A Mask with Another Mask |Naruto Fanfic| REWRITE

Chapter 9

"Um.. Minato-sensei, where's Kakashi?"

"Yeah! That bastard is always complaining about me being late so why isn't he here yet!"

"Obito! Don't talk about Kakashi like that!"

"Riiiinnn"

Ignoring his students banter, Minato looked around for any sign of their youngest teammate. But there was nothing. No spiky sliver hair, no disgruntled grunt, not even a chakra signature. Something twisted painfully in Minato's stomach.

Namikaze turned to address his students, "Let's just wait for a bit longer."

Obito grumbled, "But why should we! It's his fault for being late!"

Minato was just about to lecture the Uchiha but Rin beat him to it, "Obito, Kakashi always waits for you when your late. The least you could do is do the same for him."

Obito spluttered, pink dusting his cheeks in embarrassment before finally settling down, begrudgingly agreeing to wait for their last teammate.

So they all sat down and waited. With the background of Obito and Rin talking, Minato began to think of what could possibly have happened for his youngest student to be so unusually late. A late errand perhaps? But that couldn't be it because he knew Kakashi wasn't one to do things last minute. Then maybe he just slept in or forgot to set his alarm clock? But again, Kakashi wasn't that irresponsible.

Minato let out a frustrated sigh, running his hand through his hand in a attempt to alleviate the restless energy coursing through him to no avail.

Did something bad happen? Was he attacked? Is that why he had the cut on his arm yesterday? Was there an enemy ninja somewhere within the village? After all, Sakumo has a number of enemies and one of them could have gone after his son in order to get to the White Fang. But then again, Sakumo isn't really in any condition to really fight back so if there was a enemy ninja, it would have been more logical to go straight for him instead of attacking his son. There was also the fact that, if Kakashi was attacked by a unknown ninja, he would have immediately reported it to Minato.

However, if it wasn't a enemy ninja then was it someone from within? He heard the rumors and he knows that it isn't a great time to have the name Hatake right now but would the shinobi of the leaf really attack each other? The more he thought about it, the more questions he began to have and the more restless he became. But something in the back of his head kept telling him that something wasn't right. Something really wasn't right.

Minato ran his hand through his hair.

________

After about a hour of waiting with no silver hair in sight, even Obito started to worry. Could the disappearance of their teammate be related to last night? Should he tell Sensei? But before he could delve deeper into his thoughts, the sudden sound of Minato clapping is hands together rang in his ears, bring his attention back to his sensei.

With a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, Minato began to speak, "Well since Kakashi still isn't here let's get started shall we?"

And so the two genin rose from where they sat, dusting the non existent dirt off their pants. But, out of the corner of his eye, Obito could see Rin's eyes still darting around, searching for Kakashi. Obito clenched his fists and glared a hole into the ground, a flare of jealousy burning in his chest. Stupid Bakashi! Stealing Rin's attention even when he isn't even here.

He pretends not to feel the unease and worry stirring up inside him concerning their absent teammate.

______

It was only when the sun was beginning to set that training ended. Minato didn't want to cut training short just because he was worried. Maybe Kakashi was just too sick to come today and his dad made him stay home. Yeah, yeah that must be it. But then he remembered the lash on Kakashi's arm.

A jolt of panic ran through his body.

.....Maybe he should go check on his youngest student, if only to quell his anxiety.

______

Rin and Obito were beginning to head home now, both exhausted and covered in dirt. But then Obito suddenly stopped. Rin looked back at him, mouth opening to question her friend, but before she could even get a word out Obito began to speak, "You go on ahead Rin, I have to talk with Minato-sensei."

Rin frowned, eyeing him with concern, "Are you sure..? I could always wait for you here?"

Obito smiled, happy that Rin would be so concerned for him, "I'm sure! Don't worry about me Rin, its just going to be a quick talk and then I'll catch up to you alright?"

"Well alright then..."

And with just a couple of glances back, Rin began to walk away and disappear from sight.

Turning back Obito could see that Minato was also leaving so he quickly jogged over to him, one hand cupping his mouth and the other arm swinging frantically above his head as he called, "Minato-sensei! Wait!"

Hearing the call, Minato turned around to face his student, "Oh Obito! Was there something you needed?"

Hand scratching the back of his head, Obito began to question if he should really tell his sensei. After all, Kakashi was so reluctant to talk about with Obito so it must not be something he wanted others to know about. But.... if what happened yesterday was what caused Kakashi to miss out on training.....

Biting his lip, Obito responded, "Um...Yeah..."

Minato raised a brow at Obito's nervous disposition, "What is it..?"

Obito lowered his arm and started fiddling with his sleeve. A million reasons to not tell Minato running through his mind. But in the end, his concern for his teammate won. Slowing, he raised his head to look directly into Minato's eyes, "Well it's....

"...about Kakashi."

________

Minato was walking on the route to Kakashi's home, flashes of his conversation with Obito appearing in his mind.

"....last night, Kakashi stayed at my house after I found him near the river bank passed out."

And if that wasn't concerning enough, there was more.

"When I asked him about it, he told me that he had a argument with his father."

Flashes of the cut on Kakashi's arm began to flicker through his mind. He picked up his pace.

"And well... when I was changing him out of his wet clothes, there were bruised along the back of his arms and back, even a bit of blood in his hair..."

He wouldn't. Minato denied. He wouldn't, he kept repeating in his head as he thought about how kind, how loving Sakumo was, how much he cared for his son just as the he arrived at the entrance of the Hatake compound.

Not even bothering to knock, Minato opened the door, a flash of worry coursing through his veins at the fact that it was unlocked, and sprinted into the home.

Extending his senses, he tracked down Kakashi's chakra signature to a dark narrow hallway. Quickly crossing the old creeky wooden floor of the hall, he forcefully slide open the door—

".......Kakashi?"

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Hello everyone! Sorry to say that the HAITUS is still ongoing
But!
Since it's spring break I decided to pump out this chapter. Also sorry that I kind of left you off on a cliffhanger but enjoy!