Scarecrow: Defender, Impostor...Littlest Brother

In which the ASL discover that K is kind of a jerk.

Suddenly, the boy's footsteps stopped, and the trio immediately dove for cover, they did not think of the leaves they rustled, the branches they snapped, or the dirt they displaced. They peeked through the tiny holes of the bushes at Kakashi, and froze as bored, slate-grey eyes met three sets of dark brown. Ace narrowed his eyes but didn't dare breathe and held his breath...

The silver-haired boy scanned over the rest of the surroundings with the same lazy scrutiny they've grown used to before shrugging to himself and began walking once more. Ace, Sabo, and Luffy painstakingly followed after, still unaware of how obvious they were. Sighing, he took three steps forward.

ASL took three steps forward. Kakashi paused and took two steps back.  The trio did the same. Kakashi sweat-dropped and raised one foot to take another step, and Ace did. Sabo did. Luffy wavered, but did as well. Kakashi put his foot down and blinked.

Huh.

Turning to look back, three blurs shot into the bushes. Kakashi rolled his eyes in amusement and continued walking.

Rustle.

He stopped again and the trio ducked away from his line of sight, behind trees. Luffy's hat stuck out, Ace had shifted and rustled a branch and Sabo ended up in a spot with plenty of dry twigs.

"Hm...I swear I see a straw hat sticking out of that tree over there by the bush with red berries...."

Rustle.

"...ah, it's gone. Must have been my imagination, I suppose."

The boys held their breath as small, light footsteps were heard walking towards them, stopped, and then led them through the woods once more.

Kakashi mentally snorted. It was cute, really. They were trying so hard. He looked behind him again and stared at the spot he knew Sabo was in for a full thirty seconds and then moved on.

Sabo's heart was really pounding, and the air felt really heavy. Why was this so ominously terrifying? It seemed as if Kakashi already knew where he was! The blond watched his feet, glaring at them. Why can't they step quietly? He inwardly cringed whenever he or the other two made a particularly large crunch on leaves and twigs. Everything seemed louder, it feels so scary but he has to stay quiet for the sake of finding Kakashi's secret place...

——————

'They're like academy students,' Kakashi thought, releasing a bit of killer intent to see their reaction. Sabo nearly flinched, Ace frowned, and Luffy tensed, but they continued following him. Humming, the shinobi turned around every now and then, pleased to note that Sabo was really catching on. His footsteps were quieter, and he made sure to avoid dry plants in most of his steps. His hiding was still not very good, but they were more thought out than before. The boy in blue had potential for silent operations, considering how fast he was picking this up. He was easily around the level of Genin in the way he was moving around.

Ace was as well, but not in the same way. His strategy was bold, focusing more on instinct and keeping track of where Kakashi was instead of where he himself was. That was a weakness, but an easy one to fix when Kakashi turns around and stares above Ace's head when he hears a particularly loud snap of a twig or crinkle of leaves. A tracker, most likely. The boy was Genin level at tracking, considering the fact Ace had no Kekkei Genkai to assist him.