Book 1
Awakening
Chapter 4 - Ishika Tatane
A/N: Greetings, readers. Once again I'm back with an update of TWE. Firstly I must apologize for the mini-hiatus, I was in the hospital for... well, it's a long story. Anyway, I'm back at home now and I've just finished up this chapter, so, yeah, I apologize. Now, I noticed that a lot of you felt that the last chapter was a 'filler', and while I can promise you it wasn't, I'm sorry it felt that way. I admit that the last chapter didn't exactly reveal the growth of the characters, it merely stated that it happened. You'll see it in due time; it wouldn't be revealing too much to say that Chapter 3-5 are technically a '3-part-build-up' to Chapter 6 and 7. For those of you who are dying to see some (more) action written into the story, this chapter has a decent amount and I can promise future chapters will be filled with it. Rest assured, even if you don't understand everything I'm doing now, it will (hopefully) be made clear in the future as the story progresses; some people can read into my writing better than others, it's not your fault and I'm sorry if I'm confusing you (once again) or if it seems like I'm stalling. Anyway, without further ado—please enjoy Chapter 4.
Annndd... Before I begin the chapter (I lied about the 'without further do'), there are two people I'd like to give a shoutout to, for different reasons.
Codaram: He's an author that I greatly respect on this website, and he has been genuinely amicable in all of our exchanges. He was one of the first people that I told of this story—prior to its being written—and also the only person who I actually asked to look over the first draft of the first chapter. I can honestly say that his words of encouragement, perspective and opinions—which keep me upbeat and on my toes—are an invaluable resource and were the primary reason I was so confident upon releasing this story. So, thank you Codaram. Also, to the readers, (if you haven't) I urge you to check out Codaram's stories; even though I haven't personally read them all, I can attest to the fact that he is a brilliant writer and that at least his primary works are more than worth the read.
Crenshinibon74: This shout-out is primarily out of respect for the efforts of this fellow fanfiction author. As a friend of mine, I sincerely appreciate his kind words and support for my story and I wish to merely extend the same courtesy to him; his story frankly doesn't get enough credit while it has an incredible amount of potential. I admittedly have done my best, recently, to help him with the flow of his story in every aspect in an effort to not only better his work but attract more readers. If you have a moment, please give his story a 'look-up' and a review and give him your honest opinions and support so he can improve for the better. I respect his effort and latent talent (as I've stated) and wish to see him succeed.
A faint breeze blew throughout the Uchiha Compound, carrying with it a chill indicative of the Winter Season. The barren compound echoed the wind's voice, the sound dulling as it bounced off and through the lifeless buildings.
The wind and it's fluctuating temperatures seemed unable to permeate one of these buildings, however, as it was kept at bay by the now dwindling heat of the sole body residing in the hollow grounds.
Against the far wall of the Uchiha Clan's primary sparring Dojo sat Uchiha Sasuke, resting in a slack position. Scant sunlight shown in through the ajar shutters of the building; trailing across the room it provided less than adequate light, reaching only as far as the angle of the wooden shutters would allow, spotting the shadowed floor with a dim light.
Sasuke sat out of reach of the kaleidoscopic light that patterned the floor. One knee was raised as support for his arm which he rested overtop of it while the other leg lay outstretched making contact with the now cold wooden surface of the dojo floor. Sasuke was slouched forward, a neutral expression on his face yet with his eyes glazed over, he seemed to observe the occasionally shifting patterns of light. One would think he was in a trance, but truthfully if they were to get close enough, they could hear his still mildly ragged breath—a result of his previous intense workout—still sounding at a relaxed periodic pace, and see a rapidly evaporating sheen of sweat coating his forhead.
Listening to his own breathing and ignoring all other sounds, he kept his eyes on the light—on the otherwise emptiness of the room.
'Tomorrow. Tomorrow I will finally graduate from that academy and be able to push myself even further. Tomorrow I'll be that much closer to gaining the power I need. Putting myself up to fueling the hatred that I need. Tomorrow...' Sasuke clenched his fist, letting it continue to hang at the wrist from his arm, still draped over his raised knee.
'I will be that much closer to gaining the power I need to kill... you.' The voice in his mind bit out each syllable. He savored the meaning of the words...
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu" Flipping through the necessary handsigns, the technique was finished by Itachi bringing a single hand up to his mouth to taper the expelled chakra. With a powerful inhalation Itachi focused the chakra and expelled it as a magnificent comet of synthetic fire.
The brilliant fireball overpowered the brightness of the day, as it surged forward it was all that could be seen for a moment, from such close range. Eventually, it dissipated into the air with the commanding release of the seal by Itachi.
He stepped back, taking a few controlled infusions of oxygen to remaster his breathing, he held his eyes closed in focus.
'Nī-san, Nī-san! That was incredible! You have to be the strongest in the whole village; I bet you're even stronger than the Hokage!" A young Sasuke cheered joyfully, jumping up and down as he approached his now settled brother.
"Sasuke," Itachi started. "What do you think of... power?"
Sasuke stopped mid-hop, his voice caught midway in his throat. Taking a moment to gain orientation, he swallowed. "Umm... It means you're really strong and can beat everyone, you're the coolest and you demand respect from all of those under you."
With an internal sigh of disappointment, Itachi cautiously regarded his brother, still facing away from him "Alright. So how do you suppose Hokage-sama got where he is?"
Sasuke felt confident. "He was given the position by the other Hokage! He was supposedly the strongest ninja in the village, but it should have been an Uchiha—we have the most power."
Itachi turned his head slightly, looking down he continued neutrally "Regardless of how strong we—the Uchiha—may or may not be, Sasuke, Hokage-sama is the most powerful and deserving of the position of Hokage."
Halting Sasuke's imminent protest with a raised hand, he closed his eyes and continued with a sigh "There is more to power than pure strength. The Uchiha have been blessed with a magnificent gift, our Kekkei Genkai—The Sharingan... But that does not make us rightfully entitled to anything, nor does it place us on a pedastal above other people..." Opening one eye, Itachi lazily but purposefully revealed a single mature Sharingan "We all show strength in different ways, but the potential to become truly powerful lies in all of us."
Sasuke stared at his brother, with a mixture of confusion, bewilderment and wonder. He opened his mouth to speak, but when no words came out he resolved to lower his gaze, raising his hands he clenched them slightly before opening them to observe his open palms.
'Can I become strong as well?'
The light that had been warming the floor had slowly receeded during Sasuke's lapse of concentration, the shift alerting Sasuke to his incoherence.
'Tch. Itachi, you didn't even believe what you told me that day... The truth came out later, didn't it? Real power... real power is brutally cold, and carefully lethal... Just like you.'
In one move he pushed himself to his feet, rocking forward slightly from the sudden burst of momentum. He stumbled.
Bringing his hand up to partially cover one eye, in a vain effort to placate his aching head, he walked forward slowly, step after step. Upon reaching the door he stumbled once more, the aged wood creaking under his heavy step. He paused.
With a breath he raised his head slightly and moved his free hand to the door. With a push he met the resistance of the door in front of him, he could feel the splintered wood chafing at his calloused hand. Ignoring the minor discomfort, he leaned on the ball of his leading foot, putting just enough pressure to budge the sturdy obstruction. The sunlight poured in to the room, causing Sasuke to wince.
Upon adjusting to the new brightness, Sasuke stepped into the streets of the Uchiha Compound and proceeded to turn left and begin his walk. As he walked, he occaisionally looked left and right to notice the Uchiha crest engraved on nearly everything; a reiterant reminder.
"Again, Sasuke!" shouted an impatient Uchiha Fugaku.
Running through the hand-signs in a pressured flurry, Sasuke shouted out "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu", completing the technique with the tempering seal raised to his mouth, he expelled the lit chakra.
Sasuke could feel his cheeks burning from his inexperienced body's overuse of the technique.
'I... I have to keep.. k-keep.. g-go-goin...' His one eyebrow, slack with exhaustion, failed to do it's job of capturing the sweat streaming down his forehead; is eyes stung from contact with the salty liquid.
'K-Keep...' His breath was giving out, his diaphragm rapidly contracting, his head aching from the lack of oxygen and the increased levels of carbon dioxide being introduced to his system.
'No...' Sasuke coughed out, gagged and in a desperate effort on his body's part to restore oxygen levels, sucked in air. He inhaled the ashy residue of the shorted technique.
"Disappointing," Fugaku apathetically commented as his eyes squinted in disgust upon seeing the pitifully dissipating flame. Looking out over the large pond of water, Fugaku calmed himself with a breath and struck his cane against the wooden dock. "Again," he demanded.
At this point Sasuke was already doubled over himself in a coughing fit, trying desperately to expel the carcinogen from his lungs. "F-Fat-," He tried to get out between hacking fits. "Father..." he continued between shallow inhales, "Father... I... c-can—"
Sasuke stopped speaking upon hearing a subtle click, click slowly growing softer as if moving further and further away from him. He shakily turned his head to see his father leaving, without another word.
As if to casually end a conversation, Fugaku tossed over his shoulder "You're weak, unlike Itachi. I do not blame you for not having as much power as my son."
It echoed in his head again, and again: 'My son.'
Again. 'My son.'
Again. 'My son...'
A single tear found it's way down Sasuke's burning face.
In the bustling center of Konohagakure, atop the tallest building in site, stood a man looking out over the village. He stood unnoticed by shinobi and civilian alike, observing without really watching.
This man, wore a ragged grey cloak and hid his eyes with a down-turned straw hat.
This man was waiting.
A subtle tack was heard by this man, signifying the end of his wait.
"Back already?" inquired the cloaked man, he barely turned his head to the left to indicate that he was diverting a portion of his attention to the new presence.
"Yeah," came a deep and gruff voice. "He wasn't exactly that hard to find. But, if I may, can I ask why you're stalking the last Uchiha? Aren't you being a little bit conspicuous?"
"Oh, I don't think so," he responded, letting the last word hang. "No one would suspect an old man... out to enjoy the after-noon sun~" He finished, sing-songing the end of his sentence.
"Psh. Typical..." the voice trailed off. "Remind me why you insist on keeping that ridiculous act up..."
"It's important for an actor to stay in character," he replied simply.
The voice came back with a hint of annoyance and skepticism: "Is that so...?"
The man turned his head slightly, so that the corner of his creased face was visible behind the cloth barrier of his cloak. He let the corner of his mouth twist itself into a light smile, to indicate affirmative response.
The voice merely sighed, and in a subsequent burst of smoke, the owner of the voice had departed.
Tipping his hat eagerly, the man raised on leg so he could position his foot against the railing. With a mighty leap he sent himself soaring into the air—unnoticed by the villagers below—to land on the adjacent roof. He then proceeded to hop from roof to roof, in the direction of the Uchiha Compound.
During his aimless walking, Sasuke eventually happened upon the critically impactful location of his memory, the gathering pond. Upon spotting it Sasuke stopped, he carefully eyed it at first, as if to decided whether or not it was a good decision to proceed. In the end, the desire to proceed won out.
As he walked toward the opening in the cluster of foliage that led into the pond-grounds, his thoughts drifted back to graduation.
'I have to fight that moron again, for some reason fate deemed me the one to put him out of his miserable hopes of graduating... What makes him think he's so strong... that he can surpass the boundaries that have been placed for him...'
He grimaced in disgust. 'What makes him so fucking special?! Even in pitiful defeat he's still there, he's always there...'
Progressing into the enclosure of the bamboo canopy he unwittingly quickened his pace... A thought recurred in his mind 'We all show strength in different ways... but the potential to become truly powerful lies in all of us'... He dismissed the thought with a low growl of displeasure.
"No... This is true power... something he doesn't have!" Sasuke shouted, flashing through the hand-signs he had long since committed to instinctual memory.
With a massive intake of air—the infused chakra visible in the rushed gathering—he inflated his chest. Bringing both hands into position he powerfully intoned, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu" in conjunction with rapidly exhaling the gathered energy to produce a gargantuan sphere of fire, lighting the water below.
In odd contrast to the low roar of the continuously burning flame and the faint sizzle of the rapidly vaporizing water, a dull crunch emanating from behind him, in the brush, caught Sasuke's attention. In flawless transition, he lowered his upheld hand to his kunai holster and flung the obtained kunai directly behind him so as to pierce whatever remained in the location of the sounds origin. It landed with a muffled thud.
Letting the flame in front of him dissipate, the heat rising up to disperse the energy, Sasuke deftly turned to face his visitor.
"Who are you?" Sasuke carefully modulated his voice, observing the cloaked figure now in his line of sight who'd apparently been stopped 1-inch short by the hurled kunai.
For a moment, the man didn't reply; he merely looked down upon the kunai stuck in the ground at his feet.
"Well?" Sasuke prompted, still tempering himself.
Bringing his hand up, in a fist, the man muffled a weak cough. Taking a second to clear his throat, he began, "That was quite a powerful technique, for someone so young..."
"I remember... back when I was a boy; people were hard-pressed to display such p—"
"I said... Who are you?!" Sasuke demanded, cutting the impromptu praise short. "And what are you doing here, on Uchiha Clan property?!" he followed up vigorously.
The man seemed to shift a little, possibly repositioning himself in mild surprise. "Hmm..." he started. The man shifted his head around, as if to observe the scenery; "I wasn't aware that an extinct clan could claim rights to property," he commented between light coughs.
The intensity of Sasuke's mood grew in an instant, clearly in outrage at the man's ignorance "The Uchiha aren't extinct! I am the last of the Uchiha."
The man paused for a moment before continuing; "I heard that the last Uchiha slaughtered his clan... they were too weak according to him... power is a tragic thing, isn't it young man?"
Sasuke's eyebrow shot up in confusion and irritation, 'Is this guy insane?' he thought. Dismissing the thought in an effort to focus on the matter at hand, he continued, "Tch. Power is necessary. Without power, you are weak, and those with more power will inevitably seek to snuff, you, out." He spoke the final three words slowly.
"Interesting..." the man commented. "Well, to answer your earlier question, my name, young man, is Tatane Ishika," the man said, bringing his hands to his sides to give a chaste formal bow; he carefully kept his eyes leveled with the young Uchiha as he bent at the waist.
"So, why are you here..." Sasuke responded callously, clearly not interested in conversation.
The man let out a hearty laugh, his cloak shaking slightly from the reverberating sound. "Oh... merely observing things of interest."
"May I ask why it is that you are here, Uchiha-san," he spoke carefully, as he watched the young boy.
Sasuke spoke tersely: "Hn, no." He paused, beginning to turn to face the other way, "But I suggest that you leave."
The wind gusted through, rustling the bamboo plants and sending some of the looser leaves cascading down between their divide. The silence was less than comfortable.
Off-handedly the man replied, suggestion evident in his tone: "Hmm... That's unfortunate, I was hoping that I could get in a little bit of exercise before I made the dull journey home..." Smiling to himself, he began to exaggeratedly stretch.
Sasuke's gaze shifted into a steady glare "If you're implying that I should spar with you, you're out of your league, old man. Lea—"
Ishika coughed, deliberately, to interrupt Sasuke. He continued, carefully modulating his tone once again: "Someone as powerful as the last great Uchiha, as you've claimed the title of... wouldn't mind humoring an old man, would they?"
Sasuke regarded Ishika with a piercing glare, unrelenting.
Ishika gave the final push, heavily emphasizing the last word: "I would be, honored..."
Sasuke titled slightly on his supporting foot, altering his positioning to reface Ishika completely, he began to speak with a smug grin, "I warned you, don't complain if I hospitalize you... I'm not in the best of moods."
Ishika shifted his feet slightly, settling into a casual stance he raised his arms up. Behind his cloak, his lips upturned in an unseen smile.
Sasuke launched forward with a substantial kick-off, bringing his legs up underneath himself as he soared toward Ishika at several feet off the ground. Once in range, Sasuke jutted his right leg out in a thrusting push, only for Ishika to swiftly move his left hand into position to catch the sandaled foot.
Spinning off of his falling momentum, Sasuke pivoted his hips left to bring his upper body up; giving his right side more velocity to fuel the swing at Ishika's unguarded head. Foreseeing this, Ishika moved his right hand slightly to easily catch the smaller hand in a vice grip, he still remained unmoving, planted in his spot.
Sasuke refused to give up his assault... He refused to believe that some random passerby was anticipating his movements. Vigorously altering his current direction of trajectory, he pulled his entire body in the opposite direction in an effort to dislodge his 'pseudo'-opponent's stance and simultaneously brought his free leg up in a arcing impromptu-roundhouse kick to Ishika's temple. Once again, much to Sasuke's shock, Ishika anticipated this and merely shifted his shoulder so his already occupied right arm would deflect the leg.
Ishika, seeing that Sasuke was in such a vulnerable position (and practically being held by him), saw it as the perfect time to... move. In an impressive show of strength and with a rapid shift, Ishika ever-so-slightly widened his stance and bringing his shoulders up buffered himself, with a steady breath he spun Sasuke to the left, like a pinwheel.
Sasuke's eyes widened in shock, then in agony when Ishika brought his unoccupied right knee up, burying it in Sasuke's solar plexus. He proceeded to bring one hand in a cuffed form to Sasuke's collar bone, and with the already present momentum, easily propelled the Uchiha several feet through the air, to come down in a pained heap near the beginning of the dock.
Ishika plainly regarded the curled up person before him 'He's really not as good as I would have expected... I'm actually a little bit disappointed... While that taijutsu was beyond anything someone in the academy should know... he's terrible at executing it.'
"Say... that was an impressive display of Taijutsu young man...; What are they teaching children in the academy these days...?" Ishika inquired passively.
Between raspy gasps for air, Sasuke shakily raised his head to look at the man 'W-What in the hell was that? He... He saw through every move I made... Who the hell is he?!'
"Who... Who are... you?!" Sasuke weakly shouted, still trying to regain his breath. He staggered to his feet.
Sasuke grabbed at his kunai holster once again, determined to continue the attack. He would not lose. Finding a kunai, he pulled it out in a spin, catching it by the handle he raised the arm that held it and charged forward; zigzagging to add randomness to his attack pattern.
Ishika boredly observed Sasuke's display, shifting one leg back slightly to brace himself for the back-pedal he noted he'd inevitably have to make. 'He's still coming... After watching him for a while I think it's safe to assume that he has a rather daunting contradictory inferiority/superiority complex in addition to his already unhealthy level of... confusion.'
Ishika carefully watched Sasuke's eyes, they were scared with fury.
"You wanted to spar? Well I'm not done yet!" Sasuke declared, continuing his advance.
'What it must do to your mind... to swear you'll be successful... but tell yourself with every fiber of your being that you never will be... If he had a catalyst... this could get progressively more dangerous.' Ishika thought, raising one hand, half opened, ahead of his person.
Upon nearing his target, Sasuke began to wildly—but with calculated precision—swing the armed kunai in front of himself. Ishika began to back-pedal, taking slow steps as he looked down on the fast-moving metal blade, careful not to get too close.
Deciding he'd been herded far enough, Ishika simply pivoted the wide slash in the opposite of the resting angle and brought his opposite hand down on Sasuke's very open wrist with a dull crack. Sasuke faulted, wincing at the extreme pain of (potentially) having his bone chipped and looked on as his hand released the weapon against his will.
Sasuke stumbled forward slightly, but maintained the wherewithal to bend his neck to the left to avoid another lazy downward-aimed strike by Ishika at the back of his neck. Recovering quickly, he allowed himself to fall forward enough where his hand—with his proportionally greater momentum—was able to catch up to the descending kunai. Clasping it around the handle he rotated at the hip and ankle to the left, rolling over; he held the kunai in a backwards hold in front of his face, as he kept his eyes on Ishika's feet from his low crouch.
Ishika, attempting to avoid re-engaging the previous farce made a casual leap backwards, landing smoothly a few feet away.
Sasuke, however, was absolutely resolved to not let the fight end in such a way. Sasuke pushed himself forwards, leaning on his supporting hand he brought his legs over himself from the back as he jumped in combination with slashing forward with the kunai. His limbs falling in quick succession, each with added force posed no threat to the onlooking Ishika, who merely decided to step back, giving himself enough room to finish Sasuke's landing with a swift push of a kick to the back.
With feeling the force of the kick, Sasuke stumbled forward forcefully upon landing upright—to be facing in the opposite direction. With a growl, Sasuke opted to shift the kunai and forsake the law; he brought his hands forth in an attempt to form hand-signs for his signature technique.
Ishika acted fast, for the first time, in a rush he dashed behind Sasuke and caught his hand from behind, squeezing it in a powerful grip. "Uchiha-san, I'm sure I couldn't handle any jutsu... you wouldn't be trying to hurt me... would you?"
"Shut up!" Sasuke simply replied in exclamation. He brought his free hand back for a back handed strike to Ishika's ribs, unfortunately, this was also foreseen.
Ishika deftly moved his other arm under Sasuke's blow and secured the offending arm in a hold, pulling him back firmly against himself. Deciding on a way out of the spar, Ishika positioned his leg in between Sasuke's two openly stanced legs and repositioned himself at an angle sideways to his captured opponent. With a heave, he shifted the new weight to his core and flipped the Uchiha entirely over himself, serving to send him flying, only to land several meters away.
Sasuke lounded with a strong thud, his kunai landing with a nearly inaudible ring and clutter as it struck a wayward stone.
"Uchiha-san, I appreciate the spar, but I've seen enough. Thank you," Ishika stated apathetically.
Ishika began to turn to leave, but midway, he paused to speak "Power is truly a tragic thing, but, we all are endowed with the potential to achieve it. It's an inalienable factor of human existence. Although what you do to gain it is important, what you do with it is what is truly important... if you make the right choice in the end..."
Sasuke had been lamenting. Staring emptily at the ground in hopes of some sort of answer... How could he have lost? What had happened? Was he really right...?
In the last moments of his thought-cycle, though, Ishika's words had interrupted. No, they had not simply interrupted, they had impacted...
The night was dark and there was a red tint to the sky and it's lingering clouds... It was dark, very dark... in the aphotic presence of the night there were two distinctive tints of red... They were piercing, they were wet... blood? No... It couldn't have been... They were patterned, two glowing... imposing orbs... watching... me.
"Why... Why did you do it..." I managed in between sobs of anguish.
"To test my own ability... to test my power."
Sasuke raised his head slightly, his eyes were still closed at the pain of thought.
'To... test...'
'What I do with it? What. I. Do. With. It...?' He thought very slowly... very dazedly.
'What I do with it?!' The phantom image of the eyes recurred in his mind, sending a shockwave of pain throughout his body; only to ultimately concentrate in his eyes.
Sasuke brought a hand to his head again, to satiate the ache... 'What the hell does he know?!'
'What the hell do any of them know?!' The eyes flashed through his mind again... but they were... his eyes.
Ishika took a stunned pause at the brief spike in chakra. Turning back around, slightly, he opened his eyes further in shock at seeing an enraged Uchiha, turning back towards him, with open eyes. 'Shit. He's activated it, he'll be able to see through this henge easily.' Thinking quickly, Ishika brought his hand in a half-ram seal in front of his body, performing the Shunshin to transport himself a safe distance away from the coming storm.
Sasuke turned all at once to set his newfound vision upon... nothing. In a fit of rage, Sasuke screamed out, his Sharingan—which held one tomoe in the left eye and two in the right—flared and he jumped up, ready to fight with the mere idea.
"COME ON!" Sasuke shouted. He looked around frantically, refusing to believe that the mysterious old man had simply vanished. "This isn't over! I can fight you!"
From his position high up in a nearby tree, Ishika observed the outburst, his now one visible eye steadily, but with pity, observing the unfortunate Uchiha.
"COME. ON!" Sasuke exclaimed once again, falling down to the ground, he pounded a hand—hard—into the tough, aged soil. "AHH!"
Standing, without a word, Ishika brought his lone hand-sign up once more, and with a slight bit of focus, performed the Shunshin once more, vanishing in an unnoticed swirl of leaves and wind.
In the uppermost operating-floor of the Hokage Tower, in addition to a great deal of other hallways, corridors, storage facilities and offices, sat the iconic Hokage's office. In this office, at his desk, sat the regarded Sandaime-Hokage; Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Taking a drawn out 'taste' of his pipe-smoke, Hiruzen let out the cloud of smog in a peaceful breath, and looked back down to his work, in vain hopes of continuing. With a sigh, he considered calling it quits for the day... and going home to rest his tired old bones... he laughed at the idea; the village would have his head.
It was then that a gentle knock at the door disrupted his musings. Before he could respond to the unspoken request for entry though, the requester took his momentary silence as affirmative response and proceeded to let themself in.
Hiruzen calmly eyed the spectacle entering his office, he looked quite silly with a ragged gray cloak covering his entire body, mis-matched sandals, one sleeve reaching further than the other and a tousled and titled straw hat which looked worse for wear.
Ishika began "So... nice weather we're having, is it not, Hokage-sama?"
The sentiment hung in the air, but it was merely returned with a curiously furrowed brow as reciprocation.
Ishika awkwardly continued "I see you're getting your work done, efficiently."
Hiruzen forced a cough to suppress the imminently rising chuckle in his throat and decided to change the direction of the rapidly dying conversation "Why is it that you insist on wearing that ridiculous..." He coughed again, suppressing another chuckle "disguise, even after the fact?"
"Oh, well, you see... I've actually grown quite fond of it!" Ishika chirped, waiting for an equally upbeat reply; all he got, though, was an increasingly furrowed brow.
"...But, if you insist..." Bringing both hands in front of himself to form a ram seal, Ishika muttered under his breath 'henge', releasing the powerful henge he had, had over himself.
Upon the brilliant cloud of smoke clearing, from the full-body transformation, a relatively tall man with all but his left eye covered, gravity-defying silver hair and a lazy gaze settled upon the open, orange hand-book resting in his sole poised hand was revealed.
Finally giving in to his better nature, Hiruzen let a small smile tug at the ends of his lips "It is always a pleasure, Kakashi."
Kakashi, looking up, merely creases his one visible eye into a happy indicator of a smile. "Likewise, Hokage-sama."
Deciding it was time to get serious, Hiruzen addressed his subject of curiosity "So, Kakashi, I've permitted you free range and time off to do some research... I'm sincerely hoping that your idea of research differs from my student's..."
With a small chuckle, Kakashi replied, "Oh, of course, Hokage-sama. And yes, I've completed it. I believe the results to be satisfactory."
Hiruzen widened a single eye in mild confusion. "Well, Kakashi? What is it exactly that you needed? It's unusual for a Jōnin of your standing to ask for time off; I could have used you for some critical missions..."
Kakashi closed his book with a soft thump and pocketed it. He leveled his gaze and spoke formally "Indeed. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I would like to request a position change..."
"You're resigning?" he asked, surprised.
"No, I would actually like to take on a Genin Squad."
"Would I be able to ask why, Kakashi? You've been solicited for the position in the past, and each time and every time you've either declined or failed the students, without much more than a one sentence report..." Hiruzen inquired.
Kakashi continued with a sigh, "With all due respect, Hokage-sama, I can't clearly divulge my reasons... not all of them. Although, I'm sure your aware that I've had difficulties in the past. There is a reason why I requested time off to conduct research. I was observing three specific academy students... and for all different; yet similar... reasons... I believe that I would best be able to handle them as a teacher and help them to become elite ninja in their own right."
"Oh...?" Hiruzen began, "And who might those students be, Kakashi?"
"Uzumaki Naruto, Hyūga Hinata and Uchiha Sasuke," he levelly stated.