11 Chapter 10 (1/2)
There was an awkward silence after Kakashi-sensei suddenly woke up and instantly sat in a deep thinking mode.
”What's wrong, sensei?” Naruto inquired and our sensei jumped at his question. It seemed that the thought was bothering him by that much.
”Body erasing teams usually dispose of the body of the person they killed right there,” Kakashi-sensei said. The grip on my hand tightened as I said, ”Damn it, I know that something wasn't right!”
”So what?” Sakura despite being the brightest of us Genins had failed to see it.
”How did the boy dispose of Momochi Zabuza?” I asked.
”How could we know? That masked guy took the body with him” Sakura reasoned.
”Exactly my point,” I said.
”And if he needed proof of his work, he could have just taken the head and the weapon that he used to kill Zabuza,” Kakashi-sensei retorted.
”Here I am the one with the Byakugan. Man, how could I be so stupid?!” I gritted.
”No way,” Sasuke managed. He was disbelieving this revelation.
”Yeah, exactly,” Our sensei rubbed the back of his head as he concurrently agreed with Sasuke's realization. Tazuna-san demanded to know what we were talking about.
”Most likely, Zabuza is still alive!” He continued darkly. The pure shock was the face that was written on Sakura, Naruto, and Tazuna-san.
”What the hell do you mean?!” Naruto demanded.
”Kakashi-sensei, Hikari had checked it with his Byakugan and he had confirmed that that man was dead!” Sakura said angrily with her fist propped at our sensei.
”That is my fault,” I said and Sakura's eyes turned to me ablaze, ”forgive my carelessness, I should have noticed it right away. My Byakugan let me see the chakra flow network within a person. For some of the Hyuugas, we can even see the exact points where the chakra will flow or stopped. I should have seen it in the first place that the senbon merely momentarily blocked the path of his chakra and in addition to somehow stopped his heartbeat.”
”I don't get it,” Sakura asked.
”The needle that hunter-nin used, unless it hits a vital organ, it has a low probability of killing your opponent. It's even an item used by the doctor in acupuncture therapy. Hunter-nins know about the body's structure thoroughly. Putting a person in a momentary state of death is probably easy for them,” Kakashi-sensei explained, ”first, he carried away the body of the much heavier Zabuza. Second, he used a weapon that has a low probability of killing. These two points indicate that...”
”Momochi Zabuza is most likely alive,” I finished and he nodded.
”Aren't you thinking too much? Hunter-nins are supposed to kill missing-nins,” Tazuna-san countered.
”No, with all the suspicion, we must be prepared before it's too late. That's a ninja rule. Plus, whether Zabuza is dead or alive, there's no assurance that Gatou hasn't hired an even stronger ninja,” Kakashi-sensei replied. I looked around and I saw that Sasuke already accepted the fact that Zabuza is alive while Sakura was still in disbelief. Naruto, on the other hand, was excited.
”Sensei, what do you mean preparing before it's too late? You can barely move,” Sakura suddenly asked and our sensei chuckled at her question.
”What else, Sakura? He is going to train us,” I said, happier with these new circumstances, ”I am curious to see how much all of you had improved and I don't want to hear it from Naruto's boisterous mouth.”
I laughed at my last comment and Naruto immediately annoyed.
”Hey, I don't brag!” he complained but laughed along with me.
”But, Sensei! What a little training going to do?! Our enemy is a ninja that even you struggled against even with the Sharingan!” Sakura said and I'm pretty sure that something inside of her said it more vulgar than what I heard upfront.
”Sakura, who saved me while I was struggling? You guys are growing rapidly. Especially Naruto!” Kakashi-sensei said, smiling.
”Eh! So Naruto said the truth?!” I yelled jokingly and immediately got clunked in the head by Sasuke of all people.
”What? Do you think both of us are just some weak half-pint genin? Do you doubt us that much? Even the Dobe don't deserve that,” he said.
”No, I didn't, you idiot. I'm only wanted to spite Naruto,” I muttered while rubbing the spot that he clunked and he looked away, embarrassed by his sudden impulsiveness, ”this is going to leave a bruise, Teme!”
”Who are you calling Dobe?! Teme!” Naruto yelled and Sasuke just ignored him. As usual, Kakashi-sensei interrupted them.
”Anyway! This is just training until I get better, you won't be able to defeat him without me,” he added in a booming voice.
”But sensei, if Zabuza is alive, he could attack at any time so we shouldn't be training at all, shouldn't we?” Sakura asked.
”I am guessing that he won't be up for a while, I mean, there is an advanced technique in Hyuuga Juken Ryu that had the same effect as the needle did to Zabuza. He won't be up and running any time soon,” I said and our sensei agreed with me.
”So we train until then. It sounds like a lot of fun!!” Naruto exclaimed.
”That's not fun,” a kid wearing a striped hat suddenly retorted. Team 7 were all staggered at the sight of the boy that gives out a depressing vibe.
”Who the hell are you?!!!” Naruto demanded, pissed as expected.
”Oh! Inari! Where were you?” Tazuna-san yelled happily. I knew that he wanted to try to change the subject.
”Welcome back, grandpa,” the boy said monotonously. Never in my life that I ever saw a boy as bitter as that, I eyed Kakashi-sensei and he seemed content watching the boy.
”Inari, say hello to these peoples,” Tsunami-san said, no doubt chiding him for not respecting their guests, ”they are the ninjas who protected grandpa.”
Inari gave us a long cold look and stepped down from Tazuna's hug.
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”Mom, they are going to die,” he said and pointed at us and naturally, our Naruto was easily triggered, he went forward to choke the kid.
”What did you say, you little brat!!” he yelled. Inari gave us the coldest look so far.
”There's no way you can win against Gatou,” the boy said.
”Man, this is so messed up. No children should feel this way,” I grumbled to myself.
”You brat!! I'll....” Naruto was shoving his sleeves up his shoulder signalling that he was ready to give the boy a good punch. Sakura again was quick to give him a clunk on the head.
”Naruto, let it be. Just sit down,” I warned him.
”Hey, Inari!! I am a superhero who will one day become an incredible ninja called Hokage!! I don't know this Gatou guy, but he's nothing against me!!” Naruto said with his fist held high.
”What are you, stupid? There's no such thing as a hero!!” Inari once again monotonously said. I knew where this will be going, it will deteriorate if not intervened. I immediately appeared in front of Naruto with my left hand held upon his shoulder and my eyes glanced on Inari.
”Let this go, Uzumaki Naruto,” I said and it seemed to work because I had never used their full name when I am asking someone to do something.
”If you don't want to die, you should have left,” the boy said as he walked towards the sliding doors.
”Where are you going Inari?” Tazuna-san asked and I noticed that his guardian didn't chide the boy at all.
”To look at the ocean from my room,” the boy monotonously said. I let go of Naruto and lay down next to Kakashi-sensei facing the wall.
”Sorry,” Tazuna-san said slowly and from his tone, I knew that the boy had gone through so much. Naruto refused to let go, went chasing after the boy. I used my Byakugan and looked for him. I saw the boy cried heavily while holding a picture of a man. I immediately heaved a sigh.
”Poor kid,” I said to myself.
Naruto was at the front of the kid's room but he did not barge in. He must have heard the boy.
The next day, after listening to a long dragging explanation of chakra, Kakashi-sensei wanted us to climb a tree.
”This isn't normal tree climbing. You'll climb without using your hands,” our sensei explained and that got my attention.
”Interesting,” I said.
”Sounds fun!” Naruto said.