The road to the Land of Waves wound through a forest heavy with mist and the smell of wet earth. Birds chirped overhead, their songs occasionally breaking into sudden silence — the kind of silence that meant something was watching.
Kakashi Hatake noticed. He always did.
Naruto was arguing with Sakura again, his voice bouncing through the trees like an echo that didn't know when to stop. Sasuke walked a few steps ahead, eyes sharp but calm, scanning the path like a predator in training. Tazuna, their client, trudged behind them with a half-empty flask and a constant stream of complaints about how "children" weren't fit to guard anyone.
Kakashi pretended to listen, flipping a small orange book open with lazy fingers. But his visible eye was sharp beneath the façade. He felt it before he saw it — a ripple in the air, subtle, precise, intentional.
A faint spiral of wind brushed past his shoulder. Three rotations.
He exhaled quietly.
A message. Not danger.
"So, you're here," he thought. "Zephyr."
That signal — three rotations — was an ANBU code that only one used. Meaning:
Watcher present. Non-hostile. Observation only.
Kakashi didn't look toward the trees. He didn't need to. The mere existence of that signal meant Arato was close enough to see, close enough to kill if he'd wanted to.
He smiled under his mask, though it didn't reach his eye.
"Guess the Hokage's still keeping tabs on me. Or maybe it's on them."
The thought made him uneasy.
Still, he said nothing. His students didn't need to know that a shadow followed them.
⸻
A Test of Instinct
The group continued, the path narrowing as the trees thickened. The morning light had dimmed into a gray haze, filtering through the canopy like smoke.
Naruto's complaints filled the air.
"I mean, come on! How are we supposed to protect some old drunk guy? When are we gonna fight real ninjas?"
Kakashi's book flipped another page. "You never know, Naruto. Real enemies don't exactly announce themselves."
Sasuke snorted. "He wouldn't last a second."
"What was that, teme!?"
"Both of you quiet," Sakura snapped, voice trembling just enough to betray her nerves.
The group slowed as the path bent sharply around a cluster of mossy stones. A puddle sat in the middle of the trail — too still, too clean. It hadn't rained for days.
Kakashi's eye flicked toward it once. Then he kept walking.
He let the moment stretch. Let his team feel safe.
Because safety made you blind. And blindness made you learn.
The chains shot from the puddle in an instant. Two figures — fast, masked, their claws glinting — wrapped Kakashi in a heartbeat.
The chains tightened, metal screeching.
"One down," one of the masked attackers hissed.
For a heartbeat, the world stopped.
Naruto froze.
His breath hitched. His kunai slipped from his trembling fingers, clattering uselessly to the ground.
"K-Kakashi-sensei…?" His voice was barely a whisper.
Sakura screamed.
Sasuke's eyes widened, but unlike the others — he moved.
The Demon Brothers lunged, chains snaking toward Naruto. Sasuke's hands flashed into motion. He hurled a kunai, pinning the chain to a nearby tree, and in the same motion leapt forward, landing on the two Demon brothers arms, kicking both of them causing them to detach the chain.
Both brothers split with one running to finish Naruto and the other heading for Tazuna and Sakura.
"Get back sir!" Sakura shouted.
In the treetops above, unseen, Kakashi crouched silently — alive, uninjured, his single visible eye narrowed. The "dead" body had been a substitution, a trick meant to expose the attackers' intent.
And he wasn't the only one watching.
The air around the forest edge shimmered for half a breath — the telltale trace of wind chakra, tightly contained. Watching. Waiting.
Kakashi knew that presence immediately. He could feel the discipline, the restraint, the quiet readiness that only came from years of ANBU conditioning.
"You could stop this any time," Kakashi thought. "But you won't."
Below, one of the Demon Brothers lunged again — chain whipping toward Naruto.
Sasuke's movement was instantaneous, pure instinct. He stepped in front of Sakura, arms wide.
While for Naruto, the claws edge cut his hand as he tried to block it, blood splattering across the dirt.
He screamed, clutching his palm, eyes wide with pain and shame.
Kakashi saw everything — Naruto's hesitation, Sasuke's instinctive bravery, Sakura's trembling fear — and through it all, he could sense Arato's calm presence, lingering just beyond sight.
A single ripple of chakra pulsed from that direction. Not aggressive.
Measured. Controlled.
Kakashi understood immediately.
"You want to test them."
He didn't move — not yet.
Only after Naruto fell to his knees, blood dripping from his cut hand, did Kakashi flicker into motion. He appeared between the Demon Brothers and the team, movements fluid and absolute.
In one motion, he disarmed both attackers, twisted the chain around their arms, and slammed them into the ground. The impact echoed through the forest.
The Demon Brothers struggled once — then went still.
Naruto was still shaking, eyes wide with disbelief.
Kakashi looked down at him, voice soft but steady.
"Yo."
While walking away Kakashi said "Naruto… Sorry I didn't help you right away… I got you hurt"
With a slight pause he added "I didn't think you'd be incapable of moving"
He didn't let his expression show the flicker of guilt behind the words.
Because from the shadows, he knew Arato had seen everything — had chosen not to intervene for the same reason Kakashi had held back.
Fear. Experience. Pain.
They were the first steps toward strength.
⸻
Naruto's resolve
The forest was silent again. Only the faint hum of insects returned, cautious after the violence.
The Demon Brothers lay unconscious, bound tightly in wire. Kakashi's gaze shifted over his team — Naruto trembling, Sasuke steady but silent, Sakura pale.
Then, as the tension began to break, Sasuke with his hands in his pockets turned to Naruto.
Sasuke with a slight smirk on his face said. "Hey…"
"Are you hurt… scaredy cat?"
The words hit harder than any kunai. Naruto's jaw clenched and he yelled.
"SASUKE!!"
Kakashi stepped in before it could escalate. "Naruto," he said sternly. His tone was sharp, and carried weight.
He then told Naruto about the poison on the assassins claws, and that he would have to cut it open.
He turned toward Tazuna, the old bridge builder who had watched in frozen terror. "You said this was a C-rank mission," Kakashi said, his voice calm but cold. "C-rank missions don't involve assassins like these."
He looked at his team — three wide-eyed children who had just tasted real killing intent for the first time.
Sakura started to say they should quit the mission because of Naruto's injury.
That was when Naruto moved.
Without a word, he drew a kunai and plunged it straight through the wound again.
Blood welled instantly, dark and bright all at once.
Sakura screamed, "Naruto! What are you doing!?"
Even Sasuke flinched.
Naruto's face twisted with pain, but his voice was steady — almost defiant. "If I go home now, I'll never become Hokage," he said through gritted teeth. "I'm not backing down. Not until I protect the people I said I'd protect."
He ripped the kunai free, blood dripping into the dirt. "So don't even think about leaving me behind!"
Kakashi stared at him for a long moment — not at the wound, but at the eyes behind it.
That spark. That impossible stubbornness.
"…Alright," Kakashi said finally, pulling out fresh bandages. "We'll keep going. But first Naruto stop the bleeding or you'll actually die."
As Kakashi wrapped his hand, he could see it healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. "The Nine-tailed fox"
As they are getting ready to leave a faint gust passed through the clearing —
He didn't react, but he felt it.
A quiet acknowledgment.
From somewhere in the trees, Arato's chakra presence flickered — faint, approving, and gone again.
⸻
Campfire Conversations
The sun fell by the time they stopped to rest. A campfire crackled at the center of a small clearing, throwing shadows that danced across the trees.
Naruto sat apart from the others, silent for once, staring at his hands.
Sasuke sharpened his kunai, his expression unreadable.
Sakura watched Kakashi, waiting for him to say something reassuring.
But Kakashi didn't speak.
He just stared into the flames, his thoughts elsewhere.
He was here.
The subtle feeling of being watched hadn't faded. He could sense it — that same wind signature, calm and steady. Arato was still nearby, unseen but attentive.
Finally, when the others drifted off to sleep, Kakashi exhaled.
"You can come out now," he said quietly.
The night air shifted. The flames wavered once.
And then Arato appeared — stepping out of the shadows like he'd been part of them all along. His mask caught the light: a pale ivory with its subtle silver swirl as discreet as himself.
"You didn't change much," Kakashi murmured, eye half-lidded. "Still walking like the wind doesn't dare touch you."
Arato's voice was calm, quiet. "And you still let your students get ambushed."
Kakashi chuckled softly, though it didn't quite sound amused. "You were there. You could've intervened."
"I could have," Arato replied, his tone unreadable. "But I didn't."
The silence between them was heavy — not hostile, but layered with mutual understanding.
"You wanted him to feel it," Kakashi said. "The fear. The helplessness."
Arato nodded once. "Fear teaches more than safety ever could. That boy… Naruto… he's reckless. Naive. But his spirit burns too brightly to extinguish. If he's to grow, he needs to know how fragile that flame really is."
Kakashi studied him. "You sound like you've seen this before."
Arato's gaze drifted to the sleeping genin. "I've lived it before."
The words hung there, heavy with unspoken history.
Finally, Kakashi's expression softened. "You knew this mission wasn't as simple as it looked."
"Yes," Arato admitted. "That's why the Hokage sent me. The client lied. But I won't step in unless absolutely necessary. This team is under your care. I'm just a shadow."
Kakashi leaned back, arms folded. "You always were."
There was no bitterness in the words — only quiet recognition.
After a moment, Arato turned toward the trees. "I'll keep watch for the night. Try not to let them die, Kakashi."
"And you?" Kakashi asked. "Still following orders, or your own path now?"
Arato paused, the faintest smirk hidden beneath his mask. "Whichever one keeps the village alive."
The wind stirred as he vanished once more, leaving Kakashi alone beside the fire.
He looked over at Naruto — asleep now, frown still etched on his face.
Sasuke was awake, pretending not to be, eyes flicking toward the forest every so often.
"So he felt you too," Kakashi thought. "That boy's instincts are sharper than he knows."
He sighed softly, pulling his headband down to cover his Sharingan.
"You're right, Arato. They'll learn more from pain than from comfort. But it's my job to make sure that pain doesn't destroy them."
The fire popped. Embers rose like sparks of fading light into the night sky.
Somewhere above, unseen, the wind shifted — calm, steady, protective.