Konoha, a city hidden amongst the leaves, bristled with a forest of gargantuan trees thrusting into the steel plate sky above. They were monolithic, like pillars holding up the heavens, each large enough for twenty men to stand fingertip to fingertip around them. Their canopy held most of the winter cold and snow at bay, leaving the city blanketed by a perpetual faux-summer green. Only the slightest drips of melting snow fell from the natural ceiling to patter against the roofs below.
Kakashi Hatake, however, did not notice.
He was fast asleep in a sparse apartment, a few books scattered on the grey carpet, a single locked shelf containing gleaming metal and a small wardrobe bolted to the wall by his futon. It was then that the knocking started, hurried, impatient, and growing faster. Kakashi's hand shot out from under the covers and retrieved a hidden blade as a muffled voice came through the front door.
"Senpai, the Hokage expects you in his office this morning at nine."
Kakashi made no reply and after a pause the voice continued.
"It's the KSA briefing. He expects you to be there on time."
Kakashi remained silent and soon heard soft footsteps fading away.
A moment later he left the bed and stepped into his bathroom. After washing his face, he stared at the image in the mirrored glass and the baleful red eye smouldering in the left side of his face. Fifteen years and the scar around that eye still ached every morning, as if it had been mere weeks since the wound that had robbed him of his original eye. He could see the water running down his face in perfect clarity as the image became chakra and imprinted itself on his mind. One more to join the similar thousands he already remembered.
He took another few minutes to continue his routine, ending with his fingers holding open his left eye as he carefully applied three drops of liquid from a glass bottle no larger than his thumb. It burned, as it did every morning, but he didn't even flinch as the burning sensation drilled into his skull.
The blade was still with him, lying on the edge of the basin. It was the same place he always put it. Without looking he pinched it between his thumb and forefinger and held it against the corner of his crimson eye as his other hand gripped the basin. A long second, or perhaps minutes passed as the honed tip remained stock still against the unblinking eye. Another image to join the other similar thousands. The blade clattered into the basin and Kakashi turned and left.
Naruto woke almost an hour earlier than usual. Ever since the night before a nervous buzz of energy had been shooting through his body in sparks and spurts. He had graduated from the Academy and made it into Nitodai, the Tōsotsu Tokusho Sakusen Daigakkou, the special operations and leadership school. It was the entry way into the upper crust of the Konoha Shinobi Forces. With a flip he left his bed, throwing aside the pile of tattered blankets to form a heap by the side, and moved to make himself breakfast.
There were only two rooms in his home, his bedroom and everything else, though having never been in another person's home he didn't see anything unusual in having kitchen appliances and a toilet within line of sight. Only half awake Naruto moved automatically to boil some water. He filled a small dented saucepan that was black from years of constant use. He hadn't found the kettle in the top right cupboard of his kitchen and he never would since there was little he did at home except eat and sleep, and not even that most of the time. Still, a broad grin crept onto his face as he waited for the water to boil and planted itself there. He felt that the day was going to be a good one.
Belly filled, and face washed, Naruto left his apartment just as the sun was rising. This was quite difficult to tell in Konoha depending on where you lived, and Naruto, living in one of the cheaper areas of the city, had long learned the ability to know where the sun was just by the ambient level of light.
It was a short ten-minute run to the nearest training field and as Naruto moved through the dim undergrowth of the forest he started to feel the touch of cold air against his skin. The light, too, was slowly growing and just as he was about to reach his destination he stopped on top of a large tree root. He drank in the view and watched his breath mist. Before him was a clearing beneath a break in the enormous canopy of Konoha's forests. A beam of morning light pierced into the gloom from the crack in the leafy ceiling and came to rest on a disk of fresh powder snow. It was like a reflection of the moon, somehow on grass and not water.
With a deep bracing breath Naruto jumped down towards the clearing and dug into a particular spot in the snow. A few minutes later he pulled out a large, decorated scroll.
The Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, the highest authority in Konoha and the supreme commander of its shinobi forces, was seated at his desk. The only sound in his office was the barest crackle of burning embers in his short stemmed pipe as he pulled another long draw. The smoke soon escaped from his mouth and floated lazily through the air squeezing unnaturally into various shapes. The old man was flexing his chakra in a bid to beat his boredom. It was a moment later that the smoke snapped to one side as a gust of wind blew in from the window.
"Kakashi. You're right on time." The Hokage said. "Good."
A handful of leaves fluttered to the floor as said man settled into a stance at ease.
"Hokage-sama." He replied with a short nod. Only the barest flicker betrayed his one visible eye resting for a split second on the clock hung on the wall. It said ten thirty in the morning.
A small grin graced the Hokage's face as he put away his pipe. It was a common game between the two of them, and no matter what Hatake did he always arrived precisely when the Hokage meant him to. There were twelve others in the room already, the last arriving just as Kakashi did, and only a few were recognised by the silver haired man even if they all recognised him.
"Umino-Shōi, if you would." The Hokage said.
A scarred Chūnin stepped forward with a pile of documents and began to hand them out, the coversheet stamped with the official emblem of the Konoha Shinobi Academy.
"These are the profiles and analysis of this year's graduates, along with our recommendations. As usual the majority of them are most suited to the various branches for further training but at least thirty of them have been assigned to you Jounin as Nitodai candidates." Iruka said. "Eight are Clan affiliates, fifteen are purchased commissions, five are state sponsored, one scholarship, and one special dispensation. An unusual group to say the least. Please take a few minutes to go through them."
Each individual read the contents of the documents with the practiced ease of trained operatives, quickly gleaning every bit of relevant information and forming conclusions.
"If I may Hokage-sama." Kakashi said after a few minutes.
The man nodded.
"Why have I been assigned to this duty again? Surely there are more… appropriate personnel." He continued. "I would be best put to use in returning to ANBU."
The same question had been hanging, if not on the tongues, on the minds of many of the others standing in the office. Not once had Kakashi passed a team in the previous five years.
"Ten years of ANBU is more than enough, for anyone." The Hokage replied. "You are one, if not the most, skilled of Konoha's Jounin. It would be negligent of me to put you anywhere else at this point. Don't consider this as a punishment but as favour for me."
With a nod and no other reply Kakashi accepted the reasoning. Even if he disagreed he could never say no, it wasn't in his training, even if another question remained clenched between his teeth and unspoken.
He left in a surge of chakra and so did the others soon after, leaving only Iruka and the Hokage in the office.
"Are you sure about this Hokage-sama?" Iruka spoke. "I have some concerns about Hatake-Taisa."
The Hokage waved him off.
"He's one of our best," he said. "A quarter of our ANBU force was trained by him at some point."
"Yes, but these are fresh cadets Hokage-sama, not ANBU." Iruka countered.
"Kakashi was a Genin at one point if you recall Iruka." The Hokage said.
"Yes sir…" Iruka said. "When he was five. I just hope the cadets assigned to him survive whatever he plans on doing to them…."
"And here I thought you were an optimist." The Hokage chuckled.
Later that day Kakashi was on the roof of the Academy. An orange book was clutched in his fingers, pages open, and screening his eyes from the sight of his students to be. The three young charges committed to his care were seated together and facing him. If he could have gotten away with it, he would not have been there at all. The press of that all too familiar chakra against his senses and the scent of its owner caused Kakashi's heart to quicken for one or two beats before he ruthlessly forced it to a steady pace.
From right to left their names were, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and finally, Uzumaki Naruto. He had read that much in their files but could hardly remember anything else, though only because of his lack of interest. He knew he would be making his own evaluations soon.
"All right." Kakashi said, dropping his book down. "I am Hatake Kakashi-Taisa and possibly your instructor if you make it into the Nitodai program."
"Possibly?" Sasuke spoke.
"Yeah, what?" Naruto joined in. "We passed the exam and got the headbands and everything!"
Kakashi shook his head.
"There's still one more test. Yes, it's true that you are considered Genin and no longer civilians once you graduate from the Academy, however, in terms of rank you are now only cadets." He said. "This distinction is important because now you are held to all the rules and regulations of the Shinobi Forces allowing you to move on to the real training."
"What does that mean exactly?" Sakura asked with a quizzical slant to her head.
"If you fail this test you will have three options." Kakashi replied and started to count on his fingers. "You may be picked up by one of the other schools such as intelligence, research and development, or logistics, and so on. You may enter the force as an enlisted member and not through the Nitodai program, or you may opt to be honourably discharged and return to life as a civilian."
If he had been anyone else, he would have laughed at their shocked expressions.
"As for being Genin, you three are Genin third class, the weakest of the weak and barely above a civilian. I myself am a Jounin, first class, colloquially known as elite Jounin. The three traditional ranks are, these days, only an indication of the general ability of a shinobi and not of actual rank in the shinobi hierarchy. Any further questions?"
Three shakes of the head were his reply.
"Good." He continued. "I've taken the liberty to draw, for each of you, equipment from the requisitions office."
With a flourish and sleight of hand Kakashi unsealed three packs from a scroll hidden on his body. To the three cadets it appeared as if the packs had simply materialised in a burst of smoke.
"you have five minutes to equip yourselves and then I will give you further instructions." Kakashi said.
Naruto immediately dug his hands through his pack, rifling through its contents. Sakura and Sasuke had taken a different approach, first reading through the papers that had come with the packs.
"I didn't know Genin had uniforms Hatake-Taisa" Sakura said.
Naruto was pulling out that said uniform, unfolding it to reveal a woollen tunic and trousers dyed a dark blue.
"They don't." Kakashi said. "But seeing a bright orange jumpsuit, a bright red dress, and a shirt with the Uchiha clan symbol printed on the back the three of you clearly need some help. Now get dressed."
"Hey there's nothing wrong with orange!" Naruto said.
Sakura grabbed her set of clothes and made to move back into the school.
"Where do you think you're going Haruno-kōhosei?" Kakashi said.
"Um…. To get changed Hatake-Taisa." She replied.
"The forces have no time to care about your modesty Haruno-kōhosei. You have thirty seconds to get changed. There are only shinobi here." Kakashi said.
The girl flushed the same colour as her hair and snapped her head between the two other boys. They were clearly doing their best not to look in her direction as they themselves got changed. Sakura was getting ready to warn them off from peeking on her when the words died in her throat. Kakashi was staring down at her with his hands held behind his back.
"Twenty seconds Haruno-kōhosei." He said.
In a rush she slipped out of her dress and put on the woollen uniform, keeping her face down and hidden beneath her hair. Her hands were shaking in embarrassment as Kakashi neither turned away or said anything else.
When the three of them were finished they were standing at attention, packs on their backs, and dressed in their new blues. Their trousers were bandaged down just as Kakashi's were but instead of a flak jacket they had been issued a simple dark green canvas harness worn around their torsos. The harness had loops for scrolls, webbing, and attachment points for pouches.
"Good. You are now ready to be briefed on the test." Kakashi said, he himself standing in front of the three. "The test will be conducted over the next seven days. You will have to complete the objective in that time frame or fail."
The Jounin dug his hand into one of his pouches and pulled out a small silver bell.
"You have to retrieve this bell from me." He said.
There was a beat where the three fresh graduates expected the man to continue.
"That's it?" Naruto said.
"That's it." Kakashi nodded. "A few rules though, you can't acquire any more equipment than what you have now, and no one else can help you except for giving you information. Understood?"
Three nods replied.
Kakashi hummed and framed his chin with his fingers.
"There's still something missing." He said. "Like I'm forgetting something."
He snapped his fingers and pulled out another scroll.
"Aha." He said and tossed them each something white and round. "Put those on. I don't want to see any of your faces again even if you pass."
"Holy shit!" Naruto shouted. "These are ANBU masks."
Sasuke was smirking. Sakura though could only twist her lips into something like a frown.
"Um…. Hatake-Taisa… are you sure? I thought only ANBU could wear these things." She said.
"Ah you're right..." He said. "Well put them on for now. I have something in mind"
The three did so, their faces now covered by the blank porcelain. Kakashi meanwhile retrieved a small bottle of ink and matching brush from one of his pouches.
"Now hold still you three." He said.
In a neat text, as if he had practice writing on ANBU masks, Kakashi wrote out a short four-character phrase on each of their masks.
"Alright. That should do it. Now we can start the test." He said while dusting off his hands.
The three Genin took their masks off to see what he had written.
Naruto yelled first.
"What the fuck is Not AN BU Yellow?"
Kakashi had already disappeared in a flurry of leaves.