So when I first started writing this fic I fully intended to write one chapter and put it up for adoption or cowriting. But as I've worked on it I now know exactly how I want to write this fic, and I'll be damned if I'm not going to keep at this until I complete it.
In this fic, team Minato is also known as team 7. It fits with the theme a little better in my opinion, and I just wanted to clear this up now in case anyone is confused by my use of the [name later on.
Kakashi suppressed a sigh as the room began to fill. As usual, the shinobi council took far too long to assemble, as if an emergency summons meant so little to them. He turned to the red-haired woman beside him.
"Remind me why I need to be here?" He muttered, though he already knew the answer.
"For the same reason I'm here, Kashi-chan." She replied. The use of that infernal nickname only served to deepen his hidden scowl. "We're the last of our clans, you and me. That makes us heads, so we have to do our duty."
Kakashi rolled his eyes, turning slightly away so that the woman wouldn't see. It wouldn't do to annoy Kushina Uzumaki, after all.
All around the room the assembling clan heads muttered and chatted. A lot of glances were cast towards the side where the civilian council usually sat, which today was strangely empty. To the untrained eye it would seem as though the shinobi were relaxed and comfortable, but Kakashi could see otherwise. The tension in their shoulders, the way their eyes darted from person to person. Even the way their hands often strayed towards where their weapons reside – or at least where they would reside.
They were in the middle of a war, after all. Weapons were strictly banned in this particular chamber.
The chattering began to quieten down as a figure was led into the room by two ANBU and seated in the centre of the room. They were dressed in simple grey slacks, the likes of which were often given to prisoners, and a black fabric hood had been placed over their head, though eye holes had been cut into it – not wide enough that the person's identity could be determined, but not so narrow that they would impede their vision.
'No chains.' The jounin mused. 'Previously a prisoner, perhaps? Unless… their identity is being hidden.'
As far as Kakashi could see, there were seals placed on either of the person's wrists – no doubt created by his sensei. Judging by their fluctuating and unrecognisable chakra levels, the seals were there to alter their signature and provide a further mask for this person's identity.
No doubt there would be a logical explanation as to the reason for their summons, and by proxy the reason for this person's appearance.
As If responding to Kakashi's thoughts, the third hokage cleared his throat, effectively silencing the few murmurs that had remained.
"I'm sure you're wondering why I called you here today." Hiruzen began, casting his eyes around the room. As he spoke, he began to walk towards the figure in the centre of the room. "You're probably also wondering who this is, and why he is here."
Kakashi spared a glance towards the visitor, making note of the way the hokage referred to him as male. As he did, he caught sight of the way they shared a glance; the unknown man nodding in return.
"My name… well, I can't tell you that." He began, his voice deep and gravelly and decidedly male in a way that could only mean it was altered by chakra. "I guess you can call me… Kamen. As you can see, I have been disguised to protect my identity. This is as much for the good of Konoha as it is for me."
This admission set in motion a wave of muttering, and the man was forced to pause for several seconds until it died down. Eventually he began to pace around the podium he'd been sitting on, staring at each clan head in turn as he did so.
"Twenty years from now…" He continued, glancing around once more. "There will only be a single person seated in this room who'll still be alive."
The statement left only a stony silence in its wake as the assembled clan heads absorbed the information. A collective question lingered at the forefront of Kakashi's thoughts, the answer to which he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
'Who survives?'
It felt as though the man was staring at him, but he couldn't be sure of that given the hood that covered his face.
"In twenty years' time, this world you see before you will be a mere memory. An opponent you long thought lost to the world will come back and destroy everything you hold close to you. In fact, three of you here will lose your lives within the next few short years."
The gravity of the situation seemed to fall heavier with every word. To hear that you're most likely going to die soon served as a far more real reminder that death stands just around the corner for some.
Hiruzen began to speak once more, taking over from the man who'd fallen silent.
"When I first spoke with Kamen, I obviously struggled to believe that what he was telling me was truthful. I requested that Inoichi-san here could come and link my mind with his, so that I may replay his memories as if they were my own." He stated calmly. "What I saw… was not good, to say the least. But I can assure you this with absolute certainty: Kamen was able to crack the technique to travelling through time, and brought himself back to this point in order to warn us of the future."
"What is entailed within the future?" The questioner was clearly from the Aburame clan, though Kakashi didn't know him by name.
"The future is bleak, and that's all you need to know." The man interjected before the hokage could answer. "But just because the future is bleak, doesn't mean that we can't change our actions to improve what has not yet been written, ya know. You won't be aware of it, but in the coming years I am going to be working to make a difference."
"If you don't intend for us to know about what you're doing, then why did you choose to speak to us today?" This came from Shikaku Nara. Though Kakashi didn't know him personally, he doubted that there was anyone in Konoha who didn't at least know the man's name. Being advisor to the hokage did that for you.
"To put it plain and simple, to inspire you to think about your actions." The man replied simply. "Some of you are making big decisions right now. Maybe one of you is planning on talking to the grave of a close friend of yours. Or perhaps you're feeling like you're just not powerful enough. I hope that this meeting serves to make you understand that your actions all have reactions, and there are always people around to hear what you're saying."
He turned away for a moment, and the jounin could see that his body language had suddenly become very sullen.
"A close friend of mine was forced to watch as his whole family was torn apart in front of him, in my time. We later found out that that incident was perfectly avoidable."
His fist clenched tightly for a moment.
"Somebody else was forced to live a life of poverty and hatred, all because of an incident that was instigated by a person who once hailed Konoha as their home."
The man's voice seemed to grow louder as he spoke, carefully bottled emotions pouring out in this one moment.
"I watched as three people my age were forced to fight against the man they loved as much as a father. Then I watched as two of them were forced to listen as their actual fathers realised that there was a devastating attack headed right for them."
He paused for a moment, one hand lifting as if to smooth his hair back but only settling uselessly on top of the hood he wore.
"Do you know how heart-breaking that is? To listen to them crying their fathers' names? To watch as the men who raised them were crushed right before their very eyes?"
"Kamen, perhaps you'd better-" Hiruzen tried to calm him, but to no avail.
"And you know, what hurt perhaps even more than that… was the fact that the third father, the one who'd worked in a team with those other two fathers, fell into a deep depression. Survivors guilt, they called it. He wished that he could have been there to die beside his closest friends."
The hokage placed a steady hand on the man's shoulder as his voice cracked, and he looked up. A small nod, as if to say "I'm calm", and then he continued.
"The examples I've just given relate to people in this room, or otherwise the offspring they are yet to have. Every single one of them could have been prevented. So now I stand before you, and I stress the importance of this meeting. Think about your actions."
He sighed in what could have been tiredness, or perhaps relief at finishing his speech, and sat heavily back down on the chair he'd been offered.
"What happens now?" Kakashi asked, seemingly voicing what was on everyone's mind. "Will Kamen be given free reign to do as he pleases?"
The hokage's brow began to furrow slightly.
"I did not believe him at first." He admitted. "Eventually I brought Inoichi in to perform a simple mind-technique, in which Kamen's memories were directly presented to me as if they were my own. It did not take long for me to understand, and though I did not pry too deeply I can say that I'd trust this man with my life."
"But how can you trust him? Could he not have placed a genjutsu on you?"
"While possible, that is not the case. Kamen has proven to me that he is exactly who he says he is, and he has sworn to act only for the good of this village. So, as I'm sure you'll know, this is an S-ranked secret, and I am placing a law against speaking of the man you have met today. Failure to comply with this law will garner the death penalty."
Nobody dared to offer a response to this, so the man continued.
"Now if there are no other questions, I declare this meeting adjourned." He ended with a flourish. The same two ANBU took the hooded man out of the room before anyone could follow him, and eventually the clan heads began to file out. The jounin was following behind Kushina when a hand was placed at his back. "Kakashi, Minato, would you mind following me to my office?"
/\/\/\/
"Kamen asked me to deliver you a message." Hiruzen stated once they were seated in his office. Presumably Sensei had already been briefed on this matter, as he seemed entirely unsurprised by the revelation and instead simply stared at him.
"A message? Why me?"
There was something about the graveness in Minato's eyes that deeply unsettled the young jounin.
"This will be a lot to take in, so bear with me here." The blond replied. "Kakashi… in the future, somebody who was once a shinobi of Konoha will join a group of S-ranked missing-nin, and together with them he will lay waste to the world as we know it."
"Who is it?" He asked, though he wasn't really sure he wanted to know the answer.
"Obito Uchiha."
A year had passed since that meeting, but Kakashi's memory of the day had not faded at all. Even now, he still couldn't quite comprehend the fact that his deadbeat idiot of a teammate had not only survived being crushed, but had the capacity to essentially destroy the world.
It was… eye opening, that was for sure.
He and Rin were currently waiting in a small training field, having been told to meet there by their sensei. The third member of their team, Aki, and Minato had not yet arrived.
Aki had been added to team seven about a week after the meeting with the strange time traveller had taken place. He was rather odd in appearance, with long, spiky dark brown hair which fell down over his silver eyes, and numerous bandages wrapped around his face similarly to how Kakashi himself wore his mask. What had surprised him the most was the fact that this boy was supposed to be roughly his age, and yet he stood almost as tall as Minato.
/\/\/\/
[Flashback: Meeting Aki]
"Kakashi, Rin, this is Akihide." Minato smiled as he introduced the boy. "Would you like to introduce yourself?"
He nodded, clearing his throat… and speaking in a voice that was far higher pitched than Kakashi had expected.
"My name is Akihide Kaeto, but you can call me Aki." He stated seriously. "I'm a frontline fighter but I specialise in stealth and evasion. I have no family, and I... I lost both of my teammates to a particularly bloodthirsty genin during the chuunin exams in which I earned my rank. I want to become powerful enough to join the ANBU in the future."
Rin's cautious eyes had softened as he introduced himself, and by the time he'd finished she had stepped forward to envelop him in a hug.
"We lost our teammate recently, too." She told him. Kakashi had to bite his lip as the urge to correct her welled up inside of him. "So we can work together while we heal, okay?"
Aki let out a small hidden smile, but didn't respond.
"You look like that other guy." Kakashi remarked suddenly. "The one that's practically attached to his friend. Kotetsu?"
"Oh jeez, don't get me started with that guy." Aki exclaimed. "His friend - what was his name? Izumo? Well he noticed the similarities right away. Every time he sees me he keeps calling me "Pineapple-face", since he keeps calling Kotetsu the same."
Rin giggled at that. Kakashi knew of those guys, and even though they'd been a year behind him in the academy - which really didn't mean much considering how early he'd graduated - he'd still heard of their habits of making fun of people.
"So, um... would you like to tell me about yourselves?" Aki asked. He seemed nervous for some reason, but the jounin put it off as him being unsure about having a new teammate so soon after losing his own team. Ironic, really - he was feeling the same way himself.
"My name is Rin Nohara!" The girl stated happily. "I like training, and taking missions with my team! In the future I want to be a talented iryo-nin, just like Tsunade!"
"Kakashi Hatake. There are things I like, and things I hate. I really don't feel like telling you all about myself though, I mean I don't really know you. As for the future... I don't know."
The boy seemed to grin behind his bandages, muttering something under his breath.
"Sounds like last time."
"I didn't quite catch that." The jounin frowned, but Aki just shook his head.
"nothing, nothing. So, um... sensei? What should we do?"
The blond looked between his students appraisingly.
"Well, since we're going to be working together, I think it's best we start by getting to know one another's fighting styles, don't you?" He stated. "Kakashi and Aki, let's have you two spar. Rin and I will be sending projectiles towards you while you fight, so remember to keep an eye out!"
A spar? He supposed he should have expected that, given that they were new to one another, but honestly this guy didn't seem all that strong.
"Alright new guy, let's fight." He muttered. "What are the rules?"
"Obviously don't try to kill each other." Minato replied. "Hmm, let's see... because I want to see your compatibility, I'll call out for you to switch styles as you fight. You'll start with taijutsu."
Fair enough. Kakashi walked into the middle of the field, hands raised in a defensive, if casual, stance. He clearly wasn't taking this fight seriously, so Aki decided to mirror his expression.
His stance seemed to be a combination of the academy standard taijutsu forms and what seemed to be a street-brawler's form. It really wasn't all that impressive.
"Ready!"
The pair formed a seal of confrontation, listening for their sensei's call. The silence grew almost deafening as Minato waited, drawing out the moment as if deliberately building up the tension.
"Go!"
Aki immediately rushed forward in a frontal attack, throwing a right hook that Kakashi easily dodged. While the boy was relatively fast, his fighting style was sloppy and unguarded. Even without the aid of his new sharingan, tracking the boy's movements was child's play compared to some of the opponents he'd fought over the years.
As he dodged the first punch, Aki tried to catch him off-guard with a sweep of his right leg. But the movement had left him in an awkward position, and it took little effort for the jounin to fall into a backflip, his foot narrowly missing his opponent's face as he kicked out.
They separated once more, breathing slightly uneven after that spurt of energy. Kakashi smirked behind his mask, relishing in the fact that Aki hadn't been able to land a hit on him. But his smirk fell almost as quickly as it arrived as his opponent shifted his weight, somehow falling into a stance that was almost identical to his previous one and yet still completely different.
There had been a multitude of openings in his original stance, but somehow in shifting his weight he had somehow been able to cover most of them. A much less jovial look graced the boy's eyes now.
So Aki was getting serious, huh?
Kakashi decided to go on the offensive this time around, launching himself forward in an attack very similar to Aki's own one. But instead of going for a frontal punch as his opponent had, he dashed to the left and caught a Kunai that Rin had aimed at him. The jounin flicked the kunai at Aki's left shoulder with a flourish, causing him to dodge to the right to avoid it. That was exactly what Kakashi had planned, however, as he'd readied a punch that collided perfectly with the boy's jaw.
He watched as Aki's head snapped back, the rest of his body following a moment later. To his defence he'd been able to settle into a smooth backwards roll, landing in an animalistic crouch, but that didn't take from the fact that he'd been able to land the first punch.
and Aki was pissed.
Kakashi caught sight of Minato on the sidelines, frowning at the newest addition to their team. It would seem that he wasn't alone in thinking that there was more to this new guy than meets the eye, and honestly he wasn't sure how to feel about that.
Several shuriken courtesy of Minato and Rin sailed towards the pair, pulling Kakashi from his thoughts. He wouldn't have any time to think about this right now, so he pushed it to the back of his mind and prepared himself for another attack.
Before he could move though, he spotted a wooden object headed his way and caught it just in time. Aki, however, completely missed the object, and it bounced rather painfully off the back of his head.
Kakashi paid no attention to Rin's fervent apologies, nor to the way Aki was frowning at him as if he was to blame for the flying weapon – and indeed it was; Kakashi now held a simple bokken in his hands. But his mind was affixed on the boy in front of him, who was now running his hand through his hair.
"Aki, if you're alright to continue, could you please grab your bokken and face Kakashi?" Minato stated pointedly. Perhaps he noticed the jounin's restlessness.
"Ah, sensei, I don't know how to wield one of these." He replied sheepishly. "I guess I never bothered to learn."
Kakashi rolled his eyes but offered no advice as Minato simply told the boy to have a go at it. He obliged, though even just in his stance it was clear that he had very little experience fighting with a blade.
No matter. The jounin would disarm him in no time at all.
"Kenjutsu and taijutsu only. Ready?" The blond asked, receiving two nods. One tentative, one impatient. "Fight!"
Knowing he had little chance as he was, Aki launched to meet Kakashi's attack head on, swinging his wooden blade over his head and jumping into the air. Using his gravity-given advantage the boy brought his bokken down as hard as he could, meeting his opponent's with a clatter. Both swords creaked under the stress, but as far as Kakashi could see no cracks had appeared in the wood.
Sensing an opportunity, Aki used his momentum to deliver a further kick to Kakashi's side, which was unprotected after he'd used both hands to block the first attack. He was able to shift out of the way for the most part, but the kick was infused with chakra and knocked the wind out of him. Using the burst of chakra from that kick, Aki suddenly snatched his hand out and grabbed at the blade of Kakashi's own bokken, somehow managing to launch into a front flip at the same time and using the new momentum to yank both blades up and over his head.
Kakashi was forced to let go of the bokken lest he be thrown into the air, and he found himself in a pretty tight situation. After the flip, he and Aki were now back to back, and he could sense that the boy was about to drop to his hands, bringing his legs back in a mule kick that would most certainly result in him losing the match.
In his breathless state he couldn't do much more than throw his arms behind him and grab his opponent, lacing his fingers together on his chest and leaning forward. Taking advantage of the difference in height, Kakashi forced his opponent over his back with the intention of his head hitting the ground. But just in the nick of time Aki curled his legs back so that they hit the ground first, using his stronger form to lean backwards and more or less use Kakashi's own throw against him.
A burst of chakra was used, which propelled the jounin several meters into the air, but he was able to flip himself over and land in a low crouch. The side-line shuriken that had gone all but unnoticed suddenly returned as he was grounded, but instead of dodging he chose to conserve his energy and simply palmed a kunai with which he deflected them.
Having finally been given a moment to catch his breath, Kakashi warily looked his opponent up and down. It was with a degree of hesitance that he admitted to himself that he'd underestimated Aki, at least in terms of being able to hold up to him.
While his taijutsu was nothing to sneeze at, and his kenjutsu was basically non-existent, it did seem that the boy made up for his drawbacks with his quick thinking and… unexpected reactions.
"Ninjutsu!"
He barely heard Minato's voice over the sound of blood rushing within his head, but it registered nonetheless. A hidden smirk appeared as Kakashi raised his hitai-ate, finally deciding that he ought to start getting serious. Though Aki tried to act his nervous self, the jounin could see that there was a hint of excitement dawning within his eyes. This would be an interesting fight.
The arm lock he'd forced Aki into earlier had caused him to drop the two bokken he'd captured; both of which were now resting unnoticed on the ground. Well, mostly unnoticed. Kakashi set his sight on them, hoping to reach them before his opponent could.
'If I can get to those, it's over for him.'
They came together in a clash of fists, neither using a jutsu despite being instructed to do so. It seemed as though Aki was waiting for Kakashi to make the first move, while Kakashi was waiting to reach those bokken before he continued. They both threw several punches toward one another, but they were effectively useless as each was dodged by the other. The two of them were slowly rotating as they fought though, and it would only be a matter of time before Kakashi was in the perfect position to grab-
His mismatched eyes widened as Aki suddenly changed tactic, aiming a kick right towards his family jewels. Fortunately with the aid of the sharingan he was able to narrowly dodge the attack, but it had served to offset him well enough that he wasn't fast enough to outmanoeuvre the next punch. It hit him square on the nose, and he was sure he heard a crunch as the recoil sent him flying across the field, landing with a thud on uneven ground.
'Uneven?'
The bokken that Kakashi had been aiming for were now directly underneath him. Quickly jumping back to his feet, the jounin grabbed a sword in each hand, channelling chakra into them as best he could. The amount of resistance that such dense wood was causing would no doubt waste a lot of chakra, but for the time being it was all he had – not to mention the fact that he intended to finish the fight with this one move.
With Aki fast approaching him, Kakashi waited until the last moment and sidestepped the punch aimed at him. It wasn't until he'd dodged that the jounin realised how lucky he'd been – the boy's fist had at some point been encased in a layer of stone several inches thick, and taking a hit at that strength would have been enough to knock him out for sure.
But the momentum of swinging such a heavy clump of earth overbalanced Aki, and by the time he'd regained his balance Kakashi had been able to use the opportunity to jump away in a burst of chakra. With the distance between them rendering him safe for the time being, he placed the two bokken in the air and smirked once more as a spark of electricity jumped from one blade to the other. Perfect.
As his opponent reached him once more, Kakashi thrust his bokken forward in a cross shape, pressing them directly against his open chest. The punch he'd been readying collided with the jounin's left shoulder, but it meant little as the amassed electricity was discharged into him with all the force of a small explosion. It lifted him off his feet and sent him flying far into the distance, only coming to rest when his back hit the trunk of a tree and the air was forcefully removed from his lungs.
A glance towards Minato resulted in a nod, signalling that this spar was over. Kakashi lowered his hitai-ate to conserve his chakra, jogging over to the downed boy. By the time he arrived Aki had more or less caught his breath, and he looked up at his teammate with a combination of amusement and shame.
"I'm… kind of stuck." He grinned behind the bandages that had still somehow remained in place throughout their fight. "Your attack turned my legs to jelly, ya know!"
Kakashi shook his head, rolling his eyes slightly, but pulled the boy up to his feet nonetheless.
"You'll get over it." He mumbled. "Once we get back, you need to massage your muscles where you can feel the pins and needles. Work them out, so to speak."
Aki nodded, leaning heavily on the jounin as they headed to their destination; a sizeable home set on the outskirts of the village, not too far away from their training ground. Minato's home. He'd graciously opened his doors to the team after a particularly hard training mission, and from there a tradition was formed.
Once they'd arrived at the house, Minato set about making tea. This, too, was a tradition, though the blond himself much preferred to drink coffee.
Rin, ever kind as she was, had immediately commanded Aki to remove his shirt, which had become scuffed and dirty in the fight, so that she could check him over for injuries. He did so in quiet embarrassment, huddling his arms in front of his stomach as she began to heal a small cut on his back.
"Did you bring an extra shirt?" Kakashi asked, to which the boy shook his head.
"I didn't think I'd need one today as I figured we'd just be meeting up."
He suppressed yet another roll of the eyes, reaching into his bag for his own spare shirt and throwing it over to him.
"Take this one for now. It might be a bit small but still." He stated, rather matter-of-factly. "You can bring it back tomorrow or something, when we meet-"
Kakashi froze as he looked over at Aki, only to see that the boy had not noticed when he'd thrown the shirt, and as a result had ended up with it draped over his head. But it wasn't the fact that he'd missed it that had caused the jounin to freeze up, but the visions that such an image had inspired.
Several things clicked into place all at once, and the revelation sent him reeling.
"He paused for a moment, one hand lifting as if to smooth his hair back but only settling uselessly on top of the hood he wore."
"But his mind was affixed on the boy in front of him, who was now running a hand through his hair"
He simply stared at Aki as Rin finished her work, helping him to squeeze the shirt onto his larger body.
"But just because the future is bleak, doesn't mean that we can't change our actions to improve what has not yet been written, ya know."
"Your attack turned my legs to jelly, ya know!"
It would make total sense. The way he seemed to be holding back, the way it looked as though he was going to make an attack but then switched to a sloppier, less refined attack that he was clearly out of practice with.
All of a sudden Kakashi understood. It was all crystal clear in his mind, clearer than anything had been in the past two weeks since Obito's "death".
'Does sensei know?'
It didn't matter. Kakashi had no way of proving that this theory was correct, and he wasn't going to risk breaking an S-ranked law just for some curiosity. For now he would observe, monitor this boy to see if he could gauge his true intentions. Because as far as he could tell, there was a whole lot more to Aki than he was letting on.
Like the fact that he was showing a whole lot of similarities to the man that called himself Kamen.
/\/\/\/
Let me know how I did. This is my first time writing a time travel fic and it's also my first time writing from the POV of the rules-lawyer that Kakashi was back when he was young. If there's anything you think I've missed or anything you feel like I could have added, let me know.
I'm intending for this fic to be, at most, five chapters. Just throwing that out there. Don't expect this to be a long story ;)
Kamen = Mask