Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Tonsou Ninja ❯ Departure ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

“I don’t think you should do this,” Tsunade tells me as I stuff my clothes into my backpack. I'm notlistening though. At this point, anyone who stood in my way was an enemy and I don’t feel like fighting her, I value my life thank you very much.
“Going on this mission will get you suspended indefinitely,” she continues. “You must cease this behavior at once or you will leave me with that as my only option.”
I ignore her and walk over to my dresser to get another pair of pants, then folded them and place them into my bag as well.
“At least have the decency to tell me why you are doing this.”
I stare at her harshly for a while until I finally return to the task at hand. “You of all people should know why I’m doing this. We can’t afford another loss. We have no one, and if we lose another person, we’ll be at a tactical disadvantage.”
“I already told you that I would have someone fetch her, but I specifically told you what would happen if you went.”
“Do I look like I care?” I ask, turning to stare at her blank expression.
“What about becoming Hokage? Wasn’t that your dream? And you’re willing to throw that dream away for what? Surely not in the name of love or whatever ‘noble’ reason you have. A foolish move, might I add.”
I smirk at this comment. “Well, if I’m foolish for trying to save her, I guess that makes you stupid for letting her go in the first place. You knew this might happen yet you let it happen anyway. One might find that a bit suspicious.”
She frowns at me, like it was going to make me take back my words. But I meant what I said and nothing is going to change about that.
“Nothing you say will make me change my decision,” she declared. I guess that’s what you call it, but that probably makes this comment sound more powerful than it was.
“Then why are you still here? I didn’t come over your house at two o’clock in the morning, not that I’d be that stupid. Sometimes you have to realize that you aren’t always right. I’ve been wrong a lot in my lifetime and I’m sure you have as well. But unlike you, I learn from those mistakes. This time, I know I’m right.”
“And how do you know that? Because in my opinion, you’re at fault, not me. I merely came over to try and talk you out of this stupid idea of yours. After I already told you what could happen and the consequences of such actions, nonetheless. But I’m the stupid one?”
I sit down on my bed and looked up at the ceiling, nothing new about it though, the same crack from when I was younger and accidentally whacked my head on it. “You know why Kakashi-sensei has the Sharingan don’t you? Or hasn’t he told you?”
“No, he hasn’t. Why?”
“When he first became a Jounin, he was sent on a four-man mission with his team and sensei, the Fourth. They were ambushed and one thing led to another, the details are a little fuzzy to me so what I say next might be a bit distorted. One of his teammates was captured, Rin, and she was a medical ninja like Sakura. Obito went after her but Kakashi waited a bit before going. When he finally joined them, he saw that they were being attacked and he helped them out. Kakashi lost hisright eye to one of the attackers. Obito was crushed by a boulder so that only half of his body was still, shall we say, alive. And as a gift, Obito gave him his newly obtained Sharingan as a replacement.”
Seeing that I had fallen quiet, Tsunade began talking again. “That’s very sad, but that has nothing to do with this.”
“Au contraire, it has everything to do with this.”
“How’s that?”
“Because Obito shouldn’t have died, there was no need for it. You see, had Kakashi-sensei not been so reluctant to help find Rin, they would all be here still. The rules told him that Rin was lost to them, but she wasn’t and he recognized that he was a fool to follow the rules. So you see, it is my duty to protect my team. And in this instance, you are the rules.
"Sasuke has taken the place of Rin, Sakura of Obito, and me of Kakashi. If I don't act know, Sakura will die, I will not let that happen."
She looked slightly stunned at this last statement. My point had been made and with the emphasis I had expected. I stood up and grabbed my backpack to swing it over my shoulders but it wouldn’t budge.
She was holding it too, not letting go and I know I can't prying it from her grip so I let it sag a little. “I will not let you go,” she tells me, a look of determination now showing on her face.
“You don’t have a choice, this is my decision and nothing you say is going to change it.”
“Then hear this, I am upgrading my sentence. If you go on this mission, you will be banned from returning to the village.”
I jerked my backpack free of her grip and throw it over my shoulders. I reached for my forehead protector and pulled out a kunai. I carved a slash through the middle of the Konoha symbol and throw it at her feet. “Then we are enemies.”
And with that, I leave the room and walk through what used to be my cluttered living room and out the front door, leaving her staring dumbfoundedly at the forehead protector lying on the floor.
It's quiet outside, the sun has not yet reached out from the ground where it rested during the night. Iam alone on the streets but I could still hear the voices of the people who had long since drift into a deep slumber.
There are minimal shadows that are cast upon the ground by the lamp on the corner since most of it is from the darkness of the night. The wind sweeps through the trees and my hair, around my knuckles and past my face.
The dirt ground beneath my feet yields no noise from the pressure I apply to it. Perhaps it already knows that Iam no longer welcome on it but it my just be that I’m not stomping. I feel like Iam being watched but I know it was only Tsunade staring at me from my balcony.
For a second I think thatshe might be crazy enough to follow me, but I wasn’t this lucky. I look back at her one final time. But what I see is not a look of sorrow but a look of determination.
Behind her, to my dismay, stood Kakashi and Iruka. What did they want? Like I don’t already know, they either want to kill me or try to persuade me into staying.
But then my question is answered when Tsunade looks away and gives the order to attack.
They both step around her and then hop over the railing, plummeting to the ground below. They take their time reaching me, knowing that I won’t try to run.
When they are within earshot Kakashi says “I’m sorry but this must be done.”
“Like I can’t already tell.”
“Go easy on him Kakashi,” Iruka pleaded.
“You know we can’t do that. He has abandoned the Konoha, he is just another enemy to us. And as such, we will treat him in this manner. You would not treat your enemies with kindness would you? He is a trespasser on our village's ground and he will be treated like one.”
“I don’t ask for your mercy,” I say. “But I ask for one thing before we start.”
“Go on,” Kakashipresses impatiently.
“Tell me, did you actually plan on doing this? Did you ever plan on killing your own student? Seems a little ironic, don’t you think, that you’re willing to sacrifice yourself to save the team, but when it’s just me, it’s a different story. I guess that’s the way you’ve always thought of me, just another student; a part of your team that was meant to get something done or get out of the way. You probably hate me too, though I have no proof of this accusation. I suppose that had it not been for Sasuke and Sakura, you wouldn’t have bothered. Because that’s all I am, right? Just the host of the Kyuubi.
“And Iruka, I’m sure you’ve been waiting for this moment all your life; you finally get to kill the thing that killed your parents. Congratulations, I’m sure they would be proud of what you’ve become.
“I know the reason Tsunade sent both of you down here. It wasn’t to kill me though she has probably advised you toif I don't cooperate,she wanted you to capture me before I could leave.”
“Very perceptive,” Kakashi said. “But it’s kind of obvious that we can’t afford the loss of another ninja at this point. Not to mention that it was you who told her that.”
“Do I get any privacy? You are all just tools, nothing more. If it wasn’t for the war at hand, they couldn’t care less about you. Funny how that works.”
“No matter what you say, you aren’t getting away.”
“Then let’s fight and be done with this, though I cannot guarantee how much use I’ll be even if you do succeed; you know what they say about forced labor.”
He dashes towards me but I make no attempt to dodge, until the last second at least. I jumped to the side and as he passed made a swing at his back.
He disappears and reappears behind me, trying to catch me off guard, but I have long since learned this trick and repeated it.
It continues in this manner so that an observer would only here a whistling sound as our bodies cut through the air at tremendous speeds, a few glimpses of us as we reappear, twisted in various positions, and the occasional bang as a foot or a hand collides with a surface.
Finally Iam able to break away long enough to catch my breath. But Kakashi seemed perfectly fine, not in the least tired. He reached up and pulled back the forehead protector, and in its place is the Sharingan. It wasn’t the one he had used when we were chasing that guy on the bird, but it was like the one Sasuke had obtained during our battle, three extra pupils per eye.
“Looks like I’ve underestimated you yet again,” he says. “It’s not the first time, but it is the first time I’ve had to use this against anyone younger than me. Let's see if you can handle this level.”
Man am I in trouble. I check to see where Iruka is, maybe Kakashi is simply a diversion, but he remains where he was.
I charge, making my movements as obvious as possible. I would disappear as soon as I got within reaching distance and reappear right behind him for the attack. It won't work, that I know, butI have another little surprise in waiting.
When the timing is right, I execute my plan. Even in such speeds, I amstill able to see where he is and what he's doing. He was throwing his fist where I would soon reappear and I couldn’t stop.
Everything slows down in an instant and I feel dizzy, I haven’t yet gotten used to the stopping part but I won’t show that weakness, and I can feel his fist and his cold stare upon me. “Nice try,” he says.
“Kudos. But you forgot one thing,” I said between short gasps.
“What’s that?”
I didn’t answer, but instead disappeared in a whiff of smoke.
“Where is he?” Kakashi asks, his eyes darting frantically around to find where I am.
“Up here!” I yell from the air as I crash down on him, pinning him to the ground with my weight. I quickly pull a kunai out of the small rectangular pouch I keep them in and place the tip against the back of his head. His rigid hair brushes up against my hands and I could feel the material of his hidden body armor against my knee. I quickly check to see if Iruka had moved but he remained planted where he has been from the start, and to which I am concerned for I have never seen him act in such a way.
“I don’t want to do this,” I tell Kakashi.
“Why not? You were so quick to leave, this should be nothing. You are a traitor and I'd never thought I'd say this but, you‘re no better than Orochimaru.”
“Maybe, maybe not. But I don’t think blood should be spilt over a dispute to which we are of the same opinion; it just doesn’t seem logical. You know why I’m doing this and arguing against it is about as pointless as trying to stop me. Why are you going to waste away your life to Tsunade’s rule. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a great leader and all, but attacking someone who has done nothing to you and in fact only cares for the survival of one of her own pupils; I think I know what I’m doing.
“I have not betrayed the Konoha, you have betrayed me; you told me you would back me up, yet you side with an opinion you don't agree with. She manipulated you into thinking I was the bad guy, I only care for this village and its people, more than even her. And it is for this that I must say my goodbye. Let us hope that all this won’t be for nothing.” And with that, I disappeared, leaving behind me a scene of utter chaos and the only place I called home.
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Edited this chapter too. I guess it's better now, no more past tense actions, now on to chapter 3.