Chapter Eleven:
"Hey you three, what are you doing?" Two Cloud ninjas made their way through the grass.
"Pretending to be ninjas!" Midori replied after a reasonable pause. She grinned childishly. "Are you two real ninjas?" Her eyes brightened happily. A little surprised at her enthusiasm, the two nodded. One of them was fairly young, barely out of his teens, and Midori seemed to have a sudden affect on him. His eyes widened a little in disbelief, but he quickly covered the look. The other one wasn't much older, but clearly the senior of the two. The latter smiled and bent down to their heights.
"You shouldn't be wandering on your own, your parents' are going to get worried," he said kindly. Midori shook her head.
"We're going to visit our relatives, who live in that village over there." She pointed at Uemura.
"Papa said it would be too dangerous to become ninjas," Obito said. "Is that true?" The younger of the two bent down now as well and nodded, placing a hand on Midori's head.
"Being a ninjas is dangerous," he said, his eyes switching from one to the other, but lingered on the girl, "Don't become ninjas. You'll be much happier that way."
"Aren't you happy?" Kakashi asked after Obito very stealthily poked him. The young shinobi simply kept smiling, a sad and deep smile.
"Now go along," the older one said, nudging them away.
"Hai!" Midori said as they went around the stone and headed for the village. She turned around and waved. "Bye-bye, ninja-san!"
The two got to their feet.
"What's wrong with you?" the older asked.
"Sorry," he replied, staring after Midori, "She was similar to my dead little sister."
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Obito sighed with relief when they were sure the two were out of earshot. "I was worried for a second," he mumbled.
"It went well though, didn't it?" Midori asked.
"Lucky they were so soft to children," Obito replied.
"Let's get into the village before they come as well," Kakashi said. The other two glanced quickly over their shoulders and saw that indeed, the two were starting to head in the same direction. They hurried.
The streets of the village were unexpectedly quite full of activity. One would have reckoned that because they were at odds with the rest of the country, the people would be in fear and hiding from possible attacks. They soon realised that part of the reason was because of a festival.
Children wearing masks ran from shop to shop, their parents vainly trying to keep them under control. Young people walked together, chatting and laughing, and people behind the stalls were busy getting customers and serving them. The streets were, therefore, narrow and quite full of people, and no one paid much notice to Obito, Midori and Kakashi.
"We still have a few hours until sunset," Midori muttered quietly to the two, "Let's use the festival to have a look around the village."
The two boys nodded, and they broke up, each going separate directions. Kakashi had barely walked around for a few minutes, when Midori came to his side and gave him a mask she had obviously bought at one of the shops. He didn't need to be told why he should wear it. He slipped it on, and Midori quickly left to find Obito. Since the two ninjas had seen their faces, it would be a little complicated if they found one of them.
As the day slowly came to an end, the people began to head home, and the stalls began to shut down, one by one. It seemed that the festival would continue for another few days. Kakashi walked on down a street, until he came close to the lord's house. It didn't really stand out, and he had had a little trouble locating it at first. There were cement walls surrounding the household, which wasn't very big at all. As Kakashi had glimpsed from one of the roofs, there was one main house, a storage house, a fairly tended garden with a few small trees, and a pond.
Kakashi was soon joined by Obito and Midori, and as the sun set in the west, they got up from where they had been squatting and pretending to play a game on the dirt road. They took off their masks, slipping them into their bags and quickly made their way to the door. Obito knocked once. They were surprised not to see a guard open the door, but an aged man. He smiled and beckoned them in before closing the door and walking down the stone paved path leading to the main house entrance. The tree followed without saying anything. Once the man had closed the entrance door, he sat down on the slightly raised floor of the house and patted the tatami floor beside him, indicating that they should sit down as well.
A little confused, they obliged. The man continued to smile.
"Are you the ninjas that I asked to fulfil my wish?" he finally asked. His voice was soft and kind, but he talked relatively slow and had the tone that all old people had.
"Hai," Midori replied. Kakashi took out the scroll that the Hokage had given them and handed that over to the man. He opened it and read it over then started to nod slowly, but constantly. He still smiled.
"I see," he said, "Thank you for making the long journey, and I'm sorry I cannot offer you more comfort now. It is simply because you must immediately be on your way, I'm afraid." His face lost the smile, and his expression saddened a little as he gazed at the three. "It pains me to have to see so young children do such a tiring job. If this is truly the way of the ninja, then it is a cruel way."
He pulled out a scroll and handed it to Kakashi. "This is the scroll that I want you to deliver," he said. "I am indeed, very sorry that you cannot rest for the night. Please forgive me. But you must get that scroll there as quickly as possible, best within the next four days."
"We will," Obito assured as they rose. They bowed politely, opened the door and went through, but Obito paused at the doorway and turned back. "We chose the path of our lives out of free will," he said with a smile, "We're all prepared for the consequences." Without waiting for a response, he turned and the three of them disappeared.
They used the cover of dusk to slip quickly and quietly out of the village. This time, instead of heading back to the east side of the country, they headed west. There were more risks now, but for the moment, the darkness hid them well enough, and their stealth skills weren't the worst. After having to run on water, the soft, solid ground was wonderfully easy to run on. They decided to risk cutting diagonally down so they could save time and energy. Keeping a steady pace, they travelled until dawn without any incidents or encounters with anyone. As the sun began to climb into the sky, they slowed down and searched for a place they could rest for a few hours.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
The next few days were mostly eventless as Kakashi, Obito and Midori journeyed to the Sand Country. Once in a while, they nearly ran into raging battles, but they stopped quickly enough and took a detour well around the fighting. That did slow them down a little, but it was much better than trying to run through it. The weather was usually cool and cloudy, but the rain held off, and they found it easy to travel in. For a day or so, they felt comfortable travelling near the Fire Country, but as they left it, they could definitely begin to feel the air become dryer and dustier. Quite quickly, they found themselves running over sand paths with the wind blowing small grains of sand into their faces. Midori mentioned more than once how she hated the environment.
On the evening of the fourth day, the three finally made it to the destination, wheezing and the muscles in their legs were trembling from exhaustion. For a few minutes, they collapsed against a wall and simply tried to get their pulses back into control. The last day had been a horrible sprint as they each feared they wouldn't make it in time. The town was like nothing they had seen before. The houses were made out of clay or some material along those lines. The structures of the houses were much different from the ones they knew, and everything seemed so closed in.
"Let's go," Kakashi finally said, and the other two simply nodded and pushed themselves up from the floor. While they were running or moving, it was fine, but when they stopped, they could feel the exhaustion very intensely. They avoided the main streets and decided to quickly leap across the roofs. It wasn't very hard to find the largest, well faring household. They were greeted my a maid and she led them quickly inside, as the wind was getting stronger, and they could all see a sand storm approaching.
At the entrance of the house, they were greeted by a man, nearly as old as the lord they had met four days ago. Kakashi could tell that Midori was on the verge of just collapsing and sleeping for at least a day and that just standing was the best she could do. Obito, though he was still better off than Midori, was still quite passed his limit. Kakashi himself was nearing the limit, but he supposed he would take care of things. He bowed respectfully.
"I have had news from Yukimura-san," the lord said with a kind expression, "You must be tired. You may rest peacefully in this house for tonight. Come in." He beckoned them down the corridor, and the surprised three took off their shoes and stepped up. The lord talked to the maids and told them to follow the maids to their room. Obito and Midori obliged without a word, too tired to object. Kakashi however, stayed behind with the lord, who looked at him.
"I simply wished to give this to you, lord," Kakashi said, answering the unasked question. He extended the scroll to the lord. He took it and smiled.
"Thank you, kind boy," he said. "I am Sanada."
"Hai, Sanada-san," Kakashi replied with a nod. "My name is Kakashi. The other boy is Obito, and the girl is Midori. Thank you very much for your hospitality."
"My, my," Sanada said with a chuckle, "Young people from the Fire Country have wonderful manners. Now, you should also rest, Kakashi. You need not fear anything tonight. Once you awaken, you may take baths and be fed."
Kakashi bowed deeply again and then walked down the hallway that the maids and his team mates had gone. He found a woman standing by a door, and when she saw him, she indicated to the room, and then left him alone. Kakashi blinked in bewilderment. Obito and Midori were already changed and sleeping very deeply. He chuckled, very softly.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
"Can't we stay just a bit longer?" Midori pleaded.
"No," Obito replied.
"We've been away from Konoha for long enough," Kakashi added.
Midori sighed, and then agreed. They were sitting in their room, and it was 10:30. After they had woken up, they had cleaned themselves, eaten breakfast, and Obito and Midori had been apologising for their rude behaviour the night before. Everyone in the household had laughed and waved away their apologies kindly.
Within the next fifteen minutes, the three of them had parted with the Sanada and were walking down the streets. The day was brighter and clearer, and now a few people were in the streets. They glanced warily at the three, but showed no hostile signs.
Midori glanced back at the lord's house. "They were nice people," she said, mostly to herself. Obito nodded in agreement.
"The mission's accomplished," Kakashi said, "Let's head home."
"The sooner we get there, the sooner we can sleep," Midori added with a joyful expression.
So, with light hearts, the three set off at a more leisurely pace towards Konoha.
There wasn't much trouble on their way, and they avoided going too near the borders in case of any battles.
On the morning of the second day, Kakashi woke up to find that Midori and Obito were already up. That surprised him to some extent as he sat up in their small hiding place. It wasn't much, simply a small area surrounded by big rocks. It wasn't very late, just after dawn, so Kakashi wondered why they were up so early. His answer came before he asked.
Midori noticed Kakashi waking up and turned to him with a big smile. "Happy birthday, Kakashi!" Obito laughed at his shocked eyes.
"Forgot about it again, didn't you?" he teased. Kakashi had forgotten all about it.
"I still wonder how you manage to forget about it every year," Midori mused. "I'd never forget about mine."
"Well never mind that, we'll always be able to remind him," Obito said. "Eleven years old, eh, Kakashi?"
"It's not such a big deal," he muttered.
"Yes it is! Birthdays are always a big deal!" Midori said, "Pity that the day is when we're still travelling, but once we get back, we're celebrating! And don't even try and go hide like you did last year." She glared at him menacingly.
Kakashi sighed, fearing he wouldn't be able to get out of this one this year. The last time he had hidden himself outdoors, and it had led to quite a big wild goose chase, which wasn't the most pleasant thing that's ever happened.
They set off once again, and Midori continued to pester Kakashi while Obito came to tease him once in a while. Despite the dark clouds and strong winds, they were all in high spirits because by nightfall, they would be able to reach Konoha. Midori kept talking about all the things she would do (which mainly consisted of sleeping) once she reached home, and nothing Kakashi and Obito tried would shut her up. Still, they didn't mind her talking too much.
"Oh yeah, we can invite the boy, Gai," she suddenly said just during the late afternoon. They were already in the forests. Kakashi nearly tripped over a flat root and Obito just managed to stop himself from running over him.
"No!" Kakashi immediately interjected, "Anyone but him."
"Why not?" Midori asked with a frown, "Just because he's – "
"Shh!" Obito suddenly hissed, and Kakashi felt it too. He grabbed Midori's wrist and leapt backwards onto a high branch in a tree. Obito landed beside him. A few seconds later, a few people emerged from the trees and passed below them. However one stopped and looked directly up at where the three were.
"Who's there?" he demanded, and hearing his voice, the others stopped and came back.
"Konoha ninja," Obito muttered, and surely enough, each of them had the forehead protector. The three jumped down and they pulled out their own metal protectors.
"We're also from Konoha," Obito said.
"I confirm that." They looked around and saw one familiar face out of the five of them.
"Akira-san," Midori said with surprise. "What are you doing here?"
They were a mix of Jounins and Chuunins, and their face grew hard and grim at the question. "There's a battle," explained the one who had called to them. He seemed to be the oldest and the leader of the group. "At the North border of the country. The Clouds and Rocks came out together. The Sand is coming now to our aid, but there's very little of us in Konoha. Are you still on your mission?"
"No, we were just heading back," Obito replied.
"Good, then come with us, we need the help."
"Fuji-san! They're just children! We can't bring them with us into battle!" another member of the group said sharply.
"We need all the forces we can get, Takeda!" Fuji replied with a growl. "I also don't want to involve children into this, but this is a war and we're losing time here. If we lose this one battle, it's going to cost us a lot." He turned to face the three. "Forgive us, but you must come."
"We are loyal to Konoha, and we will risk our lives for the sake of its people," Midori said, and the two boys nodded. Fuji grinned grimly and they headed off at a quick pace. It wasn't a long journey, as they were already close to the northern borders.
They started to hear loud noises of a big fight a while before they got to the site. On the way, they met up with other small groups of ninjas that had all been sent on this emergency task.
"Akira-san," Midori said as they neared the location. He didn't reply but glanced at her, telling her that he was listening. "Since our mission was more of a time and disguise challenge, we didn't bring any of our weapons pouches."
"They'll be plenty on the battle field," he replied gravely. "You'll have to do with that, I'm afraid. There might be fallen ninjas on our side (though I hope not), so you can take their things."
Midori nodded as they came to the last dense patch of trees. All the ninjas disappeared and went different directions to get into the battle from advantageous positions. Kakashi, Obito and Midori stopped and dropped their bags off into the bushes below and tied their forehead protectors around their heads tightly. It was a large field of grass and rocks, and there were already quite a number of shinobi from various countries, fighting each other. Elemental attacks were exploding here and there, and there was already a lot of blood and bodies.
"First go for weapons, then the fight," Obito muttered. They nodded. "And stay together."
Soon they too had disappeared and went around the edges of the fight to gather a few discarded kunais and shurikens. They met up quickly afterwards and headed into the denser parts of the battle. Most of the time, they helped the adults by getting up behind the enemy and knocking them down. As the time passed on, the grounds were upturned, fire lingered to burn the grass, and the amount of bodies increased.
Katon Housenka no jutsu. Kakashi threw out the balls of flame that shot up and surrounded a group of Cloud and Rock ninjas. Another shinobi threw in shurikens through the flame and with a few pained cries, the people went down. Kakashi turned and quickly went in the direction Obito and Midori had taken, ducking under a flying kunai, using a Kawarimi and knocking down a Cloud ninja. He looked up and with alarm, noticed a Rock ninja descending on Midori and Obito with hands full of weapons.
"Midori, Obito!" he shouted, even as he leapt into the air and threw the kunai he was holding. It struck the attacker's shoulder and he jerked around, throwing the weapons at him instead of his team mates. Kakashi landed quickly, and without thinking, threw his weight to the side to avoid being porcupined. He felt one of the weapons grazing his arm, but he had other things to worry about. A blaze of fire rushed between the two, and Kakashi took this chance to risk performing a technique he hadn't mastered 100 percent.
When the fire had died down, Kakashi was no where to be seen. Doton Shinjyuu-zanshu no jutsu. His hands grabbed his foe's ankles from underground and dragged him under. Kakashi didn't bother waiting to see what happened next, but ran to Midori and Obito.
"Where are your minds gone to?!" he shouted.
"Kakashi," Midori said desperately. He jerked his head to the side and caught another flying kunai, immediately throwing it between his team mates, into the shoulder of an enemy.
"What?"
Obito pointed to his left, the same confusion in his eyes that Midori held. Kakashi followed the indicated direction with his eyes, wondering what had gotten to them all of the sudden. Then he knew, and his eyes widened. There were three children fighting, wearing the Rock forehead protectors, but it was the one on the right that held their attention.
"…Gamashi Misa-chan…" Midori muttered.
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Sorry it took a little while, but it's longer, so that's the compensation. . Yay! More reviews!!
Leilani: What do you mean, the early chapter? The first few chapters? Mind telling me the difference? I might be able to fix whatever you don't really like. . Thanks for the review!
HikaruOfArrow: Yup, I had a vague idea that both accounts belonged to you. Thanks for reviewing!
sUmbOdi: Thanks for reading and reviewing. Yeah, Midori the tomboy. I like her too.
Rurikat: Thank you too for reading and reviewing! Hehe, thanks for the compliment. I hope you'll continue to enjoy it!
Thanks everyone!
-Fanyar-