Disclaimers: If Naruto was mine, do you think I'd be writing crappy fanfiction?
Chapter 6: Decay
Kakashi glared blindly into the frigid wind. The trees and grass around him bowed to the pressure, but he, and the three wooden pillars before him, remained obelisks in the breeze. The sky rolled like an empty stomach. Black, smokey patches littered the overcast as an ominous warning. Kakashi leaned against the white stone memorial behind him, staring blankly at the wooden posts.
He appeared out of nowhere in a billowing puff of smoke.
"YOU GUYS...!"
Naruto yelped.
Sakura screamed.
"... Pass."
Kakashi chuckled.
"Huh?" Sakura stared unblinking in confusion.
"Uh..." Naruto babbled.
Sasuke's glaring eyes glazed with uncertainty.
"Pass?" Sakura exclaimed. "But why?"
"You guys are the first." Kakashi continued.
"Huh?" Even with her advanced mind, Sakura didn't get it.
"?" Neither did Naruto, but Kakashi expected that.
"Everyone else would just do whatever I told them. They were all just morons." He explained to his bewildered audience. "A ninja must see underneath the underneath. Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja world are called trash."
Kakashi looked off into the falling leaves.
"But you know what?" He said. "Those who don't take care of their comrades are lower than trash."
A stray leaf blew directly at Kakashi's face. He caught it gracefully right before it plastered against his forehead protector and held it up to the brewing storm.
"..."
He released the captive and it drifted nonchalantly away into the billowing trees.
Is the weather always like this for funerals?
In the distance, he could almost hear the Hokage's speech, lemon juice to an open wound.
There was a nagging feeling inside Kakashi, a strange pulling sensation.
He could understand Sasuke, but why would Orochimaru want Naruto and Sakura's bodies? It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense.
He shook his head and put a hand on his temple.
"Not going?"
Kakashi looked directly to his left at Jiraiya. The tall man rested easily against a tree.
"You either?"
Jiraiya sighed and looked at the ground.
"Nah, it seems too unreal. I went down there earlier, but it seemed so pointless. So I left." Jiraiya looked into the sickly sky. "I heard you never found their bodies."
"Yeah." Kakashi stiffened and began to walk be toward the village. "Jiraiya, tell Hokage-sama that I'm leaving."
"Huh?" Jiraiya blinked at the man's back.
"I'm going to go find them and bring them back."
"Be reasonable, Kakashi. They've probably decayed by now, and even with the slight possibility that they are alive, the world is so vast. You're going on nothing."
"I'll never know unless I try."
"Kakashi, I miss them too but-"
"Jiraiya!" The solid, stern voice pierced the ashen breeze. The muscles behind Kakashi's vest flexed. "I can't do nothing; I can't sit here while they could still be out there somewhere! Those kids, they weren't just my prized students; they were like family to me. I need to know what happened to them."
Kakashi hunched and sagged. He turned his head to look at Jiraiya, his visible eye draped in aguish.
"Jiraiya, without this, I have nothing to live for."
-
Iruka gazed at the three coffins before him, seeing and not seeing them. Naruto's last words echoed in his mind.
"See you later, Iruka-sensei."
He wanted to cry. He wanted to scream and rip his hair out and beg Naruto to come back, please, come back, don't leave me all alone, but he just stood in the chill wind staring at the heavy black boxes, adorned with dead flowers as Godaime sang a sorrowful speech.
He felt empty, drained of life itself. His soul receded into a gaping chasm in his chest that yawned and buckled every time he took a breath.
Clinging to his leg, Konohamaru buried his face into his teacher's chuunin standard pants, sobbing hysterically. Iruka wanted to comfort the boy, tell him everything would be okay, but, in all honesty, Iruka had trouble believing it himself. The other students looked equally miserable; following down the line of Udon, Moegi, and Inari, the last of which looked oddly chipper.
Team 7's closer friends and rivals looked on from behind the younger generations. Hinata cried silently into Kiba's jacket; he patted her head but could think of nothing worth saying. Beside them, Shino stood still as a rock. He hadn't told them that these coffins carried no bodies, only their clothes. He doubted it would make Hinata feel better or pick Lee, at Shino's his left, off the pavement where he sat huddled in a heap as Tenten tried desperately to soothe him.
"Where's Shikamaru?" Temari asked Shino from the other side of Gai's students. The Sand Siblings stood like Shino, expressionless pillars against the frigid breeze.
"He, Choji, and Ino-"
A loud smack resounded throughout the dead air. The attentive team members craned above the rows of heads to see what happened. The older chuunin and jounin behind them did the same, muttering with exclamation. Apparently, Inari's smile was too bright for the distraught Konohamaru. The former lay disheveled upon the ground, the latter standing over him in disgust, fist raised.
"Konohamaru!" Moegi, Udon and a few other classmates jumped forward to restrain him. Iruka looked sadly at them, but felt too drained of life and spirit to care. Those two were always fighting anyway.
"You stupid idiot!" Konohamaru bellowed, "Why are you so happy?! Naruto-nichan's dead, don't you get it?! Dead! He's never coming back! Don't you understand that!?"
"'Idiot'?!" Inari retaliated, "You're the one that doesn't understand!"
"What the hell are you talking about?!"
"Iruka, please restrain you're students." Godaime said coldly from her podium.
"It would be a bring shame to Naruto-nichan's spirit if I cried!"
Everyone was listening now.
"What?" Konohamaru blared.
Inari looked at the ground.
"When I met Naurto, I was still crying over my father's death. All I did was cry. But that was stupid. Naruto-nichan was in pain a lot too, but he never cried! He never gave in! He was a strong man and a brave ninja! He told me not to cry and it would be like spitting on his grave if I did!" Inari softened a little.
"Besides, if he could see you right now, like this, he'd probably go..." Inari put on a Naruto-ish face. "'What the hell are you crying for, stupid!? You go ahead and cry forever, you idiot! You little sissy!'"
Konohamaru blink and sniffled before wiping his eyes.
"Oh yeah! Well, I can honor Naruto better than you!"
"No way!"
Iruka smiled spitefully as he watched the two argue. His soul began to seep back into his body.
Thank you, Inari-chan.
-
Atop the Hokage memorial, two billowing black capes watched the two boys argue in silence.
"What wrong, Itachi?" Kisame muttered through slick, pale lips to his companion. "Sad?"
Itachi continued to stared nonchalantly down at the coffins, his passive Sharigan eyes displayed nothing.
"Let's go and report this to the boss." He said, turning away from the dark abyss. "Our target is dead."
Kisame chuckled.
"Right."
-
Naruto sneezed three times.
"Are you okay, Naruto?" Sakura put a warm hand against his forehead. "Are you getting sick?"
"N-no, I'm fine." He blushed.
"Are you sure? You look red."
"I'm fine!" Naruto flailed about in embarrassment and nearly stepped on someone's foot.
"Someone's probably talking about you behind your back." Sasuke said as they guided themselves through the traffic of the market place.
Naruto threw off the comment and glared at the sky.
"Why the hell do they call this place 'The Hidden Mist Village'?" he complained as he shielded his eyes from the blinding sun.
Days earlier...
They stood on the dock, waving as Tazuna's boat sank away into the distance.
"So, you kids want to be ninja?" Hiroshi asked as he smiled over the water.
"Um... Yeah." Naruto scratched his head and enforced the lie.
"Then you guys should head over to the Hidden Mist Village. Their Ninja-Fest is going on right now and, supposedly, they have an excellent freelance bureau."
"Alright!"
And what Ninja-Fest it was. The streets were blanketed inch by inch with shops and street vendors. Everything a ninja could ever want was smashed somewhere in these streets.
"Here we go." Sakura squinted up at a street sign. "'Outdoor Goods 'n' Stuff'"
"Why are we here again?" Naruto whined as they walked inside. "Can't we get something more interesting, like ramen?"
"Naruto, nothing but a hundred bowls of Ramen isn't going to do much for us."
"Hey, don't underestimate the ramen!"
"May I help you?" A young, snooty-looking man came up to them.
"Yes, we're looking sleeping bags and backpacks."
"Ahhhh..." the man whispered sleazily. "Then you've come to the right place."
He led them through the store like a ballerina.
"And this is our most durable sleeper. Rolls up to the size of a loaf of bread. Withstands below freezing temperatures."
"It's perfect!" Sakura exclaimed, "but it's a little expensive." She shot the salesman a puppy dog pout.
"Ma'am, this item has been marked down." He never lost his sleazy grin.
Crap, this guy's a seasoned professional.
"Stand aside, Sakura-chan." Naruto cracked his knuckles. "Sasuke, hold your nose."
"Sexy no Justu!"
The heavenly figure of the naked pony-tailed goddess emerged from a cloud of smoke. The salesman's jaw plummeted and he was thrown back in a twister of nose bleeding.
"So, what do you say, Salesman-sama?" Naruto whispered is a husky voice.
"N-ninety percent off!"
A few minutes later, the trio walked out with three backpacks and three sleeping bags.
"Naruto," Sakura muttered. "Normally, I would hit you."
"Hehehe..." Naruto laughed evilly as he shot a glance at Sasuke. The other boy hid his face behind their purchases.
"Don't get blood on those, Nose Bleed." Naruto taunted.
"Sh-shut up!"
"Next is new clothes!" Sakura announced as the stopped in front of a thrift store.
"Awww..." Naruto sighed.
"Hey, we're working on a budget!"
The three entered the grimy store and began searching through the shelves. It was a short trip; they traded in their stolen Sound stuff for (relatively) new things.
"Okay." Sakura lay down some rules in her loose white, long sleeved mesh shirt over a red halter and denim shorts. "I've split the rest of the money into three equal portions. With this, you guys need to buy weapons. Sasuke, go with Naruto and make sure he comes back with something other than a hundred bowls of ramen."
Naruto pouted, folding his arms above a baggy, black-lined, yellow shirt over a long-sleeved, black mesh. The shirt fit well with the black cargo shorts he wore.
"What about you?" Sasuke wondered. His short-sleeved black mesh shirt was hidden under a blue vest complete with Sasuke's signature high, open neck. He completed the look with long, indigo cargos.
"Weapons? I don't need no stinking weapons." Sakura flexed her muscles. "I'm going to get medical supplies. We'll meet at the Freelance Ninja Bureau in an hour. Okay?"
The other two nodded and disappeared.
-
An hour later, the three converged at the meeting spot.
"Well, how'd it go?" Sakura asked.
"Not bad," Sasuke said, "we just got basic stuff."
"But we got you a present!" Naruto grinned
"Eh?" They handed her a dagger attached to holster. The sheath was her signature red and when she opened it, she was nearly blinded by the stainless steel.
"'I don't need weapons' my ass." Sasuke mumbled.
"Yeah, and look." Naruto pointed to his side, where a yellow copy of her dagger dangled from his waist, and then at Sasuke who also had one in blue. "Now we all have one. Isn't that cool!?"
"You guys!" Sakura took no time in glomping them both. The three fell over into a heap on the pavement.
"Sakura-, Can't- breathe-"Sasuke wheezed.
"Oh, sorry." She let them go and they both gasped for air like dying fish.
"So, what did you get?" Sasuke rubbed his throat as he and Naruto peeled themselves off the pavement. Sakura latched the dagger around her wast.
"Oh just the usual stuff; Senbon (acupuncture needles), ointment, Soldier pills, etc." She reached into a bag. "But I also found these!" She pulled out a book and scroll.
"'Practical Ninjutsu' and 'Cooking Outdoors'?" Naruto read quizzically.
"Yup," Sakura boasted. "No more half raw fish!" She laughed maniacally.
"And this one," She held up the scroll, "is really cool. It has things like mending fabric no jutsu."
Sasuke and Naruto stared at her blankly, unamused.
"Why do I even bother?" Sakura stuffed the books into her backpack. "Let's just get us a client."
Together the three stepped into the Freelance Bureau.
Author's Notes: Yay! Chapter 6! Crazy contrast huh? From a funeral to a festival. And how about Kakashi? (yes, that cheesey part.) Did you honestly think he'd just sit around? Bwahahaha! And don't worry, it's not the end for Itachi and pals either.
To answer some questions, that haven't been already answered: Yes, Orochimaru is still alive... unfortunatly. He's probably moping around somewhere deep in Sound country, missing Sasuke's body (freak). Kabuto's still alive too, but they don't have active role anywhere in the plot yet, so whether or not they make an appearance is really TBA. I have plans for most everyone else though. Bwahahaha!
Next Chapter! A crazy new mission! Rescue the Princess from who?