Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Blood was everywhere. Utakata was in the middle of it, alone. He felt nothing at the sight; he was just a machine created to kill. Even as he drowned in the blood he spilled, he felt no fear. Even as the dead grabbed him and dragged him to the place he sent them, he felt no remorse. After all, he was a monster. That is the way it should be.

"Master, wake up!"

Utakata cracked his eyelids as the sun rose through the horizon. The light was annoying, but out here in the wilderness, it couldn't be avoided. The chill of the morning made Utakata cranky, so he quickly set up a fire and made some hot tea. Utakata also wanted to forget the dream he had. It always was the dreams that got to him. Nothing could be done about them. There was no running away from them.

"I am getting too old," Utakata said as he stretched his sore body. "The winter is almost over, so why is it still so cold?"

"Is still February, master," Kimimaro said. He was getting more annoying as he grew older. "And you're only twenty-three years old, so stop complaining and gather more firewood."

Teenagers. They talk back way too much. Utakata was way too tired to do anything, and if not for the cold, he would still be sleeping right now. Well, that is what he gets when he reads and studies all night. And he was no longer a teenager who could function normally with just a few hours of sleep, even if he would never accept that fact.

"Since you are so full of energy, we will start your training early today."

Fourteen years old. For a boy his age, he was extremely strong. But, like with everything else, the world was a cruel place. The thing that made Kimimaro powerful was also the thing that was slowly killing him. The more he uses his bones the less calcium in the blood he has. And the amount can't be replaced that easily.

No matter how rich a diet of calcium and vitamin D Kimimaro eats, it will never be enough to nourish his organism. And that was only the start. Since his bones come from inside his body, every time he uses them, he damages his muscles and, in extreme situations, even his organs. So far, Utakata has managed to negate the damage by using his medical jutsu and the healing qualities of his tailed beast chakra.

In the end, Utakata decided that Kimimaro could only use the bones from his hands and feet. Anywhere else would only harm him. Of course, as any other kid, he complained that he couldn't use his full power. Especially when he was seeing how Utakata had evolved his power over the years. Still, Utakata's words were final, and Kimimaro listened to them.

"Too slow," Utakata said. He caught Kimimaro's leg as the kid tried to kick him and slammed him into the river near them. "Speed is everything to a shinobi. You need to be faster than your opponent. Your reaction, actions, and thoughts need to be faster than those of your opponent."

"Then think fast, master," Kimimaro smiled viciously as he let his foot fall under the water before kicking the water into Utakata's face, blocking his vision for a moment.

"Good, but you should have known that it wouldn't work on me," Utakata didn't need his eyes to see, so he once again grabbed Kimimaro and threw him into the river. "If you don't want to catch a cold, get some more firewood."

As Kimimaro left dejected at yet another of his defeats, Utakata looked at his hands. They were red from the exertion he had to put in them to block Kimimaro's attacks. The brat was already hardening his bones subconsciously. Behind those normal attacks hid enormous strength. In pure strength, there weren't many who could challenge him, especially at his age.

…

"What a pathetic town," Kimimaro commented as they walked through a port town in the Land of Waves. "And it is supposed to be a port town. People aren't even fishing. How pathetic."

From Kimimaro's perspective, the people of the town were lazy and pathetic. No work was done in any way. The buildings were collapsing on their own. The streets were dirty and filled with trash. There were barely any shops. Only a few are selling groceries. But Utakata could see. He saw the defeat in the people's eyes. They didn't see the future anymore, so why would they even try to do anything? They were awaiting the end.

"It seems I was too late."

There was nothing Utakata could do about it, though. His training took priority. But even he was surprised at how long it took to reach an acceptable mastery over his tailed beast chakra. Of course, he had to train in an area with no people. Not only would he hurt them when he lost control, but the Cloud would have found him, too.

The people looked defensively at Utakata and Kimimaro, but Utakata didn't mind and smiled at them. After finding a suitable place in the town square, Utakata sat down. It was as good a place as it could be. There was no need to waste time, so Utakata opened his medical services. Utakata hoped that sooner or later, Zabuza would come to him, and he wouldn't need to look for him.

…

This isn't good. He felt something was wrong, but if Zabuza was finished, why did he have this feeling? He must have missed something.

Once he regained consciousness, Kakashi thought that. And soon, everything fell into place. This was quite a bad situation. Kakashi should have known better than to continue this mission like this. But even he didn't expect a monster like Zabuza to appear out of nowhere. There were no reports about him being in the Land of Waves.

The Bloody Mist. Kakashi expected nothing less from the monsters coming from there. It would take about a week to recover from the chakra exhaustion. Hopefully, Zabuza's injuries weren't any better. Still, if Gatou managed to hire someone like Zabuza, it could only mean that there were more shinobi in his pocket, and if they knew how weak he was, they would likely attack him before he could recover.

"You are finally awake," Kakashi looked carefully at the person who had treated his wounds. "Don't move too much. Your body needs rest. But I have to say. It has been a long time since I saw someone use up their chakra as thoroughly as you did. I thought only genin were that foolish."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto's loud voice filled the room as the doctor left Kakashi's side. If only it was a night, and he could have a few more hours of sleep. Anything would be better than facing those brats. "Are you alright now? You have to show me that cool ninjutsu you used to beat that no-eyebrows. How did you do it? Did that Shari-something eye let you see the future?"

"The patient still needs rest," Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the doctor as he picked up Naruto by his head and threw him at the other end of the room.

"Where are we?" First things first, Kakashi needed to establish his situation. "And who are you?"

"You at my house," the drunkard old man and the bridge builder answered. "He is the doctor who patched you up. What was your name? Something girlish like."

"You can call me Uta; I am nothing but a traveling practitioner," That was a lie; the jutsu he used on Kakashi was quite advanced for just a practitioner. "You are lucky that it was just chakra exhaustion. It could have led to something more serious. As of now, if you rest for a few days and eat well, you shall be as good as new. Well, my job is done, so I am going to leave."

"Please at least stay for the dinner, Master Uta," A woman a bit older than Kakashi entered the room with a hopeful look in her eyes as she invited the doctor.

"Please don't call me a master," For a second, Kakashi saw pure darkness in the doctor's uncovered golden eye. "And it seems the house is already quite full even without me. But thank you for your hospitality, Tsunami."

"Shit," If nothing else, Kakashi felt better than he expected.

"What is it, sensei?" Naruto was quite perceptive when he wanted to be as he quickly noticed Kakashi's worry.

"The truth is Zabuza is probably alive," Kakashi replied to his genin's shock. "The masked boy who took Zabuza's is probably not a Hunter-nin but working with Zabuza."

"What?" Sakura was always too emotional; she needed to learn how to act more calmly before it was too late. "But we saw him die."

"Did we?" Sasuke was the first to catch what Kakashi meant. "If that boy wanted to destroy Zabuza's body, he could have done it before our eyes, but instead, he took it with himself."

"It is as Sasuke said. We should now act under the assumption that they are working together and will come back to finish their job."

Kakashi noticed how differently his students reacted to his words. Naruto seemed to be even happy that Zabuza was alive. Was it naivety and kindness? Or was there something more hidden behind that expression? Sakura was scared but tried to hide it. Sasuke was harder to read, yet he was the calmest of the three and was already thinking about what he could do.

"Anyway, we will have to prepare for them if we want to survive."

Kakashi was confident he could handle Zabuza, especially now that he had learned his fighting skills and had time to plan how to counter him. But he was worried about Zabuza's partner. That kid wasn't normal. That kid reminded Kakashi of Itachi. That alone made Kakashi worried; he had to prepare his kids to face that challenge, as he didn't think he could take on both at the same time.

…

"Phuh, hahaha," Kakashi didn't like the white-haired kid very much. "You don't even know how to climb a tree with your chakra. Are Leaf Shinobi all idiots? What does your academy even teach, then? How to hug trees?"

"Shut up!" Naruto took it hardest. "Who are you anyway?"

"Who? I am great Kimimaro Kaguya of the Bloody Mist."

"Bloody Mist?" Sasuke was the first to react to this information. "Are you from the same village as Zabuza? Are you also a missing Nin?"

Kakashi didn't do anything as he observed the situation. Kimimaro was with Master Uta, and from what he heard, all Uta had done when he arrived in this town was help people. He was well-regarded and known as a kind doctor. But Kakashi had his suspicion that he was also a missing-nin; he just didn't know from which village. Mist was now his top guess.

"Kimimaro never was trained as a shinobi," Uta said as he appeared out of nowhere. "He never attended an academy, nor had he ever been officially accepted to the village."

"Why not?" Naruto asked, ignoring the fact that Uta had just approached them without any of them noticing him.

"Because if he entered the village, he would have been killed like the rest of his clan," That silenced any other question Naruto would want to ask. "And Zabuza was one of the people who killed his clan."

"So, you are here for him?" Kakashi has wondered about their goal for some time now.

"I am here to check on you," Uta said. "I told you to rest for a few days. Chakra exhaustion isn't a joke. You can't fully control your chakra while it is recovering; if you do something reckless, the backlash might be even more serious. Some of your organs might collapse, and there is a chance you might die, too."

"Don't worry, I am," Before Kakashi could finish his words, Uta's finger was a mere millimeters away from his eye.

"Your reaction speed is slow. The Kakashi I heard of would have swatted my hand before I got so close. You are putting all your concentration into just standing; you are in no condition to do anything else. So, I will implore you to go back to bed."

Kakashi usually wouldn't listen to a stranger, but even he couldn't fight against the orders of a doctor. But it was Uta's earnest and worried eyes that convinced Kakashi to listen to him. No matter where he was from, he wasn't their enemy. Usually, he wouldn't make such an assumption, but if Uta wanted to harm them, he would have already done so.

"Don't worry, I will have Kimimaro watch over the bridge builder," Uta continued. "And I will watch over the kids. If you want to stop Zabuza, you will need to be in your best condition."

Again, those earnest eyes reminded Kakashi so much of Naruto that it was uncanny. Kakashi now wanted to really know who he really was. To whom belonged those golden eyes? Kakashi was now curious, so as he went back to Tazuna's house to rest, he would have one of his nin dogs come back to the village, inform them of the situation they were in, and ask for information about this Uta.

…

Just like Kakashi, Sasuke also noticed how Uta moved. So effortlessly. His presence was completely hidden, and when he attempted to attack Kakashi, it was too fast for Sasuke's eyes to follow. This doctor was a shinobi, and a strong one at that. Maybe not as strong as Zabuza, but definitely far superior to those Demon brothers.

"Your chakra control is sure superb," Uta praised Sakura, who was easily flustered.

"It is nothing special."

"Of course, it isn't, it is the most basic thing a shinobi should learn," Sakura wasn't the only one who felt pathetic by his words. "But I am the worst kind of shinobi, so you shouldn't listen to me."

Sasuke couldn't figure him out. One moment, he seemed to be a powerful shinobi looking down on them; the other moment, he looked concerned about them. Sasuke didn't know how he should react to him. But in the end, it didn't matter. He had to focus on himself and master his chakra control as fast as possible before moving on to the next step.

"Hey, you said you would teach us," Naruto said, as ever, without any thought. "I don't know who you are, but the promise is a promise. So, keep it."

"You're right; I guess I should help you out. Otherwise, all of you will die," He didn't know why, but Sasuke could tell that what Uta said was true. "Since Sakura more or less has already mastered this skill, I have her on more advanced training. And since you both are struggling so much, I give you some advice. Simply put, you two have too much chakra, so use it all up and then try to control it."

Too much chakra? It did make some sense. Sakura, who came from a civilian family, didn't possess as much chakra as Sasuke, and even Naruto had an unnatural amount of it. So, of course, it would be hard to control it all for the first time. He first needed to exhaust most of it and learn to control from the smallest amount before raising the level.

…

Sakura couldn't believe what she saw. Those idiots decided to fight each other to exhaust their chakra. They didn't even realize that they would tire themselves too by doing it like that, and they would not have enough energy to continue their training. But Sakura said nothing about it as she looked at Uta, who was observing in silence.

"Well, it seems they are doing just fine," Sakura didn't understand what Master Uta was planning, not stopping those idiots. "It is the next part of your training."

"My training?"

"They will be perfect for your practice."

"What do you mean?"

"Sorry if I insult you with my words, but I noticed that you are the weak link in this team," That hurt quite a bit, but Sakura couldn't refute his words. "But there are many ways to fight, so don't be discouraged. I think rather than trying to match them, you should follow your path."

"My path?"

"Have you ever considered learning medical ninjutsu?"

…

Utakata felt unreal as he watched those kids. He almost completely forgot how they looked. And it was a surprise how weak and pathetic they were. Utakata was envious of them. Well, at least he was envious of Sakura, knowing what kind of childhood Naruto and Sasuke had; Utakata didn't want to say he was any worse.

"They are going to die," Kimimaro said. "Even if Kakashi could defeat Zabuza, there is no way these fools will have any chance against a hunter-nin. And from what I have seen, Kakashi probably won't even be able to handle Zabuza on his own."

"Hmm," Utakata turned to his student. "When did you return, and did Tazuna finish his work?"

"That drunk? Nah, he did some work before starting drinking. He barely even started working before he finished for the day. Let's face it, this town is finished, and those brats will probably all die."

"It might seem so looking from outside," Utakata said. "But you are underestimating Kakashi and these children too much."

"Even when facing him alone, Kakashi exhausted all his chakra, and now he will have to fight a hunter-nin too. I don't see them winning."

"That's true, but you are forgetting something," Utakata said. "The first time Kakashi faced Zabuza, he had to look out for his students and his client. And it was the first time they met. Their next fight will be different. Kakashi will be ready for Zabuza, and he will prepare those kids, so they won't get in the way."

"If you say so."

Even without knowing the future, Utakata could tell that Kakashi wasn't that weak. Well, Zabuza was quite strong, too, but not on Kakashi's level. Zabuza lacked the battle IQ that Kakashi possessed. And more importantly, Zabuza lacked comrades. He would be killed if he fought Kakashi. So, Utakata guessed he would need to interfere in the end. He couldn't lose his blade, after all.

But he couldn't avert his eyes from these kids either. It was probably a bad idea to interfere with them. Well, what is the worst that could happen? He had already changed so much, and Utakata wasn't going to stop any time soon either. Most importantly, he really didn't like Sasuke's eyes. They reminded him too much of himself.

…

"Fight me."

"Huh?" Utakata expected Sasuke to challenge Kimimaro, and he expected the disgusting expression Kimimaro showed to Sasuke's words. "Fight you? You? Please, I would rather fight a pig; it would be at least more of a challenge."

"How can you possibly know how strong I am? You know nothing about me."

"Listen here, brat. I like a good fight like any other shinobi, but you can't even see how outclassed you are. So, of course, you would be of no challenge to me. You are blind and arrogant, a big frog in a well. If I got serious even for a moment with you, you would die instantly."

"I would like to see that."

"You wouldn't be able to because I would kill you before you even realized," Kimimaro wasn't holding back. "Why do you even want to fight me? You can spar with that idiot sleeping over here."

"Because you are the same as I."

"What?"

"My clan was also killed. I have no father or mother, not a single member of my clan. That means I am alone like you. Isn't that why you are so strong? Because, like me, you hold so much hatred for those who destroyed your clan. Just like me, you must want revenge."

"You must really love your family," Kimimaro said, losing his insolent smile. "That must have been nice. But you see, if my family, my clan, wasn't killed by the Bloody Mist. I would have killed them all myself. Vengeance? I don't have any notion of it. Hatred? Sure, I hate that I was robbed of the chance to kill my father, who locked me in a cage for most of my life. I am nothing like you. So, just piss off."

"He will fight you once you manage to climb the tree," Utakata interrupted them. "After all, you would be curious how much you improved by that point, right?"

"What? Why should I?"

"Because I want to see if a Uchiha name still means anything."

Of course, that wasn't true. Utakata just thought it would be a good excuse to teach some things to Sasuke. Maybe it won't change anything, but at least he could leave him feeling like he did something. Utakata would surely regret it later if he just left like that. He didn't want Sasuke to walk the same path as he did.

"What are you planning, Master Uta?" Utakata knew Kakashi was close but chose to ignore him.

"I guess I can't keep you in your bed for more than a day," Utakata sighed. "But if you have any respect for my profession, at least eat well and don't push yourself too much."

"Why do you care about those kids so much?"

"As you probably guessed, I am from Bloody Mist, just like Zabuza," Utakata replied. "And just like him, I killed many. You could say I feel guilty and want to help those who need my help to pay back for the things I have done."

"You still haven't answered my question. Why them?"

"Both of them remind me of my childhood. I was an orphan, too. I was consumed by hatred and lost myself. It took a lot of sacrifice from the people who cared about me to pull me out of that abyss I had fallen into. I don't want to see anyone else living a similar life as I did. Naruto might be fine, but Sasuke is already consumed by darkness. One push and he will be gone. So, before it is too late, I like to help him."

Utakata only smiled back at Kakashi's subtle glare. Utakata knew that Kakashi would find out about his true identity soon. After all, there weren't that many golden-eyed shinobi. It didn't matter though. Even if Kakashi asked for reinforcements, Utakata would sense them long before they arrived and would just run away after collecting Zabuza.

"Ahhh!" Naruto decided to wake up right now with a scream. "I am not going to be defeated, believe it!"

"So noisy," Kimimaro complained.

"Well, it's already late," Utakata said. "We will leave you for now. Let's go, Kimimaro."

Utakata had already spent too much time with them, and it seemed like someone else wanted his attention. So, Utakata left, walking leisurely through the town. It had become somehow livelier ever since he came. After helping out with some sick and injured, people became more approachable, and it helped that Gatou and his goons weren't harassing them lately.

"Kakashi isn't anywhere near, so you can come out," Utakata said as he entered an empty alleyway.

"Master Uta," A boy jumped down from his hiding place before Utakata, a mask covering his face. "I would like to request your help."

It was the first time Utakata felt such cold chakra. It was quite potent, too—very distinctive—and it made Utakata more curious about the boy. He knew who he was, and he had fought with the boy's clan before, but their chakra was nowhere near as distinctive as his. It really would be a shame if clans like Kaguya and Yuki were completely lost.

A.N. It looks like I will have more weekends off this month, so you can expect more chapters. But of course, I can't promise anything; in the military, everything can change without any notice. Still, I will try my best, so wish me luck I guess.