Author's Note & message: Good day, everybody. This is a late update. I know, but the time I am wishing for this break went all to enjoying!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Changing Motives
Chapter 10 – Waterfalls: Initiating War
"Tsunade-sama briefed us that we are going to meet some Kusa ninja near their northern borders." Kakashi was retelling the brief of their mission, while he and his carefully selected group jumped from tree branch to tree branch. The jounin was releasing some aura of seriousness that made Neji and Shino cringed, but since both two were composed ninja, they didn't let their two seniors notice them. Yamato looked as if he had seen Kakashi at that attitude, proven that his gestures were still relaxed in the situation – yet wary of the surroundings.
"But she didn't tell us why we're supposed to meet them there." Neji suddenly talked, and only Yamato looked back at him for recognition.
"You're implying something, Neji-kun." Yamato answered.
"I just think that the placement of the meeting point is not just product of mismatch and randomness. It serves as a convenience for Kusa." Neji said. "I think that Kusa is now presently being attacked by its enemy."
"A good proposition, Neji." Shino spoke. "But I just don't think that the perpetrators will foolishly attack Kusa, unless invoked by the latter. It's suicide to attack a ninja village." He told them. Unless there is something big behind it.
"We cannot predict what we'll see there." Kakashi joined the conversation. "But it's not bad to be mentally prepared for the coming situation." His body was noticeable to have lessened its stiffness. "If the information we've been collecting are correct, then we can assume that almost all rogues that have been staying at the borders of the countries and ninja villages northwest of Fire country have amassed into a single power." Kakashi still continued to talk even though his eyes were distanced. "The goals of this unified rogue group hasn't been known, but what's sure is that we're going to meet them a lot more prepared than they were in the past." He sighed. "I say we quickly meet with Kusa-nins; I couldn't bring myself to fight some rogues who have finally decided to cluster for survival."
Kakashi and his own group had been travelling for three days now, and, with their present location, they were already expecting some Kusa-nin to stand in their way. And being sent into the northern borders were most of the rogue ninjas were concentrated wasn't a simple matter to be reconciled with – the whole group, even Kakashi, was wishing that they meet up with their allies to stop the aggression once and for all.
Unfortunately, no one from the group was dumb.
It was becoming a frustration for them not to meet any ninjas from Kusagakure. It was a greater fuss to Kakashi, since their allies were forgetting one of the most important codes of being a ninja – punctuality. Not that he was proclaiming himself as a hypocrite, he couldn't just stand by the fact that those people who needed their help were the ones neglecting to value the provision of assistance to them. Besides, he was never late for missions that required him to be serious, right?
Kakashi turned his gaze to Neji. Neji, sensing that their captain was trying to tell him something, nodded and activated his Byakugan. The veins around his eyes bulged, as chakra began channeling into his eyes. His pupils becoming more distinct, Neji began to scan through their area, taking advantage of the 360⁰ view to easily look around. Having his extended range of vision extend at almost 800 meters, Neji could almost sense everything within that radius. After some seconds, Neji looked back at Kakashi. "I can see something, but it's farther than what I can see. We need to move forward."
Kakashi just started to make some hand gestures, the first set telling the rest that they would be moving without a noise – implied by the usage of silence. The group started to jump from the trees, moving farther to the west from their spot. Neji continued to use his Byakugan, to guard them from possible incoming threat. The Hyuuga suddenly stopped in his steps, motioning to his group that he had seen some presence following them. He first directed himself to Kakashi. Four ninjas from north. Possible rogue.
Kakashi nodded and turned his attention to Tenzo. Take care of newcomers. We proceed. The hand signals brought the proper message to Tenzo, showed by the latter's seeming understanding of the order given to him. Before he could make another gesture to order the rest of the group, Neji had motioned their captain to wait. Another four from east. The Hyuuga pointed to himself and to the Aburame near him. We take them. Kakashi agreed. But when the two was to make another move to head out to their target, Neji suddenly shot his gaze towards the location they were supposed to be headed to. Kakashi, another group coming. West.
Kakashi nodded. I will. With a final wave from Kakashi, the group suddenly dissipated and vanished from each other's eyes, as all of them went into the direction where they would meet their opponents.
This brings a lot of memories, Kakashi was thinking with himself, as he travelled on a section of the area where there were mostly bamboos instead of tall and thick trees covering the forest. The tall green bamboo grasses were proving to be a great distraction for the silver-haired jounin, since it brought him some memories of the past the somehow hurt him. The scenery relieved him of the recollection of his very first mission as captain, and one of the greatest losses in his life.
It was also in Kusagakure that Kakashi had obtained his Sharingan.
As a new jounin, his team was sent into Kusagakure to stop the impending invasion of Iwagakure into Fire Country borders. This they could achieve by destroying Kannabi Bridge, the infrastructure that was vital to Iwa-nins, since it was one main line of supply for the attacking force. In their mission, Kakashi's teammate, Rin, was captured by some patrolling Iwa-nin. In his own desperation to finish the mission, he deemed that Rin's safety was secondary only to their main goal. Of course, someone was an elite crybaby that would not let Rin be hurt because of his belief and childhood predicament.
Uchiha Obito was so foolish to believe that he could rescue Rin just by himself.
"Who do we have here?" A voice suddenly interrupted Kakashi's thought, as he realized too late that he had let himself be devoured by his memories, which lost his concentration in his way to meeting the group Neji informed him. He suddenly went into a fighting stance, getting a kunai in his pouch as quick as he could.
"I think he's the one that we're looking for, Iwao." Another voice talked, which quickly took the attention of Kakashi.
"Of course, he is." The first voice sounded impatient. "I'm really grateful that Tsuchikage-sama gave us this mission to intercept the infamous Hatake Kakashi."
Tsuchikage? Kakashi asked in his mind. That does mean… their Iwa-nins? He readied himself for an attack, as his mind processed the information regarding the presence of some Iwagakure ninja in Kusagakure territory. Even though he could easily focus his attention to the worry being expressed by Kusagakure, Kakashi was still bothered by some words from some ANBU in Konoha that they'd been seeing a lot of those Iwa-nin sent for various missions, which were almost unhealthy for ninjas of common capacity. If the attendance of the Iwa-ninjas in Kusagakure had some relations in why Iwagakure seemed to empty itself to send its ninja for some missions, then Kakashi could add another secondary de-briefing material that could alert Konoha from some looming problems.
"Well, let's make this quick, Iwao. You know that Tsuchikage-sama sent us covertly for the reason that we make this hastily." The other one replied, tossing some shuriken blades to Kakashi's direction.
Kakashi easily evaded by jumping off the way of the ruthless metal pieces, while he himself launch a barrage of kunais to where the one who was named 'Iwao' was standing. His target made no actions of moving, instead an earth wall caught the weapon that he threw.
"Mamoru, we can't defeat Kakashi by simple means." Iwao said, removing the earth wall that he used to protect himself. "I think the tactic that the Tsuchikage told us will be effective. You do it; I'll attack him." The one he called 'Mamoru' nodded, as the man kneeled on the ground while he formed some hand seals that were too fast to be seen by the naked eye.
Being deeply bothered by the Iwa-nins suddenly attacking him, Kakashi seemed to have no choice but to reveal his Sharingan. He felt the need to finish the fight in a quick manner and he needed all the time he could to ask some questions to the enemy as soon as he was done with them. There was a lot of question that needed answering – and those questions, for Kakashi, involved the safety of more people than necessary. He raised the forehead protector that was placed over his left eye, revealing the scar that was formed some seventeen years ago. Opening it had quickly started draining some chakra to supply it to the eye. Three tomoes began spinning slowly as the owner of the eye scanned through the enemy.
"Earth Release: Earth's Year Assault!" Without any warning, Mamoru began to cast his ninjutsu, which prompted Kakashi to make another preparation to defend himself. Seeing the opportunity that Mamoru left himself in an open field, the jounin knew that he could defeat the enemies if he could take out the ninjutsu user first. But before he could make five strides toward Mamoru, Iwao appeared behind Kakashi, a kunai in hand. He tried to stab Kakashi, only for the latter to duck and parry the petty attack. Supporting himself with his hands, Kakashi crouched lower to the ground and used his feet to kick Iwao away. Iwao was able to dodge, but instead of countering the jounin, he held the attacking foot, making a tight hold of it.
Kakashi struggled, only for him to realize that he was caught in a trap. There was a surge of chakra from Mamoru's direction, and he felt that a ninjutsu was being worked against him. The earth began to rumble as some sections of rock surfaced from the ground. It formed two gigantic sections that already told Kakashi what it could do.
The two rocks met, crushing everything caught in the middle. Iwao jumped from the path of danger before he himself be caught from the titanic and deathly rocks. Casting a brief glance towards Mamoru, the Iwa-nin took another kunai from his pouch.
Kakashi appeared in one thick group of bamboo, breathing a little heavily from his quick kawarimi. He never took into consideration that type of strategy. A ninja was to become a ninjutsu caster to take his chance to destroy the opponent, while another was to become a distraction and bait to help the former. It was suicide for the part of the melee ninja, since he could also be hit by the jutsu being cast by his ally. The silver-haired ninja took into consideration these things, making sure to himself that he would take the ninjutsu caster first, even though the other one was diverting him. He could not estimate how much damage that ninja could do, not only to him but also to his fellow.
Before he could turn back to the battleground, a presence suddenly appeared beside him. Kakashi did a quick jump, throwing some kunai to whoever appeared near him. The enemy – Iwao – easily evaded the attack. Taking the chance to hurt Kakashi, Iwao decided that he too must seek the need to use ninjutsu in fight ing Kakashi. "Earth Release: Rock Pillars Rising!" Rock pillars appeared from the ground where Kakashi was hovering from his jump. Kakashi, without any standpoint to make any ground to make another evasive maneuver to jump away, was hit by the spike, which only made Iwao frown.
Kakashi, after being hit, disappeared in a cloud of smoke, while Iwao was feeling the sharp of kunai being placed in his neck. "Hatake Kakashi, you are good as many tell."
"Ready to meet death itself." Kakashi answered. He was to swing his kunai against Iwao's throat when he felt another burst of chakra came from Mamoru, who was still kneeling on the ground some distance from them.
An attack from behind! Kakashi yelled in his voice, as he jumped away from whatever was going to hit him from behind. Leaving Iwao on the spot, Kakashi tried to see that was going to hit him. A Rock staff! The jounin looked at Iwao, who was still unresponsive from the loss of the grip. He is going to be hit! The rock staff continued its approach, even though its intended target was already away from its danger. Some more seconds later, Iwao was skewed in his abdomen by the pointed rock that was meant to protrude a body.
The earth rumbled again – it went simultaneously with the chakra flare that came from Mamoru – and a wall of earth suddenly came to cover Kakashi in a cavern-like prison. Knowing that the earth corridor would form slowly to initially do its function, Kakashi started to leap and try to escape from the jutsu. Before the earth closed the topmost portion as the final cover, Kakashi appeared from the waning hole and saw the outside again – but that happened only a second before he was kicked hard by an enemy. Iwao made sure that his feet dealt a lot of pain to Kakashi.
He was quickly losing some balance, but was able to thought quick. Kakashi put some right amount of chakra into his feet. He tried to land to a thick bamboo, sticking himself into the bamboo pole. After he had made contact to the plant, he heard some whizzes that were going to his direction. Bamboo spears! Kakashi looked in slight horror as he first observed the flight of sharpened bamboo poles being hurled towards his direction. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" He shot off some fire from his mouth, burning the wood into ashes, rendering them useless for an assault.
Pillars of rock came from the ground, which started to form in a circular manner to surround Kakashi. The jounin bit his lips – he was getting irritated by what was happening to him. Deciding that the enemy ninjas were taking much of his time, he knew he needed to be serious in fighting them.
Lightning startled to crackle in his hands.
Yamato, Neji, and Shino met at the point where all of them left to engage their enemies. It just took them some minutes, since the enemies that they took care of were of chuunin-level rogues that were just too unfortunate to have been sent on patrol. Yamato didn't require himself to use his Wood techniques, as Shino wasn't able to move a muscle when Neji quickly disposed of their enemies as soon as the Hyuuga saw the sight of the rogues.
Upon their arrival, the absence of Kakashi brought some vigilance to the part of the group. They were expecting that Kakashi was the first one to return, given that he was the top-caliber ninja in their mission. His still nonappearance there told them that he had been held off by the enemies – they could not conclude that Kakashi went into the rendezvous point by himself since they know he was a staunch advocate of teamwork. Being the second-in-command, Yamato felt the growing aggravation from Neji and Shino, whose looks in the faces (a little bit hard to discern in Shino's part) told him that they must find Kakashi as soon as possible.
Yamato agreed to follow where Kakashi had gone, thinking of the possible words his senpai would tell him once they meet. Sometimes, he couldn't understand why the silver-haired jounin would always try to focus on having teamwork, and all of a sudden trying to sacrifice himself when they were put in a tough situation. If he had just the esteem to rub it into Kakashi's face, then he could have done it years ago. But he deeply respected his senpai, to the point that he was letting this confusing point go out of the big picture. Kakashi was a lot for an irony. To tell that teamwork would be worthless if the members were not trying to at least help each other was as worthless as telling to say that sacrifices had to be made when the worst came into a particular mission.
Well, that was Kakashi for you. And Yamato didn't become an ANBU to be easily apprehended either. He was going to help Kakashi.
Yamato, Neji, and Shino reached the location where Kakashi was standing in front of two ninjas who were tied in the middle of the clearing. The silver-haired ninja didn't seem to take notice of their arrival, since he was just continuously staring at the ninjas he defeated lately. The three newcomers observed him silently for a while, before Yamato decided that Kakashi wouldn't appear to talk to them.
"Kakashi-senpai," he called out the name of his senior. "Who are these ninjas?"
"They are Iwa-ninjas." Kakashi answered quickly, putting his arms in front of his chest. "They are here for some reasons I am yet to uncover."
The other three noticeably tensed when they knew the identity of the enemy ninjas. There were some bothering implications that attached to Iwagakure's minor presence in the territories belonging to Kusa, and it was detrimental to the already callused situation. Obviously, everyone from the group was demanding explanations, although in a very discreet manner. Neji gazed at the enemies, although it was hardly discernible to whom he was looking at. Shino's glasses only flashed by the sunlight, the heavily tinted thing obscuring his eyes, the words being thrown silently by his gazes were blocked to most of the ninjas there to comprehend.
"Reinforcements." Iwao sounded pissed. "I should have expected better from Konoha."
"Why don't you just tell me the reason why you're here?" Kakashi said, his only visible eye already flashing some warnings of misery and death.
"My, my… Kakashi's already annoyed, Mamoru." Iwao replied, grinning sarcastically, even though they were already gravely disadvantaged.
"I don't think he's upset for the reason that we aren't telling him the reason for our presence here, Iwao." Mamoru answered. "He's irritated that his precious Sharingan wasn't able to copy the technique we used against him lately."
It brought Kakashi into a sudden trance of impatience. In one second, a kunai was already aiming to slash Mamoru's neck. With just a slid of his wrist, Kakashi could kill the man without too much effort. They were proving to be pests, and Kakashi was already having a hard time to contain his decorum. But since he still needed to perform an on-site interrogation about Iwagakure's ninjas' presence there, Kakashi decided to wait for them to talk.
"What is he talking about, Kakashi-senpai?" Yamato asked.
"A new technique," Kakashi answered. "An earth release technique. They called it 'Earth's Year Assault'." He shifted his position, putting the kunai he held on a better angle in aiming it to Mamoru's neck. "I really didn't have the chance to make anything out of it."
"Because you are weak and pathetic." Iwao took his chance to speak.
"Shut your mouth up or better save your words for explanations." Kakashi glared at the man.
"Just kill us; you will not be getting any information from us." Mamoru said, his eyes not showing any signs of fear, even though a very sharp kunai was already making a small cut to his skin. "It's better to die in the order of mission than to go a failure."
As Iwagakure ninjas supposed to be – hell-bent in finishing an order, be in living or leave it incomplete because of death.
"Kakashi-senpai, why don't we just bring them to Kusagakure? We can use the help of their Assassination and Interrogation Squads to root out the parameters of their presence here, even though it's their mission or not. We can make a better work if everyone is––" Yamato wasn't able to finish his proposition when kunais embedded into Iwao and Mamorus head. The surprise intended by the attack didn't come into Kakashi and his team's side – they quickly moved into an attacking stance to prepare for another assault. Neji reactivated his Byakugan to scan the surrounding, in identification of the killer.
"Behind the thick group of bamboss, nine o'clock." Neji calmly said. Kakashi and the rest of the team looked at the particular spot where the said enemy was located. They quickly saw the enemy, when he removed himself from hiding and since the latter was doing something different from the usual.
The enemy appeared to be… waving to them.
"Odd." It was one of the few words that Shino was speaking for their particular mission.
"Wood Release: Binding Nest!" Yamato cast his ninjutsu to quickly capture the opponent. A tree was suddenly summoned from the spot where the man was standing. Recognizing that the wood that was trying to swallow him whole was indeed dangerous, the enemy ninja started to jump away from the tree, evading the stems and the trunk that would like him to be helplessly captured.
"That was good!" A voice came from behind them, which triggered the whole group, except Kakashi, to turn back and see the person. To their surprise, it was the enemy Yamato was trying to capture with his jutsu. One double-take and they saw that the tree was now chasing nothing. Kakashi slowly moved his head to meet the visage of the enemy. The enemy halted moving and looked at how Kakashi stared at him. After three seconds, he almost choked in surprise when he felt a kunai already in a piercing point in his neck.
"Nice, Kakashi." The man commented. He suddenly whined. "Ahh-! This is awful! Why do I always lose my wariness when some stares at me?" From the sound of his voice, the ninja seemed not be in distress while being captured by Kakashi.
"Because you are wearing a mask. You obviously don't want someone staring at you because you care about not exposing your identity." Kakashi answered grimly, slowly moving the kunai nearer to his neck. "I suppose that you're from Iwa too."
"What made you think so? You knew I killed those two."
"That's exactly the reason why I must suspect you." Kakashi replied, tightening his grip of the man. "Your involvement is highly suspicious."
"Damn! I knew I should have not used that reasoning!" The ninja almost yelled. Kakashi was finding their enemy unorthodox and unnerving; his noisiness was somewhat pain in the ear already.
"It's already logical that someone sent you to clear up the trash made by those ninjas, or, eventually, clear those two so that no one can suspect Iwa's involvement here." Kakashi told his enemy. "Am I wrong?"
The enemy suddenly stopped struggling much and let Kakashi's grip took a much firm hold. Kakashi could feel the smirk forming in the ANBU-like mask, which half was covered in color orange, instead of the traditional paintjob done in the porcelain mask. "Ah, as expected in Konoha's renowned Copy Ninja, Hatake Kakashi." His head turned towards Yamato's direction. "Although I must make further notice of the other one with you. I thought that the Wood Element was only unique through Konoha's Shodaime Hokage."
Kakashi quirked an eyebrow when their enemy told one fact that came from the roots of Konoha, although it was also a known-fact to much of the people because Hashirama Senju made a name for himself when he was Hokage. But it was quite amusing to meet an enemy who knew something of that. Being able to know that part of history was illogical to be shared to the ninjas of Iwagakure… unless they got information regarding some Konoha ninja using the wood element as well. It was an unhealthy thing to know.
There was a lot of thing to be known, especially Iwa's sudden involvement.
"Your connection to these two have been proven, and, ultimately, to Iwagakure itself." Kakashi announced. "Better start explaining yourself before we do this the hard way."
"Sorry, but it seems you are mistaken." The ninja disappeared in Kakashi hold, suddenly appearing behind Kakashi with his kunai already in strike. Kakashi whirled back to see the enemy, while he put his hand in front of him in form of a seal. "Release!" His word went accompanied by the simultaneous disruption of chakra by him and the other ninjas of his group. The scenery suddenly shifted into the same image, but something different. The enemy was now standing in front of the group, no kunai in hand.
"Ah, so you saw through my genjutsu."
"Genjutsu can be used to gather information." Kakashi replied. "I must consider what you did, though; you were trying to counter-espionage the information gathering we are trying to do to you."
"This sucks!" The enemy replied. He jumped away from the group, going evasive as his intention to escape was already obvious.
"You are not going––" Kakashi was to speak when a loud yell was heard through the poles of bamboo in the place. "Kakashi, we'll meet again! Just call me 'Kakumo' and it'll do!" He vanished, and a confirmation from Neji came.
"Odd." It was the second time Shino used the term. "Even my bugs were removed from his body when he disappeared. He must have known that the insects were already stuck in his clothing."
"What shall we do now, Kakashi-senpai?"
"We go to our mission, but remind me to tell Hokage-sama that ninjas from Iwa are becoming extremely difficult to confront––" Yamato was to throw another question when Kakashi pursued, "––even by my standards." He waved his group off. "Let's go."
Appearing at the seeming battlefield, Kakashi and his team were too much surprised to move their bodies. What they were seeing never came to their thoughts, even though it was a possible thing to happen. Staring at the field, Kakashi and his team gasped at the bodies of at least thirty bodies of dead ninjas, killed in any manner possible with the intention of clearing survivors and to show the gore as much as it could be. And the dead bodies didn't just belong to ordinary rogues they were supposed to be fighting.
They were Takigakure ninjas.
"This is madness!" One ninja from one the still living groups that looked like not to have engaged their enemies spoke. "This is direct incitement to inter-village conflict!"
Kakashi threw his gaze to the other side of the battlefield, two groups of Takigakure ninjas standing in the middle of the dead bodies, blood tainting their clothes and their skins. They looked devilishly at the group of Takigakure ninjas. "We don't care." One of the ninja from the Kusa group answered. "You clearly violated our territory, and it is our right to take care of you."
But it is not that way, Kakashi spoke in his mind. If not in war, patrolling ninjas are expected to engage ninjas of non-allied villages but not to kill them. Interrogation and imprisoning are the worst that can be done, but never to dispose to them. Hatake Kakashi continued to listen to the dialogue, but already made up his mind that he would intervene if more unfortunate things were to happen.
"But this is unforgivable!" The reply came shortly. "You decimated thirty lives just to see that you protect your borders! This will not go unnoticed by Takigakure!"
Oh no… This is bad, Yamato thought, looking at the direction of Kakashi. "Kakashi-senpai."
"I know." Kakashi answered. "This is already a provocation of war." He quickly went into the direction of the Kusagakure group, with the intention of stopping further problems being caused by Kusa ninjas. Even though how much he wanted to protect the authority of Kusa in protection of its own territory, Kakashi could not justify slaying lives to uphold the safety of the borders. In fact, he could blatantly accuse of Kusa of being so impudent in taking actions with some still non-hostile forces.
Damn. If they were to be asked if Takigakure had the right to declare skirmishes to Kusagakure, Kakashi couldn't take no to side with Taki for an explanation. Kusagakure was purely and absolutely wrong – no doubt with that.
"Stop this already." Kakashi told the Kusa ninjas as soon as he reached their location. "This is not going to be good if this continues."
"But they violated our lands!" One ninja from the group answered.
"And so they will, after what you just did." Kakashi replied. "You just took thirty men from Takigakure!" He sighed. "The rogues are your problem; the presence of Takigakure here could have just been solved through peaceful means."
"But their sheer number entering our lands is suspicious."
"From the information that we have, the rogues have been bothering ninja villages and countries that borders Takigakure and Kusagakure. Maybe they are experiencing the same problem and trying to extinguish the rogues." Kakashi tried to defend the act of Taki with his reason.
"Are you our ally or not?" One ninja asked. "It's like you're trying to point out that we are wrong here!"
You are wrong, Kakashi thought. "What I mean is that we can just talk through this by peaceful means. We can––" Kakashi stopped speaking when he felt that the Taki ninjas were already escaping and heading north, probably going back to their village to report of what happened. The silver-haired jounin knew that the group didn't aim to talk on the field about it, and they were desperately headed back to make a fuss of it in their village.
"This is going to be bad." Kakashi sighed. But before he could talk back to Kusagakure ninjas in front of them, the group suddenly jumped away to random directions, splitting into two groups as they were.
I think Kusa has a great issue in knowing who the allies are and what is proper to do the enemies. Kakashi muttered in his thoughts.
- End of Chapter -
Another chapter done. I wish I could do more, but my friends are trying to bug me about some other story for me to make.