Dirty Little Secret

CHAPTER 5







Kakashi woke up in the early morning hours, his now cleaned bedroom dark because of the new moon. After a quick breakfast and shower, he dressed in his jounin uniform and checked if all of his weapons and supplies were in their place in his pouch, then hurried out of his home. According to the information in the folder, he was to meet Tenzo and the rest of the team at the West Gate in about an hour – so Kakashi decided that he had enough time to go and visit Obito, Rin and Sensei once again before he left.



Going to the monument to say “Hi” was a habit that he hadn’t broken even during the time when he could barely walk. More often than not, he lost track of time when he stood there, looking at the grey stone and the carved names – so many of them – he didn’t feel as alone when he spent time there, because it was the one time in his daily life when he was close to his loved ones.



This time, however, Kakashi knew that he couldn’t afford to be late, and despite the desperate need to stay just a little more, he forced himself to leave the place and the memory of the family he had betrayed behind, for the moment, at least.

Tenzo and a small group of five other shinobi waited for him behind the large gates. The younger man met his eyes and blushed a little, but then quickly took a hold of himself and gave the signal for departing.



The travel to Ayazaki was pretty uneventful as far as Kakashi was concerned – aside from the stray thief and the thug on the roads, there was nothing that a squad of seven trained shinobi could fear. They gad set a rapid, but steady pace and he was pleased to discover that he wasn’t falling behind and that the pain in his leg was minimal. Perhaps this would really work.



The town itself proved to be even smaller than what the jounin had imagined – just a few dozen houses scattered haphazardly around a dirt road and among several low, grass-covered hills.



The people met them warmly, if a little wary and offered them food and shelter until the convoy arrived, which, as they found out, wouldn’t happen until for one more day. So wait they did, in the rooms they had been given.



Tenzo and Kakashi sat quietly on the tatami floor, consuming their meager dinner, not looking at each other. There was no tension between them, only comfortable silence, and yet, the older man noticed that the other was giving him occasional worried looks, then quickly averted his eyes back to the food. After a while, that attention began to annoy Kakashi and he finally snapped.



“What’s wrong, Tenzo-kun?”



The young man swallowed his bite, and then, looking distinctively uncomfortable, asked:



“Please forgive me for asking, senpai but… Is this really wise?”



The meaning was clear and Kakashi bristled for a moment before answering.



“I believe I am experienced enough by now to know my own limits."



The younger man nodded, but did not relent.



“Sometimes, our desires blind us from…”



“The truth?” Kakashi snapped sharply and put down the chopsticks.



Tenzo looked down and nodded.



“I do not mean to insult you, Kakashi-san. I am simply concerned for you. The last time you were with me you were so…” he paused, looking for the word “so deeply disturbed.” He finally finished lamely.



“That was months ago, Tenzo.” Kakashi picked up the chopsticks again “And I believe we agreed not to bring our professional life into this.”



The stern rebuke earned him a hurt look from the younger man and the jounin forced himself not to rub his eyes in frustration.



“I am sorry, Kakashi-san. I will not bring this up again.”



“Good.”



They went to bed lying down with their backs to each other, not saying another word.



Morning came and went and just when the squad began to feel slightly apprehensive and ready to go looking for it, the convoy finally appeared, well into the afternoon. The weather was bad – constant light drizzle and heavy fog blanketed the fields and the carts had got stuck in the mud more than once before they managed to reach the village.



Not wishing to delay the travel any further, they all continued back to Konoha, hoping to reach the paved part of the road before dark – as wet and tired and frustrated as everyone were, no one fancied having to push and pull heavy carts out of a mud trap.



Thankfully, they did reach the road just when the fading evening light proved that the sun had sunk beneath the horizon, somewhere beyond the clouds and the fog and the rain.



The cool and humid air did nothing to improve Kakashi’s mood from the previous night, and even worse, his leg apparently disagreed with the conditions because it steadily began to ache more and more. The jounin was grateful for the slow pace forced by the carts, knowing how vulnerable that pain made him.



Around midnight, when the rain intensified to a downpour and Kakashi could barely force himself to walk and dreamed of his cane, everything went from bad to worse. The Rain nin, or what had once been Rain nin, came out of the darkness like attacking bats and fought with the desperation of people who had nothing to lose.



After the destruction of Akatsuki and Pein’s capture, Amegakure had been left in ruins, a lot worse than Konoha. Being the willing base of operations of the organization that threatened the whole ninja society, no one made any attempt to offer them a hand in help, watching and gloating as the country’s whole economy collapsed, leaving its population starving and on the verge of complete annihilation. With no one to take the rains, whatever social order Pein had managed to force was gone, anarchy and chaos reigning in. All the neighbouring countries suffered raids from time to time, mostly for food and other supplies – if the ones taking part in the attack were captured the punishment was vicious, but the hungry man’s instinct for survival overwhelmed any fear he might have of capture.



Surrounded from all sides by a group that outnumbered them three to one, the Konoha shinobi quickly established a protective circle around the convoy, putting up an impressive struggle. Kakashi and Tenzo leading the defense on both sides of the carts, for a while it appeared that they would actually win.



The older jounin fought viciously, trading kicks and punches, performing jutsus at an amazing speed, his mind long switched to automatic. It happened sometimes, when he was faced with such odds during a battle – he became an automaton, ripping through flesh and bone the way a child rips through the coloured papers wrapping his birthday present – remorselessly, forgetting about them as soon as he got to the prize inside.



The adrenalin was pumping through the jounin as he broke the neck of an unfortunate victim, mind registering briefly and methodically that the boy he had just killed couldn’t be more than thirteen years old, that he was small and gaunt in his deadly embrace and that his bones broke like dry twigs. He dropped the body like a ragdoll on the ground and attacked the next Rain nin – and this was where his leg finally gave out. He had not felt the pain in it after the start of the battle – adrenalin blocking those sensations, but it didn’t mean that the damage wasn’t there. A well-aimed at the back of his knee, combined with the lack foresight that the Sharingan used to provide, robbed him of the ability to dodge it. The kick landed and his leg folded under his body’s weight. The jounin rolled on the ground and moaned from the blinding surge of agony that spread all the way up to his hip, and then, despite everything, attempted to get up. The last thing he saw was the massive fist that collided with his face.



When he woke up, it was already morning, the raining had stopped and brilliant golden light bathed the world around him, flickering over the wet and lush vegetation. He was laid on a blanket, another one covering him. He could feel the heat of the crackling fire next to him.



Suddenly, Tenzo’s worried face slid in his field of vision.



“Senpai! Oh, thank goodness, we were so worried!”



He blinked a few times, then asked:



“What happened?”



The worry on the younger man’s face transformed into anger and then dejection.



“We lost the goods. As soon as they subdued us they took most of it and fled – they only wanted the medicines and as much of the food they could carry.” He bit his lip and looked away. “We lost two people too.”



Kakashi flinched and covered his masked face with his hands. Naruto wasn’t going to be happy.