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When Kakashi’s ANBU unit is deployed to deal with an unspecified threat in the forest on the outskirts of the village, he isn’t expecting to find a kid with shocking white hair and cosmos for eyes.
“Hey, a mini Hound,” Fox says in jest, at least having the forethought to use codenames. “Silver hair and everything.”
Kakashi ignores the comment. The kid in question has white hair, pure as the first morning snow.
They’d been briefed on situation beforehand, to an extent, but seeing the kid in person is something else. Kakashi’s sharingan spins wildly, unsure what to focus on first – the sheer power that the kid possess is almost overwhelming. There is an immense concentration of chakra in his eyes, and a layer of it surrounding him like a blanket, or a second skin, pulsing and flaring with the kid’s apparent agitation.
He’s never seen anything like it.
“Is he human?” Owl mutters to his right. “That chakra can’t be normal.”
If there was anything unnatural about the kid’s chakra – apart from the sheer amount that he possessed – Kakashi can’t sense it.
And he looks very human at the moment, curled into a tight ball with is hands pressed against his eyes. He seems to be in pain, judging by the harsh panting.
Should be easy enough to slap some binding cuffs on him to calm down that other-worldly chakra, then figure out where he’s hurt and take him in. The unit moves as one, descending from the trees into the clearing, forming a loose circle around the boy.
It should be easy, until Snake steps forwards, hand signals already flashing, when the kid suddenly uncurls from his ball and strikes with a gesture and an exclamation that Kakashi has never seen before, eyes blazing.
Snake barely has seconds to leap out of the way as a blast of something chaotic and deadly and blue is sent his direction. Trees fall and the earth is left scorched in the wake of the devastating blow. Kakashi can feel the hair on the back of his neck rise as the air goes heavy, dense with something, not unlike when he’s summoning chitari, but infinitely more concentrated.
The ANBU don’t hesitate after that, moving as one to bind the child’s arms and legs. It’s obvious to Kakashi that the kid is confused and disoriented; he can’t seem to keep his eyes open for longer than a few moments, and when he does, they are hazy and unfocused, pupils blown wide. He’s also saying something – Kakashi picks up something about a ransom, a bounty sum on his head, and he’s struck with the thought of if this child is in the BINGO book.
With the power he’s displayed, Kakashi wouldn’t be surprised. He’s only seen one other shinobi preform a jutsu even remotely similar to what the child just displayed: Minato-sensei’s rasengan. But this… Kakashi turns once again, taking in the devastation carved forty meters into the forest. This is a whole different level.
They’ve managed to knock the kid out, likely through a combination of his own confusion and a mind jutsu. “We’ll take him back to the Hokage,” Snake instructs. “He’ll be interested to know what happened.”
Kakashi looks again to the boy, thrown carelessly over Owl’s shoulder. Like this, calm in his unconsciousness, the boy’s youth is obvious, face soft and unlined. He's probably just about as old as Kakashi was when he joined his genin team.
Kakashi knows all too well what happens to kids that display such raw power such as this. Not just the Hokage will be interested to know what happened.
“I’ll come too,” he finds himself saying. Judging by the look Fox and the others gives him, he’s not the only one who finds his own decision out of character.
Snake just nods his assent, face unreadable behind his mask. “Let’s go.”
Kakashi spares one more glance to the boy, features delicate. He doesn’t look like a demon, though he knows how he’ll be treated after this.
He just hopes he’s making the right decision.