WHAAAAAT? ANOTHER CHAPTER SO SOON!? Hehe I'm back a little early this time folks. This is definitely one of my longest chapters yet, so I hope the quality holds up.
IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR READERS
Two things. First, there is an authors note at the end of this chapter, that you should definitely read through because it affects the future of this story.
Second, I just want to reiterate that as of now the pairings for Kakashi and Naruto are still undecided. Any pairings currently being assumed are not cannon, but hold onto your hopes readers cause who knows, your favorite ship just might set sail. Also Naruto's pairing won't be revealed until he's already an established ninja. Boy is gonna have is priorities correct. Chakra before chicks!
"I don't care Shizune, we are leaving." An irate and slightly tipsy Tsunade exclaimed as she sealed away her few belongings with the practiced ease only earned through many a last minute departure.
"But Tsunade-Sama, his son needs your help." an equally irate Shizune countered while waving around a little black copy of the bingo book. The bingo book was basically an international Hit list. Different countries put bounties or warnings on the heads of the continents most famous (i.e. Dangerous) shinobi on the planet. The small book was currently open to the page of a masked cycloptic jounin from Konoha. Shizune had pulled out the book as soon as she returned to the hotel to confirm her suspicions and was now certain that either he had a twin or that had been Kakashi Hatake.
"He was probably lying, he's a shinobi, they do that." she fired back once again waving away her protege's concerns.
"You didn't see him Master, when he mentioned his son it was different. He was different, more.." she paused searching for the right word.
"Desperate." a masculine voice drawled out from the window finishing a startled Shizune's sentence.
Kakashi was forced to perform a sealless replacement jutsu with the desk lamp to avoid a volley of senbon. It was then that he saw the purple liquid dripping off the tip of the aforementioned projectiles. Shizune's face was a mix of embarrassment at almost poisoning a fellow leaf shinobi, and wariness of the intruder.
"Poisoned senbon, makes sense considering the launcher I felt underneath her kimono sleeve." his thought was cut off when he had to perform another Replacement to avoid a haymaker from the slug sannin that could have literally decapitated him.
He now found himself in place of the bingo book Shizune had dropped behind her when he revealed himself.
Before she even realized he was there Kakashi had the arm with the senbon launcher twisted behind her back and the other held across her chest by his remaining arm effectively putting Shizune between Tsunade and his easily breakable body.
"Now wait, I'm not here to fight-" he cut himself off as he had to precisely shift his legs to avoid the hidden senbon now sticking out from the heel of Shizune's sandal.
He was then forced to push the brown haired woman away in order to free himself up to avoid a devastating axe kick from a now enraged Tsunade.
Before Kakashi could offer another cease fire the building gave a massive groan as cracks began to radiate from where Tsunade's kick landed.
Tsunade glanced down as she felt her foundation shift. "Aww fu-" anything else the Sannin would have said was cut off as the entire floor gave way, sending all occupants crashing down to the level below.
Dust and debri filled the air as a luckily unharmed Shizune gently placed a now very dizzy Tonton behind what she assumed were the broken remains of her bed from the night before.
"Stay here buddy, I'll come get you when it's over", as soon as the words had left her mouth she turned her attention back to the center of the room where The Copy Ninja was, in her personal opinion, having far too easy of a time avoiding her master's blows.
As she watched them waiting for an opening to present itself she couldn't help but admire Kakashi's fighting style. Despite his known affiliation with summoning dogs he moved with an almost feline grace avoiding each and everyone of Tsunade's blows as if they were coming from a mere genin. He couldn't block anything due to the immense power Tsunade put in her blows, but that didn't seem to bother him at all. The now entranced medical nin could see that every attack that Kakashi couldn't slip past, was skillfully parried with slight pushes to the Sannin's limbs, far away from her master's chakra focal point. Her master hadn't exactly kept up with her training, but even still the amount of skill required to stand on even ground with a Sannin, even an out of shape one, was insane.
Shizune also noticed that he hadn't thrown a single attack throughout their entire exchange. Come to think of it, even when he had grabbed Shizune earlier in the room he hadn't applied any more pressure than was absolutely necessary to hold her limbs back.
The Slug Princess' apprentice was starting to feel like this had become a huge misunderstanding.
Just as she gathered her wits to try and stop the fight a large hand was placed on her shoulder to hold her in place.
"Long time no see Shizune" the deep timbre of Jiraiya's voice called out startling her and causing her to have her third mini heart attack of the day.
"Dammit Shizune, pay attention to your surroundings, if he had been hostile you'd have been dead!" The apprentice screamed internally.
Either unaware or uncaring of her surprise at his presence The Sage continued on.
"I see you've already met my partner over there."
Shizune just nodded, unable to form words at the moment.
Jiraiya just sighed while shaking his head, before striding over to where the other two shinobi all the while muttering about how "kids don't listen"
Unaware of the new arrival, Tsunade was getting increasingly frustrated and, though she would never admit it, fatigued by the second trying and failing to hit the irritatingly agile man in front of her. To make matters worse the little bastard wasn't even attacking, just dodging and redirecting her blows.
"I'll end it with this." The famed last of the Senju thought to herself as she faked a front kick in order to get some space before taking the leg already extended for the attack and bringing her heel up as high as she could take it.
"HEAVEN PIERCING, HEEL DROP" She called eager to finally end this fight.
She began the descent of her leg focusing chakra in her heel for the impact, when all of a sudden her leg was halted in midair stopped by a firm grip on her calf.
"Wow Princess I haven't had you in this position in years." the teasing voice of the Toad Sage rang out in the now totally still room.
"JIRAIYA!" Tsunade yelled, thrown for yet another loop as her old teammate stood before her, now massaging her calf.
"Cut it out you old perv!" she yelped as she pulled her leg out of his grip.
Jiraiya for his part just smirked.
"Ahh sweet memories, but-" he punctuated the but with a clap of his hands before continuing. "-onto present matters unless you want to be stuck with an egregiously expensive hotel bill I recommend we all reconvene at our hotel so we can clear up this incredibly avoidable misunderstanding." He finished his speech with a glare thrown Kakashi's way.
Regardless of what anyone said, Kakashi did not look at the ground in shame, he was just making sure he didn't step on any pieces of debri.
Less than an hour later the four Konoha shinobi, were seated in the two male's drab hotel room, listening to the younger of the two men finish telling his side of the day's events.
"So after I dropped her off at the door I walked until I was out of sight before ducking into an alley and waiting for Keiko to show me the way."
Shizune cut him off before he could continue any further.
"When did you realize I was lying?"
Kakashi smiled beneath his mask and tapped his nose.
"I could smell the poison on you the moment I grabbed your Kimono, and then I was able to confirm that you weren't a civilian as soon as I felt the senbon launcher."
Shizune's cheeks burned red with embarrassment.
She felt like such an idiot. The poison was almost odorless; the only shinobi who should've been able to detect it would have been from the Inuzuka Clan. The fact that she apparently came across the only other person with the nose of a hound was just a case of poor luck. The wrist launcher on the other hand (no pun intended) she absolutely should have considered.
"Shizune, I taught you better than that." The now significantly less angry Tsunade said before downing the drink in her hand. Which Jiraiya then immediately filled up again; experience telling him that a drunk Tsunade was a happy one.
Surprisingly it was Kakashi who jumped to her defense. "Every other part of her deception was excellent. Had I not already been on edge from the slight scent of the poison then I may not have even noticed the launcher.
Tsunade's first and only student was slightly mollified by the masked man's praise, but the sour look on her Master's face was easily enough to take that away.
"Thanks for your input Hatake-" his name was spit from her mouth as if it were the foulest curse imaginable, "but I hold my students to a higher standard than common shinobi. Any mistakes she makes are a direct reflection of her training, and I don't like it when people make me look bad." Sarcasm and irritation dripped off of every word as the slug sannin regarded the silver haired shinobi as if he were a particularly large bug that landed in her soup.
Worried that the conversation was about to take a negative turn, the Toad Sage decided to interject.
"Well Princess, regardless of today you have raised young Shizune into a fine shinobi. You truly are still one of the greatest shinobi of our time and easily the best Medical Specialist." the honeyed words spilled forth with ease, each one specifically designed to gain favor with the Slug Princess.
His compliments fell on deaf ears though, as Tsunade saw straight through his sweet words.
"Cut the crap Jiraiya, Shizune told me why you're looking for me and my answer is no. I will not return to that god forsaken village."
The Toad sage sighed tiredly before responding.
"Come on Princess, we wouldn't be here if we had any other option."
The Last Senju snorted with derision, before firing back, "Not my problem Jiraiya, besides this Kid here needs to learn manners before asking anything of me." Her statement was punctuated with a gesture to the silver haired Jounin.
It was not Jiraiya who responded this time, but Kakashi.
He climbed out of his chair and in a move that shocked all parties he lowered his face to the floor and beseeched the Sannin again.
"Please Tsunade-Sama, I deeply apologize for any offence I caused with my brash actions. I wouldn't have sought you out if there was any other choice, but my son has been in a coma for weeks and won't wake no matter what the doctors do."
It was then that while still bowing he slipped a small photo out of the hip pouch he equipped after the fight earlier and lifted it into the Sannin's view.. It was an older picture from Naruto's seventh birthday. Naruto had his hand outstretched with a peace sign. It was one of the few pictures Kakashi had that actually showed the boy's face. He was beaming at the camera, whisker marks and pearly whites on full display. It was one of the jounin's most prized possessions, one that he kept on his person at all times.
When he received no response he pressed on.
"His name is Naruto, he's eight and he loves Ramen and pranks. He's kind and smart, the type of kid who's nice to everyone.-" his voice was now thick with emotion "He got hurt trying to protect someone, he doesn't deserve to be stuck in a hospital bed hooked up to countless monitors wasting away.
He raised his head and a single pleading grey eye met two honey colored orbs.
"You will only have to be there long enough to help him, you can leave immediately after and I will pay any amount just name it and you'll get it. Please, you are literally his last hope, I'm begging you." He paused just long enough to compose his shaking voice before ending his plea.
" Please save my son."
Tsunade didn't respond right away, choosing instead to knock back her new drink before turning her face away from the man literally on his knees before her. Her warring emotions were visible for all to see before her face hardened.
"No."
Shizune audibly gasped, and Jiraiya could be heard whispering a barely audible "Shit"
All the hope that had built up inside of his already fractured heart was suddenly ripped away and replaced with a hollowness as cold as ice.
Kakashi only stared up at the woman who had the power, but was choosing not to save his son.
Silence stretched on as he slowly stood up and fished a second item from his pouch, a piece of paper sticking out of an expensive looking envelope, before asking once more, his voice now near monotone.
"Is that your final answer? Is there nothing I can do to change your mind?"
She only nodded in response before gesturing to Shizune that they were leaving. At first Shizune refused to stand, so shocked at her master's callousness, but a scorching glare from Tsunade had her rising to her feet, unable to take her eyes off the floor.
As the pair reached the exit Kakashi started reading.
"I, Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, hereby declare that should Tsunade Senju refuse to return to the aid of her village then she is to be branded a Rogue Shinobi. This will void any previous arrangements thus removing any and all protection from the Hidden Leaf. In the event of this scenario then Jounin Kakashi Hatake will be tasked with the S-Rank mission of facilitating her immediate return to Konoha by force."
Silence..
Shizune was shocked, she never would have thought the Third would actually declare Tsunade as a missing nin. Judging by the look on her face, apparently neither did her master, but it was Jiraiya who finally broke the silence.
"What the hell Kakashi, why didn't you tell me?" The toad sage's voice was an odd mix of disbelief and anger as he stood from his chair and levelled an accusing glare at his partner.
A lone cold grey eye regarded the man with a blank expression before answering in the same monotone he read the letter in. As if he was giving a mission debrief.
"Lord Third didn't think you would be able to be objective if you knew about the order. He instructed me to only reveal the letter if there were no other options. Tsunade said there was nothing else I could do, leaving me no choice."
The drop of the "Sama" honorific was noticed but not acknowledged, as Jiraiya tried to search for some argument. It was for naught as he realized that Sarutobi was right. He was never objective when it came to Tsunade, he loved her, he couldn't help it.
It was then that Tsunade reminded everyone of her presence. With quickness belying her drunkenness she tapped Jiraiya on the back of his neck and he immediately fell to the ground unable to move anything below the head. Well unable to move was inaccurate. He could move, but it was like all of his signals were crossed. He tried to move his leg and his middle finger twitched.
"This is gonna take a minute to figure out."
Kakashi was in motion before Jiraiya ever hit the ground, ripping off the eyepatch from earlier and weaving hand signs faster than the Sannin could follow in her current state.
A stone pillar shot up through the floor striking Tsunade in the stomach. The blow knocked the wind out of her with an audible wheeze. As the jounin moved to capitalize on the now wide open Sannin he was blocked by a very conflicted Shizune.
She stood with her launcher aimed at the man, but didn't fire. She didn't know what to do. On the one hand was the woman who raised her, taught her, and was the closest thing to a mother Shizune ever had, but on the other hand was someone who seemed like a genuinely good man just trying to save his son now under orders from his (and technically her) Kage.
Luckily for her she was saved from having to make a decision by her master's quick recovery.
The strong blow seemed to have sobered the older woman somewhat as she seemed far more crisp in her movements as she leapt past Shizune to re-engage the younger man in taijutsu. This exchange made the fight in their room earlier look like academy students sparring. They were moving so fast that even at her skill level she could barely make out their movements. Shizune wasn't quite full Jounin level, but with her medical specialty she would at the very least be Special Jounin. The rank of special jounin was set aside for individuals who were better than chuunin but not quite jounin strength. They usually had some sort of specialized branch of jutsu at or above jounin level, yet not the all around skills that would earn them the full Jounin rank.
All of the sannin were Kage level, and even as out of shape as she was,Tsunade would still rank among the top shinobi in the world. Sure there were those who would be able to beat her, but none easily and few not already Kage level themselves.
Kakashi Hatake seemed to be one of those few.
Not a single movement was wasted between either of the combatants, but it was obvious that the younger of the two had the edge in speed. His precise strikes were almost the perfect counter to Tsunade's heavy blows, but both shinobi knew that all it would take was one hit from the fierce kunoichi to turn Kakashi's organs to mush.
"Were it not for Obito I would've died twice already, I need to end this quickly." A wary Kakashi thought to himself as he pulled off a sealless substitution with yet another piece of furniture. Pretty soon there wouldn't be anything else big enough to swap with and his maneuverability would be limited.
He parried a right haymaker with a fluid push to the incoming wrist throwing the Sannin off balance just enough for Kakashi to land a solid knee to her already weakened gut causing wetness to spew from the woman's mouth.
It was then that he felt the warmth on his cheek. He brought his hand up and when he pulled away it was red with blood. It seemed that Tsunade had expelled the red ichor on his face after his previous blow had landed. Not wanting to be caught off guard from such a trivial thing he quickly turned his attention back to his opponent only to find the woman nearly unrecognizable.
Where a furious sannin had stood, now sat a near catatonic Tsunade eyes fixed unblinkingly on the blood dripping off of the sharingan user's face. She had fallen on to her backside and was now taking quick shallow breaths, unable to tear her eyes away from Kakashi's cheek.
He was certain that something had gone wrong, but not wanting to waste his opportunity he rushed in only to be beaten to his target by a frantic looking Shizune. With a swish of her kimono she was on her knees checking over the stunned Sannin. She then turned back to Kakashi and gave her own frantic plea, the words spilling out quickly in a jumbled mess.
"Please stop, she can't fight anymore, we'll return to the village with you I swear,-" she took a breath before finishing in a more controlled tone, "just please let me help her."
Before Kakashi could respond either way their attention was brought back to a now standing Jiraiya gazing sadly at his former teammate as she started shivering.
"Listen to her kid. Tsunade isn't going anywhere now." He then turned his attention back to Shizune, tossing her a small coin purse
"Take her next door, rent a room, and get her taken care of. We will be there in the morning to start the trip back to Konoha."
She nodded and brought her master to her feet, but before she could exit Kakashi stopped her. She looked at him quizzically as he ran through a few hand signs before placing his palm on the ground.
"Yo Kakashi, any news on the doctor chick?" The raspy voice of Pakkun rang out from a puff of smoke that, once dissipated, revealed the small pug.
"What the hell happened here?" the canine shinobi queried as he took in the destruction.
Kakashi waved off his question before giving the reason for his summoning.
"Follow these women and immediately sound an alarm if they leave their hotel room."
Shizune was unable to hide the slightly hurt look on her face before she finally turned to exit. She understood his caution but the guard wasn't necessary.
Even if she hadn't been there in a while she was still a Konoha Kunoichi, and as a proud Kunoichi she would obey the orders of her Hokage. It was her master who didn't want to help, not her.
She sighed before deciding getting upset would be too much effort and with her mind and body exhausted from all the day's drama Shizune exited the room with the still unresponsive Tsunade.
If Kakashi noticed her reaction he didn't comment as Pakkun just barked in the affirmative before following the women out of the room.
Once it was only Jiraiya and himself in the room, Kakashi's whole body seemed to slump in relief. His respite was short lived though as Jiraiya broke the silence.
The Toad Sannin was still jerky with his movements as he sat in one of the few still intact chairs in the room.
"Well that went to shit quick."
Kakashi just snorted in response, the closest thing to a laugh Jiraiya had ever heard the younger man give.
Kakashi couldn't help but smile under his mask, even exhausted he relished the warm feeling of hope swelling once again in his chest. He had found Tsunade and tomorrow they would head back to Konoha, back to Naruto.
"I'm coming son." The words were almost a whisper as the pair sunk into silence beginning the long wait till morning.
Though exhausted from the day's events, Kakashi found sleep difficult. This combined with an honestly unhealthy distrust of nearly everyone around him, is how he found himself on the roof of Tsunade and Shizune's hotel using his chakra enhanced senses to monitor the two healers.
As Shizune had promised neither woman left the room once they entered, nor had Pakkun alerted Kakashi to any scheming. From what he could tell Tsunade was sleeping, possibly medically induced given her deep slow breaths and the slight smell of poppy seeds and valerian root. Both were natural sleep remedies with far fewer potential side effects than sleep inducing genjutsu or the stronger pharmacy grade medications.
The sleeping sannin's assistant though still seemed to be conscious if the near constant shifting and shuffling from her bed was any indication. He supposed she could just be sleeping fitfully but that wouldn't explain the conversation she seemed to be having with herself. He could only hear every other word or so, something about "getting worse-" and "had it been anyone else-"
The jounin assumed she was referring to her master's reaction to the blood earlier that day. "It was strange-" Kakashi thought "that the world's most renowned medical practitioner was afraid of a little blood."
Such a thing getting out to the other villages would basically be her death warrant. There wasn't a single one of Konoha's enemies that wouldn't love to either capture or remove one of the two remaining loyal sannin. It certainly explained why Shizune had given up so quickly after it was revealed, wounded dogs knew they were safer when surrounded by a pack. She knew that if we persisted, even if they managed to escape, the deterrent of a fully powered sannin was gone. Konoha would continue to search and we wouldn't bother with a straight fight next time, and that was if we found them first. If the Stone or Cloud villages got their hands on them, well it wouldn't be pleasant for anyone.
HIs thoughts then turned to the assistant's face before she had departed earlier. At this point it was irrelevant whether she actually wanted to help Naruto or not; she had been captured making the point moot.
"Why did she seem almost hurt that I placed a guard?" he thought, shaking his head in disbelief, "Like I was gonna let an obvious flight risk just walk out!" They had no stake in each other's life, for god's sake he had only met her that day, and she had shot poisoned senbon at him. It would be stupid of him to trust her.
So why did he feel a small nudge of guilt every time he thought of her downcast eyes and slightly pouted lips.
The jounin sighed as he adjusted his stance on the dimly lit roof.
He generally tried to avoid thinking on such things as they were far harder to understand than battle tactics or jutsu. Each of those had concrete sets of rules and laws, but women (at least the women he frequently dealt with) seemed like their rules changed by the day. It was exhausting.
He was brought from his reverie on the mysteries of women by the sound of a balcony door sliding open. Out stepped Shizune in a shirt obviously several sizes too big for her judging from the way it swallowed her frame and hung to just above her knees. Her feet and legs were bare and her hair was no longer held into the bun from earlier, but now flowing down to rest just above her shoulders. She stepped out to the railing and rested her arms upon it before staring out at the now slumbering capitol.
In that moment Kakashi couldn't help but think of how small she looked outside of her usual attire. Where before she could almost look him in the eye straight on, without her heels it looked as if the top of her head would barely clear his chin. The oversized tee removed any of the fierce maturity he had seen during their battle earlier. Now she just looked like some average twenty-something on vacation, or rather she would if not for the brow creased with worry and watchful eyes that seemed to be searching for something as they stared out at the dark cityscape. For a moment he caught the briefest glint of metal peeking from the low hanging sleeve of her sleep wear.
"Huh, not quite as non-threatening as I thought."
As if she could hear his thoughts, instantly sharp brown eyes cut in his direction, quickly finding his hunched form on the edge of the building. She waved, confirming his assumption of being caught. He didn't respond hoping she would take the hint and leave him be.
The sudden appearance of her Chakra next to him proved those hopes to be futile..
"What, so one guard dog isn't enough?" Her sarcastic tone cut through the dreary silence of the darkened roof.
"You can never be too careful." Kakashi replied with a fake smile, choosing to humor the woman confronting him.
She didn't respond immediately, instead she chose that moment to walk over and sit on the edge of the roof just an arms length from the still perched Jounin.
"I didn't come up here to start an argument,-" she paused, twisting her hands in her lap as if unsure of why she did confront the shinobi, before finding her resolve and continuing. "I'm sorry that Tsunade Sama refused to help, she has been through a lot and it has apparently caused her to resent the village far more than I had previously thought. I never imagined she would turn down helping a child in need, so for that you truly do have my deepest apologies."
Kakashi's mouth tightened beneath his mask ready to spit out exactly what he thought of what the slug sannin had been through, but stopped short ashe looked at her bowed head and realized that the sins of her master were not the students fault. Here she was apologizing of her own volition for transgressions that weren't even hers, the least he could do was accept it gracefully.
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, his opportunity was lost. She had performed a smooth Body Flicker back to her balcony and reentered her room. Kakashi heard her lay down and waited until her breathing evened out enough to signify she had fallen asleep.
"What a strange woman.."
After a silent breakfast, that Jiraiya reluctantly paid for, the foursome found themselves walking the long road back to Konoha. Tsunade hadn't said a word to either man all morning and Shizune, now fully dressed back in her everyday attire, gave only light greetings and asked only a few questions about the journey ahead. Their little caravan was led by Jiraiya, with Tsunade and Shizune in the center, and Kakashi bringing up the rear. Luckily the trip would be short, though it took them weeks to arrive in the Capital following various leads, it was only a two day journey at shinobi speeds directly from Ro Yuka to Konoha.
"Naruto will be awake before the end of the week." The thought brought a bright smile to the man's masked face. Even the fearsome scowls that Tsunade sent his way every time their eyes met couldn't wipe the relief from his face. She was less than thrilled with the quick pace they had been keeping.
"Why do you keep that eye covered?"
The question from Shizune startled the jounin enough for his smile to finally drop for a moment. He hadn't even realized she had dropped back to keep pace with him Not to be ignored, and apparently spurred on by his lack of response she continued.
"Is it for cosmetic reasons, or just like a gimmick?"
Jiraiya stifled a snigger from the front of their party.
Kakashi sighed internally before addressing the brown haired woman.
"I can't turn it off."
Her confusion was visible, so to preempt any more questions Kakashi elaborated.
"It was activated when I-" he paused, uncomfortable with how to phrase the next part, before soldiering on in subdued tone. "-when it was given to me, and since it was a transplant I'm unable to deactivate it. While Sharingan's are activated they constantly consume chakra, so I keep it closed and covered to conserve my energy."
Shizune seemed to mull over his response , but as she opened her mouth to speak someone else beat her to it.
"I'm assuming that means that even when it is covered it's still consuming your chakra, just less of it?" Tsunade's voice rang out clearly through the trees they were running through.
Kakashi only allowed himself to be caught off guard for a moment by her lack of venom before answering in a neutral voice.
"Correct, even covered and closed it continues to eat chakra."
It was then that Shizune reinserted herself.
"So that would mean that you are never at full chakra capacity, like ever." It was more of a statement of fact than a question.
The jounin nodded in confirmation accompanied by a cheerful "Yup."
"So he's gained such strength and notoriety even though his signature Sharingan is such a double edged sword." Tsunade thought, reluctantly impressed with the younger man who had given her so much trouble.
If she were being honest with herself Tsunade felt like she may have been a bit unreasonable the night before, but her pride was too wounded at having her weakness revealed to outright apologize. "It wasn't that I didn't want to help the boy," Her face twisted at the thought. No, that village was just too much. It was where she had loved them, andwhere she had lost them. Her heart ached at the memories of closed caskets and loud sobs.
"There are far too many ghosts in that village for me."
Unaware of Tsunade's dark thoughts, Jiraiya decided to throw his two cents in on Kakashi's Sharingan conundrum.
"Have you tried using a seal?"
Kakashi's foot missed a branch and he had to quickly grab a lower branch and throw himself back up to the level of the others to keep from plummeting to the ground.
"Sealing Jutsu! How have I never thought of that?" The jounin mentally berated himself in disbelief at his lack of thought.
Seeing the jounin's reaction, Jiraiya smirked and continued.
"Looks like there are still some things left for you to learn kid." His tone became less teasing as he continued. "A simple chakra seal with a few minor modifications inscribed on the inside of that headband, and you're golden. As long as it's covering that eye you won't lose an ounce of chakra."
Kakashi was stunned, and still mildly irritated with himself for never thinking of using sealing techniques before, but eagerly responded anyway.
"Would a seal like that be something you could create Jiraiya-Sama?"
Jiraiya's smirk was replaced by a scowl as he heard the younger man's honorific.
"Yes I can do it brat, but I won't if you don't stop calling me that."
Shizune giggled at the exchange, and even Tsunade cracked a small smile, before she remembered that she was supposed to be upset. The rest of the day's journey was spent in mostly companionable silence, with a few small conversations between Tsunade and Shizune to break up the tedium.
By the time they stopped to camp all members of the party were road weary and didn't do much besides eat a small meal of travel rations and head to sleep. Jiraiya and Kakashi agreed to split up the night's watch. The younger man would take first watch, and would be relieved by the toad sage halfway through the night.
Kakashi was sitting in a nearby tree only half paying attention to the forest around him as he skimmed through a borrowed copy of the newest Make Out Tactics that Jiraiya happened to have on him. He was in such a hurry to leave at the start of his journey that he'd completely forgotten his own Icha Icha novel in Naruto's Hospital room the night Jiraya had found him. Luckily traveling with the author came with a few benefits.
Things were just starting to get steamy with the protagonist's harem when the jounin was brought from his fictional world by the sound of a branch breaking.
They were on him before he could put the book down.
Senses screaming at him he let himself fall off his branch in order to avoid the swing of an unidentified shinobi's katana. He heard the solid thunk as the sword was buried into the trunk of the tree where his head had been seconds prior. Abandoning the book to the night he quickly brought his hands up and summoned a single shadow clone which he used to toss his original body straight back up to where the shinobi now sat trying to pull his blade from the tree. He allowed his momentum to carry his outstretched fist into a vicious uppercut that cracked the now identified Cloud Village shinobi's teeth together. Not giving his opponent a moment to recover, the former anbu slipped a kunai from his hip pouch into his left hand and thrusted it into the throat of the stunned sword user. The flesh only provided light resistance, as blood poured out around the fresh wound. The enemy shinobi lost his footing and plummeted to the earth, dead before he ever hit the ground.
Kakashi quickly made his way back to the camp to find a now conscious Tsunade and Shizune standing over the body of another Kumo Shinobi. Judging by the needle sticking out of his chest it looked as if Shizune had managed to get him. Kakashi remembered the poison that the medical specialist kept on her weapons and was unsurprised to see that the man looked unharmed other than the single needle.
"Where's Jiraiya?" Kakashi asked calmly, careful to keep his hand, still covered in his fallen enemy's blood, behind his back and out of the Slug user's view.
Tsunade pointed off into the forest, while Shizune responded verbally.
"He took off chasing after the third member of their team. When she saw two Sannin and her teammate suddenly drop from the poison she took off into the trees." She finished also pointing in the direction Tsunade had earlier.
He started to head after him, but was stopped by Tsunade.
"Don't bother, here he comes." The statement was confirmed by the sudden appearance of the Toad Sage completely unharmed.
"Little sneak got away, she used some Lightning technique to give off a crazy bright light. It blinded me and the girl was able to mask her chakra and escape before I could regain my sight."
Kakashi, without waiting for another word, ran through the seals to summon the pack and sent them out in pursuit before anyone else could respond. He tried to follow them but was stopped by Jiraiya.
"Look kid you're good, but I've got like Thirty years on you. If I couldn't find her then you and those pups won't either." He wasn't bragging he was just being honest. If the spymaster Sannin couldn't catch her she probably couldn't be caught, but the Jounin had to try.
The silver haired jounin opened his mouth to say just that, but the Toad sage put his hands up in a placating gesture and continued.
"Look, let's collect these two bodies and see if we can get any info off of them while we wait to see if the dogs get a lead. The last thing we need is for you all to be led on a wild goose chase all the way to Lightning Country and still find nothing."
Though he didn't like it, Kakashi nodded in agreement, able to see the logic in the older man's words.
Both bodies turned up no insights as to the identities of the dead men nor their living teammate. All they could say for sure is that they were definitely Kumo Shinobi, all of their gear was authentic Cloud village materials. Their weapon smiths were second only to the samurai of Iron Country, making Cloud weapons easily distinguishable from other villages' blades.
Kakashi held the katana that would have severed his head had he been even a half second slower. It was a fine weapon, one any swordmaster would dream of. Carefully he sealed it into a separate scroll, and placed it into his pack, having already decided on what he would do with it.
His task now done he now took the time to use a little bit of water from his canteen to wash off the now dried blood on his left hand. He couldn't help the small flashback of another time he'd had to scrub a single hand free of blood.
Rin's lifeless eyes flashed across his vision for only a moment before the Jounin gathered his emotions and dispelled the image of his greatest failure. Kakashi, frustrated to have lost composure at all, couldn't help but wonder why it had happened. He hadn't had a "flashback" like that in years, due most likely to his far more healthy headspace that came from having his own personal ball of sunshine with him everyday.
The shinobi couldn't decide whether it was a good thing that he seemed to be moving on or not. Unwilling to dwell on it more, Kakashi headed over to where he heard his companions talking.
He arrived back to the others just as Shizune voiced a concern.
"Were they here for us, or was this just an unlucky spot?"
It was Jiraiya who answered, with his face drawn up in thought
"It's unlikely they were sent to kill us, they were far too inexperienced for someone sent after two sannin. It's far more likely that they sensed our suppressed chakra and tried to be opportunistic and take out a few enemies from a rival village."
Kakashi frowned underneath his mask before voicing his own thoughts.
"What concerns me is that The Hokage has doubled border patrols since the massacre, so how did three average shinobi make it all the way to the heart of Fire Country undetected?"
There were only a few ways, outside of pure dumb luck, that an infiltration of that scale would be possible, and none of them were good.
His question left a foreboding silence over the group broken only by the sound of paws thudding against the forest floor. Suddenly the gray form of Shiba broke through the underbrush before stopping and giving his report directly to Kakashi.
"We lost the scent about 20 miles east of here, the others are headed to warn a border patrol squad we smelled on the way." His raspy voice occasionally wavered closer to a growl or a yip as if he, like Bull, wasn't as skilled with language as his packmates.
Kakashi nodded with an unseen grimace before responding.
"Thank you Shiba,-" He paused and tried to remember the patrol schedules from the previous month, before pointing northwest and continuing. "There should be a patrol to the northwest of here, or close to it. Head that direction and warn them as well, as quickly as you can."
The small grey ninken yipped once before shooting off in the direction his summoner had pointed, black mokawk waving in the wind.
"Well, looks like there's nothing else to do except pack up and head out." Jiraiya's voice rang out causing Tsunade and Shizune to immediately protest.
"That's ridiculous you old fool, it's the middle of the night and we've been travelling all day." Tsunade all but shouted back at the white haired man causing him to smile teasingly at her.
"What's the matter Princess, this used to be our everyday life? Don't tell me you've gone soft?"
Tsunade shot him a venomous glare before grumbling "I'll show you soft you old goat." under her breath as she began gathering up her belongings.
Jiraiya flashed Shizune the victory signal over the slug sannin's back causing her to have to stifle a giggle before packing her own things.
Kakashi packed his own things, the few that there were, almost mechanically as his thoughts strayed back to the escaped Cloud Kunoichi. She had seen Jiraiya and Tsunade together less than a day's travel from Konoha. This would be the first time any two of the Sannin had gathered together in over ten years. If that woman makes it back to her village and reports them to the Raikage then it will look as if Konoha is gathering its strength. Ay, being the battle minded Kage that he was, would immediately assume Lord Third was preparing for war. The question was what would he choose to do in response.
"And the powder keg rolls closer to the fire." he thought morosely.
Unable to change anything by worrying, Kakashi decided to put it out of his mind and focus on getting back home to Naruto. He gave one last look in the direction the woman had run off before molding chakra in his legs to jump up into the trees following the others toward Konoha.
"Hey Kakashi, can I get that book back? It was my only copy and I've got to get it sent out to my publisher."
The jounin"s jump failed as he remembered the book he had tossed wildly into the forest.
He sighed resignedly before yelling out "Yeah, about that.."
PLEASE READ!
Yo, I put this in at the end of the chapter to get your opinion on something. I have a certain plan laid out for this story and it involves a major non canonical character death. Like the person is still alive today in Boruto. The death can be written out, but it was an interesting storyline I would like to explore. THAT BEING SAID I want you guys to read this story or there is no point in writing it, so if enough people are against it I will not kill the person. I WILL NOT TELL ANYONE WHO IT IS, not even my wife knows. Basically I need to hear from you. You can either P.M. me with your opinion, leave a review, or if you'd like I created a poll and put it on my profile. Just let me know or your vote won't be counted. Y'all are awesome, thanks for sticking with me!
P.S. If you like having a voice in a story let me know that as well, so I can find ways to include y'all in the future.