Bygone Days
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Notes: I apologize if any years don't really match, or misspellings of the Japanese words I use.
Chapter One: Mission CompleteHis footsteps barely made any sound, despite the fact that at this speed he should've at least rustled some leaves. No, this shinobi was known for his stealth, and he wasn't going to alert his target by such a stupid mistake like rustling leaves. His breath came out in sharp pants, and it condensed against his face, since his mask didn't let the moisture escape. His target wasn't visible yet, but he could smell him- he was near.
Hatake Kakashi of the ANBU streaked forward, his speed rising steadily as he tore through the woods. His right arm stretched out, and blue light began to crackle from his hand. Chakra continued to build, and already the telltale sounds of what sounded like a thousand birds was audible. Would his target notice? Maybe, maybe not, but it would still be too late. Kakashi's Chidori had yet to fail him.
For a moment, he wondered whether he was taking too great a risk; should he have done the Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu? The summoned ninja dogs would have made sure that the target did not escape. Too late now, anyways, there was no point in going on about it.
Finally, a small-looking man appeared in his field of vision, and he saw the missing-nin look up at him in disbelief. No doubt thought that he would at least have been able to get out the Fire Country's borders, but the previously injured man could not possibly be faster than the assigned ANBU squad. The former Hidden Leaf Village ninja made no move to try to evade Kakashi's attack, but his eyes did widen in what seemed more like surprise then fear.
"W-white Fang?" the missing-nin whispered uncertainly.
Kakashi's concentration faltered momentarily. Always by the hair... His silver-coloured hair was just way too identifiable. Perhaps it would even lead to his demise eventually. However, the mention of his father brought up old pains, and he closed his right eye, though his Sharingan left eye remained open. Just kill the man… forget anything else. Focus on the mission, he told himself.
Now nearly face-to-face, he made eye contact with the man for a second. Right before the electric-like chakra burst through the man's chest, Kakashi muttered to the ninja, "I am not White Fang." The Konoha ninja stood still for a few minutes, staring at the now lifeless body, his arm fully stretched out and coming out the man's back. Nevertheless, he soon compiled himself again and pulled back his arm, and watched the ninja fall at a heap at the Jounin's feet.
There was activity all of a sudden around him, and the three other ANBU members of his squad arrived, each with their own mask covering their face. The silver-haired ninja stepped back, his part of the job done, and let the others do their work: getting rid of the body completely as to protect any secrets that were being harboured in the body. He watched intensely with one eye, and he closed his Sharingan eye absently, to conserve chakra.
Kakashi felt a hand on his shoulder, and he twisted his head slightly to confirm to whom the hand belonged. As he suspected, it was Haya. For some reason, the woman tended to look at him as a child, yet she did not treat him as one. It was more like she merely thought that joining the ANBU wasn't the best choice a thirteen-year-old could make. She looked down on him with unnecessary sympathy.
"Good job, Kakashi. I noticed that you paused for a moment, which could've have been fatal had it been a high-level ninja, but considering this is your third assignment, I think we can let it pass," Kenji, the squad captain, said with a chuckle.
The young ninja didn't answer. He didn't like being spoken to in such a condescending manner. He, who made it to Chuunin level at age six, and Jounin at age thirteen, didn't need to be congratulated for every successful mission he did. He would begin to regret joining the ANBU if they kept treating him like that. Crossing his arms, he noticed that they had finished with destroying the missing-nin's body, but he also realized that Kenji was suddenly looking around strangely.
"Kakashi, where are your Ninken?"
Ah, of course he had to bring that up. Besides this mission, he had always used them, even when he was just a Jounin in the past year. Of course, he only had two dogs at the moment, but he was in the process of training more of them. He looked over to Kenji, and narrowed his eyes, and fortunately, because of the dog-like facemask, the ANBU captain could not see his defiance.
"I didn't really see need for them. The target wasn't going to escape."
The final member of their squad, Mouse, as Kakashi called him because of his mask and small size, shot to his feet from his kneeling position and turned to the teenager. He hadn't yet introduced himself properly to Kakashi, and the other squad members seemed to have taken to calling him Mouse too, so Kakashi had no idea who he really was, despite the fact he had seen his face a few times.
Looking at the young ANBU member, he tore off his mask, the white and red mask held tightly in his left hand. His dark eyes looked angry, and he hissed at Kakashi, "The target wasn't going to escape? How do you know that? That Sharingan of yours doesn't tell you what they're capable of!"
The silver-haired ninja's face flared, and his stance straightened, snapping back at him, "Even if he did escape, I would still have got him. He had a broken leg, with no doubt a broken spirit. I don't even know why this was ranked S-Class."
All of a sudden, a hand reached out to Kakashi's face, and Mouse grabbed his mask, throwing it hard to the ground, a tiny crack appeared on the very edge. The slim ninja stared at him angrily, and he hollered at him, "With this attitude of yours, you're going to get killed in the ANBU! We have no space for shinobi that think they will always succeed, no space for those that do a team's mission on their own!"
Kakashi's face coloured again, though the dark mask that covered the lower half of his face pretty much hid it. He was told to go ahead and assassinate the target with Chidori; he hadn't done the team's mission on his own against orders. He may not be as tied to the rules as he was before Obito's … death, taking heed to what he had told him, and what his sensei had too, but he never disobeyed them straight out either.
So, instead of arguing with the experienced ANBU, he simply turned his back on them, and began his run back to the village. Their mission was done, and he'd meet up with his squad later, once he had collected his thoughts. They still had to report the success of their mission to the Hokage, and he would rather not be there at the time. Even as he ran through the woods, he didn't really know where he was heading, not until he was right at the village.
Slowing down, he made his way to the now-familiar memorial stone- the stone that had inscribed on it the name of Uchiha Obito. He stared at the glossy surface, reading over the names, as he had done so many times before. Because of me, you're not here, Obito. If only he had gone with him in the first place, it wouldn't have happened. I promised to protect Rin, but she doesn't really talk much to me anymore…
Closing both of his eyes, he tried to swallow the lump at this throat, and he crouched down to face the stone at its height. Rule #25: Shinobi never cry. Opening his mismatched eyes once again, an intense flame seemed to grow in them. He would show them all: Kenji, Mouse, Haya, and anyone else that didn't believe in him. Standing up, he continued to stare at the memorial, more specifically, Obito's carved name.
Obito had taught him much, and Kakashi wasn't going to forget it.
"Kakashi?"
The young Konoha ninja started, his hand grabbing for a kunai and pulling it, twisting to face the voice as he did so. However, as soon as he saw who it was, he relaxed, but then immediately tensed up once again. The ninja in front of him was no other then Rin.
"I caught you off-guard? Are you getting lazy in your old age, Kakashi?" she said, smiling timidly.
"I was distracted, that's all," he said, as he sheathed the kunai that was in his hand, "So, um, what-" he stopped in mid-sentence, as he finally noticed that the girl had flowers in her hand, no doubt for the memorial he was standing in front. He stepped aside, and crossed his arms, watching her carefully.
"For Obito," she whispered, as she stepped forward to place the flowers at the base of the stone, before turning to look at Kakashi, to look at the Sharingan eye she herself had implanted. Obito's Sharingan eye… She noticed that it still only had two of the marks, not the three of a developed Sharingan. She decided not to bring it up.
Dropping her gaze from his eyes, she finally noticed that he was in ANBU uniform, and if she had heard right, he probably just got back from an assignment. Where was his mask? Rin had noticed that ANBU members tended to keep their masks on until the mission was complete, including the reporting to the Yondaime.
"Where's your ANBU mask?…"
Kakashi just blinked stupidly at her, as if he had no idea what she was talking about. Reaching up to his face, and only touching the dark cloth of his facemask, he cursed under his breath. After Mouse tore it off him, he never retrieved it… that was dangerous and stupid of him. One of the squad members almost certainly picked it up, and he could only hope it was Haya, for she was the only one that would not give him a lecture of a sort.
His eyes narrowing, he turned away from her, and jumped away, toward the Hokage's office where his squad was probably waiting. Kakashi tried not to think about Rin, and focused on his current predicament.
TO BE CONTIUNED