Kakashi rolled out of bed and looked out his window at the sun rising over the village. "Ugh." He grumbled rubbing his eye. He went to his bathroom to get ready for his day.

After that he went downstairs and saw the rare sight of an empty house. But with how everything had been happening he hadn't expected the kids to be here this morning.

He made his way to the Hokage's tower on his own, climbing the spiral staircase when he saw Shikadai, Hino, and Chocho sitting outside of Naruto's office. "Mirai inside?" He asked pointing at the door.

Hino nodded his head quickly. "You gonna ask her out?" The boy asked putting his hands behind his back and swaying side to side.

"What? No." Kakashi corrected. "I needed to speak with Naruto Sensei."

"How's Minato?" Shikadai asked casually.

"He's taking the news better than we had been expecting." Kakashi said rubbing the back of his neck. "I never got the chance to thank you for helping him."

"No need." Shikadai said yawning. "He kept me going just as much as I kept him going."

Mirai came out of the office and smiled at Kakashi. "Hey." She said with a blush.

Hino was bouncing on his feet watching the interaction.

"Hey." Kakashi said calmly. "Is Naruto Sensei busy?" He asked pointing at the door.

"Oh." Mirai said as she felt her mood shift. "No he's just going over some paperwork."

"Thanks." Kakashi said patting her on the back and knocking on the door.

Hino was staring in horror at what had just happened. "Boys are idiots." Chocho said eating a chip.

"Yes they are." Mirai said putting her hands on her hips. "I guess that's it for today." She said rubbing her forehead. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

XXXX

Kakashi walked into Naruto's office. "Hey Kakashi." The blond said smiling at his former student.

"Naruto Sensei." Kakashi said his voice filled with protocol. "Since my team is on a temporary leave I was hoping that you could assign me to a mission to clear my head."

Naruto looked at the Uchiha carefully. "Are you sure you're up for one of these?" He asked leaning on his desk. "You remember what happened last time don't you?"

"You don't need to remind me what happened." Kakashi said. "Bai was my friend, I won't forget what he did for me."

"Good." Naruto said nodding his head. "Here's one that you can take." Naruto said handing him an envelope. "Your partner is assigned to you as well."

Kakashi nodded his head pulling out the papers and deadpanning as he looked back to Naruto. "Please tell me this is a joke."

Naruto smirked at his student. "Have fun. I'm sure she'll hate this just as much as you will."

"You're a cruel man sensei." Kakashi said putting the mission back in its sleeve.

"You don't need to be so formal Kakashi." Naruto said his face relaxing as he leaned back. "I don't blame you for what happened and you shouldn't blame yourself either."

"Those who break the rules are scum." Kakashi said quietly. "And those who abandon their friends are even worse than scum." He said looking at Naruto with his Sharingan blazing. "I did both so what does that make me."

"Don't think your father wouldn't be proud of you." Naruto said. "He made plenty of mistakes himself and so did I."

"Lot of good his pride does me when he's in a grave." Kakashi said walking out the door.

Naruto looked at his hands sadly. He always knew that Kakashi carried resentment for his late father but would rarely show it. Naruto could even sympathize with him. His dad was the Hokage and died protecting the village too.

XXXX

Itachi knocked on the door in front of him and tried to smile when he saw his Aunt Sakura answer the door. "Hey Aunt Sakura." The boy said rubbing the back of his head. "I came over to see how Minato was doing."

Sakura smiled at the young boy in front of her before letting him in. "He's in his room. Try not to get into too much trouble, the Hyuuga are still pissed about their faces being glued."

"Yes ma'am." Itachi said knocking on his friend's door.

"Come in." Came the cheery voice of the blond.

Itachi opened the door and his jaw dropped with what he saw. All over the room papers were taped on the wall and strings were connecting them. "How did you do this?" He asked wondering about the physical needs to reach that high.

"Senbon." Minato said holding one of the small needles. "I've been working on trying to find what I'm going to do now."

"I see you've been productive in that." Itachi said shutting the door behind himself. "Have you narrowed it down at all?"

"Well at first I was going to be a ramen chef but then I remembered I can't cook to save my life, thank kami for Aunt Rin." Minato said sliding on his rolling chair across the room. "Then I was wondering about going into civilian politics but then I'd still be in my father's shadow, or people would resent any progress I made."

"That left you with?" Itachi asked shrugging his shoulders.

"I'm going to become a specialized surgeon." He said pulling out a massive book from his desk.

"So like your mom and Aunt Rin?" Itachi asked gawking at the massive book.

"Not at all." Minato said excitedly. "They're doctors and field medics. I'm going to specialize in surgery." He held his hand out as a blue chakra started to form around his hand for a moment before fizzling out. "I can't hold the scalpel long but my teacher said it's not easy."

"Your teacher?" Itachi asked. "Aunt Sakura and Aunt Rin aren't teaching you?"

"No I don't want to bother them with this." Minato said waving his hand. "I did some research about who in the village's history had was the best surgeon."

"And who did you find?" Itachi asked scratching his head.

Minato handed the Uchiha a piece of paper. "You've got to be joking." He said in shock. "Him?"

"He's the best in the village history, at surgery at least." Minato said shrugging his shoulders.

"My mom would be so pissed if she found out about this. How did you even know where to find him?"

Minato pointed at himself. "Hokage's son, not many people tell me no."

"Shit." Itachi said looking closer at the dossier in his hands. "Good luck I guess."

XXXX

Shikadai was walking with the rest of his team to their usual spot. "Barbecue!" Chocho shouted excited.

"Calm down." Shikadai said walking with his eyes closed and his hands behind his back. "We go there like once a week I can't imagine why you're still so excited to go there."

"Because of the sweet delicacies of barbecue and when we go without Team 7 I don't have to compete with Itachi and Minato for the last tasty morsel."

"Women." The Nara said before yawning and stretching his arms in the air.

"Shouldn't we go and check on Minato?" Hino asked the group.

"No need." Shikadai said calmly. "All the doctors said he was going to be ok physically, and something tells me that he won't let the end of his ninja career affect him too much."

"How can you be so sure?" Chocho asked eating a bag of chips.

"Where did you get those?" Hino shouted confused.

"Because he told me." The young Nara said ignoring his friend's outburst. "He was never all that invested in being a ninja anyway, if anything he may find the whole situation unburdening."

"Oh." Chocho said finishing the bag of chips and looking inside to make sure there were none left.

Above the trio on one of the rooftops a lone Leaf ninja was listening to the conversation. "I guess I should tell Naruto." Sasuke said to himself before jumping towards the Hokage mansion.

XXXX

Kakashi was standing at the front gate waiting for his partner to arrive. He had started to use his Sharingan to count the pebbles on the ground but lost count quickly when he heard footsteps next to him.

The Uchiha took a deep breath and put his mask on and looked to his teammate. "Are you ready?" Dove asked the masked Uchiha.

"Tobi is always ready!" The masked man said putting his hands behind his head. "Lead the way Dove!" He shouted raising his fist into the air.