Chapter Text
She smelled like fox.
Like mischief and fire and autumn winds. The newcomer smelled like how he remembered Kushina did, except where there was autumn rain upturning the forest, the kunoichi in front of him smelled like the breeze that blows through Konoha during the autumns of Hi no Kuni.
"Kakashi, this is Asura," Minato said softly from behind the kage desk. Young Naruto was sleeping soundly in his arms and he was completely at ease in the presence of this woman who was for all intents and purposes a stranger.
She didn't smell like a stranger to Kakashi's nose though, which was what was bothering him. His instincts have never steered him wrong but this stranger smelled so much like home that it was unnerving.
"I'll be assigning the two of you on a series of very important missions. Top secret. You can only discuss it with me and each other, for now," Minato said, voice quiet and dead serious.
That has Kakashi's hackles rising. Because Minato is rarely ever angry. Rarely ever this fiercely angry and the fact that Kushina died just yesterday stinks of conspiracy. That it involves this practical stranger who showed up in the dead of night last night and subdued the Kyuubi effortlessly, even more so.
"Your first mission is simple but of utmost importance. Afterwards, it should clear the path for us and I'll finally be able to tell you what's going on, Kakashi." There's an apology in Minato's eyes. A softness with an undercurrent of pain that has him straightening up.
For all that Sakumo Hatake was his father, was one of the guiding pillars of the person that Kakashi is shaping up to be, it was Minato who raised the last hound of the Hatake clan. It was Minato who taught him how to hone his ferocity. Who taught him not how to fight, but how to do so for pack. For home. And Minato knew that. Minato promised honesty and answers as soon as he can and that means something powerful is lurking that's threatening even his sensei.
He can't have that.
"Will you be safe?" Kakashi almost visibly double takes, because the tone is achingly familiar for all that the voice is softer. Lighter. The same casual, almost challenging tone that hides insecurity and concern and by the way his teacher's eyes soften, the older blonde can hear it too.
"I'll be activating the tower's seals tonight and staying with the vetoed ANBU," Minato reassures and a jolt of alarm strikes through Kakashi. Because the need to veto ANBU, means one thing and one thing alone.
Konoha is compromised.
"Asura knows the target, Kakashi-kun. I can't name names right now but I need you to trust her. She has my explicit trust. I'll explain everything when you get back," Minato said grimly and he nods sharply.
Minato takes out an ANBU mask then and that answers the unasked question in his mind. The kunoichi puts it on before deftly plating her long blonde hair down her back. She tucks it in her shirt and pulls on a hood much like the one Kakashi wears to hide his silver hair.
He follows suit and masks up as the last light of the setting sun creeps in through the windows of the tower.
"Hound, Fox, good hunting."