...So.

A couple months ago I was going through my old files and came across the doc for this fic, which I haven't touched in years. I skimmed a little for the nostalgia and realized that the next chapter had been about 2/3 done this whole time. Then I had the thought "wouldn't it be hilarious if the next time someone asks for an update I actually do it?" Lo and behold, a few days ago I got a guest review from a Lus asking just that.

This one goes out to everyone who left reviews for an eleven year old fic. Dreams do come true I guess. Here's that one remaining bit of the next chapter, untouched and unedited, genuine 2013 middle schooler content. Which btw means that legally I'm not any more responsible for the quality of this than any of the other chapters.

And if it wasn't obvious, this is a one off. I'm not gonna be continuing this story past this. Sorry if that seems a little misleading, it's just that I find suddenly updating a fic after a decade extremely funny. For the record, this was last updated 2/8/2013. tbh I barely cared about Harry Potter back then and I certainly don't now, so yeah. Kakashi will always have a special place in my heart though.

Chapter Ten: The Truth, Maybe

At least one enemy. Twenty meters out, ten up, at two-thirty. Chunnin or higher. Likely stealth specialist. Probable motive: to kill Harry, so drawing them away won't work. It left the kids vulnerable. That will mean a defense jutsu, the best one being- okay, got it.

"Kakashi, what was-"

"Earth Release: Earth Wall!"

He slammed his hands to the ground and a rock wall slid upwards in a C-shape around the three students. Now to take care of the enemy.

Kakashi heard a rushing in the air and drew his tanto as he turned. He blocked the overhead kunai attack and locked swords with his attacker. It was a pale man with blonde hair wearing a mask like his but no forehead protector. How a shinobi had gotten through the school's barrier unnoticed was beyond him but that wasn't the most pressing issue at the moment.

Kakashi held until he realized he wasn't strong enough to push the man back. Vaulting upwards he saw a long katana darting after him. Pulling a kunai up in his left hand and deflecting the blow he pushed chakra into his tanto. It flashed a blinding bright white for an instant. The man gasped and closed his eyes in pain; Kakashi was one step ahead, closing his blinded eye but whipping off the cloth covering Obito's Sharingan.

Everything became clear and slow. The path his kunai took seemed obvious and it buried itself in the shinobi's stomach; a poof of smoke, a clone.

The real one was looping around the right, far enough away for a counterattack.

"Earth Style- Rock Pellets!" Small pebbles shot from the ground. The blonde shinobi dodged, predictably, but that was just to distract from the smoke pellets and explosion tags he'd planted underground weeks ago.

Explosions shook the earth but Kakashi was already diving into the cloud of smoke, tanto ready and letting his nose and ears guide him. From the left, no above- he dodged the sword strike easily and sliced diagonally upwards toward the neck. It made contact and blood sprayed, but not enough to be a major artery, dammit. The shinobi swung again and Kakashi slid backwards; he had the advantage in this smoke, no need to be risky. The thought had hardly crossed his mind when the ground shivered and his foot sunk down like he'd stepped in quicksand. His ankle wrenched painfully, the one that was already hurt, but he yanked himself out of the trap, ignoring the pain.

A small stumble but the man was already on him, katana aiming for his neck. Kakashi ducked, pivoted on his good foot and kneed him in the stomach. The man barely flinched and brought the handle of his katana down hard on Kakashi's shoulder, and there was a loud pop. Dislocated. Shit, he couldn't match him in close combat even with the Sharingan. The guy was just too fast. Moving with the blow he rolled, putting the palm of his uninjured arm to the ground and sprung in a flip out of the smoke cloud. He landed near the rock wall and moved to cover the open part of the semicircle. Harry, Ron and Hermione hadn't moved. He used the brief pause to shrug out of the cumbersome school cloak, revealing a now-blood soaked white dress shirt. With the shoulder dislocated his left arm was out of commission. It would have to manage some hand signs anyway. He was deciding his next move when Obito's Sharingan caught some movement in the smoke cloud. Chakra was compressing and the cloud was shivering, almost like…

"Get down!" Kakashi shoved the three students into the grass. A second later the air whistled above them and the rock wall cracked. A wind blade; he'd nearly not caught it.

The shinobi was on him again but he could not mess up again, not with the kids so close. His tanto flashed threateningly and darted at or around the other man's katana. Kakashi struggled to stay on the offensive with one arm and used his Sharingan to find tiny gaps in his defenses, only managing small cuts. He caught the katana on his tanto again, at the perfect angle but this guy was fucking strong, and metal sparked for an instant before he felt his tanto wrenched from his grip.

No choice now. Kakashi brought his forearm up in a block, knowing full well that his armguards couldn't stop the blade. The smallest mistake would be disastrous but he trusted the Sharingan to guide him. The katana bit into the thin armor. His Sharingan watched the metal buckle. At the last moment he tipped his arm back, preventing his wrist from being completely sliced through and using the momentum of the hit to fling himself backwards. He had about a half second before the man was on him again. That was all he needed.

"Chidori!"

The burst of energy made a crater in the ground below him and tugged at his clothes. It was harder to control without another hand steadying it but it would do. For a second the two shinobi faced each other before they charged.

Kakashi rocketed forward with chakra-propelled feet, his Sharingan leading his Chidori around the katana as they collided briefly before skidding past the other. The ANBU's side stung with a new cut, but he knew his jutsu had met a better mark.

His blonde enemy fell to one knee clutching at his arm- or where it used to be. He'd missed the heart but even a glancing blow of the Chidori was enough to tear flesh and shatter bone. The man stared in shock at the stump of his shoulder as Kakashi's jutsu petered out. Drawing a kunai, he wordlessly pitched it at the man's heart. At the last second he jerked to the side so hit was just shy of fatal, but it didn't matter. The fight was over. The ANBU slid his katana out of the sheath and stalked towards the half-dead man. Whether it was preexisting or from the heat of the battle, up close Kakashi could see the madness in his enemy's eyes, almost smell the insanity. So he wasn't surprised when hysterical laughter bubbled from the man's lips.

"Of course! Of course! They said you would be good! They said it but I didn't believe them! Joke's on me now! Ha!" He screeched.

Then before he could react, the man drew something from his coat and plunged it into his blood-soaked stomach. Kakashi froze. No matter how many times he had seen it since then, he could never quite stand the sight of someone of taking their own-

Wait. That wasn't a blade. It was… a syringe?

Suddenly a new energy crackled through the shinobi's system, green and white and burning. There was a sound like thunder and light enveloped his kneeling body, lasting for a few seconds. What was this? Was it suicide? To destroy his body? The light faded to a few errand strands of electricity; the shinobi slumped to the ground.

Then the man pulled himself to his hands and knees and Kakashi snapped himself out of it. He braced himself, favoring one foot and aware of his plummeting chakra supply and charged, hoping to kill him while the shinobi was down. His sword met empty air- the man had dodged to the side impossibly fast, and Kakashi swung one-handed to meet him.

The shinobi caught Kakashi's sword with his hands. The white energy crackled on his palms and stopped the blade dead in its tracks. There was only an instant to think that's not possible before a kick slammed into his ribcage like a train. Kakashi flew and hit the ground hard, making a crater feet deep.

What do I do now? He forced himself to his feet. The shinobi hadn't moved; he was just laughing like a madman. The green-white energy cracked like static around him again and Kakashi dove to the side instinctively. Where he had been laying only a second earlier was a new crater made by the man's fist. His katana lay broken in the rubble. Kakashi ran through the signs for Chidori and crackled the lightning into his palm, but the man was moving too fast to do anything but defend.

Once, twice more he dodged. Three times his Chidori darted out but only got minor hits, enough to rip muscle but that did nothing to the blood-raged shinobi. His Sharingan strained to pick up the speed, even though attacks were straightforward. AThethird time the man attacked Kakashi knew he couldn't dodge. He tried to take the hit on his Chidori.

There was a flash of light, but no pain came.

A man stood, casually, between them. Kakashi only saw his back. He was taller than him and had black hair.

"Now, what do you think you're doing?" said the new man. The mad shinobi slouched and fell to the ground.

"You didn't have permission to come here. Who allowed you to do this?" The black-haired man asked the other shinobi. As Kakashi watched the light faded and the aura in his chakra system sputtered and went out. His stump of a shoulder, eyes, and mouth suddenly dripped blood and the blonde man fell backward, dead.

"Sorry about that," said the black-haired man good-naturedly. Kakashi couldn't place his accent. It sounded faintly Iwa, but different. He kept his Chidori activated, aware that he might not stand a chance but ready to fight anyway.

The man turned. He was maybe nineteen, dark-skinned, and had purple eyes.

"The problem with this method," he said amicably, as if he was chatting with a good friend, "Is that it runs out too quickly, and then the subject dies. He wasn't nearly as strong as he seemed near the end, though I guess you weren't paying attention to details like that were you?" He laughed. "Assume the worst, that's what I always say. I like your way of thinking. I bet you would've beaten him in the end, too. Guess we'll never know."

Kakashi's vision blurred with the effort of Chidori. What was this guy up to?

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"I was getting to that if you'd give me a second. My name is Yoshida Botan."

Kakashi searched his memory but couldn't place the name.

"What do you want?"

Botan smiled. "Well I can't tell you yet, Kakashi. That would ruin the surprise."

"How do you know my name? Who are you? How did you get through the barrier?" Kakashi took a deep breath and tensed. He was in no condition to, but he would fight. He could die here. A good a time as any for his useless life to end.

"I'm not here to make trouble you know. It just wouldn't be right for us to fight, would it? And if you attack me I might just end up having to kill some of these kids. Maybe the ones cowering behind that rock wall?"

Kakashi's eyes darted to where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were. He'd forgotten about them. Getting them, and everyone else in the school, tangled up in his problems and killed wasn't worth it.

"I think that… I'm going to take my friend here and leave. I can't have any secrets leaked to Konoha, can I?" Botan bent down and threw the body over his shoulders.

"See you again, Kakashi!" Botan gave him a little wave and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

He listened and smelled for a moment, but yes, he really was gone. The tension and adrenaline melted out of the young ANBU's body and he stumbled not-so-gracefully to the ground. Chidori faded and he closed his Sharingan, opening his other eye and watching blood drip to the charred bottom of the crater the crazed man had created.

"Kakashi! Kakashi, are you alright? What… what just happened? Who was that?" It was Hermione, dragging a dazed-looking Ron and Harry behind her.

"Are you…" he coughed and tasted blood on his lips, "Are you all alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine! But you're- you're hurt! He hurt you! What… What did he just do? How-"

"You need to…" he struggled another breath, fuck his ribs were so broken, "You need to go tell Professor Sprout to cancel class. Tell her… that I told you to cancel it. Keep the students inside the castle. She'll listen. Ron, you go." The red-haired boy was looking rather pale and queasy, probably because of the blood, and hurried off with barely a word.

"You two keep the other students away while I clean this up. No one can know about this." Kakashi pulled himself to his feet. The two teens hesitated.

"What did I just say?" he growled malevolently, the same way he did with wayward Genin. They jumped and ran off also. Quickly as he could Kakashi gathered up his katana, tanto and scattered kunai and stowed them. Then he found his headband, retied it then put his cloak back on. He hissed as the material brushed over his dislocated shoulder. With it covering the blood it was hard to tell Kakashi just fought for his life. He could feel his injuries though, a rapidly swelling and probably sprained ankle, slashed forearm and ruined shoulder that was quickly going numb. Touching it felt like fire and his fingers came up red; the handle of the man's katana had almost punched through the cartilage of his shoulder. He was sure going to feel that in the morning. Nothing would kill him though, unless one of his almost- certainly broken ribs punctured his lung. That would be bad.

Kakashi put his hands into seals and tried to draw up some chakra. Placing his a hand on his rock barrier he sunk it back into the ground. There was a roaring in his ears and his vision blackened around the edges for a moment. His chest seized and Kakashi took a moment to pull down his mask and cough blood. Shit. Maybe his lung was punctured.

Almost done. He had enough chakra to fix the biggest crater, at least. He put his hand on the edges and rested a moment.

Carefully pulling up some chakra, Kakashi melted the rubble and dirt back into the crater. When he was partway done his vision started darkening again, and he pushed his energy into the slowing jutsu.

"Are you an idiot or just stubborn? I would love to know." Drawled a voice. Kakashi looked up. Snape stood at the edge of the crater, Harry and Hermione sulking behind him.

"That's a nice way to speak to someone who just saved your life."

"I won't take lip from any student, regardless of what they can do. Or in your case, what you cannot do," he sneered. Well fuck you too. Kakashi made hand seals again, determined to fix the crater anywa-

He blinked awake a second later, slumped on the ground and chakra hovering dangerously low. He pushed himself up and glared at Snape, who gave him a condescending look and fixed the landscape with a wave of his wand, even re-growing the grass. Hermione hovered over him.

"I'm fine," he snapped. "I could've done it."

"You sound like a whining toddler. Go to the nurse, you're clearly exhausted."

"I was already going. I'm not stupid. My ribs are broken and probably about to puncture my lung, no thanks to you," he coughed into his hand; it was now red and sticky, "What were you doing, watching the show from the staffroom window?"

"You're the one who told wizards to stay out of shinobi fights."

"Oh, yes. I forgot how completely useless any of you are. Dumbledore's barrier worked just marvelously by the way," Kakashi snapped, then erupted in a coughing fit that sent waves of pain through his chest. He leaned his head down and pulled down his mask to spit blood, but it still stained the material. Gross.

Tugging it back up Kakashi focused on just staying conscious. The next while was a blur. Hermione kept him on his feet while Snape fought back the crowd of students. Next thing he knew he was being pushed onto one of the starchy white clinic beds.

"Left shoulder's dislocated, lacerations on the right arm and torso, and some broken ribs on the left side that might have punctured a lung." It was a habit Rin had gotten him into, self-diagnosing to save a first aid medic time. A shinobi usually knew where he had just been stabbed.

Madame Pomfrey hovered over him, pale as a sheet. Abruptly a warm, soft, familiar feeling washed over him.

"Wait, no. Don't sedate me, I need to be ready… if more… come…" In seconds he was unconscious.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Harry sat on the edge of an infirmary bed, worrying the edge of his cloak in his hands. Madame Pomfrey had closed off the curtains around Kakashi's bed; all they could do now was wait. Ron was pacing and Hermione was studying the ground, pale faced. There was so much he wanted to say but Harry just couldn't seem to break the silence. In the end he didn't have to; a few moments later Dumbledore walked briskly in followed closely by Snape. Dumbledore spared them a glance but both adults headed straight for Kakashi's small enclosure. There were low voices for a moment until Dumbledore stepped out.

"Is he going to be alright, Professor?" Asked Hermione timidly.

"If I know Poppy he'll be awake by tomorrow, but then, he may heal a bit quicker than most people."

"Why would he?" Harry found his voice, "What happened? Who was that man? What kind of magic was Kakashi-" Dumbledore silenced him with a raised hand.

"I believe… It wouldn't be fair to keep this from you any longer. Honestly I'm surprised you didn't figure out the truth about Kakashi sooner."

"Well of course we knew something was wrong with him! He just kept being so bloody tight-lipped about everything and now… well I don't know what the hell's going on now," Ron trailed off.

"To be honest, neither do I. At least not completely. How about we start with what you know?"

Almost frantically Hermione told the story, from the first man who attacked them to Kakashi's strange spells, to the action-movie-like battle that unfolded and the second man who stopped it. Harry and Ron threw in comments when they could, voices tight with remembered fear. They hadn't seen much of the fight but what they had was more than enough.

"He got thrown into the ground and it made a crater Professor, a crater, I thought he was dead-"

"-nearly got our heads taken off!"

"Then the second guy, the younger one, he came out of nowhere. He talked to Kakashi but I couldn't understand what they said."

"The guy vanished into thin air! I thought you couldn't Dissapate here!"

When the story circled around into rambling Dumbledore raised his hand to silence them again.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. But, we can infer one thing."

"What's that?"

"My guess is that man won't be back for a while at least. He retreated after all, when from the looks of it he could have defeated Kakashi easily. Which should give us some time to figure out how a shinobi got through my barrier."

"That's good I guess… but Professor, honestly! What on earth is going on?"

"You have to tell us!"

Dumbledore sighed heavily, and sat slowly on a bedside chair.

"I suppose you do deserve to know the truth, or at least part of it. I'm only going to tell you the basics, understand? You'll have to hear anything else from Kakashi's own mouth. It's in the end up to him to decide what he does and does not want you to know."

The three students waited with baited breath as Dumbledore paused.

"Kakashi… isn't from here. Not the world as you know it. He is from a completely secret place, hidden by ancient Unplottable spells more powerful than anything the Wizard world has ever encountered. It is known simply as the Hidden Continent. Contact between his world and ours has been rare, almost non-existent for the last few hundred years. Knowing what I do about the Hidden Continent's… culture, and magic, I would almost be content to leave it that way. If it wasn't, of course, for Kakashi's family, the Hatakes."

"What makes them so special?" asked Hermione.

"One simple reason: somewhere along the line generations ago, a witch or wizard found their way to the Hidden Continent and had children. Our magic blended with theirs, and the children were born with a mix of both kinds of magic."

"What exactly do you mean by "their magic"? Kakashi wouldn't explain much."

"Probably because it would give too much away about his homeland. I don't understand it completely myself, but the idea is that our magic and theirs, which they call "chakra", are very different. Their ways of using it, their spells, even the very nature of the energy- they seem to be completely separate. No wizard can use their spells and they can't use ours, with the obvious exception of Kakashi, who possesses a kind of magic-chakra hybrid energy."

"So basically," Harry said slowly, "He's from a different place, and uses different magic besides ours? But that doesn't really answer my question. Why is he here? Why were we attacked? And who was that man?"

"None of those are easy questions, Harry. But I can say that they all boil down to three facts: one, that I want Kakashi to have the opportunity to learn to use his magic, two, that he's extremely skilled in his shinobi arts, and third, that somehow more like him have found their way into our world."

"So the guy who attacked us was from the Hidden-whatzit too?" Asked Ron.

"Yes. Which means you understand why this must be kept a secret."

"But why were they trying to kill us?"

"I don't know for sure," Dumbledore said honestly. "We don't know exactly what they are after… But Harry." The old Headmaster's tone turned somber. "Kakashi's meeting you before the term started, rooming with you, having your same classes… they are not a coincidence."

"You don't mean… you planned all that? But why, unless, they were after me?!"

"That is a possibility."

Harry's stomach felt cold and he swallowed. He'd thought Kakashi was just a bit odd… This was bigger than anything he'd ever imagined. Those people with the insane powers were after him?

"So Kakashi's… my bodyguard? You mean he got hurt because of me?" His voice pitched upwards at the end.

"Like I said, we don't know exactly what they wanted. It's only a possibility."

"Professor Dumbledore!" Madame Pomfrey strode out from behind Kakashi's curtain. The Headmaster stood.

"How is he?"

"Stable, for now. It's actually amazing that he was still conscious, let alone walking. Any regular person might even have not survived."

"Good thing he's not "regular" then, isn't it?" Dumbledore said but he didn't sound joking.

"I wonder about that," Madame Pomfrey muttered. "I have him sedated for now, no matter how opposed he was to the idea, the fool."

"We should be fine Poppy. Whoever they were shouldn't be back soon."

"One less problem for the moment I suppose." The nurse's eyes snapped to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"I'm sorry, are any of you hurt?" They shook their heads.

"Kakashi didn't let him near us."

"He's good at what he does," mused Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey shot him a bitter look.

"He's fourteen Albus, he shouldn't-" Dumbledore cut her off with a look.

"I know but that is neither here nor there, Poppy. Worrying about what he should and should not be doing won't help anything now. If Kakashi hadn't fought that man, more would have been hurt or worse. For now we need to stay on our guard until he wakes up. We still don't know how they were able to enter the school grounds in the first place. I'll have to meet with Professor Flitwick to discover how the barriers failed."

Madame Pomfrey gave a huge, disapproving sigh. "If you say so Albus. You three, go back to your rooms," she gestured to the students, "I don't need anything disturbing my patient."

"Just go back like nothing happened? But Professor-" pleaded Hermione.

"For now it's all you can do. Don't tell anyone about what happened here of course. We'll say that… Kakashi trespassed into the Forbidden Forest and got into a scrape with one of the creatures there."

"But-!"

"No 'buts'. Come back in the morning and visit if you must. We all need to have patience."

There was no arguing with the Headmaster. Harry, Ron, and Hermione trudged back to the Gryffindor dorm in silence. A few stares and whispers were pointed their way- news had already spread about how Kakashi had been seen entering the castle filthy and limping. Somehow they weren't bothered until they entered the common room, where they were almost instantly accosted by Fred, George, Percy, Dean, Seamus, and a dozen other Gryffindors.

"What was that all about? What happened to Kakashi? He looked like he'd been put through the bloody wringer!" Demanded either Fred or George, Harry was too frazzled to figure out which. Thankfully Hermione came to their rescue and answered.

"He wanted to see what Hagrid had in the forest for Care of Magical Creatures. The- idiot. There were some Hippogriffs around still and they went off at him. If Snape hadn't come I don't know what would have happened."

"Hippogriffs? But I thought they won't hurt you if you bow," asked Dean incredulously.

"Well he didn't. Or he got between a mother and its cub or- I don't know, they just attacked him. It was awful."

Hermione got a few sympathetic looks from some other girls before Percy, inflated as ever, stepped in.

"Alright everyone, leave them be. I happen to know Hatake is already safe and sound in the infirmary. Now, what should everyone learn from this? That's right, that the school has rules in place for a reason! Do not enter the Forbidden Forest, and stay away from magical creatures without proper supervision!"

Ron began to slip out of the crowd as his brother went on his tirade. Harry and Hermione followed him. It wasn't even dinnertime yet but they said their goodnights and slipped up to their dorms. Harry and Ron moped around their room for a few hours, not talking about the events of the day until they went to bed, a full two hours earlier than usual.

"One hell of a day, huh?" Muttered Ron from his bed.

"I- yeah. You don't think there will be anymore, do you? Before Kakashi is better at least."

"Not if Dumbledore has anything to say about it, I bet. I mean… They're not just going to let wackos like that roam free at a school, right?"

"… Right."

Well... there ya go. You can comment on exactly how weird and/or funny you think it is for someone to do this ig?

I didn't take many notes back then so I don't remember most of what was going to happen. In broad strokes, there was going to be plot with a group of OCs that includes Botan (who are a mixture of Uzumaki survivors and Kakashi's cousins from his "deserter" great uncle). Little Tenzo and Anko were going to show up after a few months and do shenanigans. In the end Kakashi loses his magic, finds out what happened to Rin, and catches Wormtail so Sirius gets to be proven innocent and also live bc I like cool punk dog uncle.

Farewell!