NARUTO: Kakashi’s Story Read online

  “I know some shinobi can fly, but…can they really make a boat that flies?”

  “Well, while the five great nations were spending all their time in war, the Land of Waves continued to develop new technologies.”

  “Is the ship big?”

  “I think the one Grandpa and them are building now can hold about fifty or sixty people. If they just had the money, they could make something much bigger.”

  “So just how are they gonna make a big boat like that fly?”

  “You can just think of it as a big balloon,” Inari said. “They fill this balloon with a gas that’s lighter than air, and then below it, there’s an iron basket that holds people and things. It’s called a gondola; it’s attached to the underside of the balloon. At the tail of the boat, there are six propellers used to push the ship through the air.”

  What popped into Naruto’s mind was the image of a bamboo basket with many tiny balloons attached to it. He got to it floating in the air without any issues, but then a large flock of crows came flying out of nowhere and popped the balloons with many loud bangs. And then the people tumbled out of the bamboo basket and fell upside down straight down into hell.

  “No way I’m stepping into anything like that!” A shudder ran through his entire body. “Inviting all the bigwigs—you sure it’s really safe?”

  “They’re doing a million test flights.”

  “So? You’re not into it, Inari?”

  “…Huh?”

  “It’s written all over your face.” Naruto shrugged. “That the truth is you could live without a boat that flies.”

  “…Yeah.” Inari dropped his eyes. “It’s true that there’ll be lots of money coming into the Land of Waves once they finish the Tobishachimaru.”

  “And you’re not so keen on that?”

  “It’s fine.”

  Naruto raised a skeptical eyebrow.

  “But I think a lot of people’ll show up to work on it.” Inari raised his head and looked directly at Naruto. “Right from the start, our Land of Waves has made its living via transport. The people who have carried the burden of those commodities on their shoulders, the people who have carried them in ships, they’ll probably all be out of work. And then what happens? Everyone starts to hate the Tobishachimaru. They start to hate us, the carpenters, who built a thing like this.”

  Money! Money! Money! Garyo’s voice sprang to life in Naruto’s ears. If the Land of the Waves is at peace, then it is a peace built out of a pile of banknotes seized by stomping on these impoverished people.

  Seeing Naruto’s serious face, Inari changed the subject. “By the way, thanks for catching Garyo. His gang was against building the Tobishachimaru right from the start. They attacked the carpenters I don’t know how many times; they even killed some people. So Garyo was sent to Hozuki Castle?”

  “Yeah, probably.”

  Hozuki Castle was a containment facility for prisoners, built in Kusagakure and paid for by the five principal territories. Naturally, all five managed it cooperatively.

  Several years earlier, Naruto had been charged with a certain mission and infiltrated Hozuki Castle. In the events of that time, the castle had been completely destroyed, and he knew that it was Inari and the carpenters of the Land of Waves who had repaired it.

  “Speaking of that, you got tossed into Hozuki Castle once, right, Naruto? You peeked into the ladies’ bath, huh?”

  “I’m telling you that was my mission!”

  Inari took one look at Naruto and his bulging eyes and laughed.

  His laughter was infectious, and Naruto joined in. “Well, anyway, the world just keeps changing, you know?” He kept talking, grinning. “Money’s just like kunai or ninjutsu: it’s good or bad depending on how you use it, maybe.”

  Inari nodded.

  “You use that money the right way, and you’ll probably help out a ton of people,” Naruto said. “I don’t really know, but I figure that’s maybe the best way to fight back against guys like Garyo.”

  Just like every other time, Naruto flew out of Ichiraku holding a bowl of ramen. “Master Kakashi! Master Kakashi!”

  Kakashi had absolutely no desire to see Naruto. He pretended to be totally absorbed in the book he had just picked up—his favorite, Make-Out Tactics, and in particular the riveting third chapter “Shut up and Follow Me,” which had the highest level of make-outedness in the entire series—and tried to wait out the storm. And yet Naruto had almost no concept of other people’s feelings.

  “Master Kakashi! Come on, I’ve been calling your name for ages now, you know. You’re not old enough to be going deaf yet.”

  “Hm? Oh, Naruto.” Kakashi sighed in his heart. “Sorry, excuse me. I was completely immersed in this book, I didn’t realize. Oh! Your prosthetic arm’s finished?”

  “Yeah, but I still haven’t got the hang of it yet,” he said, clumsily opening and closing the chopsticks he held in his right hand. “Well, guess I can’t really complain.”

  “I guess not.”

  “Anyway, Master Kakashi, you still haven’t undertaken the inauguration ceremony?”

  “What?” See? Here we go. “Hmm, well, I’m not too good at that sort of thing.”

  Lately, wherever he went, someone was asking him this question. Kakashi was a little disconcerted by it.

  He had indeed resolved to become the Hokage. But he personally thought he wasn’t the Hokage vessel, after all. If he went through with the inauguration ceremony, he really wouldn’t be able to turn back. He even thought from time to time that now that the Fourth Great Ninja War was at an end, there was no real need to be in such a rush to be the Hokage.

  “The Hokage Monument’s already done, you know.” Naruto clumsily used his new right hand to shovel ramen noodles into his mouth between sentences. “I mean, everyone’s kinda concerned here. First off, if we don’t make it totally clear who the Hokage is, we won’t have any control over the other villages. That’s what the ceremony’s for, right?”

  “Lady Tsunade is still very much in good health, so I don’t really—”

  “Granny Tsunade’s already done, I’m telling you,” Naruto dared to state what loomed large. “Ever since she almost died in the war before, she hasn’t been putting herself into her work, you know?”

  “…She hasn’t?”

  “She starts drinking in the middle of the day, and just when you notice she’s suddenly gone, she’s getting into a huge fight at some gambling den. It’s maybe, like, in that war, she got a real feel for the fact that she’s old, you think?” Naruto laughed heartily. “And I mean, if you gotta go, go big, right?”

  But Kakashi was in no position to laugh along with his student. He had detected no ordinary black bloodlust coming from behind Naruto, but rather a huge and boiling wave of wrath.

  “But, you know, Granny Tsunade’s getting up there. Makes sense that she wants to retire already and enjoy her golden years.”

  “Uh, umm, is that so?” The bloodlust lurking just over Naruto’s shoulder, growing ever more intense, flustered Kakashi. “I think Lady Tsunade is still very young, yes, that is exactly what I think!”

  “How?! Maybe you can’t tell from far away, but when you look at her up close, her face is just covered in tiny wrinkles.”

  “Aaah!” I’m begging you, shut your mouth already! “You! Don’t say things like that so loudly.”

  Each time Naruto tossed off one of these remarks, the bloodlust growled and became even greater.

  “What’re you getting so upset about, Master Kakashi?” Naruto was oblivious to the pair of glittering eyes shining behind him. “I won’t say it too loud, but lately, she’s been in some kind of temper. And she forgets stuff everywhere.”

  He’s dead.

  Kakashi closed his eyes, so he didn’t see Tsunade sink her clenched fist into Naruto’s head. However, he couldn
’t stop the very unfunny sound of the sharp crack from reaching his ears.

  “Just who is forgetting things everywhere?” Tsunade’s angry roar rang out. “And the reason I’m in a temper is because you are always making me angry!”

  Closing his eyes, an enormous bump growing on his head, Naruto prostrated himself on the ground.

  “Kakashi!”

  “Y-yes ma’am!” With Tsunade glaring fiercely at him, Kakashi’s voice was turned inside out. “I-I was just saying you’re plenty young, Lady—”

  “Have you still not decided on a day for the inauguration?”

  Kakashi averted his eyes.

  “I well understand your hesitation.” Tsunade’s face softened. “I was like that too.”

  “You were…?”

  “Once you become Hokage, you can no longer live in your own way as you have to this point.” She indicated the prostrate Naruto with her chin. “You won’t be able to spend much time with this idiot anymore, either.”

  Kakashi stayed silent and listened.

  “You are the only one who can be the sixth,” Tsunade said. “Naruto has indeed grown stronger, but as you can see, he is still not a vessel for the Hokage. And at the time of the Five Kage Summit, you were firm in your resolve to become Hokage, were you not?”

  “At the time, I still had the sharingan eye. But losing the sharingan means that I lost the Lightning Blade. Lightning Blade was a jutsu I could complete precisely because I had the dynamic vision of the sharingan. And I thought that with such a jutsu, I’d be able to protect Konoha somehow if I became Hokage.”

  “Kakashi…”

  “I’m sorry, Lady Tsunade. Please wait to discuss this until your current term is finished.”

  “You must be the sixth Hokage, Kakashi.” Obito’s voice came back to life in his ears. And then Obito gave me the sharingan.

  What am I hesitating for? Kakashi admonished himself. Right from the start, the sharingan was a loan with an expiration date, wasn’t it? Aah, I probably relied on it too much.

  “You were guarding the Tobishachimaru.” Tsunade changed the subject. “Were there enough people on hand?”

  “Just barely. This year, it’s our turn with Hozuki Castle, so Team Guy and Shikamaru’s Team Ten are going all out there.”

  “Hozuki Castle… I do wish a new castle master would be decided on soon.”

  “It’s not going to be that easy to find a master on Mui’s level.”

  In the joint tactical operation some years earlier carried out by Konohagakure and Kumogakure, Hozuki Castle had been destroyed. Although the castle itself had since been rebuilt, the castle master Mui, who controlled the prisoners using a technique called Celestial Prison, had lost his life. Ever since, Konoha, Suna, Kumo, Iwa, and Kiri had deployed guards in rotating months-long shifts.

  “We need Naruto here protecting the village, so I’ll take a group of jonin with me. It’s just a ceremonial guard, though; there shouldn’t be any problems. Once the boat’s up in the air, my role there is done anyway.”

  “That reminds me, Guy said he wants you to let him do that job. Surprising that he’d say something like that with that leg of his.”

  “Guy just wants to see a ship flying,” Kakashi said. “He might be able to go out to the Land of Waves in his wheelchair on that.”

  “A boat that flies… Truly incredible. Right now, the existence of the Tobishachimaru is a secret from the other countries, but…”

  “They’ll find out about it soon enough. When they do, all the countries will likely get together and ask their hidden villages to try and steal Tobishachimaru’s lighter-than-air technology from the Land of Waves.”

  In other words, Kakashi added in his heart. For the right to the skies, shinobi would start to deceive and kill each other once again.

  Regardless of the fact that the sightseeing flight was meant to be a secret, the curtain was lifted at the height of a magnificent ceremony.

  In the grassy field by the sea, decorative paper balls were split open and white doves flew free from them, a drum and fife band marched about, and confetti danced in the air. It went without saying that the guests of honor who were to ride the Tobishachimaru, and even the mere attendants who had been placed at their disposal, all expressed their respect for the historic moment and watched the ceremony in full dress.

  Behind the brilliant men and women taking the stage one after another and offering congratulatory addresses stood the proud form of the enormous streamlined Tobishachimaru, 223 meters in total length, diameter of 34 meters, top speed of 70 kilometers per hour, the tail equipped with six thrust propellers. A gondola compartment was attached to the bottom of the massive body.

  Tobishachimaru—the three characters of the name meant flying shachi boat, and the origin of this name was very clear. On the balloon, an enormous tiger-headed shachi carp had been carefully painted, right down to the dorsal and pectoral fins.

  The weather was superb—there was not a cloud in the sky, and the cool wind of late autumn blew through the grasses to make rustling waves.

  “It’s the perfect day.” Slight tears welled up in Tazuna’s eyes as he gazed upon the ship he had had a hand in building. “Now the Land of Waves will be incredibly strong once more.”

  “Congratulations,” Kakashi replied. “You’ve made something wonderful, Tazuna.”

  “Did you know? That huge balloon there’s called an air bladder. Got helium gas inside it.”

  “Helium’s lighter than air and not flammable, right?”

  “Mm-hmm, that’s Tobishachimaru’s buoyancy right there. Look. There’s six propellers on the tail there, right?”

  Kakashi nodded.

  “Those push that massive thing forward. This time’s a sightseeing flight, two and a half hours, but we tweak things a bit and we should be able to achieve significantly longer flight ranges. Although, to keep other countries from learning about the ship, we have to stay at an altitude of five thousand meters or lower. As long as we don’t go above five thousand meters on today’s flight, we should be safe from the prying eyes of the intelligence services of the other nations. We checked it all out. And the reason the ship was painted that precise shade of light blue is to make it blend in with the color of the sky.”

  “But Konoha has been informed about it?”

  “Well, there was no way around that.” All smiles until that point, Tazuna’s face clouded over. “All fine and good for Garyo to have been sent to Hozuki Castle, but his followers have infiltrated every level of society.”

  “That’s exactly why we have the masters of Konoha concealed inside the ship.”

  “We’re really counting on you.”

  “Now, let us at last proceed to board!” A proud voice echoed from the stage, urging the guests toward the ship. “Those lucky fifty-seven guests fortunate enough to have invitations, please make your way to the Tobishachimaru! The attendants will show you inside!”

  “Finally, hmm?”

  At Kakashi’s words, Tazuna narrowed his eyes, overwhelmed with emotion. “Yes, finally making history here.”

  They looked out over the people, laughing and chatting in their finery, streaming toward the Tobishachimaru. The playing of the drum and fife band grew noticeably louder.

  Kakashi heard hurried footsteps from behind just as the last guests stepped onto the ramp and the photo session to commemorate the occasion began.

  “Wait!” A woman holding up the hem of a long blue dress came running at top speed. “I’m getting on! I’m getting on the ship as well!” Clutched in the hand she was waving wildly above her head was a gilded invitation.

  Just as she was about to run past Kakashi, the woman tripped and pitched forward. “Waah!” she cried in a small voice as her body was thrown into the air.

  Almost reflexively, Kakashi stopped her.

  In the co
nfusion, their eyes met. Flowing, curly hair, slightly parted lips, large, moist eyes open in surprise—time stopped for a moment, and the world, to Kakashi, was this woman and nothing else.

  The woman in the long dress fell into Kakashi’s arms, her hair softly tickling the end of his nose as she raised her head.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Oh! Excuse me.” The woman hurriedly pulled herself upright. “I was in a bit of a hurry. Thank you so much for helping me in a moment of danger.”

  Kakashi nodded, and she avoided meeting his eyes, embarrassed. And then she lifted the hem of her dress once more and charged toward the Tobishachimaru, yelling loudly, “Wait! Please waaaiit! I’m getting on, I’m a passenger as well!”

  “People are that excited to go on the sightseeing trip,” Kakashi remarked to Tazuna, watching the woman running away from behind. “Carpentry is really a wonderful occupation.”

  “She’s a real beautiful woman, too,” Tazuna said. “And speaking of occupations, you still not having your big day?”

  Again?

  Kakashi shook his head ambiguously. His eyes were turned toward the Tobishachimaru waiting to take off as the woman in the long dress rushed to the gangplank.

  “I don’t really know, but isn’t the Hokage inauguration ceremony kinda like a wedding between you and Konohagakure?”

  “Yes,” Kakashi answered absently, staring at the propellers on the tail. “I guess you could say that.”

  “Then it’d be strange not to have doubts. And all the more so with everyone expecting so much of you.”