AN: Oof. Sorry for the wait, everyone. School was literally hell. I had six finals to do and a few late assignments to turn in as well. But anyways, here is the chapter, AS PROMISED. And thank you all so much for reading and reviewing and favoriting, and all the like. Anyway, enjoy!
Kakashi-sensei blinked.
And then blinked again.
"Come again?"
"Uuuh," Naruto tried, staring wide eyed at Sakura. She really did that. She really DID THAT.
"It's true, sensei," the girl insisted, leaning forward. "We can tell you anything."
On either side of her, her teammates were staring wide eyed, unsure what to do. In front of them however, their sensei's eye was narrowed to almost a slit.
"Do tell," he finally ground out.
None of them seemed to know what to say. What on earth should they say? What could they say? Something they shouldn't know that Kakashi-sensei did know. Unfortunately a lot of what they knew, he didn't. Like information about the Uchiha massacre, the akatsuki, Obito, Kaguya, the fourth war… What could they possibly tell him?
"You used to be in Anbu," Sakura suddenly piped up. "You have the tattoo on your shoulder from it."
Kakashi-sensei didn't look convinced by her words. Instead raising an eyebrow in a look of annoyance.
"You could easily have seen it over the past few months. Especially during the Wave mission," he countered. They had been in close quarters for that mission, so to imply that they could have seen it when he was asleep or changing wasn't a stretch.
Frustrated, Sakura let out a growling huff of air, fists balling in anger. Naruto took that as permission to go next.
"Whenever you're late to meetings," he said. "It's because you're in front of the memorial stone. Not because of a black cat or some old lady. "
Kakashi-sensei didn't even seem impressed by that.
"You three easily could have stalked me," he pointed out with dry bitterness. "Easily."
Jeez. They were getting nowhere with him.
"Well fine!" Sakura suddenly cried, eyes burning with determination . "You got your sharingan from Obito Uchiha, and with kamui you can suck things into another dimension!"
This time, their sensei did look shocked.
"How...?" He trailed off, eye widening.
"We all know about what a Mangekyō sharingan is, sensei," Sasuke interjected, taking the man's attention away from his teammate. "Well all know because, well." He closed his eyes for a brief moment, taking a small steadying breathe in. Then his eyes flew open, no longer charcoal black.
Instead they were Mangekyō red. Inverted lotus staring directly at their sensei.
Naruto heard Kakashi-sensei suck in a sharp breath.
"That's not… possible," the jonin breathed.
Letting his sharingan fade away, Sasuke spoke up with, "It is possible. Like Sakura said, we're not actually twelve."
"And we all know you have one as well," Sakura added on. "I don't know how," she continued, ignoring his look of shock. "But somehow your friend gave it to you and since then you unlocked the Mangekyō. Which, frankly," she started to trail off. "I'm a little nervous as to how…"
Kakashi-sensei didn't move. Just stared at them. Naruto could practically see the cogs turning in his mind. Did he believe them yet? Something akin to hope swelled in Naruto's chest. Kakashi-sensei might just believe them now. They weren't alone anymore-
"You could have asked someone," was their sensei's reply. His voice was shaky and faint, but it had conviction. "Gai, or Anko, or…" He trailed off, staring blankly at his students.
Perhaps bringing up his mangekyo wasn't the best idea. They all knew how to get one after all, so whatever was going through Kakashi-sensei's head must not have been pleasant.
"I'm sorry sensei," Sakura said in a smaller, more careful voice. "But it's true. We really are from the future."
Their sensei didn't seem to acknowledge her words, staring vacantly into the empty air instead. His grey eye was distant, wider than normal. For a moment, Naruto was afraid he was going to hyperventilate like he had that one time. But instead, the jonin looked back up at them, a dangerously cold look in his eye.
"That is not possible," he growled. "Now stop giving me excuses and tell me the truth!"
God damn! What was it going to take for him to believe them?
Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto spotted Sakura looking at him. She was giving him a meaningful look, her green eyes trying to say something. Naruto frowned questioningly. What was it?
Then he understood when she mouthed one word.
Parents.
Naruto blinked.
Oh.
"Are you sure?" He whispered. She gave a curt nod back.
It was their trump card, but… Naruto didn't want to bring up those awful memories for his sensei. He knew his dad was Kakashi-sensei's teacher, and that he must have at least known his mom. And they'd already mentioned Obito and his mangekyo, so the jonin must be having a real tough time right now. But he didn't really have another option.
Well. This was going to be fun.
Stealing himself, Naruto sucked in a deep breathe, preparing himself for what was to come. God, he really didn't want to do this to the man.
Looking up at his sensei, he said with hard conviction, "I know who my parents are."
That stopped the man dead.
"... What did you just say?"
Kakashi-sensei was staring at him with a wide eye, face considerably paler than normal. All the frustration and anger had faded away from his expression, leaving only blank horror.
"I said," Naruto replied shakily. "I know who my parents are." He didn't wait for a signal to continue, knowing he wouldn't get one. "Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze. The fourth Hokage."
Kakashi-sensei was frozen. Eye wide and masked face pale as snow. Naruto watched the man's fingers twitch sporadically, seeming as though he was looking to grab something.
"How do you… Who told you," Kakashi-sensei finally breathed. His voice was audibly shaking, betraying just how not put together he was.
"They told me themselves, y'know," he answered. "When Kurama- the kyuubi went berserk, the seal almost broke. But like, my dad had sealed some of his chakra away so that he could fix it," he went on to say, ignoring Kakashi-sensei's befuddled expression. "Same with my mom. When I tried to steal the kyuubi's chakra, she helped me do it, and she told me how she and dad met and-" his voice was growing wet with tears, throat starting to ache. His eyes fell to his hands, unable to meet anyone else's. "She told me about the day I was born. That her seal was weakened because of the pregnancy, and somehow the man with the mask knew an' he ripped the kyuubi out of her and set it on the villege."
He didn't notice it because he was looking down, but Kakashi-sensei's expression morphed from confused shock to guilt and horror. Sasuke noticed though, and narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"And I know dad was your sensei. And I know you tried to perfect his rasengan but instead made the chidori." Kakashi-sensei's eye widened again. "And I know why he sealed the kyuubi in me. And that he and mom died protecting me." Tears started sliding down his face. Absently, he swiped them away with his good arm, his right still in it's cast.
There was a stiff silence in the room after that. Nobody knew quiet what to say, or if they should even say anything at all. Kakashi-sensei was frozen in place, eye staring vacantly into the space between him and his blonde student. Sakura was watching her friend and sensei hesitantly, wondering if she should do something, while Sasuke was growing more and more uncomfortable the longer the silence stretched out.
Finally, their sensei broke the silence.
"You can't… That's not possible. Someone must have told you…" Even to Naruto he didn't sound convinced, his faint voice giving him away. "No one but the Hokage and I knew that about her seal."
And neither would have told you went unsaid.
"Do you believe us now?" Naruto asked quietly.
Their sensei could only stare at them in silence, unable to speak.
Biting her lip, Sakura sat up, insistent look in her eyes. "It's true," she insisted, "There was a war. Madara Uchiha was trying to bring back the juubi so he could put the whole world in a genjutsu, but he needed all the bijuu to do it. Which meant getting the kyuubi from Naruto. But really some goddess named Kaguya was pulling the strings so we had to seal her away. Before we could do it though, we were shot back in time," she explained. "We still don't know how."
"Madara's dead," Kakashi-sensei said absently.
"Five years from now he'll be reanimated by the masked man who set the kyuubi loose," Naruto countered. "He's his underling."
It was at this point it looked like they were losing Kakashi-sensei, watching as the man became more and more overwhelmed by everything they said. Then, without warning, he gave them all one last look before disappearing in a violent storm of leaves.
And he was gone.
Time travel. Time travel. What the fuck.
Kakashi stood on top of a roof somewhere in Konoha, eye staring vacantly over the village.
No one else could have known about Kushina's seal weakening. Only he and the Hokage did. Minato-sensei too, when he was alive. No one knew she was the jinchuuriki before Naruto either, save for the aforementioned two. So there was no way Naruto could have known that. Except he did. As well as so much more.
They might even know stuff that he doesn't. Just what were his students?
Itching to move around, Kakashi hopped off the roof and onto another, starting to move towards the only place he went when he needed to think; the memorial stone.
His head was spinning by the time he made it there, whirling with all the questions he couldn't seem to properly form.
How could they be from the future? What jutsu could have done that? Why did Naruto go berserk? How did they know about his Mangekyō? How did Sasuke have his Mangekyō?
His thoughts stopped short there, replaced with a sickening feeling of dread.
Who did he kill to get his Mangekyō?
Suddenly he had the urge to vomit. Tearing off his mask, he sped to the bushes and puked out whatever what in his stomach onto the ground. What mostly came out was stomach acid though, which burned his throat and mouth.
Disgusting.
Spitting what was left in his mouth out, he pulled his mask back on and straightened up.
If his right hand shook while he did so, well, no one was around to see.
Walking back to the memorial stone, he shoved the thought of Sasuke out of his head, compartmentalizing it for later. Instead, he focused back on everything his students had said and exhibited, and how it correlated with their claim of time travel.
Kakashi hated to admit it, but everything about them made sense. In a weird, convoluted way of course. But still, he had to admit, everything about them all pointed to their insane explanation.
They were all so mature. Their eyes looked like those of seasoned chunin, if not jonin. Their teamwork was impeccable, their knowledge of practical field work higher than any other kid their age should be. They didn't even teach tree climbing in the academy for crying out loud!
Then his thoughts turned to what they could do. No genin should be able to have full mastery over an elemental affinity, let alone multiple. Kakashi of course was an exception, and possibly Sasuke, as he was both rookie of the year and heir to the Uchiha clan. What was left of it anyway. But a civilian born girl like Sakura to be able to do so as well? Unlikely.
And then there was Sasuke with his fully formed sharingan. Kakashi wasn't an Uchiha, but surely that must be weird. Sakura's immense strength and precise chakra control? And from a civilian girl no less? He should have been far more suspicious of that.
And then Naruto. The boy had seemed surprised by his kekkei genkai, but everything else about him…
He knew the rasengan. In no way should he know that jutsu. His father has been dead for almost thirteen years, Jiraiya had never met him, and well, Kakashi just didn't feel like doing it. Too many memories too unpack there. Plus it was an A rank jutsu, and they were supposed to be genin.
Kakashi really should have looked underneath the underneath with these kids. But he hadn't. Maybe it was because he didn't have a frame of reference for what a normal genin team during peacetime looked like. Maybe it's because he had never really been a kid himself.
Or maybe it's because I didn't want to see it, a voice in the back of his mind whispered.
Kakashi closed his eye with a sigh, shoulders drooping. Maybe it was that. Those blasted genin had wormed their way into his heart and he'd clung on tight, ignoring everything that was telling him that something was off. He hadn't wanted to lose his team again. Couldn't lose his team again. And as such he'd blinded himself to all the facts.
His genin were seventeen and had gone through a war. And he'd been having them run evasion drills.
How had he not noticed? The look in their eyes, it was the same one he saw in the mirror every day. And the same one he saw in all his friends who had fought with him.
What a failure of a jonin he was.
"Minato-sensei," he sighed, staring at the memorial stone. "What would you have done?"
As usual, he got no response. He never did.
AN: Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! And Happy Holidays to those who don't!
