Reader Contest # 2, Under the Moonlight
Winner: M hekasorceress
Story Begun: 6/3/07
Story Finished: 6/13/07
Title: Judgment
Summary: The Fourth Hokage was getting mightily sick of people's lack of faith in his judgment.
Pert. Info: Naruto – Angst – PG-13 - Yondaime, Jiraiya, Kakashi.
Original Request: A Naruto fanfic centering around Kakashi and the Yondaime Hokage.
A/N: I've left this open to interpretation as to the actual nature of their relationship. Because I'm not comfortable writing overt teacher/student romance, everything in there can be construed as completely innocent, actual teacher-student interaction, or, for those of you who like it, a hidden, scandalous romantic relationship between the Yellow Flash and his young student prodigy.
WARNINGS: Well, angst, duh, this isn't AU, the Fourth does still give his life to seal the Kyuubi. SPOILERS for Gaiden (Kakashi's father, etc.), and theories on Naruto's parentage. And please read the above Author's Note concerning Kakashi and Yondaime's interactions.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. This is also a request fiction, so credit goes to M for setting up the ideas for me. I use the name Arashi for the Fourth, because I've seen it in a few stories already. If that is anyone's property, my apologies, please let me know in a review and I will modify the disclaimer to suit.
A Long Split OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO is a scene break
A Short Split OOOOO indicates the beginning or the end of a flashback sequence
Italicized text is a flashback.
'Italicized text in single quote marks is people's thoughts.'
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
JUDGMENT
The flame of Jiraiya's meditation lamp guttered in the sudden gust of wind. A faint frown deepened the lines around the Sannin's mouth, and he spoke without raising his head.
"So. Tonight, then?"
The Fourth Hokage nodded once, his crystal-blue eyes unusually solemn. There was a blanket-swathed bundle in his arms, cradled with the greatest of care. "Everything is ready."
Jiraiya exhaled heavily, not quite a sigh, and pushed himself to his feet. Peering into the blanket, he was met with a pair of enormous sapphire eyes and a fine crown of blond hair. "He'll look like you when he's grown."
The comment dragged a heavy sigh from the usually cheerful Hokage. "Hopefully, he won't grow to hate his own face."
'Of course,' Jiraiya reflected blandly as he poked the infant's stomach, feeling the clamped umbilical cord coiled against the boy's belly. 'He's about to go kill himself – he would be thinking of Kakashi.' The infant gave a soft wail, disturbed by the prodding, and the Fourth busied himself bouncing the boy, cooing softly.
"You know," Jiraiya said, ignoring the dirty looks that the younger man was shooting him for making the infant cry, "it's probably just as well he'll never know you. Kakashi hero-worshipped his father, that's why he was so broken up when Sakumo committed seppuku. That this brat won't know you is a blessing."
The Fourth sighed again, a scowl darkening his own features as well. "Thanks a lot, sensei. That was really just what I needed to hear."
"Well, I am here to help."
"Speaking of Kakashi, though…" The Fourth paused, sighing yet again – he'd reached his usual quota for a week within the past five minutes – "I've already said goodbye to him. I needed to ask him one final favor."
'Well, that figures.' "And what would that be?"
"I want him to take on this boy as a student once he reaches genin level."
Had Jiraiya been drinking at that moment, the young Hokage would have received an impromptu shower. "Kakashi? As a jounin instructor?!"
The Fourth glared at him, and for an instant Jiraiya saw the force of personality behind his eyes, the brilliant spark of genius that had led Arashi to become not only the Hokage, but the greatest ninja their Village had ever seen. "Of course. Kakashi's the best student I've ever taken on. And since Obito's death…" yet another sigh, and what sounded like a very brief prayer to the dead mumbled just under his breath, "since Obito's death he's been the best kind of ninja. Sakumo would have been proud of him. I certainly am. And that's the kind of ninja I want this child to be."
It was Jiraiya's turn to sigh. "If you think so, Arashi."
Just for an instant, the Fourth smiled, and Jiraiya found himself years in the past and future, staring down at a wild-haired blond boy with sapphire eyes and a smile that could light the world.
"Of course I think so, sensei!" Arashi grinned, shaking his head and laughing. "Kakashi is… pretty close to perfect."
Jiraiya laughed as well, unable to help it, but their humor shattered seconds later when the Kyuubi's roar split the sky.
Serious again, the Fourth Hokage bowed deeply to his teacher for the last time. "It is my time. Goodbye, Jiraiya-sensei. And I know you'll teach my son well when the time comes for him to learn what you taught me."
And he was gone before Jiraiya could reply.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
'I am sorry for my assumptions, sensei,' Arashi thought wearily as he sprinted through the trees. 'But I do know that you never would have passed up such an opportunity, even if I had not asked it of you. The chance to train a child of my bloodline, who will have the potential to harness the chakra of the Kyuubi itself? Such potential…' Carefully, Arashi curled the infant a little closer in his arms. 'Someday, this boy will surpass even me. It is only a matter of him having the right teachers.'
OOOOO Several Hours Earlier…OOOOO
Sarutobi's hands were remarkably steady as he poured the bitter tea for them both. There was nothing on the table to sweeten it, but neither man truly wished to hide the taste.
"So. You die tonight, Arashi." Ignoring his own cup, the Third lit his pipe, and Arashi waved away the sweetly acrid smoke with good-humored annoyance.
"And with my death, Konoha's safety is restored. For the time being, at least."
"And what about those you leave behind? Your young student, for instance, Hatake Sakumo's son?"
The Fourth's gaze was fixed firmly on the leaves drifting across the bottom of his tea cup, if only to hide the twitching at the corners of his mouth. "I have already spoken to Kakashi, Sarutobi-san."
The Third's dark eyes narrowed speculatively. "You know what kind of child the boy is, Arashi. Not all deaths are for honor."
His eyes still downcast, Arashi answered into his cup. "Of course. And that is precisely why I've asked him to be the jounin-sensei for my son."
Sarutobi nearly swallowed his pipe. "Kakashi? Teach?"
OOOOO
Between Sarutobi-san and Jiraiya-sensei, Arashi was getting mightily sick of people's lack of faith in his judgment.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to the child cradled in his arm, even as his teeth cleaved the flesh of his thumb, his hands flowing automatically through the signs of the Summoning. "I'm sorry that I cannot do more for either one of you. But you, my son, will have two of the finest ninja I know as your sensei, and Kakashi will have many years of life ahead of him."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The sky above Konoha was red, heavy with the some of smoldering fires and the blood of their victorious ninja. The people of the Village moved in a slow stupor, shifting through the ruins of their homes and lives.
Outside the Village, beyond the chaos and anguish of people struggling to salvage their lives, a single figure trembled before a slab of cold black stone.
Hatake Kakashi, favored student of the Fourth Hokage, hugged himself, his thin body shaking as he stared at his sensei's name embedded in the polished surface of the Memorial Stone.
OOOOO
"Will you teach him for me, Kakashi?" Arashi-sensei asked, his brilliant blue eyes somber. "When he becomes a ninja, will you teach him for me? You are my finest student, and I know you can raise him to the Chuunin exams faster than any other."
"You know I will, sensei," Kakashi had answered, his voice steady even as his heart shattered. "I would do whatever you asked of me!"
And Arashi-sensei had embraced him, that warm, strong body holding his so that, just for the briefest of moments, Kakashi felt truly safe and loved.
And then Arashi-sensei had gone. Gone, just like everyone else that Kakashi had loved. Gone just like Father, gone just like Obito and Rin.
OOOOO
Gone… there were tears against his cheeks again as Obito's eye wept, wept as Kakashi's own could not, for everyone that Kakashi had loved and lost. But sensei… sensei had given him a new reason to live. His last request.
Naruto…