The Forest of Chakra
"We should go check on Kakashi," I said, standing up. Right now, I was in the bridgebuilder's kitchen with Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. They all agreed and we walked into the room where he was lying on a bed/sleeping bag, awake now.
"Look! The sensei's coming around!" Naruto cried.
"Listen, sensei," Sakura said, kneeling down next to him. "your Sharingan is amazing and everything, but if it puts that much strain on you, maybe it's not worth it!"
"Sorry..." Kakashi muttered.
"Huh. Well, he did take down one of the most powerful ninja assassins, so we'll be safe for a while," the bridgebuilder said, as Naruto, Sasuke, and I knelt down too.
"Right. You know that boy with the mask? What about him?" Sakura asked.
"He's from the Elite Tracking Unit of the Village Hidden in the Mist. Those masks are only worn by the most elite shinobi," Kakashi replied.
"What exactly do they do?"
"The Onbu Black Ops, (sorry if I spelled onbu wrong..*sarcasm*) also known as the Inferno Squad, destroy all traces of a rogue ninja's corpse. The shinobi's body contains many secrets."
"Secrets? What secrets could be hidden in a body?" I protested. "I mean, come on. It's a dead body."
"Ninjustu, chakra, special mecicines used on his body," Kakashi answered.
"Oh."
"These are the secrets of his village. If his enemies find them, his people 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 villages' secrets safe. If a ninja betrays his village, the trackers hunt him down, eliminate him, and obliterate every trace of his existence. That's their specialty," Kakashi explained and slowly sat him, putting a hand to his face. He looked worn out.
"Hey, are you okay? Sensei?" Naruto asked.
"Hmm?" Kakashi said, looking up. "Oh. Yeah. To finish what I was saying, tracker ninja deal with the body immediately, on the spot. So there's no room for error."
"Is that really important?" Sakura asked.
"Think about it. Do you remember what that tracker did with Zabuza's body?"
"We don't know what he did! I guess he took it away somewhere."
"Exactly. But why? He should have worked on Zabuza right there," Kakashi said. "as quickly as possible."
"Maybe he gets stage fright," I suggested. He ignored me and continued,
"Think of the weapons he used for the take down. Do you remember what they were?"
"Throwing needles," Sasuke answered. "No way!"
"Exactly. None of it adds up," Kakashi agreed.
"I'm lost," I whispered to Naruto who whispered back,
"Me too." I giggled.
"What are you all yammering about? You demolished that assassin!" the bridgebuilder cried.
"Here's the truth: Zabuza is still alive," Kakashi announced.
"Huh!" Sakura, Naruto, the bridgebuilder, and I all cried. Seriously, what the fuck! He was dead! I saw him die!
"But we saw his body, believe it!" Naruto cried.
"Kakashi-sensei, you checked him yourself! You said his heart stopped!" Sakura protested.
"His heart did stop but that was just a temporary state...to simulate death. The weapons that tracker used are called sen bultin (sp?). They can pierce deeply but barely kill unless they hit a vital organ. Not in the neck. They're modified from needles used for medical treatments like acupuncure. Trackers are trained to know every detail of the human body, causing the heart to stop temperarily while keeping the body alive is an easy matter for them.
"First, he carried Zabuza's body away, even though it's much heavier than he is. Second, he used sen bultin, 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."
"Damn, you're smart," I said.
"Come on, you're overthinking this, aren't you?" the bridgebuilder asked.
"Encountering suspicion, the ninja prepares quickly. Hesitation leads to disaster. Every shinobi knows this saying," Kakashi said.
"Sensei...you said prepare quickly. But how can we do that when you can barely move?" Sakura asked and Kakashi chuckled. "Huh?"
"I can still train you."
"Hold on! A little last-minute training isn't going to make us strong enough to fight Zabuza! You could barely defeat him, even with your Sharingan! We have to be reasonable about this!" Sakura cried.
"Sakura...why was I able to stop Zabuza? Because you all helped me. You've grown. Naruto, you've grown the most."
"Chhyeahh, Naruto!" I yelled.
"So you noticed, Kakashi-sensei! Things are gonna get better, believe it!" Naruto cried, curling his hands into fists.
"I don't believe it! And nothing's going to be good!" a small child's voice cried from behind us. We all turned around and saw a black-haired boy, around Rayne's age, standing in the doorway. Naruto pointed a finger at him and cried, "Who are you!"
"Aagh! Inari, where have you been?" the bridgebuilder cried and Inari ran towards him, giving him a hug.
"Welcome back, Grandpa!"
"Inari, that was very rude!" his mother scolded him. "These ninja have helped your grandpa and brought him here safely!"
"It's okay, it's okay, I'm rude to them, too!" the bridgebuilder said and Inari scanned the room, staring at us. He stood up.
"Mom, don't you see these people are going to die? Gato and his men will come back and find them and wipe them out!"
Naruto jumped to his feet, angrily. "What did you say, brat! Listen, 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 he's called is no match for a real hero like me!"
"Ha. There's no such thing as a hero. You're just full of stupid ideas!" Inari cried, and at first Naruto was in shock. Then Sakura and I had to hold him back to keep him from ripping that kid apart.
"Naruto, calm down!" Sakura cried.
"Seriously, dude, chill!" I agreed.
"If you want to stay alive, you should go back where you came from," Inari snapped and started towards the door.
"Inari, wait! Where are you going?" the bridgebuilder asked.
"To look out at the ocean! I wanna be alone!" Then he was gone.
"Sorry about that," the bridgebuilder said.
"I'm gonna go talk to him," I decided, backing away from Naruto.
"I'm coming, too!" the blonde yelled, angrily.
"No, Naru-" Sakura started, but I interrupted her.
"Fine. Come on."
Naruto and I started following Inari, walking up the stairs. "Who does that brat think he is? I'm gonna put him in his place right now!" Naruto said.
"No you won't, dickface. You'll only make it worse. Let me talk to him," I insisted. We walked along a hallway, Naruto grumbling to himself when we heard someone crying. Naruto and I stuck our heads in the door it was coming from and saw Inari looking out the window, sobbing and whimpering,
"No, Daddy, no."
"Let me handle this," I whispered and slipped inside. "Hey. Are you okay?"
"Whaa?" Inari cried, spinning around and quickly wiping away his tears, hiding a picture frame behind his back. "Go away! I want to be alone!"
"My dad died too when I was your age," I whispered, ignoring him. Inari suddenly wasn't angry anymore, and he just stared at me.
"He did?"
"Yeah. He was killed by the leader of our rival clan, because they wanted something that I had, and my dad wouldn't hand me over to them." I took a deep breath. "So he killed him."
"Well, he must've been stupid to try to play hero!"
I crossed my arms in front of my chest and cocked an eyebrow. "So you're saying he should've handed me over? I'm sure he would've been nominated Father of the Year for that."
Inari looked ashamed. "I didn't mean it like that." He stared down at his feet. "My dad called himself a hero, too, and it got him killed."
"Sometimes it's worth it, when you're protecting someone you care about."
Xxx
I was sitting in the kitchen with Inari's mom, who was also named Tsunami, while Kakashi took Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke out training. I stayed behind because Kakashi didn't know my chakra levels or that much about angels because I wasn't his student and because Inari practically begged me to stay. Apparently I was the only one he actually likes.