Early Morning Ambush

It had been two weeks since Katsu's coming here, and the pains of hunger had pressured him into partaking in some less than civil things.

Fortunately for him, Training Ground Seven did, in fact, have deer. However, he found that killing deer is quite troublesome when you don't even have so much as a butter knife with which to hunt, nor a single attack-type ninjutsu.

Which is why, in a moment of desperation, Katsu set forth "Operation Rob The Elderly."

The assignment was simple: Disguise himself as some unfortunate passerby with the transformation jutsu, enter a store selling kunai, convince the elderly shopkeeper of a person snooping in the back of the shop, slip a kunai into his pants, and then book it out of the store. A good plan. A sound plan. One without any flaws whatsoever.

Of course, the plan didn't account for the old woman being a former kunoichi and her seeing through his novice transformation jutsu almost immediately. When the woman refused to go into the back and instead watched him with a piercing gaze, he panicked, pushed a shelf onto her, and ran off with the blade while she screamed bloody murder from under various household goods.

'Perhaps things have gotten too out of hand,' he thought at the time, knowing he'd just assaulted a lady old enough to be his grandma.

It has been a week since that operation of immense proportions. Now, in the early morning dew, Katsu sat before a dying campfire in the middle of the forest of Training Ground Seven. Today was his only day off from the academy, and his plans for the day went no further than simply "train enough to not die in seven months."

In these two weeks, Katsu had more or less mastered the transformation jutsu. After the disaster that was his first self-proclaimed operation, he made sure that such a mistake would not happen again.

Katsu had similarly mastered the clone jutsu, at least to the extent that he would pass the exam. He still wasn't sure how it would ever be useful in combat. He could not think of a single time in the show where the clone jutsu was a practical solution to a problem of any kind.

"Maybe I'll try to perfect the body replacement technique today?" He wondered to himself as he poked the withering campfire with a stick.

As Katsu thought about what today's training might entail, he heard the crunch of a twig in the foliage behind him.

He popped up and pulled the only kunai that he "owned" in front of himself. He was sure it was probably just a rabbit, but it didn't hurt to be cautious.

Katsu's racing heart eased a bit, and he began to lower his blade.

"Damn rabbits, always encroaching on my turf," he mumbled to no one in particular.

Before he could turn back around, something cutting through the foliage pumped adrenaline into every square inch of his body.

"Shit!" Katsu said in surprise while ducking out of the trajectory of a shuriken aimed at his head.

The throwing star lodged itself in a tree behind him. As he raised his guard up again and warily watched the direction in which the sneak attack came from, he heard the rustling of leaves to his left.

'Did that woman come back for revenge?' Katsu thought as he dove out of the way of another shuriken. He crashed into the ground for a moment before using his momentum to roll back onto his feet.

Katsu sprinted towards the bushes where the second attack originated from. He leaped onto the branch of a tree to get some height on his attacker, and if at all possible, locate them.

'Warm,' was the only thought that ran through his mind before he leaped from the tree as fast his six-year-old legs would allow. Soon thereafter the branch where he once perched himself was swallowed by a ball of fire.

After landing on the ground, he froze.

'It was a good run,' he thought as cold sweat trailed down his back. He could feel that he had been checkmated. Directly behind him stood the one responsible for his hectic morning.

Katsu simply stood there waiting for the sword to fall. He could see it in his peripheral vision. And it did. It fell and fell before landing squarely on the top of his skull.

*chop*

"Ahh…?" Katsu wondered out loud, "Hey buddy, I think your sword is in the other hand."

His attacker had lightly karate chopped the top of his head.

The man laughed, "I never expected the vile kunai bandit to be a little kid."

Katsu turned his head around to see a white-haired man with just the friendliest smile imaginable — a far cry from the evil shinobi he thought to have been hiding behind the bushes.

"I never expected the White Fang to hunt kids in the woods in his free time," Katsu replied with relief. It would seem he wouldn't die today.

"So you know me, eh? Name's Sakumo. What's yours, kid?"

"Katsu."

"Good meeting you, Katsu. What's a kid like you doing out here anyhow?"

"Surviving. And I'd thought I'd almost failed with your little ambush."

"Was just testing you is all. Not everyday you get an old woman begging you to capture a thief."

'She tattled on me, huh? Old people are the same regardless of the world,' Katsu thought.

"Petty theft isn't punishable by death, right?" Katsu asked.

"Yes," Sakumo said with dead seriousness in his eyes and a tightening grip on his sword.

Katsu froze up while utter terror descended upon his face.

"Hahaha! I'm just messing with you, kid. I'm not gonna kill you."

Katsu relaxed his shoulders and fell to the ground. He was mentally exhausted.

"You did nearly roast me alive, though."

"You underestimate me, Katsu. I would've stepped in had I thought you incapable of dodging," Sakumo said as he sat beside the laying Katsu.

"But do you really need to rob the elderly? That's not very 'will of fire' of you."

Katsu rested his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. He said, "I was hungry. Simple as that. Either I can steal food all the way up until my graduation, or steal a single kunai and feed myself. Did I really make the wrong choice?"

"Yeah, you did. You could've just earned the money through doing small jobs after school."

"…"

"You didn't think of that, did you?"

Katsu opened his eyes and looked up at Sakumo. "Look, in seven months I'm going to be thrown at grown men with higher kill counts than months I've been alive. Every second I spend working is less time spent preparing enough to not be killed."

Sakumo had a deep look in his eyes for a moment. "I really wish kids like you didn't have to go to war, but it is the sad reality of the world we live in."

'Probably thinking of Kakashi,' immediately came to Katsu's mind.

"Speaking of war… shouldn't you be, you know, out there fighting? Instead of talking to me?" Katsu asked.

"I just completed a high-ranking mission, I'll have you know. I've been given a few days off to see my son, and then I'll be off to complete whatever assignment Hokage-sama has in store for me."

'Sakumo Hatake,' Katsu thought, 'In the original story, doesn't he… kill himself?'

"Hey, if you don't mind me asking, how old's your son? Gotta name?" Katsu asked.

"His name's Kakashi. He'll turn one in a few months, and he's my pride and joy," Sakumo said with heartfelt sincerity.

From the side, Katsu could see how genuine the love this man had for his son was. He didn't understand why Sakumo would throw all that away because of public ridicule.

'Kakashi's only one, huh? So we should be somewhere close to the beginning of the Second Shinobi War, I think,' Katsu thought.

"How long has this war been going on now, anyway?"

"Hmm, a bit over a year now if memory serves. I hope it doesn't last too much longer. I'd rather Kakashi not grow up during such times."

The two talked for a while more before Katsu sat upright in a flash, and in a fit of determination, asked, "Sakumo… will you train me?"