Kakashi left Sakura looking after her sleeping teammates. Both would live, that much was certain. Both would definitely be sore for a few days.
He walked through Tazuna's house, past the room where Tazuna himself was just about sitting up.
Naruto's needle had been pretty superfluous, but a neck wound was a neck wound. The subtle knockout blow had genuinely concussed the man. That had been a bit overboard, but then again, Naruto had been improvising. Probably. At least he hoped so because having that as a plan was frankly insane.
He himself was walking fine, the cuts from his fight with Zabuza more or less healed. He drew out his book and walked out of the house, heading for the shoreline. He glance briefly at where the bridge building team was working. Progress was going well; the bridge would soon be finished. There was a thin pall of smoke on the horizon too.
He sat at the lakeside near the tree line, where the battle had taken place.
He heard the ruffling of a cloak behind him.
"Your back. Is Gato dead?"
"Yes."
"You do realise you broke your mission protocol right? What if a bandit or two had managed to sneak up on Tazuna or my team whilst you were distracted?"
"It wouldn't have been logical for them to have. Plus I stopped the town being destroyed and the builder being killed."
"You nearly killed him."
"If I wanted to kill him I would have killed him."
"Well yes, that's what you do. You did well, although a little more warning next time would be appreciated."
"I'm not used to working with others. They're sloppy and get in the way."
Kakashi sighed. This was something he'd been worried about.
"Sakura has no idea what happened in the dome. All I know is you went in, killed Haku and left Sasuke and ..."
"Alive. The other one made a mistake whilst escaping."
"I think you used him as a distraction. That doesn't sit well with me."
"I wanted him to escape. When he made the mistake, I capitalised."
Kakashi found himself wanting to raise his voice. He realised that would probably be a bad idea. Naruto's voice hadn't changed at all. It was still flat and emotionless.
"We'll see. You know Sakura isn't entirely sure you actually exist. You didn't identify yourself more than your headband."
"Neither do ANBU. Knowledge is power."
"You're not ANBU; you're a thirteen year old shinobi of Konoha."
There was a brief silence.
"How did you kill Gato? I assume you used your disguise as Haku to get inside the base?"
"It wasn't my original plan, but yes. I had to hold the henge for a few hours."
Kakashi whistled under his breath.
"Good control, not just the henge, most ninja can do that for a long time. The acting. For someone with no understanding of humanity you know how to mimic people well."
"It was fortunate that the associate was a reserved character."
"Haku you mean?"
"Yes, I refer to her mentally as the associate."
"You don't like names do you?"
"They have some use, but...never understood why we need them. Numbering would be more efficient."
"It's to do with personality and being human."
"I thought being human had to do with our DNA."
"It's more than that."
"How?"
"Difficult to explain."
"So you can't prove your point?"
"It's like proving the wind."
"That's easy."
"Look, its true and just leave it at that."
"That's illogical."
"Deal with it. We're off topic; you killed him without implicating Konoha which is good."
Naruto processed that for later.
"Am I required further for the mission?"
"How depleted would you say Gato's forces are?"
"Well, Gato is dead, and a mass brawl broke out after I broke the news. I saw at least a dozen dead, several dozen more fighting and quite a bit of looting. I'd say they're either dead, dying or running off with the money. A small number might remain, but nothing significant."
"Then you're probably done here. That said, as your superior I'm going to pull rank and keep you here."
"What mission do you have for me?"
"No mission. I just want you to rest, relax, and possibly have a full night's sleep. I can see your face, even if it is hidden in shadows. You haven't slept properly for at least a week, maybe more. Maybe you never have. You also smell of blood and dirt. Also I'd like you to talk to my team."
"What kind of mission is that?"
"Well it's partly to get you talking to people in a non-mission context some more, and partly so they get some idea that someone their own age is a better ninja than them by some distance."
"I doubt I could beat any of them in a straight spar."
"Give it a go. One last thing. I showed you my face, which is something not many have seen. Consider that a sign of my trust. I would like to see your stomach."
Naruto paused. That was definitely classed as something he didn't trust people with the knowledge of. That was also something he hadn't expected the man to know. He briefly recalled the hazy days of his young childhood, of the looks the orphanage owners had given him. Some muttered words too.
Then slightly older, being talked to by someone who seemed to know him inside out despite being a stranger to him. Lord Danzo...he had no idea who he was then. Then the procedures. The pain.
He realised he had been silent for a minute.
"Well?"
"A sign of trust? A sign that you and I understand each other on a deeper level that we are in some way alike? That I can expect you to never betray me?"
"That's what trust is. By the way that's the longest non-mission related sentence I've ever heard you speak."
Naruto unfastened the cloak and pulled up the tight black shirt he wore underneath.
Kakashi's eye took in all the details of the seal. It looked like...
"Are there two seals?"
"Yes."
"I see. The outer one looks particularly formidable."
"It is."
"I won't ask more."
Naruto had the shirt over his chest and cloak around him quickly.
"Right, go and complete your mission. Preferably the bath first. Seriously. You smell horrific."
"Hai."
And Naruto had moved off into the trees, a black moving figure on the grass and then gone into the trees.
Kakashi returned his attention to his book, enjoying the feel of the sun.
Sakura sat watching over her teammates. Well, one of them at least. She was staring at Sasuke's face, seemingly a bit lost in his face. The room darkened for a moment, and she looked towards the door.
It hadn't moved.
Then the window.
It was open, but she didn't think it had.
Then she threw a glance over her shoulder and screamed for the few moments it took for Naruto's gloved hands to slap her in the face.
"Shh. They're sleeping."
She swung a fist at the sudden black cloaked intruder which he caught.
"I'm the shinobi from the fight."
He didn't entirely understand the look on her face, and acted quickly to catch the other fist that swung at him.
"Stop it, why are you attacking me?"
Sakura did her best not to shout and failed pretty badly.
"You slapped me!"
"You were going to wake them. They need rest."
He neatly trapped the leg Sakura tried to kick him with and locked it with one of his own. The combination of arm locks and the leg entrapment brought them close. Naruto took in the experience. It was uncomfortable, and she smelt too nice.
"Let me go."
"When you stop trying to hurt me. This is the second time I've met you and you've tried to kill me both times. Is this how I'm meant to great people my age?"
"What? No. No. No. Just...let go of me!"
He relinquished the holds and backed off. She rubbed her limbs where the holds had hurt her.
There was a silence as she looked him over. Still in the same combination of blacks and greys as the same night, he looked...kinda shabby in the light.
Shabby but tense though. She gave up trying to see the majority of his face under the hood, and used all her senses. Primarily smell.
"Why do you smell of dirt and blood?"
"Killed someone after lying on the ground."
"Didn't you wash your clothes? Try on a new set?"
"Didn't bring a spare. I did try washing."
"What?"
"Didn't bring a spare, but I did try washing."
Sakura just stared at him in a mix of horror and wonderment.
"Can I see your face?"
"Yes."
"Well, show me then."
He dropped the hood. She recoiled slightly.
"What shampoo do you use?"
"What's shampoo?"
"What?"
She said that loudly enough that his ears rang a little.
"Shhh, no shouting."
"Sorry...what are you?"
"Human."
"Are you related to Kakashi-sensei?"
"No."
"But the eye-patch?"
"I lost an eye."
"How?"
"Training."
She shivered. He was just not right. There was more silence. Naruto decided that he would try starting the conversation.
"So what's your favourite form of training?"
She looked at him as if he had suggested unimaginable horror.
"None, I like spending time with Sasuke-kun. He's so perfect and he's going to be a great ninja and be the best and he's so much better than everyone else, especially the other baka."
"What do you like about Sasuke?"
"He's so perfect and dreamy and handsome and strong and awesome and..."
Naruto zoned out. His mind was recoiling in horror at what was happening. Words he had never heard before went into his mind which for once struggled to try and catalogue them all. He realised he hadn't been listening at all.
"Why?"
"He just is. Don't be like the baka!"
"Baka trains harder than you."
"Only because he was the dead last."
"The dead last? But he's alive."
She rolled her eyes.
"The worst in our graduation class. The most useless."
There was a groan from the direction of the sleeping mats. The brown haired genin had opened his eyes slightly and tilted his head in their direction.
"Sakura-chan...quieter please."
She looked slightly embarrassed. The brown haired boy looked towards Naruto.
"You?"
"Yes. Me."
"Did you kill Haku?"
"Yes. He nearly killed you."
"Couldn't you have just disabled Haku?"
"Yes, but he was an enemy and a threat."
"You didn't need to kill him."
"Killing is my job."
"You didn't need to."
The boy tried to rise, but his injuries quickly caught up with him, he gave a grunt of pain before he lay back down.
"Silly baka, don't strain yourself. Tsunami will shout at you if you rip your bandages again."
"But Sakura-chan, I have to train."
Naruto observed the exchange. Baka seemed to be trying to get on her good side, whilst she showed no such restraint. From his perspective, she seemed dominant and was giving him a telling off.
It was like watching one of his old instructors deliver a punishment to a failed exercise, only without the immense physical pain. But there was something different again. Like it didn't matter for some reason and was actually positive.
Other people were illogical.
There was another groan as Sakura's voice rose a bit too far.
"Dobe...Sakura...shut up."
"Sasuke-kun!"
Sakura hugged his prone form, and even Naruto could tell he was unhappy about this. He grunted, pushing her away. The grunt was very obviously from pain, but she seemed to think it was impressive, and cooed over him.
Naruto looked over at the brown haired one, who looked at him with an odd expression on his face before making an odd gesture by poking his finger into his mouth and retching.
Naruto just about understood the gesture. It lacked all the subtlety and grace of the Root sign language, even if there was not specific code for 'that makes me want to vomit'. It was rough and crude...and understandable.
"Are you ok?
"Just fine."
The way he said it was different, but if he said he was fine he was fine by Naruto's guess.
Realising there wasn't much more for him to do there, he disappeared through the window.
The brown haired genin coughed loudly to get the attention of his talkative and silent teammates.
"Sakura-chan, who is that guy?"
She thought for a moment.
"I don't know his name. He said he was a ghost when I first met him."
"You mean you just talked to him and didn't even ask his name?"
Sakura readied her fist for a much easier strike when Sasuke made another dismissive grunt. Her attention diverted, her target was able to drift back to sleep.
...
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