"Nagato," the man with the silver hair murmured, catching the puppet's wrist. "Even though that's not your real body, I know those eyes. Consumed with thoughts about justice."
Nagato was surprised by the combination of the shinobi's speed and strength, his wrist feeling like it was about to crack under the pressure. Then there was the glaring evidence of the lone sharingan, not looking at him, but rather as if he was looking through him and seeing his entire life.
"Nobody ever told you we're shinobi? We're murderers. People like you who can't come to terms with reality...always do more harm than good."
Nagato narrowed his gaze, taking note of the Leaf hitai-ate. "You're not from Konoha."
"Why? Because you haven't heard of me?"
"You're going to die here. You should at least tell me your name."
"Honor now? You really are deluded."
"And you, nobody, are part of the sickness I will eradicate from this world."
Nagato felt his wrist crack.
"You're going to wish you knew who I was."
“Something’s wrong with that guy,” Rin murmured, watching from the edge of the clearing where Kakashi was training Hinata.
Minato was standing beside his pupil, studying the scene before him. Kakashi was not going lightly on the young genin, pushing her taijutsu to its absolute limit. For a reason they had not deciphered their resurrected teammate had taken to training various shinobi in the village. There didn’t seem to be a single shinobi he couldn’t train effectively, the breadth of his knowledge without limits.
Kakashi and Hinata clashed and then withdrew to a comfortable distance, eyes focused on each other.
Kakashi nodded his head, content with the session. He relaxed and reminded her, “You have to be faster than the fastest ninjutsu. Otherwise, you will die to the first S-rank ninjutsu you face. Continue doing laps around the village. Pretty soon you should be able to keep up with Rock Lee. When you’re able to do that, we will take it to the next level.”
Minato understood Rin’s sentiment. Whomever they expected his student to grow up into—should he have lived—this was not him. Things must have turned out very differently wherever Kakashi was from.
Not to say there weren’t a lot of similarities. Kakashi was still committed to maintaining the way of the shinobi, his hand always a twitch away from his kunai. He tried to disguise his instincts behind those stupid smut books, but Minato saw a man who was prepared to slit throats without batting an eye at any given time. Now that the war was over, there were not many like him left in the village, the majority of them having died in third war in the first place.
Naturally, weeks ago, when they found the man just outside the walls of Konoha, comatose and hours from death, Minato knew, should it really be him, things were going to get strange in the village. Politics would adjust. Memories would be resurrected of times that only brought sorrow and pain. Six weeks later, Minato still hadn’t gotten used to the presence of the boy who used to live in his apartment.
Hinata, ever the formal and polite Hyuuga, bowed to both Hokage and Rin before leaving. Kakashi already had his book in hand, a bored expression on his face as he approached them. Minato kind of missed the boy who would give him his complete attention, but Kakashi seemed to have made a habit of half-listening or pretending to half-listen.
“That was impressive, Kakashi,” Minato complimented genuinely. “What motivated you to teach the Hyuuga heiress in the first place?”
He shrugged as he was wont to do. “No reason.”
Minato inwardly frowned. Kakashi had also taken up the habit of lying, a habit he fully attempted to disabuse him of with time. He was his sensei after all, no matter where he came from, and it was his job to protect his student. “I hope you’ll open up to me one of these days, Kakashi. To both of us.”
Rin nodded, a pensive expression on her face.
For once Kakashi was taken back by his sensei’s frank request. “Ah, don’t worry, sensei. You’ll get to know me.” He looked up and to the right where a crow had emerged from the trees. “But you might not like what you find.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Rin insisted, itching to reach out and shake some sense into the man. “We’re a team, a proper team that doesn’t abandon their comrades.”
Kakashi smiled. “You’re a good shinobi, Rin. You should be proud.” For a moment there she reminded him of Sakura, and he was close to reaching out and ruffling the hair on top of her head. That Sakura was gone now, replaced by the genin version who had her entire development in front of her.
“Let’s go get dango,” Minato suggested, trusting his assistants to wrap up the day without him in the office. This was more important.
Kakashi shrugged, knowing that a meal would do him good. “Perhaps, Rin, you want some tips yourself?”
She felt hope blossom in her chest, pleased beyond words by his offer for reasons he wouldn’t understand. Since she had the Sanbi sealed in her, she wasn’t allowed on missions, similarly to Kushina, their mere existences forming salivating targets for even allied villages. Unlike the others, even Sensei, this Kakashi didn’t treat her with kid gloves but like an actual shinobi.
“Sure!”
“You never learned assassination techniques, have you? I think we’ll start with that.”
Minato tried not to cringe, having spent his career keeping Rin away from that side of the shinobi world. But he would bear it for now if it meant his students were spending time together.
When they were almost at the dango shop, Kakashi turned to them, a nervous expression on his face. In fact, he had been tense the entire trip. “Um, Sensi, may I have permission to leave the village soon? There’s something I need to do.”
Minato furrowed his brow. “Leave the village? Where are you going?”
“Hard to say.” Kakashi took a deep breath. “There’s someone I need to eliminate. The less you know, the better.”
Minato shook his head, disappointed by the request. “Now’s not the best time. You’re still new here, and not everyone is happy with the story. The more you’re seen doing normal things, the less suspicion you will draw. If you leave now, even for a little bit, it will make me seem…”
“Weak? Hoodwinked?” Kakashi sighed. “I understand. I suppose it can wait.”
Minato sighed. “There’s not anything you can tell me?”
Kakashi’s shoulders fell. “It has to do with the person who attacked you when Kushina was giving birth.”
Reflexively, Minato gripped his student’s shoulder. “You know who he is?”
“Eh, no. But I might be able to find him. And when I see him, I will kill him.”
Minato shook his head. “That’s going to be my job. My pleasure.”
“Sensei,” Rin interjected, not liking the dark glint in her sensei’s eyes. “You’re Hokage, remember? We depend on you.”
“She’s right, Sensei. Maybe at one point, you had the luxury of going off and chasing people for revenge. But you got the Hat now. And we’re all better off for it.”
Minato knew they were right and willed his impatience away. Still, his anger was deserved, and should the mysterious stranger ever step foot in Konoha again, Minato would be there to end his life, and no one would interfere. “Don’t tell Kushina,” he warned them.
Rin knew something had changed between the three of them at this moment. Sometimes, even stronger than the bond of a team or family, the bonds of a conspiracy were stronger. And Kakashi oozed conspiracies.
Alone in his borrowed apartment, Kakashi slid off his shoes, his body numb to the outside world, a coping mechanism that started as early as six years old. Naruto was dead. And Obito was responsible. Kakashi understood the mitigating factors, and he also knew despite his sensei’s vehemence, in the end Minato wouldn’t agree with his actions. But mitigating circumstances were not in the lexicon of a true shinobi. Shinobi hunted down and killed threats without mercy.
Kakashi was a shinobi as was his father and his father before him. A long line of efficient and prodigal killers who exemplified the shinobi way. Even if he tried, Kakashi couldn’t betray his blood.
And he hated it.
“You, Hyuuga-girl,” a detached voice caused her to jerk up from watching her feet as she walked. Byakugan naturally activated, she found the source of her surprise leaning against a concrete wall in the alley they were in.
“Relax,” the stranger told her. “If I wanted to kidnap you, we’d already be a couple miles outside the village.”
“No one would kidnap me here,” she replied evenly, knowing they were near the very center of the village.
The stranger looked pleased. “You’re not completely hopeless.”
Hinata remained on alert, her byakugan searching for any sign of danger, as they seemed to be locked in a stalemate.
“You got something of me in there, you know that? Makes me feel better about this next part. The Hokage has approved of me tutoring you part time. Kurenai and your father will be made aware tomorrow.”
“What if I don’t want to trained by you?”
“You want to fail at the chunin exams? In time, you will understand just how fortunate you are to have met me.” Then with a swirl of leaves, the stranger was gone.