Naruto x Digimon
Alive - Team Minato's Digidestined
Chapter 17
Originally Written: Thursday, January 26, 2023 137AM to 257AM
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In Kakashi's house, Rin, and Obito looked at Gai. He was back from another day working at the Akimichi's bar and grill. Wanyamon let Kakashi know that Gai was on his way. Kakashi opened the door for him. He made it just inside the door, and not much further. Wanyamon also warned Kakashi to lower Gai to the floor, and to not try to keep him upright.
"He's unnaturally heavy." Kakashi quickly understood once he caught him. Rin rushed over. Obito rushed over as well, but at his own much slower pace.
"Heavy?" Rin asked.
"Like he's wearing weights. More than what he usually wears." Kakashi fully lowered Gai to the floor. He wasn't out cold, just too tired to move. Gai murmured something about youth under his breath. Rivers of sweat dripped from him.
Obito nearly fell out of his wheelchair as he tried to get a better look. He wished Rin would move her pretty little head. "Is that a yellow scarf?"
"Yes." Kakashi replied.
"Does it say 'food' on it? I can't see well." His device slipped out of his lap unnoticed as he shifted. Sunmon looked at it, debating on getting it, but too comfortable to move off of Obito's lap.
"Yes?" Rin replied confused. "It's the Akimichi Clan symbol."
Gai murmured something again.
"Oh man, that's terrible!" Obito started laughing. "Only Hanku Akimichi wears a yellow scarf like that! He hands it to you if you comment on how he doesn't wear red like other Akimichi do! The thing's weighted on the ends!"
"I…know…now." Gai breathed.
"Are you using it to train? You're nuts!" Obito continued laughing. "Oh my god!" He wheezed. "He used to fight with that thing, you know!"
The name felt vaguely familiar to Rin, but she couldn't quite remember where she heard it. "Used to?"
"Hanku was the heavy hitter on a team with Naginata and Hato. You know from the hospital? He quit in the middle of the chunin exams; took his team down with him." Obito wiped the tears of laughter from his face. "Ever been whacked in the face with a scarf and knocked out by it? Embarrassing!"
"Oh, I remember now." Rin and Kakashi promptly removed the scarf from around Gai's shoulders. It took far longer than it would have to remove a normal scarf. They had to push chakra into their limbs to get it to budge.
Gai murmured a small and quiet, "Thank you."
Rin and Kakashi looked at each other. How had Gai come such a long way with the thing wrapped around his shoulders? How did he survive working in a hot kitchen, wearing his still hideous jumpsuit? How heavy was this scarf? It was easily far more than twenty pounds.
"Your probation ended three days ago, Gai." Rin scolded in a quiet voice.
He carefully rose to a kneeling position as Kakashi finally got a chance to close the front door. He smiled a grin of gleaming white teeth and gave her a thumbs up. His chest heaved and lowered as he tried to catch his breath. "It…did!"
She looked at the scarf that put a sizable dent in the carpet in the middle of the room. She looked back at him. "Uh…"
"I…challenged…myself." Gai continued smiling, but was too out of breath to explain himself further. "I must…stay in top…shape…for my rival."
"Hm?" Kakashi muttered, more to himself than anyone else.
"I told him not to go home. He wouldn't make it up his apartment steps." Wanyamon's tail wagged back and forth.
"Be more careful, Guy." Rin and Moonmon scolded him at the same time. Rin's hands already glowed green.
"Please don't put weights around your neck and shoulders for so long." Moonmon started listing muscles, nerves and bones that Gai could have strained and damaged from the stunt. "I hope Akimichi-san knows what you're up to, otherwise he will be upset."
Gai only continued smiling, proud of his achievement.
Team Seven set Gai to have a soaking, soothing bath, food to restore his strength and energy and put him to rest. Afterward, they settled at the kitchen table for their own meals, and to discuss what they originally met together to discuss. Hanku Akimichi's scarf lay forgotten on the rug, no longer weighted for reasons they couldn't explain.
They sat at the kitchen table with Wanyamon, Sunmon and Moonmon. Wanyamon settled in Kakashi's lap, Sunmon hovered next to Obito, as his legs were bothering him. Moonmon floated next to Rin as well. The trio set the strange devices that had saved their lives on many missions in front of them.
Rin's home was too small to discuss what they needed. The Uchiha didn't let non-Uchiha into the clan grounds, due to a paranoia that exceeded anything the Hyuuga could come up with. Between their missions, and people coming and going from Kakashi's place, checking up on him and just visiting on the regular, the trio had waited weeks for the chance. Even with Gai in the building, he was trustworthy enough that they'd be safe if he overheard anything they spoke about.
"Moonmon, you guys said you'd explain before. So, what are these things?" Rin asked, breaking the growing silence in the kitchen.
"It's a digivice." Moonmon's usually quiet voice seemed loud in the quiet of the kitchen.
"'Cause we're digimon!" Sunmon chimed in.
"Digimon?" Obito looked at Sunmon.
"Digimon, Digital Monsters!" The three not-summons looked at their three humans.
"Digital?" Kakashi looked at Wanyamon, ignoring his tail swiping against his face as it wagged. "What does that mean?"
"Digimon are creatures from the Digital World. It's a world created from the data of the technology of your world. Your movie screens and televisions and computers." Moonmon replied.
The trio looked at her in confusion. Sunnmon whispered in Obito's ear.
"Ohhh, the big box thing with the window thingy in Uncle F's office at the Police Station? That's a computer?" Obito still looked confused. He adjusted the thick yet lightweight blankets covering his legs.
"Yup!" Sunmon's flame flickered quickly, an action Obito learned early on meant he was nodding as a human would. "It's like a fancy textbook. It spreads information. Digimon are created from that information."
"Like how a jutsu is created from chakra?" Kakashi asked.
"Yes. Depending on what chakra you put together and how it's channeled you get a different jutsu. Depending on the information from the data gathered from the technology, you get different Digimon." Moonmon further explained.
"So, are you from the moon?" Rin cupped her hands.
Moonmon floated over and hovered over them. Bits of water splashed from her body as she giggled. "I don't know. I don't know much about the moon."
"Hm." Rin smiled a small smile. "That's okay."
Obito shared a look with Kakashi. They both looked at Rin. She hid it well, but when she was with them, she relaxed enough to let her weakness show. Her hands shook, as she shifted to hug Moonmon. The digimon squished against her bust. They looked at each other again.
Obito dropped his gaze. He wasn't smart like Kakashi was. Or skilled like Rin. The only thing he had going for him was the Sharingan. Naginata told him to have patience. He'd find what he was good at, probably when he was least expecting to notice. Why he worded it like that was beyond Obito. Sunmon circled around him, spreading his warmth in the area. The warmth lulled him back to calm.
Kakashi focused on his hands. Obito's Sharingan was extremely useful, but it drained his chakra too much still. Between The Third breathing down his neck for some reason, his general inexperience, and Kushina Uzumaki, who would never ever fully comprehend how much of a distraction she was, Kakashi determined Minato was actually unreliable. This time, it was a way far different from what he originally believed, yet he couldn't figure out why.
Rin was terrified, and no one outside of Team Seven and their immediate connections seemed to care or notice. When he was ready, Kakashi would leave protecting Rin within the village to Obito. For now, protecting her inside and out the village was up to him. He needed to train. Wanyamon's tail smacked him in the face. He blinked.
Train with Wanyamon. Wanyamon was always a step or two ahead of him, no matter how far he advanced. Just recently he realized that Wanymon only showed up in public next to him as Sangloupmon, and only on a mission. Somewhere along the line, Wanyamon realized he was a security risk. If any of their Digimon were caught and revealed, the entire team could be tried for unpleasant things. So how much could he and Wanyamon get away with using that to his advantage before people started asking questions he couldn't answer?
Suddenly, Wanyamon used its tail to pull itself up on the table. "Are you going to eat that, Kashi-kun?"
The digimon's face was in Kakashi's bowl of stir fry before he could respond. Kakashi watched the digimon's fur fill with crumbs before it fully settled in what the Digimon was doing. Kakashi nabbed his bowl with one hand, and Wanyamon with the other.
Obito laughed as Digimon and human got into a mostly casual and playful scuffle as though both had forgotten there was more food in the pot.
Rin blinked for a few moments. "Boys." She and Moonmon murmured at the same time.
"Rin-chan, what's a boy?" Moonmon asked a few moments later.
