The research team had been frantically rushing through Tobirama's old inventions, pooled together with the other villages' sealed scrolls in hopes that something of use would appear to help in the war effort against Kaguya.

It wasn't much of a war at that point, mainly groups of resistance fighters too stubborn to die.

Kakashi had heard about it but wasn't involved in the research, occupied instead with executing quick hit and run missions on the zetsu clones, or cutting down those plant pods and ferrying the people inside to the scattered medic tents to see if a treatment -anything at all- could wake them up.

He didn't belong to any of the pockets of resistance, spent most of his time alone because he did the suicide runs and his teammates never survived very long. All of his ninken were dead, most of his friends as well, the Konoha shinobi he knew too busy to maintain contact.

He barely even heard from Sakura near the end, though she made a point of leaving messages for him at different outposts.

It was group Cah-4-8, in Suna, that were doing the research. Kakashi happened to be there when Kaguya attacked and Gaara ordered him down into the basement levels of the sand building before he could join the other shinobi in the fight.

Kakashi went blindly, thinking that they were trying to run and he needed to help seal up equipment, maybe they were rigging the whole place with explosives.

About fifty people were clustered in a huge sealing array painted on the floor and ceiling, some Kakashi knew -from the Bingo Book mostly- and others he didn't.

More people were running around the outside, careful not to step into the markings. An Iwa woman, civilian, ushered him into the array without question. He was grabbed by an A-ranked Kumo missing-nin and dragged further into the crowd.

Kakashi heard several last warnings, from the researchers frantically rushing about or from the people with him.

It was going to be a throw, nothing precise. Try to reach the meeting places, warn the others if you're going to deviate from major events.

Hold on.

Kakashi went still, body coiling as several dangerous and unknown shinobi grabbed onto him and each other. Clearly no one was comfortable, but they did it anyway, which meant shit was about to hit the fan.

Orochimaru reached out for his wrist but Kakashi pulled back and twisted until more people let go of him. One Suna woman linked arms with him and a few more held his clothes but he could still get out if he really needed to.

And then the world spun away and Kakashi was torn apart.

He sits up now. In a body too small, too weak. Pathetic. All that training and effort gone to waste, what a sad soldier he is now. How is he supposed to do anything if he can't even see over the kitchen counter?

Kakashi looks around, cataloguing immediate useful weapons in his vicinity. His dad is in the living room. Kakashi's chakra pathways are shit. His weapons are in his closet, along with armour.

Kakashi has no definite information about the current date that he can see, so he slides out of bed and opens the door a crack to peer down the hallway at the calendar up on the living room wall.

Ah. Kakashi does remember this day rather well. He has dreamt of this moment, revisited here in his nightmares many times, has made detailed plans down to the second.

Can't take missions when there's a hole through your stomach, can you, dad?

But Kakashi has a mission himself, doesn't he? Kakashi doesn't know what he needs to be doing, but he should be doing something. He could track down the others who travelled with him, ask what the hell is happening before he changes things too much.

Sakumo passes across his line of sight, collecting supplies that the man lays out on the floor, ready to be packed.

"Dad?" Kakashi calls out before he can stop himself. He clears his throat. You are better than this, play the part. "Dad, when do you have to leave?"

"By noon," Sakumo calls back distractedly.

Kakashi changes clothes, grabs his weapons and heads out to the backyard. He catalogues his range of motion and speed, doing stretches and flips, making sure to kick off the trees hard enough to dent the bark. Better than he hoped, at least for this timeline when he's so weak.

He does taijutsu practice on the hardened dummies. His hands and feet start to sting after only an hour. That needs to change. This body will never be as good as when he's in his prime, Kakashi understand that, but he can't help but be disappointed.

Strength and chakra amount are never going to be his best option in this body, so he really needs to increase his physical speed and chakra control for the lesser ranked but still useful attacks. That first, address the rest later when he can at least hold his own.

He starts on jutsu next, casting fire that licks along the ground. He shifts the dirt, splashes water over the grass and throws some kunai and shuriken around the place. He then retreats further into the back, away from the house and hiding in the trees.

Raikiri is icy blue and his chakra strains with the force of it. Not the best. It'll have to do.

Kakashi lets the lightning die down and moves back to the open training area. "Dad!" He pauses. "Come outside, I want to show you something."

.

A/N: Have not read past the Wave mission tbh. Been reading too many time travel fics and wanted something more … efficient, instead of fluff friendly.

Fix-its are great but I want cool ninja stuff and missing-nin Kakashi running around with brutal efficiency is *chefs kiss*.