Н‘¾Ð‘¯Ð‘¬Ð‘Μ Ð‘»Ð‘¯Ð‘¬ Н‘¾Ð‘°Ð‘Μ𝑫 Н‘©Ð‘³Ð‘¶Ð‘¾Ð‘º €¢Ð’Ƒ𝒙Н’Ƒ• Zabuza’s return

It was a few hours after Akashi helped Sasuke with his Chakra control, and the sun was already setting. Kakashi sent Sakura to guard Tazuna at the bridge a while ago and he himself went back to Tazuna’s house to rest, leaving Akashi with Naruto and Sasuke. He was currently sitting atop a tree branch, looking down at the boys who were competing against one another. Naruto was sitting on the ground, panting. “Damn it!”. He exclaimed. “What’s with this thing?!”. He yelled as he thrashed around. Sasuke was also panting, but he was completely silent. 

Both of them looked up at the trees before them and saw Akashi waving at them. “You can do it!” He yelled as he cupped his hands around his mouth. Sasuke just looked at him, without an expression and Naruto sent him a grin, before he turned to glare at Sasuke. Sasuke met his gaze head-on and glared back. The two of them stood up at the same time and ran full speed up the trees. 

Naruto slashed the tree and fell down, thankfully, landing on his feet, but Sasuke continued running up. He ran up and almost reached the branch Akashi was on, but was forced to slash the tree and reached the ground by jumping from tree to tree. “Oh, Sasuke! That’s an improvement, seems like my words did help!” Akashi yelled down, with a grin on his face. Hearing this, Naruto looked up at his brother and pointed an accusing finger at him. “You helped him?!” He shouted, eyes wide open. 

Akashi looked at him weirdly. “You’re blaming me?! Why didn’t you ask for my help if you needed it?!” He shouted back, a tick mark on his forehead. Naruto started spluttering and continued pointing at him. “I can’t reach you! You’re always up there!” He whined. Akashi gritted his teeth. “Na-ru-to! Stop pointing at people! Or do you want me to come down there?!” He stood up from his branch and cracked his fingers. Naruto’s eyes widened in fear and he took a step back, nervously scratching the back of his head.

“No need for that, bro!” He flailed his arms in from of himself, but it was too late. “Incoming!” Akashi yelled as he jumped from the branch and descended onto Naruto. Naruto let out a scream as Akashi neared him. “I’m sorry!” He yelled and covered his head with his arms, crouching down. Sasuke was looking at the brothers as if they were idiots. After not being hit for 10 seconds, Naruto uncovered his head and looked in front of himself. Akashi was standing there, hands on his hips and a grin on his face.

“I’m joking!” He exclaimed and lent Naruto a hand, pulling him to his feet. Naruto crossed his arms and turned to the side, pouting. “I knew that”. He whispered. A fond smile appeared on Akashi’s face and he reached his hand towards Naruto and… flicked him on the forehead. Naruto flinched back and covered his forehead. “Ow! Stop doing that!” He rubbed his forehead in pain. Akashi started laughing obnoxiously, only high-pitched noises escaping his lips.

“You’re so cute when you’re mad at me”. He patted Naruto on the head and tilted his head. “Furthermore, when you need help, tell me, no matter how far I am, I will always come when you call, okay?” He asked as he threw an arm over Naruto’s shoulders. “You’re my baby brother”. He added and Naruto looked at him with stars in his eyes. Sasuke was being quiet as he observed the twins from the side. He thought of Naruto as very annoying, almost Sakura-level annoying.

On the other hand, Akashi, was an enigma. One moment he was cheerful and grinning like an idiot, and the other he was angry and glaring as if he would burn the whole world down. He can’t quite understand how a person can change moods like that. But as he looked at him now… he wondered which one was the real Akashi, maybe neither is real. Maybe he is yet to show his true self to the world. He wondered how that will turn out. 

His thoughts were broken when Akashi spoke up. “Now, continue practicing and you will get better at this, just remember, clear your mind of your thoughts and focus on the task you are doing”. He patted Naruto’s shoulder, before stepping away and climbing the tree. Sasuke remember those words from a few hours ago, those were the same words Akashi told him. Clear your mind and just focus on what you are currently doing, don’t pay any mind to anything else. The only thing that matters is the present, just focus on that for now. 

Those words really helped him in concentrating, he cleared his mind of everything for those few hours and he improved. An hour or two later, they were called for dinner at Tazuna’s house. Akashi neatly sat down next to Naruto and took the food, slowly eating. But, Naruto and Sasuke were eating like rabid dogs who had no food for a week, even asking for seconds after they finished. “Calm down you two! The food won’t run away and slow down, otherwise you will throw it all back up!” Akashi pointed a spoon in their direction, a vein popping on his forehead. 

A literal second later, both of them turned away and started throwing up on the side. Akashi plopped back into his seat with a defeated sigh. “I’m surrounded by idiots”. He looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. Kakashi just blankly stared at the puking boys, before his gaze settled on Akashi. I don’t know if he has improved while on this team, or if he was always this advanced. He was almost as bad as Naruto, but that was just because he was too lazy to put in any effort in anything. 

He narrowed his eyes in thought. He’s acting like nothing happened with the ninja from before, usually, when kids get their first kill, they act weird for the first few days. Not him though. A second later, Akashi looked back at him and gave him a closed-lip smile, raising his brows in question. Kakashi shook his head and resumed eating. After they all finished eating, they were offered tea, but Akashi excused himself and went to the boys room. Kakashi thought this was strange, but he paid it no heed. 

Akashi, upon entering the room, went straight to the window and sat at the window sill. His usual bright violet eyes glazed over as he thought about the events up to now. Passing the academy, finding out the truth about himself and Naruto, officially becoming a Genin… he grit his teeth as he thought about the ninja he killed. Just how easy it is to erase a person from existence. The still warm blood on his hands, that no matter how many times he washed it off, it wouldn’t disappear. 

It was like a scar, a scar only he knew about. Are you sure about that? He froze in place as a gravelly low voice whispered inside his head. What? He questioned inside his mind, but no answer came back. He shook his head and let out a laugh. “I’m going insane already”. With a defeated sigh, he leaned on the window and looked out, looked at the moon which was shining so ominously. It was still, unmoving and… undefeated. Just like Akashi hoped he would be. 

_

Morning came too soon. Kakashi led Sakura and Akashi to the forest. Naruto and Sasuke seemed to be missing. A sudden kunai impaled the ground in front of the three. They all looked up in alarm and saw that it was just Naruto, laying on a high branch atop the tree. Akashi just shook his head and let out a sigh. “How do you like that? I can climb this high now”. He said as he looked down at them, a grin on his face.

He stood up and straightened up, before his feet started sliding off the tree branch. “Naruto!” Akashi yelled as he dashed towards the tree and started running up. Naruto then slid to the bottom of the branch and stayed glued to it by the soles of his feet. Akashi let out a sigh of relief when he saw that Naruto wasn’t falling down. Naruto grinned and scratched the back of his head. “You fell for it!” He laughed. 

“Naruto! You brat, wait until I get up there!” Akashi shouted and started walking up, a tick mark on his forehead. At that moment, at that perfect moment, Naruto’s feet separated from the branch and he started falling down. Akashi’s eyes widen and he sprints up the tree, but before he could do anything, Sasuke appeared and grabbed Naruto by the leg and used Chakra to glue himself to the very same tree branch. 

“You idiot”. Sasuke deadpanned as he looked at the hanging Naruto. “Sasuke?” Naruto asked, confused. Akashi placed a hand over his racing heart. “Na-ru-to! You’re gonna give me an early death like this!” He walked up the tree and slapped Naruto on the back of the head, before looking at Sasuke. “Thank you”. He sent him a small smile, to which Sasuke nodded his head. Akashi then proceeded to oversee their training until night fell.

The boys have finally reached the top of the tree, the moon basking them in its cold light. Akashi clapped his hands together. “Great job you two! Now, let’s go back”. Naruto grinned and furiously nodded his head. Sasuke closed his eyes and an almost unnoticed smile appeared on his face. “Agreed”. Akashi jumped from the tree and landed safely on his feet, not a hair out of place. Sasuke landed a second after him, a slight stumble in his step as he coughed and straightened up. As for Naruto, well, he did land, but not on his feet. 

_

Sasuke and Akashi had to carry Naruto back to the house. As they entered through the door, Tazuna spoke up. “What’s with those two? They look really dirty and tired”. He asked. Naruto raised his head. “We both climbed to the top”. He said. At his words, Kakashi nodded. “Okay, Naruto, Sasuke, you two guard Tazuna-san next time, as well”. He then turned to Akashi. “You too, Akashi, even though you could have done it as soon as Sakura”. Akashi nodded at that.

“Roger!” Naruto started flailing around and by doing that, he managed to knock down both Sasuke and Akashi. The three of them fell down onto their bums. “You idiot”. Sasuke said with a sigh. Akashi stood up and tapped his foot on the ground, a hand gripping his hip. Sensing danger, Naruto slowly turned to the side. “Uh, I’m sorry?” He questionably apologized. Akashi closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. “You know what? I’m too tired for this”. With those final words, he turned around and headed for the sleeping room.

_

In the morning, Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, Akashi and Tazuna left for the bridge. Kakashi told them to let Naruto rest for the day. Once they got there, they were met with an unpredictable situation. The workers who were supposed to be working, were all knocked out on the bridge. “What’s wrong? What happened?!” Tazuna exclaimed in horror. Kakashi’s eye narrowed. “It can’t be…”. He trailed off, looking at the scene before them. Akashi moved closer to him. “Sensei? Could it be…”. He looked at Kakashi.

He gave a stiff nod, which made Akashi’s whole demeanor change. He bent his knees and placed his hand inside his pouch, prepared to grab a weapon if needed. Out of nowhere, mist appeared all around them. Akashi took a few steps closer to Tazuna, ready to deflect any attack thrown at him. “Sasuke, Akashi, Sakura, he’s coming!” Kakashi exclaimed as they all stood in a circle around Tazuna. 

“Kakashi-sensei, this is his Mist Concealment technique, right?” Sakura asked, voice tense. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Kakashi… And you’re still carrying those kids”. Zabuza said. “He’s shaking again. How pitiful”. Akashi tensed at those words and took a side-glance at Sasuke, who was, indeed, shaking. Akashi moved closer and tapped Sasuke’s shoulder with his own.

This caused him to take a look at Akashi, who sent him a small smile. Clones appeared around them and Sasuke grinned. “I’m shaking from excitement”. He declared. “Go for it, Sasuke”. At Kakashi’s words, Sasuke dashed around and slashed each and every clone, making them explode into water. Akashi took out his kunai and pointed it at Zabuza. “We’re not the same as we were before”. He glared directly at the man before him, no hint of fear in his eyes.

This made Zabuza’s eyes widen, before he narrowed them. “So it seems”. He said and a Chakra signature which was familiar to Akashi appeared. The hunter ninja from before stepped out of the mist and stood next to Zabuza. Akashi gripped his kunai and prepared for the inevitable fight which was about to happen. 

And deep inside him, in the far corners of his very own being, a low chuckle, unheard to him, echoed behind a locked golden cage.

He was ready to be set free.