Chapter 17: More Bounty Hunters
Kakashi was at the camp reading his novel while waiting for Sakura with the water. His thoughts began to dwell onto her more than the novel. My God, she's so beautiful. I'm so happy that she and I are alone for the next six months. He put down his book and looked up at the clouds in the sky. Such a peaceful day. 15 minutes passed, and Kakashi started to become worried. The stream isn't this far away. He then heard the cracking of trees in the distance and an explosion of chakra. Sakura! He got up and ran towards the energy.
"Why is there a bounty on Kakashi?" Sakura asked the two hunter nins.
"That information is on a need to know basis only," One of the nins said firmly, "and you do not need to know." Sakura slipped a kunai from her pouch. A hand grasped her wrist.
"We warn you not to use force." Sakura whipped around, chakra charged into her free hand. The nin easily dodged it and jabbed Sakura's side with two fingers. Sakura coughed, spitting some blood onto the floor. "You're kidney has been punctured. You will die if you fight any longer." The nin said impassively. Sakura dropped to her knees and panted heavily. "Where is Hatake Kakashi?" He asked patiently. Sakura had her right hand gripping at her side, and her left hidden from sight. She charged a rasengan in her free hand, and with lightning fast movements appeared behind the nin. She thrusted her hand into his back, shattering his vertebrae. The nin collapsed on the floor paralyzed and on the brink of consciousness. The second nin performed a few seals, and shot chakra in the form of lightning from his hand towards Sakura. The pink haired kunoichi moved out of the way, the lightning grazing her left arm. The bolt cracked through a tree, which fell over slowly and with a deafening thud. Sakura spit up more blood. She disappeared in a whirl of petals into a tree. The hunter nin performed a few seals and bowed his head. Sakura summoned healing chakra and began to treat her kidney. The hunter nin looked up and vanished. He appeared on Sakura's right. Sakure spun her head to look at the cloud nin. He had what looked like a stake made of chakra in his hand. He drove it through Sakura's shoulder causing her to scream in pain. He forcefully drew back the stake and prepared for another strike. Out of the corner of his eye, the hunter nin saw a blue light getting closer by the millisecond. He turned his head to see a silver haired shinobi with mismatched eyes charging his way with blue lightning in his hand. His target had arrived. The nin turned towards Kakashi and thrusted the stake in his path. Kakashi drove his raikiri right through the stake and cut through the nin's chest. The cloud nin's eyes lost life, and he flopped down from the tree onto the floor. Sakura almost fell off the tree before Kakashi caught her. He picked her up in his arms and dashed back to camp. God let her be alive he thought to himself.
Sakura… The Pink haired kunoicihi heard a familiar voice reverberating in her head. Sakura, it called louder. She looked around to see a gray sky and dark green grass. She put her hand to her side. Her kidney was in perfect condition. She rotated her arm in her socket with ease, not feeling any pain. Sakura! The voice was a bit clearer. It sounded like Kakashi. Sakura turned her head to the left and saw a white light that looked very appealing. She got up slowly and walked towards the light. "Maybe he's waiting for me on the other side." She said to herself. Suddenly, she felt a jolt through her body. She stopped in her tracks and held her heart. She felt the jolt again and woke up with a huge gasp. She sat up spitting up blood as she circulated the oxygen through her lungs. She felt a pair of strong arms encircle her, being gentle with her right shoulder.
"Thank God." Kakashi breathed. Sakura sat there, head against his chest. She let the warmth and comfort spread through her body. After half a minute, Kakashi brought Sakura at arms length from him. He looked into her emerald orbs with his one onyx eye. "What happened Sakura?" Kakashi asked. She gave the details of the incident. The silver haired jounin's eye narrowed in anger and looked off towards the stream. He stood up. "Stay here. I'll be back in a flash." He said before walking towards the battle grounds.
"Wait!" Sakura cried. Kakashi stopped and turned his head. "What if more come? My chakra's pretty low." Kakashi performed a cross seal.
"Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" Three clones appeared and surrounded Sakura, Sharingan exposed. The real Kakashi walked off.
Kakashi arrived at the battle grounds and saw the two bodies lying there, motionless. He approached the first one and noticed the bulging skin, where his bone fragments were. A broken back doesn't mean you're dead. Kakashi thought to himself. He pulled out a kunai and flipped the body over. Kakashi's eye widened at the sight. The shinobi had parts of his ribs and other bone fragments sticking out of his abdomen. Blood poured slowly from the open wounds. His eyes were turned to the back of his head, mouth open. Kakashi closed his eye and turned to the other body. I really don't want to deal with that mess. The other cloud nin had a hole in his chest from where the raikiri penetrated. He knealt down and searched the body for any identification. He found a mission scroll in his flak vest. He untied the binding string and read the scroll.
By order of the Raikage of the Village of Clouds:
The Konoha shinobi Hatake Kakashi, is to be apprehended and submitted to daimyo of Lightning Country. The charges are assassination of a previous Lightning daimyo. The target is to be captured alive and brought back to Lightning Country ASAP.
Kakashi's eye widened at the final part;
This request shall be sent to all neighboring Hidden Villages.
Signed,
Yondaime Raikage
Kakashi rolled up the scroll and put it in a free pocket in his vest. He looked at the sky above him. Sent to every village? Surely Tsunade-sama wouldn't go along with this. He turned and walked back to the campsite. As he walked back, thoughts raced through his head. How will Sakura and I be able to complete the mission? Security is bound to be tight, and now they have every hidden village after my head. He smelled the ramen as he approached.
"Hi Kakashi!" Sakura greeted. Kakashi waved back and put a smile on. He called off the clones and sat down next to her. New information popped into his head. Hmm? "Did you find anything."
"No," he lied, "nothing." He turned to the pink haired shinobi as she poured two bowls of ramen. "Why are you so happy and energetic all of a sudden?" Kakashi asked. Sakura giggled.
"Your clones and I talked a lot," She began, "evidently, the little accident between you and Shizune-san didn't happen just once." Kakashi blushed and put his hand behind his head.
"Ah, I really have to teach my clones to keep their mouths shut." He said, chuckling weakly. Sakura leaned in on her elbow and looked into Kakashi's eye with menace.
"So how was she?" Sakura asked under her breath. Kakashi blushed furiously.
"Sakura…" He began.
"C'mon I won't tell anybody."
"Umm." He stroked his chin.
"Hmm?"
"She was," he began slowly, Sakura waiting an answer, "she was, how do you say it?" Sakura was on the brink of exploding with impatience. "She was…arousing in many many ways." Sakura was shocked at his blunt description. "Whatever I wanted, she did, and vice versa. Plus, she had training from Tsunade-sama on nerve locations in male anatomy." Sakura blushed furiously. I wish I never asked. A sudden feeling went through her body. Kakashi caught the expression.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," She said quietly, "it's just…it's just…"
"Hn?"
"I guess I'm a bit…jealous." Kakashi was taken aback.
"Jealous? Why?"
"Well, you seem to have had an amazing time with Shizune-san. And we've never really….done anything like that…yet." Kakashi's gaze softened. He put an arm around her.
"Don't worry," He cooed, "Just wait a bit longer." Sakura smiled and kissed his masked lips. They both sat down and ate. Kakashi held his book in front of his face, and performed a seal. The book stayed in mid-air right in front of his face. Sakura giggled as she saw his hand pull down the mask and his free hand bringing up the bowl. Within a flash he was finished. Sakura continued eating, savoring the flavor of the noodles and soup. "He Sakura." Kakashi asked, breaking the silence.
"Hn?" She asked her mouth full of noodles.
"What do you think about staying at an inn within the next couple of days?" Sakura gulped down her food.
"That sounds wonderful!" She exclaimed. Kakashi grinned through his mask.
"Good. Because we'll be passing through Yutaka in order to get to where we're going." Kakashi picked up the empty bowls and discarded them nearby. Sakura rolled the idea of Yutaka in her mind. I heard that's one of the biggest cities in fire country! She told herself, Maybe I can pick up something nice for Kakashi.
Kakashi unrolled his sleeping bag. Thoughts of Yutaka came across his mind. There should be many shops, he thought to himself, maybe I can pick up something nice for Sakura. He looked over at the pink haired girl as she settled into her own sleeping bag, which was conveniently a foot away from his own. Sakura looked up at Kakashi. Her emerald green eyes gleamed in the moonlight. Kakashi was lost in her lustful orbs. "Kakashi?" Sakura asked, waking him from his trance. He shook himself and pulled out his book.
"Sorry." He mumbled before picking up from his last place. Sakura shrugged and fell into a comfortable slumber. Kakashi looked back at her peaceful face and smiled. He turned back to his book and continued to read.
The sound of leaves rustling woke up Kakashi. He slipped a kunai from under his sleeve and lifted his hia-ate. Where are you? He asked the predators silently. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed three figures walking towards him. He performed a few seals and seeped into the shadows, leaving behind a kawarimi. One of the figures raised his arm and launched a shuriken at the clone. The clone popped into a log and Kakashi emerged from behind them, kunai drawn. "Make a sound and your blood will run like a river." Kakashi hissed. The figures froze. Kakashi performed the body binding jutsu and watched as the three figures stood there with shocked expressions on their faces. He proceeded to check for any identification. Sure enough, he found another scroll on them, saying the same thing. He looked at their hia-ates. Rock Nin too?? He thought to himself. Even Konoha's greatest enemy was now on Kakashi's tail. I just hope Kazekage-sama will have enough sense to burn the scrolls. Kakashi made a quick movement and the three nins were dead. He picked each one up and took them to the river. He dumped the bodies in and walked back to camp. When he got back, he checked Sakura. She was still fast asleep, face still peaceful. He slipped back into his sleeping bag and closed his eyes. Tomorrow we head for Yukata. Maybe he can help me out with this situation.