Sound of a nearby explosion jolted me out of unconsciousness. I dragged my eyes open and tried to roll over to be met with a sharp pain in my side. I must have reopened a wound. I lay in pain for a while, contemplating the wall of dirt in front of me and concluded I was lying in some nameless ditch.

A brunette head popped over the side. "Are you okay down there?" he asked around a familiar senbon. Genma frowned as I got to my feet with all the grace I could manage while the Iwa ninja beside him flicked his fingers through a simple earth jutsu.

Clearly, I must have looked a lot worse than I thought for someone to think I needed jutsu created stairs to get out of a simple ditch. I trudged up the stairs all the same. "What's the current situation?"

Genma and the Iwa nin shared a glance. Seeing the look in the Iwa shinobi's eyes, I froze. When even a stranger knows they should break bad news to you with extra sensitivity during a war it is never a good sign.

Genma turned to look me dead in the eye. "It's Sasuke."

I wondered what kind of person it made me that a part of me whispered that I hoped he was dead.

That part was to be disappointed as Genma continued, "Now that Kaguya's dead he's trying to take all the tailed-beasts and make the entire world hate him although only Kami knows why... He's been going at it for a while... and he's been rather successful thus far"

It was like a physical blow. I rocked back on my heels and closed me eyes in pain at what Genma was implying. How had it come to this? "Let's go meet up with the others." I lead the way only to suddenly find myself face-first in the dirt. I cursed myself for my lack of awareness of my surroundings; I hadn't even seen the attack coming.

To my surprise instead of turning to deal with the enemy, Genma knelt beside me. He looked upset. It was then that I realised I hadn't been attacked, I had tripped. No, not tripped, the ground had been fairly flat. I had just... somehow failed to correctly place one foot in front of the other.

"Let me have a closer look at that" Genma said eying my side.

"It's fine. It doesn't even hurt." Genma didn't look pleased at my statement. As I began to think about it, it was kind of strange that it didn't really hurt. The wound had certainly felt like a bitch when I woke up in that hole.

I felt Genma tug my jacket open and watched something in his eyes break.

I tried to think of something to say as he grabbed my hand but I was tired, my thoughts were muddled and all I could think of was how badly I had failed my team and how I would give anything for a chance to be a better sensei.

"Is that true?" a voice whispered.

Yes, I thought. Then everything went dark and I could no longer feel Genma's hand holding my own.

Chattering voices let me know someone was in my bedroom. I lay still and strained to catch some of the conversation. All I could grasp was a cry of "Youth!" Gai. Gai is in my bedroom. What is Gai doing in my bedroom? No, not my bedroom. My bed was more comfy than this.

"Kakashi?"

I was glad Gai were still alive. I grunted and pried my eyes open to see a medic peering down at me. Genma stood next to her. He no longer looked troubled, so that must mean I'll be fine.

"How are you feeling? You've lost a lot of blood."

I breathed in the smell of disinfectant and looked around the room. I was in a hospital, Konoha's hospital. I clenched the scratchy sheets in my fingers. Why was I in a hospital? "How long have I been out?"

"Just over two days. You're mainly here due to chakra exhaustion."

They must have headed straight to Konoha with me. I took a deep breath. "What have I missed?"

"Not much. After you passed out from chakra exhaustion, the rest of the ninja that ambushed you were finished off."

"And then I carried you home my eternal rival!" Gai beamed. Kami I hope I didn't get piggybacked.

"Wait what mission?"

The medic glanced up from her clipboard.

"To escort our package to Tea Country with the springtime of youth!"

The medic frowned. "You don't remember this?"

No, I didn't.

"Good to see you're finally up."

Recognizing the voice, I grabbed one of Genma's kunai with lightning fast reflexes and threw it at the door, because that's Asuma's voice and Asuma is dead. I watched Asuma block the kunai despite being startled.

"What the hell Kakashi?" Asuma asks. He's annoyed with me; I can see it in his eyes. What I can't see in his eyes is the tell-tale sign of being controlled by a reincarnation jutsu. I looked closer to see he was breathing.

"You're not dead." I state stupidly. Why are you not dead?!

"No I'm not," Asuma deadpans.

But that's bullshit because I buried that man, even took his team out to get revenge despite my lecture to Sasuke against such things all those years ago. I fucking buried him!

"Kai!" Nothing happened, not even when I activated my sharingan. To my horror I realised this meant that somehow Madara and Obito succeeded with their crackpot plan after all. No wait... I never looked into a red sharingan moon, I passed out with Genma's hand in my own. I looked out the window to see a pale white moon. What on earth was going on?

"Everything is fine Kakashi-san" soothed the medic. I glanced at her to see her fiddling with my IV.

Gai frowned and turned to the others. "He must have gotten caught in a genjutsu I wasn't aware of earlier."

"Everything is going to be fine my eternal rival. None of it was real and you are back home and safe. Everything is all fine now," he assured.

Asuma looked more forgiving then and gave an understanding smile. I tried to say something and make sense of the situation but it had taken too long for me to figure out the medic had upped my meds. All too soon I passed out again just to hear Asuma comment "Let him rest. He's been under a lot of stress lately."

I woke up in hospital again to find I was alone. I lay there and tried to make sense of what was going on. Was this a twisted test of some kind? Was I being watched? What happened to the god damned war I'd been fighting? Why is Asuma not dead? Seriously, what the hell was going on?

Deciding I didn't want to stay in a hospital real or not, I left through the window. Perhaps out of habit more than anything else, I quickly found myself in front of the memorial stone. Disappointment crushed me as I traced the two most familiar names. I would have liked to have seen Rin again even if it wasn't real. Her name etched on the stone convinced me what was going on wasn't part of anyone's moon-eye plan more than anything else ever could. I didn't linger. Unable to take it anymore I headed to my apartment.

Getting there I hesitated in the doorway at both the familiar and uneasy sight. It looked wrong. That was not the doona I last left on the bed... Grimly stepping into the room, my unease was justified as I was almost caught in one of my own traps. Quickly cutting the wire and deflecting a barrage of kunai I stood in the middle of the room and analysed the trap in agitation. I remembered setting a trap like that up... years ago but had changed it after deciding to rearrange the furniture... which had magically shifted back... While looking at an empty bookshelf in my bedroom, I felt an idea begin to form in the back of my mind. I turned and pulled up my shirt to see my chest in the mirror. Toned muscle greeted me lacking some of my more recent scars. I just stared until finally, I dropped my shirt. I headed to my desk and paused as my eyes rested on an unused calendar. If my memory served me right I had that calendar the year I became a sensei.

I made it to my bed and half-an hour later I was still sitting there with my heart racing. I finally remembered the voice I had heard as I passed out with Genma. Or perhaps I died with Genma. Oh well it didn't matter because the only way that any of this made sense was if someone or something had allowed me to go back in time, to have a second chance and fix so much. I wouldn't be able to save my first team except perhaps Obito, but I wasn't about to kick a gift horse in the mouth.

I scrambled for a pencil and paper as I tried to write down plans as quick as they came to mind. Firstly, this time around I was going to get Sasuke a fuck load of counselling whether that took the form of formal counselling, a therapy pet, moving in with other live people or swimming with dolphins like the civilians swore by, I really didn't care. Hell maybe I'd try all of the above.

Secondly, I would actually train them this time around from day one, not just when we were on an incorrectly ranked mission and had almost died. Sasuke would be too fucking exhausted from training to even have time to think about going to Orochimaru. Orochimaru. You know what why even nominate them for the Chuunin exams? It might even stop the war with Sound and Sand.

After some thought, I crossed out "No Chuunin exams." The current Kazekage was a prick and Naruto and Gaara's friendship was important for international relations. The Kazekage needed to die. This reminded me of the Third. I paused feeling uneasy. Should I stop the Third's Hokage's death? Doing so might require letting someone in on my secret and I wasn't ready for that. Furthermore, it could make the timelines greatly diverge in ways I would be less able to control. No, I wouldn't tell anyone of the future. If I was to save the Third I'd do it on my own. But should I save the Third?

Screw it. I decided I had time to figure that one out later and scrawled down "learn more fuinjustu." If I couldn't prevent Sasuke getting the curse mark again I'd seal the damn thing better. What on earth had I been thinking using a seal that relied on Sasuke's will to turn down power?

I hadn't been thinking at all that's what. I had acted like peace would last forever when I knew better. I had been through a war as a genin, a chuunin and finally a jonin. I knew what it looked like to train a genin team as though their lives depended on it. Minato sensei had done it. I hadn't. How many hours of a week would I waste just being late to show up for my kids' training? How could I have squandered so much time when I'd had so little of it to begin with?

The painful truth was I had already begun to fail them before I'd even met them. How could they have taken my words of teammates seriously when my first words to them were that I hated them?

I stood, straightened my shoulders and promised myself I'd make a better first impression this time. This time I would get it right. Feeling my stomach grumble I practically skipped for the door to buy myself something for breakfast. I opened the door and stopped dead in my tracks, feeling all my brilliant plans start to go down the drain.

No, not that face. I kept staring at the face in front of me willing it to go away. It didn't. I took a deep breathe. Okay, I could still do this. Just because the Chuunin exams had already passed and Tsunade's face was being carved on the mountain didn't mean that I still didn't have time. This wasn't over. It just meant that the mysterious voice that sent me back wasn't giving me as much time with my three cute little students as I had hoped. I was just going to have make more drastic changes like locking us all in a room together for a month until we all developed Stockholm syndrome or something. It was going to be okay. I still had options.

But to figure out which option might be best I had to find out the correct date. I berated myself for my lack of awareness of my surroundings last night and headed to the market. Ignoring the curious glances at my unusually purposeful walk, I finally reached the market. Realising that I hadn't thought to bring cash I decided to just snatch a newspaper out of some poor civilian's hands, after all it had been a rough week and I figured I'd earned it. I glared at the balding man until his protests died a quick death. Turning to the front of the paper, I found the date and laughed. I laughed and laughed and when that laugh began to take a hysterical edge someone thankfully wacked me over the head.

"You're beginning to creep people out, myself included." Genma stood there and just stared at me for several long moments. "You didn't leave the hospital before being discharged did you?"

It was a rhetorical question and so I din't answer.

"Perhaps you should get the final okay before leaving this time... You don't seem very well."

"I'm perfectly fine." He didn't look convinced, so I continued "It's been a rough couple of days."

Genma slowly nodded while still eying me intently. "You know if you want to talk I'm here right... and not just about the mission."

I nodded along but Genma didn't look any happier. "A bunch of us are getting together tonight at the Salt and Battery Pub around eight. You should come."

It sounded like a request but it wasn't so I agreed. There were worse ways Genma could have reacted to a nervous breakdown in the middle of the street and given my behaviour over the last twenty-four hours I needed to show people I had my shit together. People are pretty paranoid about genii snapping after the Uchiha massacre and I didn't need anyone taking up some pre-emptive problem-solving.

Genma gave a final assessing glance and left. I made my way to a bench in the nearby park and let my head fall in my hands. It was the end of the year. Naruto and Sasuke had already left. Sakura was being trained by Tsunade. I was no longer a sensei. There was no more Team 7. My plans were in ruins. I wasn't here to be given a second-chance as a better sensei, I was here to be punished.

I did end up going to the pub that night. I put on a masterful performance of perfect mental health. I gave a convincing impression of being glad to be out on more challenging missions in the field again. I stayed in character mostly ignoring Gai, not initiating conversation and usually doing little to keep them going. Then when everyone seemed to have gone I got absolutely smashed, the kind of smashed I used to get while in ANBU except that that had been in the privacy and security of my own apartment. While wondering how I was going to get home I felt someone plonk themselves next to me. I decided to ignore them and instead concentrated on the bubbles in my drink. They looked so light and free unlike me.

After quite some time, I realised the person beside me was of the female persuasion. I considered taking them back to my place. A lay did seem like a good distraction. The thought went out the window once she spoke.

"So, what's made you drink to the point of passing out in public? I always thought you were more of a closet drinker." I hunched inward a little as I recognised Anko's voice. Any thought of escaping I had, left once I realised I needed to get past her to get out of my seat and leave. Not good. She was probably the last person I felt comfortable talking about my problems with. Even after all these years since Orochimaru had left, Anko's promotion to jonin still kept getting knocked back due to her past association with Orochimaru.

I looked up at her from my sprawled position on the table. She was smiling while her eyes searched for a weakness to make me talk. "I've had a shitty couple of weeks," I slurred, hoping she'd leave it at that.

Anko waved her hand and waited for me to go on.

"Everything's wrong. It's not the way it was supposed to be," I said trying to be vague while at the same time stating the crux of the problem outright.

Sensing weakness, Anko pressed on "Why is that?"

"I fucked up. I fucked up badly."

Anko appeared unimpressed. "Have you tried fixing it?"

"... No... I was going to try but now it's too late."

"What makes you so sure it's too late?"

"I'm not their sensei anymore."

Anko looked both unsurprised and glad to finally be getting somewhere. "I was under the impression one of your genin was still in the village."

"She's Tsunade's apprentice now."

We sat in silence for a long moment. "Why do you want to be Team 7's sensei?" she finally questioned.

I took a few seconds to try and gather my feelings into coherent thought. "It was supposed to be different this time. We were supposed to stay together and I was going to make them strong enough," I slurred waving my hand in the air as if that was going to help make what I said more understandable.

Anko watched me for a long, hard moment as if she had read something in my words I hadn't intended her to. I began to feel uncomfortable. Eventually Anko raised her eyes to stare unseeingly at the crowded bar. "Like I said before, I heard one of your genin is still in Konoha."

"She doesn't want me as a sensei anymore."

"Are you sure?"

"She sought out Tsunade to be her apprentice, not the other way around."

Anko looked down while swirling her drink for a while and when she spoke again she did not look up. "I missed him you know. We did horrible things together and I missed him. He was amazing to watch," she said wistfully. "Both the way he fought in the field and the way he would excitedly talk about one of his current projects out of it. He would take us out to lunch and train us for the chuuin exams. I looked up to him. When he betrayed me by lying about what we were doing, when he left, that hurt. When he gave me a typically lethal curse seal that hurt too. Even now I get angry and I get frustrated that I'll probably never make jonin, never make ANBU and never be a sensei. But what hurt most at the time, was the feeling of abandonment; that he left me without a backward glance; that everything we had been through together, that I, meant nothing to him."

Looking up at me, she continue slowly, "You sill have one of your students in the village. Genin often have more than one teacher at a time, Kami knows all the kids from a ninja clan do. As far as I can see, the only one preventing you being with her or teaching her to be a strong ninja is you." With that said Anko got up and left.