Naruto © Kishimoto
The Hitteki Scrolls Characters and Stories © Jenny M. Stead 08

Naruto: The Hitteki Scrolls
Side Story Filler

Just Researching

Part III:

“Damn it”, Kakashi scolded himself for the hundredth time as he sprinted down the street faster than he had ever ran before.  Toshi was behind him.  He could tell from the vibrations on the ground, and her scent of herbal bath still lingered in the air.  It was inevitable.  He was going to die.  Kakashi may have been dubbed one of the most powerful shinobi in the village at such a young age, but Toshi had the dragon; the dreaded stone dragon of the Adachi clan.  He knew that if she discovered who he really was, she’d use it on him.  Kakashi widened his eyes as he scoped the area before him.  There was the book store.
“No”, he remembered the merchant from the other day, “that would just get me into further trouble.  I can’t deal with that right now.”  He looked to his right.  A small tea shop stared back at him in welcome.  Kakashi dived behind a nearby fruit stand as he released the transformation jutsu.  He sprang up as his dark purple black eye caught his attention in the reflection of the tea shop windows.  She would know.  Toshi was too clever for such a dumb ruse.  Kakashi glared around him for another exit.  He quickly covered his right eye with his forehead protector, revealing the sharingan eye.
“I know it’s a risk to use it”, he realized how tired he was from using it so much that day, “but I would rather faint then get pummeled by that huge glob of dirt.”

“I don’t care what you say”, a familiar voice spoke out in the clearing, “I’m not gonna quit!”
“But you’re fifteen!”, another voice shouted in protest, “you have the stamina to stay young forever.  Smoking will only decrease that.”
“Youth, youth, youth”, the first voice begrudged in annoyance, “that’s all I ever hear out of you!  For Hokage sake, Guy, get over yourself and indulge in life’s small pleasures.”
“Smoking decreases your age and health”, Guy continued smugly.  Kakashi peered out into the opening of the square to see three young chunin ninja exchanging these words.  He recognized them the moment they began to speak.  One of them was a rough looking lad with a cigarette dangling from his mouth.  He puffed on it fiercely as he blew the smoke into the face of his protestor.  The victim of the smoke attack waved his hands around while choking from the smoke.
“That was unnecessary!!”, Guy sputtered from the air in his face, “why did you do that!?”
“To shut you up”, a third voice chuckled in amusement.  Kakashi raised an eyebrow.  The boy sounded smug and snobbish.  Kakashi blinked his sharingan a few times.  He could feel his exhaustion rising from the usage of his secret technique.  The boy ahead of him wagged a scolding finger toward Guy.
“He’s the son of the third hokage, Guy”, the boy placed his hands on his hips as he talked down toward the ninja, “you have no right to order him around like that.  If he chooses to smoke, then so be it.”
“Suck up”, Guy begrudged as he stared into Kakashi’s direction, “and what are you looking at!?”

“Just—“, Kakashi hesitated as he joined the boys in the square, “killing time?”
“You look out of breath”, the boy with the cigarette raised a concerned eyebrow, “and your sash is covering the wrong eye.”
”Just practicing”, Kakashi chuckled while shooting a worried glance behind him.  Toshi would be arriving at any moment.  Kakashi glanced over toward the snobbish boy that was scolding Guy earlier.  The boy had a bandanna styled forehead protector over his raven hair and he wore a pair of round dark sun glasses.  The boy pushed the glasses further up his nose as he returned the glare.
“Having a good day, Ebisu?”, Kakashi tried to break the ice as he felt Toshi’s presence in the area.  Kakashi pocketed his novel as Ebisu smiled smugly.
“It’s been rather eventful”, Ebisu’s smile broke into a toothy grin, “saw a few things that I never thought that I ever would see.”
“HEH”, Kakashi coughed a small chuckle in embarrassment, “that makes two of us.”  There was an awkward silence between the two boys.
“Your knees are on the verge of buckling”, the boy with the cigarette noticed as he pointed downward.  Kakashi gulped in intimidation as his black eye called back to him within memory.  He needed to stay calm.  He needed to keep his eye hidden.
“I said I’m fine, Asuma”, Kakashi grinned under his mask, “I—“

“Let me help you to this chair, Rival!”, Guy practically picked up the boy and threw him onto the nearest bench.
“I said I’m okay!”, Kakashi fought the urge to smack the boy.  The stress was getting to him too much.  Kakashi peered around the square uneasily.  It had been almost ten minutes since he had felt Toshi’s presence in the area.  She was somewhere.  Planning her first strike, he was willing to bet.

“What is with you anyway?”, Asuma puffed once more on his cigarette as Kakashi jumped slightly in alarm toward his friend’s hand, that was now clasped on his shoulder firmly, “testing your sharingan?  You’re always telling me that your jutsu is too dangerous to play with.  You look flushed, not to mention stressed out.  I swear you’re on the verge of fainting!”  
“N-No I’m not!”, Kakashi bellowed, his voice squeaking, “I’m just—“

He didn’t finish.  A shockwave of fowl chakra engulfed the square as the four boys huddled together in alarm.  Kakashi gulped tightening the forehead protector shielding his blackened eye.  She was here, and was making her entrance.  The masked ninja caught a slight glance at Ebisu.  The boy wouldn’t stand a chance.  He was quaking in his spot; kunai raised in a tightened fist.  None of them besides the Copy-nin knew what was going on.  The square filled with an angered fog as their vision of the surroundings slightly disappeared.
“I’m gonna die”, Kakashi finally admitted to himself, “—I never thought that I would live to see the day where she would actually kill me.”  
“Genjutsu”, Asuma noted as he sniffed the air, “that’s the foulest chakra I have ever smelt.  Whoever is conjuring this up is either evil, or just down right pissed.”  Kakashi quaked slightly.  Asuma’s grip on his shoulder tightened.  The boy glared down to his masked friend as Kakashi returned the glance.  Asuma chewed a little on his cigarette in thought.  
“What’s with you?”, he mouthed to Kakashi as the teenager shook his head furiously.  Asuma’s eyebrows arched.  Could this be the reason why the boy was so apt to using his trademarked jutsu?

“Who is it, Kakashi”, Asuma demanded in a low whisper, while snatching a few kunai from his waste sack, “I know you know.”
“Forget about it, and run”, Kakashi warned, “and tell Ebisu to scram the fastest.”  Another arched eyebrow gaze.  Asuma shook his head in frustration.
“I’m not gonna ask again”, he demanded out of the boy, his fist now clenched on Kakashi’s collar, “who is it?!”  Kakashi gave a strong swallow in anxiety as he rubbed his temple in angst.
“To—“, but there wasn’t enough time to finish.  In a flash something shoved its way through the group and tackled the young sunglasses-wearing shinobi out of the small crowd.  Kakashi gave a small yelp as he staggered in his spot.  The chakra in his body was almost diminished.  His knees were growing weaker, and his body was becoming limper by the second.  It wouldn’t be long and he would be passed out somewhere on the ground from using his sharingan too much.

Ebisu yelped in both fear and exasperation as he slammed into a nearby wall.  The wall was cement, and felt to have broken a few of his ribs during the crash.  He staggered up from the ground holding his side as he gazed forward.  Toshi was standing before him with a look of fire in her eyes.  He returned a crooked smile from under his dark specs.  
“H—Hi”, he was blushing too.  Toshi didn’t answer.  She only scowled in his direction, fingering a few kunai in her side holster.

“What did you do?!”, Asuma was relieved to know that he wasn’t her target.  He shoved Kakashi against the wooded planks of a nearby ramen stand, as the boy returned another fierce shake to his head.
“You don’t wanna know!”, Kakashi was desperate to exit the area.  He attempted to leave as the bigger boy pinned his shoulder against the fence.
“I’ve never seen her that angry before!”, Asuma noted with a look of confusion, “she literally looks like she’s going to murder Ebisu!  I know you’re linked into this somehow.  Is this why you’re using your eye!?”
“N—No!”, Kakashi lied still attempting to escape.  Asuma was about to further scold his friend when Ebisu’s desperate cry rang out into the square.  The two boys snapped to attention as they watched the confrontation.  The fog was gone, and where it used to be, was a sprawled out Ebisu on the ground.  His glasses were dangling off the bridge of his nose, and looked to be broken.
“WHAT DID I DO!?”, he yelped as Toshi grasped him by the collar.
“YOU KNOW DAMNED WELL WHAT YOU DID YOU LOUSEY PERVERT!!!”, Toshi accused in fury as she threw him across the square again.  Kakashi winced as he backed away from the small crowd.  The faster he could leave, the more likely he would survive this thing.  

“In all seriousness my little flower!!”, Ebisu was pleading on his knees now.  There was a deep gash in his forehead and his sunglasses were now officially smashed.  Kakashi noticed one of the lenses lying helplessly on the ground.  Toshi approached the boy again as Ebisu cowered before her.  The copy-nin winced toward his fellow ninja’s expression.  It looked utterly horrified, and desperate.
“I’ve got to get my mind off of this”, Kakashi coached himself as he took the novel out of his back waste sack.  Asuma’s piercing gaze was still on him as he watched the copy-nin sit calmly on a nearby bench to read his troubles away.
“Chapter one”, Kakashi’s novel was quivering in his grasp as he attempted to read.

“ANSWER ME!!!”, Toshi’s piercing roar nearly shattered the windows of the surrounding shops, “WHY DID YOU DO IT?!?!”
“I—“, Ebisu was on the verge of tears as he struggled to find an appropriate answer to her question, “I don’t know what you’re—“
“LIAR!!!!”, Toshi screeched again as she snatched him by the collar once more, “I know it was you!!  I almost killed you earlier, and then you ran off like the little coward you really are!!”
“Earlier!?”, Ebisu shook his head, “this is the first time I’ve seen you all day, Darling!!”  Kakashi shook his head in exasperation toward the remark.  Even in the process of meeting his maker, he was still pulling out the pet names he had for Toshi.  Kakashi glared up from his novel.  Ebisu and Toshi were staring at each other in bewilderment toward the declaration.  It was no secret to the village on how Ebisu felt about Toshi.  He claimed that he was in love with her, and had been since the first day he laid eyes on her, when he was twelve and she was eleven.

“What are you yammering on about?!”, Toshi’s voice lowered as she still looked furious toward the ninja, “I just—“  Then she stopped talking.  Toshi gave a small gasp of air as her view of his pitiful expression moved down toward her clenched fist around his throat, then left, then right; all examining his chunin uniform.
“He’s been with us all morning”, Asuma called from the sidelines, “just came back on a mission with me to Suna.  C-Ranked!  We were escorting a few diplomats—“
“Quiet!!”, Toshi demanded with a pointed finger toward the boy.  She was still staring at Ebisu’s shoulders, “I could have sworn that I pinned you against a wall with kunai earlier.”  Ebisu’s eyebrows raised in confusion as he gave a slight shake to his head.  Toshi glared around the square as she noticed a few more details screaming out at her like bad chimes.
“Your sunglasses”, she noted as she picked the remains off of the ground; still holding him by the neck, “I smashed these too.  Where’d you get a new pair so quickly?”
“That’s what Asuma’s been trying to tell you, Toshi”, Guy now intervened dramatically, “Ebisu’s been with us all day!”  Toshi finally let the boy go as he gasped for air.
“You mean, you haven’t been to the hot springs?”, she questioned sternly with an accusing finger pointed toward the young ninja.
“No”, Ebisu snapped to attention as he practically saluted the girl that he adored.
“And it wasn’t you that had been spying on me!?”
“Heh—”, Ebisu blushed as he rubbed the back of his neck, “I wish!”  Toshi growled as her eyes narrowed in his direction. “Erm—“, Ebisu backtracked, “I mean—not at all—wouldn’t think of it!”

“This doesn’t make sense”, Toshi was confused entirely now as she paced the square.  The boys watching her every move, “It was you.  You were there!”  Then it hit her like a shockwave.  She spun back around toward the boy as she observed his right eye.
“I—“, she stammered while pointing again, “I poked you in the eye!!  The right eye!!  Why isn’t it swelled up!?”
“Because he wasn’t there”, Asuma yelled in exasperation once more, “he’s been with us!!”  Toshi met Asuma’s annoyed stare as the two of them glared in thought.
“Wait a minute”, Toshi scratched her chin.
“Hold it!!”, Asuma looked just as shocked, as he thought about Kakashi’s right eye.  It was covered, and he had been acting very awkward all afternoon about it.  Toshi was experiencing the same level of epiphany, only it had nothing to do with the copy-nin’s eye.
“That book”, she almost whispered to herself, “That perverted novel that I saw Copycat with.  I saw the same novel lying inches away from you earlier.”
“Perverted novel”, Ebisu flushed a bright pink in embarrassment, “I don’t own any perverted novels!”  Toshi’s eyes narrowed in both revelation and confirmed fury.  She spun around to the remaining ninja as her view caught the bench that Kakashi was reading on.  It was empty.  Asuma noticed the glance and silently pointed in the opposite direction.  
“THAT ASSHOLE!!!!!!!!!!!”, Toshi roared as she sprinted off in pursuit of her rival.  
  
*****

“Almost home”, Kakashi staggered from side to side as he attempted to escape the drama left far behind in the square.  His knees were buckling faster as he held himself against a nearby chain linked fence, “Hopefully—“
“HATAKE!!!!!!!!!!!”, Toshi battle cry roared in his direction as he gave a gulp of intimidation.
“Crap”, he whimpered in complete exhaustion, almost on the verge of crawling back to his apartment.  Kakashi struggled with his strength as he tried to move further down the road.  He was way too weak to avoid her any further.

SLAM!!!

Kakashi yelped as his body flew against a nearby abandoned building, almost smashing through the ancient plaster.  He shut his eyes firmly.  Any minute now, and he would be losing all consciousness.
“Get out here now!”, Toshi’s furious voice emerged from the rubble as she dragged him from the debris.  She pinned him up against the wall all while snatching the forehead protector off of him.  His right eye stared back at her.  It was black and blue, and swollen shut.
“Spying on me!?”, Toshi growled through clenched teeth, “what the hell were you doing spying on me!?”
“I swear—“, Kakashi’s sentences were breaking as his view was beginning to turn fuzzy.  His eyes drooped down as his body became limp in her grasp.
“Oh no you don’t”, she punched him in the face, “you’re not passing out on me now!!  You’re gonna remember your punishment, and it’s not gonna be pleasant!!”
“Toshi—“, Kakashi sputtered on his last thread of consciousness, “I swear I had no idea it was—it was—“
“What!?”, she shook him for the answer.  
“—Y—you”, the boy ended as he fell out of her grasp into a faint.  Toshi stared at him in both rage and confusion.
“Not fair!!”, she wanted to destroy him for fainting, “I wanted you to be awake when I killed you!!”  She gave a loud growl toward the turn of events.  Toshi glowered back down toward the boy with a slight stream of guilt.  He was practically dead, and she knew deep down that he was sorry for his wrong doing.
“Dumbass”, Toshi hoisted the boy on her back as she sprang from the area, “I really wanted to pummel you!”

*****

“Rise and shine”, a pleasantly annoying voice sounded off toward Kakashi as he awoke a few hours later.  Kakashi gave a small sigh of discomfort as he opened his eyes toward the visitor.
“Jiraiya-sama?”, Kakashi narrowed his vision as he witnessed the perverted ninja double over in tears of laughter.
“That was quite the escapade”, the older ninja wiped a tear from his eye, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Hatake that desperate before.  You were scared out of your mind!”
“I had reason to”, Kakashi tried to defend smugly, “I’m sure you’ve had your fill of women finding you out.”
“I wasn’t so obvious”, Jiraiya jeered, “I at least used a camouflage technique before I went researching.  You didn’t even shut your trap for five seconds before she figured you out!”  Kakashi groaned as he shut his eyes in the almost hangover that he was experiencing.  His sharingan throbbed.  He still hadn’t recovered from earlier.
“So I take it that I lost the bet?”, Kakashi wondered out loud as he held his head gingerly, “Judging from the way you’re going on about me, I assume you saw the whole thing?”
“You know it”, Jiraiya looked more than pleased with the unorthodox outcome, “I knew that eventually you’d cave in, and peep in on the local ladies, so I’ve been tailing you since you walked away from me the other day.”  Kakashi groaned again, only this time it was in disappointment.
“Fine”, he stared over toward the man, “you win.  I admit my failure.  You are a superior writer—“
“And”, Jiraiya mocked in sheer joy, “what else?”
“The research does work”, Kakashi choked out as he snatched the novel from his bed stand.  He held it in his grasp for a moment as the cover stared back at him longingly.

“It really was a wonderful masterpiece”, the boy admitted with a grin under his mask, “I read the whole thing without stopping.”  Jiraiya beamed as he rustled the boy’s hair.
“Apology accepted”, the man ended as he opened the hospital room door.
“Oh, Jiraiya-sama!”, Kakashi held out his hand as he attempted to stop the perverted ninja from going.
“Can I help you?”
“About today”, Kakashi looked a little worried, “I’m sure Toshi wouldn’t want anyone to know what happened, and neither would I.  Keep it to yourself for me and I’ll be a devoted fan to your works forever!”  Jiraiya beamed once more with a smug grin.
“Sure”, he grinned a little too brightly for the boy’s sake.  Kakashi nodded uneasily as the ninja made his final exit.  

Kakashi gave a hefty sigh as he flopped back down upon his pillow.  He shut his eyes, all while still holding his head gingerly.  Slowly, and without another care in the world, he drifted back to sleep.


*****

Kakashi stared toward the small peep hole that Konohamaru was staring in earlier.  He gave a small groan toward the memory.
“How embarrassing”, he noted to himself for the millionth time as he rose up from the bench.  Toshi’s face entered his mind once more as he remembered her piercing scowl that day.  He also remembered the way that she scowled toward the paperback novel when she had stolen it from his genin team a few weeks earlier.
“She knew what was inside”, he told himself with an amused shake to the head, “she didn’t need to act dumb about it.”

There was a brief moment of silence as Kakashi listened to the sounds of rushing water coming from the bath house.  Perhaps it was a man made waterfall in the springs?  Kakashi smiled under his mask while re-opening his book.  What ever it was, it was relaxing, and it was helping him concentrate on his book more.  The ninja gazed into the pages as he continued his stroll down the street, taking in every detail that was Jiraiya’s second novel, Icha Icha Violence.

“Wait a minute!”, Kakashi’s eyes widened in revelation as he flipped through a few of the chapters that he head read earlier.  The words.  The phrases.  The events.  Kakashi’s nerves twitched as he recovered every single detail written that he head read earlier.  
“NOOOOOOooooo!!”, Kakashi finally realized what he was reading.  His mouth fell open in both rage and in amazement.

“I’ve read this over five times!!”, Kakashi screamed out in alarm as he fought the urge to chuck the book into a nearby trash can.  Yet, his fanboy-ness refused to allow him to do so.  He loved the book too much to rid himself of it.
“WHY DIDN’T I NOTICE IT BEFORE!?!?!?!”, Kakashi was now in hysterics as he fought another urge.  This urge being the task of finding the old Toad-Sage before he left with Naruto.
“That—incomprehensible—lecher!!”, Kakashi shook in anger as he read the chapter over and over again, “He—He—“  The copy-nin covered his face with his hands as he coached himself to calm down—no he demanded himself to calm down.  He was a fan of Jiraiya’s work.  He should have been flattered.
“He—He—“, Kakashi still stammered in a desperate attempt to gain composure, “He took—he copied—HE WROTE IT INTO THE BOOK!!!!!!!!!!”  Kakashi was floored, and most of all horrified.  What if Toshi found out?  She would defiantly think that he told Jiraiya.  

“Oh well”, the ninja plopped himself onto another bench.  He glared toward the novel in his hands both lovingly and disappointedly.  The novel was good, he gave Jiraiya credit for that, but the fact that he used the past events for his own profit infuriated the ninja.  Without another word, Kakashi pocketed the book and proceeded back down the street.  He’d leave the story to read for later.  What was he going to do anyway?  The book was already syndicated, and popular.  There was nothing he could do about it except to play it off like nothing ever happened.

THE END