No one was expecting Kakashi to show up to training the next day.

When he did, no one was expecting that he would pretend the previous day just didn't happen.

When he did, the rest of Team Minato was at a terrible loss.

What they did grasp was this: Kakashi meant business. His left eye was covered, and he spoke very little, but when they began in their taijutsu spars the child fought with a cold fury the likes of which Minato had seen only in ANBU and veteran Jonin. He beat Rin and Obito into the dirt, and even when he faced Minato, their sensei did not come away unscatched.

The few words Kakashi did speak were snippets of what could have been advice. "Your reflexes are too slow," he told Obito. "Trust your gut, not your eyes."

"But I can see that you're going right!"

"And I hit you from the left. If that were my katana, you would be dead."

Obito was quiet after that, but he heaved himself to his feet nonetheless and readied his stance. The Uchiha was just as stubborn as the Hatake, and if this was his retribution for scaring Kakashi so badly, he would take it head on. He would learn, and he would be a better teammate, and Kakashi wouldn't have to worry so much.

Kakashi didn't go easy on Rin, either. When Obito protested those actions, the Chunin sighed, and his stance relaxed. If Minato didn't know any better, he would have said that Kakashi was going into "sensei-mode."

"Rin is a medic nin, you're right," Kakashi agreed, "but she's a member of the team all the same. If she's a weak link, then the whole structure will crumble."

Obito grew furious. "Don't insult her like that! Rin is a great kunoichi, she⎼"

"She would be dead."

Obito, Rin, and Minato all blinked in surprise. Kakashi was now standing behind Rin, a kunai at her throat. The Genin had not even seen Kakashi move, and even Minato was greatly impressed by his speed. Rin gulped nervously.

"Or she would be a hostage. Where does that leave you and me, Obito? Are you going to pick the mission or the team?"

"I would save Rin and complete the mission!" Obito bellowed.

Kakashi lowered the kunai and took a step back, sheathing the weapon. "If Rin didn't need to be saved, we wouldn't have to worry about adding in that extra step, or running the risk of not being able to save her," he said calmly. Rin, at least, had the decency to look embarrassed.

"I'll be better," she vowed. "I'll be a great kunoichi, just you watch! I'm going to be the one saving both your butts."

Even Minato was not safe from Kakashi's criticisms.

"You're too easy on them," he said in between punches. They were sparring in pairs, and so far, Kakashi was keeping up evenly with their Jonin Sensei. "You're not preparing them for what war is really like."

Minato ducked under a blow. "Genin can't learn it all in a day, Kakashi."

Kakashi chased after him as he retreated, throwing shuriken. "Genin can die in minutes, Sensei. We're going to get sent out on a real mission and they're going to get slaughtered."

"Have some faith in your team!" Minato spun around the trunk of a large tree, throwing a punch that connected. Kakashi's shadow clone disappeared in a puff of smoke. The Namikaze stood ready, shouting into the forest. "I'll be with you! I won't let anything happen to you."

Whirling around, Minato blocked kunai thrown at him. Tags attached to their handles exploded when they were close enough, and he barely jumped out of range in time.

"And what about when you're not there?" Kakashi was behind him. Minato turned just in time to reenage in hand to hand combat. "What about when you're needed on more difficult missions, and I'm a Jonin, and we're sent out alone? What then?"

"Then you'll be the one to protect them," he replied.

Kakashi hissed, hints of fury in his tone. "They're not ready."

へのへのもへじ

The end of their training came at last. All of them were dirty, having been thrown around in the dirt, and Obito and Rin were sporting a good few bruises. Minato told them to go home, get washed up, and get something to eat.

Kakashi turned to leave, but Minato called his name. "Come here for a second."

For a long moment, Kakashi weighed the pros and cons of pretending like he didn't hear his sensei. The teen heaved a sigh and turned around. "Yes, Sensei?" He asked, standing with his hands in his pockets. He looked aloof and bored, but Minato was searching for that dead look in his eye from yesterday – and something else.

"Let me see your left eye, please."

Minato was at least expecting some protest, but Kakashi gave none. He merely hummed, lifted his hitai-ate, and opened his left eye. A dull gray eye stared back at Minato. There was no sign of any Sharingan, so had he imagined it?

"Thank you, Kakashi."

"Hm." The Hatake replaced his headband. "Is that all, Sensei?"

"No. I wanted to ask you how you were doing."

"Is this because of yesterday?" Kakashi had never wanted to leave anywhere faster.

"Yes. Yesterday… What your classmates did, it was wrong, that's true. But their intentions were good. They just wanted to show you that they cared about you." Minato paused, waiting for a reaction, but his student gave him none. The Jonin sighed. "I just want to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine, Sensei." Kakashi actually smiled at him, then – or what could count as Kakashi's smile, that crinkle of an eye that he had started doing those months ago. "Just refocused." Before Minato could get in another word, Kakashi was already walking away. "See you tomorrow for training!"

Kami, that child was going to be the death of him. "Obito," Minato called, and the Uchiha poked his head out from behind some nearby bushes. "It's not polite to eavesdrop."

"I know, and I'm sorry, Sensei, I just…"

"You're worried about Kakashi, I know." Minato gave his student a little smile. "Obito, I have another question about yesterday."

His Genin perked up, curious, and removed himself from his hiding spot to stand in front of his sensei.

"Obito, yesterday, did you notice anything wrong with Kakashi's eyes?"

"His eyes?" Obito repeated. He shifted, scratching at his skull in thought. "Uh… Well, when he looked at us, after you showed up, it looked like…"

"Go on," Minato prodded. "There's no wrong answer. Just tell me what you thought you saw."

Obito nodded. "It looked like he had a Sharingan. But that's not possible, right? Kakashi isn't a Uchiha. And it only looked like it was in the eye he keeps covered up all the time."

That certainly complicated the situation a bit more. If only Minato saw it, he could have dismissed it easily as a trick of the light. But if Obito saw it too? The questions and mysteries surrounding his genius student never seemed to end.

"Thank you, Obito. Now you better go catch up to Rin before she catches Kakashi by herself."

"Oh!" Obito yelped, immediately taking off after his teammates. "Thank you Sensei! Bye!"

Minato smiled watching the figures of his students disappear, and when they were out of sight, the smile vanished from his face. All these questions bogging down his mind were troubling and worrying. If he didn't start getting answers, whether from Kakashi or another source, he was going to start pulling his hair out.

The Namikaze looked to the sky, trying to remain hopeful. Are you seeing this, Sakumo? He wondered. Your son needs a father, and me and the kids aren't enough to fill the hole you left. I'm worried we're only making it worse, even if I don't know how.

へのへのもへじ

Kakashi was walking alone, his hands in his pockets, but he could sense Rin and Obito long before they reached him. His teammates ran up on either side of him, joining him in his walk. Kakashi could feel the tension in the silence. They had something they wanted to say but didn't know how to begin, and he didn't want to hear it.

"Kakashi," Rin started. He could never quite ignore the pang in his heart when she said his name. "Can we take you out to dango? Or barbeque? I… I want to make up for those awful things we did yesterday."

"It went a lot worse than we wanted it to," Obito agreed.

Kakashi said nothing and kept walking. Obito growled, his temper rising. "Come on, Bakakashi! Let us at least explain⎼"

The Hatake cut him off cooly. "There's nothing to explain."

"Yes there is!"

"And you think explaining it is just going to magically make it go away?" Kakashi pinned his teammate with an icy glare, and the Uchiha quieted. They all stopped walking. "I thought you both were dead."

Rin shifted, looking from the ground to Kakashi. "I know we can't undo what we did yesterday," she said, "and I don't know how it affected you… You never let us in, Kakashi! We've been trying for weeks to get close to you, and you just keep running away. Something's wrong, and not just because of what happened yesterday. Something's been wrong ever since that day you were sick, and we're all really worried. We want to help, but you aren't letting us."

Kakashi scoffed, turning his head away. "I⎼"

"Don't you even start!" Obito snatched Kakashi by the front of his shirt, dragging him in close, catching the Hatake off guard. Kakashi stared at Obito warily, his only visible eye slightly widened.

"You don't even know what I was going to say."

"Yes I do!" He snapped. "You were going to say it's none of our business, or that nothing's wrong, or that you could handle it on your own. We're a team, Bakakashi! We do things together. That's what we've been trying to get through your thick skull!"

Kakashi growled, pushing Obito's hand off of him. "Even if I wanted to tell you, I can't," he replied.

"Guys, please…" Both the boys quieted at Rin's gentle tone. "We're not asking you to tell us everything right now. As much as we want to know, because we want to help you, that's not who you are. I know you're a very private person, Kakashi, and we can respect that. Just… please, let us take you to dango."

For a long moment, the trio was silent. Kakashi's usual retort that he didn't like sweets was on his tongue, but it didn't leave his lips. Minato had said that he should try to get closer to his teammates. And while that large, broken part of him told him to push them as far away as possible, protect them from a distance, a smaller, quieter voice told him to cherish them, hold them close while he still could. He was given a second chance, and it was up to him to look at that second chance as a blessing or a curse.

Kakashi let out a long, slow sigh. "Alright. But just this once⎼"

"Yes!" Rin and Obito cheered, her clapping her hands and him fist pumping the air. From there, they dragged Kakashi to the new dango place that had opened up, and Kakashi allowed himself to smile, even just the littlest bit.

Just this once.

へのへのもへじ

Meanwhile, Minato respectfully took a knee.

"No need to be so formal, Minato." The Third Hokage made a motion for the Namikaze to stand, and he did. "Now, what did you need? You said it was urgent."

"It is, Hokage-sama. It's about one of my students."

"Kakashi, is it?"

Minato stared quizzically. "You know?"

The Third waved a hand dismissively. "I've heard some interesting things about the boy recently. His medical reports, for one. He's been to the hospital a number of times in the past couple months when he's been reported to avoid the place like the plague. His chakra system is also… unusual."

Minato nodded. "I've read the latest medical reports, although I couldn't understand some of it. From what I could gather, his chakra system was severely damaged. It also seemed to be overcompensating to his left eye, which he now keeps covered up at all times."

"The medic nin were surprised the boy was alive," Hiruzen said. "It was as if he had died and been resurrected, judging from the scarring on his chakra system alone."

"That's what I thought too, but… there is no way that could have happened!" Minato almost looked defeated, the man was at such a loss. "Kakashi is only out of the village with me and my team, and at most we are on B-rank missions, but that's only been a handful of times. And there's no way that could have happened inside the village."

Hiruzen nodded solemnly. "Mystery surrounds this child now more than ever," he agreed, "but something tells me discussing his medical examination isn't the only reason you've come to me."

"Yes, there's something else." Minato paused, gathering his thoughts and formulating how to explain what happened the day prior. "Yesterday, my team… or rather, a few of Kakashi's classmates and Kakashi had an… incident. It's a bit much to explain, but Kakashi got really worked up over it, and he ended up revealing that damaged eye."

The Third leaned forward in his seat. "Was there something strange about this eye?"

"It… It looked as if it were a Sharingan," Minato admitted. "I thought it might have been a trick of the light, or my imagination, but Obito confirmed that he saw it too. It didn't look like a fully developed Sharingan, though, as if it were the shadow of one. And when I asked to look at his eye today, it looked like normal."

Hiruzen slowly processed what he learned. "That is strange indeed," he murmured from behind his folded hands. "Kakashi has no connection to the Uchiha."

"No, he doesn't."

"And you're sure it looked like a Sharingan?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama. It had three tomoe."

"Three…" Hiruzen leaned back in his seat, turning to look out the large windows. "Only advanced Uchiha have unlocked three tomoe. Even if it were possible that Kakashi had some Uchiha blood, he should not be able to access the full power of the Sharingan."

"Usually, both Sharingan are unlocked at once, as well," Minato added, "but it was only in his left eye."

Hiruzen returned his gaze to Minato. "When did all of this start?"

Minato thought for a moment. "A few months ago. Kakashi missed training because he was sick."

"He missed training and wasn't in the hospital?"

"That's what I thought." Minato crossed his arms, his lips pursed and concentration weighing heavily on his brow. "Something is wrong, but Kakashi refuses to say a useful word to anyone. I'm not sure what to do at this point, Hokage-sama, which is why I'm bringing this to your attention."

The Third gave a slow nod. "I understand. This is quite a strange situation your student has found himself in, Minato."

"Unfortunately."

"To begin, I think we'll have Kakashi take an extensive medical examination. He's long overdue for one, anyway. We need to make sure he's physically healthy before we can begin to piece together what's given his body so much trauma."

Although Minato knew Kakashi would not like this news, he made no protest. This was for the best, after all, whether Kakashi liked it or not. "I'll tell him."

"Good." Hiruzen nodded. "Have him at the hospital by eight tomorrow morning. We'll figure out what to do next after the medical report comes in."

"Hai. Thank you, Hokage-sama."

"Of course. You're dismissed, Minato."

The Third returned to his work as Minato left the Hokage's office. A Root ANBU disappeared from the shadows, with information that he thought Danzo should like to know.