For the Sake of One
Chapter 10: Encounters with the Reaper
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, plain and simple.
Kakashi was staring at the memorial stone in front of him, with a forlorn look in his eyes. The past few months had not been kind to the son of the White Fang of Konoha. His training with Sasuke and Sakura had been more challenging than he cared to admit. Between Sasuke's conflicting attitude towards working with others and Sakura on the verge of a nervous breakdown and a deep depression, Kakashi was nearing the end of the metaphorical rope. Sasuke would often leave Sakura behind during exercises in order to attempt to progress his training further and would grow frustrated when he was forced to redo an exercise in order to allow his teammate to catch up. For Kakashi, it was like looking at a younger version of him: single-minded, focused on the mission and willing to do whatever it took to meet his goals. His growing frustration at only receiving two or three D-ranked missions a week due to the team's current structure did not help Sasuke's attitude any. While Kakashi knew that Sasuke was probably more than ready for a C-rank mission, Kakashi also knew that the way the team was set up right now, that would most likely not be possible.
Sakura on the other hand was a different matter entirely. Ever since her incident with Naruto, Sakura had become more withdrawn and nervous of her actions. She would second-guess herself when it came to making decisions, hold back during spars so as not to hurt anyone, and seemed to be paranoid of those around her. Whenever there was a team building exercise, Sakura would always shut down, stay quiet, and be wary of her training partner. She had improved somewhat in her physical training, if for no other reason than because she was afraid of being weak and useless. Kakashi knew she was feeling guilty about what she did, but knew that this was a lesson she needed to learn. Still, her actions and demeanor was beginning to hamper her training. It didn't help matters that two ANBU assigned to her were always hidden away somewhere out of sight, making Sakura even further paranoid. Kakashi could tell she was putting forth an effort, but her own insecurities and fears of what she was capable of and her own realizations about her gullibility had severely hampered the girl's trust with herself and to a lesser extent with others as well. Between all of these factors, Sakura was beginning to act more and more like a certain heiress used to. Kakashi was at wit's end trying to figure out just how he could break her free of her insecurities.
Seeing his reflection in the surface of the monument, Kakashi continued to gaze at his own image. The longer he stared, the longer it seemed that the stone was condemning him further. It seemed like his life had been one foul up after another. First, his mother died when he was a child, then his father commits seppuku to redeem himself after a botched mission where he chose to save his team over completing the mission, then he loses Obito during the horrific Third Shinobi World War, and to top it all off Rin, his sensei and his sensei's wife were all lost in the same night. The list just went on and on for him. Now, he could add his failure to protect Naruto on to that list. If he hadn't hit rock bottom yet, then Kakashi was certainly close to the bottom now.
Kakashi was brought out of his angst when he noticed a chakra signature behind him. He couldn't feel any ill will from the person, but they did seem to simply be standing behind them. Rather than address the individual, Kakashi remained silent, figuring that if the person behind him wanted to talk to him, he would be addressed first.
"It's been a long time, Kakashi."
Kakashi's eyes widened. He hadn't heard that voice in thirteen years. There was no way in hell it could be her, right? He turned around, and sure as the mask on his face, there was Kushina Uzumaki, in the flesh. Barring any sort of tormenting genjutsu, Kakashi knew that this was real.
"K-k-kushina-sama! Yo-you're alive?"
"Well, I'm not a ghost or a figment of your imagination, if that's what you are thinking."
"But, how? I mean, we all saw-"
"It's a long story, Kakashi, one that I personally would rather tell at another time. After all, I would much rather hear about how, in the span of thirteen years you could let things get as bad as they were for Naruto and not do a damn thing to help out in the least."
Kakashi responded as best as he could, but he knew that he had no excuse for his actions. "I wish I could say I had a perfectly good reason to not do anything, but I can't. Sure, I was in ANBU, and my duties as jōnin did keep me busy, but I can't claim either took all of my time up either."
"Then why, Kakashi? Why would you not help Naruto?" Kushina was expecting some bull crap about not wanting responsibility, or not having the desire, or wanting to have Naruto prove himself to Kakashi and come to him for help.
"…Because I couldn't live with the guilt."
The statement she received caught Kushina flat-footed. "What do you mean, Kakashi?"
He refused to meet her gaze as he answered. "My whole life has been one foul-up after another, Kushina-sama. I feel like all of my decisions have ended in tragedy, every choice haunting me wherever I go. I guess, when it comes down to it, I was afraid that my past mistakes would catch up with me and affect Naruto somehow. He didn't need to get caught in the crossfire of my own poor decisions. I didn't want to risk losing someone else because of my own incompetence."
Kushina's view of Kakashi changed. Before, she thought he was just being spiteful or lazy; now, the person she saw in front of her was not the confidant "Man of 1,000 Jutsu," but rather a man trying to take the weight of the world on his shoulders and to live with the guilt of his past circumstances. Still, she felt that perhaps Kakashi needed a wake-up call; he was letting his losses interfere with his responsibility not only to his students but to his village. With that in mind, a wicked grin plastered her face.
Kakashi didn't notice the sound of a weapon summoning until it was too late. As he turned around to see what Kushina was doing, he ended up face-to-shaft with the business end of Kushina's staff, sending him spinning from the impact to face-plant straight into the Memorial Stone. His face made a comedic "thud" with the rock, leaving one large headache for the masked shinobi.
"What was that for?" Kakashi asked, like a teenager who just got cold water dumped on his head.
"Does it matter, Kakashi? You can't change the fact that I hit you, can you?" Kushina asked with a laugh. After all, a good laugh never did anyone any harm, even if it was at the expense of someone else.
Kakashi was about ready to retort to Kushina's rather violent act, until he realized the double meaning behind it (Let it never be said that he never learned to look "underneath the underneath"). Kushina probably did hit him to vent some anger, but Kakashi realized that she was trying to make a point; he was spending so much time berating himself for his past that he had lost sight of his present circumstances. He was using the excuse of previous mistakes to justify not doing anything now.
'And to think, I probably would not have thought of that if it were not for that hit on the head,' Kakashi concluded. It was a bit ironic, he thought, that people had tried telling him that for years, and yet it was something as simplistic as a whack to the face to wake him up to reality. If circumstances were different, he might have been on the ground laughing his ass off.
"No, I suppose not, Kushina-sama."
"Good. Now then, if you are done brooding, perhaps you should go and do….well, whatever you were going to do after you got done here. I have other people to meet, and other things to do." Kushina said, before she turned to leave. "Oh, and Kakashi…if I catch you doing this again, we will have a 'training session' together, and I will make sure you earn that vest of yours." With that, Kushina left a now-nervous Kakashi to go about his business.
After her talk with Kakashi, Kushina decided to wander around the village looking for others to talk with. Many faces seemed unrecognizable to her, though part of that may have been that she hadn't been as social as she could have been in the years she had been in the village. Still, it was a trip down Nostalgia Lane for her to see that, no matter how things changed, certain things stayed the same.
She was brought out of her trip when she passed the Ninja Academy and recognized one of the instructors, who at the time were dismissing their classes, as Iruka Umino. She could see that he had gone and made chūnin in her absence and became a teacher.
'He always did have a way with kids,' she commented to herself. Deciding that she could take some time out of her schedule as well as wanting to touch base with at least one of her students, she made a detour to the Academy.
Iruka had just finished dismissing the last of his students for the day when he turned and saw a ghost from his past, or so he thought. Much like Kakashi, he had thought it was some kind of trick. Unlike Kakashi, however, he was furious. He had been fairly attached to his sensei before her death – even knowing about who her husband was – and to see someone profaning her memory by imitating her infuriating to him. So, he did what anyone wanting to avenge the memory of their sensei would do – charge at the person and demand them to stop. Or at least, that was the plan, until….
"Oh, and how is everyone's favorite Timid Dolphin doing, eh Iruka-kun?"
Iruka stopped in his tracks. There were only three people that dared to call him that: His two former teammates, and his sensei. Yūgao was on ANBU detail for Sakura Haruno, and Hayate was currently out of the village, which left…
"Sensei?"
"Yes?"
Iruka almost couldn't believe it; his sensei was alive. However, while he was ecstatic to see her, that still left one glaring problem, one that left him boiling mad. Before Kushina could ask what was wrong, Iruka was in her face, glaring at her and barely showing enough restraint to stop himself from yelling.
"Where were you? Do you even realize just how bad it was for Naruto while you were gone? Did you even care that he was here in the village? Did-"
That was as far as he got before he got slapped by Kushina. "Pull yourself together, Iruka-kun. Yelling at me will not do you any good. Besides, shouldn't I at least get a chance to put in my ryo before you bite my head off?"
Iruka wanted to retort, but he couldn't think of any reason why he couldn't at least hear his sensei out. After all, he was genuinely curious as to where she had been.
"Alright, sensei. Explain to me how you can justify being gone for so long."
Kushina sighed. This was going to be a long conversation….
One Lengthy Explanation Later…
If it were not for the words coming straight from her mouth, Iruka would not have believed the tale he just heard. His sensei had been tricked? Not only that, but she had been on another part of the continent all this time, merely a mission away from being found by Konoha? Iruka was busy picking his jaw up from off the ground by the time his sensei finished.
"…and that is how I got back to Konoha, Iruka-kun. Hopefully, that gives you some idea of what I have been through."
"Well sensei it does explains a lot, but I am still confused about one thing: why would you leave without saying good bye to Yugaō, Hayate, or me? I mean, do you realize how much we all missed you after the attack? It was part of the reason that Yugaō went into ANBU was because she thought you had died. Not to mention Hayate's promotion to Tokubetsu Jōnin -"
"While you remained a Chūnin teacher, I might add…"
"The point is why didn't you say good-bye?"
Kushina's expression softened a little. "I honestly thought you three would have been fine. You had all become capable Chūnin and had already begun your paths to becoming great shinobi. I figured that the three of you didn't need me anymore, and it was not as if I had much left to teach you all anyway."
Iruka, shocked that Kushina would think of herself like that, jumped in. "That's not true, Kushina-sensei! There was still plenty that we could have learned from you. Sure, we were Chūnin, but that didn't mean that you were no longer a part of our lives. You were very important to all of us, important to me…"
"Iruka…"
Iruka gained a more solemn look, like someone who was tired beyond his years. "The Kyūbi's attack was a double-knockout for me, sensei. I lost both you and my parents in one night; what's worse, we didn't even know you were dead until Sarutobi-sama told us that your body had been found. It was as if anyone that I could have looked up to had been taken away from me. Then I remembered Naruto. I knew I couldn't look after him at the time, but when I first saw his name on the school roster, I couldn't wait until I could teach him."
"So, you knew he was my son?"
"There was only one Uzumaki in Konoha at the time. Besides, he does look a lot like his dear old dad, and I knew that you were faithful to him."
"You knew who his father was?"
"I had a guess, though why no one else has ever said anything is beyond me."
"It was probably some bull-crap about enemies attacking or inflated egos and what not, I would imagine."
Iruka couldn't argue with that point, though even he had to agree the logic behind that seemed odd. Sure, things were tough in the first few years after the incident, but of the two enemies Konoha had at the time, Kumo was having its own internal affairs issues in the year during and immediately following the Kyūbi incident – not to mention the Hyūga incident – and Iwa was nowhere near powerful enough nor had the funds at the time to even so much as send an assassin, never mind launch a full-scale invasion just to kill the child of their most infamous enemy.
"So, have I proven myself Iruka-kun, or is there something else I need to do to prove myself to you?" Kushina asked. She could see Iruka had calmed down, but whether he forgave her or not it was difficult to tell.
"Well I'm still upset, but given what you have said, I suppose I can't blame you that much. Still, I guess my emotions have been a bit high since Naruto's accident-" Iruka clasped a hand over his mouth, thinking he had said too much, before Kushina waved him off.
"If you mean his incident with Sakura Haruno, Iruka-kun, one of Naruto's teammates already told me about it. Speaking of, do you know where I can find his former teammates?"
"Sensei…"
"Don't worry, I won't kill them. I just thought I would like to see who my son was going to be on a team with. What, were you expecting me to be some enraged berserker seeking vengeance?" She ended with a smile. Yes, she was mad, but she was a kunoichi; she could show restraint.
Iruka considered not telling her, but given that Yugaō hadn't seen her yet he figured there wouldn't be too much harm. "She's on assignment right now watching Sakura Haruno. I can't say I know where Sasuke spends his time outside of the Uchiha district, so you will be on your own on that."
"Thank you kindly. Now, if you will excuse me, Dolphin-kun, I have a few more people to meet and some places to re-familiarize myself to today. I will see you around!" And with that, Kushina disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving Iruka to wonder just what he just unleashed onto one of his former students.
'I hope this won't come back to bite me in the ass later,' Iruka thought.
Author's Notes: So, here's a shorter chapter than normal of my story after months of being under the radar. Sorry this took so long, guys and gals, but frankly this past year was, in a word, hell. Financial aid issues, my mother's death, general boredom, laziness, and numerous other issues drained me in most ways. But, with most of that out of the way now, I can get back to some form of normalcy.
I will start by saying thank you to all who have reviewed, added to favorites, and messaged me these past few months. There are too many people to list that have been very supportive for this, and I am glad that you all have enjoyed these stories of mine, even with a chaotic schedule like mine. I can't promise I will update every week, but I am working hard to find a system that will let me write faster and get my ideas to paper in a timely fashion. Again, thank you all.
I will say off the bat, I am not as satisfied with this chapter as I wish I could have been, but frankly no matter how long I stared at the screen I couldn't find anything else important to say. I was going to show Kushina's conversations with Sakura and Sasuke, but in the end I decided that I needed more time to figure out the best ways of approaching each scene. Plus, now that I have time to write I really need to get on with the Wave mission and figure out where everything else is going.
As an aside, yes that scene between Kushina and Kakashi was inspired by Rafiki and Simba's scene from Disney's The Lion King. No, I do not own that either, but hey I thought it would be funny to include.
I will also note that I am considering one of two directions to take with my story "Prayer of the Jinchūriki." To be honest, I am in a rut, and I have two ideas of how to best get back on track. The first option is to take on a Beta Reader for the story, not only to keep motivated in my writing, but to bounce ideas off of. The second, and the idea I am sort of leaning towards at the moment, is to make the story a series of vignettes where I go through all eight other containers with an ending chapter involving Gaara. I will post a poll on my profile to get people's input, but that is where I am at currently.
My hope is that I will be able to get my head back on straight soon. In the meantime, I have two challenges, the "Death of Sakura," and the "Miracle Naruto and Villainous Sasuke" that I am adding to my profile around the same time as these chapters come out, so go ahead and check them out. Hopefully, you will enjoy this chapter and the Omake that I will write to compensate for the lack of actual story this chapter. Whether you guys want to think it is part of the story or simply a "what if" is up to you. Also, I am contemplating getting a beta reader, but haven't quite decided upon whether I will or not, so I would like to see your opinions on whether to do so or not. So, until next update, see you guys later.
OMAKE: Lesson Learned – Perverts Get Bashed
Naruto and Kiba were sitting around the fire after another day of traveling to Jizen-Gai. They were just sitting around trying to keep the fire going while Shino had gone off scouting around and Kurenai and Hinata went to find dinner. At one point, Naruto had looked over to see Kiba with some grin on his face he couldn't quite place.
"What're you grinning at, Kiba?"
Kiba had a bit of a nosebleed as he responded. "Oh, I was just thinking about sensei and Hinata-chan in those bathing suits. Man, were they hot!"
Naruto looked flabbergasted. "D-dude, what are you talking about, you big pervert? You aren't supposed to talk about girls like that!"
"What are you talking about, Naruto? Of course we are; we're guys. That's what we do!"
"You're still a pervert, Kiba! I'll never be one! I've seen what happens to guys who act like that!"
"Ah, c'mon man! Admit it; they were smoking hot in those bathing suits! I mean, you could see their boobs and everything!"
Naruto would have responded, but he looked behind Kiba and saw something he knew would only mean that their night would end in tears. In vain, he tried to get his teammate's attention. "Um, Kiba…"
Kiba however was in full-pervert mode and was oblivious to any and all dangers. "…Plus, there was their firm asses, those smoking hot legs, their-"
"Our what, Kiba?" Kiba froze before turning around to see a very embarrassed Hinata passed out on the ground and a livid Kurenai incinerating him with her eyes.
"Oh, hi sensei…" Kiba tried to say nonchalantly. He would have run, but growing up in a house of women he knew that his chances of escape were zero.
By the time Shino returned, he saw Naruto's silhouette rocking back and forth in the tent, mumbling something about being good and strongly denying the "Pervert Side." As for Kiba, he looked like someone had stuck him in a hole somewhere, filled the whole with tomcats in heat and spraying him with musk. Shino just shook his head, figuring that Kiba must have put his foot in his mouth again somehow.
From that day on, Kiba learned to better control his perverted influences, and Naruto learned that his views on perverseness and female reactions to such thoughts were fully justified.
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