Chapter 2- Howl
Pretty darn long chapter. Enjoy!
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Feet sounded and pattered, it could have been mistaken for a soft but sullied musical beat. Kakashi's own blended in beautifully, much lighter and harder to hear, but you knew it was there.
Kakashi was followed by three others, while his followed one, Yamanaka Inochi, and though masks covered their faces, Kakashi recognized each one, knew their names, their relatives, relationships and even children.
"Kakashi," Inochi's voice was quiet, and though his words were only meant for Kakashi the others were listening intently. Kakashi sped up his pace in order to reach him. Inochi waited until Kakashi was at his side and continued, "We'll be at the boarder in about two hours," Kakashi knew this already but kept his mouth shut and nodded, this man was his superior "I know that The Third told us not to interfere until one month from now, but I personally saw those bodies," this was news even to Kakashi, he remembered that day quite clearly.
The sky was bright and clear, it had been the first warm day in a long time, but the day was spoiled by mere pieces of paper. The bodies of four children were found at an enemy base in Iwa, and every shinobi present was to attend their funeral. The posters were taped onto every shinobi's door, a notice for those who somehow did not know about the newly found dead, a notice for their parents, a notice for dress, a notice for the time, a notice because everyone deep down knows that a twelve and thirteen year old just should not be on the battle field.
Hundreds of shinobi gathered in front of the four caskets. Kakashi along with the majority of the shinobi had no idea what these children looked like when they were retrieved. Kakashi, in fact, had not even seen the kids before the poster that shown their smiling faces.
Two were from the same team; the others were probably separated in battle. It was hard to think of a worse way to go, but the Third had assured them that it was for their village and that they died honorably. Although, Kakashi had a feeling that they weren't kidnapped and interrogated for information at all, Commander Takashi knew that genin and even some chuunin weren't informed of where, when and how Konoha would attack, they were to leave that to their own teachers and commanders, and that they had probably died while begging and even crying not to be killed, however honorable that was, he was not sure.
"Stick to Hokage-sama's orders. I'm not a weak child. If something happens I can defend myself," Kakashi spoke with finality.
"I'm sure you can hold your own against Takashi, he's not who I'm worried about," Inochi shot Kakashi a stern glare and Kakashi remained silent. "You'll be in their territory, in their base, Kakashi. They'll know within minutes, or even seconds, if their commander is harmed. You can't fight a whole base and live."
Kakashi snickered, "Why not? I am a student of the Fourth." Inochi shot him another stern look. "Relax, I'm kidding," Inochi huffed at that.
"Now is not the time to be kidding or to relax, Kakashi please, this is serious. You know ever sense-"
"Stop. I get it. I'll be okay for the month, you just worry about your part instead of mine, okay?" And with that Kakashi slowed so he was now following Inochi once more.
He could tell that Inochi was annoyed. He could also tell that Inochi thought that Kakashi was still a child, even though when Kakashi was a child he was going through the ranks as if they toys. Growing out of one and into another more mature one.
"Sir! Enemy chakra!" Within seconds everyone became rigid.
"Have we been followed?" Inochi's persona changed into Tiger.
"It doesn't seem so, I would have noticed them trailing us. They might just be passing through." Boar whispered over Kakashi's head. The three of them stood on a branch together, while the other two stopped at the one just before waiting for a command.
"Right, this might be the perfect time for you to get noticed, Kakashi. There is only a half days trek left and these guys might even be going to that base," Tiger's whispers were barely heard above Kakashi's heart beat.
"And if they're not?" Kakashi asked while keeping his eye scanning around the woods.
"Have them point you in the right direction, tell them you're looking for work there," Kakashi nodded and grabbed the contact case out of his pocket.
"Are you sure about this, sir?" Tiger remained quiet, and after a few moments he nodded.
"Is it in?" Kakashi's left eye began watering and he blinked rapidly while trying to rub it. "Let me see," Tiger put his hands on Kakashi's shoulders and turned his body to face him. "Does it feel like chakras being released?" Tiger was concerned as he lifted Kakashi's chin up to get a better look. His eye now almost a perfect match to the other.
"No, it feels normal, actually," Kakashi moved his head to the side to examine his surroundings. He was still quite blind in his left eye, but even still, it was the most that his eye had ever seen without being enhanced by the Sharingan since he was thirteen.
"As normal as it's gonna get. Don't forget what the Hokage said," Kakashi nodded, still looking around the woods. "And you have everything? Your-"
"Yes mother," Kakashi grumbled. He was beginning to think that under that tiger mask was Rin.
"Kakashi," Tiger warned him once more and squeezed his shoulders reassuringly. "If you need us before the months over… cause a ruckus, and run like hell," Kakashi smirked and nodded.
"Good plan," he gave a short salute and jumped to the forest floor. As soon as he landed the ANBU squad's chakra was masked, and he could hear the enemies footsteps coming closer.
Kakashi decided to take a slow pace away from them, so it would seem as if he didn't know they were there, and just as quickly as he began walking, one jumped in front of him.
"What are you doing in this area, brat?" Normally, Kakashi would have found a good artery to slice by now, instead decided to tense up.
"I-I'm, I mean…" The Iwa shinobi frowned. He wasn't that much taller than Kakashi himself, but he was definitely twice as wide, and smelled strongly of sweat and onion. Kakashi tried his best not to show his disgust.
"I-I-I, get on with it!" He was now snarling with his mouth open, showing his browning teeth.
"I'm looking for w-work, sir," Kakashi quickly looked to the side as the rest of the squad showed up, surprisingly not smelling all that bad.
"Work eh?" Kakashi immediately recognized him as the leader, and merely nodded, making the others laugh.
"Where the hell are you planning on finding work at? No one will take a scrawny little shit like you," Kakashi bit his lip and decided to ignore the smelly Iwa's comments, keeping his eyes on the leader.
"Ah, you're quite intelligent though aren't you?" The leader smiled at him and walked forward to take a better look. "You know who's in charge here," the man appeared to be eyeing Kakashi's scar. "Where are you from, kid?"
"Fire country," the unbathed one scoffed.
"How the hell is he smart. Coming out here from the fire country, I say we skin him and hang 'im in the trees," the other's seemed to think that this was also a good idea and snickered along with him. Kakashi pretended to be frightened, widening his eyes and shaking his head while stepping back.
"I-I don't mean harm! I just n-need work! I-I'm not on a side!" His hands now placed palm out in front of him. If need be, he would snap these guy's necks.
"Now, now don't be scared. They won't lay a hand on you until I say. What kind of work are you looking for?" The leaders voice was calm, yet there was a hint of something vicious just beneath its surface.
"I-I had heard about work at an Iwa base, but I'm really not s-sure which one that is," The leader narrowed his eyes.
"Where did you hear this from?" He was definitely trying to leech Kakashi out for who he really was.
"I used to work with someone from Iwa, after the place we worked for went out of business he said that he remembered a base in Iwa that always took in people to work for them," Kakashi said in a quiet and timid voice. Were they falling for it?
"And where is he?" The leader's voice remained the same, and Kakashi shrugged in response, trying to keep things as simple as possible. "Hm…" The leader looked away from Kakashi and towards his team and then back to him. "Alright kid. There is still quite far to walk, don't be whining to stop," Kakashi smiled brightly and nodded. It was far too easy to act as some innocent kid.
After hour three of non-stop walking Kakashi started lagging behind the rest. Not because he was tired, but his other self should have been pretty exhausted about the fast walking pace by now. He got out his canteen and began sipping on it, while noticing the changing scenery. One of the Iwa ninja's slowed and walked next to him.
"You aren't already tired are yeah, kid?" Kakashi continued sipping and looked up at the man. "Not much of a talker, eh? Say Izo-sama if we are going there, then why haven't you asked more questions about the kid?" Sama? How far up is this guy? Kakashi thought while meeting Izo's gaze. Izo's eyes flashed from Kakashi's to the guy walking next to him and glared.
"You are not going there, scum. So drop it," the man next to Kakashi audibly gulped and Kakashi thought much of doing the same. Something just wasn't adding up. Was he really going to be going to the Iwa base?
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After making them stop twice it seemed that they were close to reaching their destination. Izo broke up the group, the man who was walking by him and the smelly one were now walking in another direction Izo told them to go. Now with only a group of three, they continued on.
Kakashi was quite convinced after about another hour and a half of walking, that they were taking him somewhere very secluded where they would cut off his legs and leave him to fend off whatever kind of animals lived on sharp jagged rocks. But off in the distance, what Kakashi had mistaken for a very tall rocky hill, was a building, or fortress. Its walls stood even taller than those surrounding Konoha.
Oh. Fuck. This is new… But it had been known that Iwa ninja could make their buildings just as quickly as they were blown up.
Izo looked back at him and noticed his reluctance.
"Too late to turn back now, if I let you go you'll be killed by our soldiers, and if not them… wild beasts," It was Kakashi's turn to gulp audibly. His showy nervousness was making his actual self a bit nervous.
They stopped at the giant wall, and Kakashi looked up. What was it? Fifty, sixty, seventy stories tall? This is a bit much…
Izo knocked onto the wall and a small window opened, it had to be many feet deep. Izo then placed his hand on it and channeled some kind of chakra through it, making patterns appear in and around the window, soon after there was a large bang and a large section of the wall began to sink beneath the ground.
Izo nodded to the other ninja with them after about two minutes and the man jumped over the still sinking wall, which was now about seven feet above them. After another minute the wall was completely beneath the earth. Izo began walking forward and Kakashi followed, running his hand along the inside of the wall, it felt alive, there was chakra running through him as he touched it. It ended up being about twelve feet deep, and as soon as they passed through the wall began to rise with another bang.
The building on the inside did not quite live up to the gigantic wall surrounding it, but it was still pretty impressive. Made completely of stone, it reminded Kakashi of some medieval castle, more than a fortress.
They walked around to what Kakashi was guess was the back where many younger guys appeared to be taking a break from work. As they walked past them each one would stop what they were doing to bow for Izo and glare at Kakashi.
"Don't take notice to them, they get jealous of new meat," that would seem to be just it, as many of them gathering in groups and began to whisper frantically.
"You mean, I really get to work here? No questions asked?" Kakashi was quite suspicious of what was happening. Konoha would never let someone from another country work there without first getting a thorough background check and not without being approved by the Hokage.
"Sure, why not? We always need new workers since many always come up missing," Izo turned his head and smirked at Kakashi as if he was supposed to get the joke. Instead he pretended to be scared shitless. Izo laughed and reached his arm out to push Kakashi inside an open side door. The room housed about thirty beds and boys who appeared to be in their later teens occupied a few of them. They immediately shot up and bowed.
"I need an empty bed," Izo said with both his hands now placed firmly on Kakashi's shoulders.
"Yes s-sir, there is one now free since Mara is gone," the boy pointed to one of the beds behind him.
"Very well, this will be your bed then…," Izo paused and was now looking at Kakashi
"Oh right, my name is Kane," Izo smiled and nodded.
"Show him around and find a job suitable for him," Izo turned to leave but stopped, "Oh, and Kane" Kakashi turned to look at him.
"Better find a good hiding place for your things, or they'll be found in really high places or in someone else's possession," with that he walked away and out of sight. Kakashi sighed and gripped his backpack strap while walking to his bed. He flopped down stomach first and groaned. The bed was as hard as a rock; the floor would have probably felt more comfortable. He took his backpack off and cradled it under his head, finding that that was probably the current safest place for his belongings.
He heard footsteps not even a minute later come up to his bedside, but chose to keep his eyes closed. There was then a snicker, which was followed by a kick to his bed. Kakashi opened his right slowly, sizing up the culprit. Just some stupid scrawny kid? He sighed and turned away from the kid and closed his eyes once more.
"Hey! Don't ignore me, I'm your boss!" Kakashi laughed at this and decided to humor the boy. He turned over once more and this time opened both eyes.
"Okay? Well it just took a three days walk to get here, so after I get up you can be my boss." He smirked and closed his eyes.
"You brat!" He grabbed Kakashi's arm and tried to pull him up but Kakashi yanked his arm out of his grasp and sat up.
"Alright you have my attention, what is it?" The kid scowled at him as some other boys started to file into the room.
"You can't just come in here and get to work wit the rest of us! We've earned it!" Kakashi rolled his eye… Oops.. he opened the other and looked over at the others, there were about ten of them in the room now.
"Hm.. Well the Izo guy said I can, so what's the big deal," he heard some gasps. The boy standing in front of him swung to hit his face but Kakashi grabbed his arm. "Watch were you put that thing, if it comes an inch closer I'll rip it off." The boy growled and tugged his arm away.
"Who the fuck do you think you are brat? We're gonna have to teach you some manners," he stepped closer and reached behind Kakashi for his bag, but Kakashi pulled it away. No way a bunch of brats were going to get him killed.
"Fine, I'm sorry. What is it you would like me to do?" He asked while three more came into the room.
"Explain yourself! Where are you from, why are you here?" The boy was quite angry for reasons which Kakashi couldn't understand.
"I'm from the Fire Country, there is no work there so I came here," again there was gasps.
"The Fire Country? Are you stupid? At least we know why you're here," Kakashi lifted an eyebrow and looked from the one standing before him to the others. They seemed to look away from him as he did.
"For work?"
"No dumbass!" He paused and grinned, "they're gonna kill you."
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Even still after that comment the boy, which he later learned was called Yoh, led him around the fortress. Not all of it, he wasn't trusted enough for that. Kakashi was given so many tasks his first day that he only completely about a third of them. The others he either did severally wrong, or just didn't have time for. By the time one in the morning rolled around, Kakashi gave up on his mopping after slipping for the god only knows howmanith time. Anyone who saw him would definitely not know that normally, he was very coordinated. He threw the mop halfway down the hall and kicked the bucket full of dirty water over and stomped back to the sleeping quarters were he found the door locked.
He had to control his anger before he punched or kicked the door in and exposed himself. Though, he was about to do something really stupid anyways. He took the contact out and promptly placed it into the case and scanned the area, finding no one, he climbed the wall onto the roof where he placed his backpack earlier. He would put his belongings in high places before the little brats did.
Grabbed the backpack and punched it several times, both out of anger and to make it feel less like a lumpy backpack, and placed it under his head. This arrangement worked for about an hour, before suddenly it felt as if the temperature dropped thirty degrees.
"Goddamnit!" Kakashi whispered to the harsh air.
"Whose there?" Someone from below squeaked. Kakashi quickly reached into his pocket and retrieved the contact case. He opened the Sharingan to see, and not so carefully put the contact into his eye. It would take him a few more days to get used to putting it in at a moments notice. After blinking several times he crawled over to the side of the roof and peered down. It was the boy from earlier whom had pointed out the free bed.
"Yo," the boy squeaked once more as he looked up. Seeing Kakashi's calm and smiling face shocked the boy, causing him to stumbling and fall.
"W-what are you doing up there?" Kakashi moved his arm to hold his chin up and shrugged. "They didn't… throw you up there did they" the boy stood up and began brushing the dirt off his sleeping pants.
"Could they really do that? Throw a human, I mean," Kakashi asked. This time the boy shrugged.
"I've seen them do some pretty mean things," he walked up closer to the building, "how did you get up there?"
In actuality Kakashi put chakra into his hands and feet, but for Kane's sake…
"Like this," he said lightly as he moved to the corner of the sleeping quarters. There was another building connected that stuck out farther giving Kakashi proper leeway to crawl down the corner.
"Whoa, are you a ninja?" The boy asked as Kakashi landed in front of him.
"What?" he laugh, "no, but I might have inherited something from my parents I suppose,"
"Why were you up there anyways?"
"To sleep," Kakashi replied simply.
"Sleep? People from the Fire Country are really weird…" he mumbled.
"Ah, well it's more of your friend's faults, they locked me out" the boys eyebrows furrowed
"They aren't my friends," he said darkly.
"Well that's good. I don't want to have to kick everyone's ass in there," Kakashi smiled while pointing to the door behind him.
"You wouldn't be able to, they're older than you…I think?" Kakashi shrugged again. "How old are you?"
Fifteen," the boy hummed.
"That's weird. This is the older boys dormitory,"
"You seem a bit young to be in here too," the boy nodded and looked away.
"Yeah, my older brother was put in here, but now that he's gone I'm sure they'll be switching me out soon," though Kakashi probably knew where he'd gone, he still asked,
"Where is he now?" the boy bit his lower lip as it began to quiver.
"He disappeared," his voice was so quiet Kakashi could hardly hear him.
"You mean he ran away?" The boy shook his head.
"No, Izo-sama took him. When that happens, they never come back." So even the boys were aware that something strange was going on.
"Really? But Izo seemed like a pretty nice guy."
"Sure, at first." His voice was still distant. The wind decided at that point to pick up, and even though Kakashi had planned ahead and wore layers, even a scarf, it bit through him causing him to shiver, though the boy didn't seem fazed. "You aren't used to this kind of weather are you?" Kakashi shook his head. "Come on, let's go inside," he began to walk towards the door but stopped, "keep your clothes on, or they will steal them." He wasn't planning on taking them off to begin with.
Finally, after the long day he was able to sleep on a bed, whether hard or not, he was grateful. He fingered the case back out of his pocket and scanned the room to make sure that no one was looking as he took out his contact. It seemed that only after minutes of sleep he was awoken by someone ripping the pillow out from under his head.
"Get up brat!" This was pretty much the same routine he went through for the next week. He'd be woken up rather rudely after only hours of sleep, and have to jab his contact in so fast that many times his eye would water. This also brought about a lot of name-calling. Whenever Kakashi got an outside job by himself, which was practically everyday, he would take out his contact, though this particular day they sought to not leave him alone.
While chopping wood (which surprisingly turned out to be very easy, I wonder why?) one of the boys from Yoh's posse of ten decided it would be fun to sneak up on him and pour water on him. Kakashi thought it would be fun to counteract his little prank.
Kakashi kept his back to the boy as he, not so quietly, snuck up behind him. While still a few yards away Kakashi stuck his contact in and sighed as he still had a few seconds to spare. Just as the boy was getting ready to dump the bucket and it's contents onto him Kakashi turned and smacked the bottom around, making the dirty water drown the boys face and upper body. It was quite humorous watching the boys face turn from a sneer to complete shock.
"What the fuck?" He threw the bucket to the side and clenched his fists at his side.
"Oh woops! Didn't see you sneaking up on me with that really suspicious bucket of dirty water," his fists began to shake, "damn," Kakashi plugged his nose "you might want to go shower, that stuff is pretty lethal smelling." This time the boy lurched forward and swung. Kakashi moved to the side and easily dodged it, while tripping the boy. "Tell Yoh to make you do more productive things. I've had it with your childplay," at that Kakashi looked up to glare over at Yoh and his gang whose jaws had been hanging open. "Oh, and you might want to move before I mistake one of your limbs for a log," the boy wasn't going to question Kakashi any further and scrambled up and back to his friends.
The rest of the day seemed to go on pretty well until dinnertime. The sun was just beginning to set and Kakashi had just finished painting the final plaque with Iwa's symbol on it. Luckily there was a stencil or Kakashi would have given up after the first. Kakashi may have been a genius but his art skills lacked greatly.
He leaned the last plaque up again a wall and rubbed his left eye. He had to leave the contact in since he was painting the stupid plaques so close to the outer wall. There was guards walking behind him about every five minutes and he didn't think it would be that healthy to have to take it and put it back in so often, though it would probably be good practice.
He had about thirty minutes before dinner and he had to wash out the paintbrushes and the bucket and get a shower in himself. If he was lucky the food would still be warm, if he was really lucky there would still be some left.
To top off his super awesome week he been getting really sick of doing such stupid tasks and getting bossed around by annoying boys who thought they were just the coolest thing since… well no one in Iwa was cool so whatever. He had already wasted a whole week and he needed to figure out a way to get close to-
Somehow his feet lost their placing, but Kakashi, though not so great with mopping and trying to stay upright, knew that he could definitely walk and think without falling flat on his face.
There was a loud gasp as Kakashi glared back at the perpetrator who was now backing away from Kakashi. Maybe he really was a smart. But after noticing that Yoh's eyes weren't meeting his but rather someone elses much higher up from the ground, Kakashi whipped his head around and this time his jaw dropped.
Izo stood blood red, not with anger, well maybe that too, but he was covered in the paint that slipped from Kakashi's grasp. He was looking down at Kakashi with an expression that Kakashi could not read. Well, there's a way to get close to the enemy.
"Kane," his voice was stern as he stepped forward and grabbed Kakashi's upper arm, pulling him to his feet.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I lost my footing!" Kane was definitely a nervous wreck but Kakashi was patting himself on the back in his head.
"Is that really what you have to say?" Kakashi's eyebrows furrowed. "You aren't going to blame this on," he paused and glared over at Yoh, "anyone?" If Kakashi were to look back he would have saw Yoh close to wetting himself. But that was payback enough. Kakashi could handle whatever punishment Izo gave to him and he knew that Yoh could not.
"Y-yes. It was my fault." Izo hummed as he used the back of his sleeve to wipe some of the paint off his face. "Very well. Let's go, I think Commander Takashi-sama will need to see you over this," Jackpot! Kakashi glanced back at Yoh as they were walking away. The boy looked lost as he stood there trembling. When their eyes met Yoh mouthed the words "thank you," and Kakashi nodded and turned back to follow Izo who was now several paces ahead of him.
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"Howl" is the song this time it's by Florence and the Machine on the cd Lungs
So apparently the ANBU masks are based off of the zodiac animals. Given that there are only 12 zodiacs, does that mean that there are only 12 ANBU? It is also very hard to give a certain character… Inochi, an animal. I had originally thought of Hawk but after researching and found out about the zodiacs and yadda yadda yadda I chose Tiger. Does everyone agree with this? If you choose to review could you include your thoughts about what animal you think suits him best? Though his role is minor, I'd still like to get it right.
Also, Kakashi's undercover name is making me turn just as gray as his hair. I was scamming through other fanfics and some other author had a story similar to mine and used the name I wanted, thus, I didn't want it to seem like I was stealing her story or whatever soo now I have three with Kane as my favorite. Go to my profile and please vote for your favorite! If you don't like those three please leave a review with your ideas.