Chapter 5 – Lord Hokage's Decision

Dana looked dumbly at Kakashi.

"I…What?" She asked feebly.

Kakashi bent down so his face was at level with hers, his smile beaming through his mask.

"You…Have…Passed…"

Dana looked from Kakashi to Mori and Taka; the latter two still recovering from Kakashi's previous announcement.

"But…I don't understand," Dana continued, "I disobeyed your orders…"

"Yeah, don't make that a habit, by the way, " Kakashi replied, "Dana, you were willing to put yourself on the line for the sake of your team mates. I ordered you to not give them food. If you had simply obeyed me, as all before you did, then you would have failed; because as important as rules are, there is nothing more than important than – "

"- Standing by your team mates," Dana finished, a big cheesy smile beginning to spread across her face.

"Exactly!" replied, his eye twinkling.

"Wait, just a bloody minute!! Mori roared, while straining against the ropes, "are you telling me that she has passed and I haven't!"

Kakashi rolled his eyes and ran his hand through his hair. "How many times am I going to say it?"

"You can't do that!" said Mori, "ninjas need to be trained in groups of three, you can't just train her by herself!"

"If you knew your history," Kakashi replied, "you would know that exceptions have been made in the past years. Ultimately, the decision is made by the Fourth Hokage."

Mori's eyes narrowed, until they were nothing more than little slits.

"I demand a resit," he whispered vehemently.

"Sorry," Kakashi replied pleasantly, "that isn't up to me. Decision of a resit lies in the hands of the council, but with my recommendation that you be removed from the programme, a resit is very unlikely."

"This is a load of bullshit!" Mori spat, "it's completely unfair!"

"UNFAIR!!

Suddenly, the ropes holding Mori pulled him away from the pillar, and with great force, spun him free towards Kakashi, who caught him with one hand and lifted him up so they're faces met.

"You want to hear about unfair," Kakashi said fiercely, his voice a low grumble. "How about the time you and your little gang first attacked Dana, and cut all her hair off for a laugh? How about the time you guys locked her in a closet so she was late for shuriken practice, and was given three hours detention after lessons finished? How about the time you tied her up and threw her down the well – she dislocated her shoulder because she couldn't protect herself from the fall – "

Kakashi threw Mori to the ground, where he cowered at the fierceness of the Copy Ninja.

"You have no right to talk about what is unfair, and as far as I'm concerned, you have no right to the title of a ninja. Now – "

Taking out his kunai, Kakashi sliced at the ropes holding Taka.

"Get the hell outta of my sight – BOTH OF YOU!"

Mori sprang to his feet and sped to the village, Taka wailing and running behind him.

Silence reigned for a while, then Dana walked up to Kakashi and bowed.

"Thank you, for everything you did there," she said, "and thank you for accepting me as your student. I promise I'll do my best."

"Don't bow, for god sake!" Kakashi replied anxiously, "you do that for elders and I'm only eighteen!!

Dana smiled. "May I ask how you knew about all the things they'd done to me?"

"There's not much about you that I don't know," Kakashi answered.

"Then…you…remember me?"

Dana suddenly felt shy and awkward, and unconsciously began twisting the hem of her tunic nervously.

"Of course I remember you," Kakashi replied, "the little mud monster I found lurking in the village two years ago – how could I forget?"

Dana blushed. "Sorry, it's just… It didn't seem like you recognised me at first."

"Yeah, well… I thought it would be a good idea to keep that to myself until after the bell test – didn't want to be accused of favouritism."

'I'm gonna have accusations coming out at all sides once the council hear about this, though,' he thought to himself as he spoke. It had been pretty much guaranteed that Kakashi would fail Dana along with the rest, that was why the council had not objected when the Fourth and appointed him. Even Kakashi himself, was sure that Dana would end up failing like others before her. But she had passed; she had proved them all wrong, and now Kakashi was going to train her – even if it meant starting a full out war with the council – he wasn't going to abandon her after all the work she had put in.

"Won't there be objections to the fact that I'm the only one who passed?"

Kakashi looked down at Dana. She was sitting on the ground again, painfully stretching her legs out in front of her.

"Let me worry about that," he said, in a low, secretive voice that intrigued Dana.

"But now," he added, resuming his more pleasant demeanour, "we should take you to the hospital to get those wounds checked."

"Oh, that's okay," Dana replied, "Suki can take a look at them when I go back, they don't hurt as much anymore, and besides…I'm starving and the hospital food stinks."

Kakashi knelt down beside her and examined her legs, gently wiping the dirt and mud away with a piece of cloth so he could see the cuts better. As far as he could tell, they were superficial wounds, but they were still deep and some of them probably needed stitches. He noticed, however, that new skin was already forming.

'Her healing abilities are very impressive,' he thought, 'no doubt these cuts would be more serious if she weren't…'

He ended his thoughts abruptly when he notice the confused look he was receiving from Dana.

"Is everything alright?" she asked curiously.

"What? – Oh yeah – No real damage done," Kakashi answered standing, "but I still think you need to go to the hospital."

Dana frowned, which Kakashi found to look rather cute. He placed his hands on his hips and chuckled.

"Alright, how about this," he suggested, "You let me take you to the hospital, and afterwards, I'll take you out for dinner – anywhere you want to go – to celebrate you becoming a ninja."

Dana smiled. "Yeah, okay. Deal."

She stood up slowly, with Kakashi holding her arm to help her, and then a thought occurred to her.

"Is it okay if someone else joins us for dinner?" she asked.

"Sure. Do you mean Suki?"

"No..erm..It's my best friend, Itachi. I wouldn't have got this far without him."

Kakashi smiled. "So, he taught you his clan's Fireball technique eh?"

"Yup. He's been there for me constantly; I don't want to go out and have fun without him."

"Well, he's more than welcome. I'll need to give my report to the Fourth Hokage, so once we're done at the hospital, you can go and get Itachi and I'll meet you guys at the ramen stand."

"Will that be two, or three hours after the time we set?" Dana asked mischievously, "I'm not goin to wait on you all night!"

Kakashi smiled. This was going to be an interesting partnership...

Itachi sat thoughtfully in his garden.

All was calm and serene, the only noise coming from his little brother Sasuke as he played happily nearby.

Itachi watched him. He couldn't remember ever having time to play like that; always his father would take him away somewhere to teach him some new ninja technique.

The moment Itachi had been brought into the world, it had been clear that he was special: he learned things instantly, and as a toddler he was already being creative with his ninja abilities. Everyone praised and admired him, and his father pressured him into striving to greater heights, so that when the time came for him to accept his responsibilities, the clan would be in safe hands.

Itachi frowned as the words passed through his thoughts.

'But what about your sons?'

Itachi looked at Sasuke again. Their father hardly paid any attention to him; whenever Sasuke would approach him, either to show him a new toy, or catch his attention, their father would either push him gently aside, or call to their mother to take Sasuke away, while he would resume his attentions to Itachi.

Itachi found it intensely hypocritical. He wanted to honour his father's wishes, but at the expense of losing the things he wanted?

Itachi knew that his way of thinking was far too mature for someone his age, but that was how his father had made it.

He had molded Itachi into a ninja, without realising he was still just a boy, and no one seemed to be bothered by it, except Itachi himself.

However, things were getting better..

Itachi's thoughts turned to Dana. He wondered how she got on with Kakashi and hoped that whatever test he had given her, she'd passed alright.

He regreted leaving her so abruptly the night before. Itachi had never had a friend like her before; someone who's company he enjoyed immensely. No matter how depressed or frustrated he felt, whenever he went to Dana, she always made him feel better: She even made him laugh, something that was so rare that, when it had first happened, Itachi had wondered if it was really him.

He woke up from his daydream and saw Sasuke waddle towards him, his arm outstretched with a toy in his hand.

Itachi took the toy from his brother and smiled. Sasuke sat in front of him and waited expectantly until Itachi gave him back his toy and tickled him playfully.

Sasuke giggled with delight and was in the middle of asking Itachi to do it again, when the towering figure of their father appeared.

"Itachi. Come here, son."

Itachi closed his eyes in despair. He was content where he was; he had done his training, he had done his missions, why can't he be left to enjoy the rest of the day?

However, he opened his eyes, and messing his brother's hair affectionately, he obeyed his father.

He knelt opposite him and waited patiently. His father had his arms folded, and a grim expression on his face; but that was nothing new.

"Itachi," his father began, "I've been thinking a lot on this topic, and I've finally made a decision."

Itachi said nothing, but inwardly wondered what his father was talking about.

"That girl that came to see you the other day - Dana, is it? - I don't want you to see her anymore."

Itachi neither moved, nor blinked. His face showed no emotion, but inside, the heavy weight that was already pressuring him suddenly got heavier.

"May I ask why not?" Itachi asked eventually, making his father frown in annoyance.

"Because it is my wish."

Itachi shook his head. "I do not understand why you do not want me to see her, father."

"There are too many things going on in your life right now, Itachi," his father replied impatiently, "you're on missions and you're studying for your chunin exam. The last thing you need is distractions from a ragamuffin who wishes only to learn our clans techniques for her own benefit."

So he found out about the fireball jutsu...

"Dana didn't ask me to teach her, I offered to...Because she's my friend."

"You have plenty of friends amongst your clan, and your fellow ninjas. She is not worthy of your friendship."

"But she is a ninja."

"No, she is not of our village, she is not a fellow ninja."

"She graduated from the academy; she wears the emblem of our village."

"She is here because of the kind and generous nature of the Fourth Hokage, but she is an outcast, she was not born in the village, therefore she does not deserve our time."

"But...I..."

"Itachi!" his father said, rising to his feet, "I will not stand for an argument, I have told you what I want, and I expect you to obey, understand?"

There was a long, strained pause, before Itachi finally nodded his head.

"Good. Now the girl is standing by the gates, she asked to see you. I want you to tell her that you will not see her anymore, and that she is forbidden to come here again."

Itachi rose to his feet silently, his head hung so his father couldn't see his face.

Dragging his feet as he walked, Itachi made his way to the gate. He sensed nothing...He felt nothing. He was numb inside and out' he couldn't even think of what to say to Dana.

She stood leaning against the gate. He noticed her new clothes, and the bandages around her legs; he also noticed the beaming smile on her face.

"Hiya!" she said cheerfully. Itachi didn't return the smile.

"What happened?" he said, looking down at her legs.

"Long story," Dana replied, "but the outcome of it all is, I passed Kakashi's test and I'm now officially his student."

Itachi nodded. "I'm glad."

"I know you said not to come to your house," she continued, "I was hoping to catch you earlier, while you were training, but I had to go to the hospital and they insisted on keeping me there for stitches, which was completely unnecessary if you ask me."

"And where's your sensei?"

"Giving his report to Lord Hokage. I'm gonna meet him for some ramen later."

Itachi was looking anywhere but at Dana, he didn't want to look at her.

"So why are you here?" he asked.

"I wanted you to come along," she said, "to celebrate. I wouldn't be in this position if it wasn't for you - we can have dinner and hang out afterwards, it'll be fun!"

Itachi closed his eyes. Why the hell did this have to get harder.

"Hey, are you alright?" Dana asked, coming closer to him, "you look down about somethin."

"And for good reason," Itachi replied, finally looking up at Dana. "My father has forbidden me from seeing you."

A mixed expression of confusion and hurt appeared on Dana's face. "What? Why?"

"Because he thinks that you want to distract me from other things and learn more about our clan's secret ninjutsu."

"But that's stupid - I don't want to do that! Didn't you tell him?!"

Itachi looked away; he couldn't bring himself to tell her the other things that his father had said. But Dana guessed it, from Itachi's silence.

It seemed to be a curse: on the few occasions when something good happened to her something bad always followed to bring her back into a state of depression.

She looked at Itachi. His face gave nothing away, yet somehow Dana could see that this was bothering him greatly.

Rallying her spirits, she gave Itachi a friendly nudge and smiled.

"Ach, well. We would be seeing less of each other now, anyway. We'll both be way to busy to think about this too much. Besides..."

She came closer to Itachi and put her hand on his shoulder so that he turned and looked at her.

"...Your dad cares about you, and he's doing what he thinks is best. You can't get angry at him for caring."

 Itachi was about to argue, but decided against it. In all respects, Dana was probably right about everything, and her way of parting was better than his. So he smiled back and held out his hand.

"Good luck, Dana. I'm sure you'll do great."

Dana took his hand and shook it warmly. "Reach for the stars Itachi," she said enthusiastically, "you're gonna be the greatest ninja ever! I'll do my best to keep up with you."

So saying, the two of them turned from each other with a final smile and wave, and went their separate ways.

The Fourth Hokage left the council chambers feeling as though he had just come out of an all out war. Kakashi's report had caused so much controversy that it had been hard to get a word in at any point throughout the meeting.

"Make her resit!"

"Get someone else to assess her!"

"Kakashi obviously was biased!"

"He wouldn't have passed anyone else!"

"She can't be given special treatment!"

"SHE MUST NOT BECOME A NINJA!"

The Fourth returned to his office and sighed heavily. The village had come a long way since the old days of wars and prejudices, but amongst the older generation, those prejudices still remained; It made him disgusted to be one of them.

As he sat back in his chair, someone knocked at his door. The Fourth groaned but told the person to come in.

He was not at all surprised to see Kakashi enter.

"I hope I'm not interupting you, Lord Hokage," Kakashi said respectfully.

"Oh, no," the Fourth replied sarcastically, "what would give you that idea?"

He chuckled for a while, but Kakashi remained silent and sombre.

"Well, as you cam imagine," the Fourth continued, "your decision has caused quite a stir. There is none in the council who supports your view that the child should be a ninja. Many are asking for your head on a platter."

"But it is your decision that counts, sir," Kakashi said, "Dana has great potential and she is not a resentful or angry kid. Despite the persecution she has suffered she continues to demonstrate honesty and goodness. It would be stupidity to not make her an asset to the village."

The Fourth nodded thoughtfully. "So you stand by your decision, then?"

"I do."

The Fourth Hokage looked at Kakashi intensely for many minutes.

"Very well, then, "he said finally, "against the wishes of the council, I have decided that Dana Kamiya will become a ninja."

Kakashi bowed. "Thank you, Lord Hokage."

The Fourth nodded. "Guide her well, Kakashi. And protect her with your life. The council will not be the only ones screaming murder for this decision, and the child has a long way to go before she will ever be accepted."