3. Kakashi's Tale of the Wonka-San and the Raikage

Hinata followed her teacher's lead and walked along with her team down the street. Kurenai mentioned that Kakashi's team 7 often met down by the bridge. Hinata felt a flutter of nervousness about meeting with team 7. She had known its members from their days in the ninja academy. She got along well with Haruno Sakura, she didn't really know Uchiha Sasuke all too well, the problem laid squarely with the team's third member: Uzumaki Naruto.

Ever since she had been little, Hinata had the biggest crush on Uzumaki Naruto. She would watch him silently from her desk during classes, wondering what he was thinking about. She would often follow him around from a distance, watching him play with the other boys from the academy. There was something about Naruto that made Hinata feel like she wasn't as weak as her father said she was. Subsequently, every time she approached Naruto she had the most difficult time speaking to him. Her speech would become mumbled and she would stutter (at least, stutter more than usual). She swallowed hard as they approached the bridge.

Sure enough, Kakashi's team 7 was there in full force. Sasuke stood near Sakura, the two of them talking awkwardly to each other. Naruto, sure enough, gave a big wave as their team approached. Kakashi stood directly ahead; we wore a green Konoha flak jacket with his head protector covering one eye. A mask obscured most of his face. "Oi, Kurenai. What brings you here?" he asked.

"Kakashi, I hope we're not troubling you, there's something I'd like to ask" Kurenai said. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? We're quite finished for today. What is it you'd like to ask?"

Kurenai smiled. "My team…well, so would I, we'd like to hear the story of Willy Wonka and the Raikage".

"Oh ho ho…really…" Kakashi mused, a grin visible through his mask. "Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto…have I ever told you this story?" he asked his team.

"Eh, no you haven't" Sakura said.

"Willy Wonka…wasn't he that chocolate guy?" Sasuke asked confused.

"Uwwey! You know a story about Wonka-san!" Naruto asked excitedly. Hinata was surprised to see he liked the chocolate master as well. She smiled a bit.

"Hai…Kurenai's talking about the old Raikage of the Lightning Country, Tsukioka Heiji" Kakashi said with a bit of a laugh. "Let's get someplace more comfortable and I can tell you the whole tale.

"Tsukioka Heiji wrote a letter to Wonka-san" Kakashi said. They were all sitting at a tea stand relaxing as Kakashi spoke to them. "And asked him to come all the way to the Lighting country to build him a colossal castle entirely out of chocolate".

"Sugoi! Did Wonka-san do it?" Naruto asked quickly.

"He did indeed. When I was younger, even before I was made an ANBU, I saw it with my own eyes, and what a place it was" Kakashi said dreamily, a smile on his face.

"You actually saw the castle!" Sakura asked.

"Very briefly, but it was magnificent, and true to Wonka's word, it was made entirely out of chocolate. It had one hundred rooms, and it was all made of either light or dark chocolate. The bricks were chocolate, the cement holding them together was chocolate, and the windows were chocolate, so were the carpets and the pictures and the furniture and the beds!

"When he had finished it, Wonka-san said to the Tsukioka, 'I warn you, it won't last long. You'd better start eating it right away.'

"'Nonsense!' shouted the Raikage. 'I'm not going to eat my wonderful castle! I'm going to live in it! Then the other countries will see what luxury a true shinobi power can afford!'

"But Wonka-san was right, of course, because soon after this, there came a very hot day. The entire castle began to melt around Tsukioka. It sank slowly to the ground, and the Raikage found himself swimming in melted chocolate trying to escape".

Hinata sat on the edge of her seat, enthralled by the story. "Ne, Kakashi-sensei, is all that really true? It sounds like you're making it up," Naruto said skeptically.

"It's true!" Kurenai said, taking a sip of her tea. "Why would we make something like that up? It's absolutely true!"

"I'll tell you something else that's true," Kakashi said. All six of the genins (and Kurenai) leaned in to hear him. Kakashi lowered his voice to a soft, secret whisper. "Nobody…ever…comes…out!"

"O-out of w-where?" Hinata asked timidly.

"And…nobody…ever…goes…in!"

"In where!" cried Naruto.

"Wonka's factory of course!" Kakashi said.

"K-Kakashi-sensei, what d-do you mean?" Hinata asked.

"I mean workers, Hinata, workers"

"W-workers?"

"All factories," Kurenai spoke up "have workers that operate the machines. They come in to work in the mornings and leave at night. However, the gates of Wonka's factory…are always closed now. No one is ever seen going in or out".

"But there must be people working there! Wonka's candy is still being made, isn't it?" Sakura said.

"It's one of the biggest mysteries about that factory…who's been running it since it closed?" Kurenai said mysteriously.

"Closed? When did the factory close?" Naruto asked, a confused look on his face.

"Ah, Kurenai, all of the kids are too young to remember…it happened when we were younger…about your age in fact" Kakashi said to his fellow teacher. Kurenai looked up from her drink, her eyes wide.

"That's true," she turned to the genins "When we were young, when Wonka-san's giant factory was first built in the Fire country, there were hundreds, thousands of workers there. Then one day, Wonka-san asked all of them to leave. He said 'I'm closing my factory forever…sorry. You must all leave and never come back'".

"But why?" Naruto asked.

"Because of spies…shinobi" Kakashi said in a low voice.

"Spies?"

"Hai…other chocolate makers grew jealous of Wonka-san's huge success. They hired spies and shinobi to sneak into his factory and steal his secret recipes. Soon the other candy makers began to sell candies that were just like Wonka's! Wonka-san said he was ruined, and told his workers to leave, and shut his gates to everyone. He shut down and closed the factory".

"But the factory isn't closed now…it's still going. Smoke still comes out of the smokestacks. It didn't close forever" Kiba said suddenly.

"Yes," Kakashi said "Months later, the factory opened again. Smoke billowed out of the smokestacks again. All of the workers ran back to get their jobs back…but the gates were still closed, the factory doors locked".

"Then…then who's running the machines?" Hinata asked quietly.

"Ah…nobody knows…it's a complete mystery. The only thing that comes out of that place…is the candy".

"Hasn't anybody asked Wonka-san?" Hinata pressed again.

"Nobody sees him anymore…he's locked himself up in that factory…" Kakashi continued.

Kurenai sighed, a warm and happy look spread across her face. "Hmmm…but remember how happy we were when we found out the factory was open again?" she asked Kakashi, who nodded. "I remember going to the shop and buying one of the first new Wonka bars that the factory made. It was sweet and creamy…exactly the way they were before the place closed…maybe even better" Kurenai looked as if the memory was sheer bliss. Hinata couldn't remember seeing her sensei ever looking like that.

"Well, chances are it'll probably remain a mystery for a long time…" Kakashi said, standing. "Well, the afternoon is passing by. I've got to make a report to Hokage-sama. I'll see you all later" then, with a wave, Kakashi made his leave.

"Ja ne" Kurenai yelled as he left. She too began to stand; a signal that today's training session was probably over.

"W-what I wouldn't give…" Hinata said at last "To go inside that wonderful factory".

Naruto looked at her and smiled. "I bet it's an amazing place," he said, grinning at Hinata, which caused her to turn a bright shade of red.