The Undesired Second Chance

Chapter 16: Meet the Team

Crouching on a branch with the help of just the barest touch of chakra, Kakashi remained perfectly still to listen to the trees. He felt Pakkun shift on his shoulder, stubby pug nose in the air to sniff for any trace of their quarry. Minato-sensei was nearby, they could be sure of that.

But where nearby was the question.

Kakashi slowly turned his head, tracking sounds and smells relative to himself to paint a mental image of his surroundings. Navigating through the trees while blindfolded was proving to be very difficult.

Tracking, even more so.

There was a soft shush—grass and leaves being moved out of the way—as something quietly padded across the forested ground directly below him. Kakashi nearly threw a slew of shuriken at the source before his mind caught up to inform him that the quality of the sound suggested greenery against fur, not fabric.

Pakkun shifted his weight on his paws in a specific movement, confirming that it was a non-threat.

He took a long breath, keeping it carefully slow and steadily silent. It smelled like lush greenery, sunlight through leaves, dirt, the animals that lived in the area, and running water. He could hear the last, faintly; a small creek snaked between the trees nearby. Wind ghosted through the branches.

A jutsu kept his own trail from muddling up what he could smell, though Minato-sensei was likely using a similar technique on himself—

Whisper sharp and nearly inaudible, a kunai thunked into the wood where his feet had been moments before. Kakashi was already leaping away, unsure if that weapon had three prongs and unwilling to risk proximity if it did.

He also loosed a kunai behind him, a paper flash-seal attached to its hilt. Just in case.

After all, given the cloth tied over his eyes, it's not as though he'd be disadvantaged by a blindingly bright burst of light. The knife hit wood, though he thought it sounded like it had hit the trunk rather than the branch he had been aiming for.

Pakkun stiffened, which definitely meant that—

"A flash-seal? Kakashi, what if I hadn't already known where you were?"

An instant later he felt a sort of click and, even through the blindfold, the surge of light was quite visible. His teacher had a good point, though. If he hadn't already been found out, a beacon like that wouldn't exactly help with the whole sneak-and-find aspect of this exercise.

Too late now, he needed to make himself scarce.

And fast.

Dashing through the trees that he couldn't see, Kakashi flipped through the hand signs for the most basic clone technique. Two clones with their own pug companions puffed into existence, and he tossed them a pair of alarm seals. The first ran ahead, then phased through the ground: becoming the bait for a trapped pit he had prepared ahead of time. When Kakashi passed, he primed the triggers and pulsed his chakra, hopefully giving the impression that he had just performed a jutsu to hide underground.

The second clone darted off to his right, jumping along the lower branches of the trees. He had run along those particular trees earlier, so the fact that the immaterial clone left no trail should be harder to detect.

Kakashi himself continued on a straight path, careful to keep his chakra signature suppressed and leave as little trace as possible. The sound of water grew louder, meaning he was definitely heading in the right direction. Jumping out of the foliage—he could feel the warmth of the sun on his skin—Kakashi landed on the surface of the creek.