Title; Old Friend.
Chokai wondered how his most recent customer's wish went. He usually had better business with females and the hopelessly romantic, and she certainly fell into both of those categories. Thus far, he had no reason to believe that anything had gone wrong with the wish because she hadn't returned to complain or smash her crystal like so many others before her.
So, while the majority of Chokai's customers were female hopeless romantics, he frequently got other visitors as well. Occasionally, significant others of female hopeless romantics would stumble in and discover the perfect gift for their female hopeless romantic.
Then, of course, there were always the people who just so happen to have nothing to do in the particular hour they walked by.
Hatake Kakashi just so happened to be one of those people. He had given his students the day off and therefore really didn't have anything of importance on his agenda. But tomorrow… he'd work those cretins to death.
Well, when Kakashi has nothing to do, he usually ends up at Obito's memorial grave. Where ELSE would he go?
On the way there, he passed by a curious little cart with an old man sitting behind the makeshift counter. For some reason, he was intrigued by the items that surrounded the old man so he decided to put off his visit to the grave for another five minutes.
"You look like the kind of person who would be interested in purchasing one of my world famous Butterfly Crystals!" said Chokai as he held up a round crystal with a glass butterfly on the inside.
Kakashi took at it and looked at it with limited enthusiasm.
"Nope." Said Kakashi, throwing it back to the old man. Chokai fumbled to catch the delicate object. "Not interested."
With that, he started to walk away.
Chokai couldn't lose a customer.
"Well, you also happen to look like a man who is troubled by his past."
That stopped Kakashi in his tracks.
Chokai would have to pat himself on the back a little later as Kakashi turned around and returned.
"And?" Kakashi said.
"The Butterfly Crystal can cure all your problems." Chokai said, once again presenting the crystal to Kakashi.
"How so?" Kakashi asked.
"You can change one thing about your past if you wish upon the crystal." Chokai explained.
"I don't believe in that kind of stuff." Kakashi said, but surprisingly enough, did not put down the crystal.
"Surely, there must be one thing in your past that you would change if you were presented with this opportunity." Chokai went on, almost as if he actually knew exactly what Kakashi was thinking. "You'll beat yourself up about it later if you don't leap at this chance. What have you got to lose?"
"Money?" Kakashi said.
Chokai nodded and agreed. "Trust me, you'll be so pleased with the outcome that money will not be an issue for you. Wish yourself a king if you please!"
"That's not what I would do with one wish." Kakashi said, reaching into his pocket and plunking whatever he could find on the counter.
Chokai carefully counted up the correct price and pulled it towards him. "Thank you, sir." Chokai said with a grin. "I promise you won't be disappointed. The Butterfly Effect will produce only smiles for you."
"Yeah, yeah…" Kakashi said, putting the crystal in his pocket. As he walked away, he felt extra stupid for buying it instead of spending his money on something he could actually use. Like porn.
He stared down Obito's grave. A heavy sigh escaped him as he felt around in his pocket for the crystal. He pulled it out and set it down in front of the grave.
"I wish Obito hadn't died." Kakashi said.
He closed his eyes to let out another sigh. And then, upon opening them, he found nothing different. The grave still sat there undisturbed and the area he stood in still remained as it always had been. He walked over to the ledge to look down at Konoha and got a strange feeling that there was something strange about it.
Did it seem…flatter?
It would have been nice to return to the village he knew.
Instead, he came to a village in shambles. There was debris all over the place and people cleaning up the best they could. Houses were demolished and, all around, it was not a pleasant sight to return to.
"Hey," said Kakashi, approaching a man who was collecting up wood from a collapsed house. "What happened?"
"Where have you been?" said the man, sounding angry. "That damned fox demon came back again and had its way with the village."
Kakashi stared blankly at the man.
"What?" he said.
"Are you stupid?" said the man. "Did you not hear me?"
"The fox demon?" Kakashi said.
"Yes." Said the man, looking a little uneasy now. He looked Kakashi up and down. "You're wearing the Leaf Symbol. How can you not know about the fox demon?"
"I know about the fox demon." Said Kakashi. "I also happen to know that it was sealed up by the Fourth Hokage twelve years ago into a baby. Is this another one? When did it come?"
The man stared at Kakashi for a moment and then backed away. He looked like he was trying to go back to his business without thinking about Kakashi's strangeness.
Kakashi found that the man he had spoken to was stranger than he was.
He decided that it was time to visit the Hokage.
The Hokage building was mostly intact, but it looked as though it had recently been rebuilt. He entered and went immediately to where he knew the Hokage was.
"Mr. Hokage…" Kakashi began as he opened the door and knocked at the same time. And, where he expected to see the Third Hokage in all of his wrinkly goodness, he saw a strapping young man that he didn't know. "I'm sorry… I thought this was the Hokage's office."
"Kakashi, come in." said the man.
Kakashi paused momentarily and then obeyed. "Yes…sir?" he tried.
"I'm very sorry." The man said.
"About what?" Kakashi asked.
"The loss will affect us all." The man went on. "Obito was a great ninja."
Kakashi shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The village was destroyed, the fox demon had returned, there was a weird guy in the Hokage's room who seemed to know him and now he was talking about Obito. There was just WAY too much on his plate right now.
"That was a long time ago." Kakashi said. "I try not to think about it."
"A long time ago?" the man said. "I admire your courage, but it's okay to be emotional after a loss. No one will hold it against you. We all know you two were great friends."
Kakashi nodded. This all was true.
"So get some rest." Said the man. "You'll want to heal up for the next time the fox demon comes."
"When did the fox demon come?" Kakashi asked.
The strange man looked at Kakashi as if he was an idiot, but was obviously trying to hide it. "Last night." He said.
"Oh." Kakashi said. I guess I missed that entirely, he thought.
"You may leave now." The man said, turning around and looking out a window.
Kakashi looked at what the man was wearing. Hokage robes.
"Excuse me." Kakashi said. "Where is the Third Hokage?"
"The Third Hokage?" said the man. "He passed away last year."
Kakashi shifted again. "Oh." He said. Did I miss that too, he thought. "Who was named in his place?"
The man sighed. "Kakashi, do you sustain any injuries that you're too proud to tell us about?" he asked, approaching Kakashi. "Specifically injuries to the head?"
"Not to my knowledge." Kakashi replied.
"Well, I'd prefer it if you went to see the medical ninjas anyway." The man said with a nod just as the door flung open and medical ninjas were standing there.
"Yes Mr. Hokage?" said one.
Kakashi looked at the man in the Hokage robes and then at the medical ninjas.
"I think I should go just in case." Kakashi agreed, standing up.
The medical ninjas surrounded him and led him to their little medical ninja quarters.
"Did you sustain any head injuries in the battle last night?" one ninja asked as he looked in Kakashi's eye that was exposed.
"I don't recall a battle last night." Kakashi replied truthfully.
"Selective amnesia?" one medical ninja suggested.
"Will you move that to the side?" the first ninja asked as he gestured to the forehead protector that was covering Kakashi's eye with the Sharingan.
Kakashi was, at first, reluctant to do so but he wanted to know what was up just as much as the next person so he pushed it back. Immediately, he knew something was amiss.
Like his Sharingan.
"Hang on." Said Kakashi, jumping off the hospital bed and walking over to the closest thing he could find where he could see his reflection. Sure enough, there was no Sharingan to be found. "My Sharingan… what happened to my Sharingan?"
"Your Sharingan?" said the medical ninja who seemed to be in charge. "You don't have a Sharingan."
"As far as we know, the only Uchihas that remain are Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Obito." Said the medical ninja.
"Obito?" Kakashi said, turning around.
Another medical ninja whispered something to the first who spoke. "Oh, sorry." He said. "As of last night, that was the record. But now only Uchiha Itachi remains."
"As of last night?" Kakashi repeated.
"Delayed grievance." Said one medical ninja. "As well as selective amnesia… he must have received a serious blow to the head."
"Wait." Said Kakashi, as hundreds of questions flowed into him. "Why Itachi and Obito? What about…what?"
He was just confusing himself more.
"Remember the clan massacre of the Uchihas by one of their own, Uchiha Itachi?" explained the leader. Kakashi nodded. "At that time, you were away on a mission with Uchiha Obito so he managed to escape the fate of the—"
"Obito died before that happened." Kakashi interrupted.
The medical ninja took a deep breath. "So only three Uchihas remained, because at the time Uchiha Sasuke was still alive."
"At the time?" Kakashi said. "What happened?"
"The fox demon has claimed many lives."
"So you're telling me that Sasuke was killed by the fox demon and that Obito is still alive?" Kakashi said.
"No." said the leader. "Unfortunately, when the fox demon attacked last night, we lost Uchiha Obito."
"What's the point in bringing someone back from the dead if they don't stick around long enough to see you?" Kakashi said, searching his pockets for the Butterfly Crystal. While Kakashi isn't really the one to usually go for these kinds of things, this certainly SEEMED real.
Now, where WAS that crystal?
"Are you looking for something?" a medical ninja questioned.
"Just a little trinket…" Kakashi said as he moved his forehead protector back over his eye out of pure instinct. "I think I dropped it somewhere. I'll be right back."
"Would you like an escort?" asked the ninja.
"Uh well…sure, that'd be good…" Kakashi said, figuring he wasn't really in his right mind at the moment.
The medical ninja gestured in the doorway for someone to come in.
Kakashi turned around to see a familiarly hideous face.
And he nearly had a heart attack in response.
"Gai…you're a medical ninja?" Kakashi said, hardly stopping himself from falling over.
"Be careful." Said the medical ninja to Gai who nodded. "He's suffering from selective amnesia. Don't let him out of your sight."
"Yes sir!" said Gai as he grabbed Kakashi by the arm and practically dragged him out of the hospital.
"When did this happen?" Kakashi asked Gai once they had exited.
"When did what happen?" Gai inquired.
"When did you become a medical ninja?" Kakashi clarified.
"I'm pretty much always been one." Gai replied.
"Oh." Kakashi found himself saying that a lot.
"By the way, my name is Maito Gai."
Kakashi looked at Gai. "I know." He said.
"Have I treated you before?" Gai asked.
Kakashi didn't exactly know what to say to that, so he only looked at Gai, hoping that he'd take the initiative to change the subject.
And he did. "All right, so what are you looking for?" Gai asked.
"A small crystal about this size." Kakashi answered, showing with his hands how big it was.
"A crystal?" Gai said, scratching his head. "I doubt that it's still around. Something delicate like a crystal probably wouldn't last long here."
"Hey, were you around last night?" Kakashi asked.
"Well…yeah." Gai said.
"What happened?"
Gai looked at Kakashi strangely, but then remembered what his superior had told him about Kakashi's selective amnesia due to a head injury that he MUST have sustained in the battle the night before. "Well, as usual, the fox demon arrived and we sent all able bodies forth to fight it."
"Including Obito?" Kakashi asked.
"I…don't exactly know everyone by name." Gai admitted.
"An Uchiha?" Kakashi said. "The uh… LAST Uchiha? Besides Itachi?"
"Oh right." Said Gai, nodding. "Yes, he was there. There was an uncontrollable landslide. We lost three in that alone."
Kakashi gave a heavy sigh and looked up at the sky. So… Obito ends up dying being crushed by rocks anyway, huh? How cruel is that?
As he looked up at the sky, his eyes wandered to the Hokage mountain. And, normally, where he once saw the face of his old teacher in the fourth spot, there was a face he did not recognize.
"Who…is that?" Kakashi asked, pointing at the fourth face.
Gai leaned over to try to get a better look at what Kakashi was pointing at. "Are you pointing at the mountain?" Gai said, and Kakashi nodded. "Uh… that's our Fourth Hokage…Kato Muku."
"What?" said Kakashi. "He's not the fourth Hokage. I've never seen him before in my life."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you just come from his office before you came to the hospital?" Gai said.
Kakashi didn't say anything for a good few minutes.
"Oh right." Kakashi said finally. "I left the crystal at the memorial grave."
"Then maybe it's all right." Gai said, glad to get off a topic that would just continue to send them around in circles. "Hardly anyone goes there anymore."
Kakashi figured that now since he knew where the crystal had wandered off to, he had to get some answers.
"Hey, are there any records of past missions?" Kakashi asked. "Say, if I wanted to check the results of a mission that occurred many years ago, I could go and do it?"
"How many years ago are you looking at?" Gai said.
"About fifteen or so." Kakashi replied.
"Sure, we'd have that." Gai replied.
Gai led Kakashi to a building that Kakashi had never been in before other than to just drop of information to ninjas who stood at the door virtually all day. However, there were no ninjas there now. Perhaps there were all preoccupied with more important things.
"So…all the Uchihas are dead now?" Kakashi said as he shifted through piles of papers and scrolls.
"All except Uchiha Itachi." Gai answered, looking as well. "Though no one knows where he is."
"What about Uchiha Sasuke?" Kakashi tried.
"He died a few years ago." Gai replied. "Civilian casualty."
"Ah." Said Kakashi with a nod. Now that didn't seem right. "What about Uzumaki Naruto?"
"Who?" Gai said.
"Uzumaki Naruto." Kakashi repeated. "He's about twelve."
"I don't know that name." Gai admitted.
"Haruno Sakura?" said Kakashi. "She'd be about twelve now too."
Gai paused for a moment. "You know, the name Haruno certainly sounds like I've heard it before." He said finally. "But I don't tend to be all that familiar with the youths of Konoha."
That stopped Kakashi nearly dead in his search. "What?" he said, looking back at Gai.
"There's no time to get to know the children of the village." Gai shrugged.
"How about Rock Lee?" Kakashi said.
"I don't think I know that name." Gai said after a moment of pondering.
Kakashi found this, out of everything he had heard so far, to be the strangest thing of all.
"Here it is." He said finally, pulling out a file that explained the details of the mission where Obito had died originally. Gai leaned over his shoulder as Kakashi started to thumb through it.
"Mission was a failure." Gai read out loud. "Casualty Report; numerous casualties resulted from poor leadership and organization. Three returned, Kato Muku, myself and Hatake Kakashi. Hatake Kakashi suffered from severe head wounds and facial scars, Kato Muku from broken ribs and minor head wounds, myself from a broken wrist and cracked ribs."
Gai stopped reading.
"Documented by Uchiha Obito." Kakashi finished. "…That Kato Muku guy was on our mission."
He continued to flip through the papers, searching for any sign that his teacher, the REAL Fourth Hokage, may have survived and had just been left out of Obito's notes.
But, there was a paper for each of the deceased with a picture and a cause of death.
And, he reached one of the last papers that had a picture of his teacher.
"Landslide." He said.
"Was that your teacher?" Gai asked.
"Yes." Kakashi said. "That's why the fox demon is still around…because he died on this mission." He flipped the page over and saw a picture of his other teammate, Rin. "She died too."
"Head injuries." Gai read.
Kakashi shook his head and closed the file. "So, once again, everyone I'm close to is dead." He said. "And somehow, I managed to survive through it all."
"Um…do you want to go back to the hospital now?" Gai asked.
"No, I have to get the crystal first." Kakashi said. He didn't know how he'd go about fixing everything but he knew he'd have more of an idea as long as he had that crystal.
"What exactly is this crystal of yours that you're looking for?" Gai questioned as the two of them made the trek up to the memorial grave.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Kakashi replied.
"Try me." Gai offered.
"Well…all right." Kakashi sighed. "I bought the crystal from an old man in town today. He said that if I made one wish on it to change my past then it would come true."
"I'd like to get my hands on one of those!" said Gai.
"Normally, I don't believe in those kinds of things but I was feeling a little whimsical at the moment and I just so happened to be visiting Obito's memorial grave at that time."
"Obito's memorial grave…?"
"Yeah…so I wished that Obito hadn't died on that mission that we just looked at."
"He didn't die." Gai said. "He's the one who wrote up the report."
"Yeah, that's the thing." Kakashi said. "My wish came true and it altered the present. Because Obito didn't die on the mission, other people DID… including my teacher who eventually became the Fourth Hokage and got rid of the fox demon by sealing it within a newborn baby."
"Oh." Said Gai. "I see."
"What?" said Kakashi. "You believe me?"
"Why not?" Gai shrugged.
"Are you mocking me?" Kakashi said suspiciously.
Gai shook his head. "So… in your alternate future, there is no fox demon?" Gai said.
"Right." Kakashi said. "And you're not a medical ninja. You're a teacher."
"Actually, I always wanted to be a teacher." Gai admitted. "But there's such a demand for medical ninjas that I ended up going down that path instead!"
"See?" said Kakashi. "The old man said something about the Butterfly Effect…so I guess this is it. Change one thing, no matter how minor it seems, and suddenly everything is different."
"So what're you going to do?" Gai asked. "If there's an alternate future where I can be a teacher and there's no fox demon terrorizing us then I'd love to live in it."
"Well…" Kakashi said as the memorial grave came into view. They approached and he picked up the crystal that still sat innocently in front of it. "I don't really know how it works. I only just bought the thing."
"Should we look for the old man who sold it to you?" Gai said.
"I hope he's not dead too." Said Kakashi with a sigh. "Everyone else seems to be."
The two of them then began their quest in their search for the elusive one! Even though he wasn't really being elusive, they just didn't know where they could find him!
"Those names of those kids that you said while we were searching for the mission report…" Gai began.
"Yeah?" Kakashi said.
"Who were they?" Gai said. "Do I know them in the other future?"
"Sort of." Kakashi replied. "Uzumaki Naruto is the baby I mentioned who got the fox demon sealed in him. Him, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura are all my students.
"YOU," Kakashi continued as the two of them rounded a corner, still searching for the old man. "On the other hand, teach someone name Rock Lee, a student you have become particularly obsessed with."
"Obsessed with?" Gai said, looking skeptical.
"Entirely obsessed." Kakashi said. "Along with him, you teach a girl named Tenten whom I don't know very well, and Hyuuga Neji. I'm sure you know the Hyuugas."
"Wow." Said Gai. "There are Hyuugas in the alternate future?"
"Why…there aren't Hyuugas in this one?"
"Not anymore." Gai said.
Kakashi sighed. "Maybe it was for the best after all that Obito died." He said under his breath.
"Hey, is that it?" Gai asked, pointing at a cart that certainly SEEMED out of place to Gai.
"That looks like it." Kakashi said as he and Gai hurried over.
"Ah, look who has returned." Said Chokai. "What did you wish for? Utter destruction to the village as we know it?"
"Uh…not exactly." Kakashi said.
"Well, I take it your wish did not turn out the way you had planned." Chokai said with a disappointed sigh.
"No, it didn't." Kakashi said. "Is there a way to undo it?"
"Yes." Said Chokai. "But…it'll be extremely painful."
"What is it?" Kakashi asked uneasily.
Chokai started chuckling. "Just kidding!" he said. "There's no pain involved!"
"Don't joke with me." Said Kakashi sternly. "I'm not in the mood."
"Well, I can see that!" said Chokai, looking offended that Kakashi hadn't found his joke hilarious.
"So how do I reverse it?" Kakashi repeated since Chokai didn't look like he was going to proactively reveal his secrets.
"I must admit…it actually IS painful." Chokai said. "Painful for my heart."
"Just tell me." Kakashi commanded.
"Smash the crystal." Chokai said. "If it is broken, everything will return to the way it was before you made your wish."
"That's all I have to do?" Kakashi said, looking relieved.
"Yes." Chokai said.
"All right." Said Kakashi, raising his hand to smash the crystal but Gai suddenly grabbed his arm.
"Kakashi, will you tell me all about this alternate future when things get back to normal?" he requested.
"You won't believe me." Kakashi said.
"I believed you THIS time." Gai reminded him. "What makes you think my alternate self won't believe you?"
"Well, let's just say that you're not quite as reasonable in the other reality as you are in this one." Kakashi said plainly.
"Oh." Said Gai with a frown. "Could you still tell me anyway?"
Kakashi sighed. "Well fine." He said. "See you later."
With that, he brought his arm down and smashed the crystal on the ground. In the time it took him to blink, the village was suddenly back to the way he remembered it. And, with a quick glance up at the Hokage Mountain, he found that the face of his teacher and the TRUE Fourth Hokage had returned.
He spun around to see Chokai's sad eyes looking down at the shattered piece of his beloved Butterfly Crystal, and then around him to see that Gai was no where to be found.
"Goodbye." Kakashi said to Chokai as he walked off. Chokai sniffled and acknowledged Kakashi's departure, still mourning over his lost crystal.
As Kakashi walked, he wondered if he would have put everything back to normal if Obito had not died the night before. Perhaps he would have waited a few days before he fixed it all again, but he was pretty sure that he would have thought of the needs of the rest of the village. The way they were living was no proper way to live.
"Mr. Hokage," Kakashi said, opening the door a bit to see the familiar wrinkled face of the Third Hokage there.
"Yes, Kakashi?" said the Hokage.
"Is there someone named Kato Muku living in the village at this time?" he asked.
"No," the Hokage replied. "That man died many years ago on a mission. He was a good ninja. Why do you ask?"
"Was he good enough to someday become Hokage?" Kakashi asked. "If he had survived, I mean."
"I didn't know him personally." The Hokage confessed.
"All right." Said Kakashi with a bow. "Thank you."
He left the room and looked up and down the hallways.
"AHA!" came a voice in the direction he was not looking. "KAKASHI! I THOUGHT that was you!"
Kakashi gave a heavy sigh and turned around to see his pal, Gai, clad in his green spandex and NOT the white medical uniform. His three students, two of which looked slightly disgusted and/or embarrassed by their teacher's behavior and one who couldn't be more captivated by it, followed him.
"Oh, hello Gai." Said Kakashi. "What are you doing here so late?"
"My team and I have just returned from a VERY successful C-RANK mission!" Gai answered. "Which is more than I can say about YOUR team who appear to have had the day off!"
"You're right, Gai, my team had the day off." Kakashi said, shaking his head slightly, not having the motivation to compete with Gai right now.
"We're going to go and report to the Hokage, so stand aside!" said Gai. Kakashi stepped to one side so Gai and his team could access the door. Kakashi watched the three of them file in behind him and considered everything he had just learned…
If Obito had lived, he knew at least one of these three would have died and, if the other two were alive, they certainly didn't have this relatively carefree life that they enjoyed.
"Well, Obito, that's just the way it is." Kakashi said to himself as he walked off, figuring he'd take another visit to his old friend's grave.
Next chapter: Too Troublesome
