The Greatest Adventures of Hatake Kakashi!
R. Winters
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It would be kind of creepy if I did.
This started out being something very short. I had been brain-storming various missions a young Kakashi might have had for one of my other stories and this was the idea that I liked the best. Then I decided I wanted to do it in detail instead of just mentioning it in one sentence or one paragraph after which no one would hear of it again. So it easily fleshed out into 7 chapters!
Important note: Later parts of the story refer to the events of Chapter 1 of The Meaning of Death. You'll still be able to enjoy it if you haven't read that story, but you'll enjoy it even more and have a better understanding of what's going on if you've read at least that one chapter.
Important note 2: Spoilers for the Yellow Flash's real name are now included.
Chapter 1
Hatake Kakashi, the Important Shinobi!
"Minato," the older man started slowly, eyes focused on the six-year-old at the blond man's side. "Do you believe Kakashi capable of taking on the responsibilities of a B-ranked mission?"
The younger man barely hesitated before replying, "He is more than capable, Hokage-sama."
The older man nodded, "Good. There has been a request for a B-Rank mission which I believe the two of you would have the greatest advantage in completing."
The Sandaime nodded to his assistant who picked up the appropriate scroll and handed it to the Jounin.
"As you will see," the Sandaime continued, "A village in Grass Country has been having difficulties with a mysterious abductor stealing away their children…"
"Excuse me, Hokage-sama," Minato interceded when the man paused, "But if the village is in Grass Country, why haven't the Kusa-nin taken care of it?"
"The people of Kusanagai have already attempted to hire teams of Kusa-nin," the Hokage supplied, "But when both teams failed to locate the abductor or put an end to the abductions they turned to us for help."
Minato nodded in understanding—Grass was only a small country, after all, and it wouldn't be the first time they had turned to their much larger and more powerful neighbor for assistance.
"It is my suggestion," the Hokage continued, "That you have Kakashi go there and pose as a normal child. He will… entice the abductor to act and that is when the two of you will strike back. So far the abductor has targeted children of four to six years of age, around Kakashi's age, so you can see why he is so important to this mission."
The blond nodded, "He is the youngest shinobi in the village, the only others close to that age are still in the Academy and it would be dangerous to put them in a situation like this where we know nothing of the actual danger."
"Correct," the Hokage confirmed, "I'm afraid that whether he was skilled enough or not, this is a mission that no one else can do. But I am pleased that you believe him to be ready."
"What's the estimated duration of this mission?" Minato wondered, "It sounds like it could take several weeks, depending on how apt the abductor is on taking our bait… Do you think Sakumo-san will approve to Kakashi being away for so long?"
"Sakumo will understand," the Hokage assured him, "Kakashi is a Chuunin, after all."
"He wouldn't care, anyway, sensei," Kakashi added coolly.
"You'll need to dress in civilian clothes," Minato commented as they approached the boy's house after leaving their meeting with the Hokage.
"Civilian clothes…?" The boy repeated uncertainly, a thoughtful frown on his face as he mentally perused the collection of clothes he possessed.
Minato grinned at his student, "I'll help you find some, Kashi-kun," he offered, ruffling the boy's hair.
Kakashi offered him a half-hearted glare before leading the way inside his house and up the stairs to his room. He opened his closet and pulled out his traveling pack, plopping it on the floor and pulling it open. This mission was different from others he'd been on. He'd never been under cover before but knew that it would take different equipment than he was used to. He looked up at his teacher expectantly.
"Take out your extra uniform," the man directed, crossing to look into the closet, "You won't need it. And only bring a minimum supply of weapons that you can hide on your person."
Nodding, Kakashi began to empty out the bag while his sensei rooted through his closet. He carefully put his extra things away—slipping past the man in the closet door to hang up his uniform—and then looked up at his teacher again. "Sensei…?" He prompted the frowning man.
As if broken out of a trance, the man suddenly slid the door shut and turned to face the boy, grinning, "That's alright, Kakashi, we'll just buy you some clothes and write it off as a mission expense."
Kakashi blinked in surprise, "Why? I have some civilian clothes." He opened the closet again and rummaged through the back before pulling something out.
"Kakashi… that's not exactly…" Minato started to say awkwardly.
"Look," Kakashi interrupted, folding back a piece of the clothing to reveal a small holster, "It only has three pockets for hidden weapons… and it's completely inappropriate for shinobi wear."
"That doesn't make it civilian wear," Minato said blandly, looking at the small, black kimono with mild fascination that bordered on horror—he couldn't imagine Kakashi in something like that. "I meant like what the villagers wear. Have you ever seen them wear something like this, Kakashi-kun?" He held out a sleeve of the small outfit to drive his point home.
"Yes," Kakashi answered blithely, completely missing the point.
"At someplace other than a funeral?" The blond questioned with exasperation.
Kakashi frowned and didn't answer—what difference did it make?
"We'll buy you some clothes," Minato repeated, "Besides, that thing looks too small for you, anyway."
Kakashi shrugged and put it back in the closet, then picked up his nearly empty bag and followed his teacher outside.
Minato took the six-year-old to a store he'd never been to before, full of brightly colored and impractical clothing. Toys, too, not that the two shinobi were interested in them as they began perusing the racks.
Kakashi didn't care about the toys at all. The only reason he found himself staring at them every few minutes, he rationalized, was because they were pointless little things that he couldn't begin to imagine the draw of. What kind of a person, he wondered, staring at the brightly colored objects, would choose to tinker with things like that when they could be improving themselves with things like… plain, black kunai…?
Before long the six-year-old gave up all pretense of looking at clothing to explore one particular useless object that had caught his attention. Not that he was really interested in it, of course, being much too mature for things like toys.
Still, the boy glanced around surreptitiously before he cautiously reached out to pet the soft fabric body. He smiled slightly—it was soft with short, fuzzy hair that felt good against his callused hands.
Another glance and he risked giving the thing a slight squeeze—the insides were as soft as the outside. Hesitantly, he reached out a second arm to join the first and carefully eased the toy from its shelf, as though he thought that if he moved slowly enough it might look like he wasn't really interested in the stupid thing at all.
"I think it suits you."
Kakashi jumped slightly and dropped the stuffed dog back on its shelf immediately, looking guiltily up at his teacher. But Minato was grinning and trying (and failing) to stifle laughter. "Really, Kakashi," he said enthusiastically, "If you carried something like that around with you," he gestured towards the small, white and brown dappled puppy, "You'd look even more like a normal kid!"
Kakashi stared at the glossy brown eyes of the toy puppy before turning a baleful expression towards his teacher, "I'm a shinobi, sensei, I don't need a stupid toy dog to complete my mission." He shifted his weight impatiently, "Did you find some clothes?"
Still snickering, Minato held out what he'd found and directed the boy to the changing rooms. After leaving the six-year-old to get dressed no his own, Minato went back to purchase the dog with a wide smirk, and stuffed it into Kakashi's bag just before the boy was done.
Kakashi emerged looking uncomfortable as he tugged at the bright orange T-shirt he wore with a pair of dark blue jeans. He self-consciously ran a hand down a pale scar on his arm and didn't meet his sensei's eyes. Minato raised an eyebrow at the hitai-ate and mask the boy still wore.
Grinning, he again forcing down his snickers—they wouldn't be appreciated, he knew. Minato nodded, "Good. But you have to take your mask off, Kakashi. And your hitai-ate."
"Sensei," the boy began coolly as he untied his hitai-ate, "A Hatake always wears his mask on missions."
"Not on missions where he goes in undercover," Minato countered. He smiled at the boy's doubtful expression, "Trust me, Kakashi. Even ask your father, but he'll tell you the same. You can't go undercover like that—how many civilians have you seen that wear masks?"
Reluctantly, the six-year-old pulled the mask off over his head, pouting up at his sensei moodily once he'd finished. Minato couldn't quite muffle the laugh that escaped him and the irritated six-year-old immediately began to pull the mask on again.
"I told you," he grumbled with irritation.
"No, no, no," Minato quickly moved to stop the action before he had the mask all the way back over his head, "It looks good, Kakashi, really! I was just... surprised."
The boy eyed him suspiciously, "Surprised about what?"
Minato hesitated a moment, deciding no six-year-old boy—and shinobi at that—would suffer being called "cute". He smiled, "I was just surprised with how perfect you look for your job. Just like a normal little kid."
Kakashi continued to eye him doubtfully before he slowly removed the mask again and put it in the bundle with the rest of his clothing. "So I have to wear this to Kusa no Kuni?" The boy asked disdainfully—Minato grinned at the pout that reappeared as he did so.
The man nodded, "We'll buy you another set in Grass Country, too. Let's go back and drop off your uniform and let your dad know that we're going—if he's in. Then I'll get a change of clothes for myself and we'll go, alright?"
The boy nodded, gathering up his bundle of clothes, and the two set out again.
Very politely, Kakashi requested that Minato wait outside while he ran in to return his clothing, leaving his bag with his teacher. That done he ran back downstairs and slowed, reluctantly letting his feet lead him to his father's study. He came to a complete stop outside the door and just stared, craning his head in an effort to hear beyond the door.
Finally, he slid the door open and stood awkwardly in the doorway, eyes landing on the elder Hatake.
"… Dad…?" He started uncertainly.
The man didn't move or make any sign that he had heard the boy. But Kakashi was quite used to this by now and reluctantly stepped inside, approaching the figure.
"Dad?" He asked again, stopping right next to the man and cautiously touching his hand.
The man jerked and Kakashi took a quick step backwards as a kunai sliced through the air where he had been standing a second before. The man's dark eyes settled on where he'd crouched in defense and Kakashi watched in fascination as several emotions played through them before the man finally identified him.
"Kakashi," Sakumo's voice was a little rough from disuse but Kakashi didn't mind. He was just pleased this was one of the days his father could still recognize him.
"I'm leaving, daddy," the boy explained, "Sensei is taking me on a mission… I might not be back for a while."
"A mission… good, good…" The man mused distractedly, holding out an arm towards the boy.
Hesitantly, Kakashi stepped forward and allowed his father to take hold of him. The man frowned slightly and his dark eyes narrowed a little in confusion. "Kakashi? What happened to your mask?"
"Hmm? Oh, it's an undercover mission," Kakashi explained, "Sensei said I couldn't wear it because I'm supposed to pretend to be civilian."
"Mm… That's a good idea…" Sakumo struggled to hold on to the elusive thing that was sanity and forced himself to focus on his son again, "Are you training with your teacher?"
The six-year-old blinked, then frowned, "No, I'm going on a mission," he corrected.
"A mission," Sakumo repeated distractedly.
"An undercover mission," Kakashi elaborated.
"You shouldn't wear your mask, then," the man offered.
"I won't, dad," Kakashi agreed, "… Dad?"
"Hmm?" The man asked, his focus off someplace else again.
"I have to go," Kakashi said, "You need to let go of me."
"Oh, right… sorry," Sakumo said awkwardly, releasing the boy's arm, "Have a good day at the Academy."
"Dad, I'm—" Kakashi broke off and shook his head, "Never mind. I will dad. Bye!"
His father didn't reply as Kakashi hurriedly let himself out of the room and shut the door behind him. He paused, taking several deep breaths, then pushed the idea of his father out of his mind and hurried outside to join his teacher.
"You look so serious, Kakashi," Minato commented lightly, shifting his civilian clothes to make them a little more comfortable.
Kakashi blinked, dispelling his thoughts, then looked up at the man, "This is serious, sensei." It was his first B-ranked mission and he wasn't going to bungle it.
"Yes," Minato agreed absently, "But you aren't here on a mission, remember?"
"What?" The boy asked, frowning.
"We're moving here for my job," Minato prompted.
"Oh, you mean our cover story," Kakashi said with understanding.
Minato smiled with amusement, "From now on, you should keep that in mind, Kakashi. It would be best not to forget it later on."
Kakashi nodded again and set about recalling their story—where Uzumaki Minato and his son, Kakashi, were moving to Grass Country for work. Where Kakashi was just a normal, civilian boy, and didn't have a half-crazy father at home to take care of.
"You have to loosen up a little," Minato interrupted a few seconds later, "You're too serious to be taken as a normal little boy. Smile or something."
"Sensei…" Kakashi started—he didn't feel like smiling.
"Just try," Minato insisted.
With a sigh, Kakashi drew up his lips into something that could barely be called a smile. His heart wasn't in it and Minato cringed.
"Better stick with pouting, I guess," the man advised.
Kakashi frowned, his lips unconsciously forming a pout as he did so. "I don't pout, sensei," he responded coolly.
Minato's lips twitched as he fought to keep a straight face, "No, no, of course you don't, Kakashi-kun."
The six-year-old looked at the man suspiciously but let the subject drop. They were almost to Kusanagai, anyway.
The first thing Minato did when they entered town was to register himself and his student—"son"—with the local council. They knew of his coming—at least, they knew as much as the cover story had led them to believe—and accepted the pair readily enough, although their gazes lingered on the six-year-old with a mixture of fear and concern.
Then they rented an apartment. Again, the Hokage had already had someone deal with the bulk of the paper work, so all Minato had to do was sign in and receive the keys—one for Kakashi and one for himself.
They left their things there and went into town again, this time for clothes. They had no way of knowing whether the abductor would risk revealing himself to a child dressed as a foreigner, after all, and while Grass and Fire Nation fashions weren't that different, they were enough so that Kakashi would stick out a little more in clothing they'd purchased back in Konoha.
The main difference was color. While civilian fashion in Fire Nation tended to favor bright colors—red, orange, and yellow—not so for Grass Country. In Grass, the civilians tended to wear more muted colors—tan, gray, and browns. Almost more like shinobi clothes tended to be.
Minato equipped the six-year-old with a new, gray shirt, with the proud symbol of Kusagakure in thin black lines, along with brown pants that had vertical tan lines that resembled grass rimming the bottom of both legs. Once the boy had changed Minato announced that he looked as though he'd been living there all his life and Kakashi sent him a well deserved glare.