Chasing Storm Clouds Chapter 29: Gotta See! Gotta Know!, a naruto fanfic

29. Gotta See! Gotta Know! Kakashi-sensei's True Face!

*pure fluff and some ridiculousness*

A bird squawked overhead, briefly blocking out the sun.

Eyes squinted, Naruto turned around to face myself, Sakura and Sasuke, a sneaky smile on his face. He put a hand to one side of his mouth, as though to conspire behind it. He spoke quietly, but loud enough for me and my teammates to hear him clearly. "Say, don't you want to see it? He's been hiding it from us long enough already."

"See what?" Sasuke asked with his monotone version of exasperation.

"See what? Isn't it obvious?" Naruto grabbed a flashlight from the pouch around his waist and turned it on, pointing it upwards at the bottom of chin. He grinned maniacally. "Kakashi-sensei's real face!"

Naruto had leaned in towards Sakura's face during his dramatic little speech and she jumped, startled when Naruto yelled out that last sentence. Recovering, she angrily punched Naruto on the top of the head, sending him sprawling on the ground. "What do you think you're doing!?"

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose as I watched the scene. From my left, Sasuke 'humphed', turning his back to Naruto and Sakura, hands dug deep in his pockets. "What nonsense. I'm not interested. We finished our mission for the day, so let's go home."

Naruto got to his feet, narrowing his eyes and frowning at the Uchiha. Sakura, on the other hand, immediately nodded. "You're right."

I sighed, tilting my head back slightly. "I'm going to have to agree with Sasuke. I don't want to spend any more time with Sakura than necessary."

Sakura shot me an angry glare, hands clenching into fists at her sides. I appeared bored, lacing my hands behind my head.. Naruto turned away from us both, staring down Sasuke's back as he walked away from us. But there was a gleam in Naruto's eyes, and he once again took his tone down to a conspiratorial level."Maybe he has thick lips?"

I pivoted to watch Sasuke's reaction, which I presumed would be nonexistent. To my great surprise, however, this seemed to have halted Sasuke in his tracks. Naruto snickered at his triumph and pushed further. "Maybe he has buckteeth?"

My eyes were now rolling upwards as I conjured the imagine of Kakashi-sensei, orange book in front of his face. In my mind, he lowered the book, revealing exaggerated buckteeth popping from his mouth in a stupid grin. The image was enough to force me to cough in order to cover up a laugh. But suddenly, it seemed, Naruto had a good point. What was behind Kakashi's mask? What could he be hiding?

Naruto was already grinning slyly; having glanced at each of us and understanding he'd snared us.

"It's really unusual for all three of you to treat me," Kakashi-sensei hedged, arms crossed over his chest as he peered over at his squad.

We'd taken advantage of the lunch hour and invited Kakashi-sensei to lunch; our treat. And so the five of us sat at the counter in Ichiraku's Ramen stand. Kakashi-sensei sat at the end and I peered past Sasuke at him, while Naruto and Sakura peered past me. We smiled innocently at our sensei; except for Sasuke, who watched Kakashi with a sense of indifference, his chin upon laced fingers, elbows on the bar.

"Here you go," the cook placed a large, steaming bowl of ramen in front of Kakashi-sensei.

"Maybe it's going to snow…" Kakashi-sensei murmured, suddenly jerking his head upwards; raising his hands as though the ceiling offered something he could karate-chop. But as nothing presented itself, he slowly glanced back to his food. Carefully, he reached for a pair of chopsticks."Or are you scheming something?"

Kakashi-sensei shot us a suspicious look and our innocent expresions wavered a bit. Even Sasuke attempted a more friendly look, which alone almost announced our guilt.

I rubbed the back of my head with a nervous chuckle. "You're just being paranoid, Sensei."

"Yeah, it's just to celebrate you getting out of the hospital," Sakura laughed, motioning with her hands. "N-now eat up!"

"I see…" but he narrowed his eyes at us as though he did not see. But he straightened in his chair and glanced back to his ramen. "Then I think I'll eat."

"We've given you extra meat," the pretty girl behind the counter smiled, her cheeks flushed.

Kakashi-sensei broke apart his chopsticks and the four of us went rigid. I watched every motion, eyes focused. Kakashi slowly grabbed the edge of his mask, moving to pull it down…

"Ahh! Sasuke!"

It happened in a blur. Suddenly, Sasuke was pushed down against the bar due to the velocity of a tackle; courtesy of Yamanaka Ino, I discovered. I was suddenly confronted with her blushing face. Chouji and Shikamaru had joined her, perfectly sliding into my field of vision, blocking Kakashi-sensei from view.

I let out a frustrated screech, grabbing for my head.

"Get lost, Ino-pig!" Sakura hollered.

"What'd you say!?"

"I can't see!"

A commotion erupted within the tent. The scene was completely indiscernible due to the mass of flying limbs.

"Thank you for the food. That was good."

"Huh?" the rumble stopped and everyone froze.

Sakura and Ino were pushing against one another. Sasuke had his arms chock-held around Chouji's neck while Naruto had Chouji's arm in a vice. I had one arm wrapped around Shikamaru's neck as he pushed hard against my cheek with a hand. My teammates stilled as Kakashi-sensei pushed aside his empty bowl, mask on his face.

"So fast…" we muttered in dismay.

"Huh? Is something wrong?" Kakashi-sensei asked cluelessly as he turned his attention to the group of genin. How engrossed had he been in his meal that he'd blocked out the entire commotion happening next to him?

But we couldn't blow our cover and so we grinned nervously. It was Sakura who let out a nervous laugh. "It's nothing!"

I glanced over to the staff behind the counter. The cook and his pretty waitress were staring at Kakashi-sensei and I could see the hearts in the waitress' eyes as she smiled at Kakashi in admiration. Even the middle-aged cook had a gentle blush on his cheeks.

"I really want to know," we all groaned.

A bird squawked overhead, briefly blocking out the sun.

"But how are you going to catch a glimpse at it?" Sakura asked skeptically, eyebrows furrowed. Sasuke and I stood behind her, arms crossed over our chests.

"That is…" Naruto grabbed a flashlight from the pouch around his waist and turned it on, pointing it upwards at the bottom of chin. He grinned maniacally. "Do something about it!"

Naruto sat up, rubbing at his head with a pout. "Then do you have an idea, Sakura?"

"Well that's…" Sakura trailed off, her face falling fast. I rolled my eyes.

Sasuke turned his back on the two, hands in his pockets. He closed his eyes and spoke with an air of detachment. "We'll pursue him. Mark him completely. If we do that, he'll eventually take off his mask."

"Isn't that border-line stalking?" I asked, with a raised eyebrow. Naruto narrowed his eyes in annoyance at Sasuke.

Sakura blushed, quick to praise the Uchiha. "You're so smart, Sasuke!"

"What the hell is that? That's a really basic plan," Naruto complained, eyeing Sasuke with distaste.

"Did I hear something!?" Sakura glared, practically shoving her face against Naruto as her hands sat angrily on her hips.

"Well, it's fine," Naruto squeaked out.

I rubbed at my forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

Despite the 'basic-ness' of the plan, squad seven had now taken to ̶s̶t̶a̶l̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ marking our sensei. Huddled together atop a rooftop, the four of us peered over the edge. Our eyes honed in on our target, walking down the dirt road with a paper bag full of groceries. He seemed at ease as he traveled, seemingly unaware of our attention.

Kakashi-sensei had just walked past a book shop when he halted in his tracks. He nearly dropped his groceries during his mad dash back to the store window so he could gaze longingly at the books displayed there. I was familiar with the orange-covered books propped up on a display shelf, but not familiar with the green-covered ones; which I deduced was a new book. My eye twitched.

"What is Kakashi-sensei doing?" Naruto muttered, confused, and I didn't have the heart to tell him our sensei was a bit of a perv.

Just as Naruto uttered the sentence, Kakashi-sensei's head finally whipped around, staring in our direction.

"Shit!" I hissed and the four of dropped, ducking out of eyesight.

"He noticed us!" Sasuke whispered.

"Naruto, you idiot! You blew our cover!" Sakura hissed.

"What!? It's not my fault!" Naruto whispered back, annoyed.

"All of you, quiet!" I hushed them as loud as I dared.

But it quickly became apparent that it wasn't us that had attracted our sensei's attention. He appeared to be staring at the front of the building in awe. "What!? Made into a movie!? I'm going to go reserve tickets!"

Carefully, the four of us poked our heads up, just catching our sensei sprinting away and rounding a corner.

"He's started moving!" Sakura said.

"Let's follow him," Sasuke responded.

Without another word, we vacated our hiding spot, jumping to the ground. We dashed after our sensei, rounding the same corner he'd just disappeared behind, only to find the road completely empty.

"He's gone already!" I sighed in aggravation, running a hand through my bangs.

"He got away," Sasuke said, almost like he couldn't believe it, his eyes scanning the area as if to double check his assessment.

"Dammit, where'd he go?" Naruto ground out

"What are you four doing?"

It took all my willpower not to screech in surprise. Still, the four of us stiffened on cue, slowly craning our necks to find Kakashi-sensei standing behind us, bag of groceries in hand.

"Do you want something from me?" Kakashi asked, tilting his head in question.

"N-No! Nothing!" We rushed to assure him, as though we'd rehearsed the line, quickly shaking our heads in denial.

Eyes squinted, Naruto turned around to face myself, Sakura and Sasuke, but there was no smile on his face this time. Instead, Naruto's expression was fixed into a pout. "Say, why were we noticed?"

"That's because there's too many of us," Sakura answered, clearly just as annoyed as Naruto.

"What? If we mask our presence, numbers won't matter," Naruto grabbed a flashlight from the pouch around his waist and turned it on, pointing it upwards at the bottom of chin. He grinned maniacally. "Or is that you forgot how to, Sakura?"

"You're the one who's forgotten!" she angrily punched Naruto on the top of the head, sending him sprawling on the ground.

"Pinkie might actually be right on this one," I said hesitantly, glancing at Sasuke and Naruto. Sakura shot me a glare; clearly not at all grateful that I backed her up.

"Following him will be good training," Sasuke agreed, hands in his pockets and he turned his back on Sakura and Naruto once more. "Next time, we'll go one at a time."

"You're right, let's leave Naruto and Nakao," Sakura tried, blushing merrily at Sasuke's back.

"Nani!?" Naruto exclaimed, bolting into a sitting position from his spot on the ground.

"Keep dreaming, Sakura!" I twitched at her, thrusting a finger in her direction.

The rest of the afternoon trudged on slowly. It was agreed upon that we would all take turns trailing Kakashi-sensei. Naruto was up first, then Sakura, myself and Sasuke last. The three that wouldn't be trailing would stay together until the other teammate came back. And so our team decided to set up base outside of a sweets shop. It was out of main street traffic and there was a bench beneath a tree outside so we wouldn't bake in the sun.

Myself, Sasuke and Sakura sat side-by-side, drinking tea as Naruto was taking his turn trailing Kakashi. He came back only an hour later.

"You lost him," I immediately guessed upon seeing the look on the boy's face.

"Clumsy as ever," Sakura sighed.

"You dumbass," Sasuke agreed.

Naruto sighed and bowed his head in defeat.

While Sakura was away, Naruto got a cup of tea for himself and sat beside me on the bench. The three of us waited in silence, sipping on our tea, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Drizzle passed over the area, but it only lasted for about a half an hour and the tree blocked most of the water from soaking us. Just as the rain dissipated, Sakura returned, scratching her cheek, embarrassed. Sasuke, Naruto and I sighed.

My turn had come and I felt like I'd tracked Kakashi-sensei through half of the village. Flat against the side of a building, I watched from a short distance away as Kakashi-sensei walked out of a bar. But I was not entirely pleased to see him.

Kakashi-sensei had each arm around a young woman. Both seemed in their early twenties and were giggling and blushing at Kakashi. Eye twitching, I kept my eyes on my sensei and his two…friends. I waited until they crossed the street and were a good distance down the road before I carefully followed. I cushioned the soles of my feet with chakra to muffle my footsteps as I hurried after the trio.

Kakashi and the ladies finally came to a stop outside of a building. Kakashi must have said something hilarious because the girls threw their heads back laughing. I watched intently, a bit disgruntled, as I hid behind some bushes.

If he wants to kiss them, he'll have to take his mask off, I reasoned with no small amount of dread. There were certain things in this life I didn't care to witness; and my sensei making out was one of those things.

My gaze sharpened as my sensei slowly raised a hand. My heart fluttered slightly in anticipation. This was it. The moment we'd been waiting for. The satisfaction for our burning curiosity as to what was behind that blue cloth.

Kakashi-sensei raised his hand to his face…and waved to a man who now peeped his head out of the door the trio had congregated next to.

"Kakashi!" the man grinned and stepped back, opening the door wide.

Kakashi-sensei nodded, looking pleased even with the mask on, and disappeared into the building with his lady friends. My mouth dropped slightly; how could this whole time tracking him come to such an abrupt ending!? I dashed out of the bushes and towards the door; but it was slammed in my face just as I reached the threshold. Instead of an open doorway, I was now staring at a bright red sign that read: NO ADMITTANCE TO THOSE UNDER 18 YEARS OF AGE. I gritted my teeth. Thwarted.

Defeated, I trudged back to my team members. As I neared the bench they occupied, they glanced to me, their eyebrows raised expectantly. Embarrassed, I turned my face away stubbornly, crossing my arms over my chest. My three teammates groaned.

Sasuke vacated his seat and I sat in his place. I had hope that perhaps Sasuke, the sneakiest of us, might prevail where we had failed. But an hour later, Sasuke returned empty-handed.

"Sasuke, how'd it go?" Sakura inquired.

Sasuke simply turned his head away from our group. "I quit. I'm done trailing him."

The four of us sighed in unison, dropping our heads in disappointment.

"We're off!" Naruto exclaimed, punching his fists in the air as he turned to face us.

Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi-sensei and I had just passed through the village gates and out into the outskirts of the village. Sasuke, Sakura and I took a few steps away from our sensei, glancing at him sneakily before we glanced at each other. We nodded to each other with determination. The mission we were assigned to do required helping out on a ranch; but the four of us had our own mission to attend to.

Seeing Kakashi-sensei's true face!

"Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!"

My eye twitched slightly as I watched the woman dash to and fro in front of us, greeting us each in turn. No taller than four feet and probably in her mid-fifties, the woman's gray hair was piled into a bun atop her head. A large smile was plastered to her face.

The five of us had stopped for the night at a comfortable-looking in. After greeting us profusely, the woman brought us inside (not before my teammates all glanced at each other with quirked eyebrows). But our bemused expressions changed completely when the woman led us into the dining room. For an inn, the dining room was rather elegant and housed a long table filled with foods; ranging from rice to fish to dumplings. We wasted no time in seating ourselves.

"Amazing!" Sakura squealed, smiling over the table.

Sitting beside her, Naruto leaned in towards the food as close as he could get without actually touching it. I could practically seen the drool forming around his mouth. "This looks delicious!"

"It's so grand," Kakashi-sensei noted calmly as he took in the display.

I, too, was very pleased with the situation from my seat at the far end of the table near Sasuke. I managed to maintain my dignity, however and sat calmly with my eyes glued to the sushi sitting just a foot away from my place.

"Take your time!" the woman insisted in her high-pitched voice before she vacated the room.

Despite how hungry my teammates and I were, and despite how absolutely delicious the food appeared, we did not immediately tuck into our food. Instead, our gazes hovered over Kakashi-sensei, waiting for him to begin eating. None of us would forgive ourselves if we missed the sight of Kakashi-sensei eating.

Kakashi-sensei, being rather clever, was not oblivious to his audience. He glanced to the four of us in turn, an eyebrow arched. "What's wrong? You're not eating."

"O-Oh, nothing," Sakura smiled as sweetly as she could as the four of attempted to look inconspicuous. "Why don't you eat, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Oh, I'm on diet right now, so…" Kakashi replied lazily.

"You're joking," I said through gritted teeth, my eye twitching dangerously.

"No," Kakashi said rather cheerfully.

Swallowing the curse words that bubbled up my throat I narrowed my eyes at my sensei. Could it be possible that he was on to us? I'd only begun to wonder this when I noticed Naruto reach to his left, grabbing a nearby teapot.

"Opps, my hand slipped!" Naruto said not subtly whatsoever, flinging the teapot towards Kakashi-sensei.

I wanted to cringe.

The lid flew off the teapot in its journey towards Kakashi-sensei, ribbons of liquid flying in all direction. I assumed Naruto had meant to soak Kakashi-sensei's mask, prompting him to take it off. A long shot and ridiculous. And, of course, his planned failed.

Instead of ducking out of the way as a normal person might do, Kakashi-sensei grabbed the table filled with food and flipped it to become a shield against the advancing teapot and its contents. The teapot hit the tabletop and bounced off, landing on the flour next to the mushy piles of food.

My teammates and I reacted, hopping to our feet and grabbing at our heads. Naruto actually screamed.

"What did you do!?" Sakura cried, her anguished eyes on the wasted sustenance.

"Oh sorry, I just unintentionally…" Kakashi-sensei tried, rolling his hand in the air as if searching for words.

"Don't 'unintentionally' me!" the four of us yelled in unison, raising fists and glaring at our teacher.

As Kakashi-sensei replaced the table, the four of us moved closer together, literally putting our heads together.

"What do we do now?" Sakura whispered.

"Relax, I have an idea," Sasuke said calmly, glancing to the three of us.

"An idea?" Sakura and Naruto echoed in unison.

"I hope it's better than your last idea," I muttered.

Sasuke only smirked.

"Oh, this is bullshit," I complained, arms crossed over my chest in silent protest.

Sasuke's genius plan was to lure Kakashi-sensei into the hot spring baths located behind the compound. It was a logical thought. People remove their articles of clothing prior to taking a bath. It really would have been a great idea; had the baths not be gender specified.

A wooden wall divided the men's and women's baths. Sasuke and Naruto were on the other side, getting to see what was behind Kakashi-sensei's mask. Sakura and I were stuck on the other side, only being able to wonder.

"Aw, I wanted to see too," Sakura pouted. She dunked herself into the water up to her nose where she breathed bubbles into the water in frustration.

I agreed non-verbally with my expression.

The baths were impressive at least. The water was deep and rose up to our chests, which were wrapped beneath white towels. Steam rose from the water in tendrils, casting the entire bath in a thin fog. My hair was tied into a ponytail to keep it from getting wet, but wisps of hair and my bangs were beginning to stick to my skin from the humidity.

"Kakashi-sensei, ready yet?" I heard Naruto call from the other side of the wall.

"Yeah, I'll be right there," came Kakashi-sensei's reply.

My head perked up at this and Sakura rose her head up from the water. We scrambled towards the divide, fighting over a small hole in the wood.

"I want to see too!" Sakura whispered, in aggravation to the situation and our dual attempt to look through one hole.

"Are you sure it's Kakashi-sensei's face you want to see, or Sasuke?" I said irritably, trying to get a good view.

But it was useless. One pair of eyes couldn't make out anything through that hole, let alone two. The steam was too thick, obscuring everything into black blobs.

"I can't see anything!" Sakura cried in display, pushing away from the wall in frustration.

"Alright, just for a little bit," Kakashi-sensei's voice floated towards us, followed by the sound of displaced water.

This was quickly followed by two large splashes.

"Why did it turn out like this!?" I heard Naruto groan.

"What happened? I want to see!" Sakura complained, once again trying desperately to see through the little hole.

"Get down here you peeper," I told Sakura with an eyeroll. "There's no use; the steam is too thick. Besides, what if Kakashi-sensei isn't wearing a towel?"

Sakura jerked away from the wall and lost her balance, falling into the water with a yelp. I laughed.

"Come again! Come again! Come again! Come again!" the little woman called out to our backs as we departed the next morning.

Kakashi-sensei, seeming happy and well rested, was leading the group. The rest of us, however, trailed him with sluggish movements and dismayed expression. This entire endeavor had been tiring and disappointing. It seemed we were never going to see what was beneath that mask.

Our moods hadn't exactly lifted when we reached the ranch and Kakashi-sensei cheerily announced, "Alright everyone, get to your post and start working!"

The four of us took in the ranch before us. The vast amount of land was populated by horses and mounds of hay. We puckered our lips in annoyance. Why was I here? What the heck did I know about ranching?

But there was nothing for it. Kakashi-sensei located a shady tree to read under and the four of us, once more, put our heads together.

"I can't go on much longer. I'm stressed out," Naruto muttered; and he did, indeed, have a pinched look about his face.

"I'm almost at my limit too," Sasuke admitted, bowing his head and closing his eyes.

"To tell you the truth, I'm done too," Sakura said, glancing over at Sasuke.

I rubbed at my face sleepily. "I agree. Unless we ambush Kakashi-sensei and tear his mask off, I don't think we're ever going to know what's under it."

"That's it!" Naruto grinned, his loud response startling me.

I glanced at him wearily. "What…?"

"You don't seriously think this is going to work, do you?" I asked skeptically, eyebrow raised, arms crossed.

I glanced at each of my teammates in turn, noting their gray suits and dark gray vests. Hoods were pulled up over their heads, covering everything except the face; and the bottom portion was covered by a black mask. The hoods had a metal head protector sewn in and a question mark emblem was etched into the metal.

Naruto had found the suits in the bath locker rooms and I seemed to be the only one disturbed that he borrowed them and they were wearing them. Although Sakura looked as though she might have some misgivings. As there'd only been three outfits, I'd immediately volunteered to opt out.

As I peered at my teammates, my skepticism over Naruto's plan to pose as foreign ninja, began to grow. The suits were entirely too big and the hoods didn't fit correctly. I could see locks of pink and black hair slide out of Sakura's and Sasuke's hoods respectively.

"What are these?" Sakura asked, wrinkling her nose as she inspected her new outfit.

"Isn't it obvious? They're ninja uniforms," Naruto replied.

"What are we going to do in them?" Sasuke asked, also examining his suit with obvious skepticism.

"We'll rip off his mask by force!" Naruto proclaimed excitedly, raising a fist.

I frowned. "I don't know you guys…"

Naruto simply waved off my concern. "Nakao, you're going to go work next to Kakashi-sensei, so he doesn't suspect that it's us."

I didn't expect Kakashi-sensei to fall for that ploy but I held my hands up in defeat and sighed. "Fine."

I left my teammates and moved across the pasture to Kakashi-sensei. To my great surprise, he'd decided to join in on the labor and was busy nailing together a wooden fence. As I approached, Kakashi-sensei glanced up and smiled beneath his mask. "Hi, Nakao. How are you liking the mission?"

"Oh, it's a blast," I replied sarcastically before pointing to the paint can near his feet. "Do we need to paint the fence?"

Kakashi looked down to the can. "Yes, I was going to get to that after I finished putting it together."

"I'll do it," I offered, picking up the can by the handle and grabbing the paint brush next to it. I'd barely begun to paint the parts of the fence already put together when I heard the running footsteps.

"Hey, Hatake Kakashi!"

Kakashi-sensei and I turned to find Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto, grouped together.

"Ah, oh no, enemy ninja," I said with little emotion, raising my hands, and paintbrush, in surrender.

"Huh? What happened to you three?" Kakashi-sensei asked confused.

Naruto took a step forward, raising his fist. "What are you talking about? We're just ordinary ninja! It's not that we want to see what's under the mask or anything…"

I barely managed not to slap my forehead with the wet paintbrush.

Sakura rushed forwards, pushing Naruto back behind her and Sasuke, causing him to fall down on his face. "Bakka! Don't be saying anything unnecessary!"

The words had barely left her lips with a blur from the corner of my eye caught my attention. I pivoted in time to see three figures jump down near our group from a group of trees. Judging by their statures, I guessed they were all men. They wore identical uniforms to the ones Naruto had found.

"Hold it right there!" one of them demanded, pointing his finger at Kakashi-sensei. He laughed in triumph. "Kakashi, it's about time we settle things…"

The man pulled out a purple bottle and held it in front of his face. "…With this poison I created that will make you cry forever-"

But the man cut himself off, his vision fixed on something behind me. His features seemed to be warring with themselves and the bottle slipped from his fingers, smashing on the ground. I glanced behind me to see that Kakashi-sensei had tied my teammates together with rope and was holding them above the ground. I hadn't even noticed him do it.

"Phew, I was wondering how much longer you'd be sneaking around in the shadows," Kakashi-sensei addressed the group of men, setting my teammates on the ground. "But you've finally come out."

But Kakashi-sensei didn't seem very interested in the new arrivals. Instead, he returned his attention to my three teammates.

"Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto; why are you wearing that?" he asked.

"Well, um, you see…" Naruto stuttered, a single bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face.

Sakura suddenly thrust an arm out of the bind, pointing to the new trio. "You fell for it! We knew that you were after Kakashi-sensei all along!"

"What!? Then you were aware of our plan from the beginning!?" exclaimed the man who had dropped his poisoned bottle.

I had to hand it to Sakura, that had been some quick thinking. I watched her with some amusement.

"Of course! This was a trap to lure you guys out. You fell for it," Sakura continued, her green eyes on the three men.

"I walked right into a trap!" the man blinked in disbelief. "Dammit! I underestimated you guys because you were kids!"

"I don't quite get it, but oh well," Kakashi-sensei hedged, scratching his forehead. He turned his gaze on me. "What about you Nakao?"

"Oh, um," I snapped to attention, caught off guard. "I was here to watch their backs just in case these guys tried anything sneaky. I was watching out of the corner of my eyes the whole time!"

"Oh…well…" Kakashi-sensei shrugged before walking towards the eccentric group.

I gave a quick sigh of relief before moving over to my teammates. I took out a kunai and sliced through the ropes, letting the pieces fall onto my teammates' laps.

Meanwhile, the frightened men scurried backwards, away from Kakashi-sensei; until they realized that trying to escape was futile. They fell to their knees, bowing excessively to Kakashi. "Please forgive us!"

Kakashi-sensei stood before them, hands on his hips. He was trying to sound stern but I knew better; his words were laced with amusement. "There is no use talking."

"P-Please stop!" the men pleaded, now clinging to one another.

Kakashi made quick work of the men by tying them together with rope, then hanging them from a tree branch. They swung back and forth. "This is the same as what happened three years ago!"

"Come to think of it, who are you?" Kakashi-sensei asked the men, as though it was an afterthought.

"He doesn't even remember us!" the men lamented and I sniggered.

"Say, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto started.

The sinking sun cast our shadows across the road as the five of us journeyed home.

Kakashi-sensei lowered his book and glanced over to us. "Huh?"

"What's under the mask?" Naruto blurted out.

"What? You wanted to see what's under the mask?" Kakashi-sensei asked, surprised. "Then you should have said so earlier."

"Then you'll show us?" Sakura asked hopefully and all of us felt a spark of excitement.

"Sure."

The four of us crammed together, as if we needed to share one line of sight. The anticipation was real and radiated off of each of us in waves.

"What's all the commotion?" Kakashi-sensei seemed genuinely confused, if not a bit bemused. With his left hand, he reached up, taking a hold of his mask. "Well alright then…"

Our mouths hung open, eyes transfixed on our sensei. Was Kakashi-sensei taking an extremely long time to pull down his mask, or was time stilled in my anticipation? What could be behind that mask? Was it thick lips? Or buck teeth? Or a small mouth?

"Under this mask is…" Kakashi-sensei began to peel down the mask. "Another mask!"

There was a moment of silence before our group cried out in aggravation and dismay as we took in the second mask that had beneath the first one. We fell into a heap on the ground, refusing to move, refusing to believe what all our efforts had been wasted on.

"What's up with that!?" we cried out simultaneously.

A bird squawked overhead.

Author's Note:

A bit of a silly chapter. I'd originally written this chapter because I had edited photos that went along with it. But since it was already written, I modified it a tad and decided to post it. Also because I've finally caught up to what I have edited and posted and the next chapter isn't done yet. Lots of drama ahead, so perhaps this lighthearted chapter will have been useful.