm Kakashi. No need to apologize, simple soup is better than ration bars." I sat down at the table carefully and let my team debrief me. They'd had no problems getting here after I'd passed out, and I'd been out for about a day and a half. Only when they were done did I tell them.
"Zabuza is most likely still alive."
"W-what? B-but you checked him yourself!"
"That I did, Hinata, but think of the weapon he used."
"True… Like my gentle fist, one would have to be precise to get a kill using such a small area to work with."
"And how he treated the body. Hunter nins usually dispose of the body immediately, taking only the head as proof of termination, but he went to the trouble of picking Zabuza up and retreating, despite the inconvenience."
"An ally then."
"Exactly my thoughts, Sasuke."
Naruto frowned then, questioning, "Now what? You're in no condition to fight and we aren't strong enough to take on a Jounin yet."
I nodded at his reasoning, but refuted, "Being put in a near death state takes it's toll on the body, just as the sharingan does if overused. We'll probably be incapacitated for the same amount of time, meaning he'll be back in about a week."
It was then that a small child walked through the door, returning his plates signifying that he'd eaten elsewhere. He glared at us before simply stating, "You're all going to die, you know."
"Inari!"
"But, Mom, it's true. Gato's going to kill them."
Hinata seemed concerned, but Sasuke and Naruto kept eating in silence. I decided to break the ice. "I mean no disrespect, but we are ninjas. Have a little faith."
The boy scoffed. "As if. Gato has hundreds of hired mercenaries, and he has ninja too. You guys stand no chance." He left before anything more could be said.
"Um, sorry for intruding, but is he alright?"
Tsunami sighed but replied, "He'll be fine, but Gato left a deep scar in his heart."
"D-does it have anything to do with the person missing in that picture?" Hinata timidly asked.
Tsunami smiled, reminiscent this time, probably reliving a happier moment as she responded, "Yes actually. He wasn't Inari's real father, but he might as well have been. He came to the land of waves unexpectedly, but he changed all of our lives here in town. He was Inari's role model, but when Gato showed up, he was made an example for the rest of us. Get in his way, and you wouldn't live to tell the tale. Inari was heartbroken. Of course, we were all sad, but he took it the hardest."
"Oh. S-sorry for asking."
"No, that was a while ago. That's why we have to finish the bridge. It'll bring outside businesses back into our lands, canceling the monopoly Gato and other smaller organizations have over us. That bridge will save our lives."
"And that is precisely why we are here. No need to worry, I'll handle Zabuza, and my team will be able to take out the mercenaries. I'm confident in that." Tsunami smiled at my words and breakfast was ended shortly afterwards. I decided that now was the time to train my team. Nothing ragged, just something to refine the skills they already had. The boys already knew tree walking, as did Hinata, but next would be water walking. In the land of waves, water wouldn't be hard to find.
I hobbled over to a small pond near Tazuna's home and told them the basics. After showing them a demonstration, both Naruto and Sasuke fell in the water. Hinata was shy, but stated her mind when I looked at her questioningly.
"Um, I already know this. I-it's a common technique taught in the Hyuuga compound to teach chakra control."
I nodded and said, "That's good. Hinata, you'll be stationed at the bridge with Tazuna while he works. I'm sure nothing will come until I'm fully healed. Naruto, Sasuke, you two continue to work on this. Don't overexert yourselves, I don't want you drowning on me." All three nodded and I waved once before turning around and heading back to Tazuna's home.
I would have made shadow clones to spy on the boys, but as I was incapacitated by overusing my chakra and sharingan, I was forced to just stay in my room and recover. A man could only read Icha Icha so many times. Occasionally I could sense Inari spying on me from outside my door, but the rest of the time I could hear him sobbing in his room. I was impressed when at the end of day five both Naruto and Sasuke stumbled through the door, using each other as support, smirking at me.
"We both got it, we can walk on water."
I smiled and congratulated, "Good job. Hinata, would you mind allowing Sasuke and Naruto to rest tomorrow? Then we can all go to the bridge together."
"N-no, I don't mind. Though, the workers don't seem confident that I'm their only protection..."
"It doesn't matter what they think. You're a skilled kunoichi. Never forget that."
"Y-yes, Kakashi-sensei!"
"She can't even hold her fear back. There's no way you guys are gonna survive out there. Just give up and go home."
"Inari!"
Naruto, Who'd held his tongue at the young boy, finally commented, stating, "You must really love Gato, huh?"
"W-what? What did you say to me?"
"You hard of hearing too? I asked if you loved Gato. The man who destroyed your community, the man who destroyed your family. Do you love him?"
"Of course not, I only…"
"You only defend him with every breath I've ever heard from you. Do you want him to win? To kill your grandfather like he did your father? Murder your mother?"
"He wasn't my…"
"Oh yes he was. Real or not, that man was your father."
"Y-You don't know anything! You probably never had to deal with this kinda stuff!" Inari slammed the door, running to his room, but before anyone could reprimand Naruto, he announced that he needed to let off steam and left. I sighed, but let him go.
"I'm sorry, Tsunami."
"No, Inari needed that. Neither I nor Father have the heart to confront the things that are troubling him, so it's as much our fault as anything." I nodded and went to find the small boy. Of course, he was crying in his room over the framed missing piece of the picture. I knocked before letting myself in.
"Go away."
"Do you know why Naruto was so harsh on you?"
"What's it matter to you?"
"Well, I'm his father."
"So you're his dad, huh? You sure raised him well."
"He wasn't always my son. I took him in when he was five, but he'd had a hard life before that."
Inari sniffled and wiped a few tears asking, "Really? How so?"
I sat down, making myself comfortable before replying, "He didn't have any parents, and none of the orphanages would take him in, so once he was able to care for himself, he lived alone in an old apartment. Everyone knew him, and everyone hated him to an extent, myself included."
"What? Why?"
"The circumstances of his birth were complicated. He can't control what happened, but everyone still blamed him for it. It was kept a secret from everyone his age and younger in the hopes that they would befriend him, but their parents forbade them from interacting with him. He was all alone until I took him in. I learned how he really was, his true personality, and I made sure that I was there to protect him. He was happy for a while."
"Just for a while?"
"Yeah. There were a few things that happened that put a damper on his spirit. One was both a curse and a blessing. The introduction of Sasuke as Naruto's brother."
"You mean the dark haired boy?"
"Precisely. He used to have a huge family. He had many precious people that loved him from the bottoms of their hearts."
"W-what happened to them?"
"They were all killed. In one single night, everyone he knew was dead." Inari was silent for a while, so I continued, "Now, there is something that Naruto gave to our village that everyone knew about. They however, didn't know that it was Naruto who had provided them with the gift."
"What was the gift?"
"A very special tree. You'll know it if you ever visit Konoha. Anyways, recently, it was revealed that Naruto planted the tree. Beforehand, someone he cared for deeply had wrenched a hole in his heart."
"What did they do?"
"You see, Naruto had planted the tree for them, nurturing it since even before I adopted him. He was growing it for her, and when he told her, she didn't believe him. She said many nasty things, and even assaulted him. He was devastated. The last time he'd received such horrible treatment was before I'd adopted him, and I still regret not being there for him."
"What about that other girl? Hinada?"
"Hinata. Well, she replaced the girl who I just told you about. You see, Hinata had always wanted to be Naruto's friend, but she couldn't because her father forbade it. When it was found out that Naruto had planted the tree though, her father told her to become his friend, to be closer to him."
"What's so special about that tree? Why would people who hated him start liking him for something so dumb?"
"Ah. You see, the tree is sacred. You'd have to see it to believe. It has special properties, not unlike chakra. The tree isn't merely alive, it's sentient. Only Naruto can talk to it, and because the village is his home, the tree protects it."
"What? That's impossible."
"Believe what you want, but it's true. Maybe when this is all over, you can come to Konoha and see it for yourself."
Inari went quiet again, but finally nodded and said, "Ok. If you guys come back alive, then I'll visit you some time."
I smiled and patted his head, much to his discomfort, but I knew things would be better now. Until the day after tomorrow.
(Yay. Finally, we;re getting into territory after the stuff I wrote back in hgh school. I don't actually dislike this chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed. Till next time; Beige out.)
