Chapter two

The journey back to consciousness was a slow and arduous thing, as if he was clawing his way back to the surface of a sea of tar. His eyelids would flutter before suddenly falling still again. His hand would rise of the bed before falling back like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

The silver-haired boy was fighting against some unknown force for some unknown goal. He only knew his struggles would bring him to where he wanted to be.

A hand appeared, the rest of the arm attached to him clothed in a familiar sleeve with a metal plate sewed on at the wrist and then another sleeve on top of it. Kakashi had no hands to grab the one before him with, yet he somehow held on. He held on to that thought knowing that this was his ticket out of this inky black prison. The hand pulled and Kakashi felt himself become weightless, a complete difference from the tonne he had felt like before.

And then, instead of being pulled, he was being pushed also. Like being flung into the realm of the waking world and he hit it with a start; eyelids flying open and rising of his bed immediately.

Kakashi gasped with the motion and felt the air rush into his lungs.

It felt glorious.

When his head cleared and his vision was no longer a sea of blurred colours, Kakashi found himself in a sitting position staring at the dull white walls of a hospital room. The smell of antiseptic was strong, almost nauseating to his highly trained nose.

And Sakura wondered why he hated hospitals.

It was then that Kakashi noticed his hands, tinier than he remembered them being. He put his hands to his face, feeling the smooth fabric of his mask. Still, he noted the fat that was in the wrong places. He deduced that it must be a dream. A dream of a memory. This must have been the morning after we returned from the Kanabi Bridge mission.

It was a dream he had dreamt of often, more times than he would have liked. He never liked been reminded of how Obito's death had hit him hard the first few days following the event.

And if he was right, the nurse would step in...now.

Her straw coloured hair stood out first to Kakashi. The nurse in his memories was a dark brunette. Even her face, though undeniably pretty, was completely off the course. However she followed the script well enough though, rushing back out with excitement to spread word of his awakening.

A few moments later would be the Third's arrival and he did not disappoint. That is, until Kakashi's memory caught up with him. Obito's Sharingan like all other Sharingan eyes had the infamous ability to allow the user to memorize everything within the eye's field of view and recall it perfectly. This was how the Uchiha copied jutsu. The eye saw everything...down to the last wrinkle.

This Sarutobi had three too many. Little else had changed about him though, and to be honest, the next visitor should have been his sensei, Namikaze Minato, the Yellow Flash.

Hard grey eyes instead of warm bright blue greeted him though.

"Dad!"

Two nights before...

A cloud of smoke heralded his arrival, being one of the few ninjas outside of Anbu with the authority to not have to use the door when they wanted to have a chat with the Hokage. There was little light in the room, what with the rain pouring outside and the Third Hokage preferring to leave the lights off, bathing the room in shadows.

A Hokage and leader he may be, but he was still a ninja at his core, and a ninja dwelled safest in shadows where his secrets were his and his alone.

Hatake Sakumo remained silent. His leader would speak when he was good and ready. Sakumo also felt that this conversation would not please him in the least.

And since the Hokage was taking his time, Sakumo figured he should get comfortable, so he reclined on the expensive velvet sofa at the side of the room, all the while ignoring the eyes that followed his every move. Sakumo had aged well, but he could almost hear his bones groan in relief. Why didn't I take this job again?

Sarutobi Hiruzen cleared his throat. "Sakumo, an...interesting development has come up."

"Spit it out, Hiruzen. I don't like it when people beat around the bush." Sakumo cut in impatiently. "Whatever had you summon me here at three o'clock in the morning has to be important. You're lucky I don't sleep as well as I used to."

His long time comrade's expression was the very definition of uncertainty, so whatever it was had to deal with him on a personal level. What ghosts of my past have you dragged up this time, Sarutobi?

"Very well," the Third began. He picked up a file from his desk and flipped it open to the first page with dextrous fingers. "A child was found outside the village gates at around 2000 hours the day before yesterday."

Sakumo was silent as the grave, waiting for the old man to continue.

"Assumed age is thirteen years old. He had on his person ninja gear, damaged but of good quality, indicating he had encountered conflict with unknown forces. Interestingly enough, this gear was made in Konoha; his kunai, shuriken, ninja wire."

" The boy's chakra reserve was high chunin level. Obviously he has undergone very rigorous training, with high chakra output jutsu if the widened tenketsu are any indication. His right hand is a major point of chakra concentration."

"Sarutobi, I have yet to hear how this has anything to do with me."

The Third coughed slightly, while weighing his options in his mind.

"The boy had a Sharingan implanted in his left eye socket."

Sakumo shifted in his seat, "The Uchiha are all dead, killed by your student, by your order."

If the intensity of the glare aimed at Sakumo could be likened to the intensity of the sun, Sakumo's skin would have melted right off his bones. He knew the subject of Sarutobi's student was usually off-limits but he, the White Fang, even with his lifetime of experience could not understand. A mission was carried out and it succeeded...even if partially.

Simple as that.

In life, regrets would only weigh you down.

After a tense silence, Sarutobi answered him. "On that night, even though we tried to kill two birds with one stone, we underestimated one bird and it proved to be more troublesome than we could have ever imagined. Almost all of the chunin level ninja in that clan were cremated without their eyes and my student, the bird and all the Sharingan disappeared without a trace. This boy could finally be our lead."

"Or a trap." Sakumo could not help but add.

Sarutobi looked away, "The circumstances of his appearance are troubling, I'll admit. However, I'm not about to give up this chance to find out what truly happened that night."

Sakumo stretched. If he wasn't careful he might just doze off in this chair. "Did you call me here for this alone, Sarutobi? You wanted advice on whether you could mend a broken, crushed and destroyed bridge?"

Sarutobi flicked a picture at his face which Sakumo caught deftly. He gazed at it for a moment. His wide gray eyes did nothing to hide the state of shock he had been thrust in.

"This is the boy. While there are a few differences, you have to admit the resemblance is almost uncanny. He reminds me of a thirteen year old boy called Hatake Sakumo I used to know."

The White Fang growled, "Impossible!"

"I was called in to see him after they discovered the Sharingan. After I saw his face, I was sure of it but in case I was wrong I didn't want to alarm you, so I had them conduct tests immediately. They say the chakra of a son will closely resemble that of your parents. Those tests came back positive. Elements of his chakra are extremely similar to yours. He can call upon White Chakra."

The hand holding the picture a sleeping boy whose face was bare shook like a leaf on a twig in a hurricane.

"If that was not proof enough, the initial results of the paternity tests just came. They're not complete, but the likelihood that this boy is your son..." He let that last statement hang in the air. Sarutobi couldn't remember the last time the blood rushed to Sakumo's face like that, making him look like a tomato with strange silver leaves.

"Sakumo, is there something you have not, or are not telling me?"

Suddenly, all the emotion was gone replaced by an expression carved out of concrete. "Take me to see him."

Shunshin no jutsu had the two ninja outside the hospital doors less than five seconds later. They walked in briskly, parting the swarm of doctors and nurses and ninja like Moses and the Red Sea. The looks received by each were things both had had a lot of time to be used to. Sarutobi 's looks of respect and admiration, Sakumo with his looks of respect and fear.

Their path took them into the bowels of the hospital building, where the labs were located and also were ninja whose injuries or diseases were required to remain hidden from the rest of the Konoha populace. These ninja were usually of the Anbu or in rare cases...the criminal kind.

Enemies of the state.

The thought hit Sakumo with the force of a wrecking ball.

Somehow, someone related to him by blood had been found outside the gates and already he was considered a criminal. This was a little bit too much to take in.

They arrived at a door that stood in their way. The Third raised his hand and placed it against the metal surface. An intricate and complicated mess of characters appeared under his hand, inky black in colour. Sarutobi pushed chakra through his fingers, the spike barely sensible to Sakumo. Only his experience allowed him to feel that.

When he pushed the door open, Sarutobi walked three steps before realizing that Sakumo hadn't taken one. He turned to his old friend, already studying him thoroughly.

And in that moment, the Sarutobi Hiruzen's mind was completely blown away.

And in the next moment, it was gone and he wondered if he had even seen anything at all. No, this really happened.

His trusted advisor walked past him, even more stone-faced than usual. "Well, are you coming?" he snapped irritably and Sarutobi followed, his mind already dwelling on the implications of what he had just seen.

The Anbu guard standing outside the door stepped to the side and bowed dutifully to the two legendary ninja. Sarutobi acknowledged him with a nod while Sakumo practically barged his way inside the hospital room, only to freeze when he saw his 'son'. His eyes betrayed the emotions churning in his gut but fortunately Sarutobi was behind him and the boy was asleep leaving no one to bear witness.

A mask covered the lower half of the boy's face. He pulled it down quickly, part of him hoping this was just some cruel prank concocted by Sarutobi. Fate however had seen fit to open up a new can of worms and his fears were confirmed. This was him, many many years ago. That was his nose, those were his cheeks, those were his eyebrows, that was his forehead; he did not need the Sharingan to confirm this.

He pulled up the eyelid of his left eye and behold, a red iris with two tomoe in a circle stared back up at him.

"Well?" Sarutobi asked. The Third's eyes watched from under the shadow the Hokage's hat availed to him.

Sakumo's voice was like ice. "I've come back from many of my missions grievously injured and I've spent more than a fair share of nights in this hospital. I'll admit it's quite possible some...monster took my DNA to create this-"

"-boy," Sarutobi cut in, "He is a human and I intend for him to be seen that way, regardless of whether he is a potential enemy." Sakumo ignored him gazing at the face of the child as if all the answers were written there. "Sakumo, you know I would understand. We all have a side of us that we rarely show to the world, like me and my Icha Icha collection. If mid-mission flings or your travels around the nations gave birth to this, it's alright."

The reply was prompt and cold, "I care not for your perverted stories and I have not indulged in any acts of perversion. I do not have the time for such frivolous acts."

Sarutobi sighed at having his humour dismissed so abruptly. With each passing day it became harder and harder to get through to this man.

"There was nothing on his person to indicate where he may have been before coming here?" Sakumo inquired.

"The rain did a good job of washing away any evidence, but our teams did manage to get something. In his hair, we found soil and rock particles, the kind which can particularly be found in the Land of Stone."

"Are you saying Iwa did this? My spies have reported nothing out of the ordinary in Iwa's ninja movements. Even then, could if it was Iwa, I think the Sharingan eyes would have turned up a lot sooner."

"I'm saying it could be Iwa, or it could be someone looking to frame Iwa. I met with Ohnoki last month and I can at least say that age has dulled his anger and thirst for war some." Sarutobi brought a hand to his chin. "Do you know of any relatives out there, scattered in the nations?"

The White Fang shook his head. "I am the last Hatake," he paused before adding, "...at least the last true blooded Hatake." Sakumo held the boy's hand up with his own and then lightly pressed the fingertips of his other hand against the boy's fingertips. The legendary ninja shut his eyes and breathed in once.

His eyes flew open then, a bright angelic white light replacing his usual dull grey eyes. The spectacle was dazzling, even for Sarutobi who had born witness to it for a few years. The dimly lit room gained extra intensity in brightness and Sarutobi had to avert his eyes a little. He focused them on Sakumo's fingertips, which the White Fang had begun to lightly pull away from his 'son's'. Five white strands of featherly white light connected the appendages, clearly not in solid, liquid or gaseous state but rather appearing like a strange mixture of all three.

"White chakra," Sarutobi breathed in amazement.

Sakumo cut the flow of chakra at once. The room darkened once more and his eyes dimmed to their usual grey. He held the boy's hand for a second more than necessary before letting go. Remarkably, the now confirmed Hatake had not even twitched from having his chakra tampered with like that.

Sarutobi was quick to begin his analysis, "You...you pushed your white chakra into his body to see how it would respond, thus somehow activating the white chakra in his body. His was drawn to yours like a magnet." Let no man say the Third Hokage did not earn the monicker that was 'The Professor'. "Did you know this would happen? As far as I know, you have never encountered any other Hatake and you yourself only unlocked this power a few years back."

Sakumo's body language practically screamed discomfort, even in the way he rubbed his hand which was going through a serious case of pins and needles. "I took a stab in the dark. You know how chakra is strongly cohesive and weakly adhesive. A similar kind will attract it while if the chakra was unfamiliar, they would have repelled. All the same, the results are clear. He is a Hatake...like me."

Sarutobi did not miss the way he said that last part.

"His vitals have steadily been improving since he was brought here unconscious. Doctors said he would probably wake within another day but your little trick has obviously given him a little boost, so perhaps it will be in a few hours." Indeed, Sakumo had noticed how the heart monitor's beeping had sped up a little.

Sarutobi continued, "I'll move him upstairs to a more comfortable room, so that when he wakes up, the information from him might flow a little easier."

"Seal his chakra."

Sarutobi did a double-take. "What?"

"AS of yet he is still an unknown. We don't know what he is capable of and I will not let you underestimate him because he is a child."

The Third was unsure. "We were going to initially but his vitals were still to low that any disturbance in the flow of his chakra could have killed him. The doctors advised against it."

"Obviously, right now he's not going to die immediately, so it's not that much of a risk."

His leader nodded slowly. "Very well. In the meantime, you should go get some rest. When he wakes up, you'll be informed immediately." Sakumo nodded and left without a word leaving the leader all alone with the mysterious youth who had appeared right on his village's doorstep as if out of thin air.

"Now Hatake, what path shall you lead us down, eh?"

The present...

"What did you call me?!"

Kakashi tilted his head, confusion etched on the few features he deemed worthy to show. "Dad, unless in this dream you...aren't my dad? I am your son right?"

"Dream?" the Third Hokage spoke, "this is no dream, young one."

Kakashi's right eye, the left being shut almost by reflex, shifted between the two nervously. "Not...a...dream?" Instinctively Kakashi's mind tried to recall his most recent memories.

"Child, I do not know what you're trying to say, but I am not your father."

In that instant, Kakashi remembered everything.

Story definitely not abandoned.