An Inch of Gold

7

This chapter was beta-read by: Sakura's Unicorn

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Kakashi reacts before thinking.

He has seen this type of fighting style before—knows it intimately. Even before the pale, ghostly man disappears into thin air, Kakashi has already moved. He inserts himself into the open gap behind Sarada because it's the most logical point of attack.

The curse-marked teleporter appears in that space, inches away, hand grasping for the girl's throat. Kakashi's chest intercepts him, however, and he grasps the incoming wrist.

"That's the Hiraishin," he growls, eyes narrowed as he tightens his already firm grip. "Where did you learn...?"

The rest of his sentence trails off and Kakashi has trouble fighting down a sudden bout of nausea. Because the most shocking thing about this mysterious enemy is not how fast he is nor his inexplicable attack on a preteen girl. It's the way he looks.

The likeness isn't obvious, not as he's depicted on Hokage Rock or even in the many pictures that Kakashi has of him. In fact, only someone who has personally known the man could tell. Someone who has seen every permutation of his expression ad stood beside him in the pouring rain or the blood of battle.

There are no laughter lines in this unnaturally pale face. His skin is sickly, like a corpse held underwater too long, and covered with the blighted stain of a curse-mark. There are other differences—the white blond hair, the more solid build, and his eyes are hard and black instead of laughing blue. But there's no mistaking who the teleporter was meant to resemble. And if the countless minute scars crisscrossing his skin are any indication, someone was purposefully attempting to mould and sculpt the face and muscles beneath it to imitate—

"Minato-sensei," he breathes.

His opponent's eyes narrow, and he hisses, "Not him—never him! Failed the test, he said—I failed the test!"

Kakashi is forced to release the man's wrist when his other hand whips forward, a kunai at the ready. The jōnin ducks out of the way, but the hand—as well as the body it's attached to—vanishes again.

"Be careful!" Sarada cries. "If he catches you with that, you're done! There's a paralysis toxin on it!"

The man is already appearing in mid-air across the room. He slices downward at Sasuke, and there's a glint of steel—but Naruto gets in the way. He takes the blade meant for his teammate to the throat.

And then disappears in a puff of smoke.

A shadow clone.

"Watch your backs!" Kakashi commands, taking a guard position in front of the girls. Sarada scrambles off the metal table while Sakura pulls out several shuriken. Across the room, Naruto and a disgruntled Sasuke go back-to-back as well. Half a dozen shadow clones take up residence in the cavernous room, and Kakashi pushes his forehead protector up higher. There is no question he will need the Sharingan to follow this opponent's moves.

"Why's he doing this?" Sakura demands. "He's just...attacking! There's no reason!"

"It was the same before," Sarada replies, grasping one-handed for a kunai. "Except last time, he talked."

"I don't think he's entirely lucid," Kakashi theorises. Which makes it even more important that he stop him. In his experience, insanity and power are a deadly combination.

Easier said than done, though.

The key to defeating the Hiraishin is the ability to predict where its user will be next. With Minato, someone Kakashi knew well, he could only do that half the time, even with the Sharingan. Aside from the warped resemblance, this enemy is a complete unknown. Predicting him will be next to impossible, especially since he doesn't use—