Chapter Five, Carelessness is your worst enemy!

-All warfare is based.-

He blinks. He blinks again. 'Okay, I'm not hallucinating.'

Sasuke hides in a tree overlooking the two, face twisted into utter confusion. Sakura hides in a bush, eyebrows twitching in irritation.

"Come on, we don't have all day!" Naruto shouts.

Kakashi just stares at him, waiting for the boy to hopefully tap into just a tiny bit of Minato's intelligence or at least try and use some of Tora's training, if he had any.

"You're a bit off." Kakashi says, clearly concerned.

"The only thing that's off is your haircut!" Naruto retorts. He rushes forward, stopping as Kakashi reaches into a bag on his side.

"Shinobi fighting lesson number one, taijutsu. Hopefully Tora will have taught you something. But if not…"

Naruto readies himself for an attack. 'Is he gonna use a weapon?'

Instead of the expected weapon, the jounin pulls out a small orange book, titled "COME COME PARADISE" in bold letters. Naruto is understandably baffled.

Kakashi continues, reading his book. "What's wrong? Are we still fighting or what?"

Naruto stops, recalling what Tora told him. He may not have been around much but was still able to teach him a few things. He smiles smugly, catching Kakashi's attention.

"Third law."

'Third law? What is that supposed to mean?' Kakashi looks down, just barely dodging a clone of Naruto bursting from the ground and grabbing at his leg.

Sasuke and Sakura watch in awe as Kakashi lands, dodging another clone that bursts out of the nearby lake. The clone flies past him, kunai in right hand.

Sasuke activates his one tomoe sharingan, watching silently as the two spar with their kunai. Naruto goes for a kick, Kakashi easily blocks it and the clone disappears in a puff of smoke. He jumps away from the lake, pulling his headband up and revealing his other eye, a sharingan with all three tomoe active. Naruto instinctively looks down and Kakashi flies over, delivering a kick to the distracted boy. The clone disappears in yet another puff of smoke, followed by the sound of a dozen more appearing.

"And now, for my special jutsu!"

Kakashi turns in time to see the clones surrounding him in a half circle transform into a dozen twenty something naked women posing seductively. He stops, eyes wide.

Sasuke is dazed, Sakura is pissed and the clones rush forward all at once. Kakashi manages to get a hold of himself just as the clones corner him and instead tackle a log in his place. Two of the clones knock heads, disappearing along with the rest. Sasuke and Sakura come out of hiding, landing next to Naruto holding his now aching forehead.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Sakura yells, shaking a fist at the brazen blond as he smiles back. "WHAT KINDA JUTSU IS THAT?! WHY DID THAT WORK?!"

Sasuke blushes subtly, eyeing Naruto's closed fist. "Naruto, what's in your hand?" He asks calmly. Kakashi hides in a group of trees. He looks to his waist, both bells still there.

'I guess he's smarter than I gave him credit for. Unpredictable too, but it's not enough.'

"All right, now that I got a bell…" Naruto opens his hand to reveal…nothing at all. 'I got caught in his genjutsu.' he thinks, face reflecting his disapointment. 'Damn it.'

Sasuke glares at him, irritated by his failure. "Useless moron."

Sakura becomes furious. "Naruto, you idiot! Why'd you have us thinking you-"

"I didn't see either of you two come up with anything! Just cause I screw up once doesn't mean that you two are suddenly better than me." He huffs, keeping his eyes closed. "We need a plan."

"Another thing, what is Third Law?" Sasuke asks.

Naruto turns up his nose at Sasuke, much to his and Sakura's annoyance. "Figure it out.", He says mockingly. "You're the genius after all."

Sasuke gives him an annoyed smile. "Dead last."

"What did you call me!" Naruto yells, readying a punch. Sakura responds with one of her own that nearly knocks the blond unconscious.

"You idiot! Get yourself together!"

Kakashi watches as the two argue, a mix of disappointment and amusement flooding his mind. He sighs, pulls out his book and continues reading.

"Kenji."

Tora and two other ANBU sit on a snow covered branch, one in a bird mask with a horizontal blue stripe over the right eye and the other with a diagonal red stripe going across the face leaning to the left. He hesitates, not recognizing the codename.

"Kenji." The bird repeats, a little more irritated.

"Yeah." He doesn't bother turning to face her, just stares straight ahead.

"The hell are you staring at?" She asks.

"What?" The bear mocks. "Is it gonna rain?"

Tora puts his mask back on, a tiger with black stripes over the eyes. "Not for a while. Let's keep going."

The sun sits high in the sky, it feels heavy for lack of a better word. Despite the fact that they were in the Frost Village the sun kept them at a constant 80 degrees. Maybe it was their thick gray coats, maybe the masks. None of them wanted to risk frostbite or just being cold and so they kept them on and carried on being uncomfortably warm. The three of them stop at an inn somewhere in the middle of all that snow, a small cozy looking place.

The bear, Hayato, objects. "We're not stopping here."

Tora responds. "Why the hell not? It's cold out here and warm in there."

"This could easily be a trap." Mizuki, the bird, responds.

"And if it's not." He heads towards the inn. "We have a warm place to stay."

Hayato and Mizuki give each other a 'what the hell' look before following their captain inside. The place is cozy, a fire crackles in the middle of the floor and a couple of inviting tables are scattered around the room. It's nice here, it rains in Konoha.

Tora slides open the door to his room. His lean body is shirtless and sweaty, the light in his tired eyes dimmed by dark circles lurking under them. His tired body relaxes under the hot water of the shower and he smiles ever so slightly. He puts on a dark red armor, strapping a chokuto to his back. The blade runs the length of his body, sitting in a dark red scabbard. The rain becomes heavy as he leaves the house, locking it behind him. His hair becomes drenched and matted as he walks the streets of Konoha, smiling at the citizens staring at him as he passes. His gait is heavy, one leg falling behind the other as he walks. He feels himself being watched and just smiles. He eventually makes it to the Hokage's office, knocking lightly on the ajar door. The gruff voice of Lord Third answers. "Come in."

He enters the room, keeping his smile. "Is your clone still active?" Hiruzen asks.

His speech is slurred, but he couldn't be more sober if he tried. He nods. "Yeah. Hey, do you mind if I stay in here for a while?"

"Not at all."

With that he slumps against the wall next to the door, descending into a deep sleep.

Hiruzen looks him over, a sad concern washing over him as he sees the state of him.

Team 7

"What the hell?" Naruto exclaims as the sudden rain pelts his face. "We just got started." Kakashi appears behind the trio just as they were perfecting the plan.

"I think it's best we get inside." Kakashi says.

Naruto smiles. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei, why don't we don't go back to my place. I can make us some ramen."

"Do you only eat ramen?" Sakura asks.

"All right, everyone, hold on. I'll teleport us over." Kakashi takes ahold of the blonde's head while Sakura and Sasuke take ahold of his shoulder. Five hand seals later and the four of them appear in Tora and Naruto's abode.

Team Guy

"Looks like rain." Tenten says, eyeing the growing storm clouds and sheathing her katana. Rock Lee looks angrily to the sky, jabbing a challenging finger in the air.

"This rain cannot stop me!" A lightning bolt strikes just a few hundred feet away. "Was that a challenge?!"

"C'mon Lee." Tenten commands. "I'm not about to get pnemounia just because you wanna do a few more pushups."

"All right Team, let's head inside." Guy says. "No point in risking getting sick, even the power of YOUTH cannot protect us from tiny little bacteria."

Neji is already inside, having left as soon as the rain started.

Team 10

"Rain. What a drag."

Ino waits by the door, urging her teammates inside. "C'mon lets go! Hurry it up!"

A drop of rain puts out Asuma's cigarette as Choji complains about his wet chips.

Team 8

Kurenai and her students sit in a yellow walled room, herself reading a book seated on a lilac colored sofa. Hinata sits by the window, watching the rainfall.

Kiba breaks the silence. "Hey Hinata, bet you wish Naruto was here, huh?" She blushes heavily and Kiba smiles as Akamaru wakes up from his nap beside Kiba.

Kakashi looks over the place, Sasuke sits on the couch reading a copy of Lone Piece while Sakura and Naruto occupy themselves in the kitchen. The gray couch was moved to the center of the room, a lacquered table sitting in front of it, a collection of books under it. A dark blue chest sits by the door carrying Naruto's stuff. The walls are painted a light blue, a square window installed to the right of the door. On the wall opposite the window are various pictures hanging in blue and orange frames. Kakashi looks them over; the first is Naruto's graduation photo, the second is a picture of Naruto and Tora at the Fall Festival; both of them smiling in matching orange kimono with blue trim. The next three are birthday pictures, there's one of Tora and Naruto, one with Naruto and Shikamaru and another of Naruto and Choji. The next picture is of a younger looking Tora and someone he doesn't recognize; a straight haired man with a bang over his right eye. The two of them are smiling with a slight blush in their cheeks. A caption in white below the image reads 'I love you, forever and always, my Hashira'.

"Lunchtime!" Naruto announces as he and Sakura exit the kitchen holding bowls of ramen. Naruto hands Kakashi a bowl and Sakura gives one to Sasuke, blushing as their hands brush past each other. Naruto pouts as he watches the two take their seat, enjoying their ramen and one another's company.