Disclaimer: Do not own.
Notes: This story came about after reading so many Kakashi fics wherein he wonders what would have been different had he simply failed Team 7 when they got to him. Apparently, this is the kind of thing that I ponder during workouts. Not sure how many "what could have been" fics are out there with this theme (as my Naruto reading is limited to NejiTen, Sand Siblings, and Kakashi fic), but if there are good ones out there, I'd love to see :)
Also, I basically gave up following Naruto after the Rescue Gaara Arc. Everything after I just pieced together from fic and video clips, so forgive me if the details are off. Most of what came before that arc (as well as Kakashi Gaiden) is a bit fuzzy for me because it's been years.
Extensive notes following the story.
Everything is different, but nothing has changed.
Kakashi walks away from the training field, leaving behind three former genin hopefuls in various states of disbelief and despair. It's nothing new to him, but something not-quite-like regret stirs within him.
This time he is leaving behind him the boy that is the legacy of his own sensei, the boy with the boundless enthusiasm, unstoppable determination, and relentless righteousness. The boy with the power to save or destroy worlds.
This time he is leaving behind the avenger whose eyes await the awakening of spinning wheels against blood red, the avenger who is all that is left of Obito besides a weeping eye and a traitor long disappeared.
This time he is leaving behind the girl with the perfect chakra control and caring heart, a medic waiting to happen. The girl with strength to move mountains, if only could she discover it. The girl who smiles so much like Rin.
They could be something amazing. He knows it- all three have drive, the determination, the raw talent to become the new legends of Konoha. All he would have to do is to build and shape them to it
But no. No, there is too much…division, distrust, discord…too much rage. They are not ready and until they are, passing them will not lead to the formation of heroes, but to death and destruction. No, they are not ready and so Kakashi fails yet another group of genin, remnants of the past though they are.
It's better this way, he knows, the destruction of another Team 7 is prevented before lives could be torn apart. Or so he thinks, so he hopes.
He walks away.
Uzumaki Naruto spends the first week after failing Kakashi's test making a general nuisance of himself. Sasuke and Sakura are with him for the first few appeals for second chances, for another teacher, but then Sasuke loses interest and Sakura loses hope.
Naruto spends the next week pondering the meaning of "looking underneath the underneath". Towards the end he thinks maybe Kakashi has the right idea, but damned if he'd be able to articulate it.
He resolves that the year between now and the next genin trials will not go to waste. There is so much he can learn still, after all, and what's a year in the grand scheme of things? He's still going to be Hokage and next year that Kakashi better watch out because he won't be gotten rid of so easily then.
Sakura helps out in her parents' shop and listens to Ino complain about her own team and thinks "next year". She loses her patience and grows bored one day and seeks out Sasuke, because after all, they'll be testing again together next year. She passes Naruto practicing throwing dai shuriken and finds Sasuke walking up the trunk of a tree and realizes that she is letting herself fall behind.
Through forcefulness and determination that she didn't know she possessed, she manages to bring all three of them together for joint training sessions. These are sporadic and never last more than a few hours but it is enough time for Naruto and Sasuke to fling insults as well as kunai at each other. Time enough for Naruto to look to Sasuke for training inspiration, for Sasuke to force himself to keep going because Naruto won't stop trying.
Time enough for Sakura to watch the blood drip from various cuts and scrapes, watch bones crack and exhausted bodies fall to the floor.
She goes to the hospital the day after their third joint session and signs up as a medic intern. She's only scrubbing bedpans and changing sheets now but someday she'll be learning to heal and then she'll be able to help her boys in another manner.
Uchiha Sasuke is nothing if not a genius of circumstance. He was nothing special until his world ended all around him. And now, without a teacher, he is no less driven to gain strength. He learns by watching, by reading, by experimenting, by pushing his body to its very limits and beyond.
He's not sure how or why, but every day he trains and every night he ends up in the abandoned compound that everyone in the village, himself included up until now, has avoided so studiously for so many years. He thinks it fitting that he awaken the Sharingan in the blooded streets of the home of his family (gone, gone, so long gone), under the same moon that hung in the sky the night that Itachi destroyed everything.
This year's chuunin exams are coming up and so it is a few months until new genin teams are presented to jounin senseis. He doesn't care. Rank means nothing to him when all he sees is the harsh lines of Itachi's back.
Kakashi is walking home with his nose in his book when he comes upon what would have been his team facing off against genin from Suna. He doesn't care much but he tells the foreign team to save it for the exams.
He is a bit surprised to find that all three of them have developed noticeably and is even more surprised when Naruto bounces up to him and informs him that they've been training real hard and thinking underneath things and that he'd better be totally ready for them next year! Sakura nods eagerly besides Naruto and offers an enthusiastic smile.
Sasuke has long since vanished from the scene.
Hinata doesn't want to fight Neji-nii-san. She never does, but especially not when he is so angry. Their eyes meet in between strikes and she sees the depth of his fury and sadness. She sees also that he has given up hope for freedom, but still desires it so desperately.
She wants to give up, like Neji-nii-san thinks he has (but not really or he wouldn't be so tormented), but she thinks of blond hair, orange clothes, and a bright smile- a failure in every sense of the word, but she knows he still hasn't given up. So neither will she.
She wakes in the hospital a week later, an angry Kiba and stoic Shino at her bedside.
Neji has defeated Hinata soundly, but the rage in his heart still burns. His next match is against some no-account Ame-nin who just managed to scrape by. He spares his upcoming opponent no thought as he trains to perfect his technique.
He is a caged bird, he will always be a caged bird, but he wants to show the unfairness of a world where the strong are not permitted to fly.
Neji destroys his opponent within minutes, perfect strikes and perfect spinning defense.
Hiashi watches from the stands and thinks that this boy who shares his genes is much too angry, much too skilled. He will need to be watched and restrained as necessary for the good of the clan.
But Hiashi also sees the longing in Neji's eyes and wishes someone could save Neji from his anger. He wants nothing more than to get to know this boy, all that he has left of Hizashi, but this cannot come to be until Neji can understand and understanding cannot come until he is no longer trapped in his own despair and anger.
He wants to love and care for the boy, but Hiashi worries that Neji's rage will force his hand and drive him to kill his own nephew (for the good of the clan, for the good of the clan).
Tenten watches from the stands and is proud, so proud, of how far Neji has come. He is perfect and he is showing the scions of his family just what he can do. But at the same time, she feels in inexplicable heaviness.
She knows that, somehow, things have changed forever.
Neji has always been aloof and arrogant, but she, Lee, and Gai have seen glimpses of the noble heart that their teammate possessed somewhere underneath his belief that fate would never let her, nor Lee, be more than third-rate…fate, that would never let him be more than second-string Hyuuga. Fate that would never let him be free.
She thinks that maybe, if she and Lee work hard and defy their 'fates', they will be able to show him that he is not fated to live his life caged. She will learn to fly to show him that he can too.
But she knows, somehow, that they will never reach Neji now. It is fate, it will always be fate, he will always be trapped by his belief in fate.
She would save him, if only she knew how.
Everything goes to hell the moments after the Sand-nin Gaara crushes his opponent in a rain of blood that mists over the entire front row of the stadium. Some signal is given and the forces of Suna and Oto invade.
Shikamaru is slumped in his seat due to chakra exhaustion when Gaara's sand engulfs the rows beneath him. Blood floods down the lower stands and Shikamaru sees Gaara's face and it gives him the energy to flee.
Gaara's eyes are wide with madness and his mouth stretched in an insane smile. It's not so different from his face during his match against Rock Lee, but now his lunacy is uninhibited and all the more terrifying due to the blood in the air and the transformation into some hideous beast.
But Shikamaru's genius brain is already analyzing the look in the Sand-nin's eyes and he sees beyond the fury and bloodlust. He sees the flicker of loneliness and desire driven to madness and he wonders how it all came to this.
Would things have been any different, had Gaara had someone to understand him and dispel his hate? Shikamaru will never know, he can only watch from afar with Ino and Chouji as dozens of Konoha jounin and ANBU struggle to subdue the monster.
Naruto wants to go to the center of the battles, punch some sense into the invaders, and kick them out of his precious Konoha. But he can't get close and he can't abandon the people in the area. So he stays and defends Old Man Ichiraku and his daughter and feels something within him wake and shift in response to the monstrous chakra in the air, but he's too busy holding off Oto-nin as the civilians make for the forests to pay too much attention.
He doesn't notice that his eyes are feral, his teeth bared, or that he doesn't run out of chakra.
Sasuke does his part to help the civilians in his area. He'd do more but this village is beginning to mean less and less to him and he can't endanger himself and die before he's strong enough to kill Itachi.
The Suna and Oto invasion is held off at the price of the lives of many, many Konoha shinobi and civilians. And at the end of the day, the village is without a Kage.
Sakura goes around and does her best to heal and help. She doesn't know how much of a difference she can make.
Ichiraku tells him that he was amazing and so brave, but Naruto still feels ashamed. He knows he could have done more to help. He can't hold back the tears at Old Man Sarutobi's funeral and he renews his vow to get stronger and stronger, strong enough to protect the village and its precious inhabitants.
He goes to bother Iruka and the jounin that he is acquainted with to train him, but so many are dead, wounded, and everyone is busy rebuilding the village.
By chance, he comes across a white-haired man who looks at him as if he knows him, looks at him as if he sees that he has the drive and potential to become strong.
He becomes that man's student and learns more about himself, about being a ninja, and about that which is within him than he ever imagined.
Jiraiya and Naruto find Tsunade and she returns to Konoha as Godaime Hokage. Tsunade's assistant Shizune goes to the hospital to assess the situation and finds that the young pink-haired girl working so carefully and meticulously is the only one with a chakra reserve left. She nods to the girl and begins working besides her, noticing how quickly the girl- Sakura, the head healer calls her- picks up on Shizune's techniques.
She decides to train Sakura as a healer. It is during their first lesson that Tsunade finds them and Sakura expresses a desire to grow stronger to help the people she loves.
Shizune watches her teacher as she looks over Sakura with an assessing look in her eyes. Tsunade studies Sakura's eyes and expression and makes a decision. Shizune loses a student and gains a kohai.
Naruto is with Jiraiya when they come across Sasuke, pinned to the wall by the man wearing the black cloak embroidered with red clouds.
Sasuke's eyes stop him dead- they are filled with helplessness and fear. Gone is the arrogance and haughty confidence that he has come to associate with Sasuke.
The man whispers something into Sasuke's ears and announces his intention to capture Naruto, who watches as shock and jealousy take over Sasuke's expression.
Jiraiya drives off the man called Itachi and Naruto and Sasuke are left staring at each other, eyes unreadable, emotions incomprehensible.
Kakashi supposed that it was only a matter of time before the last Uchiha learned of Kakashi's ownership of one of their eyes. Only a matter of time before Sasuke would come to him and ask to be trained.
Some would call it a matter of duty to the boy, to his deceased clan, to the village deprived of the strength of the Uchiha, for him to take this boy and teach him all he knows. Uchiha Itachi has resurfaced and his training could help this boy survive.
But looking at Sasuke now, he sees nothing but hate and a desire for vengeance. He wasn't ready to be trained before; now he is even less worthy of the power Kakashi could give. In Sasuke's hands, it would not be used to protect, only to destroy.
Sasuke demands that Kakashi make him strong.
Kakashi refuses.
Sasuke understands now that this village has nothing more to offer him. He understands he is still weak and Itachi is still so far ahead of him.
He understands that he must seek strength to pursue his revenge. And if that means leaving the village, so be it.
He thinks briefly of Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura, the people who were almost his team and who are somehow the people he is closest to. Not that that means much.
His thoughts center on Itachi though. In the end, leaving is easy; he has nothing, no one, to hold him back.
Nobody sees him off.
Uchiha Sasuke's disappearance is quiet. There is concern, due to Itachi's reappearance, but in the end, there is little that can be done. The village is still rebuilding, shinobi stretched thin. There are no resources to spare on a boy who is not even a full shinobi, who disappeared without a destination to paint him as either ally or traitor.
Naruto is livid when he is told of Sasuke's disappearance. To him, Sasuke is still the boy he has trained with, one of the only who acknowledged him.
Naruto believes that they really were friends.
Naruto believes that they really are friends.
Sakura cries when she finds out, because she wants to help him, she's been training to help him, because she thinks that she loves him (and maybe she really does).
She watches Ino and the other village girls get over his absence, while her heart still aches. And then she knows- somehow she really does love him. She's not sure why or how she loves him but…
Naruto and Sakura both resolve to train and grow strong enough to bring Sasuke back home. Together.
And then it will be the three of them again, as it always has been. Dysfunctional, distant, detached, but still somehow bound together. The three of them.
The genin trials of the year come and go. Kakashi fails another team without a second thought and submits paperwork requesting reinstatement to the ANBU.
He never wants to be offered another team to train again.
Not long after he leaves, Sasuke finds Orochimaru. Or Orochimaru finds him. He doesn't care about the details- Orochimaru has offered power and Sasuke is smart enough to recognize the strength and experience he can gain. He knows what Orochimaru has planned for him and frankly he doesn't care. He is confident that he'll be strong enough then to handle the snake sannin.
Months and years blend as Sasuke trains, grows, and improves by leaps and bounds. He masters jutsus, weapons, and techniques. He develops his own moves. He knows Orochimaru is watching him with pleasure and anticipation. He sneers inwardly- the snake has no chance against him now.
It over soon enough- he has Orochimaru bound within the curse seal placed upon him shortly after arriving in Oto.
He is strong enough now to defeat a legendary sannin. Strong enough now to become the hunter. Strong enough to kill Itachi.
He leaves Otogakure in flames.
Gaara sits under the dark sky of Sunagakure. He has just sated Shukaku's lust for blood and the bijuu is finally quiet, no longer whispering, cajoling, demanding in his head.
Life in Suna is as it was before; his reign of terror undisturbed. More and more assassins have been sent after him following the failed invasion and his father's death. More and more assassins feed his bloodlust.
He has long since given up fighting Shukaku's demands, killing as it desires and reveling in its delight at the spray of blood.
It is the only way he can stop the feeling of loneliness. So he kills and kills and kills, even more than he had before.
Temari and Kankuro maintain their distance from Gaara, who is relatively calm at the moment. They know that they are lucky to be alive, but they live their lives in constant fear.
They can't bring themselves to leave though. True, there is nothing holding them down- their father is long dead and the village itself is nothing more than a state overrun with terror.
But they have nowhere to go…and despite everything…
Gaara is still their little brother.
There is a bird in the sky. There is a battle raging in the night skies of Sunagakure. Explosives fall and sand crashes. The village crumbles.
Gaara is overcome with bloodlust and more than a little fear. He is fighting for himself and it's not enough. Shukaku is not enough.
In the last moments before he loses consciousness, he is paralyzed by fear and loneliness. He is going to die. He is going to die alone and unloved.
He is being carried away and he sees Temari and Kankuro running after him. He doesn't understand the looks on their faces and they fade away too quickly as the bird flies ever higher and farther.
Sea-foam green eyes close forever as he ponders their expressions.
And he wonders, is that what love is?
They set out, just to two of them, to take back what is theirs. No one else helps, no one else wants to.
They find his body weeks later, decay barely beginning to settle in. He looks peaceful in eternal sleep, the way he never did before.
Together, they mourn their youngest brother, who never had a chance from the moment he was born.
Who never knew that he could have been loved.
Sasuke finds Itachi because Itachi let himself be found.
Sasuke fights Itachi and loses.
But Sasuke is alive and Itachi is dead and Sasuke learns that his brother loved him, has always loved him, down to the very last minute (Forgive me, Sasuke…it ends with this…)
Sasuke loved his brother too. And he loves the memory of his brother more than he loves a village of cowards and almost-teammates.
So he dons the cloak Madara offers and vows vengeance on Konoha.
He cannot follow his brother's back any longer, but he has lived for revenge for so long that he doesn't know how to live for anything else.
It is the final battle against Madara and the Akatsuki and it's every village for itself. Even in a time of need, there is very little trust between the Hidden Villages. The Alliance is just a name.
Kakashi pulls his arm, still crackling with power, from the chest cavity of an enemy. The clearing around him is littered with dead bodies and ANBU are beginning to retrieve their own. They've won this round, but Kakashi knows that battles are raging all around them.
He watches from the trees as Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura face off against Uchiha Sasuke.
They are so strong now, all three of them. Naruto with his intense desire to protect his precious people, Sakura with her brilliant control and love and determination to save those she cares for. And Sasuke…there is no humanity left in Sasuke's eyes. He is nothing but a ball of hatred bent on destruction.
Hatake Kakashi watches them and wonders how this has come to be. That feeling, not-quite-like regret, stirs within him again, and he wonders what would have happened differently had he taken the three of them as a team so many years ago and taught them teamwork and companionship.
Perhaps then everything would be different.
Perhaps nothing would have changed.
End
Awww, cheer up Kakashi. It'll always be exactly this bad. *beams*
Story Notes:
1. Naruto is a difficult character for me to write, especially in this context- it's hard to figure what he would have done had he failed the genin trial because, story-wise, Nauto cannot fail the genin trial- it's against his very nature. So if the story is light on the Naruto and heavy on the Sasuke, it's because Sasuke is so much easier for me to write. Oh, and he drives so much of the story.
2. I think that Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura have a bond deeper and sadder than teammates. They are bound by the red strings of destiny, somehow. Kakashi is also bound to them, but less so because he's a generation ahead. This is why I didn't want to portray them as strangers in this AU. Instead, I tried to show this bond and how it affects them (primarily Sasuke) even though it doesn't develop as it did in canon.
3. I wanted to bring in everyone from Konoha 12, but really, only the ones that were affected by Naruto would have been changed much by his absence at the Chuunin exam. So, basically, only Neji (Hinata has been affected by Naruto since before the exams, so...). I desperately wanted to bring in Lee, but his interactions with Sasuke are much more important than his interactions with Naruto...and the character development that takes place due to this is mostly Sasuke's, not Lee's.
So, TL;DR, basically, I couldn't do more than include references and name-drops for Kiba, Shino, ShikaInoChou, and Lee because Naruto had less of an effect on them than he had on Neji/Hinata/Gaara, etc.
4. I brought in Hiashi because I think his is a needed viewpoint on this development of Neji's character. And I brought Tenten in for the same reason, though her role could easily have been Lee's. I went with Tenten because she has such a beautiful motif of flying (her attacks, her name- Heaven). And um, NejiTen forever please.
5. Most importantly, this story is called Facets because only a few situations are portrayed. I could write an entire book on how Team 7 failing the trials affects almost any one character, but that would be crazy-talk and kind of boring in parts. So you are free to imagine what happened to Neji after, did they ever make genin/chuunin, etc. I am, however, slightly OCD and I probably do have explanations to any story questions you would like answered (such as how the Suna/Oto invasion failed despite Gaara going bijuu).
6. It may have thrown off the flow of the story a little, but I expanded on Gaara and his siblings because his Naruto beatdown is so important to the development of the canon storyline. Had Naruto not Talk-no-Jutsu-ed Gaara, Gaara would have never calmed down, opened up, and become Kazekage. When Akatsuki captured him, Gaara would have died and stayed dead. With Gaara both a) not Kazekage and b) dead, there would be no one to unite the shinobi nations. While war makes strange bedfellows and some of the nations would have joined forces, cooperation would have been nominal at best without Gaara's Epic Speech of Unity. Gaah, Kakashi! Do you realize how important you passing Naruto would be to Gaara and the future of the shinobi world?
But most importantly, had he not met Naurto, Gaara would never have been loved. *wibbles* Can you tell who is my favorite character yet?
7. Thank you for reading. I had more to say, but these story notes are getting ridiculously long.