Kakashi had the last watch, waiting for the sunrise while his students snored softly. He felt a slight shift in chakra, and turned to the missing-nin. He was still tied securely, though he could see him moving, but not with the random motions of sleep.

Odd…that drug should have kept him unconscious at least a full twenty-four hours…

Leaving a kawarimi behind, he moved close enough to see the ninja was almost out of his bonds. The nin looked up, taking note of the replacement left behind that was facing away from him, the three sleeping genin, and the scroll case poking out from Kakashi's backpack. Kakashi heard the nin's pulse quicken when he focused on that, and he doubled his efforts to undo the wire binding him, slicing his skin open in the process. A hissing sound reached his ears, and Kakashi watched as wisps of smoke rose from the cuts. The nin's blood was burning through the wire and his own clothes. In a moment, he was free, standing quietly and focusing on the stolen scrolls.

"You're just full of interesting tricks, aren't you?"

The nin jumped in fright, turning to look up at the man above him, attached to the tree trunk.

"Well…crap."

The two stared at each other a moment before Kakashi casually dropped to the ground.

"So…drugs don't work, and neither does binding you with wire…guess I'll just have to hit you a little harder this time."

"Wait! Please…you've been asked to capture me for the hidden cliff, right?"

Kakashi nodded silently after a moment. The nin had an accent he couldn't identify, and it was a little difficult to follow along.

"Look…I don't know what they've told you, but I cannot go back there. The scrolls and I…we have to disappear."

"And why is that? Just what's in these that you're so afraid of?"

"There are…forbidden techniques, and there are forbidden techniques. Those scrolls must not be unsealed. If they are…"

From what he could tell, that was a prospect the nin was honestly afraid of. Still, a mission was a mission. Nagging feelings could be sorted out back in the safety of Konoha's walls. Kakashi walked calmly back to the scrolls and held them up, running a finger along the cap of one of the cases. It was carefully inscribed with lines upon lines of small characters. A peek with his sharingan showed a massive amount of chakra flowing through them, a seal of no small power and complexity. He imagined that he could probably break the seal, but even if the cases weren't trapped in some way, the level of technique needed to do so would probably destroy the scrolls inside.

"Regardless, you and the scrolls are coming to Konoha."

"I won't!"

"You will. Conscious or-"

Kakashi turned at a massive surge of chakra, bringing an arm up to block a kick that made his whole body shake. He caught a punch and threw the nin away from him, who simply rebounded off a tree and flew back at him, much, much faster than before.

Faster…and stronger…how?

Looking at him with the sharingan, Kakashi saw his opponent's chakra activity had grown greatly. Still, his technique hadn't changed, and the speed and strength was still on a level he could deal with, staying two moves ahead and leading the nin on a chase through the forest.

"Katon! Hosenka no jutsu!"

One fireball. Two. Three. Kakashi dodged each easily. Four, five, six. Kakashi leaped and twisted to avoid the last three, looking back down at a massive rumbling sound.

"Doton!"

The earth beneath him exploded upwards, and he was showered with dirt and rocks. He kicked out and scored a hit when the nin leaped through the spray of debris, trying to use it to cover his attack. Maikeru dropped, hitting the ground hard, and Kakashi heard bones break. Settling on a tree branch, he watched the man stood, passed a hand over his ribs, then leaped up and resumed the attack.

Water, fire, earth, and even medical techniques…his training must have focused almost exclusively on ninjutsu, but at the rate he's going…

Through the sharingan, he could see the nin's chakra, once burning brightly, now flickering and fading.

"Ninpou! Green shuriken!"

Maikeru snatched a handful of leaves as he leapt, and Kakashi ducked as they flew over his head and sliced through the tree behind him. Just as Maikeru brought his hands together once more, Kakashi sped forward and buried his fist deep in his gut, the nin's body wrapping completely around the arm from the force of the impact. Kakashi grabbed him by the hair and yanked his face up, forcing a genjutsu into the man with the sharingan's help. He swayed, but it took several moments before he finally fell unconscious. Kakashi sighed and tossed him over his shoulder, heading back to camp.

In all, that took less than three minutes. But it shouldn't have happened at all…and that technique he used to gain that sudden burst of strength…

"Wait…"

He flipped the ninja over, checking his wrists. The cuts he had gavin himself earlier weren't bleeding in the slightest. They had scabbed over, and when Kakashi rubbed one off, the blood congealed instantly, closing the wound.

Blood…something about blood…a technique I've seen before…

The memory refused to come to him, though, and Kakashi arrived back in camp to find his team still fast asleep. He sighed loudly, shaking his head and sitting back where he had left the replacement to watch the sunrise.

"WHAT?"

"Remind me to assign some extra training for all three of you."

"But…but…we were tired from the last battle!"

"That's no excuse. A ninja must be ready for anything, at any time."

Naruto was slumped in defeat, Sakura was groaning and Sasuke looked even more surly than usual, all three staring at the still-unconscious nin who was tied up at Kakashi's feet. They had awoken with the sunrise to find several felled trees and small craters just outside of camp.

"Did he really do all this?"

"Yes. But he won't be moving around anytime soon."

Through the sharingan, he could see Maikeru's chakra levels were almost completely depleted, and recovering at a very slow rate. Whatever technique he used was definitely in the do-or-die category, something only for emergencies.

"Now, who wants to carry him?"

It was decided that a group of Naruto's shadow clones would carry him, and the group trudged along, Maikeru's arms and legs tied to a pole roast pig style.

"Hey…"

Naruto fell back to the captive nin and gave him a poke in the ribs.

"What?"

"Where are you from?"

Sakura, Sasuke and even Kakashi tilted their ears towards the conversation.

"I…don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"I mean I don't know. I remember washing up on shore not far from the hidden cliff village about three years back. But before that, there's nothing."

"Oh…'cause everyone was wondering where you're from."

"Yeah, me too. Tried a few medical ninjutsu to get my memory back, but none of them worked."

"Hmm…"

"And that ugly accent?"

The nin turned his head to see Sasuke staring down at him.

"Should of heard me in the beginning when I could barely speak the language, I…huh? What's that smell?"

The nin tilted his head towards Sasuke, sniffing the air.

"What? I don't smell anything."

"Exactly."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes while Naruto started to snicker. He turned to glare at the blonde-haired boy, but overdid it and made a small grunt of pain, reaching up to carefully rub the sides of his nose. Naruto started to laugh out loud at his discomfort, grinning and scratching his nose.

"Don't get an inch, Sasuke-teme, you'll go insane!"

Several hours later, the group finally walked through the great gates of Konoha. Maikeru was handed over to a group of ANBU to be escorted to a cell, but not before pleading with Kakashi to allow him a chance to speak with the Hokage.

"What would you have to say to the Hokage?"

"Konoha…has two clans with powerful bloodline limits. The Uchiha and the Hyuuga. If those scrolls are unsealed, they will be among the first to die. If that gets his attention, tell your Hokage I will explain the rest, but only to him."

His tone was deadly serious, his face grave. Kakashi's visible eye narrowed at the emotions that were rolling off of him. Still, he sent him and the ANBU on their way, turning back to his group. Sasuke had heard the nin's words and was mulling them over in his head.

"Alright, the mission is complete."

"Umm…Kaka-sensei…about what he said…"

Kakashi silently held up the two scroll cases, tracing the seals with his thumb.

"Don't worry about that. Now, I expect you three to get plenty of rest tonight. Because tomorrow…"

The three genin groaned in unison while Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke, heading for the Hokage's office.

Tomorrow…there's going to be trouble. I know it.

Maikeru is a Self-insert/OC, and I hoped I've used something better than the magic book/drop-out-of-the-sky methods in order to get myself to Naruto's world.