Bad Day, Great Day. A fic for a friend.... part 3
The Copy Ninja. Kakashi of the Sharingan. Cold Blooded Kakashi. No matter what others called him, he regarded himself simply as Hatake Kakashi, ninja of the village hidden in the leaves. He was no more or less than any other inhabitant, well to himself anyway. He simply had more...talents than others. Talents and a cursed eye that gave him more powers than most. He was very intelligent, yes, highly experienced, a fast learner and one of the most proficient killers in the land. But at the end of the day, for all he was renowned, he was alone. No one ever got close to him, all were relatively scared of or in awe of him. All the notoriety and the fame had left him somewhat shunned on an emotional level. There was that look that people seemed to reserve only for him, the look that spoke of their fear and nervousness, but at the same time, their awe and respect.
He saw it today, in the one person he really didn't want to see it in. Umino Iruka. He saw the man go to speak, then hesitate. While he was going to say something himself, he instead shrugged and turned away. Why try to change the ingrained preconceptions that had plagued him throughout his life? He had tried once before to no avail, what made him think it would be any different with Iruka? With the exception of some of the other jōnin, it seemed that the only person in the entire world who didn't treat him any differently, was Naruto. Yes he fawned over him, was awestruck like others, but he also scolded him, spoke to him like any other and didn't take three steps back in his presence. It was nice to be treated as a normal person. Though, Iruka did shout at him, whenever he handed him a somewhat tatty and illegible scroll. Well, no wonder. Teasing and goading the poor chunnin while handing in mission reports was the only time he got close to the teacher without scaring him away.
As he stood and listened to Tsunade prattle on and chastise them all for the mess up of their last mission, he tuned out and instead thought about how the day had gone from bad to worse.
It had began with the mission that they had left on the night before. A simple scroll retrieval that had went sideways when Naruto picked a fight with Sasuke. They had the scroll, easy in and easy out, completely undetected and heading home. But because Sasuke was the one to get to the scroll first, Naruto got a little pissy as he had already been going for the scroll and it should have been left to him. Of course, Sasuke had to make the comment of Naruto being a 'cry baby' and all hell broke loose. As the two boys fought, Kakashi had shook his head before heading in to break the fight up, only to register the sudden appearance of three nin with malevolent auras. Thankfully the boys seemed to have noticed their presence too and stopped fighting long enough to stand their ground.
Three large nin, their affiliation not on display anywhere on their bodies, marched out from the treeline, slowly forcing them towards the rushing water behind them. Apparently the theft of the scroll had been noted quite soon after they had left and the village elders had hired these thugs to retrieve it. Kakashi sighed again. Why did nothing go right for him lately. If it wasn't dealing with the squabbling team, it was being sent on mundane missions only for them to turn B or A rank in the blink of an eye.
One nin jumped to grab hold of Kakashi while the two others formed hand seals that made thick, almost sentient mud come from their arms. The mud spread everywhere and they built a huge wave of the stuff that towered over the three young ninja's heads, forcing them back into the water. But then the mud collapsed and covered the water and soon they were walking on it. The mud itself tried to grab them and pull them under and they were forced to run quickly over the thick slick layer so as not to be snagged. Kakashi effortlessly dispatched the nin that attacked him and charged after the others who made their way swiftly over the mud towards the bank on the other side. But then Naruto stopped, crying out about having lost something. He fumbled around in the mud for whatever it was and Kakashi saw that one of the nins had headed to the other side and was pouring mud in from the direction they were heading. Soon, the mud had began to climb up Naruto's legs, little hand like masses pulling at his clothes to drag him under to suffocate or drown him. Sasuke and Sakura were managing to keep moving but Naruto was going to sink under if Kakashi didn't do something. Then he heard a noise behind him and saw a massive wall of mud rushing towards them just as a second came from before them. The mud nin planned to take them out but slamming them all between the two walls of mud and probably drag them into the water to drown. As he grabbed the back of Naruto's jumpsuit, Naruto finally managed to catch the thing he had been searching for and grinned up at Kakashi as he pulled him from the mud and over to the bank at the other side. They made it before the others and Naruto wasted no time in creating clones that quickly overpowered the mud nin. With them all safely on the other side, the third mud nin disappeared back into the treeline and disappeared.
“At least we got the scroll, eh Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto chimed up as he wiped the mud from his legs.
Kakashi shook his head as he pulled the scroll out for them all to see, caked in mud and no doubt illegibly wasted. The three young nin stared at it sadly, their shoulders drooping and heads hanging low.
“You mean we went through all of this and don't even have something to show for it?!” Sakura cried.
“Maybe it will clean off,” Kakashi said, not even believing himself.
In the end, they had been able to save half of the scroll, luckily, the half they actually needed. But this did not make Tsunade any less angry as she shouted and cursed at the four of them.
“And you!” She said, pointing at Kakashi, pulling him from his thoughts,
“Me?” He said, wondering what exactly he had done to stuff up the mission except try keeping the other three from killing themselves.
“Yes you! You better learn to control these brats! This continual fighting is going to be the end of team seven!”
“Ah.” He replied and glared at the three young nin, who shrank back from him with fear in their eyes.
“Now get out of my sight, the lot of you!”
Unceremoniously dismissed, the four of them left Tsunade's office and wearily walked down the corridor in silence. Naruto's face was clouded in anger and Sasuke seemed as nonplussed as always. Sakura fidgeted with her hands, biting her lower lip as if she wanted to say something, but couldn't.
“I'm sorry we got you in trouble, Kakashi-sensei.” Naruto finally said, unable to look him in the eye.
Kakashi shook his head as he grunted in reply, then walked on ahead of them, sure that if he said anything more he would just get angry. One sleepless night, one botched mission, and one telling off by the leader of the village. Helping Iruka clean his classroom up would have been more fun than the last seventeen hours had been, he thought. Maybe he should go see how the teacher had got on with the cleaning, it always cheered him up to watch him fumble around, hear his voice and see him smile. Maybe he would go tease him a little and get a rise out of him, that would be fun and might go a way to make this a better day than it had been.
He saw it today, in the one person he really didn't want to see it in. Umino Iruka. He saw the man go to speak, then hesitate. While he was going to say something himself, he instead shrugged and turned away. Why try to change the ingrained preconceptions that had plagued him throughout his life? He had tried once before to no avail, what made him think it would be any different with Iruka? With the exception of some of the other jōnin, it seemed that the only person in the entire world who didn't treat him any differently, was Naruto. Yes he fawned over him, was awestruck like others, but he also scolded him, spoke to him like any other and didn't take three steps back in his presence. It was nice to be treated as a normal person. Though, Iruka did shout at him, whenever he handed him a somewhat tatty and illegible scroll. Well, no wonder. Teasing and goading the poor chunnin while handing in mission reports was the only time he got close to the teacher without scaring him away.
As he stood and listened to Tsunade prattle on and chastise them all for the mess up of their last mission, he tuned out and instead thought about how the day had gone from bad to worse.
It had began with the mission that they had left on the night before. A simple scroll retrieval that had went sideways when Naruto picked a fight with Sasuke. They had the scroll, easy in and easy out, completely undetected and heading home. But because Sasuke was the one to get to the scroll first, Naruto got a little pissy as he had already been going for the scroll and it should have been left to him. Of course, Sasuke had to make the comment of Naruto being a 'cry baby' and all hell broke loose. As the two boys fought, Kakashi had shook his head before heading in to break the fight up, only to register the sudden appearance of three nin with malevolent auras. Thankfully the boys seemed to have noticed their presence too and stopped fighting long enough to stand their ground.
Three large nin, their affiliation not on display anywhere on their bodies, marched out from the treeline, slowly forcing them towards the rushing water behind them. Apparently the theft of the scroll had been noted quite soon after they had left and the village elders had hired these thugs to retrieve it. Kakashi sighed again. Why did nothing go right for him lately. If it wasn't dealing with the squabbling team, it was being sent on mundane missions only for them to turn B or A rank in the blink of an eye.
One nin jumped to grab hold of Kakashi while the two others formed hand seals that made thick, almost sentient mud come from their arms. The mud spread everywhere and they built a huge wave of the stuff that towered over the three young ninja's heads, forcing them back into the water. But then the mud collapsed and covered the water and soon they were walking on it. The mud itself tried to grab them and pull them under and they were forced to run quickly over the thick slick layer so as not to be snagged. Kakashi effortlessly dispatched the nin that attacked him and charged after the others who made their way swiftly over the mud towards the bank on the other side. But then Naruto stopped, crying out about having lost something. He fumbled around in the mud for whatever it was and Kakashi saw that one of the nins had headed to the other side and was pouring mud in from the direction they were heading. Soon, the mud had began to climb up Naruto's legs, little hand like masses pulling at his clothes to drag him under to suffocate or drown him. Sasuke and Sakura were managing to keep moving but Naruto was going to sink under if Kakashi didn't do something. Then he heard a noise behind him and saw a massive wall of mud rushing towards them just as a second came from before them. The mud nin planned to take them out but slamming them all between the two walls of mud and probably drag them into the water to drown. As he grabbed the back of Naruto's jumpsuit, Naruto finally managed to catch the thing he had been searching for and grinned up at Kakashi as he pulled him from the mud and over to the bank at the other side. They made it before the others and Naruto wasted no time in creating clones that quickly overpowered the mud nin. With them all safely on the other side, the third mud nin disappeared back into the treeline and disappeared.
“At least we got the scroll, eh Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto chimed up as he wiped the mud from his legs.
Kakashi shook his head as he pulled the scroll out for them all to see, caked in mud and no doubt illegibly wasted. The three young nin stared at it sadly, their shoulders drooping and heads hanging low.
“You mean we went through all of this and don't even have something to show for it?!” Sakura cried.
“Maybe it will clean off,” Kakashi said, not even believing himself.
In the end, they had been able to save half of the scroll, luckily, the half they actually needed. But this did not make Tsunade any less angry as she shouted and cursed at the four of them.
“And you!” She said, pointing at Kakashi, pulling him from his thoughts,
“Me?” He said, wondering what exactly he had done to stuff up the mission except try keeping the other three from killing themselves.
“Yes you! You better learn to control these brats! This continual fighting is going to be the end of team seven!”
“Ah.” He replied and glared at the three young nin, who shrank back from him with fear in their eyes.
“Now get out of my sight, the lot of you!”
Unceremoniously dismissed, the four of them left Tsunade's office and wearily walked down the corridor in silence. Naruto's face was clouded in anger and Sasuke seemed as nonplussed as always. Sakura fidgeted with her hands, biting her lower lip as if she wanted to say something, but couldn't.
“I'm sorry we got you in trouble, Kakashi-sensei.” Naruto finally said, unable to look him in the eye.
Kakashi shook his head as he grunted in reply, then walked on ahead of them, sure that if he said anything more he would just get angry. One sleepless night, one botched mission, and one telling off by the leader of the village. Helping Iruka clean his classroom up would have been more fun than the last seventeen hours had been, he thought. Maybe he should go see how the teacher had got on with the cleaning, it always cheered him up to watch him fumble around, hear his voice and see him smile. Maybe he would go tease him a little and get a rise out of him, that would be fun and might go a way to make this a better day than it had been.