Day 4 Morning

[Kakashi Hatake]

The shinobi duo dashed through the forest, hoping to put some distance between them and the group they had just encountered. Kakashi allowed his heartbeat to return to a normal pace as they ran, gradually slowing to stop as they noted the lack of pursuit.

“Are you alright, Kakashi?” Minato inquired, heaving heavy breaths. He leaned forward slightly, guarding his side.

The scarecrow nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay. A little battered, but I’ll be fine.”

“Good,” the Kage responded with a nod. “One of them got me with that noise weapon, bruised a couple of my ribs.”

“Should we rest a while?” The silver-haired captain asked. “It doesn’t seem like we were followed.”

“No,” Minato said, wincing. “I’ll be fine. I’ve had much worse. We should keep moving.”

Kakashi nodded readily, following his mentor as they dashed through the forest.

The altercation in the clearing had been an interesting one, a chaotic tussle that had cost at least one person their life. Hiding in the treetops, the duo had watched the battle closely, witnessing a cloaked man cleave a woman’s arms clean off with some sort of spinning blade weapon. It was at precisely this moment that Minato had decided they were to in intervene; they could at least provide support for the outnumbered woman. Kakashi wondered if perhaps this woman was one of the guardians; this could provide explanation for why they had attacked her en masse.

“She didn’t seem to have anything,” Minato uttered as if he had read his protege’s mind. “She seemed...sick.”

The ANBU captain nodded. “She did look...feral?” They hadn’t been close enough to make out what the group had said; perhaps she had aggressed them earlier?

“In hindsight, maybe not the safest move to dive in like that,” Minato mused, vaulting a low-hanging limb. “It just didn’t feel right watching that happen and doing nothing.”

Kakashi nodded, keeping pace with the blonde Kage. That’s just the kind of person that Minato was. Kind.

“I’m glad though, that I had you there with me,” Minato said. “With our chakra so low in this place, you never know what can happen.”

The sharingan-wielder nodded knowingly. He had sapped a good deal of his chakra in the battle, perhaps too much to justify. Using both Kaimon and Raikiri had taken a heavy toll on his body. Even now, he could feel the trauma his chakra network had sustained. This was not the end, however. He could not allow his body to give out when they had done so little in their quest. He wouldn’t.

“I can say the same for you, sensei.” Kakashi replied, smirking beneath his mask. “But next time, let’s be a little more cautious, huh?”

Minato let out a hearty laugh. “The student is chiding the teacher now? You really have grown up, haven’t you Kakashi?”

“I suppose,” The silver-haired shinobi replied. He cast his memory back to the days when Team Minato had worked missions in the Land of Fire. It was so long ago, though it must seem like just recently for the fair-haired shinobi. “I guess I had to.”

The Yellow Flash smiled again. “Well, I’m glad. Your abilities have improved a lot since you were a kid. Though I guess that’s to be expected.”

The scarecrow nodded, grinning ear-to-ear. It was strange, but in this place of death, battered and drained, he was beginning to feel happy.