XV - The Calm
Naruto glared at the man slouching in front of him. "Come on, Kaito-ni! Teach me some cool jutsus, not this lame stuff."
The man in question just leaned against a tree, a lazy smile forming on his face. "What did you say?"
Naruto stamped the ground and gathered his breath. "STOP IGNORING ME!"
"What?" He leaned in toward Naruto and cupped his ears with his hand. "Sorry, can you speak up?"
"Uhhh!" Naruto groaned as he picked up the kunai. "How is this supposed to help me?!"
At this, Kaito suddenly perked up, as his eyes locked onto Naruto. There was a sudden alertness in his movements as he chuckled. "You can't achieve anything if your basics are horrible."
"Hey! Are you saying I'm a horrible Ninja!?" Naruto pushed his face into Kaito's, steam pouring from his nostrils. He turned and began walking back into the training arena but was stopped by Kaito's words.
"Why do you want to become stronger? What do you want to achieve that needs such a thing?"
"I'm going to become the Hokage, and the Hokage is the strongest ninja! Duh!"
"Why do you want to become the Hokage?" Kaito asked. He was fully lying down in the shade of the tree.
"Huh?"
"I said, why do you want to become Hokage?"
"So, everyone in the village will acknowledge me, Naruto Uzumaki!" He grinned as he pumped his fist into the air.
"Huh." Kaito appeared amused, and Naruto just wanted to wipe that smirk off his face. They had met when the Jonin had found him in the training fields and offered some pointers, and ever since then Naurto had grown as attached to Kaito as he had to his other friends.
Kakashi and Jin gave him tips, but they were frequently busy, and Gai was too brutal for his liking. And Tenzo was scary, for some reason he couldn't fathom...
"Hey." Kaito said suddenly. "Let me tell you something. To become Hokage, you have to be respected by the village. You can't just be automatically respected when you become one."
"So, what! I'll become Hokage no matter what, just like the Yondaime!"
"That's wrong."
"Wad'ya mean, then?"
"Don't be 'just be like' the Yondaime. Be better—find you own path to become a Hokage."
"Huh..." Naruto grinned then, and his smile was as heavenly as the sunshine. "Then I'll become the strongest Hokage, and everybody will know my name!"
Kaito just smirked as he relaxed into the tree he was napping against. "That's great, Hokage-sama. Now go back to your training."
"H-hokage-sama...?"
As one of his eyes opened, Kaito just shook his head. "You told me you would become the greatest Hokage. What happened to all those dreams, Naruto? Don't tell me you're doubting yourself now..."
"I'm not!" Naruto stared at the kunai in his hand. "Basics..."
He would get a bullseye today, or his name wasn't Naruto Uzumaki!
"Are you serious, Shisui?"
"I am, I'm serious about this." Shiro looked at his teammate, before looking at his shot of sake.
"I wonder what Kaito would say..."
"I have to do this. It's now or never."
Shiro thought over Shisui's words. "You're seriously doing it? You know how crazy it is down there..."
"But if it means helping the Leaf, I'll do it! Besides, Lord Danzo promised that I wouldn't be operating alone!"
Shiro sighed as he closed his eyes. "Alright then, but don't hurt down in the Bloody Mist. I don't know how much of a bore these nightclubs would be with Kaito."
Shisui just smiled. "You can count on me. But the same goes to you—don't lose to Sound. I don't want to lose another friend."
Shiro nodded. "Enough about that war. I heard that Kiri has plenty of hot girls, ya know? Maybe you could score..."
"Shiro!"
"It's for peace, right? Marriage is a good way."
Shisui blushed heavily. "Life isn't just about girls, man."
Shiro rapped his arm around Shisui, shoulder and leaned in. "Trust me on this. Even Lord Jiraiya would take this chance!"
"Okay then... do you have any recommendations?"
"Ever heard of Terumi Mei, the She-Demon of the Mist? Rumor has it that she had two bloodlines. Imagine your children..." Shiro started to drool, and Shisui looked away. His friend has always been a pervert, regardless of his good looks. He smiled as his friend continued babbling about the latest chicks from Ero-Ero and lamented his lack of finding the perfect bride.
Although he would be deployed soon, he was content.
Life was good.
Itachi sighed as he was disarmed again.
"Keep your blade up." Hatake Kakashi stood, unimpressed. The tanto in his hand returned to his sheath, as he leaned next to Itachi. "It's okay to take things slow, kid. I can talk to your father if it's too much."
Itachi shook his head. "No, I was just thinking. About the war with Sound."
Kakashi eye-smiled at him and chuckled lightly. It had been nearly 2 months since the Copy Ninja had taken Itachi on as a student. The young prodigy was a keen student, but Kakashi had tried to keep as close to the village as possible. He wasn't a clan heir, but Kakashi knew how bad his mental state was.
Only recently was the stoic boy lightening up. "You won't be deployed, you're too young. So don't worry too much about it."
"But is it really necessary?"
It was a question Kakashi himself knew was true. The war wasn't needed, the Leaf could simply do a quiet assassination, but he knew Danzo. His sensei was always scheming, plans within plans, and the white-haired nin had the faintest idea that he was at the center of them.
Huh. Kakashi found surprise that he referred to the Elder as sensei now. He still remembered Minato-sensei, and that pain still would wrap around his heart for some days.
"Sometimes we do things that are evil for the right reason." It's the best answer Kakashi has. Itachi doesn't appear satisfied, but he drops the question for the time being.
"Kakashi-sensei-"
And Kakashi has to interrupt him. "Don't call me that. It makes me feel old."
Itachi continues, "-senpai, how did you gain two summon clans? I still don't understand."
Ah, Kakashi can't help but smirk at little Itachi's misunderstandings. Once, when the little Uchiha had gotten a little too prideful in his abilites, Kakashi had decided to show him the power of a Dog Sage.
That's right.
A dog sage.
God that training was torture. He still remembered meeting the Great Dog Elder, Dharma, or Yama as some of the younger pups called him. It had taken quite a bit of convincing his pack that he was ready, and then to be reverse-summoned to the realm of the Sage.
"So you are Hatake Kakashi?"
"Yes."
"Why are you here?"
"I want to become a Sage."
"A sage?"
"Yes."
"Good."
The silence continued for a few seconds.
"...What do I do?"
"Do? What do you think, Hatake Kakashi?"
And Kakashi wasn't really sure what to say. "Meditate?"
The Sage smiled and bared his pointy teeth at him. "There is a reason very few people want to become Dog Sages these days. All of them are so quick to go to the Toads, the Snakes, and Slugs."
"For our form of Senjutsu is born of unity of mind and body. There is no special oil, no magic drug to make you stronger than your own will and strength."
"...How long would it take?" asked Kakashi.
Dharma grinned at him. "Do not ask me, boy. Some people take decades. Some people take minutes. All that matters is finding your inner peace."
"Inner peace?"
"To be at complete peace of mind; to let all your regrets fall away and devote yourself completely to the moment, to the duty at hand."
Kakashi thought about it. "Why this method of Senjutsu?"
"Because that is what we dogs are. We have stood by mankind for thousands of years, living and working alongside you. Compared to the other clans, we are plain and simple."
His gaze bored through the Copy-Ninja's soul as he spoke. "We do not have fancy jutsus. We are not massive beasts that can level cities. But we are man's best friend. Open your heart to us and let us carry your burdens. Open your heart to the flow of the world and move alongside it. Do not deny reality. Do not deny the past. Do not fear the future."
"This is the only path." The Sage smiled at him kindly. "The path of Dharma."
Kakashi struggled, meditating in the Land of the Dogs.
Pakkun would watch him, "Boss, you don't need to work yourself so hard."
He sighed, and his hands tensed. Why couldn't he do it?
Open your heart to the world.
Do not deny reality.
What did he deny?
Obito...Rin...Minato-sensei. He had failed to save them; it was his fault.
And as he looked at Pakkun, he stopped and thought about it.
"You know, Pakkun, somedays, I wonder if I could have changed something..." It's hard for his to talk about his mistakes, talk about the past. "Saved Obito..."
He breaks down slowly, the pain returning. The bridge, Obito pushing him out of the way. His hand is covered in lightning, and then Rin is gone, gone...
He had failed.
Failedfailedfailed.
But he could feel something warm brushing against him. "It's okay, Boss. It wasn't your fault."
And as the pups brush against him, Kakashi pats them back.
And then he feels it. It is something distant, something all around him. It feels like chakra, but it is...
Purer.
Even now, Kakashi had not mastered the Sage Mode. He had not reached complete Inner Peace.
But that was for the future.
He was living in the present, and it was still amazingly powerful. The sheer recovery of chakra, plus the support and power it gave his pack was more than enough for him to live up to the vaulted name of the Copy-Ninja.
He had pushed his elemental affinities to the test, and trained them into the ground every day, sparring with Gai time and time again.
Obito's Sharingan had been able to last longer and longer, and Kakashi could feel the improvement.
Although Sage Mode Gai was something he hated fighting. The sheer endurance of a turtle, combined with Gai's crazy Taijutsu style...
He had no idea how Gai had achieved senjutsu, but didn't care. Danzo had recommended all of them to learn it, even if it was incomplete. In his humble opinion, Tenzo's was the most devastating, but he was getting lost in his thoughts.
"Let's go over the Mystical Palm Jutsu. You seemed to like that, didn't you Itachi?" And when Itachi's face brightens, Kakashi wonders how such a pacifist even decided to become a Shinobi.
Teaching was pretty fun, especially when you had a little brother who could look exactly like you.
Itachi hadn't even noticed that he was being taught by two people yet. It was the most hilarious thing ever. There was a reason that the kid thought his teacher had two summons.
Tenzo had promised to get a friend to teach Naruto some tricks as well. The friend's name was Kaito, and Kakashi was pretty sure he was tangentially related to Minato-sensei. Suddenly, the war against the Snake and Sound was making a lot more sense.
Kakashi sighed.
He would have to check Naruto's apartment again, to see if the brat was keeping himself healthy.
He was not a "worried father", as Jin described it.