Chapter two

He thought about when he was younger, rushing through the forest with Obito and Rin, never stopping to wait for them, so absorbed with the vision of his victory, the last thing he wanted to do was to wait for Obito who, quite frankly, was slow.

And then the accident happened and all the things that followed inevitably became stained with the feeling of having your future taken from you. What used to be impossible had now become a reality, just as likely as coming home was it now to never come home. No one cared about the new recruits, not when much more reliable men were dying left and right. No one had the time to make sure all the kids came home again.

Because when it came down to it, they were nothing more than kids, sent out to reclaim the honour their parents had died to protect. He, Kakashi, was younger than most but he didn't mind. He thought that he possibly had an advantage, all the older people had so many other things on their mind, they thought that they fought for people instead of what was right. The entire war was backwards, you wanted to protect your family so you went out of your way to kill the neighbour village instead.

But what about their families? What about their dreams?

What about all the little children playing in the water puddles left by the rain?

What about them?

He went to sleep feeling uneasy.

He was in Konoha, but the city was now distant and in the North. Everybody was the same but there was so much snow. No one seemed to notice it as it seeped in through the cracks in the walls and the kids used it to build snow men inside, some even tried building an igloo on the living room floor. All the adults laughed and simply walked around them, he tried to point out the fact that the snow kept climbing higher and higher and soon they wouldn't be able to even open the doors, but to no avail, they kept living and laughing and playing cards and it snowed and snowed. One day Naruto barged in through a window, which was now covered with snow, he cracked the glass with a shovel and a lot of snow fell down on the floor but it didn't seem to affect him. Kakashi was in the middle of his breakfast and asked what he wanted and Naruto answered loudly that he was going to become the first Hokage of the Snow. Then he woke up.

He sat up.

Confused. Cold.

His vision cleared slowly as he blinked.

Yawned.

Pulled the mask up with an unconscious movement, he did it as swiftly as he breathed.

Today was going to be a long day, he could tell from the atmosphere, as ominous as the humming in the air before a knife impales its mark.

He threw together a breakfast from yesterdays left-overs, still almost asleep, he hadn't slept well though by then he had forgotten what he dreamt. He plopped himself down on the rickety chair, ate slowly, neatly. He finished the food down to the last crumble. By then Konoha had woken up, he heard the sounds of other people becoming aware of the new day, of their hopes and plans.

Half an hour later he walked down the street, nodding once or twice to someone he knew. He was rarely in the village, had given up on teaching, focused on missions that required total control, that allowed him to give himself up, he even dabbled in ANBU's mission sometimes, naturally beneath a front of doing a normal S-rank.

When he'd first requested to get a mission instead of teaching Tsunade had been reluctant. Her eyes bored into his.

"Why?"

"..."

I can't be here.

I can't stay here.

I can't-

"The last class you had were successful. Is there a reason for this sudden change of heart?"

She wasn't an idiot. Neither was he.

"I feel like my abilities would be put to better use out in the field. And I'm not denying that at least two of them became splendid shinobi. But all three of them were special." He took care not to mention Sasuke's name. It was still a touchy subject. "I think both you and I know that there won't be a group like that again, at least not in my lifetime. It feels as if I've done my part. It would be better for the recruits to have a teacher that was more adept for actually teaching."

They were quiet. Outside you could hear the birds chirping, telling tales of flying. The air itself stood still.

"Are you sure?"

"I am."

Tsunade searched his eyes, could find nothing that strayed from what he had said.

She took a file from the desk, held it out.

"A-rank. The situation is critical."

He took it from her, waited for further instructions.

There was none.