CH-23

<Let me cook y'all ;) >

< Discord - https://discord.com/invite/kMcexXTzhE >

<word count-1220>

............

"So, Mr. Chinzo, what are these goods we are protecting?" Shizu looked towards our employer; the man had changed his clothes countless times on the journey. Of course, all of them were still quite expensive for a shinobi anyway.

"Ahaha!" The man started laughing proudly. "Yes, yes, nice question, Ms. Shinobi. These are special dragon fruits from the land of the grass. They say these fruits were born into existence because of a dragon's tear." 

"Whoahhh, really?, a dragon." Shizu already had glowing eyes. Perhaps the little girl had no idea that dragons weren't real. 

"Yes, yes, that's the reason they are called the dragon fruit; they sell for quite a high price since they are so delicious as well." He looked toward our group. "If you all have no problem with it, I am willing to share some with you." 

Seeing me raise my eyes, he added embarrassedly, "Free of charge, of course."

We all looked towards Kakashi, wondering whether the jonin would allow us to eat it, and fortunately the man nodded. Soon, all of our hands were full of one large dragon fruit. Of course, Kakashi didn't take any, but not like I cared; after all, he had checked for poison, and there were none,.

Juicy and soft—quite an interesting combo. We all ate into our fruit, with Shizu making the only slurping noises. That girl really didn't care about manners. 

Soon our ride continued, marching across the road leading to the land of grass. We had gotten quite acquainted with the man; he was quite the jolly merchant. 

...

Rustle

The rustle of squirrels was something we had gotten used to, clearly hearing it since the last few days we had been traveling. The scenery of the land of fire was quite the magnificant scene to watch; however, that was until a few hours ago because now we had left the land of fire, clearly in some forest between the land of fire and the land of grass.

"Kuroko Open your byakugan and check your surroundings right now," Kakashi whispered to Kuroko, clearly alert regarding the surroundings. The forest was a little too quiet.

"Byakugan," Kuroko muttered under his breath as he sent chakra to his eyes. "KKakashi, there is a group of Shinobi in front of us."

"How many?" he muttered. Itachi and Shizu already had their kunai out. 

"There are one high-level chakra, possibly a jonin, and three chunins; however, I can't judge their power level from their chakra, so this is the best I can tell." 

Kakashi nodded to my explanation; after all, chakra doesn't determine the strength of a Shinobi; however, a higher chakra usually means a stronger Shinobi.

"Mr. Chinzo, get behind us and do not leave our sight; do not run in fear, as that would clearly just end in you getting killed." Itachi made the instructions clear to the employer, who was not cowering in fear. 

Seeing the man so scared, Itachi continued, "Just trust in us, Mr. Chinzo; we are not your average Shinobi." . With that, we took the opposite V position, with Chinzo clearly behind my back while I was at the forefront of the enemy's sight. 

Soon the group of five came into our sight: the headband of the villlage hidden in the water, Kirigakure.

' Why would Kiri Shinobi attack us?' Kuroko thought while quickly shifting his Kunai'.'It can't be Obito, can it? '.

"So this is the Shinobi, Mizukage-sama had told to end, Kakashi Hatake, I have heard of your genius." The Shinobi of the Kiri looked towards our captain; he seemed quite familiar. 

A black chainmail vest, white-ish cyan hair while carrying a ninjato behind his back, Razor sharp like teeth with eyes as blue as ice. His chakra was so menacing, oozing with bloodlust.

Suigetsu 

Wait, no, that can't be it. Suigetsu is around our age, then it must be Mangetsu, his older brother, the person who is supposed to be more genius than the man who was part of Sasuke's future team.

"Kiri," Kakashi muttered under his breath; I could see his rage.

Thats when it happened. Immense bloodlust, so thick it made me stop for a moment only for my will to break it, helping my body move. Shizu and Itachi weren't faring any better; it took them a few seconds until they could get themselves under control.

"Kakashi, do you want to kill us with that blood lust?" I looked towards our leader and said, "You are our captain. Control that rage within you. Act like one"

Kakashi nodded while retreating from his killing intent.

'How many have you killed for you to have such an immense murderous aura'.I thought.

Screech

The ninja sword behid the shinobi unsheated; without words, the battle had begun, with us three battling the Chunins in front of us without delay.

Kakashi was busy with Mangetsu.

.....

Ting 

Swords clashed against one another; Kakashi and Mangetsu had respectively clashed in a kenjutsu battle. A strike to the face was redirected by Kakashi, only for Mangetsu to jump on the incoming strike, pushing the opponent's blade down while simultaneously kicking him in the chest. 

Kakashi blocked that with his free hand; however, he had already taken damage.

"Your skills aren't as good as I had heard, Hatake Kakashi," Mangetsu expressed his disappointment. 

Kakashi didn't say a word, clearly lifting his headband, the accursed eye of the three Tomoe Sharingan visible in all its glory.

Soon the battle continued once again. Swords clashed, with Kakashi predicting the attack pattern only for Suigetsu to change his sword style every few clashes. 

The Kiri Ninja might be young, but he was quite the genius Shinobi.

Kakashi quickly jumped back, signaling hand seals. His hands blurred as a wind slash rushed at the kiri Shinobi.

Seeing the kiri shinobi doing nothing, Kakashi anticipated the damage only for the man's body to turn into water, the slash doing no damage at all. 

However, Kakashi's intelligence was anything but low. The ground broke under Kiri Shinobi, a clone of Kakashi. He jumped with a chidori in his hands. The loud sound of it clearly broke any form of surprise.

The sudden attack left the perplexed Shinobi with a huge cut on his left hand. While the shadow clone of Kakashi burst.

"You," his face had a grimace expression on it. 

Hand seals rushed through his hands as a water tornado was launched at Kakashi. 

Kakashi quickly substituted with a log. He couldn't use many flashy Jutsus after all; his chakra was quite limited. 

The kiri Shinobi was standing there, looking at the Jonin of the hidden leaf; however, at that very second, another kakashi rushed out of the ground with another Chidori in his hands. 

This time, however, the Shinobi couldn't dodge with the lightening hand going through his heart. Such a scene made the genius Shinobi pause for a second. A nightmare reminiscing in his mind. 

Rin 

However, a battlefield had no time for such thoughts. The shinobi soon turned into water, a water clone.

A blade was launched towards Kakashi's head from behind. 

The man only dodged by instinct. A small cut formed on his face.

Both soon took their distance.

The battle had only started.

.....

<Thanks for reading the chapter>