Slowly the story is progressing. I hope it's not too boring, but I don't want to be hasty. :D Please forgive me for that.
Thursday rolled around and Honoka couldn't help but feel a little nervous. She was pacing back and forth in front of the arena for about half an hour already as she saw Kakashi casually strolling up the street. She looked up at the clock and then smirked.
"You are on time?! Is that a bad omen?" Honoka winked.
"Naa, I don't think so. Sakura made sure I'll be on time; she said she placed a wager on us. And she doesn't like losing." Kakashi seemed to smirk, if the curve of his eye was something to go by.
"Us? Does that mean she knows what the Hokage has planned?"
"Certainly seems like it, but we are about to find out ourselves," he said and gestured towards the entrance.
"Right," Honoka nodded and exhaled audibly. "Let's do this."
"Ah, here,"you are!" Tsunade greeted them. "Since I already had the opportunity to see how you fight I decided to test you under pressure. We will be moving over to training area 44. Kakashi and you will start at different gates and you have to team up to fight opponents I picked for you."
"Which opponents?" Kakashi asked.
"Not so impatient, Kakashi. Guy, Genma, Raido and Neji will oppose you."
"That shouldn't be too difficult," he murmured, but Honoka didn't feel his confidence.
"I know. They aren't your enemies per se; they are merely there to slow you down. Your enemy is time. I'll give you one hour to reach the tower."
The smile she displayed gave Honoka the chills and she cast a glance at Kakashi, who stood there like a statue.
"One hour?" he repeated and the Hokage nodded.
"You heard me right, Kakashi. The gates will open at half past three, northern gate for you, and southern gate for Honoka."
The two of them curtly bowed and then left the arena. Tsunade watched them leave and then returned to her office, preparing the crystal ball.
"What's the deal with area 44? You stiffened up when she said one hour. Spill your beans, I prefer being prepared," Honoka said and looked at him expectantly.
"The forest in itself is tough enough if you aren't paying enough attention, but one hour is a tight schedule. Current record in reaching the tower is 97 minutes," he stated.
"And with those four out to slow us down and the need for us to team up…it'll be harder than I expected."
"But you think we can do it, right?"
"Do you?" he asked back and she pursed her lips.
"If you say 97 minutes at travel speed with my Kekkeigenkai we could do it in about 32 minutes, unopposed. With expected fighting and the need to find each other we only have a small buffer. We can do it, but it'll be tough."
"A good evaluation. Leave the finding-part to me," he winked at her and she arched a brow.
"Alright. Let's be underway."
Meanwhile:
"Tsunade-sama, how do you want to know what she's doing?" Shizune asked the Godaime.
"That's easy, I'll use this here." The blonde smiled and pointed at the crystal ball the Sandaime had used.
"I just have to keep track of her movements; I know that Kakashi will perform flawlessly." She said, with the tomegane-no-jutsu she was able to follow everything.
Area 44:
"Hey! Guy!" Genma called. "Wait a second! Am I guessing right that you will go after Kakashi?"
"I thought about that, yes, but my youthful eternal rival will expect that."
"Right." Raido agreed. "But Tsunade told us to slow both of them down."
"Yeah, and she told us that we'll need Neji's Byakugan to find that new kunoichi. Whatever she meant with that," Genma said.
"Ah, you're trying to tell me that it would be kind of unfair if we would play four against one." Guy stated, and then turned around.
"Well then, I'll look for my eternal rival!" and with that he left.
"How can you deal with that all the time?" Genma asked Neji.
"You may laugh, but with the time you get used to it. I've learned to block it out."
Raido laughed. "Alright then, let's go to our posts, gate opens in five minutes."
As they reached the forest they parted ways and they walked up to their assigned gates.
"Good luck," Kakashi winked with a smirk. "Meet you in a few minutes."
"I hope so," she mumbled more to herself.
Accurately half past three the gates opened.
"Alright, let's do this," Honoka said to herself, and stepped through the gate.
As she saw the first centipede crawl around a tree she knew Kakashi wasn't exaggerating.
"We," she made and wrinkled her nose. "I hate these insects even in their small form."
The deeper she went into the forest the more of these insects showed up and evading the spiders became a challenge. As she stepped into a clearing she noticed an explosive tag on a tree.
"Seems I'm getting closer," she murmured and tried to detect an opponent. But before she was able to gauge the accurate location a few Senbon came flying her way. She hummed and prepared to fight.
As the gate opened Kakashi sighed. He didn't feel any urge to step in that forest, but Tsunade wanted him to and Honoka might need his help. So he used his Kuchiyose-no-jutsu and summoned his pack.
"What's up?" Pakkun asked his master.
"I expect Guy somewhere around, and I really don't want to meet him."
"Ah, got it." The dog grinned.
"But I need you to find someone else." Kakashi told his smallest dog. "You need to find Honoka."
"That white haired woman?"
"Yes."
"Alright. Can we start?"
"Yeah. Let's go and hurry. We only have sixty minutes to reach the tower. And we have to team up before we reach it. Got me, Pakkun?"
"Quite clearly." He replied and sped off.
Bull was able to sniff Guy out about half an hour later. Kakashi created one Shadow clone and sent him along with two of his dogs to distract his 'eternal rival'.
"Ah! Kakashi! My eternal rival! You finally arrived here!" Guy called out as he spotted him.
"Sorry, got no time to talk!" the clone replied and sped off in the opposite direction than the original.
"Ha! You better don't think you can escape me!" Guy called out and went after him.
"Accepted the bait," The real Kakashi said and sped off in direction of the tower.
"Got her!" Genma called and Raido jumped out of the tree behind him.
"The award ceremony usually takes place after the fight," his friend reminded him.
"This won't take long." He said confidently and started to attack her.
Honoka mused how she would be able to leave them behind without taking too much time or seriously injuring them and got an idea. But before she could put her plan into practice she had to dodge some hits. Genma was coming at her using Tai-jutsu and Raido joined him a short time later. As she managed to get some space between them and herself she formed the necessary hand signs and as her two opponents landed on the ground she grinned and smacked both hands onto the wet earth.
"I'd love to stay longer, but I got to go. Please excuse the cold feet," she said, as both of them stood there, their feet frozen to the ground as ice crawled up their legs until it reached their knees.
"Chakra-fed. Don't burn yourself trying to free yourselves. You'll thaw out in a few minutes." And with that she jumped up on a branch and took off.
"I told you not to be hasty." Raido sighed and Genma snorted.
"That's what I call a cold welcome," he muttered and then both of them started to laugh.
Neji watched the scene unfold from behind a tree, but since the two of them were laughing he decided to go after her and not waste time helping them.
Honoka knew that she had wasted precious time, and activated her Kekkeigenkai to run faster. He was taken aback as she vanished in front of his eyes.
"That can't be..." He muttered and looked around if he had missed anything. Neji curtly shook his head and then activated his Byakugan. And then he saw her again, but what seemed miles ahead of him.
"How can this be?" he mumbled again and sent chakra to his feet to boost his speed.
Honoka almost ran face first into a tree as a dog appeared out of thin air no two meters in front of her.
"Hi." He said.
"What are you doing here?! This is dangerous!" she snapped and he seemed to smirk.
"Kakashi sent me. I'll take the lead."
"Better hurry, I have one pursuer right behind me."
"Seems like it, come on." And with that he jumped on a branch above her.
"What the...! Only ten minutes left?! Shit! We'll never make it on time!" she exclaimed.
"Less complaining, more moving!" he barked down.
To her own surprise she called "Yes!" and followed him.
Neji stopped as she stopped too, and looked at his watch. Only twelve minutes left, they would never make it on time. He decided to turn around and head back to Genma and Raido.
Five minutes later they caught up to Kakashi.
"Finally there, huh?" he asked.
"Yes," she said. "But I'll doubt we can still make it on time, we only have five minutes left."
"Have we wasted this much time already?" he said surprised. "It's going to be tight."
"I hate being late," she muttered, but then she had an idea. Her Kekkeigenkai could influence others as well. She still had enough chakra left and it couldn't be that far anymore.
"How much further is it?" she asked.
"From here on I guess ten minutes," Kakashi replied truthfully.
"Ten minutes...How much chakra have you left?"
"Enough."
"Do you trust me?" Honoka asked.
"Yes. What's your plan?" Kakashi asked back.
"I think there's still a chance for us to make it on time. Give me your hand." She said and held out her hand. As soon as he took it she activated her Kekkeigenkai.
"Feels...interesting," he said.
She laughed out. "Feeling as light as a feather?"
"Fitting analogy," He chuckled. "Though I imagined our first time holding hands to be a little different."
"As long as you planned on holding on to my hand," she winked and jerked her head towards the tower.
"Let's go, we can laugh about each others' puns once we are there."
"Agreed."
And they took off like lightning.
As they entered the tower she deactivated her Kekkeigenkai, and they collapsed on the floor. The big watch above them showed the time: 16:29.
"Ha!" she laughed breathless. "We made it."
"Yes," he nodded, audibly panting too. "Barely but still. I think I can dispel my jutsu now."
"What?" Honoka asked confused.
"Guy was following a Shadow-clone," he smirked and she laughed out.
"Oh, that's mean!"
"You misspelled 'necessary'," he said amused and she chuckled, while catching her breath.
"As long as that's my only shortcoming today..."
"As I expected." Tsunade said and leant back in her chair. "They made it. And her way of stopping Genma and Raido was most entertaining."
She chuckled.
"Shizune, pay them the entrance fee for the hot-springs. I don't want them to catch a cold."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama."
"Oh and Shizune, bring me the necessary papers, we have a new Jonin."
"Yes." The brunette smiled and left the room.
