Kakashi stood at the edge of the forest, one hand tucked into his pocket, the other holding his little orange book—closed, for once. Behind him, his students fidgeted. Naruto was practically vibrating with excitement, Sasuke brooded silently, and Sakura stole glances between the two of them, her brow furrowed in worry or anticipation—probably both.

“This isn’t a mission for genin,” Kakashi had said earlier.

“We’re not just genin,” Naruto had insisted.

Kakashi hadn't argued. He knew they’d follow him either way.

The reports had been vague: a lone figure lurking around the outskirts of the village, keeping to the shadows of the forest, fast—too fast for a civilian. Someone had seen a glint of a forehead protector with the village slash through it. That was enough to raise flags.

Kakashi’s eye narrowed as he led the team into the trees.

It was quiet in the forest. The kind of quiet that made even the birds nervous. Kakashi could feel it in the air—pressure, like a storm building somewhere just out of sight. He didn’t like it.

“Stay close,” he said without turning. The three obeyed.

It didn’t take long before he felt the flicker of chakra—not flaring, but carefully masked. Skilled. Very skilled.

He raised a hand to signal halt. Naruto nearly bumped into his back.

“Someone’s here,” Kakashi murmured. “Top left quadrant. About twenty meters. Don’t move.”

He was already gone in the next instant, flickering through the trees in silence. His heart ticked faster, not from adrenaline, but from something quieter. A sense of familiarity, like a smell from childhood or a song half-remembered.

Then he saw them.

The missing-nin stood among the roots of a tree that had split and grown again, like a jagged scar in the earth. Hooded, masked, still. They didn’t reach for a weapon. They didn’t flee.

Kakashi crouched in the branches above, watching. Studying.

There was something in the way they held themselves. Not the posture of a rogue—it was too clean. Too...trained. Something about the way they shifted weight, subtle and balanced. Like someone who had walked beside him once, perhaps long ago.

That stance… That chakra signature…

He felt his throat tighten. No memories surfaced, not fully—just the vague suggestion of them, like smoke through fingers.

He dropped down silently, but kept his distance.

“You’re a long way from wherever you’re supposed to be,” Kakashi said softly, eye scanning the figure. “But you already know that.”

The missing-nin didn’t respond. They didn’t have to.

Behind him, he heard branches shifting as the kids caught up—too loud. Too fast.

“Whoa!” Naruto burst into the clearing. “Is that them? That’s the missing-nin? C’mon, Kakashi-sensei, let’s fight—”

“Don’t,” Kakashi snapped, sharper than usual. The force of it made Naruto stumble back. Even Sasuke straightened.

Sakura looked at the masked figure, then back at Kakashi. “What is it? Do you recognize them?”

Kakashi stared. The forest was too quiet again. He watched the way the figure’s fingers twitched slightly, unconsciously. A nervous tic. Familiar.

He said nothing.

He didn’t know.

But something old stirred in his chest. A name he couldn’t recall. A ghost that didn’t have a face.