A/N: After a long disappearance... Hellos~ I'm back :D hahaha... Well, Kakashi finds out about Naruto, and Naruto is well... being himself... in my story. Kikunosuke turns out to be a fail because... you'll find out :) yeah my AN is filled with a bunch of cr*p XD I've been busy over summer cuz of my summer jobs and I just wanna say this out loud, I LOVE THIS ONE LITTLE KID WHO'S THE CUTEST LITTLE ANGEL EVER! he's so adorable :P
Hope you enjoy~
Things Aren't What They Seem To Be
'What a joke…' Naruto- or rather, Kikunosuke grumbled. Jumping from tree to tree going unnoticed by the rest of the team members. He watched his clone act like his sophomoric self, prancing around everywhere and getting heated up in every little negative thing said about him. Kikunosuke noticed Kakashi turning back to glance at him every once in a while, and whenever Kakashi turned, Kikunosuke would show him a thumbs up to let him know that everything was okay.
"WHAT? Take that back!" Naruto howled in irritation, when the bridge builder told him that he was unreliable. Naruto honestly had to admit, he thought of telling Kakashi his real identity but he didn't want to risk-
"Guys, Guys, calm down. We need to keep an eye out for things." Kakashi shot Kikunosuke an apologetic glance who rolled his eyes and stationed himself on one of the tree branches.
"But it was his fault! Calling me useless again and again!" Naruto jabbed a finger at the bridge builder's direction furiously. Kikunosuke could almost feel himself flinch about how annoying he could be seen.
"I call you useless because you are!" The bridge builder retorted, growling.
Naruto balled his fists. "Then why isn't he being called useless?" Sasuke was taken back by the sudden outrage but remained silent.
"Because you are." The bridge builder unfairly concluded, "and he is not."
While the two were bickering, Kikunosuke stepped back and observed his surroundings. Something seemed a little off- no, something seemed very off. The day was sunny and bright, yet there were three noticeable water puddles on the ground. He glanced at his disciple if he had noticed anything, which to his greatest displeasure, he found that Kakashi didn't notice at all and mentally slapped himself. Kikunosuke drew in a breath and he jumped closer to where the others were stationed at and threw a kunai near his mentee and was just so tempted to take on his commanding position so he could command Kakashi to do something.
Kakashi's eyes snapped to where the kunai hit the ground, as did everyone else's. When Kikunosuke looked back at the water puddles to see if they've moved, he couldn't find them anywhere anymore. He cursed and decided to just show up in front of them pretending like he was on a different mission. He swiftly jumped up and landed where his kunai had been before Kakashi pulled it out of the ground. Kikunosuke was pleased to see that Sasuke immediately placed himself between the bridge builder and his enemy (in this situation, Kikunosuke, since they don't know him yet).
"What are you doing here Kikunosuke?" Kakashi asked, obvious irritation seeping out of his every pores.
"Ah sorry, sorry" Kikunosuke rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, placing the other on his hips.
"Do you know him Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, eyes narrowing. Since no one was paying any attention to the blonde perky boy, he decided to use this chance to go and look for the 'water puddles.' He pivoted and dashed into the forest and when he felt that he was a safe distance away from the rest of his teammates, he changed into his AMBU form. Fully masked and prepared, he swiftly took his scroll out in one motion and glided his thumb on the scroll, cutting his thumb on the tree bark in the process: he had to call for Kitsu.
"Naruto-sama." Kitsu respectively bowed his head.
"Kitsu." Naruto greeted with a nod and filled his companion with all the information he needed in order to find the 'water puddles'. "Can you smell anything different around here?" Naruto asked.
Kitsu took a moment to sniff the air around him, facing every direction. "I smell something 8 o'clock sir." Kitsu said, directing his nose in that direction.
"Shit, isn't that near where those kids are?" Naruto cursed.
"What would you like me to do?" Kitsu tilted his head.
After a moments of consideration Naruto summoned up a frog and took out a blank scroll and scribbled something on it, gave it to the frog and ordered it to go deliver that scroll to the Hokage.
Okay, Kitsu, I want you to go and discretely summon Wolf please." With a nod Kitsu took off. Naruto fidgeted in spot and turned back into his real self waiting to be confronted by his teammate.
Meanwhile with Kakashi…
Kakashi was very close to getting a migraine from all the bickering and calling each other names when he heard a silent rustle in the bushes. He glanced towards the direction and immediately bent down to talk to the little fox whom his Captain summoned.
"Mr. Wolf, Kitsune-sama wishes to speak to you…" Kitsu whispered so that only Kakashi could hear. Kakashi nodded and followed Kitsu into the forest leaving the rest of the team with his shadow clone.
Upon arriving to where Naruto was, Kitsu disappeared in a puff and Kakashi and Naruto were left standing in an awkward moment of silence. Kakashi was surprised to see Naruto standing where he had expected his commander to be standing, and wasn't Naruto back there in the middle of the argument with everyone else?
"Naruto?" Kakashi questioned, raising his eyebrows.
Naruto thought the best way of telling him would be to transform right in front of him. So Naruto reached into his weapon pouch strapped on his leg wordlessly and he took out his ANBU mask. Kakashi tilted his head to the side and stared down at Naruto, still confused. Upon seeing Kakashi's confused expression, Naruto sighed and made the correct hand signs and transferred into his ANBU form. If Kakashi hadn't been wearing the mask he always wore, his jaw would've dislocated and hit the ground.
"Naruto- How… How… How…" Unable to say anymore than that, Kakashi just simply stared.
"Well, I really wasn't supposed to be telling you, but I might be allowed to erase your memories of this event when we go back to town, so I'll let you know." Naruto's voice was back to being gruff. The way it was always gruff when he turned into that form.
"Sir?" Kakashi straightened up and reached for his ANBU mask as well but Naruto held up a hand, stopping him.
"No, don't. I just needed you to know what my true form was because I have a bad feeling about this mission and I really don't want to give you a heart attack by suddenly knowing how to perform some Jutsu's in my original form." Naruto sighed and slid his fingers through his hair.
"What bad feeling sir?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto stared in disbelief. "You didn't notice?"
"If you mean by the three water puddles, then yes I did notice, but I think I could finish them off whoever it is." Kakashi said confidently before narrowing his eye. "Or do you doubt me sir?"
Naruto chuckled. "No I don't doubt your ability. I'm just going to get rid of them before they get us in any way. Sasuke and Sakura are just genin after all." Naruto added the last part kind of like an after thought but Kakashi understood. Those two had not experienced their first kill yet. They haven't been in a real battle yet.
"So how do you plan on doing this without the two knowing who you really are Kitsune-sama?" Kakashi's question brought Naruto back from his trail of thoughts.
"Well… that's kind of where you come in. I will be leaving my idiot clone with you lot, so I want you to create a clone of yourself and leave your clone with the group. The real you, I want the real you to back me up. Oh and let them set up camp about three miles away from where they are and make them rest. I have a bad feeling about tomorrow…" Naruto became his other persona and a cold smile found its way across his face. "Is that understood?"
Kakashi felt shivers running down his spine, "Yes sir."
The two left both of their clones alone with the group, still bickering about Naruto's idiocy and went to search for the puddle. Naruto had summoned Kitsu again as he needed his little companions assistance to figure out where the three devils were hiding.
"I smell them half a mile ahead." Kitsu spoke as he lead the two ninja's to where the 'water puddles' were.
"There it is." Naruto squinted his eyes and pointed ahead of them. Kakashi followed Naruto's fingers to find he was right. Three unnatural water puddles were in the middle of the streets. "I'm going to try electrocuting them. If they take human form, we each take one down. Kitsu, blast them with the most excruciating flames ever." Kitsu smirked and Kakashi stared at the two.
They stopped at a nearby tree, their chakra signatures well hidden, and Kakashi watched as Naruto performed the correct hand gestures when a lethal amount of electric bolts shot out of Naruto and hit the three water puddles. As Naruto had predicted the three water puddles made a damaging sound and poofed to their original forms.
"Now!" With that order, Kakashi, Kitsu, and Naruto all charged at one each and destroyed them in their own ways. Kakashi used his own creation, Chidori, Kitsu, just like Naruto has ordered, used blazing flames, and Naruto used a Jutsu which compressed the air around the selected person and exploding their insides; it was a slow and suffocating way of killing, just the way he liked it.
The three approached their kill before Naruto dismissed Kitsu. Kakashi looked at the bodies and observed out loud, "They look like the hidden mist village… This mission seems to be a lot more than we-"
"Expected. This is why Hokage-sama has sent me out here, to keep an eye on things." Naruto finished Kakashi's sentence and flipped one of the bodies with his feet. "You need to talk to the bridge builder. As soon as possible, and let the kids listen in. They need to know what they're up against… Or at least, they need to be on their toes. I don't like them, but I don't like my teammates dying unnecessarily. Kakashi nodded and looked up at his captain.
"What about the bodies?"
Naruto stared at Kakashi in confusion. "Don't you know the protocol? I leave, and you dispose." Naruto winked and took off to where the campsite was.
Watching his captain leave, Kakashi sighed and hunched down. "But to think that Kitsune-sama was Naruto…" he mumbled to himself. Of course he had his suspicions, like some times when Naruto seemed to be a little off… But to actually think… Shaking his thoughts away, he got up and collected the bodies and cursed. "Leave it to Kitsune-sama to purposely leave me a mess…"
Meanwhile, the bridge builder and the rest at camp…
"Ahhhhhh! Bathroom! Bathroom!" Naruto howled in aggravation holding onto his crotch, running around in circles.
"THEN GO!" The remaining four yelled at Naruto, synchronized in a face-palm.
"Nnnnn-!" Naruto jumped into the bushes and poofed. The real Naruto now, stayed for about 10 seconds and walked out, smiling like a sunshine. "Much better" He grinned a toothy grin that only he could probably manage and walked over to the log he was sitting on before.
A few moments later Kakashi stood up from where he was sitting, "Hmm…" He said while walking into his tent. Approximatly five seconds later he walked out and sat back in his spot. Naruto mentally slapped his forehead but he decided to bring up the topic so that it would be easier for Kakashi to 'interrogate' the bridge builder. Of course, interrogation without the whole lethal instrument thing.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto waved his arms high up in the air 'trying' to grab his mentor's attention.
"Yes sir- I mean, what is it this time Naruto?" Kakashi sounded tired, but he needed to keep up this act. Truth to be told, Kakashi found it very difficult to call his superior in position by his first name, but he knew he had no choice but to, if he wanted to keep this charade up.
"This mission is so easy!" Naruto scoffed and turned to the other two of his team members. "Right? Right?" He asked each of them.
"Yeah.." Sasuke didn't look at Naruto but his expression said it all; this mission was too easy.
"Naruto, what do you expect, we're still new at all this!" Sakura slammed her fist on Naruto's head. Naruto instinctively reached for the pain and whined.
"Actually…" Kakashi cleared his throat and turned his attention to the bridge builder. "How about you tell us what our real mission is?"
The three looked up and gawked while the bridge builder sat silently, not able to face any of them.
"it'll be easier for us to protect you if we know what the objective of the enemy is…" Kakashi egged him on into telling.
After a long moment of silence, the bridge builder sighed defeated, "Well, you know my name is Tazuna.." He suddenly looked uncomfortable "Actually… This is meant to be at least a B rank mission.." he looked away. Naruto and Kakashi briefly made eye contact but focused their attention back on Tazuna. "There's a man… Who's after my life…" He hesitated a bit more before continuing. "I don't know if you know him or not, or if you even ever heard of him… But his name is a man named Gatou." Naruto's eyes widened at the mention of the name.
"That son of a bitch has guts…" Naruto growled under his breath. All eyes turned to look at him and no one decided to say anything because Naruto had a dangerous glint in his eyes that promised pain.
"Anyways, Gatou is after me and he's filthy rich… So he's been sending ninja after ninja to try and kill me" He finished, looking away.
"But why is he after you?" Sasuke brought up a good point. Someone with that much power over money wouldn't just target anybody, much less a mere bridge builder.
"Well, Gatou owns a shipping company and he had his eyes on the Wave country for a long time…" He trailed off. "But I couldn't hire ninja's as a B-rank mission because… Our country is very poor.. and we didn't have money to spare…" He added the next bit quietly.
"What do you guys think?" Kakashi asked the group but he was staring at Naruto in particular.
Sasuke was the first to speak up, "I don't think we should drop this mission. Nothing bad has happened yet, and we've come pretty far." Sasuke said his thoughts out loud and looked around.
"Yeah, yeah!" Naruto piped up, "I agree with Sasuke! Believe it!" Tazuna looked grateful by the statement.
Kakashi grimced when Naruto said 'believe it'. Now knowing that Naruto is the captain of his ANBU team, everything seemed… odd. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore.
Noticing the sun going down, Kakashi stood up and ordered each of them to go sleep in individual tents except for Naruto. "Kit- Naruto, I'd like you to stand night-guard with me just in case something happened."
Naruto pretended to whine, "Why me-?"
Kakashi shrugged, "With you chatting the night away is the safest way to keep me awake." Sakura and Sasuke both stared at their teacher but didn't argue as they were tired and wanted to sleep. "I'll wake you guys up early. We're leaving at around 3am."
"Yes" Sasuke said, eyeing Naruto. He didn't like the idea of Naruto staying up with his teacher.
"Okay…" The look of dejection Sakura had could only mean she was really hoping to share a room with Sasuke but is unable to, so… she's sad.
"Thank you…" Tazuna thanked the four and crawled into his tent. Sasuke and Sakura soon followed Tazuna's example and crawled into their individual tents.
Naruto silently made a barrier around him and Kakashi so that no one else could hear what they were talking about.
"So, what do you think Kitsune-sama?" Kakashi asked the moment he knew Naruto finished with his seal.
All the humor and childlike features were gone from Naruto's face. "Well… All I can say is… we'd better hope for the worst… or the best, depending on…" Naruto let his sentence trail off.
"Depending on what?" Kakashi asked, although he could already guess the answer.
"Zabuza…" That was the only thing Naruto had to say to earn Kakashi's understading.
A/N: So... You like? :D Reviews appreciated :P