So, hi. It's your local author, apologizing from the bottom of her heart for not finishing the story properly (despite numerous promises to do so). I still love Kakashi, I still love the potential of Naruto, and I definitely love all of you who supported me while I was writing this behemoth of a series. That said, as time passed it became increasingly difficult to stay motivated when it came to FG. The storyline was becoming so convoluted that whenever I thought about FG I could only seem to remember where I had gone wrong. Simply put, it stopped being fun. What's the point of writing fanfiction if it stops being fun?

So by popular demand, have this strange little chapter in which I give away the remaining plot points and tell you what I would have liked to do if things had gone differently. Enjoy!

The Original version (a.k.a. This Is What You Get When You Don't Plan Properly):

Subplots:

Firstly, Sakura and Yuugao would have discovered Baki was responsible for killing Yuugao's boyfriend four years ago, reinforcing the theme of the two villages being old enemies and what exactly that means for the people living in them. Ideally, it would have ended with Yuugao coming to terms with what happened. Baki would have gotten away with it, unfortunately, because if they were to start punishing people for their past crimes there would be no one left to actually run the village. They are all guilty, after all.

Secondly, Sakura would have had a mini arc of her own that revolved around developing her genjutsu skills.

Thirdly, Anko and Orochimaru. Something something something. Emotions. Not a clue. Really should have planned this out.

Main plot:

After escaping the desert in chapter 14, Kakashi would have found some kind of way to reverse engineer the seal leading to a Orochimaru's laboratory. Now, this is where it gets spotty: I never really figured out how they would have circumvented the whole no chakra thing. I originally inserted the whole no chakra thing because I wanted them to depend on primal survival skills and the strength of their bodies. I wanted them to be brought back all the way to their most basic form. I wanted them to rely on each other for survival.

Unfortunately, that storyline was difficult, if not impossible, to mesh with everything else I wanted to do. So, whenever I thought about writing this part of the story, I gave a mental hand wave and told myself I would figure it out when I got to it. That worked with Uneasy, so I didn't see why it couldn't also work for FG. Unfortunately, I never did figure it out. Thanks, past-me.

So if you'll indulge me by hand waving that little whopper of a plothole, imagine for a moment a world in which they figured a way through the seal. Possibly, Kakashi would have gone through by himself and stayed hidden for a while, frustrating his allies ULH-style. At one point he was even going to disguise himself, but I dropped that idea pretty quickly. Eventually, Orochimaru would have discovered him and they would have started a fight. This is where you're in luck, because I wrote part of this fight:

And there, in the middle of the room, a tiny ICU unit containing a baby. The infant seemed to be asleep, although Kakashi couldn't be sure from this distance. He approached it slowly, carefully, and as he did so became aware of the presence behind him.

"This is him, then? Your... Child?" He said.

Behind him, Orochimaru chuckled. "You know, this reminds me of something that happened a long time ago. Hiruzen-sensei's expression was much the same as the one you're wearing right now, when he first discovered my lair."

Kakashi turned around slowly, willing his heart rate to slow down. "That's not an answer to my question. you stole this child from his parents."

Orochimaru smiled faintly, amused. "I suppose I did. And then I made him mine."

"How? You injected him with some of your DNA? Because that's not enough to make you his parent," Kakashi said, slowly willing his chakra into a pattern for his first jutsu. His killing intent came up with it almost unintentionally, rising and falling with his anger.

Orochimaru tilted his head curiously as he felt it. "That's a lot of posturing for someone who no longer has a Sharingan," He smirked. "Did you lose it on your way here?"

Kakashi forced himself to smile. "Something like that." He resisted the urge to look back at the infant. Orochimaru wouldn't fight – or at least, wouldn't go all out – with the child still nearby, if the child was as important as Kakashi suspected. But that required Kakashi to use an infant as a meat shield. That was one low he had not fallen to.

The fact that Orochimaru had even made him consider it made Kakashi's blood boil.

It wasn't like their encounter seven years ago, in the darkness between the pillars holding up the Forbidden Forest. Kakashi didn't have the Sharingan, or even the comforting weight of Chidori in his palm, but this time he had anger at his side.

He had lost his fear when he faced down Obito, best friend and worst enemy all in one.

"So, how much of his DNA is yours? 10%?" He asked instead. "How worried should he be he'll look like you in twenty years time?"

At least it wiped the smile off of Orochimaru's face.

"But that still makes him 90% his parents', right? His parents, who died for him," Kakashi continued. "Which makes me think you have no claim to him whatsoever."

"And what do you intend to do about that?" Orochimaru asked, slowly but carefully.

"Something we should have done a long time ago," Kakashi said and, unleashing his chakra into the ground, sent the cradle up through the roof in a protective layer of Doton, to where his team would find the baby.

Orochimaru snarled and pounced.

Kakashi kept hold of his second strongest affinity, earth, and cloaked his body in chakra. He'd only used this technique during practice, and a few months ago to protect himself when the tower collapsed, but this would be the first time he'd use it in a real fight.

Time to prove your worth, Kakuzu!

With a forceful push of his chakra, the very nature of his skin began to change. It darkened into a charcoal gray and grew as hard as diamond, starting at the center of his chest and spreading across his entire upper body, down to his waist. Any more would be wasteful.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes and clenched his fingers around his blade. He moved. For a moment the world was no more than a blur of motion, a world where he was forced to rely on senses other than sight. Not as surefire as the Sharingan perhaps, but…

The faint smell of lavender and oil was woven into the world like a thread of purple, accompanied by the sannin's foul chakra. Kakashi used it as a lifeline and homed in on it.

They met in a clash of steel and stone. Orochimaru's blade slid off White Fang, as Kakashi had predicted, and buried itself into his upper arm – or would have, without the stone skin technique. Kakashi shifted his balance and threw an uppercut at Orochimaru's face. The snake dodged it by bending his spine backwards, but he wasn't the only one who'd anticipated his opponent's move.

Kakashi flipped his body over Orochimaru's and, now behind him, thrust the sword at Orochimaru's unprotected shoulder. Orochimaru twisted unnaturally and just barely caught his wrist, but not before the blade left a red line across his shoulder.

For a moment, they were left in a stalemate.

Orochimaru's eyes widened slightly. "Kakuzu's technique. Forever unoriginal, copy ninja."

"But do you know this part?" Kakashi replied, and with a burst of his chakra, made spikes of stone burst through his wrist. They ripped through Orochimaru's hand and forced him to let go. Orochimaru leapt away to create distance, clutching at his injured hand. The spikes on Kakashi's wrist retreated, but he allowed his fingers to grow harder and sharper, like claws.

Orochimaru bared his own sharp fangs in a grin. "You are your father's son, after all."

There was a flicker of movement to Kakashi's right, and then Orochimaru disappeared. An after-image! Orochimaru had moved so quickly that he hadn't been able to see it. Kakashi somehow blocked the blow aimed at his rib cage , but missed the kick to his thigh. Something gave way, and if it wasn't for the chakra flowing from his body to keep the armor up, his femur would have snapped like a twig. The blow threw him to the ground, but experience allowed him to ignore the pain and roll with the blow. He crossed his forearms just in time to catch Orochimaru's sword as it came bearing down on him, but missed the kick that connected just below the sternum.

The stone skin saved him from losing his breath and breaking his ribs, but the force of the kick threw him back several feet. He had to fight to keep his composure and not panic at being driven into a corner. If he lost his head now…

Orochimaru started to form hand seals, but his movement was slower than before. Perhaps Kakashi's earlier attack had damaged or severed a tendon. Kakashi got his feet back under him. He had to be faster, or he wouldn't be able to keep up…

First though, a distraction. His hands blurred together in hand seals, fast enough that Orochimaru wouldn't be able to read them. He closed his own eyes, but could still see the bright flare of light through his eyelids, sharp and blinding. While Orochimaru ducked his head to protect his eyes, Kakashi used a simple body flicker to move further into the shadows.

Having an affinity for creating electricity, and therefore light, was a definite advantage while fighting in the dark. He could control one of Orochimaru's senses, if he played his cards right. The real problem was that he wasn't sure which sense Orochimaru relied on most. Well, he would likely find out soon.

Because he'd had his own eyes closed during the flash of light, his eyes were still accustomed to the dark. He could see Orochimaru's outline perfectly well. He moved further still into the darkness and tried to gauge his own chakra levels. Although the difference wasn't anywhere near as big as it had once been Orochimaru likely still had more than he did, so he would have to keep an eye on his levels.

Itachi had been able to beat Orochimaru with his Tsukuyomi. A shame Kakashi wouldn't be able to convince Orochimaru he still had Mangekyou…

Still, there was always brute force.

As Kakashi circled the room, Orochimaru created a clone to stand at his own back. It wouldn't be long before he'd have his night vision back…

Kakashi clenched his teeth, and began to focus on his chakra pathways. How would Gai do it, if he were here..? Slowly but surely, his chakra coils began to open up, giving away like the gears of a lock while it's being picked open.

At the center of the room, Orochimaru's chakra steadily grew more oppressive. "Won't you come out and play, Hokage?"

First, Kakashi created another flash of light to blind Orochimaru again. Then Kakashi opened his first three chakra gates and burst into motion. Orochimaru's clone died with a fist through its chest moments later, and Orochimaru was forced to retreat. Kakashi followed.

The entire world seemed sharper and clearer with the gates opened, his senses more keen, his chakra more powerful. He could feel his own killing intent building up and up and up without actively willing it to, until it was almost an entity in its own right, built up from years of suffering and fighting. Orochimaru suddenly seemed slow and inflexible, unable to twist away in time as Kakashi landed several more blows on him. Something, perhaps his rib cage, seemed to give away underneath Kakashi's fist, and the Snake Sannin doubled over from the pain.

Orochimaru was a slippery bastard, though, and a legend to boot. With a twist of his fingers, the air itself seemed to disappear from around Kakashi, leaving him gasping. The next airwave blasted his body into the wall. With so much chakra and adrenaline running through his system, Kakashi barely felt it. There was going to be damage, but whatever it was would have to wait. Instead, he threw himself back to his feet and tore through the room. A twist of his body was enough to avoid Orochimaru's sword, and then his enhanced fingers tore through Orochimaru's side.

Orochimaru was no longer smiling. Kakashi counted that as a victory.

Blood seeped through Orochimaru's pale clothes and he clutched at his side. Kakashi's hand was covered in blood and gore, but he knew he hadn't gone deep enough for it to really hamper Orochimaru. There was still Orochimaru's regenerative ability to consider, if he had it. Too many what-ifs…

His own body felt remarkably intact, which he probably owed to the stone skin. The thigh Orochimaru had kicked earlier was aching, but he could still put weight on it. He went in for another attack, and managed another strike, although this time Orochimaru responded quickly enough that the wound was superficial at best. Perhaps next time, he'd respond quickly enough to catch up and fight back.

Just to be safe, Kakashi forced his chakra back into shape and closed the third gate again. The world faded out of focus a little, and his body began to ache with a renewed vengeance as it began to register damage. He wasn't Lee or Gai; his body wasn't used to that kind of punishment.

He threw out another flash of light, and disappeared into the darkness.

Orochimaru snarled and ducked his head against the flash. His chakra was steady, though, and Kakashi couldn't help but feel the sannin was far too calm for him to feel truly threatened. The only attacks he had used were by sword and fist, and two wind techniques that were A-rank at best. Either he was ill, or Kakashi wasn't doing enough.

Which meant Kakashi probably wouldn't win, if he kept this up. Which meant he'd have to try and outsmart one of the cleverest people Konoha had ever seen.

He could think of only one way to do it.

He forced his bruised body to move again, and attacked. He wasn't as fast as before, so Orochimaru got a few glancing blows in. Kakashi flipped over, now with his back towards the dungeon's entrance, and gathered his chakra.

Orochimaru's eyes widened in realization a moment before Kakashi released his chakra. "Don't, you fool –"

Kakashi split the dungeon's ceiling in half with a neatly placed Earth jutsu. The noise cracked through the air even as he turned and ran. Behind him, Orochimaru screamed something else and disappeared into a huge burst of chakra.

is it weird that I love writing fight scenes even when I have no idea who should logically win? It's possible I'm sado-masochistic.

The idea was to let Kakashi convince Orochimaru he was weaker than he actually was, and therefore surprise him when he finally lets loose some kind of big attack (the current idea was to let him rip open the laboratory's electrical network and channel it, because ouch). Gaara or team Naruto would have swooped in and finished the rest.

Now, remember the mystery baby?

This is where we get to the Alternative Plot (a.k.a. Too Little Too Late):

Unfortunately, I didn't figure out this particular version of events until it was already too late for me to implement it. Plan your stories out before you start posting them, kids.

Basically though, instead of having the Oto shinobi take the baby before Kakashi could get to him, the refugees would still have had the mystery baby. The baby's mother would still have died, and Kakashi would have conveniently been holding the baby when the seal activated, transporting both of them to the desert. This would have resulted in some excellent bonding moments between the two of them, which would have fitted the theme of parenthood that I introduced by including Sakumo's scroll and Kakashi's mom's past with Suna.

The mystery scroll was entirely there to illustrate the theme of parenthood and family. Kakashi would have opened it expecting to find a secret technique or weapon, only for it to actually be filled up with anecdotes and drawings of his mother. Sakumo knew she was dead and wasn't sure he would survive either and really wanted his son to have something of his mother's. Sakumo never fails to be heartbreaking.

With the baby already in Kakashi's hands the entire storyline would have been a heck of a lot easier for me to juggle, because I could have just made Orochimaru come to them instead of the other way around. Flash forward to the big confrontation taking place in the desert prison instead, with roughly the same outcome except that it would have been three on one from the start. This wouldn't have left a lot of the action for team Naruto, so again – not a perfect solution.

It did, however, make it much easier for me to execute my final and favorite idea. Now, because I never actually ended up writing the bonding moments between Kakashi and the baby, as well as the parenthood theme, this won't make as much sense to you, but you might still like it.

"But we can't just leave him here," Naruto said, sounding a bit lost as he looked down at the infant.

Anko shook her head. "I – I'm sorry. I can't take him. He's just – he's too much."

Too much Orochimaru. Well. Kakashi looked down at the baby in his arms. It was really only the eyes, wasn't it? His nose had more definition, and his hair resembled Kakashi's more than anyone else's. He remembered the child's mother had had pale hair as well, though it had been hard to see in the dark prison. The boy cooed and, reaching out a little hand, grabbed Kakashi's finger.

That's when panic struck. Of all the possible options to take guardianship of the baby, Kakashi was very far down on the list. He had a village to run, barely even knew how to handle adults, let alone children, and hadn't expected or wanted to become a parent since about two months into his ANBU career.

But Anko eyed the boy with distrust, although he could tell she was trying not to, and the other prisoners were wary of the child. He looked at Naruto, who looked back with grave eyes.

Even though he was not Orochimaru's biological child, Mitsuki looked back up at him with the snake's yellow eyes.

"No one will want him," Naruto said quietly, "Not if they know."

And they would know, if Kakashi came back from defeating Orochimaru carrying an infant with snakelike eyes.

The kindest option would be to have the child grow up far away from Konoha, but then there would be no place for him to learn how to control the strange, powerful chakra Kakashi could already feel in the child's system.

Kakashi thought of Sandaime, who had left countless orphans to fend for themselves. Orphans like Naruto and Kakashi, but also orphans like Orochimaru. He thought of growing up alone and unwanted. He thought of wanting to change his village. He thought of how he might have gone about doing that if he hadn't had friends.

Kakashi stared at the baby. The baby stared back. "I could take him," his mouth said – it took his brain a few seconds to catch up. "For a little while, at least," he hurried to add, when he saw the others' astonished expressions. "Just a few weeks, until we find someone else. I know I'm Hokage, but that just makes it my responsibility. We don't know anything about his powers yet, anyway. He could be dangerous, for all we know."

It felt a little like a bad excuse, somehow. What the hell did he know about babies, anyway? In what world would he be well-equipped to handle one? That damn scroll – it had gotten into his head, it had, that had to be it – but he could still take his words back now, he could!

Naruto grinned hugely. "Aww, Kaka-sensei! That's perfect, he can have you for his dad. See, I told you it would work out great," he added to Sakura, who promptly slapped him on the back of the head.

"'Dad'? No, that's not what I said –" Kakashi stuttered.

"No take-backsies, sensei," Naruto said sternly, and there is something strange and serious in his eyes that told Kakashi exactly how seriously he took this. "Look, he's already grown attached to you."

The baby was giving Kakashi's finger a very determined look and tried to pull it towards his mouth. Still stunned, Kakashi let him. "I didn't say 'dad'," he trailed off weakly.

Somewhere behind him, Sasuke sighed deeply. "This has to be one of the worst ideas I've heard in a while," he muttered.

"What's his name, anyway?" Sakura said, somewhere far away.

"Oh, the label said 'Mitsuki'," Naruto answered.

Kakashi looked down at the baby – no, at Mitsuki – and thought of his own parents, fighting to get back to him. Things had a funny way of going full circle. Perhaps... Perhaps he would just try. He sighed. "Well, I can look after him for a while."

(And he did, for a while. And then for another while. And then, when the boy turned ten and proudly wore the Hatake sigil on his back, Kakashi decided his definition of "while" had been rather incomplete.)

Yep, the baby was the original Mitsuki! Without making too much of a thing out of it, I really, really don't like the fact that Orochimaru is made out to be some kind of reformed good guy in Boruto because, well, he uses his own child to experiment on, clones him a few dozen times in case he needs a replacement, wipes the boy's memories every time he dares to rebel, and generally mistreats and abuses the poor kid.

The solution? Make it so that the kid is not biologically his and have someone else adopt him ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

and it just so happened that I had a protagonist lying around who I really wanted to have a family. Hence, the epilogue:

Epilogue.

Ten Years Later.

"It hasn't been a bad run, all things considered," Kakashi said thoughtfully, and tilted his head a little sideways to see past Mitsuki's curls.

"That's one way of putting it," Sasuke said, from where he sat by Kakashi's side. He poked Mitsuki's arm. "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

"Nope," Mitsuki said, hardly looking away from his book but settling himself further into his father's lap.

Kakashi gave Sasuke a helpless shrug. "He'll move eventually. Probably. And if not, it will be a good excuse to miss Naruto's inauguration party."

"He might actually die of disappointment if we miss it," Sasuke said dryly. He tilted his head as well, also staring. "It doesn't look much like him."

Kakashi hummed. "Minato-sensei's doesn't look much like Minato either."

"Yours is silly too, daddy," Mitsuki helpfully added.

"Yes, thank you, Mitsu-chan," Kakashi said, patting the boy on the head.

"I'm still not sure how you got away with getting them to carve your mask on as well," Sasuke commented.

"Pure charm, mostly."

The view of the Hokage mountain was rather nice from Naruto's new apartment. The balcony was nice too, particularly with the potted plants Naruto had diligently grown from seeds he had found near his parents' grave. It was made even more cheerful by the allotment of colorful children's toys and tiny furniture scattered around.

Mitsuki felt he was rather too mature for them, naturally, being all of ten years of age, but they lent the place exactly the kind of happy, cozy air Kakashi knew Naruto's parents would have wanted for their son's home.

And, Kakashi felt, it was just the sort of environment a brand-new Hokage should come home to after a long day's work.

"But really, if you ignore the regular attempts on my life I think I did rather better than I would have expected," Kakashi said. He found he was in a rather thoughtful mood.

Sasuke turned unimpressed eyes on him. "Do you mean the one where they tried to poison you, or the plot to overthrow the Daimyou you 'accidentally' stumbled in on during your holidays?"

"I insist it was pure luck."

"Lies."

The balcony door opened behind them. "Oh, hello, boys. So this is where you've been," Sakura said, stepping onto the balcony with little Sarada in her arms. The orange light of the setting sun cast her in a rather lovely glow.

"Kakashi insists the incident with the Daimyou and the killer octopus was entirely not his fault," Sasuke said, reaching up to tickle his daughter under her chin. The little girl giggled and slapped at his hand.

Sakura settled her free hand in her side. "Well, you were on your holiday."

"Don't help him."

"He can use a bit of help every now and then," Sakura smiled, planting a hand on Kakashi's head before ruffling Mitsuki's hair. "Right, sensei?"

Kakashi resisted the urge to pout. All these years later, and they still wouldn't treat him with the dignity he deserved. Well, deserved was a strong word. "At least you're on my side," he told Mitsuki.

Mitsuki closed his book and looked back at him with a wide grin. "Only so long as you feed me. Auntie Sakura, can I play with Sarada?" He added, and jumped to his feet, bright eyed and happy.

Kakashi watched the two children go, Mitsuki holding the younger child's hand to steady her still slightly wobbly gait. No, Kakashi hadn't done badly at all.

He looked back up at Sakura. "So? Where is our new Hokage?"

Sakura gave them a slightly lewd smile. "Hinata wanted to borrow him first, but they should get here soon. They wouldn't miss it for the world."

Sasuke huffed and muttered "I wouldn't be surprised if they did."

"What are you looking thoughtful about?" Sakura asked Kakashi as she turned to lean against the balcony ledge.

"Mahh, you know. Time flies, and all that. I was Hokage for a really long time," Kakashi said, scratching his head.

"I know, it's baffling," Sakura teased. Then, in a more serious tone, "You doing okay?"

Kakashi pulled a face. "Actually, I'm feeling pretty great –"

"Hello, everyone!" Naruto's voice boomed across the balcony. He strode towards them, his children hanging across his shoulders and Mitsuki and Sarada each clutched underneath one arm. Tenzou, Sai and Hinata followed him at a slightly more sedate pace, smiling gently.

Naruto stood there in the door opening, his silhouette outlined in brilliant gold, and looked every inch the hero (except for the overabundance of children clinging to his body). "I've made it," he said. "I'm finally Hokage."

Kakashi found himself smiling back automatically, the kind of smile you couldn't stop even if you tried. It spread across his face and stayed there, and not for the first time that day he felt truly at peace.

Sakura, he noticed, had tears in her eyes." You did, you great lump," she told Naruto, and then went over to hug him tightly. A couple of children tumbling to the ground were neatly caught by Tenzou and Sai.

Even Sasuke was smiling, if a little faintly. The second last of the Uchiha rose from his chair, the dark counterpart to Naruto's sunny presence, and held up one fist.

Naruto looked at it with a slightly awed expression. He looked back up and Sasuke with a wide but bewildered grin, said "Really? Just a fist bump?" and launched himself to give his best friend a hug.

"You didn't tell me this was going to be so sappy," Mitsuki said. Tenzou held him up under the armpits like he might a cat, and thrust him out in Kakashi's general direction.

"I believe this one is yours," Tenzou said.

"He is, thank you," Kakashi said, and graciously accepted the transfer.

"So, retirement," Tenzou said, putting his hands in his sides and rolling on the balls of his feet.

"It's nice, you might want to try it."

"I was actually about to say I don't believe one word of it. I'll eat my hat if you never have another adventure again," Tenzou said.

"You don't have a hat," Kakashi pointed out.

"I'll buy one, just for the occasion."

Kakashi smiled. "I suppose there's a chance I might run into trouble at some point, and I would be remiss not to do anything about it," he admitted. "I'm not that old, after all."

Mitsuki gave him the kind of look that suggested he disagreed, but then everyone over the age of eighteen seemed ancient to a ten-year-old.

"Honestly senpai, I expect you'll still be kicking up trouble in the old folks' home," Tenzou said, not unkindly.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes." Now there's a thought."

Naruto chose that moment to barge past Kakashi's friend and lift Kakashi-and-child up from the chair to hug them as well. "Thanks sensei!" He shouted, a little bit too close to Kakashi's ear.

"Ngl," Mitsuki said somewhere in between them.

"Whoops, sorry, I got a little overexcited."" Naruto jumped back with a sheepish smile. He peered past Kakashi. "So, what you think? I think statue-me looks handsome."

"He's a bit too blocky for my liking," Kakashi said, just as Mitsuki said, "He's a little stone-faced."

Naruto looked caught between disappointment and amusement, and settled for a groan. "What is it with you two and puns? This is the fifth time this week."

"Sixth," Mitsuki corrected.

Kakashi beamed. Mitsuki's ability to time bad jokes perfectly was one of the things he was most proud of in his son. "It looks good. Very manly," he added. It would be a shame to completely undermine Naruto's confidence on his first day in the office.

"That's what I was thinking. By the way, I've already hung the hat on my wall. Unlike you, I won't just hide it away in a cupboard somewhere," Naruto said, giving Kakashi a slightly critical look.

"It's the triangle shape. It doesn't go with my hair."

"Anyway, I was thinking about what you could do your retirement," Naruto continued as if he hadn't heard Kakashi's comment.

Ominous, Kakashi thought. "What kind of things?" He asked carefully.

"You could try running for council. Or… I dunno, maybe from the veteran program." Naruto shrugged. "We'll think of something. It would be a shame to just let you go all lazy and fat with nothing to do."

Kakashi blinked. "I don't suppose anyone ever explained to you what retirement means..?"

"Oh, scr –" Naruto glanced at Mitsuki –"sod that. You can do what you like, and there's no way you want to sit back and do nothing. I know you," he added, giving Kakashi a particularly gleaming look.

Kakashi shrunk away under Naruto's gaze. In truth his retirement plans had thus far consisted of a vague thought that he might try his hand at writing, or that he could do a tour of Fire Country's Hot Springs – and he did still have a son to raise. There was plenty to do.

… Admittedly, the writing and the tour did seem a little bit empty after thirteen years of high office. Hmm. Well. He wrapped his hands a little bit tighter around Mitsuki. "It's not a bad thought," he granted.

"You'll do it?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Hey, now, that's not what I said –"

"The fireworks are starting!" Mitsuki cried out, pointing at the sky above the Hokage mountain. Bright red and orange bled across the sky, followed by a sharp snapping green and keening yellow. A brief pause, and then the characters for Rokudaime appeared and faded into Nanadaime.

"Huh. Not bad," Kakashi said, but Naruto and Mitsuki were already glued to the edge of the balcony, their eyes huge and round.

Kakashi looked back at the adults. At Sakura, so confident and utterly competent and renowned throughout the world for her skills. At Sasuke, troubled Sasuke, who was trying so very hard and finally succeeding at finding peace. At Tenzou and Sai, who had gone from the darkness into light.

He saw all of them and felt… Inexplicably proud.

He turned back to the fireworks and briefly closed his eyes. When he opened them again Naruto and Mitsuki cheered loudly as a particularly nice piece of purple fireworks lit up the sky. And those two…

He thought of his parents. He thought of his team.

Yeah… Not a bad run at all.

Babies ever after..? Sort of?

Also, just because I love details:

– I decided to keep the next generation kids because, frankly, I figured they probably would have kids at this point and I didn't much feel like coming up with OCs. Unlike in Canon though, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura's generation didn't all conveniently have children at the same time. Since Mitsuki is the original rather than one of the clones (unlike Boruto's canon Mitsuki) he is the eldest at ten years, probably followed by (a hopefully slightly less entitled) Boruto of around seven, Sarada of about five, and Himawari at three. Sasuke is far more involved in his daughter's life than he is in Canon because screw canon.

–Mitsuki, Boruto and Sarada eventually do team up and end up becoming the next generation of Sannin – or something like it anyway, because they're not and never will be exact echoes of the past. They're better than that, and Mitsuki is careful to steer clear from any comparisons to Orochimaru.

– Kakashi's relationship status is whatever you want it to be. I'm honestly not sure, I could see him single dadding it up or bringing someone else into his life. Who knows?

so, that was about it. My enthusiasm got the better of me, as it often does, and so I ended up running out of steam before I could finish the story properly. I'm not sure how much of this will make sense without the context of the completed story, but I hope this is more satisfying than to have no ending at all!

I hope some of you might migrate over to my other series, Regeneration, which is worth a read if you like team Minato. If not, thank you anyway for supporting this series. Lots of love from me!