Chapter 17
You guys still reading? I'm so happy you are (: Enjoy!
By bits and grudging pieces I managed to obtain information about our father from Kakashi. Still, all I know is his name, his nick name, and about his white chakra sabre.
Kakashi wasted no time starting me on my training. He had me tie weights to my wrists and ankles and chase him. I would spend hours trying to run after his foot prints, and when I eventually caught up he'd fly out from a hiding place, attacking, forcing me to raise my heavy arms to protect and defend myself. I wasn't used to carrying such heavy weights for so long, and that first night when he finally set me free from them I could barely drag my body up the stairs without crying in pain.
My work soon paid off. I was very surprised to see how much stronger and faster I became in a short period of time. I was soon able to run side by side with Kakashi with ease, leaving Naruto to eat my dust. I could easily dodge Kakashi's attacks and watched happily as my own hits grew in speed and strength. I knew that I could even be a match for Saskue in fight now. Despite how much I improved, Kakashi refused to let me into the weapons room, and waved off my begging by saying "You're not ready yet," as if that settled the matter, as if that settled anything at all. Which, I guess, lead me to where I am right now.
"This is probably a bad idea." I say, second guessing my earlier boldness.
"What's wrong? Losing your nerve?" Saskue taunts.
"No!" I'll be damned before I let that Uchiha call me a coward, especially in front of Naruto.
Earlier today Kakashi was called away from the village for the morning on an urgent mission. Since he's done so much for me, I decided I wanted to do something for him. I got up early as he left before the sun left and began to clean. I dusted, and polished, and swept, and mopped, and scrubbed, and straightened every corner of the home, except for the weapons room. My hand was just brushing against the knob when a knock at the door snatched my attention away.
At first I was very excited, I thought that it might be my mother; come to visit me at last. But immediately, a darker thought consumed that sunnier one. What if Diablo ignored my threat and came after me? What if he's sent someone to kill me? What if it's something worse, someone sent here to kill Kakashi? I stalk quietly towards the dare, barely daring to breathe.
"This is stupid." Saskue's voice complained from the opposite side of the door.
"He didn't show up! I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!" Naruto's voice answered fuming.
"Then why did I have to come?"
"Because he stood you up too."
"Yeah right, you're just hoping he's not home so you can see Red. You bought me in case he is to make it look less suspicious. You're pathetically see-through."
"Shut up,' Naruto growled.
I throw to door open, "Let me guess, Kakashi didn't let you guys know he had to go away this morning?"
"Red!" Naruto exclaimed happily, wrapping his arms around me in a huge hug.
I cuddle closer to his chest for a moment, enjoying the warmth. "You know how bad Kakashi is at being organized and on time. Well, that and at common courtesy too."
"Why haven't you been around?" Saskue questioned me suspiciously.
I shrug out of Naruto's hug. "Kakashi's been keeping me busy. I can run faster than you now, you wanna race?" I asked, grinning.
Before he can accept, Naruto cuts in. "Did Kakashi show you anything cool yet?"
"Not really," I admitted. "He's been training me in tai jitsu for a while now, but he hasn't showed me any kind of jitsu's or let me into the weapon room yet."
I can tell that the words "weapon room" interested them by the way their eyes lit up.
"Why won't he show you?" Naruto wanted to know.
"He said I'm not ready yet."
Saskue snorted at that. "Kakashi lives for his mysterious reasons. Maybe he's waiting for you to show him you're ready."
I gave him a confused look. He sighed in frustration, as if it was such a brutal task to explain his ambiguous speech.
"Kakashi is rarely straight forward about anything, right?"
I think about the way he tried to approach me when he found out I was his sister, and quickly agree.
"So why would this be any different? Maybe he wants you to show him you're ready by going in that room without him telling you to."
In a twisted it way, it makes perfect sense. It's such a Kakashi thing to do. "I guess that could make sense." I admitted.
"You shouldn't go in there by yourself all alone. We'll come watch you." Naruto offered.
"You just want to get in the room to see what Kakashi has poked away in there." I teased them.
Naruto tries to look innocent. "No! We're really concerned for your safety and want to protect you."
"If we happen to find something cool in the bargain, that's just a bonus." Saskue added.
"Shameless boys." I scolded them.
This all replays in my mind as I grasp the doorknob and feel the shock of the cool brass under my fingers. My eyes close and I brace myself as I feel Naruto and Saskue's anticipation and excitement rise behind me like a brick wall, keeping me from running away.
With a slight twist of my wrist, the door swings wide open. I stand in the doorway a moment peering into the dark little room. My hand gropes for the light switch as I inspect what little the dark will let me see. Cabinets of all shapes and sizes line three of the four walls. The floor is carpeted in a blood red rug.
When I click the light switch, I can see on the wall closest to my left two glass cases stand, and I also notice all four walls hold one framed picture each.
Bravely, I step inside flinching away from the slight breeze I can feel at my back. After a few moments of silence I relax and throw a glance over my shoulder at Naruto and Saskue, who haven't followed me inside. "Chickens," I grumble walking towards the glass cases, eager to see what Kakashi would choose to put on display.
Inside the right case is a mannequin that bears an outfit, the case on the left holds the sabre that Kakashi told me about. I start to inspect the outfit, not understanding why it was chosen to be shown proudly next to our father's sabre.
The mannequin is small, about my own size. I vaguely wonder who owns it as I take a closer look at the details. The shirt and pants seem to be connected as one article of clothing, despite the belt cinched at the waist. The chest has brown leather straps crossing as a X. I can't be sure because I can't see the back, but my guess it these straps hold a harness at the back that would allow you to carry a blade. The shirt sleeves end at the just above the elbow, and I can see the smoky grey line striking across the two shoulders. Where the sleeves end, shortly after, long fingerless black gloves begin with the top of the arms and fists covered in some type of armor. The right leg holds the customary bandage and kunai pack of all ninja. I notice that the legs of the suit end at about two inches above the knee, while the rest of the mannequins legs are wrapped in bandages and the feet are encased in the standard issue blue sandals for genin. I look at the head of the mannequin where my earlier questions are answered. Wrapped around the forehead is a leaf village forehead protector, and just under that, there is a mask attached to the outfit and reveals only the eyes. I lay my hand against the smooth glass, itching to break it and try the uniform on.
"Kakashi," Naruto breathes behind me, looking over my shoulder at the mannequin. I didn't hear him or Saskue enter, I was so engrossed with the glass cases.
I grin, "Look at the mask and the way the forehead protector is, this was his before he got the sharingan. It must be from when he was a boy."
Next, I let my gaze wander to the framed photos on the wall. On the back wall, there's a picture of our father, smiling happily at the camera, holding a woman that isn't my mother. On the next wall it's a picture of Kakashi with his team, Naruto, Saskue, and Sakura. Naruto's striking a dorky pose and Sakura is smiling sweetly, but Saskue is giving the camera his signature glare, and crossing his arms. Above the glass cases is a strange picture. It's another team photo, but the man standing behind the younger ninja is not Kakashi. There is a young girl with purple markings on her face, smiling shyly, and dark haired boy wearing goggles smirking, and another boy who could only be Kakashi. He's wearing the outfit shown in the case below, his silver hair messy, not at all neatly styled like he wears it now. Both grey eyes are showing and they assess the camera lens in a lazy bored manner. The man behind him is a stranger too. He has a huge shock of bright blonde hair -
"Hey Red! Look at this!"
Naruto's excited voice tears my eyes off the stranger in the picture. He's holding a odd shaped knife of some kind. It looks like a three pronged dagger. I walk over to get a closer look. "What is that?"
"I think it's a dagger or something." Naruto says.
"It's not like any kind of dagger I've ever seen before." I argue.
Saskue pauses his digging in a nearby drawer to look over at us. "It must be special if Kakashi keeps it hidden away in here." He says before losing interest in us again.
"It looks really cool, I bet it's super strong and has all kinds of powers."
"How can a dagger have powers?" I question. "Besides, what would even make you think that?"
"It's the way it feels." He insists. "It has some sort of chakra about it. It feels familiar, intense, but comforting all at the same time."
I place my hand on the wooden handle and concentrate. "It doesn't feel like anything to me." I take my hand off it and back up a step. "Maybe you should put it away."
If he hears me, he gives no indication. He just stares at the knife in his hands as if concentrating really hard on it. It worries me a little. "Hey, Naruto?" Still nothing. "Come look at this picture of Kakashi as a genin. His teacher had hair the same color as yours, come see." Not even a blink.
After a few tense minutes, he finally looks up. "Maybe I am imagining the chakra in it." He says as he reluctantly places the dagger back where he found it.
"Maybe not," Saskue says. He's standing with a pair of goggles in his palms, holding them gently as if they were made out of bubbles and not sturdy materials. "These goggles have something about them too." I take a closer look and notice they look like the pair the dark boy in the picture of little Kakashi owned. "A strong ninja wore these." Saskue says, staring at them intently, as if that would get them to spill their secret.
"Of course a strong ninja owned them." I huff. "They're Kakashi's. He owns all sorts of rare and powerful weapons."
Saskue puts the goggles down and shoots me a withering look. "Oh yeah? Like what, because I've never heard of him owning anything like that."
I stick my tongue out at him. "You wouldn't have. You could never hope to be powerful enough to use the White Chakra Sabre."
"Like you could?" He challenges. 'You're barely above Naruto's level. It'll probably catch on fire and burn to useless ash if you ever tried; you're nothing but a weakling."
I shove my face close to his and snarl "Watch me." Before I start stalking over the glass case to retrieve my father's blade. Once free, I take a deep breath before whirling around to show them it, still safely tucked inside the scabbard. "Watch as I, Red, wield this ultimate weapon with skill and grace." I boast proudly. I grab the hilt with one hand and yank it free, pointing the tip at the ceiling and holding it above my head.
"Why is it called the 'White Chakra Sabre'?" Naruto wants to know.
I flush, "Because it's dangerous, that's why."
"I thought you were going to wield it with skill and grace?" Saskue laughs.
"I am!" I yell, still not moving an inch.
"Then do it!"
I start to swing the blade in a downward arc when to my shock and embarrassment, it starts to spit sparks. Filled with fear that Saskue sarcastic jokes are becoming my painful reality, I swing it wildly and frantically, trying to put out any flames before they start.
Viscously, as if almost to mock me, the blade spits bigger and brighter sparks and fills the small room with a blinding white light.
I blink rapidly, trying to clear my vision of the painful white light when I hear Saskue and Naruto cry out in surprise.
"Naruto! Saskue? Where are you?" I yell as I rub my visionless eyes. I use my hearing to try and substitute for them, but too late, someone's appeared from behind and reaching out for me.
The arms grasp my shoulders and yank back. "No!" I scream in fear. "Naruto, Saskue! Help me!" The strength of my struggle takes the captor by surprise and the hands let go.
Learning from my mistake, I waste no time using my ears to guide me, I drop to the floor and stick out my leg spinning quickly. I feel my leg knock over a pair of feet and when I hear the crash I leap on the chest of my attacker, pressing my foot to their throat as my eyes clear up and I can see….
Kakashi?
Oh shit. I scramble back quickly. "Kakashi! You're home!" A flood of emotions crash over me and drag me down, and they all seem to hit me one after the other.
First, I feel joy so happy it could burst my heart. I'm overjoyed he made it home safe and sound. "Kakashi! Oh, you're home!" I cry out happily, clasping my hands together at my chest.
Secondly, I feel relief that it was him dragging me out of the weapons room, and not a dangerous enemy like I feared. Tears prick my eyes and spill over my cheeks and I say, "Kakashi I'm so glad you're home." I throw my arms around his neck and bury my face in his chest.
Thirdly, I feel guilt. He caught me in his secret weapon room, destroying our father's sabre. I jump back away from him and cover my mouth with my hands as my eyes widen with fear. "Oh no, Kakashi. You're home."
He stares at me a minute, waiting for anymore emotional outbursts. Finally he sighs, "Red."
"I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have disobeyed you. I just wanted to prove I was ready! I didn't mean to destroy the sabre, please don't be angry with me. I just wanted to shut Saskue up, he said I wasn't strong enough to use it and I wanted to show him that I wasn't a weakling. It was wrong of me, I know I shouldn't let other people's words fire me up like that, but I can't help myself. I'll find someone the fix the blade, I promise." I begin to sob, "Don't kick me out! I'm not strong enough yet to face Diablo and he'll kill me if he can find me now while I'm still so weak. He'll come for me if he knows I'm alone and he'll hurt you and the others. I'll be a perfect angel from now on brother, I swear it."
Kakashi puts a hand on my head and messes my hair. "Relax, would you? I'm not going to throw you out. If I really wanted to keep you out of that room, don't you think I would have locked it first?"
"But the White Chakra Sabre, it caught on fire! Where are Saskue and Naruto?"
"The blade is fine, see?" He puts it in my hands, and I can see he tells the truth, there's not a sign on it that shows that only minutes earlier it was sparking madly. "And Saskue and Naruto are over there," He jerks a thumb behind him, pointing to a couch.
Two of their heads poke out guiltily. "Welcome home Kakashi Sensei." They say sheepishly.
"Naruto, what did I tell you about sneaking over here to see Red?"
"What! No! It isn't like that! Saskue's here too! You were supposed to train with us today and you didn't show so we came looking for you!"
"Huh, I guess I forgot." Kakashi shrugs. "Hmm, oh well." He winks at me before facing them. "Now get out."
Both leap to their feet and race for the door, but Naruto turns and waves to me. "See ya later, Red!" Before Saskue grabs the back of his jacket and drags him along muttering, "Idiot."
Kakashi focuses his attention back to me. "There's still much for you to learn, but before I can even begin to show you, we have to figure a few things out." He turns away again, shoving his hands in his pockets and strolls towards the door of the weapons room casually.
I stand there stupidly, watching him walk away. "Things like what? What are you going to tell me about now?"
He pauses at the door frame, not bothering to look at me, but replies in a pained voice. "Do you always have to ask so many questions?"
"Do you always have to refuse to answer them?" I fire back.
He sighs and says, "I'm going to show you some stuff about things." He then disappears into the room and quickly reappears, with a huge scroll strapped to his back.
"Do you mean right now?" I ask uneasily, eyeing the huge scroll.
"Why not? It's a beautiful day." He says as he walks out the door like he doesn't care if I follow him or not.
How typical, muttering angrily under my breath, I chase after him.
He doesn't so much as breathe a word while we walk, despite all the questions I ask him. He finally stops at a somber part of the village. Erected in the middle of this clearing is a shiny black monument, with a fresh bouquet of colorful flowers placed at the base of it. Slowly, side by side, we approach it. I scan the etchings on the shiny surface, and realize they're all names.
"Before I begin training, I like to remind my students that being a ninja is not clean or easy work. You will be expected to make hard choices, and some of your choices will result in the death of others. Sometimes the ones who die because of your choices or actions are not always your enemies. You could be expected to die willingly for this village. These are the names of all the brave ninja who did their duty by this village and died."
"Kakashi, I've lived more horrors than even you could ever dream up. Compared to what I've survived, dying for a village I love is a blessing. However, I'm a Hatake; I won't just lay down a die. You better believe that I will do anything, and everything, to protect the ones who need me.
I feel his hand squeeze my shoulder as I force myself to read every single name that marks the surface of the monument. I scar their names into my brain like they are in front of me. Please lend me your power to keep this village, your people, your legacy, safe. I pray quietly to myself. You can count on me; I will never let you down.
"It's time to go, Red. We still have a lot to do today."
"What are you going to show me now?"
In true Kakashi fashion, he ignores my question and moves to a topic he'd rather talk about. "You share a mental link with Naruto. He can feel whatever you feel strongly, and vise versa. The Nine Tailed Fox makes this dangerous for you, because right now the only way Naruto can use the demon's chakra is when he is feeling very angry. And when that happens, because it will, you will feel the same anger, and feel the demon fox inside of you."
I had suspected as much. "There's no way to break this link." I say, "I'll just have to find a way to deal with it when it happens."
"If only if it were that easy. When Naruto is taken over by the demon, he's engulfed by an unstoppable power fueled by his own anger. He feels nearly invincible, because in reality, he will be. His strength, speed, chakra, and stamina will increase tenfold. You'll feel the same way, only for you, it will only be an illusion. You'll feel just like him, but only he will have to power to back himself up, you won't change a bit."
I wonder if he's trying to scare me. Can I really stay in control while feeling Naruto lose it? When the fox takes over, will it take me too? Can I handle it? I smile. "He won't be alone," I realize.
Kakashi stares at me like I've lost my mind, and maybe I have. I'll never be completely logical when it comes to him. "All this time, he's been struggling all alone with this, but now he won't have to, I'll be there for him. Maybe with my help, he can learn to control it, to master it. Maybe even when I feel him losing it, I can stay in control and help him through."
"What if you can't? What if you just feel as out of control as he does, and get yourself foolishly killed because of an illusion caused by someone else's feelings?"
"Isn't that what you're for? You can help me until I learn how to deal with it, and when I learn, I can teach him. If you tried to restrain Naruto and train him in that state, he'd kill you by mistake, but I'll still be me."
Kakashi stands still; I've finally shocked him into inactivity. Suddenly, he's laughing. "You're certainly crazy enough to be my sister." He says around loud chuckles.
He's still snickering as we reach the training field. "Before you try and master Naruto's powers, shouldn't you try to learn some of your own?"
"What do you mean?"
"Everyone has elemental chakra. There are five different elements. Fire, water, lightening, earth, and air, each ninja is blessed with at least one of these natures, and sometimes two or more. You will use your element to shape and perform different jitsus."
"Dual natures? How can that be?"
"Everyone is different. To someone like me, it doesn't matter what the nature is, I can pull off any jitsu by using my sharingan. You however, will be limited to what you've got."
"How will I figure out what I've got?" I question, feeling more confused.
From behind his back, Kakashi whips out small pieces of paper. "With these."
"Paper?"
"Special paper." He promises me. "The trees that made this paper are fed with chakra, and they react to whatever nature is poured into them." He holds a slip of the paper between his index and middle finger. "When you release even a small amount of chakra into it, one of five things will happen. If your element is fire, the paper will burst into flames; for water and the paper will become soggy and wet; earth will cause the paper to turn into dirt and crumble; air will split the paper in two."
I count on my fingers. "You missed one."
He smiles. "Lightening will cause the paper to…" Between his fingers, the little sheet of paper crinkles into a million creases. "Do that." He explains. With his opposite hand, he offers me a slip of the special paper. "Go ahead, little sister. Let's see what you're really made of, before any of the others can even guess at their own." As the tips of my fingers brush against the paper, he jerks it away. "Of course, this will be a secret between us. I'm only allowing this because I have good reason to believe your element is manifesting early."
I nod. "I promise."
This time, when he offers the paper, he does not jerk it out of my grasp. I stare at the sheet, trying to see anything that would set it apart from any other kind of paper, but it looks so normal to me. I draw a deep breath, and hold the paper like Kakashi did. My eyes are glued to the sheet between my fingers as I slowly, slowly, trickle chakra from my finger tips into it.
It happens so fast I almost miss it.
The sheet crinkles, then after a brief moment, bursts into flames.
I drop it and leap away from it in fear, "How did I break it?"
"Why do you always assume you break everything?" Kakashi asks annoyed. "You may look like your mother, but it's our father's blood that races in your veins. You have lightening chakra. Like he did, like I do."
"The fire! What about the fire?"
"Hmm? Oh that. You're dual natured, lightening and fire. The fire must be from your mother." He waves his hand as if that is of little or no concern.
"You don't seem surprised. Did you know I was dual natured?"
"No, I suspected the lightening, but the fire is an unexpected surprise"
"How did you know about the lightening?" I insist.
He holds his hands behind his head and shifts his weight to his other foot. "You ask too many questions."
I screw my eyes shut, and bite my lip, trying to feign patience.
When he notices that he's failed to get a reaction of me he decides to explain. "The reason it's called the White Chakra Sabre is because when the blade it swung, it fires out arcs of lightening chakra, which is white in color. It only reacts, and works if you have the lightening element. When I saw you swing it, and saw the sparks flying out of it, I knew your element was manifesting early, and that it was lightening besides that. "
I look down at my hands. "So what now? Can I do any cool lightening and fire jitsus?"
"No. It's only starting to manifest now, it's not strong enough. Soon, though."
"So you dragged me all the way out here to tell me this?"
He rolls his visible eye at me. "No, before we finish today, I want you to at least learn one useful jitsu."
I clap my hands. "Finally!"
"I'm going to show you the summoning technique."
"What's that?"
He pulls the scroll from his back and opens it on the ground in front of me. "The summoning jitsu can be used to summon animals that you signed a contract with. This is the contract to summon dogs. To sign it, you must use your blood to make fingers prints, and sign your name under them. To summon them, you only need a little blood. You also need the correct hand seals and the right amount of chakra to do this. The amount of chakra used determines what beast you summon. They can help you complete tasks, or battle, but it depends."
"On what?"
"Who you summon, and the mood they're in." He shrugs lazily and gestures towards the contract.
"Show me first."
He smiles, pleased that I did not sign foolishly. "Watch carefully, I don't feel like doing this a hundred times." With a kunai he places a delicate cut on his thumb, he then slowly for my benefit, completes a series of hand seals. Once that is done he presses his hand to the ground. "Ninja art: Summoning jitsu." He says lazily. With a little poof, a pug sits where Kakashi placed his hand.
The little dog looks up at Kakashi. "What do you want now?"
"IT CAN TALK?" I scream, leaning away from it.
The pug looks over at me, "Who are you? Kakashi listen, I don't feel like granting you any favors today." He growls grouchily.
Kakashi laughs, "Meet my sister, Red. She's about to summon for the firs time."
The dog takes a second closer look at me and sniffs the air. "Huh, who would have thought you'd have a sister and a pretty one too. But it's a waste of time for you to try and summon anything, by the looks of her; she's only strong enough to summon puppies."
"I can summon a dog bigger than you, you dumb mutt." I say planting my hands on my hips, and feelings my cheeks heat with anger. And with that, I whip out my own kunai, and sign the contract in my own blood.
"I'll show you!" I promise. I repeat what I just saw Kakashi do and with a poof, a small white puppy looks up at my face and yips happily.
My ears heat as I hear Kakashi and that stupid pug laughing themselves sick at me. I grit my teeth and growl, trying again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
It's gotta get easier, right?
Again.
Again.
God damn it.
I drop, breathing hard. I can summon the damnable dogs, that much is obvious, I think bitterly, looking at all the tiny puppies running around. So the only problem is I'm not using enough chakra. Kakashi and the pug have long lost interest in my pathetic attempts and aren't even looking at me anymore. Gritting my teeth again, I force myself back up on my feet. "It's time for all or nothing." I mummer to myself before shouting, "Kakashi, watch this!"
Using every drop of chakra, I complete the summons, yelling "Ninja Art: Summoning Jitsu!" at the tops of my lungs, and slapping my hand to the ground as hard as I can.
I don't open my eyes, for the moment, I just listen. Kakashi isn't laughing, neither is the pug and directly in front of me, I can hear a strong heart beat, not the pitter patter of a puppy's heart.
My eyes fly open and take in the sight. A huge pale wolf-like dog stands in front of me; his golden eyes stare down at me with disinterest.
"What?" He demands.
"Did, did I really, how, I, Uh. Did I summon you?"
He shakes his head in frustration, "Don't ask me stupid questions, lady-pup." He growls at me, flashing pearly white sharp teeth.
"I'm not a lady-pup, my name is Red."
The molten gold eyes meet mine again, and a gentle breeze stirs his rough looking silver fur. "They call me Fang."