The Uchiha Princess

~.Chapter - 27.~

Kakashi sat there for a while with his hand on his head thinking, "Hey. Are you okay? Sensei?" Naruto asked concerned as his Sensei has been lost to his thoughts for some time now.

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah. To finish what I was saying, tracker Ninja deal with the body immediately, on the spot, so there's no room for error" he told them, Makaira listened to their conversation knowing what he was trying to say.

"Is that important?" Sakura asked.

"Think about it. Do you remember what that tracker did with Zabuza's body?" Kakashi asked. Makaira lowered the blanket a little to look at Kakashi and Sakura's conversation. The blanket no longer covered her eyes and nose.

"We don't know what he did. I mean, I guess he took it away somewhere" Sakura answered.

"Exactly. But why? He should've worked on Zabuza right there, as quickly as possible. Think of the weapons he used for the takedown. Do you remember what they were?"

"Throwing Needles" Sasuke answered.

"No way" his eyes widened at the realization as his eyes snapped at Makaira who held no surprise but that didn't shock him.

"Exactly. None of it adds up" Kakashi continued as everyone was too overwhelmed to speak as they all continued to stare at their Sensei.

"He still might be...alive, if they got him proper care in time which I'm sure he got." Makaira who was now sitting staring at the group ahead of her.

"What are you all yammering about? You demolished that assassin" Tazuna said, not wanting to believe in even the slight possibility of that almost demon-like assassin being alive.

"Here's the truth. Makaira's right. Zabuza's still alive" Kakashi told them the facts straight.

"Huh?" Naruto, Sakura and Tazuna, they stared at Kakashi and Makiira with their jaws dropped and unable to believe what they were hearing.

"But we saw his body! Believe it!" Naruto said breaking the silence.

"Kakashi Sensei, you checked him yourself! You said that his heart stopped" Sakura added.

"His heart did stop" Kakashi replied before getting into a fit of cough as Makaira rushed to hand him some water and used her comforter to cover up the group so Kakashi could get have time to remove his mask and drink up. The group struggled as Makaira kept her grip on the comforter so they won't be able to get out. Makaira knew how to respect his privacy so even she didn't tried to take a peak at Kakashi's face as she kept her eyes closed. She heard Kakashi chuckle and then she believed it would be safe to open her eyes and when she saw her masked Sensei giving her his famous closed-eye smile. She released her team mated and Tazuna from the comforter she had used to trap them.

"But. That was just a temporary state, to simulate death. The weapons that tracker used are mostly senbon. They can pierce deeply but rarely kill unless they hit a vital organ. Not in the neck. They're modified from needles used for medical treatments, like acupuncture. Trackers are trained to know every detail of the human body. Causing the heart to stop temporarily while keeping the body alive is an easy matter for them. First, he carried Zabuza away, even though it's much heavier than he is. Second, he used senbon, which was a precise effect, but rarely fatal. From these two factors, we can conclude that the tracker wasn't trying to destroy Zabuza. He was trying to save him" Makaira explained to them as soon as they managed to remove the comforter that was over them like a net.

Tazuna lifted a hand "Come on. You're overthinking this, aren't you?"

"I didn't see what happened but Makaira's explanation alone makes sense. It's logical" Kakashi stated.