Naruto: Lost In Kishimoto - Revenge [Book 2]

Chapter Twenty: Still.

Kakashi POV

Everything seemed still as I gazed out the window of my bedroom. The sunrise was dark, a painting of dark pinks and reds. Blood had been spilt, it was written all throughout the sky. The world had changed in an event of violence. How? I didn't know, but I couldn't shake the feeling in my soul.

I felt myself hope for Beths safety. She had lost her way, like many shinobi before her. But I believed in her goodness. I believed in her inability to commit evil. It was always something that drew me to Beth, the idea that she was the best of all of us. It is because of that reason that the weight of her betrayal hit the shinobi world with such force. She was a poster for all young shinobi.

I remembered her kindness. When she saw people in peril she would not stand for it, whether or not she was personally involved she would fight for those who could not fight for themselves. But everything was different after the second round of the Chuunin exams. Before her fight with Kabuto she had seemed 'off', as if she was stressed about something other than the exams, a confliction that she couldn't share with those around her.

I went back to that moment I saw her step into the ring with Kabuto. She seemed so tired, yet she was trying so hard not to show it. For Kabuto? For Sasuke and I? Her body quivered ever so slightly from what I gathered were injuries sustained in the second exam, but had I missed something? Missed something deeper?

"Who do you think you are, ordering me around like you're my parent?" I recalled Beths words to me during our conversation after her fight with Naruto, feeling a twinge of pain inside my heart. The words had affected me more then I cared to admit. I cared for all of my students. Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, but my relationship with Beth had been deeper. I had focused on Sasuke and Beths training more intently as they shared talents in my particular specialties and as such I spent more time with the two of them. Like me they had no one, no family. However, where Sasuke thrived on such loneliness, Beth and I found comfort in one another. I saw her grow, falter, and yet I missed her bloom.

"Kakashi sensei?" A familiar voice sounded from the doorway to my apartment following a brief knock. Sakura stepped inside and smiled weakly, obviously not in high spirits.

"Settled back in?" Sakura nodded in silence, gathering her thoughts before gesturing for me to talk with her. I had recovered almost entirely in the last few weeks and was getting stronger every day, so I welcomed the invitation for a walk.

We exited my apartment building and began walking through the residential streets of Konoha. The streets were relatively busy for dawn. Kids ran through the streets on their way to the academy for early classes, shinobi made their way to the training grounds for early training with friends or teachers, families told each other to 'have a good day' as they said goodbye. Sakura was quiet for the first ten metres we walked and as a result I took it upon myself to start the conversation she couldn't bear to initiate. "What was she like?" I asked bluntly.

Sakura didn't respond straight away and instead thought carefully as to what to say, making sure she was able to refrain from upsetting me. She's grown so much.

"She wasn't Beth." Her statement was brief but understandable. Sakura had many differences with Beth before she was able to form a strong friendship with her. Jealousy I guessed played a major part in that. However when Sakura started to see Beth as more than a rival, she began to take some of Beths traits as her own. The admiration Sakura and Naruto both had for Beth would've caused them great pain when presented with the Beth that for the last three years has been manipulated by Orochimaru.

"You can thank Orochimaru for that." I added.

"I saw something in her. But it wasn't Orochimaru." She took a breath before continuing, we rounded the next corner. "She seemed... stretched. As if she was a piece of rubber that was slowly being stretched to the point of tearing apart. And yet she was so strong, so eloquent in her speech. Except for..." She paused. However at this I found my voice to be more profound. I couldn't stop my curiosity from taking over.