Chapter Text
It was essential for the survival of a shinobi to not begin to panic, even when one felt that something in their surroundings was askew - when the feeling of plain wrongness crept up on one’s self, even before they took in their surroundings.
Kakashi took a deep breath to center himself, then he carefully opened his visible eye. When he saw the street around him, he instinctively knew that something was inherently different from where he had just been moments ago.
For one, there was the blatant change of scenery. A certain change he had expected when the flashing bright light had engulfed him and his team for the mission.
It had originated from one of their enemies, a distasteful, bootleg-Minato rip-off that had tried to badly copy his Flying Thunder God technique for teleportation. Just for thinking that this someone from outside of Konoha would have the nerve to copy him Kakashi had wanted to turn around and defend his old sensei’s honor. Maybe this was what made him falter in their retreat, what made him be closer to the enemy and his faulty teleport technique than the rest of his team. Maybe this had been the cause why it had only made him appear here, without the rest of the team.
He had been expected to be brought to the enemy's base - not into some empty back alley. The village, the street he was standing in, looked unlike anything he had seen before. And he prided himself in thinking that by now he had gained a good overview and knowledge of what the Elemental Nations had to offer.
And here, it looked different, with the buildings around him having too much glass and concrete and too little stone, no wood at all. And built so high, that he had to crane his neck to see the top. It was not just a singular tower that was this tall - no, most of the buildings around him reached that height.
Then there was the smell and the taste of the wind. There was a lingering and persisting note of burning fuel and machinery at work, so heavy that it erased all other smells. Well, almost all, the alley he landed in was filled with dumpsters and old trash bags, emitting a vile smell that made him glad he was wearing his mask.
The same went for the sounds he could make out, like a mechanical beehive. He wondered if he actually had landed in some place with active industrial fabrication. Mixed into it, he could make out the sounds of civilization and people in the distance - although that, as well, sounded wrong somehow, askew. Kakashi decided to proceed in that direction anyway.
He wondered if this was some dream, maybe he had hit his head, or if this was a genjutsu, but he could not find any of the usual tells for it. If it was one, it was better than any he had ever witnessed. He knew staying calm was essential for his survival, but this was toeing a line that was hard to not cross, even for him.
What he was certain of, was, if he somehow would be staying here for more than just a moment, that he needed information of this place - preferably anything that hinted on where exactly he was and, even better, how to get back home.
The alley he had appeared in was narrow, dark, but the alley connected to a bigger street. Carefully he proceeded, but he watched the shadows around him like a hawk.
Before he had a clear view of the bigger alley, he would have thought it to be empty - as he was not able to sense a single chakra signature - but when he had a full view of it, he noticed that it was not the case. A man was leaning against the wall just a few meters away from him, smoking. A few entrances over, the windows were lit and a group of people were leaving what was probably a bar or an inn of some sort. This must have been what he had heard.
Who were those people in which he could not sense the tiniest spark of chakra in them? Not even civilians were usually this… empty. It was something that made him question again if this place was even real or some very convincing illusion. Or maybe it was even worse, maybe the people here could hide their signature.
His analysis of the lacking signatures came to an abrupt halt when he threw a second glance at the smoking person closest to him. He seemed so plain and civilian, and yet, he had six fingers on the hand he was holding his cigarette with and on the side of his head turned towards Kakashi, he could see two ears sitting at the spot of one.
Maybe Kakashi stared for a second longer than it helped stay inconspicuous, but he recounted ears and fingers again, just to make sure he had not hit his head appearing in that alley.
Some people walked towards them, drunk and hollering. But even this drunk, a civilian would probably notice a shinobi standing in front of them and stepping aside so as to not anger them, it was unusually ingrained in them as was the glace behind himself wherever he went for Kakashi. These people did none of that, even when one of them bumped his shoulder against Kakashi and Kakashi stared at him with his eye, there was no recognition.
This at least could maybe mean that he had not been transported to some village of their attackers. Even though it would have been the obvious strategy to send them somewhere where reinforcement was waiting.
The more he watched the people around him, trying to make sense of them, the more questions he had. And as he had to start somewhere to answer them, he steered towards the bar the drunks just had left from.
The bar smelled differently than the ones he was used to - just like most of the things he had smelled in this strange place so far. In the artificial light, it was even more noticeable, just how different the people around him seemed to be here as well. There was the bartender, who had four ears instead of two, standing out on his bald head and were adorned with multiple little piercings. There was the woman sitting at the counter, who seemed to be drinking through her long fingers that she held into the glass of her drink. Among a group of laughing people in one of the booths was sitting a man with ocean blue hair that seemed to glow in the dim light.
Kakashi had met plenty of people with different techniques, body modifications, and bloodlines over the years, especially during his travels in more recent ones, but there never had been traits as random as this and never been so many different kinds at once. Barely any seemed to be useful - they did not seem like the powerful kekkei genkai that clan families were so careful to pass down to the next generation to secure their power.
It was just as strange as the lack of chakra in everything, everyone around him. There was still faintly some in the air, but it was not infused into anything at all.
And still, even though the people around him did not feel remotely like shinobi, he tried to stay ever vigilant. Especially since they did not really feel like the kind of civilians he knew after all.
He also had to maintain his act of being a totally normal and boring guy and so he shuffled forward and slumped down at the bar counter as if he just was a civilian that required a drink after work. He did not even have to put up an act to seem tired this time - he still felt so drained he wanted to lay down and sleep for a week at least. But that probably would have to wait until he, for one, found out where the fuck he was, and also, made it back to Konoha alive.
“Rough day?” the bartender asked.
“You could say that,” he replied. After all, he had spent most of it fighting. His body still ached and he was very aware of a few minor injuries that begged to be taken care of. Their team had been on the return from their mission when they had been ambushed during a short rest. In their short fight, he had not even learned their, if present, village loyalties or associations. The ambush had been so good they had to decide to flee and ask questions later.
“Here boy, before you order anything that you will regret later, drink this one first.”
Kakashi almost slipped and showed his surprise. It had been a while since anyone had called him “boy”. Then he eyed the glass the bartender had placed in front of him critically. It looked like water at first glance, but there was no way he would trust it with that - it basically could be anything.
Carefully he dipped his finger into it - and sensed nothing out of the ordinary. When the bartender turned to the next waiting patron, he leaned in to sniff at the liquid, then he dipped his finger in again to taste just a single drop of it. And only then, when he still had not noticed any anomalies, he drank a few sips of the water. Truth was that he would have loved to just drown the whole glass, he felt parched, but even now he still did not trust the liquid.
While he was sitting there, he tried to sort out a plan. First, he would need information, then he would need shelter to rest, and hopefully when he had that both, he would be able to find out how to return to his village and leave this strange and stinking place.
Maybe he was getting old, maybe his years were finally catching up with him - years he had burned through too quickly and way too young. He really felt, when he was back and rested for a day or two, like asking for a vacation, which was a new feeling for him. Usually, missions had been his distractions from his tiredness, but maybe even they would not do it anymore.
Or maybe this was part of the chakra exhaustion he certainly had at this point, he knew that since he was ported here he was hanging by a thread. So, he needed shelter, and for that, he needed information and resources. He tried to expand his senses and tried to listen in on the conversations going on around him.
There were two guys down the counter having a conversation that seemed rather serious. From what Kakashi could gather. One of them was unfortunate enough to catch his wife cheating on him with her colleague - who worked for something called a hero agency. Kakashi did not know what to make out of an agency like that, but he knew it sounded ridiculous. Kakashi had a tiny bit of pity for the sorrowful-looking guy and focused on the next.
Then there was a table with what seemed to be regulars in the way they loudly chatted with the bartender through the whole room. They probably knew the bar well, an advantage they would have against anything Kakashi could try to pull.
“And there is this new firm, which is rumored to be making the software for the I-Island's security systems, that is rising in the value predictions - I invested already of course - this early in the investment should multiply in mere months…”
Bingo. Next to the regulars, in a booth under the window, he found his target. A couple, or a date at least. They did not seem to know each other all that well. There was a man who kept blubbering on and on about his newest investment and a woman who seemed utterly bored by it, picking at her nail polish.
An easy target.
With confidence, he strode up to their booth and sat down on the bench next to the man, so that he could look at the woman.
“You look like you are having a great evening,” he said, letting just a bit too much sarcasm drip from his voice.
The woman looked up in confusion, then her expression morphed into a scowl.
“Excuse - who are you?” the man next to him said and Kakashi could feel his anger rising when he was ignored - good.
“Maybe I can offer a lovely woman like you an even better evening - if you would want to…”
“What do you want?” the woman asked, her voice surprisingly harsh.
“Maybe I just want in on the fun you two are having,” he turned towards the man, winking with his visible eye. “And this means with you as well, sweetheart.”
Kakashi leaned in his direction, then put an arm behind the man on the seat, but the man shrunk backwards under his gaze. The man who had been trying to get Kakashi’s attention since he had sat down suddenly was quiet. He was too stunned to even notice Kakashi’s arm behind him wandering anywhere else.
“I think it is time for you to leave,” the woman said, her eyes still fixated on them. If Kakashi was not mistaken, she looked protective of the man suddenly.
“Okay, okay, I will,” Kakashi lifted both arms in surrender. “Wishing you two lovelies a lovely evening, bye~!”
With his loot swiftly stored in one of his pockets, he slowly left the bar, as if he never heard the word hurry in his mind. Although his mind was already running and sorting through places where he could possibly go to recover enough to get home. Had he seen a vacant building down the streets on his way here? Maybe this would be an option. Although he probably, even if he really really needed rest, should at least do a minimal round of scouting in the area before he settled somewhere for the moment. He should get up on the lower roofs, scouting should be a lot easier from there, he mused.
The few people that had lingered before the bar had left when he stepped outside, so he just walked a few steps until he was not standing in the direct lights of the bar windows anymore and tried to gather the last chakra he could spare to climb onto the roofs.
When suddenly he found himself struggling against some binding that wrapped around his middle, pushing the hands he had been holding in front of his chest to sign against it.
That alone - that he had not been paying enough attention to notice this attack coming - told him how critical it was for his condition. Nobody crept onto the Hound like this.
He tried to rip the bindings, which were white and from a surprisingly durable material, off, or at least to make them more loose so he could slip out of them. But if anything, it felt like they were getting more tight, it was already getting harder to breathe.
He forced himself to calm down, assess the situation before it could get worse. At the same time, the world was already strangely turning a bit sideways - and then over to the other side. A very specific dreaded lightheadedness took hold of him - he was slowly approaching his limit, he knew from experience. But still, Kakashi forced himself to focus. The bindings seemed to come from a man standing several meters away, draped around his neck.
“Stop struggling, idiot,” the man said. “It’s no use, you can’t escape them, the police will be here in a minute. Don’t think I didn’t see that in there.”
Kakashi’s movements stilled. He must have lost his edge if someone caught him pickpocketing - what was even happening here? Did he really need a vacation? He decided to play dumb. There was little else he still could do, Kakashi felt like he was about to pass out.
“What are you talking about? Can’t a weary traveler enjoy a drink to soothe his woes?”
“You stole that wallet.”
“What I did was merely save their date - he was boring that lady to death, she was almost running off. Now though, they have a funny story about a stranger to tell whenever they think about this date. I basically saved their whole relationship and future with each other - they should be so thankful for me-”
“Who are you?” the man asked, cutting Kakashi off.
“You first,” Kakashi said without the intention of giving out his name. “Who are you?”
He mustered the man again, from his messy, long dark hair and the very visible eyebags, to the show of a beard and the civilian dark clothes. Aside from his binding weapon, he did not seem to be a threat at all.
The man sighed, but he did not take his eyes off Kakashi for one second, as if he was waiting for Kakashi to move and was ready to stop him. “I am the one that is fed up with guys like you making me do extra work on my day off.”
A loud noise appeared, coming closer, it was deep and grumbling and metallic, like some automation. He could not place it, even if he was sure those sounds had been there before he had entered the bar as well, they just had been further away.
It was still coming closer and maybe in this village, which he knew next to nothing about, there were bigger dangers than a man with strange scarfs, so he started to struggle again, in a last attempt to get away. With all he had, he threw himself against the binding, with so much momentum that he could make a few steps and then a few more, away from the man and onto the middle path between the rows of houses. Doing that, he almost missed the man’s eyes lightening up red and his hair suddenly standing upwards.
“Stop - don’t go there that’s the -”
But the roaring of the machine got louder and louder, Kakashi’s head was stuck in the binding, so he could not turn towards it without stepping backwards. Suddenly the man’s eyes widened and his face looked shocked, right before he rushed forward towards him. The noise was still coming closer, the ground trembled.
A squeaking and screeching joined the rumble. With the man rushing towards him, the bindings suddenly went slack and Kakashi fell backwards, stumbling over the bindings, right into the screeching, until the rumble was right above him. And yes, maybe he felt a bit of panic, flaring with his arms until he could not anymore.
A searing hot, white pain engulfed him, before everything went black.
“- road.”