Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Chapter Two – Kitsune
"Hey Naruto! Fancy seeing you here." Naruto was sitting at Ichiraku's devouring his eighth bowl of ramen that day, turned around when he heard his name. When he turned around he saw Sakura standing behind him, Konoha headband sitting proudly in her hair.
"Hey Sakura! How've you been? I see you graduated into a team. You like it so far?"
Sakura sat down next to Naruto, ordering a bowl of ramen. "Ya it's great! I'm on a team with Sasuke and Sai, two of the strongest guys in the year. Our sensei is really weird though. He's always really late, and always has is nose in his book.
Naruto perked up at this. "Shouldn't he be giving all he can to his team? I wonder why the Hokage would choose him as a sensei anyways. He's not a very good example for you guys."
"Hmm? Oh well, he's good enough. I'm just happy that I'm finally able to become a konoichi. Kakashi-sensei can really help me with that."
"Ya well I still think he should at least pay attention to you guys instead of reading all the time."
"Hey you know what? You should come watch our training session today! That way you can see a real shinobi in action. Besides, Kakashi-sensei has been telling us about some of his old missions. It'll be fun!"
Naruto hesitated. It wasn't like he was actually going to be doing anything today anyways. "Ya sure! Where should I meet you?"
"Do you know where training ground 7 is?" Naruto nodded. "Well that's where we train. Kakashi told us to be there at noon, so if you meet us there around two you should be on time. That sound good to you?"
Naruto was sitting on the ground, leaning against one of the three wooden posts in the training ground. He had gotten to the training ground half an hour ago, and surprisingly, Kakashi was there when he got there. Since they were in the middle of an exercise, Sakura had yelled a hello at him, telling him to make himself comfortable.
Finally the exercise finished, and the four of them came over to join Naruto, introducing themselves as Kakashi, Sai, and Sasuke. The three genin pulled out water bottles and joined Naruto in sitting on the ground.
"Sensei! Can you tell us about another one of your old missions?" asked Sakura, looking up at her sensei.
"Well I suppose I can. Hmm. Which story to tell you today? Oh! I got it! Have you guys ever heard about Kitsune?" The genin looked at each other, confused looks on their faces. "Well judging from your faces, I'd say no. Well Kitsune was an ANBU Captain, second only to the Hokage. Rumour has it that he was actually a candidate for the position of Fifth Hokage actually.
'Anyways, we were on a mission and we were cornered by a team of Iwa-nin. We were after the same target, and it had come to a confrontation between our two groups. When they saw Kitsune they laughed, telling us that a little kid wouldn't be able to defeat them. He got angry – Kitsune that is. So he told us to stand back and let him handle it. I don't think I've seen anyone except the Fourth move that quickly. One moment they were standing there taunting Kitsune, and the next they were all lying on the ground.
"Wow! That's so cool!" Sakura squealed, thinking back to what she knew about the Fourth Hokage, and how fast he was.
"Wait." Said Sasuke, speaking up for the first time. "You said that they thought he was just a little kid. Was he just really short or something?" All three genin looked at their sensei, curious and wondering what the answer was.
"Well he was short – he was only eight years old at the time. It would make sense for him to be little."
"You mean to tell us that Kitsune was ANBU Captain when he was eight? Surely you're mistaken." Despite Sai's usual characteristic for being completely void of emotion, a little bit of curiosity had seeped into his voice.
"Ya that's right. He was a genius." Kakashi stopped talking, his facial expression thoughtful.
"So what happened to him, sensei? Is he still alive?" At Sakura's question, all eyes were back on Kakashi's face.
"Hmm? Oh, no. He quit after that mission. Nobody really knows where he is now. I think he decided to live his life as a civilian. Although I did hear that if you found him, he would teach you something. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some errands to run. Practice is finished for today. We will meet for a mission tomorrow morning at 9am at the Hokage tower. Bye!" With that Kakashi left in a cloud of smoke, leaving the three genin and Naruto to sit there looking at each other.
"I say we find him. He was an ANBU Captain. Anything he teaches us could be incredibly valuable." Sakura looked at her teammates, waiting for their response.
"Hn. Sure. He could help me get stronger." Stated Sasuke.
"Sure why not. We could use this as training to find hidden targets."
Sakura turned to Naruto. "Gee. You've been awfully quiet this whole time. You feeling alright? I hope our training didn't make you sick."
"No I'm fine. I just remembered that I have some things that I still have to do today. See you later Sakura, Sai, Sasuke." Naruto got up and headed towards the market. He had gotten as far as a little bridge crossing over a creek when he spotted the silver-haired jounin.
"What the hell was that for Kakashi? Did you really have to tell them that much?" Naruto accosted Kakashi, turning him around and forcing Kakashi to look at him.
"What does it matter to you? You're just a civilian, Kitsune. You chose this life."
"Don't call me that. I left that name behind four years ago, and I don't want to ever use it again." By this time Naruto was seething, frustrated that Kakashi had brought up that particular part of his past. "I just want to forget everything. Why'd you have to tell them that I'd teach them jutsu?"
"They need help, Naruto. By telling them about Kitsune, I gave them someone new to look up to. They will want to emulate his abilities, because he is their age. Why would they want to copy an older guy like me? Anyways, it could help you too. There is conflict on the borders, and soon enough Konoha will need all the help it can get, including you.
When Naruto got home, he went into the back of his closet, and pulled out a box. He opened it, and a fox mask stared back at him. Could he do it? Could he become Kitsune one more time?
He gently pulled the mask out, ignoring the weapons and armour in the box. There were fangs in the fox's snarling smile, making the mask even more terrifying.
"I can do this," he mumbled to himself, "for Konoha."
Hey thanks for reading this. I just thought I would let you guys know that in this story, Sasuke isn't has introverted as he is in the anime/manga, and that Sakura isn't a huge Sasuke fangirl. Please review, and feel free to send me ideas about what could happen in the story. I don't have everything planned out yet.
