Kakashi 's final battle
A furious battle in the kamui dimension was coming to an end. Kakashi stood in place looking directly at his opponent, his long lost friend Obito, as droplets of rain were falling down on their hair and faces. A water jutsu combined attack that Kakashi had just used moments ago.
-So it was a bluff attack after all.-Obito smiled wickedly as he ran his hand through his dark hair. – Didn't you say you were going to combine this water jutsu into an acidic attack using that special powder? But I guess you realized I would have been able to phase through it, even in this dimension. On the other hand, there would have been no escape for you. An obvious bluff is useless, I thought you learned that by now, Kakashi.
-That powder was custom made by Sakura for me. – Kakashi calmly answered. –It wasn't meant to make the water acidic, you're right in that regard. But…
Obito's face turned into shock suddenly. A black color started flowing down his face, as if his hair was melting.
-Kakashi… you didn't…. you couldn't have….
-The powder was chemically designed to melt artificial hair coloring. – Kakashi said. –An obvious bluff is useless, and a ninja must read underneath the underneath. These are all the lessons I've learned from you…. Sensei.
Obito's face turned rigid as his hair was revealed, patches of blond hair mixed with black.
-I should have known it would be you, Kakashi. – Minato that was pretending to be Obito for so long now became relaxed again. He smiled. – My most prized student.
He grabbed the skin of his face and pulled it off. Now Minato's face, slightly older and deformed by years of sin but still recognizable, was plain to see. One eye blond and the other eye, stolen Obito's eye, like a prize in his skull glistened in the dark.
-Underneath the mask, there is always another mask. –Kakashi said. – Tobi, Madara, Obito….. now Minato sensei.
-You honor me by calling me your sensei still. – Minato shrugged his shoulders. – A true shinobi reads underneath the underneath, always. You have been the only one to see underneath all the masks. What gave me away?
-It was not a single thing that gave you away, but an amalgamation of things.
-Oh? Care to explain before we put an end to this?
-The thing that both of us have in common, Obito's eye. – Kakashi started talking. –Who was the most likely candidate to have Obito's other eye besides me?
-It could have been anybody. –Minato smiled. –Why not my story about Madara and Zetsu, or it could have been a rock village ninja or…
-I knew you were a shinobi from the Leaf village. –Kakashi continued. –There was something about you, the way you looked at other ninjas from our village with familiarity. The intimate knowledge you had about our ways and jutsus…
Kakashi and Minato stood still in place, having a conversation, seemingly relaxed but still maintaining the distance.
-Obito qualifies for all those things. – Minato said. – Why would it have to be me?
-Not exactly. Obito was a kid when he separated from us. He was my friend. But he was never knowledgeable about other clans, never was the brightest or the most experienced ninja. Not at that time. You on the other hand acted like you've seen and known all these things personally, you looked like a Konoha veteran to me.
- Obito could learn these things from Zetsu and Madara, easily explained. He could also gain that experience from years of spying on Konoha.
-That story never seemed likely to me. That you were Obito that I left for dead buried under all those rocks years ago, somehow saved by a hundred year old Madara who was also supposed to be long dead but was still alive and just at the right place and the right time? Or you could be…
-Minato. Your sensei that took the other Obito's eye….
-Exactly as the protocol dictates. –Kakashi continued. – By the rules, any blood line ninja that gets killed is supposed to have his body retrieved by his fellow ninjas. So the sharingan doesn't fall into enemy hands. I knew you, Minato sensei, would think about that as soon as you'd find out that Obito has died. With your teleport jutsu, you would have been able to retrieve the body from the rock ninjas easily. Or at least snatch the remaining sharingan.
-It is exactly as you said. – Minato answered.- Remember how I saved you that day from the rock village ninjas? You were very brave to defend Rin for so long and I was impressed by the number of jounins you killed. I've counted 17 you took out. Don't get me wrong, you were already good. Very good. But never that good. It was the sharingan that made you better and I knew that from the start.
-So that made you decide to take Obito's other eye and keep it for yourself?
-No. I knew the power of sharingan even before you transplanted yours.
-So it is as I suspected. –Kakashi said.
-Oh?-Minato was slightly surprised.
-You old teammate and former Jiraiya's fellow student was an Uchiha, am I right?-Kakashi continued. –You killed him and took his eyes, didn't you?
- Well done.. –Minato answered. –I did that before Obito died, before the war. I needed the sharingan eye to keep track of my surroundings when I moved during hiraishin. The sudden teleportation would often leave me disoriented. Sharingan was what perfected my move. Just like sharingan was what perfected your chidori. I implanted my teammate's sharingan a year before the war started and hid it from sight with special organic lenses. Do you know who did the procedure for me?
-Orochimaru. – Kakashi replied.
-You are even smarter than I thought. –Minato smiled. – Yes, Orochimaru. It was I who encouraged him to continue with his medical researches and we worked closely in secrecy.
-It was not that hard to guess. –Kakashi said. – Orochimaru was one of the best when it comes to procedures like that and he wouldn't ask any questions of moral nature.
-Oh but he wasn't always like that. –Minato said. – His path towards darkness was gradual, just like everyone's elses. And don't make those faces at me, Kakashi. You know as well as me that a ninja has to do everything possible for the success of the mission. Now tell me, what made me, your former teacher that is supposed to be long dead more likely to be the man in front of you than Obito, a former friend that is supposed to be long dead? Besides the hundred year old Madara being an unlikely event.
-One crucial thing.
-And what is that?
-Obito would have never turned his back on his friends.
-How sentimental. And also wrong. –Minato stated.- You don't seem to realize the extent of my powers and the lengths I took to go undercover. I didn't merely take Obito's sharingan, I took a piece of his soul using a forbidden jutsu. Some of his chakra and his soul I used to transform into Obito myself. All that anger and fighting you had against your former friend, that was all real. Real Obito would have reacted the same, if he lived through those experiences. So your faith in your friend, although cute, was misplaced.
-You can claim to know all those things from all that planning and simulations. And tricks. –Kakashi replied. – But you will never be the real thing. You don't know the real Obito.
-Well, keep your faith. –Minato calmly answered. –I understand how that gives you hope, even if it's a lie. In fact, only a foolish man that believes in fairy tales would come to face me alone like you did. This is just one more evidence that confirms it.
-So let me get this straight. – Kakashi continued. – You killed your former teammate and took his eyes with Orochimaru's help to perfect the flying thunder god. Then during the war you took the Obito's other eye for yourself. After the war you became hokage. Would I be wrong to assume you became hokage by using sharingan genjutsus on unknowing people and by using the services of Danzo, Orochimaru and their root organization?
-You wouldn't be wrong at all. –Minato gleefully replied. – In fact, you would be right to assume that. You really are special. Do you know who implanted me Obito's sharingan instead of the old one?
-I assume Orochimaru again.
-Wrong. – Minato replied. –Orochimaru was on the run at that time. After I became hokage I had no need of him. He knew too much so I ratted him out to Hiruzen. It was Rin who implanted it. Lovely, lovely Rin.
-You used her.
-Yes. I told her it was a secret mission and she was to tell no one. Another thing we have in common we both got our eye from her. But I bet there is one more thing you don't know.-Minato paused and smiled. - Did it ever occur to you why your father committed suicide?
-You mean to tell me….
-Sakumo, your father, was the most likely candidate for Hokage at that time. –Minato started to talk. – He had to go. After I killed my teammate and took his sharingans, I've quickly unlocked one of their secret powers. The mangekyo power, that you only get by killing your best friend. His mangekyo was special in the way that it could implant thoughts into other people without them knowing.
-Like Shisui's sharingan? – Kakashi interrupted.
-Shisui's was more powerful. – Minato replied. – But yes, a similar version if you will. Well, you can assume what happened between Sakumo and I.
-You made him kill himself by implanting the thought into his mind using the sharingan of your murdered teammate.
-To put it bluntly, yes. –Minato answered. – So you can thank me for losing your father, among all the other things.
-And you are telling me this now to make me angrier, to make me lose my focus? – Kakashi asked.
-Yes and no. You deserve to know the whole story. You earned it.
-What about Rin?
-Rin was supposed to go as well. – Minato continued. – She knew too much and was too fond of you. I arranged the mist to kidnap her and plant a tailed beast inside her. She was supposed to detonate in Konoha which would set my plan in motion. But you killed her and stopped my original plan. Maybe it was for the best because my next plan was better anyway.
-You used your wife and your baby to take a part of the kyubi for yourself.
-That is only a small fraction of why I did it.
-You intended to make Naruto half of the sage, you wanted him to achieve the sage's chakra.
-That is more like it.
-Tell me only one thing. – Kakashi asked. – Did you ever love them? Or did you just use them?
-I loved them. – Minato said. – Which is what makes all of this harder. It is the reason for all of this. You still don't understand why I did all those things. Even though you think yourself a superior intellect.
-I never said that. –Kakashi replied.
-You don't need to say it.-Minato snapped. – Why do you think I took all that effort into molding Naruto and Sasuke into what they are?
-Because you wanted to make Naruto the chakra of the sage and Sasuke the eyes of the sage. Then you'd copy their abilities somehow to use the ultimate power of creation, to design your own world. – Kakashi replied. – Is that so? Or did I go too far?
-That is so.
-I am not going to go through the Uchiha massacre and how you set Itachi up to take the blame. How you stole Shisui's eye and used it to implant false memories into undead Madara and Danzo and who knows who else.
-I used Shisui's sharingan to implant false memories into Danzo and Hiruzen before giving it away to Danzo. Itachi got Shisui's other eye before I could snatch it. I used Obito's sharingan and that of my old teammate to manipulate the mist kage and implant false memories into undead Madara. There is something about Obito's sharingan you still don't know, it also has the power similar to Shisui's. – Minato explained. – You almost know everything now, but not quite yet. Because if you knew everything, you wouldn't try to stop me.
-I'm stopping you because you're insane. –Kakashi replied. – You're not the first guy I've seen go crazy on the job, you just took it one step further.
-Oh? Is this insane? – Minato clapped his hands for summoning and a giant statue of a man sitting down appeared. –This is the purifier, the device I created.
He touched the statue with his hand and a white glow started to fill it, its eyes glowing purple.
-It is receiving Naruto's and Sasuke's chakras. – Minato continued. – After it is completed, I will be able to use it to cast the ultimate creation jutsu. I will turn the tsukiyomi, the dreams of all the shinobi world, into reality. And I can only do it from this kamui dimension, this dimension is the intersection.
-You are insane. – Kakashi answered. – Do you plan to create all the souls of the people you killed as well? Do you plan to create people?
-I already created people. –Minato replied. – The zetsu army. They have Hashirama's DNA, but also the fractions of my soul and chakra. They will be the mold for the new bodies. All the people I killed, all of their chakras, I have them stored. I will recreate them. I have that ability, Kakashi. The ability beyond your comprehensions.
-And if you fail? Will you bring the end of the world? –Kakashi replied. –You already caused so much pain and misery.
-I will create a perfect world. Not an illusion. – Minato answered. – Everyone will be happy. We don't have to hide anymore, Kakashi.
-I won't let you do it.
-Is that your sense of justice talking? Or your thirst for revenge? – Minato smiled.
-It is a little bit of everything. –Kakashi said. –I don't believe that you'll succeed in what you intend to do. I believe that you have gone crazy because of your actions.
-You want revenge, your emotions won't let you think clearly. – Minato was still smiling. – Are you that jealous that my capabilities far eclipse yours?
-Maybe.
-Didn't I tell you I took a sample of everyones chakra? I extracted pieces of everyone's souls that way. I examined yours, Kakashi. Do you want to know who you really are? – Minato taunted him. –You are an assassin. All you know is how to destroy, never create. You live an empty existence when there is no fighting involved, you live to kill. And now you came here to do the only thing you know. To stop me from creating the new world.
-It is true, that is who I am. – Kakashi slowly removed his mask. He opened his one closed eye and lifted his head. His face showed full lips that were scarred by a knife wound at one end, he also had a dimple in his chin. His nose was sharp and long. His eyes, one his own and the other a gift from Obito, gazed intensely and he smiled. – I know that. And I'm here to kill you.
Minato shivered for a brief moment and then turned angry: You, kill me?! You fool!
Minato made a one hand sign and a flashing symbol appeared on Kakashi's shoulder.
-Look. – Minato said. – My hiraishin seal. I could have teleported to you and killed you any time I wanted. But you weren't worth the effort. I didn't need to have you killed. I will give you one last opportunity to leave.
-I can't. –Kakashi replied smiling. –I'm a killer, remember. And a killer like me always does his job. I killed you when I thought you were Obito, I killed Rin. And now, I'm here to kill my sensei.
-I told you I will make this right! – Minato yelled out. – All those clans that died, they died to achieve this dream. I can bring them all back. I can… bring your father back. Rin…. Obito…
-You can't. It won't be them, can't you see? – Kakashi answered. – They will be faint copies, recreated by some chakra traces you've stolen.
-They will be as real as anything…
-They died. Their souls have moved on.
-But soul…. Is not a unique thing you see. – Minato slowly recited. – It can be broken in many pieces. Many worlds require many souls. We will make a new one….
-Come! – Kakashi taunted as he gripped his kunai and raised it. He was still smiling.
-Why?! –Minato yelled. – Why are you smiling?!
-Because I know who I am. – Kakashi replied. – Because I am going to enjoy this fight.
Minato used the flying thunder god and appeared behind Kakashi instantly. He stabbed Kakashi in the back and pushed him away.
-This fight won't last a second. –Minato said.
Suddenly the stabbed Kakashi turned into a log, a log with a stabbed piece of Kakashi's skin attached to it. The piece of skin with hiraishin seal Minato put on Kakashi.
-How? –Minato asked.-You set this up in advance? You knew about the seal….
-Actually no. - Kakashi emerged from underneath Minato's feet while trying to stab him. Minato quickly teleported away to the safe distance. – I improvised this on the spot.
-How can your substitution jutsu be faster than my hiraishin?
-I used some of the time you spent talking. – Kakashi answered. –And it's not just substitution jutsu, I also had to cut my skin with the seal to make it work.
-You did all that in a fraction of a second? – Minato asked.
-Amazing, isn't it? – Kakashi said smiling.
-But now you're bleeding all over the place. – Minato noticed while pointing at Kakashi's blood coming down his shoulder.
-So I do. – Kakashi said and quickly did 3 hand signs. He put a hand on his wound and a sealing circle appeared around it.
-A healing technique based on seals? – Minato asked.
-Sakura and Tsunade showed me some tricks before I came here. – Kakashi said. – This should stop the bleeding for now. I wouldn't want to be traced by droplets of blood.
-Tell me, - Minato asked. – Does that technique help once you lose your head?
Minato started charging a giant rasengan in his hand. He took out 5 kunais with his other hand and threw them in all directions. He quickly teleported next to Kakashi and clashed his rasengan against him. Kakashi's body turned to water.
-A water clone? – Minato thought. –When did he have the time….
Suddenly 3 more Kakashis jumped out and charged at Minato. Minato quickly teleported from one to the next and sliced through them. All were water clones.
-You're using water clones in an area without water! – Minato shouted. – I wonder how much chakra that costs you?
-I have enough. – Kakashi jumped out and faced Minato.
-This is the real one. – Minato thought. – I can tell by his stance and the way he moved. The original is stronger than the water clones by a wide margin.
-You think you can face me or is this some kind of a trap? – Minato asked. – It doesn't matter.
He threw his kunai at Kakashi and teleported instantly. Now he was floating above Kakashi in mid air. As Minato threw his rasengan towards Kakashi, Kakashi blocked it with his own rasengan. Now their rasengans clashed while Kakashi charged chidori with his other hand. But instead of swinging it at Minato he plunged his chidori into the ground. With his chidori hand on the ground, Kakashi elevated the rest of his body so his feet didn't touch the ground. He charged the chidori through the water puddles still left from his water clones.
-Impossible! – Minato was thinking. – He is channeling electricity through the water but his feet are off the ground so he doesn't close the electrical circuit. His rasengan is clashing against mine which is creating air isolation between us. Otherwise we would have both been hit by electrical power. But for what purpose?
Kakashi's lightning jutsu spread through the water and to Minato's special kunais that were planted in the ground. The electricity fried both them and the hiraishin tags in a flash of lightning.
-So that is why…. – Minato thought. He jumped away.
-I needed you occupied so I can destroy those kunai tags. – Kakashi told him.
-Impressive. – Minato answered. – You are as cunning as always. In fact more than you've ever been. But…
Minato did a one hand sign and the floor of the kamui box dimension was lit by numerous seals and signs.
-This is my dimension. –Minato said. – And there is no escape. Each of these symbols is a hiraishin tag I can teleport to. You had no chance to begin with.
Suddenly Kakashi started using kamui on himself as if he wanted to escape the kamui dimension.
- No, you don't! – Minato yelled out and teleported next to Kakashi. He jumped towards Kakashi and grabbed him by the shoulders as they both started swirling into a kamui vortex.
-Where do you think you're going?! – Minato taunted Kakashi as they wrestled in an interdimensional vortex.
Kakashi pulled out a kunai and tried slicing through Minato's sharingan eye but Minato narrowly dodged the attempt. Finally they landed back in the kamui dimension panting and opposite each other.
-Heh, heh…. You fool. – Minato gloated.- Even if you escaped into the real world, I would follow you by cross teleporting between dimensions.
Minato teleported behind Kakashi.
-It's over! – Minato thought, but suddenly Kakashi was 100 feet away from him.
-How?! – Minato yelled out. – Did you….. learn hiraishin?
-That's right. – Kakashi answered. –All these hiraishin seals in the kamui dimension. I can use them to teleport as well.
-You clever bastard. – Minato laughed. –When did you learn it?
-Before I came here. I had to come prepared.
Suddenly Minato teleported and stabbed through Kakashi.
-You forgot about the seal I placed on you when we wrestled in the kamui vortex. – Minato said with an evil smile on his face.
Instead of dying, Kakashi exploded in a lightning blaze.
-A lightning clone! – Minato was shocked.
Kakashi jumped from under ground and stabbed through Minato. Minato stuttered and looked at Kakashi with a spiteful look on his face.
-When the hell did you have the time…. – Minato asked annoyed.
-When I was using the kamui on myself… - Kakashi explained. – I used a hiraishin powered substitution jutsu to switch with a lightning clone.
-Nice move…. – Minato said and dropped down on the ground seemingly dead.
-I can never be too sure with that zetsu body of yours… - Kakashi said as he threw three explosive kunais towards Minato's body. A large explosion happened while Kakashi looked at it without flinching.
*clap clap clap*, Kakashi heard clapping and he turned around to see Minato standing behind him.
-Well done. – Minato said. – Let me tell you a little secret.
Minato started doing seals and black markings appeared all over his body.
-After I killed the Uchiha clan, I took all of their sharingans and stored them away. Do you know what Izanagi is? It is a jutsu that sacrifices a sharingan eye in exchange for a second chance at life. Uchihas would have to be very careful when using that technique as they would quickly turn blind. However, I connected myself to the storage of sharingans via this custom made sealing jutsu. I can remotely activate Izanagi now. In other words, I have 200 lives left. Look.
Minato sliced his own throat and Kakashi watched Minato's body fade away in front of his eyes and a healthy Minato reappeared next to it.
-See? – Minato taunted. – All your genius amounts to nothing when it clashes against this much preparation and fire power. I know you came prepared Kakashi, even learning my signature jutsu. Impressive. But you have no chance, I will always be your superior.
-I will think of something. –Kakashi said calmly.
-Yeah, the great genius Kakashi. – Minato mocked him. –Why don't you hide your ugly face with that mask of yours and get the hell out of my dimension before I change my mind again? You are weaker. A good assassin should know when to back down.
-If I do that now, you might start using that thing to rewrite reality. I think I'll stay.
-How much chakra do you have left anyway? – Minato asked. – Hiraishin requires a large amount, you can't keep up.
-Well, you're not the only one with surprises. – Kakashi revealed a seal on his neck and activated it.
-Tsunade's seal for chakra storage! – Minato exclaimed. – She showed you how to do that?
-No, Sakura did. – Kakashi answered. – For this fight, I have double the chakra I would normally have. I've been saving some every day.
-Double your normal chakra is still nothing. – Minato calmly said. –What do you intend to do? Find my sharingan storage and destroy it? Let me tell you right now that's not going to work. This dimension is as huge as the real world. You're never going to find it before you run out of chakra.
Kakashi made summoning seals and summoned his dogs.
-What do you need, Kakashi? – Pakkun, the smallest one asked.
-Have you found anything unusual in this dimension? – Kakashi asked. –I'm looking for an eye storage to be precise.
-We found 3 such locations. – Pakkun answered.
-I want you to rig those locations with explosives and destroy the storages. – Kakashi commanded.
-Yes, sir! – the dogs disappeared again in a puff of smoke.
-I sent them to scout out this world beforehand. – Kakashi said to Minato. – A precaution if you will.
-You know I'm going to stop them before they have the time to do it? – Minato calmly said. – I'll be back in a second, I have some dogs to kill.
Minato disappeared for few moments, then reappeared in front of Kakashi.
-It was a bluff? – he asked Kakashi.- They're nowhere to be found.
-They hid away on a safe distance. – Kakashi answered. – Like I instructed them to.
Kakashi made a sign and Pakkun was resummoned carrying a piece of paper in his mouth. He slowly walked towards Kakashi and delivered it, then he said "Good luck, Kakashi sensei!" and vanished again in a puff of smoke.
-I have a secret language with my dogs. – Kakashi begun talking. –Secretly I told them to hide away and sniff out your location when you go after them. I assumed you would teleport to your eye storages first so when they catch your scent they were to memorize where you went. We had no idea where the storages were.
- I see. And that paper has the coordinates of my eye storages? –Minato asked. – I didn't know your dogs can write as well.
-Pakkun can. – Kakashi answered.
-And how did you know there were exactly three storages? – Minato asked. – If you didn't know the locations at all?
-A lucky guess. – Kakashi replied. – I knew you wouldn't put all the eyes in one place. I know you. So it was either two or more. Three was plausible. If the number was greater than three, you would simply assume they didn't find the other ones.
-Bravo. – Minato said coldly. – I gave you too much space. I should have just teleported and killed that dog the moment you summoned it.
-I would have blocked it.
-I can't believe I fell for that cheap trick. – Minato said while running his hand through his hair. – This is a children's level of trickery, not worthy to even pay attention to. Why don't you look into that paper now? So I can attack you the moment you do that?
-Fine. – Kakashi said and looked at the piece of paper, memorizing it.
Minato teleported near Kakashi, attacking him with a kunai. Kakashi teleported away to the eye storage room. Before him laid tens of jars with floating eyes, organized in shelves. Some of them did not contain eyes at all but instead had pieces of bodies and bones. Kakashi reached inside his pouch and pulled out a lump of clay.
-What do you intend to do with that? – Minato asked him, standing next to him.
-This is Deidara's clay explosive. – Kakashi said. – I'm going to use it to blow this up. Then it's two to go.
-And you think I'm going to let you? – Minato asked.
-You have no lightning jutsus to deactivate this. – Kakashi said.
-How much explosives do you have? – Minato asked smilingly.
-Enough. – Kakashi activated the clay and threw it on the ground. A huge blast of light could be seen as Kakashi and Minato were eyeing each other in that split part of a second.
-If he teleports too early – Minato was thinking. – I'll use kamui on the explosion to send it away. He has a limited amount of explosives so he can't risk me neutralizing this explosion. On the other hand if he stays too long, he'll end up dying while I have izanagi.
Kakashi charged his chidori through Minato's chest.
-Hiraishin charged chidori! – Kakashi yelled. His hand was well through Minato and both were still for a moment. Kakashi in wide stance and Minato shocked, holding Kakashi's chidori arm. Kakashi teleported away as the explosion took out the storage and Minato with it.
-The other storage. – Kakashi said to himself as he teleported to the other location.
-Nice chidori. It was too fast to react. –Minato complimented Kakashi while standing leaned against the wall.
-Thanks. – Kakashi said. – I guess you could call me, the real thunder god now.
-Very funny. – Minato said. –But when you stabbed me, I placed another hiraishin tag on you. And this time I won't give you the time…
Minato teleported in Kakashi's face.
-To activate the explosives…..
Kakashi blocked Minato's rasengan with his chidori.
-Or to switch….
Minato tried kicking Kakashi but Kakashi dodged. Kakashi teleported away but Minato was still behind him.
-I will wear you down. – Minato was still talking while attacking.
They fought in the kamui space and they battled between teleportations as they moved.
-You can't escape once you've been marked. – Minato was talking while swinging his blade at Kakashi as the surroundings were a blur of fast motion.
Kakashi stabbed through Minato, but the attack went through as Minato phased.
-Whooopsiee! – Minato yelled. – Remember I have that ability too.
Minato cut Kakashi slightly beneath his sharingan eye, adding another scar against Kakashi's old scar, making an x mark.
-Almost took out that eye. –Minato said cheerfully.
Kakashi stopped teleporting and was panting as Minato slowly walked towards him.
-You haven't even killed me once since I marked you. – Minato was talking. – I have about 100 something lives left at least.
Kakashi made a sign and created a clone.
-Wasting chakra. – Minato said. – The clone is also marked you know.
The clone started using kamui on itself to exit the kamui dimension. Minato teleported to the clone, but the real Kakashi intercepted him.
-Now we fight! – Kakashi said and started swinging his kunai at Minato.
They battled with knives, dodging and parrying, blocking and slicing with great speed.
-You sent that clone out so I can't phase through this attack ha? – Minato asked as he dodged Kakashi's attempts.
-That's right. I need to kill you fast. – Kakashi said. –So I can get rid of the mark.
Minato jumped and teleported a few times around Kakashi. Kakashi could see the yellow flash jumping like lightning around him.
-Hiraishin v2! – Minato yelled out as he hit Kakashi with a rasengan to his back. Kakashi could feel the ribs in his body break from the impact and his spine hurt like it's about to break. He quickly used hiraishin to move away barely in time.
-You minimized the impact – Minato said. – Rasengan didn't have time to break your innards completely.
Kakashi felt his back with his hand and saw he was bleeding. He charged his chidori and looked at Minato with killer eyes.
-This last attack…. – Kakashi begun saying.
-Will finish it! – Minato yelled out. – Hiraishin v2!
Minato teleported above Kakashi with a rasengan. He threw his rasengan at Kakashi and it appeared like it went right through Kakashi's head. But suddenly Kakashi's image begun fading, like a ghost.
-Raikiri hiraishin, v2! – Kakashi yelled out as he appeared above Minato and ran his raikiri through Minato's back.
-So he put a mark on me also. – Minato was thinking. –If I phase through this attack, Kakashi's clone on the other side will finish me. But it will buy me enough time to deal some serious damage back at the real Kakashi.
-He's phasing through! – Kakashi thought as his raikiri slipped through Minato. – Shit!
Minato half turned in the air and swang his rasengan at Kakashi's face.
-Say good night! – Minato yelled out with a smile.
Kakashi grabbed Minato's rasengan arm and turned it around. He kicked it into Minato's stomach and it phased through. Kakashi used kamui on the rasengan and Minato's body exploded.
-There's your phasing! – Kakashi yelled out and landed on his feet while Minato's body dropped on the floor.
Minato's body started fading away.
-Izanagi. – Kakashi thought. – This should give me enough time to ….
Kakashi looked at his arm and found Minato's mark. He made a couple of hand seals and with his other hand burned out the mark.
-Ughhh… - Kakashi grunted.
-Well done. –Minato said, standing before Kakashi again.
-I can't let you mark me again. – Kakashi said panting. –It's too dangerous.
-That is understood. – Minato said. – What about your clone? He's still out there?
-I think he ran out of reserve chakra in the real world. He's probably cancelled. – Kakashi replied.
-I shouldn't believe your word for it. – Minato said. – Not that it makes any difference….
Suddenly he stopped.
-No… you….
An explosion was heard in the distance.
-You sent him to destroy my storage while we fight. –Minato slapped himself on the forehead. – My sharingans….
Another explosion was heard.
-You sent him to the real world. From there he travelled until he reached the point where he could kamui himself into this dimension and be near my storage. That is why I couldn't sense him until it was too late.
-That's right. –Kakashi said. – Now we can have a fair fight.
After a slight pause Minato moved his head.
-From the looks of it, your clone ran out. – Minato said.
-How do you know?- Kakashi asked.
-I sensed the increase in your own chakra just now. – Minato said. – That means the clone has dispersed and some of its chakra has returned to the source.
-You gained some impressive sensory abilities. – Kakashi said.
-Perks of almost becoming a sage. I gained a lot of abilities, I don't even know if I'm going to use half of them against you. – Minato said. – By the way, the number of sharingan storages was 5, not 3. I always go the extra mile.
-So that means….
-I have 50 more lives left more or less. – Minato said. –I mean, you could send your dogs after those storages but….
Minato's clones teleported in and held corpses of Kakashi's ninja dogs high.
-You must have known when you took them into this dimension what was going to happen. – Minato taunted Kakashi. –This dimension cuts off all inter dimensional summoning, unless you use the eye. So to summon something, it has to already be in this dimension. The dogs had no way out, unless you personally used kamui on each one so they were left here…. Stranded. You thought you could kill me before I find them? That was very optimistic of you. And wrong.
Minato's clones threw Kakashi's dogs down onto the ground and then they dispersed.
-Pakkun…. – Kakashi looked down on his favorite's lifeless body. A tear ran down his cheek, parallel with a trail of blood he earned battling Minato all this time.
-You're crying? – Minato taunted. – You really have changed Kakashi. You should just … quit. Let me tell you a story…
-Enough with the stories, will you? – Kakashi looked at Minato with tired eyes.
-Just this one, to completely break your moral. I think you should want to hear it. You need to regain some chakra so you'll hear it out. It is true that I made your father commit suicide by implanting the thought via sharingan genjutsu, it is also true that he would have never done it otherwise. He wasn't the type… but you on the other hand ….
-I am?
-You never knew your mother, did you Kakashi? She died when you were too young. But I did. She wasn't cut out to be a ninja. She was a scaredy cat, I could tell from one glance. And when she got you, she became even more scared. Afraid something will happen to her, because then you would be left without her. So on a mission….
-Enough already.
-On a mission that was supposed to be C-rank, something she would normally handle easily, she froze in panic. Because she was thinking of you most likely. She made an unlikely mistake and paid for it with her life.
Kakashi and Minato stared at each other in silence for a few moments.
-You are like her so much, it amazes me. You inherited little of your father's personality. But that scaredy cat mentality. You tried to hide it with that mask of yours, always pretending you were something you are not. Acting brave, but secretly wanting nothing of it.
-Didn't you call me a cold blooded killer moments ago?
-Oh you are, when you think you have the upper hand. You got that from your father's side. But as soon as things go downhill, you begin to lose it. Now you threw down your mask finally, and thought you can win this by being yourself. But you don't even know yourself, like I do. You are afraid. An assassin like you knows when to quit. When you can't win, sometimes…. You even want to die in battle and quit that way. I'll be happy to oblige if that's the case.
-Even if I die here, you won't win. – Kakashi said. –Naruto and Sasuke….
-Naruto and Sasuke won't do shit! – Minato yelled out. – They will do as I planned them to do. As I implanted the thought into their mind via sharingan, and they will follow it. Maybe you should have told them about all of this before you decided to come here, but now you'll have to live with your mistakes.
-And what if I leave now and tell them about all this? – Kakashi asked. – Didn't you offer me the option to quit and leave? That means you are letting me go.
-I can let you live. - Minato said. – But not before erasing some memories about me. That way you won't be a threat. I will complete the moon eye plan soon anyway. Soon, all of this will be like a bad dream. How long do you plan on fighting? How long are you going to let life beat you down?
-Until I die. – Kakashi said and took a fighting stance he copied from his friend Gai.
-What? You plan on killing me 50 times now? – Minato asked. –You're out of chakra. Not even Itachi was able to kill me more than two times.
-Third chakra gate, open! – Kakashi yelled out and a surge of chakra started surrounding his body. –Ughh..
Kakashi felt the pain in his ribs.
-You copied this from Gai…. –Minato said. – Are you ready to share his fate? He died fighting Madara Uchiha who falsely thought he was the chosen one. You are going to die fighting….. Minato Namikaze. The true savior of the ninja world.
-I am Hatake Kakashi. – Kakashi said forcing himself to smile. – I may have been a cold hearted killer, I may have been a scaredy cat afraid to show my true face….. but….. I enjoyed lots of things in life. Even if I didn't live it to the fullest….
Kakashi charged towards Minato with great speed. Combining both hiraishin and the gates, Kakashi outsped Minato coming around him and from behind.
-I enjoyed reading my books! – Kakashi punched Minato in the head.
-Such speed…. – Minato remarked. - I won't have time to phase through…
-I enjoyed…. Spending time with my friends…. – Kakashi stabbed Minato through the stomach with his raikiri.
-Ughhh… - Minato spitted blood and disappeared.
Minato reappeared but Kakashi went through him again, slicing his stomach this time.
-Even if I didn't appreciate them enough… - Kakashi said. – But most of all…. I loved…..
Minato reappeared and Kakashi cut through him again.
-I loved a certain person…. And never told her how I felt. – Kakashi continued. – I think I would have changed that if I could.
Kakashi continued killing Minato in a barrage of hiraishin charged gate empowered raikiris.
-Izanagi is too slow… - Minato was thinking as he was getting sliced. – When I respawn I get instantly killed again. I need to teleport away, but I don't have the time.
Kakashi killed him again.
-How many izanagis… do I have left? – Minato asked himself.
-And I enjoy…. – Kakashi cut Minato's head. – This fight!
Minato reappeared and Kakashi was about to jump again but suddenly he felt his left ankle break and he stopped in place.
Kakashi was panting.
-You're done? – Minato asked him.
Kakashi started releasing the next gate.
-Fourth gate… open! – Kakashi yelled.
-You know…. – Minato said. – You don't have any sensory abilities, do you?
With those words, Minato teleported away and disappeared.
-He is going to wait until the gates run out and I'm too exhausted to go on. – Kakashi said to himself. –I need to find the remaining sharingan storages myself. When I was in that one, I could feel the smell of the preserving liquid. He uses it to store the eyes and other organs in those jars. If I got near one of those storages, I might smell out their location. However… how far are they really? Some could be very far away, I won't be able to cover the distance by myself. Maybe… I should make a run for it. Try warning the others….. even though I said to myself this was my fight. This dimension…. Is going to be my grave….
Kakashi walked towards the corpse of pakkun. He stroke his head gently and suddenly felt something behind his ear.
-A message… - Kakashi said. He took out a small piece of paper and read it.
"Three more eye storages sniffed. Approximate location: 10 miles from the land point west, 5 miles from the land point north, 12 miles from the land point southeast."
Kakashi crumbled the paper in his hand.
-My loyal dogs. – He said. –It's time to make him pay.
Minato was sitting on a small cuboid when he heard two explosions. He turned around and saw Kakashi standing in front of him.
-You found me, somehow. – Minato said. – And I guess you just destroyed the last two storages?
Another explosion was heard.
-The last three. –Kakashi said. –I hope that is the last of your cockroach tactics.
-Two questions. Make that three.- Minato said. – How did you find those? How did you find me? And finally, are those gates over?
-Pakkun and the others sniffed them out, he hid a message on himself to deliver it to me.
-Damn! I didn't check the corpse! – Minato yelled out. – I keep making rookie mistakes in this fight. I almost deserve to lose. And how did you find me?
-I assumed you'll camp around your purifier statue. – Kakashi answered. – It is too valuable to you.
-I can transport that thing at will, it doesn't have a fixed location. – Minato said. – But… I didn't feel like dragging that thing too far. It takes chakra. I can see the gates ran out. And so has your chakra. On the other hand, I have no lives to spare anymore. Shall we finish this?
-Your chakra must be running pretty low as well. – Kakashi said.
-It is true. – Minato added. – I'm only human after all. For now.
Minato jumped down and stretched his neck.
-You know… you killed me far too many times. – Minato said. – And the only thing I managed to do you was some pain.
Kakashi raised his arms.
-Some pain, huh?
-You know – Minato started again. – You never would have come close to beating me, if I didn't show you most of my secrets. I spared your life so many times, and this is how you repay me. Come, "genius" Kakashi!
-I am a turtle that finishes the race! – Kakashi ran towards Minato. Minato jumped left and right, teleporting next to Kakashi. Finally Minato striked with his kunai, but Kakashi blocked with his. – You're just a rabbit that jumps too much.
Minato smiled: "Hmph"
They jumped away from each other and locked eyes. Minato made a seal with one hand and suddenly the floor started to glow and a force field barrier was erected, trapping both of them in.
-This dimension is full of my seals and traps. – Minato said. – This one is called no chakra barrier. You can't use any jutsus inside these four seals. And we are both trapped.
Kakashi looked around.
-So you intend to finish this with an old fashioned hand to hand combat? – Kakashi asked.
-Not exactly. Human amounts of chakra won't work inside this…. But…. – Minato made a seal and dark red chakra started to pour out of him. –Some of the kyubi chakra I took from Kushina. It is powerful enough to override the barrier.
The chakra cloak started to overrun Minato.
-It is the concentrated hate of the kyubi that I took. It gave me power, but now…. – Minato's voice changed. – I might lose my mind for a bit. Until I kill you!
Black chakra cloak covered Minato completely and he looked like a demon beast with one sharingan eye. He charged towards Kakashi.
-Why? – Kakashi thought to himself. – Why do things always turn out to be harder than they originally seemed?
He rolled away as biju Minato missed him and hit the barrier wall.
-Maybe I can use his strength to break out of this trap? – Kakashi thought to himself.
Chakra beast grabbed Kakashi's throat. Kakashi used both his arms to hold the throat grabbing hand and he lifted his entire body and did a back flip, narrowly escaping the death hold. Kakashi pushed himself away from the beast with his foot, jumped on the ground and quickly jumped sideways as he dodged another furious charge.
-This isn't good. – Kakashi tried using a seal but felt his chakra being sucked away by the barrier.
Kakashi pulled out two kunais joined with a string from his pouch. He wrapped them around his fist never taking his eyes away from the beast. He punched one kunai as hard as he could into the barrier wall and it got stuck.
-I'm glad this worked. – Kakashi said to himself. As biju Minato charged towards him, Kakashi jumped sideways and threw the other kunai on a string at the beast's leg. It wrapped around its leg. As biju Minato charged, Kakashi jumped to the side one final time and the string connecting the two kunais became tense to the point of breaking as the beast pulled the kunai stuck in the barrier.
-I hope the string doesn't break. – Kakashi thought. – And I hope the kunai holds up and doesn't jump out of the wall.
The barrier started bending and soon the whole trap collapsed, Kakashi escaped.
Minato was still in his biju form eyeing Kakashi, not being aware of his surroundings.
-Now, - Kakashi thought. – One last time.
The biju charged at Kakashi while Kakashi was kneeling down, exhausted. He looked at the biju and activated his kamui. Next moment, the beast fell down, its head missing. Chakra cloak retreated, leaving a headless human body behind.
-Is it…. Finally over? – Kakashi said.
Behind him appeared Minato with his sharingan eye closed, stabbing through Kakashi with a small blade.
Kakashi turned around clumsily and managed to create some distance, holding his wound on his chest.
-You sacrificed Obito's sharingan for the final izanagi? – Kakashi asked.
-Yes. I am going to take yours instead.
Kakashi fell down and was panting in his own blood.
-We are both out of chakra finally. – Minato said. – It took a lot. But the battle is finally finished.
-If I destroy Obito's eye… - Kakashi said. – You'll be trapped here forever.
-Don't. – Minato said.
Kakashi took out a kunai and with a shaky hand moved it close to his eye.
-Don't. – Minato said and summoned someone.
-This …. Can't be. – Kakashi said in shock.
-It can. – Minato said. Before Kakashi, Rin was standing. She was older than he remembered, but there was no mistake. – You can tell that girl that you loved her, the one you never got the chance to.
-How?
-Now you're surprised? – Minato asked sarcastically. – It was a zetsu clone that you killed. I kept the real Rin for myself. I needed someone to transplant all those eyes and do medical procedures for me.
-But why would she…
-Look. – Minato moved away her hair and a seal appeared on her forehead. – It is a mind control seal. She does everything I tell her to automatically. She has no awareness of what is going on. If she were to wake up from this, her last memory would be getting ready for that final mission, with you.
Minato put a kunai on her throat.
-Now, come over here and let her take out your eye. She will do it painlessly.
Kakashi hesitated.
-Do it or I kill her. – Minato moved kunai closer to her neck. – You lost, Kakashi. You will bleed out in a matter of minutes. Your lung has been perforated, you might choke before you bleed to death. You finally got what you wanted, Kakashi. You got….. death. A clean, guiltless death. You did all you could. You can tell yourself that before the end, it is comforting. Isn't it?
-What do I care if you kill her? – Kakashi said. – She's just a machine now, anyway.
Minato looked annoyed. He released the seal momentarily.
-Where…. Am I? Minato sensei? – Rin looked around. She looked older, with some wrinkles on her face she didn't have before. But her voice was the same.
-Shhhh…. – Minato said. –Look, Rin. Do you know who that is?
-Ka….Kashi? – She looked in shock as she saw a much older Kakashi, bleeding and beaten. And without his mask. –But…
Kakashi broke into tears. He lowered his head and wept, tears mixing with his blood. Poetically.
-What is going…..
Finally he took a deep breath.
-Rin…. – he raised his head. A sudden kamui and Rin disappeared in a dimensional whirlpool before Minato could react.
-You bastard! You still had chakra left. You were waiting for me to break her seal. – Minato yelled out.
-I always seem to find some out of nowhere. – Kakashi said and got up shakingly. – Just like you, full of surprises.
-And now what? You're going to kill me? – Minato said. – I have so many tricks up my sleeve. Your best bet is destroying that eye.
-I…. I'm not going to do that. –Kakashi said. – I'll try to defeat you now and walk away.
-You hope to find a new life with Rin? How romantic. – Minato said. –This is why you were always a lousy ninja. So selfish.
Kakashi took one step towards Minato.
-Not here. – Minato said. – Come teleport 5000 miles north of here. I'll be waiting for you there.
Minato disappeared. Kakashi hesitated for a moment, then he followed.
Kakashi appeared in the middle of a massive valley of the kamui dimension, though it was more of a pit. All around him, there were bones. A massive graveyard in the open.
-These are the sacrifices.. – Minato stood a bit further away with his arms stretched open. –Of the new world.
-All the people you killed? – Kakashi asked coldly.
-Not all of them personally, but you could argue I am responsible for each death. – Minato replied. – How many of the bones would you say belong to you?
-Not this amount. – Kakashi replied.
-I bet a fair amount. – Minato said. – You and I are the relics of the past. An era gone by. The kids, they will never have to know what kept their peace, a true peace.
-You brought me here to show me this, why?
-I can bring all these people back. – Minato said. – If my plan works. I did a lot of terrible things, but I always knew I was doing them for the greater good eventually.
-I already told you, you can't bring them back. – Kakashi said. – They wouldn't be the same people.
-Semantics. – Minato answered. – One person lays in the bed one night and the next morning wakes up changed. No one is the same at any time. I will bring them back in their essence.
-So you screwed up this reality to make up yours?
-This world was screwed up from the beginning. – Minato answered. – Mine will be better. So what if we leave a few things behind?
-And you are willing to sacrifice what your son has become, all the dreams he achieved?
-He will also be a part of the new world.
-Who? Not this Naruto. Maybe your creation of what he should be, but not who he is right now. Who he became because of his own work. His own dreams.
-Didn't I tell you already… - Minato said. – I set everything in motion. Nothing that he is right now, is because of him.
-You are so wrong, it is disgusting.
-You're at loss for words? Did that blood loss finally take effect?
-You think no one made their own choices? That you orchestrated everything? Everyone makes their own choices, every moment of their life!
-Not true. For example… - Minato turned to face Kakashi. – What changed you? Obito's words? Remember how you were ready to let him go after Rin alone and how you were ready to carry out the mission instead? His words changed you? Or was it his sharingan? His sharingan genjutsu works similar to Shisuis, on a subtle level. He can implant an idea and change your way of thinking. All that you are right now, is because someone played a trick with your mind Kakashi. You were never more than a soldier, you were never meant to play hero. A combination of electron impulses and energy in your brain created a confusion, Obito transferred a part of his personality onto you.
-Obito didn't have his sharingan when that happened.
-Are you sure?
-Does it matter?
-I guess not to you. – Minato said. – So you don't care you were manipulated as long as it feels right?
-I'd rather be manipulated into doing good than evil.
-I thought you were smarter than that. – Minato said. –I guess not.
-There is nothing more…
-To be said.
Kakashi begun charging his chidori. He ran towards Minato, leaving a trail of lightning behind.
As Kakashi was nearing his target, Minato kicked one of the bones from the ground at Kakashi. As Kakashi flinched while the bone hit the side of his face, Minato was suddenly under his chidori arm slicing across his chest.
-Ahh…. – Kakashi fell to his knees bleeding. Now him and Minato were turned back to back, not far away from each other. Minato turned his head to Kakashi.
-Do you know what hurts the most? – Minato condemned Kakashi. – All your wasted potential. You could have been somebody, if only you tried harder. You only woke up now, when you came after me.
-I am somebody…. – Kakashi said through his teeth and got up again while holding the side of his torso.
Minato kicked another bone at Kakashi, hitting him in his head. And another one. And another, taunting him.
-Look at all these worthless people. – Minato was mocking Kakashi, as Kakashi was slowly walking towards him. – All these bones, you are about to become one of them. In this world, you have failed more than any of them did. In the next one, maybe you will do better.
Kakashi fell down on his knees again, feeling he is about to faint.
-If you faint now. – Minato said. – You will surely die. Are you sure? Is it over for you?
Kakashi closed his eyes and opened them somehow. He saw Minato towering above him.
-Goodbye, Kakashi. – Minato took out a sword and swung it towards Kakashi, aiming to chop him from the shoulder down. –Of the sharingan.
Kakashi's sharingan turned to mangekyo in a split second and he broke the sword in half using kamui, transporting only a tiny fraction of the sword, in the middle. The sword's upper blade rotated in air as it detached itself from the lower half. Minato's swing still hit Kakashi as half a sword embodied itself into Kakashi's shoulder. But Kakashi caught the upper blade of the sword in mid air and sliced through Minato's neck.
-Of the…. Sharingan… - Minato muffled. His face seemed unusually happy as he died. Finally he dropped down in a pool of blood, his lifeless eye staring upwards.
Kakashi looked at him for an unusual amount of time. As if wanting to make sure the man, the devil that haunted him for so long, was finally dead.
-It is over. – Kakashi lied down, breathing heavily. – And…. That is it for me…. It seems.
-If only….. I had more energy…. To transport myself…. Next to Rin…..
Kakashi couldn't move a single muscle anymore.
-This body…. It's really over….. I can't move….
Kakashi closed his eyes and opened them. He saw Obito standing next to him.
-You did good, Kakashi. – Obito told him.
-I did?
-Yes, you did great. I couldn't have done it better myself. Hehehe – Obito laughed with a wide smile on his face. – I am sorry our sensei turned out to be such a dick.
-Where is he?
-Oh he won't be joining us for a while. – Obito answered. – He has to think about what he did.
-Where's…. the others…..
-They are up there. – Obito answered. – I came down here.
-What?
-You need some energy, right? – Obito said. –Use this.
He put his hand on Kakashi's face.
-Go tell Rin to help you. You can go to her now. – Obito said.
-You…. Won't mind?
-I love her and I want her to be happy. And safe. – Obito said. – You are going to do a good job. And Kakashi…. Once you leave this dimension, my eye won't be any good anymore. So you can throw it away. I won't mind. I think a gift is only as good as long as it's useful. I don't want you to carry a burden around.
-It's not a burden, if it is a gift… - Kakashi said.
-But I want to replace it with another gift. – Obito said. – A better one. You can throw away the eye and you can keep …. Rin! Now go. And Kakashi…. If you wouldn't mind…. I would like you to name your first child after me. As your gift to me.
Kakashi woke up next to Rin in the real world, not knowing how he got there.
She was stroking his head while tending to his many wounds.
-Kakashi! – She yelled out and kissed him on his cheeks. –How did this happen? How did any of this….
-It's a long story… - Kakashi said with pain in his voice. – How did I….
-You showed up out of a whirlwind, out of nowhere! – Rin yelled out. – Nearly dying! I called for help, I think other medics should come soon. But I patched you up quickly.
Kakashi looked at Rin for a long time as if estimating if he loves her or not.
-C'mon. Lets go. – He said and tried to stand up.
-Oh no you don't! – Rin pulled his arm and Kakashi fell on his back again. –There they are, the medics!
Rin grabbed Kakashi and carried him in her arms towards others.
-How embarrassing. – Kakashi was blushing in face as Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura came to witness him being carried by a girl, his former teammate.
Five years had passed, Naruto was hokage and Kakashi made a lovely home for himself. Him and Rin, and their 4 year old daughter, Obita, lived in harmony. No one ever found out the entire story of what happened in the kamui dimension, except for Rin. Kakashi would still occasionally go visit Obito's grave, but less than he used to. He also removed Obito's sharingan eye, that turned blind, and he got his own eye restored by Naruto's healing chakra. He buried Obito's eye where Obito's grave was supposed to be.
-Do you still think of him, sometimes? – Kakashi asked Rin.
-It's hard not to. But…. We shouldn't let the past cloud our present. Or our future.
Kakashi leaned over and kissed Rin, moving her brown hair aside.
-Do you think he's watching this right now? – Kakashi asked and smiled.
-You pervert! – Rin slapped Kakashi across the face as Kakashi ran away. – You read too many of those dirty books!
Rin looked right and left for Kakashi, but he jumped out from behind and hugged her.
-Ah! – Rin squeaked. - You bastard ninja!
-Ehmmmm….. this is so troublesome…. But…. – Shikamaru was standing at the door. – Hokage wants your help, Kakashi san.
-Are you a ninja too? – Obita was pulling down on Shikamaru's shirt.
-Ehhh how troublesome. – Shikamaru sighed.
-I'll be ready in a minute. – Kakashi said and soon he was in the hokage office. – What's the problem, hokage?
Naruto gazed at Kakashi, still not being used at seeing him without his mask.
-You really have a lot of scars, Kakashi sensei. – Naruto remarked in his usual insensitive style. –Maybe, you should have been more careful about not getting hit. In the face.
-Is that why you called me? – Kakashi asked. – I'm starting to regret nominating you for hokage… Maturity! Is what you lack.
-Says the one writing perverted novels! Ero sennin 2! – Naruto yelled.
-I'm off to go home… I have better things to do… - Kakashi half turned around.
-It's your birthday, Kakashi! – Naruto yelled out.
-What? – Kakashi was surprised.
Too many people for Kakashi's taste showed up, including his wife and daughter.
-I don't really celebrate…. – Kakashi was scratching his head.
As everyone was celebrating, Kakashi was left alone wondering if Minato was right about him.
-Do I really not fit in? Am I only good for one thing? – Kakashi wondered. – Why….. why can't I be happy with them?
Every hug, he felt he didn't deserve for some reason.
-I wish Gai was here. – Kakashi thought. –Or at least Asuma.
-Yeah, I'm old haha…. – Kakashi said awkwardly while blowing out the candles. –Where's Tsunade?
Tsunade considered that an insult and smacked him across the face.
-Hey. – Sasuke showed up and greeted Kakashi, not really looking in his direction. – What's up?
-I'm really glad to see you. – Kakashi said. –I don't know why though.
-Heh, better take that as a compliment. –Sasuke said.
-No, I mean. I'm really happy to see you and talk to you. – Kakashi said. – I don't know why.
-I know. – Sasuke said. – We both have something in common. Something others don't quite understand. It's not easy living a life not being understood. You lived the same thing I did in a way.
-I see…
-We both had to fight against our dearest person, we both experienced similar hearthbreak. – Sasuke continued. – Sometimes you just need someone that gets you. When people don't get you, you feel alone.
-How did you deal with that?- Kakashi asked.
-I learned that some people get me. – Sasuke answered. – Even if they didn't seem like it. Everyone has similar problems. Not the same but similar enough. Some people I would never think would get me, actually understood me better than I could hope. I learned not to underestimate others. They are like me.
-Even Naruto? – Kakashi asked jokingly.
-Especially Naruto. – Sasuke answered. –He is nothing like us, but he understands us. Others can understand you as well. People don't need to be like you, to get you. That is what I learned. Don't underestimate others.
-Sasuke, - Kakashi turned to him. – Thanks.
-No problem, old man. – Sasuke got up and left.
Kakashi gazed at the evening stars for a while, then he returned to the party. He was really happy, happy to be with the people he loves.
-They don't need to be like me, to understand me. – He thought. – And I don't need to be like the others, to understand them. I can finally be just…. That. Hatake Kakashi.
The end