Kakashi climbed out the window of his apartment, just before dawn, and sprinted along the rooftops to training ground three. He needed to get there quickly and quietly. And before any of his teammates saw him. He had left the safety and anonymity of his ANBU uniform behind. Choosing to venture out in his jonin uniform instead.
He and Gai always met on the second Wednesday of the month, so he really didn't know why Gai had insisted they meet on this Monday morning. He'd insisted this was the only time they could do this, and Kakashi had never learned to tell him no.
Or maybe it was that Gai just didn't take no for an answer.
Kakashi landed silently, crouching into a squat to make himself as small as possible as he waited.
Just as the sun peeked over the horizon Gai landed before him with a blinding smile. Kakashi stood up in acknowledgment of his rival but didn't speak. He was still unsure what Gai was planning and he wasn't agreeing to anything without all the facts. That had gotten him into more than one sticky situation.
"My rival!" Gai greeted enthusiastically. "I'm so glad you are in the village. I would have been very upset if you missed it."
Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. No matter how much he tried to fight it, Gai had a gift for making him drop his hardened exterior. But Gai didn't need to know that. "Why are we here? Isn't next week our challenge?"
"Right you are! But this is a special addition. Don't you know what day it is?"
"It's Monday," Kakashi dead-panned.
"It's not just any Monday," Gai responded with his arms flailing about in expiration. "It's May the Fourth!"
Kakashi racked his brain for why that should be important to him. It wasn't an anniversary, good or bad, that he could think of, and it wasn't Gai's birthday. He was almost positive that was in January.
When Kakashi didn't respond Gai elaborated. "It's Star Wars day! I can't believe you didn't know that."
That didn't help.
"Don't you remember when my dad would go on missions and I would stay with you and your dad, we would all watch Star Wars movies. I don't see how you could have forgotten."
The light went off and Kakashi's face lit up in understanding. "Oh, the space movies."
Gai's jaw dropped to the ground. The space movies? What had happened to his childhood friend.
"They aren't just the space movies, they're The space movies."
Kakashi really couldn't understand the difference, space movies were space movies. He didn't really remember them anyway. That was a long time ago, in another life. Kakashi pushed those thoughts away, they were best left ignored.
"Okay, so it's Star Wars day. What does that have to do with us?"
Finally getting to the point Gai placed his hand dramatically on his hips and smiled at his friend. "We, my rival, are going to do challenges!"
"How is this different from any other day?"
"The challenges are based on Luke's training regiment on Dagobah!"
Kakashi had a faint idea who Luke was, and the word Dagobah seemed like something he might have heard once, but the part of that sentence that stuck out was training. Followed by challenges, plural. Just how long did Gai plan to keep him out here? An interrogation would only prolong manners, and Gai probably wouldn't tell him anything anyway.
It would be best just to get his over with so he could get back his real training. "What did you have in mind?"
Gai positively beamed at his acceptance. "First, we are going to see who can make the bigger pile of stone." He hesitated a moment to enjoy the utterly unimpressed look Kakashi leveled at him before continuing, "But you have to only use your chakra to move the stones, and we will be doing one handed handstands."
Kakashi thought long and hard looking for a loophole to get himself out of this. This played to Gai's strengths perfectly. Gai excelled at manipulating chakra without the use of hand signs and spent more time doing handstands than any sane person should. Overall, the deck was stacked against him, not that he would dare complain. The terms of the challenge might favor Gai, but they weren't unfair.
"So we just have to build a bigger pile of rocks? Is there a time limit or something?"
"Nope we work until one of us falls, or the rock pile falls."
Kakashi sighed in acceptance. "Do you have the rocks?"
Gai only smiled before he took off running and was under the cover of the large trees before Kakashi knew what was happening. Left with no other option he followed, thankful that the trees would keep this insanity far from prying eyes. When he found his rival, Gai was waiting beside the creek and a pile of stones taller than he was. It was going to be a very long day.
The terms being set Kakashi stripped off his flack jacket and jonin shirt, leaving in just his sleeveless shirt with the attached mask. The bulk loose clothing would be in the way if he was going to be upside down for an extended period of time. Then he fell forward into a graceful handstand and lifted his left arm behind his back.
Gai, having a bit of a flair for the dramatic, jumped up and did a backflip landing on one arm. Even from his current position Kakashi couldn't help but be impressed by the grace the move was executed with, not that he would ever admit that to Gai.
"Are you sure you don't want to set a time limit?" Kakashi asked, hoping to end this as quickly as possible.
"Why would we do that? Stamina is an important part of this exercise!"
With his last attempt to bring a quick end to this madness dashed, Kakashi took a good look at the stones and began to plan his attack. Gai was right about stamina being the key, a steady stream of wind should be enough to move the stones using the minimum amount of energy. He might not have had a wind nature, but he had copied a thing or two from Asuma over the years. He sent a steady flow to the stone atop the pile and as it lifted two more fell.
This was going to be harder than he thought. Not only did he have to move the stones, he had to make sure a stray stone didn't topple his pile.
He placed it far enough away that any random debris would be unlikely to interfere with his progress. Satisfied he went to lift a second stone and was alarmed to find Gai had already begun building a base with five stones on the ground. How had he done that so quickly and without Kakashi noticing?
This time Kakashi lifted up three stones and moved them to join the first. This repeated itself, with the pile getting larger and Kakashi attempting to lift more and more stones. When he was up to twenty-three things took an almost catastrophic turn and two crashed to the ground just missing his pile.
After that he decided it was best not to try more than twenty at a time. It soon became apparent that they would run out of building materials long before either of them would fall or give up.
The only real hope he had on winning this one would be to pull stones from the pile in such a way that those left behind would tumble down onto Gai's superior pile.
There were two obvious problems with this plan. The first being that the master pile of stones had gotten quite small and was much less likely to fall, and the second being that would be almost cheating.
Kakashi continued to work frantically. Time was growing short, and his pile was easily six inches
shorter than Gai's.
Just as Kakashi suspected thay ran out of rocks long before either of them failed at their task. When all was said and done and the final stone landed atop his pile one thing was clear, Gai's pile was easily four inches taller.
While Kakashi fell to the ground to sulk at this loss, Gai back flipped to his feet with his trademark toothy grin.
"Well done, my rival! But it appears I am the victor!" Gai bellowed proudly. "On to the next task!"
"Another one?" Kakashi grumbled.
"Yes I have three planned, but if you have a better one I am happy to hear it."
Kakashi perked up at this. An out. All he needed was a "space" challenge that would be over quickly. He racked his brain training to remember about those movies nights so many years before. And then he saw the light. Space. Spock was from space. With a triumphant grin he yelled, "Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock."
Kakashi would spend the rest of his years trying to find a way to describe the utter betrayal that overtook Gai's face at that moment.
"Did you say Spock?" Gai asked meekly.
Kakashi had no idea why Gai would be so upset about Spock, and could only nod in response.
"I'm sorry Kakashi, but you don't get to pick any more challenges today." Gai turned away from him, pulled a scroll from his vest, nicked his thumb with his teeth and called out, "Summoning Jutsu!"
A medium sized tortoise with a purple and yellow shell appeared atop the scroll. He greeted Gai with a smile and shot Kakashi a glare that said he knew Kakashi couldn't remember his name, again, and he wasn't going to help him one bit.
Kakashi thought it best to avoid interaction with the amphibian, and addressed Gai instead. "Should I call the ninken?"
"You'll just need one for this challenge."
"Can you tell me what the challenge is, so I'll know who to summon?"
"Yes! We are going to race through the Forest of Death. Asuma has hidden flags. You have to find three and get back here first, carrying your ninken on your back."
Kakashi couldn't hide the smile that crossed his face. He was finally starting to remember the movie, and the little green Master had been his favorite part. He was sure Gai would have remembered that, Gai remembered everything.
Kakashi realized Gai had been planning this for a long time, and always went out of his way to keep things fair. No one else would have thought to have Asuma hide the flags.
Now the question was who would be the most helpful. Bull was out, there was no way Kakashi would carry him if he didn't have to. Pakkun would be the obvious choice, he spent lots of time on Kakashi's shoulder, but he had no patience for rivalry challenges. He would just complain the entire time. Most of the ninken were not big fans of participating in challenges, but maybe...
When the cloud of smoke cleared, Aniko was left behind, and while he was the best choice for the job, Kakashi could feel Aniko silently judging him from behind his glasses. None of the ninken liked being dragged into these challenges, not that they would say anything in front of Gai, but Kakashi was in for a lecture when this was all over.
Kakashi knew Aniko wouldn't let his disdain for the task stop him from doing his best to win, the ninken hated losing when the tortoise were involved.
Kakashi scooped Aniko onto his back and began to fill him in on the rules, they weren't losing this task.
"Where do you think we need to start, boss?" Aniko asked as soon as he understood their mission.
"I smell both Asuma and Kurenai here. I think they split up hiding the flags. Once we find the first one we will be able to tell who hid our flags and follow that trail. If we get lucky we will find our flag first. So whose smell do we follow."
Knowing Asuma, he hadn't cared whose flags were whose and wouldn't have put any more thought into hiding than was necessary to get Gai off his back. It really didn't matter which one they picked, odds were the same either way.
Kakashi took off into the tree following Kurenai's scent. Aniko was blissfully quiet, for about two minutes. "So boss, this is kinda like that movie, the one you guys would watch when we were pups."
Kakashi hummed noncommittally, How was he the only one who didn't remember those movies?
Aniko took the lack of argument as agreement, and without his expressed permission his tail waggled with excitement. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. If this was Star Wars, then Kakashi was Luke. Aniko sat up a bit straighter at the sudden realization. He. Was. Yoda!
This was a position that came with great responsibility, it was his job to guide his young padawan along the quest for spiritual enlightenment. Or, at the very least, find the flags before Gai.
"Above us, the flag is," he instructed, trying to hold back a smile.
Kakashi came to a stop on the limb and redistributed the chakra to his feet and started to climb. "Are you really doing that?" There was no hiding the grin under the mask. Even without seeing his face Aniko could hear the joy Kakashi tried to hide behind faux expiration.
"Do you see it yet? Is it blue or green?"
"Blue, it is," Aniko replied, shifting to stand on Kakashi's shoulders, then he leapt into the branches. He returned a moment later dropping the flag from his mount into Kakashi's hand.
"Thanks, but I think that might be cheating. Aren't you supposed to stay on my back?"
Aniko retook his position. "Ninja," he deadpanned.
Kakashi just stopped for a minute and turned back to his companion. Raising an eyebrow he asked, "I thought you were Yoda?"
Aniko was unphased. "Both, I can be."
Kakashi shook his head fighting the urge to actually laugh out loud. "Northeast?"
"Yes. Buried it is."
"Great," Kakashi mumbled, dropping to the ground and sprinting away.
"Are you sure this is it?" Kakashi asked, looking down at a pristine patch of earth.
"Yup, it's here boss... I mean: here, it is."
There were no signs that the ground had ever been disturbed. Kakashi could smell a faint trace of Kurenai, but nothing to indicate she had left anything behind. Kakashi may have had his doubts, but there was no way he would question any of his ninken in this situation. If Aniko said it was here it was, it was. Just buried... deep.
"Can you dig it up?" Kakashi asked, as smoothly as he could.
"Cheating, that would be. Here, my place is." he said nuzzling into his master back.
Kakashi considered his options. He could call another member of the pack. That wouldn't be against the rules, but then two of them would know about this exercise in madness. Option two: dig the flag up himself. That wasn't happening. So that only left.
"Aniko?" Kakashi taunted lightly. "How would you like a steak tonight?"
"Boss? Are you trying to bribe me?"
He'd dropped the Yoda bit, Kakashi knew he had him. "You could stick around after. Maybe even sleep on the couch."
"Can we have a movie night?"
Victory! "I don't see why not, what do you wanna watch?"
Aniko was already digging furiously before Kakashi finished asking his question. "The Empire Strikes Back."
Kakashi pretended he didn't really care, but was surprised by his own disappointment. He wanted to watch Star Wars.
It took no time for Aniko to find their second flag and soon they were off in search of the third and final one.
"This feels familiar," Kakashi mumbled to himself as they stepped into the cave.
"Don't you remember anything, Boss? Luke had to face his greatest fear in the cave." Aniko admonished.
"That wasn't what I meant." Kakashi grumbled as he let his fingers glide across the cold stone. "I think this is the same cave we hid in during the chunin exams."
"Boss, I don't think I've been here before." Aniko answered, sniffing the air.
Kakashi was lost in his own thoughts as the memories of his own test washed over him. They had to hide in here overnight to rest. He had been so angry that Obito and Rin were slowing him down. Now looking back at it, he couldn't remember why he was in such a hurry.
"Hey boss," Aniko called out, breaking him from his own thoughts.
"Hmmm?"
"You okay?" Aniko asked.
"Yeah, I'm good. Now let's find this last flag." Kakashi said, pulling his hand from the stone and shoving it into his pocket.
"Keep going, it's somewhere ahead of us."
They found the third flag easily, and as they began the return trip to the creek side where they started.
Kakashi glanced one more look back to see Rin and Obito standing in the entrance waving goodbye. He blinked once and they were gone.
Aniko jumped onto the grass just before Kakashi landed.
For a moment Kakashi considered knocking Gai's pile of stones over, just because he could. Instead he pulled out a batter copy of his favorite orange book and laid down in the grass. Aniko climbed across Kakashi and stretched out across his master's chest. The optimal spot for getting a good scratch behind his ears.
Kakashi was absentmindedly petting Aniko and almost to the good part of his favorite book when Gai arrived. "It seems we were bested. I am sorry Hiroshige."
His tortoise companion disappeared without comment, obviously frustrated with this defeat.
"I'm gonna go too, boss. Don't forget to summon me for dinner."
Kakashi only nodded then jumped to his feet. He returned his paperback to his hip pouch, and waited patiently for Gai to present the final challenge.
Gai seemed to be in no hurry and was regaling Kakashi with the tales of his bravery in the forest.
Kakashi was generally a patient man, even with Gai. But they had been at this for hours; it was well past mid-day. Kakashi was starting to get hungry, and ready for this to be over. Gai was just beginning the story of how he found the second flag when Kakashi interrupted. "Do you have a third challenge in mind? Or should we just call this a tie?"
At the word 'tie' Gai's eyes grew wide with shock, but he quickly recovered, narrowing them in a silent challenge. There was no way he could continue rambling now, not until one of them was the victor.
Gai pulled out a sealing scroll and after a few quick hand signs produced two kendo swords tossing one to Kakashi.
Kakashi cocked a questioning eyebrow, easily catching his weapon.
"Lightsabers are hard to come by," Gai offered by way of an explanation.
Kakashi only nodded, taking his "lightsaber" in hand, then spun it a few times before wrapping both hands around the hilt and lifting it into an attack stance.
"Gate of Opening," Gai called out before mirroring Kakashi's stance. But instead of using the excess chakra to enhance his natural strength Gai pushed it into his sword causing it to glow in a not un-lightsaber like way.
Now this part Kakashi remembered. Even the mask couldn't hide his grin as he pushed just enough lightning chakra into his sword to give it a blue quality.
"First to get three hits?" Gai asked.
Kakashi took a step forward and shook his head. "No, first to cut off a hand."
Gai started his rival down, his eyes unwavering. The rest of his face, however, was glowing with excitement. Kakashi was finally remembering, and if not more importantly, at least equally important, he was having fun. Gai often worried Kakashi had forgotten fun, having lost it, and a part of himself to ANBU.
Gai mirrored his rival's stance trying, and failing miserably, to hide his smile.
Kakashi wasted no time, stepping forward and bringing his sword down with a flash of blue light and an unnatural noise.
Gai jumped back to avoid the strike blocking it with his own weapon. "Did you just make a swishing sound?"
Kakashi didn't answer, he just pulled back and then attacked again. This time Gai was sure he heard Kakashi making a loud hum as their sabers crashed into each other again. "You did! You're making the lightsaber noise aren't you?!" he yelled, unable to contain his excitement.
Kakashi's eyes lit up with a joy Gai hadn't seen in years. "I don't know what you're talking about."
The next few minutes flew by in a series of slashes and counter strikes that left both men making increasingly more ridiculous noises. More than once they had to stop all together to regain their composure.
With each attack Kakashi felt his stress leaving him. He hadn't laughed like this in years. And the urge to win was growing more and more. Not to just get it over with, and not to win the challenge, but to prove himself the better Jedi knight.
His final slash came down hard onto Gai's wrist sending his kendo sword flying. Kakashi looked down at him and declared, "Gai,I am your father!" in the deepest voice he could.
Gai fell to the ground with delighted laughter. When his breathing finally returned to normal, he looked up at his friend. "You got me this time," he said, taking Kakashi's hand as he returned to his feet.
Kakashi gave him his best eye-crinkle smile. He scratched the back of his neck then said, "I promised Aniko a movie night, but I don't think he would mind if you joined us."
Gai smiled back and in an almost normal manner answered, "I could do a movie night."
"We'll need to stop at the butcher for steaks first."
Gai just hummed in acceptance.
"Is it okay with you if I call the whole pack?"