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[ura_no_ura]

[ Well, it seems he's got the basics down.

This isn't the afterlife, even if Kakashi's not entirely sure if he's actually still alive. And the wings don't do anything other than serve a mostly ornamental purpose. Which, in his book, means that they're completely useless and have about as much function as a second belly-button or a third nipple. Either way, they're itchy and uncomfortable and he had to cut holes in his flak vest so they weren't crushed against his body. A flak vest that was kindly delivered to him by his sensei, along with the rest of his gear. (He's only too relieved that it wasn't Naruto or Sakura or someone else who came across him when he was still in that relative state of undress -- what, without the mask and all.)

So here he is, fully dressed, with his journal-cum-communication device in his hand, flipped on. He supposes he should say hello this way since it would be easier to do this than to hunt down every shinobi of Konoha individually. It probably would also be useful for him to introduce himself to the rest of the network as well.

He's sitting on a tree stump while Minato goes off to do something IDEK ok and has his signature I Am Bored expression on his face. Or rather, lack of expression.

The edges of his wings, silver and tipped in black, flutter slightly. ]

Ah, is this thing on?

[ He brings the camera a little closer then, to make sure it's properly capturing him. Once he's sure, he raises a hand in something of a wave.

This is starting to feel like some sort of speed dating thing, minus the actual person sitting in front of him. Not that he's ever actually done speed dating, but he assumes that's how it'd work. ]

Yo. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I'm a shinobi by trade.

[ What does one say in introductions? Likes, dislikes, dreams, and hobbies? Ah, he supposes he can do that. ]

I'm not the kind of guy who talks about his likes and dislikes... My dreams are...hmm.... [ a beat ] none of your business. And I have many hobbies. None of which I want to tell you.

[ Another beat. ]

Any questions?

Comments

[ura_no_ura]

Japanese?

[ Isn't Japanese.

Doesn't look it either.

Also doesn't know what that is. ]

[tsunderebunny]

Linguistics. There's lots of people that have names that follow a similar noun-consonant pattern as yours. In those worlds, they say they're from a country called Japan.

It was a guess, especially since you're a shinobi. My apologies.

[ura_no_ura]

I see. I'm not from the country of Japan...I haven't heard of it before, either. I'm from Konohagakure, a village in Fire Country.

Where are you from?

[tsunderebunny]

The city of Sternbild, on the North American continent. Many people here come from a world that's similar to mine, so you might run into more making that mistake.

What do Shinobi do in your world?

[ura_no_ura]

[ Sternbild. North American continent. These are all new places for Kakashi, and he quietly commits them to memory. ]

Essentially, we're soldiers. We fight for our villages, carry out important missions, and more.

[ He's being a bit vague intentionally. ]

[tsunderebunny]

[Barnaby held a deep appreciation for intentional vagueness. It saved him so much frustration over the last couple of months.]

I see. That's not very different than what the history books say. [It gave him a better picture of the world Kakashi was from too, if shinobi were that common.]

My career, before I retired, was similar. I worked in public service; my coworkers and I helped to protect the peace in Sternbild.

[He was more than a bit vague, but he wanted to make the idea of it clear. While he was a capable fighter, he didn't want to go back into the field any time soon.]

[ura_no_ura]

You look pretty young to have retired.

[ The idea of retirement isn't even an option for Kakashi. Shinobi retire one way, and one way only: death. ]

[tsunderebunny]

The job was too stressful for my taste.

[Among other things. He was glad to have the opportunity, and a chance to find the answers to a few very important questions in his life. While Luceti bothered him in many ways, he was almost glad to have the relative peace of the tiny town.]

[ura_no_ura]

Maa, I guess in a way, we're all retired now...

[ After all, none of them can perform their duties when they're here... ]

[tsunderebunny]

Only if you want to be. There are people who run patrols around the perimeter, people who train others in self defense, a few teachers...

[He knew all of this because he watched the journals and watched the town. An uneven sleep pattern did have a few benefits, and honing his communication skills with the local fire elemental kept his eyes open to more than just a single objective.]

You can do whatever you want, and alot of people want to do something.

[ura_no_ura]

[ The truth: Kakashi can never truly be retired as long as he has consciousness and as long as he has people he loves who he wants to protect. A Hokage to serve.

He sighs after a moment. ]

Mm, my Hokage-- ah, that's the title we give to the village leader-- is here in this world. So I will defer to him as to how he'd like for me to proceed.

[ Though, retirement does sound very, very nice... ]

It's possible he'd want us to continue operating in our previous capacity, especially as there are so many of us here.

[tsunderebunny]

Is that so...? [He huffed, bitterly amused.] You might not have to change careers like some have around here, if that's what you're thinking.

[ura_no_ura]

Saa... I don't have much of a choice in the matter...

[tsunderebunny]

'It's possible' means that there's a chance you won't have to return to duty. Since you seem to enjoy you're work, it's good that you might be able to continue. A career change can't be very easy for those who have done it. You won't have to deal with that stress.

[ura_no_ura]

I wouldn't quite call it a career... Or work, for that matter.

[ A career is something you can walk away from. Work is something you get paid for. Something that you do. It's a choice. Kakashi never had a choice. He's been a shinobi since the age of five, fighting in wars and killing men three times his size. It's the only way of living he really knows. ]

[tsunderebunny]

[Barnaby would sympathize on some of these points if he knew them. His twenty-year hunt for his parents' murderer, though willful, blinded him to other possibilities and opportunities. Now, after finding that resolution...

what else was there?]

Mm? What do you call it?

[He was genuinely curious about this matter.]

[ura_no_ura]

[ Kakashi smiles.

He's very, very good at smiling. ]

Life.

[tsunderebunny]

[Barnaby would smile, but it didn't seem appropriate.]

Life? [That made him want to ask even more questions, but it was unfair to do on the man's first day in.]

That is one way of doing things.

[ura_no_ura]

[ If Barnaby is very good at reading people, he might be able to tell Kakashi's smile is a little too well practiced. Too perfect. ]

Maa, I guess you can say that. The village I'm from... it's predominately a ninja village. The military base for Fire Country.

[tsunderebunny]

[Barnaby used the same kind of smile everytime he was on camera, every time he interacted with someone who wasn't a coworker. Clearly, he had met a kindred spirit in this man.]

Interesting. I've never heard of anything like that before.

[ura_no_ura]

Where I'm from, most countries rely upon a ninja village like my own as its military strength, except for a few of the smallest countries. It's quite common.

[ He's actually a bit surprised that it isn't like that elsewhere. But he supposes not every world would have ninja... ]

[tsunderebunny]

Then war must be fairly common too.

[It seemed to be a common thread on the journals. He counted himself lucky that there weren't any major wars in his world that affected him...even if the 'small' scale duties of fighting crime and tearing through a complicated web of lies and conspiracies were dangerous in their own right.]

...that's unfortunate.

[ura_no_ura]

It is.

[ Both fairly common and unfortunate. Kakashi's lived through far too much war in his lifetime. And even those moments of peace couldn't really be called that. Not really. Not for someone like him. ]

Is it peaceful, where you're from?

[tsunderebunny]

Perhaps, by your definition. [Because he currently couldn't fathom what Kakashi's definition of the term was. Clearly his Konohagakure was far more intense than anything in Sternbild.]

But, I did work to protect the peace. It involved preventing crime, and it gave the people living in Sternbild some peace of mind.

[Sorry, Kakashi. Openly admitting that he was the King of Heroes wasn't on his agenda.]

[ura_no_ura]

Preventing crime, hmm? Were you part of the police force?