He doesn't move. The ninja stills in the cold air, frozen against the backdrop of a cloudy night. It's quiet. The moon is still up and will remain so for another long four hours. By then hopefully, he would've come to a decision.

He stays now, stands with both hands along his kunai and the cold metal is warmer than the skin of his palms. His issued Jounin jacket is no longer enough, enough to protect him from what he intends to do. There's only wind, darkness and the eerie silence of the night that refuse to hint a sign of what should be his next move. And yet, something sent him back.

Who, Kakashi doesn't know and goosebumps run along his skin in irritation. It's infuriating. This being has the gall to return him to his past without a guideline of what to do. It has the nerve to choose him out of all people, to fix the future.

If that. Who's to guarantee he won't make it worse?

Kakashi thinks of orange goggles and rocks and that it chose wrong, the wrong person and the wrong time. He thinks he's been pulled too late. He remembers as the memories hit him then, only a few months prior when he first accepts the team that is Team 7 and cements his knowing.

'You all… pass!'

He said, he lied, and he remembered feeling happy. Minato's son, Obito's cousin… the two were both entrusted on his team and he could finally redeem himself in their eyes. Maybe, gods, just maybe even move on. But rather than the joyful swarm of having students that can teamwork even if only barely, he froze in his masked smile. His mind had aligned with a click.

Sasuke defected. (Will defect. Defects, Kakashi doesn't know which anymore.)

And then his student threatens the whole Leaf Village Konoha, attacks his teammates Naruto and Sakura…

So he pretends. Going on pretending that it was fake and that it was just a day-dream, Kakashi continues to teach his team. He pointedly refuses to give any credit to the adjustment that was his mind because time travel is impossible and there's no way he could know the future. He looks at his students then and now, and he could never believe what Sasuke could become. Unfortunately events followed as was their due.

Like before, Sasuke along with Naruto work together and risk all to save him. Kakashi wasn't supposed to feel anything again because he's a ninja, he's only but a soldier, yet against all odds he does. He worries, he's proud and he's fooled for the millionth time that the kid is still his. Sasuke's not. Maybe never was.

It was an achievement of teamwork that they had to have in order to enter the Chuunin Exams, at least by Kakashi's standards. Naruto asks Sakura advice to chakra-climb a tree, the first to ask help from a teammate. Sakura, he knew and got to see again, overcome her fear of danger and choose the Chuunin Exams for the second time. It makes his heart swell impossibly larger, this civilian girl who took another chance for his Team 7.

And Sasuke, rookie-of-the-year, who "died". Twice. The greatest sacrifice of all.

Maybe he didn't realize the significance then but knowing the extent of his revenge: it shouldn't change anything. But now that he knows… it does everything.

Kakashi berates himself as he already is, standing in the cold this entire night. He shouldn't have stupidly allowed them in the exams but he's a coward. Always been one, regardless of what life he's in. As if the future could get any worse if he had pulled his team out but gods, he didn't want to underestimate the scale of his mistakes-

Rin and Obito and Minato. Not again, no more.

He's tired and he's terrified. And he wants to so desperately believe this is all just a trick. So Kakashi lets them go, foolishly believes in the lie that is his mind because these kids are still his. Not a nightmare. He lets Orochimaru get Sasuke.

Kakashi chose to not act and let his hesitations bind him, allowed the sannin the chance. And Sasuke hurt. He practically stood at the sidelines and watched as his student cried out in pain from the bite. Again-again when he has to add his own seal to keep the dark chakra from acting up every time the Uchiha needs to use ninjutsu.

But that's the last. As Kakashi stands here to prepare, he forces himself to face the facts. He knows his mission, knows why he's returned. Knew from the beginning. Avoiding the problem isn't going to get him anywhere, he thinks bitterly and tightens the fist that holds his kunai. Now, he waits.

Sasuke comes at exactly 4:45am, early as expected. He walks with hands stuffed in his pockets against the morning cold, permanent scowl on his face. Sleep-heavy eyes rubbed raw, nose red and itchy - Sasuke fights to stay awake Kakashi can tell. He's in his black training outfit, bandaged leg-warmers, weapons pouch on his back right. He's young. He's compromised.

Now! Kakashi yells within the confines of his mind, sharp and demanding. An order. It's an order that his body refuses to follow and he remains rooted to his position, legs frozen in their stance. His student peruses his surroundings casually, so innocent that Kakashi's hands shake as they hold the kunai.

He's late.

5-o-clock comes around, the second time he tries for the kill and fails. 5:15. This is his mission and he's continually disobeying his orders, letting his other students Sakura, Naruto… He shuts his eyes tight and holds in the air for one second, two. When he inhales sharply, his breath sounds wet.

Sasuke sneezes.

The noise is abrupt against his thoughts, loud in the isolated rock-clearing, sudden and scary. Kakashi, despite his anbu training, jolts minutely and gasps deep inside his throat. Then he hates himself and punishes, narrows his eyes on the child he's targeted. Time to engage the enemy.

He shushins because he doesn't trust his legs, makes the signs fast enough that his chakra can't be returned. When he appears before his student - that student - he cements both their fates. His first decisive action towards the future. Well; his future as a criminal.

"Would it kill you to come early?" Little Sasuke asks, irritated and blinded by the poof of smoke, his voice higher and tinnier than he remembers. Kakashi quickly hides his hand in his kunai pouch, switching his weapon with his Icha Icha. His chest hurts and he's a coward.

'Yes,' he wants to confess because it would absolutely kill him to complete his mission so soon, so late.

And he is late, he let Orochimaru make his move and allowed the past to repeat itself. Kakashi can argue logically that the sannin would've claimed Sasuke either way - the exams was but just a means - and the ex-Konoha nin would have the Sharingan: Sasuke, if he couldn't Itachi. Himself even, for that matter. But those are just excuses, niggling voices in his head.

He could've spared his student before killing him. Instead, he let Sasuke weaken him for the second time.

Kakashi makes up some lie about turkeys and fully enjoys himself as much as he even could, when the youngest Uchiha's face (like Obito, so much like Obito) scrunches up in pout. Sasuke was never so small.

He goes through the motions as per his previous life when he blessedly didn't know. The spiel that apparently washed over Sasuke the last time, and his student's impatience is tangible. This incites him, he wants to strangle this kid as if enough force could teach him the depths of what he feels. Kakashi's not one for passionate emotion because he's not Naruto, but for once he can relate.

He wants to break every bone in Sasuke's body and keep him safe, his team safe, stayed in the village, he knows the future he can take care of everything else alone. This dream of his is impossible, Kakashi knows this. He learns the hard way and he looks at his student again. Sasuke appears unsettled, he reacts with his Sharingan almost as if he can instinctually read of his killing intent-

"No, don't." Don't remind me. "This is not a move you learn with your eyes." And Sasuke listens when he most shouldn't. So little, so trusting.

Kakashi has to look away. He refuses to teach his kid, the kid, Chidori because that was the move that- He swallows as he reaches for his weapons pouch. His fingers brush against the kunai from earlier, the metal cold and electric shocking to the core. The part of him that is ninja sparks awake, as does the part that iswas a teacher. He hesitates.

Back then, Kakashi's trusted Sasuke with his strongest move, he had no reason not to. There was nothing to lead to what the Uchiha could become… he was always loyal and he's proved himself multiple, upon multiple times. Of course, his revenge was disconcerting and worrying but Kakashi understood - he himself was last from a clan too.

Now he knows the truth. Despite his ninjutsu prowess, Sasuke is not and never was mentally or emotionally capable of wielding this kind of power. He will not hand him the weapon that was used against him and his team. This is the one thing he refuses to repeat.

Kakashi digs further past the kunai for his summoning scroll. No; he may not be able to complete his mission (today) but neither will he standby any longer. Sasuke came to him to learn and Kakashi intends to teach.

Understandably, his student is upset.

"I don't want it."

The elder ninja could roll his eye in exasperation if he didn't know that such an action would be of no help at this time. Sasuke has his usual glare with added intensity, focused and narrowed onto the innocent puppy in his hands. Kakashi, he pulls the dog closer, staking his claim because although those eyes may currently be empty of the Sharingan he won't let his ninken become collateral.

Kakashi smooths the dog's fur down reverently and frowns. Good intentions or not, he's a hypocrite. He's still giving this dog to him.

It's painful and stinging that whatever god gave him the future didn't deign to give him any way to do something about it. He's done if he trusts Sasuke with his Chidori like last time, and repeat his past. He's done if he does nothing, ignoring and walking away like he did with Orochimaru, like he does later-

And he's damned if he even attempts to teach Sasuke what true power is, this unlucky ninken that is soon to be sacrificed.

Because - as he hands the dog in offering to his student, who is the last and first person that needs teaching - this is a waste. Sasuke's right that he's soon to die against Gaara, any fool could see that. His ninken will follow. It burns to watch his student come to the right conclusions he can see it in open, dark eyes that gaze up at him with suspicion. It hurts that his mission could be complete.

He doesn't want it to be. Kakashi fights to keep his lips thinned shut under his mask and keep himself from admitting what he knows. Because he is on his side, he's always for his students, he wants to defend and protect Sasuke and his ninken and his team 7. But fortunatelyunfortunately before that he's too good of a ninja; Kakashi was a Hokage. He's not Naruto, he's not Sakura, his stupid, stupid kids-

If his ninken notices how his fingers shake holding him he doesn't bark and tell. He lets Sasuke have him and Kakashi hands itch to take him back. His fingers feel cold. He somehow stretches a lazy smile under his mask. "Ahh, Sasuke, don't worry. He won't bite."

The little Uchiha frowns. "He doesn't even have much teeth."

That is true, Kakashi thinks to himself as he watches his student attempt to hold the puppy properly. Sasuke, his hands trained only to wield weapons and make signs, struggles to cradle a small animal. He clenches soft fur too tight, winding the ninken's ribcage. The puppy cries out and makes sharp, little barks.

Those same hands that pulled his chidori on everyone,

"He doesn't… for now," Kakashi takes a chance to adjust the dog closer to Sasuke. "Don't be afraid to hold him closer, it'll be easier."

He should practice what he preaches.

Sasuke's eyes turn downcast but he does as he says. Kakashi pulls out his Icha Icha. "Well, for now I must go return to my duties. I'll send you a scroll of the basics, though a lot of things you must plan out yourself: depending on your 'needs'." The ninja holds in a scoff, turning a well-worn page. "Make sure you don't forget to name him. I'm leaving that honor with you."

"Hn." Sasuke says, the dog close to his chest. Kakashi looks at him in the moment.

"Treat him well," he says. But the Uchiha isn't looking. His eyes glare onto the dog as if he's tackling another hard problem. One that he can't solve.

Kakashi bows his head morosely as he makes the needed hand signs. Great, now he's successfully accomplished the opposite of his intentions - ensured the last Uchiha's future defection. Because truthfully, without the Chidori and its promised power, what could possibly convince Sasuke to stay?

He disappears in the smoke. Poof.