Kakashi frowned and clenched his jaw shut as he treated his injuries. He had already bandaged and wrapped up his left shoulder which had been stabbed with a kunai during his previous mission. He was currently wrapping his chest tightly to make sure his cracked and bruised ribs healed correctly.
The trauma to his chest had left him repeatedly coughing up blood several times a day, and he could hardly move freely enough to be able to fight. Almost immediately after he finished wrapping his chest, he heard a tapping sound from outside his window.
Kakashi stood up and put on his ANBU uniform once more, strapping on the outer armor and putting on his cloak and mask. He walked towards the window and opened it, letting the hawk step inside and hold it's leg out. Kakashi took the scrap of paper the bird was offering and read it quickly.
Wolf, come to my office immediately for a new mission. -Sarutobi.
Kakashi held back a groan and hopped out the window after the hawk had flown off. He jumped across the rooftops of buildings and went through the window into the Hokage's office. The Sandaime Hokage was sitting at his desk looking over papers that no one actually expected him to do.
Kakashi cleared his throat to signal his arrival even though he knew that Sarutobi already knew he was there. The Hokage looked up and smiled, though his smile wavered slightly as he took in Kakashi's tense stance.
"Wolf, I have a mission for you." Sarutobi said. Kakashi nodded and waited for him to go on. "Since you were recently injured, I found a mission that is S-rank, but not physically demanding. The information is in this file, I expect you to set off tomorrow morning."
Kakashi took the files and nodded in acknowledgement before hopping out of the window once more. Since it was already midday and Kakashi hadn't eaten since he got back from his mission, he went to a small shop to get food.
Once he exited the shop he started to go home only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He quickly turned around to punch whoever had decided to stop an ANBU, but he stopped short when he was nearly blinded by a flash of white teeth.
"Greetings, my eternal rival!" Gai said loudly, bringing his hand off Kakashi's shoulder and resting it on his hips while his other hand rose up in a thumbs up sign. Kakashi sighed and turned to continue before realizing that Gai was not alone.
Kakashi turned around again and saw the small brown haired boy that was beside Gai, fidgeting his hands slightly at the sight of an ANBU. Gai, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Kakashi didn't want everyone to know who he was, wrapped his arm around Kakashi's shoulders and tried to direct him somewhere.
"Where are you trying to take me, Gai?" Kakashi asked, exasperated that this wacko thought they were friends.
"To my good friend's house, of course." Gai said, still smiling. The brown haired boy looked up and looked towards Gai with his eyes wide.
"What? Gai, you can't just invite random ANBU into my house!" The boy said, and Kakashi snickered inwardly at his sudden exclamation.
"But he isn't a random ANBU, this is my eternal rival and good friend." Gai said, as if that explained everything. Kakashi shook his head, and was about to turn back when the other boy spoke up again.
"Fine, he can come. I'll cook your food for you as well, since it's better to eat with others" Kakashi stared at him for a moment before nodding. Gai clapped him on the back and continued to drag Kakashi into an apartment building. They went up several flights of stairs before coming to a stop at an apartment.
The boy took out his key from his pocket and unlocked the door. Once they were all inside the boy took the food from Kakashi and went into the kitchen. Gai directed Kakashi into the dining room once the food was done and everyone, besides Kakashi, sat down.
"My name is Umino Iruka. I'm a chunin." The brown haired boy said, waiting for Kakashi to sit down. Kakashi took off his cloak to reveal a blood stained ANBU uniform, making the boy look down slightly.
"My eternal rival, you must take off your mask if you want to eat." Gai said. Kakashi laughed a little as he took off his ANBU mask.
"Gai, you forget that I wear a mask everytime I eat." Kakashi said back, making Gai frown. Iruka was staring wide eyed at Kakashi and when he finally spoke, his voice was weak.
"Aren't you Hatake Kakashi? You're the same age as us though!" Kakashi looked towards Gai questioningly.
"Don't most people know that I'm in ANBU?" He asked and Gai nodded, making both of them look at Iruka questioningly. He shrugged before he answered.
"I don't really have a lot of people to talk to, besides my friend Mizuki. I can't exactly find a lot of information about other's in the town and I've been busy trying to improve my skills." Kakashi nodded and Gai smiled even brighter.
"Yes! Improving one's skills is the most youthful thing one can do." Gai said. Kakashi shook his head and looked down at the meal. Iruka had cooked the noodles and added meat as well. Kakashi looked towards Iruka to see him blushing slightly as their eyes met.
"Gai, I have something to tell you." Kakashi said quietly. Gai's smile receded a bit at Kakashi's serious tone. "I've been assigned an S-rank mission." This time Gai's smile completely disappeared and was replaced by a look of worry.
"Seriously?" Gai asked and Kakashi nodded solemnly. "But… But you just got back yesterday from an S-rank mission. You're injured and can hardly fight. How…" Gai trailed off.
"It shouldn't involve fighting. I haven't looked over the details yet, but I'm leaving tomorrow morning. You can come see me off at the gate, and I'll tell you how long I'll be away." Kakashi said, surprising himself with his offer. It was probably the shock at seeing him actually worried about something, Kakashi thought as an explanation.
Iruka had just been sitting there in thought with a worried expression on his face. "Hatake-san, may I come to see you off as well?" He asked, breaking the tense silence that had fallen. Kakashi looked at him in shock, surprised that he wanted to say goodbye to someone he had only just met.
"Sure, but you can call me Kakashi. Well, as long as I get to call you Iruka." Kakashi said, making his voice turn a little flirtatious. He did this knowing that Iruka was probably the type to get easily flustered based on the way he constantly fidgeted.
Sure enough, Iruka blushed a little and looked towards Kakashi for a moment before blushing even more when Kakashi winked at him. "No, that's fine. You can call me Iruka, Kakashi-san." He said.
"Just Kakashi is fine." Kakashi pressed, making Iruka flush a little bit more.
"Hai, Kakashi." Iruka finally said after a moment of pause. Kakashi eye-smiled at him and Gai looked between the two of them confused.
"My eternal rival, how come you never gave me permission to call you Kakashi?" Gai asked, frowning a bit before smiling as brightly as before. "Oh! I understand, since we're rivals I should only call you my rival! This just shows how you are always one step ahead!" Kakashi shook his head at Gai's obliviousness and just stood up to leave.
"Shouldn't you eat?" Iruka asked and Gai pointed towards Kakashi's bowl which was completely empty. Iruka scrunched up his eyebrows in surprise and confusion before smiling at Kakashi. "Well, see you tomorrow then."
Kakashi nodded to both of them before putting his ANBU uniform back on and hopping out the window. When he got back home he took off his shirt to find his shoulder wound bleeding. He sighed and switched the bandages before taking out the files for the mission.
S-Rated Mission (Top Secret):
There have been reports from some of our scouting shinobi that there is a small disturbance in the middle of the ocean between the Land of Iron and the Land of Snow. We have looked into it many times but we have decided not to confront it until we have a more highly trained ninja with us. The disturbance takes the form of a shimmer in the air that pushes the water away from it.
Your mission is to investigate what it is and what it does and report back to The Hokage. It should take you a week to get to the location and I expect reports that detail every odd occurrence that happens. You are to travel alone and when you reach the shore of the Land of Iron, you will find a team of leaf shinobi that will sail you to the location and inform you of everything that they have found out. They will say, 'how are you doing this fine morning?' and you shall respond, 'It is not morning, but noon.' Please leave at 8:00 in the morning.
Kakashi reread the file and then flipped the page to see the details of the trail he was supposed to take as well as different directions on how he was supposed to interact with other shinobi that he crossed. He breathed out heavily as he realized that this was going to be at least two weeks long.
It wasn't like Kakashi had many people that he would miss, but he wouldn't deny that he definitely had fun embarrassing Iruka and couldn't wait to do so again. Kakashi frowned at the thought of not being able to wait to see someone again. He had never taken a liking to someone so fast.
He shook his head and focused on packing for the trip. After making sure enough clothes, masks, and bandages were packed, he gathered up as many of his weapons as he could and lined them up in their proper pouches. Kakashi was about to fall asleep again, but he remembered something absolutely fundamental that he had forgotten to pack.
Shooting out of his bed, Kakashi rushed through his apartment towards the bookshelf on the wall along his living room. He knelt down and rubbed his hands along all the little books, relishing the feel of their smooth, yet worn, spines. He pulled one of the last books on the shelf and examined the orange cover.
He had been given this book by one of his ANBU teammates as a joke, and had ignored it for several months before coming across it when he was cleaning. He decided to try it out and see if it was any good and had finished it in one sitting.
Ever since then, Kakashi had reread the book several times and couldn't go an entire month without reading it at least once. Now, there were several sequels as well as other books by the same author, all of which he greatly enjoyed. When the ANBU members found him reading the books once on a mission, they were utterly shocked.
Kakashi pulled around twenty books off of the bookshelf and stuffed them into different compartments in his suitcase. Just in case the mission takes longer than expected, he told himself, even though he knew it was just because he loved them so much. After he had truly finished packing, Kaneki could finally get a peaceful night's sleep.
Well, as peaceful a sleep one could get while having nightmares that made them remember the worst times of their life. In the morning Kakashi woke up sweating with a terrible headache. His shoulder would send him sharp jolts of pain everytime he moved his arm and he was having trouble breathing because of how tightly he wrapped his ribs.
Groaning in frustration, Kakashi tried to take his mind off of everything by strapping on all of his weapon pouches and attempting to fit all of his hair in a small ponytail. His attempts ended with a semi success because half of his hair was still defying gravity and the other half was tied tightly in a ribbon.
Kakashi decided that since everything he tried ended up getting him more annoyed, he should just get started on leaving. After checking the clock he found that it was already 8:30. Deciding that thirty minutes is a little too late, even for him, for an S-rank mission, Kakashi rushed out the window, ignoring the increase in pain.
Once he reached the gate, he had his hand clamped firmly over his shoulder and he could feel blood rising in his throat. Not wanting to pull down his mask, he just forced the blood back down and turned to face the two people waiting for him.
"Farewell, my eternal rival. Do you know how long you will be gone?" Gai said. Kakashi looked at him and shook his head a little.
"It could be any time between two weeks and a month." Kakashi said, making Iruka frown and Gai to gasp energetically. Iruka looked worried for him and that made Kakashi feel a bit better since no one else in the village ever worried about him.
"It's a safe mission, right?" Iruka asked nervously.
"It should be. I can't tell you much and I'm not really sure myself. I don't think anything bad will happen, but it's pretty much unranked because nobody really knows what could happen." Kakashi said, trying to reassure him, only to get an even more worried face on Iruka.
Kakashi grinned, and before Iruka could say anything else, he hugged him. Iruka tensed a bit when he realized what was happening and Kakashi smirked as he whispered into his ear suggestively. "Thanks for worrying about me, Iruka-chan. I promise to come back safe so you can treat me to more of your cooking."
Iruka blushed brightly and frowned at Kakashi. "Stop that!" He hissed, making Kakashi give him a confused look. "Don't give me that look, you know what you're doing." Kakashi chuckled and kissed Iruka's cheek lightly through his mask. He blushed furiously and tried to pry himself away.
Kakashi eye-smiled at Iruka and hugged him tighter, pressing their chests together, before breaking off and waving at Gai. He then took one last glance towards Iruka and smirked at his bright red face, then he bounded towards the forest and disappeared.
After two days, he had gone through the forest without anything going wrong and he decided that he might have to slow down in case he got there early. Kakashi stopped at a clearing and switched his bandages and mask, making sure nobody else was there. Another day passed until he had his first glimpse of another person.
There were three ninja, all of which had the leaf hitai-ate around their foreheads. They all looked like chunin and they were all around 15 years old. Kakashi passed quickly since he didn't know any of them and continued on his path.
After two more days, he had finally arrived at the shore and met up with five men who were all standing next to a medium sized ship. They looked at him for a moment before saying their given code. "How are you this fine morning?" A tall blond haired man asked.
"It is not morning, but noon." Kakashi responded in a monotone voice, making his voice slightly deeper so he appeared more menacing. The men nodded and they started going up the ship ladder. Once they had all gotten up, the blond sat down and motioned for Kakashi to join him.
"Alright, so there is a strange shimmering sphere that is around 5ft in all directions. We sail for three days to get there, and we haven't touched it yet. We decided we need a shinobi of higher rank so Hokage-sama told us he was sending ANBU. All we need you to do is touch it and see what happens, if you disappear we will send at most three other people after you four months after your disappearance just in case you find a way back."
Kakashi nodded and asked where his room would be during the trip. The blonde directed him towards a small room just under the deck of the ship. Kakashi, not having slept his entire journey, went to sleep almost immediately after he laid down, still wearing his uniform.
Kakashi tumbled out of his bed and flipped to a standstill. The ship was rocking back and forth dangerously, causing him to stumble slightly as he made his way to the deck. Once he got up he realized that all the shinobi were pointing at something in the distance. Kakashi went to the blond haired man and looked at him with his head tilted slightly.
"Can you see it?" The man asked. "That's the disturbance. Only a couple minutes now and you'll be able to jump out and touch it." Kakashi looked into the distance and saw that about thirty feet out the ocean was pushing away from one point, creating a crater. He sighed as he realized he must have slept for nearly three days.
As they got closer, Kakashi could clearly see a shimmering ball that floated just over the seemingly endless water. The blond man nodded to Kakashi as a sign that he could go and touch it now. Kakashi went back and got his bag, walked on the water towards the sphere and looked back one last time before putting his hand out to the floating sphere.
Suddenly, he felt his hand get sucked into the sphere and disappear, the rest of his body quickly following. Kakashi felt like his body was repeatedly being pulled and then compressed through a tube. Then, just as soon as it had started, it stopped. Kakashi felt himself pulled one last time, more roughly than the other times, and then he felt a falling sensation.
Kakashi opened his eyes quickly and realized it wasn't just a sensation, but he was actually falling. Right before he hit the floor, he twisted mid air and landed on his feet in a slight kneeling position. He observed the room he was in and found that he wasn't alone. At a desk that was neatly tucked into the corner of the room, sat an old man with silver hair and a beard that made its way down to the man's belt.
The man seemed to have not noticed Kakashi yet and was still examining paperwork that had started to spill over his desk. Kakashi coughed lightly to let his presence be known and the old man looked up suddenly. The old man's eyes widened in fear for a moment before turning to confusion.