Kakashi was seeing ghosts everywhere.
The first ghost he'd seen had been in his sensei's son. The boy was a perfect blend of his old sensei and Kushina. He looked just like the fourth Hokage, the blonde hair, the eyes, everything. But he was so much like Kushina too. He had her strong will, her short temper, her love for ramen, and basically everything else that made her an Uzumaki seemed to have passed down to him. He might look like his father, but he was 100% his mother on the inside. What made it all even worse, or better depending on your viewpoint, was that he'd also inherited his desire to become hokage from both his parents. Sure Minato-sensei had eventually become hokage, but that didn't mean Kushina hadn't wanted it just as badly. In fact, kakashi was sure the only reasons she hadn't gotten the job was because she was both the Kyūbi jinchuuriki and too hot tempered for it. Being a leader took diplomacy, and that was something she had lacked.
After being dismissed by the hokage (or rather, dismissing himself), he'd gone to the memorial stone for the rest of the day. He hadn't meant to spend that long in front of it, it had just happened. And before he knew it the sun was setting and his stomach was telling him it was time to eat. This tended to happen a lot after a bad mission. He'd find himself gravitating towards graves and memorials, wishing he could discuss them with his fallen comrades. Sometimes he did, but as always, they never spoke back.
As was to be expected from stone slabs.
Sometimes he saw things that reminded him of them the days he'd visit their graves. He liked to think to himself that it was them calling out beyond the grave just to say hello or something equally as corny. It could be something as simple as a lilly, which was Rin's favorite flower, or a short sword like the one his father used to kill himself with. It didn't matter what it was, in the end, they were wisps of a past he'd long since given up on moving on from.
It had been years, but Kakashi was seeing ghosts everywhere.
And now he was seeing Obito's.
"Hey sensei," Naruto chirped when the jōnin finally decided to show up at the training ground. It looked like the three had already started running drills, knowing he'd be late and deciding to take advantage of the time instead of just wasting it doing nothing. Looking at the boy though he was shocked when he finally saw what he was wearing.
It was Obito's jacket.
Sure the colors were inverted, but it was the same design, same length, same everything. Kakashi was sure that if Naruto turned around he'd see the Uzumaki spiral on the back as opposed to the Uchiha fan, but it was inconsequential.
He blinked once. And again.
Of course he should have figured the boy would buy a new jacket, seeing as the other one was destroyed. But jeez, what were the chances?
"Uh, sensei, you okay?"
The voice shook him out of his reverie and he found himself looking down at Sakura giving him a careful, steady look.
"Hm? Oh, yes. Never better," he lied, crinkling his eye into one of his iconic smiles. He hoped it didn't look too forced.
"Okay…" She trailed off, unconvinced. Naruto and Sasuke shared a look between them that suggested they felt the same way. Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the three of them. Since when were genin so good at reading emotions? Shrugging, he brushed off the thought of the stupid jacket and forced himself not to dwell on it.
"Anyways, I'd like to start off today by first congratulating all of you on completing your first A-rank mission. Not a small feat for any genin to manage, let alone those fresh out of the academy," he said warmly. "So good job, you three." His words were met with bright smiles and twinkling eyes. "But now that you've proven you can hold yourselves in a real battle, you're training will be that much harder."
The indigent squawks that followed were music to his ears.
Lunch break was spent at Ichiraku's, at Naruto's behest. All three of his genin ordered at least two bowls, making up for the massive amount of calories they had burned that morning. Kakashi had pushed them hard, even by his standards (but perhaps not by Gia's), and he felt maybe they deserved a little something as a reward, which is why he was treating them to lunch.
All of them had already finished one bowl and were working on their second, or third in Naruto's case. Even Sakura, who didn't seem the least bit concerned with watching her figure, as the psych report had stated before he'd met them. In fact, the girl was nothing like the report claimed. She wasn't shy or timid, uncertain of her abilities. Instead she was headstrong and confident, often times taking on a leader position amongst the group.
It was interesting.
"Hey sensei," Naruto piped up from his left. Kakashi turned to give him his attention with his one good eye. "Do ya think we could maybe try out my chakra chains soon? You said I could once were back in the village, and we are, so…" the boy trailed off. His connotation was clear. He wanted to figure out how to use his dangerous and powerful kekkei genkai. But he still needed permission, which was cute.
By still, the fact remained that Kakashi was sorely unequipped to deal with something like this. Sharingan? No problem. Chakra chains? No chance.
But Naruto was right. He had promised him, sort of, that he could practice them once back in Konoha. It wouldn't be right to deny him if that.
"After our drills, sure," he said lightly, answering Naruto's question. A blinding smile lit up his face before he dug back into his third(?) bowl of ramen. Kakashi suppressed the urge to roll his eye at the boys enthusiasm. That boy loved ramen more than his mother did, if that was even possible.
"Did you find anything in those books yesterday, Naruto?" Teuchi suddenly said from behind the counter. Raising an eyebrow, Kakashi looked from the ramen chef back to Naruto in confusion. Naruto, and books? In the same sentence?
"Naw, nothing yet," Naruto answered, slightly downcast. "But we still got lots of them to go through. I'm sure one of them has something useful."
"What is this about books?" Kakashi finally asked.
It was Sakura who answered though. "Oh, yesterday we all went to the library to help Naruto find anything about his kekkei genkai and clan. We didn't really find much that was helpful, though."
"That's right," Ayame said, cutting in. "They came here for lunch with their hands full of books and scrolls. I don't think I've ever seen little Naruto so silent for so long," she gushed.
"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'm not little!"
"You are to me," she smiled sweetly.
"I'm only five years younger than you," he argued, as if it wasn't practically half his lifespan. Ayame shrugged casually, dismissing it.
Meanwhile, while they bickered back and forth, Kakashi was staring at his student. He remembered reading his file and learning that he was horrible in class and at studying. Now here he was reading books in his free time? Of course he remembered his students promising that they would find something on the Uzumaki clan if no one else would tell them, but it still surprised him. It seemed everyone here was determined to prove him wrong on his assumptions. What was next? Sasuke wanted to settle down and have a family? At this point he wouldn't be surprised.
"Maa, Naruto," he said. "If you keep talking you won't be able to finish your ramen," he reminded him. Naruto perked up at his words.
"You're right!" He cried, before digging in again. Kakashi eye-smiled at his enthusiasm. On his right, Sakura rolled her eyes while Sasuke huffed. All in all, normal team 7 behavior. Maybe he had nothing to worry about after all.
Training ground seven was full of loose soil and kunai by the time they were finished with Kakashi-sensei's drills. True to his word, he had pushed them harder than ever before, which meant more intense training and not as many breaks. It had been three hours since lunch, and all them were exhausted. They'd been sparring for the past hour, and before that running evasion drills like they had been before the Wave mission. It was also target practice because it was the genin who were attacking the poor trainee instead of Kakashi-sensei like it normally would have been.
All of them came away with a few scratches, even if it was just from hitting the ground too hard. Sakura came away the most clean out of all of them thanks to her training as a field medic, since field medics had to be great at evasion so as to stay alive to help their teammates. She probably would have gotten off totally free of any scrapes, but they still had covers to maintain, and being perfect at evasion would have raised a few eyebrows.
"Alright, break time," their sadistic sensei finally announced cheerily from the side. All three flopped heavily onto the ground, young bodies not used to the exersion they were putting them through.
"Hey sensei," Naruto breathed from where he lay on the ground. "You said after drills I could work on my chakra chains. Can we do that now?"
Kakashi-sensei seemed to consider this for a moment before answering. "Not when you're gasping for breath, no," was his level response. "Give it a few minutes."
Sakura could have sworn she heard the word "dick" escape Naruto's mouth, but it was so quiet she couldn't be sure.
Sure enough, once all their breaths had evened out, Kakashi-sensei grudgingly let him up to practice while Sasuke and Sakura stayed on the sidelines and ran through basic, non-demanding drills.
"Alright, whenever you're ready," their sensei called out.
Naruto got ready and into horse stance* before Sakura shouted out, "Wait! You're jacket!"
Right, his shirt and jacket which he didn't want destroyed like his old ones had been.
"Right!" He called back. Unbuttoning his jacket, he tossed it to the side before slipping his shirt off and doing the same. Now he was standing bare chested in the clearing all by himself, his team all standing off the side warily watching him.
Well, here's go nothing.
With a deep look of concentration, Naruto focused his chakra and tried to recall the feeling of accessing his kekkei genkai. He remembered it hurting, and the feeling of numbness sweeping through his body as well. But as much as he tried to recreate it, nothing happened. After a while he gave up on that and went for a different tactic, just building up chakra and releasing it at different intervals in hopes that would spark something. No such luck.
How had he done this the first time?
"Aren't you gonna start?" Sasuke asked, voice breaking the intense silence.
"I am," Naruto growled, eyes squeezed shut in concentration.
"Well you've been trying for thirty minutes now," his friend stated duly. "It just looks like you need to take a shit."
"Sasuke," Kakashi-sensei's warning tone sounded next to him. The boy merely shrugged in response.
Finally Naruto gave up and released his pose, standing up straight and glaring at the ground. His teammates seemed to sense his frustration, and he felt Sakura looking at him with some form of pity while Sasuke's eyes were fixed on him like he was a puzzle he was trying to solve. Neither were well received.
"Well," Kakashi-sensei spoke up. "That was anticlimactic." The tone was one of his usual lazy ones, but the words stung nonetheless, even if they weren't meant to. Naruto turned to glare at his sensei.
"It's not exactly like there's a guild book telling me how to do it," he spat out, both embarrassed by his shortcomings as well as frustrated.
"No," his sensei sighed sympathetically. "There isn't."
Naruto's shoulders slumped, and he resigned himself to putting his shirt and jacket back on. He didn't think he would be getting this down today. Kakashi-sensei seemed to realize this because he turned to Sasuke and Sakura and dismissed them for the day as well. The two genin nodded and packed up their stuff, heading off back to their homes waving their farewells to their teammate. But instead of following the two out like he expected, Naruto noticed Kakashi-sensei had stayed behind.
Before Naruto could ask any questions, the jonin spoke up.
"You don't know how to access it," he stated. Naruto only nodded stiffly in response. He was met with a cool, leveling look by his sensei before the man broke the silence again.
"Walk with me," was all he said, before turning around and heading away. Naruto could only scrunch his brow in confusion before following. Whatever his eccentric sensei had to say, he didn't doubt it'd be interesting.
They stopped in front of a headstone in Konoha's graveyard. It was a headstone that looked just like all the other headstones. A name carved into pale granet set into the ground. Nothing assuming about it. Except for the name.
"This grave belongs to the last Uzumaki to use chakra chains in this village," Kakashi-sensei told him, staring down at the headstone marked Kushina Uzumaki.
Naruto had known that, what he hadn't known was where her grave actually lay. Now he did.
"She died the night of the Kyūbi attack. In fact, it was with her help that the Fourth even managed to seal the beast and save the village," he continued, oblivious to Naruto's internal storm of emotions.
I know that, he thought to himself. I know every single bit of it. But why are you telling me this now?
"Her gift made her a strong shinobi. One of the best in our village. But she used it to defend and protect her precious people. Just like you did back on the bridge." He paused, still looking down at the grave. "I can't tell you how to access a kekkei genkai. I can tell you of my own experiences with the sharingan, but I feel the two are far too different for it to count towards much." Naruto nodded next to him. "But I have a feeling, that however you did it then, that was how she did it. It's not a conscience thought, but a feeling. A feeling to protect. Or attack. Whichever is your aim."
Naruto blinked, surprised by the tears that had been gathering in his eyes as he stared down at his mother's grave.
"I can't tell you how to use your gift. And neither can she. But I'm sure if you give yourself enough time instead of getting mad, you'll figure it out."
And with that, he gave one last parting glance to the headstone and turned around, patting his pupil on the shoulder before heading for the exit. Naruto didn't know what to make of his sensei's words, but he felt they were important. They weren't exactly inspiring, per say, but they were… something.
"Thanks, sensei," he mumbled, knowing full well he was long out of earshot. Then, even quieter, he added, "Hey mom."
AN: *horse stance is the basic stance used in most martial arts, used to ground ones self and make them harder to push over. You spread your legs out and do a semi squat. Think earth bending from Avatar and you get the picture.
