Chapter Text
August 30th, 284 AD
Whispered tales of missing-nin were not uncommon to hear in shinobi villages. Some ninja defected from their villages, sick of the corruption within. Some snapped, minds descending into insanity from the toll the shinobi life demanded of them. Others left to fulfill personal desires, wishes that they couldn’t complete in the iron grip of the government.
Most missing-nin weren’t all that dangerous. Most were outcasts that had always been that way. They weren’t the ones that people were afraid of.
But every once in a while, a name would join their ranks—one that could be pinned to a dangerous shinobi with skills that could wipe out an entire army. The kind of nin parents would warn their children about at night. Shinobi with bounties on their heads worth more than ten S-ranked missions combined.
Those were the missing-nin that had tales whispered about them. Those were the ninja that you never wanted to meet in combat. Or anywhere else, for that matter.
Most bingo books held the same names. Most ninja knew who to avoid.
Then again, Team 7 were not most ninja.
Haburashi sighed and leaned forward, showing his bingo book out to the three wild genin in front of him. If he was going to teach them anything today, it would be how to not die a horrific death.
“This is a bingo book,” he explained calmly. Sakura and Sasuke seemed to understand what this meant immediately, but Naruto was more than clueless.
“Bingo? Like the game?” He asked, eyes bright with humor.
Sakura slapped him. “No, you idiot. A bingo book is a list of dangerous ninja from rival villages, missing-nin, or potential security threats to Konoha that should be eliminated. Basically, it’s a list of people we, as genin, need to avoid, while higher ranking ninja would aim to kill the people in this list.”
Haburashi nodded approvingly. “Precisely. Good job, Sakura. I’m showing you all this book so that you know what ninja to avoid, should you ever run across them.”
All three genin leaned forward in interest.
“We’ll start with missing-nin from Konoha first.” Haburashi said calmly, flipping the page to that section. “First off, Orochimaru.”
Haburashi calmly explained what Orochimaru’s history was to them and why they should definitely avoid him, trying to be as gentle as possible with the explanation so as to not scare them. He still had a lot of shinobi to go, after all, and Orochimaru was only the tip of the iceberg.
He flipped the page, to a set of red eyes and black hair that was quite familiar. “Itachi Uchiha. He is responsible for the slaughter of the Uchiha Clan and thus listed as a missing-nin. You’ll notice that on his page, there is a Flee On Sight marking—“ he pointed to the symbol at the bottom of the page— “As opposed to a Kill On Sight marking. I’m sure you can deduce what that means for yourselves.”
“But why would we run?” Naruto asked, scratching his head cluelessly. “I mean, he can’t be that dangerous right?”
Sasuke huffed. “He is responsible for singlehandedly killing one of the most powerful clans in Konoha history, idiot. Besides, only I can kill him. I have to.”
Haburashi pursed his lips, wanting to tell Sasuke not to do that, even though he’s quite sure the child won’t listen.
“But why you?” Naruto asked.
“Because he’s my brother. I have to get revenge for what he did,“ Sasuke fumed, fists curling in anger.
“Okay, moving on,” Haburashi cut in. Why did he get stuck with this team again? Why couldn’t they have split Naruto and Sasuke up? Huh? Did he do something wrong that deserved such a horrible punishment?
Okay. Maybe putting an exploding seal on Asuma’s toothbrush was a bad prank. But it sure had been funny in the moment.
…still. He was pretty sure that didn’t justify being stuck with this team from hell.
The three genin focused back on him, as he flipped the page and continued going over various missing-nin from Konoha, detailing what he knew about them and what his team should do if they ran into one of them on a mission outside of Konoha’s borders. They followed along, with Sasuke occasionally adding his input for the few ninja that he had heard about. Naruto was, of course, completely clueless about the entire situation.
“And lastly,” Haburashi turned the page with a sense of finality, “Kakashi Hatake.”
The name weighed heavily in the air.
Haburashi sat in silence as the genin took in the photo of the shinobi with silver hair, one black eye, one red eye, and a mask covering the bottom of his face.
“Sensei,” Sakura said hesitantly. “He also has a Flee On Sight symbol…”
“Yes, he does,” Haburashi said slowly, unsure how to explain just how dangerous Kakashi Hatake was.
“I’ve heard of him,” Sasuke grunted, biting his lip as if trying to figure out where he’d heard the name.
“I’m sure you have,” Haburashi sighed, and then resolved himself to explain the full details of Kakashi Hatake’s dissent into missing-nin status. “Of all the nin on the list, this is the one I want you to be the most wary of.”
“Including Sasuke’s brother?” Sakura asked, curious.
Haburashi nodded. “Yes. Including him.”
“Why?” Naruto asked, voice far louder than it should be given the nature of the conversation.
Haburashi lowered his gaze to the ground, the book in his hand lowering from a readable level to you’re-gonna-have-to-lean-over-it-if-you-want-to-read-it level. “They call him cold-blooded Kakashi. Friend Killer.”
“Friend… killer?” Naruto asked, his bright demeanor quickly lost.
Haburashi nodded, “Before he went missing nin, Kakashi was one of Konoha’s best shinobi—having graduated the Academy at the youngest age in history, and his assent into further ranks matched that record as well. But then he… snapped. Killed his teammate Obito and took one of his sharingan eyes for himself, and then not even a year later, he killed his other teammate Rin with a lightning bolt through the chest. After that, Lord Fourth put him in ANBU to attempt to control him, but it just made it worse. Kakashi lost it completely, killed an important member of our village named Danzo, and then left. He hasn’t been seen here since, but there have been… rumors.”
The genin were silent, taking in the information.
“What rumors?” Sasuke asked cautiously.
Haburashi swept a hand through his hair. “Bad ones. When he first left, he wiped out entire armies of enemy nin, singlehandedly. He’s killed Kage’s from other countries before, and tracked down and killed countless missing-nin as well. He is ruthless and he will kill you if you get in his way, so whatever you do—Stay. Away. From. Kakashi. Hatake.”
The three genin gulped, terror coursing through their veins at both the thought of meeting Kakashi Hatake, and the seriousness of their usually kind Sensei’s voice.
Today’s lesson would forever be engrained in their minds.