Chapter 3-2: A Hokage in Action
The rays of the morning sun glared brightly in his eyes, frustrating him heavily. Arashi had hoped that by now the mission he had prepared would have started long ago. Instead, he stood on top of a gate on a small bridge, watching the sun rise slowly from the horizon…and pondering what new test to create. Looking down at the 3 young genin candidates before him, he couldn't help but be a little perturbed. Two of them had, after all, just chosen to waste an hour or so of his time.
Arashi looked down at them, the frustration apparent on his face. In the past few days, he had tried his best to put on his angry face to keep the boys in line. Now, however, there was no need for an artificial mask...he felt the frustration himself. "Of all the tests I came up with, capture the flag by cover of darkness was the most to your advantage...but night is over now." He looked with surprise at the young girl of the group, Kaira, who turned to her two colleagues with a fiercely frightening look.
Obito looked to the girl staring him down, and immediately felt his stomach get queasy. That look...it's like she's wanting me to die...
Arashi leaped down from the gate and landed lightly on the bridge, his anger slowly being replaced with a thoughtful look. "Now then…what shall we do instead…" He pondered for a moment, then smiled lightly. "Perfect idea." With a smirk, he looked to the trio of young genin…the young, gray-haired Kakashi…the normally-cheerful Kaira…the playful Obito. "Give me your forehead protectors. Now."
The look of surprise and confusion on their faces suggested he'd gotten their attention fully now. "Since you all are only attempting to prove your worthiness for genin, it doesn't make sense for you to have these. Give them back." Slowly and reluctantly, each of them reached up, and took off their protectors--the only artifact they had that denoted that they were real shinobi and not just trainees. Arashi took each of theirs, taking a careful look into their eyes as he did. Obito seemed a bit annoyed (and voiced his annoyance loudly), but Kakashi and Kaira were angry enough to kill. Good, thought Arashi. That's where I need all of them to be.
Deliberately slow, the young hokage took one of the forehead protectors--Kaira's, he would soon discover--and tied it tightly beneath his left knee. Without any response to Kaira's curious questions, he continued; Arashi tied Obito's protector around his right knee. With a smirk, he grabbed the last protector and wrapped it around his left arm. Kakashi looked up at Arashi curiously as the man spoke. "Your new mission…is to prove yourselves. In order to pass this test, you have to get the protectors back." Everyone's eyes immediately focused on their own protector, and Arashi smirked a bit. Just as I thought. Let's see how much I can mess with their minds…
Arashi reached behind his own head. "I'll even throw in an interesting bonus." Once the three youths turned their heads upward to the man, he proceeded to untie the knot in his own forehead protector. "There's 4 protectors you can get…I'm throwing my own in the mix." As he tied his protector around his right arm, he chuckled and continued. "But be warned…no one's EVER gotten this one before." Kakashi's annoyed expression from earlier slowly changed into a look of interest, then one of extreme focus and intensity. Arashi shot him a quick glance and noticed the boy's response to the challenge. Quite amusing…as expected he's already got his heart set on that one.
As nonchalantly as he could, Arashi lightly stretched his arms above his head, yawning. As he stretched, he watched the looks on his students' faces get a bit more focused. After a moment, he looked to them once more. "If you guys pass, we'll go get some food together. Is everyone ready?" The nods of three small heads were the only sign of acknowledgement. "Fine then…this mission begins…NOW!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------Much like the rest of her comrades, Kaira quickly bolted into the trees of the forest at Arashi's signal, moving as quickly as she could, and finding a place to hide. Deep within the branches, she checked her surroundings, getting a good view of the area. A moment later, she turned forward to see what her instructor was doing.
It took everything in her power to not yell in surprise when she saw Arashi…eyes closed (apparently he didn't want to see where they'd gone), and holding something in both his hands that she didn't quite recognize. She squinted a bit, and finally recognized it….
A sandwich?!!?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Arashi took a moment to open up the foil paper around his breakfast…there was nothing like a well-seasoned chicken salad sandwich in the morning…and this would be no exception. While casually eating his food, he opened his eyes and took a look around. The first test of a ninja's skills is in his ability to hide himself. I haven't spotted anyone yet…Arashi smiled and took his time, silently eating in the middle of the field, listening carefully for any noise.
----------------------------------------------------------------------Within the trees behind Arashi, a gray-haired boy kneeled silently and cautiously. No way. There's got to be some trick to this. He wouldn't just take a lunch break right at the beginning…would he? Kakashi shifted just a bit, locking himself into position immediately afterwards. Gotta be a trap. I'm not going to chance it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------Arashi belched. Good. As expected, none of them were bold enough to try anything while I was eating. Smiling, he spoke up, in no particular direction. "Too bad you guys didn't have any guts…I was too hungry to wait to put up a defense of any sort." Hearing a slight gasp not too far away, he smirked a bit more. Well…that provoked a response out of someone…let's see what Nara's favorite skill will result in over here…Arashi quickly extended his index and middle finger on either hand, crossing them…
----------------------------------------------------------------------Kaira gasped lightly as she realized she might have missed her chance, then realized what she might have just done was more important. Darn it…Shutting her eyes, she let loose a silent prayer…please…don't hear that…
----------------------------------------------------------------------How cute…she thinks closing her eyes so she can't see herself means I won't see her? Hehe…let the games begin…
----------------------------------------------------------------------Kaira braced herself for an attack and, sensing no movement, hesitantly opened her eyes. Memory quickly urged her eyes to glance toward Arashi…or at least where he had been. Where…I didn't sense any movement at all…but I haven't been attacked yet…the young girl slowly rose to her feet. Maybe he didn't hear me after all!
"Kaira."
Behind! Shutting her eyes in terror, her reflexes took control of her body as she quickly turned and threw a full-force roundhouse kick with her left leg…and began to throw punches before her balance was completely set.
Luckily for her, her blind assault had caught Arashi off-guard. His arms folded at his waist, he was waiting for her to slowly turn-around…awaiting the fear-ridden look of suddenly realizing your instructor is faster than your ears. Instead, a fierce roundhouse kick was barreling towards him; he instinctively shrugged it off with his left arm, but the punches that came after caught him dead in his gut. He fought the urge to double over as the girl's leg hit the ground wrong and she lost her balance.
Not taking advantage of her lack of balance, he instead took a quick leap back to access the damage her gut punches had done. Crap. I underestimated her. He almost got lost in thought before noticing her left palm forcefully hit the ground and stop her fall, and watching her vault herself forward toward him…the look on her face still says fear, but her body's saying fight…
This Hokage would not be fooled twice. Quickly he dragged his right foot back and turned slightly sideways, anticipating the move a warrior acting on instinct would probably go for. As she charged in boldly, he raised his arms, preparing to catch her inevitable punch. Sorry girl…I'll admit you've got guts…but you're a bit too straightforward...
He was quite surprised when the girl's face turned with a smirk, and she leaned backwards in mid leap, gliding beneath his outstretched hands, and sliding directly between his legs. A little too slowly, Arashi realized what had just happened and prepared to roll to the side, but by that point the yell of an eminent attack could already be heard, as Kaira threw yet another fierce roundhouse, hitting her instructor directly on his right hip.
He stopped trying to recover as that foot hit him, but suddenly he realized it hadn't hit him the way he figured. What is she doing? With a quick move, he turned around just in time to see…Kaira had used her right leg's kick to balance herself, pushing off of his hip and continuing her spin motion. Lifting into the air from there, she had performed a full rotation, and now her left foot was quickly angling itself for a blow from above. Arashi found that the girl had made quite an impression on him…as her foot landed on the top of his head, and his body disappeared in a massive explosion of smoke.
The force of the explosion was enough to send the light femme airborne once more, and she struggled in the air to gain her bearings…eventually landing on her feet with moderate control. Still, her body's backward momentum dragged her feet along the ground until a tree behind her stopped her movement. Immediately, she heard the sound of a voice behind her.
"Not bad. You have definitely been taught some interesting taijutsu. But your advantage is done."
Her eyes widened. That voice…it's coming from the other side of the tree. Darn! You mean to tell me I did all that and it wasn't even really him?!
Arashi cracked his knuckles. Quite impressive for a girl who didn't seem to trust herself a while ago. But I won't underestimate you twice. Had anyone seen the look on his face, they would have seen determination personified. Not even a little bit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------Obito looked onward from a particularly tall tree, slowly making his way down closer to the ground to be prepared for a quick attack if he saw an opening. He watched Kaira's face as the look of fear crossed her again. She's pretty good, but no match for him like this…I can see it in her eyes. What the hell's she acting so afraid of? It was then that Arashi's yell of attack was heard. With freakish speed, what seemed to be a blade came out of nowhere, and an earthshaking impact was heard. A wide-eyed Kaira's facial expression froze in terror as the tree she had been hiding behind was hit by something….and broke. It seemed to happen in slow motion…the part of the tree base from right above her head on up tore away from the part she was resting on, and jetted into the air. Obito looked on in amazement, watching the massive piece of wood flip into the air…true the tree was only as thick as a normal man around, but that was no ordinary weapon there…
And then he saw it. The same look of fear momentarily crossed Obito's face…as he finally noticed that it was not a weapon that had done it. Kaira looked up in fear as she saw the forehead protector above her head…the one on the right elbow…of Arashi. The voice she had heard before returned once again, yet this time it sounded much more authoritative. "It will take much more than taijutsu…to defeat me."
A moment later, the ground shook under the force of the tree hitting the ground. Obito felt the sweat drag down the side of his cheek. What the…this guy is insane…
----------------------------------------------------------------------Kakashi sat in his tree silently, not budging in any way. This guy…I guess he isn't the Hokage for nothing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------Arashi let his extended arm dangle there for a few moments before retracting it to his side and turning towards the remainder of the destroyed tree. "Well, Kaira, you just going to sit there? Is that all you've got, 'cuz if so, you'd better quit."
Hearing a direct call out, Kaira regained control of her muscles. Arashi took a step back with his left foot just in time as she backflipped herself onto the top of the newly-created (and quite jagged) tree stump. Many kicks were thrown from that precarious position, and Arashi sighed as he dodged them. Darn…that IS all she has. She feinted a kick and quickly leapt forward, throwing an off-balance punch towards his face. Arashi quickly turned his left heel and turned to the side, darting his head away from her and letting her glide past. Yet just as he prepared to refocus his eyes on her, he heard a sound in the distance in front of him. Almost instantaneously, two kunai came flying towards his face. Another quick sidestep.
Another battle cry was heard and suddenly Obito came flying directly at Arashi, a look of intensity and a fully-cocked fist--clutching a kunai for all it was worth--declaring his intent. You dare to come at me from the front? Arashi's eyes widened when he saw how the boy was holding the kunai. That's one time I could have killed you. Arashi got ready to counter…
----------------------------------------------------------------------Kakashi looked onward and noticed when Obito took off. Hmm… so it's 2 on one…with those two…
----------------------------------------------------------------------Arashi quickly reached out with his left hand and grabbed the boy's weapon hand (his left). Squeezing his wrist tightly, he twisted and the boy's grip on the weapon was lost. With a turn to the side and a strong tilt of the hips, he tossed the boy over his shoulder, slamming him to the ground, yet quickly letting go of his hands for some reason.
Obito hit the ground with a gasp and quickly looked up, preparing himself to evade whatever Arashi would do while he was down there…but a glance at his sensei's face made him wonder if something unanticipated had happened.
----------------------------------------------------------------------Arashi smiled, looking onward at the kids…Kaira had recovered and was dashing in to attack once again, but the last couple of events had her quite surprised. Arashi looked onward towards where he once had been, standing over Obito's prone form, with six large shruiken sticking from his back. Kakashi had finally decided to attack…and was currently running in to follow up as the blood sprayed into the air. Obito…that's twice I could have killed you…or let Kakashi do it. With a sigh, Arashi began to gather his chakra. That kid has no conscience…friend or foe…
----------------------------------------------------------------------Kakashi dashed in, making no effort to keep himself hidden considering he'd already whacked his target. He finally showed an opening…the others did what I needed them to do to pass. Suddenly, as he had entered the area, a puff of smoke occurred, and the mighty sensei he was attacking suddenly turned into a piece of the tree from earlier, and fell on its end right next to Obito's face.
Kakashi, too late to change his momentum, leaped over the piece of wood in frustration. Obito stared at the wood for a moment. Kawarimi? Hearing another yell of intensity, Obito turned his head back up, just in time to see Kakashi clear his body…and just in time to see him go flying out of control back the other way. Turning his body away from the tree, he saw Kaira, palm outstretched and looking up at the airborne Kakashi...with a look of apology on her face. Aww crap…now you've done it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------Kaira, not paying enough attention at that moment, had caught Kakashi across the face in midair with a fierce open palm strike. Arashi ignored the urge to laugh, and instead focused on the more serious point of the issue as he began to form hand seals. That was friendly fire…and a lot of it. That can't happen again. Channeling his chakra into his hands, he quickly began the next jutsu…
----------------------------------------------------------------------Kakashi didn't take the time to chastise Kaira once he landed. Even though she came to his side to check and make sure she didn't hurt him, he angrily tossed her to the ground and got back up to his feet. "Where is he?"
Obito searched around the area too. "Don't know…good time to use kawarimi there…" Kaira was slow to get up, but once she did, she could hear the voice as well as they could.
"Doton! Yama Kansei!" (A/N : Mountain trap) Suddenly, the ground around them quaked violently, tossing Kaira back to the ground, and causing Obito to stumble and struggle for balance.
"Crap!" Kakashi yelled, and attempted to get out of the area as quickly as he could, but it was too late. A dark circle of mud appeared around the three of them, and suddenly a giant circular wall of rock burst out of the ground…the titanic wall had to reach 30 feet into the air at least. "Darn it…"
----------------------------------------------------------------------Arashi smiled, lightly pulling his hands out of the ground. That aught to keep them busy for a while…and let them discuss the friendly fire a bit perhaps too. Hopefully they'll realize the premise behind this training soon.
For the second time that day, he cracked his knuckles. Needless to say when they DO get out again, I won't be able to pull the same tricks anymore. It's time for the real fun…
----------------------------------------------------------------------Obito jogged and grabbed a rock from the wall, taking a step on another and attempting to climb up. Yet he was having too much trouble keeping his footing… "These rocks are too darn slippery and jagged! What the heck are we supposed to do?"
Kaira spoke up for the first time in a while. "I think it's obvious…we're supposed to work as a team!" She paused for a moment, and turned to Kakashi. "Look…I'm sorry about earlier." She reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder.
The young 5 year old paused for a moment, then turned back towards her with a curious look in his eye. Kaira blinked…she couldn't pin the look (what with not seeing the bottom half of his face), but she could feel the frustration coming from him. He made direct eye contact with her, his anger becoming more apparent as he spoke. "Stay out of my way."
Obito watched as both of them looked silently at each other, Kakashi stoicly staring, Kaira beginning to get flustered. Suddnely, Kaira took a step back and let go of him. Geez…kid thinks he runs the show…he slid his goggles back a bit further and smirked a bit. "Time to be a calm leader and show them who's boss." Little did he know he said that aloud, but only Kaira heard him. He raised his voice a bit further. "Guys calm down…nothing to fight over…"
By the time he finished that phrase, he felt a rock hit the back of his neck. "Eh?" Looking up, he was quite surprised to see a boy dressed in black, vaulting his body up the side of the circular wall by kicking off of it and up over and over again… (A/N : Think Mega Man X climbing walls by jumping from one wall to the other, gaining a bit each time) "HEY! Don't leave us!"
Kakashi ignored them both as he cleared the wall in 20 seconds flat, vaulting himself over its side and onto the ground and bending his right knee to lessen the impact. Slowly, he tilted his head up from staring at his feet and turned to face his instructor.
----------------------------------------------------------------------Obito punched the wall in frustration. "Errr….I'll kill that kid! No respect for his team!" He unleashed his rage on the wall as Kaira watched. A sweatdrop rolled down the side of her face. This is the kid who thinks he's going to lead us?
----------------------------------------------------------------------Arashi considered pulling out another sandwich, knowing that these 3 actually attempting to talk out their issues with one another might take a while. Still…it's necessary if they're going to be effective. He also knew there was another possibility of outcome, but he hoped that wouldn't happen. That, he figured, would probably mean they'd fail.
Suddenly, he heard a frustrated yell and the light impact of feet landing on grass. Mmm? Someone made it over. Arashi dropped down into his fighting stance and extended his right hand, inviting the warrior to attack, as he slowly lifted his eyes and faced off with the grey-haired kid.
With a sigh, he recognized him, and knew the outcome. "Well…it would be you, wouldn't it…" Kakashi just stared at him, his empty gaze revealing no emotion. One word was all he said.
"You…"
So what do you think? I know some of you are probably thinking..."Why'd you make Kakashi such a buttmunch of a little kid?" Don't you think a 5 year old doing stuff 12 year olds do would be a bit cocky? I don't think he was just naturally so caring about friends and such...I suspect that came with time. As such, he is--for the moment--a cocky and lonely kid. The other part to being more advanced than your age group...is that you tend not to make friends at any age...your own age feels inferior to you and won't befriend you, and the ones you work with will act superior.
Chapter 3 is inevitably going to cross 10,000 words...no matter what I do it comes out way long. I mean...this fight must be cool, and I have every intention of doing what it takes to make it so. Even if that means I have to split it up so people will actually read it.
I want to apologize to and thank everyone who waited the couple of months or so it's taken for me to get back to this. I just had perhaps the worst semester of my life (considering it's my 3rd year in college that's a long time), and I had to focus the last few months on making sure it didn't become the LAST semester of my college career. Things came out well, however, and I'm working for the summer, so I'll have a lot more time to work on completing these stories.
Any reviews are welcome, but don't feel required to. I like this story enough that I won't threaten to stop or any crap like that. But if you do really like it, it would encourage me to know that!