Have You Seen This Man? - Chapter 1
Title: Have You Seen This Man?
Rating: T
Genre: Romance/Humor
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Writing belongs to me.
Notes: Here's the first chapter! Sorry for any delays. I'm so so so unbelievably flattered by the feedback I got on the tiny little prologue alone, though! Thank you all for your lovely comments. I really hope this chapter doesn't disappoint you. Though if it does, be sure to tell me! I love feedback, and I'm eager to improve. No spoilers in this chapter!
Summary: Kakashi comes back from a mission, only to find a mask-less picture of himself in the jounin lounge. Now that everyone seems to think they know how he looks, how is he going to find someone that believes otherwise to help him catch the culprit?
Thank you to my lovely beta, Beasiesgal! <3
Kakashi burst through the main gates, only pausing to stop once inside. It was a pleasant surprise that he should be finished with a mission so early, and not have a handful of gaping wounds that needed immediate attention for his troubles. Tsunade should be pleased with that, he thought. It would buy him time to be lazy about the mission report for a little while. A crisp breeze whipped at his face, and the jounin breathed in, grinning underneath his mask. Finally, the weather was becoming cooler, and he was home to enjoy it.
Until the next mission, he mentally appended. And yet, returning home never got old.
Somehow, between admiring the weather and reveling in the fact that he was in familiar surroundings, Kakashi missed the twin sniggers of Kotetsu and Izumo, who had, up until that point, been nursing nasty hangovers from the night before. Any memories they may have had of the previous night's escapades were either wiped out, or hiding in some darkened corner of their minds. It was just as well, as they'd both awoken on top of Hokage tower, naked besides their hitai-ate and running late for their shifts.
The chuunin had picked up a very interesting piece of gossip on their way to work, and had ever since been waiting for Hatake Kakashi to walk through the gates. By the time he addressed them with a nod, they were sitting quite stiffly, forcedly blank expressions painted across their features, and sweating slightly from the exertion.
“Kakashi-san,” they said in unison, trying to look as innocent as possible. It came across as severely creepy. “Welcome back.”
“...yo,” Kakashi said, feeling as though he was missing something important. Obviously those two had been too long on gate duty, he thought to himself, giving them another nod before walking away. The jounin shrugged off their strange behavior; it wasn't as if they were the most sane of the village's shinobi at the best of times. Prolonged exposure to each other was obviously making matters worse. At least he wasn't stuck with gate duty, which was all that mattered at this point.
Ah, life. Kakashi whipped out his ever present Icha Icha novel and headed straight towards the direction of the mission's desk, snickering happily. The only thing that could make this day better would be waiting for him there. Well, not waiting so much as working a shift at the desk. He couldn't wait to see what new comical expressions he could provoke out of the tanned sensei today.
~ ~ ~
Only when the silver haired jounin was out of earshot did Kotetsu and Izumo dissolve into a helpless fit of giggles, fists slamming on the desk they sat behind.
“He doesn't have a clue!” Izumo choked out, tears of amusement shining in his eyes. “Boy is he in for a surprise!”
“I wish I could be there when he does find out,” Kotetsu added, picturing it. “Or not. I'm sure he'd go from shocked to homicidal very, very quickly. I hope whoever did it knows how to deal with murderous jounin!”
“Whatever he does to them, it's worth it! I never thought I'd see the day when something like this would happen... ”
“No kidding, Ko. No kidding.”
The chuunin duo sighed in amusement. This was likely the most entertainment they'd have for a while yet. Hatake Kakashi wouldn't know what hit him. It was just too bad they couldn't thank the mastermind behind it all.
~ ~ ~
Kakashi waltzed through the doors of the mission's room, still reading Icha Icha and humming. The whole way there, people had been looking at him funny. A few had starting laughing outright, or suddenly turning to whisper to someone else. He was used to being stared at, but not in such a way that made him wonder if his hair had been dyed purple. The jounin had even checked, just in case, but hadn't found anything even remotely off about his appearance.
His mask and hitai-ate were in place, and the mess of silver hair atop his head looked as wild and unmanageable as it always did. Surely he'd been seen reading Icha Icha enough times that people would be more bewildered if he'd been seen without it. No, it had to be something else. That, or he was just being overly paranoid. It made sense, being extra paranoid just after a mission, and so he'd shrugged it off, going on his way.
Here he was in the middle of a ridiculously long line, and everyone was still shooting him the strangest looks. Perhaps it was the humming, he thought absently, although it wasn't such a strange habit to have... unless you were a ninja, and thus expected to be silent most of the time. Or rather, unless you were Kakashi, and expected to be silent. It made sense, he supposed; he might be apprehensive as well if he spotted any of his fellow jounin humming for no apparent reason. Well, unless it happened to be Gai. Kakashi promptly stopped humming, raised a brow, and noticed that everyone looked away at the same time.
“Next!”
Ah, finally, the jounin thought, and stepped forward.
~ ~ ~
Iruka rubbed at his temples, willing the headache away. It had been an infinitely stupid idea to go and drink so much the previous night. He was definitely paying for it now; had been for the whole day, in fact. Heavens only knew what he'd been up to with Kotetsu, Izumo and Anko. He'd awoken with barely enough time to get dressed, utterly bewildered by the random ink stains on his hands and pieces of tape in his hair.
That hadn't been the strangest part, though. The chuunin could not for the life of him figure out why the pile of clothes he'd obviously discarded at the foot of his bed reeked of... something immensely sweet. The closest scent he could think of was licorice, which only proved to confuse him even more. It smelled more like he'd taken a bath in the stuff. The mystery had had to wait, however, as his mind was still both fuzzy from sleep and in kicked into panic mode for being so late.
It hadn't helped that most of the chuunin and jounin he'd encountered so far had been acting even more strangely than usual. He could usually write off the jounin population; mild insanity was practically a rank requirement after all. That his fellow chuunin and even a good number of genin were acting so oddly was simply beyond Iruka, who could barely think due to his monstrous headache. He'd been unable to put his finger on what it was, but it seemed as if they all had one collective secret.
Iruka had finally tuned them out, putting all of his focus into his work, when he looked up to deal with the next unhinged shinobi. And inwardly groaned. Hatake Kakashi. Of course. It would make sense for the jounin to appear out of nowhere to help a bad day go even further downhill. The chuunin forced a polite smile onto his face, and extended his hand for the mission report.
“Ah, Kakashi-san, welcome back.”
“Maa, Iruka, you know I can't stay away from you too long...” Kakashi had the audacity to wink and raise his visible brow suggestively. That bastard was grinning under his mask, Iruka just knew it. Still, he bit back his retort and looked over the mission report. This time, the tanned sensei actually groaned aloud.
It was as if Kakashi had some sort of ongoing game in his head where the only object was to infuriate the chuunin as much as possible and still escape with all his limbs intact. The jounin had managed to cut it pretty close so far, much to the Kakashi's amusement and Iruka's chagrin. In Kakashi's arsenal of extreme annoyances was the much dreaded mission report of doom. One of these days, Iruka swore he was going to find out of the Jounin was really this careless and ridiculously sloppy, or if he did it just to tick off poor desk chuunin with hangovers.
“Kakashi-san, seriously...?” Iruka couldn't help himself. He massaged his temples and glared at the smug jounin. “I can't even read this!” Sometimes he couldn't understand how Kakashi had ever graduated from the academy when genin had better penmanship than the jounin dared to turn in.
It didn't make sense, because Iruka could swear there was a time where Kakashi's mission reports were more legible than they'd been lately, if even if by the tiniest bit. Either that, or the frustrated chuunin had taken to dreaming it. The sensei hated to admit that some of his better dreams lately had consisted of perfectly legible mission reports and more real flirting than the mean teasing sort he usually received from the eccentric jounin.
Iruka frequently wished he knew what in the world possessed Kakashi to keep up such ridiculous behavior when he barely knew the other man. It was the absolute last thing he wanted to put up with today.
Kakashi bent down until his eye was perfectly level with Iruka's own, and blinked. “Earth to Iruka? You have the report upside down, you know.”
“Eh?”
Iruka looked down and blanched. Kakashi was right! The chuunin hastily turned the report right side up, sighing when it didn't become more legible at all. He looked back up and flushed bright red. The jounin's covered nose was nearly touching his own, and Iruka just knew the other man had to be biting back his laughter at the whole situation. Certainly that hadn't been a flicker of concern in the jounin's lone eye. Whatever it had been, it was gone when the sensei blinked.
“You know, I think you ought to come to my apartment after work... You know, to relieve stress.” Kakashi leered pointedly to accentuate the statement, his teasing lilt back in full force, barking out a laugh when Iruka flushed even darker.
“You...!”
Kakashi narrowly dodged the fist, noting that Iruka hadn't tried to hit him nearly so hard as he'd attempted to the day before. It was a pity. “I'll take that as a dismissal, then, Iruka-sensei! Till we meet again? Ja ne!” The jounin practically danced out of the door, sniggering under his breath, without waiting for the chuunin's stamp of approval on his report. Yep, that was the expression he'd been going for. The sensei's face and neck had turned practically crimson. Kakashi's day was pretty complete as far as he was concerned. His much loved book reappeared as he jauntily trekked down the street, ignoring any stares or whispers.
Meanwhile, Iruka was just starting to recover from his blush. He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. One of these days, he was going to accept Kakashi's offer for 'stress relief' and be in for a world of trouble and embarrassment. But at the very least, it might leave the jounin speechless for a few merciful seconds. The chuunin grumpily called to the next person in line. Now, his head and chest ached, though in completely different ways.
Kakashi's reading was interrupted by Genma, who had suddenly appeared in front of him, apparently on his way to the mission's desk. The honey haired man took a step back, eyes widening. “K-kakashi!” He bit down hard on his senbon, unknowingly mirroring Kotetsu and Izumo's creepily innocent looks from earlier. Kakashi raised a brow, suddenly suspicious. He'd known Genma for years, and this was definitely strange behavior for the special jounin. Well, strange when it was directed towards him, of all people.
“I'm sorry, is there something on my face?” Kakashi's brows knit together in confusion, although only one of them was visible. “Has everyone become crazier while I was away? Don't tell me; Naruto became hokage and everyone suddenly went mad. Clearly I'm missing something.”
That did it. Genma broke into nervous hysterics and almost swallowed the senbon. “Ahahaha-- I'm sorry, it's just that... Well... I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough.” With that, the special jounin disappeared in a puff of chakra smoke.
Kakashi just stood there, bewildered. What was that supposed to mean? Just what was he expected to figure out 'soon enough'? Had Iruka not practically thrown him out of the missions room, the jounin would have started there; it was well known as Gossip Central among the other shinobi. Kakashi supposed the next best place to go would be the jounin lounge; it would give the chuunin some time to cool off in case he needed to go back after all. Either way, he was going to get to the bottom of this... whatever it was. Such strange behavior among everyone in his village was putting him at definite unease.
Hands flying through seals, Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke and a swirl of leaves. He reappeared inside the jounin lounge, where a large crowd stood around the bulletin board. Well, that would probably be a good place to corner someone long enough to get an answer...
The more logical side of his brain tried to convince him that not everyone could be in on whatever Genma was, but then he spotted Raidou. Surely he would know something. Or at the very least, why the senbon enthusiast was acting like he'd missed his a psych evaluation.
Just then, someone turned around and promptly choked on a fit of giggles. “It's him! He's here!”
Kakashi blinked as all eyes rested on him at once. They were all either hysterics or trying and failing to stifle their mad laughter. And they were all staring at him. The masked jounin promptly marched up to see what they'd all been gaping at. He was going to get to the bottom of this.
No one seemed to be able to hold his eye contact at this point, but their expressions of mixed guilt and amusement were telling enough. They all began to edge away from the bulletin board, and it was only Raidou who had the courage to clear his throat and point at something on it, edging away slowly as Kakashi's eyes followed what he'd been pointing towards.
The masked jounin blinked, at a complete loss for words. It was a photograph of himself. With his mask off. Off! Kakashi visibly flinched, mind working furiously to process what his eyes were seeing, yet totally unable to comprehend it.
Behind him, the crowd collectively held their breath, waiting to see what would happen. Some of the smarter ones had enough presence of mind to back away slowly and put as much distance between themselves and the famed Copy Nin.
“What in Kami's name--!”
Kakashi reached up to tear the picture from the wall, holding it close to his face, as if it was the most unbelievable thing he'd seen in his life. In fact, it was quite close to being just that, and everyone watched closely as he reached up to lift his hitai-ate to study the photograph with both eyes, the sharingan spinning lazily.
He opened his mouth, and then closed it, repeating the action several times. Right. Not a genjutsu then? But how... How?
“He's lost it,” someone from the crowd whispered, and the group collectively took another step backwards, unable to tear their eyes from the elite shinobi, who had never looked more confused in his entire life. Hatake Kakashi was speechless.
Rating: T
Genre: Romance/Humor
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Writing belongs to me.
Notes: Here's the first chapter! Sorry for any delays. I'm so so so unbelievably flattered by the feedback I got on the tiny little prologue alone, though! Thank you all for your lovely comments. I really hope this chapter doesn't disappoint you. Though if it does, be sure to tell me! I love feedback, and I'm eager to improve. No spoilers in this chapter!
Summary: Kakashi comes back from a mission, only to find a mask-less picture of himself in the jounin lounge. Now that everyone seems to think they know how he looks, how is he going to find someone that believes otherwise to help him catch the culprit?
Thank you to my lovely beta, Beasiesgal! <3
Kakashi burst through the main gates, only pausing to stop once inside. It was a pleasant surprise that he should be finished with a mission so early, and not have a handful of gaping wounds that needed immediate attention for his troubles. Tsunade should be pleased with that, he thought. It would buy him time to be lazy about the mission report for a little while. A crisp breeze whipped at his face, and the jounin breathed in, grinning underneath his mask. Finally, the weather was becoming cooler, and he was home to enjoy it.
Until the next mission, he mentally appended. And yet, returning home never got old.
Somehow, between admiring the weather and reveling in the fact that he was in familiar surroundings, Kakashi missed the twin sniggers of Kotetsu and Izumo, who had, up until that point, been nursing nasty hangovers from the night before. Any memories they may have had of the previous night's escapades were either wiped out, or hiding in some darkened corner of their minds. It was just as well, as they'd both awoken on top of Hokage tower, naked besides their hitai-ate and running late for their shifts.
The chuunin had picked up a very interesting piece of gossip on their way to work, and had ever since been waiting for Hatake Kakashi to walk through the gates. By the time he addressed them with a nod, they were sitting quite stiffly, forcedly blank expressions painted across their features, and sweating slightly from the exertion.
“Kakashi-san,” they said in unison, trying to look as innocent as possible. It came across as severely creepy. “Welcome back.”
“...yo,” Kakashi said, feeling as though he was missing something important. Obviously those two had been too long on gate duty, he thought to himself, giving them another nod before walking away. The jounin shrugged off their strange behavior; it wasn't as if they were the most sane of the village's shinobi at the best of times. Prolonged exposure to each other was obviously making matters worse. At least he wasn't stuck with gate duty, which was all that mattered at this point.
Ah, life. Kakashi whipped out his ever present Icha Icha novel and headed straight towards the direction of the mission's desk, snickering happily. The only thing that could make this day better would be waiting for him there. Well, not waiting so much as working a shift at the desk. He couldn't wait to see what new comical expressions he could provoke out of the tanned sensei today.
~ ~ ~
Only when the silver haired jounin was out of earshot did Kotetsu and Izumo dissolve into a helpless fit of giggles, fists slamming on the desk they sat behind.
“He doesn't have a clue!” Izumo choked out, tears of amusement shining in his eyes. “Boy is he in for a surprise!”
“I wish I could be there when he does find out,” Kotetsu added, picturing it. “Or not. I'm sure he'd go from shocked to homicidal very, very quickly. I hope whoever did it knows how to deal with murderous jounin!”
“Whatever he does to them, it's worth it! I never thought I'd see the day when something like this would happen... ”
“No kidding, Ko. No kidding.”
The chuunin duo sighed in amusement. This was likely the most entertainment they'd have for a while yet. Hatake Kakashi wouldn't know what hit him. It was just too bad they couldn't thank the mastermind behind it all.
~ ~ ~
Kakashi waltzed through the doors of the mission's room, still reading Icha Icha and humming. The whole way there, people had been looking at him funny. A few had starting laughing outright, or suddenly turning to whisper to someone else. He was used to being stared at, but not in such a way that made him wonder if his hair had been dyed purple. The jounin had even checked, just in case, but hadn't found anything even remotely off about his appearance.
His mask and hitai-ate were in place, and the mess of silver hair atop his head looked as wild and unmanageable as it always did. Surely he'd been seen reading Icha Icha enough times that people would be more bewildered if he'd been seen without it. No, it had to be something else. That, or he was just being overly paranoid. It made sense, being extra paranoid just after a mission, and so he'd shrugged it off, going on his way.
Here he was in the middle of a ridiculously long line, and everyone was still shooting him the strangest looks. Perhaps it was the humming, he thought absently, although it wasn't such a strange habit to have... unless you were a ninja, and thus expected to be silent most of the time. Or rather, unless you were Kakashi, and expected to be silent. It made sense, he supposed; he might be apprehensive as well if he spotted any of his fellow jounin humming for no apparent reason. Well, unless it happened to be Gai. Kakashi promptly stopped humming, raised a brow, and noticed that everyone looked away at the same time.
“Next!”
Ah, finally, the jounin thought, and stepped forward.
~ ~ ~
Iruka rubbed at his temples, willing the headache away. It had been an infinitely stupid idea to go and drink so much the previous night. He was definitely paying for it now; had been for the whole day, in fact. Heavens only knew what he'd been up to with Kotetsu, Izumo and Anko. He'd awoken with barely enough time to get dressed, utterly bewildered by the random ink stains on his hands and pieces of tape in his hair.
That hadn't been the strangest part, though. The chuunin could not for the life of him figure out why the pile of clothes he'd obviously discarded at the foot of his bed reeked of... something immensely sweet. The closest scent he could think of was licorice, which only proved to confuse him even more. It smelled more like he'd taken a bath in the stuff. The mystery had had to wait, however, as his mind was still both fuzzy from sleep and in kicked into panic mode for being so late.
It hadn't helped that most of the chuunin and jounin he'd encountered so far had been acting even more strangely than usual. He could usually write off the jounin population; mild insanity was practically a rank requirement after all. That his fellow chuunin and even a good number of genin were acting so oddly was simply beyond Iruka, who could barely think due to his monstrous headache. He'd been unable to put his finger on what it was, but it seemed as if they all had one collective secret.
Iruka had finally tuned them out, putting all of his focus into his work, when he looked up to deal with the next unhinged shinobi. And inwardly groaned. Hatake Kakashi. Of course. It would make sense for the jounin to appear out of nowhere to help a bad day go even further downhill. The chuunin forced a polite smile onto his face, and extended his hand for the mission report.
“Ah, Kakashi-san, welcome back.”
“Maa, Iruka, you know I can't stay away from you too long...” Kakashi had the audacity to wink and raise his visible brow suggestively. That bastard was grinning under his mask, Iruka just knew it. Still, he bit back his retort and looked over the mission report. This time, the tanned sensei actually groaned aloud.
It was as if Kakashi had some sort of ongoing game in his head where the only object was to infuriate the chuunin as much as possible and still escape with all his limbs intact. The jounin had managed to cut it pretty close so far, much to the Kakashi's amusement and Iruka's chagrin. In Kakashi's arsenal of extreme annoyances was the much dreaded mission report of doom. One of these days, Iruka swore he was going to find out of the Jounin was really this careless and ridiculously sloppy, or if he did it just to tick off poor desk chuunin with hangovers.
“Kakashi-san, seriously...?” Iruka couldn't help himself. He massaged his temples and glared at the smug jounin. “I can't even read this!” Sometimes he couldn't understand how Kakashi had ever graduated from the academy when genin had better penmanship than the jounin dared to turn in.
It didn't make sense, because Iruka could swear there was a time where Kakashi's mission reports were more legible than they'd been lately, if even if by the tiniest bit. Either that, or the frustrated chuunin had taken to dreaming it. The sensei hated to admit that some of his better dreams lately had consisted of perfectly legible mission reports and more real flirting than the mean teasing sort he usually received from the eccentric jounin.
Iruka frequently wished he knew what in the world possessed Kakashi to keep up such ridiculous behavior when he barely knew the other man. It was the absolute last thing he wanted to put up with today.
Kakashi bent down until his eye was perfectly level with Iruka's own, and blinked. “Earth to Iruka? You have the report upside down, you know.”
“Eh?”
Iruka looked down and blanched. Kakashi was right! The chuunin hastily turned the report right side up, sighing when it didn't become more legible at all. He looked back up and flushed bright red. The jounin's covered nose was nearly touching his own, and Iruka just knew the other man had to be biting back his laughter at the whole situation. Certainly that hadn't been a flicker of concern in the jounin's lone eye. Whatever it had been, it was gone when the sensei blinked.
“You know, I think you ought to come to my apartment after work... You know, to relieve stress.” Kakashi leered pointedly to accentuate the statement, his teasing lilt back in full force, barking out a laugh when Iruka flushed even darker.
“You...!”
Kakashi narrowly dodged the fist, noting that Iruka hadn't tried to hit him nearly so hard as he'd attempted to the day before. It was a pity. “I'll take that as a dismissal, then, Iruka-sensei! Till we meet again? Ja ne!” The jounin practically danced out of the door, sniggering under his breath, without waiting for the chuunin's stamp of approval on his report. Yep, that was the expression he'd been going for. The sensei's face and neck had turned practically crimson. Kakashi's day was pretty complete as far as he was concerned. His much loved book reappeared as he jauntily trekked down the street, ignoring any stares or whispers.
Meanwhile, Iruka was just starting to recover from his blush. He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. One of these days, he was going to accept Kakashi's offer for 'stress relief' and be in for a world of trouble and embarrassment. But at the very least, it might leave the jounin speechless for a few merciful seconds. The chuunin grumpily called to the next person in line. Now, his head and chest ached, though in completely different ways.
Kakashi's reading was interrupted by Genma, who had suddenly appeared in front of him, apparently on his way to the mission's desk. The honey haired man took a step back, eyes widening. “K-kakashi!” He bit down hard on his senbon, unknowingly mirroring Kotetsu and Izumo's creepily innocent looks from earlier. Kakashi raised a brow, suddenly suspicious. He'd known Genma for years, and this was definitely strange behavior for the special jounin. Well, strange when it was directed towards him, of all people.
“I'm sorry, is there something on my face?” Kakashi's brows knit together in confusion, although only one of them was visible. “Has everyone become crazier while I was away? Don't tell me; Naruto became hokage and everyone suddenly went mad. Clearly I'm missing something.”
That did it. Genma broke into nervous hysterics and almost swallowed the senbon. “Ahahaha-- I'm sorry, it's just that... Well... I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough.” With that, the special jounin disappeared in a puff of chakra smoke.
Kakashi just stood there, bewildered. What was that supposed to mean? Just what was he expected to figure out 'soon enough'? Had Iruka not practically thrown him out of the missions room, the jounin would have started there; it was well known as Gossip Central among the other shinobi. Kakashi supposed the next best place to go would be the jounin lounge; it would give the chuunin some time to cool off in case he needed to go back after all. Either way, he was going to get to the bottom of this... whatever it was. Such strange behavior among everyone in his village was putting him at definite unease.
Hands flying through seals, Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke and a swirl of leaves. He reappeared inside the jounin lounge, where a large crowd stood around the bulletin board. Well, that would probably be a good place to corner someone long enough to get an answer...
The more logical side of his brain tried to convince him that not everyone could be in on whatever Genma was, but then he spotted Raidou. Surely he would know something. Or at the very least, why the senbon enthusiast was acting like he'd missed his a psych evaluation.
Just then, someone turned around and promptly choked on a fit of giggles. “It's him! He's here!”
Kakashi blinked as all eyes rested on him at once. They were all either hysterics or trying and failing to stifle their mad laughter. And they were all staring at him. The masked jounin promptly marched up to see what they'd all been gaping at. He was going to get to the bottom of this.
No one seemed to be able to hold his eye contact at this point, but their expressions of mixed guilt and amusement were telling enough. They all began to edge away from the bulletin board, and it was only Raidou who had the courage to clear his throat and point at something on it, edging away slowly as Kakashi's eyes followed what he'd been pointing towards.
The masked jounin blinked, at a complete loss for words. It was a photograph of himself. With his mask off. Off! Kakashi visibly flinched, mind working furiously to process what his eyes were seeing, yet totally unable to comprehend it.
Behind him, the crowd collectively held their breath, waiting to see what would happen. Some of the smarter ones had enough presence of mind to back away slowly and put as much distance between themselves and the famed Copy Nin.
“What in Kami's name--!”
Kakashi reached up to tear the picture from the wall, holding it close to his face, as if it was the most unbelievable thing he'd seen in his life. In fact, it was quite close to being just that, and everyone watched closely as he reached up to lift his hitai-ate to study the photograph with both eyes, the sharingan spinning lazily.
He opened his mouth, and then closed it, repeating the action several times. Right. Not a genjutsu then? But how... How?
“He's lost it,” someone from the crowd whispered, and the group collectively took another step backwards, unable to tear their eyes from the elite shinobi, who had never looked more confused in his entire life. Hatake Kakashi was speechless.