Kakashi's Mistake

chapter 3

That done and phased into the safehouse, he shed his Henge before slipping out of his clothes to head to the small bathroom, intent on taking a shower.

Stepping into the shower stall, he turned the knob to allow the hot water to wash away the grime, sweat, and tension that wracked his body as he allowed himself to close his eyes and relax.

Keeping up the illusion of his body was an incredibly taxing thing, both physically and mentally. A constant Henge required an inordinate amount of chakra to maintain and and it got even worse when in combat. It was only because of the fuzzball in his gut that he had the chakra to manage the illusion. But that didn't mean that the Henge was his only line of defense, he also added a subtle genjutsu to layer the Henge, using the bleed of his chakra as the catalyst for the genjutsu to improve the Henge in order to disguise it from doujutsu users and close range attackers.

Of course, Orochimaru came the closest to destroying the illusion in the Forest of Death. It was only thanks to the sealed countermeasures that kicked in when it sensed a chakra disruption did he have enough time to remove the Gogyo Fujin that Orochimaru had slapped on him and restored his chakra flow with a Gogyo Kaiin of his own. He'd have to remember to pay the Snake back later for that near-disaster and the damage he had wrought on Sasuke and Sakura. That had been the second time that he had questioned his choice of maintaining the illusion, it had been such a close thing, if Orochimaru had not been in a playful mood he would have had to risk performing an incomplete Hiraishin to get them to safety, a potentially dangerous move.

Dismissing those thoughts and suitably refeshed he slipped out of the shower and proceeded to dry himself off and looked in the mirror after wrapping the towel around his waist to inspect the various seals all over his body hiding weapons, scrolls, and other necessary items for the ninja life.

Taking a few more minutes to visually inspect each and every one more closer, he then changed into a new set of clothes, making sure to fold and lay out his old clothes for another one of his Kage Bunshin to clean later. He then took the time to grab a quick bite of an onigiri that he washed down with a tea and then grabbed a small backpack and checked himself over one more time. Satisfied, he located the Hiraishin seal he wanted and teleported to his apartment's bathroom.

Now he could finally go and spend some time and relax on the Hokage...

He froze, his senses telling him something was wrong just as he planted his hand on the doorknob.

Instinctively he slipped a kunai into his hand even as he slowly opened the door eyeing through the crack that he made in the door before his nose caught that scent again, the scent of cheap perfume and toads. No wonder his seals hadn't even alerted him of their tampering and an intruder, his uninvited guest could only be one person.

Opening the door fully. He stepped out into the living room, eyeing the man who was sitting at the dining room table. It would be hard to forget the man that sat there, tall, with long, spiky white hair that topped his head and dropped down in bangs, framing a face with red lines that ran down his eyes and a horned forehead protector with abura on it. His clothing was a green short skirt kimono with matching pants, the hint of a mesh armor in places his clothing did not cover, handguards covering his hands. Leaning against the table was a massive scroll that he suspected was the Toad Summoning Contract.

"Jiraiya-sama," he greeted as cordially as he could, guarded, but with a bit of warmth. It was the best he could do, he was at a loss for how he should react, irritation tugging at the corners of his psyche and a hint of anger tugging at another, he would like nothing more than to give the man a piece of his mind, but in all honestly, he couldn't with the information he had on the Toad Sannin.