Hello my dear friends and welcome to a new chapter. This time it will be a story from Kakashi's perspective, more or less. So get comfortable and let's get down to business.
Kakashi's team had fully recovered from the injury sustained after the last mission and began training intensively to get back in shape for the next S rank missions. In the last week, the Sandaime had given only A-rank thoughts that passed without any compromises with minor injuries. He was glad that most things were back to normal, but he was still gripped by a slight discomfort when someone mentioned certain new kunoichi who was soon to be chunin, especially someone from his team.
But he couldn't blame them considering he showed up in the middle of the ambu section with Genma still unable to stand steady on his feet and with bruises that weren't swollen thanks to the medicine Maxi had given him, but the blue bruises were there. And since Genma's brain still wasn't working hundred percent as far as the mouth filter was concerned, when someone asked him he would tell everything about what happened and how he was outplayed by a person who wasn't even a kunoichi, yet.
Kakashi didn't want to get involved knowing that later, when Genma was fully capable of thinking straight, he would be embarrassed and he wouldn't be able to blame anyone for spilling the tea but himself. He always liked to test his colleagues when they tried to be too close to him or to raise the topics that he didn't like, and sometimes he just liked to see their reactions which were funny and entertaining. It didn't take much for the news to spread among the jonins as well as some of the chunins, which was also to be expected when the new citizen of Konoha arrived and still turned out to have the potential and capacity to be a solid ninja.
The girl could not stand out in terms of strength and speed, but her tactical thinking was on another level. She had awareness like a real experienced ninja, she was resourceful and didn't limit herself only to the ninja equipment that Genma gave her but almost everything around her, she knew when and how to hide during the fight, when to retreat, attack. Simply put, she knew her flaws and shortcomings so she tried to make up for them with what she already had. 'She don't give up without a fight.'
But her body language is as obvious as that of a civilian outside of combat. She didn't hide anything, she wore her heart on her sleeve, she confidently said what she thought, not letting anyone step on her, even if there was no fight. Her statement in front of the memorial stone was something he did not expect at all. At first glance, it seemed like she had an idealistic, even delusional idea that she wanted to save everyone, but with her words, it was clear that she was more than aware of the reality and that didn't stop her from trying. She wants to fight to protect, heal, and teach the new generations to come, and she meant every word, and her chakra and her scent confirmed that.
At first it was hard for him to believe that her scent was really like a forest after a summer rain with traces of wild flowers that he couldn't identify, somehow a warm comforting scent but fresh at the same time. Usually kunoichi use floral essences instead of perfumes that are easy to hide when needed, and her combination was too unusual for him to be a thing, almost as enticing as a sunny spot in the woods perfect for a nap. During her testing, the smell didn't change no matter how much he or Genma released KI, it was a matter of seconds before the smell would change back to normal. This meant that she felt Ki very well but was able to overcome and suppress it in order to effectively continue fighting. , Like it didn't affected her at all.'
This was suspicious to him, only with a long dealing with it, you could manage to mentally wipe something with such a high amount of KI. After that test, the instincts said that it's okay to lower your guard, that the person is pure and honest, but Kakashi didn't want to be any closer than necessary, not wanting to feel the loss, there is a reason they called him,, Kakashi friend killer,,. Unfortunately the gods always liked to toy with him as somehow Tenzo got permission to visit Maxi for a short break which made Kakashi go into his protective mode.
Tenzo has never expressed a desire to socialize, especially not outside of the ambu unit. Also, Itachi, who was more or less socially distant from everyone except his family, found himself hanging out with Maxi, and it seems that his mother, along with him, contributed to Itachi spending time with her from time to time. That's how Maxi caught his attention again and awakened his suspicion, and when Teno returned from her visit he was simply different. Tenzo smiled from time to time and showed signs of happiness, but Kakashi saw him for the first time with such a gentle smile and such a warm look in his eyes, especially since until recently he was on a traumatic mission that almost brought him to the brink of death.
He wasn't even showing possible signs of PTSD like usual, but he definitely had a few nightmares rather than night terrors, which surprised Kakashi. Tenzo couldn't tell what theme they were talking about, but Kakashi could smell her scent on Tenzo as well as traces of salty tears, which meant they had touched on some sensitive subjects. But despite that Tenzo seemed better emotionally, which was enough to keep him from asking further questions but not enough to not investigate himself.
A few days later, he went to the archives to find as much information about Maxi as possible. Considering that he is an elite jonins and in addition one of the most powerful jonin in Konoha gave him enough access to almost all data and information even S rank secrets. It barely took a few minutes before he found her file and began to analyze it, and the information in it left him speechless. Kakashi wasn't prepared for this, but somehow it made sense, Maxi Uzumaki.
He never expected to run into someone from Kushina's clan after the fall of Uzushiogakure during the Third Ninja War. Of course, it is possible that there were survivors, but no one had heard of any other Uzumaki for years. By further reading, he came across another piece of information that he did not expect, the only survivor of the destruction of her village in the Land of tea a few years ago. She lost everything, her family, friends, the two villages she called her home.
This made no sense at all, based on her behavior I would never have thought anything like that had happened to her, even Kushina was depressed for a few months with visits from Inoichi as well as the sanin to keep the seal and not give she, she is so positive, energetic, strong enough to carry on and not turning back, brave enough to love again and let others close. And just a few weeks ago she got involved in an ambu mission from which they themselves have no seas, and according to the report, if there were not ambu mask that she borrowed from Tenzo, the chances were that she would have been seriously injured at the very least.
,This explains why she doesn't take crap from anyone., he thought as he realized how deep her words actually went when she told them her reasons for being a ninja. He looked at her documents in disbelief that a girl doesn't have fucking depression, a desire to self-destruct, an anger problem, something that would initiate something like this happened.
It's just that the girl seemed too calm, she didn't show signs of paranoia, stress, even KI wasn't enough to send her into some kind of anxiety or panic. , More importantly how she wasn't afraid to let anyone in., After losing his father, Rin, Obito and then Minato-sensei, Kakashi just couldn't let anyone get close to him anymore, as fate seems to have decided that he deserves to be alone. Just after he announced that he got his pack back, when he accepted both Obito and Rin as his pack mates, Obito died saving him from a cave collapse, Rin who sacrificed herself not wanting the tailed beast to destroy Konoha, Minato and Kushina who saved the village of the nine-tailed fox. He was just broken, with constant nightmares of Rin and Obito's death, and being in an ambu and losing comrades frequently didn't help his already messed up mental state at all. He often wondered why he survived, whether he did something in his past life and now fate is punishing him like this.
That's why he somehow admired Maxi who, knowing what Tenzo and Itachi are and that any mission can be their last, she befriends them and lets them close. Countless questions ran through his head for days until he finally decided he had enough headaches and simply went straight to the source of the problem. Her new address was in the file, so he found her house in no time.
He didn't feel anyone in the morning, but he couldn't help peeking and seeing inside, because based on someone's home, you can judge what kind of person they are. The house was completely unsecured, had no privacy seals, no seal barriers, traps on windows and doors, almost nothing. The interior of the house was filled with warm shades of green, wood brown, golden yellow, making the ambience cozy and nice. The walls and ceilings were painted in natural plant elements, and the furniture was almost minimal, but also quite enough to enter the functional rooms, while the rest was occupied by shelves and pots with plants.
Her house was filled with the smell of the forest after the rain and this time the stronger smell of wild flowers, which permeated this environment despite the lack of security measures, made the whole place feel welcome and safe, like a big hug. Her shelves were filled with materials from the ninja academy, the history of Konoha, medical texts, a few novels as well as a couple of cookbooks. It was obvious that she really wanted to be a sensei at the academy, counting the books from the various fields that the academy slightly covers and she already had the entire field in the books.
Next in line was her room, which was located on the floor under the roof and was even less furnished than the lower floor, but it was also brighter. The girl had left her spread out futon with a green floral design, and on her side table by the window was scattered a mass of papers containing notes on chakra control as well as the basics of her access and channeling. , Maybe she was having trouble accessing her chakra., thought Kakashi since there was a high chance that it was because he explained almost nothing to her but only demonstrated the leaf technique once.
By all accounts, she was a modest person, and her ability to navigate the wilderness and use the environment as a shelter was born from her love for nature. With all the green and forest motifs in the house that screamed forest it was obvious. In one of the rooms corner, boxes full of medical equipment such as bandages, scalpels, medical needles, syringes were arranged... as if she was planning to open a small clinic. But Kakashi didn't waste much time, hurrying to find Maxi as it was slowly approaching noon.
Aided by her scent, he was able to quickly find her running side by side with his self-proclaimed eternal rival, Gai. She didn't seem upset or awkward in any sense but seemed equally almost positive until Gai mentioned Genma. Then the expression on her face changed for a few seconds, as if she had just been speechless and the whole world had come crashing down on her. After Gai gave her a brotherly hug with his bear strength and somehow Maxi stayed in one piece, he ran off on his arms as she looked at him in surprise probably not believing how quickly word of her fight with Genma had spread.
When Kakashi was sure that Gai was far enough away without being detected and challenged to another one of his silly challenges, he turned to Maxi to get her attention. She didn't seem very happy that he was hiding from her and she was startled, unfortunately she didn't show it with her actions, her sarcastic and saying names with a specific honorific kind of got on his nerves. He realized that she was a bit older than him, but he definitely didn't like anyone putting the honorific -chan on his name. But he tried to put on a positive attitude that was fake and very practiced by asking her about her leaf technique, after which her smile only grew bigger and pure joy played in her eyes for some reason.
When she told him why, it was kind of a slap in the face with words between the lines that clearly said,, don't mess with me, don't underestimate me,,. She was able to master the Basic Academic Three on her own in no time after unlocking her chakra. Her attitude said it all, she didn't allow herself to depend on someone who showed no interest in helping her, she took matters into her own hands. This all showed how capable she really is, she herself had the mentality of a good jonin team captain, which was incredible with so little experience of hers.
Kakashi still somehow felt that he owed her after leaving her on the training ground like that after the testing, who had decided to help her somehow and began to think how as they walked towards the field. Usually others would object to his behavior as arrogant, sarcastic as well as his taste in the genre of books he read in public. They would also be quite tense and avoid being seen with Kakashi Friend Killer, but Maxi hasn't seemed concerned about whispers or comments around them, like she didn't care at all. She simply walked side by side with him as if they were an old friend enjoying the time and looking around Konoha completely relaxed in his presence, enjoying the walk with a slight smile on her face as her eyes sparkled as she looked around.
Kakashi connected the bookstore where he is a regular customer, in front of whose door there was a sign with new books, which meant that they most likely received a new number of the series from Master Jiraiya. He walked into the bookshop with a quick trot and headed straight for the racks, while Maxi seemed to be chatting with the owner. When he found the book he was looking for he headed towards the cash register where Maxi in her positive politeness was writing a message in one of the books. The only reason anyone would ask for someone's signature message in a book is if it's from the author. Kakashi asked Maxi if the book was really hers because when he looked a little closer it was a book that Tenzo had recently been reading as well as half the jonin and the ambu operative. When she finished writing, she handed the book and the cover back to the owner who embraced them now as the greatest treasure, she confirmed that the book is her work and that writing is one of her talents. , How many talents does she have., Kakashi asked himself picking up what seemed to be the last copy reading the title which still seemed kind of funny to him The Lion King. The curiosity in him was light enough that he even decided to buy the book knowing that it was the last copy. Maxi seemed surprised that her work had actually become so popular in such a short time.
After she dropped a hint for her next work, they continued towards the training ground and Kakashi finally decided to start some conversation. The only way he could keep the atmosphere positive, according to him, was to start with nothing she would be happy to hear. But it's not that just backfired him, but she hit him right on his ego and pride.
Kakashi has perfected the art of manipulation, seduction, and acting on numerous missions, but everything seems to fall apart in front of this girl, when she dropped some KI with the words to get straight to the point. Kakashi immediately gave up on making small talk and sugarcoat words and immediately got down to business, to find out the reason why she had become so close to Tenzo and the Uchiha.
With the name spoken Kakashi didn't want to look her directly in the eyes not wanting to be read like he was a little while ago, settling for walking after her in silence. The sharpness in her gaze with KI disappeared the moment he asked the question on his mind as her face relaxed. She made almost no sound or attempt to answer the question until they reached their destination far from prying eyes and ears.
In the privacy of the field and training the first words that left her lips with almost glassy eyes,, I care for them, Kakashi." Those words were spoken with so much emotion and sincerity that it was simply not realistic for him. And with the rest of the speech he understood is how aware she is of the things around her. From the first moment she knew that Tenzo was lying, she understood his whole situation in the village. She understood what was expected of a shinobi like Itachi and Tenzo despite of theirs age. She understood how bad missions could end up, what they could do to someone so young. She knew how capable they were, and she still wanted to be there for them, to give them safety when they are most vulnerable as a good member of the pack.
Kakashi was glad that Tenzo found someone who could give him what he couldn't and Itachi someone to socialize with. He promised her that he would watch over the kids and that he would to return them in one piece and alive, to which her whole body showed relief and traces of happiness for a few seconds, and then she looked suspiciously and this time scanned successfully. He could almost hear her thinking and wondering why he suddenly changed his attitude towards her and something told him she was connecting the dots like Shikaku and he didn't want to see her reaction when she found out.
He gaped at her demonstrating all three academic techniques to which she just smiled and immediately got into position performing hand seals to the clone technique. In a few moments in front of him, three clones and one replacement under the transformation technique floated out of the chakra cloud. He could sense that Maxi was hiding in the treetop, and he shot the replacement with his shuriken after which she returned back to her original state ie. branch.
,She doesn't like to waste time, Kakashi thought to himself noticing another of her characteristics. He felt like this was another warning to stop underestimating and provoking her because she was a very dangerous person if she managed to optimize the effectiveness of the techniques so quickly. She simply did not allow anyone to look down on her.
Kakashi then placed the chakra paper in front of her and she jumped down in front looking up at him with sparks of curiosity in her eyes. After answering in the affirmative to the question of whether she recognized the chakra paper, to which she nodded enthusiastically, he gave her space to do the test. Curiosity tickled Kakashi as well, wondering what affinity she might be.
According to his research, Uzumaki mostly have a connection to water affinity, but that didn't guarantee that she would have it as well. After she charged the paper with her chakra it showed a two handed equal affinity for water and wind. It could be a little problematic to find someone with affinity of water in the land of fire, but wind was not that rare, and since the affinity is equal for both, it was good. It was a bit interesting, but somehow also logical. An affinity for water was ideal for ninjas who wanted to practice medical ninjutsu, while an affinity for wind would fit in nicely with her unusual fighting style.
Kakashi then sat down under the tree taking out one of his new books and decided to give the Maxi book a chance to see what all the fuss was about and if the book was really as good as it seemed. Before he could finish the first two pages Maxi interrupted him with a question about her chakra reserves which for someone who had never used chakra before were huge. This information must have been important to her since she was more polite and did not use chan in his name. He answered her honestly, but he kept the information that there is a high probability that she will still grow even though she has grown up, wanting to give her a surprise when she found out.
As he read the book, the story somehow seemed familiar to him, it looked a lot like his life. Little Simba was arrogant and self-confident not listening like him when he was very young. Although the story quickly took a dramatic turn when it came to the scene where Mufasa was killed by his own brother claiming it was all Simba's fault. Kakashi saw the scene of him finding his father covered in his own blood in their house when he returned from his mission. He completely understood Simba's pain and desire to get as far away from there as possible, not wanting anyone to find him.
Kakashi closed the book realizing it was starting to have too much of an effect on him and she almost woke up one of his episodes. He felt a cold sweat under his mask and band as his hand trembled for a few seconds. When he calmed down a bit, he looked right where Maxi had been practicing her tree walks very successfully and persistently. He wanted to ask her where she got the idea for such a story, but he wasn't even halfway through the story so he couldn't ask too many questions. And she was in the middle of training her chakra control, so he didn't want to bother her, especially when she was slowly getting the hang of it.
Kakashi quietly walked away from the training grounds and headed for his home thinking about what had happened today since he left the ambu building. It seemed as if no matter how many answers he got today, even more questions appeared that he could not see an end to. With his ninja speed, he was in front of his apartment in the blink of an eye. "Tadaima." Kakashi whispered as he opened the door to his empty apartment as if to get an answer.
Kakashi's apartment was not that big, a living room, a small kitchen, a bathroom and a bedroom. The apartment was minimally furnished with barely a few personal touches, if it wasn't for his personal scent and a few books on the shelves someone would have thought the apartment was unoccupied. The only thing in his bedroom was a few framed pictures of his old team with Rin, Obito and Minato- sensei. His apartment seemed a bit depressing but Kakashi found no reason to change that.
Putting his new books back on the shelf, he caught whit his eye the basic fuinjutsu he got from Minato-sensei when he remember that the Maxi home, how lacking the security system was and since Minato -sensei made that scroll based on the techniques of the Uzumaki clan with the help of Kushina. Kakashi looked through his old scrolls looking for one that contained water affinity techniques. Kushina was a water affinity user so he was sure he had at least a couple of them. After ten minutes of searching through old notes and materials he hadn't looked at in years, he managed to find a scroll of basic water techniques.
Kakashi thought that this would be enough for the beginning and that it would occupy Maxi for a while since almost all the water users were at the border and Tenzo and the rest of the team would go on a mission in a few days, which according to the plan should last at least a month. And he hoped that this would be enough as an apology for all the crap he had caused and a thank you for her patience and understanding. Kakashi sent his shadow clone to place the scrolls where he was sitting, believing that this would be the easiest way for Maxi to find them.
