The Yellow Flash and The Village of Mokugakure

[Kakashi Hatake]

The sun had just begun to rise above the treetops when Kakashi and his mentor reached the village gate. The morning was crisp, leaving a slight chill in the air as the dawn sun fought back the shadow of dusk. Mokugakure was silent, save the quiet shuffle of their sandals against the dusty ground; it would be maybe another hour or so before even the most diligent citizens rose from their beds. That was, save for the pair of shinobi who stood at the gate. 

Kakashi dug his fingers into his tired eyes in a vain attempt to rub away the feeling of fatigue, feeling a slight stiffness in his muscles as he did so. Though he militantly awoke before dawn even back in Konoha, he had never quite gotten used to rising so early. Mercenary work never really lent itself well to a regular sleep schedule. The scarecrow stifled a yawn as a familiar face came into view from around a nearby corner. 

“Ah, punctual,” Minato announced, pleasantly surprised. Kito offered a weak smile in return, the same concern he had worn the night before still hanging over him. “Kakashi and I only just got here ourselves.”

“You didn’t really mention a time, so I figured I would err on the side of caution.” The boy shrugged, attempting to seem nonchalant. It didn’t take dojutsu to tell that the young shinobi’s mind was elsewhere.

As they made their trek through the forest to their training ground and Minato and Kito made conversation, Kakashi pondered their plan. He had to admit that the fair-haired jonin was absolutely justified in his judgement, however wary the former ANBU captain was with leaving the village unprotected. The Omniverse had sapped them of much of their effectiveness, leaving them more often than not only barely scraping by following fights that would normally be a breeze. They were rustier than they wanted to admit; there was a finite number of times that one could awaken in an infirmary before they had to admit that fact. Though they liked to believe themselves protectors of the village, Kakashi supposed that Galan and his men could hold the fort until they returned. They would need all the practice they could get if they were to soon combat another threat to the safety of Mokugakure.

“So this should be fun then,” Minato, addressing his proteges. “I know that I’m itching to get back up to snuff. That last fight really took a lot out of us. Hopefully we can sharpen our skills and teach each other a few things along the way.”

The silver-haired shinobi nodded silently, mentally scrolling through the list of jutsu he had learned over the years. Though he was far from a master of most of them, he knew a handful well enough to perhaps teach at an adequate level. On the other side of the coin, Kakashi found himself looking forward to the prospect of learning more from his former sensei. Though he had badgered the man countless times while a youthful student of his, the Yellow Flash had always shown restraint when teaching his pupils, for their own safety. With the Omniverse placing them on equal footing, today was perhaps the day when this changed.

“I know of a good place,” Kito said, glancing up at the pair of jonin. “Some of the older students made a little training area farther away from the village, but no one has really been out there since the Bonechewers showed up.” He glanced over his shoulder at Kakashi. “According to Lady Tsunade you wiped them out, right?”

Bonechewers; it took a moment before the moniker registered. “Uh...yes. They should all be gone. We should steer clear of the Ogre camp, though.” Following Tagar’s defeat, he had—though somewhat unwittingly-ensured that the remainder of the Fel Orc chieftan’s followers were dealt with. 

Kito nodded in response, turning abruptly as they passed an abnormally large tree. “Should be out this way. It’s a pretty far walk, but it should give us some privacy at least.”

A good amount of walking later, the group found themselves approaching a dead-end. Immediately before them was a sheer rock wall, rising to a cliff some ten meters overhead. The trees that blanketed the rest of the periphery seemed to grow sparse as they approached, eventually leaving only barren, rocky soil at the foot of the precipice. Rather than turn away from the scarp, their young leader stopped before it.

“So um...are we here?” Minato inquired, looking around at the largely nondescript surroundings. 

Kito simply raised a finger, gesturing upward. Before the pair of jonin could raise an inquiry the boy took off at a sprint, leaping from the earth and continuing his run up the rock wall. His feet stuck fast to the crag as he ran, quickly racing toward the peak. Kakashi and Minato shared a grin before following suit, channeling chakra into the soles of their feet and racing after the boy.

“Excellent technique,” Minato said as the trio reached the top. He smiled at the dark-haired lad, crossing his arms over his chest. “Naruto must really be a great teacher.”

Kito nodded. “I learned a lot from him.” He turned away from the cliff side, gesturing toward the clearing behind them. “Here we are. This should be a good place for drills, but we can always go back into the forest for other stuff.”

Kakashi smiled as he eyed the training ground, memories of his time at the academy flooding back to him. Kito and his peers had manufactured all number of training apparatus, from crude wooden sparring dummies chiseled from oak to a good sized obstacle course of angled trunks and strategically-placed boulders. It looked to have been untouched by orc incursion, though it could have just been that there was nothing available to murder or pillage. “Looks perfect,” the former captain said, “It should serve us well.”