Title: To Be Or Not To Be?

Author: fotoshop_cutout // Shiro

Fandom: Naruto

Characters/Pairings: Hatake Kakashi/Uzumaki Naruto, mentions of Uchiha Obito, Umino Iruka, Maito Gai, Haruno Sakura

Word Count: 1,475

Disclaimer: All characters depicted in sexual situations in this post/fanfiction/fanart (including material in the comments) are fictional and are intended to be and considered to be by the author of said material of the legal age of consent in the United States state of California, regardless of what age these characters may be in the material they are derived from.

Summary: Kakashi and Naruto make an agreement.

Warnings/Notes: For neofox (livejournal)! Merry Christmas!


Kakashi was Hokage. How this had come about was a long story, but to put it simply: He was next in line, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Nobody could contest it, and nobody would have, excepting the fact that everybody thought that one Uzumaki Naruto should have gotten the position. Kakashi himself wished to decline, but in Tsunade's dying words, she appointed Kakashi. Naruto was torn, on one hand he wanted to battle Kakashi for the privilege, another part of him wanted so desperately to shake the woman's corpse and get her to say she was just kidding, yet another part of him wanted to have Kakashi as Hokage.

For the next few days where people were settling into their routine, Kakashi was trying to find a loophole, and Naruto was busy avoiding the older man. On the off-chance that Naruto lost his temper he didn't want to force the man into battle for his life. Naruto knew how he got if he lost his temper, and he didn't want to endanger the man, no matter what. This became increasingly difficult as the days dragged on and Kakashi started to seek out the younger man. Finally, five days after Tsunade's death Kakashi had found it. Now he just needed to see Naruto about it. Kakashi had decided not to mention anything to anyone, not to leave any traces of him researching anything. He didn't want anyone having any idea: they would all call him crazy and say it would never work.

Kakashi meandered towards Ichiraku's, hoping to find the blond there. Unfortunately all he found was Maito Gai and a scared looking Umino Iruka sitting side by side. Kakashi trembled slightly with a silent chuckle, and snuck by, not attracting anyone's attention. Kakashi continued to search the city for the missing Naruto Uzumaki.

Meanwhile, Naruto sat on top of his father's stone face. He looked down, trying to memorize it from this angle. A murmur slipped past his lips.

"I just wanted to be like you, Dad." The sound was small, sad. Sapphire eyes turned to look up at the horizon line.

It was times like these that Kakashi felt like pulling his hair out. Where could his ex-student be? He couldn't have left the village, Kakashi would have been notified.

"YARGH!" For the fifth time he'd come up empty handed. Kakashi was used to finding whoever he needed on the first try. How was Naruto evading him? His sandaled feet brought him to stand beneath his Sensei's stone face. No, he didn't normally come here, and he didn't often stop to observe, nor did he end up crawling on top. No, he didn't spend much time there. He didn't really like his Sensei's face: it wasn't smiling like it always had been in life. So he was intrigued by the fact that he had ended up here. Kakashi frowned and scratched the back of his head. Now what? He looked his Sensei's face up and down and up again. It was this second pass up that he saw blond hair and sapphire eyes peering down at him.

"Naruto?" Kakashi just stared at the eyes that were staring back at him. Neither moved for a long moment; scuffling, then Naruto's head bobbed, disappearing from sight.

"Crap!" Naruto hurried off, away from the ledge and as far away from his ex-sensei as possible. He retreated into the network of caves inside the stone faces. Unfortunately for him, this didn't work as well as he had thought it would. Kakashi easily figured out where he had gone and followed. It took him five minutes to catch up, but when he ran up behind the blond his hand darted out, grabbing the black and orange jacket. Kakashi spun.

Naruto's world blurred, his feet were dragged sideways, his back hitting the wall and knocking the breath out of him. Hot breath hit the skin of his cheek, sapphire eyes blinked back tears.

"Where did you think you were going?"

"Kakashi, let me go, please." Naruto's voice held more of a whine to it than most days. Kakashi was confused, but pressed on.

"I just wanted to talk to you."

"No, you don't understand, just let me go. I don't want to hurt you, sensei."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. Naruto only spoke like this when he thought he might hurt him. He'd done it only once before, when Kakashi had spoken ill of his own sensei and thus Naruto's father. Still, Kakashi had every right to speak to him, and since he had a question, well—

"You won't hurt me, Naruto."

Sapphire eyes turned to meet his own onyx one, fear blatant in the gaze.

"How do you know?"

"I just know."

Naruto seemed to release a big breath, then leaned towards the other man. They had long since learned to trust one another's word, and for that Kakashi was grateful.

"What do you want, sensei?" Their cheeks brushed, a mask the only material between skin on skin contact. Kakashi took a deep breath.

"Well, I actually have a proposition for you, Naruto." A small smile dashed across his features under the mask. Naruto perked up, but then turned his face away, eyes dull.

"I don't want anything from you, sensei."

Kakashi hid his surprise easily. "Okay, fine, don't be Hokage then."

Naruto turned to face him again. "You and I both know that Tsunade-sama left you as Hokage. The only way to become Hokage after something like that is to kill you. I don't want to do that, Kakashi." Naruto then attempted to push his way out of the older man's grasp.

"That's one way, sure. But I found a couple of other ways."

Naruto shook his head. "Whatever you found, they won't accept it."

"Who won't? You won't?"

"The council won't."

Kakashi sighed heavily. "I suppose it's a good thing that they wouldn't have a say in either of the ideas I have. It's only you and me."

Naruto frowned and shook his head. Kakashi laid it on thick.

"Please, Naruto? Just listen to what I have to say." Sapphire and onyx met briefly before the blond nodded. Kakashi released his hold on Naruto's jacket and slumped his shoulders towards the younger. "Thank you."

Naruto leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. "So what are these ideas of yours, then?"

-----

By the end of his explanation Naruto was sitting on the floor, arms still crossed.

"What you're saying is that this can go one of two ways: you can desert Konoha or we can get married?"

Kakashi pressed his lips together in a line. "Yes."

Naruto frowned. "Well, I'm not exactly gay, Kakashi. You know I like Sakura."

With that Kakashi knew his fate was decided. "I'll take my leave, then. You know where to find me."

"Yeah, yeah: with the Akatsuki." Naruto stood, nodding. Kakashi held out his hand, ready to shake on their deal. Naruto ignored it. "What I don't understand is why you would join them. Sasuke didn't." Kakashi's hand dropped back down to his side.

"Tobi, one of the members is an old friend of mine. You might have heard of him."

Naruto scowled. "Who?"

"Uchiha Obito."

Naruto's eyes popped wide open. "Another Uchiha?"

Kakashi nodded. Naruto plunged on.

"So you'll what, convince them not to bother us ever again? How will that work?"

Kakashi really hadn't thought much about it. "I could see what I could do."

Naruto scowled again. Kakashi gave a half smile, then turned away.

"I'll see you around. Or, well… hopefully not." A hand reached out, snatched. Kakashi turned, eye downcast. "What is it, Naruto?" The blond stepped forward after a moment of hesitation. Naruto took a deep breath.

"No, you'll be seeing me every day." Sapphire eyes sought out Kakashi's. Kakashi frowned.

"That wouldn't be a good idea, Naruto."

The younger shook his head almost violently. "You don't get it." Naruto's scowl deepened, then the boy dropped to one knee.

"Kakashi, I'm not about to let the man Konoha needs walk away. If there's any way to make you happy and get you to stay, I'll take it." Naruto's scowl lifted. "Kakashi, will you marry me?"

-----

Years later, Kakashi would remember that as the day everything started. Funny enough, Naruto and he worked at the relationship which had started out of dedication to their village and from it sprung love. The stone faces added weren't just the usual serious, scowling faces that reigned over Konoha, but the extensive cave networks that ran under them expanded twice over, to accommodate the two that joined at the lips. Sure, there were plenty of problems along the way, but everything turned out okay. Kakashi did, however, go undercover and brought Uchiha Obito back to Konoha; but otherwise peace stayed firmly under the city's foundations.