25 days of Christmas-Day 3
Thirty pre-genins regarded Kakashi as dubiously (if not moreso) as he was regarding them. Kakashi resisted the urge to flinch as one of them (ugh… was that snot dangling from his nose?) shuffled forward.
“Who’re you?” He demanded.
“Udon.” Iruka chided. “This is Kakashi-sensei. He’s going to be helping us finish up in time for Christmas break, so be nice.” He grinned. “Don’t break him.”
Kakashi whipped around to shoot the chuunin an alarmed look, only to find he had vanished. “I’ll be back in a few minutes!” His voice floated merrily back to the jounin. “Keep them busy until I get back.”
Kakashi slowly turned to face the children. This was not good.
“How come your hair is the color of Gran’s? Are you old?” The rapid-fire questions came from a girl with pigtails that looked like they’d been dipped in paint.
“Why’s it stand up like that?” Another asked.
Open wide the gates and let slip the hounds of hell, Kakashi thought grimly. Or at least the questions of hell.
“Your hiate’ate is crooked. You should fix it cause Iruka-sensei says ‘reduced viv-vis-visibility’ can kill you!”
“Why d’you wear a mask?”
“Are you ugly?”
“Do ya got scars?”
“Do you have buck-teeth?”
“Ninja’s don’t have buck-teeth, moron!”
“Well, than you can’t ever be a ninja, can you?”
“Well, they don’t let retards be ninja either, so I guess you can’t be either!”
“Stupid!”
“Momma says you’re a pre-vert. Are you? And what’s a pre-vert?” Asked another of the children, unperturbed by the screeching catfight.
“Pervert! Say it right! Ebisu-baka-sensei is a pervert.” Kakashi recognized the voice of the Sandaime’s grandson, Konahamaru. This was just getting better all the time…
“He’s not like Ebisu-san.” A grinning girl informed Konahamaru. “He can’t be. Ebisu-san is just creepy. Kakashi-sensei is mysterious.”
“How can he be mysterious when he don’t say nothin’?” Another of the hellions asked.
“He’s the strong, silent type!” The girl screeched back. “He’s also tall and handsome.”
“How can he be handsome if you can’t see his face, Kikiyo?”
“He is! I can just tell!”
“Iruka-sensei is handsome. He’s just a creepy guy in a mask. And he smells like dogs!”
Dogs?! Desperate for a distraction, Kakashi grinned and used a senbon to nick his thumb. He flashed through the seals of his summoning jutsu and called the whole pack to him. Smoke swirled and suddenly eight dogs were staring dubiously at the horde of pre-genin. For a long moment, neither side moved. Guruko whined softly; nervously.
The stalemate was broken. “Dogs!” one of the children shrieked, and en masse, the horde descended on the poor, unsuspecting ninken. Pakkun yelped as he was mobbed. Wisely, Uuhei took shelter under Iruka’s desk. Kakashi wanted to join her.