Chapter Twelve - Strangers and Stranger Still

He stood in a red land of ruin and rust. The sky was as bleak as the earth; a dead, cloudless monochrome, as though the red soil had extended its fingers to the heavens to stain it a sickly shade of orange. There were shadows here, somehow, despite the bright world and an absent sun.

Kakashi walked.

Red dust bloomed around his bare feet. Coarse grit pushed up between his toes and scratched the delicate skin. The thin tendons in his joints ached. Behind him his shadow split once more as some invisible light captured him at a different angle. Every sound was muted and echoed. The ground beneath him cracked, ground like broken glass. Unintelligible calls rolled in across the dead plains, sounding like the single strands of a choir he couldn't quite hear. In his pocket, something hard and round bumped against his outer thigh with each step. He didn't dare take it out. Not in this place. He might never find it again.

The first figure he came upon had curled over on its knees; hunched in supplication. An old man. Naked, his wrinkled skin as hard as wax. Kakashi couldn't see his face. He had pushed it to the arid dirt and raised his hands in want.

Kakashi walked on.

He came upon a young woman. She had bundled her hands to her chest, her face creased in grief. Tears had frozen in place on her cheeks, small buds of moisture that reflected the red world like glass. Kakashi knew that they would feel like it too, solid enough to chip off with his nails.

Curious, he reached out to touch her shoulder. Her skin crumbled the moment the pads of his fingers grazed her waxy skin. Ugly cracks shot down her body, widening into deep fault lines. The pieces of her caved inwards. Hollow, she fell, fragments of her scattering at his feet. In the light of the sunless world, they glimmered like gold. An ache struck hard at Kakashi's chest. A strange metallic taste filled his mouth, chased by a profound sense of loss.

He knew that if he walked, he would only find more of them. War had done this. War could not fix it. There was nothing for a soldier here.

When Kakashi awoke, he was glad someone had had the courtesy to lower the brightness of the glaring lights. Another odd dream. They were coming more frequently of late. He blinked the strange red world away, rubbing at the latent ache in his chest.

Whoever was keeping an eye on him recognised that he would likely appreciate a little more light as he went about his morning business, used now to the white tiled walls, if feeling rather tired of them. At least the endless hours gave him time to put an effort into cleanliness and time to focus on recovery.

Refreshed, Kakashi took up a cross-legged position on the hard mattress, straightening his back and lifting his chin, as his father had taught him. Careful, he summoned his chakra up from his diaphragm. It answered in a soft trickle. He coaxed it, cycling it through the repaired canals of a patched up system, prodding the major tenketsu points and retreating if they flared, bright and angry and aching. If he was to have even smaller chakra reserves — which seemed to be amongst the grimmest predictions — then Kakashi was of the thought that his control had to be airtight. Not an iota of his power could be wasted. And if an hour could be used fruitfully to see it possible, then he would take it.

Something to make up for all the training wasted over the years.

Hours, days, months. Time abandoned as he chose instead to skitter through life, learning (stealing) jutsu by imitation yet not truly pushing himself to be better. What's the point when you're waiting to die? He paused on the thought, holding his chakra in his throat. Was it still like that? He didn't know. But now something in him wanted to do better. Perhaps it had something to do with the way Rin had sat beside him and gently took his hand; kissing the weapon he had killed her with. She couldn't have known but it had overwhelmed him, releasing something in his heart and feeling a little like forgiveness. He had been waiting for the hand to feel wet once again but it had remained dry and the skin beneath his nails his own.

Airy and light, he continued to coax and push, calling his chakra on through each of his gates. Finally, at his heart, Kakashi warmed with a sense of calm which settled deep as he fluxed his chakra in and out of it. This time, there was no pain. Not even the slightest ache.

No pain.

It was a different, near otherworldly feeling. So different from the constant agony dogging him for weeks. For some strange reason, Kakashi was reminded of Sakumo. He could almost hear his father's soft voice in his ear. His warm, looming presence sensed behind Kakashi's closed eyes. He had once — as the memory of him did now — pressed at Kakashi's chest with a finger, gently pushing his own chakra through the skin to mingle with his son's heart gate to show him where it was.

'Do you feel that?' he asked in Kakakshi's mind.

Yes.

'Keep going,' his father's voice encouraged. Though he couldn't see it, he could feel Sakumo's smile. His pride. 'You're so quick in these things, Kakashi. Better than I was.'

No, Kakashi disagreed. Never better than you.

The smile turned sad. 'Do you really believe that?'

Kakashi let the chakra return to his central coil, his limbs languid and something deep within his heart at peace but distantly yearning for more. I should make up for the time I've lost.

'Perhaps you should,' came Sakumo's voice, in one last reply.

Kakashi concentrated. Willing into existence a much less gentle stream of chakra, he moulded inch by inch of it, racing it down his arms to gather in his hands. An arc of live static spat and fizzled, joining hand to hand. At their posts, the ANBU agents tensed. Kakashi tried again, this time with more finesse. This arc was larger, a veritable strike of one punch from right to left that fizzled from bright blue to red before it faded, consumed by the tenkentsu points in his opposite palm. Kakashi released a puff of breath and wiped the sweat from his temple, warmly satisfied.

He took the time to practise more control, perspiring heavily by the end but feeling invigorated enough to move onto more physical exercises. As the days had passed, he found that his thigh still quaked with pinches of tenderness on occasion and his shoulder sometimes sat stiff in its socket but it improved with each stretch and coordinated roll. Everyday the small aches present in his body lessened, as did the persistent feeling of chakra exhaustion but Kumi had assured him that it was to be expected after what he went through.

Speaking of. Kakashi bowed his head in greeting as the red headed woman bustled in as part of their daily routine. She wrinkled her nose as the state of his sweaty appearance, but together they went through their modus operandi of exercises and tests. By the end, the woman appeared thoroughly pleased at his progress.

"An overachiever on all fronts, huh? You're doing better than I expected. Keep this up and you really might make a full recovery," she told him brightly. She took a scroll out from her white wrapped coat to unfurl beside him on the bed. "I think now is as good a time as any for another chakra sample."

The piece was large and Kakashi squinted at the rings of script, recognising the major seals though the more minor ones escaped him. It was simple enough to understand — a set of seals to draw a sample of chakra from the body which allowed it to be manipulated through the minor sets of seals that acted as catalysts, letting the manipulator to test for different conditions. From those he could discern, one tested for capabilities in elemental affinity while also showing how genetically prone to other elements the person's chakra may be. He suspected that if Kumi were to test that one, earth would come straight after lightning, given his Hatake heritage. Of the others, another tested for chakra reserve potential, another for vitality and health, while another again for any foreign chakra 'infections' one might have. Obito's sharingan and the latent Uchiha chakra within it would doubtlessly show up in that test.

The senior medic-nin forcibly took his hand to place it on the centre seal. "For our medical records," she had explained the first time. He would be an interesting case study for a scholar of chakra in the future given his proximity to the demonic blast. Perhaps, she told him, someone might even write a paper on him. Lucky me, Kakashi had thought dully.

Later, once the sunny head med-nin left, Kakashi emerged from his closet bathroom to find Rin sat on his bedside chair, reading from a paperback book with a bright cover. A bag with a stack more was lumped next to her foot. She tipped the book down to greet him. Warmth blossomed in Kakashi's chest.

"Hope you don't mind that I let myself in."

"Not at all," he replied, scrubbing at his hair with the towel. He threw it back toward the bathroom. "I hope you don't mind the state the room is in on account of not expecting visitors."

"Trust me, I've seen worse," she replied with a shrug. She flapped the book down to where the others sat. "I wasn't quite sure what you liked, so I just grabbed anything. I did find this though." She threw one of them at him, a large 'R18' warning stamped on the spine and by some author Kakashi had never heard of. He couldn't help the pinch of disappointment. There really is no Icha Icha here. He had asked her at the close of her previous visit as the air between them had lightened but Rin had only become confused at the mention of 'Icha Icha'. When he had explained that he had 'heard' that Lord Jiraiya had written a series of books, she had finally caught on. And then Kakashi had joylessly found out that in this world, Jiraiya's failure of an adventure series had taken off in popularity like a rocket — Tales of the Gutsy Ninja. When Rin had still failed to understand that that wasn't quite what he was looking for, Kakashi had been forced to ask about 'romantic literature of the exciting kind' as he tried not to wither into the white tiles. To her credit, the woman had managed to keep her expression mostly straight while Kakashi himself had died inside.

He could see Rin was trying not to laugh, her mouth flat in an attempt to cull her smile. Kakashi had never felt embarrassed being seen reading Icha Icha and its like (unless that reading happened to be aloud), but her amusement tweaked him in a way that forced him to defend himself.

"I read them for the romance."

"Sure you do."

He flipped through some of the pages, skimming the words and happened to catch a scene featuring a man and woman quickly changing the direction of their argument. Rin picked herself up from her seat to lean around his arm. She made an amused sound. "Might have to borrow this one off you next." Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her only to get one raised in return. He snorted.

"So did you pick what would interest me, or what would interest you?"

"Bit of A, bit of B."

Kakashi nodded in mock sageness, enjoying the little smile it brought to Rin's face.

"I heard sensei came to see you last night," she said, changing the topic in one fell swoop as she retreated to place a hand on the back of the chair.

"He did."

To tell Kakashi that he had passed the procedures. They would have to come up with a plan on what to do with him, but he could tell Rin and Obito the truth, if he wanted. And Kushina, when she had the occasion to see him. By the way Minato had softened about his wife, Kakashi suspected the woman might be struggling with some grief also. He knew he was, at the thought of her. Minato further pointed out that it might be best if they did hear the truth from Kakashi himself. But... Obito had yet to visit, despite Rin assuring that he would. I can wait, he thought. It was assuring enough that the man was out there somewhere.

"Want to get out of here for a bit?" asked Rin, interrupting his ruminating. "There's a lounge down the hall. I'm sick of this room. I can't imagine what you're feeling."

Kakashi chuckled. "Mah, I would very much appreciate that. Am I...?"

"Minato's cleared it. And you'll even be able to lose your posse with me around." She gave a subtle point to the vents. "Although, from what I hear, you're so boring there's decks of cards stashed around the place for those on duty to entertain themselves."

"Lucky them. I'm surprised they're not fighting over such a breezy assignment."

"Oh they would be, but Minato wants to keep the same team on, so be sure you say nice things about them."

Rin led him down a set of angular hallways, all clean-cut unobtrusive panelling and decor. It was pleasing to stretch his legs after being cooped up in a small medical bay coming on a week and a half. As Kakashi walked, a sense of familiarity prodded at him; one that told him he knew where he was and yet there were slight changes that threw him off. Am I under the mountain? That was one of the only places he knew that possessed a facility of this size. The other being ROOT's Foundation which stretched deep into the earth.

Rin didn't lead him far. Still in what he guessed was the secured limits of his roaming, they came upon a comfortable if minimalistic lounge. A pair of hard looking dark blue couches faced one another with a vinyl coated coffee table set beneath a trio of windows panelled against the far wall. Another pair of equally hard couch chairs joined them, previously pulled over from wherever they had originally been placed. In a corner stood a single sad looking pot plant wilting beneath the dim artificial lights. Kakashi didn't think he could miss the sun but these days he surprised himself.

The one-way windows overlooked a training gym. Rin coaxed him toward them with a soft hand on his arm and together they peered down at a pair of ANBU in the midst of a spar. Both women; a tall one with dark hair and a canine look to her mask against a petite one with brown hair, her mask indistinct enough that Kakashi couldn't place the animal form. This one seemed to have a lightning affinity as she easily sent a ball of spitting, arcing blue against her opponent who swiftly dodged. The ball crashed against the wooden panels of the back wall. A seal array lit up in glaring white characters to absorb the jutsu which quickly fizzled and died. The familiarity he felt poked at him more severely. Yes, this was definitely the ANBU facility beneath the Hokage Mountain, if one with a diverged sense of decor.

"Slightly more interesting than white tiles and a cot, right?" Rin asked with a hum.

"Even hard mattresses have their charms."

She grinned before she pointed down to where the dark haired ANBU had the petite one on the backfoot. "I've checked with sensei and he's fine with you coming out here to watch. Provided, of course, you don't use this as an opportunity to spy on the capability of our special forces and suddenly disappear to cart that information off to your masters."

"Reasonable," Kakashi agreed.

They watched together, quietly passing opinions on the quality of the fight that continued on below, whether that was appreciation for what they saw or voicing something a little more critical. Rin looked to him at one point, appraising him in a glance as though she was gathering her own information on his knowledge of skill and his ability to observe. Rin, he found, was precise in her criticism and neat in her appreciation and he was tempted to ask if she had ever taught anyone — genin, or taken on an apprentice.

His mouth was parted on the question when heavy footsteps rang down the hall to the lounge to halt at the threshold.

Rin turned to look. "Finally," she huffed under her breath.

Kakashi followed her gaze. A man stood within the doorframe.

His heart did a strange, backward beat. The first thing he noticed was that this man was not small. He held height, if only an inch or two over Kakashi himself. He was broader in the chest; a sturdiness to his form. And beneath his flak jacket and a black set of the standard uniform, he looked strong, no longer a baby-cheeked boy but graced with the square-jawed, heavier lines of maturity. The right side of his face was scarred; some thin cuts were present from brow to chin but he possessed a handful of deep rivets — thick, puckered cuts distinctive of a blade taken to his face. The one slicing his bottom lip pulled as his mouth quirked into a grimace and he took in Kakashi with one dark indecipherable eye as Kakashi did him.

The left half of his face was covered by cloth that hung from his hitai-ate, a mirror to Kakashi's own. Did he give the eye to this world's Kakashi too?

But this Obito had survived, while Kakashi's counterpart had not.

Obito looked whole. Brilliantly alive. Kakashi's heart gave another backward beat, and just like he had with Rin, he had the urge to touch the other man; just to make sure this wasn't some uncanny hallucination. When his hand rose an inch on its own, Kakashi let it drop, chagrined. The unreadable look Obito wore changed, and it was the same one Kakashi had seen in Rin. As though he couldn't believe Kakashi was standing there either. What a strange predicament, Kakashi thought, dazed.

Obito cleared his throat. "I — uh, got some food. Figured you might be tired of that hospital crap." His voice was a deep, rumbling baritone; warm, pleasant and— Kakashi's eyebrows shot up.

"You are Snarling Dog."

There was an awkward pause as they looked at one another.

"Ryouken, actually, but close enough."

It was him in the forest. He came for me, Kakashi thought before he could stop it. He pushed the bizarrely romantic thought away.

Kakashi stumbled on a more substantial reply. He felt he should. At the very least he owed that to Obito especially after what happened at Kannabi Bridge... but this wasn't his Obito, was it? This one didn't have to sacrifice himself for Kakashi's stupidity. And they thought he was their Kakashi. It was a strange, complicated mess. He was at a loss as to what to do with it besides feeling like some cowardly hope-ridden imposter.

"Are you two just going to stand there gaping at one another like idiots?"

Obito startled, immediately raising a hand to rub the back of his neck while Kakashi cleared his throat and all the strange thoughts with it.

"Yo," he greeted the other man with a lazy two-fingered salute.

"Hey," was Obito's mild reply.

Obito squared his shoulders, strolling into the lounge to set down a paper bag on the coffee table before he shoved his hands into his pockets and lifted his chin, looking Kakashi up and down. "Long time, no see," he added. Beside him, Rin gave a small, aggravated sigh, rubbing the space between her eyebrows.

"Yeah..." Kakashi answered. The word came out far gentler than he had been aiming for. He nodded stiffly. "You too."

"So you do still wear a mask."

"Never stopped. That was supposed to be... you know. A disguise."

"Right."

With that they were back to giving one another muted, awkward looks. Kakashi's mouth felt uncomfortably dry.

"Honestly," he heard Rin mutter. She loudly cleared her throat, having none of it. "Right!" the woman butted in with her hands on her hips. "Why don't we eat and talk? This is going to get cold if you two keep standing around."

Kakashi gave her a hearty, silent thanks.

They settled around the coffee table. Obito dragged one of the couch chairs even closer while Rin took the other. Kakashi was left to awkwardly perch on the edge of the seat cushion of one of the larger couches. As the food was unpacked, in the right light it could have almost been another team lunch, only they were far from their training field and seventeen years older. Obito chose well from the smell of the food, eerily reminiscent of the barbeque they used to frequent when Kushina could be coaxed away from Ichiraku's.

"Did you get the sauces?" Rin asked as Obito was already handing a packet over. She made a noise of thanks and he grunted in reply. Kakashi watched them, curious, as they moved in tandem with one another. He was caught red-handed when Obito suddenly looked up, an expression of strained apology on his face as he handed over the remaining carton.

"I, uh, wasn't sure what to get you." Inside was barbecue grilled fish and sautéed eggplant. He took in the hot scent of it and was left to ponder if some things about him were just true, no matter the dimension.

"It's good. Thanks." Obito bobbed his head, some tension releasing in his shoulders. Nervous. On edge. But then, so was Kakashi.

He split a pair of chopsticks, reaching for his mask without thought only to find two pairs of eyes looking at him. Both of them seemed to automatically look away. Just like they did as children before he started to take his mask off, comfortable enough around him. Even though Kakashi was sure both of them had seen his face at this point (albeit it was a smatter of a beard), his lips twitched in amusement. Kakashi pulled down his mask.

Both Rin and Obito didn't seem to know where to look.

"So, I have you to thank for the rough handling on the way back?" Kakashi asked casually, sucking down a slice of eggplant.

Obito was the first brave enough. His eye wandered across Kakashi's face. "You should be thanking me that it wasn't rougher with the way you started talking shit as soon as we had you grounded."

Kakashi flapped his hand, leaning a way back on the couch. "I was trying to lighten the mood. Can you blame me? I was sleeping in the dirt for weeks. And you know-" he waved his hand again, gesturing up and down himself. "The whole destroyed chakra system on top of some other injuries."

Obito's mouth flattened for a moment before he snorted. "ANBU etiquette module?" He asked, incredulous.

"You didn't take it, then. It's standard procedure. Everyone has to undergo it when joining, with a follow up module when you obtain a captaincy. It's expected, really, given that ANBU has a penchant for operating in formal spaces."

"You're serious? I'd know if something like that existed, I've been in-" Obito stopped himself before his expression suddenly twisted. "You're an asshole," he finished bluntly.

The sheer familiarity of Obito's petulant look made him laugh. He took a slice of the fish and hummed, pleased. It really was quite good. Kakashi gave Obito an obnoxious wink, feeling lighter now that they had passed that awkward phase of introduction. His heart was thankfully back to its usual tattoo. As easy as ever to get on Obito's nerves. That hadn't changed across dimensions either. In her seat, Rin's mouth was wobbling as she tried to control her smile. Obito stared, taken aback before he shook himself and started on his food, subtly shaking his head as his expression turned contemplative.

They ate in a silence that was more comfortable than the last, only broken by words of appreciation for the food. And to Obito's credit, it really was better than the bland hospital food Kakashi had endured after one of the medic-nin had removed the IV drip. Obito sucked up his noodles with the same, sloppy gusto he held as a child. He wiped his mouth with a little more poise, forgoing using his whole sleeve to clean his face of sauce and ramen juices. Watching as he worked at his own meal, Kakashi had the soft urge to touch him again. Just a light brush on his arm — only to check. The boy was a man, but the man still felt like a ghost.

As they got deeper into their paper cartons and his thoughts strayed toward that shadow that loomed over him, the weight of the truth pressed down on Kakashi's shoulders.

They should know.

Guiltily, he looked down at the churned mix of fish and rice. "I suppose I owe you both an explanation." Obito and Rin paused, sudden tension plain on both their faces. "But, ah, it can probably wait until after we've finished."

"No," Obito said abruptly, straightening in his seat. He dropped his carton on the table with a thump. "The food can wait."

The look in Obito's eye was intense. The look in Rin's was no different. She laid her chopsticks down with purpose, signally she had no intention to pick them up again until the truth was out. They had as much been waiting for this as Kakashi had desired to speak it.

"Then we should go somewhere more secure."

'Secure' turned out to be a small kitchenette, stowed in some corner near the lounge. Rin locked the door behind them as Obito pulled a scroll from his vest, summoning a handful of blank tags. He nicked his finger on a pin in his flak jacket to paint some more complex barrier seals with an ease that impressed Kakashi. Kushina? Obito slapped one on each wall before he turned to lean against a set of cabinets, tightly crossing his arms. Rin found a chair while Kakashi shifted on his feet. Where to start?

"I don't think it'll be the explanation you're expecting. Or necessarily one you want to hear."

"Doesn't matter. I'm willing to hear it," Obito answered, his voice hard. Serious. Rin nodded in agreement.

"Alright." He sucked the back of his teeth. "I'm not sure how to put this, so I'll be blunt: I'm not the Hatake Kakashi you knew."

He told them as he had told Minato. Yet for some reason, these words came harder than the last. He kept his words precise. Kakashi wanted Rin and Obito to believe him, desperately so. More desperately than when his very life was on the line telling his truth to the Hokage. It took time for the both of them to process his story. And there were moments when their expressions grew blank or angered or simply unreadable. Kakashi could understand. If someone had told him exactly this, he might have humoured them as he positioned himself to inform Tsunade and shunt them over to T&I.

More than once Obito opened and closed his mouth, expression drifting from incredulous to contemplative to confused, only to circle back around. It was Rin who was the most unreadable though her eyes spoke of being deep in thought. Both of them eventually settled on quiet. He was sure Minato had told them to listen with care already — he had passed the tests (and his head gave a sharp ache in reminder of what the old woman had done). It had occurred to Kakashi that his entire life in a different world might just have been one very long fever dream, but even he hadn't gone quite so mad just yet.

"That's... a lot," Obito stated blandly and in his mind, Kakashi humorously agreed. To put it lightly.

"It's not all of it. Just what led me here."

"But it is the truth," Rin concluded, her voice hard. She looked up at Obito, searching. "Obito."

Obito's expression shuttered and his jaw flexed but after a pause, he nodded. When he looked at Kakashi, it invited something strange. Like Obito was truly looking at him. Seeing him and something inside him twisted at that.

"Like I said," Kakashi said softly. "Probably not what you were expecting or wanted to hear."

Rin gave him a wry smile. "It explains a lot more than you probably know. As wild as it is."

"Yeah..." Obito trailed off.

They quietened once again, thinking. Kakashi let them. He felt somewhat uncomfortable in truth, that desperation to be believed was sickly. This entire escapade had left him unsettled on some deep, fundamental level. He didn't enjoy the feeling of floundering.

"Naruto a Jinchūriki?" Rin murmured and Obito stiffened, his shoulders hunching. He looked almost... murderous. It was so sudden and so seemingly out of character from the boy he knew that Kakashi regarded him with apprehension. This was Snarling Dog; the same cold, severe tone he had offered when he had considered Kakashi an imposter wearing the face of his dead teammate.

"How?" Obito demanded, his eye narrowed at Kakashi. Like he was the one at fault.

"When Naruto was born, Kushina was attacked by an unknown person and the Kyūbi released. It then attacked Konoha. Minato sacrificed his life to seal away the Kyūbi in Naruto, and Kushina died protecting her newborn child from the Fox's wrath. Their sacrifices saved the whole village and probably more than that if the Fox's rampage hadn't been stopped."

Rin's expression turned pinched and she looked at Obito, opening her mouth to speak. "It's fine," Obito cut in, shaking his head. Kakashi watched as the man quietly let out a breath as though to calm himself. When his eye returned to Kakashi, the sudden iciness was gone. He looked tired.

Obito nodded for him to continue.

"I should specify that in my world the war ended a year before Naruto was born. Truly ended — with peace treaties signed. The years after were peaceful. Relatively speaking. Konoha's children were allowed to grow up in ways we weren't." He held his tongue on the Uchiha massacre. "Naruto and his classmates graduated from the academy at twelve and I became his sensei. Along with Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke."

Obito loudly snorted and Rin coughed.

Kakashi looked to them both, confused. "What?"

"You, a sensei? Naruto's sensei? Sasuke's?" Obito asked, incredulous.

"The Sandaime requested it of me."

"You, a sensei?" All trace of the iciness was gone as though never there. Now Obito only looked amused, impish even, and Kakashi recognised that look. Obito nudged Rin roughly and she rolled her eyes.

"You think I would be that awful at teaching?" Kakashi challenged.

Obito clucked his tongue and gave him a look. "Yeah, sort'a."

"I didn't do too terribly." Debatable, but he didn't want to think of the mess he had left behind in this instance.

"It's not that — well, not only that," said Rin. She was fighting her own grin. "We share two students. What a coincidence." At his raised brow, she explained, "Naruto and Sakura are mine too."

"You're a Jounin sensei. You didn't tell me that." So he hadn't been imagining things. "I would have clocked Obito for that job."

The man made a face. "No thanks. I don't like kids enough."

"Oh, bullshit. He practically hung around our training ground whatever chance he had."

"Overstatement."

"Understatement."

"Mah, but you were always good with that sort of thing. Kids and old ladies, right?"

Rin tipped her head back and laughed. Kakashi couldn't stop the chuckle that came at Obito's offended look. For a moment, it was as though all the space between them was gone. They were teammates — friends — who simply hadn't seen each other in a long, long time.

He caught Obito staring, somewhere between incredulity and wonder and Kakashi wanted to laugh more. He's doing the same thing to me as I've been doing to him. A puzzle of trying to match what had been and what was. If he knew himself, and judging by the reactions of both him and Rin at his simple ability to tell a joke, then this world's young Kakashi was probably the same humourless, rule-insistent stuck-up little bastard he had once been. They seemed to have missed him all the same.

"So," Obito started. "Who gave you that eye?"

"You did," he said softly. He wondered once again how Obito had lost his own. "Things are different in my world."

"Did I die?"

"Yes."

That startled Obito into silence. After a long pause, he nodded, accepting.

"I'm sorry," Rin said, her eyes heavy and Kakashi wanted to bitterly laugh. She considered something then, regarding him. She's quick. But Rin had always been quick, no matter the world. "Did I...?" She shook her head, stopping herself. "That's there. This is here. It doesn't matter.'"

"No, probably not," Kakashi agreed.

"Of course it matters," Obito said, his tone venomous. Kakashi looked at him in surprise but the man had cast down his gaze to the mismatched linoleum floor, frowning deeply.

Rin sighed. "That's not what I meant." No comrade left behind, he still holds to that. Kakashi's heart ached. Rin he had astoundingly gotten used to. But Obito. Obito.

"You did," he answered Rin, "in the war." And she nodded too, accepting just as Obito had.

"You were the only one left," she concluded, studying him. A raw, cutting statement of the truth. Hurting, even if she hadn't meant it to.

"Yeah," he said, keeping his voice even despite how he wanted to croak the word out. I failed you— her. I couldn't keep my promise.

Obito turned pale at the admission and whether it was at the thought of Rin dying or Kakashi being the last of them, Kakashi couldn't tell. "Doesn't matter," he muttered lowly to himself. He huffed a breath sharply from his nose. Obito seemed to decide on something.

He gestured to Kakashi's eye. "You know, if you get out of here the clan is going to give you hell for that," he said in a sudden divergence that Kakashi was all too happy to permit. "Don't think sensei will let you tell this to Fugaku and the elders."

So the Uchiha were alive and well. That was good. More than good. For Obito. For Sasuke. And perhaps even for Itachi. If Fugaku was alive, their mother was likely to be too.

"It was a gift, freely given. That's allowed." A wan kind of smile passed over Kakashi's face. "I've had practice with this before."

"Given by who, though?"

Ah. "Good point."

"And it's a Mangekyō. Might want to keep that part to yourself. Gods, when the clan found out I had activated mine and had Kamui, the elders wouldn't leave me alone for years."

Kakashi blinked in surprise. Obito had the Mangekyō. How did he activate it? More questions. I should make a running list. He frowned.

Wait a minute.

"You know Kamui's name?"

"Yeah, because I named it." Strange coincidence. The name had come to Kakashi one evening after he had become brave enough to attempt to train with it. It had felt right, so he had went with it. "You named it Kamui too, didn't you?" Obito said.

"Well... it seemed appropriate."

Obito rolled his eye. "It's destroyed, you know," he added in a gripe. "Blown to bits. Thanks for that."

Kakashi turned sheepish. "Ah, apologies." He wished he could see it but activating his Mangekyō right now would put him on the floor, if not in the ground. "It's a living dimension, right? I'm sure it'll... get better," he said, limply waving his hand.

"It's in pieces. You can hardly stand anywhere."

"Ah... well..."

"Have you had any ideas about getting back?" Rin cut in. Obito looked at her sharply.

"I don't know," Kakashi admitted. "I don't know if it's possible. It took a significant amount of power to bring me here." It was a well worn thought now; one that kept him up at night as he traversed Kusa. One that led nowhere. Did he even want to? Kakashi didn't know. The only thought that seized in his breast was the question as to whether everyone else back home was alright. That he hadn't destroyed everything.

"Yeah," Obito agreed. "You're not likely to find nine Grand Yōkai worth of demonic chakra here anytime soon. Maybe in a couple of centuries; a millennium, give or take," he added ambiguously. "Weird coincidence that you managed to drop the Demon Star right on the Kannabi bridge." His tone was thoughtful rather than accusative. "Given that it was our most major mission of the war when we were still together. Or it was here, at least."

You died there. His last thoughts in Kamui had been of Obito. "I don't think it's a coincidence."

Something must have shown on his face because Rin held up a hand to stop him explaining further. "It's fine. You don't have too— not right now. I think we've heard enough for the moment. We can ask more later." She turned to Obito, imploring. The man looked like he wanted to argue. They looked at one another, having a conversation he wasn't party to.

Kakashi was intimately reminded that he was the stranger here.

"Come on," Rin said, winning whatever argument they had. "We have food to finish and if we leave it too long somebody is going to help themselves. You know what they say: good shinobi see opportunities. Better shinobi take them."

Days settled into a week. Then two. Rin and Obito called in between missions, their subsequent visits unfortunately sparing and short. As isolating as the facility was, Kakashi didn't blame them. Bills still had to be paid and he knew first hand jounin apartments didn't come cheap. The world above moved onward.

With the truth out in the open, he wouldn't deny that things had been awkward at first — the three of them now trying to figure one another out as they did a clumsy dance. It took more than a single visit for Obito to reconcile Kakashi's change in attitude and easy manner of speaking; a few jokes having the man short-circuiting, which, in turn, only made Kakashi want to up the ante out of pure amusement.

Yet once they knew who he was, they had pulled themselves back in some ways. Rin most of all. Where before she spoke like he knew the world and its events, albeit through a dark, obscured lens, now she was almost hesitant to talk freely as she helped him through his exercises. Kakashi already felt isolated as it was, and it became irritating enough that he spoke his mind.

"I don't want to overload you," she had said. "Things might be very different here than what you're used to."

"People might be dead," he had stated flatly and her expression had thinned. "I'm not fragile, Rin."

"I can see that," she had replied, and she had meant it. One step at a time, she had urged. Kakashi forced himself to accept it with some grace. If he was to exist in this world, he would find out eventually.

Minato, too, visited. His visits were shorter still. And still without Kushina. Her work took priority, he had said. Minato's own visits were restricted to asking how he was and providing assurances that things were settling. That things were fine. The situation was in hand, and more importantly: Kakashi was safe. As time passed, he suspected Rin and Obito might have played a hand in calming the situation. He was being hunted by more than just Konoha's ANBU. Iwa's Blackguard wouldn't simply roll over. Kakashi couldn't help but wonder if Obito and Rin's burst of missions of late had anything to do with keeping the likes of Iwa and other names off their tracks.

Other assurances came from Kumi. In thanks to their exercises, the suffusion of demonic chakra in his system had dramatically decreased.

That's good at least, Kakashi thought as the woman tested his limbs. He hardly wanted anything demonic affecting him. It was sickly enough to watch the poison that Naruto endured every time he pulled on the Kyūbi's chakra. Curious, he asked if demonic chakra affected the body at all, only to receive a shrug from the specialist. Not really, from what she had seen, but there hadn't exactly been a good period of time to do tests. She admitted that that particular corner of knowledge wasn't her forte, but Lady Kushina's.

"Not that you would be a good example anymore, mind," she said as she stretched his right leg. He felt his thigh tweak. "Given that we've managed to essentially reconstruct your entire circulatory system from scratch — and be thankful for that miracle. You've certainly got some kind of powerful Kami watching over you. Or several. And as I said. You're doing extraordinarily well. Extraordinarily well."

Kakashi swallowed his sigh of relief.

"Now, flux that chakra of yours for me."

She followed his chakra through the gates and major coils. To Kakashi, it still felt like a trickle compared to what he was once capable of but it was more than just a week ago. The rocks blocking the flow were shifting; the dam of his reserves slowly, slowly, refilling.

Kumi hummed in thought. "Still some damage and suffusion around the heart pressure points. Do the lotus exercise."

Kakashi did as ordered, straining his focus. He followed his chakra through his heart, letting it settle at each point as Kumi then touched the points with her fingertips, following in behind with her chakra to support his; almost directing him to heal the tenketsu point himself. He could feel the sheer finesse of control she used to guide them both. Like threading her chakra through the needle of his so that together they pushed the thread through to close off the wound. It was an advanced technique that left Kakashi impressed. And Kumi was pleased when she noted that their effort seemed to help.

"Do you think you could do that by yourself? It'll be easier for you. Your pressure points. Your body."

Kakashi tried; mimicking what she had done and threaded the next pressure point to sew up the damage. It was almost akin to acupuncture. Some tension in his heart that he didn't know was there relaxed at his effort. Useful, he noted. If he ever made an enemy of a Hyūga, at least now he had a good idea about how to fix himself.

"Very good!" Kumi exclaimed at his success, her mouth pulling into a wide grin. "Good for us both that you're a quick study."

"Are you hiring?"

She huffed a laugh and rolled her eyes. "Come see me when you've got at least a decade of medical ninjutsu knowledge behind you."

There was a knock on the door. In the next moment, the Hokage let himself in. Kumi immediately excused herself with a bow and a low word that they would continue the remaining exercises later.

"Good progress, I hear," said the Hokage. "You're looking well. How are you feeling?"

Minato's usual way of greeting and one that Kakashi wasn't tired of yet. "Fitter than I have been in weeks."

"Excellent." He seated himself, leaning heavily on the arm of the wooden chair and fitting his fist under his chin.

"How are things going?" Kakashi dared to ask.

He expected Minato to wave him off, but instead the man regarded him thoughtfully, his white haori bunching around his shoulders. "I've read Kumi's report on your progress. She notes you should be cleared to leave soon enough."

"And what does 'cleared' mean in this respect? If you don't mind me asking."

Minato cocked his head, his eyes bright. "Well, I did have the idea of you joining us in the world above. I've no intention of hiding you away for the rest of your life in some underground facility. I'd much prefer welcoming you into the village — into our shinobi ranks."

To take your place as the last Hatake again. Minato didn't frame it that way but Kakashi could feel the weight of a debt. He could serve a sentence — a form of retribution for the blood on his hands and the chaos he had caused — by serving Konoha. He could accept that. He had been doing that very thing since he was five years old. Kakashi could consider himself born for it, as every Hatake was since their clan pledged itself to Konoha. In truth, it was all he knew how to do.

There was one thing, however.

"Mah as much as I like the thought, won't that be suspicious?" he asked. "I'm supposed to be dead and now to suddenly appear in Konoha after something of this magnitude? People will ask questions."

"Would it be so suspicious?" Minato countered. "Your perspective is undoubtedly skewed, given your involvement." Kakashi grimaced. "No, it'll be fine, I think. Provided you have an adequate backstory. I've had the idea that you've come to aid in the official investigation — given your knowledge and experience with demonic chakra."

"My experience."

Something flitted over Minato's eyes but he smiled. "Didn't you manage and train the Kyūbi's Jinchūriki for years? I'd say that means that you should have fairly good knowledge of sealing and understanding the potency of that type of chakra. What it can do. How it feels."

But that doesn't translate to what this world's Kakashi would know. He decided to drop it. Minato knew better than he. "I take your point, but I'm no expert. Tenzō — a man with the ability for Mokuton — was the one that actually knew how to stifle the Kyūbi's chakra with his techniques. The most I could have done was try to calm Naruto and if necessary, use my sharingan to put him in a genjutsu and repair the seal if it was damaged. To an extent."

"That's more knowledge than most have," Minato said with a shrug. "Anyway, I don't think anyone would look into the fine details of your ability, given that I'll be the one directing you."

Serve the exact investigation he had caused. There was an irony there. And a justice.

"And the explanation for where I've been?" Kakashi questioned before answering it in the following breath. "ROOT." Minato gave a small nod. "Does Shimura Danzō lead it?"

"He does," said Minato.

That would have its own consequences, Kakashi knew. If personalities were common between worlds, then he knew the outcome too. Danzō was a shrewd man and this was an ask that would have a price. Kakashi was under no illusions that he would have to be 'revealed' to the man; ROOT likely knew about him already. But they didn't know his origin and that would be a valuable secret to trade. Still, it was their strongest option. He could see why it enticed the Hokage. The truth was even more dangerous to the wrong people and ROOT, whatever opinions he had about them, were still of Konoha.

"Danzō will need convincing."

"Leave that to me," Minato replied evenly. "He may be calculating and ever derisive, but Danzō is a man deeply loyal to his village. He'll understand the necessity." Kakashi wasn't sure he truly believed that but he wanted to. Minato too was a calculating man and knew how to play his cards right, even as a fresh-faced Kage. By the look, the years hard only cultivated that.

"There's something else," Minato continued. He pointed to the wrap of cloth over Kakashi's eye. "You won't be able to hide that forever. Especially if you're to heal, get use of your chakra back, and join our ranks. The Uchiha will be asking questions as soon as you step out of this building."

Right. Just as Obito had also thoughtfully noted. It was bad enough the first time dealing with that and being accused of thievery. Even murder. The Uchiha Elders knew how to cultivate words as sharp as knives. "They know about me?"

"No, but it will only take a Hyūga to activate their Byakugan and take notice of you to know and you can be sure they'll pass on that information to the Uchiha. They won't, however, know about the Mangekyō, unless you reveal it. Best to keep that under wraps." He levelled a stare at the bedridden man. "The Uchiha will still want answers. Formal ones — from you."

Kakashi smiled bitterly beneath his mask. "As I told Obito: I've had practice."

Minato nodded. "I'll help you, of course. Once this business is arranged with Danzō, it should be a passing issue. You'll have support. And with that, the Uchiha can do little more than complain."

He left Kakashi with enough thoughts that it occupied him all night and with an urge to train to get the energy out. True to her report, Kumi cleared him not a week later, citing that the demonic chakra was minimal enough as to not be suspicious. More than a few shinobi who had wandered near the Dead Zone in the recent weeks would have some presence within their systems as well. She ordered him to cycle his chakra and to keep up the exercises she had taught him and in time, it would disappear into nothing. With that, the medic-nin he had become familiar — even friendly with — wished him luck with the hope that she would never see him in one of her medic bays again. As Kakashi packed his things — mostly new, largely gifted — he was in silent agreement with her; happy enough never to come back.

He had been informed that Obito was to pick him up. His new, hopefully slightly softer bed, was to be in Obito's spare room, heartily volunteered by Rin on Obito's behalf. There he would stay, at least until he had his feet under him, joined up in Konoha's ranks and received enough ryō on the regular to find his own place to settle. Kakashi sighed as he looked at the heap of clothes on the cot; half folded and the rest stuffed into a duffel bag. There was a resoluteness to the plan that only now seemed too real.

There was no going back.

No returning. That seemed like a foregone conclusion. This was to be his home now. As he picked at the hem of a plain dark shirt, Kakashi felt a pang of grief before it faded. The cost was too high to ever pay again. Gathering the shirt in his hands, he sat. The distance between this world and the one he knew stretched; a vast and unfathomable chasm.

He was a stranger here, in a strange, improbable land. Here, where the familiar was foreign, and the foreign was stranger still.