Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at his top jounin with a gaze that gave nothing of his emotions away.
Kakashi had just announced to him that he was dropping team seven. Annoyingly, the Hatake had the right to do that, as per the ninja charter established by the Second Hokage. A jounin-sensei had the right to judge any or all members of his genin team unfit for duty. Including themselves.
While Hiruzen was the Hokage and he had absolute authority, the charter was still there to guarantee a minimum of right to the shinobi serving the village. Ordering the jounin to keep his team running under his command would create a dangerous precedent, one that he had no doubt the Hatake would use without any remorse, given how angry Hiruzen knew he was.
In addition, Hiruzen had threatened the jounin to rescind his nomination as a jounin-sensei in the first place, on this fateful day a few months ago. Telling him he had to keep his position now would feel shallow and hypocritical.
Two things Hiruzen was ready to be for the sake of the village, however.
The old Sarutobi supposed it was natural for Kakashi to push back but still, he was the Hokage. He couldn't afford one of his best element to be so rebellious, it would show weakness. It didn't mean he didn't have regrets. Naruto's lashing out had dredged up old wounds to the surface and poured salt on them. He hadn't done well. That was a firmly established truth he accepted.
He was tired, however, to hear the silent reproach in Kakashi's unsaid words, as if everything was his fault.
"Are you certain of this, jounin Hatake?"
The man gave the Hokage one of his eye-smile. "Quite, Hokage-sama. As you made certain I understood, I'm not fit to teach genins. In addition to that, Sasuke Uchiha doesn't need a teacher right now but the help of a mind-healer, as I made certain to explain in my report."
"What of your other two students?" The old man asked, ignoring the barb and holding back a sigh at the mention of the young Uchiha. Another thing he had butchered.
"Sai is a non-factor for reasons we both know full well, Hokage-sama. As for Sakura, I honestly recommend she is dropped from the shinobi roster. She is physically unfit, is below par in all practical aspects of the shinobi arts, unfocused, naive, blindly infatuated with the Uchiha to the point of stupidity and all that will get her teammates killed at one point or another. She shouldn't have even graduated from the Academy in the first place but I suppose the standards did drop."
The Hokage nodded. It was a time of peace and he had allowed the Academy standards to drop, as a way for more civilian children to join the ranks of the shinobi. It should have been ideal for subpar recruits to be included in their ranks. Supposedly, the low level of risk meant they had time to grow reasonably strong before being faced with any real danger.
Or at least, that's what some of his analysts had suggested and a plan he had personally backed up. Ignoring all those who had warned him that the life of a shinobi was, by its very nature, dangerous and deadly, he had briefed the teachers to be laxer.
The result had been deplorable as almost no team made of purely civilian recruits made it past their true test. And as much as he knew Kakashi was angry at him, Hiruzen also knew he could still trust the jounin to be analytical and if he said young Sakura was unfit, then she was.
"If she insists on becoming a ninja, however," continued the jounin, "I recommend she is set up with someone forceful yet patient enough to bring her out of her delusions. I also recommend she tries her hands at medical ninjutsu. If anything, she has the control for it."
"What about you, jounin Hatake? Do I understand this as a wish to be reinstated in ANBU?"
"No Hokage-sama. I believe I gave enough to ANBU."
Hiruzen kept himself from snarling at the underlying meaning of the jounin's words. "Never forget that you asked to be a part of the organisation in the first place, jounin Hatake," he said, not exactly hiding the venom in his voice.
He watched as Kakashi momentarily froze and send him a murderous glare. The Hokage returned it. "I grant you permission to speak freely, jounin Hatake, so why not come clear?" The Sarutobi challenged.
He heard the white-haired young man snarl behind his face mask before the jounin took a deep breath.
"I will not allow you to keep me separated from Naruto."
"I've never ordered that. You chose to do so yourself, jounin Hatake. It is high time-"
"You took him away from me!" Kakashi bellowed suddenly, all veneer of politeness and patience scraped and replaced by rage. "I was supposed to be his teacher!"
"And you didn't teach him!" The Hokage retorted in a similar tone. "Knowing what he needed, you did nothing to help him achieve it!"
"Because I didn't expect to have to teach him things he should have learned in the Academy! Something you allowed to happen!"
"Something you didn't check, content to let me deal with it!"
"I was in ANBU!"
"As you wished despite my recommendation you stay in the regular forces!"
"I kept him safe from the shadows! You were supposed to keep him safe in the light! You are the Hokage!"
"Then if I did such a poor job, take that damnable hat and teach what you think is just to this village!" The Hokage bellowed with such anger that it rooted Kakashi on the spot. "Do not pass your actions as anything else than you coping out, Hatake." The old Kage threatened in an ice-cold voice. "You aren't the only one who lost people to our way of life. And Naruto has always been there, waiting for people to reciprocate his calls for attention but you. Ignored. Him." Hiruzen said, punctuating each word with a punch to his desk.
The jounin blinked once before he snarled. "And maybe you didn't?" He spat bitterly.
"I wasn't supposed to be his brother."
"I wasn't supposed to be his Hokage."
"The village-"
"Screw the village!" Kakashi hurled. "Naruto isn't part of it, everyone made it clear!"
"Including yourself! Why didn't you help him correct that?! I'm tired of you making me shoulder all the blame, Hatake. The state of your relationship with Naruto is your doing only."
"I'll kill him! I'll kill him like I killed everyone else!" The jounin howled, a snarl of mixed pain and fury distorting his face before he sagged in a seat.
A second of silence seemed to stretch into a minute before the Hokage broke the dark spell.
"You're like the villagers. For reasons your own but you're like them."
"What?"
"You refuse to approach Naruto because you cannot confront your own fears. So you decided to be angry at me instead."
Something stuck to Kakashi's throat. He had nothing to answer to that.
AN: I'm done with Kakashi. As in, I most likely won't write Meanwhile chapters about him. At this point, I think his problems have been laid bare and if he wants, it's up to him to correct them. If, as an author, I decide he does, it will be behind the scene and he'll then be free to be an active part of Naruto's life.
AN: It was honestly amazing (in the positive sense of the word) how the last Meanwhile divided you all. Some thought Kakashi was an ass, others thought it was simply a well-deserved breakdown. To be clear, there was never any intention to make him go full-on "the world can burn". I just thought I would explore why he would behave so towards his students and offer a possible answer.