Iris [Naruto Fanfiction]

Inari

Kakashi sensei battled Zabuza for a while, and with the help of our Team 7, we were able to defeat him. We were all swooped away in a large wave made during the fight. We all got back together and Kakashi was ready to finish Zabuza off, until two needles flew out of the trees and stabbed Zabuza in his neck, killing him.

Everyone, even Kakashi sensei was shocked. We look up and see a masked figure standing on a tree branch.

"Thank you," the figure says. "I've been tracking Zabuza for a long time. I've been waiting to take him down."

"From your mask I could tell that you're a tracker ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist," Kakashi states.

"Impressive. You must be well informed."

Confused, I turn to my teammates and ask, "What's a tracker ninja?"

"They have a special role," Sakura explains. "When a rogue ninja leaves a village, they carry all kinds of secrets with them. Secrets about their people. Tracker ninja are specially trained to hunt down these ninja. So they can eliminate them. And their secrets of their people remain a secret."

"You're correct," the masked figure says. "I'm a part of the elite tracking unit of the Hidden Mist Village. It was my duty to track down Zabuza."

Naruto ran towards the figure, and angrily looked back and forth to the tracker ninja and Zabuza's lifeless body. "What is this? How could a kid like this who's no bigger than me be able to take him done so easily? Zabuza was like a monster, and he just took him done like that! What does that make us? We're just here fumbling around! How can I accept that?"

I start to feel a little pity for Naruto. It's his dream to become really strong and respectable, and seeing someone who's most likely the same ages as him be so powerful compared to him. He's probably doubting himself and his abilities, along with the rest of us. We've all put in so much work into taking down Zabuza, and a person who's our age was able to take him down without breaking a sweat. That can really mess with someone's confidence.

"It doesn't matter if you accept it or not, Naruto," Kakashi sensei says. "It still happened. In this world, there are kids younger than you, yet stronger than me."

The tracker ninja appeared next to Zabuza's lifeless body and slung his arm around his shoulders. "I must deal with the remains. The secrets he keeps must not get into the wrong hands. Please excuse me. Farewell."

He held two fingers in front of his face and disappeared, along with Zabuza's body. Naruto started punching the ground at the spot where they both once were.

Once Kakashi calmed him down, he turned to the rest of the team and said, "Our mission still isn't over. We have to get the bridge builder to his bridge."

"Sorry I caused all this trouble for ya," Tazuna says. "You could rest at my house when we get to the village."

"Alright. Let's get a move on." After only take a few steps, our sensei collapsed onto the forest floor.

***

It was the use of his sharingan that made Kakashi collapse apparently. My hair wasn't in its normal hairstyle, and instead my hair is completely loose, just like it was when I first got here. Aiko made the ponytail too tight and it gave me a headache.

I caught up to the rest of my teammates, who were on their way to greet our sensei when he wakes up. When I got near them, I noticed they were looking at me strangely. I'm used to all the looks people give me already, but I don't even know what I did this time to get these stares.

"What?" I asked.

"Oh, well, I've never seen your hair out before," Sakura says. Her faced turned into a bit of a glare. "You actually look nice."

"Oh," I reply innocently. "Um, thanks I guess." That's probably the first good thing one of my teammates has ever told me. I smile lightly. They're slowly starting to hate me less.

We walk into Kakashi sensei's room and see him laying down on his cot. "Good morning," I greet him when we all sit down around him.

"Sensei, you shouldn't use your sharingan if it puts so much strain on you," Sakura says. Our sensei only grunts in response.

When Kakashi sat up, he told us all about the importance of tracker ninja and what they do, but he suddenly stopped and looked off into the distance as if he was thinking deeply about something.

"You okay there, sensei?" I asked concernedly.

"Now that I think about it, Zabuza's death doesn't add up. The tracker ninja used throwing needles, also known as senbon, which are only deadly if they hit a vital organ. But they only hit his neck. And tracker ninja are supposed to destroy the remains of the rogue ninja's body on the spot. But he took the body with him."

"I'm sorry, but where are you going with this?"

"My theory is... Zabuza is still alive." My eyes widened. The blood thirsty rogue ninja that was more than ready to kill us all is still alive. This is just like Pretty Little Liars. When you think someone is dead but they're actually alive. This can't be happening.

"Alive?!" Sakura exclaims. "But you checked his pulse yourself. You said his heart stopped!"

"It did stop," Kakashi replied. "It was only a temporary death state. I think that tracker ninja was saving Zabuza, not trying to kill him."

Naruto was oddly excited by this news, and saw this as a chance to redeem himself. "We'll get him this time," Naruto said enthusiastically. "Things are gonna get better. Believe it!"

"I don't believe it, and nothing is gonna be good," a child's voice says from behind us. We all turn around and see a little boy, around seven-ish, standing there in green overalls and a striped bucket hat.

"Who are you?!" Naruto yelled at the little boy.

"Inari, where have you been?" Tazuna asks the little boy. This must be his grandson.

Inari ran to his grandfather and gave him a hug. "Inari, that was very rude," Inari's mother, Tsunami, scolded. "These ninja helped your grandfather get back home safe and sound."

"It's okay. I'm rude to them, too." He's not wrong.

"Mom, don't you see?" says Inari. "These people are gonna die. Gato and his men will come back and wipe them all out."

"Well I'm a super ninja," says Naruto. "Gato or whatever his name is is no match for a hero like."

"There's no such thing as a hero. You're just full of stupid ideas." With that, he walked out of the room and ignored Naruto, who seemed more than ready to knock some sense into his head. Good thing he was being held back by Sakura.

"Well, isn't he a ball of sunshine?" I say sarcastically.