Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Twelve Years ❯ Chapter 1: Sensei ( Chapter 1 )

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

Hi, everyone. This is my first fanfic, though it is far, far removed from my first attempt at writing fiction, so I hope you won't find the prose too dysfunctional or poorly contrived. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this fic. I'll do my best to update regularly, but I am a full-time college student, you know. In any case, reviews (from brimstone-flames to worshipping-praises) are welcome.

Disclaimer: Of course Naruto is not mine. Otherwise I would have a lot more money.

Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 03.28.2005 | Updated On: 03.28.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 2.9K | Visits: 498 | Status: Work In Progress

Chapter 1: Sensei

I opened my eyes, sucking air into my lungs as if I had been holding my breath for ages. I sat up slowly, still regulating my breathing, dried leaves falling off my face and chest as I moved. My eyes carefully scanned my surroundings: a tall tree stretched above me, its brothers all around me, and my bed a clump of rough grass.

I could not remember how I had gotten here - wherever here was - and the more I tried to think back, the more the answer faded, slipping away like a dream I could not quite recollect.

A sigh escaped my lips as I stood, knowing I would gain no knowledge by remaining where I was. My limbs were tight and they protested with loud pops as I took a step forward. My hand drifted up to the Konoha forehead protector tied securely around my head. The cold, engraved steel against my fingers gave me a small sense of relief.

My legs lurched forward, seeming to know instinctively in which direction Konoha lay.

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Three long days had passed by the time the carved faces of the four Hokages loomed into my view. I quickened my walking pace; despite my hunger and lack of sleep, I suddenly felt a strength in my wearied limbs at the sight of my home.

Four ANBU guards, their masks lowered, approached me as I reached the towering village gate. "Who are you?" the tallest man asked me.

"Magone Keika," I answered, my eyes narrowing at the cold welcome.

"She's not one of ours. Take her to Hokage-sama," the ANBU guard ordered as two of his companions moved forward to seize my arms. "She could be a Sound-nin spy." I did not struggle against the men, a combined result of my fatigue, surprise, and confusion.

A moment later, the gate had disappeared to be replaced by the familiar entrance to the Hokage's office and a large puff of smoke from the transmitting jutsu. One of the ANBU entered the office then returned a moment later, beckoning to us. When I was brought into the next room my eyes widened at seeing Tsunade sitting at the large desk. "Where is the Hokage?" I asked her, suddenly getting a sickening, twisting feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Tsunade's mouth parted as she stared at me. After a long moment of tense silence, she spoke, her voice breaking slightly. "Where have you been?"

My confusion grew at her question. "Tsunade, I don't know what you mean. Please, where is Yondaime?" I felt one of the ANBU guards holding my arms shift uneasily, his eyes narrowing behind his mask as he watched me.

A flash of pain crossed Tsunade's eyes and then she said in a quiet voice, "He is dead. He has been for many years."

My knees buckled and I would have collapsed save for the strong arms of the ANBU guards who had, in an instant, gone from my watchmen to my caretakers.

Dead. Yondaime is dead.

"How is that possible?" My voice came out in a strangled whisper.

Tsunade walked around her desk to me, her eyes compassionate and soft. "Keika, where have you been? What happened?"

I forced her echoing words of death to the back of my mind and answered her question, continuing to wrack my brain for memories. "I don't remember exactly. I know there was something about the Kyuubi… I just don't know."

"That's the last you remember?" she asked, her words coming out more quickly and urgently.

"I…" I hung my head, knowing it was the most I could recall. "Yes."

Tsunade sighed and nodded. "Leave us," she said to the ANBU guards and then coming forward to take my arm and lead me to a chair. The guards released me, bowed to Tsunade, then left the room.

I sat down in the chair and Tsunade pulled another forward to sit with me.

"When you said that Yondaime is… dead," I said quietly, looking at her, "how long has it been?"

"Over twelve years," she answered, watching me carefully. "You had been presumed dead all that time, too."

I shut my eyes for a moment. "Tell me what happened," I said, looking at her again.

"We sent out a group of elite Jounins to act as a decoy while Yondaime prepared to use his new forbidden jutsu on the Kyuubi," Tusnade said, speaking quietly and deliberately. "You were among those Jounin. Nearly half of them perished that day and most of their bodies were not found." She crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair. "Yondaime's jutsu was successful; the Kyuubi was sealed inside Naruto, though the act cost the Fourth his life."

I frowned, watching her. "And Sarutobi, as well?" I did not understand how the woman before me had become the Hokage.

"Not then," Tsunade shook her head. "He died quite recently."

I waited but it was clear she was done speaking on the subject. "So," I said, closing my eyes briefly, "how old is Naruto now?"

"He is nearly thirteen," Tsunade replied quietly.

So Yondaime has been dead for twelve years, I thought, bowing my head. And I have also been gone all this time. I opened my eyes and turned my eyes to Tsunade. "What now?" I whispered.

Tsunade leaned forward and gently laid her hand on my knee. "We must find out what has happened to you in these past twelve years. I am going to assign you to a Jounin sensei to see what you recall of your genjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu." I opened my mouth to protest, but she continued speaking. "Keika, this is not meant to belittle you; I just want to be assured that whatever has happened to you has not deteriorated your skills or caused you to develop any strange new abilities of which we should know."

It made sense. No one, of course, had any idea where I had been all this time. My head bobbed in a single nod of acceptance.

"Good," Tsunade said, standing. She walked to her desk, wrote a brief message, and sealed it in an envelope. I stood and approached her as she wrote an address on the outside of the envelope. "Go to this place and give it to the Jounin who lives there," she told me as she gave me the paper and returned to the work on her desk. "I'm sorry to push you out, Keika, but I must return to work."

I bowed and walked from the room, closing the door silently behind myself and looking down at the front of the envelope. I blinked in surprise; it was my house's address. Who is living in my— I wondered, then shook my head. If it really had been twelve years since my absence, of course someone else would have moved in. Konoha had always been short on housing.

I eventually arrived at the familiar front porch and stood, hesitating, on the doorstep a long moment before I knocked on the door. I heard a rustle of movement inside, approaching footsteps, then a slight creak as the door swung open.

Standing before me was a man about my height with a mask covering his face up to his nose, his Konoha forehead protector tilted so it covered an eye, and a shock of silver hair springing from his head. I stared at him a moment, remembering a student of Yondaime's who had looked much the same. "Kakashi?" I asked, my eyes wide.

His one visible eye narrowed as I spoke, then it widened. "Keika-Sensei?"

"You've grown," I blurted, staring at him. He wore the same Jounin uniform as I did; although I had not seen him since he was a teenager, the clothing suited him, this man before me.

His jaw twitched under his mask. His visible eye rapidly changed from surprised to amused at my comment, then quizzical. "Where have you been?" He asked. "I thought you were…" Now his eye showed suspicion.

"Dead?" I finished for him. At his nod, I sighed. "It's a long story, one I don't even know how to tell; perhaps Tsuade said something about it. This letter is for you," I told him, handing him the nearly-forgotten envelope.

He took it with a gloved hand, his eye on it for a long moment. "Uh, come on in," he said with slight unease, looking back up at me.

I nodded and stepped past him into the house. I walked to the nearby couch, my eyes surveying the room that had been transformed into a bachelor's apartment in my absence. It actually wasn't that different from the way it had been when I had lived here; a shinobi had little time to spend at home.

Kakashi fairly sprawled in the chair beside the couch, opening the envelope and unfolding the letter to read it. I watched his visible eye scan it several times before it returned to my face. "So… I'm your Jounin Sensei," he said with a humorless smirk detectable behind his mask. "Now do you care to explain what happened?" Though the inflection of his voice raised at the end of his sentence, it was clearly more of a command than a question.

I nodded and related the combined story of what I remembered and what Tsunade had told me. He watched me impassively the whole time, sitting unmovingly on the chair. "So basically," he said in his lazy voice after I had finished, "you've been miraculously raised from the dead, though you remember very little of whatever hell you were in in the meantime. And so now I'm supposed to see how much Ninjutsu you can still perform - without straining you too much, yet making sure you realize your full potential."

"Yes, something like that," I said with a small smirk. "Surely Yondaime's best student can manage that."

"I'll see what I can do," he said with a nonchalant shrug. "In the meantime, you should get some rest. As I recall this was your house, right? Since I've abducted it, I guess you'll be needing a place to stay."

"So I will," I smiled, liking this man before me. Though he was clearly confident of himself, he showed nothing of that insufferable arrogance he had maintained as a child.

He smirked and stood from his lazy position in the chair. "Well, I guess you know where the guest room is. If you need anything, I'm not exactly the most attentive of hosts, but I'll do what I can."

"It's appreciated, Kakashi," I nodded with a smile and stood. I walked to the guest room door and opened it.

"'Night, Sensei," I heard him call before disappearing into his own room and flipping off the light switch to the main room.

I laughed quietly and closed the door behind myself.