**
Sixteen years earlier...
A fifteen-year-old, Kakashi Hatake, crouched in the branches of a tall tree nestled deep in the tangled wood. The Konoha ANBU had been tracking this group for a few days now, and they were already miles within the Land of Fire, heading towards Konohagakure. The group would only be allowed to approach the village for so long before they would have to be dealt with. He leaned back into the deeper shadows as he listened to the voices nearby. Then he turned his head slightly to get a view of the group.
They were Kumo shinobi. Three of them looked even younger than him... they could have still been genin. Though this would have been a rather high level mission for a group of genin, and despite their youth, none of them showed any signs of inexperience. The fourth was an older man and must have been their team leader and sensei.
"Jay sensei, what're the chances that we're this far into leaf territory without encountering any Konoha shinobi?" asked a pale blonde girl with blue eyes, who wore a tanto at her hip. She looked around herself suspiciously.
Her sensei, a dark brown man with a shaved head and dark glasses, replied, "It is strange."
"If we split up, it will be easier to remain covert." The man continued. "Atsui with Mabui –continue our current route. Samui and I will head west and then circle back south."
The three younger shinobi nodded. Then the older ninja and the blonde girl left the clearing, running to the west. They left behind the other two Kumo shinobi, a pale blonde boy, who looked like the male version of the blonde kunoichi. He carried a katana with a white hilt. And a thin silvered haired girl with brilliant green eyes and brown skin. She carried a chokuto on her back with a red hilt.
Kakashi silently signaled to the ANBU hidden in the next tree, instructing him to follow the group running west. He stayed to watch the remaining two, sliding his ANBU mask over his face and quietly moving after them as they continued southwest towards the village.
There was tentative peace between Kumo and Konoha, but it was common knowledge that Kumo had not yet followed the peace treaty guidelines and demilitarized like the other villages. In exchange, Konoha held onto multiple of Kumo's more dangerous captured shinobi. The ANBU had been monitoring for an attempt to recover the prisoners. So far it had only been groups scouting the area.
At first, Kakashi thought it was useless to follow this group. They were young and nothing seemed particularly special about them. No one would have pinpointed this team as the team that Kumo would send for a recovery attempt. But something told him to keep following them anyway, and they continued to move on a much more determined path than the other scouting groups. One of them must have had a special technique that the cloud was counting on.
They all carried swords and like most Kumo shinobi appeared proficient in kenjutsu. When they encountered a small group of bandits before crossing the border, they had fought well together. He had seen the blonde boy produce a flame from his sword and so he had some sort of fire release jutsu. The blonde girl had a very tactical mind and the others seemed to defer to her at times even more so than the team leader.
He finally pinpointed the silver haired girl as the one with the special technique. She was reckless, as though not particularly concerned for her own safety. At times leaving herself open in order to protect her teammates. And she had some sort of teleporting technique which she could use to transport others. This must have been how they planned to get the prisoners out.
They were getting too close to the village and not stopping. He made the decision that he would have to take them out. Kakashi picked up speed, catching up to them and passing them. He circled around to approach them from the front.
Exploits of An Ex-Hokage
Start from the beginning
