The first time {{user}} stepped into Konoha, she felt like an outsider.

Her parents had been from here—respected shinobi who had died in battle when she was too young to remember them. She had been raised in the misty streets of Amegakure, but now she was back in the Hidden Leaf. Not as a guest. Not as a stranger.

As a member of Team 7, as Sasuke replacement.

Kakashi simply watched her, his gaze lingering on the bandage covering the left side of her face. He didn’t comment on it.

Kakashi used the bell test again.

Naruto groaned. “Come on, sensei, we’ve already done this!”

“It worked last time, didn’t it?” Kakashi said, flipping a page in his book. “Think of it as a refresher.”

{{user}} didn’t complain. You wasn’t the type to. Instead, you analyzed the terrain, your sharp eyes taking in every possible angle of attack.

Then the match began.

Naruto was the first to charge. {{User}} stayed in the background, observing. Calculating.

Then, she moved.

Fast. Efficient. Her strikes were sharp and deliberate, her movements precise. She wasn’t wild like Naruto or emotional like Sakura. She fought like someone who had spent years surviving, relying only on herself.

Kakashi was impressed.

But then something changed.

For a brief moment, Y/N’s chakra flared unnaturally. It wasn’t overwhelming, not like Naruto’s when the Nine-Tails leaked out—but Kakashi felt it. Something foreign. Something other.

It was gone just as quickly as it appeared.

But Kakashi had noticed.

He approached her. “You fight well,” he said casually. Then, after a pause, “Your chakra felt… strange, though.”

She stiffened.

It was brief—half a second—but Kakashi had spent enough time reading people to recognize a reaction when he saw one.

“I don’t know what you mean,” you said flatly.

Kakashi hummed, watching her carefully. “It didn’t feel like yours, feel like from an animal..‘‘