Passing Through the Land of Grass

"You're a kid who collected Icha Icha Paradise before you were even an adult! What right do you have to call anyone else dirty?"

Kakashi roared as he seized Dōmeki by the collar and shook him up and down.

"Let go of Shun-kun, you bad guy!"

Seeing his companion grabbed by that dirty adult, Haku charged forward despite trembling all over with fear and kicked Kakashi's leg with his short, feeble little leg.

"Sorry!"

Seeing that his actions had frightened the angry "little girl," Kakashi awkwardly let go of the red-haired boy and looked down to apologize to Haku.

"Actually, I know this kid too. We were just joking around as friends!"

Kakashi tried his best to give a friendly smile, but with most of his face covered, the effect was greatly diminished.

Only when Dōmeki nodded to Haku did he finally relax.

"Hey, kid, where did you lure such a cute little girl away from?"

Kakashi pulled Dōmeki aside and whispered in his ear.

"I knew you weren't an honest kid, but isn't this a bit too beastly?!"

Seeing Kakashi's lewd expression as he held up his little finger at him, Dōmeki gave a disdainful sneer.

"I really wonder if there's something wrong with you, Kakashi-senpai. Haku's obviously a boy!"

"Impossible!"

Kakashi stared at the delicate Haku in disbelief. "How could such a cute boy possibly be a boy?"

Then Kakashi seemed to remember something. "Hey, kid, you were just luring away that white-haired boy from Kirigakure, and now you've switched to this black-haired child! Kid, you don't really have some kind of unusual preference, do you?"

"Hmph, you wouldn't understand, Kakashi-senpai!"

Dōmeki glanced at Kakashi.

After all, there was a strange tale in the Shinobi World.

Whenever a gifted young person was left homeless, all they had to do was pray sincerely, and someone would ride a big brown snake to their side bearing gifts. He would give them warmth while also making them work like oxen and horses.

This was the legend of the Shinobi World's number one human trafficker-pah, orphanage director.

As one of his disciples, Dōmeki Shun was still honing his craft.

Kakashi and Dōmeki traded insults for a long while before they finally got down to business.

"Dōmeki-kun, can you tell me what happened that night?" Kakashi looked at Dōmeki with a grave expression.

"Huh? Weren't you there that night too, Kakashi-senpai?" The red-haired boy feigned ignorance. "It was clearly Konoha and Kirigakure who clashed. I was innocently dragged into it, and it's been a headache for me too!"

"Innocent? I doubt that!"

Kakashi shot Dōmeki a cold glance. The kid had happened to appear in Kirigakure that very night, and he couldn't help thinking there was more to it.

"Wow! Being misunderstood by you really hurts, Senior!"

Dōmeki looked ready to burst into tears, but all he got from Kakashi was a look that said, "Go on, keep acting."

"I hate you scheming guys the most!"

Dōmeki muttered, then told Kakashi the truth about that night.

"What? Zabuza actually defeated the Fourth Mizukage?"

"The coup nearly succeeded, but they were discovered by the Kirigakure shinobi before the Mizukage died and had to fight their way out?"

Kakashi listened openmouthed to the news spilling from the boy's lips, thinking, I never imagined Zabuza was so strong. The next time I run into him, I'll have to give it everything I've got!

"Wait, I remember you went to help Zabuza attack the Mizukage too, kid?"

"Hey, Kakashi-senpai, you don't really think someone my age could help Zabuza fight the Mizukage, who was also the Three-Tails Jinchūriki, do you?"

Dōmeki stared at Kakashi in disbelief.

"True!"

Kakashi was convinced by the boy, although he knew the boy's strength was indeed astonishing and probably no weaker than his own.

But even his teacher, Minato Namikaze, who was hailed as the most perfect ninja, couldn't have fought a village's Kage at that age.

"So it really was Zabuza!!!"

Though Kakashi had been taken in, he still had doubts about the true culprit behind the scenes whom the boy had mentioned: an Uchiha who had controlled the Mizukage.

"An acquaintance you were close to!"

Ever since the boy's words had sounded in his ears, they had lingered in his mind.

"An Uchiha! An acquaintance!"

A thought he had never dared believe before surfaced unbidden from the bottom of his heart, making his dear friend's left eye ache faintly.

"Huh? Did I say that?" Dōmeki scratched his head.

"Bastard, didn't you say it was payment for copying Chidori?"

Kakashi felt that ever since he had met this guy, he had always been easily provoked to anger by him.

"That's what Mr. Yagura revealed before he died!" Dōmeki said lightly.

"The one controlling Mr. Yagura was an Uchiha with the Mangekyō Sharingan! And he only had one eye!"

"One eye?"

Kakashi excitedly grabbed Dōmeki's wrist. "Which eye?"

"The right one!"

Dōmeki looked at Kakashi with a seemingly meaningful gaze.

"What a coincidence. I heard you have a Sharingan in your left eye too, Kakashi-senpai."

At that moment, Kakashi lost all awareness of everything around him. Only the words "right eye" kept churning through his mind.

He covered his left eye, his thoughts roiling. Did someone get an Uchiha's eye, or Obito's eye? Or is he... still alive?

What Kakashi also didn't know was that the three Tomoe in his left eye spun ceaselessly amid his turbulent emotions. The instant they faintly traced a pattern, it abruptly fell apart.

Dōmeki suddenly fixed an intense gaze on Kakashi's left eye. For an instant, an extremely frigid aura had emanated from it.

The red-haired boy's keen perception caught and memorized the feel of that aura, and a thought sprang to mind.

"Yin Release!"

A moment later, Kakashi finally reined in his emotions and sincerely thanked Dōmeki.

"Dōmeki-kun, I owe you a favor. If you ever need help in the future, I'll do everything I can!"

"I think you'll definitely regret that, Kakashi-senpai!"

Dōmeki muttered under his breath, so quietly that even Kakashi couldn't hear him clearly.

"What did you say?" Kakashi looked at the boy suspiciously.

"Hahaha!" Dōmeki laughed awkwardly. "I said I'm taking Haku home, so I'll probably have to part ways with you here, Senior!"

"The Land of Rice Fields?" Kakashi thought for a moment. The boy seemed to be a ninja from a hidden village in the Land of Rice Fields.

"Then aren't we going the same way? You'll need to cross the Land of Fire to get back, right?" Kakashi was also a little uneasy about letting the ever-strange boy roam around the Land of Fire, so he suggested they travel together.

"But we have to pass through another country on our way back!"

Dōmeki scratched his head.

"Pass through another country? Where?"

Kakashi looked puzzled.

"The Land of Grass!"

"Why would you, coming from the southeast and heading to the Land of Rice Fields north of the Land of Fire, pass through the Land of Grass to the west?"

Kakashi was speechless for a moment.