Light Of A Crystal

24. The Weasel and the shark

"Kakashi! My Eternal Rival! What are you doing here?" Might Gai said in a joyful voice as he slapped the Hatake's back causing him to fall down.

"Nothing. Just out on a mission." Kakashi said nonchalantly.

"So, how are my youthful students faring?"

"Good," Kakashi said as Gai began crying youthful tears.

"Kakashiiiii! My Eternal Rival is so cool!" He yelled before Kakashi raised his hands to quieten him down.

"The truth is I am supposed to keep a tab on these two guys. Don't look at them." Kakashi said in a lowered voice as he gestured towards the interior of the restaurant, especially where two mysterious men with cloaks had Red clouds splattered on its black silk. They wore Hats with long straws covering their face.

Gai looked over Kakashi's shoulder only to find them gone in a blink of an eye, causing Kakashi to facepalm.

"Gai! Follow me! We have to stop them!"

Both the men ran with Gai following his friend and comrade just behind him. They jumped over the buildings, and walls ducked under the carts and shoved the people to get them out of the way while apologizing to them as they moved.

They soon reached the river where both the mysterious men stood beside.

"Stop right there!" Kakashi said in a calm and serious voice.

Both the men came to a stop. One of them slowly turned around and said "What do you want, Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake?"

"You are trespassing the Leaf Village and we are hereby ordered to take both of you down!" Kakashi said as he slid out a kunai from his pouch and held it up.

"Should I kill them, Itachi? They are both annoying us?" Kisame asked in an evil voice as Itachi remained unmoved.

"No." Kisame looked at Itachi in disappointment. "We are not here to kill Kakashi Hatake. Our mission is to find one and only Uzumaki Naruto, the Kyuubi Jinchuriki." Itachi said.

"What a disappointment! How long Samehada has been wanting to taste blood! But since Leader sama ordered us to avoid conflict... Very well." Kisame said as he put the Samehada on his back while Itachi continued to stare at Kakashi.

"Kakashi senpai!" Itachi removed his hat, causing Kakashi's eyes to widen in shock. "I have only one demand. Tell me where is Naruto Uzumaki? Answer me honestly."

"We refuse to share any information with an enemy of the Leaf." Gai declared and Kakashi nodded. Itachi bit back his sigh calmly.

"Very well! If you are unwilling, you are useless to us and we would have killed you. But since we have orders to avoid conflict, especially if it is against both of you, so we are withdrawing. If you follow us then..." Itachi let it hang on as he activated his Sharingan, causing Gai and Kakashi to stiffen up and draw their weapons.

And the next moment, the men disappeared causing both the Leaf nins to look at each other and sigh in relief.

"That was a hell of an incident with Rogue Ninjas," Gai remarked as Kakashi nodded.

"We have to report this encounter to Sandaime. How they got here is beyond me." Kakashi said as Gai hummed in agreement. "Kakashi, we better hurry!"

Little did they know that Sakura saw the encounter and disappeared to inform Sasuke of the incident.

Location: One of many Root Bunker located outside the Village.

[Slam]

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