AN: hello everyone! sorry for the long wait and thank you for the comments! i hope you all enjoy. follow my tumblr for more out of story updates: doggoneloser

When Kakashi woke again, the sun was setting. Most of his ninken were still sleeping, although some of them were up and about, stretching, sniffing for food. Bisuke and Guruko were play-fighting on the floor, snipping at each other, showing their bellies and softly growling. Pakkun was still sleeping soundly on Kakashi's belly.

As much as he would have enjoyed to lounge around with his ninken, he had work to do ⎼ or, rather, he had training to do. Gently, he moved Pakkun from his stomach and onto the bed beside him. The pug stirred, grumbled, and tucked his snout back underneath his paws, content to remain asleep a while longer.

The other dogs, however, noticed Kakashi getting out of bed and were more than happy to jump up and join him. He mumbled a good morning to them and received little snickers in reply, one or two "Kakashi, the sun is literally setting" among them as well.

He prepared a light meal for himself in the span of a few minutes. Eating a heavy meal was not Kakashi's idea of a good time, especially when he was about to go face off against Danzo's ROOT agents in his little body. But, he needed the energy, especially after training earlier that day. Maybe he would be able to incorporate his new jutsu into this upcoming practice. While he was not expecting himself to fail against the ROOT agents, Kakashi doubted that the training would prove easy by any means. Perhaps, if he had his proper body, he could wipe the floor with them.

Unfortunately, he did not have his proper body.

But Kakashi had learned to roll with the punches throughout his whole life, and so this was just another trial that he had to adapt to and then overcome. It was only a matter of time, now. Time was ticking away until he either had a new Sharingan or went blind ⎼ ticking away until the Kannabi Bridge mission, rapidly approaching.

He dressed in ANBU gear, so wrong in ways that he could not begin to explain. Danzo had an agent deliver the gear not too long after they made their alliance. Apparently, even though Kakashi was not going to be sent out on missions, Danzo wanted him to wear it. Kakashi supposed not just anyone could get free training at ROOT, so it was for the best.

But, staring down at his Hound mask, Kakashi, for a moment, wondered if he was backtracking. And then he remembered why he was doing this ⎼ so that he would never have to pick up the Hound mask for the same reasons he did the first time around. He was doing this for Rin, Obito, and Minato-sensei.

The mask fit like a second skin, like it always did.

Kakashi bid his dogs goodbye, promising to return later with some yummy breakfast for the lot of them, and then he took off swiftly into the night.

Minutes later, his feet landed silently outside the secretive building. The doors opened for him, and Kakashi entered without making a sound. His steps yielded no footfalls, nor his breathing any disturbance to the air.

The ROOT headquarters were not a place that Kakashi was intimately familiar with, not like he had been with the regular ANBU areas. He knew the layout decently enough, assuming that it had not undergone a massive change before he had met Tenzo, and so he led himself through the weaving, grey walls and dimly lit corridors. When he arrived at the training grounds, he filed away the information that, at the very least, most of ROOT was the same as when he was older. It would be useful to know, when the time came.

Stepping out onto the training area, Kakashi looked around, feeling strangely. Here he was, in a child's body, and in ROOT headquarters. A part of him insisted that this was home, this was where he belonged, but it didn't feel like home as much as it used to. In his teen years, ANBU was his home because it was all he had. But then he grew up, and he made friends, and he got a team of his own.

Looking around, Kakashi realized he had outgrown ANBU.

He wasn't upset with the realization.

"Who's this brat?" Someone asked. A few ROOT agents had stopped in their sparring to turn and look at him quizzically or scathingly. Their stares didn't bother Kakashi. He held his bored demeanor.

"I'm here to train," Kakashi replied in monotone. "I'm a new recruit."

"A new recruit?" A different agent with a boar mask perked up and stepped closer, inspecting the Hatake..

"Is there an echo?" Came the Hatake's monotone drawl.

Boar bristled while others laughed. Embarrassed, the ANBU yanked out a kunai and twirled it quickly in his fingers. "You wanna say that again?" He seethed. "I'll pummel you. You don't belong here, kid."

Kakashi refrained from sighing. He had just stepped foot in the training grounds and was already being hazed. But he fit into the Hound persona like putting on a pair of worn jeans; they don't fit quite right anymore, but he could remember how much they used to.

"I can show you that I do."

He shifted into a defensive stance. Boar snarled, flipping his kunai into an offensive position. He rushed Kakashi, leaving an opening on his left. Hatake ducked his head, snagged his own kunai from his pouch, and drove it into the material just enough to catch, but not to wound the agent. He lifted his knee at the exact same time, counteracting the momentum from Boar, and tackled the man to the ground. The kunai pinned his clothing to the floor. Before Boar could move, Kakashi slammed kunai into pinpoints of the rest of his clothes.

Boar blinked behind his mask, and Kakashi stood up and stepped back.

"Is that good enough?" Kakashi asked, with a smirk in his tone.

Boar growled, clearly annoyed, but he relented and didn't struggle against the kunai. "Fine. Someone get me out of these."

Another ROOT agent, wearing a Crane mask, snickered and stepped forward, plucking the weapons from his clothing and tossing them back to Kakashi, which he caught and put away.

"If that was a mission, you would have been dead there, Boar," Crane remarked. He grabbed Boar's hand and heaved him to his feet.

"Lucky that it wasn't a mission, then," came Boar's reply.

This time, Crane turned his attention to Kakashi, who stiffened almost imperceptibly. Something about Crane's demeanor told Kakashi that he wasn't the average ANBU underling. He had the pose of team leader, a commander, and he was sizing Kakashi up.

If he didn't make a good impression, Kakashi could kiss training here goodbye. Danzo might have allowed him here, but if the actual agents didn't like him, no one would be wanting to spar with him. He was in a fragile diplomatic space; he couldn't appear too weak nor too strong. He needed to prove that he belonged here but that he wasn't going to be coming for anyone's throat or title.

"You have the Hound mask," Crane observed, stepping closer. Kakashi nodded. "What makes you the Hound, hm?"

"Goal-orientated, sir. I also make use of ninken."

Although Kakashi couldn't see it, he could sense the smile from Crane, or at least hear it in his voice.

"And you've already distinguished that I'm one of the leaders here. Smart. How many ninken?"

"Eight, sir."

"Impressive for a boy. So, once you pick up a trail, you don't let it go, hm?"

"That's correct."

Crane spun on his heel. Many of the nearby ROOT agents had their eyes on the commander, and Kakashi. "What do you say we welcome the new recruit? Who would like to go first?"

A woman in a vulture mask stepped forward. Her hair was as black as the unforgiving eyes through her mask. Kakashi assumed she was a veteran. Very few had that particular posture. Crane turned his attention back to Kakashi.

"You up to the challenge?"

"Of course."

"Then let's get started."

The ANBU all shifted. Vulture led Kakashi to training area four, which had every element ⎼ forestry, pools of water, and fire basins. Clearly, she wasn't looking for him to be at a disadvantage, and Kakashi respected that. If a win to mean anything, each opponent needed to be fighting at his or her best. At least, such was the case for a non-lethal win. On a mission, anything goes.

Kakashi and Vulture stood across from each other, only a handful of paces between them. This arrangement would allow either of them to move in closer or create distance, depending on the preferred fighting style. The other agents gathered around the training ground, eager to see how the newbie would fair.

Crane stood with the other agents, close to the middle of the field. Kakashi decided not to pay him any mind. He had to stay focused in this match. While he doubted that Vulture would kill him, she would most definitely have the same lethal energy as any of them would have.

Briefly, he remembered telling Team Kakashi to attack him as if they were trying to kill him.

"Start!" Crane boomed. Vulture leaped into action.

She retreated to the treetops. A long-range fighter, then. Kakashi was reluctant to reveal his entire arsenal to the agents, especially if he was not going to be sent on missions with them, and even more so if he could expect to make enemies out of them in the future, when he would inevitably seek Danzo's head. So he was going to do his best to make this a closer fight. If he could get her in range of the Chidori, even if he didn't use the move on her, she would be forced to surrender.

Kakashi gave chase to the thicket of trees, pulling out a kunai and holding it at the ready. He had to be prepared for anything.

His ears picked up the distinct sound of something trying to be nothing ⎼ a stealthy attack, attempting to blend in with its surroundings, but something could never fully be nothing. He whirled around and jumped out of the way of a shadow stretching across the ground. A Nara, then. If he was caught by that shadow, he would be done for.

Kakashi flipped backwards, landing sideways on a tree, and the shadow pursued him still. In a forest with such a thick canopy, Vulture had plenty of opportunity to use her shadow jutsus. It made a difference, but Kakashi wasn't planning on running away for the entire fight.

As the shadow sped up the trunk of the tree, Kakashi sent chakra to his feet and kicked off of the trunk, sending him flying in the direction the shadow was coming from. Vulture had to have him in her sights if she could chase after him with the shadow, meaning she was likely in the treetops. Not to mention, the shadow's trail led directly to her. If he could follow it without getting caught, he could have her cornered in a hand-to-hand combat.

Dodging the shadow was pesky work but more or less easy. Vulture couldn't fire off any kunai or shuriken while she was focusing on her shadow, unless she already planted them for the shadow's arms to grab, but Kakashi didn't see any. He doubted she had much time to prepare for that, anyway.

The shadow lunged for his leg, and Kakashi jumped, spinning in midair, and spat a fireball jutsu at it. The light forced the shadow to stop dead in its tracks, and Kakashi recentered himself, speeding towards Vulture.

At the base of one tall oak, he sped up the trunk, finding her lurking among the branches.

"Shit!" She exclaimed, breaking her jutsu to quickly grab a kunai and defend against Kakashi's attacks.

They went blow for blow, deflecting each other's attacks in a stalemate for several seconds. With his free hand, Kakashi reached for his shuriken. Even though they were long-distance weapons, in his years of experience, he had learned how to optimize them in close quarters.

Kakashi launched them at Vulture while she was still inches away, giving her no opportunity to dodge. They pierced her shoulder and the side of her torso, and she hissed, backing out of the hand-to-hand. She dropped down the side of the tree, landing on the grass and beginning her retreat deeper into the forest. In attempt to drive him back, she created a mud wall.

Kakashi's Chidori chirped to life. He threw himself down the tree, exploding through the earth jutsu without so much as breaking a sweat. The world passed by in a blur as he fed chakra to his feet, sending him flying after Vulture, in his sights and desperate to put distance between them. Kakashi breathed heavily, feeling the drain on his chakra as his pseudo-Sharingan swirled to life, giving him utmost clarity.

She was his prey, and he had caught her scent.

She wasn't getting away from the Hound.

He barreled after her, gaining ground quickly. No matter which way she zigzagged or what jutsu or weapons she threw at him, Hound was undeterred. He ducked and dodged and closed the gap.

Vulture was out of breath, and out of time. She spun around to gage how close he was and gasped when she realized that he was right on top of her.

Hound slammed her into the trunk of a tree with his left hand, the Chidori poised at her chest. The heat of the lightning singed her clothing. The blood-red Sharingan swirled dangerously in his left eye.

"Surrender." Hound's voice was dark and threatening. Vulture didn't waste a beat to think about what would happen if she didn't give up.

"I surrender," she whispered. Then, she swallowed and louder, said, "I surrender!"

The Chidori died away, as did the Sharingan. Kakashi released her and stepped back, feeling the drain like a pull on his muscles. Crane appeared beside them in an instant with the body flicker jutsu.

"Good job, Hound," Crane praised. "You'll fit in well, here."

With adrenaline still in his veins, Kakashi stared back at Crane. "Who's next?" Hound asked.

Like a second skin.