[A/N: Word Count: 2747] Minato knew something was wrong the moment his team just... froze. It happened immediately, right after he called the spar to begin. One moment, his team was standing in their standard defensive formation—Kakashi front and center, Obito on his flank, and Rin securing their six in a triangle formation—exactly like they’d practiced. Next, they went completely still. As if frozen in time. Kakashi’s hand was stuck in his kunai pouch. Obito looked ready to kick off at any moment, and Rin was ready to support in whatever way was necessary. Meanwhile, Team Tsunade took to the trees above, all darting in different directions. The Yamanaka heir spared him a salute as he made his escape. The entire situation caught him off guard; his eyes darted once towards his stilled team, then towards the trees, then to Lady Tsunade, who was now dusting off a tree stump. She sat down, crossed her legs, and examined her royal ruby nails. "That boy," she muttered. "Always up to something...." She spared a glance towards Minato and spoke: "Might as well make yourself comfortable. They’ll be a while." ...They’ll be a while? He thought in confusion. Who? Her team... or his? Minato sent another glance towards his team, who’d yet to make any movement. He sighed and made his way towards the Slug Princess. As he neared, he asked the question at the front of his mind. "How were they put in a genjutsu, Lady Tsunade? I didn’t see any of them use hand signs, and Shisui’s Sharingan wasn’t activated." She pulled out a small scroll from her leg pouch and unfurled it. A bag of cookies poofed into existence. She opened it, took a bite, and looked to have ascended to the Pure Land in absolute bliss. Minato’s mouth began to water as the wind carried a decadent smell of sweet, sweet chocolate into his nostrils. He soon found himself salivating like a dog. Deciding it was somewhat unbecoming to drool in the presence of the Senju Princess, he dabbed at the corners of his mouth with his sleeve. Tsunade sent him an amused look and stored the cookies back in the seal from which they came. Minato’s heart broke just a little at that. "Toshi doesn’t need hand signs to put someone in a genjutsu." She answered at last, licking gooey chocolate residue from her fingertips. "What do you mean, Lady Tsunade?" Minato’s eyebrow rose. He sent a flicker of a glance towards his trio—still trapped in the genjutsu. Darn. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was disappointed his team was in this situation. They weren’t the most... cohesive team; Minato was well aware of that. But they’ve had a year together—A year fighting in warring times. And still they found themselves caught in a six-year-old’s genjutsu. Kakashi was a genius. Naturally talented at everything. Smart. Adaptable. Strategic. But he was self-centered. Prideful. Hated teamwork. And was shrugging with unresolved trauma. Anyone who spent enough time with him could see how much Kakashi was struggling. And the worst part of it all was that Minato didn’t know how to help him heal through it. Rin, on the other hand, was a sweet girl. Sometimes too sweet. She had the potential to be a top Medic-nin. She was smart, and caring, and put others needs before her own. But in combat? Minato wasn’t so sure she was made for the shinobi life. She trained, sure. Practiced her katas, her weapon handling, her formations. But she did it just to do it. Almost as if she was just checking off a box. And when it came down to real combat, against real enemies, she faltered. If Minato couldn’t help her shake that, she would get herself or her teammates killed. And Obito was, well... Obito. He contradicted everything the Uchiha were known for. Where they were crass, he was sensitive. Where they were serious, he was carefree. Where they were of few words, he was of many. Where they were self-assured, he was self-conscious. He cared so much about awakening his Sharingan that he overlooked the fundamentals that truly separated the good from the great. And Minato didn’t fail to register that if Team Tsunade truly wanted to, they could’ve ended this spar minutes ago. That was a disappointing realization. "There are only two clans that I know can cast signless genjutsu that strong: The Uchiha and the Kurama." Said Minato. "For someone else to do it, it’d theoretically require nearly perfect chakra control and an abnormally high yin affin—Um... why are you smiling, Lady Tsunade?" "Jiraiya did say you were sharp," she said. "Guess that pervert wasn’t lying." "Nothing." Tsunade dismissed his confusion with a flick of her finger. "But to your point, Satoshi’s chakra control is not nearly perfect. It is perfect. And he doesn’t just have an abnormally high yin affinity. He has the highest yin affinity of anyone I’ve ever met." As Minato went to speak, there was motion in his peripheral vision. He turned to see Kakashi fall flat on his face. His student quickly got up, brushed himself off, and assessed the field. Finding no immediate danger, Kakashi’s gaze turned towards Minato and Tsunade; he stilled for a second. His face flushed pink on three. And on four, he turned away in embarrassment. Lady Tsunade snickered. Minato rubbed the back of his head and sighed. It didn’t take long for Kakashi to awaken Rin from the genjutsu—Obito, on the other hand... "Ka-Kakashi?" Obito said, visibly distraught. "What are you—no. No. Rin! We have to help Rin. I saw it—he stabbed her—he—she’s bleeding out, I saw it, I—" Minato was getting concerned. That level of genjutsu was nothing a six-year-old should be able to cast, no matter how much of a genius he is. "He’s experiencing a panic attack," Tsunade said. Obit’s body shook violently. Sweat fell from his forehead, and mixed with the tears falling at the corner of his bloodshot eyes—no. They weren’t bloodshot. That’s the Sharingan! He awakened the Sharingan from a genjutsu!? Minato was at a loss for words. He’s never heard of an Uchiha awakening their Sharingan from a mere genjutsu. Two-Tomoe at that. "Minato-sensei!" Obito was screaming bloody murder now. It sent chills down Minato’s back. "We should end the—" spar, Minato was going to say, but Rin’s calm voice cut through Obito’s panic attack. "Obito." She said, caressing his cheek in her palm. "Obito. It’s okay. I’m fine. I’m right here. See?" The sound of her voice brought Obito back to reality. Obito gaped, registering her in totality, from head to toe, back to head. "We were caught in a genjutsu," she explained. "It wasn’t real. None of it. You’re okay. I’m okay. Please—just breathe." Obito’s eyes never left her body, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. She must have been in critical condition in the genjutsu, Minato realized. Close to death, probably. And for him to awaken the Sharingan because of that...? "Genjutsu," Obito whispered. "We were in... wait. My vision—why is everything so... clear?" He was a bit slow on the uptake, but Minato guessed it was better than nothing. "You really can’t tell?" Rin asked. Kakashi, visibly upset, sighed and cut in with a curt response: "It’s because you awakened the Sharingan, you idiot. And now they’re gone, probably trapping the forest." Minato nodded in agreement. That’s what he’d do in their situation. Now, how will they handle that information? Obito froze for a moment, taking in their circumstance. After another beat, he yelled: "I did WHAT?!" And then chaos descended upon the Forest of Death. Kakashi wanted to kill himself. Figuratively speaking. But as the seconds passed, figuratively was inching closer and closer towards literally. They’d just gotten back from a two-week-long mission trying to gather info on Iwa’s movements near the border. They hadn’t, of course. Most of their recent intel-gathering missions have ended in bust. No fault of their own. Iwa was just a bunch of deceptive bastards. But all wasn’t lost. As they neared Konoha’s gates, he overheard from the guards that Apollo had just released the next book in his series: Grey! Kakashi was Apollo’s number one fan. He’d read Black and White five hundred and twenty-three times. So as one would expect, Kakashi rushed back to the village double-time... just to find that all sixbookstores sold out of copies within minutes—minutes!—and they wouldn’t have new copies until two weeks from now. Kakashi was, as one might expect, pissed. After scouring the village for a copy, to no avail, he eventually stumbled across a homeless man hidden near the Inuzuka dog pound’s dumpsters, reading Grey. Kakashi told the man he’d give him a month’s worth of his earnings for the book. A more than generous offer in his opinion. The man declined, shooing him away as he stuffed his face with expired dog food. Kakashi gagged behind his mask and eventually left with a clenched jaw and balled fist. Now, he found himself in the Forest of Death of all places, sparring baby Genin. Baby Genin, who had placed him in a genjutsu so realistic, he didn’t even realize it until minutes passed in the real world. So, it was safe to say Kakashi was having a shit day. A few moments after Obito yelled, "I did what?" Sounds of screeching birds pierced Kakashi’s eardrums. The sound caught him off guard at first, being that it was way too loud and way too unnatural. It felt as if tiny knives were stabbing his eardrums. The hair on his skin rose, and his blood curdled from the sound. The only thing he could do was cover his ears. It didn’t help. Kakashi didn’t realize it at first, but he was screaming. Sounds blended together like a storm, and Kakashi found himself lying on the forest floor, trying his best to somehow escape from it all. It’s a genjutsu. Has to be, he thought. He circulated his chakra. The pain intensified. This wasn’t a genjutsu. This was real. The sound was real. His pain was real. He felt like he was going to die— A sharp slap rang across his face, and reality rushed back to him in waves. The instability of it all brought with it overwhelming nausea. He pulled down his mask and hurled. What—What is happening to me? "Pull yourself together, Kakashi!" Someone shouted—Obito, he realized, by the annoying cadence. He flicked his eyes to the left. Obito’s two Tomoe Sharingan were alive and well, peering down at him like he was some sort of odd insect. Rin’s hands were on his back—icy cool chakra flushed into his core and through his limbs. The nausea and pain began to subside. "We need to move," shouted Obito. There was something about his tone that irked Kakashi. Perhaps it was his newfound confidence. "Something big is com—" The forest floor shook violently, as if an earthquake had overtaken the forest and was trying to swallow it whole. Kakashi wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve and looked up. A gigantic piss-colored snake was barreling towards them with its maw open and daggers of fangs on full display. Kakashi circulated his chakra—the snake was gaining speed. He circulated it again—It was upon them now. Obito flickered away. Rin screamed. Then again—its tail came at him like a whip. Fast and brutal. Oh. Kakashi realized. This isn’t a genjutsu. Well. Fuck. Its tail connected with Kakashi’s body. His lungs felt like they collapsed as he was hurled like a paperweight across the entire clearing; his body rebounded off the earth like a stone skimming water. Dust and soil entered his mouth as he gasped for air. He began coughing uncontrollably. Pain lanced from his ribs down to his toes. Something—no, a lot of somethings—was broken. Had to be. He tried to move his fingers. They didn’t respond. He tried to breathe. It felt like his lungs were filled with lava. His vision was blurry, hazing around the edges, fading black. He was losing consciousness, he realized. The pain vanished as if it had never been there. He was standing upright now, vision no longer a hazed cloud of darkness. His confusion, though, did not subside. He reached into his pouch and pulled out a kunai. His attention traveled across the forest frantically. Obito and Rin were nowhere to be found. A voice called out behind him. Kakashi startled. He flickered away from the familiar voice and turned around. There was no one there. Kakashi’s breath quickened. Sweat clung to his hands. He gripped the kunai tighter and chanced a glance upward. I’ve gone crazy. Kakashi thought. I’ve actually gone crazy. And no matter how much he churned his chakra, he couldn’t tell if he was in a genjutsu or not. The pain he experienced was real. The sounds he experienced were real. The taste of iron when he bit into his tongue was real. So, what in the hell is going on?! Kakashi’s heart beat like a drum through his chest. He was on the balls of his feet, now, ready to move, ready to attack, ready to defend— Laughter echoed behind him. He threw his kunai before he even saw who it was. Metal thumped into something solid. "You’re aim isn’t that good." Kakashi was turned fully now and matched the voice with the face—it was the Yamanaka. He stood with his hands in his pockets, casually examining the kunai sticking out of the ground. He sighed. "It’s unfortunate. I didn’t know the son of the White Fang would be so... disappointing. I bet he’s glad he’s not alive to see how much of a disappointment you’ve become to his legacy." Red-hot fury shot through Kakashi’s veins. Unpleasant memories rose to the surface. Memories of villagers cursing him and his father. Memories of the hate and pure disgust on their faces. Memories of being covered in his father’s blood after he found him dead. Kakashi’s vision was clouded in red. There was only one thing on his mind: Attack. Kakashi flickered forward and unsheathed the blade strapped to his back. He swung full force at the boy in a downward arc. The Yamanaka tilted out of the way at the last possible moment, dodging the slash effortlessly, and spat out something silver at Kakashi. Kakashi angled his blade just enough so that the nearly invisible senbon ricocheted off and fell towards the ground below. His anger kept his momentum strong, though. He followed up with a horizontal slash. However, instead of backing away, the boy ducked beneath the blade, stepped into Kakashi’s guard, and touched his wrist. Pain like no other overtook Kakashi’s entire world. His entire body felt like it was on fire—like he was being boiled alive. His legs were swept from underneath, and his face met the earth with a heavy thump. The taste of iron bloomed in his mouth. He convulsed uncontrollably. "Letting anger cloud your judgement?" the boy tisked. "That’s not very genius-like of you, is it, Ka-ka-shi?" He wanted to kill the boy. Everything in him wanted him gone. It was a visceral reaction. Something inhuman. From his peripheral, he noticed a dove landing on his shoulder. It spoke in the same voice as the boy. "Rin and Obito are incapacitated. Shizune and Shisui suffered no injuries." Confusion clouded Kakashi’s mind. Nothing was making sense. How was he separated from his teammates? What was the sound from earlier? How was this boy able to make him feel so much pain? And the biggest question of them all: how was a bird able to talk? Was it his summon? "Oh, goodie. Well, I’m just about done here, too." The Yamanaka’s footsteps grew louder the closer he got. He bent down and locked eyes with Kakashi. With the most annoying smile he’s ever seen, the boy said: "Better luck next time, kid." And with that, Kakashi’s world started to descend into darkness. But before he fully faded, the boy dissolved into a puddle of black liquid that evaporated as it touched the soil beneath. The dove’s flapping wings were the last thing Kakashi remembered.