Never say Never (Kakashi x OC)

Lesson learnt

"Team Yondaime today is a special day! Your mission will be one of the most difficult ones you have handled yet" said Minato.

"Uuh I'm excited" exclaimed Obito. As usual, he was annoyingly enthusiastic about the new task their sensei gave them. Kakashi on the other side yawned and rolled his eyes.

"What is it? Is it dangerous?" asked Rin curiously.

Minato grinned "Well, I wouldn't dare say she is completely harmless."

The word "she" puzzled Kakashi. What did sensei mean by that? Was it a mission about saving a woman? Or fighting her? He looked around and was the first one to notice a glimpse of bright red in the tree above him. While he wondered what that colourful spot could be, he blinked for a second and the hue was gone.

"Team 7, I'd like you to meet my daughter, Uzumaki Hajita", Minato said proudly, and Hajita blushed. Kakashi now knew what he had seen in the tree. The girl, probably a few years younger than himself, was quite tall for her age, had a roundly shaped kind face and waist-long, bright red hair.

She shyly said, "Nice to meet you all" and blushed a little deeper. You could tell that she didn't like to be the centre of attention. All in all, Kakashi thought, that except for her hair colour she looked quite ordinary. He couldn't understand what was so special about her that would make her a difficult opponent. His train of thoughts was turned completely upside down the moment her eyes found his. Looking into those piercing blue eyes, he knew he had jumped to conclusions too quickly. It felt like she was able to look right through him. For a brief moment, he even feared that she could read his mind. Bewildered but intrigued all the same, Kakashi began to consider that her hair probably wasn't her most remarkable feature.

Standing in front of her Dad's team was really nerve-wracking for Hajita. She didn't like being in the spotlight and on top of that, she noticed angrily that one of the boys analysed her from head to toe. Self-consciously she looked down at herself but was relieved to find her clothes without any stains and her pants buttoned up. What is wrong with this guy? Hajita wondered while her Dad started pointing them out to her.

"Hajita, this is Nohara Rin, Uchiha Obito and Hatake Kakashi." She responded politely by greeting them with a little bow but was still irritated about the guy called Kakashi. He really had the nerves to stare at her like that. How rude. This first impression gave her all the more reason to be as excellent as possible and not let them, especially not him, win this game today. She mentally prepared herself for the upcoming chase, analysed her surroundings and waited for her father's start signal.

"Ready?" Minato asked. Startled, Kakashi looked at his sensei. Had he been so preoccupied in his thoughts about the girl that he hadn't even noticed his teacher giving them their task already?

"Set ..." Wasting no more time, Kakashi shook his head in order to concentrate. He had to find out what the task was. Sheepishly he looked at Obito and Rin to see what they were doing and started to get ready just like they did. Even though it would take him a few more years to earn the nickname copy ninja, he had always been good at imitating the moves of others just by analysing their chakra flow.

"Go!" Minato yelled. All three of them began to run towards Hajita. Kakashi looked at the pretty girl who was his target now and caught himself thinking that he didn't want to hurt her if they were to fight. Hajita however had no more blush on her face. She looked concentrated and excited. Confidently, she grinned at Kakashi and was gone the second before he reached her.

"Where did she go?" Rin asked. All three of them came to an abrupt halt.

Is it possible that this girl is so fast we didn't even see her movement? Kakashi wondered and believed it to be possible, since she was after all the daughter of the yellow flash.

"Looking for me?" Hajita yelled from about 50 feet away.
"Or me?" shouted another Hajita sitting on top of a rock in the other direction. They turned their heads when a third call echoed through the woods. "Or me?" Altogether, three Hajitas now faced Team Yondaime and watched their reaction closely.

"Shadow clones, I see. Then let's try out a new strategy" Kakashi contemplated and explained his plan to his team members. "Let's split up and approach all three of them simultaneously. One of the clones has to be the real one." So, each of them went after another Hajita-version. Since he was the fastest, Kakashi was the first to catch up with her but his target stayed uncannily calm. Why isn't she bothered by me coming so close to catching her? Kakashi thought. He jumped towards her, grabbed her arm, and yelled "Got you!" Hajita just stuck out her tongue in response. With a little "Puff" the figure vanished and all Kakashi held in his hand was a branch from the tree he had seen her sitting in before. Shortly after, Rin and Obito had caught up with their Hajita-versions as well but all of them ended up simply holding a rock or a branch in their hands. Team 7 looked at each other irritated.

"Substitution Jutsu in combination with Shadow clone Jutsu?" Obito exclaimed appreciative and let out a little whistle.

As impressed as Obito was with their opponent's abilities, Kakashi's mood started to change from irritated to angry. As hours passed by, they tried and tried again, but no matter how hard they tried, Hajita always seemed to be one step ahead of them. She not only is fast, but she is also clever and good at controlling her chakra, Kakashi sourly had to admit. Hajita on the other hand had the time of her life. This is even more fun than I had imagined, she thought happily. Her dad had been right, and all their tactics worked. They hadn't even come close to catching her once. At the end of the day, she was really proud of herself and thus in a really cheerful mood.

"How did you do that?" Kakashi asked her in a curious tone after the training. She simply shrugged.

"Maybe it was my preparation. But maybe you should consider perfecting your teamwork. Each of you is strong and fast, but all of you together would be invincible."

Great, now he got advice from a little girl, Kakashi pouted. But even though he didn't like it, he still had to admit that she was right. If they all had worked together as a team, they probably would have caught her. At this point in his life Kakashi had no idea that this game of tag should become his paradigm method for his own students' first training in order to teach them the lesson about the importance of teamwork the little girl with the red hair had told him that day.