Chapter IV
In Which: Kakashi is Late
"Four hours, Mr. Hatake. Four hours. That is how much time we've wasted looking for you. What on earth did you mean by it, wandering about the castle on your own? To think that Professor Dumbledore went out looking for you himself-"
Professor McGonagall cut herself off, evidently overcome by irritation.
"This castle is ridiculous," snapped Kakashi. "I don't want to spend any more time in it than I have to, believe me. I didn't get lost on purpose."
"Then you should have stayed put. Or asked a portrait for directions! We did not expect to have to treat you as a child when we signed you on for the mission."
"Ask a portrait for directions? I tried that. Old witch on the sixth floor. She told me, and I quote, 'the way to truth is through one's own heart.' I didn't find it terribly helpful."
"I do not appreciate your sarcasm, Mr. Hatake."
Kakashi folded his arms and slouched against the wall. "What did you expect, leaving me in the middle of that deathtrap you call a school?"
"I expected-"
"Peace, Minerva," said the Headmaster. Up to now, he had watched their exchange with detached amusement. Now he folded his hands as he spoke. "And you, Mr. Hatake. It's foolish to bicker over such inconsequential things."
"Inconsequential?" Kakashi demanded indignantly. "I was nearly killed by chocolate in one of those stupid hidden passageways, and again by poisoned spikes, and even worse, I ran into your Moaning Myrtle and couldn't get rid of her."
"Four hours, Albus," Professor McGonagall said tightly. "That is no small matter."
"Nevertheless, there is nothing to be gained from speaking of it further. Pray control yourselves."
The witch and the shinobi both turned to scowl at him.
"Perhaps we should move on," Dumbledore said pragmatically. "We have business to discuss."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Do tell."
"I called you here at dawn with the intention of showing you around the castle, especially with regards to the protections over the stone. Unfortunately, we no longer have the time for a leisurely walk and will have to postpone such an excursion for now."
McGonagall sniffed. Kakashi ignored her.
"So what now? Don't tell me I wandered around that long for nothing," he groused. "With Myrtle, no less."
"I'm afraid so- to some extent. I've summoned the main faculty at Hogwarts to meet us here at noon. These are the individuals who have contributed their protections to the Philosopher's Stone. I believe they deserve to know about your mission."
Kakashi shrugged. "If you think it's safe."
"We have nearly an hour before they will arrive," the Headmaster said. "You may choose to stay, or to wander the grounds and return then."
He nodded, and turned to exit via the window. (He didn't know if Myrtle was still by the gargoyle outside the stairwell, and he didn't care to find out.)
"Oh, and Mr. Hatake? Do try to arrive on time."
Kakashi scowled and left without another word.
Professor Pomona Sprout opened the door to the Headmaster's office, yawning widely. The room wasn't empty: Minerva was seated in a chair to the side of the headmaster's desk, while Severus stood near the wall, arms folded. Filius was examining one of the strange devices cluttering a tea table.
"Oh, bother," she said apologetically. "Am I the last to arrive? I'm afraid I only just woke up."
"You, Pomona?" Minerva said skeptically. "You're usually up before dawn."
"I was up late last night. There was a full moon, and I wanted to observe the effect it was having on my Venomous Tentacula. You noticed, I'm sure, Severus?"
"No," replied the Potions Master coldly. "I was preoccupied. I did not have the free time to watch plants grow."
"Pity. The effect was spectacular," Pomona commented, unaffected. "Sorry to have kept you all waiting, in any case."
"Not at all," interjected the tiny Charms Professor. "We're still waiting for the last attendee."
"The last?" she inquired.
"Our new lucky new Defense Professor," Minerva explained dryly.
"What was the fellow's name? Quentin?"
"No, it's Quirrell. I think his first name is Quirinus?"
"That's right. I've got a terrible memory for names," Pomona sighed. "Nervous-looking gentleman, wasn't he?"
"Quite," Filius said eagerly, always up for some gossip. "I heard he'd had a run-in with a particularly nasty clan of vampires in Albania, never been the same since."
"I don't think he'll last a month," opined the Herbology professor. Her face brightened. "Does anyone want to start a betting pool?"
"Pomona!"
"I mean, I know that so far they've lasted well enough through the end of the year, but this fellow looks a little jumpy. I think he's the type to have a nervous breakdown before Christmas."
"I think he'll quit," chimed in Filius. "Especially when he hears what happened to last year's Defense Professor."
There was a collective shiver.
Minerva coughed. "That was a tragic event. Isn't it in rather poor taste to suggest a betting pool?"
"Oh, don't let us get to you, Minerva. Have some fun with Filius and me every once in a while. You can't spend all your time cooped up in your office, grading papers."
"Ten sickles that he makes it to March," said Filius seriously.
Pomona snorted. "Prepare to pay up."
"Really, I think we should be setting a better example-"
"Oh, calm down. There aren't any students around. You should loosen up, Minnie."
"Well- I-"
"It's settled, then. We're going out for butterbeer next Thursday. The Hog's Head?"
"I prefer the Three Broomsticks, myself."
"Honestly-"
They were all three interrupted when a sudden burst of green flame from the fireplace alerted them to the arrival of the Headmaster.
Albus Dumbledore had to lean down to step out of the hearth. He brushed ashes off of his clothing and his beard, looking unusually grim in the flickering green light of the fire behind him. Gradually, the Floo powder burned down and the flames returned to their merry yellow hue.
He raised a hand in greeting.
"I'm glad to see you all could make it. My apologies for the short notice."
"No trouble, no trouble at all," Filius assured him.
"I must ask you all to forgive me for stuffing you all in this rather small office. It is an unfortunate truth that some stuffing must be done in times like these."
Albus regarded them all gravely.
"I regret to inform you that Professor Quirrell will not be joining us today," said the Headmaster, looking every inch sincere. "He has informed me that he has some problems of an urgent nature, which must be dealt with immediately."
"Told you," Pomona whispered to Filius.
"I have not told you why I gathered you here. Now I shall remedy that. As you may or may not have guessed, we are here to discuss the necessity of further protections for the Philosopher's Stone."
"What?" Pomona was aghast. "But surely you feel our protections are enough? I had a tough time growing that-"
"A few extra precautions may save us years of regret, Pomona."
The Herbology professor fell silent.
"I took the initiative of requesting aid from an old friend of mine. He too is the leader of an establishment which trains young... wizards, shall we say… for very specialized tasks. The, ahem, graduates of his program are uniquely qualified to serve as protectors in a situation such as our own."
Pomona frowned. "A connection? At the Auror Training Division?"
"Is it someone I might know from the Dueling Circuit?" inquired Filius.
Minerva just looked supremely uncomfortable.
"When can we meet him?" asked Pomona.
Dumbledore smiled. "He's already here."
Damn perceptive old man.
Kakashi was currently hanging upside-down from the ceiling, using chakra suction on both his hands and feet to remain in place.
Instead of walking out the door and going to explore when Dumbledore had dismissed him an hour ago, he had used a translocation jutsu to land on the ceiling, and then used an illusion jutsu to make himself less noticeable. He had crouched there for nearly an hour, trying to gain information from hearing the teachers talk amongst themselves.
It was only when Dumbledore mentioned his name that he decided that the best course of action would be to join them. There wasn't anything useful in their chitchat, and they would only be annoyed at him if he showed up late.
The twelve-year-old jounin released his chakra and let himself fall.
He twisted neatly in midair to land on his feet, hands in pockets.
Like hell was he going to start off his mission by landing clumsily in front of all these people. One of the teachers, a witch, gasped and stumbled back. Another, a short, white-haired man, pointed his stick- his wand- at Kakashi. But he didn't attack, so Kakashi stood up and bowed respectfully to his employer.
"You called, sir?" he said lazily.
Dumbledore smiled. "Mr. Hatake. Thank you for joining us. Would you care to introduce yourself?"
Kakashi shrugged, turning to face the teachers.
"Kakashi Hatake," he said blandly. "Male, aged 12, blood type O. My birthday is September 15th. Assigned the rank of jounin at age 11. Things I like include-"
"I think we get the idea, Mr. Hatake," Professor McGonagall said hurriedly.
Apparently she hadn't cut him off soon enough.
"Twelve?" demanded the small man. "Twelve, Albus? Surely you're joking. He's a child, Headmaster! It would be sheer folly to entrust him with such an important- such a dangerous task. You simply cannot be serious."
Kakashi didn't blink.
He didn't give any sign that he had so much as heard the tiny man speak. That was what you did with people like him: you ignored them and proved them wrong at your convenience. Words wouldn't help any, that was for sure.
The Headmaster didn't seem to be acquainted with Kakashi's tactic.
"There you are mistaken." Dumbledore spoke seriously. "Mr. Hatake has graduated with flying colors from the most challenging programs available. He is trained in combat and espionage. I daresay he might give even you, Filius, a run for your money."
"He is a child."
It was Snape who spoke. Kakashi shot him a look of annoyance. Snape had been there with McGonagall when they hired him. He would already have known Kakashi's age. He was bringing it up just to be troublesome. Saying it now only served to make the other teachers doubt his capabilities.
"I agree," said the portly witch. "If this is a joke, I'm not laughing."
Ugh.
Kakashi, bored already with their petty squabble, opened Obito's eye under his headband. It was covered, which obscured his chakra vision somewhat, but he wasn't stupid enough to show them his Sharingan and give them another thing to get worked up over.
He couldn't actually see the chakra pathways, but Obito's eye did give him an acute idea of what their energy felt like. They didn't have chakra centers, he was surprised to see, just a small pool of bright color that slowly oozed out of their fingertips, their eyes, and their mouths. Could it be the magic that he had heard so much about?
It seemed almost wasteful. But to his surprise, the 'magic' seemed to be... replenishing itself. It was like an underground spring that never ended, a constant pool bubbling up from somewhere inside them. Did that mean that they could produce an unlimited amount of jutsu without waiting for their chakra to replenish?
He turned his attention back to the conversation.
"But why a child, Albus?" the tiny wizard was asking. "There are others you could have asked."
Kakashi cleared his throat.
"Excuse me," he said, not so much politely as firmly. "I think you may be a little confused. By the laws of your people, I'm a child. But by the laws of my people, I am a fully functioning adult. I support myself, I work for a living, I live alone, and I am my own guardian. Is that enough to satisfy your definition of an adult?"
"No, it isn't," the witch said flatly.
"It's true I am somewhat younger than most other agents," Kakashi conceded. "It isn't standard to make the rank of jounin until around age 18, if one manages it at all. That said, my early promotion just goes to show that my skills were so far above the norm that I was permitted to advance early."
"Skilled or not, I can't morally condone this. Albus, please."
The Headmaster shook his head. "There is another reason why I have consented to the assignment of Mr. Hatake."
Kakashi watched him, trying to gauge how much he was planning to tell.
"You may be aware that Harry Potter, having recently turned eleven, will be enrolled in Hogwarts starting this fall."
Snape muttered something.
"No, Severus. Not preferential treatment. Simply a healthy understanding that this is Hogwarts, and things frequently go wrong wherever they can."
The Headmaster turned to the other teachers.
"The Stone is the first half of Mr. Hatake's mission. The second half is to keep an eye on Mr. Potter and protect him from any serious harm. Mr. Hatake is in a unique position to make such a protection duty plausible, for obvious reasons. For this reason, he will be undercover as a student, and you will see him in your classes."
Kakashi grinned. "I look forward to learning from you all."
None of the teachers moved to stop him as he formed a half ram seal with one hand and flickered away in a swirl of leaves.
The teachers were startled, to say the least.
"Did he just Apparate inside the school?"
"In our classes," muttered McGonagall, sounding horrified.
"The nerve, vanishing like that-"
Dumbledore smiled tiredly. "You must forgive Mr. Hatake his rudeness. He is simply rather stressed at the moment. He is in very different surroundings and speaking a different language. Where he comes from, he is highly respected, and he finds it belittling to be treated as a child when he has proven himself in battle many times over."
"Are you sure we can trust him with the Stone?"
"I have found Mr. Hatake to be a trustworthy and intelligent young man. We have no reason to distrust him. We will have no further discussion on the matter." The Headmaster's voice had a ring of finality, and the professors seemed to see that it was useless to argue further.
Outside the window, Kakashi sighed. It seemed that wherever he went, people were determined to think ill of him.
It's not like it matters what they think.
Dumbledore had given him permission to wander the grounds, and he was beginning to get a map of the castle in his head. He eyed the 'forbidden' forest curiously. If it was forbidden, there had to be something interesting in there. He needed somewhere to train. There didn't seem to be any reason as to why not...
Kakashi tugged on his headband and leaped off of the side of the tower, hurtling towards the ground. He landed lightly, frightening a scrawny tabby cat, and ran leisurely towards the forest.
Time to have some fun.
For all it was 'forbidden,' the forest seemed pretty tame.
It was dark and dank, but unlike the Forest of Death back home, the air was cool and misty. There were a few noises- what sounded like wolves, and some rustling in the undergrowth, but otherwise it was eerily quiet. There weren't any birds, and without the familiar whirring of the cicadas the air seemed dead and still.
All in all, Kakashi was a little disappointed. He'd been hoping to spar with some large animal, but so far the largest thing he'd come across was the carcass of a silvery horse in a clearing.
Well, at the very least he could train in peace.
Kakashi laid his pack among the roots of a massive tree, and began unpacking his gear. Scrolls, check. Senbon, check. Weapon maintenance kit, check. Kunai, shuriken, a spool of wire, his sword, ninjen, weights and bandages were also included.
He lifted his sword. It wasn't nearly as good as his father's had been. The balance was off, and it took much more focus to harness his chakra. His moves were slower and it drained more energy than ever before. It was like moving through molasses- while he still moved at speeds untraceable by the normal human eye, to an enemy ninja, it could very well be the opening that they were looking for. Split-second reaction times were life and death for a ninja.
He began running through his kata.
Slowly, at first, then building in speed, he moved his feet and slashed his blade through the air, all the while focusing his chakra into the blade. He had to release it steadily, sharpening it into an edge sharper than any metal. If done properly, a chakra blade could sever even chakra strings.
As Kakashi entered the pattern, he lost himself in the flow of chakra. It was easy, once he got the knack of it. Faster and faster he moved, when suddenly-
Thwang.
A sudden noise behind him made him flinch.
He spun around, narrowly dodging as an arrow flew so close to his face it ruffled his hair. It thudded into the bark of the tree behind him. He ducked to the side, deflecting a second arrow with his blade. The force behind the shot surprised him.
He backed against the tree.
"Cease fire," came a terse command.
Kakashi looked up. At first he thought it was a bare-chested man riding a roan stallion. As he looked again, he realized that wasn't the case. Where the man's waist should have been, it instead transformed smoothly into the chest of the horse. Was he some kind of spirit? Or was this some kind of human-beast transformation technique, like the Inuzuka used?
He glanced around the clearing. There were other horse-people, men and women, approaching him with bows still drawn. He didn't lower his blade.
A woman with the bottom half of a grey-speckled mare walked forward. Her front legs bucked in irritation.
"Magorian," she said, voice hard. "The unicorn-"
"He was not the one."
"I can smell the blood on his hands," argued the woman. "He is a murderer."
"Who are you?" Kakashi asked warily. "Why did you attack me?"
The man gave him a long, hard look. "One of our cousins was slain. We seek the killer."
"I haven't killed anyone," Kakashi said.
The centaur gazed at him.
"Recently, I mean," he amended. "And not around here. I'm under contract to the Headmaster of Hogwarts to do no harm to the residents of Hogwarts Castle and grounds. Which I think includes you."
"He is the one we Saw coming," said a different woman. "The one Tyrius spoke of in the smoke of meadowsweet. The stars call him Friend-killer. Ice-blood. Fire shadow."
"Friend-killer," repeated the first woman. "Yes, and slayer of the innocent."
"Wait, what?" Kakashi demanded. It wasn't that they were strictly wrong, but they shouldn't have had any way of knowing that. "What are you talking about?"
Magorian flicked his tail.
There was a long silence.
"He is not the one," the man said at last. "We will not attack you, young one. But go now. We must continue our hunt."
Kakashi glanced around. There were at least eight of them. Even if he hadn't sworn not to harm the residents of Hogwarts, he would have had a difficult time taking them all down by himself, especially with all of them armed with bows.
So he nodded and sheathed his sword.
As he packed all of his gear and slung his bag over his shoulder, their eyes never left him, their arrows trained on his vital points. He stayed on his toes, ready to dodge if one of them shot, but they never did.
So he took to the treetops, leaping back towards the grounds as quickly as he could.
He would finish exploring another day.
Thanks to SilverFoxSage for editing the rewrite of this chapter. Significant changes have been made, and minor continuity errors may occur until I get everything up to date. Watch out for plotholes.
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