After penning the letter to Orochimaru, he returned to find Minato regaling Obito about a funny mission mishap he had when he was under Jiraya's wing as a genin. Kakashi's curiosity piqued; his sensei barely mentioned his genin team and he had never met his teammates before.
Once Minato ended the anecdote, eliciting laughter from Obito, Kakashi couldn't help but ask, "Where are your teammates now?"
"Yui retired after she married and lives in the Fire Capital," Minato said with a wistful smile. "Haruki was our medic, and he retired to work full-time at the hospital. We didn't stay together for long, but it was fun." Minato turned back to look at his sleeping sensei fondly, the memories of the past swimming in his head.
Kakashi found it interesting that only his sensei came out as a high-ranking ninja. He knew Jiraya was a great teacher; he managed to train Naruto, Pain and the Yellow Flash after all. Usually though, all the ninja with a direct line to the First and Second Hokage were either jonin or dead, or so he thought.
"Obstrician?" Obito asked confused.
"Obstetrician," Kakashi clarified. "They focus on caring for pregnant women, delivering babies, and postpartum care."
"Why do you know that?" Obito asked.
"How do you not?" Kakashi replied.
"Now now, not everyone is aware of the various medical fields," Minato said once he saw Obito's eye twitch in annoyance.
"What does Tsunade-sama specialize in?" Obito asked curiously.
"Tsunade-sama is well-versed in so many areas, to be honest I'm not even sure," Minato chuckled. "She revolutionized medical ninjutsu through her research and created numerous highly specialized medical ninjutsu. She'll know what to do."
"Does Rin not talk you ear off about this stuff?" Kakashi asked curiously. He was honestly surprised that Obito didn't know much about the medical field despite being best friends with Rin since before the Academy. Rin is obsessed with medical ninjutsu so wouldn't she share that with Obito, her best friend?
Obito chuckled nervously, "Well, she used to. But I didn't understand half of what she used to say so she stopped. She met Shizune during medical training and now I guess she talks to her about medical things."
"You can always ask her about her goals and aspirations, even if you don't understand the medical jargon," Minato said kindly.
"I tried that! She still gets into these crazy details," Obito laughed fondly.
"Sounds like Rin," Minato chuckled.
With nothing more to add, they let the silence envelope them, each lost in their own thoughts. Kakashi was trying to build more concrete theories with the appearance of the plant ninja in Akatsuki, or Aloe Vera, as Naruto had dubbed him. Kakashi thought the man more closely resembled a Venus Flytrap, but whatever.
After twenty minutes or so had passed, Minato perked up, "Tsunade-sama is here."
Kakashi stretched out his senses and could also detect the strong chakra associated with the Slug Sanin. It was still muted compared to her future-self, but the undercurrent of strength never wavered.
Minato got up from the chair and opened the door, "Tsunade-sama!"
"What trouble did my teammate get into now?" Tsunade asked as she walked over.
"He injured his back," Minato explained.
"I know that much, did anyone treat him?" Tsunade asked impatiently.
"No, I thought it best to let you handle it," Minato replied.
"Good thinking," Tsunade nodded her approval as she finally entered the room. Her eyes immediately zoned in onto Jiraya and her eyes narrowed in concern. She was accompanied by Shizune and another medical ninja Kakashi didn't know.
Kakashi beckoned Obito to walk out and let Tsunade work before they were kicked out. Tsunade made a beeline to Jiraya's bed as they stepped out, barely acknowledging their presence.
"Good luck, Shizune-chan," Obito said. She gave them a shaky smile as Obito closed the door shut after them.
"And now we wait," Kakashi said.
"And now we wait," Minato confirmed.
The hours dragged on as Tsunade remained shut inside the room with no updates. The more time passed, the more worried their sensei became. Once midnight began to creep in, Kakashi knew they needed to act soon if they wanted to stay on plan for Ayana's escape.
He convinced Obito to go and grab something for their sensei to eat. Minato was adamant he was fine, but Kakashi knew he probably didn't have anything to eat since the morning. After some light pestering, Minato relented and agreed to eat something.
"Instead of both of us gathering intelligence, you bring food back to Minato sensei. I'll cover your area. Tell him I got roped into a task or something," Kakashi whispered quietly as they walked through the empty streets.
"Ayana-san, that's right," Obito said, eyes downcast.
"Are you good to go or are you going to stay distracted yourself?" Kakashi asked annoyed.
"It's just, with Jiraya-sama and everything," Obito mumbled.
"Ayana-san is counting on us, and I can't do the plan by myself," Kakashi considered snapping at him but knew better—Obito would just get even more flustered.
"Don't worry, I only got distracted for a bit," Obito could barely hide the grin on his face.
Kakashi refrained from rolling his eyes - children are so easy to manipulate.
"Oh yeah, why didn't you tell Minato sensei? He can help," Obito asked.
"Not here," Kakashi shook his head. Fortunately, they had arrived at the barracks, and he jumped to the window of their temporary lodgings. He peaked in and saw it was empty despite the late hour of the night. As expected, everyone was running around given the potential end of the war.
He gestured for Obito to follow and then stepped inside. Obito followed not a beat later, closing the window behind him as Kakashi closed the door, kicking a stray pair of pants to the side on the way.
"They're so messy," Obito wrinkled his nose in disgust.
"Good thing we're only here for a few more days," Kakashi agreed. This was one of the most glaring differences between Naruto and Obito. Although both were loud and chaotic, Obito's Uchiha upbringing made him used to a certain level of discipline at home. Naruto, with no parent figure in his life, got used to disarray.
"So why aren't we telling Minato-sensei?" Obito asked again.
Kakashi put up one finger, "Minato-sensei has enough on his mind with Jiraiya's condition and the war winding down."
Obito nodded to show he understood before Kakashi moved on to the second point, another finger going up, "And two, and more importantly, Minato-sensei wants to become Hokage."
Obito's face crumpled in confusion, "What does that have to do with anything?"
Kakashi leaned against a wall, looking up at the ceiling, "If we fail, we can lose our alliance with Hateno. Even if we succeed, taking that risk won't win us any favors. I told you, we're going to get punished but the only reason we can get away with this is that we're kids. If Minato-sensei is aware, and doesn't put a stop to this, the elders and council could use it as an example of his inability to make the tough decisions and lead. It could lose him the hat."
"But that's wrong! A Hokage is supposed to protect our allies." Obito's fists clenched at his sides. "The Uzumaki are our most precious allies, it's our duty to honor our strongest ever alliance. Even if their village is gone, we have to protect its people!"
Kakashi looked down from the ceiling at Obito, fighting to keep the smile off his face, "And that's what you need to tell the Hokage when all is said and done."
"I will," Obito vowed. "Minato-sensei and I will change how things work when we're Hokage. This is so stupid."
"Anyway, now you know," Kakashi wanted to bring them back on track. "Take some food to sensei and I'll scout the village for the best exit. Be ready to create a distraction in the evening if we need it."
"I already have some ideas," Obito smirked.
"Do I want to know?" Kakashi asked dryly.
Obito replied with a wide smile, "I'll let you know when my plan is complete."
Kakashi sighed, "Just remember, the distraction should ideally only distract Hateno. Make it seem like a local incident."
"I remember," Obito scowled as he walked out the room.
Kakashi shook his head in exasperation and followed. He needed a quick meal to fuel himself for what was going to be a long night.
"You got it from here, Bisuke?" Kakashi asked.
"Compared to some of our other adventures, this will be a piece of cake," Bisuke nodded before bounding away to cover Obito's part in their intel gathering.
Kakashi had already decided to send Pakkun and Bull with Ayana. Pakkun is his best tracker and will detect any dangers. Bull is his strongest and can protect her. Given that summons had a limited time before needing to go back, he chose to rely on Bisuke. Once Bisuke went out of sight, Kakashi started on his end of the mission.
"Transformation Jutsu," Kakashi whispered. A puff of smoke later and a generic civilian of Hateno village stood in his place. Disguised as a young man with a bandana over their face to mask their identity, Kakashi snuck inside the clinic once more. According to Ayana, this was the time the guards changed shifts.
After confirming nobody was in the room, he snuck into an empty office as they were closest to the main medic bay. All the rooms opened into one hallway that connected all the rooms. After the medic bay, they had a few resting rooms and medic offices, followed by the archives and then the supply rooms. After the supply rooms was one guard room and at the very end stood the head medic's office. Ayana was kept near the end, right next to the guard quarters. Back inside, he adjusted his chakra to mimic Ayana's—a constant, untrained wisp of energy, common for civilians with ninja lineage.
That done, he slowly made his way to the door. He kept his footsteps at a civilian's level of sneakiness; meaning he wasn't sneaky at all. He peaked out the office door and found a medic walking from the resting area back to the medic bay. The medic opened the door to the medic bay and the quiet hallway was flooded with the noise of a busy medical floor. He was sure that this level of activity at night was not common for Hateno and was driven by the arrival of the Konoha ninja. The sounds were soon muffled as the door shut once more.
At the other end, the guard desk lay empty, confirming Ayana's knowledge of the guard shifts. Kakashi made his way into the long hallway which was the most exposed part. This would be the truest test. He slowly weaved from door to door to stay near potential hiding places should another person walk in. However, at this time of night, the hallway was mostly abandoned.
Once he reached the last archive room, one of the guards came out of the quarters. He clamped down on the urge to hide like a ninja and instead opened the door to walk into the archives with little finesse. He heard the guard's footsteps follow him. Kakashi ducked behind one of the shelves in the supplies room and waited.
"Hello, anyone in here?" the guard called out. Kakashi could've easily transformed into one of the medics he saw, but he was a 'civilian'. His best bet was to hide quietly and hope the guard dismissed the sound. The guard walked further inside the room, eyes darting left and right. A few seconds later the guard walked out muttering to himself, "Raccoons searching for food again."
Good, that was a rookie mistake. Luck's on our side so far.
The guard closed the door, making it more difficult for Kakashi to conduct the next task. Yet, Kakashi was pleased, it gave him more opportunities to test the level of the guards.
He waited for two minutes before taking out the rock in his pocket and quietly opened the door. He used a mirror to get a viewing angle at the guard. The man was now sitting on the desk, playing with some cards.
Another good sign, he thought.
Kakashi quickly threw the rock at one of the open doors closer to the medical bay before ducking back in. If Kakashi had aimed correctly, and he was sure that he did, the rock had hit the open door and bounced inside the archive room.
He heard the guard push the chair back and walk briskly towards the sound. Once the man's shadow passed the room he was hiding in, Kakashi waited a few seconds and opened the door quietly. He watched as the guard went inside the room he threw a rock at and quietly rushed towards the supply room at the end; his makeshift target.
Walking inside, he pretended to look through some cabinets, as if looking for a certain medicine, and started counting. At the 18 second mark, he heard the guard rush back. Kakashi stopped rustling the papers to get a better listen to the guard's actions.
The first thing the guard did was open Ayana's door quietly. A hissed command—Ayana's feet stumbled as the guard dragged her with him. That confirms that Ayana-san is their main priority.
"Wake up," he heard him order the others as he opened the door, trying to stay as silent as possible. "There's an intruder. Masaki, keep an eye on her," he whispered. If Kakashi were truly a civilian, he would have heard their whispers but wouldn't have been able to clearly understand what they were saying.
"Where did you see the intruder?" another asked.
"I heard something but dismissed. Later, I heard another sound and found a rock by the supply room. It's a clear distraction. Check the rooms," came the reply.
Kakashi prepared himself as the guards split up. The person with Ayana and three sets of footsteps. Four guards in total. None of which showed abilities beyond bandit level. One of the guards walked in and found Kakashi grabbing some pills and run out of the window. The man shouted in alarm and ran after him.
Kakashi easily made his way through the empty street, ducking in alleyways as two guards chased after him.
"Let's see how fast you can be," Kakashi smirked. He hastened his steps up until the guards started falling behind. He nearly laughed; he was faster at six years old. He darted just fast enough to keep their curses ringing in his ears as he took them on a wild goose chase near around the slums of Hateno.
Although the streets were mostly empty, there were some people out and about. However, they weren't fans of the guards and just ignored the scene. It reminded him of his last race with Gai and Kakashi found himself enjoying himself as he made them follow him through muddy streets and rickety structures, cursing up a storm.
At one point, he spotted an old bucket collecting water dripping from an old drainpipe. With no hesitation, he grabbed it and threw it back at the guards.
"Iwa's dung!" the young guard's curse was music to Kakashi's ears.
"Don't shake that filth on me," the older guard warned, not slowing down for his junior to keep up.
The chase continued until the guards started slowing down around the fourteen-minute mark. Kakashi pretended to crash into a pillar and made a show of dropping the pills, abandoning them to continue his supposed escape.
The guards stopped where he dropped the pills, huffing and puffing in fatigue. Now that they had gotten the pills back, they seemed to have decided to let him go. The return of the pills should be enough to save their hide when they reported back.
Kakashi turned the next corner and dispelled his transformation. He jumped to a roof to observe the guards further, finally utilizing his full stealth skills to remain hidden. His lungs burned sharper than they should—a cruel reminder that his endurance hadn't fully matured.
Looking at the guards, he saw one grasping his knees while the other used his hands to brace his lower back as he leaned his head upwards.
"Annoying… junkie…," the younger guard bit out in between breaths of air.
The other took a deep breath before calmly replying, "You can't assume that rookie. He probably wants to sell them for money."
"I don't care what he wants. When I catch him, I'll wring his neck."
"There's a lot of desperate people here. This won't be the first time you'll end up chasing a slum rat. Don't let it get to you. Come on, let's go back. Should be a straight-forward report," the older one said as he threw the pills at the younger guard.
The younger one fumbled to catch them, letting out more obscenities as he followed his senior back to the medic bay.
Kakashi counted the mission as a success. With his stunt, he was able to confirm the guards' level of attentiveness, response time, stamina, speed and make sure that they had no reason to tie this to Ayana. Once he gets a breakdown of the village guard rotation from Bisuke and overview of Obito's ideas for a distraction, he would finally be able to iron out the details of the plan and save Ayana.