SSSSSNNNNOOORRRRE.
Iruka startled awake heart pounding by the unexpected sound. In his freight he had snapped up hands reaching for a weapon on his side. Suddenly pain and confusion laced his mind, causing him to look down at his side. With growing realization he took in the tinted brown bandages on his hands and chest. When reality finally set in and the memories caught up, he let a long suffering sigh as he flopped forward, forehead dropping onto his outstretched legs and torso bent awkwardly. "That cannot be comfortable," a drawl came from somewhere to his right.
"No," he softly replied, "It's not but in a way it feels good."
"How can that feel good?" the lazy voice asked.
Iruka did not sit up instead he turned his head just enough to catch the watching eyes of the great Copy-cat nin. He slouched lazily propped up against the wall. Next to him was a rattling window with a scene of blurry white. "Pain," he replied simply as if that explained everything. A sliver eyebrow rose giving away slight confusion. "You don't like pain?"
Kakashi found himself debating if Umino was still caught up in his fever. Sakura had said he was clear, two more days of rest and they'd be able to leave again. "No," he answered.
"And why's that?"
Kakashi stared at the man bent painfully forward, no doubt the newly healed skin was pulling dangerously to breaking point. "Pain means failure. It means you've let your enemy into your guard." Umino blinked slowly that calculating look was back in his eyes before the man slowly sat up and turned to look at the fire.
"Feelings, are those bad too?" the question was voiced just barely above a whisper.
"You are a teacher Umino, you should know feeling hampers our judgment," Kakashi frowned unsure whether he should wake Sakura to check the man over again. In the field he was good in emergence first aid but when it came to things like this, he knew it was best to leave it to the professional.
"And hospitals?" that question nearly through him for a loop. Kakashi pushed off the wall and made his way toward the injured man who slowly turned to look up at him. He pulled off his glove and reached forward surprised when Umino didn't jerk away. He's body temperature was slightly elevated but that could be from the warm blankets stacked on top of him. "Where are you going with this?" he asked pulling his hand back and replacing his glove. Umino watched the action carefully before looking up into his single gray eye.
"I find it funny that everything associated with life you think is bad," Umino replied evenly patting some of the empty space next to him.
Kakashi stared at the spot, "I thought you didn't care about your life," Kakashi replied slightly defensive and making no move to take the place offered.
"Don't get me wrong Hatake," Umino's voice was quiet, almost strained. It was understandable given all the yelling he'd been doing before and after his rescue. "I stand by what I said. If there is no way to save me, then don't risk it. However," Umino's eyes soften as he looked back to the fire, Kakashi followed his line of sight to where Naruto laid wrapped up in his sleeping bag. "That does not mean that I don't want to live." Kakashi stared down at the spot Umino had patted before sighing and taking a seat.
The shifting of the bed had Umino looking back quickly eyes taking on the dead look before disappearing again. The change had been quick and startled Kakashi for just a second. It was a defense mechanism undoubtedly used against his captors, every good shinobi had one. Kakashi usually closed in on himself keeping the world away and only brought it back when his torturers were no longer around. "Hospitals have never been good to me," Kakashi explained, "When some of my comrades go in, most never come out."
"And yet it is also the place of birth," Umino broke in, "More life comes out of that place than death Hatake. You focus too much on the bad, but then again we are taught that way. Always think of the bad that way we are prepared."
"Pain is not much better," Kakashi continued.
"Pain means you're alive, that you survived your enemies' attacks. A shinobi as great as you should realize that and its befits in battle," Umino interrupted.
"And feelings, sometimes cloud judgment. They get in the way of reasoning. As a shinobi, YOU should know that," Kakashi finished. Silence hung between them as Umino's calculating gaze bore into him. Kakashi felt defiance sweep through him, he was not backing down from that look. He allowed his eye to harden and his back to straighten. It was unreasonable to feel this way, he felt like a…a…child? "I'm not one of your students," he nearly snapped when those eyes did not look away. Amusement entered them before he turned he's gaze back to Naruto and the girls.
"No, you are not. But I also know you do not believe that emotions are crippling. They are as much a part of us as our shinobi instincts. Both are valuable, both can drive us to do incredible things," he looked back eyes once again soft and open. "You have lost much, I can see it in the ways you move and think. Learned as much through the stories Naruto has told me when he was under your tutelage. Read it in your mission reports," Umino paused, "You don't want to lose more Hatake, which is way you push yourself to protect everyone within your sights." Kakashi sat stunned.
"How?"
"I pay attention," was the quiet reply.
"Same as my bathing habits," Kakashi frowned, Umino nodded.
"I know between you and the kids, that you may just be able to get me home. I also know that you'll do everything within your power to do so. I believe that and I trust that. I will gladly place my life in your hands," Umino bowed slightly, "And I will also try to be of more help and less of a pain in the ass." Kakashi nodded chuckling slightly as he was still reeling from Umino's insight into him.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
If there was one sound Iruka hated more than a child's distress cry, it had to be finger tapping and Sakura was doing a lot of it. Naruto was resting closer to the fire watching the window with a bored expression.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Sakura's fingers continued to strum against the tiny wooden table she was sitting at. Her eyes locked on the same window, the only window in the tiny shack. The shack gave a mighty shake and creaked long and loud as the wind slammed into its wooden walls. A whooshing sound whistled through the gaps between the boards and dropped the room temperature another chilling degree.
Tap. Tap. Tap. WOOOOOOOO
Tap. Tap. Tap. WOOOOOO. SSSSSSS. POP.
Iruka's eyebrow twitched in irritation as the burning fire logs joined the annoying chores. Then a long drawn out sigh erupted from Naruto finally pushing the twitching sensei over the edge. "OH FOR HEAVEN SAKES," Iruka snapped, though his voice came out as more of a wispy hiss. He chose to stubbornly ignore the fact that his voice was not going to regain its old sound any time soon. The enraged vague hissing sound was more than enough to catch the kids' attentions. "Sakura," Iruka attempted to bark, but came out more like a strange puff of air. "Get out the map." Sakura blinked a few times before slowly standing and making her way toward one of the bags. After a moment she pulled out what had been asked, "Put it on the table." He instructed shifting from the bed, Naruto was by his side in a moment. Iruka swatted at the hands trying to help him and pulled the blankets off the bed once he was standing. With effort he wrapped the blankets around him and shuffled toward the table and the only other rickety chair there.
"What are we doing?" Naruto asked curious despite his worry.
"We are going to map out our new route and think of a way to talk Hatake into taking it," Iruka replied quietly.
"I thought we were just going to go the more direct way," Naruto looked down at the map with confusion.
"We are," Sakura grunted.
"We could," Iruka corrected, "Naruto two different color pens please."
As Naruto rushed off to get the requested items, Sakura gave him a disapproving look. "Sensei," she started, "I mean Umino."
"Iruka-sensei is fine Sakura," Iruka interrupted with a small smile.
"Are you sure?" Iruka nodded weaving for her to continue, "Iruka-sensei from the damage I can see done to your body and the fever you just had. There is no possible way we can take a longer path. It would put more stress on your body and there is a chance the fever will return tenfold."
Naruto returned a worry expression marking his brow. He handed Iruka the pen, "Then the fast route is our best choice."
Iruka began circling several small dotes with a blue pen and then drew an arched. "This," he began tapping the blue arch with the tip of his pen, "Is what we call a net. And these," he pointed at the marked out trails that Kakashi had made when they first planned their course, "Are the routes we were most likely to take. This is the route we took," he marked it in blue, "Now what do you notices?" He watched both Sakura and Naruto's eyes flicker over the worn and torn map.
Sakura had always been one of the brightest of her generation. Slowly she answered unsure but still confidante in her answer as she had always been. "They set up at the ends of each route in hopes of catching us." Iruka nodded waiting for her to continued, "But the nets really wide and Rock wouldn't give up enough people to come after us."
"Maybe, maybe not," Iruka corrected, "We can only make assumptions. We have no idea of how many people are after us now. They are taking guesses as to which route we'll take. The net is used to try and catch us before we get into our country. But now we have a problem."
"What's that?" Naruto asked, "It looks to me they have no idea where we are and their just guessing. There is no way they can catch us."
"From here to here," Iruka traced a line with the butt of his pen, "How long would it have taken us to get to Fire and our village?"
"Three days," Naruto answered, "Going shinobi speed, maybe a day slower carrying you."
"We didn't go that way," Iruka continued with a nod, as he wrote '3/d'. "How long from here to here?" he continued that way until all paths had some number of days next to it. "Now we took this way," He grabbed the red pen and marked the path again. "You said it would have taken us two weeks to get to the boarder. Now think like our enemy and what can you see?" He waited patiently.
"The net is too wide," Naruto answered.
"Yes, and?" Iruka prompted.
"They'd have to change it," Sakura picked up.
"How would they know to change it?"
"The days," the two toned together.
"They'd know how long it takes as well," Naruto continued.
"And know when to shrink the net," Sakura finished.
Iruka nodded changing the size of the arch to stretch from the beginning of Bear to the end of Rice. Then he marked out the new route Kakashi had been talking about before he and Hinata went out shopping for more supplies. "Now what do you see?"
"We're heading into trouble," Naruto frowned.
"We have two things working against us," Iruka sighed, "One, we don't know how many people they have. Two, we don't know their skill level either. Where on the other hand," Iruka looked at Sakura and then Naruto, "They know how many people we have. They also know where we are head, and can place their net just the right way to catch us."
"Then what do we do?" Sakura asked realizing what her old teacher was trying to get at.
"We need to find a hole, now we are relying on luck," Iruka sighed again. Silence stretched through the room disturbed only by the howling wind and crackling fire. "I agree we should go straight through, but we cannot stop. We skip the villages completely and make a beeline for our village or the nearest patrol we can find."
"But," Sakura started eyes widening in horror, "Your body cannot handle the stress."
"You wanted to know of a third road," Iruka's soft voice became serious, losing its light teacher tone, "The third road is nothing but risk. We put everything on the line as we have been taught and train to do. As I and Kakashi and your other senseis have taught you to do."
"But," Sakura stuttered.
"It's either run or be caught," Naruto cut in, the reasoning made sense. Iruka seemed to sag once they seem to grasp what he was telling them. "You should get some more rest. We'll convince Kakashi-sensei," Naruto smiled weakly, tugging Iruka to his feet and guiding the unresisting man back to bed.
"Promise," Iruka yawned.
"Promise," Naruto answered in a heartbeat.
"Naruto," Sakura hissed quietly once Iruka had fallen asleep. "We can't. He may not survive."
"I got an idea Sakura," Naruto whispered back turning back to the fire place and moving to his bag. "Trust me. It'll work." Naruto tugged out a scroll and another pen. There was one other way to ensure this new plan worked. "I'll move the heavens and earth," He smiled over his shoulder at her, "With a little bit of help."