Chapter 294   - Ch294. Hard Lesson For Dummies

Anko walked through the village like a woman on a mission, followed by her three cute little genins as if they were little ducklings. She knew exactly where to find her target at this hour of the day and boy was he in for a rude awakening!

Eventually, she and her entourage arrived at the place where the Memorial Stone was located, and voila, in front of it stood what Anko called a gloomy figure of average-sized white-haired perverted dipshit who liked to cover his face because he thought it was cool.

Just her luck to have him in her team... .

The problem was... this bastard made her wait. Nobody was allowed to make her wait! ... Well, nobody except Tsunade-sama.

Anyway, Anko narrowed her eyes at the unsuspecting jonin who was paying his respect to the dead and the three genins behind her instantly knew there would be a bloodbath in the near future. They could only take a cautious step back, knowing this was inevitable.

Anko's expression suddenly shifted into a pleasant smile. It was so sudden the three genins felt creeped out, rather than calm though. With a spring in her step, Anko moved forward, walking towards the Memorial Stone.

She knew exactly how to solve this little issue of hers...

Kakashi Hatake stood in front of the Memorial Stone, lost in his thoughts as he reminisced of better, happier times. He, for the n-th time, asked himself why he even continued being a ninja. It was a dreadful job that took everything away from him, yet, he knew nothing else. He had nothing else. At least in ANBU, he found a semblance of home mixed with professionalism, something he desperately needed. Yet, even that small reprieve was taken from him.

Today was a big day for him. He was getting a genin team but unlike the teams he got previous years, Kakashi knew there was no refusing this one. The last Uchiha, the Hyuuga heiress, and... the son of his sensei. The last one hurt the most. He never approached Naruto, believing he had no right after he accepted the order from the Third Hokage to keep his distance. The most he could do was to watch over the boy in his capacity as a member of the ANBU. It was indeed him who took most of those missions, much to the bewilderment of his former colleagues.

He tried. He really did. He kept leaving groceries for the boy when he noticed him eating only ramen. He sneaked academy books into his apartment when he noticed the boy lacked them. He tried.

But even that was taken from him when the boy was taken in by the Senju clan. Kakashi could no longer provide even this meager support to the son of his sensei. On one hand, it relieved him that Naruto finally had someone who cared about him. On other hand, it made him depressed that he was totally cut off from the boy's life.

Alas, such was the life of Kakashi Hatake. Losing everyone who ever mattered to him.

As he was yet again drowning in his depressing thoughts, his line of sight was suddenly obstructed when, much to his surprise and horror, SAT ON THE MEMORIAL STONE as if it was a bar stool!

Kakashi silently lifted his disbelieving wide eye, his gaze landing on the disrespectful ingrate only to find the resident Snake Mistress grinning at him like a Cheshire cat. Honestly, as mad as he was, he was also too unnerved to voice his complaints.

"Hatake, tell me, what the heck do you think you are doing?" Anko's calm voice resounded through the clearing as she tapped the Memorial Stone with her finger.

Kakashi blinked. "Paying respect to the dead?" He smoothly replied, trying to calm the clearly incensed woman. 'Did I... possibly miss the appointed time?' He idly wondered.

Hearing him, Anko's smile did the impossible and widened even more, "Oooh~, and..." She slightly leaned forward, continuing in a sweet hushed tone, "do you think these dead fuckers care about you wasting your time in front of this stupid rock?" She asked, pushing several vases with flowers with her foot, causing them to fall over.

Kakashi visibly recoiled when he heard her question and saw her blatant disrespect to the deceased heroes of Konoha, feeling as if he was just slapped. Before he could explode in anger, however, Anko continued in a coaxing tone as if she was scolding a stupid child.

"Let me tell you a secret, then." She briefly paused, "They don't. They don't care at all. Do you know why?" Her cold narrowed eyes met the disturbed uncovered eye of Kakashi who was simply far too stunned at the audacity of this woman he couldn't even utter a word, "Because they are fucking DEAD, you dipshit!" She gleefully told him, "But do you know who cares? The living!" She started shouting, "I will not have my time wasted by you. Do you understand, Hatake!?" She firmly stated, fully releasing her killing intent.

Kakashi took a step back and gulped. He would never have thought somebody other than Kushina could be so... so... so damn frightening!

Seeing the white-haired bastard was properly cowed, yet still silent, Anko decided to stop releasing her killing intent and push his buttons some more. "Oh, I heard the stories." She tapped the Memorial Stone with her heel, "Your friends, right? Ah, former friends... sorry." She said in a mocking tone before switching into a pleasant one again, "They are dead because you didn't make it on time, no?"

Now, no matter how stunned he was, Kakashi had his limits and he was starting to get pissed.

Anko continued... "Yet, what do you do now? Did you learn your lesson? Nope, you still waste time. You are still late to every damn thing." She said with obvious exasperation.

"Are you finished?" Kakashi lazily asked, giving Anko an eye-smile despite wanting nothing more than to rip her apart. No... this reaction would make her infinitely angrier.

Contrary to his expectations, Anko didn't get mad. Tilting her head, she peered at him as if he was some kind of curious specimen, the same kind of look he received from Orochimaru when he met him during one of his missions. It made Kakashi inwardly shudder.

"No. Not by a long shot." Anko chuckled, "I can't even put into words how disappointed the Fourth Hokage would be. I mean... the guy was an idiot," Naruto barely grit his teeth, wanting to complain and Kakashi did his best not to pull out a kunai and jump at her while she just continued without a care in the world, "but one would wonder what did he actually teach you if you can't even be on time. Well, I guess his death was a happy occasion for Konoha if you are supposed to be the result of his efforts. Damn the guy must have been incompetent!"

As soon as she said that, Anko twisted her body with a smirk upon her face, evading the shurikens Kakashi threw at her, all aimed at lethal spots.

"Oh, you are on." Kakashi growled, knowing she was goading him but she went way past his limits and verbally hit where it counted most for him. There was no other way in his mind than to show her she could not say whatever she wanted.

Anko just lifted her eyebrow at him, clear amusement written in her expression, "Unable to contain his anger too... what a disappointment." She exaggeratedly sighed before turning to the three genins standing a bit away, "You guys go and stand on the edge of this clearing. This will be your first opportunity to witness a fight between high-ranked ninjas." She ordered before turning back towards Kakashi with an excited smile on her face, "Or at least... a fight between an amazing and superb kunoichi and a supposedly high-ranking slacker."