Ever since that day that he had Obito's sharingan transplanted into him, Kakashi has felt a terrible fatigue. At first he thought that it was just regular exhaustion, after that incident with… with Obito and Rin. But, despite it having been a few weeks since then, Kakashi still found himself both tiring out much more quickly during training and just feeling tired in general. What happened to all his stamina?

Kakashi also noticed people often staring at him now as he walked around the village. He was used to being stared at because of his skills or because he was Sakumo's son, but Kakashi knew people weren't staring at him for those reasons.

Rather, they weren't really staring at him at all; they were staring at his sharingan. No… not his sharingan, Obito's sharingan. Kakashi still couldn't get over that this was his friend's eye he was seeing through. Technically, it belonged to him, yes. But it didn't feel like it. It felt like that eye still belonged to Obito. The fact that said friend of his was dead only made it even worse.

At first, members of the Uchiha clan protested Kakashi having the sharingan at all. They claimed he had no right to it, because he was not of the Uchiha clan! It's only because of Fugaku honoring Obito's dying wish that Kakashi was allowed to keep the sharingan. Kakashi shudders to think what would have happened had Fugaku not stepped in or had he said Kakashi shouldn't be allowed to keep it. Would the Uchiha clan forcibly take it from him? Would they tear the eye straight from its socket? The thought alone made Kakashi nauseous. It was sickening enough when Rin had to remove his original, badly-damaged, eye to replace it with Obito's. Thanks to her medical ninjutsu, it didn't hurt much but Kakashi didn't want to imagine how much it'd hurt to have his eye removed without any kind of medical ninjutsu!

Besides that, Kakashi had a bit of difficulty mastering his new sharingan. Although he'd been allowed to keep it, none of the members of the Uchiha clan offered to show Kakashi how to use his new eye. That meant Kakashi would have to figure everything out for himself. He was able to combine it with his chidori to create a complete chidori, but even that was a bit iffy.

Today, like always, Kakashi dragged himself out of bed and over to one of the nearby training grounds to train. As the silver-haired child passed by people on the street, he couldn't help but notice each one's chakra. It was strange, suddenly being able to see people's chakra. Everyone had different amounts and types of chakra; it was actually kind of fascinating. At the same time, it was also a bit distracting and a little disconcerting. The only time Kakashi was able to stop seeing people's chakra was when he closed his left eye.

Finally, the young shinobi arrived at the training grounds. He figured he'd start with some ninjutsu. Kakashi took some shuriken from his thigh-pouch and threw them at the target. Unfortunately for him, the shuriken completely missed.

Damn! He thought. What is this? Why has my balance and coordination been so off lately? It's like everything is moving in slow motion!

Indeed, no matter how hard he tried, Kakashi's shuriken continued to miss or only hit the outer rims of the target. This, too, was something new that only happened to him after receiving Obito's eye. Before that, Kakashi's marksmanship was almost perfect. He managed to hit the center of the target each time! Now, he could hardly hit the target at all!

Frustrated, Kakashi took it out on the dummies before him. He gave a yell and ran at the dummies, preparing to kick them. His leg seemed to move faster than his vision though, and Kakashi bungled it. He fell over clutching his leg in pain.

My body's too slow to keep up with my movements! Or, is it that my body is too fast for my vision to keep up with? Or… no… maybe my vision is too quick for my body to keep up with! Ah, that's it, it must be the sharingan!

That was the start of all of Kakashi's problems, the sharingan! But… how could be turn it off? Kakashi was uncertain if there was a way to deactivate it, but he assumed there had to be. The members of the Uchiha clan didn't always have their sharingan activated, so there had to be a way to turn it off. Kakashi tried in vain to do this, but nothing he did seemed to work. No matter what hand signs he made, what words he tried, Kakashi's sharingan refused to turn itself off. Deciding that it was hopeless, Kakashi spent the rest of the day training.

It was sunset before the silver-haired ninja decided to call it a day. He practiced straight through lunch, and Kakashi thought he might actually be starting to get the hang of this sharingan thing. It took a bit of getting used to and adjustment, but he was able to successfully hit the bullseye using shuriken. Little by little, it seemed, his body was adapting to the new eye and Kakashi was better able to keep up with the sharingan's speed. In fact, thanks to the sharingan, Kakashi was faster than ever! Not to mention, his chidori was now fully complete, too! With the sharingan, Kakashi was able to keep up with his chidori's speed. He practiced chidori a couple of times, too, just for good measure. However, after just a few of these, Kakashi had to stop or else he was going to pass out for sure. Still, feeling slightly better about the sharingan and satisfied with his current level of capability, Kakashi headed to the nearby florist.

He bought some flowers for Rin and Obito, and went back home to grab a bucket and cloth to clean their graves with. While Kakashi worked, he thought back to that awful day, and cringed at the memories. The look on Rin's face when he accidentally chidori'd her… Obito's dying words… it shook him to the core.

Shaking his head to clear it of these horrid memories, Kakashi finished cleaning the two graves and began making his way home. Before doing so, though, Kakashi felt he ought to say a few words to Rin and Obito.

Kakashi looked up at the sky, "Rin… Obito… can you hear me? Wherever you are, I hope you're at peace. I brought you guys some fresh flowers… I even got your favorite, Rin."

Kakashi looked back at the graves again. Tears welled up in his eyes.

Trying desperately not to cry, "Obito… Rin… I'm sorry. I failed you both. Worse, I killed you, Rin. I- I…" his voice trembled. "I- I'm so sorry!"

Kakashi furiously wiped away at the tears now streaming down his face.

Man up, Kakashi! Quit crying! A true shinobi never reveals their feelings! Besides, what right have you to cry? You're the one who killed Rin and failed Obito! Obito died saving you and for what? So you could kill the girl he had a crush on?

But these dark and painful thoughts only caused Kakashi to cry more as he plopped down onto the ground. He hated this. He felt like a little kid again.

Once he was able to compose himself, Kakashi stood up and wiped his eyes one final time, ridding himself of these tears. He checked his reflection in one of the nearby graves, trying to conceal the fact that he'd been crying by making sure his eyes weren't red. Er, at least… by making sure his right eye wasn't red. Once Kakashi gazed down at his reflection though, he pulled back and gasped. Ah, that's right… his left eye, it was no longer his own. Every time Kakashi looked into a mirror he had to remind himself of this. Every time Kakashi checked his reflection, he expected to see two black eyes looking back at him, not one black and one red.

Still, once he was certain that no one would be able to tell that he'd been crying, Kakashi began making his way home. As he did, however, his body and limbs slowly begun feeling heavier and heavier. What is this, he wondered? Why does he suddenly feel so exhausted? It must be from the training and having just finished crying his eyes out on the ground, earlier. Yes, that's it. All he needed was a goodnight's sleep and he'd be fine. Yeah…

Kakashi isn't really sure how, but somehow he managed to drag himself back into town. By now the sun had set completely, and it was dark. Kakashi passed by brightly lit street lamps and shop were staring at him, this time not because of the sharingan but, now, because he looked so pale. He was also swaying from left to right, back and forth, as though he were drunk.

Civilians and shinobi alike exchanged worried glances and whispers. Kakashi didn't care though, or more accurately he just didn't notice. He was too tired to notice. Kakashi decided that, as soon as he got home, he was going to have a quick dinner, maybe ramen noodles or something, and then he was going straight to bed. Again, though, each step he took felt heavier and heavier. At this rate, would he even be able to make it home? Kakashi's vision blurred and he had trouble keeping his eyelids open. In his half-awake state, Kakashi wondered if he'd eventually turn to stone, and never be able to move again. He hoped not. That would make it awfully difficult to do missions.

Suddenly, a blob of bright green came bounding up to him. The blob spoke excitedly about bumping into him here and something about a competition.

"Kakashi, fancy meeting you here! This must be fate! We were destined to meet here and battle on this day!" Guy's muffled voice exclaimed.

"Huh? Wh- ah, hmm…" Kakashi made strange noises in his attempt at a coherent conversation.

"Er… what? Hey, Kakashi, you feeling alright? You look a little…" the other young man's voice faded out.

Kakashi's body couldn't take it anymore, and he simply dropped to the ground. The last thing he saw was the face of the green blob leaning over him, shouting.

"Kakashi?! Kakashi!" A distant voice seemed to call his name from far away…

When Kakashi next awoke, it was in a hospital bed. Nearby was his sensei, dozing off in one of the chairs.

"Minato-sensei?" Kakashi's rasped. "What am I doing here? Why am I in the hospital?"

"Wh- huh?!" Minato jolted up out of his chair. "Oh, it's just you Kakashi, haha! Sorry, guess I fell asleep!" the blonde-haired man rubbed the back of his neck.

Kakashi sighed, "Minato-sensei…"

"Umm, anyway. Ahem!" Minato cleared his throat, as though preparing to say something important. "You're here because you collapsed in the middle of the street last night!"

"Huh?!" Kakashi couldn't help but yell in surprise.

"You're lucky Guy was there to catch you and bring you here! What happened?"

"I… I don't know. My body… it just suddenly started feeling really heavy, like lead. I was on my way home and really tired, and it felt like I just couldn't keep my eyes open."

"I see…" Minato had a thoughtful look on his face. "Did you overdo it on the training again?"

"Maybe. It's weird, ever since Rin transplanted this sharingan into me, I've been feeling exhausted and my stamina's been lower than it usually is."

"Huh… could it have something to do with the sharingan? I guess we'd better get Fugaku in here to answer some questions."

"No need!" Without warning, Fugaku entered the room.

"Ah, Fugaku! How did you know we needed you?" Minato appeared genuinely impressed.

Fugaku smiled, "I didn't. I heard what happened last night though and something told me I should come to check up on the boy. I guess I'm glad I did."

"So, can you tell us what's going on here? Why is Kakashi suffering from exhaustion?" Minato asked.

Fugaku nodded, "It's because of his sharingan. It's active all the time, and so it's constantly draining chakra."

"Then you mean-?!"

"Yes. This is just a case of simple exhaustion, caused in part because of Kakashi's overuse of the sharingan."

"Then… what should I do? How do I turn it off?" Kakashi interjected.

Fugaku turned to look at him, "Unfortunately, you can't. Transplanted sharingan can never be deactivated. At least, not for a non-Uchiha."

Minato looked glum, "Then… there's nothing we can do?"

Fugaku smiled again and shook his head, "No, there is. Just keep that eye covered and closed at all times. Ideally, you would just keep it closed all the time, but since that's easier said than done you'll have to cover it, too."

"Ah, I see! And that should help to conserve his chakra, then?"
"Yes, for the most part. There will always be a little bit leaking out, but closing and or covering the eye should reduce the amount so that his stamina isn't too badly affected. When you want to use it, you'll have to uncover it. Just be careful not to overdo it, alright?" Fugaku said, looking at Kakashi.

Kakashi nodded, "Alright. Thank you."

"Thanks, Fugaku! We can always count on you!" Minato laughed.

"Ah, my eternal rival, you're awake!" An all too familiar voice chimed from the doorway.

"Er, hey, Guy…" Kakashi mumbled awkwardly, blushing.

"I'm glad to see that you're okay!" he grinned. "Next time, be careful how hard you push yourself while training! Your passion is admirable, but remember that rest and sustenance is necessary to be a strong shinobi as well!"

"Yeah, yeah…" Kakashi grumbled.

As usual, Guy had misread the situation. Then again, how could he know that what happened yesterday was the result of this sharingan eye?

"Ah, speaking of sustenance…" Guy reached into a brown paper bag he'd brought with him and pulled out an apple. "I did a bit of shopping while you were asleep and bought you some breakfast!"

Kakashi flatly refused, "No thanks, I don't need it."

"Eeehhh?!" Guy cried, dropping his head.

Just then Kakashi's stomach grumbled.

Guy lifted his head and beamed, "You can't hide it from me, Kakashi! You're actually really hungry, aren't you? Here!" Guy tossed Kakashi the apple.

Kakashi blushed and muttered something obstinately. He hated admitting that he was human or showing weakness in front of Guy. Or, well, anybody else for that matter. Still, Kakashi was secretly grateful for the food and bit into the fruit. He'd never say it, but Kakashi was grateful to have Guy as a friend.