Kyoko Hatake

Chapter 22

I woke up and opened my eyes to see Naruto staring intently at me.

"Kye's awake!" Naruto yelled over his shoulder.

I attempted to sit up, but was pushed back down by Sakura who was apparently right beside me.

"Hey-" I started.

"You should rest Kye." She interupted.

"I'm not resting, until I feel like it." I pouted.

Quickly changing the subject, I suddenly remembered that I was knocked out.

"Oh by the way, who the hell knocked me out?!? I demanded.

Nobody answered, so I just crossed my arms, and sighed.

Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke got me all caught up on what happened after I was out. Apparently dad was still out cold, so we couldn't get any more information about the strange masked girl.

"Ok I've rested enough, I gotta get up." I said and sat up.

When I tried to stand, I immediately regretted it, and staggered, but Naruto essentially caught me.

"See?!? U need to recuperate more!" Sakura lectured.

"Ah whatever I'm fine, just let me get the blood flowing in my legs. If you really want to help, get me a stick or something." I grumbled.

"It seems like you have a Naruto instead of a stick." Sasuke said.

"Hey!" Naruto protested.

We all laughed, well except Sasuke of course.

Time Skip

At first, I hobbled around for a while, but then I could finally make full strides. I met our host, a nice lady named Tsunami, who was apparently the old bridge builder's daughter.

After a few hours, dad started to wake up. He was lying on a mat with a blanket covering everything except his head.

As he blinked open his eyes, or eye, he tried to move, but failed.

"Good morning Dad." I said casually, even though he was probably pretty sore.

"Are you ok Sensei?" Miss, Tsunami asked.

"Yes I'm fine, just won't be able to move for a week or so..." Dad responded groggily.

"Huh? I know the Sharingan is powerful and all, but if it takes so much out of you, I guess you have to think before using it..." Sakura murmured.

"I mean... it got the job done didn't it?" I stated hesitantly, thinking about my own Sharingan.

"It doesn't take that much out of me... maybe that's only because I have it naturally, while dad's was Uncle Obito's..."

"Yeah... and by the way, who was that masked kid?" Sakura asked.

Dad explained that the mask is worn by the Hidden mist Body Erasers. Apparently their job was to completely dispose of rogue ninja bodies.

"A ninja's body has a lot of valuable information hidden inside. Things like chakra types, herbs and other things can reveal a lot about that ninja's village." Dad stated.

"For example, if I died, the secret of the Sharingan could be revealed to other villages. If you're not careful, another ninja could potentially steal your Jutsu." He further explained.

"The Body Eraser's job is to make sure that information in the body isn't leaked out, so they are trained to completely dispose of bodies. No sound, no smell... that's a ninja's end..." Dad finished.

"That's just sick though, stealing someone else's Jutsu, off their body no less..." I said with a chill going down my spine.

"Scary! So Zabuza was chopped up and disposed of then..." Sakura thought aloud.

When I looked back at dad, he had already fallen asleep again.

"I guess he needs his rest."

I paced around for a while, but then got bored. I looked around in my bag, to see a few boxes of Pocky left. Triumphantly, I grabbed a Matcha flavored box and opened it up.

I also took out all my kunai and shuriken and started to hand sharpen them with Dad's sharpening stone.

Sakura sat down next to me and asked, "Kye, do you think that Kakashi-sensei will teach us some new techniques soon? When we were fighting Zabuza... I felt like I wasn't doing anything useful..."

"You're just realizing this now..?" I thought, but then corrected myself.

"I should be nicer..."

"Yeah I'm sure he'll teach us new stuff, and about Zabuza, he was a real tough guy, I'm not sure any of us could've taken him on alone, that's why we are part of a team. " I responded.

"Sheesh that sounded so cheesy..."

"Besides, you're good at something, you just need to find your talent. Who knows, maybe you have a gift for Genjutsu or something." I tried to reassure her.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, thanks Kye." Sakura said, almost to herself.

Sakura and I chatted for a bit longer, but at that point, we just went back into the main room and watched Dad sleep.

(Not creepy at all)

Suddenly, dad's eyes (eye) flew open, and immediately sat up.

"AH!!" Sakura, Naruto, and I yelled in surprise.

"Jeez Dad! Way to startle us like that!" I frowned.

Dad put his hand to his face, and seemed to be concerned about something.

"I wonder what he's worried about..."