NARUTO: Kakashi’s Story

by Masashi Kishimoto

  Ice crackled as it swallowed up the complaining man, starting at his feet. After that, no one made a move to open their mouths.

  “I activated the Earth Chain Ice I cast on you,” Kahyo said, turning toward Kakashi. “If you don’t want to be frozen, the only thing you can do is keep molding your chakra and sending that heat around your body.”

  “I see. So people who can’t manipulate their chakra end up frozen right away, huh?”

  “As long as you are using your chakra to suppress the Earth Chain Ice, you won’t be able to use it for any other jutsu. In other words, Hatake Kakashi,” she paused, “you are just a regular person now.”

  “So it was you. The one who froze everyone other than Rahyo, it was you.”

  “I’m the only one who can use Earth Chain Ice.”

  “Why didn’t you activate it on me until now?”

  After a moment’s hesitation, words tumbled one after another from Kahyo’s lips. Her voice was stained with agony and pain and sadness.

  “You said it before, Hatake Kakashi. You said, ‘The very fact of living itself means you’re always fighting for your life.’ But there are some who are not allowed to participate in that battle.

  “The village of Kirigakure, which we fled, was like that.

  “It’s not well known, but there’s been a kind of class system in Kirigakure since olden times. At the top, those people from families whose ancestors, and their ancestors, were born and raised in Kirigakure. Next, those people from families who allied with Kirigakure in the long history of war. And then at the very bottom are families who fell to Kirigakure and had no choice but to be swallowed up by them.

  “In Konoha, any mission accepted is given out according to the actual abilities of the shinobi. Not so in Kirigakure, however. The most dangerous and dirty work is always passed along to those of us in the very lowest social class. It has nothing to do with ability.

  “From the village’s perspective, we are so-called dangerous elements, liable to betray Kirigakure at any time. So we are assigned dangerous missions.

  “We can do nothing but successfully complete our mission. But it’s also fine if our mission ends unsuccessfully and we lose our lives, never to return home.

  “With the current Mizukage, the situation seems to have gotten much better, but at the very least, this is how it was in our time. There were rumors among us that the former Mizukage was being controlled by Madara. At any rate, many people find their love for Kirigakure exhausted and abandon the village.

  “I’m sure you’ve heard the name Zabuza Momochi. The man they called the demon of Kirigakure. He is one of the people who got out of the village as soon as he could. I heard he was such a gentle boy when he was a child.

  “Did you know? In the past, Kirigakure was called the ‘village of bloody mist.’ In order to become ninja, we had to pass a certain test: students at the academy were forced to kill one another.

  “You probably already know all this. But what you don’t know is that the only ones forced to take this test were us, the shinobi in the lowest class. In this graduation exam, Zabuza Momochi, who was still a child, slaughtered over a hundred would-be ninjas.

  “And that’s where it comes from, you see? Calling him a demon. After that, he became a rogue ninja. In order to survive, he would cut people down for money. In the end, I heard he was caught off guard by some oaf somewhere and died.

  “My husband tried to learn from Zabuza Momochi’s failure. Better to leave the village. We could stay there, but people like us had no future. The homeless ninja tried to make the Land of Waves a place where they wouldn’t have trouble in their lives, a place where they could live.

  “As you know, there is no hidden village in the Land of Waves.

  “That’s what caught my husband’s eye. The fact that there was no hidden village didn’t mean that they had no need of ninja. He thought that if we could get the work the Land of Waves was asking the five great shinobi nations to do, then rogue ninja could live like ordinary people there.

  “Only half of my husband’s guess was right.

  “That lot in the Land of Waves did end up requesting work from us. Thanks to that, we were able to make a living. But no one respected a group of rogue ninja carrying out dirty work.

  “It gradually ate away at my husband. Yes, just like it did Momochi Zabuza. How he differed from Momochi Zabuza was in the fact that he didn’t direct his anger outward, but rather inward toward himself.

  “My husband started to drown himself in alcohol. From here, it’s the usual story. He drank and drank and drank. Until finally, one night, he fell into the sea and drowned.

  “With my husband’s death, I left the village of rogue ninja. Carrying my young son, I tried to live somehow as a person of the Land of Waves. I did a number of jobs. All the work was boring, but it was the kind of work where no one got hurt; I was satisfied. We were poor, but I thought I had managed to rebuild my life with my son.

  “That’s what I thought…

  “My son Hakuhyo inherited my Kekkei Genkai.

  “One day, when he was playing with a friend, that friend, likely just fooling around, threw a rock at a giant hornet’s nest. The furious hornets attacked them. Hakuhyo’s only thought was to save his friend, and he unleashed jutsu after jutsu, things he couldn’t have been taught by anyone. He tried desperately to protect his friend.

  “Hakuhyo produced the ice swords through the method written into his blood and protected his friend from the hornets. No matter how much he himself was stung, he tried to dispatch the hornets that came after his friend. Thanks to him, the friend managed to get through it with only a few stings. But Hakuhyo was stung all over.

  “And what do you think happened after that?

  “That friend abandoned Hakuhyo and ran off home by himself.

  “When it grew dark and Hakuhyo still hadn’t returned home, I went to this child’s house in search of him. And they looked at me with eyes wide like they were seeing a monster. Now that they knew Hakuhyo was the child of a rogue ninja, they wouldn’t let him play with their child. The mother told me as much to my face.

  “Even still, I managed to ask where the children had been playing.

  “The sun had set and the moon was high by the time I found Hakuhyo. He… My son had collapsed, alone in the woods. His entire body was swollen. His face so much so that he was almost unrecognizable. And yet he muttered with swollen lips in his delirium. ‘You can’t go throwing stones at giant hornets’ nests… Hurry, run… Hurry, run… I’ll hold off the hornets for you—’ ”

  When Kahyo cut herself off, the dining lounge fell into a sudden silence.

  Kakashi didn’t know what he should say. Not only have I not had a child, but I’m even thinking twice about becoming the Hokage, the father of Konohagakure. Coming from a guy like me, any words are nothing but hypocrisy.

  Kahyo’s eyes were dry. To Kakashi, those dry eyes were much sadder than any amount of tears that might have come from them. Kahyo’s eyes, so empty it wrenched at the heart, were the eyes of someone who had seen unwanted ends play out on more than one occasion.

  Then he remembered the last days of Momochi Zabuza.

  That had been their first job as Team Seven. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had all been there. It was supposed to have been an easy job—cast a protective jutsu to return the carpenter Tazuna safely to the Land of Waves. There, a man called Gato, the wealthy owner of a transport company, hired Zabuza and Haku as assassins.

  Zabuza and Haku had been fearsome enemies, so strong that Sasuke had nearly died. And yet, that that would end up being the last act… Stabbed repeatedly in the pileup with Gato’s little henchmen, Momochi Zabuza’s last request was simply that they lay him to rest next to Haku.

  That scene—Momochi Zabuza and Haku lying next to each other on the ground—was overlaid on the image of Kahyo at
a complete loss, her dead son in her arms.

  “Why didn’t I activate the jutsu on you right away?” Kahyo’s lips moved slightly. “Maybe I wanted you to stop us.”

  He said nothing.

  “I suppose it’s too late.”

  What can I do? Kakashi clenched his hands into fists so tight, his knuckles turned white. What can I do to save this woman’s heart?

  “That’s enough talk of the old days,” Rahyo ordered. “Lock this guy up somewhere!”

  The shinobi grabbed hold of Kakashi.

  Kahyo was no longer even looking in his direction.

  Kakashi was put into the pantry in the kitchen.

  Two shinobi roughly kicked him in. The door locked behind him with a klak. They laughed like barking seals.

  “Can’t believe we actually caught the Hatake Kakashi!” one shouted through bursts of laughter.

  The other called out in a strange voice, still laughing, “Whoo! Ryuha Armed Alliance is number one!”

  The air pressure within the cabin had dropped, and they were clearly not getting enough oxygen. When the oxygen making it to the brain was insufficient, people could become abnormally exuberant.

  “See, Kakashi! You don’t get to lord yourself over us forever!” The two shinobi kicked and banged on the door. “We came prepared to die with this ship. Don’t go underestimating us!”

  Right, like these two were doing at that moment.

  They were feeling triumphant, and next, they would lose the ability to concentrate or make proper judgments. Then their muscles would grow weak, they’d lose consciousness, and finally they’d drop into something like a coma, and in the worst case, death.

  Which is why Kakashi decided it was sink-or-swim time; he’d have to pull a trick out of his hat. He waited for his enemies’ judgment to become impaired.

  Looking at the shelves lined with vegetables and meat, he noticed glass bottles of milk. After a little thought, he decided he could use the milk. He took the cap off one bottle and drank the whole thing down. Then he grabbed another bottle and got as much of the contents into his mouth as he could.

  Steeling himself, he spit out the milk in his mouth as loudly as he possibly could. He coughed dramatically as he poured more milk into his mouth and vomited it out. When he had done that three times, it got quiet outside the door, and he knew that his enemies were listening closely. Without a moment’s delay, he bent his body into a sideways “V” and lay on the floor.

  The little window on the top part of the door soon opened, and he saw two eyeballs rolling around.

  “Hey. What’s wrong?”

  “Unnnh… Unnnnh…”

  Pretending to cover his mouth, Kakashi stuck a finger deep into his throat and successfully threw up all the milk he had drunk only minutes earlier.

  “W-what the—” The ninjas were stunned as they watched Kakashi vomiting up this white stuff. “Kakashi’s throwing up!”

  “M-my head…hurts,” Kakashi said, brokenly, breathing heavily. “Th-the ship’s going…up…”

  “What, that all?”

  “You…don’t know…? The air’s…so thin…the ship’s probably…more than eighteen thousand meters up…”

  Of course, this was nonsense.

  “So what?” But his enemies were flustered. “What’s the altitude got to do with you throwing up?”

  “Y-you don’t know? …If we get up to nineteen thousand meters…the boiling point for blood…is the same temperature as the human body.”

  This was true.

  “So? You expect us to do something?” But the enemy didn’t quite get it. “No reason for throwing up, is it?”

  “From how I see it…five more minutes.”

  The enemies exchanged looks.

  “Five more minutes and…if we keep ascending like this…in five more minutes…we’ll reach nineteen thousand meters,” Kakashi said, weakly. “Our blood will…boil at body temperature… We’ll all…die.”

  The panicked confusion in his enemies when they heard that last word was such that he almost wanted to apologize: Sorry for lying to you guys.

  “W-w-what should we do?!” One clutched his head, while the other basically turned in circles. “W-we gotta tell Rahyo right awa—”

  “You won’t make it in time!” Kakashi cried. “Let me out of here… It’s do or die. The only thing left to do is for me to use my jutsu to make a hole in the balloon and lower our altitude!”

  “Th-that’s—But you got hit with Kahyo’s Earth Chain Ice and you can’t manipulate your chakra, can—”

  Here, Kakashi plunged a finger into his throat again and vomited more milk rather magnificently.

  “Who do you think I am…” He pulled himself up, panting. “I’m Konoha’s…Hatake Kakashi.”

  Kakashi had never before seen his own name have such an effect.

  Both enemies nodded, unlocked the door, and rather admirably, even offered him a hand to help him stand up.

  Kakashi’s eyes glittered fiercely.

  Thud!

  Crack!

  “Don’t think too badly of me.” A minute later, Kakashi had locked the two unconscious shinobi up in the pantry, slipped out of the kitchen, and was leaping down from the suspended scaffolding into the storehouse.

  If he tried to summon Pakkun and the others again, he would freeze from his feet up the moment he changed the way he was manipulating his chakra. He would just have to hunt down the blue fire powder himself.

  There was nothing particularly suspicious in the wooden boxes piled up in the storehouse; sake, foodstuffs, the parachute vests.

  Blue fire powder exploded when it touched water. Normally, the user kept it separate from the water in some kind of partitioned container, one that would shatter upon impact, allowing the water and the blue fire powder to mix. But he couldn’t see anything resembling such a container anywhere.

  The bad feeling he had got worse.

  If I were Rahyo, where would I hide blue fire powder?

  He didn’t even have to think about it. He looked up at the envelope of the airship. He could see the bottom of the air bladder that kept the Tobishachimaru afloat above the scaffolding hanging in midair.

  If Rahyo was planning to ram the ship into Hozuki Castle, the most effective method would be to set the blue fire powder in that air bladder. For water, they could use Kahyo’s ice. In the shock of the collision, the air bladder would catch fire, the ice would melt, and the blue fire powder would explode. Hozuki Castle would be buried under a storm of flame.

  No, there’s no way. Kakashi banished the ominous thought from his mind. If they slam the ship into Hozuki Castle, then Garyo, the very person they were trying to rescue, might be caught up in the explosion and die.

  Their comrades were standing by on the ground. Most likely, Rahyo was going to drop the blue fire powder on Hozuki Castle from the air and try to rescue Garyo while Shikamaru and the others were caught up in the confusion.

  “Ino? Can you hear me Ino?”

  “I can hear you, Master Kakashi.”

  “They’re going to drop blue fire powder on Hozuki Castle.”

  “That’s what Lady Tsunade told me.”

  “They’re dropping it from up in the sky, so they’ll need some kind of target. Keep close watch around the castle. There just might be someone sending up smoke signals or something.”

  “Understood.”

  And then the sound of footfalls coming down the ramp echoed throughout the empty storehouse.

  Kakashi immediately hid himself behind a wooden box.

  The two shinobi who appeared headed straight for another wooden box, as though it were marked with a symbol that only they understood, and lifted it up with a count of “One! Two! Heave!”

  It was at that moment that the wind gusted up against them, and the ship li
sted heavily to one side.

  One of the ninja dropped the box, and the one supporting the opposite side tore into him. “Be careful! You wanna die?!”

  At the angry look, the one picking up the box again grew pale. Perhaps he wasn’t able to concentrate because of the low oxygen.

  The pair carefully lifted the box and started walked back toward the dining lounge.

  Kakashi immediately inspected the remaining boxes. It seemed that the attackers had carried off the box stuffed with parachute vests. Which made no sense.

  Normally, he would jump back up to the scaffolding in the air with a single leap, but he couldn’t use his chakra like he usually did at that moment, so he raced up the ramp and took the scaffolding back to the kitchen.

  He started to climb up to the air duct, but changed his mind and instead approached the dining lounge on stealthy feet. He couldn’t do much with his chakra, and if he were attacked by Kahyo’s icicles in the duct, he’d be helpless.

  Fortunately, the grand piano had been knocked on its side near the entrance connecting the kitchen and the dining lounge. Quickly jumping behind it, Kakashi assessed the situation.

  Rahyo was near the entrance on the pilothouse side of the room, opening the wooden box the two ninja had carried away. Above his head, the angled chandelier swayed dangerously.

  The passengers, herded by the attackers, were in a cluster by the ice blocking the hole. Kahyo was also there with them.

  “The Ryuha Armed Alliance takes no pleasure in meaningless slaughter!” Rahyo declared. “We will now release the hostages!”

  The passengers looked at each other in confusion, but when the shinobi handed them the parachute vests, a cheer rose up.

  “I’m sorry.” Kahyo helped the passengers put on the vests. “I know we can’t be forgiven just because we released you, but…I’m truly sorry.”

  Outside the ship, the wind howled, and the Tobishachimaru shook and shuddered once more.

  The ship plunged forward through the turbulence, but the passengers, hearts completely taken over by the relief at being released from this nightmare, didn’t appear to even notice it. They scrambled among themselves for the vests.