What a drag

Kakashi couldn't say he was surprised. More like disappointed. He was a retired Kage, he outlived his expectations and was more than content. His three students were building a family, and you could even say he was anticipating death with open arms at this point.

But of course, things never went as planned for the copy-nin. And dolefully, even he himself knew that for a fact.

The first thing that kicked in was his ANBU instincts. Assessing his situation, location, any dangers, and any injuries across his scarred skin. He found minor cuts and bruising, along with what he found to be some cracking of the ribs. Not familiarizing with anything around him, he cautiously, yet a bit wobbly made his way around what he found was an abandoned house while almost absent mindedly, checking for any traps that might’ve awaited him. (He was confident in his ability thank you very much)

Then came the familiar, sharp pain that erupted in his eyes. Almost knocking him over on the spot. He could only groan, the first thing coming to mind was the sharingan. But it didn’t make much sense, he felt it in both eyes instead of one. And he didn’t even have a sharingan anymore in the first place! Was this just his imagination playing tricks on him?

He came across a dirty, cracked mirror sitting in a dimly lit room, where he finally got the chance to see his full appearance.

And his suspicions were confirmed. There sat two fully formed Sharingan, both staring almost mockingly at him. Kami, why couldn't it have been Naruto or anyone else in his place. He was getting too old for things like this.

He went back to inspect the rest of himself, noticing his lack of stiffness and wrinkles indented on his skin. While it might not bother many, he was nearing his 40’s for Kami’s sake! He shouldn’t be looking like this, but here he was, clearly looking a lot younger than the former.

He found himself wearing a tight-fitting ANBU uniform, which was a big change from his familiar, loose-fitting flak jacket. He would never admit it, but he even felt a little exposed. After ANBU, he wasn’t used to showing any skin other than his fingers, toes, and the upper part of his face that wasn’t hidden away by the dark cloth of his mask. So now that his bare shoulders were out for the world to see, he wasn’t all that comfy.

He decided to make up for it by covering his whole face with his old ANBU mask. Slipping into the old persona was surprisingly a lot easier than he expected. He felt far more comfortable with the familiar wolf mask, now all that was visible to the eye were his shoulders and his toes.

He decided that he was in his young 20s. Seeing he was clearly his full height and he had around the same amount of scars he could recount having at that age. (The Sharingan pretty much did give him photographic memory- a big perk.)

Sighing, he could only accept it. There was no going back until he calmed down and either made a seal to somehow get back, or he found another way through a jutsu of some sort. Panicking was going to get him nowhere. And it wasn’t a genjutsu or a dream. Trust him, he checked with more shouting the familiar “Kai!” and pinching himself probably more than enough times necessary to be sure.

He walked out of the abandoned building with a slight sway, as if he were to collapse any minute. He let himself lean on the outside wall as he looked around at the forest surrounding his figure.Deciding he was way too worn out to get anywhere, he had to sadly admit he could hardly walk.

With any chakra he had left in his exhausted state, he summoned his ninken with a ‘Poof’. They all looked up at him with a concerned glint in their eyes, until pakkun walked up.

“Boss? You're not looking too good.” Pakkun squinted, glancing up and down at the worn shinobi. “Looks like you de-aged like the rest of us.”

Kakashi could only let out a croaked chuckle. “Less wrinkled you look Pakkun”

The pug only rolled his eyes, motioning for the others to come closer to help keep Kakashi standing right and not collapse into a limp ball of flesh on the spot.

“Just rest” Pakkun could only sigh “You should've summoned us instantaneously, we’ll sort up the building, it's clearly abandoned.”

An eye smile was slightly visible through the holes in his mask, “Maa~ Pakkun, I knew I could count on you~!” He cooed, and you could tell he was about to either pass out, or start reciting lines from Icha Icha from the lightheaded state he was in.

And just like that, he was out like a light. With his ninken surrounding his limp form as they hoisted him up and back inside onto a worn futon.

Pakkun stayed behind staring at the rubbled house, “What a drag.”

“...”

Hm, maybe those Nara’s are rubbing off on him a tad too much. He sighed.

Just a tad.

—----------------------------------

Kakashi awoke to the sight of his ninken bundled up around him, all of them snoozing quietly. When he glanced around he could clearly see that the house was in a much better state. He supposed that answered his question to why they were so tired.

He awkwardly shuffled his way out of the doggy pile, rebalancing himself on wobbly legs as he made his way outside. There was a convenient river right next to the house, letting him get a drink of water and a place to clean anything that was dirty.

Feeling refreshed, he left a note in the house for Pakkun and the others to read. The last thing he needed was a group of panicking pups messing up the house right after they cleaned it.

Satisfied, he made his way to the outskirts of the forest surrounding the house. But he came across something quite peculiar that caught his eye.

The first thing that came to his mind was “well that's not normal”

In the clearing, there was a dark blob-like figure sitting there. Kakashi couldn’t match it up with any creature he’d seen. But it was too close to the house he was staying at for him for his comfort.. So of course, he burnt it on the spot.

“Katon, Gokakyu no Jutsu.” He said under his breath, letting out a fireball worthy of an Uchiha. The mysterious creature let out a strangled cry, making his ears bleed.

He would’ve trapped the creature with seals if he could, but he didn’t have any with him at the moment. So he decided that his next goal would be to get some scrolls and ink, so he could make some seals to secure the house with as well.

Smiling in content, he ventured on. It was such a warm, relaxing day. Nothing too tiring today, only plain old seals.

He jinxed himself, didn't he.

He can hear Naruto laughing at him in the distance.