Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and this English translation, although the original Chinese fan fiction is mine.
Thank my lovely kanoven for finish the translation! High quality as always!
Hope you all enjoy!
Once upon a time in the ancient past, a group of people managed to draw an end to years of war and chaos. Upon the land that had regained its tranquillity a shinobi's village was born, laying the foundations for peace. It's people entrusted their dreams to the distant future, and those who had been entrusted with these dreams made it their belief, fighting for the day it would come true. The Will of Fire would be passed on from generation to generation, its flames burning through time forever.
And the person that had inherited its will, the person that would lead and protect his people…his name was—
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"
Icy fingers slipped deftly into pyjama collars. Limbs tangled in bedsheets and dead to the world just seconds prior, Uchiha Obito leapt awake with a blood-curling howl and a flock of sparrows perching on the tree outside took off into the air, startled.
Slap!
Obito's hand darted behind him and clamped down on the naughty, still wriggling fingers. Turning his head, he glared at Hatake Kakashi, who was standing by the bed sporting his full ANBU uniform.
"You interrupted a perfectly awesome dream! Do you want to scare me to death!?"
Kakashi raised his eyebrows, staring down at him from above. "I do wonder, what kind of 'awesome dream'makes you this mournful?"
"Becoming Hokage, obviously!"
"Geez."Sighing, Kakashi retracted his hand and pressed it to his own forehead. "Obito, I told you not to stay up that late. See? Now you're delirious from sleep."
"…Ha?"
"Why do you think I'm wearing this so early in the morning?"Kakashi shrugged, walking out the bedroom door. "Why, I had to inspect the assembly grounds."
"Today is the day you become Hokage, baka."
Five minutes later.
With shallow bags under his eyes, Obito ambled into the kitchen with a mouthful of white froth and a toothbrush dangling from his lips and wandered back and forth around Kakashi, who had donned an apron and started to fry the eggs.
"Whmmphnn, flmmmmphaaa-blahfhgghhh, mphmghhn."
"Talk after you spit out the foam, or I'll gladly make you swallow it."
"Glugluglug…. pah!"Obito wiped his mouth and straightened up from the sink, leaning into Kakashi's personal space with a gleeful grin. "Say Bakakashi, from today on you're not Minato-sensei's ANBU Commander anymore, you're mine. Mine."He bit down extra hard onto the last word, as if afraid the other couldn't hear it.
"Oh."His roommate, on the other hand, turned his head and stared blandly at Obito with dead eyes. Then he grunted out one cold syllable from under the mask in response and returned to frying eggs.
"What kind of reaction is that!"Obito cried in indignant protest, the pleased look instantly wiped from his face, "Do you have any idea how long I've waited for today! Do you!"and made a show of giving his foot a stomp.
"Waiting for today when you became Hokage, or for today when I became your ANBU Commander?"
"…Same thing!"
"Oh."Kakashi repeated the sound. He scooped Obito's fully cooked egg into a plate, sprinkled on a touch of sugar, lumped on two pieces of sticky rice cakes before turning back to his own runny-yolk egg.
"Eat fast,"He ordered the future Hokage, "Because you stayed up late, I woke you up fifteen minutes later than my original schedule. You don't plan on being late to your own inauguration ceremony, do you?"
Twenty minutes later.
Groomed and dressed, the pair paused near the genkan, the old Hatake household's family shrine. Kakashi unlocked the small door, revealing five delicately arranged glass photo frames.
Side by side on the top row were two pairs of young couples –Hatake Sakumo and his wife, as well as Obito's parents; taking up the second row by itself was the photo of a single girl with brown locks, brown eyes, purple markings on her cheeks and a sweet, sweet smile.
The third member of Team Minato, the girl that had died fifteen years prior—Nohara Rin.
With solemn expressions and closed eyes, Kakashi and Obito both clasped their hands together in a prayer, heads slightly lowered, silently confiding their longing for the departed on this special day.
"Ku! Ku! Ku!"The door was rapped softly. Itachi's voice drifted in from outside: "Taichou, are you guys ready? Yondaime-sama was worried, so he specially sent me and Shisui to check."
Both men inside widened their eyes, glancing at each other.
"Thanks to you, now I'm also labelled as prone to being late."Sending a withering glare Obito's way, Kakashi stalked to the genkan to change his shoes and pulled open the door. "Morning, Shisui, Itachi. We're already packed, we can leave whenever. Just give Obito another thirty seconds, uh, no, one minute…"
The last half of the silver haired youth's sentence disappeared with him behind the closed door. Gazing at the streak of light peeking through the door's crack, Obito smiled; then he turned around, looking back at the shrine, smile blooming gentler and brighter.
"I'm going to become Hokage, Rin."He murmured, gazing at the girl in the glass frame, "Our promise all those years ago about saving the world heroically, I've already accomplished more than half of it now."
"Keep watching over us up there."
"Congratulations, Obito! Finally becoming Hokage, huh!"
"Thanks Kurenai! Oh and thank you for the spirits yesterday, it was delicious! That Bakashi downed one cup and wasmmpphh—!"
"Yondaime-sama is also gonna be joining my old man in a glorious retirement, eh?"
"….fine let go I won't bring that up again! And you, what're you talking about Asuma, Minato-sensei is still young! Just a few days ago when we were talking he said that he wanted to become a teacher at the Academy."
"Ahhhhhh this is the Springtime of Youth! So dazzling, so brilliant, passed from generation to generation! I can't control my manly tears anymore!"
"…I'm not the one becoming the Hokage or a sensei, so please, cry your manly tears on someone else, Gai."
Along the way year-mates and friends arrived in a non-stop stream, offering their congratulations to Obito and joining the parade, escorting him and his three ANBU towards the Hokage Tower.
"See that, Itachi."Shisui draped a hand on the shoulder of his baby cousin who had been in ANBU for half a year, pointing at Obito, who was latched onto by Gai (unceremoniously tossed over by Kakashi) and was trying hard to escape the manly embrace of the jonin with the bowl cut. "That's probably the most unimposing and undignified Hokage in Konoha's history. And he's even one of us Uchiha. Sometimes fate really is inconceivable."
"No. I think,"Itachi's gaze darted between his two cousins, and blinked, "Wouldn't it be better to say, that's it's because it's Obito-senpai, that this kind of miracle could happen."
Shisui raised his eyebrows; his expression grew soft as a quirk of a smile tugged at his mouth. "You're right."He suddenly made a face at Itachi, "You wanna bet? If I yell out 'Obito-sama'from here, he'll definitely freak out so hard I bet his his hairs would stand on end…"
"Obito-sama."
A fairly quiet, but nonetheless solemnly commanding voice rang out a few yards before the party. Immediately Obito felt a chill run through his spine and cold wind whooshing behind his nape, it nearly made him jumped up in fright—if only Gai wasn't still dead latched onto him.
What are you doing, my dear Clan Head…! He wailed internally.
The group of young jonin's boisterous quarrelling screeched to a halt. The Obito struggling for his life, the Gai crying manly tears while latched onto Obito, the Kakashi who finally had enough and decided to interfere—all three were frozen comically in the middle of their actions. That part of the street seemed to suddenly drop dead quiet; in the awkwardness of the deafening silence, only Itachi's unruffled voice rang out, as if nothing had happened.
"Good morning, Father."
Appearing in front of the group was none other than the Uchiha Clan Head, Minister of Konoha Police Force, Uchiha Fugaku. He was unexpectedly wearing the Konoha jonin uniform, a small fan emblem embroidered onto the collar of the blue undershirt. Taking in the three entangled jonin—including one that was about to become Hokage, one ANBU Commander of three years, one taijutsu master second to none in Konoha —his eyebrows were so furrowed they threatened to merge together. The strict lines framing the stern mouth deepened.
"Excuse me for speaking so bluntly. In public, you should at least maintain the very minimum dignity and disposition of a leader."
Kakashi released Gai's green spandex wordlessly. Gai silently unattached himself from Obito.
"Hai, Fugaku-sama, I promise I will adhere to your teachings earnestly in the future."Flustered, Obito smoothed out his clothes hastily and responded with a dejected expression. "But I beg you, please don't address me with such a…disturbing suffix ever again."
Fugaku snorted; his tightly pursed lips seemed to relax, even quirking up in a small curve that resembled a smile.
"Of course."He turned around and began walking away, unhurried, leaving behind a gaping Obito and his fellow equally gaping jonin. "A long as you remember what you promised me."
"Does he mean that if my behaviour isn't up to his standards, he'll call me 'sama'?"Snapping out of his daze with drooping shoulders, Obito mumbled sulkily.
"…Say, what did he really come here for?"Asuma's cigarette fell from his mouth.
His question was answered a second later. Suddenly, a human-shaped orange bomb tore right through the gathering crowd and bolted straight for them with blazing fire-like enthusiasm, crashing headfirst into Obito's arms—
"Obito-nii—!"
If it were't for Kakashi and Shisui on either side, steadying him just in time, Obito would have fallen right on his ass with even less image and dignity. Even so, he heaved a dramatic, pained groan and ruffled the yellow hair with an affectionate noogie. "Naruto…are you trying to murder me?"
"Now that's a pretty good idea."Another voice cut in blandly. Everybody lifted their heads to see Uchiha Sasuke amble over, both hands stuck in his pockets. He cast a careful glance behind him to make sure Fugaku, who had brought them over, had left before finishing his sentence, "That way, even if the usuratonkachi didn't wait another twenty years, he'll become Hokage quite soon."
"Sasuke."Itachi began mildly. Sasuke jumped, just seeing his brother hidden behind the group of tall jonin. Caught snarking, the raven haired teen flushed and looked away, embarrassed.
"What was that, Sasuke-teme!"Uzumaki Naruto finally lifted his head up from Obito's hug. He looked at his father's student, his teacher, one of the two closest nii-san he's had since birth with cerulean eyes positively sparkling with excitement. "One day Obito-nii's gonna pass the hat on to me, just like how dad's gonna pass the hat to him to today!"Naruto pumped his fists with vigour.
"Good! That's the kind of confidence I'm looking for! You see that Kakashi? That's Obito Uchiha's student!"Obito acclaimed loudly. A small and a large hand reached out together to pose a victory sign at the silver haired ANBU, the brilliant, white toothy smiles nearly matching Gai's.
Kakashi covered his face with his hands and sighed.
"Yes, yes, I see your confidence. It's great."He deadpanned. "Just reminding you, there's only twenty minutes until the ceremony. Now, can we continue walking?"
Eighteen minutes later.
"Obito, that brat…if he dares to be late today, I'm gonna give him a taste of what's the real Red Hot-blooded Habanero!"Uzumaki Kushina rolled up her sleeves and growled. Red hair floated behind her menacingly even without wind, its shape suspiciously like the tail of a certain demon fox sealed inside her.
"Alright alright…"Namikaze Minato forced out a laugh as he comforted her, "Either way, it's the day where his dream's coming true, there's no way Obito would be late. Besides, there's still Kakashi. I even sent Itachi and Shisui afterwards, right…?"
"Hoho…not necessarily, Minato. Mountains would moved before someone's nature could change –being late is carved into that brat's soul!"On the side, Jiraiya undid his giant scroll and leant on it, speaking up leisurely. "I'll bet you a signed collector's edition of 'Icha Icha Violence'that he would defi-nitely, be, late!"
"Mountains would moved before someone's nature could change…hmm?"Beside him, the long retired Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen smoked his pipe skeptically. "I think that phrase suits you better, Jiraiya."
"What are you talking about old man, didn't you borrow a series from me behind Biwako's back just two days ago…"
"Bet?"Tsunade, who was just chatting with Mikoto, perked up at the word and turned around. "A bet on whether Obito would be late? Count me in! I'll bet a month of my alcohol money that he'll definitely be late!"
"…"The entire Hokage Tower fell into total silence.
"What?"Tsunade lifted her eyebrows aggressively at the strangled expressions on everyone's face.
"Uh…Tsunade-chan."Stumbling forward in pain of being jabbed vengefully by his teacher's pipe, Jiraiya could feel cold sweat pouring down his back in buckets as Tsunade's glare locked onto him. "You know, betting on something so obvious and then winning and…you don't want something terrible to happen on such a special day, right…"
"Sandaime-sama! Yondaime-sama!"Before Tsunade could explode in rage and crush the Hokage Tower –or Jiraiya's bones –into pieces, a shout cut across the air. Two ANBU leapt down from thin air and landed lightly in front of Minato, kneeling down on one knee.
"Tenzo, Sai, you're back."Minato nodded gently at the pair, "Where are Obito and the group up to?"
The ANBU discreetly exchanged a look.
"Uh…about that."The slightly older teen, who sported the cat mask, began awkwardly. "Obito-senpai and Kakashi-senpai…Is being held back by a few ojii-san and obaa-san in the village."
Everyone: "…"
Ten minutes later.
After a laborious and exhausting explanation to the elderly, half deaf grandmas and grandpas that he is going to be –no, already was –late, and promising that he'll visit each one in a few days, Obito finally rushed up the Hokage Tower, brow beaded with sweat. Kakashi followed him silently, the Hound mask dangling from his waist was back on his face.
—Failing a task as small as getting Obito to the gathering area on time, he could never face Minato-sensei again.
Obito made his way up the Hokage tower after changing into the white and red haori robes. Under the stern glare of Fugaku, gentle smile of Mikoto, death-promising gaze of Kushina, intrigued observance from Jiraiya, fatherly look of the Sandaime and a suspiciously terrifying glance from Tsunade, Obito began to tense, palms growing slick with sweat. Though he had no option but to continue, step after step.
Then his gaze fell onto the end of the parade, onto a figure hidden under sleek white cloak, silver hair completely obscured by the low hanging hood—onto Kakashi.
Through the small holes in the mask, two identical Sharingan gazed into the other, silently conveying messages only they could understand.
The moment their eyes met in mid-air, Obito's heart relaxed. He took a deep breath. With steps that grew increasingly steadier and increasingly confident, he walked towards the edge of the tower, towards Minato who was still speaking to the gathered village below.
"…then, now I shall introduce to everybody—"Minato paused. He turned around, gazing at his student, pride and joy glowing on his face and dazzling his smile. "Konohagakure's Godaime Hokage, Uchiha Obito!"
The crowd below erupted into a deafening cheer. Amongst the cheering, Obito took a step up, standing side by side with Minato.
"Say something, Obito."Minato gazed at him, voice full of doting love.
Obito nodded. He let his gaze sweep the people gathered underneath the tower, hundreds and thousands of bright eyes looked up at him. He opened his mouth, voice suddenly choking in his throat, and not a single syllable could come out.
The heart that had just calmed down began thumping wildly again and the speech he conjured carefully was completely wiped from his mind; what finally burst out of his mouth was the only thing left, an instinctive—
"I'm t-terribly sorry! I'm late!"
There was a moment of collective silence from everybody on the tower and below; then, the crowd below burst into a bright, kind laughter that was even louder than before. Obito would even dare to bet that he could hear Genma and Raido whistling.
Though, all the uncertainty and haze clouding his mind had been blown away. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. He blinked, feeling something wet trail down his own cheeks; but he didn't plan on wiping it away –the people below can't see it anyways, wiping would only expose him.
"Thank you everybody!"Clearing his throat, he began again. The moment his voice rang out, the crowd fell into silence. "I'm don't know what I should really say, but I'm…I'm really happy. Thank you."
Thank you, for trusting someone like me—the me who in another timeline, another world, had brought you countless tragedies and pain.
Thank you, for letting me achieve the dream that I had once lost.
Thank you, for letting me see that this world wasn't hell, and still had hope and love.
He bent his back, bowing low. Everyone thought he was thanking—only he himself knew it was an apology.
To all the people that in another timeline, had suffered or even died because of him.
Below the tower, a chorus of sparse clapping grew louder and louder as more people joined in, converging into a powerful and great collective sound that resounded throughout the clearing. Every single person was conveying their emotion and message to their new leader—a blessing for the moment, and an anticipation for the future.
A hand rested gently on Obito's shoulder. The young raven haired Hokage straightened. His teacher smiled, taking off the hat that symbolised power and responsibility, solemnly placing it into his hands.
Fingers tightened on the hat's rim. Obito lifted his arms, carefully placing it onto his head.
"Obito."Minato murmured, signalling him to look behind them.
Obito turned. A few steps away, the ANBU clad in that sleek white cloak had arrived soundlessly.
Seeing Obito turn around, Kakashi went down onto one knee, head lowered, right hand resting against his own heart in a fist.
"I swear my loyalty to you,"his voice rang out beneath the mask, calm but sincere. "My Hokage-sama."
"Kakashi…"Chest suddenly filled with a storm of toiling emotions that threatened to tear him apart and blur his eyes. Obito couldn't help his step forward as he bent down, wanting to help his Commander up.
But then Kakashi made a move that took him, and everybody on the tower by surprise.
The hand that had rested on his heart shot out lightning fast, grasped the front of Obito's cloak and pulled him lower; the other hand deftly undid his own mask—it was then every one finally noticed the silver haired youth's navy mask was already pulled down and pooled at his neck.
White strips of cloth hanging from the Hokage hat hid both of their faces, but it couldn't be more obvious what they were doing.
Minato who was closest to the pair let out a quiet 'Ah'and subconsciously shifted his body, blocking the crowd below; Fugaku snorted coldly, turning his head; Mikoto's hand flew to her mouth, eyes wide, then shared a knowing smile with Kushina beside her; the Sandaime coughed awkwardly and lowered his head, going back to smoking his pipe; Jiraiya and Tsunade looked at each other in surprise, both shrugged and turned, directing their exasperated and fond gazes back to the two youths who were still kissing as if they were the only people in this world.
Against Kakashi's lips, Obito quirked the corner of his mouth.
Who cares what they think, he thought.
He has already received the best congratulatory gift.
"…Obito? What are you still doing upstairs? It's nearly dinner!"
That night, the Hatake compound was exceptionally lively. Through the open bedroom door, Obito could hear his students –Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura –chatting excitedly downstairs, Minato was working his ass off in the kitchen and Itachi, who was insistently urged to stay for dinner, was assisting him. And at the bottom of the stairs, yelling at him, was of course none other than Kushina.
"I'm coming!"He replied vaguely, once again straightening the letter paper and examining it.
"My advice is, even after becoming Hokage, Kushina's will is not to be dismissed."A lazy voice drifted over from behind. Obito jerked his head up, taking in Kakashi who was leaning against the doorframe, one hand propping up Jiraiya's infamous orange book. "See, Minato-sensei knows that very well, so he was able to live until retirement."
"My advice is, wherever my students are, put your damned porn away."Obito grounded out through his teeth, "I've already warned you a million times!"
"Ha."Kakashi shrugged, "When you didn't know, Naruto had already helped Jiraiya-sama edit a bunch of times. You really think he could keep it in and not share the details with Sasuke and Sakura?"
Obito's expression froze on his face; upon returning from his shock, the jonin sensei immediately flew into a rage. "That damned perverted old man! One day I'm going to pass a law that absolutely forbids his porn from appearing in Konoha!"
"OK, the delusion ends here. That's a law I'm absolutely against."Snapping 'Icha Icha'close, Kakashi returned it to the bookshelf, right next to Obito's 'Tale of a Gusty Shinobi'. "In conclusion,"He said as he ambled towards the door, "you better get the hell down before Kushina completely loses it, I do still want my house to stand for a few more decades."
"Also,"he suddenly stopped at the door, "send my regards to him."
Obito froze for a second, though immediately his expression melted into gentleness.
"What the hell."He grumbled, turning back towards the desk, "I thought you didn't know. If I knew that yesterday night I wouldn't have had to write it like an undercover mission."
Smiling slightly, Obito glanced down, silently reading the letter he wrote for the last time—
To Rokudaime Hokage, Hatake Kakashi:
It's already been fifteen years since the night you returned to your own timeline. How is everything going?
It's great where I am, and…I'll be Hokage tomorrow.
So much has happened in these fifteen years. After that night, Kakashi and I combed through the information you left and indirectly relayed it to Minato-sensei. Probably because Kakashi's return to Konoha was a little too strange, he seemed to have guessed something was up. He never asked, though, so we didn't tell him the whole truth. For these things, the less people who knows the better.
Kushina-nee gave birth without mishap, the Kyuubi wasn't released and Naruto was born safely. There's no dissent between the Uchiha and Konoha –through Kushina-nee and Mikoto-san, Minato-sensei and Fugaku-sama had built a strong relationship and they had been trying hard to resolve any animosity between the parties. Thanks to their efforts, the so-called Uchiha Compound doesn't exist anymore, a lot of other families moved in and a lot of Uchiha clansmen moved out. Now the two are merged into one again.
Sure enough, Orochimaru had still been conducting human experiments in secret. Under Minato-sensei's—of course, as well as me and Kakashi's—efforts, he didn't escape this time. We arrested him, though considering his achievements as the Sannin and the things you said he did for the shinobi alliance in the other world, he was not killed. Rather, he's imprisoned indefinitely. Maybe forever, or maybe that decision would be changed one day. I can't be sure yet.
Danzo suicided five years ago. Fighting with him was much harder than with Orochimaru. Thankfully, after we captured Orochimaru a lot of evidence regarding Danzo was found in his labs. Even so, it took us nearly seven or eight years to completely defeat that old bastard. The event affected the Sandaime a lot, afterwards he gave up concerning himself with the village affairs entirely and persuaded his other teammates to retire from the position of council elders. It gave Konoha to Minato-sensei and us completely. But I think he looks pretty happy nowadays.
Madara…there has been no wind of him. Kakashi and I went to check the caves once, but there was nothing there, even all the white zetsu had disappeared. I'm not sure if he died or just moved bases, still spying on the world. I won't let my guard down. I'll continue to keep an eye on him and never give him an opening to exploit.
These years I've been hearing the name of Akatsuki. They're a group that travels between countries, appealing for peace and unity. Though he never says it, I can tell that Jiraiya-sensei would always look proud whenever someone mentions them. I think you'll be glad to hear it as well.
As for me and Kakashi…we joined ANBU not long after Naruto was born. Taking in Minato-sensei's advice later on, I returned to the normal corps and made jonin, then became Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura's sensei. Sorry 'bout that, I stole your students. Kakashi stayed though, and he became ANBU Commander three years ago. I had to wait so much longer to become Hokage, dammit, I'm still not over that.
We're living in the old Hatake compound now. You know, he's nearly your age at that night now. You guys are still different in some places, I think you'll be happy to hear that. Oh by the way, ever since Jiraiya sensei gave him Icha Icha on his eighteenth birthday, he hasn't been able to put it down. You don't happen to have that same hobby, do you…?
Ah, I've talked about so much random things. Well, all in all I just wanted to tell you that everything is great here. I've kept our promise, protected Konoha and this world well as the you in this world. I'll keep protecting them too, until the end of my life.
Thank you for coming to this timeline fifteen years ago, to me. Thank you for changing mine, Kakashi's and this world's fate. I've always owed you this thanks and apology.
Wish you all the best. I think, that's what the other me would hope for too.
Sincerely.
Godaime Hokage from tomorrow onwards, Uchiha Obito.
Moving his gaze from his own name, Obito sighed in content and nostalgia. He picked up the pen again, adding a small line to the end:
P.S. Kakashi asked me to send his regards. I think he means 'thank you'.
"OBITO?! I'm warning you, this better be the last time you challenge my patience!"A deafening roar tore through the air from downstairs, seeming to shake even the floorboards.
"Aaaaaahh Kushina I'm coming! I'm coming! One minute, give me one minute!"Obito yelled, floundering off the chair. He walked towards the window sill, stopping beside the wide-open window, clutching the letter.
The letter was folded into a small square and held out the window. Chakra gathered at his fingertips, gradually glowing and growing into a bright orange red fire. In the flame, paper curled and burned and crumbled into ashes that held the sender's best wishes, swept away by the wind and dissipated into the night.
"Like this…maybe you could receive it."
…
"Ehhh—? Going already, Kakashi sensei?"
His student, who was already over thirty and just became Hokage today, was wrapped around his arm, making long, drawn out pouting noises with no image whatsoever. "Stay just a little while longer! A great day like this is way too rare!"
"Well…"The retired Rokudaime offered an embarrassed smile. He scratched the small patch of exposed skin above the mask. "Isn't it better for you youngsters to have fun yourselves? You'll probably be more restrained with an old man like me around. Besides, I think I drank a little too much today…gotta go and rest early."
As he replied, he tried to cast meaningful glances at his other student, motioning the other to get rid of the over-sized octopus clinging onto him. Unfortunately, Uchiha Sasuke was seated steadily in his seat and not batting a single eyelid, as if he saw nothing.
"But sensei, you only had two drinks."One seat right of Sasuke, a seat apart from himself, Sakura tilted her head at him questioningly, "You can hold more liquor than that, can't you?"
"Uh…well, normally it's not that bad."He shrugged awkwardly, "Though…probably because of the old age, or maybe I'm just excited today, the alcohol's getting to my head."
He turned his gaze to Naruto, who was still clinging onto his arm, a peculiar look flitting across his eyes.
Or maybe, before they started drinking, he was already drunk.
Otherwise, as he was handing over the Hokage hat, how could he have mistaken his own student as somebody else?
Somebody that had been dead for all but twenty years.
"Alright, Naruto, let sensei go back and rest. He's not going to disappear from Konoha after retiring, you'll see him again tomorrow."From the left of Naruto, Shikamaru finally decided to intervene. Though still mumbling reluctantly, Naruto grudgingly let go of his sensei.
"Kakashi sensei, I'll walk you back."The young Hokage advisor stood up, taking out a cigarette. "I happen to want to discuss some of the finer details regarding the projects that were still half done when the handover happened."
"I'll be bothering you then."The older man nodded, bidding goodbye to all the young people present before finally ruffling Naruto's hair and standing up as well. "Let's start with trade with the Tea Country…"
Cigarette smoke wafted past his eyes, cutting him off. In that instant, all his movements froze; both eyes widened and focused vacantly on a non-existent spot in the air.
"Kakashi, what's wrong?"Sasuke was the first to notice his teacher's strangeness. He looked up at the older man and stood up. Naruto and Sakura immediately jumped up too, crowding them. "Sensei? Sensei? Kakashi-sensei…?"
They stared in surprise at the moisture in his eyes.
"…No. I'm OK."Finally returning to reality, he blinked, gaze sweeping slowly over his three students.
Crinkling his eyes slowly, Hatake Kakashi gave a smile that was tinted with melancholy but outweighed by gladness.
"I'm just…too happy."
I received your letter, Obito. I'm very happy to hear the news you have brought.
Congratulations on becoming Hokage, and…thank you.
May your happiness in the other timeline last forever.
A/N:
1. The beginning and title are parody of Boruto-Naruto the Movie omake.
2. Because a lack of need for spy work, Itachi joined ANBU much later than canon.
3. In Rokudaime Kakashi's timeline, Naruto's tenketsu wasn't sealed, Sasuke returned to Konoha for his inauguration ceremony.
Here is the translator's ao3 page: /works/17821802 (the first part of the URL is block by FF, but I bet you all know what it is)
There is going to be a final story of this series, which is about the young!Kakashi's experiences in the future, and what happened right after the Rokudaime returned to his own timeline. Let's wait until kanoven finishes it!
Thank you for R&R!