Scarecrow: Defender, Impostor...Littlest Brother

In which the ASL learn how to effectively stalk people.

The following week was full of such joyous fun for Kakashi, and absolute hell for the three supposedly older boys attempting to follow him through the forest.

Why?

Why, Kakashi was thoroughly enjoying the role of little brother they've imposed on him. By being a little sh!t.

"DAMN IT KAKASHI! SLOW DOWN!" Ace roared, sporting marker ink that connected the freckles on his face.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" Sabo was right beside Ace, but both could barely keep up. Sabo waved his blue coat around madly, pointing angrily at the frills and hearts stitched onto it. And the glitter that won't come off.

"HOWWW DAAARREEE YOOUUUUUU!" Luffy stampeded last, stumbling after but quickly catching up to Ace and Sabo. He waved an empty bowl above his head. Kakashi cackled madly.

"MY FACE!"

"MY COAT!"

"MY BREAKFAAAST!!"

The ASL trio groaned in unision as Kakashi vanished from sight again and they collapsed. They could never find where their youngest member stayed - wether it was in the forest of the town. They've been making progress, though!

Probably?

"Alright, we gotta change tactics." Ace decided as the trio was gathered around a tree stump they used as a table. "Outright chasing him isn't going to cut it." Sabo nodded seriously.

"If he knows we're there, then he'd just be toying with us. We gotta know how to be subtle."

"Like the beard?" Luffy asked. Ace shook his head.

"That's stubble."

"Like the rocks?"

"That's rubble," Sabo sighed. "Discretion is what we need." He continued. "Which means one thing - "

" - spying." Ace concluded. Sabo nodded. "But he's trained like a ninja, right? He's bound to know we're there." Ace muttered partly to himself.

"We can be like ninjas, too!" Luffy said eagerly. "We can out-ninja him and then we can find out where he keeps all my meat!"

"He probably ate it all, Luffy." Sabo answered. The blond turned to Ace. "We should practice our stalki—I mean, spying skills on other people first. If we mess up while following Kakashi, then he'll know."

"Then let's start with the bandits." Ace suggested. "We can ask if we can spy on them for a day and then by sunset we ask if they noticed us at all."

"Why ask?" Luffy tilted his head. Sabo arched a brow.

"What's the point of spying on them if they already - oh."

"Exactly. If they become more paranoid, it'd be harder for us so we can get more practice. In the end, they'd tell us when we messed up if he caught us then."

"That's a good - "

"YOSH!" Luffy cheered. "Let's start ninja training!"

——————————

Dadan blinked incredulously. "You want to what."

"Borrow one of the others for training." Ace answered, looking the large woman straight in the eye.

"...you aren't going to kill them are you?"

"No."

"What kind of training is this?"

"None of your business." Ace scowled. "He doesn't even have to go anywhere else. Just one of the bandits that moves around a lot."

The two engaged in a staring contest and, after a while, Dadan relented.

"...fine."

Thus the trio gained Dogra to spy on.

————timeskip, one week————

Hatake Kakashi strolled his usual path throughout the forest, sure to be spotted by his three self-proclaimed older brothers. He wanted to see how far they'd get this time, considering it had been a week since they've last chased after him.

'I wonder how good they've gotten at spying.' He thought as he felt their eyes blatantly watch him pass. There were still leftovers from the last hunt, so they didn't bother hunting that morning. Nonetheless, Kakashi took his usual route and passed by the clearing of the cabin where the bandits resided. 'I haven't really seen them try sneaking around me yet, but I should give them a chance.' He thought amusedly. The trio slowly moved after him, and Kakashi smiled to himself before picking up his pace, stepping on a large, dry twig for good measure.

Crack!

As he ventured deeper into the forest, he was pleasantly surprised to find that even though all three were as blatantly obvious as Genin Naruto (Crack!), they were able to avoid half of the dry folia - Crunch!

...Rustle!

...Stomp!

...Crinkle!

Scratch that. They stepped in all the wrong places and were as subtle as a ninja wearing a bright, fluorescent-orange jumpsuit screaming dattebayo in the middle of a training exercise meant for stealth and sabotage. They may think that they had him fooled, but no. Hatake Kakashi, prodigy of Konohagakure no Sato, Jounin, ex-Anbu Captain, ex-Hokage, and a bunch of other never-to-be-known-again titles was not to be of the caliber that three little boys from another universe seem to have him at. He needed to fix that misunderstanding.

'Time to step up a notch...' He thought with a smirk.

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If you spot any spelling errors please correct me and I'll go and fix it up.

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