Hot 'N' Dangerous

Chapter 13: A Different Way To Climb Trees

I soaked a hot towel and wiped Kakashi's twitching brow as the three of them looked at Kakashi intensely, their faces bent over and just an foot above his face. Naruto reached towards the mask on Kakashi's face but snatched his hand back. The three of them continued in this manner, snapping at each other for being cowardly. Liz was off to the side sharpening her sword without killing anybody while doing so.

"You guys should really give him some space," I advised, walking away with the bucket of hot water in my hands.

I poured the water out into the sink and set the bucket down, returning to the group. Suddenly, the three of them leaped back and fumbled around, scared out of their wits. Kakashi had woken up and nearly smacked all three of them on the heads as he sat up abruptly.

"What's wrong, Sensei?" I asked, kneeling down next to him while the other three kept their distance.

"I-I don't know," he stammered, his hand on his head, desperately trying to remember something.

"Oh! Kakashi-Sensei, you're awake," noticed Tsunami.

"Yeah, what's wrong, Sensei?" recovered Naruto.

"Well, I've realized something," he started, "Body erasing teams usually dispose of the body of the person they killed right there," explained Kakashi.

"So what?" shrugged Sakura.

"Don't you see? How did that masked ninja dispose of Zabuza's body?" he questioned a worried look spread evenly across his face.

"How could we know? He took the body with him," replied Sakura with a matter-of-factly tone.

"Yeah... if he needed proof of his work, he could've just taken the head," noted Kakashi thoughtfully, "And the weapons he used to kill Zabuza..."

Sasuke paled, "No way!"

"Are you sure?" I confirmed again.

"Yeah, I'm sure," he replied seriously.

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Tazuna urgently.

Kakashi sighed, "Most likely, Zabuza... is still alive" he ended with a forced grunt.

Sakura, Naruto and Tazuna froze with cold sweat.

Liz exploded first, "WHAT?!"

"What the hell do you mean?" screamed a panicked Naruto.

"Kakashi-Sensei! You checked yourself and said that he was dead!" Sakura added angrily.

"Yeah, I did, but that was most likely a momentary death," he stated, "The needle weapon that Hunter-Nin used, unless it hits a vital organ, has a low probability in killing your opponent. It's an item even used by doctors in acupuncture therapy. Hunter-Nins know about the body's structure thoroughly. Putting a person in a momentary dead state is probably easy for them. First he carried away the body of a much heavier Zabuza. Second, he used a weapon that has a low probability of killing. These two points indicate that his motive was not to kill Zabuza but to save him. We cannot ignore that possibility," Kakashi said, sounding like a real detective.

"Aren't you thinking too much? Hunter-Nins are supposed to kill Missing-Nins," said Tazuna, unwilling to think about the probability of Zabuza still being alive.

"No," denied Kakashi, "With all the suspicion, we will prepare before it's too late. That's a shinobi rule. Plus, whether Zabuza is dead or alive, there's no assurances that Gatou hasn't hired an even stronger shinobi," said Kakashi, eying all of us.

Naruto smiled and trembled with excitement, no doubt happy that Zabuza was still alive.

"Sensei, what do you mean preparing before it's too late? You can barely move," Sakura worried, concerned for Kakashi's health.