Masked [Kakashi Hatake]

ichi

"_______, are you ready?" The grasp on your father's hand tightened as you quietly averted your eyes from the entrance ceremony right ahead. Your father simply chuckled as he tugged you forward. His posture held pride, and as the two of you walked by, parents eyed your small form, and whispers traversed through the crowd.

It was no secret; your clan was prodigious, and you were also expected to be a prodigy, just like your father. You hated their judging eyes, their hateful or expectant remarks. You allowed yourself to slip behind your father as he continued walking to the academy.

Some parents called out to your father when you two reached the front of the academy. The ceremony had yet to start, so your father decided to let go and walk off to interact with his friends, ignoring your protests and cheerily shooing you off to make friends. Grumbling to yourself, you huffed and turned away, walking and kicking a stray stone.

"HI!" Your eyes shot up to cringe at the face before you, and you stumbled back a bit. An overenthusiastic boy with a bowl cut hairstyle with huge eyebrows grinned widely at you. His overpowering aura was enough to make you cringe, and you felt yourself getting dizzy as he energetically wrapped his arm around your shoulder, pumping his fist in the air with determination.

"The name's Might Gai! What's your name?!" You stared incredulously at the boy beside you, and you sighed before giving him a small smile; his aura was contagious. "My name's ______."

"WHAAAA- From the ______ (insert last name) clan?! That's amazing!" You nodded absentmindedly; status and reputation never really mattered to you. Gai s eyes glimmered in the light, and you could almost see a fire blazing in his eyes. "WILL YOU BE MY RIVAL?!"

"There's no way a prodigy like her would take you on as a rival." Both you and Gai turned to the stoic voice to see a boy with grey hair, dull as his words. You could tell Gai wasn't the least bit afraid of the masked boy, and immediately confronted the male.

"What did you just say?!" The grey-haired boy replied with simple, cold words. "You could never be her rival when you can't perform ninjutsu or genjutsu. Failure." Something within you snapped and you marched right up to him, pushing Gai to the side for a minute. You pressed your nose right against his, taking satisfaction in the slightly surprised look in his eyes.

"You have no right to speak to him that way, you senseless jerk! Just watch, he'll become a great man!" There was a moment of silence between the three of you and you could feel your cheeks flush in embarrassment when you heard him scoff. A hand on the boy's shoulder and a chuckle cut through the moment, and you all turned to look at the new person.

"Now now Kakashi, she could be right- Don't take your training or Gai lightly, as one day even Gai might surpass you." You have him a smug smirk as he childishly scoffed. His assumed father (though there was an obvious resemblance between the two) laughed heartily and smiled down at you, his eyes twinkled, as if he knew you.

"You're little _______, right? You do resemble your father." Your cheeks flushed, not sure if you should take that as a compliment or insult. Luckily, your father strolled up to you, taking you into his arms. "_______, there you are!"

Taking notice to Kakashi and his father, he grinned and bowed respectfully to the two. "Sakumo. And this is your son..?" "Kakashi. It's been a while, hasn't it. Greet him, Kakashi." Kakashi, his pride still insulted, gave a quiet nod before huffing.

"Well, I'm hoping our children can become friends?" Sakumo seemed to agree to the idea, but it was clear that you didn't. You broke from your father's grasp and ran to Gai's side, who seemed to feel slightly isolated from the conversation. You pointed an accusing finger at Kakashi, saying, "I'll never like such an insensitive jerk like that!"