The teacher dropped from the tree, scanning the scene.
Three children were there: one leaned against a tree root, face pale; another was barely standing, supported by a girl.
Further away, an adult lay sprawled on the ground. Most of his clothes were scorched; he clearly wasn't a student.
The teacher's brow furrowed as he strode toward the fallen man.
Tsunade was supporting Kitahara Kaede. Her hand rested lightly on his right arm, carefully avoiding his left ribs.
"Once the teacher confirms things, we—"
Her words were cut short.
Just as the teacher reached the missing-nin, the man's right hand shot out from beneath him. He was clutching a piece of paper.
An explosive tag, its seal already glowing.
He didn't throw it at the children; instead, he flung it directly at the approaching teacher.
The teacher's reaction was instinctive. He leaned his upper body back while his hands blurred through a series of signs.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall!"
A wall of earth surged from the ground, barely intercepting the explosive tag. A muffled blast echoed, sending shards of dirt flying from the top of the wall.
The shockwave pushed the teacher back two steps. His ears rang, and his vision was completely obscured by the wall and the rising dust. He imdiately pivoted to circle around the barrier.
On the other side.
The missing-nin had already sprung from the ground. Clutching a kunai, he charged straight toward Kitahara Kaede and Tsunade.
Kaede's chakra was completely depleted. His limbs felt weak and his head was swimming, but his vision remained clear. He saw the enemy's movent.
Tsunade's hand was still on his arm.
Kaede gave her a forceful shove.
Tsunade stumbled back into the underbrush, her back slamming into low-hanging branches. She let out a muffled groan of pain. As she rolled over and brushed the leaves from her face, she saw it.
Kitahara Kaede had opened his right palm, facing the incoming blade.
The kunai pierced through his palm and erupted from the back of his hand. Blood began to slide down the iron handle.
Kaede tightened his fingers, crushing both the kunai and the missing-nin's hand in a death grip. The missing-nin couldn't pull the weapon out, nor could he break free.
Kaede lashed out with his leg, kicking the man squarely in the Adam's apple. The trachea had already been scorched by Fire Style; this blow hit the vital spot perfectly.
The missing-nin collapsed. This ti, he didn't get back up.
When the teacher rounded the mud wall, this was the scene he encountered.
Kitahara Kaede stood still. His right hand hung limp, the kunai still impaled through his palm, blood dripping steadily onto the muddy earth.
A seven-year-old child.
The teacher paused for a heartbeat, then hurried over.
Kaede didn't look at the teacher; he turned toward the bushes. Tsunade was sitting on the ground. A thin red scratch from a branch marked her cheek, but she hadn't noticed it. Her entire focus was on his right hand—on the kunai piercing through it.
Kaede raised his left hand and gave her a small wave.
"Just a scratch."
Tears stread down Tsunade's face. She made no sound, her lips bitten white to stifle any sob, but the tears wouldn't stop.
Seeing her reaction, the tension in Kaede's heart eased slightly.
In truth, it hurt like hell. The pain of a kunai through the palm was dull and heavy, pulsing through the bone with every heartbeat, but it was bearable.
'Tsunade's reaction... that should be enough points.'
With that thought, the pain in his hand seed less important.
The teacher pressed two fingers to the missing-nin's carotid artery. Once he confird there was no pulse, he withdrew his hand. He turned, his gaze falling on the kunai in Kaede's hand, and remained silent for a mont.
Without a word, he pulled bandages and a tube of hemostatic ointnt from his flak jacket's inner pocket.
"...Co here."
Kaede walked over and placed his hand in the teacher's palm. The teacher steadied his wrist with one hand and gripped the handle of the kunai with the other.
"Bear with ."
The kunai was yanked out.
Blood surged from both the palm and the back of the hand, the volu greater than expected. Kaede didn't make a sound, though his face grew even paler and a fine layer of sweat broke out on his forehead.
The teacher squeezed the ointnt into the wound and wrapped the bandage tightly around it three tis. His movents were swift and professional.
After finishing, the teacher looked up at him. He seed to want to say sothing, but hesitated.
Finally, he uttered a single sentence: "You've got guts."
It was impossible to tell if it was a complint or a criticism.
Tsunade walked over and stood beside Kaede. She didn't reach out, nor did she speak. She just stood there. She was so close that Kaede could hear her breathing heavily, fighting to keep herself from crying again.
Out of the corner of his eye, Kaede caught sight of another figure.
Jiraiya.
The white-haired boy walked toward them step by step from the tree root. One hand was still clutching his stomach; he was pale, and his steps were unsteady.
He had seen everything when the missing-nin attacked. He had wanted to move. He had wanted to stand up and rush over, to do sothing. But his legs hadn't obeyed; his knees had given out. He had slid down the root and climbed back up, but by the ti he did, it was already over.
Jiraiya's gaze landed on the bandaged right hand, lingering for several seconds. Dark red blood was already seeping through the gauze.
Jiraiya didn't speak. Kaede glanced at him but didn't dwell on it. Jiraiya's emotions weren't important; he wasn't his primary target for the quest.
"We're heading back." The teacher stood up and hoisted the missing-nin's body. "Exercise terminated. Follow ."
The three children followed him down the mountain. Kaede walked in the middle.
As they walked, Tsunade occasionally glanced sideways at his drooping right hand. Only when she saw that the crimson stain wasn't expanding did she look away. Then, a mont later, she would look again.
Jiraiya remained silent the entire way.
Usually, he was the loudest of the bunch. He could find sothing to say in any situation, chasing Tsunade for half the break to chat, laughing it off even when she snapped at him. Now, he didn't say a word. He kept his head down, staring at the path, occasionally kicking a pebble without even looking to see where it rolled.
As they neared the school gates, Jiraiya suddenly spoke.
"Hey."
His voice was soft, a far cry from his usual volu. Kaede tilted his head.
"Teach ."
Two words, blunt and without context.
Kaede looked at him for two seconds, thinking.
Jiraiya. One of the future "Legendary Sannin" of the Hidden Leaf, the Toad Sage, the teacher of the Fourth Hokage. Right now, he was just a seven-year-old boy who had been kicked away by a missing-nin, crashing into a tree and forced to watch soone else protect the person he wanted to protect.
But there was sothing in his eyes. Not talent, but sothing rarer than talent.
"Pass the minimum requirent for the taijutsu class first," Kaede replied, turning back to continue walking.
"...Does that an you agree?"
"I didn't say I didn't."
At the school gate, the three stopped. After giving a few instructions, the teacher took the missing-nin to report the results.
Tsunade reached out and gripped the sleeve of Kaede's left arm.
"Don't use your hand to catch blades in the future."
Her voice was flat, as if she were saying "the weather is nice today," or perhaps "if you do this again, I'm ignoring you."
Kaede looked down at the sleeve she was pinching.
"Okay."
Tsunade let go and stood there for two seconds before turning to leave. After three steps, she stopped and looked back.
"Coming? Let's get that wound treated at the hospital."
Kaede followed her.
User Comments
0 comments from readers