He supposed if he had to end up back in time during the warring era, Tenzo was definitely very much preferred to certain other options that Kakashi could think of. Kakashi bundled up Tenzo in the thick fur blanket that he had stolen from the bandit group that he had found on the edge of where the two of them had temporary set up camp. He had thought that Tenzo was adorable when he meant him as a teenager. But he had underestimated the adorableness that was a 5 years old Tenzo.
He simply did not have the resistance to the sight. He wanted to wrap him and hide him away somewhere danger could not reach him. And in a sense that was what he did.
Kakashi had woke up, hanging upside down on a tree branch. He had not found himself in such a position since that one time he had made a bet with Gai while drunk and he had vowed to never do it again. The blood was rushing to his head and he had no idea how long he had been in this position. He subconsciously snapped both of his eyes opened and instantly regretted it when the Sharingan drained at his almost non-existent chakra.
His vision swam dangerously and he slipped from his branch, ending up in a inelegant sprawl on the grass. He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched at his head. “I didn’t go out drinking with Gai again, did I? Because I don’t have any memories of it at all.”
He had hit the ground hard, landing on his back and with a groan, he flopped over onto his belly. With his left eye still closed, he slowly peeked at his surrounding with his right eye. The sunlight filtered through the tree canopy and shadows of the leaves fluttered, blown by the wind. And instantly he could tell that he was not in Konoha.
The trees created by Hashirama with his Mokuton were utterly unique. Not even Tenzo, or the Zetsu, or Obito or whoever had Mokuton could imitate it. If the leaves of the trees were put in a line up, Kakashi could guarantee that he could pick out the Hashirama Tree’s leaves.
Slowly but surely, he gathered his chakra and made it quiet. It was the first lesson Shinobi had to learn when it came to stealth. When you find yourself in a foreign place, you are not to immediately extinguish and hide your chakra. That would only draw the attention anyone that could sense chakra and drawing attention when you are trying to be stealthy was a big no no.
As he tilted his head up to look at his previous spot on the tree branch, he saw Tenzo perching high up on a branch. And Tenzo was glaring at him.
He raised his hands up in surrender and attempted to look like butter would not melt in his mouth. Because Tenzo was mad. Kakashi was going for the ‘apologise first before asking what he did’ strategy because Tenzo rarely got mad at him.
Tenzo shivered, he rubbed at his arms with his hands and sneezed. That made him lost the control that he had on his chakra and he slipped off his branch. He happily landed on Kakashi’s back without attempting to reduce the impact. “Senpai~ I’m going to kill you.”
“Sorry! I don’t know what I did but I’m sorry.” Kakashi whined, keeping his voice barely below a whisper. Kakashi blinked as Tenzo stayed silent. “Tenzo, did you lose weight?”
Kakashi twisted around to look at Tenzo. He blinked, rubbed his eye and blinked again. “Tenzo, you have shrunk?”
“Yes, and whose fault do you think it is?” Tenzo smiled angrily.
Based on what Tenzo told him, basically Kakashi had accidentally triggered a incomplete hiraishin seal that he had found on a bouder in training ground 15. As for why they had been in training ground 15, Kakashi had escaped a party and Tenzo had followed him because according to him, Kakashi had been drunk off his mind.
“It seemed like I have been deaged to maybe 15 years old. How old do you think you are, Tenzo?” Kakashi asked, once they had secure a cave to use as a camp.
Tenzo took a deep breath, slipped his hands out of the fur blanket and looked at them. “Maybe 5 years old?”
Kakashi tapped his finger against his lap. “We have a few courses of actions right now. One, we can travel south and hope that we survive the travel back to Konoha. Two, we go to the nearest civilian village and pretend to be civilian to earn some supplies. Three, we try to send a message back to Konoha and wait to be rescue. Personally, I would prefer to go to the civilian village in the direction of Konoha and get some supplies.”
“Senpai…I think you are avoiding the main problem here.” Kakashi hummed indicating that he was listening. “From what we had seen when we were scouting the area, I don’t think that Konoha or any Shinobi village had been formed yet. The armour that the bandits were wearing are of an older style. And the few ninja that we observed did not have any forehead protector instead they were wearing their clan symbol. I think we are maybe in the Warring Era.”
Kakashi took a deep breath, closed his eyes and counted to ten. “Well, it is probably a good thing that the current plan involves us laying low and gathering information.” Kakashi opened his eyes and looked directly into Tenzo’s eyes. “I will get us back to Konoha. One way or another. It is just a matter of time.”
“I trust you, Kakashi-senpai.” Tenzo smiled. Kakashi felt the stone in his heart settle down at Tenzo’s belief in him. Determination welled up in him as they set their plan of action. Kakashi simply worked best when he had a goal in mind. Kakashi moved under the fur blanket, laying down beside Tenzo.