After leaving the noodle shop, Uchiha Gen was about to seek out Hashirama and report his movements, lest he be mistaken for a fugitive fleeing out of guilt and arrested again.
Suddenly, Uchiha Gen felt a weight settle on his shoulder. Someone had placed a hand on it and showed no intention of letting go.
Hearing the voice behind him, Uchiha Gen said helplessly, "...Are you sure you don't need some water?"
Kakashi was about to speak, but a hiccup cut him off. "Already, drank, some. Didn't, help."
He had eaten his noodles too quickly, and now he couldn't stop hiccupping.
"Don't, run. I, won't, attack..." Kakashi said.
Uchiha Gen raised his hands in surrender. "All right, all right, I won't run. Why don't you try taking a deep breath, holding it, and then swallowing?"
Though puzzled, Kakashi instinctively followed his instructions. After a short while, his hiccups eased somewhat. They hadn't stopped, but at least he could speak a little more normally.
"Who are you? Why, do you know about those things?" Kakashi asked.
Seeing how utterly unruffled Uchiha Gen was, without the slightest resemblance to a fugitive, Kakashi couldn't help doubting his own suspicions. Still, he had certainly never seen this unfamiliar face in Konoha.
At that, Uchiha Gen pretended to ponder. "Hmm—that's a very profound question. Why don't you ask the fellow behind you? He might know."
"?" Kakashi frowned, assuming Uchiha Gen was deliberately changing the subject so he could run the moment Kakashi turned his head.
In the next instant, the hairs on Kakashi's body stood on end. His battlefield-honed sense of danger screamed a warning: something extremely dangerous was rapidly closing in on him!
Thanks to the advance warning, Kakashi reacted swiftly. He leaned back and kicked off with both feet, shooting backward like