Changing Tides Chapter 5 Part 2 (part 3)

[foreversin]

IcrybecausethewavesmetmetodayIcrybecausethewavesmetmetoday

Kakashi pushed a lose strand of black hair from over his eye patch, he sighed and wondered what was really going on in this village. The ninja he followed into the bar had nothing of use to him. He sat close enough so that he could hear the man’s conversation. The ninja and his companion were seated in the next booth both they were leaning on the table talking in hushed whispers. Eavesdropping on their conversation, he was able to catch snippets of what they were talking about.

“So it’s clear what we are going to do,” the ninja whispered to the civilian.

“Yeah yeah.” the other man waved a hand nonchalantly as he answered the other.

Kakashi wondering what was going on struggled to hear more. He needed anything that could let him know what was going on with those missing ninja and even if it involved listening to a conversation like this he would bear it just so he could get something. He was still curious why the ninja kept checking everywhere. When Kakashi first laid eyes on him he appeared to be someone who was recently promoted. The man’s chakra was erratic as he walked down the street; it was that chakra that drew the black haired man into this bar where he sat down. Kakashi had to shake his head and wonder just how many Chunin in this village were just like this one.

He looked down into his cup and noticed the ice cubes seemed to have melted. He had to wonder just how long he sat there for listening to their mindless chatter.

“Do you think he’ll be surprised?” one of them continued the conversation.

“Of course he’s turning twenty-one why wouldn’t he be.” The other questioned.

Holding back a groan Kakashi stood up and stretched, arching his back as he cracked joints that became stiff with how long he sat in the booth. The two men looked at him suspiciously for a second before they went back to their conversation. He could not believe he sat here for a good thirty minutes just to overhear something going on about a party. Leaving some money on the table he put his hands in his pocket and walked out.

Streets were illuminated with the glow of neon lights and paper lanterns. It was a lot cooler then when he first came into this establishment, but it wasn’t unpleasant. The hustle and bustle of people was surprisingly calmer then he would have thought with such an event. There was some pushing, but that couldn’t be helped and those that were pushing apologized to those that they pushed.

Watching the people for a second the man walked into the crowd. He began searching for high levels of chakra and just looking around for other ninja’s he could follow. He knew that most ninja dropped their guards after mission and became a little chattier when they came back. If he could just find the right grapevine he knew that it would lead him to what they needed to know. This was one of those reasons he chose to isolate himself when he was younger.

A sharp spike of chakra startled him a bit. Gazing in the direction he felt it emerged from he followed it with his eyes and noticed it was coming his way. Stretching out his sense again he felt that there was another more subdued one guiding it. He looked overhead as he saw two ninja flying across the rooftops. Locking eyes with the one with better chakra control he watched as they headed in the direction of the village’s gates.

‘Could they be on the move to Konoha?’ suppressing that thought quickly he knew it wasn’t possible. The ninjas he saw passing by him were laughing and just enjoying their time with their loved ones. Pinching the bridge of his nose he sighed before going over his options.

‘If I follow them they might be leaving the village going on a random mission and take me far from here for nothing’ he took his hand off his face and began walking foreword again. ‘If I don’t follow them I save myself time and be closer to my teammates’ he thought. This is why he hated village recon missions, they were always full of choices and finding out what you needed to get was always an annoyance. This was so much easier when you could just follow one target, grill them for information and kill them or let them go depending on the specifications of the mission and how you were feeling that day.

‘Speaking of my teammates I wonder if they found anything useful?’ he pondered as he moved swiftly to the left and barely dodging a girl who was also in a hurry. He kept up a slow lazy pace seeing if he could follow anything even remotely interesting.

“I cannot believe this shit.” Someone yelled and the copy-nin had to turn his head in the direction that sound came from.

A man was taking off his village’s head band and stomping down the street in obvious anger. Kakashi’s lips twisted in a small smirk that no one could see due to the cloth covering his face. He changed directions and followed the grumbling man.

This was just what he needed--an angry ninja was something he could work with, they were the best source of information since they were not being rational and blinded by rage. They would pick someone to talk to or talk to themselves and he could make out everything. If they became drunk enough he could even question him if the man was alone and he wouldn’t realize a thing.

Kakashi fingered several small pills in his pocket and as he wove in and out of building’s shadows keeping far enough away from the man to hide his presence, yet close enough to keep an eye on him. The pills in his pocket were specially made to react to alcohol it would make someone forget everything that happened an hour before they took them and several hours after. If push came to shove and that man was completely lost in the drinks he could slip one in and the man would be none the wiser the next day. Could he get the man alone was the question.

The man shoved his headband into his pocket as he walked into an old run down building. The neon sign sitting high above the entrance was dark; a lot of the bulbs were broken while those that weren’t broken had probably gone out. The door was missing and even then there was little light in there as well. His target walked into the place with little or no regard for what could happen to him, it gave Kakashi the impression he had been here many times before.

Waiting about a minute he sighed and adjusted his eye patch a little bit before walking into the bar at a slow pace. Feeling the stares of a few people on him he ignored them in favor of searching for that mist ninja. Spotting him at a booth by himself he made his way stealthily to the booth next to him back to the man as he sat down. The ninja didn’t even glace up from his drink, he was busy squeezing his glass in anger.

“Gail!” shouted a girl from across the room. Standing in the entrance way was a woman with blue hair and a dark outfit. A mist headband was wrapped around her right leg as her anger seemed to give off vibes that had several people leaving the vicinity. Kakashi smiled at this.

‘Well even if I don’t get any information from this guy at least the show will be entertaining’ he thought as he stood up and walked to the bar in the center of the room. It wouldn’t be good for them to believe he was listening in. Placing an order he turned his head slight to look at what was going on with that man and the woman.

Hearing his name called out Gail’s jaw clenched and he turned around to see his companion talking long strides to get to him. Too soon for his taste the woman was standing directly in front of his line of sight and she glared at him blue eyes intense with fury. Her stance was one that looked like she was about to put up a fight and her hands kept clenching and unclenching as she stared at the man.

“Biko,” he said softly, tinges of anger still lined his voice but none of it was directed towards the woman in front of him. He motioned for her to sit down and she let out a growl before sliding into a seat opposite of him.

“Why the fuck did you do that!” She exclaimed her voice causing several glasses to shake in her wake. Kakashi could feel that she wanted to hurt this man badly. Her emotions were clouding her action and her chakra was seeping out subtly. To most Jounin it wouldn’t have been traceable but then again the ex-Anbu was no ordinary Jounin.

“Do what?” he asked, eyes going back down to the glass in his hands. He lifted it up and took a sip of the amber liquid before he placed it back down., his eyes never once coming up to meet her angry gaze.

The woman let out a groan of frustration and slammed a fist down onto the table, scaring away a few more people in the establishment. Taking no notice he continued to stare down at his cup, swirling the glass as he watched the liquid churn.

A glass was placed in front of Kakashi and it forced him to stop his eavesdropping temporarily. He looked down at glass filled with alcohol skeptically before he reached into his pocked and fished out some money to pay for the drink. The bartender took it and without another glance he was off serving another customer. Picking up his drink he silently made his way back to his seat and hoped that neither of them would notice his presence.

When he sat down in his booth Kakashi took on a more lax position. He quickly downed about a quarter of the glass feeling the hard liquor burn his throat on the way down. This wasn’t one of his favorite drinks, but it would have to make do so he wouldn’t have to deal with its after effects. Running a hand through black hair he sighed as if he was letting off some steam, just in case they were being very cautious about their conversation.

The man seemed to be staring in the eyes of the woman his jaw still clenched in fury and his glass empty. He slammed a hand on the table and stated as loudly as he could. “Leave it the fuck alone.”

“I can’t leave this the fuck alone. I want to know what you were thinking.” Her voice was beyond what it was earlier, if one looked they could almost see the heat radiating off her body.

Kakashi honestly thought that she was going to kill the man any second and frowned. If she killed him he wouldn’t be able to withdraw anything from either of them.

“Who fucking cares what I was thinking it’s my fucking right. You know what it meant to me and it was taken, I should go kill his goddamn ass now.” The silver haired man began to get up when the blue haired woman leaned across the table and put a hand on his shoulder. Using some of her chakra she forced the man to sit back down before she went back to where she was previously.

“You threw the fucking bingo book at the damn Mizukage. Let me repeat that in case it didn’t get your goddamn thick head Gail. You threw a fucking bingo book at the leader of our village.” The blue haired woman hissed as quietly as she could, knowing that if someone overheard her they would go after her boyfriend. “You’re so lucky that you walked away as quickly as you did, he was about to have your head. Be glad that he is also in a good mood or else he wouldn’t have hesitated come after you and kill you in ways that we can’t even begin to fathom. Hell he might just send Serif after you and let him have his way with you, would you like that instead?” Biko leaned over the table again and was going to smack the man’s head when he reached out and grabbed her hand before she was able to.

“I told you, I don’t fucking care what happens to me. You know it was my right and what I have been working for all these years,” he growled out.

“Of course I know what it means to you. I was there, remember.” The anger left her voice as she leaned back in the chair a hand covering her eyes as she tried to fight back some tears. She thought that she was over it that event in the past which enraged Gail, but she was quickly learning that she wasn’t anywhere as over it as she thought.

“How could he have given that mission to him? I mean wasn’t I capable of dealing with her or was there another reason that he was chosen. How could he have been chosen over me?” Kakashi began to wonder just how angry a person could get before they went insane. What ever happened seemed to set this guy on edge and although he could probably win a fight with him he still didn’t want to rumble with the other.

“She’s dead now shouldn’t you be happy with that at least?”

“How can I be happy with it when I didn’t get a chance to execute my revenge on her? She killed quite a few of my friends and she even killed my god damn brother in front of me. You should be as outraged as I am that you didn’t have a chance to kill her you saw what she injected into him and saw how his body began to breakdown.”

Sitting forward Kakashi began to look into his glass and wondered what exactly the guy’s brother was injected with that could have such an effect. Keeping his slouched over position he looked just liked someone who was lost in thought, so he knew that no one would bother him anytime soon.

“I rather no relive that day Gail. I know what happened all to well and it still haunts my dreams to this day.” Biko’s eyes began to stare at the table. “I remember watching as the life left his body and he was left as a husk of skin.”

“Then you should be just as angry as I am? We can’t take revenge on the person that did that to his blood, but we could have gotten revenge on the person who killed him.”

“The last Mizukage was wrong and this one is trying to make things better. The person he chose was for the best not a reason that was tied to vengeance like yours.” she said softy as she reach a hand across the table to place on his lightly.

The silver haired man laughed as he heard what she said. “Do you know why he did it? I can tell you why he did it; it was because he wanted the villagers to approve of him a bit more to accept him. It was a selfish reason he did that and all the villagers and other ninja seem to think it was a saintly act by him, but it wasn’t, he just wanted some approval. More than four years of her being tracked and her finally being spotted and he kills her just like so he can fucking be liked. I should have been the one to kill her. Fuck I should go and kill his ass now it’s not like he’ll be missed.”

“How do you know all this?” she questioned eyes widening a bit as she looked to him.

“I was standing outside when I over heard them speaking. I was pissed off because when he left the kage and didn’t even bother to stop him, he just let him leave like that and taking the mission. No approval or anything Aikido just said he was taking the mission and left. He didn’t even do anything about it.” Standing up Gail slammed both hands onto the desk.

“Why don’t you like him? He hasn’t done anything to you or to any of us. Why is it that you can’t stand him at all, babe?”

“He’s playing us all for fucking fools.” His laughter mimicked the ones you would hear from a person in a mental institution. “A year, he’s been in this fucking village for a year and he seems to have won everyone over with his nice guy persona, but I’m not fucking buying it.”

‘One year isn’t that how long since the first ninja from Konoha had vanished? There had to be some connection,’ Kakashi thought as he adjusted his position so he was a little bit more comfortable. Casting a glance over his shoulder and noticed that Biko was staring at the table and Gail was glaring at her. Staring back ahead he looked around and saw there were barely any people left from when he had first entered. Those that were there didn’t seem to be paying any attention to the volume changes going on right next to him.

“I know how long he has been here for but he hasn’t done anything to make me like him. Hell the man barely speaks a word to anyone that isn’t the Mizukage. Why on earth would you think that he was trying to plan something?” she questioned.

“Something doesn’t set right about that guy. There are so many fucking questions that need to be answered like. Where did he come from and how did he get so close to our kage. What is his real name? What is his past? How the fuck did he even end up in this village. I never saw or heard of anyone named Aikido then suddenly he appeared out of nowhere wearing one of our headbands.” The man slammed his fist down on the table and began to step out of the booth. “No matter what happens I will never trust him no matter what our leader says. I bet at the first opportunity he’ll betray us all, then the whole fucking village will finally be on to his scheme only to have me rub it in their face.” The man grunted out as his fist clenched and unclenched at his sides. Growling at his companion he turned a strolled out of the bar.

Kakashi watched as the silver haired man walked out followed by the blue haired lady. He got up leaving his glass on the table he put both hands into his pocket and proceeded to walk out like he was talking a midnight stroll. He knew that they hadn’t gone far as he could still sense them slightly.

Catching up with them he was surprised to see Gail stand there, his anger radiating off him in waves that would send any sane person packing. He was standing in front of a man that was being obstructed by Gail’s body. He watched as Biko moved and placed a gentle hand on that mans shoulder as if trying to stop him from doing something drastic and Kakashi had to wonder just who that man was. A second later he saw that person who’s face he still couldn’t see move a small girl in back of him. Kakashi observed from his spot in the shadows, chin touching his chest looking about as bored as could be with the situation. The air became tense, people who were thinking of coming along this path steered clear and he had to wonder if he should evacuate as well.

“Aikido.” The unknown man’s name was said in such a way Kakashi had to wonder how come his teeth didn’t grind into dust. The anger began to grow bit by bit and the air kept growing tenser.

“Aikido.” Biko moved to bow down to him her hand never leaving her boyfriends shoulder.

“Gail, Biko.” The man addressed them both in an indifferent voice. His hand holding the girl behind him, never moving, although she did keep trying to peek from his side to see who these two people were. Her blue eyes staring at the man first then the woman bouncing back and forth between them to wondering what was going on and why her older friend thought she needed protection.

The masked man’s head shot up as he heard that man’s voice. It was a voice he hadn’t heard in such a longtime, but it couldn’t be -possible. It had to be someone with a similar voice didn’t it? Even after trying to rationalize himself Kakashi found himself leaning over a bit just so that he could get a view of the man. He couldn’t be who he thought he was.

“What are you doing here?” Gail’s voice was full of barely controlled rage as he sunk nails into his palms causing small trickles of blood to appear.

“Is there a problem with my being here?” Aikido questioned his voice low and warning the other not to do anything.

“Of cour-“

“Gail!” Biko shouted as cut the man off from counting his sentence. Tugging on his arm she began to pull him away as he glared at the brown haired man.

When the large man was gone Kakashi could not help but stare at the person he was arguing with. He had to bring a hand up to his uncovered eye and rub it a few times before he could even grasp the concept.

“Iruka?” he muttered to himself as if saying the man’s name would force him to disappear. He began to wonder why he didn’t come back to Konoha to his friends, his life, his job, and those that cared about him.

Iruka began to turn and walk in the opposite direction of Gail as he smiled down at Yari the aura of death dispersing from him as she took his hand smiling back up at him.

When Kakashi finally broke out of his daze he stumbled forwards and began to follow the ex-teacher. He must be under watch here or something and he had no way to escape. There has to be a reason for him walking so freely in this village. He tried to convince him self of that as he sped up a little bit. The brown haired man wasn’t walking as if he was being tailed and Kakashi had to slow down his pace to risk blowing his comrade’s cover.

“Sensei!” a distant voice sounded but the leaf nin paid no attention to it all he could do was follow Iruka. He watched people step out of the man’s way and give him a few smiles while his face was an emotionless mask as he didn’t even spare them a second glance.

“Sensei,” the voice grew closer, but Kakashi didn’t acknowledge it; all he could do was focus on the figure that was getting further and further away as he slowed down further in a daze. The man began to gain some distance on him and the copy-nin moved faster than he previously moving. He had to find out who and why Iruka was still here and not back home in the safety of Konoha teaching those at the academy.

A hand was placed on his shoulder and forced him to stop. His gaze was still lingering in the direction watching the man as a voice he knew well spoke softly to him.

“Sensei, I have something to report.” Naruto said his voice slightly shaky. The older man just nodded before he continued walking he didn’t want the brown haired man to get out of his sight.

“What is that Naruto?”

“We found another ninja from home here. We think he might be on a mission as well.”

“Who?” Kakashi questioned as he turned towards the blonde. As he turned he made sure he kept Iruka in his peripheral vision because he had a feeling that he knew what they were going to say and all his instincts told him that it would involve that brown haired man who was slowly walking away right now. He hoped that what ever it was would be quick so that he could pursue the man.

“Well-“ the blonde began, only to turn away and shake his head as if he couldn’t quite grasp the concept of what he was about to say. Shifting his feet nervously he opened his mouth again only to shake his head and attempt to speak again. The words he wanted to say just seemed to die on his tongue. He looked over to Sasuke and the darker haired youth seemed to get the hint.

“We think we saw Iruka in this village.” he stated as simply as he could. He was never as close to his old academy teacher as his blonde classmate so he wasn’t as dazed as Naruto was. He was a bit shocked, but that was because he wasn’t expecting to see that man here.

“Is that right?” Kakashi turned and began walking after that man who was slowly leaving his line of sight. Walking at a brisk pace his two subordinates stood in wonder at what cause the man to leave so quickly before proceeding after him.

“Yes, I saw him at the ramen shop in town.” Naruto said quietly as he tried to recall the memory. He remembered hearing the man’s voice and seeing him for a second. Could it have really been him though? He only caught a quick glance when he left the shop and when he looked down the street he saw nothing before he ran off to go find Sasuke. Then again he saw that same man and it had to be Iruka since no one else looked like that. Then again the man who picked up the girl at that fair seemed a lot colder than his old teacher would have been and he had to wonder if that was a different man all together.

“I saw him as well at the concert they were having in the town.” The black haired young man said from the jounin’s left side. He didn’t have a chance to use his sharingan to see if it was truly the teacher, but his gut told him it was. When Naruto came and was about to tell him, the blonde wasn’t the only one who experienced shell shock. Wasn’t Iruka a chunin? Why would he be so far away from home and what kind of mission could he have that required him to be so far away in this town if he was on a mission? Many questions along the same train of thought began to fill the ex-avengers head as he kept up with Kakashi’s pace.

“I believe this is the part where you want me to tell you that the both of you are wrong and that you should focus on the mission.” The leader of the team assumed as he stopped completely in the middle of the street. The man looked around for a few seconds his eye closing for a second before he began running as fast as he could. His team members running just as fast as he did not wanting to be left behind. “I would love to say that you are wrong and that he’s not here, but I can’t say that.” He paused for a second as he made sure he was going in the correct direction. “I’ve seen him here as well and was wondering what our old friend could be doing in this village.”

Naruto’s eyes grew wide as he lagged behind for a few seconds at what his team leader said. “You saw him as well?” he asked, his voice laced with a little bit a joy that Sasuke and himself weren’t going insane. His voice was also mixed with a little bit of disbelief if the older man saw the other why didn’t he try to stop him or make contact with the other.

“Surprise, no matter how well a ninja is trained some things will still surprise them .When that happens we lost our logical side and stare in disbelief the same as everyone else. Those moments are few and far between, but they do happen.” The older man commented as he began slowing down.

“Then what are we going to do now that we all can confirm what we saw. Do we just forget what we saw and continue with our mission or do we go after him and see if he knows anything about what has been happening to those ninja?” the dark haired teen asked his superior as he looked ahead and wondered what exactly they were chasing after.

“The parameters of our mission have changed. The new Mission: Pursue target.” Kakashi stated as he pointed towards the man walking with the small blonde girl.

They all paused as the man in the blue kimono stopped for a second. They were expecting him to turn around and were quite relieved when he started walking again.

“Iruka might have seen something in all his time of being here. If he is being watched we just have to wait for him to get to an isolated spot so we can talk to him and see what he knows.” What he didn’t tell his teammates was that he had a bad feeling about this whole situation.

“He’s moving.” Sasuke uttered as he began walking, sticking close to the shadows as he followed their target. The blonde haired teammate began to run after the brown haired man just so that he could talk to him and touch him and just see if he was really there and alive. Naruto could feel tears prick at the back of his eyes as he felt a bit of relief wash over him that he hadn’t lost another friend. Before he could get to far away Sasuke grabbed his shoulder and pulled his peer into the shadows with him.

The man in front of them stopped for a second as he turned to his right. He let go of the small girls hand as he patted her back and watched her run forward into the arms of a women. He gave a slight wave as the girl shouted goodbye to him turning with her mother and beginning to walk away to a place he did not know. Dropping his hands to his side the mist ninja began to walk towards the gates. He needed to get out of town for a little bit and go for a walk they wouldn’t mind much and this noise was starting to give him a headache. As he reached the gate he gave the guards on duty a wave as he walked out of the gate.

The tree ninja following him had to wonder what he was thinking when he walked out of the village. Was there a particular reason he did it or was it a spur of the moment? They knew he had to have some answered about what was going on in this village.

Sneaking out while the gate guards had their attention diverted to the man ahead of them was child’s play and they waited in the darkness outside of the city where they knew that he couldn’t see them. The three of them all knew it was still too close to openly approach him if he was under observation from the village, but that raised another question. If he was being watched by the village why would they let him leave anytime he wanted to?

“They could be watching him.” this thought was voice by the eldest as he watched the brown haired man walk away from the village and into the forest surrounding it. A coat of mist was beginning to form as they walked into the forest after that man.

“Could he know that he is being followed?” Sasuke asked as quietly as he could so as not to alert their target. “That could be why he left the village.”

“Yeah, he could have known we were coming and is trying to help us complete the mission.” The enthusiastic blonde said trying to be the optimistic one of the bunch.

“That wouldn’t be possible he would have let us know something was up when he first saw one of us or tried to get us alone.” A hushed whispered from Sasuke to Naruto.

“As I said earlier he could have been watched.” He whispered to the both of them as he tried to avoid anything on the ground that could alert the man. “Although there is something that isn’t adding up.” He mused to himself as he continued to go after their target.

A loud crunch was heard and the two black haired members turned to look at their colleague in anger. If he alerted their target that they were after him it wouldn’t end pleasantly. Then again, why were they so afraid to approach the teacher? Realizing that he could have been followed this far out here helped put their minds at ease for a second, before they looked at him and wondered if he heard that. They looked up and if the man heard it he didn’t let them know as he continued walking at his own pace never breaking his stride.

The three of them followed their target as he maneuvered through the forest without any signs of slowing down. It was wrong to call him a target, but to a sense that was exactly what he was, friend or not. He was currently their objective and they knew that making contact with him was a priority.

Ducking under foliage and other obstacles in their path, they didn’t allow him out of their sight. They were far from the village now, but that wasn’t on their mind the only thing was the man they were following. Stepping into a clearing, he walked into the vast field surrounded by trees that were lightly covered with bits of snow and the mist slightly obstructing their sight.

The man walked on all the way through the clearing until he came upon an area where it was beginning to become forest again. He stood there waiting as if he knew something was going to happen.

Forgoing their cover they walked out into the open following the man into the field. They had no doubt now that he knew they were there. They walked into the field so that they were about twenty feet away from the man that was not the only thing on their entire mind.

A sigh was heard even from their distance. Reaching up the man pulled out the ribbon that was tight loosely in his hair. The brown hair fell across the clothed back and the shoulders tensed for a moment before he turned around to face them. Brown eyes glinted in the moonlight as a frown marred his face. Opening his mouth he spoke three simple words that had their hearts beating faster.

“Who are you?”

End of Chapter 5 Part 2