Kichirou waited impatiently as Tazuna's daughter went to check on Kakashi. The jonin had been unconscious ever since his collapse after Zabuza's attack. All four genin were anxious to know when he would wake up.
"I guess we can go in now," Tazuna said gruffly as voices were heard inside the room. Naruto immediately pushed open the door and ran inside, followed closely by the others.
"Look, the sensei's coming around," Naruto said in excitement.
"Listen, sensei," Sakura advised as she knelt by Kakashi's bedside, "Your sharingan is amazing and everything, but if it put that much strain on you maybe it's not worth it."
"Sorry," Kakashi apologized.
Kichirou considered this new piece of information. Was there a limit as to how long one could use the sharingan? He had ignored it half his life, and had never experimented with the possibility.
"Huh." Tazuna grunted. "Well, you did take down one of the most powerful ninja assasins so we'll be safe for a while."
"Right," Sakura said softly. "But, you know, that boy with the mask? What about him?"
"He's from the elite tracking unit from the village hidden in the mist," Kakashi explained. Those masks are only worn by the most elite shinobi."
"What exactly do they do?" Sakura questioned.
"The ANBU black ops, also known as the inferno squad, destroy all traces of a rogue ninja's corpse," Kakashi answered. "The shinobi's body contains many secrets. Ninjutsu. Chakra. Special medicines used on his body. These are the secrets of his village. If his enemies find them, he will be in grave danger. For instance, if I were to die at the hands of an enemy, he would try to analyze my sharingan. In the worst case, my entire jutsu could be stolen and used against our home village. It is the sacred duty of the shinobi trackers to prevent this. To keep the village secrets safe. If a ninja betrays his village the trackers hunt him down, eliminate him, and obliterate every trace of the ninja's existence. That's their specialty."
Kakashi put a hand over his right eye and said nothing more. He looked very troubled all of a sudden.
"Hey, are you okay?" Naruto blurted in. "Sensei?" he asked again when Kakashi didn't respond.
"Hm? Oh, yeah," Kakashi straightened. "To finish what I was saying, tracker ninja deal with the body immediatly - on the spot. That way there's no room for error."
"Is that...really important?" Sakura asked.
"Think about it," Kakashi said. "Do you remember what that tracker did with Zabuza's body?"
"We don't know what he did," Sakura said hesitantly. "I mean, I guess he took it away somewhere."
"Exactly," Kakashi said. "But why? He should have worked on Zabuza right there, as quickly as possible. Think of the weopons he used for the takedown. Do you remember what they were?"
Kichirou's brow furrowed as he thought back to the previous battle.
"Throwing needles," Sasuke answered, understanding dawning on his face. "No way...!"
"Exactly," Kakashi confirmed. "None of it adds up."
"What are you all yammering about," Tazuna interrupted. "You demolished that assasin!"
"Here's the truth," Kakashi looked Tazuna in the eye. "Zabuza is still alive."
Kichirou's eyes widened and the others gasped in shock.
"But we saw his body, believe it!" Naruto insisted.
"Kakashi Sensei, you checked him yourself! You said that his heart stopped!" Sakura put in.
"His heart did stop," Kakashi responded, "But, that was just a temporary state. To stimulate death. The weapons used for that technique are called 'senbone.' They can pierce deeply, but rarely kill unless they hit a vital organ. Not in the neck. They're modified from needles used for medical treatments like acupunture. Trackers are trained to know every detail of the human body. Causing the heart to stop beating while the body is still alive is an easy matter for them."
Kichirou leaned forward, listening intently. The subject fascinated him, and he was eager to learn more.
"First," Kakashi continued to explain, "He carried Zabuza's body away, even thought it's much heavier than he is. Second, he used senbone, which have a precise effect but are rarely fatal. From these two factors, we can conclude that the tracker wasn't trying to destroy Zabuza, he was trying to save him."
"Come on," Tazuna growled. "You're overthinking this, aren't you?"
"Encountering suspicion, the ninja acts quickly," Kakashi quoted. "Hesitation leads to disaster. Every shinobi knows this saying."
Something like a mental blow hit Kichirou over the head, indicating that the voice was still berating with him for his past freeze-up.
"You see? Why don't you LISTEN to him?"
Kichirou growled and shoved the voice away.
"Sensei," Sakura broke in. "You said 'prepare quickly,' but how can we do that when you can barely move?"
Kakashi laughed in amusement.
"Huh?" Sakura said in confusion.
"I can still train you," Kakashi hinted.
"Hold on!" Sakura drew back. "A little last minute training won't make us strong enough to fight Zabuza! You could barely defeat him, even with your sharingan. We have to be reasonable about this!"
Kichirou nodded in agreement. Sakura was right, what could they do?
"Sakura, why was I able to stop Zabuza?" Kakashi asked. "Because you all helped me. You've grown. Naruto," he adressed the blonde genin.
"Huh?" Naruto looked up.
Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "You've grown the most."
Naruto grinned. "So you've noticed, Kakashi Sensei," he cheered. "Now things are going to get better, believe it!"
"I don't believe it, and nothing's going to be good!" a small voice piped up.
Everyone turned to the door, where a young boy was watching them.
"WHO ARE YOU?" Naruto demanded.
Tazuna beamed and held out his arms. "Inari! Wher've you been?"
"Welcome back, Grandpa!" the boy called as he ran forward and squeezed Tazuna tightly.
"Inari, that was very rude," his mother lectured. "These ninja helped your Grandpa and brought him here safely."
"It's okay, it's okay, I'm rude to them too," Tazuna excused his grandson's actions.
Inari glared at them all, and Kichirou felt a sense of familiarity as the boy turned his dark gaze to him. Wasn't it at this age that everything had happened, from the Uchiha massacre to the betrayal of Itachi? What had Inari gone through to make him this way?
Inari turned to his mother. "Mom, don't you see? These people are all going to die! Gato and his men will come back and find them and wipe them out!"
Kichirou gasped. Was this the fear that Gato had installed in the entire village, even among the children?
"What did you say, brat?" Naruto leapt to his feet. "Listen up! You know what a super ninja is? Well that's me, only a lot better! I'm gonna be Hokage! This Gato or Blato or whatever his name is, is no match for a real hero like me!"
Inari scoffed, his eyes hidden under the brim of his hat. "There's no such thing as a hero." He swung his head up in anger. "You're just full of stupid ideas!"
Naruto stood still a moment, then started towards the kid. "What'd you say?"
"Naruto, calm down!" Sakura squealed as she grabbed Naruto's head to keep him from attacking Inari.
"If you want to stay alive, you should go back where you came from," Inari said in a spiteful tone. Turning away, he started to leave the room.
"Inari, wait, where you going?" Tazuna coaxed.
"To look out at the ocean!" Inari snapped. "I wanna be alone!"
Kichirou recognized that the boy wasn't simply moody. Something terrible had happened.
"Sorry about that," Tazuna apologized to Naruto.
Kichirou listened to Inari's retreating footsteps, wondering what was wrong.
... ... ... .. ... ... .. ... ... ..
"All right, training begins now," Kakashi adressed the group as they stood in the forest clearing. First, you will begin with the review of chakra, a ninja's basic source of power. Understanding chakra is essential."
"We know that," Sasuke said snidely.
"He's right," Naruto added. "A long time ago we learned about...uh...catchra."
"Chakra," Kakashi corrected with moan. He waved a hand to Sakura. "Go ahead, Sakura."
"All right, Naruto," Sakura said primly, "I'll explain it simply so you can understand it."
Kichirou sat back against a tree as Sakura went into an avid description of chakra and how it worked. She would have made a wonderful teacher if she weren't so sarcastic about Naruto's lack of knowledge.
"Right on all points," Kakashi responded to Sakura's explanation. "Iruka sensei really did have some excellent students."
"Ah! What's the big deal, all these complicated explanations! The whole point is to learn the jutsu, isn't it?" Naruto complained.
"Naruto's right for once," Sasuke said blandly. "We're already using chakra energy in our jutsu."
"No," Kakashi said sternly, "You have not mastered this power, you've barely scratched the surface of it."
"What do you mean?" Naruto yelled.
"Calm down and listen," Kakashi said. "It's just like Sakura said. You have to draw on physical and spiritual energies, and then combine them within yourself. But, how do you do that? Each jutsu requires different types of jutsu in different proportions. You must select and combine them in exactly the right way. Up till now you've just guessed at the proportions, hoping they'd come out right. Even if you can produce a lot of chakra, unless you balance and control it it's all worthless. The jutsu won't work at all, or it will just be a joke. You waste so much energy that way. Then you're out of chakra, and you can't fight at all. You're just a target."
Kichirou tilted his head to the side as he considered the speech. It made sense, but that didn't tell him what to do if his chakra did run out one day.
"Uh, so how do we change that?" Naruto scratched his head and laughing nervously.
Kakashi was serious. "Train so hard that controlling your chakra become second nature. To achieve this goal you must be ready to put your life on the line."
"What...do we have to do?" Sakura asked.
"Hm. Climb a tree," Kakashi replied simply.
"Climb a tree!" all four genin cried out in disbelief.
"That's right," Kakashi answered. "But, there's just one rule. No hands."
"What? You're kidding!" Sakura said.
Kichirou's brow furrowed in confusion. Was that even possible?
"Am I?" Kakashi challenged. "Let's see." Kakashi's hands formed a signal, and there was a small poof of dust at his feet. He slowly walked over to the tree using his crutches, then proceeded to walk up the tree, his body parallel to the ground.
Kichirou watched in disbelief. So this was how ninjas trained to hang upside down from ceilings and overpasses.
"Now you get the idea," Kakashi explained. "Focus the chakra towards the soles of your feet and use it to connect to the tree. This is one way to apply the power of chakra."
"Wait a minute!" Sakura broke in. "That's a nice trick, but how does it help us fight Zabuza?"
Kichirou looked to Kakashi, recognizing Sakura's point.
"It's the only way you'll fight him, Sakura," Kakashi responded from his upside down position. "That's the entire goal of this training. First you'll learn to draw a precise amount of chakra to a precice point in your body. This is difficult even for advanced ninja. This type of climbing requires a subtle mix of physical and spiritual energy, and the bottoms of the feet are the most difficult places to focus chakra." He added in an annoyed tone, "Are you getting the picture?
"If you can master this, you'll be able to master any jutsu. Well...theoretically. The second point is to be able to maintain your chakra levels. When a ninja is focused in battle, it's even harder to maintain his level of chakras, a deadly mistake. To avoid this, maintaining chakra must become second nature, effortless.
"Well I could talk about this all day," Kakashi finished, "But that won't advance your skills, will it. You need to apply the power of chakra, through training. With that he drew out three kunai and threw them out to land at Sasuke, Sakura, Kichirou, and Naruto's feet.
"Use the kunai knife to mark the tree at the highest point you can climb. Without using your hands. Then try to get past that point the next time. And the next. At first you will need to run at the tree so your momentum will take you as high as possible, until you get used to it. Ready?"
"I'm more than ready, this is going to be no sweat all the way!" Naruto shouted. "Believe it! Remember what you said, sensei, I'm the ones that's grown the most!"
"Definately the one who talks the most," Kakashi droned. "Now get focused and do it!"
Kichirou picked up his kunai and studied the trees. The concept seemed easy enough, but he wanted to see how the others did before trying it himself
Naruto fell off the tree immediately and rolled on the ground, clutching his head. Sasuke managed to make it several feet up before he stepped too hard, broke into the tree bark, and fell backward to land on his feet.
"Hey, this is fun!" Sakura's voice piped up above them.
Kichirou, Sasuke, and Naruto looked up in astonishment to see Sakura sitting on a limb close to the top. Sakura laughed at the shocked looks on their faces.
"Well," Kakashi teased, "looks like the female member of this squad is the most advanced chakra user. Well done, Sakrua."
Sakura stuck her tongue out at Sasuke and Naruto and giggled.
"Yeah, way to go, Sakura!" Naruto cheered. "I always knew you were awesome, believe it!"
"We spoke about someone becoming hokage, didn't we?" Kakashi taunted. "Seems Sakura's got the best chance of that. Wouldn't you say? And Kichirou. You didn't even try."
Kichirou didn't say anything.
"If this is what it comes to for the Uchiha clan, maybe they're not so great after all."
Sasuke's eyes flashed in anger and Kichirou felt a deep fury stir from the voice.
"Stop it," he ordered the entity.
"FOOL!"
Kichirou grimaced and fought down the rage that the voice inspired. He didn't like this feeling of hatred that whelled up inside of him. "Stop," he pleaded silently.
"Idiot of a shinobi! He knows nothing!"
"Leave it alone," Kichirou responded with a calm but stern thought.
The voice snorted. "Then show him you are not the weakling he considers you to be! Prove to him that the Uchihas are still the masters of the shinobi!"
For once Kichirou felt himself agreeing with the voice. His own anger rose as he thought of Kakashi's statement, and he tightened his grip on his kunai knife.
"There, I think they're motivated now," Kakashi said cheekily as he turned away.
Glaring at the jonin's retreating back, Kichirou ran towards one of the trees. His indignation fueled his resolve, and with scarcely an effort Kichirou focused his chakra into the soles of his feet. His feet slammed into the bark and stuck like magnets. Charging up the trunk, Kichirou ignored the astounded cries from the others below. Higher and higher he ran, the voice inside him cheering him on. As he neared the top of the tree Kichirou grabbed a branch and swung into space. He flipped several times in midair and finally slid to a halt in front of Kakashi.
Kakashi blinked, his surprise evident. "Well, I suppose one of the Uchihas still has something to brag about, after all," he commented, looking over his shoulder at Sasuke.
Sasuke stared in slack jawed astonishment at his twin. Astonishment, bewilderment, and slight animosity flitted across his face. Kichirou realized with a stab of guilt that not only had he destroyed his low profile, but he had shown up his brother in front of the entire team. Flushing in shame, Kichirou wiped his hands off and wished he were invisible.
"Well done. At last you are beginning to show some of your true potential."
"W-wait, how'd you do that?" Naruto asked in astonishment. He rubbed the bump on his head from his own failed attempt. "You got worse grades than everyone but me. How come this is so easy for you?"
"Yeah, Kichirou," Sakura said in confusion. "It always takes you forever to learn a chakra signature."
Kichirou rubbed his arm and stared at the ground. For once Kakashi noted his discomfort and came to the rescue.
"Why don't you three continue practicing for a while," he suggested casually. "Kichirou, I'd like to talk to you for a minute."
Kichirou let Kakashi lead him away, still longing to find a hole in the ground to disappear into.
"So," Kakashi commented as they left the area. "I suppose there's an explanation for your newfound talents?"
Kichirou shook his head numbly, and Kakashi sighed.
"Kichirou, class failures don't just turn around and succeed in their first attempt at chakra control. Even Sasuke can't do it, and he had the best scores in the exams." When Kichirou made no reply, Kakashi asked, "How did you do it?"
Kichirou shrugged. "I was angry," he said evasively. "I didn't realize what I was doing."
"That look on your face suggested otherwise," Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "You were showing off. Protecting the clan name?"
"Don't talk to me about my clan!" Kichirou snapped as he began walking faster.
"Kichirou, this wasn't just an accident," Kakashi replied as he easily lengthened his own stride. "Why have you been concealing your chakra capabilities all these years? Iruka says you got the second worst scores in your class, and yet your control back there was amazing. These things don't just happen overnight. How long have you been hiding this?"
Kichirou sighed deeply, knowing he couldn't fool his Sensei. "I haven't really been hiding it... that much. I just don't care, that's all." That was only half true. Kichirou did care to a point, which was the reason why he always tried to be the worst. To show his true capabilities would place him on the same level as Itachi, and the thought frightened him.
"All right then," Kakashi answered calmly. "Now that we have established that you do have some talent, let's try that test again. This time I don't want any of that 'weakling' nonsense. Show me what you really can do."
Kichirou realized there was no room for argument. Dragging his feet to the nearest tree, he put one foot up and began walking until he was halfway up the length of the trunk. Turning around, he casually strode down to the ground again.
Kakashi watched the entire process, his expression blank. "All right, then," he nodded. "That's all for today."
Kichirou looked up, preturbed by the statement. "That's it?"
"Obviously you've mastered your chakra control to quite an extent," the jonin replied. "I see no reason for you to spend the rest of the day practicing in this particular area. You can take the morning off."
Kichirou mulled over the statement and nodded. He was relieved that Kakashi hadn't gotten excited over the revelation of his abilities. Any other teacher might have talked endlessly about it, but Kakashi had dropped the subject as though it were a normal, everyday occurence.
"Oh, by the way," Kakashi called over his shoulder as he began hobbling back to the other genin. "You'll be starting your own training program as soon as we're finished with this mission. I expect you'll have a lot more than a few shadow clones to demonstrate for me?"
Kichirou frowned, but he knew he had no choice. "Hai," he answered quietly.
Kakashi said nothing further as he returned to the team. Kichirou tromped through the forest for several hours until the images of his eldest brother finally left his head.
... ... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Many thanks to those who are reviewing! Your comments are the main reason these updates are coming out so fast. (Plus I'm using the outline of one of my old stories, but whatever.) Hopefully next I can get Ch. 20 of Raising a Raven finished.