Chapter - 03
"So you are Rick?"
"So you are the fourth Hokage?"
Just as Rick finished speaking, the black-haired boy came running towards him, and before he could do anything, he was smacked in his head, hard.
When Rin saw this, she flew in rage towards the black-haired boy.
"You numskull, why do you have to hit him in the head? He is yet to recover from his previous injuries," A smack on Rick's head proved very costly to the black-haired boy. Within moments he was thrashed to a pulp. But oddly enough, Rick, who was watching from the sidelines, felt no retaliation from the boy towards Rin. 'Maybe he enjoys this,' Rick thought.
"Rin, Obito, stop it now," the fourth Hokage felt helpless, staring at the duo. On the other hand, the old man beside him was enjoying. With a smoking pipe in his mouth, he could hardly contain his laughter.
Sensing that the situation won't resolve easily, the fourth Hokage gestured Kakashi. Kakashi then walked towards the fighting Rin and Obito. To be precise, it was a one-sided slaughter, with Obito being the one slaughtered.
Kakashi grabbed Obito and flung him away from the enraged Rin, putting a distance between them. But by accident or intentionally, he threw Obito towards Rick.
"I got him," Rick yelled. He felt sorry seeing Obito in this state because of him.
When the pig-faced Obito saw Rick was going to be crushed beneath him, he threw something in mid-air, did a summersault and landed behind Rick as the latter continued to stare astonished.
"Wow!" were the only words that came out of his mouth.
"Big bro... big bro Obito, how did you do that? How? How? How? Can you teach me? Please! Please! Please!" Rick ran towards Obito and clung to his thighs.
"Hey, leave me... Where do you think you are touching me?" Obito tried to push Rick. Obito was embarrassed by his newly formed fan and where he was touching him.
"Please, big bro Obito" Rick looked at Obito with puppy eyes.
"I..." Obito wanted to say something, but Rin could not see Rick pleading to that numskull.
"I will teach you, Rick. No need to ask anyone else," Rin said, freeing herself from Kakashi's grip. She was not in the mood to enjoy Kakashi's hug.
"No... no... no... He asked me, so I will teach him, no one else," Obito dismissed any opportunity of Rick and Rin being together. He will crush every rival he has. It does not matter if he is a four or five-year-old kid.
"Thank you, big bro Obito. I thought of you as a mean, loud-mouth and good for nothing, but you are the best," Rick said, but then corrected himself, "Well, second best. Big sister Rin is the best. She is sweet, caring, beautiful, her chest is so sof..."
"FINE!" Obito screamed, "I get it. Don't say anything more."
Rick nodded, "Let's go then. Start teaching me right now," Rick grabbed Obito by his arm and proceeded to leave the room.
"Ahem!" Clearing his throat, the fourth Hokage tried to bring their attention to him.
Rin also freed herself from Kakashi's grip and walked towards Rick. She made him stand straight facing the fourth Hokage.
"Ohh! You are still here?" Rick smiled sheepishly, showing his white teeth.
Now that everyone was finally paying attention towards him, the fourth Hokage said, "I need to ask you something, Rick."
Rick turned his face away from the fourth Hokage and started looking into nothingness.
"Rick, be respectful. He is the village Hokage and my teacher as well," Rin said, stroking Rick's hair. Though she said gently, Rick could feel a tinge of strictness.
Rick slowly turned his face towards the Hokage and glared. Hokage smiled, seeing the kid glaring at him cutely.
"I am Minato Namikaze, the current and fourth Hokage of this village," The Hokage introduced himself, "And this old man here is my predecessor, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. You can call him Sarutobi sensei, grandpa, old man or anything else you want to call him. He is someone who likes to stick his nose everywhere even if he is not the Hokage anymore." Minato told Rick.
"You rascal, hahaha..." The third Hokage laughed it off.
Rick bowed slightly towards the third Hokage, showing him respect for nothing else than his age and because Rin told him to behave.
"Will you now tell me why am I... here?" Rick asked, but mid-way, he felt something was off. He looked around, and Rin, Kakashi and Obito were nowhere to be seen. He was alone in the room with the third and fourth Hokage.
"Where is big sister Rin? Where is everyone else?" Rick was getting hysteric with each passing moment.
"They are all outside. You just need to answer a few simple questions, and you can be on your way to them. Is that okay?" The fourth Hokage said.
Rick could feel that he had no other choice. He nodded.
As soon as he nodded, the room changed, and Rick, along with the other two men, was now standing in a wast vast field with corpses lying everywhere. Crows, vultures and other animals, scavenging over them. The sky was blood red, and black clouds hovered above him. The uneasy feeling Rick had moments ago had now turned into fear drenching him in a cold sweat. When Rick wanted to look for the two men to know what was happening, they were nowhere in sight.
"What is your name?" Rick heard a voice. He tried to look for the source but could not find anyone.
"Who is it? Where am I?" Rick was on the verge of tears as he asked.
"Just answer my questions, and you will let you go. Now let's try this again. What is your name?" The voice said.
"Rick,"
"Full name?"
"Monkey D. Rick," sniffing softly, he said.
"Don't cry. I am not going to hurt you. Well, at least I think so," the voice said, followed by a sinister laugh. This did not make things any better, and Rick began to cry.
"Shut up! Now tell me about your parents,"
"I don't know. I don't remember," Rick said, holding back his sobs.
"You dare lie to me? Do you think I would not know?" the voice growled.
"I am not lying... I really am not lying... I don't remember anything... I really don't,"
"What about your hometown?" The voice asked, a lot more calmly than before.
"I don't remember," Rick said, whimpering.
"What did you say, huh?"
"I DON'T REMEMBER!" Rick had it enough. He yelled. His eyes were blood-red from crying now.
"Well, umm... is that so. Then, umm... What about... umm... How did you get to the forest?" The voice asked politely.
"I DON'T REMEMBER! Don't you get it, you dumb voice? I don't remember a thing. Now tell me where is big sister Rin, that foul-mouth Kakashi, loud-mouth Obito. I don't mind finding that yellow-haired sweet smile fourth Hokage as well, but the third Hokage won't do. He looks kind of weak to me." Rick said.
"Cough! Cough!" Rick heard before everything turned back to normal. He was back in the room, and everyone was again in front of him.
Rick dashed towards Rin and jumped into her embrace. The moment his face drowned in her chest, he started crying. Rin started consoling him and angrily looked at her teacher. Everyone had different expressions on their face. Rin was smiling softly as she stroked Rick's head. Kakashi had a faint smile on his face. Obito was turning purple with every pat Rin gave Rick. The Fourth Hokage was smiling awkwardly, and the Third Hokage was in a corner with gloomy clouds all over him.
After Rick had finally calmed down, Rin made him stand on his own.
"I think this will be all for today," The Fourth Hokage started, "I have decided that Monkey D. Rick..."
"I would prefer if you just called me Rick. I don't like being called by that name," Rick interrupted.
"Okay, Rick, it is. I have decided that Rick will be a resident of our village," The Fourth Hokage said.
Hearing this, the most excited one was Rin. She picked him and started swirling in circles.
"And, since he can't live on his own. I think it's best for him to live with someone. Someone he knows," The Fourth Hokage continued.
"Me... Me... Me... He can live with me," Rin said, jumping with Rick in her arms.
"Not a chance!" Obito was totally against this idea. Gritting his teeth, he said, "He can live with me."
"I have already decided," The Fourth said, "Rick is going to live with Kakashi,"
"WHAT!"
"NO!"
"What?"
"Yeah!"
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