Outlander: Found on the Path of Life. Part 1

Chapter 14. One Hell of a Relative

Kakashi would have preferred to somehow soften their slightly clouded reunion with Arina, but instead he had to check on his blockheads, as he called them amiably to himself. Arina resolutely followed along, saying that she was fed up of sitting within four walls, whereas this was at least some variety — and she was curious, after all, what they were like, young shinobi and Kakashi's mentees. Kakashi, foreseeing the upcoming acquaintance in bright colours, mentally shuddered, and really wanted to send the girl home after all, but quickly gave up under her pressure. Therefore, they only dropped off Arina's belongings at home, and after that went to meet his students.

On the one hand, Kakashi could not stop wondering what Arina had been through all these days, but at the same time he was not sure that he really wanted to know so as not to inadvertently come into conflict with Ibiki again, whom, for some reason, he chose for himself as a scapegoat in this situation. After all, no harm, no foul. The girl was fine and free again. Therefore, instead he just briefly told Arina about his subordinates: irrepressible Naruto, gloomy, as if forever immersed in his thoughts, Sasuke, and Sakura, who, it seemed, did not care about anything but Sasuke. He also told a little about their first test, to the girl's great amusement. He did not tell Arina only that he practically did not sleep the night before, worrying about her, so in the end he overslept shamelessly and was late for the meetup, which did not contribute much to improvement of their team's relationship.

When they arrived at the farm, the trio were engaged in gardening without much enthusiasm. Judging by the progress, there was enough work there for a couple more days, which gave hope for a more or less free schedule for their sensei in the near future. The kids stared at the girl with a varying degree of interest. As expected, Naruto was the first to greet loudly, instantly pushing the calmer Sasuke and Sakura into the background. Arina greeted them back in a friendly manner, introduced herself — it seemed that she was destined to settle down in this world as Rina Matsukata.

Sasuke barely honoured the girl with a nod, while Sakura, with childlike spontaneity, declared that Arina was very pretty and asked whether she was Kakashi-sensei's girlfriend. Naruto broke into an understanding grin and started a song about 'Kakashi and Rina sitting on a tree', but quickly received a light slap on the head from the flustered sensei.

Out of embarrassment, Kakashi went a little too far with the legend and introduced Arina as his distant relative who was passing through Konoha. The girl was slightly disappointed because of the 'relative', but after thinking about it, she reasoned that perhaps it was even better that way.

They headed back to the village together. Naruto was showing off in every possible way all the way back — obviously, the company of Arina was affecting him. She watched his somersaults with sincere delight, and he basked in this attention, as only a child who grew up without parental attention and desperately needing it could. Kakashi looked demonstratively exhausted, occasionally trying to calm the fidget down without much success. Arina looked at them and laughed quietly, but then suddenly became wistful when she remembered her own younger brother, a little terror just like Naruto.

Finally, they reached an intersection, and Kakashi dismissed them with obvious relief, announcing the time and gathering point for the next day. Naruto frowned, wanting to do at least something useful that day, however, after receiving an offer to send him back to the garden, he immediately rushed off, reasoning that he could train on his own.

It was getting late. Kakashi and Arina were walking down the street. Kakashi thought with annoyance that the shops had already closed, and they still haven't bought anything for Arina. On the other hand, this meant that the girl would be sleeping in his clothes again, which was not bad at all...

Suddenly Arina, who was looking thoughtfully at the Hokage Rock, asked if it was possible to go up. Kakashi was a little surprised by her wish. Arina explained that she wanted to look at the village from above: she always did this, if possible, when she visited an unfamiliar city — so to say, this was her way of getting acquainted with it. Kakashi didn't mind. Moreover, this delayed the moment of appearing together in a public place a little more — and since they only had just a handful of diners, they were guaranteed to meet some of his acquaintances there. Therefore Kakashi had no objections to keeping some more privacy this way. He really needed a break after Arina's acquaintance with Naruto and co.