The wind blew softly as leaves fell from its trees. The sky was bright blue, with some moving clouds decorating it. There could be heard the sound of animals and leaves rubbing against each other. It was a really nice day with pleasant atmosphere, a perfect day to rest and clear up minds as we gaze at the sky.
Or it was supposed to be.
A group of kids were sitting in a circle, with various expressions, bored, sleepy, excited, and even i-don't-care-whatever-is-happening-face.
"Alright, let me explain what we are going to do for today!" a black-haired boy exclaimed enthusiastically. The boy next to him blinked.
"Aren't we just going to train Ashura like yesterday?"
"Nope. Ashura said he was getting bored with the routines. And it won't hurt to do something different once in a while, right?" he said as he looked at the others, earning several responds.
"So, what is it?" the silver-haired boy asked, eyes looking through his book. The black-haired, Hashirama, grinned and took out a scroll from his sleeve.
"Here!" he said as he opened the scroll for others to see. They blinked in surprise
"Tag Game?" the only girl there, Tsunade, asked first. Hashirama nodded "Yep!"
"What the… you want us to play instead of train?" his younger brother, Tobirama, asked with disbelief.
"It's not 'just' a game!" Hashirama opened the scroll longer to reveal more. The others read it curiously.
"Rule number 1 : We can hide anywhere within the forest
Rule number 2 : We can use anything, from weapons to jutsu, to catch someone or to run from 'it'
Rule number 3 : when the 'it' touches someone's forehead, then that someone becomes the 'it', and the previous 'it' can leave the forest and wait until the game ends
Rule number 4 : when someone defeats the 'it', then that means that person wins
Rule number 5 : The one who becomes the 'it' until the time limit is the loser
Rule Number 6 : The time limit is until 12 o'clock" Hashirama read the scroll loudly.
'What's the point of writing it if he is just going to explain it like that..' the silver-haired boy, Kakashi, thought
"So, the winner is someone who defeats the 'it' or the ones who can survive until the time limit, right?" The brown-haired boy, Hiruzen, asked. Hashirama gave him a thumb up and praised him for guessing right.
"But what does the winner get?" Tsunade asked, folding her hands in front of her. Hashirama's grin grew wider. He knew someone would ask something like that. "The winner can ask anything from the loser". Hearing that, Tsunade chuckled evilly. At least the game could be a little bit exciting.
"then, what are we waiting for? Let's start" Hashirama rolled his scroll and stood up, followed by the others.
"Wait, wait!" all pairs of eyes looked at Ashura.
"You guys… you don't expect me to go against you, right?" he asked. The realization hit the others as they widened their eyes. Of course they couldn't put Ashura on the same level as them. He was getting better at close combat and handling weapons, but for jutsu, he was on a really lower level.
Ashura received no answer "…uh, so?" he asked again. Then, Hashirama smiled "Of course we have different rules for you, Ashura". Ashura sighed with relief "That's nice.. I thought I was really going to try to go against one of you and get really beaten up in the process. So, what is it?"
Hashirama stayed silent for 3 seconds. "Hold on"
"You haven't thought of it, have you?" Tobirama bet.
"No, it's not that. I just.. forgot what the rules were…" Hashirama trailed off as he put his hand on his chin and put on a thinking face. "… oh, I know!" he suddenly said.
"You really just thought of it a second ago, didn't you?" Tobirama face-palmed
"Ashura, you will be 'it'!" Hashirama said. Ashura's face got paler. "huh? Do I get a benefit by being the 'it' first?" he asked.
"nope! I mean, you are going to be 'it' for the entire game!"
"Oh, I see—wait, WHAT?"
The others stared at Hashirama questioningly. Did he really just say that?
"What does that mean?" Minato asked, secretly pitying Ashura who was as white as sheet.
"Ah, don't misunderstand it. I didn't mean Ashura has to try to catch us all day and fight us. What I mean is, he is going to be helping the real 'it' and learn anything he can learn from the fights" Hashirama explained.
"ooh, that's good then." Ashura sighed again.
"Alright! Lets start!" Hashirama commanded. The others took a stance, ready to fly.
"I'll be the first 'it'!"
.
.
"um… are we going to go catch someone or not?" asked Ashura. Next to him was Hashirama who was sitting cross-legged on a big rock"
"Wait a minute, I still haven't decided something…"
"That's what you said half an hour ago"
"Huh? Really?"
"Whatever. Let's just go, or else the others will be even further than they are now"
Hashirama looked at Ashura "Can you locate them?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah… barely though." Ashura had been taught by Minato and Tobirama to locate someone by feeling their chakra, and he was getting used to do it. He could already differ the 7 of them by their chakra
Hashirama stood up, and jumped down from the rock. He put his hand on Ashura's shoulder.
"Lead me the way, then" he said with a smile. Ashura stared at him and nodded.
'It feels kinda nice when someone is relying on me' the Ootsutsuki thought.
"To who? Should I bring you to the closest one?" he asked, trying to identify the chakra which was the closest to them. Hashirama shook his head, and he whispered a name to Ashura's ear. Ashura nodded, then he started to run to the way that lead to a certain someone.
.
Black eyes stared at the other black ones
"I'm surprised that you chose to go after me"
"well…" Hashirama landed on the ground softly, and walked closer to his 'enemy' in front of him. "I heard from Minato that you were a prodigy. Became a chuunin at the age of 6, right? That's impressive"
Kakashi stared at his superior with his usual bored stare, but deep inside, he was being alert.
In a second, Hashirama disappeared from his vision. He quickly grabbed his sword and turned around as quickly as he could.
CLANG
The sound of metal meeting against another metal could be heard.
"Ooh, nice reflexes" Hashirama praised as he pushed Kakashi and jumped back several feet. The two of them held their swords firmly in front of them. And, as if in command, they launched forward at each other.
Kakashi aimed for Hashirama's upper left hand, but his sword was blocked easily, and then he dodged against Hashirama's attack toward his stomach. He jumped and flipped mid-air, passing his sword to his left hand, and spun to slash Hashirama, who dodged it.
"If you want someone impressive…" Kakashi said, landing on the ground not too far from Hashirama "..Try Naruto. He will surprise you"
Hashirama loosened and tightened the grip on his sword several times, trying to adjust at the feeling of holding a sword again. "Yeah. Tsunade told me about him. Manage to control -befriend, even—the Kyuubi and able to use Sannin Mode. I can't be surprised anymore, and I really want to see he fights seriously up close, but…" Hashirama was forced to cut his words as Kakashi jumped and attacked him from the air.
They crossed blades again
This time, Hashirama didn't try to push Kakashi. While they were trying to defend against each other, Hashirama smirked. Kakashi's eyes grew wide as the person who was previously in front of him changed into a block of wood.
'..clones!'
Kakashi turned his head, and observed his surroundings quickly yet carefully. Right, left, front, back, up, not a sign.
'then…' Kakashi used his lightning chakra on his sword, and he brought it to the ground. The ground cracked, and opened, revealing Hashirama who was trying to get out of there.
"I know that one of your chakra natures is earth, Shodai-sama"
"Well, that was fast. I thought you would take a little bit longer to find me" Hashirama pouted, clearly realizing how underestimated his opponent was.
Kakashi seathed his sword back, and put his hands together to make some seals. Hashirama readied himself to receive whatever was coming his way.
Then, sparks of chakra appeared on Kakashi's hand and soon it became lightning. A hound-shaped one.
"Raiton: Ryouken (Lightning Release: Lightning hound)" Kakashi whispered as he attacked Hashirama with his jutsu.
'Whoa that's cool' Hashirama though, as he did some seals "Mokuton: Mokujoheki (Wood release: Wood Locking Wall)"
Pillars of wood came out of the ground around him, and connected, making a shape of a dome, shielding him
Kakashi brought his hand forward, his jutsu met with the wood, crumbling it. Hashirama knew that he wouldn't be able to completely shield himself with only one jutsu, especially against a lightning type, so he had already been prepared to use another jutsu. But what appeared in front of him was just a bolt of lightning in a hound shape, without anyone- without Kakashi.
'Where is he?'
Then, he heard soft sound from behind. "Shit" Hashirama cursed under his breath. Kakashi was ready with his sword, shining white.
.
"That was awesome.." Ashura stared in awe at the fight between Hashirama and Kakashi. He had never seen anything like that before. Sure, his father and brother were also cool, but he had never seen them in action with their jutsu.
"I wonder if I can do something like that soon. That speed and agility, maybe I can achieve them after I train for some more time. But those lightning and wood techniques they used… would I be able to do it, too?" Ashura asked himself. He was positive that he could become even stronger, but he didn't really believe in himself when it came to using chakra. Other people in his village were much better in it than him.
After being silent and frowned for some minutes, he finally looked up again.
"Who cares if I can or not, I will do it!" he said determinedly as he observed the fight again.
.
Hashirama panted, holding his sword in one hand and his bleeding shoulder with the other. "That was close.." he said. In front of him was full of smoke, which was clearing a little by little. Then Kakashi came out of that smoke.
"I almost made the game end in the first round.." Hashirama chuckled as he healed himself.
Kakashi's eyebrow twitched.
"You mean 'you almost let me make the game end', right?" he said with hateful eyes.
"Well, it has already ended, anyway. For the first round, that is" Hashirama put his sword back on its sheath
"tch"
"It was really cool that you decided to deceive me by using a jutsu that you controlled from a distance, and used it as a distraction so you could attack me from behind" Hashirama praised
"And you are as strong as I heard you were. I can't believe you decided to defend instead of dodge my attack, and even used your wood element to touch my forehead" Kakashi said.
The two of them went silent for a while, until Kakashi spoke up "So, why didn't you choose Naruto to fight against?" he asked.
"You were the one who cut me while I was talking and now you are asking me?" Hashirama asked back, still having the grudge for being ignored from before.
"It's fine if you don't want to answer" Kakashi stated coolly, leaning against a tree to rest a bit. Using a high rank jutsu required a huge amount of chakra, after all.
Hashirama glared at the silver-haired, before deciding to answer.
"as I told you before –if you were listening—that I really want to fight him and see for myself how strong he is, but I have more important reason not to" Hashirama started. Kakashi didn't say anything, indicating for him to continue.
"All of his techniques require a great amount of chakra, far beyond another jutsu, even more than the jutsu you showed to me before.." Hashirama said, referring to Kakashi's Lightning Release, Ryoken. "..Since our bodies right now have a certain limit of using chakra, I don't want to make him too excited of being able to fight me and end up making him damage his own body." Hashirama finished.
"Well, it still ended up with me using much chakra, so you are regretting it, aren't you?" Kakashi asked
"Not really" Hashirama walked toward Kakashi.
"To be honest, I also thought something like 'Kakashi was a prodigy. That means he was strong ever since he was still little. If that's the case, then that can also mean that he is the strongest out of all of us right now, seeing that we become kids again'" Hashirama put on a guilty smile.
"I'm sorry about that" Hashirama said, realizing that he acted as if he was wise to choose Kakashi, while in fact he just wanted to fight someone strong without gaining much risk.
Kakashi stared at the Senju before looking at the clear, blue sky
"I don't mind. We all become excited to fight again after so long, after all" Kakashi said, understanding how Hashirama felt about being able to stand on a battlefield again after not being able to feel how it feels like for a long time. And the feeling of fighting against someone on the same level made them even more excited.
The two of them enjoyed the pleasant silence before Kakashi decided to go look for the others to 'hunt'.
.
"Hey Kakashi, slow down a little, would you?" Ashura said, almost yelling. Kakashi was a couple of feet in front of him, but now he felt that the distance was becoming wider and wider.
"Oh, sorry about that." Kakashi slowed his pace down a little, matching his with Ashura's
"umm, so, Who are you going to go against?" Ashura asked curiously, as Kakashi seemed like he was deep in thought.
"A person who is really fast, both in thinking and moving"
Ashura furrowed his eyebrows. Why was he giving him a clue? Couldn't he just tell him the name of the person?
'.. and my previous sensei' finished Kakashi in his mind.
.
STEP
"Kakashi.." Bright blu eyes widened slightly at the sight of the silver-haired boy.
"Minato-sensei" Kakashi called
"Are you…"
"Yeah, I'm 'it' "
Minato stared. "I'm not really surprised that you decided to go after me"
Kakashi took his sword from his back, and took a stance "Yeah, I have always wished to fight against you"
Minato also took out his unordinary-shaped kunai from his pouch "What a coincidence.." he threw the kunai "..I have always wanted to know how strong my student has become, too"
Kakashi dodged the kunai by jumping to a tree. His grip on the sword tightened as it glowed a streak of white.
"Then I'm not gonna hold back"
.
Like before, Kakashi attacked using his sword first, only to be blocked by Minato
"How were things?" the blond asked. Kakashi pushed Minato with his sword as he tried to attack again. Minato dodged swiftly. He took out some more kunai
and threw it to Kakashi's direction. Kakashi had enough time to block them
"Good. There were some problems, but we could handle them just fine. The people in the village are very reliable" answered Kakashi.
Minato smiled "I see. That's a relief"
Kakashi stared at his former teacher's grateful face, and then suddenly waves of memories came to him. The time when he was in the academy, his dad, when he was promoted to genin, had a genin team, found some friends, and then became a chunin, and a jounin after that. He remembered the times when the important people in his life died one by one. He could still imagine it clearly in his mind.
There were so many things he wanted to tell him -the person who had taught him the meaning of teamwork, the person who he respected greatly, and one of the most important people to him. He wanted to tell him everything he had gone through, he wanted to tell him the condition of the village after he died, he wanted to tell him about his beloved students –Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura-, he wanted to tell him about the Fourth Great Shinobi War, he wanted to tell him about Obito, and Rin…
"What is it, Kakashi?"
Kakashi snapped back into reality, "Huh?"
"You were spacing out just now. That was… rare of you. Is there something you want to tell me?" Minato asked with a concerned voice.
His sensei was as sharp as he had always been.
"No, nothing. I just want to inform you that Naruto has become a really great person" said Kakashi, trying to forget about telling Minato the story of his life
"…"
"He has a really… sad past. The people in the village hated him and put a distance from him. He was treated really badly, even though he was still a child. But
he somehow still loved the village and managed to become a respected Hokage." Kakashi explained. Minato stared at him "That's... really wonderful" the blue-eyed boy said. He was trying to fight the urge to cry. He was beyond happy.
Normally, in the real fight, Kakashi would attack his enemies when they were distracted. But not this time. He decided that he was going to give his sensei a
time to get ready to fight.
Minato's smile vanished as he stared at his former student in the eye "Is that all?"
And Kakashi regretted his own decision. "what?" he pretended to be oblivious of what Minato was talking about.
"Don't lie, Kakashi. Don't you have something more to tell me? Something… important?"
Kakashi narrowed his eyes
Sometimes having a sharp sensei sucked.
The longest chapter I've ever made ^_^
I Really should be studying right now 0_0
Please Fav, Follow, and Review ^_^
