Chapter 9: Back at the Job
Kakashi moaned in pleasure as the warm water soaked his sore muscles, massaging the knots of stress that had accumulated over time. He couldn't deny it; after a week of bathing in the dingy hospital bathroom, a nice, toasty shower at home felt awesome.
After spending the whole day at Gai's apartment, either catching up on sleep, reading his rather graphic novels together, or just straight up gossiping about other shinobi, the copy nin had finally returned to his own home, and was currently getting ready to attend training for the first time in a little more than a week.
The ninja massaged a dollop of shampoo through his unruly, silver hair, working it into a frothy lather. At the same time, he wondered what his students had been doing for the past week. Had they been training on their own, or did they just stop coming, period? Would they be angry with him when he finally showed up?
He squirted an ample amount of soap onto a wet shower sponge and started rubbing it across the pale flesh of his shoulder, still deep in thought.
What would he tell them if they asked why he had ceased to appear? He told Naruto that he had a "stomach bug", so it had to be something along the lines of that ...Diarrhea? Nope, that didn't sound too believable, not to mention that it's gross. A fever? Nah… What about...food poisoning? If he told them that in a certain way, then it might just pass…
Kakashi turned on the water faucet and stood under the shower head, his eyes closed in contentment as the soap rinsed off of skin and dribbled into the drain. After deeming himself clean enough, the copy ninja wrapped himself in an oversized towel and exited the bathroom, padding into his connected bedroom.
Hm…what should I wear? Kakashi thought, standing before his opened closet, stroking his exposed chin.
Oh, who am I kidding, I wear the same thing every day.
Kakashi pulled out a fresh pair of black slacks and a clean long-sleeved shirt of the same shade. After dabbing at the cold droplets of water on his flesh, he slipped into the two familiar items.
The copy ninja zipped up his green flak jacket and put on his sandals. When he had taken the meds he had been prescribed and wrapped up his ankle bandages, Kakashi pulled up his characteristic mask, ultimately completing the quick morning routine.
"Shunshin no jutsu!" he said, making the familiar hand signs.
One of the perks of taking the new medication was that he could finally use the body flickering technique without losing his breakfast, although he still did feel his ever present headache worsen noticeably.
*Poof*
Kakashi reappeared at his training grounds, immediately feeling the dull ache spike in intensity. Ignoring the pain, Kakashi couldn't help but smile as he saw that his students were still training, even though he hadn't been there to guide them.
Sakura and Naruto were sparring with each other using only Taijutsu, the latter having the upper hand due to his abundant amount of shadow clones. Sasuke was practicing with his shuriken, and as expected of a genius prodigy, he got them right on target every single time.
Three heads snapped up from their training at the noise that they had been missing for the past several days. Naruto and Sakura stopped mid fight and ran toward him, not sure if they were completely angry or overjoyed. Sasuke tucked the ninja stars back into his pouch and sauntered over, the surprise evident on his pale visage.
"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Sakura cried, immediately tackling him into an embrace. He retracted his hands, eyes widening.
"Hn. Someone finally decided to show up."
"Hey! How come you're giving sensei a hug! He hasn't even been showing up to training!" Naruto screeched in exasperation, a bit jealous that Sakura wouldn't even think to jump on him like that. She quickly pulled away, smoothing her red dress.
"Naruto's actually right this time! Where have you been, Kakashi-Sensei! Just when we had started to get used to your tardiness, you stopped showing up at all!"
"Um…well, you see…I wasn't able to come. Actually, I was stuck in the hospital this whole time," Kakashi revealed, sheepishly rubbing the back of his unruly hair.
"Hospital?! How come?" Sakura inquired worriedly, her hands clasped in front of her chest.
"Ah, nothing too serious…Just a bit of food poisoning," the silver-haired ninja lied swiftly, waving off her concern.
"I guess that makes sense, Kakashi-sensei. You do look like you have lost some weight," Naruto mused, eyeing his thinner frame. It was as if he hadn't even encountered the copy ninja at the park a week ago.
Wow, they believe me…This was way easier than I expected-
"How did you get it?" Sasuke questioned tersely, his dark eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Hm?"
"What did you eat to get food poisoning?" The Uchiha elaborated, crossing his arms and waiting for a response, "you stopped showing up after that day that we ate barbecue together. I remember it clearly: Sakura was the one who prepared the meat for you, and it wasn't undercooked either."
But then there's Sasuke…
"You're right. Sakura barbecued the meat strips perfectly, so it's impossible that they could've made me sick," Kakashi drawled calmly, "But later that night, I went out to eat steak with the other sensei. Unfortunately, mine was a tad bit underdone."
"Hn," Sasuke grunted after a few moments of staring at his teacher, finally accepting the excuse.
"Just shut up already, Sasuke! You're taking up time that could've been spent training with Sensei!" Naruto shouted accusingly, glaring at his raven haired teammate.
"Tch. It's not like training with Kakashi can make the likes of you any stronger, dead last," Sasuke retorted smugly, his nose turned up in a condescending manner.
Kakashi easily grabbed Naruto before he could lunge at the Uchiha, a gloved hand clamped over the orange clad ninja's mouth to muffle his provoking insults.
"Now, now, we still have plenty of time to train, so there's really no need to fight," Kakashi chastised lightly, letting the wriggling form escape out of his hold.
"What are we doing today anyway?" Sakura asked, looking up at Kakashi expectantly.
"Since I wasn't able to get you guys a mission for today, we'll just spend our time reinforcing the basics, maybe chakra control or kunai handling," he answered, impassive gaze settling somewhere above their heads.
"What?! You still don't have any missions for us, even after a whole week?" Naruto questioned in disbelief.
"Sorry…" Kakashi started softly. Naruto just shook his head, eyes narrowed in frustration.
"It's not fair! You never take us on REAL missions anymore, Kakashi sensei!" Naruto shouted loudly, throwing his hands into the air in exasperation, his voice taking on a childish whine.
"Naruto…" the jonin drawled tiredly, letting a small sigh escape from his masked lips.
Would I even be able to hold out for a whole mission? The copy ninja pondered, his face darkening upon thinking of his current predicament.
"Please, please, PLEASE get us a mission, Kakashi sensei! There's no point of being ninja if we can't do actual missions!" Naruto pleaded, sporting the puppy dog look to lure Kakashi in. Their sensei just sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
I'm not sure if I could do even a D rank without worsening my condition…but it's not fair to them. What kind of sensei doesn't take their students on missions?!
"Fine…I'll go and check with the hokage later if there are any missions available, alright?" he uttered in defeat, scratching the back of his head of unruly silver hair.
"YEAH! I didn't even have to use my sexy jutsu!" Naruto shouted triumphantly, only earning himself a stern bonk on the head from Sakura.
"Hey! That hurt, you know!" The blond screeched, rubbing the freshly formed bump on his head.
"That's what you get for being such a perv! You can't blackmail sensei with your dirty tricks!" the kunoichi rebuked angrily, her hands resting at her hips. Naruto crossed his arms, turning away to pout.
"He's always reading porn in public, so I thought it would work…" he muttered under his breath.
"Huh?! Did you say something, idiot?!" Sakura cried, immediately assuming that Naruto had uttered an insult, probably one about her huge forehead, or her freakishly pink hair.
"Yeah, I said-"
"Let's start training now, shall we?" Kakashi cut in with an uneasy chuckle, the visible portion of his masked face tinged a slight red.
He's just saying that because he doesn't want Sakura to think he's an old closet pervert, Naruto thought with an angry huff.
The copy ninja gave them a crescent eyed smile, still chuckling nervously and sheepishly scratching the back of his aching head.
"Tch. Hurry up, you guys, you're wasting time that could've been spent training…" Sasuke grumbled, crossing his arms.
"Hey, I was not wasting time, you bastard! I was asking for a mission that we could go on as a team!" Naruto exclaimed heatedly, glaring at the said Uchiha.
"Mission? I don't consider the D rank crap that Kakashi brings us all the time as actual missions," Sasuke stated snidely, not bothering to return the dirty look.
Naruto quickly turned to face Kakashi, eyes widening in disbelief.
"Is it true, sensei?! Are you getting us a D RANK?!" Naruto exclaimed loudly.
"Y-you know, that isn't really for me to decide…Lady Tsunade is the one who appoints the missions," Kakashi started nervously, his hands held out protectively in front of him.
"Please, Kashi-sensei," Sakura added, stepping forward from her position by Sasuke to stand next to Naruto, "Even civilians can pull weeds or rake leaves…We want something that actually tests our skills as ninja!"
Kakashi sighed. Again. His students were sure giving him a hard time on his first day back at the job.
"Hm…Fine, because you guys aren't really giving me a choice anyway. But understand that all I can do is ask," Kakashi told them with a small smile after a long pause, ruffling Sakura's pink locks with a gloved palm.
She immediately jumped back, hands hovering over her precious pink hair.
"Heyy, I blow dried it today, you know!" the kunoichi cried in irritation, using her fingers to frantically comb through her thick, and now tangled, mane.
"I LOVE YOU, KAKASHI-SENSEI! THANK YOU!" Naruto exclaimed in excitement, tackling his sensei into an incredibly tight hug. Kakashi's silver eyebrows rose in surprise, hands unsure what to do in return.
"The idiot gets so excited about everything…" Sasuke muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes.
Kakashi gently peeled the young Genin off of his lanky form, setting his jumpy feet onto the dirt of the training grounds. Although Naruto would rather go on something along the lines of an S rank, he had been so deprived of ANY kind of mission that he would gladly accept a C rank. At least it wasn't a D rank.
"We need to get started now. I really need to catch y'all up," Kakashi prompted sternly, the look on his face meaning business.
"Ready?"
"OF COURSE I AM!"
"I've been ready the whole time!"
"Whatever. Just hurry up."
And with that, Kakashi returned to training with his three pupils, pretending like everything was completely normal, although he had noticed that he was actually tired afterward.
"May I enter, Lady Tsunade?"
"Come in," she replied after a pause.
Kakashi clicked open the door to the hokage's office and strolled over to her desk, stopping in front of it to give her a respectful bow.
"Oh, it's just you, Kakashi," Tsunade said, looking up from her abundant pile of paperwork, recognizing the unruly silver hair, "What's the matter?"
Kakashi straightened up from his bowed position, looking into the hokage's eyes.
"Everything's fine, I just came here to ask if there were any missions that the rest of my team and I could take on," the jonin replied. Tsunade sighed, her eyebrows furrowing.
"Kakashi…someone in your condition shouldn't even be thinking about doing missions… you know that, right?" The Godaime told him tiredly, wanting to preserve his good health for as long as she could.
"Please, Lady Tsunade. If I don't get them a mission, then I'll never hear the end of it, especially from Naruto…" Kakashi stressed, his mask shifting as he moved his lips to speak. She sighed again, her henge looking as if it had just aged ten more years.
"…Fine, then. But only the easier ones, alright?" she told him reluctantly, looking back down at her papers.
"Wait…if it isn't too much to ask…can you give me a C rank mission instead of a D rank like usual?" he questioned hesitantly, nervously shifting his weight.
Kakashi fought the urge to reflexively jump back when she slammed a palm onto her desk, papers flying off.
"That is absolutely out of the question, Kakashi! I thought you were smart enough to actually think before talking such crap!" she exclaimed vehemently, getting up from her seat. The copy ninja stood his ground, although his eyes widened at her sudden show of violence.
"We both know very well that my students are capable enough to take this on. After all, they have survived a B rank, possibly an A rank, mission before," he started in defense, thinking back to the fight against Haku and Zabuza.
Tsunade just shook her head, sitting back down and rearranging the scattered documents.
"You just don't get it, do you Hatake? If something happens to you because of the increased pressure in your skull, then you, or your students, will not be able to do anything! What if you have a seizure? A headache? I seriously doubt there'll be any doctors to help you out," Tsunade tried explaining to him.
"But I haven't even had any seizures since the one I had at the hospital…and the headaches? They're just everyday occurrences that I can deal with easily…" he said with mock confidence, hiding his renewed uneasiness.
"You could have a seizure at any time, Kakashi. Trust me, you will not be ready. And you need to remember that you haven't been on a mission in weeks. Your headaches will worsen when-I mean if- you do go on one," Tsunade said gruffly, "Without proper medical care during an emergency, you could die."
His fists took on a white discoloration from how tight he was clenching them, silver bangs shadowing his eyes from view.
Did I go too far? Tsunade thought, her expression softening.
"Hey, I know it might sound a little harsh, but I'm just telling you the truth-"
"So what if it is the truth?" he started lowly, cutting her off, "What do you expect me to do? Rot in a hospital bed all day?!"
His head snapped up, shaggy, silver hair flopping back. Her hazel orbs enlarged in surprise, but she let the Hatake continue.
"I only have two more years left, right?! I'm not going to waste them like that…If I do die during a mission, then so be it! It's better than fading away without any honor!" he finished with wide eyes, short of breath. Only two years…
The copy ninja ran a trembling hand through his hair, averting his gaze.
"Kakashi…"she started worriedly, starting to get up from her seat. He rubbed his eyes vigorously.
"I'm fine," the jonin reassured her bleakly, his hands quickly falling back to his sides. She nodded in understanding, knowing that he didn't want to touch upon the topic.
"I…I'll give you a mission…" Tsunade uttered, sitting back down and starting to sift through her papers. He nodded quietly, frustrated that it was getting harder to get a hold of his emotions.
"I found you a C rank," she said after a few awkward moments, "An escort mission to the Land of Waves."
Well, that certainly sounds familiar.
"Um…who's the escort?" he asked curiously.
"He's a carpenter," the hokage started, "He helped us rebuild after the Chuunin exams, so as a token of our gratitude, we're giving him a free escort team to help him get back home safely."
"Oh…Well, if that's all, then I suppose I should take my leave," Kakashi said, bowing deeply in respect, his gaze fixed on the carpeted floor.
"You're dismissed."
Kakashi started toward the door, his gait slow and disturbed, as if he had something left to say. He paused suddenly, his hand on the door handle.
What's wrong with me? I just snapped…at the hokage herself. I forced her into giving me a mission…I disrespected the leader of the Hidden Leaf.
"Um…I…I'm sorry for my behavior earlier…It was unacceptable," he uttered out of guilt, glancing back at the hokage with something akin to shame gleaming in his usually impassive visible eye, before opening the entry with a soft click and trudging out.
Tsunade sighed and put her tired head in her hands, never wanting an apology in the first place.
"That brat…He didn't need to say sorry…" she muttered under her breath.
If anything, I'm the one who should be apologizing.
"Why is he so freaking late all the time?!" Sakura exclaimed in exasperation, stamping a sandaled foot onto the dewy grass.
The three were standing in the middle of the field—well, two were standing—Naruto was slumped onto the grass, only half awake.
"We should start coming two hours later…then we wouldn't have to wait for sensei for so long…" Naruto muttered under his breath, his tired, blue orbs watering as he yawned.
"Is someone…talking about me?" A scratchy voice whispered into the blonde's ear. Naruto jumped up with a high pitched shriek, all of the grogginess driven out of his eyes. He took cover behind an unimpressed Sasuke, whose ill tempered scowl only deepened upon seeing Kakashi finally arrive.
"Sorry I'm late, guys…An old lady made me carry her groceries," Kakashi uttered with a nostalgic smile, adjusting the straps of the green rucksack slung across his shoulders.
That's something you would say, Obito…
"For two hours?! Yeah, right!" Naruto and Sakura exclaimed simultaneously, both of them pointing an accusatory index finger at their sensei. The jonin just shrugged, not bothering to elaborate any further.
"We have a mission today. Pack enough for two days and meet me at the front gates in roughly ten minutes," he told them.
Before Kakashi could make the hand signs for the body flickering technique, Naruto started bombarding him with questions.
"A M-MISSION?! What rank? What are we doing? Where are we-?"
"I'll explain at the gates. See ya." Kakashi said with a quick wave, before vanishing off in a puff of smoke.
After a few moments of stupidly standing in the middle of the field, the only sound being the awkward chirping of crows, the three Genin ran off to their separate homes to hastily stuff clothing and toiletries into their backpacks.
Author's Note: Do you like it? Do you hate it? Do you not care? Hmmmmmm? I'm sorry about the slow-moving pace of the story, but eh...The next chapter will be on their mission. Don't forget to leave a review or two!
