Chapter Two: Separate Ways

From the moment that Minato became Hokage, it was clear to all three members that Team Minato would be disbanded. For the first two weeks after taking the position, Minato had been too busy learning the ropes of being Hokage to spare a thought about the wellbeing of his students. After all, Rin was most likely still recovering and was already under the tutelage of Tsunade, one of the greatest medical ninjas, so he wasn't too worried about her. As for Kakashi, he had always been an independent child, even more so as he got older, so Minato had no concern that he would be fine on his own.

It wasn't until the gray haired teen strode into his office one day, did Minato seriously realize something was wrong with him. For one, Kakashi almost always preferred using the window or any other unconventional method of entry, as evident by the numerous times that Kakashi showed up at the window of his house, so it was strange to actually see the teen use the door. The front door, no less. Secondly, his posture was slouched, bearing no traces of his previous uptight self. Even with his slouched posture, Minato could tell that Kakashi was still highly alert. That was a small comfort for him, at least he knew Kakashi hadn't been slacking.

"I want a mission." Ah, there he was, the straight forward, no nonsense Kakashi that he had grown to know.

With the war over, Konoha's shinobi force was no longer stretched thin, so Minato opted to send three man teams as many missions as possible, even if they were of jonin status. And since Team Minato disbanded, sending Kakashi on a mission hadn't even crossed his mind since he didn't have a team anymore. However, Kakashi was a jonin, a very competent one, so it didn't make any sense to keep him in the village.

"I'll try to find something for you," Minato settled for responding, but Kakashi saw right through the bullshit.

"That means you won't," Kakashi deadpanned.

"It's difficult to find suitable teammates for you." And it was. While his age wouldn't have been frowned upon during war, post war, other older shinobis would question if his rank was attributed to his competency or from the sheer fact that they needed soldiers for war. Minato could assign him to a platoon with chunins of his age, but he wanted the younger generation to have some semblance of childhood now that the war was over. But Kakashi being Kakashi wouldn't just idly sit around.

Minato sighed.

"Then assign me a solo mission." A predictable request.

"No."

"Then what am I to do? I refuse to idly sit around."

"Join the Anbu." Minato had two reasons for offering Kakashi that position. One, it kept Kakashi busy. Even if being in the Anbu meant all sorts of mindless tasks, Kakashi wasn't the type to complain about his assignments. Second, it was a way to keep Kakashi close to him, as Minato felt the teen gradually drifting apart from him now that he didn't have a team to keep him rooted to his place.

Kakashi agreed and Minato sent him on his way to get settled into the Anbu. Minato hoped he was making the right choice and not letting the darkness in his heart consume him even further.

The second notable visitor had no qualms in just flinging the door wide open, rather than knocking like Kakashi had done. Minato's blue eyes visibly widened at the unannounced, unexpected visitor. Tsunade.

"I want permission to leave the village again." It was phrased like a request, but Minato knew that it was a demand.

"Why? Aren't you training Rin?"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "You aren't aware that she can no longer use medical ninjutsu? I thought you were smarter than that, Minato."

Realization dawned on Minato and suddenly, he felt very stupid for thinking that he didn't have to worry about Rin. She just had a tailed beast forcibly sealed inside of her with absolutely zero guidance. Kushina had wanted to reach out to Rin, but Minato was the one who convinced her to give Rin some space to sort things out. When Rin was ready, she would seek out Kushina on her own.

How wrong Minato was.

"So you didn't know."

"It didn't cross my mind," Minato admitted. "I guess I'm too used to thinking that she is the same person as she was before."

"She didn't come to you for help?"

Although it pained him to do it, Minato shook his head.

"Interesting," Tsunade murmured. "If Rin didn't come to you to seal off the tailed beast chakra, either she's being stubborn and stupid or she thinks that she has a better way."

"Sealing isn't the best method," Minato told her. "You can't access the large amount of chakra unless you break the seal and that's risky. And the possibility of the seal weakening and breaking is a high risk too. So if there's a better way…"

"Is there? I told the girl that I wouldn't train her if she can't perform medical ninjutsu." Minato grimaced. That must have hurt to hear from Tsunade, someone that Rin had been vying to get tutelage from, but he knew that it was reasonable. All of Tsunade's skills were based around precise chakra control and if Rin couldn't do that, then there was no point.

"Since she hasn't come back to me yet, I'm going to assume that she gave up. Thus, I would like to resume my freedom of travelling around."

"I-" Minato was conflicted. If the Sandaime was still in office, he would have granted her permission immediately, but Minato wanted her to stay in the village just a bit longer. At least to buy some time for Rin because he was confident that she was working something out.

"If you don't, I'll still leave anyways," Tsunade continued. "I just prefer going through the proper channels out of courtesy."

"Alright," Minato conceded, "I'll get the paper signed and filed by the end of today."

"Good. Now if you'll excuse me-"

Tsunade never got to finish her sentence, as a third visitor - another unexpected one - bursted into his office, slightly out of breath with a loud cry of "Minato sensei!" The figure faltered upon realizing there was another visitor in the room and amended her previous greeting. "Tsunade sama, Hokage sama."

"Rin," Minato acknowledged, while Tsunade just stared blankly at the girl. "Did you need something?"

"Yes, but it can wait," Rin hurriedly responded. "It looks like you're currently preoccupied with other pressing matters."

"Tsunade san was just leaving." Yet Tsunade made no move to leave.

"Oh okay," Rin said, seemingly undeterred by Tsunade's presence in the room. "Do you know where Kakashi is? I have to show him something."

Minato did know where Kakashi was, but Kakashi would be too busy to meet with Rin until later tonight. As far as Minato knew, the integration process into the Anbu took hours and there was no guarantee that Kakashi would become Anbu in the end.

"Why don't you show me instead?" Minato offered as a compromise. Plus, he felt slightly miffed that Rin had gotten closer to Kakashi of all people. Didn't she always come to him first in the past? At least if not him, then Kushina. Was it because he was neglecting his students?

Rin's face fell at Minato's offer. "Oh, but I don't think you'll be able to understand the significance of it."

Blunt. Were Kakashi's traits rubbing off on Rin?

"Show him." Tsunade. Both Minato and Rin hadn't expected for her to speak up at all, even if it was obvious she was very interested in their exchange.

"Hai." Rin reached towards her pouch, pulling out a kunai. Minato expected some sort of kunai trick, maybe she had figured out how to channel her chakra nature into a weapon, but he certainly didn't foresee Rin using the weapon to make a deep cut across her palm.

"What-" Minato tried to get out, but Tsunade was the one who silenced him. Minato and Tsunade watched quietly as Rin's hand glowed green, slowly but surely stitching up the cut until all that was left were a few drops of blood.

Tsunade had been thoroughly impressed with Rin's performance. The healing was a bit rough, just like the work of a fresh faced rookie, but considering the circumstances, Tsunade had been impressed that Rin managed to find a way to bypass her obstacle without seeking Minato's help. If Rin was able to reach that level of precision, then it wouldn't be impossible to regain her former aptitude.

"How-I thought you…"

Rin cocked a questioning eyebrow at him. "You know?"

Minato couldn't do anything more than nod.

"How?"

That one word question was more than enough to set Rin off into an explanation. Rin spared them no details, going on about how her initial research was useless, then to approaching Kakashi. Kakashi was the one who helped her figure out the problem and even planted the beginnings of a solution into her mind. To her talk with the sanbi and the information that she gained from it.

Though usually not one to interrupt, Minato just had to ask the burning the question on the forefront of his mind. "You were able to speak to the sanbi? Peacefully?"

"Yeah, Isobu is pretty nice," Rin stated, as if that was completely normal. "Anyways…" Then Rin proceeded to continue with her story, while Minato filed away a mental note to get more details about her encounter with the sanbi.

When Rin reached the part about using the theory of her strength of a hundred seals, Minato was lost, while Tsunade continued to listen intently to every word.

"I created a second reservoir to host the excess chakra that leaks into my system," Rin was saying. "I placed a mental filter in my chakra network so that Isobu's denser chakra would drip into the reservoir while mine would pass straight through. That way I can access my chakra for healing purposes while tapping into the sanbi's chakra when I need it in fights. Still, it's a work in progress. I think I'll need a couple more weeks before my control is back to its previous standard."

Tsunade's lips curled into a grin. Looks like she hadn't been wrong about Rin being a medical genius. Even she hadn't been able to think of that.

"Nice work kid."

It was glaringly obvious to the other two members in the room that Rin was trying her hardest to bite back a smile in an effort to not look too giddy at receiving a compliment from one of the greatest medical ninjas.

"Thank you, Tsunade sama."

"Tsunade shishou," Tsunade corrected. Predictably, confusion flickered in Rin's eyes. "Meet me at the hospital tomorrow, seven o'clock sharp. Don't be late or you'll regret it."

Happiness shone brightly in her eyes. At least, one of his students was happy, Minato mused.

Kakashi slinked his way through the dimly lit hallways of the Anbu section of the Hokage Tower. A man dressed in the typical Anbu garb passed by him, hardly sparing him a glance, yet Kakashi knew that the man was mentally sizing him up based on the brief glance from the corner of his eye.

Kakashi knew what he saw. Another kid who had been traumatized, heart cloaked in darkness. Cold-blooded. Heartless. Merciless.

Even with the complex layout of the Anbu headquarters, Kakashi burned the blueprint of the layout in his mind as he made his way to the evaluation center. If he had been younger, Kakashi might have been concerned on what the evaluation entailed, but his war veteran self believed that nothing could be worse than watching two of his closest people dying, then almost killing a third with his own hand.

His current self continued to strode to the evaluation center without a care in the world.

Upon reaching the mysterious room, Kakashi raised a hand to knock, suppressing his own chakra signature while letting a miniscule amount of chakra to make himself aware of his surroundings. Two men on the other side of the door, one chakra signature rapidly approaching. There were three more chakra signatures in the vicinity, but they were getting fainter.

He redirected his focus as the door swung open, revealing a very familiar blonde. Yamanaka Inoichi, the next in line to be the head of the clan. As Inoichi stepped aside to allow Kakashi entry into the room, his eye took in the second figure. A teenager, a year or two older than himself with a one long scar running diagonal across his face. Stoicism was written all over his face, but that didn't intimidate Kakashi in the slightest.

"So you want to join the Anbu?" Inoichi questioned. Kakashi spied his open file laying on a table in the corner of the room and deduced that Inoichi probably knew everything there was to know about him, including what he was here for. After all, Minato sensei must have been prepared for him to agree and informed Inoichi ahead of time.

Then the question...must have been a test of his resolve and commitment.

"Yes." The lone word was barely audible, but both figures were able to hear the conviction underlying his solemn tone.

"As you are probably aware, the Anbu is a special force that reports directly to the Hokage. The Anbu performs its duty from the shadows; it is a nameless and unrecognized job. Many assignments that falls to the Anbu are those which make normal jonins squeamish. Are you prepared to shoulder that burden?"

"Yes." Kakashi's facial expression didn't change in the slightest. The only movement on his face was when he blinked, in every five second intervals. Can handle routine...check.

"As the Hokage's direct personnel, the Anbu is privy to many highly classified information. In the event that you are about to be captured, you are to commit suicide and erase your body from existence. Are you prepared to take your own life at a moment's notice?"

"Yes." Not afraid of death...check.

"In the event that you are captured, you must be able to withstand even the worst kinds of torture to keep the secrets of Konoha safe. Are you prepared to endure torture?"

"Yes." Not too soon after Kakashi uttered his response did he feel a foreign source of chakra in his mind, forcing its way in. Kakashi closed his eyes, directing all of his concentration to sustaining his mental defenses. However, all of his efforts were in vain as Inoichi was able to make his way through his barriers.

Once inside Kakashi's mind, Inoichi began to unleash his mind torture. Dredging up Kakashi's biggest fears, Inoichi made them replay three times. Three times Kakashi watched as the scene of Obito getting crushed under the boulder unfolded before him. The first time, Kakashi felt himself instinctively reaching out to Obito, to prevent him from pushing Kakashi to safety. The second time, Kakashi found himself yelling out Obito's name until his voice hoarse. The third time, Kakashi merely just stared at the scene, reciting the mantra in his head that it wasn't real.

If you tell me where the Hatake summoning scroll is, I'll stop.

The voice had been so enticing and Kakashi felt himself about to give in, mouth open to tell the voice the exact location of the scroll, but halted before the first word came out of his mouth. That would be betrayal and Kakashi had sworn loyalty to his ninken just like they had sworn loyalty to him. Kakashi bit the tissue inside his cheek to prevent the words from leaking out.

Next, it was the whispers. His five year old self stared down at his father's prone body, blood seeping through the wooden cracks of the wooden floor as flashes of lightning allowed Kakashi to see that it was his father. In the darkness, Kakashi couldn't see anything, so it was easy to pretend that it wasn't his father or that his father had just been sleeping. Yet the light confirmed Kakashi's worst fears.

Even as his five year old self stared numbly at his father's dead figure on the floor, there were voices in his head. Voices criticizing how much of a failure his father had been. Voices condemning his father's actions. Voices stating that his son was going to end up being the same no good shinobi that his father had been. A voice...telling Kakashi that he was now free of his father's mistakes.

I'll make it all go away if you tell me where the scroll is.

Kakashi wasn't sure where the newfound courage came from, but he found a single word leaving his lips, "No."

No?

A series of images flashed before Kakashi's eyes. Different people, different settings, but all with the same theme. All of the people that Kakashi was close to were dead and Kakashi had been utterly helpless, unable to prevent their deaths. The icing on top of the cake was watching himself impale Rin with the chidori once more. Except this time she stayed dead.

Kakashi felt his tough exterior cracking once more. His father's death had been easy to get through, since he had eight years to come to terms with his death. But Rin's death? Too fresh, and all too real that almost pushed Kakashi to crack.

Almost.

Kakashi found comfort in the small medic kit resting in his weapons pouch. A fully stocked medic kit, which meant that Rin was still alive to restock it for him after each mission. Not to mention, she was still very much alive to come to him for help…

Did Rin still want that jonin level book on chakra control? Kakashi realized that he never did follow through with getting that book for her. That would be the first thing that he did once he left this place.

Where was he anyways? Was it even important where he was? Actually, did Rin even need that book still? It had already been two weeks and he was sure that she would have bugged him for forgetting. Or perhaps Rin didn't want to bother him again?

The neverending questions that ran through his mind served as an effective block to the voice. Inoichi left Kakashi's mind once it became clear that the boy wasn't registering a single word that he said to him or showing any reactions when Inoichi played more scenes.

Kakashi had passed the mental test. There wasn't any need to conduct a physical test either, as they had all seen his incredible combat skills and analytical mind during the jonin exams.

Three minutes after Inoichi released his mind invasion jutsu, Kakashi snapped into awareness, looking slightly disorientated at first but recovered in a record time.

Just to test him anyways, Inoichi threw out a random question. "Who was the first Hokage?"

"Senju Hashirama," Kakashi answered without missing a beat. Inoichi turned to the teen besides him, Ibiki Morino, who had furiously scribbled notes throughout the whole process. Ibiki wrote one last word on the paper, before circling it twice then turning the clipboard in a way that only Inoichi could see the contents of the paper.

His eyes were drawn to the circled word. Pass.

Just as Inoichi thought. When Inoichi first heard that the next Anbu hopeful was Kakashi, he had been wary. Sure, the boy had combat potential, but Inoichi figured his young age might have been the cause of not passing the mental evaluation. Most would argue that the younger the shinobi, the less traumatic experiences for Inoichi to feed off of, but Kakashi had plenty. At times, Inoichi saw Kakashi becoming so close to breaking, but there was something to hold him back.

Ten minutes into the mental torture, Kakashi had found his way of remaining unaffected, one of the fastest record in the time Inoichi served in the T&I department.

The boy would make a fine addition to the Anbu, Inoichi mused as he poofed out of existence, ready to report to the Anbu commander of his latest addition leaving Ibiki to inform Kakashi of the next steps.

Everything still felt surreal to Kakashi as he numbly made his way out of the Hokage Tower after meeting his new team. His team captain went by the moniker of Fox and true to his moniker, was known to be one of the most cunning members of the Anbu. The other members of the team consisted of Deer, who was particularly adept with the use of genjutsu and Boar, who had an impressive amount of raw strength.

His feet carried him to the memorial stone, where Kakashi bent down, to brush the pad of his thumb over the engraving of Obito's name like he always did. Then he spent the next three hours updating Obito on everyone's life before talking about himself. Kakashi informed Obito about his entrance into the Anbu, his new teammates. His new teammates were just like him, rule abiding shinobis who took their duty seriously. Jonin Kakashi would have been elated to be one a team with them. But Anbu Kakashi?

He wanted his old team back, even if Obito was always late and entirely too loud to complete a stealth mission. Even if Rin was entirely too compassionate for her own good and worried over the smallest of wounds. Even if Minato sensei showed too much mercy during the war.

Kakashi had grown to accept all of their faults, but it was too late. Entirely too late.

They were gone.

A/N: Hello!

So I think the root of Kakashi's spiral down to darkness happened because he became alienated from his peers and Minato tried to help him by keeping him close to him, but that didn't turn out well in the end. Minato still loves his students, but I think becoming Hokage had made him appear distant to them (hence Rin seeking out Kakashi to show him her breakthrough rather than Minato).

I'm not sure who the head of the T&I department is before Ibiki so I figured Inoichi was a good option. In case you didn't figure it out, the boy who acted as Inoichi's assistant is Ibiki. According to the databooks, Ibiki is a year or two younger than Kakashi so he's still working his way up to being the head of T&I.

Hope that you guys enjoyed the chapter. As always, thank you for taking the time to read my story and let me know what you think! Until next time!

-MM