I do not own Naruto.

Kakashi overheard a rumor after his last report.

Ichiraku's Ramen was very good.

Perhaps he would happen to visit while the boy-

Was there already.

During Academy hours.

With three other boys.

The Nara, Akimichi, and Inuzaka heirs were loud.

So was the boy.

He was grinning, laughing, shoving.

Not a care in the world.

Kakashi's stomach dropped.

Where was the shy, rare smile of his- of the ANBU's Prince?

Why wasn't the boy even looking his way?

-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-

The Third summoned Kakashi to his office.

The boy was there, standing solemnly behind the desk.

"Kakashi. You will be Team 7's jounin instructor."

Kakashi resisted a grimace. Again? And even the Hokage was privy to it, this time.

He nodded anyway.

"Team 7 this year consists of Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki."

Kakashi's world froze.

The boy was watching him, blank yet intent.

The Hokage had an indulgent smile. "I trust you will teach them well."

"Yes, Hokage."

The boy said nothing as Kakashi left.

-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-

The Forest of Death was empty.

Field 19 was empty.

The streets were empty.

Kakashi's apartment was empty.

The memorial stone was too full.

-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-

Kakashi lost track of time, carving up training dummies in Field 18.

He went home, changed.

Let an eraser fall on his head.

His gaze swept his three students, not pausing even slightly for the boy.

"My first impression is… I dislike you."

Lying liar who lies. You're abandoning him again? He left first… Empty, so empty…

"Meet me on the roof in five minutes."

Easy enough for someone who trained regularly in the Forest of Death.

Just a bit out of reach for newly-minted genin sprinting at top speed.

Sasuke and the boy burst out onto the roof in five minutes, seventeen seconds. Sakura trotted up a minute later.

Kakashi waved for the three to sit. "Why don't you introduce yourselves?"

"Could you give us an example, sensei?" Sakura requested.

Kakashi gave them a blatantly false smile. He did not want to introduce himself to the boy. The boy already knew him in the way that mattered. Kakashi desperately did not want to disappoint him with the rest.

Even though the boy's false persona had already disappointed Kakashi.

Kakashi spoke anyway. "Kakashi Hatake. I have some likes… dislikes… You're not old enough to know my hobbies… Dreams…"

Sakura frowned. Sasuke glowered through his mask of indifference.

The boy's lips quirked in a slight smile.

Kakashi felt his insides glow.

Sakura glanced at the rivals and cleared her throat. "Sakura Haruno. What I like is…" She glanced at Sasuke. "What I dislike is loud people. My hobbies are…" She looked at Sasuke again. "My dream is…" She blushed.

Kakashi was reminded of the past. He deliberately looked at Sasuke, who scowled.

"Sasuke Uchiha. My dislikes outnumber my likes. My hobby is training. I don't have a dream. Instead, my ambition… to kill a certain man and restore my clan."

That was worrying. Wishing death upon someone else usually ended up looking very similar to a 'death wish.'

The group turned to look at the boy.

He smiled cheekily.

"Naruto Uzumaki! I like Jiji and my summons and Konoha and ramen. I dislike war and the three-minute wait after you add hot water to ramen. My hobbies are helping Jiji, growing plants, and training. My dream is to bring peace to the Five Nations when I become Hokage."

Sakura snorted. "Who would make you Hokage?"

The Third. Every ANBU. Me.

The boy - Naruto grinned at Sakura. "I'll have the hat before I'm twenty, believe it!"

"Whatever. And you don't even have summons!"

Kakashi shifted his crouch slightly to regain their attention. "The real genin test is at Training Field 7, seven o'clock. Don't eat breakfast, you'll throw up."

He flickered away to a nearby roof.

Sasuke left immediately, Sakura cutting off mid-rant to chase after him.

Naruto stretched out on the roof and watched the clouds.

Kakashi flickered back down.

One of the boy's eyes drifted open and he shaded his gaze.

"Yo."

"Hello."

For once, the boy's attention didn't wander off. Their eyes remained locked.

Kakashi didn't know what to say. What to do.

"Sit." Naruto patted the roof next to his side.

Kakashi sat, parallel to the boy, no longer trapped by his eyes.

"I've the lowest grades in class, you know? Of course you do, you always get stuck with the Team 7 assignment. Sorry about that. I tried to talk Jiji out of it."

Kakashi's chest was too tight. So the boy didn't want him as a sensei. Okay. He would just pass them and then request a new instructor. Duty done. Kakashi could do that.

"I'm glad for it this year, though."

What?

"No one better for me or Sasuke. Sakura might be a bit of a puzzle, but you're quite capable of turning decent into impressive."

Kakashi shivered. He couldn't help it. The boy wanted him to be his sensei. Trusted his abilities. Despite his past as ANBU. Because of his past as ANBU.

"I don't set out to hide myself, you know?" Naruto resettled his position. "It's just, what do we do at the Academy that requires handling market policies or assigning shinobi to the best long- and short-term strategic positions? I'm as new at this genin stuff as anybody else. So I try not to act like a know-it-all and…" He sighed, turned to rest his cheek on the roof. "I just get loud; you know? And stupid. And they laugh and it's great and. Yeah."

Kakashi didn't respond. Didn't move. He could feel the boy's sincerity. It was exhilarating, to have his trust. Almost as good as a real smile.

But not, because then the boy would be smiling.

"It's not like I'm lying. But it still feels deceitful, you know? Because they see me when I'm all awkward and think that's the default. I don't want that. Not because it could mean they won't take me seriously as Hokage - because I know they will, Shika will, he already does - but it just doesn't sit right, them not really knowing me."

Naruto pulled himself up and folded over, resting his chest on his knees and tilting his head to watch Kakashi.

Kakashi watched him back.

This boy was his future Hokage. He would be great. Greater than any of his forbearers. Greater than Minato.

The boy looked away.

"Sorry for rambling. I only- " He was on his feet in a moment, ready to disappear. "I'll leave you alone now."

Kakashi had hold of the boy's sleeve before he'd decided to respond.

The boy looked back at him, obviously bewildered.

"What did you 'only'?"

The boy looked away. Kakashi felt the loss of those eyes.

"I-" The boy's eyes darted back to Kakashi's face, then fell again. He spoke all in a rush, "I won't tell anyone you know me from the training grounds. It's better if they think you just know me from being my jounin instructor. My Pack's already agreed to pretend not to know yours, if that's acceptable."

"You don't want anyone to know you know me?"

If his voice sounded slightly strangled. Well. Kakashi had no excuse.

He dropped the boy's sleeve.

Naruto took a step closer. "No! No, I mean, it would cause trouble for you, right? I don't want to be any trouble. You're already going to have to deal with my weird schedule and me and Sasuke's rivalry thing and the Fox chakra and my summons and… I know I'm a lot to deal with. You don't need the sort of rumors knowing me churns up."

Kakashi lifted his hand again, slowly, contemplating just what he was about to do. Second guessing himself. Berating himself. Remembering the shattered mirror.

He touched the hem of the boy's orange jacket. Grasped the material.

Smoothly tucked his leg underneath himself, so he was on one knee.

"Let them tell everyone how I know my future Hokage."

The boy stood rock still for a moment.

Kakashi's head was bowed, so he couldn't see the boy's expression. The silence frightened him.

Then a small hand was sliding through Kakashi's hair, petting him.

Naruto took a step closer. Kakashi's forehead nearly touched the boy's chest. He was so small.

The hand left Kakashi's hair and trailed down the side of his face until it cupped his jaw.

He looked up.

Those bright blue eyes were studying him. Kakashi felt as vulnerable as if a Yamanaka was reading his mind.

What was the boy seeing?

Kakashi's honesty?

His brokenness?

His desperation?

The boy's face lit in a slight, honest smile.

"Then I'll be a Hokage you can be proud of, as well as a student."

His thumb stroked Kakashi's jaw. Kakashi let himself lean in to the touch. Gave his control up to the boy, just a bit.

The boy's smile began to fade.

Was Kakashi not supposed to do that? Did the boy not want his allegiance yet? Ever? What-

The boy stepped forward and his hand slid back into Kakashi's hair. Another hand touched Kakashi's back, lightly tucking him into the boy's chest.

He smelled of wolf and ink and sunshine.

Kakashi closed his eye.

"You trust me so much," the boy murmured. "I want to be worthy of that. But I don't know if I am."

Kakashi pressed his forehead closer. "You are, my little prince."

Had he said that aloud? He hadn't meant to. Maybe he had. Maybe-

The boy's chest shook when he chuckled. "A prince, and little, and yours? I suppose."

Kakashi's arms went around the boy's waist quite of their own accord.

The pair stayed that way awhile, Naruto sliding his fingers through Kakashi's hair while Kakashi resettled himself.

The boy drew away first, reluctantly, trailing his hand along Kakashi's face.

It hurt to let him go.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning?"

"Yes."

"Don't be on time on my account."

Another knot in Kakashi's chest untwisted. The implicit promises of I won't leave and I won't make you change felt so, so good.

Kakashi smiled and flickered away.

-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-

He stopped in front of the empty space that had once held a mirror.

Shame rose up in Kakashi, strangling him.

So weak he had to submit to a child for the sake of his own self-worth.

Kakashi braced himself against the wall and breathed deeply.

Not a child. The future Hokage. The brilliant, kind, generous future Hokage.

Only a child for now.

His hands twisted into fists, but Kakashi continued on his way.

-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-

His little prince was arguing and waving chopsticks at Sakura when Kakashi arrived at Field 7. Sasuke was not-scowling at them both.

"Maa, maa, so energetic."

The boy- Naruto, Kakashi needed to think of him as Naruto, no matter how mixed-up it made him feel. Otherwise he'd call him Prince in front of his teammates.

Naruto grinned at him, brilliant and honest. "You're late, sensei!"

He sounded amused, maybe even pleased. Kakashi smiled back.

"I had to help get a cat out of a tree," he lied easily, knowing his little prince- knowing Naruto wouldn't believe it.

"Sensei, Naruto's trying to get us to eat!"

"Maa, too late now." He held up two bells. The real bells, for this team. "To become genin, you need one of these bells. There are only two, so one of you will be returning to the academy." He clipped the bells to his belt and held up an alarm clock. "This alarm is set to noon. You have until it goes off to retrieve the bells. Anyone who doesn't get a bell also doesn't get lunch."

He surveyed his team. Naruto looked contemplative, eyes moving from bells, to clock, to Kakashi's face. Sasuke's eyes were narrowed on the bells. Sakura was darting glances at Sasuke.

"If you want any chance, come at me with intent to kill."

"But we'll hurt you!"

Naruto laughed.

Sakura hit him.

Kakashi resisted the urge to whip a kunai at the girl.

"Don't laugh! We can't hurt sensei!"

"Exactly, Sakura. We're genin. Kakashi-sensei could take two dozen of us without getting a scratch."

"Thanks for that vote of confidence," Kakashi drawled. "All the easier for me if you want to waste time…"

"You haven't said go!"

"Hm?" Kakashi brought out his book and began to read. "Go."

Sasuke leapt into the bushes with impressive speed for his age.

Sakura less so.

Naruto stretched, then called out, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Hundreds of Narutos filled the clearing.

Kakashi's breath didn't hitch, but it was a near thing.

From behind him one called out, "Neh, sensei?"

"Hm?"

He heard metal tapping metal and turned to look, casting a minor genjutsu to hide the concession.

One of Naruto's clones - or Naruto himself - was hefting the alarm clock, tapping a kunai to its side.

"You said we had until the alarm goes off, yeah? So what if it doesn't?"

A bit of fancy flickering, genjutsu, and replacement stole the clock from Naruto's hands.

"You'd have to stop it to find out," Kakashi replied, eye-smiling.

Naruto frowned, then shrugged. "Full Frontal Assault!"

Kakashi dispatched the clones with far more ease than he should have been able to. Their form ranged from terrible to downright wrong.

Hadn't his little prince said he didn't intentionally mask his abilities? What was this?

But then the clones were gone and Sasuke was aiming a fireball at him.

He dispatched Sasuke as comically as possible. Let the genin keep low expectations of him.

Sakura got a genjutsu. She had the control to break out, but not the mental fortitude. Unfortunate.

Almost as disappointing was that Naruto didn't appear to help out his teammates.

Kakashi refused to doubt his little prince.

He set up a clone in the clearing and found Naruto, trailing the boy as he wandered the forest.

Yes, Naruto regularly trained his tracking abilities with wolves in the Forest of Death.

But Kakashi did the same with dogs, and had experience with suppression techniques against enemies actually trying to kill him.

His little prince would learn.

"Sakura?"

"Naruto! What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you." He crouched near Sakura's head, eyeing the ground where the rest of her was buried. "Do you know how we can get you out?"

Sakura scowled, then sighed. "Just dig a bit and pull my shoulders. The ground's not hard, I just can't get any leverage."

Naruto nodded and obeyed.

"I think we should all work together," he said as he worked.

"You're not taking Sasuke's bell!"

"It's not- never mind. I mean, do you really think he can send just one of us back? Genin teams always work in threes."

"He said he could. They must reorganize the teams after everyone passes."

"What about Ino's team, then? You know they're not going to get split up."

Sakura was unburied enough to pull herself out, and did so. She looked at Naruto warily. "They could have a different test."

"That's hardly fair."

The girl frowned. Finally, finally her brain started ticking. Maybe 'fairness' wasn't the best thing to make a shinobi pause, but she was young.

"Fine. If we're all passing or failing together, what's the point of the bells?"

Naruto shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe there's another one hidden around and we're supposed to realize objectives aren't always obvious or something? I thought maybe we were just supposed to stop the clock, since shinobi don't fight fair, but Kakashi-sensei didn't react right for that to be it."

"Let's ask Sasuke! He'll be able to figure it out!"

"Uh. Sure. But we've already used up a half-hour, you know? We'll need to be quick."

Kakashi trailed them as they went in search of their third teammate.

Seeing through the test wasn't quite the point, but if they got Sasuke to help them plan, he was willing to concede the victory. Not without some scare tactics to be sure, of course.

Sasuke was not receptive to his teammates' pleas.

"But what if you get the stupid bells and still fail!"

"Shut up, dork."

Kakashi cheerfully imagined gagging the Uchiha with his own crested shirt.

"Sasuke… I think Naruto's right this time. It doesn't make sense to only let two of us pass. There's something he and I aren't seeing. I'm sure you can figure it out, though, right?"

Oh, she could hardly have played that better if she'd tried.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, willing to consider the question, if only to prove his superiority.

Kakashi doubted the loner would come up with 'teamwork', but whatever he did think of would reveal something about his psyche.

"Hn."

"You figured it out! What do we need to do?"

"Did he say we needed those bells?"

Naruto slumped. "Yeah. 'To become genin, you need one of these bells. There are only two.' That's what he said, but he also said one of us would have to return to the Academy, so maybe it was all lies?"

"What's the point of a test if none of the rules are real, though? That's not testing anything."

"We're wasting time," Sasuke muttered.

"Maybe that's it? How we work under pressure with impossible goals?" Naruto offered.

Sakura nodded. "Then we need to try for the bells anyway. What do we do if we get them?"

Naruto chuckled. "If we get them, it will be because he let us, you know? So the question is, if a jounin instructor gives a team of three two bells and says, 'The two with bells get to be genin,' what should the team do?"

"Refuse the bells," Sasuke replied instantly.

"What? We'd fail!"

"No, he's right, Sakura. You hear that situation, it's obvious the instructor's just trying to get the team to fight each other."

"But the answer to a problem isn't to ignore the problem!"

"Share the bells," Sasuke said.

Now it was Naruto's turn to ask, "What?"

"He didn't say, 'The two with bells get to be genin.' He said, 'To become genin, you need one of these bells.' Bells aren't divisible. If two people share a bell, they both have a bell."

Garbage logic, but oh well. They were young.

"So we try and get the bells. If he gives us the bells, Sakura and I both hold onto the same one. Yeah?"

The other two nodded.

"We've got a little under an hour left. How are we getting the bells?"

The team all looked at each other blankly.

Naruto sighed. "We haven't worked together enough to have even a prayer against a jounin."

"We have to try!"

"Let's go." Sasuke broke from formation and shot toward the clearing again.

Naruto sprinted to follow, Sakura tagging along behind.

Kakashi defended against them easily, though by the end Naruto and Sasuke had worked their way into something of a pattern of attack. Even if Naruto's taijutsu was still hopeless.

The alarm went off.

"You all…"

The three collapsed, panting.

"Fail!"

-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-

Watching the future Hokage garden was humbling.

Being the one who had handed him the mission to do so was amusing.

Listening to civilians mutter complaints about 'the demon brat' was infuriating.

-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-

His little prince was bouncing around the Forest of Death, delightedly making use of the tree walking Kakashi had taught them that week.

Kakashi landed next to him when the boy stopped to bask in a patch of sunlight.

"You shouldn't be out here without your Pack."

Naruto smiled cheekily. "You're here now, aren't you?"

Kakashi ruffled the boy's hair and took off.

Bright, infectious laughter trailed in his wake.

-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-

Sasuke and Sakura had already gone. Naruto was frowning at a training dummy.

"I've never heard of a taijutsu that calls for staring your opponent to death."

The boy snorted. "You've never worked with the right people, then. They nicknamed it 'Flight or Die.' Insanely focused Killing Intent."

Kakashi leaned on the dummy. "Funny, I'm not feeling particularly scared."

"I don't have the Killing Intent to frighten a cat. They're more interested in clawing my eyes out."

"Tora is not representative."

"You're right, the others make Tora look positively domesticated."

Kakashi tucked his book away. "What has the dummy done to offend you?"

Naruto's eyes dragged away from the dummy to meet Kakashi's. "Could you check my kata? I feel like- I mean, just correct me as I go, yeah?"

"Sure. But it may be the Academy jutsu just isn't for you."

"Then you can suggest something afterward. Thanks, sensei."

Naruto took Kakashi's near-continuous corrections with patience.

"I'll need to practice more."

"There's a more power-based style you might like."

The boy looked at Kakashi, then the ground. "What you've seen might not be representative of how I fight."

Kakashi forced an easy eye-smile. "Oh?"

"I thought I just wasn't suited to taijutsu, so I compensated, but…"

Kakashi wasn't a genius for nothing. "I'll kill them."

"No. They're perfectly good teachers for the other students."

Kakashi resisted the urge to growl. "At least tell the Hokage."

"I will," Naruto agreed. "What do you think of throwing some sparring into our next run with the Packs? I'd like to integrate them into any style…"

Kakashi let his little prince distract him.

-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-

After yet another team training session ended with Sakura punching Naruto and chasing after Sasuke, Kakashi settled against a tree with his book and waited for his little prince to exhaust himself practicing his new, and much improved, taijutsu.

Naruto joined Kakashi by the tree and leaned into him.

"It would be easy to let it slip that your Jiji is the Hokage," Kakashi commented.

The boy hummed. "Almost as easy as mentioning your bingo book entry."

"Maa, maa, no need to threaten," Kakashi rejected, amused.

"Just making an observation. They might complain less about the training times. And maybe be less distracted?"

Of course the boy would make this about helping Kakashi.

"Or be more distracted and insist I change my habits."

"Also possible. I've been trying harder not to go out of my way to avoid mentioning it, but."

"But?"

Naruto buried his head in Kakashi's side. "It'll hurt, when they refuse to believe the Hokage could care about someone like me."

"They don't know you properly," Kakashi assured him quietly.

He decided not to say anything.

-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-

Kakashi slipped up only once, during their journey to the Land of Waves, glancing at Naruto when his team asked if they should carry on.

The other kids didn't notice a thing, and Naruto just smiled and refrained from giving any indication either way.

"Protocol," he explained to Kakashi, later. "Technically, I would have been speaking for Jiji, which would have had to show up in the mission reports. I'm not supposed to exercise that power without cause."

Kakashi nodded his understanding, concealing the abject awe he felt.

Madness, to give a twelve-year-old the rank powers of a Hokage.

Unsurprising, since any ANBU would obey as if he had them, anyway.