It was... odd to meet his counterpart. Nostalgic even. Hisato remembered spending the night tied to that pole before Kakashi finally came back for him. That was one of the longest nights of his life and it left only him and his thoughts- and he had a lot to think about. The brunette took a sip of his morning coffee, and then nearly spilled it when a certain Anbu operative sunshined into the seat across from him.

"Tora," Hisato greeted in a dry tone, looking for any stains on his pants, and was relieved when he didn't find one. "Glad you made yourself comfortable."

Tora didn't seem to pick up on his sarcasm and leaned back in his chair, placing his legs on the table. "Your assessment is today, Hisato-kun. Hokage-sama believes that you've had enough time to heal."

Actually, the Hokage gave him more than enough time to heal. It has been four days since he has arrived in the past and the worst of his injuries were gone by day two.

"What time is the assessment?" He questioned, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Now." Tora grabbed his arm and sunshined them both to a clearing behind the Hokage's tower. "As you were told before, Kakashi-senpai will be assessing you along with Hokage-sama, and Shikaku-sama. You will be fighting Kakashi-senpai while the Hokage and Shikaku-sama will watch from the sidelines. You are to do what is necessary to prove your rank, which you say is Jonin, correct?" Hisato nodded. "You must show Jonin level of skill, but you are not required to beat Kakashi-senpai, for he is an elite Jonin, the best of the best." Tora paused, as if to try and think of something else. "Any questions?"

Hisato thought for a moment. Tora had made the instructions clear. He only needed to show enough skill to prove he's Jonin level- and it wouldn't be good for him or his cover if he beat Kakashi. His master would practically have to be world renown if he was able to beat someone like Kakashi- which he technically was, but they're not supposed to know that he was taught by Jiraiya himself.

"I do have one question actually," Hisato stated. Tora nodded, and he continued, "Do I have to be Jonin levels in all areas?"

Tora put his hand on his chin, putting some thought into the question. "I believe you have to be above Jonin level in one area to even out the playing field or be sufficient in some other less common field. Why? What area do you struggle in?" Tora asked inquisitively.

"Promise not to tell Kakashi and jeopardize my chances?" Hisato asked in a hushed tone. Tora nodded quickly. "Genjutsu.." Hisato mumbled. He had always sucked in this field, having a hard time both casting and identifying them. That's why he hated Uchiha so much.

"You must either have large reserves or poor chakra control if you struggle with Genjutsu that much," Tora sniggered, slipping his hand under his mask to cover his laughs. Hisato glared at him.

"Hey, it's not my fault my reserves are so big that I can't properly perform or identify Genjutsu," Hisato defended. "Think about it, it's like having a giant bucket of water and you can only pour one drop into a cup- without any use of chakra. It takes a lot of thought and effort if it's possible to even do it at all."

"And if you do try to complete it, it takes time... time that could get you killed," Tora finished, finally realising Hisatos' struggle.

The brunette smiled. "Exactly."

"Sorry I'm late, a black cat crossed my path so I had to go the long way, but the long way had a ladder, I couldn't just go under it, so I had to wait out the cat, but the cat decided to take a nap, so I decided to take a nap as well and woke up late," announced Kakashi. Hisato rolled his eyes. That was more elaborate than usual.

"Ah yes, right on time Kakashi," said Sarutobi Hiruzen, walking into the clearing. "Good thing I told you to come two hours earlier than the actual set time."

"Maa, you are well prepared for my bad luck Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, at least acting a little sheepish.

"Troublesome," Shikaku sighed, walking behind the Hokage. "Are we ready to begin?"

Hiruzen removed his pipe from his mouth and took a seat in a chair provided by Tora, and Shikaku did the same. "Indeed we are. Tora briefed you on the requirements, yes?" Hisato nodded. "Good, I'll lay out some ground rules. You can not leave this clearing. Act as though this is a spar. Kakashi will announce each test as it goes in any order he wishes. If you are unable to perform in a shinobi art, you may use a lesser known art to replace it. There will be no killing, and the match will be called when either Shikaku or I say, or when Kakashi has deemed you skilled enough. If you are defeated before we can test all of the basic shinobi arts, we will start again. Each test will last about a minute before the true spar will begin. Understood?" Kakashi and Hisato nodded. "Then begin."

"Why don't we start with shinobi art number one, ninjutsu," Kakashi stated, already going through hand signs. "Fire style: Heat blast!" A small stream of fire exited his mouth.

"Earth style: Mud wall," Hisato shouted, slamming his hand on the ground. A thick layer of earth rose from the ground, protecting Hisato from the blast.

Kakashi watched as his fire hit the wall and eventually fizzled out. A good warmup, no pun intended. Time to move on to shinobi art number two... he thought. He was instructed to do at least a minute per shinobi art before they begin the true spar to see Hisato's creativity while using any or all of the shinobi arts.

Kakashi shot forward saying, "Shinobi art number two, Taijutsu." Hisato cursed and quickly evaded the punch aimed for his head.

Kakashi followed up with a swipe at Hisato's legs, but he jumped and aimed his own kick at the silver-haired ninja's head, Kakashi leaned his head back and grabbed the brunette's leg. Hisato quickly maneuvered in the air, aiming another kick at the arm that held his leg, forcing Kakashi to let go.

Both Kakashi and Hisato jumped back, away from each other. "I believe that's enough, Shinobi art number three, Genjutsu," Kakashi stated, going through some hand seals, Hisato going through his own.

Please work, Hisato thought, ending his seals with a ram. He built up his chakra, paying extra attention to his senses, trying to sense the small amount of foreign chakra enter his large reserves. The moment he felt the near imperceptible tingle, he released his jutsu and a loud "Kai." The tingle disappeared and Hisato breathed a sigh of relief, glad he made a seal that allowed him to sense when chakra entered his large reserves. The seal was crudely done, for he quickly made it behind the shadow clone that made hand signs to throw Kakashi off, and used a Kawarimi to switch.

"I believe it's time for the real spar, eh Hisato?" Kakashi called out.

Hisato nodded, "I believe so Kakashi."

Kakashi wasted no time. "Fire style: Fire Ball Jutsu"

"Shadow Clone Jutsu," Hisato stated, making one clones and then used HeadHunter Jutsu to dig underground. The large fire ball covered his use of both Jutsu, a disadvantage of using it.

Kakashi watched as the fire consumed Hisato wondering how he could've been caught in his jutsu so easily. There was a poof of smoke and Kakashi had his answer. His lone eye looked around him, moving his head to look above, behind, left, right... a hand shot out of the ground and Kakashi quickly jumped out of the way. Below.

"Damnit Kakashi," Hisato grumbled, pulling himself out of the ground. "I thought I had you with that one."

"Maa, well what can I say?" he replied with an eye smile. "Let's take it up a notch, why don't we." It wasn't a question, and Hisato nodded in reply.

"Wind style: Dust Rising!" Hisato said, sending a thin stream of air to the grass-ridden ground, pulling up dust into the air making a perfect "smoke" screen.

Hisato pulled two kunai out of his weapons holster and threw them at the location Kakashi was last located, watching the dust for any movement. There was a fluctuation in the dust and Hisato quickly threw a kunai in that direction and jumped forward into the risen dust.

"Wind style: Great Breakthrough!" was all Hisato heard before he was hit with a hard blast of wind. Dust got into his eyes and mouth as he flew backwards until he eventually hit a tree, stars danced before his eyes, and he coughed in an attempt to get the dust out of his lungs. The brunette's eyes were watering and he used his hands to wipe the dust and tears out of his eyes- just in time to see Kakashi come at him with a kunai.

Hisato quickly maneuvered his body out of the way, watching the kunai stab where his body once was. He quickly went through some hand signs and sent a shot of wind at the two kunai coming at him while he was in the air. Hisato then grabbed a shuriken and threw it at Kakashi.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Hundreds of Shuriken rained down on top of Kakashi, but it was in vain because the silver-haired ninja used a Kawarmi. Hisato sighed as he watched the log get shredded into pieces, each shuriken poofing into smoke as it made impact, making the perfect smoke screen for Kakashi.

A water stream burst through the smoke, taking Hisato by surprise and he quickly Kawarmi'd away, replacing himself with an unsuspecting rabbit. The time traveller layed low under the brush, concealing his vast amount of chakra. He kept his eyes pealed, looking for any trace of Kakashi, or for the silver-haired ninja to come out in the open. The rules said that they couldn't leave the clearing, but there were a few trees that littered it, surrounded by a vast forest.

Finally, after around ten minutes, Kakashi came into view, likely to draw him out. And that was when Hisato had an amazing idea. It was finally time to get back at Kakashi from all of those years ago.

Kakashi looked around, looking for any sign of movement. There were none, and Kakashi was beginning to wonder if Hisato broke the rules and left the clearing. He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard-

"Hot Hand Jutsu!" and extreme heat sensation on his butt. Kakashi didn't scream. It didn't matter what Shikaku said or even the Hokage. Definitely not what Ten-Tora says. He. Did. Not. Scream.

Hisato watched with a small smile as Kakashi went flying into the air, letting out a small scream. 'Just for toast, eh?' He gloated to Kurama mentally.

"What a supid use for a stupid Jutsu," Kurama grumbled.

Hisato mentally chuckled and watched with great satisfaction as Kakashi came back, looking completely disheveled and angry. "You... You're going to pay for that," he said in a not Kakashi like manner.

"Should we stop them?" Tora asked in concern.

"No, I've never seen Kakashi let go like this in a while," the Hokage spoke, not even trying to hide his smile. "Besides, this is amusing"

They watched as Kakashi activated his chidori. "Are you sure we shouldn't stop them?" Tora asked again, eyeing Kakashi's chidori. "That's an assasination technique."

"Hisato will be fine," Shikaku assured, "probably."

"Probably?" Tora asked, his voice squeaking a bit. His eyes widened behind his mask as he watched Kakashi charge after Hisato, headband up and sharingan spinning. Hisato quickly turned tail and ran away, dodging all of Kakashi's attempts to take off his head.

"Um, I thought no killing was a rule," Hisato stated, ducking under Kakashi's electrified hand.

"Shut up and hold still so I can kill you," Kakashi growled, thrusting his arm forward. Hisato dodged left and made a shadow clone to distract Kakashi while he once again used the HeadHunter Jutsu to go underground.

"Not feeling so smart anymore, are you?" Kurama said, laughing at Hisato's predicament.

Hisato didn't have time to answer as he dodged the hand that came into the earth right on top of him. He however, wasn't able to completely dodge it as he felt a surge of electricity hit the exact spot Sasuke hit him all of those years ago.

Sasuke.

Sasuke attacking?

He killed Sakura. Right?

Killed. Sasuke. Attacking.

Hisato's eyes went red with rage, his mind already deducing that Sasuke was attacking him. Kurama quickly removed his chakra from his holder's system, but Hisato's mind was already made up. Sasuke was attacking him. Sasuke is trying to kill him.

"Kit, snap out of it! Sasuke isn't attacking you!" Kurama shouted. Hisato was pulling himself out of the ground, facing Kakashi.

Kakashi felt a wave of killing intent hit him, and he let his Chidori die out. "I believe we should call it a match." Kakashi wasn't sure what happened, but it was like a switch was flipped in the brunette's mind.

Hiruzen placed a hand on Hisato's shoulder, effectively snapping the man out of his funk. "I believe Hisato-kun has shown us enough to prove he is Jonin level," Hiruzen said with a chuckle. "It was quite amusing to watch as well." The Hokage took delight in watching a faint redness enter Kakashi's face.

"You might need to get a new pair of pants too, Kakashi," Shikaku said with a grin. "I'm sure you don't want to walk around with a handprint on your ass."

"Maa, I guess I don't," Kakashi said stiffly. "I'll be on my way then." And he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Tora watched Kakashi disappear and then let his eyes linger on Hisato. His killing intent... it was terrifying and it was as if it came out of nowhere. No, something must've happened during the battle with Kakashi. Something must've triggered it. The question is, what?

{April 4, 2020}