Kakashi tapped the edge of a brush against his temple, letting out a small hmm of consideration before bending down slightly and bringing his ink to paper and adding another line of text to one of the eight scrolls laid out in front of him.
The slight breeze slightly ruffled the tips of his hair as the sound of the village carried lightly inside, creating an ambience of white noise to fill the silence of his bedroom. Kakashi had already tidied up his younger self's notes into a neat pile and placed them in the lowest level of the bookshelf and took over the desk.
It was already approaching afternoon, with most of Kakashi's morning being taken over by meditation to balance his chakra when he first woke up with the familiar nausea, followed by his morning routine and planning.
While he still had doubts, spending time with Minato drove him to act and sort out his emotions on the go. He had to make sure his sensei's fate won't end with the blonde being eternally sealed in the stomach of the Death Reaper.
He knew he would have to study and explore more regarding space-time, but he couldn't just wing it while he explored the reasons behind his predicament. For all he knew, there was no way back. If his main theory stood, then Uchiha Madara was also in the past and he was not constricted in his movements as Kakashi would be as an eleven-year-old chunin that's part of a team. He needed to move forward, and the first step was getting used to this new, or rather older, body.
There were many actions he needed to take, so Kakashi decided to develop an action plan and sort out the priorities, hence the scrolls strewn over the desk. Kakashi jotted down more notes, pausing to grab the cup of orange juice he poured himself and taking a few sips. He figured he had six main focus areas, under which fell multiple tasks and subpoints. The first scroll listed his main objectives, the others scrolls where dedicated for each of the main objectives.
Becoming Comfortable with Younger Body
Navigating a Personality Shift
Researching Key Information Areas
Changing Events of the Future in a Plausible Manner
Developing Personal Training Plan
Developing My Generation's Skills
Miscellaneous
Knowing he didn't want to waste the entire day just planning, especially given that he had training with his team tomorrow, Kakashi finalized the list of urgent tasks for the day. He cast a minor wind jutsu that helped dry the ink quickly and then proceeded to summon Pakkun.
"It wasn't a dream," was Pakkun's greeting, clearly trying to mask his underlying distress.
Kakashi could easily sense his companion's unease and kneeled in front of him, ruffling his head gently, "Just one more thing we have to deal with," he said softly.
Pakkun simply gave an affirmative noise and changed the topic "what's with the multiple scrolls?"
"Plan of action," Kakashi informed him, standing up to start rolling the scrolls, "can't have them in the apartment as the security seals are quite basic and I can't upgrade the seals to S-Ranked ones overnight; given I was only up to C-Ranked sealing at this age. Minato sensei will definitely notice and ask questions I can't answer. I want you to give them to Bisuke for safe keeping until I can reasonably set up better seals."
Kakashi decided Bisuke would be his best bet. While his top choice is Pakkun, it was precisely that reason why he couldn't keep the scrolls with the pug. If he were in a middle of a mission and summoned anyone but Pakkun, eyebrows will be raised. At the same time, he couldn't risk summoning Pakkun outside of his apartment with those scrolls. Thus, Bisuke. Bisuke was the second ninken he built a bond with and is his go-to when Pakkun isn't available.
"Makes sense," Pakkun shrugged, "what's first on the agenda?"
"I need to get used to this new body," Kakashi replied as he sealed the last scroll shut. "I still had to expel spiritual energy in the morning and can already sense the build-up. Not to mention I must be able to do taijutsu with annoyingly short limbs." Kakashi grew into a lanky build and got used to having reasonable reach to deal damage with caution. He always fought right at the edge, just out of reach of his opponent to avoid damage but close enough to strike quick at the first gap in defense. Now he had to fight at a closer range, not to mention stick to a more basic move pool around his team.
With the scrolls secured, he got a small pouch and placed them inside. Pakkun jumped onto the now empty desk. Kakashi held out the pouch and Pakkun grabbed it with his teeth, giving a nod before disappearing in a puff of smoke. With that out of the way, it was finally time to get started on the day.
While he told Pakkun his first order of business was to get used to this body, he had another task that was more important. That was how he had found himself at Konoha's cemetery, making his way towards the familiar tombstone of his father. There were multiple families and ninja paying their respects to fallen loved ones.
Kakashi usually avoided the cemetery during the middle of the day, preferring to come at the less busy hours of dawn and dusk to avoid people glaring at him as he paid respect to the man they blamed for the war. However, the opinion of some of the villagers did not matter to him. Even after he gained the respect of the village for his service, he learned that respect was fickle and focused his energy on fighting for his precious comrades and for a better future.
Luckily for Kakashi, those at the cemetery were too focused on their prayers and nobody paid the young ninja any mind. "Hello father," Kakashi greeted as he placed the chrysanthemums, which he purchased from a modest flower shop in route, in the small potholders on each side of the tombstone.
"I'm not sure if you remember our final farewell or if you're still tethered to this world," he spoke softly, grateful that nobody was visiting the graves around his father's so he can speak freely, "but I wanted you to know that I forgive you, just in case."
"When you committed suicide it hurt me deeply, but I understand why you did it, dad. Comrades are precious," he dipped the cloth in one of the buckets at the cemetery entrance and began cleaning the tombstone with water. "I found great friends too. Do you remember Gai from the academy, the one who failed but trained hard? Well, he kept challenging me and we ended up becoming friends. He was the lone constant throughout my life. I owe him a great deal."
"Speaking of deals, I'm now dealing with a bizarre situation, but you don't need to worry," he hung the cloth from the bucket's handle. "That's the one thing I'm good at; dealing with all the hardship that's been thrown my way over the years. It's like you taught me: we're ninja, we endure."
"Anyway, I will protect those I love and help guide Konoha to a peaceful future, no matter what the rules say," Kakashi promised "I will protect them, like you did. Thank you for teaching me that. I'm proud of you father… proud to call myself your son. I hope you can move on because I'll be more than fine. I hope you find peace." Kakashi moved to brush the top of the tombstone gently with his fingers.
He stood in silent prayer for a few minutes, wondering how different things would be if he had traveled back in time to save his father. Kakashi took a deep breath, lifted his head up to the sky and watched the sunrays peeking out from behind the clouds.
While he wanted nothing more to simply stay with his father, he couldn't waste too much time as he had a mountain of tasks to get through today. He had to deal with time travel of all things after all. Fate loved to mess with him. He stepped out of the cemetery and made his way to the market.
Eventually, he saw a splash of numerous green and red shops that marked the ninja gear shopping district and slipped into an alleyway. It was a shame Pain's attack had destroyed all these shops. Unlike other shopping districts in Konoha, this district retained the buildings from the founding of Konoha, whereby the shops and trades were passed down through the family. While the shops in other districts were more prone to renovating to create flashier displays as more civilians moved into the city and opened new stores, the shops in the ninja gear district maintained the original buildings. The belief was that the older the building looked, the better the perception of expertise that shop would have.
His first order of business was to buy some sealing equipment. His younger self did not dabble much in sealing, and only had a few low-quality paper seals to practice on. To fix his chakra imbalance issue, Kakashi had a multi-layered plan. Yet until he could execute it, Kakashi had to guarantee that the imbalance wasn't noticed by his sensory-attuned sensei, thus needed to resort to the sealing arts.
Kakashi typically purchased his seals from the same shop frequented by his sensei. He wanted to purchase a large amount of sealing equipment and knew he would stand out. Kakashi didn't want word to reach his teacher, therefore, he hid in the alleyway and transformed into a generic looking ninja by mixing a few of the most typical Konoha features. He now had short light brown spiky hair, dark brown eyes and an average build. Satisfied with the look, Kakashi walked out into the district and made a beeline to his sensei's favorite shop.
This wasn't the first-time Kakashi had to deal with an imbalance, although it was at a smaller scale. Growing up, Kakashi had trained both energies as equally as possible to have a wider repertoire at his disposal. This allowed him to utilize jutsu across multiple ninja disciplines; not having to stick to certain techniques. It was not that ninja had equal energies, rather, it was that Kakashi had become accustomed to having nearly equal energy pools. In actuality, most ninja have a larger reserve of one type of energy.
That's when chakra control comes into play, allowing ninja to mix these energies in the correct proportions to execute jutsu. The mixing ratio of spiritual and physical energy depended on the jutsu. For example, ninja who focus on genjutsu or medical techniques rely more on spiritual energy. If a ninja attuned to spiritual energy executed a genjutsu, they would need to pull less energy than a ninja with a smaller spiritual energy pool. The ninja that resorted to pulling a larger portion would not be able to consistently cast genjutsu as they'd run out of spiritual energy quickly.
In Kakashi's case, developing nearly equal amounts of energies made it easier for him to control the mix as the pull from his pools was similar. After the death of all his loved ones, Kakashi could only describe his mental state as depressed beyond belief. His pool of spiritual energy, which is closely tied to a person's mental state, decreased. That said, his physical condition was still high, given that before the death of Obito he was obsessed with training. This led to an imbalance in his energy pools which Kakashi wasn't accustomed to.
During that period, and thanks to his excellent chakra control, Kakashi was able to readjust the mix of energies with relative ease. As he devoted less time to training due to back-to-back ANBU missions, numerous injuries and increasing ennui, his body's physical condition mirrored that of his dampened spiritual energy. Eventually, this resulted in a balanced pool of energy once more. It was this balance that allowed him to copy ninjutsu midbattle without having practiced before. Yet the decrease in his energy pools meant he tired out easily, especially when using the Sharingan.
After fighting Zabuza and his face-off with Orochimaru after sealing Sasuke's cursed mark, Kakashi picked up his training; knowing he needed to improve should he desire to protect his students. The more time he spent with them, the more his mental state improved as well. The fading darkness and higher pace of training allowed him to enlarge his energy pools once more, and in fact, reach a level where he could use the Mangekyo Sharingan despite not being an Uchiha.
Still, there were three key differences between the two situations. The main difference was that the first imbalance happened gradually, whereby Kakashi continuously made small adjustments and managed to maintain seamless chakra control. The second disparity was that in the first scenario he was still a child, and had relatively small pools of energy, compared to the spiritual energy of his thirty-year-old-self. Lastly, he did not have to deal with nausea. Kakashi was unaccustomed to having such a large discrepancy between the energy pools within his body that it resulted in bouts of dizziness.
He knew that once he manages to bring up his physical energy, he would have access to a high-jonin-level chakra pool. Being a genius, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility for him to develop advanced chakra pools, even at this age. He did achieve the rank of jonin before hitting his teenage years after all. Not for the first time since taking on Team 7, Kakashi cursed his inability to snap out of his depression and missing out on his true potential. As a child, Kakashi had larger than average chakra pools, being able to do Kage Bunshin and the chakra consuming Earth Style Mud Wave jutsu before even graduating from the Academy. He vowed not to repeat that mistake.
Regardless, no amount of genius could explain how his spiritual energy more than doubled overnight. Luckily for him, last night his sensei was focused on his illness and had arrived just as Kakashi had expelled his excess spiritual energy, so nothing seemed amiss. Yet without a seal to contain his spiritual energy, Minato would detect the odd imbalance as he was a top tier sensory ninja.
His plan consisted of old-fashioned intense physical training and constant meditation. That would take some time, and that's where sealing would come in handy. Kakashi needed to create the illusion of accelerated development by slowly decreasing the rate of the chakra absorption seals.
"Good afternoon," a man in his fifties greeted Kakashi as he walked in and received a quick greeting in return. Kakashi vaguely remembered the man's name as Takumi, the father of Kaito who managed the shop in Kakashi's time. Takumi san would sometimes come by the shop and work on seals behind the counter while Takumi tended to customers. He never had much conversation with the man beyond a nod of greeting if their eyes happened to meet.
The store had two main sections, the larger being ready-developed seals for numerous purposes ranging from explosive tags to storing seals. The other was dedicated to sealing equipment for those who worked on developing their own seals. Given that fuinjutsu was a rare art, the second section was much smaller which made it easy for Kakashi to quickly find and pick up ninety chakra holding sealing papers and three Grade A quality sealing ink.
"That's a lot of sealing paper," Takumi observed with raised eyebrows when he eyed the transformed Kakashi walking to the counter, just as he had expected.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Takumi questioned as he started ringing out the order. "If you're using this many seals, you're probably drawing the wrong formula."
Kakashi had mentally debated the pros of cons of using body sealing vs paper sealing. While paper sealing was great for temporary sealing arts, body sealing was more apt for chakra suppression.
The issue with body sealing arts was that regular application could have negative effects on his tenketsu, putting them under strain. There was a reason body seals hurt when applied. Therefore, body sealing served long-term applications, but a long-term seal was not a solution as it wouldn't allow Kakashi to develop his energy pools when not with his team or on a mission. Conversely, the problem with paper seals were that they typically didn't maintain a constant effect, as they were usually inactive when not in use. Yet they could still be applied for chakra control purposes.
A good example would be the seal Jiraya gave Kakashi to suppress the Kyuubi's chakra if Naruto lost control. In fact, that was his inspiration for the seal he had developed this morning. Unlike Jiraya's seal, which focused on suppressing a large amount of chakra in one go, Kakashi needed to draw one that would constantly and subtly drain spiritual energy in small amounts to remain undetected. The low capacity meant that he wouldn't be able to reuse the same seal as it would fry after a limit, hence, the three-month stock.
"I'm using them for training purposes," Kakashi lied easily, "I recently got into the fuinjutsu and am struggling with the amount of chakra to draw in the seals. My mentor advised drawing various seals with different chakra mixes to get a better handle on that before moving to the next stage."
"You're quite dedicated," Takumi bought the lie easily as he placed all the items in a bag, "most people would give up at this point. I hope you keep at it and don't get discouraged. That'll be 7,250 Ryo."
"I hope I pass this hurdle with this purchase though," Kakashi stated as he counted the money, creating an excuse to ward off suspicion once his fake persona doesn't come back "sealing can be quite expensive."
"That's true, but it's very rewarding. Sealing is a delicate art, so your struggle is not uncommon." Takumi pitched in the hopes of securing a future customer, "Some of the best ninja use sealing like the Legendary Sanin and Konoha's Yellow Flash."
"It's what inspired me to start, let's hope I have some talent in the art," Kakashi stated as he grabbed the bag of his sealing items, "thank you for your help."
"You're welcome," Takumi replied, "I hope to see you again."
Unlikely, but Kakashi kept the thought to himself and just nodded as we walked out.
With that first purchase out of the way, Kakashi hid in the alley once more before canceling the transformation jutsu. He then created a shadow clone and handed the bag over to him, "Get started on creating the seals," he ordered. His clone simply nodded and headed off to the apartment ahead of him. Developing Naruto's clone training method and seeing his student's constant use of clones had now made clone-solutions top of mind.
He then moved on to the next store that specialized in taijutsu-related gear, knowing they had high quality training weights. He knew he couldn't use a Transformation Jutsu in this store as he needed to match the weights with his size, but any purchase Kakashi made here wouldn't cause any confusion, so he was in the clear.
This store was more chaotic than the sealing one, featuring rows and rows of various equipment. Moreover, the place was much busier, with numerous ninjas inspecting the goods across the shelves. Kakashi could even see a line forming at the purchase counter. With his intention of purchasing weights only, Kakashi hoped he could complete his purchase with quick efficiency. Unfortunately, life had other plans.
"Kakashi!" a familiar voice called out enthusiastically from the nunchucks aisle he had just passed. "How are you, my rival?"
Kakashi turned to face Maito Gai, who had run up to him by the time it had taken him to turn around. Nostalgia washed over Kakashi as he took in Gai's smaller stature - and dare he say - youthful features. He was tempted to raise his hand in a small wave with the familiar greeting of 'yo', but managed to temper his instincts and simply nodded.
By this age, Kakashi and Gai had formed a strong relationship, and Kakashi was grateful that he wouldn't have to build the relationship from scratch. Of course, the years they had lived through had strengthened their relationship, but Gai, like Naruto, formed strong bonds quickly. Kakashi knew that the young taijutsu user in front of him already valued Kakashi highly. Logically, he knew this, but he still felt a sense of loss knowing that his Gai no longer existed.
"It's been a while since our last challenge," kid Gai exclaimed before Kakashi could get lost in his thoughts, his left hand still holding the nunchucks, his right clenching into a fist of passion "how about another test of our youth?"
"I'm busy today," Kakashi declined rudely in line with his past self "what's with the nunchucks?" he deflected the conversation before he got roped into a challenge. He knew Gai was skilled with nunchucks but never really bothered to wonder when Gai started training in them. The first time Kakashi saw Gai use them was during a challenge in their teen years. He didn't expect Gai to have started at a younger age.
At the question, Gai's demeanor changed to a more solemn one that Kakashi didn't expect, "Father died protecting us against the seven swordsmen. He did it using only taijutsu. But if he knew how to use weapons, then maybe…" here Gai hesitated before shaking his head to dispel his uncertainty, "maybe he could've defeated them without losing his life. I want to have something else to use if taijutsu is not enough."
I can't believe I forgot that Gai is one year older than me and lost his dad at twelve.
"You've thought this through. Nunchucks pair well with your taijutsu style," Kakashi said out loud but inwardly felt like a terrible friend for not noticing this in the past. Kakashi was the one Gai confided in when he felt embarrassed by his father begging for forgiveness after screwing up on missions and being stuck as a genin. Naturally, he was also the one Gai turned to as he handled the grief after his father's death.
Kakashi had always admired Maito Dai. While his younger self valued ninja skills, even he couldn't help but find Maito Dai's honesty and belief in himself refreshing, voicing as such to Gai. After the man's death, Gai felt guilty about how he doubted his father's way of the ninja. Kakashi quickly squashed those feelings and encouraged Gai to keep his father's memory alive by carrying on his teachings. After that, Gai bounced back quickly and Kakashi didn't think much of it.
"They do?" Gai smiled from ear to ear and Kakashi nodded in affirmation, marveling at his friend's ability to shift emotional gears so easily. "Hearing you say that gives me confidence, my rival. I will become a super strong nunchaku!"
"Ok," Kakashi replied with a shrug, knowing that Gai did indeed become one of the strongest nunchucks user he ever fought.
Before Kakashi could dismiss Gai and get back to his shopping, Gai continued the conversation, curiosity tinging his voice "What are you doing here?"
"I want to get training weights," Kakashi didn't see a need to lie.
"I will not fall behind, my rival!" if Kakashi didn't know any better, he would say that Gai's pupils turned into small fires of excitement, "our taijutsu spars will be legendary."
Kakashi was counting on the benefits of sparring with Gai more often to help grow his physical energy and was glad for the opening Gai had given him. "We can also spar using weapons once you get a better handle on those nunchucks. I'm not an expert, but I know enough about them to help with any gaps, at least in the beginning."
It was a bit out of character, but Gai was the only peer his age Kakashi had opened to in the past. If there was anyone Kakashi would warm up to first, Gai would be the least suspicious. "You are too kind, my rival" Gai was ecstatic as he cried tears of joy, "I will start training right now!" Gai rushed to the counter to make his purchase before Kakashi could reply. Kakashi chuckled softly, finding comfort in the familiarity of his interaction with Gai in the face of these circumstance. For a few minutes, everything had felt normal.
The rest of the afternoon passed by without any other unexpected run-ins. After purchasing the training weights, splurging on the weights layered with sealing jutsu that allowed him to adjust the settings as he improved his strength without having to constantly buy new ones, Kakashi grabbed a bento box from a nearby vendor and then headed off to train.
The training ground he opted for wasn't large, consisting only of a circular patch of dirt with a few logs off to the side for taijutsu training, but it was obscured by multiple trees and was out of the way. It was usually utilized by the Academy to ensure that students kept up with their katas during survival training drills. Survival training drills only happened on occasion, so the training grounds was free for most of the year.
He expelled the built-up spiritual energy and then spent the remainder of the afternoon going through taijutsu training, forgoing the weights for now to get used to his current speed for when he went out on missions. He started by running though some katas to get a better feeling for his body. He started with slow katas, whereby his attention was on technique and not speed. As he ran through the choregraphed set of forms, he slowly built-up speed while maintaining his technique.
After an hour of katas, he created a clone to spar against. He further had his clone change to different statures so Kakashi could learn to naturally adjust his techniques to various builds. He had his clone fight namely at a similar stature to his old team to start with. The method was obviously not perfect, as his clone was also fighting with a handicap in the unfamiliar statures. Still, it was better than sticking to katas with no opponents to serve as a point of reference for dynamic situations.
It was awkward at first, but as the evening rolled around, Kakashi got more comfortable. Fighting in this body still wasn't second nature by any means. He occasionally mistimed attacks and could still not fight at the top speed in this body. On a happy note, and as expected, his defense was in a much better state than offense, where reach played a lesser role.
Therefore, he decided to end the training for the day by having his clone transform into his thirty-year-old stature and attack him while he stuck to defense. This allowed his clone to be much more fluid in his attacks, resulting in a few bumps and bruises as his defenses were penetrated despite his clone holding back.
Staring up at the sky and watching the sun start to set, Kakashi decided to stop for the day. He still had a long way to go and hoped that training tomorrow would be devoid of taijutsu. Given that he was supposedly recovering from an illness, Minato sensei was probably going to avoid physical training. If he doesn't, then Kakashi would cite fatigue to get out of it. It may be out of character, but fighting in a clumsy manner would be a larger red flag so he would take the less obvious of the two.
There was one more red flag he needed to eliminate for tomorrow's team training, and he wasn't looking forward to this task at all. With a heavy heart, Kakashi left the training grounds. Eventually, he stopped at a roof that allowed him to hide between a cluster of water tanks but still have eyes on a familiar path from his childhood and waited.
The more the minutes passed, the more Kakashi felt like bolting. He could feel his heart pounding, and he would take deep breaths to calm down, only for the pounding to resume after a while. He closed his eyes on concentrated in his breathing, deep breath… one, two, three… exhale. One, two, three, four, five… exhale.
"I was awesome today!" a voice cut through his meditation and Kakashi reluctantly opened his eyes, "Minato sensei kept finding me, but my time was getting so much better! I'm going to become a stealth master at this rate." Obito. Young and smiling widely. Not a care in the world. Kakashi's breath hitched, suppressing a sob.
"I thought you wanted to stand out," Rin laughed, and Kakashi didn't even know how it was possible, but hearing Rin was worse… much worse. He staggered back, retreating further between the water tanks. His breath came in quick short gasps as an immense wave of guilt washed over him. Their voices drifted farther and farther away, not because they were moving faster away, but because images filled his head.
His hand stabbing Rin through the heart…. her blood flowing freely,
the smell of burnt skin as his Chidori burnt her body,
Rin, calling out his name, louder and louder, angrier and angrier…
Obito accusing Kakashi of failing to protect Rin.
It was a recurring nightmare, but now it assaulted his reality. It was too much. I'm having a panic attack. Kakashi rested his back on one of the water coolers as he tried to control himself.
Step 1, find a comfortable position. His mind supplied him with the steps to manage a panic attack once he realized what was happening. He expected a reaction but not a full-blown panic attack. It was much harder than expected to see them.
Step 2, focus on your breathing. As he shifted his attention to his breathing, the images in his head abated, his brain now consumed with analyzing the pattern of his breathing.
Don't think.
Obito and Rin's voices started fading away as they walked further away.
Step 3, deep breaths for four seconds, hold for two, exhale slowly. Now that he had gauged his breathing, Kakashi moved to controlling it. 4-2-4. 4-2-4. The familiar breathing pattern helping slow down his heart rate. 4-2-4.
Obito and Rin turned the corner, their voices joining the cacophony of the hustle and bustle of Konoha's active evening streets.
4-2-4
Vendors were closing shops and comrades were meeting up to have meals at restaurants, others opting for quick drink to toast a fallen comrade and the hopes of a coming victory.
4-2-4
After a few repetitions, Kakashi had finally regained control, grateful for having the foresight to pick a spot that hid him from view from all angles.
How can I face them tomorrow?
Part of him wanted to run away, but he immediately buried those feelings. Resolutely, he pulled himself back up and jumped through the roofs once more. He estimated that his panic attack was around five minutes. He had to catch up with his teammates again. He had to do this.
He easily managed to sense their chakra and headed over. He was grateful that when his eyes landed on them this time but he didn't feel like the whole world was crashing all around him. His chest felt heavy, his breathing constricted, but he was in control this time. He followed them discretely and listened to their inane chatter.
Around the corner, up the hill, across from the fruit stands…
Every time he felt it became too much, he would stop briefly, close his eyes, collect himself, and follow again. By the time Rin and Obito wished one another a good evening and went their separate ways, Kakashi was able to watch them without panicking and falling into despair. While by no means had he gotten over the guilt and immense sadness, he was certain he would be able to mask his emotions tomorrow without giving anything away.
Emotionally exhausted, Kakashi made his way back to his apartment for some rest. His clone had already dismissed himself a while back after he had finished the seals and hid them in various books on Kakashi's shelves. Not in the mood to cook anything, Kakashi opted for a simple omelet and quickly brushed his teeth before collapsing on the bed.
Author's Note:
This chapter was very descriptive and had a lot of theory as it's important to establish the technical challenges of time travel. There are many theories behind chakra out there, so I also wanted to make sure my take on it was clear so that Kakashi's struggles make sense to everyone from my point of view.
Thanks for reading!