Hey guys! You've guessed it! Another chapter is up… Exams are finally over and that means I will be having more time to think and type my story! My English is bad so don't be surprise if you actually find any typo errors, grammatical mistakes etc. You can point it out to me so that I will take note of it the next time I type my story… thanks a lot!
A/N: I do not owe Naruto
Nire Sanam- haha… I hate cliffies too… 0.o
Rodick- Sorry! I'll try to make the following chapters longer…
0o0
(Chapter 2)
A pair of mismatched eyes, one black and one red, opened and looked into Jiraiya's own. Painfully, the latter struggled to sit up despite his wounds that were left unhealed thanks to Tsunade's fascination over him. There was a pregnant silence in the room before Jiraiya started stuttering out, his shaking hand pointing at the boy sitting on the table.
"K-Kakashi?! A-are you Kakashi?"
Upon reaction, the boy's eyes crinkled up and brought his hand to a saluting manner. That pose, no doubt belonged to the infamous copy-nin… the typical Hatake Kakashi greeting style.
"Yo."
There was another round of silence.
"You really are Kakashi!! God, I couldn't recognize you without your mask…" The white-haired Sanin stopped abruptly to think what he had just said before his eyes widened to the maximum, "You are not wearing your mask?! Is the world coming to an end?! And why are you in a commoner's clothes?!"
"Yes, I lost my mask. No, the world is not coming to an end and my clothes were torn."
The copy-nin swung his legs to the side lazily and got down from the table as two pairs of surprised eyes followed his movements. Jolts of pain shot through his upper left arm as he silently muffled a groan. Finally, unable to bear the intense pain, he tore his sleeves, revealing a deep gash from his shoulder all the way down to his elbow. Tsunade gasped and Jiraya gaped at the sight in front of him. The cut was seen as an attempt to remove the ANBU tattoo since there was no trace of its existence on the arm where it used to be.
"So what happened exactly? Why are you in this horrible state?" Tsunade questioned him as she leaned against her table, waiting for him to tell his tale. Jiraiya too, nodded his head in agreement, his face displayed seriousness. Curiosity was burning like a wild fire inside them… waiting to devour any words that's going to come out.
Uncertainty flashed through the copy-nin's eye.
Should I really tell everything to them? Or should I not?
"I…" Kakashi paused in mid-air meanwhile making a decision, "I-I… don't really want to talk about it." For a minute, both Tsunade and Jiraiya swore they could see a flicker of darkness in his eyes. It was… scary.
In order not to aggravate this matter, Tsunade decided that it was best to not force things out. Still, those eyes indicated clearly that there was something going on and it's not going to be easy to make him spill it all out.
"Ahhh… Its okay then… I will be making an announcement on your return later on… imagine how happy –"
"NO! Don't ever speak of my return!" Kakashi's immediately bolted up and slammed his fist on the Hokage's table, his eyes were wide opened. Tsunade was surprised by his sudden outburst such that it caused a moment of mental freeze in her. She could not find anything to say in return.
"C'mon Kakashi, don't be such a sour plum. It's supposed to be a joyous occasion, the town will be glad to know that you're still alive…" Jiraiya patted him on the shoulder, unfortunately, earning a glare from the kid. There was a slight hint of panic in the glare… the type where it will cause the person to go insane any moment.
"Please…" His eyes softened, "At least not for now…"
"Can't you tell us anything on what've happened?" Tsunade asked worriedly. Her hopes immediately fell when Kakashi shook his head firmly.
"In that case, we'll need a new identity for you."
"Hai…"
Jiraiya sat down and looked at the once adult boy. The used-to-be lazy eyes were now replaced by sharp and bright ones. His hair is shorter although there was no change in the way he styled it. As for his mouth and nose, he couldn't really tell any difference since it was his first time seeing them…pretty much of a shock to him to see the copy-nin without his mask.
Overall, he must admit that Kakashi was quite good looking… except for the scars that marred his face due to the previous fight with the sound-nin. Jiraiya got this hunch that he might just be as popular as Uchiha Sasuke once those scars healed. But for now, he needed to come up with a name for him.
"How about calling him Arashi?" (A/N: The yondaime's real name is Minato not Arashi)
"Ara-"
"Shi…" Tsunade finished the last syllabus for Kakashi. With a sigh, the boy nodded his head. Trust Jiraiya to come up with such names…
"It's settled then, from now on, your new name will be Arashi. Status: an orphan found injured by Jiraiya on his way back. Age… errr…"
"16."
Jiraiya flinched.
"He's younger than I thought… to think I've predicted his age to be 18 at that time…"
"Age…16. As for where you will be staying, I'll inform you later." Tsunade finished the sentence off.
"Can't I go back to my apartment?"
There was an uncomfortable look on the blonde woman as she tried to avert her eyes from Kakashi's piercing ones.
"It's… beingsoldout." The Hokage said softly, part of her was feeling guilty from what she had done. But there was another piece of bad news, far worse than the first one, "andyourbelongingsarebeingburntincludingyourIchaIchaParadise."
Unfortunately, Kakashi caught every word she said. His face was now filled with horror especially from the last few words that permanently scarred his life.
"My Icha Icha books being what?!"
"It's not like you can read anyway… you are 16 years old, UNDERAGE."
Tsunade defended back. Who knows he would be coming back anyway…
The two were now glaring at each other, Kakashi for his books and Tsunade for her own defense. Neither one was giving up as they both continued with the glaring contest.
"Now now… both of you are just being childish…" Jiraiya let out a laugh which caused both of them to glare at him instead.
"B-but my books…"
"Face it, you are underage."
Silence.
As if remembering something important, Tsunade quickly made her way back to her desk. Forehead furrowed in annoyance as she ransacked through one of the drawers.
The two males looked at each other in confusion, wondering what she was trying to pull, when Tsunade suddenly threw a black object at Kakashi. He caught it with ease and looked at the object. Jiraiya craned his neck to get a better view.
Holding the eye-patch, Kakashi wondered what he was supposed to do with it for a moment when Jiraiya's eyes widened by a fraction. 'Oh yea, the implanted Sharingan eye.'
It's not to imply that Kakashi was dumb, it was because he had gotten used to the eye that it never occurred to him that his eye may lead to undue suspicions. But when he finally figured it out, he saw Tsunade motioning him to hurry up and quickly put on the eye-patch. He did as told when he felt a chakra signature along the corridor outside.
"TSUNADE BAA-SAN!!!" An unmistakably familiar sound rang from outside the room followed by poundings on the door. Several more footsteps approached and the door opened.
"TSUNADE BAA-SAN! WE"VE COME BACK FROM THE MISSION!" As expected, Konoha's number one prankster walked into the room waving a piece of paper in his hand. He's none other than… Uzumaki Naruto.
"Shut up, Naruto!" A fist came in contact with the blonde's head as a bump developed on the targeted spot. There was Haruno Sakura, standing right beside him cracking her knuckles, preparing for another hit.
The third one walked in, ignoring the previous two. You've guessed it… Uchiha Sasuke. He walked a few more steps before giving Naruto a smirk.
"You're too loud, dobe."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
Tsunade cleared her throat. At once the three of them went quiet and divert their attention on the Hokage. Naruto went up and submitted the report.
"I see that the mission was a success." She glanced through the paper and gave a dry smile, "good job."
Of course, Kakashi didn't escape his former students' view.
"Nene, Tsunade-baasan, who is he?" Naruto asked, pointing at the miniature version of Kakashi.
"I was just about to introduce him… He's an orphan found by Jiraiya on his way here. It seems like he was being attacked by some ninjas and suffered quite an amount of damage…"
"So he's staying in Konoha? Yes? No?"
"YES, Naruto, and please wait for me to finish my speech before you ask anything. So…Sakura, I'll need you to tend his injuries and as for Sasuke, I'll need you to stay back. There's something to be discussed."
"Can I stay here and listen to the discussion?" Naruto chirped.
"NO."
Hence, the three of them went to their respective jobs… Sasuke remained in the Hokage's office as Sakura helped Kakashi outside, with Naruto tagging behind them.
0o0
(Outside the Hokage's tower)
Kakashi bit his lips and winced slightly. He already knew that the treatment was going to be painful and this was one of the reasons why he did not like the hospital. He let out a soft groan when Sakura exerted more chakra into his wounds. It wasn't really a pleasant feeling especially with a foreign chakra invading into your own.
After what seems like hours, Sakura finally stopped and heaved out a sigh. Kakashi too, finally loosened his breath and slumped down, leaning against the tree behind them. At least most of his cuts and bruises were healed…or to put it in another way, there were too many injuries to be healed.
"So… what's your name?" Sakura turned and faced him, her emerald eyes filled with untold excitement. Of course, Kakashi knew that look too well… it has definitely something to do with his face.
To make things worse, Naruto was looking at him with the same intensity, adding on to the pressure that Sakura was already giving him.
"Ka- ARASHI, I mean…" he immediately changed upon realizing his mistake.
"Karashi? Why would your parents name you after a sauce?" (A/N: Karashi is the Japanese term for mustard)
"As if fish cakes are any better…" Sakura mocked with a glint of mischief in her eyes, "Seriously, Karashi sounds much better than Naruto…"
"Erm… it's ARASHI, not Karashi."
There was a moment of silence with the two stopping in mid-air before realization finally kicked in.
"Arashi… That sound so… COOL!" Naruto shouted out earning weird glances from nearby passer-bys. Without warning, a stone flew past and landed on the enthusiastic boy's head.
"Do I have to repeat that you are too loud, dobe?" Sasuke walked over to them and looked at the new kid. Actually, 'glaring' was much more of an appropriate usage of word.
"Sasuke-teme!"
"Damare, Naruto. The Hokage requires of you of your presence, ARASHI."
Ouch. That hurts…
"Sure." Tsunade-sama's better explain everything…
0o0
(In Tsunade's office)
Kakashi blinked once, then twice. Did he hear it correctly or was he hallucinating?
"Kakashi, or rather Arashi, did you hear what I've just said?"
"…"
"Let me repeat myself, you will be staying with Uchiha Sasuke from now onwards, is that clear?"
That explained why Sasuke was so angry just now… looks like I need to find some way to reject it…
"But Tsunade-sama…" His mind was coming up with all sorts of excuses, but before he had a chance to use either one, Jiraiya interrupted in.
"Arashi, he had already accepted and furthermore, this is the Hokage's command. Cut the complaints and just follow the orders given out."
As if as you did ever follow the Hokage's command without any complaints…
After the dismissal, all that's in Kakashi's mind was the trouble he would be getting into with the Uchiha…
0o0
A/N: I would like to thanks the following authors for their reviews…
ElektricStorm
Cheysuli-Night
kidkakashi
Sandy McDonald
Nire Sanam
Rodick
Please review for my stories… they are what that inspires me to continue writing… Thanks!!