A/N: Firstly, I'm so sorry... I don't update as frequently as I used to. Please forgive me... Sorry... Happy National Day to my fellow Singaporeans. This greeting is kind of early, but my excuse is that I am currently half dead. My friend wanted to post hers on National Day itself, but has yet to finish her story. Um... So... Yeah... Go, nadiamirah! You can do it!
alayara - Ehehe... I guess that does sort of make us manga buddies! :) I'm sorry this chapter took so long. Um... Thank you for reading my story!
RABID FAN: Sort of. Except Minato is the dominant personality in his body while Haku is the dominant personality in her body. I hope you continue to read my stories, and thank you for the support! I really appreciate it!
crazzyredhead - Thank you! I think your idea is awesome. I hope you don't mind me using it... *sheepish*
spartan1082 - Um... That's okay, I guess... Well... Enjoy the rest of your day. :)
not important - I don't like your alias. Of course you're important. Your ideas are noted and treasured. Thank you so much! I'm sorry I'm really bad at expressing myself with words...
Chapter 24: Naive
Kakashi fiddled restlessly with his tri-pronged kunai, letting the Sandaime's voice wash over his head. A hand was rested on his shoulder and he brushed it away, "I'm sorry, what?"
Kurenai sighed at Kakashi's nonchalance and blatant admittance of the fact that he was not paying the Hokage any attention. Gai yelled passionately at her side, whinging about his rival's cool demeanor while clutching the hand that Kakashi had pushed away. "Hokage-sama was just asking our opinion about who you thought was worthy of promotion to Chunin," Kurenai explained testily.
Kakashi slipped the kunai away, nodding to show that he had heard, "I nominate Shikamaru."
"Why Shikamaru? He didn't even participate in the finals," questioned Asuma, taking a long drag from his cigarette before removing it from his lips and letting it dangle loosely between his fingers at his side.
"I agree. Only Naruto and Sasuke managed to have their matches before Gaara and the war occurred. Please justify your choice, Kakashi," Kurenai sided with Asuma.
"During the semi-finals, Shikamaru displayed resourcefulness, awareness of his surroundings and the ability to think ahead. And not to mention, skill," Kakashi pointed out.
Gai nodded enthusiastically, "Shikamaru's YOUTH SHINES THROUGH!"
The Hokage nodded sagely and asked if they had more nominees before Gai drove everyone out of the room with his passionate preaching about youth. This time, Aoba stepped forward, suggesting that Sasuke be promoted as well, justifying it with the Uchiha's supremacy in jutsu, speed and ability to execute strategies to turn the battle in his favour. Kakashi took to turning the kunai over and over in his hands again, nodding occasionally to give the illusion that he was listening.
When the meeting finally ended, the Hokage singled the silver haired Jounin out and requested that he stay behind. The man nodded and stood to the side of the room, his one good eye following his colleagues as they made their way out of the room, through the door by the Hokage's insistence that they not exit through the window. Gai caught his eye and patted his shoulder in what Kakashi supposed was a reassuring manner, before exiting. The moment the room was devoid of all but the Hokage and himself, Kakashi shut the door quietly. Turning, he bowed to his leader reverently, before snapping back to an upright position, back straight and eyes keen despite the lazy look on his face.
Kakashi stared at the Sandaime expectantly, awaiting whatever it was that the man had held him back for. The man behind the desk sighed, wrinkles of worry forming on his face, "What's bothering you, Kakashi? You've been acting very preoccupied lately."
"It's nothing you have to worry about, Hokage-sama," Kakashi drawled.
"If it's something that is preventing you from carrying out orders at peak condition, I have to worry about it," the number of wrinkles on the Sandaime's face increased as he scrunched his face up in apprehension.
"I'm always like this, aren't I?"
"But this time, it was more than just an act."
They stood in pregnant silence for a little longer, falling back to simply staring at each other. Finally, Kakashi, not sensing anyone within hearing distance of their location informed his leader of Kiroii Senko's status.
"The Yondaime Hokage is alive," Kakashi dropped the bomb.
"Kakashi, you have one month to get yourself together. Until then, I'm assigning another, more mentally capable Jounin to take over your Genin squad," the Sandaime buried his face in his hands tiredly.
"Hokage-sama, I'm not crazy. Sensei was here, alive."
"Kakashi, I know you miss Minato a lot, but no matter how much you wish it, the dead don't come back to life."
"He... You never found his body the night he died, did you? Maybe he survived."
"The Shiki Fujin is not something anyone, not even someone as great as Minato could have survived. Thank you for your time, Kakashi. You're dismissed."
Kakashi remained stubbornly in front of the village's leader.
"And I won't be transferring the care of your Genin team to someone else."
Kakashi placed two tri-pronged kunai on the Hokage's desk before turning to leave.
"Wait, Kakashi. How did you manage to get your hands on a second one?"
"It was a birthday present from sensei. He got Naruto to give it to me yesterday, Hokage-sama."
The Sandaime ran a hand through his thinning grey hair in exasperation.
"Okay, say, he survived. How did he manage to waltz in and ask Naruto to give you a birthday gift. Better yet, why not waltz in and give it to you personally?"
"He helped me during the invasion too, Hokage-sama. And he was wearing Kushina-sama's mask, the Kitsune mask."
"Now this is getting rather complicated. I saw him too. A man wearing the cursed Kitsune mask helped me during the fight with Orochimaru."
"So sensei really is alive!"
"I never said that, but if you wish to pursue it, I'm in no position to stop you.
"Hai, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, evidently happier than he was when he had entered.
"Dismissed," the word had barely left the Sandaime's lips before Kakashi disappeared via shunshin.
The aged Hokage swung around to stare at his successor's portrait, more befuddled than ever.
"Minato... Are you really alive?" he asked of the picture. In those few seconds, he could've sworn he saw Minato wink, but that couldn't be right. It was just paper and ink. The Sandaime shook his head vigorously and looked back at the portrait. The Yondaime Hokage stared back at him, face stony and lifeless as ever.
"I'm imagining things," the Hokage dismissed the seemingly supernatural occurrence. Just then, Iruka entered, a load of papers in his arms, "These documents require your approval, Hokage-sama."
The Sandaime gave the picture one last glance, before resigning himself to the horrors of paperwork.
Minato trotted almost lazily across Konoha's rooftops, moving towards Training Ground 7 to meet up with his team. The village looked magnificent, standing resilient against the invasion as well as it did the morning sun. And now that it was nearly completely repaired, he couldn't help but admire it in all its glory. He couldn't help but feel proud at how fast they had managed to get back on their feet, even the civilians had resumed their daily works. This was the village he had grown up in and sworn to protect.
He turned away from the shops, leaping from a roof before strolling through a forested area. 'I guess it's okay to get sentimental once in a while,' he thought as he approached the Training Grounds. Sakura and Sasuke were quick to greet him, Sasuke with his usual smirk and Sakura with a bright smile. Minato gave a goofy grin and the three took a trip to Ichiraku's together for breakfast. After all, Kakashi-sensei never arrived on time.
Kakashi arrived at the time predicted. That is to say, late. There was something different about him, however. The gloomy atmosphere around him seemed to have lightened and he almost seemed genuinely satisfied with something as Squad 7 made their way to the Hokage Tower for a mission.
"Due to Squad 7's exemplary display of teamwork and skill, during the mission to Nami and during the Chunin Exams, I've decided to assign you to a second C-rank mission," the Sandaime announced.
The team cheered, with the exception of Sasuke and Kakashi, both of whom smiled pleasantly.
"No objections, Iruka?" the aged man asked of the Chunin instructor.
"None, Hokage-sama," Iruka replied without hesitation.
"Very well. This is a basic mission. You are all to act as body guards for a lady who needs to pass on some information. It is not important to us ninja, so you need not worry about enemy ninja. However, it is quite significant to thieves and bandits, so some of them might come after her. You are all to escort her to her destination in Suna, then follow her back to Tanzaku Gai," the Sandaime read off the mission details.
"Send her in," the Hokage instructed. Iruka bowed and exited, coming back with a lady, her jet black hair framing a heart shaped face, her eyes sparkling with the same inky dark colour. Her dress cut off high above her knees, nearly exposing her inner thighs. A slit went up the side of the hem of the dress, stopping just high enough to give men a tease. Her apparel showed off her voluptuous curves, especially a certain section that Kakashi was currently staring at as if entranced.
"Like what you see?" the client struck a very compromising pose and fluttered her eyelashes lasciviously.
Iruka cleared his throat loudly to recapture the Jounin's attention. Kakashi snapped his gaze back to his village's leader, eye smiling shamelessly.
Iruka cleared his throat once more and gestured to their client, "The client's name is Akane. As you can see, she is an... entertainer."
"Village gates, tomorrow, nine in the morning. Be there," Akane flashed a wink at Kakashi and sashayed out of the office.
"Well, I suggest you all pack for the mission," Iruka reminded them in Kakashi's stead, said silver-haired Jounin looking about a million miles away.
The next day, Minato stood just inside the village gates, staring out at the forest beyond, book in hand forgotten. He had read this just under three dozen times, and yet never got tired of it. It was his sensei's masterpiece after all. A breeze whispered past him, and he closed his eyes, savouring the feeling of the wind caressing his face. The unpredictable that comforted him more than anything these days. It was times like these when he felt it was his element, that it was an old friend, that it belonged to no one else. Sensing someone approaching, he opened his eyes and resumed reading, not wanting to be teased about being asleep. Heavens knew how his reckless side might react to it.
He waited for a considerably long while before his team mates appeared, Akane walking between them in the most sensual manner the ex-Hokage had ever seen. Akane looked him over appraisingly, then over at his two teammates before passing over to him again.
"Where's all your stuff? Your two friends seem to be properly equipped but you..." Akane trailed off, preferring to simply gesture with a slender pointer finger.
Minato smiled knowingly and produced a few scrolls from his weapons pouch. "All here."
Akane felt heat rush to her cheeks. It had been so long she'd seen a smile like his. Innocent and pure; without ulterior motive that could only come from someone who had yet to experience the horrors of war and corruption of man. Sympathy soon replaced the feeling of fascination, pitying the naive boy who was soon to have his illusion of a beautiful world shattered sooner or later.
"Well, if you're sure, hun," Akane turned towards the gates, the wind causing her hair to flutter around her like feathery wings.
Kakashi materialised near the group, holding up a hand in greeting as he sauntered merrily towards them, eye-smiling the entire way.
A lone bird made its way across the empty sky, as if signalling the start of their mission. Soon, they were trekking through the desert with nothing but the sound of sand crunching beneath their feet echoing around them. Minato simply lifted the book up to his eyes and resumed his perusal of it as they slowly shuffled on towards Sunagakure. Akane dropped to the back of the group where the blond was and threw a casual question. "You're reading a book? Who's the author?"
"Jiraiya," Minato replied, looking up at the lady, biting back the 'sensei' he habitually attached at the end of that name.
Akane's face grew stormy and she marched up to Kakashi like a woman on the warpath, pinched the man's ear and delivered an agonising twist to the cartilage. The Jounin yelped in pain.
"I may be a prostitute, but this is going too far! Letting a thirteen year old read porn?! What kind of a sensei are you?" she shouted.
"Naruto... reads porn?" Kakashi's one visible eye widened to comical proportions. "I didn't know that!"
The man strode purposefully over to his student, the latter simply watching with amusement.
"I have taught you well," Kakashi gushed, giving him a thumbs up in approval.
Minato merely gave a sheepish smile, " Sorry, Kakashi sensei. It's not porn." The blond revealed the cover of his book and Kakashi visibly wilted.
Akane stood, stunned at first, then laughter burst from her lips, unrestrained, "Of course! You're too innocent to read porn." She ruffled his hair fondly. It was as if he were the younger brother she never had. That melancholic upwards quirk of his lips confused her though. She decided not to think too much about it.
Night soon caught up with them, bringing with it a deadly chill that only night in the desert could bring. The team and their client settled down for the night. They were lucky to not encounter any bandits during their daytime travels, but the night was especially dangerous. Team 7 pitched two tents, one for the males, the other for the females. Akane stood to the side, watching the cloudless night sky as her hired bodyguards set up their accommodations for the night.
Minato scanned the vast empty space that surrounded them for miles around. The dunes that piled up benignly were scattered around in formations he could not comprehend. Out here, there was no cover, and that posed a huge problem. As he pondered, he felt a warm hand rest itself on his shoulder. He turned, already knowing who it was, and grinned broadly at Kakashi's masked face. "Yes, sensei?"
"Are you okay with taking the last shift tonight?" the silver haired man inquired.
"I'm okay with it," the blond's lips formed a reassuring smile, Kakashi offering an eye-smile in return.
As his sensei left, the ex-Hokage unsealed a sliver of paper from one of his scrolls and laid it against the shifting sands on the ground. Closing his eyes, he fed the ink formation his chakra and braced himself for the sensory overload. The sensory threads fanned out across a wide area of the desert, providing the blond with a near perfect view of the dangerous vast emptiness they were in. His scan turning up clean, he deactivated the seal and made his way back to the tent, satisfied.
The blond haired boy entered the tent with little fuss from the fabric of the tent. The three males had decided to share the night watch rotations between themselves, leaving Sakura to guard their client at all times during the night. Sasuke claimed first shift, sitting by the campsite, the miniscule grains of sand pressing against his flesh uncomfortably no matter how much he fidgeted to find a better position. The Uchiha turned his attention to the tents after a while, his eyes running across the expertly applied seals that branded their tents. They were effectively concealed from anyone who did not have knowledge of the sealing arts. He faced his eyes forward again, on guard for any signs of danger. None came, and so he woke Kakashi-sensei for the latter's shift.
Nothing had happened during the watch, and it was currently so late it was early. The sun had yet to rise, but it would in a few hours. The silver haired Jounin continued to sit outside, wanting to give his blond student another hour or so of rest. A weight landed on his shoulder, warm and reliable. It held an almost tangible kindness that seeped through his chilly clothes and warmed his core. It felt like his sensei, and was painfully close to the aura the older man had exuded on that night during their mission to destroy Kannabi bridge.
Kakashi shifted his body to look at the newcomer. 'Naruto' blinked down at him with eyes that looked exactly like those of his late sensei. In fact, almost everything about 'Naruto' looked like the Yondaime, right down to the boy's hairstyle. The only difference was the boy's choice to position the hitai-ate around his neck, and the attire. Kakashi giggled almost deliriously at the thought of 'Naruto' wearing a mini version of the Fourth Hokage's clothes.
"Get some sleep, sensei," Minato tried to coax his former student into the tent. The man almost seemed to laugh at his attempt, but complied. The blond let a weary exhalation burst from his lungs as he shifted from a standing position to a sitting one. His sensei was odd. The wind kept him company as he remained vigil outside the two tents. He sat cross-legged on the sand, his palms resting on the whitish-gold grains that seemed to dominate the area.
Just before morning dawned, as a golden glow began to creep along the edges of the horizon, a few dozen chakra signatures assaulted his senses. They were inchoate, obviously bandits. As Minato stood to meet the challenge, he felt the vague inkling of déjà vu. Enemies at daybreak, this situation seemed fairly similar to the one he had encountered during the second exam.
As they drew closer, he could also sense horses. So that was how they were moving so fast. The blond did not have to wait long before the first few made their way into his line of sight. Soon, all three dozen bandits were in the boy's range of sight, their horses snorting and pawing at the ground restlessly.
At first, their eyes were focused on the child in front of them, which was completely normal, seeing as the seals prevented them from noticing the campsite. Their eyes moved to the space behind him, shoving Minato's senses into overdrive. A fraction of a second was all it took to make out the faint, silver seal markings near each bandits' eyes. A counter, enabling them to see past basic seals like the ones they had applied to the tents.
"Hey, cutie," the man right at the front of the group, presumably the leader, greeted.
The Genin slipped a kunai out of his weapons pouch and held it up to his face defensively, all the while shaking like a dewdrop on a leaf. Seeing the desperation in the action, the leader laughed.
"Now, we both know you're not strong enough to take us all on, sweetheart. Just call the whore out and we'll let you go," the leader proclaimed, a perverse undertone in his words.
"Hey boss! Can we have her when it's done?" one of the other riders called out.
"No! She's my bitch!" the leader, his position now confirmed, snapped.
"Now, darling," the man dismounted. Slipping his fingers beneath the blond's chin, he tilted the latter's head left and right, inspecting his potential plaything. Hungry eyes raked over silky golden hair, cut short for 'her' profession. Narrow, blue eyes gazed up at him fearfully and rosy, full lips trembled on a face with skin smoother and more flawless than porcelain. "Get the whore out here."
The 'girl' nodded, eyes wide with fear at the prospect of what might happen if 'she' didn't. Gripping 'her' arm tightly with apprehension, 'she' turned her back on the group of bandits and began to make 'her' way slowly towards the tents, 'her' legs shaky. His eyes roamed a little higher, halting in their progress when they sighted 'her' plump, round ass. 'Her' ass was the last thing he saw.
One moment their boss was leering at the cute 'kunoichi', the next, there was a lifeless thud as he collapsed. The men shared a round of raucous laughter at the leader's expense before their horses bucked them off and fled, galloping off into the distance with dust rising in their wake. Only now were they aware of the true gravity of the situation.
Their leader hadn't fallen to the ground from a nosebleed caused by the Genin's incredibly attractive posterior. It was due to the fact that he now lacked something vital; his head. Fear was the first to set in at the sight of their boss' head lying in the sand, glassy eyes gazing up in a frozen stare. The anger came next, and they threw themselves at the one who had slain their leader. Icy pools took in the reckless charge that was being made by the now leader-less bandits.
Mercy was the last thing on the boy's mind. They were a threat and therefore had to be eliminated. Tanto in hand, he engaged the bandits in and intricate dance. Metal bit into flesh, guided by the hand of a professional killer. Blood flew, trailing after the blond like scarlet sashes attached to a dancer's costume. Yells quickly morphed into screams of fear and desperate pleas. All were silenced in but a flash.
Akane was woken by the screaming. Her brain struggled to register the sounds, laced with pain and terror. When they finally got through, her eyes flew open and, scrambling over to the door of the tent, threw the flaps open urgently.
The screams had stopped and she feared the worst when she pushed open the tent flaps. She expected to see her bodyguards dead on the ground, their bodies mutilated while the bandits merely laughed. Dread filled her heart as she thought about the blond boy, Naruto, so full of childish innocence, carved up like steak.
The boy couldn't die, not when he had so much more to live for. She felt guilt. Guilt for sending out the request in the first place. Guilt that she had dragged the kids into this mess. She dashed out into the open, prepared for all those gruesome sights.
What met her gaze, however, was more horrible by far in her eyes. Bodies were strewn left and right. Not those of the ninjas, as she had expected, but those of the bandits. Only one hit was delivered to each, and each hit had killed. The innocent-looking boy stood in the background looking as pristine as he had when she had seen him go to sleep. The only evidence to the slaughter he had just carried out was the tanto in his grip, the steel grey of the blade sullied by the blood of the bandits.
She did the only thing she could. She laughed. It was a laugh devoid of humour and laced with bitterness.
'Perhaps I'm the naive one,' she reflected as laughter continued to spill forth from her lips.
A/N: Um... There's a bit of one sided killing here... Um... I'm sorry if it's not very good, though... I'm not exactly very good at this... I guess I'm just really happy that there are people who read my story. Thank you for sticking with me. I can't express just how grateful. I can only hope it's okay and that you'll enjoy it. Sort of... Please don't hesitate to point out my mistakes, especially grammatical, spelling and inconsistencies in the plot. Thank you! :)