Chapter 7
Even after all the speed and the stamina training you put yourself through for the past few months, you are barely able to stand at this point. The pain in your feet and the weakness in your legs due to the four hours of non-stop running makes you grit your teeth. You know that you are really fast and strong for your age, but the pace you need to keep in order to gain ground on the missing-nin is wearing you out quickly.
Kakashi allows you to take a short break to drink water and eat something. You pinch your lips together in an attempt to suppress a painful whine as you sit against a tree. You could feel Kakashi’s eye burning a hole in your skull as he stares at you.
Even the cold air of the beginning of March seems burning hot around you and the sound of your heavy breathing echoes in your head. You feel a slight shift in the air around you, you open your eyes slowly. You let your gaze wander around the small clearing in search of the cause. A little brown-haired dog close to your sensei catches your attention. “Wait, a dog? Since when?!”
You blink slowly, in hope to determine if you are completely delusional or the dog you are pretty sure would answer to ‘Pakkun’ is really here. The deep voice made you jump.
“Who is this?”
You look up at your sensei, but when he doesn't speak up you finally calm your breath enough to be able to speak correctly. “I’m Uzumaki Nora, nice to meet you.” You flinch slightly when you feel the cold paws of the pug through the fabric of your leggings. Finally, he decides to sit on your lap.
“I’m Pakkun.” You can hear him sniffle the air as he brings his nose closer to you. The ninken turns his head and looks at Kakashi with a smug look. “So this is-”
“My student.” Kakashi interrupts the pug mid-sentence harshly. The dog grunts and looks at him in a way that says that they will speak about this later.
You scratch behind his ear. “Can I?” The ninken snuggles closer in response and you stroke down his back. His fur is surprisingly really soft, it was more like petting a bunny than a dog. The doggy scent that he gives off is recomforting and familiar.
The corner of her lips lifts up in a soft smile. “Maybe Pakkun was able to recognize Minato and Kushina’s scent in mine? That would explain why Kakashi-sensei interrupted him.” You're pulled out of your thoughts when your teacher clears his throat.
“Pakkun.” He sighs. “Could you make buddies another time? We’re kind off in a hurry.”
“Hurry? Like you care about time.” The ninken grumbles. He leaps out of your lap. “What’s the mission, boy?” You snicker at the nickname Pakkun used to refer to your teacher which makes you earn a deadly look from Kakashi.
“Wagishi Yakatsu, a missing-nin, was spotted close to the border of the Land of Wind and ours. Our mission is to track him and find his intentions.” The small dog nobs and proceeds to sniff the air around the area.
“I have good and bad news. Which one do you want to know first?”
“We don’t have time for this, just give us the information for Kami’s sake.” Kakashi says as he pinches the bridge of his nose, annoyed.
“You’re really no fun, you know? Anyways, the good thing is that your prey is a few kilometers ahead from us and they are moving really slowly, but the bad news is that he isn’t alone. There’s a female with him, probably a strong genin or a really low-level Chunin. My boy, are you sure that it’s a good idea for your pup to follow you?”
“Mah, I see that you trust me.” Kakashi said sarcastically. “If I thought that I couldn’t keep her safe, I wouldn’t have brought her here. This mission is only a tracking one, I brought her with me to familiarize her with real missions and being out of the village. It’ll be fine, she has the best teacher anyways.”
“You hardly teached me anything. The only thing you do is rough me up.” You mumble under your breath, but when you hear Pakkun's laugh you realise that maybe you said it too loud.
“Breaks over.” Your sensei said harshly. You roll your eyes and climb to your feet.
As the trio start to run again, your teacher is the one on the front and you try to keep up with Pakkun by your side. Every step is more painful than the one from before. You have to grit your teeth to cope with the screaming pain of your hips, knees, and ankles joints. You feel as if every muscle of your legs are on fire. A voice pulls you out of your thoughts.
“Be on your guards. I have a really bad feeling about this.” The pug says quietly so that Kakashi wouldn’t hear.
“Yeah, don’t worry about it.” You try to sound confident, but you fail miserably.
“Stop.” Your sensei mutters loud enough for you to hear and you almost collide with Kakashi as he stops abruptly. He points to the ground, well what is near it. Your heart sinks in your chest when you realise that it’s in fact a trap.
A sharp bark from Pakkun makes you turn your head in the other direction and you quickly jump back when two people appear in your vision. The women already leaping forward in your direction, a short blade in the right hand. You unconsciously take a kunai in your left hand and block her attack.
She kicks you directly in the middle of your chest with an incredible strength. You stumble backwards from the hit and by the time you compose yourself, she’s already charging at you again. You aim a punch at her face, only for it to be blocked. You then attempt to kick her in the guts, but she spins on her right leg and kicks your knee instead.
You wince loudly as the pain spreads rapidly in your leg. The woman attempts to kick you in the ribs, but you quickly move out of the way. You grab her right arm and twist it in her back. As you are about to dislocate her shoulder, she swings her head back and hits you with full force in the forehead. Stunned by the hit, you loosen your grip so she breaks free from your hold.
She puts some distance between the both of you and throws a few senbons. Luckily, you are able to deviate their trajectory with your kunai.
“Okay, taijutsu or weapons are clearly not going to work against her.” You jump back and you try to assess what’s happening around you. Kakashi is fighting Yakatsu, the missing-nin, and Pakkun is nowhere to be seen. You bring back your attention to your fight.
The woman’s hands are running through different seals, but you are able to recognize most of them. “Fire nature. Fan-fucking-tastic!”
You make the Dragon, Tiger and Hare signs quickly.
“Water Style: Raging Waves!”
“Fire Style: Flame Sphere!”
The current cold temperature makes fire style a lot harder to do so you easily overpowered her jutsu. You immediately join your hands in another series of hand signs.
“Water Style: Water Bullet!”
You can see utter fear in the eyes of the other woman as you spit more than a hundred of bullets as hard as iron. She dodges and deviates the trajectory of the majority but more then twenty hit her in the chest, arms and legs. Blood drips from her mouth and she falls on her knees.
You clutch harder to your kunai and you infuse chakra in the bottom of your feet. You leap forward the fastest you could manage, using her moment of weakness as an advantage. You swiftly stab her in the jugular with the kunai you still have in your left hand.
Blood spurts everywhere, your hands and your clothes covered in it. The woman falls on the ground and a pool of red rapidly forms around her. As the adrenaline comes down, you understand what just happened. A shiver runs down your spine.
You killed someone. You breath quicken and your vision blurs as realization hits you like a brick. You look down at your hands. Red. All you can see is red.
You fall on your knees beside the cold body and you start trembling violently. Killed. You feel your head spinning, as if you were about to pass out. You want to scream, to cry, but nothing happened. You sit there in complete terror from the sight in front of you. The images play again and again in your head like a broken movie.
You look at the empty and lifeless eyes of the dead woman in front of you. Dead. You feel someone beside you, but you can’t seem to move. You barely manage to turn your head on the side and you throw up. You feel someone hold your hair as you empty your stomach on the ground. You wipe your mouth with the back of your trembling hand.
You attempt to calm your breath down, but nothing works. In fact, it only seems to get worse. The taste of bile in your mouth makes you want to puke again. Your vision blurs and slowly goes black. Helplessly, you let yourself fall on your back. You feel strong arms picking you up carefully, but before you could protest you pass out.