Someone you loved

Chapter 8

He didn't know how to handle this situation!

Kakashi barely knew how to act around his team on a good day, but now he was out of his depth. Sasuke had killed a foreign shinobi in cold blood and Naruto somehow took offence in that. He knew that the blond was a kind soul, but he also understood why Sasuke had done what he did. If you've fought your entire life you learned that a dead enemy is better than one that could potentially stab you in the back. You learned to live with the guilt.

However, the similarities between himself and Sasuke were terrifying. It was a horrifying to see himself in every punch the raven-haired genin pulled, in every kunai he threw, in every jutsu he accomplished.

The fear for Sasuke quickly turned into anger at Chiasa. Why had the kunoichi never told him that Sasuke already had his first kill and from the way he had slit the shinobi's throat, his second and third as well. He would have talked to Naruto and Sakura before the mission, he'd have never let it go so far!

Angry, he quickly tied up the unconscious shinobi before turning to their client.

"Tazuna-san, I need to speak with you," he said sternly. "Our attackers appeared to be Chunin of Kirigakure. They are shinobi renowned for their willingness to fight on until their goal is achieved, even at the cost of their own lives."

Kakashi tried to ignore the glare Naruto threw at Sasuke or the way Sakura nervously shuffled between her teammates.

"Obviously, they were watching and waiting for us. The sun is out, and it hasn't rained for several days so there shouldn't have been any puddles on the ground."

"If you knew all that, why did even let those creeps attack you?" the old man asked accusingly but quickly turned silence as Kakashi's single eye surveyed him intensely.

"I could have killed them at any time, but I wanted to find out who their real target was."

Right now, he wanted to slap himself for that stupid idea.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Were you really the one they were after? Or was it one of us ninja? There has been no word of any shinobi seeking to take your life. The request that was relayed to Lord Hokage was that you have an escort to protect you against any roving bands of thieves and brigands. In any case, it's clear this is more than a B-rank mission."

When he had taken his kids on a C-rank, he had not wanted to risk their lives and throw a wrench in their admirable teamwork.

"To protect you from ordinary dangers until you complete the bridge, you're currently constructing would be a simple thing. But if you expected to be the target of a ninja assault then it is beyond question that this would have been classified - and priced - as a Jounin mission. You may have had your reasons, but it's never a good idea to conceal the facts when you're asking for help. As it is, this task falls far beyond the boundaries of the job we were assigned."

Kakashi wanted nothing more than to make their client understand, that he didn't take lightly to a possible danger to his students and whisk said students back to Konoha, where they'd hopefully get over their fight.

*

Unsurprisingly, it was Naruto who insisted that they completed the mission after hearing the tragic backstory of Tazuna. If it had been the blond alone, Kakashi would still have turned back, but Sakura, too, wanted to continue. There was no reaction from Sasuke other than an icy glare as one of the others came too close to him. It worried Kakashi to no end.

If he hadn't been so angry with Chiasa, he might have decided differently, listening to the part of his mind saying that his kids were not ready. In the end, Team 7 continued the mission to the obvious displeasure of Chiasa's falcons.