Occasionally Kakashi does still pause when he hears another one of those stories although they're old news by now, and he is a busy man, advisor of the Hokage and all that.
"But then I turned around and there was a kunai stuck in the target, right in the bull's eye!" Today it's a girl's voice, breathless and high-pitched, drifting over to him from the ramen stand as he walks past.
"So you forgot one, what's the big deal?" A boy.
"I didn't!" Kakashi can hear the sound of a bowl being set down in anger, a clack followed by a splash of ramen being spilled. Such a waste. "I never even hit the center…" the girl mumbles after a few seconds. Her cheeks are probably blushing in embarrassment.
"Someone was playing a prank on you, Rise, don't take it so hard."
"There was no one there! I—" She takes a breath, but it doesn't do much to calm her down. "There was nobody, I swear!"
"Except for the ghost, right?" The boy chuckles.
"Don't you dare laugh at me! It's not like I'm the only one who's had something strange happen to them there!"
Kakashi leans back against the cool wall of the building behind him. There's a strange feeling inside his chest; it feels tight and cold in there, as if a cloud of fog is enclosing his heart.
I heard this weird laugh once…
Laugh? Are you kidding me? Someone was counting, I heard it loud and clear!
No, it's nothing as obvious as that. It just feels like someone's watching me, you know?
The equipment there breaks much faster than on any other training ground, have you noticed that?
Stories, rumors.
Kakashi doesn't know why, but whenever he hears them, he feels like something is drawing him there. A red string tied around his finger, the opposite of fate.
Silence greets him on training field nine. Everything is as expected. Birds rustling around in the trees. Splintering training posts, the sound of fists pounding them suspiciously absent.
A single kunai embedded in the red center of a straw-stuffed practice dummy. Whoever painted the target apparently wasn't very careful because the color has run; the bull's eye is not a perfect circle but red bleeding into the white surrounding it.
Kakashi approaches slowly. Rise-chan, he thinks, must have left the kunai behind in her haste to get away.
He's not listening for anything when he gets there, not for voices from the past, certainly not for that laugh he hasn't heard in years and will never hear again, he just wraps his hand around the hilt.
And it is warm. Warm against his scarred fingertips.
Memory unfurls in his heart like acrid smoke. It makes his eyes burn; it chokes him up.
He's in a tree, crouching on a thick branch, and beneath him they're bickering. Three kids, probably the most awkward bunch he's ever seen – and he's seen a lot of awkward kids, and failed every single one of them, just like you're supposed to.
But obviously Gai didn't get the memo because there he is, grinning up at Kakashi as if this was some kind of challenge and he's won.
"Don't tell me you passed them," Kakashi drawls.
"Of course I did! Just look at them! They're perfect!" A lesser man would have been blinded by Gai's sparkling teeth; Kakashi, however, has grown used to it – as much as is humanly possible, at least. He just directs his glance past Gai, at the children.
The Hyuuga boy has turned away from the other two, the girl has folded her arms across her chest, and - Kakashi does a little double-take – can it really be? – Yes, the third one is actually crying. They're clearly a mess.
"Aren't they cute?" Like a mother holding her still raw and bloody baby directly after birth, Gai seems to have lost all sense for the muck and stench clinging to his new little charges. Kakashi feels the distinct urge to edge away from his friend lest he catch some of Gai's crazy.
Those kids are not cute. Having observed them for less than two minutes, Kakashi can already tell that the girl is too gangly and awkward for Gai's brand of taijutsu, the Hyuuga might be talented, but it's clear that his haughty personality will make it difficult to teach him anything and number three… Kakashi's jaw clenches under his mask. It's better not to think about the kind of things that happen to kids like number three.
At best, their cuteness is the cuteness of the puppies still in the litter after all their siblings have been adopted.
They're leftover puppies. Damaged goods.
"Yeah, I don't think so," Kakashi sighs, hoping he hasn't inadvertently triggered an outburst and subsequent challenge with his careless honesty. He'd hate to have the day off he earned by failing his brats early taken over by Gai.
But, strangely, nothing of the sort happens.
Gai just starts laughing.
Loudly and freely, like he hasn't got a care in the world.
"You may think they don't look like much now! But I will turn them into Konoha's strongest team! Just you watch, Kakashi! The will of fire will burn more brightly in Team Gai than in anyone else!"
Kakashi notices that all three brats are staring at their sensei now.
All they see is their new teacher laughing at a tree like a madman. Great job, Gai, Kakashi thinks exasperatedly.
What a promising start.
Just you watch…
The laughter has long since faded. Everything's gone quiet around Kakashi.
He lets go of the kunai. He leaves it where it is. It might scare a few more genin; there might be more ghost stories.
Stories, rumors. That's all that's left.
Hatake Kakashi is not a superstitious man.
He knows training field nine isn't actually haunted.
No matter how much he sometimes he wishes it was.