Chapter 4 Honor
Kakashi stopped a moment and looked a bit confused. "Hmmmm," He said after a moment. "You know I dont recall who Iruka's two comrades were. I dont think they live in the village anymore." He sat there thinking again for a moment and shook his head. "Hmmm. Well Anyway the four of us ran toward the forest. Iruka can run fast and he had a very strange look of concern on his face. It wasn't until much later that I heard tell that there were reports sent back from someone that there was something going on in the forest. He had been sent out with these two and scouted in the direction Obito was in and had heard some strange things but never found anything and went back to the village empty handed.
We reached the clearing and the field where Osamu and the other died. I silently signaled to then to steered them around the mines that hadn't been set off yet and we ran into the forest to the left where Obito would be. We ran deep into the wood tracking down as best we could the marks of an Anbu.
As I have told you the Anbu are elite. Tracking one is difficult. But Obito and I had once upon a time made our own signals in order that we as a team could stick together and yet be apart. Amazing how childhood games can come in handy when you are older. As an Anbu you dont want to be tracked so what we would do is he kept dark black pebbles from the stream. He liked them and his hair was black, I dont know it fit him. And I collected the light brown pebbles. We would leave a pebble at the base of a tree near the leaf litter so the pebble wasn't noticeable unless you knew what you were looking for. This system was predictable and easy to follow. And so I followed the stones.
Maybe that's the reason I didn't notice..." He trailed off. "I was looking for the pebbles and I didn't notice signs of disturbance in the wood. But Iruka had and he and his team mates stopped short. When I noticed they were no longer at my side I stopped and looked back the few paces and saw something that made my heart stop. There hanging from a branch was the severed head of another shinobi. I couldn't tell who it was but his eyes had been removed and his tongue had been extruded on purpose as if to mock us. On the ground far below us was his head protector. Obviously the others were not use to seeing these types of display. One on Iruka's team leaped to the ground and vomited. On the battle ground that Anbu face these types of games and warning were often played. This kid had obviously seen something he was meant to see and this was his punishment and our warning. That's about the time that I felt that Obito was possibly in the worst danger he had ever faced.
I turned and looked ahead and saw the next pebble a few yards away. Iruka joined me on my right and said something about hurrying. Something about the other two going back… But I couldn't hear any of them. It was as if the whole wood became still and sound left me for a moment. The forest came in towards me and formed what I saw as a path and it seemed red with blood. That's when the world came back to me screaming at me and the path was gone and the rush was there I moved forward. Flying through the forest I knew... I knew inside that things weren't right. Flying into the future I pulled several kunai out and pushed down my mask as the onslaught came. I threw the kunai into the forest because I knew they were there hiding in the shadows waiting.
Everything I saw was red but clear three ninjas came out of the path and I cut into the easily forming my own path of blood. All three fell as quickly as I hit them. None of them saw the electricity that consumed them before their death. All three falling in the deafening silence that played for me. Yet I could still hear Iruka's steps behind me never hesitating, I ran quickly at what I saw was a clearing within the forest. What I saw there hung up like rag on a clothes line was Obito. Rage tore into me. This was my brother, my closest friend. And there his body hung lifeless strapped to a tree his arms splayed, his head hung limp." Back to the present Kakashi sighed hard and put his hand across his hidden mouth. Tears formed in the corner of his eyes. All he wanted now was to get through this and yet his emotions came back to haunt him. Seeing this Sakura glanced at Sasuke and remembered her own pain only a few weeks ago. She looked back at Kakashi and tried hard to hold her own tears in. The room filled with tension as they all witnessed more then they expected from the mysterious teacher. Kakashi moved his head band a bit and looked up at them.
And said, "He was all I had left."
His face mask grew dark with his tears and Kakashi held desperately to his emotions his eyes cloudy and his mind racing. "We had grown up together and with Hanako our female counterpart. We trained with the 4th. And when Kyuubi came to the village I lost Hanako and my sensei the 4th Hokage all in the same night. You wonder why I am hard on you why I want you to work as a team. Because every time my team was divided I lost someone I knew dearly. I didn't become shinobi without knowing there would be risks and losses. I never thought at any point that I would lose my teammates." Kakashi's head hung in silence and the boys could here sniffles coming from where Sakura sat. Both of them were now holding in their own tears thinking of there own loses and pain.
"Everything from this moment on was nothing but pain." Kakashi's voice cracked. "I tried to rush forward to him. But everything around me seemed to go in slow motion and every part of me felt heavy. The red I had previously view the world as turned to blue and I lost the feeling from my back down through my legs. I looked down and saw that Iruka and his mates were holding me back and screaming at me to stop. But I could barely hear them as if they were talking to me through a glass jar. My footing slipped and I scrambled to go forward as they held me and I cried out a million thing but they wouldn't let me go. Iruka must have seen that I had no clear understanding. He took out a kunai and went to throw it at Obito's body and that's when I heard for the first time what he was saying to me.
Kakashi it's a trap you can't go there. We can't recover him.
Iruka through the kunai at Obito and I watched it in slow motion as I sank to the ground. It hit the tree that held the one person in this world that I had ever loved like family and he exploded. Who ever had killed him had rigged his body with explosives. They made him into a trap for those of us that would come looking for him. And they left him with No HONOR!" Kakashi slammed his fist on the desk and tears flew from his eyes. His face mask was now wet from his hidden eye. Even the sharigan found sadness in this moment.
"There was nothing I could do. Nothing I can say, that can take this pain from me. Every piece of training, every part of my life was torn from me on that day. And I live every day trying to simply remember the good times we had and not the way that he was put on display. And no matter what I think of there was no way I could have saved him." Kakashi's anger raged within him. Sasuke and Naruto glanced at each other. Maybe they weren't the best of friends but they were teammates and when it came down to it they knew they would do what they could to save the other. Naruto thought of what kind of pain and guilt that Kakashi must have felt. It would be hard to manage life through it.
"I passed out then and there and I didn't wake up for several days I hear. Hokage-sama made sure to wait until I woke to hold Obito's memorial service. Anyway..." Kakashi trailed of and wiped away the remaining tears from his eyes.
"Thats the end of that tale." He looked up at the children and could see the looks of pain and concern on their faces. He wondered if he should be telling them this story. Naruto was now sitting back in his seat with his hand between his legs a solemn look on his hanging face. Sakura quietly wiped her own tears. Sasuke seemed to be in quiet reflection his hand clasped in front of him. Kakashi got up from the desk and walked over to their table he knelt down and put his hand on the table bring all of their faces forward. He tilted his head and a grin formed behind the mask.
He smiled at them trying to calm them and said, "Its time to go. I think its past time for dinner. Plus I think the rain has stopped. If it rains again tomorrow meet me here and you can write a essay on what you feel my story taught you."
Naruto groaned at this and began to complain. Sakura and Sasuke both grumbled at Naruto under their breath. Kakashi got up and turned to get some things in order before he left himself. He could hear the three get up and leave. He turned to walk out of the room and there silently stood Naruto with his hands in his pocket looking at the ground.
Kakashi tilted his head and said "yes?" Naruto looked up and smiled his wide smile he put his arm behind his head his elbow pointing to the sky. Naruto's action made kakashi wonder if Naruto had always done this or if he had picked it up from himself. It was something that the 4th had always done, and it was funny to see this kid do it too.
"Um... well.. sensei I was wondering if next time it rains you could tell us a story about a time when the 4th Hokage trained you and Obito?" The question stunned Kakashi. And he smiled and led Naruto out the door to the hallway. Kakashi simply nodded his head and messed up Naruto's hair. Naruto smiled the largest smile that Kakashi though he ever had seen the boy smile. "Thanks sensei." Naruto walked a head only a moment then turned and waved. Kakashi waved back and watch Naruto walk down the hall and out the door.
He himself walked down the hall slowly reflecting on the day when he reached Iruka's door it opened and Iruka popped his head out. He looked up at Kakashi and said "Was Naruto? What are you all doing here?"
"Hi Iruka, It rained today so we had a lecture." Kakashi said rubbing his own head much like Naruto just did. "Hey Iruka don't I owe you dinner?"
"Do you?" Iruka said a bit confused.
"Yeah I think I do and it's a bit over due." Kakashi said, "So what sounds good?"
Iruka shut the door to his classroom and thought a minute. "Hmm… How about some ramen?"
"Ramen huh?" snickered Kakashi. "Is that all you people think about? Then ramen it is."
Iruka simply smiled and they walked toward the exit of the academy. As Kakashi shut the door he turned to Iruka and asked,
"Hey Iruka, do you ever think of the time with Obito?"
Iruka stopped in surprise as the door clicked shut.
The End
Kakashi stopped a moment and looked a bit confused. "Hmmmm," He said after a moment. "You know I dont recall who Iruka's two comrades were. I dont think they live in the village anymore." He sat there thinking again for a moment and shook his head. "Hmmm. Well Anyway the four of us ran toward the forest. Iruka can run fast and he had a very strange look of concern on his face. It wasn't until much later that I heard tell that there were reports sent back from someone that there was something going on in the forest. He had been sent out with these two and scouted in the direction Obito was in and had heard some strange things but never found anything and went back to the village empty handed.
We reached the clearing and the field where Osamu and the other died. I silently signaled to then to steered them around the mines that hadn't been set off yet and we ran into the forest to the left where Obito would be. We ran deep into the wood tracking down as best we could the marks of an Anbu.
As I have told you the Anbu are elite. Tracking one is difficult. But Obito and I had once upon a time made our own signals in order that we as a team could stick together and yet be apart. Amazing how childhood games can come in handy when you are older. As an Anbu you dont want to be tracked so what we would do is he kept dark black pebbles from the stream. He liked them and his hair was black, I dont know it fit him. And I collected the light brown pebbles. We would leave a pebble at the base of a tree near the leaf litter so the pebble wasn't noticeable unless you knew what you were looking for. This system was predictable and easy to follow. And so I followed the stones.
Maybe that's the reason I didn't notice..." He trailed off. "I was looking for the pebbles and I didn't notice signs of disturbance in the wood. But Iruka had and he and his team mates stopped short. When I noticed they were no longer at my side I stopped and looked back the few paces and saw something that made my heart stop. There hanging from a branch was the severed head of another shinobi. I couldn't tell who it was but his eyes had been removed and his tongue had been extruded on purpose as if to mock us. On the ground far below us was his head protector. Obviously the others were not use to seeing these types of display. One on Iruka's team leaped to the ground and vomited. On the battle ground that Anbu face these types of games and warning were often played. This kid had obviously seen something he was meant to see and this was his punishment and our warning. That's about the time that I felt that Obito was possibly in the worst danger he had ever faced.
I turned and looked ahead and saw the next pebble a few yards away. Iruka joined me on my right and said something about hurrying. Something about the other two going back… But I couldn't hear any of them. It was as if the whole wood became still and sound left me for a moment. The forest came in towards me and formed what I saw as a path and it seemed red with blood. That's when the world came back to me screaming at me and the path was gone and the rush was there I moved forward. Flying through the forest I knew... I knew inside that things weren't right. Flying into the future I pulled several kunai out and pushed down my mask as the onslaught came. I threw the kunai into the forest because I knew they were there hiding in the shadows waiting.
Everything I saw was red but clear three ninjas came out of the path and I cut into the easily forming my own path of blood. All three fell as quickly as I hit them. None of them saw the electricity that consumed them before their death. All three falling in the deafening silence that played for me. Yet I could still hear Iruka's steps behind me never hesitating, I ran quickly at what I saw was a clearing within the forest. What I saw there hung up like rag on a clothes line was Obito. Rage tore into me. This was my brother, my closest friend. And there his body hung lifeless strapped to a tree his arms splayed, his head hung limp." Back to the present Kakashi sighed hard and put his hand across his hidden mouth. Tears formed in the corner of his eyes. All he wanted now was to get through this and yet his emotions came back to haunt him. Seeing this Sakura glanced at Sasuke and remembered her own pain only a few weeks ago. She looked back at Kakashi and tried hard to hold her own tears in. The room filled with tension as they all witnessed more then they expected from the mysterious teacher. Kakashi moved his head band a bit and looked up at them.
And said, "He was all I had left."
His face mask grew dark with his tears and Kakashi held desperately to his emotions his eyes cloudy and his mind racing. "We had grown up together and with Hanako our female counterpart. We trained with the 4th. And when Kyuubi came to the village I lost Hanako and my sensei the 4th Hokage all in the same night. You wonder why I am hard on you why I want you to work as a team. Because every time my team was divided I lost someone I knew dearly. I didn't become shinobi without knowing there would be risks and losses. I never thought at any point that I would lose my teammates." Kakashi's head hung in silence and the boys could here sniffles coming from where Sakura sat. Both of them were now holding in their own tears thinking of there own loses and pain.
"Everything from this moment on was nothing but pain." Kakashi's voice cracked. "I tried to rush forward to him. But everything around me seemed to go in slow motion and every part of me felt heavy. The red I had previously view the world as turned to blue and I lost the feeling from my back down through my legs. I looked down and saw that Iruka and his mates were holding me back and screaming at me to stop. But I could barely hear them as if they were talking to me through a glass jar. My footing slipped and I scrambled to go forward as they held me and I cried out a million thing but they wouldn't let me go. Iruka must have seen that I had no clear understanding. He took out a kunai and went to throw it at Obito's body and that's when I heard for the first time what he was saying to me.
Kakashi it's a trap you can't go there. We can't recover him.
Iruka through the kunai at Obito and I watched it in slow motion as I sank to the ground. It hit the tree that held the one person in this world that I had ever loved like family and he exploded. Who ever had killed him had rigged his body with explosives. They made him into a trap for those of us that would come looking for him. And they left him with No HONOR!" Kakashi slammed his fist on the desk and tears flew from his eyes. His face mask was now wet from his hidden eye. Even the sharigan found sadness in this moment.
"There was nothing I could do. Nothing I can say, that can take this pain from me. Every piece of training, every part of my life was torn from me on that day. And I live every day trying to simply remember the good times we had and not the way that he was put on display. And no matter what I think of there was no way I could have saved him." Kakashi's anger raged within him. Sasuke and Naruto glanced at each other. Maybe they weren't the best of friends but they were teammates and when it came down to it they knew they would do what they could to save the other. Naruto thought of what kind of pain and guilt that Kakashi must have felt. It would be hard to manage life through it.
"I passed out then and there and I didn't wake up for several days I hear. Hokage-sama made sure to wait until I woke to hold Obito's memorial service. Anyway..." Kakashi trailed of and wiped away the remaining tears from his eyes.
"Thats the end of that tale." He looked up at the children and could see the looks of pain and concern on their faces. He wondered if he should be telling them this story. Naruto was now sitting back in his seat with his hand between his legs a solemn look on his hanging face. Sakura quietly wiped her own tears. Sasuke seemed to be in quiet reflection his hand clasped in front of him. Kakashi got up from the desk and walked over to their table he knelt down and put his hand on the table bring all of their faces forward. He tilted his head and a grin formed behind the mask.
He smiled at them trying to calm them and said, "Its time to go. I think its past time for dinner. Plus I think the rain has stopped. If it rains again tomorrow meet me here and you can write a essay on what you feel my story taught you."
Naruto groaned at this and began to complain. Sakura and Sasuke both grumbled at Naruto under their breath. Kakashi got up and turned to get some things in order before he left himself. He could hear the three get up and leave. He turned to walk out of the room and there silently stood Naruto with his hands in his pocket looking at the ground.
Kakashi tilted his head and said "yes?" Naruto looked up and smiled his wide smile he put his arm behind his head his elbow pointing to the sky. Naruto's action made kakashi wonder if Naruto had always done this or if he had picked it up from himself. It was something that the 4th had always done, and it was funny to see this kid do it too.
"Um... well.. sensei I was wondering if next time it rains you could tell us a story about a time when the 4th Hokage trained you and Obito?" The question stunned Kakashi. And he smiled and led Naruto out the door to the hallway. Kakashi simply nodded his head and messed up Naruto's hair. Naruto smiled the largest smile that Kakashi though he ever had seen the boy smile. "Thanks sensei." Naruto walked a head only a moment then turned and waved. Kakashi waved back and watch Naruto walk down the hall and out the door.
He himself walked down the hall slowly reflecting on the day when he reached Iruka's door it opened and Iruka popped his head out. He looked up at Kakashi and said "Was Naruto? What are you all doing here?"
"Hi Iruka, It rained today so we had a lecture." Kakashi said rubbing his own head much like Naruto just did. "Hey Iruka don't I owe you dinner?"
"Do you?" Iruka said a bit confused.
"Yeah I think I do and it's a bit over due." Kakashi said, "So what sounds good?"
Iruka shut the door to his classroom and thought a minute. "Hmm… How about some ramen?"
"Ramen huh?" snickered Kakashi. "Is that all you people think about? Then ramen it is."
Iruka simply smiled and they walked toward the exit of the academy. As Kakashi shut the door he turned to Iruka and asked,
"Hey Iruka, do you ever think of the time with Obito?"
Iruka stopped in surprise as the door clicked shut.
The End
