Beauty is the Beast (Kakashi Love Story)

Chapter 29

Jiro sat in a chair staring out the window of the room he had been placed in. His breathing was shallow and his eyes where dilating at different rates. A small sound coming from outside the door caused him to jump in his seat with a small shout and recoil back in fear. The rolling of a cart approached before it soon faded down the hall, posing no threat at all. The anxiety filled shinobi sank back into his chair with a deep relieved sigh.

It wasn’t her.

“He’s been acting like that since the mission you sent me and a couple of others on.” Asuma informed before taking a heavy drag of his cigarette and exhaling after a few moments. “He can’t be calm for more than a minute. He’s jumpier than a rabbit and I can tell ya, he isn’t sound enough to handle missions right now.”

“Hmm…I was afraid that this would happen sooner or later.” The Third gave a somber sigh as he continued to observe the shaken man from another room, behind its one way mirror.

4 Days Earlier……

Asuma was leading a four man squad in the northern territory on an A-ranked mission…

“Jiro and I will need you to cover us while we go and secure the medallion.” Asuma ordered to the two on his right before turning his attention to Jiro on his left, “Remember, it must not be broken or risk an explosion of chakra that could take out everything in this area, including the village just south of us.” Asuma finished informing his team as they approached their destination point.

Their objective was simple, but easier said than done. What made things a bit complicated, was the fact that the medallion they were to retrieve and return back to the village Asuma had just mentioned, held outrageous amounts of chakra.

The medallion was a village heirloom that was passed down to each generation. And with each generation, the medallion’s amount of chakra grew. In a way, it slowly fed off of its caretakers, but that was only because the villagers let it. To them, the medallion was its protector and so, letting the treasure feed from them was a necessity to them. Without the continuous supply of chakra, they believed that it would lose its ability to protect them from harm.

Word about the village’s prized possession fell on the ears of a traveling group of rogues. Supposedly, there were fifteen of them, with a leader that most of the villagers believed to be a shinobi. The rest had looked to be nothing more than just barbarians with foul mouths and odor to match, too. They had been last seen heading further north of the village after they had, not only stolen the medallion, but several sacks full of food and other items of value as well.

Asuma didn’t see them having any problems with the smaller bandits; it was the alleged shinobi that had him more concerned. If he were somehow able to harness the medallion’s power, then it could mean trouble for not only he and his team, but for the surrounding area as well. Before leaving the village to track down the robbers, Asuma and his team were given one warning and one warning only: Whatever they do, do not damage the medallion in any way, or face dire consequences with explosive results.

Jiro gave a firm nod of his head in response to Asuma’s orders as they continued to jump through the trees. It was his first A-ranked mission since he had been given Genin, and since now that said Genin were more experienced with handling missions, they could be left to themselves to deal with them. They’d be given D-ranked missions until his return anyway, so there was really nothing to worry about.

A flash of white drew Jiro’s attention away from his thoughts, and he glanced to the side to where he thought he had seen it, but nothing. He gave a frown before turning his sights back forward, but found himself glancing in the same direction again, several seconds later after seeing the same flashes of white.