Chapter 4: Forbidden Move, Chakra Cannon
Lei:*talking to one of the doctors* "Will he be able to make a full recovery?"
Doc: "Yes, but not very quickly. He'll need to stay away from training until his ribs have fully healed."
Lei: "How long will that take?"
Doc: "Maybe a couple of months. Depends on how much damage the X-rays show."
Lei:*sighs*
Lady: "Sir, your needed."
Doc: "I'll be right there."*follows her*
Sakura: "This is awful. How are we supposed to keep up with our training if Kakashi sensei's in the hospital?"
Sasuke: "I'm not sure. It won't be easy though."
Naruto: "Yeah, but we'll pull through."
(Sandaime walks up.)
Sandaime: "Ah, there you are. I've been looking for you."
Lei:*turns to him* "What is it?"
Sandaime: "It's not going to be as difficult as you think to keep up with your training. You see, before the match, Kakashi asked me that if anything happened to him during the match that would put him out of commission for a time that Lei would take over until he's able to again."
Lei: "What? But I can't be a sensei yet, I haven't beaten Nokki."
Sandaime: "I'm the Hokage, I can tell him to leave you alone. Besides, Kakashi would be grateful if you kept his students until he was able to train with them."
Naruto: "You can't be serious?"
Sandaime: "I'm serious Naruto."
Lei:*looks toward Kakashi, and then looks at her hands.* "I'll train them until Kakashi is well enough to go back to it. I owe him the favor."
Sandaime: "I was hoping you would agree."
Sakura: "Alright then, shouldn't we get going?"
Lei: "Not just yet, not until the X-rays com back."
Sandaime: "Well they better stop farting around in there."
Lei: "Grampa, what exactly did they do with Nokki?"
Sandaime: "Hmm? Oh, they put him into a rubber room until the new moon."
Naruto:*laughs*
Lei: "Good, shoulda put him in there in the first place."
Sandaime: "The mutated Byakugan is full of surprises and difficult to predict. Even for the user. You of all people should know that."
Lei: "I know, but I found a way around his Byakugan."
Sakura: "I thought there wasn't a way around it."
Lei: "You're not me Sakura. I've lived around the Byakugan since I was a Cadet. Nokki was in the year above me and looked up to by several people."
Sasuke: "He's only a year older than you and he's your mentor?"
Lei: "Yes. He wasn't my choice either. When my father died, it was in his will that I be placed under a mentor with my brother."
Sandaime: "In order to find a mentor, there was a tournament and during the course of the tournament, Lei was to remain under a sensei, at the time the Fourth Hokage."
Sakura: "The Fourth Hokage? You trained under him?"
Lei: "Yes, for a time."
Doc:*walks up* "Miss Lei."
Lei: "Yes?"
Doc: "His X-rays came back and well, the damage is pretty serious. The two broken ribs are almost cracked all the way through."
Lei Naruto Sakura Sasuke:*shock line*
Doc: "It's going to require surgery to fix them."
Sandaime: "It would require surgery anyway."
Lei: "You can't just stick a needle in his chest and presto fix it like a regular broken bone."
Doc:-_-;
Lei: "Well you can't."
Doc: "Anyway, it may be some time before he comes out of his coma."
Lei:*sighs* "Thank you. I need to be going, I have training to start."
Doc: "Yes miss."
(Lei takes the three of them to the lake.)
Lei: "Was Kakashi teaching you anything before the match?"
Sasuke: "Not really."
Lei: "Okay, this shouldn't be too difficult."
Naruto: "What shouldn't be?"
Lei: "I'll start teaching you one of my own moves."
(They look at each other, kind of confused.)
Lei: "Why so confused? It's simple to learn, just a pain to master."
Sakura: "What is it?"
Lei: "It's called the Chakra Cannon."
Sakura: "You can use the Chakra Cannon? With all the chakra is takes to use it?"
Lei: "Yes Sakura, and since you've heard of it, why don't you explain to the boys it can do."
Sakura: "Well, it's a forbidden move, mostly because it's so powerful and requires the user to have full control over their chakra."
Lei: "Yes, very good Sakura. Do you know how it's used?"
Sakura: "No, I only know what it can do and why it's forbidden."
Lei: "You know more than most people do about the Chakra Cannon. Some people haven't even heard of it. I however, am about to show you."
Sasuke: "Now?"
Lei: "Yes."*she makes three very quick signs with her hands and points two fingers like a gun toward a rock. Chakra engulfs her body and then focuses to her fingers* "Chakra Cannon!"*she fires at the nearby rock and it blows into a thousand pieces.*
Sasuke Sakura Naruto: O_O
Sakura: "Remind me not to get her way when she's using that."
Naruto: "Yeah."
Sasuke: "No problem."
Lei:*blows the smoke from her fingers* "And that's not even at full power." *turns to them* "Worth learning?"
Naruto: "Yeah."
Lei: "Alright then, the first thing to learn is the hand signs, obviously."
(For the majority of the afternoon, she's showing them the hand signs and chakra flow for the technique. After they head back, they find Gai and his team and the Hokage in the dinning room.)
Gai: "There you guys are. What kept you?"
Lei: "Training Gai."
Sei: "Whoa, whoa wait a minute. You're training them?"
Lei: -_-; "I'm going to ignore that question."
Sandaime: "Don't expect him to be so fast on his feet outside of battle, he's not the sharpest tool in the shed."
Sei: "That's not funny Grampa."
(They all laugh.)(After dinner, they're all sitting outside for some fresh air and talking.)
Gai: "Just what are you teaching them?"
Lei: "Never you mind. And don't even think about sending one of your students to spy, because I'll know."
Gai: "Hmph."
Sei: "Why do you always have to be so mean? It was only a question."
Lei: "You hush."*sits back in her seat* "I've got good news and bad news, which do you want to hear first?"
Gai: "Give us the good news."
Lei: "Alrighty then, Kakashi will make a full recovery."
(There's a quick sigh of relief.)
Lei: "However, he'll be out of commission for at least two months."
Sei: "Oh. I thought it'd be worse than that. Like he'd never be a ninja again or something."
Lei Gai Hinata: "THAT'S NO FUNNY SEI!!!"
Sei: "I was being serious."
(A little later, and after a few more arguments between Lei and Gai, they all head to bed. Lei wakes up to Akamaru's barking at dawn.)
Lei:*turns toward her door* "What are you barking at Akamaru?"*she gets up and heads outside.*
(Akamaru is apparently barking at nothing.)
Lei:*sighs* "Figures."*goes over to him and picks him up* "What are you barking at?"
Akamaru:*looks up at her then licks her face*
Lei: "Alright you. Stop Akamaru."
Kiba:*from around the corner* "Hey, Akamaru. Where are ya boy?"
Akamaru:*jumps from Lei's arms and heads around the corner*
Lei:*smiles and heads back into her room. She gets dressed, combs her hair and braids it, then heads toward the kitchen.*
(After everyone has breakfast, Lei takes team 7 to see Kakashi.)
Sakura: "How long did the doctor say until he woke up?"
Lei: "He doesn't know. He was hit pretty hard both times."
Naruto: "It'd be nice if we could actually talk to him."
Lei: "He can hear us; his brain just can't process what's going on around him."
Naruto:*sigh* "Now I'm really depressed."
Sasuke:*sits quietly at Kakashi's side. He notices his hand lightly twitch* "Hmm?"
Lei: "Something wrong Sasuke?"
Sasuke: "I thought I saw his hand move."
Lei: "You may have. There's no certainty of it though."*takes Kakashi's right hand and lightly squeezes. No response* "He's still not responsive. It might've just been a reflex from a dream."
Sasuke: "Maybe…"
(Around noon, she takes them back to the lake.)
Lei: "Hope you're ready today. I'm going to show you how to actually fire the cannon."
Sakura: "How do we do that?"
Lei: "Well, first you need to focus the chakra to the tips of your fingers. The more fingers you use, the less you need to focus on. You also have to focus on the target at all times, even in movement."*she turns around* "You see the bull's eye over there that is your target. At least until I think you're ready to go to the moving targets."*turns to them* "Got it?"
Sasuke Sakura Naruto: "Yes ma'am."
Lei: "Good. When you build up enough, you will be able to create a more powerful blast. The more chakra you have for this move, the better. Soo, who wants to give it a shot?"
(Silence)
Lei: "Geeze. Since you're all to chicken to volunteer, Sasuke you're up."
Sasuke:*steps up. He signs three, and takes aim* "Chakra Cannon!!!"*he fires and hits the target, but far from the middle* "What the hell?"
Lei: "You didn't let your chakra focus. It was too sudden a burst for your body to handle, making it difficult to handle. Try it again."
Sasuke:*tries again, this time allowing his chakra to focus. He hits the target closer to the middle.*
Lei: "Much better."
(Later on, they take a break. They're on the subject of chakra control.)
Lei:*sighs as they go back and forth* "That's enough you two. Neither of you can control chakra in any form as well as Sei and I."
Sasuke Naruto:*stop and look at her*
Naruto: "What?"
Lei: "The Mortagashi clan is known for its ability to manipulate chakra. And on top of that, I can also manipulate Phoenix chakra."
Sakura: "Phoenix chakra?"
Lei: "Oh, I didn't tell you that I'm the Protector of the Sacred Phoenix of the Shinobi?"
Sasuke Sakura Naruto: WHAT!?!? NO!!!"
Sakura: "Who else knows about this?"
Lei: "My brother and grandfather."
Sakura: "And?"
Lei:*sighs* "Orochimaru."
(The three of them stare.)
Lei: "And he wants me dead because of it."
(By the time the suns starts to set, Lei brought them back to the house to rest after training. Over the next few weeks, the three of them are hitting the bull's eye with more and more precision. In the meanwhile, Kakashi still does not wake up. The doctors soon remove the oxygen mask and he begin to breathe on his own. The four continued to make regular visits, only to find him still unconscious. One night after training, Lei was in Kakashi's room.)
Lei:*sitting on his right side, gently stroking his right hand.* "Kakashi please wake up."*she tightens her grip on his hand and (for the first time in about a month) he weakly squeezes back. Startled, she lightly squeezes and he squeezes back* "Kakashi…?"
Kakashi:*his grip tightens and his eyes begin to open*
Lei:*running her hand through his hair*
Kakashi: "Lei?"
Lei:*pulls him into a gentle hug* "We've missed you."
Kakashi:*wrapping his arm around her* "I know you did, but how much?"
Lei: "More than words can say."*draws back slightly, then leans to kiss him*
Kakashi:*stopping her with a hand* "Have they kept up?"
Lei:*with a quiet laugh* "Yes, of course."
Kakashi:*smiles* "I knew I could trust you…"
Lei:*returns it* "You should smile a little more often."
Kakashi: "Only for you."
Lei:*laughs. Gently kisses him*
Kakashi:*deepens it and enjoys it*
(The next morning, Lei gets up in a good mood. After breakfast, she takes Team 7 to see Kakashi [she already told them that he woke up last night]. When inside, Naruto glomps him. )
Lei: "Naruto! His ribs!"
Kakashi: "No it's alright, he missed."
Lei:* "You're lucky I love you Kakashi, or you'd have your head punched in."*
(An hour or so later, Lei takes them out to the lake. Right before they leave, Lei quickly kissed Kakashi. The three Genin are confused. They leave with a good bye.)
Lei: "Well, since you've mastered the still target, we can move on to the moving targets."
Sasuke: "Good, just one question – who's our target?"
Lei:*smirk* "You'll be shooting at me."
Sakura: "What? But what if you get hurt?"
Lei: "I'll be fine. I have an armor on that will protect me from that. So don't worry about me."*folds her arms, knowing no one will volunteer* "And since none of you are planning on volunteer, Naruto your up first."
Naruto:*groans* "Fine."
Lei:*disappears in a blur*
Naruto:! "What the?"
Lei: "C'mon Naruto. I'm waiting."
Naruto:*ignores her. Signs and focuses his chakra. He fires* "Chakra Cannon!"
(He hits his mark.)
Lei:*had stopped* "Well, very good Naruto."*the mark was right at her heart* "A vital point at about half my speed."
Sakura: "THAT was only half?
Lei: "Yes. The only one who could even try to match my speed is Lee with his weights off."
Sasuke: "And how much weight is on your legs?"
Lei: "More than what Lee has, let's just put it that way."
(Later on, Lei takes them back to the house. Iruka is waiting for them on the back porch.)
Iruka: "Was wondering when you would show up."*stands*
Lei: "Is something wrong?"
Iruka: "Not really. I was visiting Kakashi earlier and his doctor wanted me to tell you that his surgery is in a few days."
Lei: "I see. You three go inside. I need to talk to Iruka."
(They head inside.)
Iruka:*after they shut the door* "He doesn't want you there that day, or the other three. He doesn't want you getting into trouble."
Lei: "I understand his concern, but if I did go I wouldn't get in trouble."
Iruka: "What do you mean?"
Lei: "Nokki's in solitary confinement until the new moon."
Iruka:*laughs* "Maybe they should keep him there until he dies."
Lei: "Iruka! As much as I'd like that, I still have to beat him to become a Jounin."
Iruka: "I know."*Hugs* "I was only kidding."
Lei: "I hope so. This is one of those rare times that I want him alive."*sighs* "Does my grampa know?"
Iruka: "Yes, along with the rest of the house because Lee can't keep his mouth shut."
Lei: "I'd rather have them know then Orochimaru."
Iruka: "If it means that much that people don't know, Gai won't say anything."
Lei: "I told Kakashi's Genin, and they're not telling anyone unless they wanna clean out Smicha's litter box."
Iruka: "Eew."
(Naruto is listening to them through a crack in the door. His eyes widen as he hears this. He goes to Sasuke and Sakura.)
Sasuke: "Well?"
Naruto: "If we tell we gotta clean the box."
Sasuke Sakura:*disgusted face*
Sakura: "Who even actually cleans that? I've never seen anybody go down there to clean it."
(Sei walks by the room with a scrub brush, a pair of rubber gloves, a mask and some disinfectant soap.)
Sasuke: "That answer your question?"
Sakura:*sweat drop* "Yeah."
(Lei and Iruka walk in.)
Lei: "Ya heard me then eh?"
Naruto: "Yeah. That's just gross."
Lei: "That's why I don't go near it."
Iruka; "Speaking of Smicha, where is she?"
Lei: "I don't know. I haven't seen her in a couple of days."
Sakura: "You think she ran off?"
Lei: "No, she cares too much to just get up and leave."
Iruka: "Cares? Not about Kiba."
Lei: "She bit him because he stepped on her tail. She can deal with Akamaru."
Sasuke: "Yeah, all she has to do is get big and he'll shut up quick."
Lei: "Exactly. Now, I'm going to see if I can find her. I'll see you all at dinner."*walks out*
Naruto: "Can we ask now?"
Sakura: "Have at it."
Iruka: "Alright, what are you three up to?"
Sakura: "We had a question about Lei and Kakashi."
Iruka:*sighs and sits* "Alright, I'll bite. What is it?"
Sasuke: "She kissed him as we left this morning. What's that about?"
Iruka:*sighs* "I don't think Lei and Kakashi want me to tell you about their relationship."
Naruto: "And why not? It's not like we're gonna tell anybody."
Sakura: "Unless you want to scrub the box."
Iruka:-_-; "Don't remind me."
Sasuke: "You gonna tell us Iruka sensei?"
Iruka:*takes and breath* "They've known each other since they were Cadets, their first year. It was after school hours. Kakashi wasn't the person you see now. He wasn't as confident in himself. Well, he went into the woods to do his homework and about seven Graduate years ganged up on him. They threw him against a tree and stuck a kunai through his shoulder blade."
(Flashback, sort of.)
Younger Kakashi:*in pain* "Stop it, leave me alone."
Grad Year1: "And why should we? You're only a first year and you're not even worth keeping at the school."
Grad Year2: "You're more pathetic than Iruka, and you parents are still around."
Kakashi:*still against the tree, the kunai in his shoulder. He winces as he tries to move it*
Grad Year3: "You can't even harness pain. That's pathetic."
Younger Lei:*comes out of the brush* "Leave him alone."
Grad Year4: "You're that freckled girl who was hanging around Mortagashi sensei's room during her lunch."
Grad Year 3: "What do you want?"
Lei: "I want you to leave him alone. He's done nothing to you."
Grad Year5: "We're puttin' him out of his misery of his harsh life. Whether you like it or not freckles."
Lei: "My name is Lei thank you, and you won't lay another hand on him, unless you want me to tell Mortagashi sensei. She's my mother."
Grad Year4: "What? You're the Hokage's granddaughter."
Lei: "Of course I am you dope."
Grad Year6: "Let's get outta here."
(They all run off.)
Kakashi:*finding it hard to move*
Lei:*turns to him. She gently pulls out the kunai* "That should let you move a little, but it still needs to be treated."
Kakashi: "I can treat it myself."*wince.*
Lei: "It's pierced your shoulder blade. I'll take you to my dad."*she helps him to feet*
Kakashi: "I'm fine."*winces again*
Lei: "No you're not. Smicha!"
(A large cat comes out of the bushes. Lei puts Kakashi and goes to her house.)
(End flashback.)
Iruka: "Basically that's how they met."
Sakura: "How come never told us?"
Iruka: "For Lei's protection. If he said anything about it, she'd probably be dead by now. He'd never let that happen. Especially not to her. He cares too much for her to let anything like that happen. And most of our friends knew it."
Naruto:* "There's more to this story than Iruka's letting on."*
Iruka: "Something wrong Naruto?"
Naruto: "Huh? Oh, no."
Iruka: "I know that look. You're worried about something, aren't you."
Naruto: "I'm not worried about anything, honest."
Iruka:*gives him a look*
Naruto: "I'm dead serious."
Iruka: "You better be."