A Trip To The Past

chapter 18

~Aimi's POV~

I silently watched from a tree as everyone said their goodbyes and smiled when I saw my clone walk up to Rin, giving her the bracelet. When the goodbyes were out of the way, they started heading out so I followed.

~time skip~

I watched from a distance as the four of them walked in the forest with Kakashi in the lead followed by Obito, Rin, and dad in the rear. Kakashi stopped.

'He couldn't have sensed me, could he?' I immediately rid myself of those thoughts when I sensed another presence nearby.

Daddy crouched down and placed one finger on the grass.

"Everyone, be careful. There's about twenty enemies. It's probably just a bunch of shadow clones though." He warned.

"Looks like it." Kakashi said. "Sensei, I'll go first. Please cover me."

"Don't be hasty, Kakashi." Dad warned. "You should just be the backup." He says as Kakashi formed hand signs.

"Sensei, I'm captain today, right? Besides, I want to test a new jutsu I've been working on." He said as lightning formed in his hand. "Chidori!" He announced, Rin and Obito looking at it in shock and awe.

Dad looked at it with narrowed eyes before he put a hand out to stop Kakashi.

"It doesn't matter how many enemies there are, this'll end it in a flash." Kakashi informed. "It's the same as your nickname. Besides... it's like you said, sensei. The leader of this mission is me. It's a rule that a team must follow its leader's orders. Right, sensei?" Dad reluctantly pulled his hand away letting him go straight through the log they were hiding behind.

The iwa nin threw weapons at Kakashi and tou-san redirected them with his own.

"You let me know the whereabouts of all of you with those kunai just now! Let's go!" Kakashi said as he stormed up the tree, hitting the rock ninja. "Damn shadow clone!" He cursed. "Then onto the next!"

Meanwhile Obito and Rin were on the lookout for the ninja. Said ninja used an earth style technique to appear in front of Obito, who panicked before dad took the enemy down, showing he was also a shadow clone.

'Damn, it's taking everything I have not to just jump down and help them.'

"Don't let your guard down!" Dad said.

"Right!"

"Number eighteen!" Kakashi yelled as he charged at the ninja.

"Don't get cocky, brat!" The angered stone nin yelled as he pulled out a sword, preparing to cut Kakashi down.

Luckily dad got there, placed a seal on the nin and grabbed Kakashi, pushing him away, but not without Kakashi getting injured.

"Kakashi-kun!" Rin called in worry as daddy landed with Kakashi away from the enemy, who returned to hiding in the trees.

Dad dropped his bag and disappeared before it hit the ground. Then he appeared back with his team where Rin was healing Kakashi's shoulder.

"Kakashi's injury is pretty bad." Dad said. "For now, we should retreat and set camp."

"I'm alright." Kakashi argued.

"No you're not! All because you ignored sensei's warnings and charged ahead!" Obito reprimanded.

"I don't need to listen to that. Not from the "Uchiha elite" who was whining in fear back there!" Kakashi said.

"I-I got some dust in my eye and started tearing up, that's all." Obito defended.

"Do you know the 25th shinobi rule?" Kakashi asked. "The rule says that a ninja must not show tears!" He reminded.

"Hey... stop it, you two..." Rin intervened.

"That's enough, both of you!" Dad said, gaining the trio's attention. "Kakashi, rules and regulations are indeed important. But that isn't everything. Didn't I teach you...? There are times when the situation requires impromptu responses against the enemy."

"There, you see?!" Obito said.

"Obito, you too!" Dad called, gaining his attention. "There's no way dust can get into your eyes when you have goggles on. If you're going to advocate self-control, don't just mouth the words. Act strong too. And one other thing... Kakashi... you shouldn't use that jutsu anymore. From what I could see, your focal point concentrated attack undoubtedly has power and speed... but it makes you move too fast to ascertain the opponent's counterattack. It's an imperfect jutsu. Before we part I'll tell you one more thing. For a ninja, the most important thing is teamwork." He said and the three looked down in shame.