A/N: Oh dear, you're going to hate me for the next cliffie, but please bear with me... I'm writing like crazy!
Hope you'll enjoy this new chapter anyway!
She was terrified, was almost the only thing on Kakashi's mind as he rushed to the source of thenoise he heard. She was terrified when I touched her! That guy… he must have transformed into me and done something to her. I can't let him get away with this! I can't let him take away her trust in me and her overall confidence! I won't let him traumatize her any further!
He was outraged. All he wanted was for Kaede not to be scared anymore. She had lived her life in fear, and when he had finally earned all her trust, this man was ruining everything.
The sounds of clinking kunai gave away the location of the fight. Naruto was apparently holding out pretty well out there.
He rushed ahead. The first thing he noticed was the sparks that came off the colliding kunai, flashing from place to place at an amazing speed.
"Naruto!" he called.
The middle-aged man spotted Kakashi, and leapt back on top of a branch. Naruto did the same the opposite way.
"Sensei," Naruto called, "did you find Nee-chan?"
"Yes, she's not injured," replied Kakashi. He couldn't reassure Naruto – or himself, for that matter – that Kaede was really ok.
"Where is she now?" asked Naruto.
"At a safe distance," answered Kakashi.
"She's alone again?" yelled Naruto.
"You go to her," ordered Kakashi. "I don't sense anyone else around here, but you should guard her, just in case."
"I wanna fight this guy," protested Naruto. "D'you know what he did to Nee-chan?"
"Naruto, go guard your sister, now!" Kakashi commanded, losing his patience.
Naruto stared at him for a few seconds, then made a defeated look and leapt into the direction Kakashi had just come from.
Kakashi focused his attention back to the shinobi, who seemed amused at their little argument. Just looking at him made him furious. He couldn't forget the look in Kaede's eyes, and it was this man's fault!
"You know, I could've killed him three times now if I were serious," the man stated coolly. "That girl even sooner."
"What have you done to her?" demanded Kakashi. He noticed too late that his voice was cracking.
"You sound pretty upset," said the man with a smirk.
"Attacking a defenceless woman whom you know couldn't put up a fight…" Kakashi felt more like puking the words out, but kept his calm. "You don't have an ounce of honour in you."
"Honour?" The expression on the man's face changed immediately from entertained to bitterly angry. "Do you think it's honourable to be the first commander of what has become the laughing stock of the Country of Water? Our leader was killed by a little girl who wasn't even a shinobi! People will never take us seriously again!"
"And you think you can restore that honour by killing the same girl, only a few years older and still as much of a shinobi as back then?" Kakashi asked rhetorically.
"It would be a bigger disgrace to let her live to tell the tale," retorted the man. "We are an elite group. No one messes with us."
"Your partners weren't that hard to defeat," said Kakashi.
"They were expendable pawns," replied the man. "You shouldn't underestimate me, though."
"No, you were putting up a good fight against Naruto," said Kakashi.
The man chuckled shortly. "Please, that kid's no match for me," he said. "I was just playing with him."
"Then why do I get the impression you did have a little trouble fighting him?" retorted Kakashi. "Maybe it's the sweat going down the side of your face."
The man wept the sweat away with one finger. "I'm not the youngest anymore," he explained. "But that's enough talking."
Kakashi took a defensive stance.
The man waited for a moment, then his look turned serious. He launched forward at a speed that even Kakashi had to be careful with. He dodged the shinobi's attack by leaping to the left. His Sharingan eye followed his opponent's every move precisely.
When the man made a hand seal, Kakashi felt danger behind him. He turned around to find several kunai with exploding tags against the trees close to him.
When did he…?
He reacted instinctively and used a free part of one of the trees to make a sharp jump away from there. He was just in time to get away from the giant explosion.
But when he looked for a place to stand, he found even more tagged kunai on the ground, the trees, the bushes, everywhere! There was no way he could land his feet without triggering the tags.
He tried to look for someplace else to go to, but before he knew, his entire surroundings were covered with kunai with exploding tags. He was trapped!
He saw his foe smirking at him from behind the tag-covered area before he took off.
From one second to the other, it looked like fate had turned against him. Was this going to be the end?
Yet, when he had to think of a way out of here, there was only one thing on his mind when he closed his eyes.
Kaede…
(A few minutes earlier)
Naruto found Kaede running in the opposite direction, right towards the battlefield.
"Nee-chan!" he called out to her. Kaede had already seen him, and stopped abruptly. She stared at him with wide eyes, taking a weak defensive stance. She looked wary.
"Don't worry," said Naruto reassuringly. "Kakashi-sensei's taking care of that guy. Did he hurt you?"
He took a step closer, but Kaede flinched. Carefully, she looked at him without blinking.
"Are you the real Naruto?" she asked, her eyebrows lightly frowning.
"What? Of course I am!" replied Naruto, a little insulted. "'Ya think that guy could take me down? I'm Uzumaki Naruto! You're my sis, you should know that I'm the real thing!"
"Prove it," she said, firming her stance with newfound confidence.
"… 'Prove it'?" repeated Naruto. He guessed that she had all right to be suspicious about anyone after what that geezer did to her back there. "Umm, let's see…"
He had an idea…
But she hates it when I… Oh well, at least she'll know it's me.
He made a hand seal, to which Kaede reacted by stumbling back. He didn't let this distract him and called out: "Transform!"
POOF!
He transformed into his Sexy Jutsu. The weird thing was that although he'd done this for about the largest part of his life, transforming into this body felt awkward now. He had to seriously consider changing his Sexy Jutsu's look.
He watched as Kaede pulled herself together, her face red with fury, her hand lunging forward… and felt a painful slap on the cheek that knocked him down to the ground and made him poof back to his own body.
Eh…? She sure can be strong if she wants to…
"I told you to never use that technique ever again, Naruto!" she yelled at him while he was slowly getting up. His cheek was burning where she'd slapped him. Luckily it was still nowhere near Sakura's punches.
It took Kaede only the next second to finally realize: "It really is you."
"Told ya," replied Naruto dryly, rubbing his cheek. "Where were you going, anyway?"
Kaede's facial expression changed, now filled with alarm and urgency. She grabbed both his upper arms. "You have to help me," she said. "Kakashi's fighting that guy right now, isn't he?"
"Well yeah, but he can handle him," Naruto reassured her.
"That's not the problem," said Kaede, her voice lightly cracking with panic. "He just rushed out in a rage. He was furious, Naruto! He was scary. Didn't you notice?"
"He did act weird when he sent me off to stay with you," Naruto admitted. "I've never seen him like this before."
"We have to stop him from killing that man," said Kaede.
"What? No way!" protested Naruto. "After what he did to you? After what he was going to do to you? He's out here to kill you, Nee-chan! He won't stop until he's dead, that's for sure!"
"Even so, Kakashi is attacking him in a rage," insisted Kaede. "At this rate, he'll kill for revenge, not out of protection! Please, Naruto. Let me go to him and help me stop him."
"No," Naruto answered briefly. "I'm not going to risk losing another one close to me. You're not a shinobi. It's too dangerous for you."
"You don't understand," begged Kaede, "he's acting like this because of me. I don't want him to have to live with the same kind of guilt I have to live with!" Her eyes were filled with tears. "Please, Naruto…"
Naruto didn't know what to do. He could agree and go with her to end this without killing the man, but would he risk taking Kaede back within range of the assassin? Or should he go back by himself and leave Kaede unguarded with the risk of anything happening to her again? Neither of these options were safe for her.
But even before he had the chance to figure it out, he heard an explosion at a distance behind him. Both of them turned towards the source of the loud sound. Naruto noticed some smoke in the air. Less than a second later, another, bigger explosion followed. Naruto reacted instinctively and reached of Kaede, pushing her down to the ground and protecting her from the strong impact of the explosion. Even here, he felt the earth tremble. Parts of trees, soil and dust were flying their way. Naruto felt some large pieces of wood hit his back, but he didn't move. He watched as Kaede went even lower, her eyes squeezed shut and her long hair blowing wildly in all directions.
Kakashi-sensei!
Somehow, he had a terrible feeling about this.
When the impact of the blow subdued, Naruto straightened and stood up, looking in the direction of the explosion. Kaede stood up beside him.
"Kakashi…" she whispered. "Kakashi!" Naruto reacted instantly when she started to run. He blocked her way.
"Naruto," Kaede called his name softly. She sounded more determined when she protested: "Get out of the way! Kakashi might be—"
"Dead," sounded from behind Naruto. He'd already noticed the man's presence. Naruto looked over his shoulder to find the assassin standing on a thick branch with his arms crossed.
"What the hell are you talking about?" demanded Naruto, trying to suppress his rage.
"The great Copy Ninja, the son of the White Fang, Hatake Kakashi," pronounced the man with certain sarcasm. "And I killed him in under two minutes."
Kaede gasped and backed away. "No…" she whispered.
"I don't believe you," said Naruto firmly. It just couldn't be. Kakashi couldn't be defeated so easily.
"I am a master in explosions," said the man with a smirk. "That's why people have nickname me the Big Bang."
That's… kind of lame, Naruto thought in spite of himself.
"Your comrade jumped right into my trap," continued the assassin. "Even with his skills, he couldn't have survived an explosion like that."
"Naruto…" he heard Kaede whisper. He looked at her, keeping his guard up for the man behind him. She looked at him with tear-filled eyes.
"Don't worry," he reassured her. "Kakashi-sensei's had worse than this guy. He'll show up any minute now, you'll see."
He turned around fully this time to face the assassin, but remained close to her.
Sensei… you can't just abandon us, he thought. I know you're out here somewhere. I refuse to believe you're gone.
… But…
I don't sense his presence anymore…
"One down," announced the assassin, "two more to go."
He looked at Kaede.
"This time, you won't get away."
A/N: *flinches* Please don't hate meeee... Things will turn for the better, I promise! D: