Kakanaru: The pain behind Naruto's mask

9

A/N Compared to the anime, parts of this fan fiction may be out of order or altered. Some people complain about it so I'm just putting it out there. Also, when it comes time for me to write about the chunnin exams, I find the preliminary rounds and tournaments too hard to write, so I'll only write about the ones that interest me. I will also write round one and two, and the attack.

After the Hokage said to send in Tazuna, a portly man with a bottle of sake wandered in, clearly drunk. "These brats are the ones who're s'posed to guard me? They don't even look like ninja, 'specially the shorty." I could ignore the comment about not looking like a ninja, but what he said about my height was infuriating. With a tinkling noise, his sake exploded. Jiji glanced at me, frowning in disapproval. He's told me multiple times not to use my Crystal Style like that. Fortunately, after his initial surprise, the bridge builder (erroneously) assumed his grip was too strong for the bottle. Kakashi, however, glanced at me despite not knowing what I'm capable of. "Pack enough supplies for two weeks. We'll leave in a hour." Kakashi said. We all nodded. When I arrived home I decided to reorganize my seals. I placed my kunai and other weapons in a seal on my right wrist. I put snack type foods in a seal on my left ankle. I put rope, duct tape, and instruments of torture on my left wrist. I put the letters from my godparents in the seal on my right ankle. I decided to write a letter to Tsunade since I had time. I told her about the missions, and how I felt about various people. Lastly I told her about my date with Kakashi. Taking the letter over to the balcony, I summoned the hawk Ella. She flew off with the letter on her back. I made my way to the gate to meet up with my team. When I arrived, Kakashi smiled at me. My heart skipped a beat and I blushed, which didn't go unnoticed by the other two. Tazuna wasn't here yet, so Sakura said, "You two seem rather....close." Kakashi said, "That's because we are. We've been dating for a few weeks now." Both Sakura and Sasuke were surprised. "But you're both guys!" Sakura practically screamed it. "That's right. What of it?" I said, letting more than a little killer intent show. Sakura shut up for the moment, but it was obvious she still had more she wanted to say. Thankfully the bridge builder chose that moment to show up. "Alright, let's be off!" Noticing the tense atmosphere, he asked, "Am I missing something?" "Nothing important." I said smoothly, but inside I was seething at Sakura's lack of common sense. We all headed out, Sakura jabbering about anything to the old man. The rest of us were fairly quiet. Not long after leaving the village, we came to a puddle in the road. There were two chakra signatures coming from it, and I know Kakashi noticed it, but I decided to deal with it before it came to a fight. I took an electric blade from the seal on my left wrist and plunged it into the water. Two knocked out ninja appeared on the ground. "You couldn't just let me have my fun?" Kakashi asked. "I'm trying to avoid pointless, unnecessary fights. Especially since I smell poison." I said. Kakashi pouted. "You can test our fighting ability later." "Was it that obvious?" Kakashi asked. "To me it was." Kakashi understood that I meant it wouldn't have been to the other two. "Can someone explain what's going on!" Sasuke huffed  in exasperation. "That's what I'd like to know too. Care to explain master bridge builder?" Kakashi didn't look happy. The bridge builder went into this spheel about how the land of waves was too poor to afford missions higher than C rank, then tried to guilt trip everyone into helping him anyway. I confess, I was suckered the second he mentioned a grandson. I've always been rather good with kids. So of course we continued. We got to the boat, which was a little leaky but would hopefully get us there in one piece.