Foxhound Chapter 2: Part 2

Kakashi awoke from his peaceful doze when he felt a foreign chakra enter the room. With his chakra depleted, it was all he’d been able do to resist finding an empty room and curling up in a bed for a day or two. The thought of what Ino would do to him if she found him like that had sent a shiver of terror up his spine. He had settled for using the reclining function of the chair next to Naruto’s bed. Tsunade had been redirecting extra funds to the hospital since her inauguration and it really showed in the revamped hospital. Naruto’s room was large enough for three beds. A large window ran parallel to his bed and there were a couple of these reclining chairs spread across the room. There was even a small couch underneath the window. Yes, Tsunade took her patients seriously, though most of this was probably for the comfort of anxious visitors.

Kakashi shrugged of thoughts of the room’s comfortable decor and focused his eye on the visitor.

Umino Iruka stood in front of him, staring at the bandage swathed form of his young friend. The Hokage must’ve thought to tell him the bad news.

The scarred chuunin looked far older than his young years as he slowly crossed the room and set a small card on the table next to the bed. A small drawing of a bowl of ramen decorated the front of the gift. Looking down at the boy, he gently ruffled what little of the blonde’s hair that was exposed.

“How bad is it?” He asked, not taking his attention off Naruto.

Kakashi sighed and slowly gave the chuunin the list of injuries Naruto had suffered. Through it all, the man’s expression never changed. It was only the way his eyes twitched every time Kakashi described an injury that his thoughts were betrayed.

“Who did this?” He asked when Kakashi trailed off. There was a boiling rage in the man’s eyes that would have made the copy-nin flinch had it been directed at him.

“I can’t tell you,” Kakashi replied. His voice sounded honestly remorseful, as opposed to their argument before the chuunin exam almost two years ago.

“Can’t or won’t, jounin?” Iruka coldly replied.

“Can’t, chuunin, and wouldn’t even if I could,” Kakashi answered evenly, giving the chuunin a firm stare. “Hokage-sama ordered this to be kept quiet and even if she hadn’t, you wouldn’t want to go hunting these people. I think Naruto would want you here with him when he wakes up and not lying dead in the woods somewhere.”

Iruka’s anger had been growing until the copy-nin mentioned Naruto. That popped his rising fury like a balloon. No, he wouldn’t go and get himself killed over this. Naruto would rip him a new one if he died… Though, mentioning the Hokage made his mind click to something else.

“His injuries… The Hokage wasn’t able to do anything?” The dark-haired man asked.

“No,” Kakashi replied, shaking his head. His visible eye was rather mournful. “Even she was hard pressed just to save his life. We’re hoping his… tenant may be able to repair him in the long term, but Godaime-sama said that it’ll be a long time before it can even get started. His inner coils are really messed up right now. A Hyuuga would be hard pressed to do worse.”

“His ten-… Ah, I see,” Iruka said. The fox. “So, it can do something for him?”

“Naruto’s healing is normally off the scale. Just one of the abilities he gets from his tenant,” The copy-nin informed. He wasn’t surprised Iruka knew nothing about what the Kyuubi’s powers did for Naruto. It was likely an uncomfortable subject for both ninjas. “Naruto’s injuries are a result of certain individuals tampering with the seal. His guest can’t control chakra in Naruto’s body, so the healing factor is severely limited. Hokage-sama is still hopeful though. It’s doubtful the resident will allow its only line of defense to weaken unless it has no choice.”

Iruka nodded, his eyes downcast. That blasted demon was the very definition of mixed blessing. A long silence stretched out between them, with Kakashi allowing his mind to wander and the teacher staring at his former student. After a few minutes, the chuunin gave Naruto one last hair ruffle and walked to the door. The copy-nin watched his movements with surprise.

“You’re leaving?” Kakashi asked, a slight note of surprise in his voice. Iruka glared at him.

“Not by choice,” The chuunin said with gritted teeth. Why did it always feel like the great Copy-Ninja Kakashi was looking down on him in some way? “I have a mission out in Wind Country that I have to leave for in twenty minutes. Unlike you, my name doesn’t carry much weight with the Hokage and I still have to go on it…Though she was kind enough to delay the mission by an hour so I could visit Naruto.”

Kakashi held his hands up in a placating manner.

“Easy! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I just thought you’d have to be dragged kicking and screaming away from him,” The tall man said. Some of Iruka’s anger deflated, but there were still a few embers burning.

“Like I said, I don’t have any choice. I shouldn’t even be doing it, but there’s no jounin available,” He grumbled.

“Really? What rank is it?” Kakashi asked, his curiosity growing.

“A Rank. I’m going with a team to assassinate a missing-nin who’s been making trouble. The Sand’s almost as hard up for ninjas as we are and the Kazekage asked this as a personal favor of Godaime-sama. Seems like this guy’s running amuck in outlying Wind villages killing civilians and such,” Iruka replied. The mission wasn’t classified, so it wasn’t like he couldn’t tell Kakashi.

“You have back up?” The copy-nin asked, a slight note of concern in his voice. It wasn’t that he doubted Iruka’s abilities, but taking on an A-Rank criminal by himself was just foolhardy.

The schoolteacher made a half grin.

“Two jounins and a Hunter-nin. They’re the ones that wanted an extra man in case something went wrong. This guy’s supposed to have some bizarre and powerful Bloodline, but we should be able to handle it,” There was a hint of pride in Iruka’s voice. It wasn’t often he went on A Ranks and he usually looked forward to them (although this one couldn’t have come at a worse time.) The Hokage had mentioned that of the chuunin available, the ANBU had specifically asked for him. It wasn’t in him to disappoint someone’s confidence in his abilities, but he was a little curious about why they picked a schoolteacher of all people.

“Hmm…Be careful, regardless. Bloodline Limits are unpredictable and who knows what other tricks he may have,” Kakashi said seriously, a lifetime of experience reinforcing his words. “I’d offer to take over for you, but I… err…”

“What?” Iruka asked. It’d almost be worth the humiliation of Kakashi replacing him if it meant he’d be able to watch over Naruto.

“I sorta can’t move,” Kakashi replied with a near visible heart popping up by his head. Iruka nearly face-vaulted at the jounin’s sunny expression.

“What have you done to yourself now?” The chuunin asked sarcastically. Kakashi’s cheerful eye smile didn’t even twitch at the tone.

“I burned all my chakra using the Sharingan and a jutsu I haven’t mastered,” The jounin replied.

Iruka had the urge to whack the copy-nin over the head like one of his students.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?! You’re a jounin for Kami’s sake! You’re supposed to know your limits! Moron!” Iruka roared, his teacher mentality coming to bear. Kakashi stared at him for a moment, before snapping his fingers.

“You were Ino-san’s teacher, weren’t you?” The copy-nin replied.

“Yeah, how could you tell?” Iruka replied blankly.

Kakashi sweat-dropped.

“Uh… never mind.”

Iruka got a downright evil look on his face.

“Oh ho! So Ino’s been here? And you can’t move, huh? Hmmm, the great Copy-Cat Kakashi is totally helpless while Yamanaka Ino is hanging around…” Kakashi felt a shiver of fear at the man’s wicked expression. Why, oh why, did he taunt the chuunin during the pre-exams two years ago? “I think I’ll be going now…Got that mission and all. I’ll see you later…Maybe you’ll even be alive.”

With that, Iruka walked out the door. His cheerful whistling was a stark contrast to the psychotic grin on his face. Kakashi was left to wonder why a man was so happy to face an A Rank missing-nin instead of being defenseless near Ino. He promptly shut that thought out of his mind, an image of the blonde girl’s rage filled face thoroughly reminding him of why he had never gotten married. Well, it’s not like a thin girl like her could do much to a high level jounin like himself, right?

Right.

He still made sure his favorite copy of Icha Icha was well hidden in his side pouch before going back to sleep.

Ino grumbled something rather foul and shifted the weight in her arms. When she’d gotten home, her parents were waiting and they’d gotten into a long argument (they were understandably pissed off that she had disappeared without opening the shop and had left the door open all while a gigantic toad was running around the city.) Wanting to hurry back to the hospital, she’d done the typical teenager routine and stormed into her room while yelling at the top of her (considerable) lungs. They’d left her alone long enough for her to take a shower, swipe some flowers, and sneak back out. She really didn’t want run into Sakura again today, but if she wanted Naruto to have some flowers in his room, she’d have to risk it.

The idiot had better appreciate it.

“Stupid parents. Stupid Sakura. Stupid…uh…evil assassins who pick on hyper blonde fuzz balls,” Ino muttered, running a little low on things to complain about. “Stupid long walk to the hospital.”

“Hello, Ino-san!” A cheerful voice called, breaking through her dark thoughts.

“Oh… Hello Lee-san,” Ino politely said as she looked up. The boy dodged his way through the crowd towards her, smiling quite happily. The Rookie 9 and Gai’s Team got along pretty well with each other and they would often stop and chat if they saw each other in the street (well, not really chat in Neji and Shino’s case, but even they would at least nod a greeting as they passed by.)

“How are you today, Ino-san?” The tai-jutsu specialist asked. Rock Lee had gotten noticeably taller in the last couple years and his face had grown sharper. His green jumpsuit and haircut remained (sadly) the same. He smiled cheerfully, though he looked a little out of breath. Ino’s eyes traced to his feet, where the solid packed dirt of the street was noticeably depressed underneath him.

Ah, he must’ve upped his weights again.

“I’m okay Lee-san, though I’m feeling kind of tired. Did you boost your training again?” She asked. Ino might be the queen bitch to people who pissed her off (i.e. Sakura, Shikamaru, Chouji, Asuma-sensei, that idiot Kiba, her parents, that one chuunin who looked at her funny last week… well, you get the idea) but she didn’t find Lee too annoying. He was a little odd and downright creepy in his obsession with all things Gai related, but he worked his ass off to compensate for his weakness and was genuinely friendly to people, which was good in her book.

“YOSH!! I added another thirty pounds to each leg this morning and promised to do five thousand push-ups if I can’t run around the village seventy times!” Lee declared, with his bandaged fist clenched in the air and fire blazing in his eyes.

‘Okay… So he’s really odd…And he needs to take some valium. But he’s still a good guy,’ Ino thought as she watched the genin hoot and cheer himself on while he jogged/hopped/danced in circles around her.

“Lee-san! Calm down!” She yelled as she grabbed the boy’s shoulder with her free hand on his next circuit. He cringed for a moment, before relaxing and smiling sheepishly when he realized his fellow genin wasn’t going to wallop him.

No… Ino was saving that for Gai. Some crimes couldn’t go unanswered for.

“I’m glad you’re happy training, but you don’t need to make a spectacle out of it,” The blonde said with a friendly smirk.

“Ah… Maybe you’re right, Ino-san,” Lee replied, though it was obvious he didn’t particularly care how big a fool he made of himself. “Um, those are some… interesting flowers you have there. Are you making a delivery?”

Ino looked at the strange bouquet in her arms. Ah, that’s right.

“No, not really. I’m taking them to a friend in the hospital,” She said with a shrug.

“Really? Who?” Lee asked curiously.

“Oh, just Uzumaki Naruto.”