The Masked Hunter

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Dashing forward I caught him right before he hit the ground. "Kakashi sensei!" I clench my jaw as I contemplate whether I should track them or carry Kakashi back. 'I have to get him to a safe place. If I leave him like this to the others there is no guarantee they could take another ambush while protecting both Kakashi and Tazuna. Damn, it.' Shifting our position I crouched down pulling his arms over my shoulders raised him, and jumped, bumping him up enough for me to catch his thighs giving him a piggyback ride. 

"Pfth" Turning I saw Naruto and Sakura red and trying not to laugh. Even Sasuke was covering his mouth trying to hide his snickers. "Don't laugh!! Do one of you want to carry him?!?!" They quickly shut up and turned around. Their shoulders shook as they were robotically walking along the path with Tazuna. 

  Sighing I trudged behind them accepting that we did indeed look ridiculous. 'I'm not getting you new shoos after this. It's your fault for fainting and making me carry you.' 

The only sounds heard as we walked were the dragging of Kakashi's feet and the snickers of the three teammates in front of us.


~Time skip~


3rd pov

A slight breeze and ruffles of leaves were heard through a slightly open window. The room carried a cozy ambiance easing the Ancious groop surrounding the sleeping individual.  Soft steps grew closer to the room and the slight shift seemed to wake Kakashi. Stirring slightly, his exposed eye opened and quickly scanned his students, landing on the H/c-ette. He was about to speak as the door slid open displaying a slightly agitated woman. That was Tsunami, Tazunas 28 year old daughter. "Are you alright, sensei?" Her hands rested on her waist and her eyebrows scrunched forming a small frown. "No, but I will be... In about a week." 

Alarmed Sakura kneeled beside him resting her hands on her lap with the same frown as Tsunami. "The Sharingan eye is an incredible power, but doesn't the strain it puts on your body make you wonder if it's worth it?!" understanding where she was coming from he could only give a sheepish laugh at her comment. 

"This time you took down your strongest foe yet. So we can probably relax for a while." Tazuna's comment seemed to calm most of the room down but the doubt still lingered. "I can't get my mind off that masked kid.." Sakura trailed off her hand on her chin looking deep in thought. "That mask is worn by the most elite and secret ninja from the village hidden in the mist. The shinobi hunters all wear them... The shinobi unit is named 'Undertaker Squad' because they dispose of corpses so thoroughly, that it's as though they never existed. Even after death, a shinobi corpse may yield up its secrets, exposing the secrets of the skills it had mastered as well as retaining the aura of the chakras it was steeped in, in the ninja's native lands. Even the ingredients of any drugs or potions that the body consumes become an open book. In the same way, when I die. If an enemy were to take possession of my remains, the corpse would reveal all of the anatomical peculiarities unique to possessors of the Sharingan eye. In the worst case, the enemy might gain enough information to be able to duplicate and master that power." 

The room fell silent "Ninja corpses tell too many tales. Basically, shinobi hunters specialize in tracking down and eliminating rouge ninjas and obliterating their remains to protect the secrets of their home village from the rest of the world. Silently and without a trace. That's how ninjas leave the world." Trailing of Kakashi let his words sink into the genin. "So, Zabuza's corpse will be dismembered and destroyed? That's so creepy--!!" Sakura could imagine the masked boy standing ready to destroy Zabuza.


~Somewhere else~

The trees cowered two bodies with shade, bringing around a gloomy atmosphere. The boy kneeling beside Zabusa stretched out a hand to the unrawled scroll displaying what looked to be medical equipment. His hand gently picked up a pair of scissors bringing them up to Zabuza's face. "First I'll remove the wrappings around the mouth so the blood can drain out, and then-" A hand shot up and gripped his wrist stopping him from snipping off the bandages. "Enough! I can do it myself." Zabuza's raspy voice was heard as the other hand loosened the fabric around his face showing an almost crazed expression. "Well now. Awake already?" 

"You have the finesse of a butcher." Zabuza ripped out one of the needles making blood fly from the small wound "Gently, please Zabusa. If you pull those out any which way, you really will kill yourself!" Zabuza grunted in acknowledgment being only slightly more gentle with the second one. "How long are you going to keep that ghoulish mask on?! Take it off!" The boy's hand went up and wrapped around the bottom half of the mask pulling it off. "Old habits die hard. And it was also useful for our scam routine." Under the mask was revealed a feminine face gently framed by two strands of hair.  The silence was now much more comfortable. 

Zabusa slowly sat up facing the feminine boy as he spoke "They would have killed you if I hadn't intervened." Coffing up a bit of blood Zabusa frowned "You didn't need to target the vulnerable areas in the neck just to put me in a death-like state. Any number of other points on my body would have done!" Raising his voice slightly he lifted an arm tightening the now loose bandages. "But you are a sadistic little brat.." to his side, the boy chirped "Exactly!" silence followed for a few seconds as the boy's smile turned to a more neutral face. "I didn't want to destroy a part of you're body Zabusa. And besides, the neck is so much less muscular than the rest of the body. I can more precisely target the points that would leave an ordinary target paralyzed and death-like for a full week. But of course, someone like you would recover much quicker. Right?" 

"You are so innocent, so guileless... no doubt it's why I like you." The smile reappeared on the boy's face "Heh... Well, I'm only a child." again they were enveloped in silence as the clouds parted letting in the light and showing the now clare clearing "Without us even noticing, the mist has lifted... Next time... Will you be all right?" scoffing Zabusa glared forward staring into space "Next time I'll break the Sharingan jutsu! We'll have to be careful with the girl too. If what happened was real and not a jutsu, we need to believe that everything in the bingo book is true. This could mean our death or our greatest ally has just popped up." Zabusa no longer knew if he should grin or shudder in fear. Only time could now tell them how this would go.


A/n: It's shorter than the other chapters but I thought it was time to update. Hope you liked it. I'll try to update more often but I can't promise anything.

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⏰ Last updated: Apr 12 ⏰

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