Someone wearing a Kirigakure ANBU mask appeared. After a brief exchange, they learned that this person was hunting the rogue ninja Zabuza. Whether Kakashi's brain had crashed or something else had gone wrong, he somehow agreed to let the stranger take him.
Standing nearby, Meihui saw through the act but said nothing. And so Haku left with the unconscious Zabuza.
A while later, Kakashi finally caught on. If that person really was a Kirigakure ANBU operative, they should have taken only Zabuza's head. Why had they carried away his entire body?
Kakashi smacked his forehead.
"Ah, I got careless."
But Kakashi wasn't in great shape himself, so he let the matter drop.
There was nothing else to do. Kakashi was practically a vegetable by now. Looking at him, temporarily half-paralyzed, Meihui could only follow Tazuna home.
Tazuna carried Kakashi on his back to his house.
Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, opened the door. Seeing that her father had returned safely, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Father, you're back safe! Thank goodness!"
Tsunami hugged her father, sobbing with relief.
Inari was thrilled to see his grandfather return, too, but when he noticed that the person on his grandfather's back was a ninja, he could hardly contain his excitement.
A ninja! A real, live one!
Kakashi was already laid out like a corpse. He wouldn't be moving again for at least a day.
The others were also tired after the battle. They hurried through a meal and went to rest.
The next day, Kakashi, the ninja perpetually short on chakra, finally regained enough strength to move around. For some reason, though, he was limping. No one dared comment, much less ask.
"All right, you three, come with me. I'll teach you a few things every ninja needs to learn."
The three followed Kakashi to the Small Woods.
Kakashi walked straight up a tree trunk to the top. Just as he was about to explain what he was doing, he noticed something astonishing.
All three of them had walked up the trees just as easily, which caught Kakashi by surprise.
"Oh? Looks like you've already learned tree climbing. What about Water Walking?"
"Kakashi-sensei, my brother taught us all that ages ago."
Kakashi stared at Meihui in surprise. You're pretty capable, kid. Trying to steal my job, are you?
"Ahem." After a tactical clearing of his throat, Kakashi resumed his lesson.
"Since you've already learned precise chakra control, let's test your chakra attributes."
Before Kakashi could finish, Meihui interrupted him.
"All right, Kakashi-sensei, let's not waste time. I have all-attribute chakra, Naruto has wind, and Sasuke has fire and lightning."
"Uh... you already know?"
They nodded in confirmation.
Kakashi felt a headache coming on. Why were these three so hard to teach?
"Then I'll teach you some simple ninjutsu. Sasuke, I'll teach you how to use lightning release. Meihui, you can listen in, too. As for Naruto, I happen to have a few simple wind release ninjutsu. Take them and study them."
And so Kakashi began training the three of them.
They had a strong aptitude for training. Meihui soon mastered Chidori, the simplified version of Lightning Blade.
Sasuke and Naruto progressed a little more slowly. Sasuke had only just begun to get the hang of using lightning release, while Naruto still hadn't learned his ninjutsu.
Looking at Meihui, Kakashi couldn't help clicking his tongue in amazement.
Meihui had the greatest aptitude and the most chakra-quite a bit more than even Naruto.
Seeing that all three were still diligently training, Kakashi headed back on his own, leaning on a crutch.
Little did he know that after he left, a beautiful young girl entered the forest and headed toward them.
Before you continue