Alright.
It's finals week, but I still managed to get this chapter out, and I've got to say I'm happy about that.
I have some ideas for other stories I might want to write in the future, but I think for now I'm just going to focus on this one, at least until the conclusion of the 2nd arc.
I've got some comments about pairings in this story. I'll say that I don't have any real plans for ships in mind, and am instead just going to let the story flow naturally. If I like any of the relationships between the characters enough, I'll probably then make them a pair. This has always been my favorite approach to dealing with relationships in my stories, because I allow them to evolve through interactions, and then pick my favorites in the end.
If you're shipper crazy, then rest assured, there will definitely be some pairings. If you're not, then don't worry, they won't affect the story much at all.
Anyways, without further ado, let's get on with it!
Chapter 5: Making Waves
"Remind me again why we're chasing a cat half-way across Konoha?"
"Mostly? Because I told you to."
"That seems like a really crappy reason in hindsight, Sensei."
"I don't need your lip, and remember, you three wanted to do code names, so we're doing code names, you're Blossom Dance, I'm Silver Fang."
"'You three wanted to do code names' seems unfair, given that both Sakura and I protested the idea."
"Quiet, Dark Shadow!"
"What are you- Wait is that my code name!?"
"I've got her! Mission compl- Ow! What the- She's scratching me! Augh!"
"This is Blossom Dance, I'm on route to Orange Julius, over."
"Er… This is Sasuke, I'm-"
"This is Silver fang, please use your code name in official communications, over."
"Ergh… This is… Dark Shadow, I'm rendezvousing with Orange Julius and Blossom Dance, over."
"Better, over."
"I hate you, over."
Kakashi laughed, listening in as his students struggled to capture Tora, who was somehow both still alive after his own team had successfully brought her back into her master's arms over 10 years ago, and, from the sound of his team's screams, much better at defending herself.
But how the hell is she alive? Kakashi thought, listening as his team screamed out attack names, a fireball jutsu among them, which, against any normal cat, may have been overkill.
He knew Tora, however, and he knew it was not overkill.
"How the hell did it still dodge that!?"
"We can do this! Focus, Team!"
"Uh, yeah, OK." Sasuke spoke up quietly, missing out on the overly-hyped atmosphere of the other two. He probably saw this for what it was, more than they'd bargained for.
Kakashi snorted. He felt he could see the grimacing face of Team 7's resident introvert, despite being a kilometer or so away.
Still, it was more fun to stir the pot, wasn't it?
"More excitement, Dark Shadow!" He spoke up, feigning utter seriousness. "Tora is a Jonin rank foe, you'll need to fight with all your strength to defeat her!"
"You suck- Gah!"
Sasuke had made to speak, but was interrupted by something, presumably Tora, and had the wind knocked out of him.
"Alright! I've had enough! Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
There was a sound akin to several hundred small explosions going off, and then the sound of several hundred Naruto's shouting out "I've got you!"
They seemed to have it covered, Kakashi thought.
/-/
Naruto was very happy, standing in front of an older woman as she cradled Tora into her bosom, strangling the evil cat in it. He didn't even hold back the slightly sadistic smile that grew on his face as the cat looked at him, seemingly desperate for aid.
"Long live the king, Tora." He spoke softly.
The cat narrowed its eyes, and if Naruto wasn't aware that the creature in front of him was just that, an animal, he might've thought it shot him a look of cold fury. It seemed to remark that he would pay for what he'd done. Still, the effect was lost when the cat was once more pulled into a terribly tight embrace by her mistress, and Naruto's smirk returned.
He deserved to feed his sadistic side a pinch, what with how terrible that mission had been. They'd done a few D-ranked missions now, all of them crappy, annoying, or somewhere in between. They'd walked dogs, trimmed plants, and watched over small shops.
It was boring, boring, boring!
"Hey, old man!" Naruto shouted, walking over to where the Third Hokage was standing, probably about to give them another D-rank mission. "When are we gonna get to do actual ninja stuff!?"
If the Hokage found his words annoying, he didn't make it known, taking a puff from his pipe, setting it down, and looking at Naruto with an amused expression.
"Is there something wrong with the missions I've had you on so far, Naruto?"
"Yeah! They all suck! They're crappy missions! I don't- Ow!"
He had been cut off when Sakura lightly smacked him on the back of the head, eyes narrowed slightly.
"Don't speak out of turn to the Hokage, you doofus!"
Naruto pouted, but didn't say anything. He'd learned over the course of their three or so years together that listening to Sakura was a good idea more often than not.
"At the same time, though," She turned towards where the old Kage sat, smiling apologetically. "Is there any way we could get some more… stimulating missions?"
Huh, so even she's bored.
The Third Hokage laughed softly, before smiling, his face crinkling with age. He looked up towards their third teammate.
"And what about you, young Sasuke, what do you think?"
The boy in question looked sheepish, not quite able to meet the old man's eyes, but still opened his mouth. "I'd like something more challenging, as well."
"See old man!" Naruto stood up once more, massaging the back of his head where Sakura had smacked him. "I told you we wanted some cooler missions!"
"Oh yeah, I'm sure you were sooo concerned about what we wanted." Sakura muttered quietly from behind him, though easily loud enough for him to hear. He decided to ignore her.
The Hokage merely laughed again, apparently amused by their antics, and turned at last towards their Sensei.
"How about it, Kakashi," the old man's eyes twinkled with some foreign emotion, and Naruto didn't think himself smart enough to know exactly what it was. It seemed a bit like… he was having fun. "Do you think they're ready?"
The three students of Team 7 turned towards their Sensei, pleading looks on their faces, though some were more subtle about it than others.
Kakashi looked over them, and then, with a worldly sigh, turned back towards the Hokage.
"I suppose so."
"Yeah!" Naruto jumped up, thrusting his fist into the sky. He walked over towards the mission desk. "So, what kinds of missions do you have for us!?"
"I'd like it to be something simple to start, perhaps an escort mission?" Sakura spoke up from beside him.
"I don't really care." Sasuke's face told Naruto that that statement was a lie, and that he in fact cared a lot.
"Hmm…" The third Hokage looked around, then, took out a small scroll and handed it to their sensei. "This is a C-ranked escort quest. Do you think they can handle it?"
The Jonin smiled under his mask, looking a bit exhausted.
"I'm sure they'll manage."
"All right, then." He turned towards one of his assistants, and whispered "call him in."
"Yes sir." The man spoke, before walking out of the room.
Naruto could hardly contain his excitement. He bounced in place, trying to find something productive to do with his hands, but not really settling on anything.
"So, so," when he could handle it no longer, he spoke up, eyes glinting. "Who is it we're escorting?"
The Hokage gave him a new look, and if it hadn't been on his teammates' faces just a while ago, as they watched that evil creature named Tora struggle in her master's arms, he probably wouldn't have recognized it.
It was sadistic glee.
Naruto wasn't sure why, but he felt a slight chill.
I wonder what that means?
/-/
Sasuke understood, now, why the Hokage had looked like he was about to laugh when he saw how excited Naruto was.
He was probably thrilled to be rid of this guy.
"Aw man, look at you three, you look like you're trying so hard to be serious ninja, Hahaha!"
"I won't forgive old man third for this." Naruto spoke quietly, eyes narrowed as he stared out ahead of them, trying his best to ignore the constant barbs of their charge walking a bit behind them.
His name was Tazuna, and he was a bridge-builder. That was about all they'd gotten out of him before he'd started the endless tirade of deprecating comments, which had even managed to get on Sakura's nerves, if the pink-haired girls' clenched fists were anything to go by.
It was with an almost palpable relief that he saw a small puddle in the middle of the dirt road, and exhaled, satisfied.
A ninja was here, trying to kill them all.
That meant that Tazuna would probably shut up.
If their assailant survived this, Sasuke would have to thank him for that.
He looked towards Naruto, and found the boy trying to meet his eyes as well. His friend nodded to him and communicated the same thing to Sakura.
They'd play it cool, since they all knew what was happening. An ambush was only effective if the party you were ambushing didn't know about it. A surprise attack without the element of surprise was often worse than a frontal assault, because you had to surrender control of the battle.
Behind them, their sensei, Kakashi, nodded to each of them in turn. They all signaled back.
They were ready.
A second later, as they crossed over the small pool of water, the situation erupted.
Twin ninja, wielding two massive gauntlets connected by a chain, charged at their Sensei, aiming to take him out first.
They wrapped the spiny chain around Kakashi, who grunted in pain as he struggled against it.
Please, like he'd go down to such an assault.
Kakashi was sliced into multiple pieces, each falling to the ground.
There was a brief moment of silence, as Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all stared down at their masters corpse.
Huh.
Naruto froze, whether through fear or shock, Sasuke did not know, but that couldn't be his concern now. He leapt towards the ninja in front of them and shouted out a command to those behind him.
"Sakura, protect the old man, Naruto, snap out of it!"
It seemed to work fairly well, because he saw Naruto bring out a kunai from behind him. Sakura herself took a position in front of Tazuna, just as he reached the twin ninja's that had killed his master.
He was, momentarily, overcome with a small amount of grief. He hadn't liked Kakashi, but he didn't like most things, and he definitely didn't want to see the man carved into pieces by enemy ninja.
It was a second later that he noticed his master's corpse looked suspiciously like a pile of logs, and Sasuke had to suppress both a sigh of relief and an annoyed groan.
So, this is all just a test then?
A clawed hand brought him out of his thoughts, and he dodged and weaved through the twin ninja's first assault.
That wasn't very hard. Sasuke noted as he landed in a squat position, shuriken drawn behind his back. They're not very good.
An orange blur impacted one of the twins from behind, stunning him slightly. The man growled, just managing to block Naruto's concealed kunai with his gauntlet. He gripped onto the blonde boy's right arm and thrust him towards where Sasuke was standing, and he was just barely able to avoid colliding with Naruto as he came hurtling towards him. Naruto twirled in midair, and rolled to a stop next to him, eyes hard and focused.
Sasuke smirked. He'd taught him that landing, right down to drawing a shuriken in your off hand, in a way your opponent couldn't see, just in case you needed it. The sleight of hand had definitely won him a few early spars against the boy.
And all the rest, too, but that was more raw ability than any underhanded technique.
"You alright?" Sasuke asked, not taking his eyes off the pair in front of them.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"I'll take the right; you got the left?"
He heard Naruto laugh, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the boy crouch a little lower, taking a more offensive stance. He was ready to move at any moment, just waiting on Sasuke's command.
"Go!"
They shot forward.
/-/
"So," Kakashi began, backing his words with a small amount of killing intent, likely for the purposes of interrogation. "You lied to us."
The bridge builder, who Sakura had been guarding while the other two fought off the ninja, didn't meet the Jonin's eyes.
"I-I didn't have a choice, you see! Those people, Gato's men, they've been milking our village dry! We didn't have the money to request anything more than a C-ranked mission!"
Sakura grimaced slightly. It wasn't the answer she'd been hoping for. She didn't want the man in front of her to actually have a good reason for his lie! She wanted him to be a slime ball, willing to throw away the lives of junior ninja because he didn't feel like paying for a higher ranked mission, not some village hero!
From the looks of things, Naruto and Sasuke were having similar thoughts, looking down to the floor with conflicted expressions.
"Yes, that's all well and good, but my team isn't equipped to take on missions against actual trained ninja's." Kakashi pointed back over to the twin pair they'd captured, who sat a ways away, wrapped in their own chain. "Those two were Low-Chuunin level, no doubt about it. For me, and even my team here, they're no problem at all."
"Then you'll continue!?" Tazuna looked up at their Sensei, desperately searching for confirmation that they'd help him.
"I cannot allow that."
The man before them deflated instantly.
"I may be able to handle them, and those stronger, but my team?" he gestured to the three of them. "They are just Genin, and if what you're telling me is correct, then this Gato has probably hired people stronger than even those two over there."
The bridge builder winced, looking down with a defeated expression.
"Sensei?"
All eyes turned towards her, and Sakura realized with some surprise that it was her who'd spoke.
"What is it, Sakura?"
She took a deep breath and raised her head to look her teacher in the eye.
"I'd like to continue the mission."
Kakashi's single eye widened.
"I would as well, Sensei."
"Yeah, Yeah! Me too!"
Their Sensei looked over the three of them, a complicated expression on his face as he examined each of them. Whatever he found there seemed to amuse him, for he laughed a second later, and then turned towards the dejected bridge builder on the ground.
"Well, Tazuna, it seems you're in luck."
"Really!?"
The honest joy in the man's voice was enough to make Sakura smile earnestly, and she could see her own expression mirrored onto the faces of her teammates. She would have felt pretty bad to have to abandon this man's village, along with the man himself, who was already being hunted by ninja.
"We'll take your mission."
"Oh, that's great! I was worried I'd have to start guilting you all in a moment or two, Hahaha!"
OK, so maybe Sakura wouldn't have felt that bad.
/-/
"Zabuza, sir," A voice called out to him from just outside his room, thought soon their identity was revealed, Haku stepping in a moment later. "The demon brothers were unsuccessful."
"Tsk."
That was an annoyance, and one he hadn't particularly felt like dealing with. Still, it wasn't a problem. The demon brother's were just a throw-away, two kid's who'd followed him and Haku out of the mist after their failed coup. They were expendable, and expended they'd been.
"That's fine, Haku." Zabuza turned to look at the boy stood before him, who was eyeing him curiously. "I suppose I'll just have to do this myself."
Haku nodded towards him, smiling softly. The boy had never once doubted him, and for that, Zabuza was grateful. It wouldn't do for a tool to go having thoughts, after all, he was still useful like this. Malleable, moldable, and growing stronger by the day.
Zabuza was also, in the deepest depths of his mind, the smallest bit proud.
He'd never say it, of course, but he could oftentimes find himself thinking of the boy as a surrogate son. After all, he'd picked him up off the street when he was just a weak child, barely able to fend for himself.
Perhaps I'm going soft, Zabuza thought with a small chuckle.
"What is it, Zabuza sir?"
Haku had a small smile on his face, likely in response to Zabuza's own laughing, though he was fairly sure the boy didn't even realize it.
"Nothing, kid." He walked over to the corner of the room, where his great sword, Kubikiribōchō, rested against the wall. He took hold of it and smiled fondly at the familiar weight in his hand. The sword had an odd knack of calming him down whenever he held it, though that was probably just his battlefield instincts, always feeling safer, more at ease, with a weapon in hand.
"I'll be heading out. No need to follow me, I'll have this done in an hour."
He'd said that, but the both of them knew that Haku would be trailing behind him whether he told him to or not. The boy did nod, but he couldn't quite meet Zabuza's eye.
Hmph, He breathed out a laugh, opening the door to their small abode, and stepping out into the cold, foggy air. Maybe that brat really was turning him soft, though he'd kill anyone for saying anything like that about him.
He smiled quietly to himself, almost affectionately.
Damned brat.
/-/
Zabuza found him – or perhaps, them – a while later, walking in a group and watching their flanks. They didn't spot him, wouldn't, unless he desired them to. He was not called the silent assassin for nothing.
Still, though, that was a face he hadn't expected to see.
Kakashi Hatake.
He'd never met the man before, and if he was willing to be perfectly honest with himself, he'd never really wanted to, either. Zabuza did not think himself weak, nor that any could truly be that much stronger than he was. Still, the thought of facing someone perhaps even more well known than him?
A twinge of fear coursed through him, before he mercilessly slaughtered it. Fear was good, it kept you alive, after all. It was what had allowed human's to grow from primitive apes to the apex predator of all the lands.
But fear on the battlefield? That was not always to be heralded. Any soldier, no matter how brave, nor virtuous, nor strong, felt some level of fear. Instincts bred by thousands of years told you that if your life was in danger, flee.
Things were rarely that simple.
And so, as he flung his massive blade towards the crowd of ninja's ahead, hoping, but not really expecting, for it to cleave them in twain, Zabuza made himself feel an eerie calm.
It wasn't any particular ability that allowed him to do it. He didn't have a Jutsu that could make him feel no fear. But he had experience. He'd personally caused hundreds, if not thousands of deaths with his own hands. His classmates in the academy, his opponents on the battlefield, hell, he'd tried to kill his own Kage. It was what he'd had to do, sometimes wanted to do, so he'd done it. After all that time, all that killing… well, it just didn't affect him like it used to.
The thought of killing some kids? That didn't appeal, but he'd do it to continue to eke out this life he had now. One where they were constantly hunted, at every turn, by the Mist village, but one they'd need to continue on with if he was to have his revenge, and finally see the Mizukage bleed on his blade.
He was a merciless demon, a wielder of one of the Seven blades of the Mist, known throughout the world. He was not one to show any mercy, not even to young brats fresh off of academy training.
But maybe, if he'd aimed his sword just a little higher than he probably should have, making it easy for them to duck underneath it, especially for the younger looking Genin?
Then perhaps he was just losing his touch.
Kakashi, having sensed the attack, yelled for the group to get down, and the children all just managed to avoid being bisected. He nearly had to clamp down on his relief.
Why should I care? Zabuza found himself asking.
He knew the answer, even if he didn't want to.
Damned brat.
Unfortunately for him, it meant he'd lost the element of surprise, and with nothing to show for it, either. Perhaps the rabbit substitution he'd used earlier had been too obvious. It was native to his homeland, after all, but definitely not to this land of waves. He'd have to tame a new one later, preferably one that blended in a bit more.
Still, he had a job to do. He felt the muscles in his body tighten as he prepared for combat. Something within him howled it's assent, perhaps some petty demon.
Or perhaps just me.
With a few small hand signs, he flash-stepped on top of his sword, letting it support his weight, and stood ready to counter anything they'd throw at him.
"Zabuza Momochi, rogue ninja of the Mist Village."
It was Kakashi who spoke, eyes narrowed and weapon's readied, though he still covered his left eye.
Everyone of a certain level had heard of the Sharingan, it wasn't exactly kept secret. The fact that the entire clan had been all but wiped out had lead to some brief celebrations from people outside the leaf, they'd never have to face that eye again on the battlefield.
Or they wouldn't have had to, if not for Kakashi Hatake, one of the most powerful Jonin in the world. Word of his Sharingan had been going back as far as the Third Shinobi World War, and Zabuza could personally remember hearing about him in some of the later skirmishes.
"A rogue ninja? The heck is that?"
It was one of the Genin who spoke, one with blonde hair and blue eyes, though the boy was squinting up at him from where he stood on the ground.
"A ninja who has abandoned their village or was cast out in disgrace." Kakashi spoke authoritatively, stepping calmly in front of the children who were likely his students, guarding them from him. "In this case, both."
Zabuza smirked beneath the bandages that covered the lower half of his face, and stepped down onto the ground, gripping his sword in his hand. He cast his eyes over the three students behind the Jonin, who were standing in a fairly standard formation around his target, Tazuna. They had drawn weapons, but none of them looked particularly confident in using them. He'd hazard a guess that the kids had never seen their teacher look so serious before.
The man in front of him certainly seemed calm enough, though. His eye was sharply focused on Zabuza's own and gave away nothing. Only a cold sense of preparation, and a promise.
It told him 'I will kill you.'
He had to laugh as he swung his massive blade to rest on his shoulder, posture relaxed, yet ready to swing into battle at a moments notice. He'd kill them all, truly, he would. He didn't want to have to kill these kids, they reminded him a bit too much of his own – and wasn't that a scary thought, he considered Haku his – but he'd still do it if they gave him no choice.
He'd give them a choice, first, though.
"I'll ask just the once," He pointed his sword forward, holding it up with pure brutish strength. "Surrender your charge, and I'll have no reason to kill the rest of you."
The group didn't respond, instead, they tightened their formation, with Kakashi walking just a bit closer to them, but moving his free hand to rest on his headband, to pull it up and expose his hidden eye if needed.
Zabuza exhaled disappointedly, but brought his sword up, and readied himself for combat.
/-/
In Naruto's opinion, things could have been going better.
Their Sensei had been captured, held in a watery prison, and suspended a few feet in the air, while he and Sasuke tried desperately to dispel the clone of the man who'd been roughing them up non-stop for the past 20 minutes.
Which seemed weird to him, because he was pretty sure this guy could've killed all of them by now, but he just…
Wasn't.
Well, not his place to question luck, who'd all of a sudden decided that Naruto was her favorite person.
He rolled to the side as the massive blade pierced the earth, digging a good foot or so into the ground, before, with a strength he could only dream of, the man attacking them ripped it back up. He stared at the two of them, and then at Sakura a ways back, who was guarding Tazuna. He seemed intrigued, perhaps he'd expected less of a fight from them.
Kakashi had told them to leave, and honestly, Naruto didn't think it was all that bad of an idea himself, but the other two hadn't so much as budged when the man said it, so he'd done the only thing he really could do and stuck around as well.
It wasn't a mistake, it was never a mistake to be able to protect his friends, but he couldn't say he didn't regret it just a tad, as the small cuts and bruises on his body continued to build up.
Sasuke was fighting beside him, ducking behind Zabuza's blade, and trying to plunge a kunai into the clone that faced the two of them, only for it to juke away just in time to avoid it. They'd not manage to even scratch the clone the entire time they'd been fighting.
"Naruto," He spoke up, panting slightly and wiping sweat away from his brow. "This isn't working."
And the winner of the most obvious statement ever award goes to…
"Yeah, I got that!"
Another dodge, another cut, though this one was a little deeper than the last, scoring him just below his shoulder.
"Naruto?"
"Yeah!?"
"You remember the underhanded things I used to do in spars that you hated?"
He growled just thinking about them.
"Yeah."
"Use them!"
Well that was vague, even if it was good advice. They were outmatched in conventional battle, that much was obvious.
Fight dirty, and they might just win.
The next time that Zabuza's blade cut across him, and he just barely ducked down beneath it, Naruto reached back into his tool bag and drew two shuriken, masking the motion as him trying to regain his balance. He did a backflip away from the man's sword, just outside of his range, and waited...
For Sasuke to make his move.
It wasn't obvious, and to anyone else, it probably wouldn't have even been a signal at all. But it was exaggerated, the way that Sasuke fell off-balance the next time he dodged the man's strike, falling to his side and having to roll away, lest he be cut in twain.
It was a feint; the boy threw two kunai as he exited the motion.
Neither of them had expected that to work, though, and the clone in front of them batted one of the kunai away with the back of his hand, and simply sidestepped the other. That was fine, even as he ducked under the shuriken Naruto threw, it didn't matter.
He was never the target.
It was a quiet victory, really, as the Zabuza that stood beside their Sensei suddenly recoiled in pain and shock. After all, he probably hadn't expected a second shuriken hiding in the shadow of Naruto's first. It wasn't a particularly advanced maneuver, either. It was just a mean-spirited trick between friends. It was just an attack Sasuke had pulled out of his ass one day when Naruto wasn't expecting it.
He still had the scar, directly under his right breast.
Zabuza would too, it seemed, as he stumbled briefly. For anyone else, such a movement wouldn't have constituted a moment of weakness, something that could be capitalized on.
Kakashi Sensei was not just anyone else.
The man sent a burst of Chakra into the bubble in front of him, on the opposite side from where Zabuza was pouring it in. The weakest point, Naruto assumed.
It came apart with a satisfying 'pop'.
Their teacher wasted no time.
There was no interim moment. Zabuza had been stood, briefly stunned, and the next, he was blasted back several meters, with Kakashi already beginning to make the signs for his next jutsu.
Naruto smirked as the clone stood in front of the two of them melted into the dirt, made entirely of water as it was. Sasuke turned around, looking presumably for Sakura, and nodded to her to signal that they were both OK.
"Stay away, you three." Kakashi spoke calmly, his hands finally came to a stop, forming the sign 'tiger'. "I'll handle things from here."
He looked towards them, giving them a small smile.
"And also, well done."
Their Sensei leapt into action.
/-/
It took only a minute for Kakashi to defeat their assailant.
Which raised the question, for Sasuke at least, why he hadn't started with the Sharingan and ended this little fight before it could escalate.
Such questions were pointless, however. No one had been severely injured, despite Naruto's constant hissing as he poked and prodded his scratched up arms, so he couldn't really blame their teacher much at all.
Still though…
The Sharingan.
Sasuke's teeth clenched, even as he tried to hide his true feelings from the outside world. Naruto settled his hand on his shoulder a second later, however, nodding towards him in a 'you okay?' kind of gesture, so it seemed he'd failed there.
He sighed, and with a great deal of effort, resigned to ask about this later. He nodded down towards Naruto, and they watched as Kakashi closed in on the defeated form of Zabuza, slumped against a tree. Whether he'd kill their assailant or not, Sasuke didn't particularly care. Anyone who attacked his friends had, in Sasuke's eyes, already forfeited their life.
Though even he couldn't quite hold back his surprise at seeing two needles pierce the man's neck, killing him before Kakashi could so much as make a move.
"What the-" Naruto spoke, understandably confused.
"C'mon, we'll go assist. Sakura," He turned back to see the girl once more ready to defend Tazuna, kunai at the ready, eyes just as sharp. "Never mind, you're way ahead of me."
"Pfft, I'm always ahead of you," she smiled briefly, but killed it a second later. "Go you two, I've got this."
They both made a small noise of acknowledgement, before running over to where their teacher stood.
It took them a few seconds to make it to where Kakashi was, and by that time, he'd already started conversing with the figure who'd killed Zabuza. They weren't very tall, perhaps 5 foot or so, but they spoke with a calmness beyond their years, for Sasuke couldn't see them as being any older than 16.
"We've been hunting this one a while, I simply wanted to thank you for your assistance." The Ninja took a deep bow, before taking one of their assailants arms around their shoulder and hauling him up.
"It was no issue at all." Kakashi himself looked tired, and Sasuke felt it was actually quite a large issue, but remained silent nonetheless.
"Well, I'll be off, I have to return this back to the Mist Village." And with one final hand sign, the boy in front of them disappeared, along with the body.
"Hey, Kakashi Sensei?" It was Naruto who spoke up, wearing a conflicted expression. "How old do you think that guy was?"
Their teacher didn't answer for a second, instead putting away the kunai he held in his right hand into his tool bag, and then turning to face the blonde boy.
"Perhaps… I'd put him around 14 or 15."
Naruto hissed, looking down at his hands.
"B-but he was strong enough to finish off that Zabuza guy! How could…" Naruto brought his hands together, clenching them both. "How could he be so much stronger than me!?"
There was a brief moment of silence, in which Kakashi walked to stand before the two of them.
"Not all villages raise their cadets the same way. The Mist Village is… particularly brutal."
Sasuke looked down at his feet.
So, what Zabuza said about killing one's classmates… that was true?
"They may end up being stronger in the short-term, but…" Kakashi shook his head, sighing deeply. "They're certainly not able to hold up later in life. They're just too broken."
Their teacher turned to look Naruto in the eye.
"Answer me this, Naruto. If you knew you could be as strong as him, but you had to kill one of your classmates to do it," Kakashi's eye's became hard, the Sharingan seemed to gaze directly into the boy's soul. "Would you?"
Naruto looked stunned for but a moment, before he looked away, clenching his jaw.
"Of course not!"
Kakashi smiled gently, though it was partially hidden behind his mask. He rubbed Naruto's hair, messing it up, and earning a small squawk of protest, before he stepped by him and started walking over to where Sakura and Tazuna stood, still on guard.
As they followed him, Sasuke thought about what their sensei had said.
If you had to kill one of your classmates to do it...
'You must kill your closest friend'.
A shiver ran down his spine, and Sasuke briefly stopped, too shaken to move. Naruto brought him out of it a second later, a hand on his shoulder as he looked his friend in the eye.
"You alright, Sasuke?"
He exhaled rapidly, trying to control his breathing. When he finally felt a little better, he looked at his friend and smiled gratefully.
"Yeah... Thanks Naruto."
The boy smiled goofily, instantly dispelling some of the fog that hovered around his mind.
I'll reject your strength, Itachi, and grow stronger my own way.
They followed behind their Sensei, rushing a bit to catch up to him.
A second later, the man stumbled.
"K-Kakashi sensei, are you-"
He fell without a word.
End Chapter 5
Bum bum bum! What a cliffhanger!
Not really, since this happens in canon, too. As usual, expect the next chapter come next Wednesday.
Oh, and also, let me know how you feel about the overall tone of the story, because I've had some people say it was a bit weird. Which I guess is fair.