Groaning, Kakashi rolled over to his left side, throwing an arm over his eyes to block the sunlight. His state of relaxation lasted only five minutes when his brain finally registered that there was sunlight. Light that wasn't supposed to be there.
Kakashi's eyes snapped open. Mechanically, his hand lifted the blanket off of his body while his legs swung down from the bed to find his slippers. Only the action hadn't worked quite as well as he hoped because Kakashi found his legs dangling from the edge of the bed rather than planted on the floor.
Wait, what? Kakashi hadn't had this problem since he hit his growth spurt when he had been fourteen.
Despite the strangeness of the situation, time pushed him to get moving. If he didn't hurry, his aides would certainly show up banging on his door. Before that happened, he needed to slip away to the memorial stone, where no one would bother him out of respect. If he remained in his apartment, there was no chance to get them off of his back, considering he was pretty sure that he didn't finish the paperwork yesterday.
Four steps on his way to the bathroom, Kakashi froze. Paperwork? His mind flashed through the events from last night, from the moon threat to heading back to his office to find Sasuke waiting for him, the paperwork, and then the scroll.
The scroll. He remembered activating the scroll before he realized that it was the scroll that Sasuke had given him, then a bright light consumed him. Kakashi assumed that the light knocked him out, but then why was he here? He should have woken up in the office. Unless…
Kakashi turned his head so quickly that he could have sworn he heard an audible crack. That was hardly the most pressing matter on his mind as his eyes swept the room up and down. Nondescript walls, a single window with navy blue curtains framing it, just like his room. However when Kakashi's eyes landed on the bed and subsequently the blanket, the pattern of the quiltwork was completely wrong. It was plaid while his should have been shuriken-patterned, a gift from Gai. The dresser was pushed in the wrong direction, the doors should have opened facing away from the window. A desk was located right underneath the window sill, but it was ostensibly bare. Aside from three books propped up by a holder and a mug containing a couple of pens, there was nothing else. Kakashi could actually see the surface of the desk, which was a feat considering the amount of papers and folders that continually piled up.
This room looked vaguely familiar, but Kakashi couldn't quite pinpoint where he had seen it before. The one thing that he was certain of was that this wasn't his room; past or present.
His instincts kicked in. Kakashi left the room, exploring the entire kitchen and living room for any clues of his whereabouts. However, just like the room, the two areas were bare of everything but the essentials, so it appeared like it could be anyone's home.
After concluding that he wasn't going to find anything of importance, other than establishing that the owner of this place was a shinobi since he spotted a weapons pouch lying on the coffee table, Kakashi wandered to the bathroom. If he was going to spend the rest of his day trying to figure out where he was and what happened to him, the least he could do was get rid of the horrible taste in his mouth.
Flicking on the light in the bathroom while he kicked the door closed with his foot, Kakashi headed straight to the toilet. After flushing, he automatically moved to the sink and turned on the faucet. He raised his head, in his quest to search for some hand soap when he spotted his reflection in the mirror.
His jaw dropped. Or was it Sasuke's jaw? He didn't know; all he knew was that a young Sasuke Uchiha was staring right back at him.
Craning his head over his shoulders, Kakashi confirmed that there was no one behind him. It was stupid because he could see everything behind him in the mirror, but he still had to confirm it was real. Waving his hand at the mirror, Sasuke mimicked his action. Kakashi made a silly face, scrunching up his face while sticking his tongue outwards. In the mirror, Sasuke copied that movement, down to the exact detail. His fingers pinched the skin of his pale cheek, feeling nothing - oh maybe this was a dream - until he put more force behind it.
"Ow!" Kakashi cursed as he felt a tinge of sharp pain in his cheek. Leaning closer to the mirror, Sasuke did the same, Kakashi angled his head so he could better examine the injury. Two crescent shaped marks were left on his cheek as the area around it gradually turned red.
"Kami, what did I do in my past life to deserve this kind of torture?" Kakashi breathed out, while he banged his head - or was it Sasuke's head? - against the mirror. There was no denying it; somehow, some way, Kakashi had ended up in his student's body. Fate certainly had a twisted sense of humor.
It took him five minutes to get out of his stupor and start moving again. While he brushed his teeth, Kakashi started to run through all the facts in his head, taking care to not look in the mirror. He didn't need to be weirded out anymore than he already was.
He had gone back in time, that much was clear. Now Kakashi needed to find out how far back he had gone. The Sasuke reflection looked similar to how Sasuke looked when he was first placed on his genin team, but the time frame still could have been anywhere from his later Academy years up to his defection.
At the brief thought of having to deal with the snake man again in this timeline, Kakashi shuddered.
The next thing he needed to confirm was whether or not he had actually gone back in time or if this was an alternate dimension. When Kakashi was younger, he had thrown the idea of an alternate dimension around with Minato sensei after having read a few theory scrolls on it, but to this day, no one could confirm the validity of it. Unlike most, he was quite open to believing the theory, but if this was indeed an alternate dimension, then things would be immensely complicated.
Never mind the fact that he didn't know how to get back, Kakashi wouldn't even know what to expect. At least if this was just the past, in the same dimension, he would have an inkling of what was coming based on his interaction with his student.
Kakashi groaned as another thought flitted to his mind. Did that mean he needed to act like Sasuke? How was he supposed to do that? Sasuke had been originally placed on his team because they were similar, but they weren't that similar.
Whatever, that was a problem for later. For now, he needed to search for more clues so he would have a semblance of an idea of what he was supposed to be doing.
Kakashi headed back to the bedroom, pulling the closet door open. After pulling on white shorts and high collared blue shirt - it felt terribly wrong to wear a shirt with the Uchiha symbol stitched on the back, but Sasuke didn't own anything else - the attire that Kakashi remembered Sasuke wearing in his youth, he was about to close the door when he spotted something shiny on the very top shelf.
Konoha's hitai-ate. The plating was quite new and shiny, free of all the dents and scratches that appeared on his own, accumulated from his slew of missions. But Sasuke was a genin, so it made sense that it was still scratch-free.
At least he confirmed that Sasuke was no longer in the Academy. Great because Kakashi had no desire to attend the Academy if that was the case, there was a reason why he graduated in one year. At least this situation would give Kakashi a little more flexibility to move around. He would need it to find his way home.
Tying the forehead protector, Kakashi kicked the closet door shut while he backed away. Once he finished, he moved towards the desk, pulling open all the drawers in hopes that he could find something of use.
Bingo. A small calendar sat in the bottom drawer and Sasuke's meticulous nature meant that he crossed off each day. Scrawled in yesterday's box was a reminder that it was the day of the Academy exams. If yesterday was the exam, then today must be the day for team formation. Kakashi looked up, looking out of the window to judge the position of the sun.
He rolled his eyes. If he didn't leave now, he would be "late." Which wasn't a horrible thing in his books, but Sasuke Uchiha was as punctual as a person could get. Fine, he would play along for now. At least until he could figure out exactly what was going on.
As Kakashi sat in his assigned seat, or maybe it was the wrong seat but no one dared to question Sasuke Uchiha, he lamented how awful it was to be the one doing the waiting, rather being the one waited on. Looking out the window helped to dispel some of his irritation, but every now and then, high-pitched screams would disrupt his serenity.
Were all Academy girls this loud? Previously, Kakashi thought Naruto and Sakura were already loud enough, but it seemed that their volume was nothing in comparison to this. Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi subtly eyed the group of girls. Among them, he recognized Sakura and Ino, the two that were responsible for the incoming headache.
As much as he appreciated these two in the future, one for their medical skills and the other for their interrogation techniques, Kakashi just wished they could shut up. And stop screaming Sasuke's name.
The situation went from extremely annoying to downright insanely-horrible-to-the-point-where-he-wanted-to-bolt when Naruto appeared in the picture. He was louder than all of the girls combined, claiming that there was nothing special about Sasuke. Then he proceeded to jump on the table, walk over to him before he squatted right in front of him so he was eye level with him. Kakashi unconsciously leaned backwards. He loved his student and all, but only when he was at least three feet away from him.
Naruto squinted at him, eyeing him with such intensity.
"Get out of my face." That was something Sasuke would say, right? Instead of moving away, Naruto leaned even closer. Kakashi sank down in his seat and began to subtly scoot across the bench.
Suddenly, Naruto lost his balance falling forward. Kakashi's eyes widened, his brain going haywire as he tried to move, but Sasuke's body couldn't quite keep up his thoughts. The most that he could do was turn his head. A cold, horrible feeling went down his spine when he felt Naruto's lips on his left cheek.
His bare left cheek. Kakashi resisted the urge to throw up, desperately trying to swallow the bile back down his throat. Naruto recovered from the fall, flailing his arms about as he screamed about what had just happened.
Kakashi was frozen in shock. This was his twelve year old student. He barely even hugged the kid before; the most he felt comfortable with doing was a head pat.
His feeling of disgust subsided as another thought came to mind. If Sasuke's body was too slow to avoid it and his twelve year old mind wasn't as sharp as his, did that mean that the two actually kissed? At the thought, Kakashi couldn't but snicker. His hand half covered his mouth to hide it; everyone knew that Sasuke Uchiha didn't have a sense of humor. Luckily, most of the girls were too busy chasing down Naruto to pay attention to him and the boys simply didn't care.
He filed a mental note to ask Sasuke about it later.
They were the last team in the classroom. Even Iruka had already left, leaving the three of them to their own devices. Following the announcement of teams, Kakashi had chosen to take a nap instead, knowing that his younger self wasn't going to show for at least another three hours to collect them. He remembered when it happened the first time around; Kakashi had actually forgotten about the three kiddos.
At least they never found out, otherwise, they would have given him so much grief for it.
Naruto couldn't sit still. He wandered around the classroom, twice, poking and prodding everything in existence. He even looked under the tables to find some messages and drawings left by former students. Everything he found particularly interesting, he would point and say it out loud, as if either of them cared.
At least Sakura was polite about it, she actually responded to him, even if her remarks were a tad bit cruel, while Kakashi ignored him altogether. Ignoring people had been a skill he acquired over the years, no thanks to Obito, Gai, and Naruto.
Near the third hour and for the twentieth time, Naruto groaned about how late their "stupid" sensei was. If Kakashi wasn't supposed to be Sasuke at the moment, he would have feigned mock hurt. Instead, he kept quiet as he watched Naruto start moving around the room again.
His eyes landed on the blackboard eraser, darting back and forth between the door and the eraser. In the process, his grin grew wider and wider and remained plastered on his face even as Naruto went to fetch the eraser.
"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura asked tiredly.
"Hehe. I'm going to teach Sensei a lesson for being late." Naruto was in the process of clambering on a chair that he set by the door, ready to jam it in the crook between the door and wall.
Ahhh, so that was how this blackboard eraser prank happened the first time.
"He's a jonin. He's not going to fall for that, baka," Sakura insisted.
Oh yes he will. Kakashi had to turn his head away from his students to hide the smirk that broke out on his face. As a bystander, the incident would surely be more humorous than it was the first time around and well, if it was going to happen, Kakashi might as well enjoy the show.
Propping his elbows on the table and clasping his hands together, Kakashi hid the smirk behind his hands as he felt his counterpart approaching. Three...two...one.
The eraser whacked the top of his head, sending chalk dust flying everywhere. The color of the dust was almost the same shade as his hair, so it seemed like nothing happened at all, if not for the eraser that bounced against the floorboard.
Naruto bursted out laughing. Kakashi remembered this, his first introduction of exactly how loud Naruto could be. Kakashi watched as his counterpart - he should really just call him Sensei even though Sasuke never referred to him as Kakashi sensei in his life - eyed Naruto, then flickered over to Sakura, then landed on him.
Oh shit. He had forgotten how Sasuke reacted the first time, but if he had to guess, Sasuke probably remained his stoic self. Kakashi struggled to rearrange his features into a neutral expression just in time as Kakashi sensei's eyes fell onto him. The only thing he really couldn't hide in time was the damn smirk.
Oh well.
"My first impression of you guys...is that I don't like you. Meet me at the rooftops."
During the climb to the rooftops, Kakashi found that he hated being a genin again. He could have saved himself so much trouble and effort if he was allowed to teleport to the rooftops, but of course, Sasuke Uchiha wouldn't know how to do such a thing. Kakashi had a feeling that the longer he spent in this body, the more he was going to hate Sasuke. It seemed Sasuke's sole purpose for existing was to make him suffer, from all the trouble he caused as his student to this.
Kakashi zoned off while introductions happened, until it was his turn. Only then did it hit him that he was expected to give an introduction. A Sasuke Uchiha kind of introduction. The only things that he could recall was something about liking training and wanting to kill Itachi, and despite the fact that he was supposed to keep up the appearance, there was no way that he could express his revenge seeking sentiment.
No way those words were coming out of his mouth, so Kakashi modified it. Only he didn't expect the stuff to come out to be a description of himself.
"I like to train and learn new jutsus. I dislike people who abandon their comrades. My hobbies are to read -" Kakashi caught himself just in time before the words Icha Icha spilled from his lips. "Books. My dream is to become strong enough to protect my friends."
Whatever. This version of Sasuke would just have to be painted as a team player and someone who valued "good literature." And besides, Kakashi believed that Sasuke should be thankful; this version is such an upgrade from the previous one.
But when Kakashi sensei's suspicious gaze fell onto him, Kakashi wondered if it had been a mistake. If he kept up his lousy acting, it wouldn't be long before his counterpart figured something was up.
It was too late to take back the words, so Kakashi had no choice but to roll with it.
Among the one thousand jutsus that Kakashi was famously known for having, a small portion of those were what he deemed to be "prank jutsus." Thousand Years of Death and Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu were two of such jutsus and he recalled using both during the bell test. The former had been used on Naruto and Kakashi had gotten such a kick at watching Kakashi sensei perform that jutsu on him that he couldn't help but chuckle at the scene.
(Later he heard from Pakkun that Naruto used the same jutsu in his fight against Shukaku and he couldn't help but feel proud at his student's ingenuity and the legacy that his prank jutsu would carry on.)
But when the show ended with Naruto falling into the water, Kakashi knew that he had to get going. If his memory served him correctly, Kakashi sensei would go after Sakura first, who would only last five seconds, and then he would be next. Best to get moving, lest he became the victim to another prank jutsu.
Kakashi sensei was dead set on finding him. Since he was going up against himself, Kakashi had enough knowledge to hide so that he couldn't be found, but he didn't think that Sasuke was the hiding type. Reluctantly, he showed himself and fought.
He used the term fought loosely because all he did was perform a fireball jutsu and then danced out of the way of the incoming headhunter jutsu. As much as he enjoyed the prank jutsus, Kakashi did not fancy becoming one of the victims, even if Sasuke had been one of the original ones.
Knowing that the alarm was going to ring soon, Kakashi sprinted back to the clearing, where he knew there would be three bentos waiting for him. There was no way he could win against Kakashi sensei anyways; a quick training session yesterday evening proved how horrible he was with fighting in a twelve year old body.
Plus, Sasuke's body was just weak. He didn't know what Orochimaru ever saw in him.
He was greeted by the sight of Naruto and Sakura already eating the bentos. On one hand, Kakashi was slightly affronted that they had chosen to eat with him; he was their superior and for once, he could actually eat with them without fearing they would see his true face. On the other hand, a warm, fuzzy feeling appeared in his chest. He knew that they would become close in the future, but it was nice to see them start earlier than they had last time.
If he had known that all Sakura needed to appreciate teamwork was to hear the words come out of Sasuke's mouth, he would have transformed into him a long time ago.
Kakashi was waiting for Kakashi sensei to drop the bomb that they had passed; this was good enough for his standards, but when he heard that they would need to continue the exercise after lunch, Kakashi mentally groaned.
Why was it so like him torture them even more? Doing the torturing had always been fun, but now being the side of being tortured, Kakashi was less than amused. Must have been karma biting him in the ass.
Him and his big mouth. He should have never tried to challenge himself.
At least the second exercise hadn't been a total waste. Beyond furthering their teamwork, Kakashi was quickly finding out that he was hardly adept with fighting with both eyes. After the war, Kakashi tried to train himself back to using both eyes, but more often than not, he would always find himself closing his left eye out of habit. Not long after that, he became Hokage and hadn't gone on missions since.
In short, he spent his prime fighting with one eye. Trying to fight with two messed up his depth perception and add to the fact that he always overestimated the length of his limbs, his taijutsu was a hot mess.
Only time could fix that and he desperately needed to hurry the process before he accidentally got Sasuke prematurely killed because of his incompetence. Kakashi was eager to get started after Kakashi sensei announced they passed. He didn't expect anything different; Kakashi sensei just found joy in making their lives more difficult than it had to be. He would know.
Unfortunately, Sakura caught up with him before Kakashi could slip away. Planting a neutral smile on his face - when he really wanted to scowl - because Sakura was his student and she saved his life countless times before, Kakashi turned to return her greeting. It would be incredibly rude to ignore her, but it seemed like something that Sasuke would do, so maybe he could pull it off.
Sakura walked to stand beside him, hands reaching to automatically latch onto his arm as compliments about his performance during the bell test slipped from her mouth. Kakashi discreetly tried to pry her arm off. She didn't get the hint, so he was forced to use some strength to pry her fingers off.
Kami, even at this age, Sakura had such incredible strength.
Kakashi nodded, pretending like he actually had been listening all along. "Uh thanks." Immediately, he regretted saying that when he practically saw stars shining in Sakura's eyes. Right, how could he have forgotten he had never heard Sasuke utter a thanks, not even after he taught him the Chidori or pardoned him from his war crimes.
That ungrateful brat.
"Sasuke kun! Do you want to go get dinner together? There's a new barbeque place that opened and I heard it's really good."
"Hn." Okay, maybe Kakashi could pull off a Sasuke.
"Is that a yes?" Sakura practically screeched in his ear. Kakashi took that back; he was not good at portraying Sasuke. At all.
"No. Go away." His words lacked the harshness that Sasuke usually had, so Sakura was hardly deterred. Instead, she continued to badger him about going on a date, while Kakashi felt the increasing urge to just crawl in a hole and stay there forever.
This was getting too much for him.
"No. I need to train," Kakashi tried again.
Sakura clapped her hands together in excitement. "We can train together! You were so cool fighting against Sensei today! Can you teach me some moves?"
Kakashi almost found himself saying yes. In the long run, it would be beneficial if Sakura could be more than just a body shield for their clients, but that was Kakashi-as-a-sensei persona that was talking. Kakashi-as-Sasuke would want nothing more than for Sakura to go away.
"No. You're too weak."
That had done the trick. The transformation was immediate; Sakura had quieted down and stopped following him. Making sure that Sakura didn't see him, Kakashi quickly glanced over his shoulder to register her downcasted expression. Guilt welled up within him and Kakashi almost found himself apologizing, but knew that it would be better for both of them if he didn't.
After all, he was certain that Sakura would flip if she knew that she had been flirting with a thirty-three year old man. Someone who was her sensei at that. He wasn't fond of being constantly hit on by twelve year old girls. It rivalled the feeling of disgust he felt with the Naruto incident, only it was slightly more tolerable only because he had known Sakura always had a crush on Sasuke.
Scratch that, he was still pretty grossed out.
A/N: Hi again!
I'm glad that you all liked the last chapter haha. Now it's time for the reveal of what was going on through Hokage Kakashi's head during this time. :) Hope that it's not too confusing to read. Kakashi sensei belongs to this world and just Kakashi is Hokage who time travelled into Sasuke's body.
Feel free to share what your favorite scene(s) are or the ones that made you laugh the most!
Thank you for reading. Until next time!
-MM
