Kana [ Kakashi Hatake / Naruto ]

I.IV

° I.IV °
"No Room for Failure"

Naruto was unsettled. All throughout dinner the yellow haired ninja had been eerily silent, something both his teammates and Sensei were highly aware of yet hesitant to ask about. He was glad they didn't, considering he wouldn't even know what to say if they had. The only one who had an inkling about his irritancy was Sasuke and while the young Uchiha's guess of it being about Naruto's sparring loss wasn't far off, it wasn't exactly the losing part that was getting to him.

Something about Kana was setting him off. It was like when you're trying to think of a word and it's stuck on the tip of your tongue but every time you think you have it, it's gone just like that and you're back to square one. From the start he had a strange inkling about the mysterious woman but after their fight, if you can even call it that, something, somewhere in his brain was suddenly knocked loose and the fact that he couldn't put his foot on it was driving him mad. So mad that as soon as he managed to stomach the food Tsunami had prepared for them, he slammed his head onto the table with every intention of burrowing himself into his thoughts until he got the answers he desired. It wasn't until Tazuna spoke that he found himself listening in to their conversation, slightly thankful for minor break.

"I've been meaning to ask you this but I haven't had the chance until now," the bridge builder's words aimed towards the Sensei who looked up once he felt his stare. "Why did you stay and protect me even after I lied to bring you here?"

"Those who stray from the path of justice have no courage but under the wing of a strong leader, cowardice cannot survive."

Blinking, even Tsunami stopped what she was doing to share a confused look with the surrounding ninja, "huh?"

Hidden to them, a small grin formed on Kakashi's pink lips, "that was a quote from The First Hokage." Of course, while his words were meant to be encouraging, the Sensei knew little of the effect they had on the small boy sitting across from him.

It felt like he was living it all over again. The drowning, the saving, the loving.. the pain. Inari felt the ninja's words cut deep and soon his eyes began to sting with their usual bit of tears, "but why?"

Eyes snapping open, Naruto sat up in order to see Inari's reaction and felt his head tilt, "what'd you say?"

Something about the spiky haired boy acknowledging him had Inari's sadness fading to anger and in an act of fury, his hands slammed against the table as he glared heatedly towards anyone who dared to look his way, "all this stupid training is just a waste of time! Gato's got a whole army, he'll bring you down and they'll destroy you! These cool things you all say, they don't mean anything! No matter what you do, the strong always win and the weak always lose!"