Previously on The Kakashi Way...
Sasuke from the future accidentally time-travels back to the day team 7 passed the bell test. He realizes he's in a different universe, and decides to troll everyone like Kakashi would. He finds it far more entertaining that he'd thought. But trolling or not, he's going to help the younger team 7, starting with befriending Naruto, metaphorically smacking Sakura upside the head with perspective, and beating the tar out of his idiotic younger self. Oh, and he's taken out Danzo, exposing him to the rest of Konoha. That was a given.
Because Danzo was placed under a genjutsu, they had to assume it was a sharingan that did it. So, off goes Kakashi to T&I (where he's cleared, but other things are uncovered and he ends up being ordered/strong armed into therapy) while Sasuke is evaluated and deemed a potential flight risk. He's been given several lessons over the course of a week, by the rest of Konoha and his older self, while Sakura and Naruto train. They've all come to some realizations.
Now we've reached the end of the first week of Sasuke's ('call me Indra') time in the past.
xXx
Getting out of T&I felt like the weight of the world had finally lifted from his chest. Going to see the Hokage… hadn't been nearly so nice, but it wasn't unwelcome either. It would earn him his freedom after all, and just about anything was worth that.
Just about.
He didn't want to find out someone had infiltrated the village and targeted his team while he'd been in T&I.
This was why he hated interrogations.
(The pain and torture may have something to do with it too… but potentially missing out on something important was far worse.)
He had made the requisite promise to the Hokage regarding Shimura and his lot, and was in the process of leaving to check on his team when he'd run into Ebisu.
"Pardon me Hatake," the Special Jounin had almost growled, showing a very thin smile over gritted teeth (Kakashi had noticed the lack of an honorific… he must have been really ticked—how delightful). "Congratulations on your release, but I suppose I should be thankful I ran into you. I was just on my way to the Hokage to ask who was assigned to your team in my stead."
The Copy Nin had paused. He hadn't been aware of anyone else being assigned… "Someone else? You didn't recognize them?"
Ebisu had shaken his head, "No. I'm sure I've never seen the man before. He had long, black hair, pale skin, looked kind of like an Uchiha, now that I think about it. He was missing and arm and had one eye covered."
Kakashi had frozen. An Uchiha, missing an eye and a limb…. It… couldn't be, he'd told himself. It couldn't. His usually easy breathing had hitched and the Copy Ninja hadn't been able to get its rhythm settled.
The other ninja had continued distractedly, "And so rude, too, He reminded me of you and your attitude a bit. Didn't even acknowledge my presence, even though I know he made me."
Panic and hope had warred in Kakashi like his nin-ken over a lone bone. He'd wanted to believe it could be him, but all logic and reason had screamed that it had to be a trick or trap of some kind. His hands had gripped the paperwork he'd been carrying, crinkling and wrinkling the off-white paper.
He'd forced himself to be calm. It had taken more effort than he'd like to admit. He kept telling himself he could be calm. He could be. (He had to be…)
Focus on the world around you, Hatake. The smell of the tower, the sound of people and ninja scurrying around on their own duties, the feel of the paper in your hands, Ebisu talking to you…
He remembered thinking he should probably listen to that.
"-Though I can't fault his results. Your team was quite attentive from what I saw." Yeah, no. He'd known he needed to see the Hokage.
Yesterday.
xXx
"He had long, black hair, pale skin, looked kind of like an Uchiha, now that I think about it," Ebisu described the man he'd seen with the team he'd been assigned to. That he'd taken off time to do a favor for the Hokage on Hatake's behalf. That he'd been misled to meet at the wrong time and place.
Hatake had some gall. Ebisu could have spent the week teaching the Honorable Grandson of the Third. And maybe no one else seemed to care that he taught the boy, but he did! Whether others respected what he chose to focus on or not, they should at least respect his time and effort!
Still… "Although, I can't find fault in his results," he admitted sullenly. "Your team was quite attentive from what I saw." He thought back to how the children seemed to hang off the man's every word. Why wouldn't Konohamaru-sama do that for him?
A thought for later. Right now he had someone to berate.
"Anyway… Um, Hatake… Hatake?" Ebisu turned his attention back to the man he'd been speaking to, only to find himself alone in the hallway. No pale-haired ninja in sight.
He grit his teeth. "Rude as ever," he grumbled and continued his furious march to the Hokage's office.
He got there just in time to see Hatake leap out the window… followed by an entire squad of ANBU.
What.
xXx
Naruto knew he wasn't the brightest candle on the cake. It used to bother him a lot, but at some point (he couldn't quite remember when), he'd stopped caring so much. Maybe it was when he realized that it didn't matter what he did, the teachers would always hate him and call him stupid. None of his efforts did any good, so he needed to focus more on things he was good at. Like pranking.
But he wasn't stupid either, no matter what those teacher-jerks back at the academy had tried to convince him of.
He didn't know why Sasuke couldn't be with him and Sakura. He only knew the Teme had gone to the hospital and had to assume it had been bad—although he couldn't really guess as to why or what had happened—simply because it had taken him days to come back. Same with Kakashi-sensei, although he just seemed to have abandoned them.
He didn't know why Indra was so different from every other adult he'd ever met… but he did know that after only a couple of days (almost a week) of working with him, both he and Sakura had just changed. It wasn't only that Naruto knew how to fight better now, but there was something else that just made him want to keep training. It wasn't funner (although it kind of was) but it was more interesting and he felt like he could do it if he pushed himself. He'd rarely felt anything like that at the academy.
Sakura was nicer too. He'd always thought she was super pretty with her pink hair and green eyes—they made her stand out like his bright hair and eyes did sometimes too. And sometimes people were mean to her about them too. So he thought they could get along and was determined to make sure they could! He would ask her on a date until she said yes and then they could kick butt when they weren't on dates and then they could get married and fight together. It would be awesome!
Except she never had wanted to. It hurt when she looked at him with the same eyes as the others, but he'd stuck through it. Iruka-sensei had changed his opinion, and Jiji said Naruto would have to change everyone else's opinion, so why not start with her?
But she hadn't changed until Indra-nii talked to her. Naruto didn't know what the man had said, but he wasn't sure if he should be happy that she was finally being nice or upset that Indra-nii had changed her opinion instead of him. He'd wanted to change her opinion of him because that would mean he could change everyone else's opinions!
In the end, though, he decided that just seeing her trying so hard to get stronger and starting to accept him was enough for now. And once she said she was off 'the market' (Indra-nii had explained that to him that night, which he really appreciated because it would have been embarrassing to ask anyone else), he'd stopped asking her on dates.
This new Sakura was different, but way cooler and he wanted to support that.
He hadn't expected something similar from Sasuke when he returned the second time. The Teme was the one to suggest a sort of bell test, like they'd had that first day with Kakashi-sensei, except against Indra-nii. The older Uchiha had looked more than a little amused at the idea. He'd also looked about as surprised as Naruto had felt when Sasuke had actually suggested it.
Then the man had agreed on one condition. With that, he'd taken a piece of cloth and tied it around his eyes.
"Why are you doing that, Indra-nii?!" he'd asked loudly. "You gotta be able to see to beat us!"
"Eyes are integral to Uchiha," Sasuke had agreed (much to Naruto's continued surprise).
"Which is why every intelligent enemy you come up against will do their best to blind you," Indra-nii returned calmly. "They'll throw up dust storms, attack light sources, even go for your eyes—and some of them are good enough to hit. It's always a good idea for Uchiha to learn to fight without their vision.
"Besides, without this, beating you would be too easy."
Sasuke had looked thoughtful (if a little offended) after that, and Naruto could see why. Then Naruto had to wonder if he had something people would automatically attack? Then again, Indra-nii said his biggest strength was that he wasn't predictable and that he needed to play to that to really make his fights count.
After that, Indra-nii had taken out a scroll he'd had on him and said that they had two hours to find him and take said scroll. Then, unlike Kakashi-sensei, he'd just vanished.
That was when Sasuke had brought Naruto and Sakura together to talk with them about what they could do.
It was weird, but not the strangest thing the blond had ever seen from his teammates, so he rolled with it for now.
The Uchiha studied them with narrowed eyes. "Give a quick summary of your current skillsets and strong points. I'm good at taijutsu, Katon jutsu, wire traps, and weapons. Sakura, you're up next." Sasuke spoke hurriedly, his voice snapping and no-nonsense. Naruto frowned, wanting to ask who put the teme in charge, but then he remembered what Indra had said about listening to his teammates and he bit his tongue. Just because he could see the merit in each of them knowing what the other could do, not that he would necessarily follow anything the teme said if he decided to be a jerk about it.
Their pink-haired team member straightened her back when Sasuke spoke her name and she suddenly looked very serious. Naruto thought she looked prettier like that too.
She nodded and briskly spoke, "I'm okay at taijutsu—I've been working on it pretty hard this week—and good with the Academy Three. I can tree walk pretty well now. My water walking is still a bit shaky," she paused to glance at Sasuke before finishing with, "I'm also proficient at traps."
Sasuke stared at her. "You can what?!" he asked quietly.
Sakura looked suddenly pleased. "I've been working hard this week, like I said! I will be a strong Kunoichi!"
Naruto cocked his head to the side with a squint, "But you're already a strong kunoichi, Sakura-chan!"
The pinkette blushed and snapped, "Just tell us your strengths, Naruto!"
The blond shrugged and grinned, "Fine. I'm great at Kage bunshin and getting better at tajutsu every day! I'm good with weapons and surprise attacks. I'm also good at traps, but I need time to set 'em up, dattebayo!"
Sasuke nodded thoughtfully, "Ok, so with all that, I think I have a plan. Naruto, how many Kage bunshin can you make?"
The Uzumaki screwed his face in concentration. He hummed in thought before saying, "A lot. Dozens easy. More's not difficult if you want, though. I think I made over a thousand before."
Naruto couldn't remember ever having ever seen that look on Sasuke's face. The Teme was staring at him like he'd never seen him before. It made Naruto want to shift around until Sasuke turned his expression to their third teammate. Who nodded in confirmation.
"Right," Sasuke said hoarsely.
xXx
Sasuke stared at his teammate in utter shock. Even if Naruto had been exaggerating that… that was… corporeal clones took a lot of chakra. Even the least chakra intense ones were chuunin level at the least. He couldn't quite wrap his head around even a fraction of the numbers the blond had stated so nonchalantly so he turned to his pink-haired teammate.
Sakura's casual nod of agreement made the young Uchiha blink again. Sakura can walk on vertical surfaces and water while Naruto can create a veritable army… How much have I missed out on?! What have these two even been doing this last week?!
He tried to wrap his head around that again, but eventually shoved the implications of the utter chakra monster that was his teammate to the side in favor of planning their next moves against Indra-sensei.
He glanced around, searching for the man and trying to sense him out, but found nothing. "Right," he managed to get out, but then shook his head. Here and now. "Can your bunshin contact you if they find the target?"
The blond tipped his head to one side in confusion. "You mean Indra-sensei?"
Sasuke wanted to sigh, but settled for rolling his eyes. "Yes."
Naruto grinned as both he and Sakura nodded and the blond said, "When they pop, I get their memories! Almost instantly too!"
Sasuke blinked again because… that was not a chuunin level technique.
Deep breaths.
Here and now.
"Okay." That would definitely help in finding Indra-sensei. "We just need some for scouting right now. Make several and have them spread out to search. Meanwhile, we'll look for a good place to prepare an ambush to surprise him."
Naruto immediately made a cross shaped hand sign and shouted, "Kage bunshin no Jutsu!" Sasuke couldn't tell exactly how many clones popped into existence, but he suspected a few dozen at least. Somehow, he knew that this once, Naruto hadn't been exaggerating about his skills.
That… was such a useful technique… he had to learn it…
No, focus! Don't get distracted by powerful jutsu! Even if it's from Naruto. Especially if it's from Naruto.
The clones spread out in a nonsensical wave of orange. Sasuke hoped the multiple Narutos wouldn't alert Indra-sensei before they could actually ambush the man. Then he reexamined that thought and realized he just needed to plan for exactly that.
"Alright, once he know where he is, it'll be easier for us to find a good place to set up our ambush. We need to start looking for good areas. Once we get there, Sakura will set up her three fastest, strongest traps designed to hold him in place. Naruto and his clones will have to harry him and drive him to the right area. Sakura and I will both be waiting for him there. If he gets caught by the traps, great. If not, I'll attack him with Naruto. We'll…" he paused, not wanting to say the next words but knowing they were true nonetheless, so he spoke through gritted teeth, "have to attack together. Sakura, you'll be in the best position to look for an opening to get that scroll. That is our objective. Aim for the scroll before you aim for Indra-sensei."
Naruto nodded along with her, "Alright! We can also trip him up if I Henge some Kage bunshin into you and Sakura-chan! That should really help in confusing him! And if one of them attacking is Sakura-chan, then he won't think she's behind him, waiting to steal that scroll!"
Sasuke twitched a bit. He wasn't going to admit the dobe had a good idea he hadn't considered… even if it was a really good idea.
He swore silently, but aloud he simply said, "Sure, just keep it believable."
xXx
Sasuke… no, he needed to think of himself as Indra for now. Indra was not unused to traveling blind. It was something he did on a fairly regular basis actually. Few things could lure bandits in more than a sign of weakness. A one-armed blind man with a walking stick? He practically painted a target on his back.
Recently, he'd tried to pick out the bandits that were either desperate or coerced and tried to talk them into rethinking their life. It usually worked when he held kunai to their throats. He didn't think many of them actually turned their lives around… if he were Naruto, they likely would have. He didn't know how his best friend could do that, but he could. Part of Sasuke wanted to be able to talk people into turning their lives around… but part of him knew he couldn't really relate to people as Naruto did, and so would likely never be able to reach them.
Still, he'd made a point to try and give them a chance, often letting them go at a local town and even helping them out a bit if they asked for it. But he rarely continued to fight blind once initially attacked.
He could technically fight while blind, but it had been a while since he'd done so last—at least against a decent ninja opponent—and he felt a little rusty. That actually served his purposes for this little test that his younger self had proposed, though. The brats actually stood the barest chance of getting one-up on him now.
Hmm… maybe he needed to work on his attitude a little. Kakashi tended to act like he was the best thing since sliced bread, but he didn't actually believe it. And honestly, neither did Sasuke… although he had confidence in his skills.
He was just contemplating this and going over what techniques he should and shouldn't use—nothing more than b-rank jutsu, probably—when he felt the explosion of chakra. It was so familiar he almost had to smile. Almost.
Kage bunshin incoming.
He shook his head as he went to hide—not too deeply, but deeply enough that a genin Naruto would have to be actively looking for him. At this age, he hadn't realized his sensor abilities, and frankly Indra had no idea how to teach those to the kid. Part of that came with his Uzumaki heritage, but part of that came after he'd gotten on better terms with Kurama…
Oh, speaking of, he hadn't actually trolled the fox yet. He'd have to fix that…
Not two minutes later, several Narutos ran by, most of them on the ground seeing as he didn't know how to tree walk, but some of them were swinging or jumping through the trees as they'd been taught in the academy. That became infinitely easier once one knew how to tree walk, but he wasn't doing too badly of a job at the moment.
Several passed Indra by before one spotted him.
"There he is!" one of them yelled. Then he dissipated into smoke.
Well, that was his cue, he supposed.
He began to run through the tree tops. He considered it a leisurely pace, but it should push the genin…
He was beginning to understand why Kakashi had always called them his 'cute little genin'.
That thought caused him to pause for the barest moment. Maybe he was getting a little too into his Kakashi act…
"Kawarimi!" he heard Naruto's voice suddenly yell and then his eyes went wide as the kid appeared right next to him. He could sense the younger version of his best friend swinging for his head and he had to duck, jumping back, barely missing the boy's fist.
He… hadn't expected that, to be honest. What had Naruto even kawarimi'd with? A leaf?
Naruto, on the other hand, yelped as his fist didn't meet what he'd intended and then he shrieked and screamed as he fell to the forest floor, only to dissipate in a puff of smoke. He was glad that hadn't been the real Naruto as rescuing him now wouldn't drive home as much of a lesson, so he wouldn't have intervened unless he thought the boy was in serious danger. But that would have hurt anyone. Even Naruto.
Not seconds after the clone vanished, several other loud shouts of, "Kawarimi!" sounded and Sasuke found himself dodging young Narutos left and right. Good thing the boy had so much (and such familiar) chakra that he could read the moves from his chakra senses alone.
It actually took him several seconds to realize he was being herded and he had to hand it to the kid. He was so impressed, actually, that he continued to let the many clones drive him where they wanted him to go. It had to be an ambush or trap of some kind.
Several Narutos banded together and threw some of the clones at him, one after another. And with Naruto, he couldn't tell whether this was a distraction or just something he made up on the spot.
He couldn't help a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
And that was when his leg found the trip-wire.
Oh. Clever children. That would be too small for him to detect on such short notice without being able to see it.
He did sense the movement of the trap as he dodged the kunai set to fling in his direction… and the log. That had been a rather large log for this quick of a trap. Not bad there, genin. And then, just as he went to land, he heard the hissing that was a tell-tale sound of an explosive tag.
He used a kawarimi to get away from that one. He did remember Sakura favoring multi-layered traps, as had he, even at that age.
And then a whooshing sound and the blast of heat coming his way and such a familiar chakra signature…
Ah, so his younger self was attacking him.
Indra dodged by grasping onto a tree trunk with chakra in his hand, ignoring the pain as it pulled at his joints (he'd have to have someone look at those once he got back to his own time) and changed his momentum, bringing his legs up and around, then releasing his chakra as he launched up and over the enormous fireball. As he did so, though, several Narutos met him in mid air… Indra didn't remember him using the kawarimi so much…
"HaaaaaAAAH!" he heard Sakura's voice from off to the side and frowned. That wasn't her signature…
Oh. That was a henge. Naruto always had paid attention to the most random little details, and exactly how Sakura's voice sounded? That was just like his best friend.
But then where was the real—
Suddenly, he sensed her at his back, reaching for his pocket with the scroll sticking out of it. He may have panicked ever so slightly as he turned to grab her hand a little faster than he'd intended. She cried out in surprise.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled.
And then Indra wasn't holding her wrist anymore, he was holding Naruto's…
Wait… had the boy just kawarimi'd with his teammate? That was extremely difficult to do… unless one had an immense amount of chakra—far more than the person they were trading places with. Right. He'd bet that this Naruto hadn't even known that when he'd tried it… they'd have to address that.
Later. When they weren't in the middle of a spar.
He ducked as Naruto somehow found the leverage to swing for his jaw, then felt someone grab his ankle… and stick to it with chakra.
"Sasuke!" Sakura yelled as this had all happened in mid-air, when he'd had quite a bit of momentum going, and she'd anchored herself to a tree with her feet (right after being forcefully kawarimi'd too… he had to give this Sakura more credit, that had been brilliant) and stopped any momentum, redirecting it with a loud, "Ha!" as she yanked.
He knew he wouldn't be able to turn in time. If he had his second arm, it would have been a different story, but he didn't. Even Indra, with all his knowledge and past experience couldn't block his back without access to his dojutsu.
So he took the Kakashi route again.
He kawarimi'd. He could see why his former sensei used it so often now. Academy taught or not, it was immensely useful. In his opinion, the most useful of the Academy three. He could have shunshin'd, but why when he could use the academy jutsu to accomplish the same thing? He was teaching genin, after all.
His jutsu succeeded without him having to use a hand sign or call out the name, almost instantly transporting him away and replacing his body with a log… but he also felt slightly lighter. The weight on his back was different.
Heh. So he, of all people, hadn't been fast enough, and they'd managed to get it.
He landed and pulled off his blindfold, turning to face Team 7. He saw the three of them standing a couple of trees away, on a large branch and looking down at the scroll Sasuke held as if in shock.
Then Naruto whooped, jumped, pumped his fist in the air… and fell off the branch. Indra decided that as a reward, he'd stop him from getting hurt this once.
"We actually did it, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said excitedly.
"Yeah…" Sasuke said quietly, looking at the scroll as if he didn't quite believe it himself. He had a pretty good ideas as to how strong Indra was, after all.
"Once you obtain your objective, you would typically run and get it to whomever it needed to go to, not just stand around," Indra said as he landed back on the branch beside them, carrying Naruto over his shoulder. "And just because you obtain your goal doesn't negate the fact that you would likely be in enemy territory and shouldn't relax your guard or your awareness of your surroundings." He raised one pointed eyebrow at a sheepish Naruto as he set him down and backed away.
"However," the older Uchiha forced himself to smile like Kakashi would (it probably came off as a little scary as the genin all backed away), "you all did very well. Congratulations."
He turned to Naruto. "Your ability to come up with new ways to use old techniques definitely took me by surprise. You never became predictable, and that will be your biggest strength in battle. I hope you can see that now."
The blond nodded emphatically and Indra returned that nod with one of his own before turning to the younger version of his wife.
"Sakura, you were able to roll with the punches to an extent that you were able to take advantage of openings you wouldn't have been able to otherwise. You were focused, observant and inventive. Very well done."
She blushed and looked away, but didn't bother to hide her large smile.
Then he turned to his younger self. "Sasuke, you worked seamlessly with your teammates and put the success of the mission as your highest priority under your teammate's safety. That is something that took me years to learn after I became a genin at your age. I cannot tell you how proud I am of you… and your parents would be too."
Was it bad that Indra found it amusing that all three genin had gone bright red? Even his younger self (even though he was trying—and failing—to hide it).
Still, they looked so happy and accomplished. It was something he didn't remember from his Team 7 until much, much later.
Was this where he treated all of them to a meal or something? As a reward? Kakashi had never done that… but then again, Team 7 hadn't really come together until after the Wave mission… and even then.
Was this what it would have been like had Orochimaru not poisoned his mind with that stupid seal of his?
Indra was just about to open his mouth and suggest they go get some barbecue or ice cream or something when he sensed several new human signatures approaching quickly. He contemplated running, but ultimately decided it would be too much hassle.
So he continued to watch Team Seven talk excitedly among themselves as the ANBU (some with very familiar chakra signatures) surrounded them.
Ah. Too bad. It seemed his jig was up. So he turned to see the very man he'd been 'filling in' for leading the charge. Indra had wondered where Kakashi had gone.
The silver haired man looked livid.
Indra blinked at him for several seconds, then just forced another smile (the ANBU all prepared for an attack) and waved two fingers through the air casually.
"Yo," he said.
xXx
AN: Okay, sorry this took so long to get out. Things came up irl and we had some things to take care of. Obi kept posting, but Quathis just didn't have time to go over it. Well, now we're back and hopefully better than ever!
If you'd like to come to Obi's Discord, follow this link: discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (No spaces). It's a quiet server, but I like it. Great people imo. :)