Staying in the Shadows (A Naruto Fanfiction) Chapter 3 - Kakashi Hatake
Chapter 1 Chapter 2
After travelling for two days, Jinko and Mitsuki finally reached the gates of the Hidden Leaf Village. "Jinko, how do you suppose we get in?" Mitsuki asked, looking at the gate. He now knew the flaw in his plan. How would he get in? Let alone stay there, without a valid reason. Jinko smiled at him, "Don't worry we'll get in." 'If they remember that is,' she thought. Jinko started towards the gate with Mitsuki dragging along with her.
"Hey! Who are you?" called out the guards, when they passed the village gate. A man with spiky black hair with a straight scar on his left cheek, walked up to both of them. "State your purpose," he demanded.
"I'm Jinko Tao of the Tao clan. I'm, or rather was a Leaf shinobi," Jinko replied. Mitsuki looked at her in disbelief. Is she telling the truth? Mitsuki never knew where she was from, he just saw her everyday for as long as he could remember. He never asked her where she was from or how she knew his father. He never asked and she never said. He didn't feel the need to know such things as long as she was there with him. "Tao clan huh? Where's your head band?" asked the guard, skeptically. "Like I said, I was a Leaf shinobi. I'm not a ninja anymore." 'Jinko used to be a ninja?' Mitsuki thought not believing his ears. "What about him?" the guard looked at Mitsuki. "He's with me. Look, it would be very grateful of you if you'd just let me meet Lord Hokage," Jinko pleaded. The guard looked at both, Mitsuki and Jinko, and nodded. He lead the way and soon the duo found themselves standing in front of the Hokage's office. "Wait here. Let me check with Lord Hokage," the guard instructed. Mitsuki nodded, whereas Jinko was paralysed with fear to hear anything. Behind the doors was the man she once knew and called him her sensei. What would he think when he will her see walking through the doors? Would he recognise her? Her thoughts flashed back to the first day she met him.
Jinko walked through the streets of Konoha worrying about the graduation exam which was to be held the next day. "Naruto!" she heard a man yell, as a very hyperactive, loud, yellow haired boy ran past her. 'What did he do this time?' Jinko sighed. She saw a can of paint in his hand. She shrugged and started walking her way towards the Academy.
Jinko entered the classroom and sat in her usual seat, at the back. She looked around and saw Sasuke Uchiha staring intently at the blank black board. 'Ugh, moody,' she scoffed. The classroom was empty, nobody had come yet except for her and Uchiha, which was not uncommon. Jinko always came thirty minutes early because her elder brother used to drop her off before going on his training but she always found Sasuke in the classroom before her. Once, Jinko was two hours early because her brother had to go on a mission and even then she found Sasuke in the same position. She doubts he even goes home. "H-hi Sasuke," she tried making a conversation with him, hoping he'd reply this time. He didn't even look her way, again not uncommon. Jinko put her head down, feeling dejected. Why does she do this every time? She needs to have some self-respect. She put her head down on the desk when she heard the classroom door open and saw Choji and Shikamaru coming in. Jinko immediately straightened herself up. Her cheeks was tainted pink when she saw Shikamaru walking in. "Hey, Shikamaru what are you doing here so early?" she asked. "My mom kicked me out. What a drag," Shikamaru replied with his usual bored expression. He then sat at his usual place next to her while Choji went front sat at the first bench. Jinko had always found Shikamaru cute. He has been very good to her. He didn't tease her, never called her 'dumbbelle' or made fun of her either. He never bothered to take any interest in her to be honest. He talked to her because she used to and mainly because she wasn't one of the Sasuke fans. She was just like him and his friends — laid back. She was tolerable to him, 'not so troublesome' in his words. However, she was a girl after all, although not much but she was still troublesome.
Soon the class started filling in and everyone was seated in their own place. Jinko had already started to drift off, unfortunately Ino was seated on her bench as well and Sakura was seated in front of Ino and next to Sasuke. They were bickering constantly and to hope that she might get a nap would be stupid. Shikamaru was annoyed as well, Jinko chuckled at him. Suddenly a loud crash and Naruto yelling, "It was just a prank!" was heard. Jinko looked up from her folded hands which were rested on top of the desk to see Naruto tied up in a rope.
Iruka sensei, their teacher, was yelling at Naruto for painting the Hokage's face sculptures. 'Oh, so that explains the paint can,' she thought. She smiled at Naruto's antics. 'That boy is something else,' she thought. Naruto just like Shikamaru was one of the few friends of Jinko. The whole class saw Naruto as an idiot who was brazen and annoying but Jinko always had a good laugh with him. There was not a moment when Jinko would be upset and Naruto wasn't there to cheer her up. Even if he didn't try, laughing was easy with Naruto.
"That's it! Since you missed it, everyone would practice their transformation jutsus again!" Iruka sensei yelled. A cumulative groan was heard in the class. "We always have to pay for your mistakes Naruto!" Ino spoke with venom. Iruka called out names of students and they transformed into Iruka to the perfection. Next it was Naruto's turn. He strode in front and did his hand sign. A blue sphere of chakra surrounded him and he transformed into... a naked woman. Jinko snorted and Iruka sensei tumbled back with a nosebleed."Quit it!" he scolded. He dismissed the class and Jinko sighed in relief.
The next day was the graduation exam. The day which would decide if they were fit to be a Genin. To say that Jinko was on the edge would be an understatement. Jinko was only a step away to be pushed over the edge and to have a nervous breakdown. Everyone was sitting in the class waiting to be judged by Mizuki sensei and Iruka sensei. One by one, students left the room for their exam and Jinko was left with Naruto, Sasuke and Ino. Soon her name was called and Naruto wished her luck.
"You're supposed to make three solid clones Jinko. Go ahead when you're ready," Mizuki sensei instructed. Jinko prayed to her lucky stars for help. Jinko remembered the hand seals — Dog → Boar → Ram. 'Okay, now all I need to do is focus my chakra,' she thought to herself. Jinko concentrated all of her chakra and did the hand seals. Jinko had her eyes closed, she could feel her chakra dividing but she couldn't make herself to open her eyes and see the result. "You can open your eyes, Jinko," Mizuki sensei said. She opened her eyes and saw a single solid clone. Iruka sensei sighed. Jinko held her head in shame. She knew she had disappointed her sensei and was definitely going to fail her exam. Before anyone could say any thing, Jinko started towards the door. "Hold on Jinko," Iruka stopped her. "You may have not made three clones like I asked you to but you did make a good solid clone. I may let this one slide." Jinko looked at her sensei in disbelief, "What do you mean?" "I mean that you've have passed. Come take your headband," Iruka smiled at her. Jinko rushed towards the table and hugged her sensei. Iruka was taken aback but he patted her head nevertheless. Jinko maybe be weak in her academia but she was a good student. Yes, she sleeps all through her lectures but she was an ideal student. Never talked back and did her homework on time. She tried hard. Always. She just couldn't give the desired results. He knew very well that she slept in class only because she stayed up all night practicing what had been taught in school. Iruka didn't have it in his heart to not give her the headband after all she had done to earn it. "Enough now. Go home," Iruka pulled away and gave Jinko her headband. Jinko beamed. That moment was the happiest moment of her life. Jinko's graduation was celebrated like a festival at her home.
The next morning, all the Genins were supposed to go to the Academy for their orientation programme after submitting their profile to Lord Hokage. "Hey Jinko!" Jinko stopped in her tracks and saw Naruto rushing towards her. He stood before her and pointed to his forehead proudly. Jinko's eyes traveled to his forehead and saw the Leaf Shinobi headband tied around it. "You passed?" Jinko asked incredulous. She didn't mean to sound rude but she heard that only Naruto had failed the exam. Yet, here he was showing off his headband clad forehead. "You bet. I would explain how I got it but it's a long story. Right now we've an orientation to go to!" he beamed. Naruto took hold of Jinko's hand and dragged her to the Academy.
They all sat at their usual seats and waited for Iruka sensei to give them further instructions. Their free time was filled with girls fighting over Sasuke and Naruto kissing Sasuke. This was not appreciated by the Sasuke fanclub and Naruto faced their wrath. Finally Iruka sensei came in and the class settled down. He instructed how the students will be divided into groups of three with the exception of one as there was an odd number. These groups would have a Jonin as their sensei. The rest of the instructions didn't matter anymore because the students heard what they wanted to hear — groups of three. Secretly everyone started to hope of being placed in the squad with their friends or crushes. Jinko could see Ino's eyes widened, looking over at Sasuke hopefully. She could feel Sakura and Ino trying to one up each other in their heads. Jinko sighed, she could never see what the girls saw in that kid. Sure he was cute and she might have crushed on him too had he not been so rude towards her. Jinko wasn't the only one to receive such treatment from Sasuke, everyone from the class had the same experience. Somehow, the Uchiha had gotten in his head that everyone is beneath him and doesn't deserve his time. To think that these girls liked him even after all this was unbelievable. However she wasn't far too different from them, she was also hoping to get into team of someone but instead of Sasuke she hoped it to be Shikamaru.
Iruka sensei began calling out names and placed them in squads. "Team 7: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Jinko Tao," he announced.
"Iruka sensei! Why does a guy like me had to be teamed up with a slug like Sasuke?" Naruto called. "That's because Sasuke had the highest scores, and Sakura had the second highest scores. To balance out, we put you with the lowest scores and Jinko with the second lowest scores in their team. Get it Naruto?" Iruka replied. The whole class was laughing and Jinko slid in her seat embarrassed. 'Why did he have to do that?' she scolded Naruto in her head. Jinko's mood dipped even below when Iruka announced that Shikamaru was in team with Ino and Choji. She looked at Ino beside her and saw Shikamaru smirking at Ino. 'Look at her, she is so perfect with her hair and her face. You're stupid Jinko, you are the second runner up in lowest grades! What did you think would happen!' Jinko thought.
Iruka told them that they would meet their new sensei after the break, so everyone dispersed to their designated classroom with their assigned team. Ino and Shikamaru stood up and made their way towards the classroom door together. Jinko kept looking at them till they were out of sight. "Ya know, even if you told him he still wouldn't get it," Naruto said, sliding right in her face. "Huh? Pfft. I don't even know what you're talking about," Jinko shrugged him off with her hand and sat beside Sakura. They waited for almost an hour and yet their new sensei didn't showed up. Naruto and Sakura were rambling about how late that guy is while Sasuke was again busy staring the black board with his hands folded. Suddenly Naruto had a great idea of sticking the duster in middle of the door and its frame. "He's a Jonin, you think he'd fall for that?" Jinko and Sasuke argued. "My brother's a Chunin and even he wouldn't fall for that!" Jinko added.
But all of them were proven wrong when a silver haired man with a mask on his face opened the door and the duster fell on him. Naruto rolled on the floor laughing while Jinko, Sasuke and Sakura doubted their teachers skills. "My first impression of this group: you all are idiots," their new teacher replied nonchalantly. This irked Sakura and Sasuke while Naruto was still laughing and Jinko wondered what's behind his mask.
They were called up on the roof of the academy for their introductions. The masked man was leaning on the railing and they all were sitting on a step. "Okay, I'd like to have your introductions. You could include your name, your hobby, what you like, what you don't like and your dream for the future," the Jonin said. "Why don't you show us how it's done," Naruto suggested. 'Seriously? All you have to do is put in your details,' Jinko thought rolling her eyes. "Okay. My name is Kakashi Hatake, I like many things and I don't hate many things. I'd not say my hobby to you and as for my dream... I haven't thought about it," he finished. Jinko dropped her head. 'All he did was say his name,' she thought. "Now you go," her new sensei, Kakashi Hatake pointed at Naruto. Naruto's likes, dislikes and hobbies revolved around eating ramen and his dream was to be Hokage some day so people would stop treating him like pest and finally start appreciating him but Jinko knew this already, after all Naruto was her best friend. Next was Sakura's turn, and unsurprisingly her likes, dreams and hobbies revolved around Sasuke and she caused Naruto to fall from his place when she said she disliked Naruto. Jinko patted Naruto's back. To hear one's crush say they hated them was tough. Next came Uchiha. His likes were nothing and dislikes were many things, that's what he said, to the word. He didn't have any hobby. This wasn't out of character for him but what was weird that he said his dream was to kill someone and restore his clan. Sasuke then glaced at Naruto which made the colour of Naruto's face to drain. "I didn't know they were such bitter rivals," Jinko muttered. Naruto himself was thinking of what did he do wrong.
"Okay now you the one with the cap on," Kakashi pointed at Jinko who was the last remaining member of the group. "My name is Jinko Tao," she started. "I like reading, and drinking tea. Uh, I don't like carrots. My hobby is reading and my dream is to become the best kunoichi!" Jinko heard Sasuke scoff as she finished. Naruto was beaming at her and she looked at Kakashi to see him uninterested. Jinko's heart fell. Maybe she was over estimating herself.
"Okay. I want you all to meet me tomorrow at the training grounds at 5 am. Do not eat anything or else you'd vomit," Kakashi sensei instructed before disappearing in a poof of smoke.
