AN:
Thanks for the power stones, you guys deserve this bonus chapter.
keep those Stones raining ... ;)
...
Kakashi had just been nodding off to sleep when his mental warning bells suddenly went off. Immediately alert again, he hadn't had to look long to find the man behind the disturbance. He didn't know who this man was, but the jōnin knew that people like him, with such little regard for others' lives, were one of the most dangerous opponents to have around. And the least forgivable.
"Don't just stare at me," said the strange shinobi, swinging his katana carelessly. "Show me what you've got!"
Kakashi obliged. Sending chakra into his feet, he propelled himself like a bullet towards the man. His opponent's violet eyes widened in surprise as his foot connected squarely with his chest. Letting out a grunt of pain, the man flew backwards and careened through a row of gangly trees.
The jōnin raised his hitai-ate, revealing the three tomoe of the sharingan in his left eye, and lowered his hand: "Raikiri (Lightning Cutter)!"
As he channeled his lightning chakra towards his hand, the deafening sound of crackling chakra filled the garden, and a focused ball of swirling blue materialized. The silver-haired shinobi was still dazed from impact, and Kakashi saw with his sharingan that he would not have enough time to move out of the way. The instant his Raikiri was ready, the jōnin lowered his head and shot towards the stirring man, tearing up the earth behind him with the sheer aftershock.
However, just before he reached the man, there was a flicker of movement he hadn't anticipated. Kakashi, to his shock, sensed a much smaller and weaker chakra suddenly being thrust between him and his opponent. His hand was already moving towards the man's heart however, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to stop even if he had to go through the child.
A surge of roiling yellow chakra – Naruto – was already moving towards them, and Kakashi, with all the strength of his will, managed to inch his crackling chakra slightly upwards. Naruto tore the boy out of the man's grasp, and to his relief, evaded his hand. However, the brief instant it had cost him gave the other man enough time to recover and leap backwards. Kakashi's hand instead slammed into the ground; the earth exploded, throwing up a huge wave of dirt. Nevertheless, taking advantage of the wave, the jōnin followed under its cover and aimed a quick kick at the man.
"Whew, that was close!" said the man, blocking with his katana, and then swinging it at Kakashi. Slipping under the blade, Kakashi attempted to sweep the man off balance, but he nimbly leaped over the jōnin and slashed downwards. Though evading the sharp edge, the side of the katana crashed into the white-haired ninja. He skidded backwards, the heels of his feet creating furrows in the earth. The man raised his katana once more and flipped into the air, prepared to finish off the jōnin. However, having read his movements ahead of time with the sharingan, Kakashi rapidly channeled his chakra into his hand once more. As the man dropped down on him, unable to dodge, the jōnin plunged the shrieking lightning towards the silver-haired man.
It could only be a testimony to the man's skill that he managed to get his katana up in midair, but it was no use. Kakashi's Raikiri pierced the blade, shattering it into dozens of deadly steel splinters that were sent flying through the air, and then kept going through the man's chest.
The man let out a pained, guttural scream. Thick globs of red blood came gushing out of his chest. Throwing himself back, he landed heavily on his feet, panting. As he stood there, hunched over, he dropped the handle of the broken katana on the ground with a clatter. Looking around wildly for a moment, the man disappeared, and flecks of blood flew through the air in his wake.
Kakashi blinked in surprise; he had missed his heart, but he had still severely injured him. The man shouldn't have been able to move, let alone move at such high speeds. Looking around for the man's violet chakra with his sharingan, he spotted it near the exit gate. With a sinking heart, he saw nearby another chakra that he knew well.
"Hell, this hurts..." The man spat out thick blood, and grinned weakly. He squeezed the throat of an unconscious black-haired boy – Rai – and then nudged something on the ground with his foot. "Nice weapon you got here. Real nice. Mind if I borrow it?" Without waiting for a response, he kicked a red-bladed scythe into the air and grabbed it with his free hand.
With a hateful look towards the jōnin, the man threw the genin into the air, and then swung down with his new weapon. The curved blades made a sick whistling sound as they pierced the air.
Kakashi leaped into the air, and grabbed the limp body, spinning to avoid the blades. As he did so, he saw the man race out through the gate, leaving behind a ghostly, malicious laugh. Then he was gone.
It was over.
Kakashi lowered his hitai-ate back over his sharingan. Setting Rai down on the ground, he checked the genin's vitals and let out a sigh of relief. Looking around, he saw that most of the bodies lying on the ground had only superficial injuries; the biggest damage had been done to the garden itself. His eyes widened as he found his two other genin.
"Naruto!" said Kakashi, running over. "Mayu! What happened?"
Looking terrified, Mayu was trying to staunch a profusely bleeding wound on Naruto's bare chest. The boy was unconscious on the ground, the tips of his fingers still twitching. His yukata, which had been partially opened to reveal his chest, was torn and ragged. A long jagged shard of metal, covered in sticky blood, was on the ground besides them.
Quickly putting the pieces together, Kakashi gently pushed the shocked girl aside. She obliged willingly, standing up. She put a comforting arm around a young, trembling boy that he didn't recognize. Gathering his chakra together, he prepared to use what little medical ninjutsu he knew to try and at least stabilize the boy – and then stopped.
Impossible, thought Kakashi. Disbelievingly, he wiped away some of the blood that had pooled on the boy's chest, but saw that it was true. The deep wound was already healing; even as he was watching, the skin was beginning to knit back together. Amazed, the jōnin blinked, as if doing so would somehow halt the healing. It didn't. He realized then that the sealed Kyūbi must have somehow accelerated Naruto's healing rate – perhaps by pumping out its chakra to save the boy.
"Sensei?" said Mayu, her voice taut with fear.
"He'll be fine, it was just a shallow cut," he lied.
"Shallow?" repeated the girl, her eyes widening. Kakashi wordlessly bent over, and picked Naruto's surprisingly light body up. There were shouts at the gate, and several medics came racing in. Catching one of the medics' attention, he directed them towards Rai, who was just beginning to feebly stir.
When he turned back to wave for Mayu to follow him, he saw the look on her face and stopped. "Mayu...?"
"Sensei, I already know," she said quietly. "I know what he is."
...
When Naruto came to, everything was hazy and out-of-focus, and there was a sharp, throbbing pain in the right side of his chest. He was alone in a dark room. Looking down, he saw bandages covering his chest. For a second, Naruto couldn't figure out what he was doing there – before the memory of what happened came rushing back.
When the piece of the metal blade came spinning at the boy in the blue yukata, Naruto hadn't thought – he'd simply just moved. The only thought in his mind right then was how much he wanted – needed – to save the boy. He'd pushed the child aside, and that was the last thing he could remember before waking up in the room.
Naruto wondered briefly if he had died and this was some awful version of the afterlife, but quickly dismissed the thought. He didn't think his body would hurt this badly if he were dead.
Just then, he heard footsteps outside the room, and then soft voices. Naruto tensed – wincing as he did so – before relaxing as he recognized their voices. It was Kakashi and Mayu.
They were talking too quietly for him to hear, but it seemed like they were discussing something. A minute later, they must have come to a decision for he heard Kakashi's heavier footsteps begin to walk away. There was a pause, and then the door slid open: It was Mayu.
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