Great Ninjas Don't Make Great Parents
PART III
Chapter 21: Curse of the Book
A year had passed since Obito's passing. To say that things were starting to look up for Hinode would be a lie. Hinode had thought that time would eventually help her get over Obito's death, and it did to an extent, but things were not the same. Neither was she.
For example, Hinode failed the annual Chunin exam once again. It was apparent to her team and teacher that she did not even take the exam seriously. A year ago, Akimichi Choza would have expressed his disappointment in her, but now, he simply gave her encouragement. He told her that a shinobi's strength and worth was not solely reflected by their rank. And to that, Hinode offered no response, but she quietly accepted.
At the very least, she showed her support for Might Guy, who passed the exam with flying colors. Unlike Hinode, Guy's father's death became a driving force for him. Hinode respected Guy for that, but she wasn't like him. While she still trained with him from time to time, his motivational speeches never got through to her.
Shortly after Guy's promotion to Chunin, and Genma's promotion to Jonin, Team Akimichi had officially disbanded.
For example, Shisui had graduated from Ninja Academy before the end of his second year. A year ago, Hinode would have been extremely proud of him. However, ever since losing Obito while he was away, Hinode feared the same would happen to Shisui, even if the war was over.
The most initiative thing Hinode had done during the year was begging the Hokage to put her in a Genin team with Shisui, which was instantly denied.
On top of that, the Hokage was now Namikaze Minato, whom Hinode was less and less fond of since Obito's death. She still didn't like that he stopped her from looking for Obito's body a year ago, even if it was the logical thing to do.
"Hinode, your skills have far surpassed that of a Genin. Even if you're not officially a Chunin, you don't need to be led by a Jonin teacher."
Was it right for Hinode to think that Minato was intentionally against her? Probably not, but she didn't care. That was why she also rejected his recommendation for her to join ANBU. And that was just out of spite.
"I understand your worry, Hinode, but your brother is already proving himself to be an exceptional shinobi."
That, she knew. Countless people have told her the same thing, but to her, he was still her little brother.
For example, Lady Kamome had retired from her nanny duties since Shisui became a Genin. During their farewell, Shisui was sad but Hinode was overjoyed that they were rid of the lazy old tyrant. Until Lady Kamome gave her her parting gift—a pair of protective, elbow-length gloves sewn with special materials from Iron Country. They were to prevent burns from Hinode's Fire Fist Technique. Hinode would never admit it, but she felt a little bit touched.
"When you grow out of those, you can come find me for new ones in the Iron Country," Lady Kamome said. "Though I hope that by that time your chakra control will be good enough not to get burns at all."
"Don't you want to settle down in Konoha, Granny Kamome?" Shisui asked.
"No, thanks! I only came back to help my old student. You guys don't even know what you're missing out on in the Iron Country! The technology is much more advanced there!"
"But it's so far!" Shisui's shoulders slumped.
Lady Kamome ruffled Shisui's head. That was the most loving gesture she'd made over the years that she lived with Hinode and Shisui.
"We'll see each other again."
"Unlikely," said Hinode. "What are you, 99 years old? I don't think you'll make it all the way to Iron Country."
"Nee-san!"
Lady Kamome chuckled. "I'll miss ya, kid."
One month after Lady Kamome left, Uchiha Hidenobu fell ill. On top of that, his vision got so much worse that he was practically blind. It was a side effect from using his Mangekyo Sharingan, but when Hinode asked about it, Hidenobu said that it was best for her not to know. Hinode didn't push for an answer; she knew that Sharingan was bad luck.
Hidenobu was eventually moved to the hospital when the medicines failed to work as expected. Though the chief medic told Hinode and Shisui not to worry, that was not quite possible. Still, both of them were considered adults in the shinobi world and somehow they were lucky that their father didn't die on the battlefield.
And so, with Hidenobu in the hospital and Shisui now taking on missions, Hinode often went home to an empty house. Whenever this would happen, Hinode would always drag Kakashi to eat dessert. With Kakashi's wages, Hinode could eat the fancier desserts in Konoha like candied caviar or truffled cheesecake. At some point, Hinode suspected that the restaurants in Konoha were taking advantage of her sweet tooth with these bizarre and expensive dessert creations. Oh well, it was not her money.
Unfortunately, since a month ago, Hinode was not able to get a hold of Kakashi as usual.
To say that things were starting to look up for Kakashi over the course of the year would be a lie. Maybe they were for a while, but they were completely overturned when Rin died.
When the news of Rin's death spread, everyone was devastated, even though the details of the incident were hidden from them. What most people knew was that Rin was kidnapped by Mist ninjas and Kakashi was not able to save her while being outnumbered by several Jonin level ninjas. Hinode, however, heard the entire truth from Minato.
Hinode was shocked to hear that Rin was killed by Kakashi's own hand, but after considering the entire story, she couldn't help feeling horrible for Kakashi. Kakashi had finally realized the importance of friendship and comradery, and yet he couldn't protect Rin, even if it was Rin's choice to sacrifice herself for her village.
She wished that she'd known this before Rin's funeral, because that was the last time she saw Kakashi. Since then, Kakashi had joined ANBU and dedicated all of his days and nights to his duties.
"Why are you telling me this now?" Hinode asked Minato angrily.
Standing in front of the Fourth Hokage in his office with arms crossed over her chest, Hinode was often in this standoffish position toward him. She tapped her elbow impatiently; even if she was only fourteen years old, she had no problem giving him an attitude.
"I've been very busy since becoming the Hokage, but I'm still concerned about Kakashi," said Minato with a sigh. "Even Guy noticed something wrong with Kakashi."
"I mean, why did you tell me?" Hinode asked again. "Why not tell others the truth?"
"You know how the truth can be twisted," Minato looked at Hinode seriously. "I don't think that it's good for Kakashi to be exposed to possible gossip and slander."
A fire sparked inside Hinode's stomach when she recalled the day that she ran into Sakumo being yelled at by a former teammate. If the same thing ever happened to Kakashi, Hinode probably wouldn't hesitate to punch the other guy's teeth out.
"I think you're the best person to entrust this information," Minato continued. "Now, knowing all of this, will you finally take my offer and join ANBU? To watch over Kakashi, if anything?"
"No," Hinode flat out refused. "Ask Guy to do it."
Minato sighed and shook his head. "No, Guy is not suited for ANBU."
"I guess that's too bad."
"Hinode, this isn't about me or you or Shisui."
"It's all you, Lord Fourth," Hinode scoffed at the young Hokage, earning a surprised look. "What made you think that having Kakashi join ANBU would help him? How would killing more people after killing Rin help him?"
"I…" Minato was suddenly at a loss for words. "I thought it would be good if Kakashi worked close with me…"
"That's the kind of naïveté that my clan talks about behind your back," Hinode said ruthlessly, making Minato shrink into his desk in misery.
"Hinode…"
"If you've got time to talk to me, then you'd better go read some parenting books so that you don't ruin Kushina-san's baby like you did Kakashi."
Minato's head snapped back up with surprise. "How did you know Kushina's…?"
"She's friends with Uchiha Mikoto and Mikoto-san has been pretty talkative with me lately," Hinode shrugged. "Probably the pregnancy hormones making her crave female companionship, even with a teenage girl."
"Wait a minute," Minato cupped his chin. "I might have an idea…"
"Okay, can I go now?" Hinode asked, but she was already turning away.
"Oh, yes, of course," Minato looked back up at Hinode with a soft smile. "Thank you, Hinode."
Hinode repressed the urge to click her tongue and walked out of the Hokage's office. It wasn't as if Hinode didn't have any concern for Kakashi, but she was sure that joining ANBU wasn't the answer.
Like Guy, Hinode had known Kakashi for ten years now, and anyone in their class could say that Kakashi was different from everyone else. Even before Sakumo's death, Kakashi was already more closed off than others, being a genius and all. By Sakumo's request, Hinode had attempted to reach out to Kakashi, and even though there was some progress, it was understandable for him to revert back to his old self after losing two teammates during the war.
His old self seemed unapproachable and hard to please, but after all these years Hinode realized that he was really just confused with himself. Of course, it didn't help that just when he started to open up, he lost two of his closest friends.
And that was why Hinode didn't like the idea of Kakashi joining ANBU. Putting on a mask and hiding away in the shadows was the perfect escape for Kakashi, but what good could come out of that?
It was early afternoon when Hinode left the Hokage's office. Her stomach growled just as she closed the door behind her, reminding her that she hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch. She was saving her stomach for a special occasion.
Yakko had recently been promoted to Jonin and was slated to join a special division of ANBU under Shimura Danzo in a few days. Hinode couldn't remember the name since there were too many different divisions of ANBU for her to care. But since this was Yakko, Hinode wanted to celebrate with her at the dango shop. Guy had caught wind of this and invited all of their old friends from the same class. Hinode didn't like to be part of a big crowd, but it was the recognition that Yakko deserved, so she didn't stop Guy.
As Hinode arrived at the dango shop, everyone was already there. Genma caught sight of Hinode first and smirked.
"Oh, look! The last Genin of our class is the last to arrive!" he joked.
"And you'll be the first to die if you don't shut your mouth," Hinode rolled her eyes at Genma. She knew that someone would bring it up, and she more or less expected it from Genma. He'd always been more prone to wisecracking within their team.
"You'll be the last one to marry, too, if you don't start acting more ladylike," Genma mumbled a counter and Hinode merely shrugged.
"Hinode!" Yakko's eyes brightened up at Hinode's arrival, and Hinode returned a soft smile as she embraced her friend. She even rubbed her cheek against Yakko's to make Genma jealous as a retaliation.
Yakko's transformation throughout the year was extraordinary. She had grown a lot under Lord Danzo's training. Yakko had grained enough confidence now that she no longer stuttered no matter whom she talked to. And just by hugging her, Hinode could feel that Yakko had become much stronger than she already was a year ago.
There wasn't much that any of them knew about Lord Danzo. When Hinode asked Yakko, the latter didn't say much either. Yakko said that Lord Danzo was a very strict teacher and pushed her really hard to reach her fullest potential not only with combat skills, but also with her Fuinjutsu.
"Congratulations, Yakko!" Hinode gave Yakko a long squeeze, causing the girl to wheeze a little. "Are you sure you want to join ANBU? Why not become a Jonin teacher and take me and Shisui as your student? I don't care who the third one is!"
"You're funny as ever, Hinode!" Yakko giggled when Hinode released her from the hug. "Neither you or Shisui need my guidance! Besides, Lord Hokage is the one who assigns the Genin teams."
"What's wrong, Hinode? Are you worried about money?" Guy circled Hinode's shoulders with a big grin on his face. "Don't worry! When I get assigned D rank missions, I'll always request you to be on my team!"
Hinode rolled her eyes at Guy. As much as her former classmates make fun of her for being the only Genin among them, they were all trying to help her, especially her old teammates. Guy and Genma knew her enough not to push her too much. They knew that Hinode was fine staying as a Genin and only take D rank missions that didn't require traveling outside of Konoha, so that she could keep an eye on Shisui.
Although they thought that Hinode didn't need to go so far as wasting her talents just to keep Shisui, an already highly skilled ninja, safe, they understood her stubbornness more than others.
"Judging by the way she eats dango, she's not short on money at all," Kurenai commented as she watched Hinode order enough dango for a four-man team all for herself.
Hinode balanced plates of dango on her arms like a seasoned waitress and sat down next to Yakko. Everyone raised a skewer and congratulated Yakko, who couldn't help but blush a little.
"Ah! Nee-san!"
Hinode looked outside of the shop at the sound of Shisui's voice. The boy was walking over from across the street. Hinode stood up immediately with eyes bright and smiling.
"Shisui! You're done with your mission already?" Hinode asked and Shisui nodded.
"It was just a D rank mission," said Shisui. The boy looked slightly past Hinode and saw Yakko, who smiled softly at her best friend's brother. Shisui's cheeks turned red as an apple.
"He-hello, Yakko-san," greeted Shisui.
"Good afternoon, Shisui-kun," Yakko greeted back.
"Do you want some dango, Shisui?" Hinode asked, oblivious to Shisui's suddenly nervous demeanor. "And what do you want for dinner tonight? I'll shop for the ingredients after this."
"I, um, I won't be home for dinner, Nee-san," Shisui shifted his eyes back and forth between Yakko and Hinode, the color in his cheeks deepening. "I'm going to train with Itachi tonight."
A black cloud seemed to gather above Hinode's head. Not too long ago, Shisui had befriended a boy within the clan named Itachi, and they quickly became best friends. Uchiha Itachi was the son of the Uchiha clan's head, Uchiha Fugaku. Hinode had never met the boy, but she had heard of him before that cursed day when Shisui told her excitedly about his new friend. In fact, there weren't many who didn't know about Uchiha Itachi.
Itachi was three years younger than Shisui and had just started Ninja Academy, but was already building up a reputation as a remarkable child genius. Hinode had a suspicion that the clansmen purposefully exaggerated Itachi's talents because he was the future leader of the clan. Shisui was quite the prodigy too, but they didn't make that big of a deal out of him. If Hinode was to say these things out loud, others would say that she had too much parental pride over Shisui, but the truth was that she was a little jealous of Shisui and Itachi's friendship.
While she was glad that Shisui had found a friend, she didn't like that he seemed to prefer spending time with Itachi over her.
"Haha, like sister like brother, am I right?" Asuma laughed as he nudged Kurenai, who also giggled.
The snickering of her old friends pulled Hinode away from her thoughts. She raised a questioning eyebrow at their laughter.
"What are you guys talking about?" she asked.
"Falling for an older person must run in the family," Kurenai said teasingly. "We all remember your crush on Kakashi's father, Hinode! Now your brother has a crush on our sweet Yakko here!"
The Uchiha siblings both turned beet red at the same time. Hinode was shocked that all of her classmates back then knew about her crush this whole time. For Shisui, it was even worse because Yakko was sitting right there. Out of embarrassment, the young boy bolted out of the shop.
"W-wait, Shisui!"
Flustered by Kurenai's words, Hinode reacted just a second too late to stop Shisui, but that didn't stop her. She couldn't let this little incident drive Shisui further from her. Hinode threw her half-eaten stick of dango down on the plate and rushed out of the shop.
THUMP!
Just as Hinode turned at the street corner, she crashed into a pedestrian. Both of them fell on their butts, and a book dropped next to Hinode's foot. Looking up, Hinode was as surprised to see Kakashi as he was surprised to see her. He was wearing his ANBU uniform, but not the animal mask. Although half of his face was covered as usual, it was easy to see how exhausted he was from taking mission after mission, not to mention his recurring nightmares that Hinode didn't know about.
"...Sorry about that," Hinode murmured, looking into his bloodshot eyes.
"Don't worry about it," said Kakashi flatly as he got on his knees, reaching to the book that fell.
Hinode grabbed the book for him without noticing the slight panic on his face. She glanced at the front cover before handing it to him. The words How a Shinobi Should Die was printed in a rigid font over a black cover. Hinode felt her chest tighten, and she frowned at Kakashi.
While she understood Kakashi's grief, this was going too far. The buildup of everything from hearing about Kakashi's crazed obsession with ANBU missions, to avoiding his friends like Guy and herself, just reached the tipping point at this moment.
"Why are you reading this garbage?" Hinode asked, anger bubbling in her voice.
"None of your business," Kakashi reached for the book.
Before Kakashi could snatch his book back, Hinode easily ripped the hardcover book apart. Kakashi seemed as if he was going to protest, but Hinode continued to destroy the loose pages inside. The action almost seemed like an outlet for her anger, so that she didn't rip out his hair instead.
"Let me save you some time: there is no right way to die!" Hinode snarled as she worked on shredding the book.
"There is for a shinobi," said Kakashi.
Hinode's hands stopped. She looked into Kakashi's tired eyes and exhaled softly. "What, are you trying to join Obito and Rin in the afterlife?"
Kakashi didn't have an answer.
"If you die now, they might be pretty mad at you when you see them," Hinode said.
"Don't you think they're mad at me already?" Kakashi looked down at his knees. "It's my fault that they…"
"Good thing Obito didn't leave you an ear, because he'd be pissed off if he heard that," Hinode gathered the torn pieces of paper from the ground into one arm and got up on her feet, and reached out a hand toward Kakashi. "And as for Rin… she loved you. If she was going to die protecting the village, she probably wanted nothing other than dying by your hands."
Kakashi hesitated for a moment before taking Hinode's hand, letting her pull him up. Once he was steady on his feet, Hinode used a loose page from the book to pat away the dirt on his clothing, which he quickly stopped her from doing.
"No one's mad at you, Kakashi," Hinode muttered. "A lot of people are worried about you, like Guy and your lame teacher."
"You were mad at me earlier."
"That's because of this book! I was mad at this book!" Hinode rolled her eyes and shoved the torned up mess into Kakashi's chest. "I'd rather you read some dirty magazine like a normal teenager than this garbage!"
With a hot breath through her nose, Hinode turned back toward the dango shop.
"You want to join us for some dango? You look like you need some fuel," she asked as she walked at a leisurely pace, anticipating him to follow.
Kakashi stared at Hinode's ponytail swaying as she walked. He thought about telling her dango was not exactly the best kind of fuel for a ninja, but he was also a little sick of eating military rations pills all day since he was always on missions. And if he avoided Guy any longer, Guy would probably knock down his door at some point. Hinode's invitation came at the right time.
"I guess it's my treat again?" he asked, voice lighter than before.
"Do you even need to guess?"
Hinode's head turned very slightly, but it was enough for Kakashi to see the little curl at the corner of her lips.
To be continued.
Author's Note: A sort of housekeeping chapter to start out Part 3. That was a lot of stuff! I'm sorry to fans of Minato! I love Minato but Hinode is a little petty sometimes so she doesn't quite like him right now. Or maybe, she won't like any Hokage unless they give her a carefree life lol. Hope you guys liked this chapter!