In just a few more seconds, they arrived at the cave's entrance. It was small, but allowed them to pass inside quickly, and they immediately headed to the back. It seemed like they had somehow managed to escape successfully, but their teammate was badly injured.
"Place him down," Rin sniffed, forcing herself to be more composed.
She quickly began to treat the wound, using Iryo ninjutu, after sterilising the area. All the while, Kakashi stared towards the entrance, his mind rattled, while Rin continued to heal the Uchiha boy.
How did I let this happen? He saved me before, and I couldn't even return the favour…
Soon, after a short while, which felt like hours to Rin and Kakashi, Obito was stabilised, but his arm, wrapped in bandages, was nowhere near in any condition to be used. It was still very tender, and his tissue had been burnt badly, meaning he wouldn't be able to fight effectively any more, now that his main arm was disabled. Even with Rin's help and the chakra rations, Obito was still severely weakened.
"I'm sorry, Rin," Obito coughed, as he pushed his back up against the cold stone wall, "I wasn't strong enough."
"Oh, Obito," Rin forced a smile, "you're strong, stronger than you were before, y'know."
"She's right," Kakashi grumbled from in front of them, "but you better recover after all of this because-" He stopped mid sentence, and quickly put his finger to his lips, signalling to the other two to be quiet.
"They came this way," a voice from outside the cave entrance grunted.
Just when it seemed like they would be spotted, the muffled voices outside spoke, "The tracks take them over there."
"Wait… Look! I think I see them! They're running." With that, the voice rapidly moved further away and the group breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed like the Shadow Clones Kakashi had made and used the transformation Jutsu had worked on. It had taken a lot of chakra from his already depleting reserve, but it was worth it.The leads they left were being followed, as they breathed a sigh of relief, just then a weird voice shouted just outside the cave.
Kakashi, Rin and Obito froze. And once again they heard the discussions of those hunting them.
"I heard something!"
"Yeah, me too, it came from over there!"
They knew the jig was up, their brief moment of rest was gone. Rin continued to heal Obito's wounds as best as he could, forcing him still as he tried to get up.
Kakashi steeled himself, gripping his Tanto once more as he told his comrades, "Rin, keep healing Obito. I'll buy as much time as we can so we can escape when he's back."
Kakashi knew that escaping in this state would be impossible right now. That shout had lured them to the cave, and soon they would be upon it and realise where they were. But if they ran out, they would be faced with the 3 Iwa Chunin and one Cloud Jonin he had counted. Even if the enemy's teamwork wouldn't be great, they knew now not to underestimate them for their age. They would take care, making sure not to be taken out easily. It didn't help that they were all becoming more and more tired from fighting so much. The short break had helped, but they were nowhere near 100%.
Kakashi looked back to Rin and Obito as he grimaced. His mind taking him back to his father bleeding out, but also to the talk he had shared with his teacher.
Kakashi steeled himself, he was the kind of man his father and teacher were. He would not let them die here, even if he needed to instead.
For that he knew, they could only escape when Obito was able to fight once again.
As they expected, an Iwa Chunin carefully made his way in, and noticed them. Kakashi rushed out using his Shunpo trying to silence him as fast as he could. But the man was prepared, he blocked his blade partially and jumped back creating distance. And with it called out to his teammates, even with his chest bloody, alerting them of their position.
Kakashi clashed with the man in Iwa attire, hoping to deal with him before he would inevitably face his comrades. But he also had to conserve as much of the little chakra he had left as he could for the key moment. It was back to the basics for him, using just his Kenjutsu. Even when he was tired, his skills didn't fade. He was more sluggish, but was clearly winning against the Chunin who wracked up more and more injuries. Only surviving this long from his own experience as an older Shinobi.
Luckily before he could fall, he was joined by the Kumo Jonin. Strangely, the other 2 Iwa Chunin were nowhere to be found. But Kakshi couldn't dwell on it, now defending attacks from both sides. The Jonin in his state while also conserving chakra would be difficult to deal with alone, but adding the Chunin made it all the harder.
Kakashi was managing to use their lack of co-ordination, manipulating the fight so that they got in each other's way. He could see the frustration building, and he was thankful for all the training Katsuro had forced him through.
He always spoke of the fundamentals, I guess they are proving themselves here now.
But strangely, that frustration didn't seem to boil over. And even more weirdly, they never truly extended themselves to try to take him out. Obviously it was risky, but Kakashi thought they were playing it too safe. Kakashi was prepared for them to even go after Rin and Obito, but they weren't doing that either.
He frowned, using his Tanto to block their Kunai, and his limbs their blows. Obito was praying internally for Kakashi to hold on, impressed at the mastery he displayed. He would occasionally throw Kunai or Shuriken to relieve Kakashi's burden where he could, displaying the extent of the chemistry to two truly shared. Co-ordinating like that in such a high stakes battle was not easy at all, but they made it seem so. Rin on the other hand had her hands full, but her Iryo ninjutsu spoke for itself. She was healing Obito's wound at a rapid pace, acting like enemies weren't trying to kill them right in front of her. The burns on Obito's right arm were getting better and less painful. A full treatment would take far too much time, and wasn't something they could afford. They just needed Obito to be able to use it comfortably again, that would be enough.
Kakashi looked back out the corner of his eye to Rin signalling how long more she needed. But even in the midst of battle, his mind wandered. His gut feeling told him something wasn't quite right. And if there was something he had learned from Katsuro it was to trust his gut.
Before the war…
A boy with a mask and white hair laid sprawled on the ground, clearly exhausted.
"Didn't you ask for personal training today? Why are you just laying there?"
"I regret it. I just gave you a free chance for you to beat me up."
"Hahahahaah, don't mind it. The pain you suffer now will become your strength tomorrow."
"That's what you always say, but I think you just like sending me flying."
Katsuro laughed heartily once more.
"You know now that you've been a Chunin for a while, you should be able to tell me now. What is the most important thing for a Shinobi?"
Kakashi grumbled in annoyance, "No matter what answer I give you, it's wrong. I say Intelligence it's wrong. I say Chakra, it's wrong. I say adaptability it's wrong."
Katsuro chuckled lightly, "Well all those things are important."
Seeing Kakashi roll his eyes and sigh, he smiled. "Okay, I'll give you a hint. Here, think about this, what is the difference between a King who rides into battle and the horse he rides on?"
Katsuro looked at Kakashi who began to open his mouth, but he cut him off. "And no, I don't mean the obvious things like their number of legs or that one is a horse and one is a man. If they are fundamentally the same, if their power doesn't differ. Why is it that one becomes the King who leads and the other becomes the horse that carries the King? What is the characteristic that distinguishes these two beings?"
Kakashi pondered, the things he was about to name being predicted. Seeing him struggle, Katsuro continued, "It is one of the few regrets of my life that I didn't trust my own."
Kakashi looked up at his teacher, seeing the sadness in his eyes and he remembered a certain little brother. But it helped him realise.
Katsuro, seeing his student come to the realisation nodded, "that's right. Instinct."
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