The Black Plague

Chapter 5 - New Friends

Kakashi's POV

As we headed to iwagakure, I chuckled as I remembered how the Kumo ninja had taken the fight.
I turned to look at the raikage after getting Kuro situated. He was staring at Darui. He then looked at Kuro, who was sleeping in my arms. He told the blonde haired guy to go check on Darui. The blonde haired guy was also in shock. He slowly walked over to Darui. Once he got there he checked for a pulse and his breathing. Satisfied that Darui was fine, he picked him up and brought him over to the Raikage. He set Darui down and leaned his back against the side of his legs. He watched Darui for a second and then looked up at the raikage. "What do you want for me to do with him?" "That's fine we'll wait for him to wake up." "Hai, raikage-Sama." I walked over to Darui then and kneeled down next to him. I supported Kuro with my legs and kept one hand on his back. I reached out and checked Darui's pulse. It was strong and his breathing was normal. Huh, it's like he is sleeping and not just been knocked out. His chakra level is a little higher than before and he doesn't look like he was just attacked. I looked down at Kuro. He was sleeping. "Well, from the last time that he knocked someone out, it should be only about 3 minutes till he wakes up. It's been about 2 so he should wake up soon." "Alright, thanks, I guess he underestimated the kid." "Yeah, everyone underestimates him. Funny because he is probably the strongest person I know besides the kages. He might even be on Kage level, I don't know, I never seen him fight for real." "Damn, that kid is really strong, too bad he is so lazy." I nodded at the blonde guys statement. He isn't wrong. If Kuro wasn't lazy I don't even know what he could do. Darui stirred and we all stared at him as he raised his head. He looked around and was confused for a second. Then he saw me, or rather, he saw that I was carrying kuro. His eyes went wide. "He was playing with me, wasn't he?" "Yep." He nodded and stood up. He looked down at himself and then rubbed his neck. "Well, doesn't feel like I was just knocked unconscious." There it is again. Kuro must transfer his chakra into people when he squeezes their hand, or else I don't know. That's the most logical thing. "I think he transferred some of his chakra into you after he knocked you out." "Huh, well my chakra is full and actually I have a little more than usual." I nodded, it made sense. Kuro probably has an insane amount of chakra, but I've only sensed about a chunnin to jounin level. "So, does he always sleep?" I sweatdropped. " yeah, pretty much." "Ha, Darui you just got beat by a little lazy kid!" "Huh, well he would be able to beat you too." "Yeah, yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night." "Ahem" I looked over at the raikage. "It looks like I'm going to be signing that scroll." I smiled and handed him the scroll. He read it over nodding his head a few times. He then signed it. "I agree to what was written. Take this to the tsuchikage." I nodded and grabbed the scroll. After placing it in my pouch our team headed out. We left kumogakure and headed towards iwagakure. I motioned lizard over. "So what could you get on the body Kuro substituted with?" "It was a dead body alright. It looked like it had been dead only a few days. The hair was dyed to look like Kuro's. The body however was a grown adult. It was either a really short adult or Kuro used some ninjitsu to change the size of the body. It wasn't anybody in the bingo book or anybody from the leaf as far as I could tell." "Ok, that's good that it wasn't a child or someone from the leaf. I'm gonna assume that it was some ninja that went after Kuro. Must not of had a bounty on his head so kuro used him otherwise." I nodded at lizard and he dropped back to his position.

It was now almost nightfall so we stopped traveling to set up camp. Boar, bear, and bird set up the tents, and lizard started a fire with wood that toad had gotten. I set kuro down against a rock and went to go catch some prey with tenzo. After catching a few fish in a stream nearby we headed back to the camp. As I was walking up I saw that the tents had been put up and the fire was blazing nicely. I glanced over at the rock that I had put Kuro against earlier. He was still there sleeping. I shook my head and went to go give lizard the fish so he could cook it. After that was done I set up watches for everyone. Boar was first, then bird, lizard, bear, toad, me, tenzo, and then kuro. I went over to kuro to wake him up for food and to tell him when he had watch. I squatted down next to him. I reached out and shook his shoulders a little. He swatted my hand and went back to sleep. "Kuro, wake up." He didn't move. I sighed. "Kuro, if you don't wake up in 5 seconds then i'm going to eat your portion of the food." He raised his head and cocked it. He reached out and ruffled my hair. He then got up and walked over to the fire. Yes! I finally got him to wake up without anyone getting hurt or any arguing! Kuro picked up a fish and walked away behind the rock. I watched him curiously. He just walked behind it and then came out the other side with the fish gone. I was a little shocked but at the same time not, because he has done this before. I looked over at my team. They were frozen for a second and then they just shook their heads and went back to what they were doing. Toad glanced at Kuro and me, seeming to be sizing something up. He shrugged and then sat down to eat. I walked over and grabbed some fish as well. I looked at my teammates to see them looking at me in anticipation. I shook my head and walked to the rock that kuro ate behind. Kuro was sitting on top of it now. "Oi, Kuro, if one of those idiots tries to sneak a peek, knock em out." He nodded at me. I walked around to behind the rock and sat down. I pulled down my mask and ate silently and decently fast. I looked up at Kuro. He was staring at something infront of the rock. I assume that it was one of my teammates. He was tracking their movement. His head suddenly stopped moving and he laid down. He turned over onto his belly and tapped the rock looking at me. Hurry up I am bored "I'm eating fast." Nope slow poke "hmph" toad by the way "he was the one trying to look? Thought it was gonna be tenzo." Tenzo is scared of me "oh, yeah, hey about that, it wasn't his fault. He just suggested it because my arms were getting tired. I was the one who agreed and put you on him." Ok do not do it again he smells weird "seriously! You don't want to be carried by him because he smells weird." Yeah he smells like a female and you smell like dogs mixed with pine trees and something else what? I smell like pine trees? I get the dogs, but pine trees? I was finished eating then. I replaced my masks and went to go see what toad was doing. I found him sprawled out on the ground with a kuro clone sitting on top of him. Toad was unconscious but I knew he would wake up soon. I jus shook my head and chuckled. I went over to the tents and went into mine and Kuro's. I set some things away and pulled others out. I put a kunai underneath my pillow and put a shuriken behind my pack. I grabbed my blanket and set it to the side so I could put it over me when I was ready to sleep. I could hear the others getting ready to sleep as well. Boar has already gotten into his watch position. I looked for kuro and saw him laying down on top of the rock. He was staring up at the stars. The only reason I knew he was awake was because he was mindlessly tapping the rock with his fingers. I went up to him. "Why aren't you sleeping yet?" Too early "Kuro it is 11. It is not too early. Now come on before I drag you to the tent." He looked over at me and shook his head. I sighed and went over and sat down next to him. "Kuro, you have to sleep. Come on." I picked his upper body up off the ground and put him in a sitting position. He let his body go limp and would have fallen back if I didn't catch him. "Kuro, don't make me actually drag you back." He just stared straight ahead. I got a tick mark. "You asked for it." I took hold of his hands and started to drag him off of the rock. He still lay limp. I dragged him over to the tent and threw him over to his side of the tent. He landed and then rolled onto his belly. He put his hands underneath his mask in a sleeping position. I shook my head at him and sat down on my bedroll. I took out my book and started reading from where I left off. I was a few chapters in when I noticed that kuro wasn't on his bedroll. I looked around and didn't see him. I then heard a little shuffling noise behind me. I looked to the noise and saw kuro. My eyes widened. Oh crap, he was reading over my shoulder. He's not gonna let me carry him now that he saw that. I was staring at him waiting to see what he would do. He just stared back at me. I closed my book and put it away into my pouch. "Kuro I'm going to go to sleep now." He nodded and moved back to his bedroll. I laid down and put the blanket over me. I looked to my side and saw Kuro sitting cross legged looking up. I quirked an eyebrow at him but just put it off as a Kuro thing. I put my head back on my pillow, which was my anbu jacket rolled up, and closed my eyes. I didn't fall asleep right away. So instead I listened to the sounds of nature at night. A few minutes later I heard a rustling to my right. Kuro must be going to sleep. I ignored him and continued to listen to the nights sounds. I felt something touch my arm. I opened my eyes and looked down. Kuro was touching my arm. I looked up at him and he was looking at me. "What?" Can I sleep with you I was taken aback. I didn't think he would want to on a mission let alone after he saw what I read. I guess he doesn't care. "Sure." He had dragged his roll adjacent to mine. He laid down and then scooted closer to me. He pulled my blanket around him and then climbed on top of me. He laid down with his legs on top of mine. He put his arms on either side of me and fisted the fabric of my undershirt. He put his chin on my chest and looked at me. I ruffled his hair and then put one hand on his back and the other behind my head. I closed my eyes and felt kuro move his head so that his ear was on my chest. After a few minutes like this I fell asleep.
I woke up to someone tapping my shoulder. I looked that direction and saw toad. He was shaking trying not to laugh. I looked down at kuro and he was asleep in the same position as earlier. I realized that it was time for my watch. I then smirked as I had an idea. I raised a finger telling toad to wait. I rolled onto my side and let kuro slide off of me. As he slid off I tapped his arms in Morse code. Latch onto toad for payback I then unlatched his hands from my shirt. I got up crouching. Toad was still next to me. I picked up kuro as if I was going to reposition him. Instead of laying him back down I lunged forward and put kuro in toads arms. Kuro latched onto toads shirt, but the rest of his body was limp. Good job kuro. Hah, just wait until tenzo comes to wake kuro up. The whole village would know by the end of the week. I got out of the tent after grabbing my anbu vest. I put it on while standing up. I walked over to the lookout spot and got into position. I sat there for about an hour. After my time was up I went to tenzo and toads tent. I looked in to see that toad had somehow gotten back into his tent. Kuro was laying on top of toad who was out cold. Toads hands were on top of kuro. I shook my head and tried not to laugh. I went over and woke tenzo. He looked over at toad and let out a silent snicker. He then got up to go take watch. I went back to my tent and slept till kuro woke me up 2 hours later.