Aftermath (Kakashi Hatake)

Part 16: Seriously, This Vacation Sucks

'This is a terrible family vacation' I thought bitterly as Kakashi and I went from bar to bar looking for our traveling companion. 'Got the new boyfriend and my mentor/uncle/whatever-he's-family figure and I can't even go to the hot springs without getting harassed by some psycho' I added on before finally seeing the familiar white haired toad sage. I grabbed him by the back of the collar. "We have to go now." I whispered quickly and in seconds we were out the door, Kakashi on our heels. "Keep an eye out, someone is following me." I warned and soon we were out of the village. We walked for a few minutes before Kakashi signed that he couldn't sense anyone. Looking over at Jiraiya and he twitched his eyebrow to let me know that he wasn't sensing anything either. The fact that neither of them relaxed at all made me even more nervous. We walked even further away from the village before I thought of something. Something has been bothering me since my conversation with the local wack-job. If my father was a sensory nin then I should be able to use sensory techniques. 

Being the fastest shinobi alive meant that all of my reflexes were faster than anyone else's. I don't simply run fast, I am fast. The only problem with being so good at one thing is that often the other skills you have are mediocre at best. I had never had any real training at sensory techniques. My skills lie in my stealth and when that fails my pure fighting ability, I am one of the elite after all. But what I make up for in lack of training is my studies. I had been fascinated with all the ninja arts for years and one of the first arts I studied was ninjutsu, where I spent almost half a year reading about sensory style jutsus and eventually meditation as well. The first one that popped to mind was supposedly a hard one that requires a lot of focus though closing your eyes is supposed to make it easier. I signed quickly to Kakashi that I was going to try something then with my other hand to Jiraiya who sniffled a little in acknowledgement. I was glad that Kakashi and I had donned our ANBU mask as soon as we left the village because it would prevent anyone watching us from realizing my eyes were closed. 

At first I stumbled but quickly, almost instinctively I felt my chakra expand into the world around me. Into the dirt under my feet, into the air brushing my skin, and into the trees around us. I was like seeing with an eye I never knew I had. It was fuzzy and my ears were ringing as my hearing adjusted to the new strength and my stomach was churning in disgust at all of the new smells. One thing I found instantly though was the enemy. She was alone but I knew not to underestimate her. Her chakra was developed and oddly it was almost like I could feel her chakra types. She's a wind style user predominantly and relies on water style when that doesn't work out. Opening my eyes was disorienting. I looked over at Kakashi, trying to steady my vision enough to see him. He glanced at me and suddenly blinked in shock. Then he shook his head and watched as I signed him the plan. I did the same thing with Jiraiya and we quickly relaxed. Kakashi and I took off our masks and hooked them them on our belts. Jiraiya relaxed his pace and slouched forward a little. "I think we lost her." Knowing that she was within hearing range. "I don't sense anything, can't see her with my eye either." Kakashi responded. Jiraiya just huffed. "Can we stop for the night? I'm still pretty drunk from my day of gambling." I rolled my eyes. "If we have too." 

After casually eating some food I had brought, Jiraiya and Kakashi both went to 'sleep' which was actually just them laying perfectly still while a genjutsu of Kakashi's making covered them and altered the sounds of their breath and heartbeats as well as suppressing their chakra output to make them appear truly asleep. She waited a while to attack so I took the chance to practice my sensory techniques. I tried my best to control the flood of chakra to my senses but it was hard, I either got an insane head rush like last time or nothing at all, as if I was just blinking. After a few tries I felt my energy draining some and decided to stop, going between having my eyes open and using my 'other eye' as I was calling it was also leaving me disoriented like I have been wearing glasses I don't need. Then it happened. I heard a kunai flying through the air straight towards my head. I let it get within centimeters of my face before flashing to Kakashi's side.