NARUTO: Kakashi’s Story

by Masashi Kishimoto

  “However, if you go up against us, I will do what I have to do. I believe I’ve already proven that I am a man who does what needs to be done when the time comes.”

  The two exchanged looks.

  This man would really do it. Kakashi felt it in his gut as he looked at the hands of his opponent, readied like claws. If I move even a finger right now, this guy will definitely murder all the hostages.

  Sighing, he released the battle spirit cloaking his body.

  Immediately, the attackers flew at him and tied Kakashi’s hands behind his back. The ninjas he had taken down earlier got up and pounded his face. The corner of his eye where he was injured opened up, and blood dripped out.

  It wouldn’t end with just that.

  The leader came around behind him and double-checked the rope binding him. In the next instant, an intense pain raced up the index finger of his right hand.

  Crack!

  He clearly heard the sound of the bone breaking.

  “Ngah!” Reeling involuntarily, Kakashi was caught by the leader, who then easily broke the index finger of his left hand as well.

  Snap!

  “Ngah!”

  “That’s enough.” He heard a satisfied voice from behind him. “Now you can’t get out of these ropes.”

  Cold sweat pouring down his face, Kakashi collapsed to his knees.

  “If you’re going to kill anyone, kill me first!” Kakashi shouted over and over, but his enemy just snorted laughter at him.

  “Your life is worth a hundred hostages. You might be useful in the negotiations with Konoha.”

  And thus, ten minutes later, Kakashi was forced to witness an execution once more.

  This time it was a woman.

  He could only watch helplessly as the woman, wearing a gorgeous black dress, was swallowed up by an inorganic glittering like the jewelry she had adorned herself with.

  “Release Garyo or hostages continue to die! It’s one or the other!” All the passengers pricked their ears up at the roar that reached them from the pilothouse. “Contact us within ten minutes! If you do not, we’ll start killing them in pairs next! People will continue to die because of you, Konoha!”

  Dammit. Kakashi was filled with bitter regret.

  Each minute and second dragged by. If they were at least at a lower altitude, he would still have a chance.

  What am I going to do? His frustration was strong enough to wipe out the pain from his broken fingers. What on earth can I—

  It was three minutes before the next execution when a small voice spoke directly into Kakashi’s racing mind.

  “Master Kakashi, can you hear me? Master Kakashi?”

  For a moment, he was baffled.

  “Master Kakashi? If you can hear me, please answer. You’re on the Tobishachimaru, aren’t you, Master—”

  “I can hear you, Ino.” He quickly understood that this was Ino’s mind transmission jutsu. “How did you know I’m aboard the Tobishachimaru?”

  “Lee told us.”

  Of course!

  “Are you all right, Master Kakashi? They’ve captured you, yes?”

  “You’re connected with Guy too, right? I’m fine. What’s more important is another execution is going to happen in three minutes.”

  “Please look up at the vent in the ceiling without catching their attention.”

  Kakashi did as he was told. From the shadow of the vent cover he had broken earlier, Guy popped his face out and raised his thumb.

  “Right now, Master Guy has the explosive tags you sent Pakkun and the others to collect,” Ino’s voice rang out in his head. “Master Guy’s going to attack the enemy leader. While he does, please lead the passengers to the storehouse, Master Kakashi. Lady Tsunade has confirmed with the Land of Waves that inside the large boxes in the storehouse are parachutes. Use those—”

  “No!” Kakashi said to Ino, and gave Guy in the vent a signal to stay back with his eyes. “Guy’s in no condition—and there’s an enemy mixed in amongst the passengers.”

  “What!”

  “Is Sai there?”

  “Yes, he’s standing by in Lady Tsunade’s office.”

  “Put Sai on. He might be able to rescue the passengers with his Art of Cartoon Beast Mimicry.”

  “Right away.”

  “And I want to know how the Ryuha Armed Alliance got onto this boat.”

  “It appears they waylaid some passengers and took their places.”

  “They did? At any rate, I’ll create a diversion and buy some time somehow. There’s only a little time left before the next execution.”

  Ino’s voice in his head disappeared.

  When he sent his eyes up toward the vent in the ceiling, Guy grinned at him again and popped his thumb up.

  Idiot! Kakashi pushed Guy back with his eyes. Don’t do anything stupid, Guy!

  Guy’s face was yanked back into the darkness of the air vent at almost the same time the leader of the Ryuha Armed Alliance returned from the pilothouse, even his footsteps loud.

  “Just about time!”

  The passengers held their breath.

  “If you’re going to hate someone, hate Konohagakure, which has abandoned you all!” the leader said, loudly. “They value a single prisoner who has committed no crime over all of your lives!” And then he swaggered before the passengers like a tiger.

  When the leader approached, they all closed their eyes and shrank into themselves. His arm was slowly raised.

  “Such a pity, but next is you—”

  Booom!

  An explosion thundering out from the rear of the ship drowned out the rest of his words. The ship listed heavily, and the passengers tumbled to the floor, screaming. The attackers also lost their balance and were forced to grab on to something for support.

  Piercing alarm bells began ringing.

  “What?!” the leader cried. “What just happened?!”

  “Fire in the stern!” a ninja shouted as she came running in from the pilothouse. “It looks like someone blew up the drive area!”

  Did Guy do that? Kakashi’s eyes darted back and forth. He was sure Guy had used the explosive tags Pakkun collected.

  “You still have friends here?” The leader approached like an angry demon and grabbed hold of Kakashi by the hair. “What exactly did they do?”

  “No idea.” Kakashi glared coolly at his opponent. “But don’t you think you’d better hurry up and put the fire out?”

  “Hnnnngh.”

  “The buoyant air bladder is right above the engine area. If you dawdle here, it’ll all go boom, you know.”

  But it was Kakashi who was thrown into confusion seeing the look that rose up on his opponent’s face. All impatience and anger disappeared from that face. In fact, it took on an almost relaxed look, as if he were enjoying the situation.

  An intense unease raced up Kakashi’s spine.

  When the alarms stopped, the passengers timidly got back up.

  “The fire’s been put out!” the ninja who went to check on the situation returned and announced. “Two of the propellers were knocked out, but there’s no damage to the air bladder area. The hole opened up by the explosion’s already been repaired. We should have no trouble continuing on our course!”

  Kakashi couldn’t keep his surprise off his face.

  “There’s no way, it’s just too fast—that’s what that look says.” The leader looked at Kakashi and his frozen eyes and laughed with what sounded like real pleasure. “We anticipated Konoha ninja infiltrating this ship. Did you think we had not prepared for the eventuality?”

  “Kahyo, huh?”

  The sneer disappeared from his opponent’s face.

  “Is that your trump card?” Kakashi asked. “I know she’s an Ice Style user. It was probably her ice that put out the fir
e and blocked up the hole from the explosion.”

  “Impressive. So you figured out that much, hm?”

  “Before discovering your trump card, I felt a little awkward about showing you our cards, but…”

  His enemy looked at him carefully.

  “But I guess that won’t do, hm?” Kakashi said, and turned his eyes to the ceiling. “Look. Up there.”

  Reflected in his enemy’s eyes as he looked up was Guy, already falling toward him through the air, axe kick readied.

  Well, he did work out even on rainy and windy days, after all. Kakashi took in the figure of Guy, who had thrown himself into his training after he was released from the hospital.

  Annoyed with his right leg, which wouldn’t move like he wanted it to, Guy howled over and over in a place where no one could see him. He cried tears of bitter regret so many times.

  But he never quit his training. Whenever Lee was with him, he smiled that “nice guy” smile and popped a thumb up.

  “See, Lee? A leg’s just one part of the body,” Guy would declare resolutely. “You can’t let your other parts, which are all healthy, go along with a bad leg. In particular, you can’t let this sort of thing lead your spirit astray. Even if your right leg’s no good, you’ve got your left. And if your left’s bad too, well, you still have two arms.”

  I underestimated you a little, Guy.

  “Enter the Leaf’s Noble Gentleman!”

  Whump!

  Guy’s axe kick exploded onto the crown of the enemy’s head and shook the ship itself.

  The power behind it was intense, enough to rip a large hole in the floor. If there hadn’t been space beneath the floorboards for the pipes, the enemy’s body would likely have been plunged through the bottom of the ship and knocked out into the sky.

  In the darkness below the floor, the cut electrical wires shot off crackling sparks.

  “Sorry to keep you waiting, Kakashi.”

  “Guy!”

  “Ah! Owowowowow!”

  A dense fog of debris rose up.

  “And all you passengers.” Appearing from the midst of this fog was Guy striking his “nice guy” pose—thumbs up, with a wink and a gleaming smile—despite the fact that he was crying from the pain in his leg. “Now that I, the Leaf’s Noble Gentleman, have arrived, you can all relax. I intend to get on the big ship and—Urp!”

  Guy fell to all fours and vomited.

  “Aah, your motion sickness is terrible too.” A second after muttering this, Kakashi shouted, “Guy! Behind you!”

  “What?”

  Abruptly pulling himself up, Guy was suddenly sending a headbutt straight for the face of the ninja coming at him from behind.

  The attacker went flying.

  “Huh?” Looking at the fallen enemy, Guy forgot the pain in his leg and stared blankly. “What happened to that guy?”

  But this one blow held up the movements of the other shinobi. They drew their swords and surrounded Guy, but no longer carelessly tried to close the distance between them.

  “J-j-just as plaaaaanned!” Hopping around on one foot, Guy placed his hands on his hips and thrust out his chest. “Did you see that, everyone? This is the true power of the shinobi of Konoha! Nothing is impossible with the power of youth!”

  “With a face that pale, you’re clearly lying. Anyway, hurry up and cut these ropes for me.”

  “Roger!”

  Wham!

  The floorboards in front of Guy exploded as he took a step toward Kakashi. An enormous fist shot up from beneath the floor.

  Guy jumped back, and Kakashi’s vision was blocked by dust and debris once more. Wood chips danced up, scattered, and fell on him.

  “Lord Rahyo!” A cry rose up from amongst the attackers. “You’re all right, Lord Rahyo!”

  “Rahyo.” It was their leader striding forth from the cloud of debris. “That is the name of the one who will bury you.”

  “Hey! You!” Guy barked. “I’m not happy here, you know!”

  Rahyo looked him over.

  “Might Guy here knows only toooo well how you’re feeling. No matter how hard you work, someone always comes along from the side and snatches up the juicy bits. And on top of that, the guy who does it ends up being called a genius.” Guy glanced at Kakashi meaningfully, and further insisted, “But look at me! I can only use one leg, but I don’t go to pieces over a thing like that! You keep trying and work hard to develop the skills you can, you’ll be able to stand up on your own two feet again like me. And then one day those stinking geniuses’ll come to me looking for help. This guy here’s a great example!” He snapped a finger out at Kakashi.

  “You, seriously… At a time like this, what—”

  “Now, Rahyo, my friend, you need to stop all this right away. You can’t keep adding crime to crime. Don’t hate the world. You can’t hate—” Guy getting drunk on his own words was the same old same old, but even in a tense time like this, he managed to get carried away, and hot tears poured endlessly down his face. “No, tell me about your hate. Might Guy here will stop it for you with the Full Power of Youth!”

  The passengers were already fleeing to one corner.

  “Well, I suppose I’ll have you stop it then.” Crouching, Rahyo quickly wove a sign. “Ice Style! Ice-Breaking Sledgehammer!”

  “Guy, this is no time for you to be drunk on yourself!” Kakashi shouted. “It’s coming!”

  Instantly closing the distance between them, Rahyo’s fist plunged right into the guts of Guy, who wasn’t quite fast enough.

  His eyes flew open.

  The corner of Rahyo’s mouth pulled up into a sneer.

  But the next instant, Guy’s body, supposedly pierced by the enemy’s fist, flickered like a mirage and disappeared. Guy’s real body was already launching a roundhouse kick from behind.

  “Konoha Whirlwind!”

  “What?!” Rahyo immediately yanked his body back and launched his next punch. “Ice-Breaking Fist!”

  Guy’s kick and Rahyo’s iron fist slammed up against each other.

  Crack!

  A light flared up at the collision, and the walls of the cabin shook fiercely. The pair leapt back at the same time.

  Kakashi held his breath and watched the battle.

  “Aaah! Owowowow!” Guy bounced around, clutching the leg in the cast. “Ngh ngh ngh! W-why, something so trivial… Nothing is impossible with the power of youth!”

  “You know,” said Rahyo. “That leg looks pretty bad.”

  “Even if my leg is broken, my spirit is not.”

  “In that case, I’ll snap that spirit of yours in half as well.”

  “T-talk all you want, but it’s futile.” Guy steeled himself, even as cold sweat poured down his face from the pain in his leg. “Now! Come!”

  “You can’t stop us!” Rahyo yelled. “I’ll take this one out.”

  Rahyo’s arms, now the color of lead, had already turned to steel. Even from where Kakashi was, he could feel the incredible amount of chakra collected in those arms—an ice-breaking hammer that would crush a block of ice. If he took a hit from those, even Guy would be helplessly knocked down.

  Guy waved his own arms, and almost by magic the Twin Fangs—Guy’s specialized nunchaku—appeared. “No one’s ever managed to slip past the Twin Fangs here and land a blow.” As if to prove it, he began to spin the Twin Fangs so quickly they could no longer be seen.

  The pair of humming nunchaku coiled about Guy’s body as they sliced through the air. They were almost a living creature, almost a part of Guy’s own body. Shf! Shf! Shf! Shf! Guy easily made them dance around him, cutting along his sides, wrapping his head and torso, while Rahyo gazed upon the sight.

  All right! You can do it! Kakashi thought. Rahyo was hesitating in the face of the speed of the Twin Fangs and of Guy’s ability to manipulate the
m so effortlessly.

  But no matter how easy he made it look, Guy was still Guy after all. He abruptly froze in place and stayed there.

  A furrow rose up between Rahyo’s brows. As did one on Kakashi’s brow.

  The lounge fell back into silence, and the next instant, vomit gushed endlessly from Guy’s mouth. “Unnnh… Kakashi.” Tears of anguish poured from Guy’s eyes as he fixed them on Kakashi. “I-I feel terrible. And my leg hurts…”

  He’s getting it from all sides! Kakashi was dumbfounded. He probably looked at the Twin Fangs he was spinning around and made his motion sickness even worse!

  “Nngggrah!” A vein popped up on Rahyo’s forehead. “Playing the fool…” He took a firm step forward and threw a kick at Guy’s bad leg.

  Guy’s face twisted up in pain.

  Rahyo pounded forward, his ice-breaking fist aimed squarely at Guy’s head. “Die!”

  But luck was still on Guy’s side, after all. His feet got tangled up because of the motion sickness, and the right leg that sprang up as he bent his body backward—the leg with the big, heavy cast—somehow caught Rahyo on the chin.

  Thhwk!

  Taking a hard kick that sent him flying, Rahyo simply blinked rapidly, unable to understand what had just happened.

  But the person most surprised appeared to be Guy himself.

  “D-did you see that… G-gotta name it…” He thought about as he hopped around on one foot. “Umm. A name. F-F-Fists of Seasickness!”

  You do whatever you want, Kakashi couldn’t help but think.

  “E-enough messing around.” Rahyo gritted his teeth hard and launched an attack like a conflagration.

  Although Guy had indeed just come up with a new technique, the truth was he was in no condition to fight. On top of not being able to use one leg, his intense motion sickness was distorting the world before his eyes. The floor was twisted up like ribbon candy, and it was all he could do to stand. Occasionally, he crouched down and threw up.

  So Kakashi thought it was simply coincidence that Guy dodged the next attack as it grazed his face.

  But what happened twice happened thrice. In fact, it also happened four and then five times. Rahyo couldn’t land a single blow on Guy—staggering, crouching, barfing, wobbling, eyes wide open, swaying, twisting his body.