The Third Dream: True Hero

The red darkened to black...the black lightened to a midnight blue. He was drifting now in the dark blue night sky illuminated by the many stars above Konoha, floating with a sense of anxiety that he could fall at any moment. Somewhere below him he saw a spot of brilliant blue light acting as a beacon. Finally pulled down by gravity and guided by the light, he found himself gently landing on top of the tower in the middle of training area 44. There was someone there already, apparently waiting for him. This person had such a strong chakra aura that Kakashi did not need to expose his sharingan to see the blue flame of his chakra pulsating all around him.

"You're a bit taller than me now, Kakashi-kun," observed the smiling handsome young man with blond hair and deep blue eyes standing erect before him.

"Yondaime?" Kakashi whispered in surprise. My sensei, as he was back then, so inspiring and noble.

"I hear you have your own genin team now."

Kakashi nodded tentatively in response, still trying to accept his resurrection.

"They're growing fast, aren't they?" Yondaime asked in a pleasant conversational tone.

"Yes they are, I even nominated them for the chuunin exams their first year," Kakashi answered proudly. He felt himself straightening his posture before his former sensei.

"Really? I'm impressed. You must be a good sensei," Yondaime smiled encouragingly.

Kakashi shrugged, "Not really. They all had natural talent."

Yondaime laughed, "How humble you are now. You used to be so…"

Yondaime stopped, noticing the tension that now rose in Kakashi's shoulders.

"Yes, I was, wasn't I? Such an arrogant fool."

"No, you were never a fool. You were my best student. The smartest. There was only one lesson you had to learn the hard way. But I'm sure you've passed that lesson on to your genins." He continued to smile.

"Sigh, well, I tried, but…I'm afraid it hasn't worked out that well."

"Hmm, let's see, you have the nine-tails kid and the sole Uchiha survivor. Not easy to deal with just one of those, to have both is exponentially difficult. Then there's the girl. Another cause of friction. I'm afraid you have it tougher than I ever did," Yondaime gave a slight chuckle.

Kakashi scratched his head and said "Well, I'll have to admit I was a lot like Sasuke and Obito was like Naruto. But Sakura and Rin are quite different. Rin was…less obvious about her feelings… and…had a better temper, so I guess that doesn't help."

"Well, I'm sure you're handling it. How did your genins do in the chuunin exams?"

"Naruto and Sasuke made it into the finals. Naruto won his first fight, against a member of the Hyuuga clan, no less, but Sasuke's fight was interrupted." How much did Yondaime know? He knew about his team already, did he know about the Sand and Sound attack? Well, of course he did, Kakashi reflected, after all, I'm just talking to myself again, aren't I?

"That's good, very good for a first try. So what kind of special training did you give them?"

"I trained with Sasuke for the finals. Naruto needed more help with the basics so I sent him to Ebisu, but then Jiraiya took over…"

The smile disappeared from Yondaime's face. Now he looked down pensively.

"…it all worked out," Kakashi added the last part almost defensively, afraid Yondaime would chide him for not watching over both his students.

Yondaime fixed his brilliant blue eyes on Kakashi's single dark eye. Those eyes, Kakashi recalled, were they always so bright? Though they were not special doujutsu eyes they always seemed to see the truth.

"You know Naruto is special to me. I have great hopes for him. To protect this village I gave him great power. You should help him harness it, not push him away," Yondaime said sternly, as if addressing a genin.

"I didn't push him away. I'm not like those others. I don't blame him for your death or any other. He's not the nine-tails demon fox. I know that. I know that…but…"

"But you knew my intentions for Naruto. Yet you favored Sasuke because of the sharingan…and what happened with Obito. That's it isn't it? Are you still paying off your debt to the Uchiha clan?"

"I didn't mean to…but…Sasuke is much easier to teach. We're alike in many ways…" Kakashi could no longer meet Yondaime's accusing stare with the penetrating blue eyes that always sought the truth. He felt his hunched posture return.

"But that's no excuse to neglect the other two is it? I never neglected Obito or Rin despite your genius..."

No, you didn't favor me, if anything, you seemed to favor Obito, Kakashi thought wryly, remembering the feelings of jealousy he had. I thought it was because he was a Uchiha, an honorable clan, not like mine...

Yondaime continued, "Does Naruto feel that you've neglected him? His power needs guidance. As his assigned sensei, it should have been you. And what have you taught Sasuke except how to use a lethal jutsu? His teamwork hasn't improved. His heart is still filled with hate and vengeance. Perhaps if you had trained the two together…" Yondaime shook his head sadly. "A good teacher respects his students and vice versa. Can you say that? Or do you think your silly posings earn you their respect?"

I don't recall Yondaime ever giving such long lectures before, Kakashi mused to himself. Damn, I'm longwinded. Yet Kakashi could say nothing to defend himself against himself, or rather Yondaime. After all, this was the truth, wasn't it? "You were a better teacher," Kakashi admitted, bowing his head in shame.

"Was I? You didn't listen to me…and look what happened. Yes, he is very much like you. The Uchiha won't listen to you either. Be prepared for that before it's too late..." Yondaime fixed his stare intensely on Kakashi, forcing him to meet his eyes.

But then Yondaime's brilliant blue eyes started to glow red and they transformed into sharingan eyes that spun around and around until the red and black were indistinguishable. Yondaime started to fade away as the red and black void came back.

Everything turned red, swirling with black streaks, so fast that Kakashi had to close his eyes as vertigo swept over him. When the feeling passed, he opened his eyes again. The swirling slowed and he could see the black swirls were in the shape of sharingan dots. A monstrous pair of Uchiha eyes stared down at him from the crimson sky. But these were not Itachi's eyes with their three sharingan dots. There were only two dots in each eye...at first…now the third dot began to metastasize. And Kakashi was no longer standing on the tower, which had disappeared as well, but falling…falling into an abyss streaming with red blood fresh from a kill and stained with black blood from ages long past.

...-...-...-...-...-

Author's Notes: Poor Kakashi! Not sure if readers will get the imagery and subtext of what's going on in these dreams but I'll explain a little after the next and last one.