Chapter 134: Pinky Promise
Kakashi watched the girl beside him, something quietly relieved moving through his eyes.
He hadn't needed to say much after all.
Sakura was still Sakura.
"So." She kept her eyes on the fire. "Why didn't you say anything? When you saw what I was doing."
The question came out of nowhere.
If Kakashi had stopped her from taking the direct route through Kumogakure's defensive line, the sequence of events that followed wouldn't have happened. A lot of people would still be alive. And Kakashi was not someone who missed things like that.
"I was actually prepared for it." Kakashi reached into his vest and produced a scroll.
"What is that?"
Sakura glanced at it with dead-fish eyes and looked away. She was still deep in her head.
Kakashi unrolled it in front of her. A complex seal array covered the surface — and in the center, four characters.
Sakura's green eyes went slightly wide.
Blade of Mutual Love.
"That's—"
Kakashi's expression took on a distant quality.
"You recognize it."
"Though I should clarify — it isn't the Flying Thunder God Technique itself."
"This is the formation array my teacher designed for his shadow guard detail. It's the last thing he left behind."
"The other coordinate is anchored to Konoha."
He said it quietly. A backup that would have brought them home instantly.
Sakura didn't feel relief. She didn't feel moved.
Her expression got worse.
"You had this and you didn't—" She caught herself, remembered the scattered soldiers still moving around the camp in the middle of the night, and dropped her voice to a furious near-whisper. "Why didn't you take it out earlier?!"
If she'd known this existed, she would have used it to extract the team the moment things went sideways. None of what followed would have happened. She wouldn't have made the call to punch straight through Kumogakure's lines.
Kakashi wouldn't have needed to lead a charge.
People had died. How many of them traced back to the fact that Kakashi had been sitting on this?
Kakashi looked at her — the suppressed fury, the tight jaw — and spoke with perfect calm.
"It seems you haven't fully understood what you mean to Konoha."
Her eyes sharpened. "What is that supposed to mean."
He rolled the scroll back up and tucked it away. His expression was still as water.
"Do you genuinely not see how the Hokage looks at you?"
"This scroll — he's the one who gave it to me. With instructions to use it at the critical moment."
Sakura's mouth pressed into a thin line. The green eyes were dangerous.
"So you decided that moment didn't qualify as critical enough?"
Kakashi nodded.
"Yes. Consider this a lesson."
"Think before you move. Plan before you commit. Next time."
A lesson.
He's calling this a lesson.
"Do you know how many people died? You know the number better than I do."
"You're the one who never stops talking about how ninja who don't value their comrades aren't even worth calling failures—"
"Comrades matter less than the future."
"Their sacrifice bought your reflection. That makes it worthwhile."
"Sakura — you're all but destined to be the next Hokage. If you don't want this to happen again, stop acting on impulse."
Her chest was heaving.
She had more to say. A lot more.
She didn't say it.
She thought about an old man sitting somewhere in Konoha right now.
She pushed the anger down.
It wasn't Kakashi's fault. Her decisions caused this. Her overconfidence caused this.
She was still too weak.
She needed to be stronger. Strong enough that no one could hold her back. Strong enough that her will wasn't subject to anyone else's approval. Strong enough that her presence alone was sufficient — that no one would ever dare move against what she was trying to protect.
"Fine. I understand."
She forced herself still.
In that moment she felt — genuinely felt — what it meant to be on the path to Kage. What it meant that a single decision carried the weight of lives.
Kakashi had chosen to let it happen. To let the lesson land with its full weight.
She stood up and walked away.
"Sweet potato's ready. You're not eating?"
Kakashi called after her.
"Not hungry. Lost my appetite."
He looked at the fire.
He pressed one hand against his chest.
Something ached there, in a slow, rhythmic way.
Did he think his choice had been painless?
What he was carrying was heavier than what Sakura was carrying. He was certain of that.
He'd used up all his tears a long time ago. There were none left.
He looked up at the stars — the whole sweep of them, silent and indifferent — and said nothing.
I've disappointed him again.
His father had chosen his comrades over the mission.
He had chosen the mission over his comrades.
He'd spent years believing his father was wrong — that the mission was everything, that sentiment was weakness. Then his teammates had changed him, and he'd come to believe comrades mattered more than any mission.
And here, without quite deciding to, he'd done it again.
Mission first.
He really was a failure of a person.
The fire was burning low when the figure he'd watched leave came and sat back down beside him.
"I'm sorry. I was wrong."
The pink-haired girl said it with a pout — annoyed, but meaning it.
Kakashi looked at her for a moment. Something eased in his expression.
"We were both wrong, this time."
"Let's try not to be, going forward."
He extended his little finger toward her, something almost hopeful in the gesture.
Sakura stared at the offered pinky.
Then she looked at him like he'd said something very stupid.
"Are you actually an idiot? White-hair, mismatched eyes, tsundere dead-fish-face."
Kakashi scratched the back of his head.
"Come on. Humor me."
Sakura hooked her pinky around his with an expression of profound reluctance, then pressed her thumb down on his in the seal.
"If I become Hokage someday," she said, still sounding put-upon, "you are not getting to sit around being useless anymore. I'm tired of looking at you lying around like a dead fish."
Kakashi looked at their linked fingers and felt a quiet shift in his chest.
There go my retirement plans.
"Sweet potato?"
"Yes, sweet potato. Wasting food is shameful."
She tossed another piece of wood onto the dying fire, raked out the finished potato, broke it open with both hands to reveal the golden flesh inside, and bit into it with feeling.
(Chapter End)
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you