Right, let's get started again! Hi, I'm CANARYwolf and this is the 8th chapter of Kakashi already! Sorry, I had a little bit of block for a while, but I guess sometimes the story just writes itself, so enjoy! (Seriously, I don't even know what's about to happen!)

Disclaimer: I own nothing. This wonderful character of Kakashi plus all of the general Naruto-type stuff belongs to the genius that is Masashi Kishimoto

Miu slumped to the floor, massaging her foot.

"It's been a whole day!" She whined, as Setsuko rolled her eyes, "We haven't seen anyone! Anyone!"

"Kami, Miu, stop complaining! We've still got a couple of days! We're bound to run into someone, 'kay?"

"… And what if they have an Earth scroll like us?" Kakashi muttered, and Setsuko growled,

"Stop being so pessimistic, you idiots! We're so going to be ok!"

Kakashi glared at her, but secretly admitted to himself that the teenager was probably right.

"Well, wandering around really isn't going to help." Miu sighed, "I guess we do need a plan."

"This comes from the same girl who said 'Let's get going! Stop talking! Run, come on, run!'" Setsuko mimicked the high voice of Miu, who chucked a packet of crisps into her face,

"Let's eat something, anyway." Miu eagerly ripped open another packet, and Kakashi slowly came and sat next to them.

"Hey, kid, you gonna tell us what you can do, anyway?" Setsuko asked through a mouthful of cheese and onion crisps.

"Mmm! We never really saw you training!"

"You were too busy with yourselves." Kakashi grumbled, and Setsuko happily slapped him in the face,

"Look, if we're going to be in this team for another two days, you might as well stop with the attitude."

"Yeah… look, we were a little angry that we had a little kid on the team-"

"-'Little kid'? Thanks a lot." Kakashi snorted, and Miu glowered at him,

"Like I was saying, we were annoyed, and I guess we were kind of mean. So, sorry."

"… Why were you so angry? It's not just 'cause I'm a kid, is it?"

Setsuko looked down, and then stood up in one swift movement. Miu sighed, and pulled her back down with a thud.

"Do you want me to tell him?" She asked, her voice unusually soft. Setsuko shook her head,

"I'll tell you, kid. We're in a team and all. Sensei did say to act like a proper team, and then we have a better chance of getting through." She looked up at the canopy of trees above them, and then grinned a little, sadly, "I… got really excited… you know, when you get yourself twisted up in a fantasy… maybe you don't, you're only, what, six? So I got hopeful… well, I have a kid brother, your age. Half-brother, I should say, and I'm not allowed to meet him. I know he's getting really good at the Academy. So… when sensei told us that a kid was going to be joining our team to take the exams… well, I thought it would be him. I thought I would get to meet him. I… really want to meet him. I don't have a brother or sister but him." She swallowed hard, and then smiled straight at Kakashi, "So I took my anger out on you. I'm really sorry, kid."

Kakashi looked at her, and then nodded slowly,

"Thank you for telling me. That is very kind of you. I bet you'll make a good big sister."

Setsuko laughed and jumped up, ruffling his head and breaking the thoughtful atmosphere,

"Ah, you're just saying that 'cause it's polite!" She sniggered, and Miu stood up as well,

"I didn't have any deep reason like that." She told Kakashi seriously, "I was just pissed that we're supposed to fight with a kid. Uh, sorry about that, too."

Kakashi tried to stick his tongue out, forgetting the mask that he had already become accustomed to wearing, and Miu laughed at the expression in his eyes. Then she gasped,

"What the fuck is that?" She cried, and Setsuko spun around, Kakashi looked at her fearfully as she pulled his shoulder, hard, so he turned his back on them.

"Chakra?" Setsuko asked, and Miu nodded,

"Kakashi, I don't want to alarm you or anything, but… there's someone's chakra attached to your back. They're probably tracking you, or maybe they're even trying to control you."

Kakashi's eyes widened and tried to twist around to see for himself.

"What. A. Shame." A woman's voice cackled from the darkness of the shadows that were beginning to fall with the sun set in the forest, "You found it. I must congratulate you all, darlings."

Setsuko, Miu and Kakashi immediately leapt into formation, with their backs to eachother, staring desperately into the trees to see who was talking.

"What have you done to the kid?" Setsuko demanded, her eyes darting wildly.

The voice snorted,

"Like I would reveal my secrets, sweetie. You sure are newbies. Maybe I should go easy on you all. Either way, you'll go crying home to your mothers when I'm done with you."

Kakashi closed his eyes, surprised that he hadn't sensed the sheer amount of chakra holding itself to his body before. Maybe it only felt so strong because the kunoichi was nearby. He steeled his nerves, then reached his small hands around to his back. Casting his mind back to the blue tent, he pictured the place where the chakra threads had touched the other ninja and tried to grab for the thread. A fierce burning sensation in his palm told him he had found it. He winced as the fake heat coursed through his hands and almost made him buckle. Then he tugged at the thread and heard a gasp from the woman. He gritted his teeth and used his chakra to scout out for the ninja, using the added amplification of her chakra's attachment to him.

"I don't have a mother." He murmured, and threw a knife into a tree to his left. He heard an enraged cry and with a caught breath he felt the thread detach itself from his back.

"Good work, kid!" Setsuko praised him happily, as she threw a shuriken straight at the same tree, and the fishnetted woman from the beginning fell into the clearing.

"You're that weirdo from earlier." Kakashi muttered, and Miu jumped, pulling him with her, as a clatter of knives landed where their feet had been. The woman's teammates- the disgruntled teenager and the ugly man- showed themselves at the sides of the woman, who picked herself up, wiping blood from her chin.

"Didn't I say, child, it is incredibly rude to call someone a 'weirdo'." She spat, and the lump of a man next to her grunted.

"Honesty is always the best policy!" Miu sang, her eyes twinkling, "Now then, if we're being 'polite', it is 'polite' to tell us what your true intentions are."

"Well, of course darling, because we're just going to crush you afterwards, so we might as well-"

"Shut up." The teenager growled, and the woman gasped gently,

"How uncouth!" She exclaimed, and he narrowed his eyes at her,

"Do not compromise the mission. We were expressly told that! Don't be a fool!"

Setsuko glared at the team in front of them,

"Mission?" She asked icily, and crossed her arms, "Where do you think we are? This is the chuunin exams. Anything like that is completely forbidden."

"Aw, sweetie, just because it's forbidden doesn't mean it doesn't happen." The woman gave a cold smile, "The exams are a special meeting of all of the most promising young ninja. Of course some countries want to take advantage of that-"

"Shut up." The dark-haired ninja next to her repeated, and she frowned,

"What? I gave nothing away!" The boy next to her rolled his eyes,

"They can guess more than enough from that. Now we have to kill them." He sighed, and turned his eyes to the team, his eyes alighting on Kakashi,

"We're here for you anyway, son of the White Fang. We're here for all the strongest genin."

"I thought we weren't supposed to tell them!"

"They're going to die. What does it matter?"

"That's what I was saying!"

Miu stepped in front of the grey-haired child, her eyes flashing,

"I don't like all this talk of killing. Don't you agree, Setsu-chan?"

"Yeah, you're right. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's cocky adults assuming they can wander in and hurt us just because we're younger than you." Setsuko agreed in a fake-sweet voice.

"Of course, we hate having to fight, don't we?"

"Oh definitely! It's so annoying to make people pay for what they've said."

"So we're going to make sure you really regret pushing us into this." Miu narrowed her eyes, and pulled out a set of numchucks. Suddenly a rumbling in the ground made its way to the team's feet. Slowly and majestically, the big guy from the enemy team stood to his full height and glared at them,

"Let's fight." He mumbled, his voice causing the kids to feel tremors in their spines. Setsuko shook her head as if shaking off her fear and got into a fighting stance,

"Bring. It. On." She whispered.

And with that, let's have a cliffhanger! Next time, we're going to see Kakashi fight! Yay! I hope I can update a little quicker this time. Oh, and please review . CANARYwolfXx