Chapter 3

A Hurried Memory

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'It's over.'

The cloaked man turns around to the direction of the voice and sees none other than Kakashi. The leaves around Kakashi settle down as the small gust of wind surrounding him fades away. Kakashi, looking as cool as always, with his hands in his pockets, gazes into the depths of the cloaked man's eyes in the mask, trying to catch something… Something…

The unidentified man quietly sniggers behind his mask, as the leaves around Kakashi finally meet the earthy ground. 'Kakashi-sensei!' shouts the masked man, who lifts his hands in the air in gesture. 'We finally meet again…' he continues.

Without rotating his head, Kakashi turns his eyes to watch on Naruto, who still lies asleep on the ground, leaning on the tree. Before any suspected pre-emptive strikes, Kakashi slowly draws his kunai out from his pouch and holds it in a defensive manner. He looks back at the masked man, now looking at the unconscious Naruto. 'Look at him,' the masked man says. 'He still looks hopeless when he's asleep!' Kakashi steps forward to the masked man and says, 'What business do you have here?' The masked man is roughly 3 metres away from Kakashi, and holds a threat to him. Kakashi feels this and carefully thinks out a plan to get Naruto out of the woods.

'My business is you,' the masked man continues. 'Hatake Kakashi.'

Kakashi's eyebrows show little disappointment. 'Why is this man here?' he wonders. 'What does he want from me, if he holds such a threat to the sleeping Naruto?'

'I have come here for you, Kakashi-sensei,' says the masked man.

'Most important of all,' Kakashi thinks to himself, 'who IS he?'

Nanoseconds was all it took for the masked man to put his kunai back into his pouch. Kakashi is stunned at the speed the man had performed just then.

'No… it couldn't be,' thought Kakashi, as he sifted through all his past memories, pin-pointing a suspected person who may be this masked man.

The masked man sniggers. 'Kakashi-sensei, you haven't changed one bit!' he says. 'You're still the old and deep thinking person I've always known for years!'

The breeze was getting colder by the moment, and the blue sky started to turn grey. The trees started to rustle as they swayed in a confused motion. The breeze turned into a strong wind, which now came from more than one direction.

In the near distance, Sasuke stops to the scent of something, that didn't smell like the woods. It didn't smell like the environment, which was weird. 'Naruto is close,' he says to himself. Hurriedly, he lifts off into the air, slightly above the ground, and runs to the scent, which grew stronger and stronger.

The wind was lovely and the skies were clear and blue as Sakura walked through Konoha. The Tuesday Special meal at the ramen restaurant did her good. Still looking for her team mates, she decides to go to the jounin hangout, where she might find Kakashi-sensei. 'This better not be a trick,' she moans to herself. Before she gets to the hangout, she sees Konohamaru and his friends walking glumly towards her. 'Isn't that…'she wonders as she squints to take a closer look.

'I can't BELIEVE Sasuke ditched me!' whined the pouting Konohamaru. His two other friends sighed together. 'I can't believe YOU ditched us…' one of them said, pouting as well. 'Well I was SO close to him letting me be his friend!' continued Konohamaru.

Sakura, only metres away from the trio, overheard them whine. 'Sasuke…' she thought to herself.

'Hey! You there!' said Sakura, as she pointed at the girl beside Konohamaru. The girl flinched and looked at Sakura, and worriedly said, 'M-me?'

'Sasuke… ditched the kid…' wondered Sakura, as she suddenly drifted into deep thought. 'What on Earth was he doing?' she asked herself. Assuming there was trouble, Sakura scanned the three kids in a rush and to the little girl, she replied, 'Yes! You!' The girl flinched again at Sakura's rushed and frightening voice. Sakura pulled the little girl aside and kneeled down to speak to her. 'What is this you speak of? Where is Sasuke? What happened?' Sakura said, as she lightly grabbed the little girl's shoulders.

The masked man holds his hands up and performs a hand seal. Kakashi couldn't believe the speed at which the man had moved. The speed reminded him of someone he knew long ago, but who it was just couldn't come to mind. 'Such speed,' thought Kakashi, as he watched the masked man carefully. 'Is so rare,' he continued to think.

Naruto, still asleep, shifted a little as the area got colder and colder.

His cloak was still as the wind blew stronger and stronger against the masked man. Kakashi tried to stay strong against the wind and kept an eye on the masked man, who still held his hand seal. The sky got darker and darker and the trees were moving wildly. 'Naruto…' Kakashi thought, as he worried for his health. He might end up with a cold, or possibly even worst if this keeps up.

The masked man performs a jutsu. His hand movements were so fast, Kakashi couldn't read the hand seals. Hesitating, Kakashi changes his stance to a more defensive one – he holds his kunai up, unsteadily, at the masked man. 'Gik, the wind is too strong…' thought Kakashi, who began to worry. 'The wind… his hand movements,' he continued. 'Such speed…'

A dark and sinister laugh fills the cold air, as the masked man clones himself into enough to surround the uncomfortable Kakashi, sleeping Naruto and himself.

Kakashi's eyes widened as he realises that the man had cast 'Bunshin no jutsu', a cloning technique. 'Just like old times, huh Kakashi-sensei!' the masked man shouts, over the windy and cold air. Still, Kakashi says nothing but thinks – who is this man? What does he want from him? How does he perform techniques with such incredible speed? 'This man is no ordinary ninja,' thought Kakashi, as he looked around at all the men, masked and cloaked – stationary – not moving. Suddenly, the men disappear. Kakashi feels the illusionary clones (or, perhaps the user?) move at high speed around him. Without trying to hesitate, he looks around, watching Naruto and his own back. The men stop, surrounding Kakashi and Naruto, a perfect circle of beings. 'Great, who is the real user now?' wondered Kakashi.

The sky around Sasuke started to grow darker, and the wind turned colder. 'Something's wrong,' he thought, as he stopped for a second to observe the environment. 'It's changed…' The weird scent was no longer sensed, and Sasuke was suddenly in lost thought. 'Damn… where is he??!' he said to himself with frustration.

Konohamaru and his friend watched Sakura talk to the little girl. 'Geez, girls these days are so fussy!' grumbled Konohamaru's friend, who folded his arms and reluctantly watched the two girls at the side of the walkway. As his friend grumbled on about girls, Konohamaru wondered what they were talking about. 'Hey!' he shouted at Sakura, tugging at her shirt. Sakura, annoyed, turned around and glared at him. 'What is it?' she said. 'Oh my God this KID better get OUT of my way,' said her innerself, which was bursting with flames because she wasn't getting any answers out of the little girl. 'You're Sasuke's team mate, aren't you?' asked Konohamaru, as he lightened his face out. At that moment, Sakura knew that she had been talking to the wrong kid. It was this chubby looking kid who resembled Naruto so much, who knew about Sasuke and what had happened. 'Yes… are you going to tell me something then?' Sakura asked, with a pleasant and sorry looking smile.

Kakashi was stuck - stuck in thought. The wind was blowing stronger than before and it was freezing. Naruto had moved into a curled up position – still, he remained asleep. One of the clones said, 'Hahaha, Kakashi-sensei, do you know what you're doing?' Another one shouted out, 'No! As always! We've out-smartened the great one-eyed Sharingan master himself!' The person behind Kakashi said, 'Kakashi-sensei, you're weaker than before…' Kakashi rotates his head slightly, just enough to watch the close back at the corner of his eye. 'Or have I just gotten stronger, sensei!' shouted another.

Deep in thought, Kakashi quickly rushed through his memories, trying to remember a person… A name… Someone who had high potential at speed, who he has witnessed perform like the masked man.

The memory struck him. It was him. The kid he knew long before. Oh it has got to be him. Who else could it be otherwise? Kakashi shut his eyes for a moment, and smiled. The wind was cold, but started to slow down. He abandoned the defensive stance and stood slightly relaxed, but aware of the threatening situation he was in. Kakashi opened his eyes, smiling – he laughed, softly. One of the clones said, 'Hah! You dare laugh at such a moment!' 'How brave!' said another.

Kakashi looked up at the darkened sky and smiled. He said, 'There's no need to wear that mask… now that I know you…'

I can't believe it's him.

TO BE CONTINUED.