Apologies for posting late here. This chapter went up on friday over at AO3, and then I forgot to post it here.
ANBU operative Hound kneels on the floor of the Hokage's office, the wood still warm from the setting sun and the air thick with the smoke from the Hokage's pipe. Despite the double masks he's wearing - his normal, fabric one and the ANBU Hound one - his nose stings with the smell and his eyes would tear up with it if it wasn't for years and years of conditioning to suppress his body's natural reactions to such stimuli.
He has just given the initial report on his latest mission and is currently awaiting dismissal, upon which he plans to go back to his apartment, have a warm shower and a meal, sleep a few hours and then pick up a new mission in the morning. Depending on the possible intervention of some of the other shinobi of his kohort he might take an extra day or two to recuperate and look after his equipment. It isn't much but it is his routine and he likes it. It keeps him busy and doesn't allow for too much thinking about other matters.
"You remind me of your father," the Hokage says, in lieu of the expected dismissal. His voice is tired. Old even. Hound stiffens but he doesn't reply, since the Hokage technically hasn't asked a question. If the topic makes him uncomfortable he doesn't show it.
"You sound more and more like him everyday. Look like him too." The Hokage pauses, calculating eyes resting on Hound as he brings the pipe to his lips. "He was a skilled shinobi. As are you. The problem is that you don't remind me of the skilled shinobi that he was. You remind me of him as he was at the end."
Hound stiffens further but still doesn't reply, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the memories threatening to come to the surface. Operative Hound has better discipline than that.
"Which is why I have a new mission for you, Hatake Kakashi."
Recognising the prompting for what it is, Hound stands and removes his dog-mask, securing it to his belt before once again standing at attention before his Hokage. He briefly closes his one, visible eye, mentally shifting from ANBU operative Hound to jounin Hatake Kakashi. It is … uncomfortable, to force the shift to happen so swiftly and he knows he will be paying for it later, but it is far from the worst thing he has done for his village. It doesn't even really register on the scale of discomfort, rather more like a side note of something he will have to deal with later.
As he opens his eye again the Hokage is pushing three files towards him, across the desk. Kakashi recognises the look of them and thus isn't surprised by the words that follow.
"You've failed five teams of Academy graduates. This is your newest assignment. I don't need to tell you that the village can't afford for you to fail these particular students."
Still silent, Kakashi reaches for the files, opening them quickly enough to catch the names of this latest batch of students thrown his way. Uchiha Sasuke. Uzumaki Naruto. His breath catches briefly in his throat, something uncomfortable coiling in his stomach even as he refuses to show his discomfort. Neither operative Hound nor jounin Hatake Kakashi are prone to showing emotions, after all.
Jounin Hatake Kakashi doesn't have the same, blind obedience of operative Hound though.
"I don't think this is a good idea," Kakashi states, keeping his tone as calm and bland as if he is suggesting tea rather than voicing his displeasure. He's very carefully not displaying the inner turmoil caused by the files of Minato's son and Itachi's brother. "Pick someone else for this team."
"I've already made up my mind, Kakashi. You will be a perfect match for this team.
Objectively Kakashi can see the logic. He still doesn't want to do it though.
"It won't be fair," Kakashi cautiones. "Pick someone else."
He doesn't have to read their files to know that these two boys, with their respective backgrounds and traumas, will need a lot of individual attention. Plenty of guidance, moulding and personal counsel he isn't remotely capable of providing. Whereas almost any other jounin might look upon their files and see a golden opportunity - despite the general dislike of the jinchuriki there is tremendous power and potential there, and the last Uchiha promises to be a genius even without having awakened the sharingan yet - Kakashi sees only potential future mistakes.
Another rogue Uchiha, abandoning the village, leaving him wondering if he could have done anything to stop it.
A powerful weapon and shinobi out of control, needing to be put down in order to protect the village from a devastating rampage.
Deaths of innocents.
So no, Kakashi doesn't want this mission, these kids.
"Who else do you suggest I choose, Kakashi? Morino Ibiki?"
Kakashi glares at his superior then, because Morino Ibiki is one of very few people actually less suited to care for genin than himself. While Kakashi is arguably insane and probably broken beyond repair, Morino is most certainly clinically insane. Kakashi suspects that the only reason Morino hasn't been retired yet is because no one has figured out how to order him to do so and remain alive.
"Someone who is not me, and not Morino," Kakashi shoots back.
"But I need you, Kakashi, to supervise Uchiha Sasuke. Who else is better suited to teach him when he develops the sharingan?"
"When he does I'll teach him what I can. Make someone else take care of him until then."
"And considering your close relationship with Minato I believe you are the one person most appropriately suited to guiding his son."
"That is probably one of the biggest reasons why you should choose someone else."
"I've made my choice, Kakashi. Consider this an order."
Recognising that the Hokage isn't in a mood to accept any further arguing, Kakashi reluctantly accepts the files. Wishing that the dismissal had come sooner - when operative Hound had finished his report and been expecting it, thereby allowing him to avoid this whole affair - he turns around to leave. He pauses as a thought strikes him.
"What about the third one?" he asks, glancing down at the files but not needing to open them to double-check the names. "Haruno?"
It isn't a name he is familiar with, which only tells him that the third member of the team isn't shinobi-born. That alone is probably to her - and therefore now his - disadvantage.
"She's secondary," the Hokage assures him. "Promising, as it is, but your targets for this assignment are the boys."
"Understood."
With that Kakashi leaves the office, the mask of operative Hound weighing lightly at his belt and three, deceptively innocent looking files clasped in his hands.
His mind is already spinning, trying to come up with a way to avoid this calamity.
Like everything in his life his apartment is very carefully compartmentalised. The entrance, living room and kitchen are clean and tidy, lacking any signs of personality but containing all the necessary equipment. There is a short hallway leading further into the apartment and Kakashi steers his steps in that direction, pausing before two doors that perfectly mirror one another. The one on his left leads to operative Hound's bedroom and en suite bathroom, the one on the right to jounin Hatake Kakashi's near identical facilities.
Kakashi deposits the three files on the small side-table placed between the doors before he opens the door to his left. The room he enters is probably best described as spartan; there is a futon and a wardrobe containing the lightly altered Konoha ANBU standard uniform that he prefers, but otherwise very few comforts. One whole wall is taken up entirely by various weapons and ninja tools. Operative Hound typically spends as little time as possible in the village, so his room serves mainly as a convenient weapons storage. He doesn't like storage scrolls.
On quick but quiet feet Kakashi steers his steps towards the bathroom, where he quickly undresses and throws his dirty uniform into the washing machine. The weapons are deposited into a small pile, to be cleaned and sharpened later. He presses the start button before he saunters back out into the bedroom and then the hallway, closing the door to Hound's bedroom behind him. Though he was wearing Hound's uniform earlier, he wasn't actually Hound anymore, after all.
Hound and Hatake Kakashi share an apartment but they maintain a careful distance, for his own sanity.
The Yamanaka mind healers don't quite agree but he hasn't let any of them close enough to properly object in years, so he's essentially correct.
He picks up the files belonging to the jounin Hatake Kakashi and enters the second bedroom, which looks completely different from Hound's despite being almost an exact mirrored copy in the layout. It isn't what most people would call homely, but there are scattered photos of friends and family - some still alive, but altogether far too many long dead - on the walls and a couple of plants on the window frame. The curtains and the bed throw are a matching shade of green, the throw - which once was gifted to him by Gai - with a pattern of shuriken on it. There are two bookcases, both gifted to him by Minato-sensei. One filled with his collection of Icha Icha books and the other dedicated to various more educational books and scrolls. On the opposite side of the room from the bed stands a desk and a chair, and on this Kakashi carelessly deposits the files before he heads to the attached bathroom.
The shower that follows is long and hot, scorching his skin and burning away all traces of Hound and his latest mission. Kakashi takes the time to decompress, allowing the hot water to wash away all stress and tension within him.
When he finally emerges he almost feels like himself again, almost ready to take on the challenge posed by the three, deceptively innocent files on his desk.
Almost.
He avoids the desk in favour of getting dressed. The familiar jounin standard uniform slides on easily, Kakashi tapering down the edges of the cloth before zipping the flak jacket closed. Gloves and hitai-ate follow, and then he's dressed and ready to go.
Except it's now dark outside and closer to bedtime than mission-time.
He's supposed to meet his new team in the morning. Before that he should really get started on reading those files, get at least a few hours of sleep himself and definitely something to eat.
Like his namesake, operative Hound is obedient to a fault. Hound always puts the mission before himself, doesn't question orders and completes his missions with a ruthless efficiency. Luckily, he's not Hound anymore. He's Hatake Kakashi, and Hatake Kakashi has a fair bit more leeway when it comes to following orders. He'll do what he's told and he's unfailingly loyal to the village, but it's more or less expected of him that he'll be late or find little passive-aggressive ways to show his displeasure if he doesn't like his orders.
So Kakashi ignores the files waiting to be read and heads out instead, determined to get something to eat and preferably a drink or six.
Drinks are better than plotting to have his superior declared incompetent due to senility, right?
He finds his friends - that is, Asuma, Kurenai and Gai - at their usual pub. It is still relatively early in the evening - too late for the dinner rush, too early for the real drinkers - so the pub is mostly empty apart from them. Kakashi orders food and a drink before he quietly joins them. Gai and Kurenai smile welcomingly at him but quickly return their attention to Asuma, who has his head on the table and looks thoroughly miserable.
"What's going on?" Kakashi asks.
"We're discussing the advantages of patricide," Asuma mutters, his words muffled somewhat against his arms.
Kakashi blinks, once. It's the only sign of surprise he'll show. "Yours?" His voice is very carefully neutral and devoid of any judgement.
Asuma grunts in the affirmative.
"Hokage-sama gave him a genin team," Kurenai explains, her voice quiet even though there is no way that Asuma hasn't heard her.
"Not just a team," Asuma corrects her, raising his head to glare at her. "It's the fucking Ino-Shika-Cho heirs! Heirs! Which means that there's no way I'm actually allowed to fail them! I knew I shouldn't have returned after the Twelve Guardian Ninja were disbanded."
"He's just happy to have you back in the village," Kurenai argues back, even though she winces at the acknowledgement of the open secret that is the favoritism of the large shinobi clans.
A server arrives with Kakashi's food.
"Do you need any help?" Kakashi casually asks once the server has left.
Three pairs of eyes lock onto him like he has just told them he's planning on retiring and joining the circus. Kakashi pretends not to notice, casually picking at his food.
"You got a team of your own, didn't you?" Gai asks, putting the pieces together.
Kakashi hums the affirmative.
"That's all four of us, then," Asuma states, allowing his head to fall against the table again. "My dear father has officially doomed us all." His voice is practically dripping with sarcasm towards the end.
"You're looking at it from the wrong perspective!" Gai says, managing to keep his voice to acceptable indoor tones despite his excitement. "Having a team of genin of your own is an excellent chance to channel your youth!"
"I agree," Kurenai ads. "Personally I look forward to this."
While the other three are distracted Kakashi discretely pulls his mask aside enough to let him take a few quick bites. If they notice they don't comment or try to take a peek, too used to his antics. There's a reason they're still friends.
"Don't pretend like having the Hyuuga heiress on your team won't be a major headache!" Asuma argues. "And the Inuzuka are their own kind of pain in the ass, not to mention that you've got that creepy Aburame-kid!"
"Don't talk badly about my students, Asuma!"
"I'm sure the Hyuuga heiress will be an interesting one," Gai says. "The one on my team is-"
Kakashi listens to their continued conversation with half an ear, focusing instead on the food and then on nursing his drink. While he is tempted to drink himself into oblivion, he never really has been one to over consume spirits. One is perfectly fine but he doesn't like the loss of control that comes with excess consumption.
"Who do you have on your team, rival?" Gai asks, pulling Kakashi from his musings.
"Ah, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke and a Haruno Sakura."
Again they give him that surprised look. Asuma looks mildly mollified, as if the knowledge that he's not the only one who has been stuck with a team he doesn't really want with no real option of failing them somehow makes his own burden more manageable. Kakashi thinks he understands the feeling.
"That's a rough one," Kurenai says. "Two such big names, and then a civilian? What was the Hokage thinking?"
"I don't know," Kakashi shrugs. "So, about that patricide, Asuma?"
They laugh a little, joke a little and then move on to other topics. They talk about the past, the present and the future. While Gai has had his team for a year now it's still a new experience for the rest of them, which understandably makes them all somewhat nostalgic.
By the time he's back in his apartment it's late and Kakashi heads straight for bed. He doesn't bother to set an alarm. It's not like he has anything important to do in the morning.
All in all, through skillful avoidance and procrastination, it's already mid-morning by the time Kakashi settles down by his desk to finally get acquainted with the files of the future disasters he's been entrusted with. Of course, by then the actual little hellions are probably waiting for him in a classroom at the Academy, but they can probably wait a little longer. Patience is a virtue among shinobi, after all.
Kakashi regards his three students with cold eyes, his aura intentionally terrifying. They tremble, bento boxes forgotten at their feet at the prospect of being stripped of their ranks and cast out of the shinobi community in shame. And Kakashi wishes fervently to be free to fail them all. To at least send them back to the Academy for another year.
Uchiha Sasuke is teenage angst taken physical form: every time he opens his mouth to speak, every time he looks at Kakashi with those determined, dark eyes - hell, even every time Kakashi just looks at him - he reminds him of Itachi. Of their brief relationship as senpai and kōhai, of the Uchiha massacre and the hole within him that Kakashi refuses to acknowledge, yet which echoes with Why? and Wasn't there anything I could have done to stop it from happening? Yet Sasuke is so very clearly not Itachi: where Itachi was polite and controlled Sasuke is all hot temper and superiority, even admitting out loud to his ambition of fratricide. If that isn't a ticking bomb, Kakashi is a professional tea ceremony host.
Uzumaki Naruto looks like a carbon copy of his father, yet seems to lack any and all of Minato's good qualities. The boy is loud and obnoxious, with all the subtlety of an earthquake. Perhaps he takes after Kushina, but then she balanced her hot temper with actual prowess and skill. This boy lacks all common sense and - though Kakashi will admit to being a little bit impressed by his having mastered the shadow clone jutsu - showcases very little actual skill despite his loudmouthed bragging.
The girl, Haruno Sakura, is perhaps not the biggest disappointment on the team but that is only because Kakashi walked into this with very low expectations to begin with. Daughter of a career genin that got himself killed on the way home one evening and a woman who retired from active duty after only a few years due to her failing health. As such Kakashi doesn't expect much of her, yet she somehow still manages to underwhelm him with her performance. She's childish and immature, with an unhealthy obsession with Sasuke. Kakashi can't see any skill in her and he wonders if the Academy has started passing students based solely upon their academic grades.
Yet, the Hokage's words can't be ignored. The village can't afford for him to fail these students. Or at least not the boys, which means that he can't fail the girl either, dead weight or not. They need a three-man squad, after all.
"But … but … but …" Naruto shrieks, his voice high pitched as he struggles against the ropes tying him to the pole. "Sensei, you said ..! That's why these two ..!"
There's a shadow there, loaming over Naruto: one that isn't entirely Minato-sensei and Kushina. The brash, loud mouthedness is like an echo of Obito. Something in Kakashi's chest twists, uncomfortably and painfully yet reminiscent of a bone being set right after a break.
"Yeah! We three are a team!" Sakura adds, kneeling on the ground with her hands raised before her, as if she's pleading for her life.
A more generous person than him might compare her to Rin, with her civilian background and seemingly gentle personality. However Kakashi sees only her ineptitude and thinks that she will be the first to die of the three.
"Yeah," Sasuke agrees, looking torn between fight or flight.
Kakashi resists looking at Sasuke, because while there are clear echoes of Itachi there's also so many similarities to himself at that age. Sasuke's fierce superiority somehow mirrors his own worst self, something he thought he had escaped a long time ago. Being confronted with it now hurts.
He dislikes them all, for very real and legitimate reasons. Yet there is a part of him that he hasn't been aware of for years - a piece that has somehow remained less jaded than the rest of him - that honestly wants to pass them. Wants to see what they can do, that might even want to guide them. Even though their piss-poor excuse for teamwork risks seeing them all dead as soon as they encounter a real enemy.
Kakashi isn't sure whether he should be grateful or not that he doesn't really have a choice in the matter.
"You pass," he tells them.
The Hokage has given him an order.
It is up to Kakashi to keep them alive long enough to learn some actual teamwork.
Between them being fresh from the Academy and the D-ranked missions they will be undertaking for the foreseeable future, that shouldn't be too difficult. Right?
Kakashi looks up from his re-reading of Icha Icha Paradise at the sound of raised voices. He's just in time to see a timber beam falling towards one of his students, the other two too busy with their own brawling to notice the danger to their team mate.
With a sigh he picks the beam out of the air before it can hit Sakura, puts the book away and joins the boys on the roof of the shed they are supposed to repair.
This is the the third time this week that the boys have started fist fighting - and it is nothing so elegant as the forms of hand to hand combat that they have been taught at the Academy, oh no, they're just rolling around on the roof full out brawling - and the fifth time he has had to intervene to prevent possible, serious injuries.
Sixth, he corrects himself as Sasuke throws Naruto off of the roof. With his free hand Kakashi quickly grabs a hold of Naruto's ankle, ensuring that the boy won't land on his neck, and pulls him back up.
"Calm down, you two," he admonishes them, forcing his voice to remain bland and patient.
They're children, he reminds himself. Children born in peacetime, who have never seen war and never had to grow up as quickly as he has, despite their respective traumas. It isn't fair of him to expect excellence from them just yet. They're only a week into their shinobi careers, and this phase is more about team building and bonding than the actual missions they are doing.
Even if they're failing miserably at both team building and the actual missions.
"Yeah, calm down Naruto! And stop bothering Sasuke-kun!"
"Sakura-chan! It was the he who …"
"Idiot."
"What did you say to me, you bastard?! I'll show you ..!"
His head pounding with a building headache, Kakashi sets the beam and Naruto down, shifting his grip on Naruto to his jacket in order to hold him back from trying to pummel Sasuke.
"We're supposed to be fixing this roof," he explains, as patiently as he can. "Killing each other is not part of the mission. And you two almost killed Sakura-chan when you dropped this beam."
That at least catches their attention and both boys settle down, looking somewhat properly contrite.
"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan," Naruto offers, looking guiltily down at his comrade on the ground.
"Be more careful next time!" she scolds, glaring up at them.
"Sorry," Sasuke mutters.
Kakashi briefly closes his eye, silently praying to any higher powers who may be listening for patience, as Sakura squeals and fawns over Sasuke.
By pure coincidence he comes across Asuma one afternoon while on his way back home to his own apartment. Asuma is just coming out from a restaurant, three little genin in tow. Kakashi hangs back until Asuma has waved goodbye to them before he approaches.
"Yo," he greets Asuma. "How's it going?"
"I'm going to go bankrupt if this goes on," Asuma sighs, turning away from looking after the three children. "You?"
"I'm more likely to go insane before I go bankrupt, but then I don't have an Akimichi on my team."
Asuma chuckles at that and they fall into step beside one another. Around them the streets are bustling with life in the late afternoon.
"I have to admit though," Asuma says slowly, hands in his pockets and turning his face upwards, allowing the sunshine to fall on his face, "maybe the old man knew what he was doing, after all."
"So no patricide then?"
"Nah. They're good kids. Lazy and in need of bribes to do just about anything, but good kids."
"Good to hear that yours are turning out alright at least."
Kakashi pulls out his book and flips it open, pretending not to notice the worried look Asuma gives him.
"Yours not working out?"
He flips a page in his book, considering his answer before he speaks.
"I suppose they're not entirely hopeless. It's just difficult to see their good sides."
"It'll come," Asuma tries to comfort him, although he doesn't look entirely convinced himself. "I'm sure they're good kids too."
"Maybe," Kakashi agrees.
After all, he turned out alright, didn't he? And looking back, he had been at least as hopeless as those three when he was put under Minato-sensei. Just a more skilled shinobi.
Team 7, and Kakashi with them, slowly settles into a routine. They meet in the morning for training and do missions in the afternoon. Sometimes Kakashi will switch things around and they'll do missions in the morning and training in the afternoon, but overall it is all the same. Kakashi tries to keep things as basic as he can, watching the three genin in his charge and trying to make out their respective strengths and weaknesses.
There are a lot of weaknesses.
Kakashi prefers a sort of hands-off but vaguely planned sort of training, which he slowly increases the difficulty of based on whatever missions they recieve. Mostly it's practical skills, such as how to use radio communication when surrounding a target, how to build a steady roof, how to interact with civilians with no training and so forth.
Teamwork continues to be a struggle; Naruto and Sasuke are always on each other's throat and Sakura at Naruto's because of it. A lesser man might succumb to the urge to beat them over the head until they stop fighting. Kakashi resists the temptation and is happy for it, when he discovers that the key to the issue is not to partner either boy with Sakura for training, but to partner them with one another. As long as Kakashi keeps an eye on them, reminding them to keep to their forms and not lose themselves entirely to the fight, they make a good sparring pair.
Following that the two start to improve drastically, Kakashi taking every opportunity to put them against one another in order to further their motivation.
Sakura, in comparison, seems to actually get worse.
He decides to address it one day, as they sit down to eat their lunches and he notices that she once again hasn't actually brought a lunch to eat. This diet of hers has to stop.
An active ninja on any sort of low-calorie diet is just insane.
The boys have settled down on opposite sides of the training ground, glaring surreptitiously at each other as they eat. Kakashi saunters over to Sakura, seated in the shadow beneath a tree with a far away look in her eyes.
"This diet of yours is ridiculous and needs to stop," he tells her, sitting down and pulling out his own lunch. "Shinobi need proper nutrition."
She startles and looks up at him in surprise before a self-deprecating smile crosses her face.
"I know, sensei," she says, in that high pitched, naive voice of hers. "I just don't want to get fat."
Kakashi resists the urge to rub at his temples in annoyance. Instead he sighs, trying to summon whatever patience he has.
"You are an active shinobi in training. You should be eating a lot more than you currently are," he explains patiently. "As it is, your body is sustaining itself on whatever energy it has stored. In other words, you are actually losing muscles."
"I'm sure it's not that bad, Kakashi-sensei …"
Out of patience with her excuses Kakashi interrupts her, not caring how rude he comes across. "It is. At this rate you will be a burden to your team. For a D-rank that might not be too serious, if you don't mind others pulling your weight for you. For a higher-ranked mission you might actually get someone killed."
Her smile falters then and she glances over towards the boys. Kakashi remains silent, allowing her a moment to consider his words. Hopefully he has gotten through to her, because he isn't sure how he can make this any more clear to her without actually putting the team in danger.
"Well, I'm only a genin yet, so I guess this is the perfect time to be on a diet," she quietly says, offering him a small smile.
According to her file from the Academy she's supposed to be smart, but at that moment Kakashi wonders if she isn't secretly more dense than Naruto. The thought is more than a little frustrating.
"Ma, Sakura, I thought you were supposed to be the smart one on the team," he says, giving her a pointed look and allowing some of his frustration to leak into his voice. "Didn't they teach you about the importance of proper nutrition at the Academy?"
She flushes then and looks away, a curious mixture of shame and indignation visible on her face.
"Of course they did!"
"Then you know that proper nutrition is necessary for physical and mental growth. Poor nutrition can not only have adverse consequences for your biological development, but also lead to physical deformities, disabilities and even death. Especially in this line of work."
She doesn't meet his eyes. Quietly she brings her knees up towards her chest, thin arms encircling them to hug them tightly as she visibly struggles to reject his words.
"I know," she admits quietly. "It's just … I've been gaining some weight recently, and I was afraid I might get fat."
"Any weight you've gained is most likely muscle," he admonishes, trying for a tone both stern and compassionate. He hands her his own, untouched bento box. "Eat."
She stares at him in surprise before slowly accepting the bento box, her stomach growling loudly. Opening it she stares at its content, licking her mouth longingly and swallowing nervously before looking up at him again.
"Won't you be hungry, Kakashi-sensei?"
"I can go without food for a day. Make sure to bring your own tomorrow. Now, eat."
To his relief she does as she's told, visibly losing all reservations about her diet once she starts actually eating. Perhaps he has gotten through to her. He hopes so, because there are few people he considers less equipped to deal with a teenage girl with an eating disorder than himself.
For the time being his plan is pretty simple when it comes to her; keep her alive long enough for the other two to be promoted to chunin. Then he can steer her in the direction of the Genin Corps. It isn't the most glamorous shinobi position - consisting of all those shinobi unable to advance through the ranks, oftentimes despite repeated efforts - but he thinks it will suit her well. Besides, her father was one of the Genin Corp's proudest members before his demise.
That afternoon, like usual, when Kakashi declares that they are officially done with their last mission of the day, Sakura is the first to leave. She hurries away, with a quick goodbye to the team, her pink hair disappearing into the masses of people on the streets.
That is the last that Kakashi sees of her.
She doesn't show up the next morning.
In the early afternoon he receives a message from the Hokage that Haruno Sakura officially has handed in her letter of resignation, withdrawn from shinobi duty and is now engaged to be married to a civilian noble.
It doesn't sit right with him. He mulls it over and decides that he'll go see her personally.
Then team 7 receives their first C-ranked mission; to escort a bridge builder to the Land of Waves.
And that effectively puts an end to all of Kakashi's carefully laid out plans.
This is actually the first part of a series I am planning. I will probably post them as separate "books", but for now I have a total of 20 chapters planned for book one, with a total of 5 books of similar length. Hesitant posting schedule will be once a week, probably fridays or saturdays depending on my schedule in real life.