Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.
Similar situations but completely unique content.
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The three of us met at the gate as soon as we were ready. Minato-Sensei wasn't there yet, so we sat against a nearby wall to wait.
"What do you think this mission is about? The Hokage didn't even brief us… and Sensei didn't seem to please about this…" Obito trailed on to Rin.
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I couldn't deal with his questions right now "Just shut up…" my head was down resting on my knees. "If Sensei needed us to know, he would tell us. We have to trust him". My voice was as cold as ice. I was still upset that my shining moment was taken from me so quickly. I wanted to trust my Sensei to make the right choice.
Something about this mission just didn't feel right already and we haven't even left yet.
Something was giving me a lump in my stomach.
Minato-Sensei walked past us with none of us even noticing, heading for the gate.
"Sensei..." Rin said softly as he walked past. She could tell that something was bothering him.
We all stood up and followed behind him to the gate, waiting for our briefing. Instead he just casually kept walking out of the village, not a word spoken to anyone and we followed as we knew we were expected to.
The gate closed behind us and we were walking in the forest, the afternoon sun shining down on us. Minato-Sensei stopped, his head down staring at the ground as if in deep thought.
"You all need to listen to me very carefully during every moment of this mission…Do you understand." He sounded void of all emotion with that question. I have never heard him use that tone.
What is going on?
As if reading my thoughts, Rin took a deep breath that sent shivers down my spine… "What is this mission Minato-Sensei?".
His hands were down at his sides, I could see him flex his hands into fists. There was a long pause before he turned his head and looked over his shoulder, meeting each of our gazes at once.
"There is a chance that none of us will survive this mission".
We all froze.
That wasn't what we were expecting to hear.
The forest was silent at night. Not even crickets were chirping their bedtime melodies. We had been running through the trees for what felt like forever. As soon as the sun fell far enough behind the trees encasing the world around us in dark, we set up camp. The clearing that we found was perfect for defense. Each direction had about 2-3 acres of open ground before the thick trees that lined the area could be seen. A small group of about 5 trees surrounded the middle like an island. We made a small fire and set up our sleeping areas. None of us had spoken since Minato-Sensei said what he did.
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'There is a chance that none of us will survive this mission'
Could that even be true?
Minato-Sensei wasn't only talking about us, his students, but himself as well.
What or who could possibly take down the notorious 'Yellow Flash of Konoha'? Ninja around the Nations feared his speed and power…why was he so worried.
…
Obito broke the silence finally after the fire had been lit. "I think that Rin and I should take the first guard shift, we are the weakest here after all."
I rolled my eyes and sighed heavily. "You don't need an excuse as to why you want to go off together. You're not weak."
He wasn't expecting me to compliment him obviously because he looked shocked and embarrassed at the same time. "umm... I mean… uh".
"It's okay!" Rin chimed in. "We will just take first guard duty". She looked at Minato who was sitting in front of the fire staring at the night sky, his yellow messy hair reflecting the light from the fire. "Is that okay Sensei?" she asked in a concerned tone.
It took him a minute to respond, but she patiently waited.
"That's fine but stick together please..." He never even looked at the two of them while he spoke.
He is acting very oddly…
Obito and Rin disappeared into the clearing, I swore I saw his hand reach for hers just before they were out of view. Good for them.
…
The silence between myself and Minato-Sensei was uncomfortable. Usually he would already be talking about the mission, joking about things at the village, or making small talk at the least. He just continued to sit there staring up at the sky, deep in thought.
I had to say something, I needed to know what was going on with this mission, why he was so stone cold about it, or at least where we were going.
I deserved to know why there was so little chance that we could survive and make it home.
I can't imagine what that could be doing to him…at least he had someone to come home for…I had nobody.
…
"Minato-Sensei…"
Nothing.
"Sensei…We need to talk".
Nothing again.
UGH
"MINATO". I shouted.
I instantly regretted that decision as he whipped his head to look at me. He was angry.
"Excuse me?" he replied. His voice was full of frustration. This wasn't him at all. He's usually so soft spoken or at least more kind than this. Though I know he has other sides to him. This one was just not something I have ever seen.
"I-I-I'm sorry Sensei…I just…I need you to talk to me." I tried as hard as I could to make that sound like an apology. "I deserve to know why I'm walking into my possible death".
He paused and his face softened a bit, he looked more like himself again but I could tell how frustrated he was, his blue eyes didn't look like they had flames behind them, he felt bad.
"I'm sorry Kakashi… You're right, you deserve to know about the mission, I'm just worried and angry. I didn't want it to ever come to this". He paused again, almost as if he was having a hard time getting his thoughts together.
I let out a sigh. "I can handle whatever it is Sensei, I'm not...Just a kid anymore". I sounded so unsure of myself. I know that technically I was classified as a 'child' but, I was allowed to put my life on the line since I became a Chunin at age 6.
I was by no means a child.
He smiled from across the fire.
"I know you can." He replied. "I just don't know if I'm ready for any of you to fight such a difficult battle…We're traveling toward the village hidden in the rain, one of the most difficult villages for even visitors to get access to. We are supposed to infiltrate and collect information on their possible upcoming attack on one of our battle stations to the north.
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That didn't seem so bad. I still didn't understand why he was so worried, we had done these missions before, what was so different about this village?
"We will be killed on sight..." He looked down at the ground as if it made him sick to even say that out loud.
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They have someone with ninjutsu much stronger than I could ever possess. I feel as if this mission is impossible…and so does the Hokage, but we are the only ones who are available and we are his last hope to get the information before an attack that could destroy Konoha and all of our war efforts."
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So it was that bad...
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"Well..." I started to say.
What could I even begin to say? This is insane? I know that if you can't survive that none of us can?
"We can try our best Sensei". That works I suppose. I want him to have faith. We will never survive this if he loses hope before it starts. He's our leader, fearless and one of the strongest Shinobi of Konoha.
He seemed to try and soak in the words before he replied. "You're right Kakashi…You are so mature for your age I forget that you are only ten". He smiled.
I decided that was good enough for the night.
"I'm going to head to bed until the next shift. Wake me up when they come back". I said, getting up off the ground and jumping into one of the trees closest to where I had been.
"Thank you Kakashi". Minato-Sensei was looking back up at the sky, this time with a smile on his face.
I leaned back on the thickest branch on the tree and drifted off.
We could do this.
We are all making it out of this alive.
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Thanks for keeping up guys! I am really getting excited for this story, I have been dreaming about the next chapters.
