Mission

The title of White Fang had once belonged to Kakashi's father.

The man who, during the war, had abandoned a mission to save his teammates, causing Konoha to suffer a defeat, and had ultimately killed himself under the pressure of public opinion.

Xia Yan knew perfectly well what that title meant to Kakashi.

He also knew exactly why Kakashi had come to the Anbu.

After the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had taken office, Kakashi had been transferred to the Anbu.

The reason was that, after witnessing Obito's death with his own eyes, he had killed another of his teammates with his own hands.

Even someone else might not have been able to bear such a blow, let alone the more sensitive Kakashi.

Now, he was steeped in lifelessness, with barely a trace of life about him. A walking corpse was probably the most fitting description.

Minato Namikaze did not want his student to fall into ruin, nor did he want him trapped endlessly in sorrowful memories of the past, so he had simply sent Kakashi to the Anbu.

Anbu missions were demanding, leaving Kakashi little time to grieve over the past.

At the same time, Anbu missions involved a great deal of killing. Only by getting used to that killing could Kakashi grow accustomed to everything that had happened.

But why assign this guy to my team? Was it because we used to be classmates?

Xia Yan thought silently as he collected his mission.

As Anbu, they could not let a minor interruption disrupt their missions.

His mission was simple, too. This time, he was to hunt down and kill an enemy spy who had infiltrated Konoha and had already been thoroughly investigated.

Once it was done, he also needed to bring back the body.

The spy had disguised himself as a Konoha Ninja and was currently carrying out a mission outside the village-or rather, passing on intelligence.

This sort of mission was among the simplest. Xia Yan had carried out at least fifty of them over the past five years, so he could safely say he knew the ropes.

This time, however, he had another task: taking Kakashi along. There would only be two people on this mission.

Since Xia Yan's squad had four members, adding Kakashi naturally meant moving the others elsewhere.

Kakashi also needed to learn how Anbu missions worked.

Forget it. He's already here. If he's with me, so be it.

Xia Yan and Kakashi were not actually as close as one might imagine. Although they had been classmates, Kakashi had left the Academy very early.

Xia Yan, meanwhile, had avoided the first round of "cannon fodder selection," then joined the Anbu just before the second round arrived.

It could be said that, apart from that brief period of less than a year, they had barely had any contact.

He had actually had quite a few dealings with Obito.

That guy was practically another Naruto, with a good personality and plenty of other good qualities.

Of course, he could not rule out that part of his reason for associating with Obito had been to leave himself a fallback.

After receiving the mission, the two did not linger at all and headed straight for their destination.

Kakashi was very quiet, following silently behind Xia Yan as though he did not care what mission he had been given.

But this left Xia Yan feeling somewhat uncomfortable. He knew this was Kakashi's hardest time; he was practically a living corpse.

Still, considering that he would have to keep making his way in Konoha, he had to build a good relationship with Kakashi. After all, he was the savior's teacher.

"Kakashi, come to think of it, it's been a while." After thinking for a moment, Xia Yan spoke in his gentlest voice.

Although he was wearing a mask, Xia Yan felt certain his smile looked pretty good right now.

Kakashi, however, did not speak. He did not even glance at him, leaving Xia Yan feeling a little awkward.

Still, with his mask on, nobody could see it. Xia Yan continued, "You might not know me, but I know you. We were in the same class, but you graduated very early, while I joined the Anbu when I was eight."

"The same class... classmates?" Kakashi finally showed a slight reaction, turning his head a little to look at Xia Yan.

"Mm, yes." Xia Yan nodded lightly, his voice still gentle. "I still remember our classmates. Might Guy, Kurenai, and guys like Asuma. Oh, right, and Obito, and Rin..."

At that, Xia Yan stopped. His gaze settled on Kakashi before he spoke, enunciating each word.

"It was a shame about those two, but they were both heroes. If I have the time, I'd like to visit their graves and lay some flowers."

Xia Yan stopped there, and Kakashi turned to look at him.

Only after a long while did he give a slight nod. "Thank you, captain."

"Call me Xia Yan." Xia Yan's voice grew even gentler. "I wonder if you still remember me."

Xia Yan genuinely did not know whether Kakashi knew him. He had kept a fairly low profile at the Ninja Academy.

Although he was not an Uchiha and did not have to worry about attracting attention by standing out too much, the Senju were not in a good position now, either.

As for keeping too low a profile and joining Obito as a pair of dead lasts?

Forget it. He did not think he was as lucky as Obito.

Despite being one of the most peripheral members of the Uchiha, Obito had managed to hold out until his actual graduation before going to war, even when Konoha, at its most difficult point, had begun pulling "qualified ninja" from the Academy and forcibly "graduating" them onto the battlefield.

Then he had ended up with an outrageously good team leader and somehow even become the Hokage's student.

Obito had the makings of a protagonist. It was just that his intelligence was a little low, and he had the Uchiha's particular affliction, which was why he had turned to darkness.

If Xia Yan had performed that badly, he might not have survived even the first round of "cannon fodder selection."

Thus, Xia Yan's performance at the Academy had generally been above average. He had been the sort who was reasonably talented but neither outstanding nor conspicuous.

"Xia Yan?" Kakashi seemed to sink into thought, then soon remembered something. "Sorry, perhaps I really didn't pay attention back at the Academy, but I've heard Might Guy and the others mention you."

"Really?" Xia Yan chuckled unconcernedly. "Then I'll have to thank Might Guy."

Xia Yan got along quite well with Might Guy, too. Or rather, he got along reasonably well with all of Konoha's future mainstays.

After all, they had been classmates. After all, Xia Yan still intended to keep making his way in Konoha. And after all, he also had to consider what would happen if he ever fled.

If he did flee, they might be the ones sent to capture him.

With those relationships in place, perhaps they might go a little easier on him when the time came.

With that opening, Kakashi seemed a little more at ease.

Although the cold air about him was still pronounced, getting him to speak was already a decent improvement.

The two moved quickly, chatting as they traveled.

Xia Yan guessed that, on Kakashi's end, his favorability toward him was probably climbing by "+0.01" at a time.

After all, this guy's heart was like solid ice right now, and breaking through it would not be easy...