THE CAMOUFLAGE NINJA REVEALED
Ch. 2:Pain and Pressure
Kakashi led the way into the woods that Kayomie was said to occupy. Hopefully, they hadn't walked smack dab into a trap. Naruto's eyes darted from side to side alert for the slightest motion. He had played enough hide-and-seek games with her to know how she worked. Sakura kept her ears open, hoping to hear Kayomie if she decided to attack.
As the group passed a bush, a pair of green eyes blinked and watched them. They narrowed as the scanned the silver-haired jounin in the lead. (A/N: I changed my mind about the ranks. It goes with lowest to highest: genin, chuunin, jounin. Got it? Good.) He looked muscular and fit, if a little lazy at the moment. But looks could be deceiving at times. The eyes quickly disappeared with a rustle of leaves, alerting the group to what they believed had been a squirrel. Sakura and Naruto's keen ears caught the sound of fast paw falls.
"Guys! We're under attack!" Sakura yelled in fear. A silver wolf leaped out of the bushes and knocked her into the ground, leaving her stunned and partially unconscious. It then pinned Sasuke to the ground, teeth bared as it growled savagely. Sasuke glared back and would have fought to get free, but the gleaming teeth told him otherwise.
A brown cougar followed, firmly holding Kakashi to the ground, eyes flashing and long canines inches from his throat to kill him if he moved. (Even though it's a feline, the two teeth are still called canines… Go figure.) A golden flash tackled Naruto to the ground, licking his face happily.
"Hey!" Naruto yelled as he struggled to get the animal off. "Knock it off!" The large fox leaned back and barked, eyes sparkling in happiness. "Sai?" It barked again and wagged its bushy tail. A young woman leaped over a bush and landed securely before helping Sakura to her feet.
She had long, golden hair that she wore in a ponytail at the top of her head with a red bandanna to keep her bangs at bay. Navy blue pants with rips in it decorated her legs to her thin waist, held up by a tan belt with three pouches attached to it. A navy tank with a vest similar to Kakashi's, only not as bulky, was all that decorated her upper half.
"Kurai, Sukai, off. These are friends," she ordered the wolf and cougar sharply. The wolf clambered off of Sasuke and gently nudged him to his feet. The woman frowned, her jade green eyes flashing. "Sukai, I said off! Off, Sukai." The cougar didn't move. "Sukai, off!" At this last word, the woman bent, pulled back on the leather strap that served the cougar as a collar, and booted the cougar as it turned. She crouched by Kakashi's stunned face with a sheepish look on her own. "Sorry about that. I guess Sukai was a little more nervous than I thought," she said as she smiled at him.
"Yeah…." Kakashi replied with a confused look on his face. She pulled the jounin to his feet, her eyes scanning him before she turned, doing the same to the genin he had traveled with. Her eyes sparked in recognition as a smile came to her face.
"It certainly has been a long time… Why, you three were barely waist-high last I saw you!" Naruto blinked a couple times, his arms securely around Sai.
"Nee-san?" he said in a surprised tone.
"Who else would I be?"
"Kayomie!" he yelled as he dropped the fox and ran to hug his sister. She grunted at the impact.
"It's been a long time, little brother," Kayomie said as she hugged him securely.
"I missed you, nee-san."
"I know, I know…" she replied as she ran her fingers through his golden hair like she used to when he was younger. After a few minutes of this, she pulled him back a couple of feet to look at him. "My, have you grown, little brother! You look almost grown up! I mean, a couple more feet and you're up to my chin." Kayomie smiled as she ruffled his hair and glanced at Sakura and Sasuke before nodding to herself. "You two certainly have changed. I almost didn't recognize you, Sakura. Your hair's so long now. It looks good on you."
"Thanks!" Sakura said with a wide grin. Finally! Someone noticed!
"Why, Sasuke, you're a lot different from who I remember. You're so serious…" Kayomie's eyes softened. "But I can see why after that…" Sasuke didn't speak but his eyes darkened at her mentioning it. Her eyes saddened in response. "My apologies, Sasuke, I shouldn't have mentioned it."
"It's okay," Sasuke murmured. She smiled softly and turned to Kakashi.
"You and your team are welcome to stay, jounin-san. I'll need some time before I'm ready to leave. Sai, would you lead them to our campsite if they agree? I need to do some things before I start packing. Excuse me," Kayomie said, bowing before she, Sukai, and Kurai disappeared.
"Could we, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked with a hopeful look in his eyes.
"Well, it's not like the Hokage gave us much of a choice to return without her, so yes. I guess we will," Kakashi said with his eye curved into a smile. Sai barked and started ahead, pausing every so often to make sure that they kept up with her.
The fox led them to a clearing with a large tent, a campfire pit, and a large stake with cuts in the wood.
"Wow," Naruto said as he investigated the wood. "It's like a calendar! One cut for every day." Sai was curled up on a rock in the clearing, watching their reactions.
Sukai padded into the clearing, a large fish in her jaws, and gently laid the fish at Kakashi's feet, her gold eyes sad.
"Uh…"
"Oh, that's just how she says sorry, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto told him. "Sukai's always done that when she's done something wrong."
"Ah." Kakashi bent and took the fish, scratching the cougar behind her ears. "You're forgiven, Sukai, and thanks for the fish," he said, his eye curving into a smile. Sukai purred and licked his hand, standing as she did so.
"She's really polite," Sakura stated.
"Well, that's how Sukai, Kurai, and Sai were raised. Kayomie has always said that politeness should come first in most situations." Naruto smiled as he remembered that phrase from when he had been rude to someone.
"Understandable, too. Acting like that can get you out of a sticky situation," Sasuke stated as he looked over the campsite.
Kayomie skidded to a stop mere centimeters from running into Kakashi, waving her arms to quickly regain her balance to avoid colliding into him. "All Right!" She yelled, making Kakashi jump and almost pin her to a tree with a shuriken. I say almost because Kayomie crouched at the last second. "Easy, jounin-san. I only meant to get Sakura, Sasuke, and little bro's attention, not scare you. My apologies."
"You merely surprised me, but I accept your apology," Kakashi replied with a small grin invisible behind his mask. Kayomie returned it.
"Good. Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, your first lesson is to find me."
"Huh!"
"Hold it, nee-san. How can we learn to do your jutsu if you don't teach us?" Kayomie smiled again.
"That's the point. To learn a jutsu, you first have to know how it works. What easier way to do so than by seeing it in action?
"One at a time, you three will have to find me within a 30 minute time limit. Naruto, since you have a slight advantage, you'll go first. Sakura and Sasuke should be able to figure out a little bit of what you already know out as they watch. Now, you give me five minutes to hide and you come find me. No peeking!" Kayomie leaped away, leaving Kakashi with nothing to do but read.
5 min. later
"You can go now, Naruto," Kakashi stated from his position under a tree with Sukai curved behind him, serving as a backrest. After the rocky start, Sukai had given a bit of her trust toe the jounin.
Kurai was sitting next to Sasuke, being perfectly calm and innocent. Sasuke kept glancing at her as though expecting her to attack. Finally, Kurai just turned and licked his cheek as Naruto took off after his sister.
Naruto's blue eyes scanned the forest as he ran, looking for any hint as to where his sister had headed. Because he was so focused on the area around him, he tripped over a log and landed face first into a mud puddle. He regained his feet, spluttering as he stood. A faint chuckle came from his right. Naruto grinned and ran in that direction.
Kayomie came out from behind a bush with a large grin on her face. "You'd think he'd figure out that I fixed that," she muttered to herself.
"I did!"
Kayomie turned to see her brother on a tree branch above her. "I should've remembered… You're a bit quicker than people give you credit for. Come and get me then, catching is the true find," she said with a small smile as she dashed off.
"Rats! I can't believe I fell for it!" Naruto growled. "She always does that." He darted after her.
Kayomie managed to avoid his tricks as he chased her. The group in the clearing watched in interest as they darted all over.
"Naruto, you have ten minutes left," Kakashi called after the boy.
"Got it!" he yelled back. A cleverly thrown shuriken had pinned one of Kayomie's sleeves to a tree. "Gotcha!"
"Not quite!" The trapped Kayomie turned into a log. "Let's see if you can do that twice, little brother!" her voice rang from the forest around them.
"You may be able to throw your voice, nee-san, but I can still find you!" Naruto closed his eyes and focused his chakra on finding hers. His eyes snapped open with a smirk. He darted around the clearing, stopping behind his older sister. "Found you!" he yelled as he tackled her to the ground.
"Ow!" she grunted as she hit the ground before chuckling. "Good, little brother, good! I was hoping you would figure it out," she told him as she ruffled his hair clumsily. "Now, could you get off? My ribs feel ready to break!" Naruto scrambled off Kayomie as she stood and brushed herself off.
"Impressive," Kakashi said from where he sat.
"What? Naruto, me, or whatever you're reading?" Kayomie asked as she plopped down beside him.
"You, mainly. You've gotten better, Kayo-chan." Kayomie's eyebrows wrinkled as she frowned.
"How do you know that name?"
"I'm surprised you forgot about me so easily… We did train with Iruka for a few short months before we became genin, remember?" Kakashi met her gaze with his. She blinked in surprise a couple of times.
"Kakashi? Hatake Kakashi? (If his last name is wrong, please tell me what it is!)" He nodded, his smirk hidden beneath his mask. Kayomie smacked the back of his head. "What the hell took you so long, jackass!"
She grumpily walked into the woods. "Sakura, wait five minutes and then it's your turn, okay?"
"Um… okay…" The girl blinked a couple times before returning to stroking Sai's fur. "Kakashi-sensei, were you… friends with Kayomie?" she asked quietly.
"Not friends, more like… friendly acquaintances. We've never been extremely close. We trained together until we both reached genin at the same time. After that, we were split up among different senseis. I didn't see her again until after she took care of Naruto, but I never bothered to reacquaint myself."
"Well, no wonder she's mad at you!" Naruto yelled. "She probably thought you died or something."
"Let's go with 'or something' and leave it at that, ne?" Kayomie's voice echoed from around them again. "Sakura, you can come after me now."
"Got it!"
Here's a shout-out to those who have reviewed:
Element Girls: Thanks for the review! I like getting complemented on my work… If you like this, I suggest you try the story 'A Siren's Song.' That was what started this one in the first place.
BattleStations: Don't worry, that will be revealed in the coming chapters… Once I remember why myself. Oh, and a very important part of her mission is going to be revealed, so if I take too long, don't be afraid to give me crap.
Kitsune Foxfire: Thanks! I will try to update more often, but I have that slight problem known as writer's block that shows up way too much!
If you want to see your name up here, review people! Thanks!
Kayomie: I know Little Brother normally does this sort of thing, but since it involves delving into my psyche, I'll be doing the intro to the next chapter. Next time on Naruto: The Camouflage Ninja Revealed: Chapter 3: Bits And Pieces of Rememory. I go over a bit of my past and we finally get back to Konohamaru village. Which goes just about as wrong as it can get. The crowd forces me to tell Naruto and Kakashi just what it is that makes me avoid crowds. If you want to know as well, tune in next time!