Dancing With Lightning

10

Jujutsu High was a traditionalist, from their rules and regulations to the traditional Japanese styled buildings.

Satoru has told him multiple times that the higher up were a bunch of greedy and slimy fucks who's got sticks high and far up their asses.

Kakashi laughed at the white haired man when he'd warned him about them and their schemes, mischievously winking and leaving the man curious and confused with "Don't worry, I've dealt with that type of people before, they're all gone now".

He could feel the barriers and talismans that surrounded the campus, making mental notes of what to change and improve. He'll tell Satoru later since the man was the only one whom Kakashi told about his sealing abilities.

Apparently, Fuinjutsu was a dead art and with Kakashi the only one alive who knows about it makes him a bigger asset.

Satoru says it's a good thing since it would double the rage and chaos that Yuuji's and his reveal would cause.

The plan of reveal was to put Yuuji in a big box for him to jump out with confetti wrapped with Christmas papers, a ribbon on his head wearing an eye searing pink onesie.

Kakashi would've amaterasu's the whole thing if he had it so he settled with striking it with lightning.

No way is he letting Yuuji wear something so ugly and eye searing as that, ignoring Satoru's whines.

Instead, Itadori wore his issued uniform with a few changes. He still wore the black blazer but he now kept it open, showing off the black Jounin armor over his red hoodie that Kakashi wore.

A pouch was strapped on his waist for him to use as well as a holster on his thigh. On his fingers were Nekode, black with red accents and snuggly wrapped around the tip of his fingers. It was form-fitting and thin, not easily noticeable.

Kakashi would've given him a tanto if he had known how to use it. The teen was more of fists than weapons, his aim was passable and he had good handle with kunai but he preferred to fight hand to hand.

So he gave him nekode and knuckle brass to use, teaching how to use it and add it to his fighting style. Satoru hadn't minded Kakashi stealing Yuuji away as he himself stole Junpei for cursed energy training.

The teen had worn the same clothes as Kakashi, saved for the Hitatae and Konoha symbol. His green, long sleeved sweats was a high and wide collared top, reminding him of genin Sasuke.

His armour was black with grey accents, fitting snugly on his body. He wore the same styled pants as Kakashi, tied with bandages around the hems with a holster on his right thigh, and open toe sandals on. A chokujo strapped on his back and a utility belt on his waist.

Junpei was a Shikigami user, his moon dregs main ability being poison and paralysis.

Kakashi isn't a poison user nor has ever used it but with him spending time with Genma and Anko, he was bound to pick up something.

He introduced the teen to the uses of poisons, lacing the pack of senbon, kunai and the Chokujo that Kakashi gave him. He also had the teen start on poison Immunity, so that his own shikigami and weapons won't be used on him.

Junpei was good in stealth, would be good as an assassin with the fact that he was quick on his feet, stealthy and could hide his own presence.

Kakashi pointedly doesn't think why he's good at sneaking around and hiding, good at making himself invisible.

Satoru had been curious about his vast knowledge in weapons and assassins, had asked him why he was a stealthy person, why he hid with his strength.

Kakashi had laughed because it was clear that Satoru had never sneaked around in his life nor had he hidden his power, that he has never gone to an infiltration or assassination mission.

Satoru was powerful, Kakashi knows that just as much as the man knows it. He knew he was strong and he expected everyone to know it. He had presence and he never once hid what he could do, what he's capable of.

Kakashi wasn't like that because he was raised and trained to be a soldier of the shadows, having spent half his life in Anbu behind a mask.

Shinobi's are powerful and highly unstable people, more so those who stayed in anbu.

They were strong but they were trained to hide it, to have people underestimate them. There was no honor in the Shinobi world, no such thing as cheating or underhanded tactics.

It was survival and one wrong move could cost you your life. It was a dog eat dog World, where the weak are devoured by the strong.

Those who stay at the top are equally feared and respected, constantly challenged by those who also want to be at the top.

The strong are targeted because they were an obstacle for people to overcome, a challenge those who want to rise.

That's why Shinobi hides their abilities behind the personalities and masks they've created, letting people assume who they were.

Kakashi was not cocky but he was confident of his skills, he knows what he can do and what he's capable of but he doesn't show it because he's paranoid, raised to be paranoid and constantly looking at his back. Information is valuable and people are willing to go far for it. It was dangerous in the wrong hands and could bring someone down if used properly.

He is strong but he fights like its gonna be his last, fights with desperation and seriousness because he knows what arrogance could cause. Had experienced it first hand. His teams death was an example of that.

Cocky Shinobi's die faster because they bite off more than they can chew, their ego's consuming them. Could kill a teammate, could kill their client, could fail the mission.

Satoru wasn't like Kakashi who hid behind a persona and let people underestimate him.

No. He was cocky and arrogant, oozing with confidence and he had every right to. He knows his strengths, knows what he can do, knows what he's capable of.

He liked the attention on him, liked the challengers that went his way, liked to fight against people and curses and make them realise that no matter how much experience they've got under their belts, no matter how strong they are, compared to Satoru who was a living God, they were nothing.

Just small ants under his foot that he could crush if he wants to. Tiny weak creatures that he fights for amusement.

Kakashi is aware of Satoru's strength, of his ego and overconfidence and he can't find it himself to be annoyed by it because he has every right to be an arrogant piece of shit.

Satoru was no fool, he was cunning and smart and fucking powerful and he knows it. He flaunts it, shows it and Kakashi is surprised that there's no logo above his head in bright neon colors spelling "I'm the strongest" because he is the strongest.

Gojo Satoru's name is known in the Jujutsu world in a way Hatake Kakashi isn't in the elemental nation.

Kakashi's information and strengths were private, locked away and only he himself knows with a few exception. He's careful with his moves and jutsu and despite the reputation he has created, he's still an unknown.

Satoru isn't like that because he freely throws attacks left and right, doesn't need to fear the enemies finding out his weaknesses because he has no weaknesses.

They are different.

He was strong and he knows it. Kakashi knows it, Yuuji knows it, Junpei knows it, Nanami knows it, everyone knows it.

He was dangerous and feared, he was cocky and arrogant and it pissed people off because he had the every right to be.

Kakashi was strong but he wasn't like Satoru. He was born to be a soldier, to serve his village and fight for his people. He forged his own path, bloody and full of death, fought for his place at top with his sins and regrets shadowing each of his steps.

He wasn't always strong, had started as a scrawny kid with a father scorned by the village and committed suicide. He was a prodigy but he wasn't strong, had to learn and train hard to get where he is.

He was strong, feared and respected by everyone. He was called 'Friend-killer Kakashi' and a thief, both revered and hated. He was at the top, his hands stained with blood and death and shadowed by his regrets and pain. He was once a cocky brat and it ended with his head at the very bottom, dark and heavy with grief.

Satoru wasn't Kakashi because he had always been at the top, had always been strong even when he was a child. He held the world from the very moment he was born, destined to be at the top with everything handed to him by a silver platter and he didn't need to work hard because people are falling at his feet for approval and attention.

He did not go to mission and comes back half dead, doesn't go to missions and comes back with a missing teammate, doesn't come back from a mission with a heavier heart and feels more like a monster than a person.

They are different.

Reality and space bent for Satoru, the universe rearranging itself for his arrival. A living god he called himself, the lone chosen one he declared himself, the one who is destined to be at the top and be the strongest.

Satoru's path has been forged for him by the world, the laws of nature disregarded to make way for the god reborn.

He fought for himself and the people he cared about, was born for himself and himself alone. He had a choice of which path to take, of which people to protect.

Kakashi didn't have that because he was born and bred to be a soldier and nothing less or more.

They are different but they are both at the top.

The higher you are, the farther you fall.

Kakashi does not fall nor Satoru would.

Because they are strong even if the path they took was different, even if their past was different.

(And with power comes responsibility, insanity and an unstable mindset.)

Satoru did not need to sneak around, did not need to hide because he didn't have anything to fear and that was the difference between Kakashi who lived in paranoia.

Who fought hard each mission, pushing himself past his limits. Who was nothing but a shell of violence and death, splattered with blood and broken around the edges.

Satoru did not go through what he went through to get to the top, did not have his hands tainted with blood at 6 and for that, Kakashi is glad.

Power or not, confidence or not, paths and destiny or not, he would never wish for someone to live through the misery that his life was.

Kakashi wasn't a good person, too many unspeakable things that he had done, but he wasn't a bad person either. He was merely a soldier following his orders, a dog with no honor or morals.

The nearby heartbeats catches his attention, taking him out of his musings.

One of them sounded weird however, no heartbeats but instead a weird whirling vibration, like a machine or a robot.

He tilts his head, subtly sniffing the scent in the wind. Satoru looks at him with a grin from where he pushed the cart that carries the box Yuuji was in, Junpei sitting on top of it and typing on his phone.

The man was observant, immediately noticing Kakashi's traits and habits. Under those blind folds, Kakashi still remembers those beautiful bright blue eyes carved by the gods for Satoru himself, he could feel the piercing stare.

"Already noticed them?," Satoru grins and Kakashi's eyes doesn't pointedly go at the barely noticeable small canines the man had.

"Smelled and heard them," He says back and keeps his eyes on the path, sensing the students more and picking on the stronger energies.

Kakashi aches for his students and he feels shit because he was jealous of Satoru, who still had his students.

He misses them, the Hatake howling in him for a pack that he would never have back. He is constantly hit by nostalgia and longing whenever he sees Satoru and Yuuji with Junpei, hoping that he'd see his students even just a glimpse.

"You already know the plan, Kashi-Chan," Satoru cheerily intoned, pushing the cart with more vigor and making Junpei glare at him with surprise.

"Do I really have to?," He sighs pitifully.

Kakashi doesn't know if it's only Satoru or every strong person out there but he had an obsession with Kakashi's abilities and strength.

He wants him to wear a genjutsu around him or enter his kamui and would only come out of it at Satoru's mark.

He wanted Kakashi to show off his abilities, wants him to show what he's capable of, wants him to show that he was as strong as Satoru.

But he isn't because they are different.

"You're also a chosen one, someone the universe and reality bowed down too, you are strong Kakashi and there is no point in hiding it".

The man had a god complex, Kakashi is aware. A fucking god complex higher than the skyscrapers in dubai or any tall structures in the whole world.

The man was obsessed with Kakashi and his ability, often calling him worthy and God and it made him uncomfortable.

This isn't mine, he wants to scream whenever Satoru compliments his sharingan, red and bright and so utterly beautiful, both in its looks and the destruction it reigns.

I am not strong, he wants to scream whenever Satoru calls him skilled and powerful. That he was blessed with lightning and storm, with the capability of bringing hell to wherever he went.

I'm not invincible, he wants to sob whenever Satoru tells him that he's untouchable. Untouched by weakness, untouched by fragility, untouched by imperfections, just like him.

Just like Satoru.

Kakashi wonders how Satoru would react when he finds out about the eyes that Kakashi burrowed, stolen, about the abilities he never owned, about the strength given to him by his former team mate.

He wonders what Satoru will think if he finds out what Kakashi's life is, what type of life he led and lived. What path he'd taken, how many mistakes he's made and lives cut short.

Satoru thinks that Kakashi is like him, born to be a god, destined to be a god, living like a god.

Kakashi is not like Satoru. He was not born as a god, he was not destined to be a god, he is not living like a god.

He is not blessed by the heavens, reality did not bend for him, and the universe did not rearrange itself for him.

He is not brought to the world to lead because Kakashi is born to be a soldier, to follow and serve a village that scorned him and his father, to protect the people that called him 'Friend-killer Kakashi' and his father a traitor.

Satoru is born as a god and is destined to live as one. Kakashi is born to be a soldier and is destined to die as one.

He lived like one while Kakashi lived like a dog, collared and ordered to kill and kill and kill. He repeatedly painted himself with blood, going to depths that broke his mind again and again, which had him sent to the Yamanaka's to have his head taped into pieces.

He is a Shinobi, strong and loyal and dutiful and ready to die for his Kage and village. He is a collared dog, with the will of Fire burning in him for a village that does not deserve his service.

Satoru lived for himself and Kakashi lived for a village long gone.

"It would be good!," Satoru insisted, "Imagine their reactions, Kashi-Chan! Of how they'd look if they see you coming out of nowhere with your cursed energy!".

"Kakashi-San, can't you just say yes so he can stop with his annoying blabbering?," Junpei groans, glaring at them both. From inside the box, they heard Yuuji's loud but muffled voice.

"I think it'd be cool Kakashi-San! It would be boring if you just walked beside him and this is your reveal too!," Yuuji yells, "It would be unfair that I'm the only one who's going to do a surprise after all!".

"Isn't my existence already a surprise?," He dryly says.

"Oh come on Kashi-Chan! It won't be a surprise if they see you immediately!," Satoru pouts and Kakashi looks away, away from those piercing eyes, away from those glossy lips.

He mentally groans, "Fine".

Kakashi wonders how Satoru hasn't noticed it yet, or if he did, why he didn't say anything about his origin, of where he came from or who he truly was.

"I have the eyes of a God" , Satoru had said, "I could see everything and command space and time".

If he did have the eyes of a God, then he would've known immediately that Kakashi was not like him, known that they are different.

He keeps saying that they are the same but they are not. They lived different lives and took different paths. They are not the same and will never be the same.

Because Satoru is born as a god that lives for his own and Kakashi is born to be a soldier that serves a village that is no more.

But Kakashi wonders, when Satoru tells him about a girl long gone that he was supposed to protect, about his friend who had gone down the wrong path and he had to kill, about Yuuji that he was supposed to execute, about his Clan and the people who revered him just as much as they hated him, about his duty and responsibilities.

Are they really different?