Kakashi enjoyed the cool morning air as he sat atop of a tree branch, book in hand, waiting for his team to arrive. July and August were the hottest months of the year in Konoha, so it was always a good idea to start training early before the afternoon rolled in. He had already tested the seal on a clone this morning and it worked as planned. Reassured, he had placed the seal on himself to help regulate his spiritual energy and made his way to the training ground.
It was incredible, how despite all the years that had passed, he easily fell into the routine. He had modeled the schedule of Team 7 to that of his sensei's, the only difference being was he made his team wait instead of him waiting for Obito. Otherwise, the team met at 7am during the summer months and 9am during the wintertime. Unlike his students, however, Kakashi didn't typically wait around or chat until Obito arrived. He, Rin, and Minato, all invested in various theoretical aspects of the ninja arts, would often become engrossed in their own research. Kakashi tended to focus on ninjutsu, Rin studied up on medical ninjutsu while Minato dabbled in fuinjutsu.
It's a shame Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura didn't take as much initiative in their own training. Growing up in times of war, his generation were more prone to learning by themselves since the adults were too busy fighting a war. He couldn't fault his team though; he hadn't really pushed them to kick that habit, which should have been his job as sensei. He should have been more active in their training, teaching them more than formation tactics and foundational chakra control techniques. Sure, he taught Sasuke Chidori, but he was only driven to do so because Garaa was a threat, and he didn't want his student to die.
He was still fighting his demons when he first took on Team 7. By the time he had begun to kick into gear again, the village was attacked and the Third died. Then Itachi decided to pay a visit and unleashed Sasuke's demons and desire for attaining power at the fastest rate possible.
Unfortunately, with the death of the Third and Tsunade's appointment, he was tagged for numerous S-Ranked missions to maintain the peace and ensure none of the other villages took advantage while things settled. In that time, he ran multiple reconnaissance missions and even captured missing Konoha ninja who thought they could use the confusion to sneak back in and steal some artifacts or scrolls for quick money.
While he tried to be there for his team and hoped to reach out to Sasuke in between missions before it was too late, he had indeed been too late. His talk with Sasuke didn't trigger the change he had hoped. When he heard the news of Sasuke's defection and found Naruto unconscious at the Valley of End, the clear shape of a Chidori in the chest of his jacket, Kakashi knew he had failed horribly. He couldn't fathom how his jutsu was once again used against a jinchuriki teammate.
It was at that point that Naruto set off with Jiraya and Sakura found a mentor in Tsunade. With Sasuke being trained by Orochimaru, he decided to leave his students with stronger mentors. After training a teenaged Naruto on nature manipulation to complete the Rasengan, Kakashi wondered how much stronger they would have been if he had been a more vigilant sensei. He wondered if Sasuke would have stayed.
Kakashi shook his head to dispel these thoughts, this was not the time to wallow in self-pity. He had a plan to execute, and he vowed that if he got the chance to be their sensei again down the line, he would do it right this time. For now, he needed to focus on his current teammates and his own training as well.
The first thing Kakashi wanted was to find a way to alter Chidori to bypass the tunnel vision problem now that he no longer had the Sharingan - and never will. Obito will not die this time, not on my watch. The Sharingan allowed him to utilize the jutsu without having to reengineer it, but he knew with some brainstorming, his knowledge of ninjutsu and good old trial and error, he could find a solution.
Chidori was a very versatile jutsu after all. According to the stories he heard of Sasuke, his student had created an extendable version. He himself had already created a version where he could link two Chidori and dissect enemies with the connected cable. He was certain he could create a usable version. His Lightning Cutter had become such an integral part of his fighting style and he wasn't going to abandon the jutsu just because he had lost the Sharingan.
This was why Kakashi had grabbed a highly advanced book on nature and shape manipulation to read. He had already read it before, having inherited the book from his father, yet it was beyond his eleven-year-old's knowledge. However, his younger self was close to reaching that level of knowledge and it was only after he was able comprehend the principles in the book that he was able to create the Chidori. Therefore, reading this book would show his sensei his ninjutsu theoretical levels were higher than what he probably presumed, allowing him to present a variation of his famous jutsu without arousing suspicion. Revising these concepts could also breed ideas to fix the Chidori for Kakashi to try. It was a win-win.
Kakashi's thoughts were interrupted as he sensed Rin's chakra enter the training ground. His breath hitched for a second, but he squashed down his guilt-ridden feelings, took a deep breath and raised his head from the book as his teammate walked towards him. You can do this.
"Good morning, Kakashi kun," Rin greeted like usual as she walked up to the tree Kakashi had perched on.
"Hmm…" Kakashi didn't trust himself to speak just yet, but found amusement in the Sasuke like grunt he used as a greeting.
"Minato sensei said you were sick," Rin continued undeterred, used to Kakashi's lack of social skills, "how are you feeling today?"
"I'm fine," Kakashi shrugged, then retreated to the safety of his book, hoping Rin would leave him alone for now. While he wasn't devolving into panic attacks, it was taking all his self-control not to break down again.
From his peripheral vision, he saw Rin move to say something before resisting with a frown on her face. The frown was quickly replaced with a soft smile as she dropped whatever she initially planned on saying "I'm glad that you're doing better," she settled on before taking a seat at the base of a tree and bringing out her own medical text to read.
Kakashi was grateful for Rin's consideration, he really wasn't ready to have a conversation with her. She always had high emotional intelligence that he never fully appreciated when she was alive. While he would love to direct Rin's attention to other ninja arts to build up her fighting repertoire to have a better chance of avoiding being captured, it was still too soon.
Rin was too focused on enhancing her medical skills that she forgot Tsunade's third rule of being a medical ninja, "No medic ninja shall ever die until they are the last of their platoon." As their team grew stronger, the enemies they faced became more skilled and Rin had found it harder to keep up. Eventually, she started to become a liability in need of protection that would only jump in to heal them once the fighting was done. Although Rin was never a strong fighter, she wasn't weak either. A fighting style similar to Shizune's would suit her better than Tsunade's and Sakura's brand of brutal strength.
He trained his eyes on the pages in front of him, re-reading the same page for the fourth time. His thoughts were constantly distracting him. He had to find time to finish writing up some aspects of his plan; once they were grounded in writing they would no longer swim around in his head, and he could better focus.
"Good morning!" his sensei chirped as he made his way to his students.
"Good morning, Minato sensei," Rin smiled in return while Kakashi just nodded.
Two nights ago, he was stuck in the whirlwind of coming to terms with his predicament that he couldn't prepare to face his should-be dead loved ones. When Minato popped in to check up on him, Kakashi was grateful for his years in ANBU that allowed him to put up an emotionless barrier to get through the interaction. Now that he wasn't in hyper paranoia mood, Kakashi felt a wave of immense sadness.
Naruto had told him how he had met Minato in the seal, and Kakashi was grateful that Naruto could finally build a bond with the kind man. As he watched the man greet them jovially on a calm summer morning, knowing that he never had a chance to raise his son, Kakashi's lamented over how unjust and unforgiving the ninja world could be. Minato as the Fourth Hokage was his hope for a better future and that hope was squashed swiftly, without mercy. If he managed to save Minato, how different would the world be? At that thought, his melancholy was punctured by small tendrils of hope.
"How are you feeling?" Minato turned his head upwards to specifically address Kakashi, cutting his thoughts short.
"Fine," Kakashi replied from his perch, schooling his voice to hide his emotions.
"I'm still a bit concerned. I think it's best for you to avoid too much physical training today, to give your body some more time to recover," Minato stated, his voice a cross between concern and an order. It was clear that Minato expected pushback from Kakashi about taking it easy, and Kakashi, true to script, didn't disappoint.
"I'm not just going to sit around while you three train," Kakashi finally brought the book down from his face and supplied the response his younger self would have had at such a remark, a hint of fake annoyance seeping into his voice.
In truth, he hoped for this response from Minato as he still wasn't fully accustomed to this body, yet he knew if he simply agreed to rest his sensei would grow more concerned. He was glad that his sensei was predictable.
"You misunderstand me," Minato chuckled, also undeterred by Kakashi's brusque replies. Rin and Minato had clearly developed a tolerance for his personality by that point. It was only Obito that still got annoyed by Kakashi's harsh and curt comments. Kakashi, being too serious, was equally annoyed by Obito's lack of professionalism, leading to the constant fighting. "I want each of you to focus on some solo training today," Minato elaborated.
"I'd like that," Rin replied, saving Kakashi from the need to carry the conversation further "I've been reading about this technique to separate liquids of different viscosity levels in the body. It could be very useful for transfusions and treating poisons."
"Actually, I already have a regimen in mind for you, Rin. While Kakashi should keep the physical training to a minimum today, this is a great opportunity for you to work on improving your stamina," Minato replied.
Rin's face morphed into a grimace at the thought of the physical training "Wouldn't it be much more useful for me to learn a technique that could help you if you got poisoned in battle?"
"Nice try, Rin," Minato laughed, immediately seeing through her attempt to avoid physical training.
"Physical exercises are so boring," she groused but there was a levity in her voice, and she even gave her sensei a smile for catching on. Rin wasn't stupid. She knew it was important to improve her physical fitness but her passion for medical ninjutsu eclipsed other aspects of the ninja arts. Rin retained the proper amount of finesse in weaponry and stamina as befitting a chunin, but only did the bare minimum and devoted the rest of her time to medical ninjutsu. It was something her sensei had learned about her early on and she was used to him nudging her to keep up with her physical training.
"Alas, such is the cruelty of the ninja world," Minato declared dramatically holding a hand to his heart in mock pain and Rin rolled her eyes in response. While most ninja saw Minato as a kind but serious figure, those closer to him were witness to his occasional goofy side.
Minato and Rin's humorous banter was a true juxtaposition to their futures that Kakashi grimaced at the contrast. Kakashi had to remind himself that this Minato still hadn't lost his students and still didn't have the weight of the village on his shoulders. No ninja going through war didn't know loss, but Minato had so far been one of the lucky ones who didn't lose any of those closest to him yet.
You know nothing of the true cruelties of the ninja world, sensei.
"Well in that case, I better get back to reading since you won't let me work on this," Rin joked and emphasized the 'you' with a faux glare at the blonde, "At least I can fully study the theoretical part now and start practicing later."
"I'll leave you to it then," Minato laughed and sat down next to Rin, and directly under Kakashi, before taking out a scroll and settling in to read himself. Curious, Kakashi peaked down to look and could make out the advanced fuinjutsu information and red whirlpool at the blank space at the bottom, marking it as an Uzumaki scroll.
Kakashi knew enough about fuinjutsu to recognize that the information was regarding sealing large amounts of chakra. While it was not the Death Reaper seal, it appears that his sensei was studying means to seal Tailed Beasts at this time. It was definitely his love for Kushina driving him to research this topic. Knowing his sensei, he wanted to be at hand to help her if anything went wrong.
"Curious?" Minato, who had sensed Kakashi's lingering gaze, asked with amusement. Just as Minato did, Kakashi often took a glance at what his sensei was reading. However, he only ever showed an active interest when his sensei was studying ninjutsu, never fuinjutsu.
"I can't even make out half of that," Kakashi admitted, which was of course a lie. He was supposed to only know enough about sealing to qualify as B-ranked knowledge. Even with that, he had never really discussed fuinjutsu with his sensei till after Rin's death. Kakashi was curious about the seal placed on his teammate and wanted to know if there was a way to save Rin if she hadn't committed suicide.
It was then that Minato started teaching Kakashi about fuinjutsu, enough to make Kakashi understand that while there was a way to stabilize the seal, Rin's level of chakra was much too small to contain a Tailed Beast and she would have died in a few months regardless. It made Kakashi feel a bit less guilty, knowing Rin's fate was sealed the moment she became a jinchuriki.
"I wouldn't expect you to," Minato laughed "let me know when you want a change of pace from advanced ninjutsu, I can share some fuinjutsu material with you. Judging by the book you're reading, you're way ahead in your ninjutsu studies."
There was an excited glimmer in Minato's eye and Kakashi was surprised by the offer; Minato had never actively got into fuinjutsu discussions with any of them. None of Minato's students had shown an active interest in sealing. Was the minuscule show of interest all it took for Minato to jump at the chance to discuss fuinjutsu with his students? Maybe this was a chance to grow closer to his sensei.
"I'm stuck on how to add nature to the Rasengan," Kakashi stated instead "I tried to go by feeling but the Rasengan is the epitome of shape manipulation. I think a more academic approach will better allow me to move forward." Minato had taught Kakashi the Rasengan in the hopes that his student might help him complete the famed jutsu.
"Any theories?" Minato asked curiously. Unfortunately, Kakashi had never brainstormed with his sensei on possible approaches, choosing to do it all by himself. Chidori was born out of those efforts instead. Now that he knew how to bypass the difficulty of performing high level shape and nature manipulation with clones, maybe he should give his sensei the same hint he unwillingly gave Naruto about looking two ways at the same time?
Instead, Kakashi shook his head, "Not yet, thus, this book," he refrained for now, knowing he must create a better opening into the topic.
"I'll leave you to it then," Minato nodded with a bit of disappointment, and went back to his scroll.
The three ninja enjoyed the companiable silence that was interrupted with the occasional flip of a page, the gentle rustling of leaves and the chirping of birds in the distance. Obito's tardiness was allowing him to slowly get comfortable with his teammates' presence.
After around an hour had passed, Obito finally arrived, running up to them, breathing somewhat heavily, but that didn't stop him from giving them a wide smile. "Sorry I'm late," he shouted as he approached and waved a wand in the air "I had to help Miyu obachan with her groceries. On the way I dropped her eggs so had to buy her a new batch."
It was uncanny how much Obito reminded him of Naruto in that moment. It was interesting how two people who grew up without ever knowing the love of a parent could have such blinding smiles. Unlike with Rin and Minato, sitting with his teammates for the last hour better prepared him for Obito's arrival. He was pleased to note that his emotions were easily kept in check and inwardly enjoyed the irony that Obito's tardiness benefited him for the first time.
When Kakashi didn't acknowledge Obito being late, there was some confusion. Kakashi knew he should've berated his teammate to stay in character, yet he couldn't bring himself to yell at Obito when all he wanted to do was ask for forgiveness.
"That's fine, Obito," Minato filled the silence instead, but was also looking up at Kakashi in confusion. Kakashi refused to acknowledge any of them, face still in his book.
"What trick are you playing, Bakashi? Aren't you going to lecture me about the rules or something?" unlike Rin and Minato, Obito was not the type to let things slide and was uncomfortable with the lack of familiar banter.
"I'm trying to finish this chapter," Kakashi bit out with annoyance from his perch, not even bothering to spare his team a glance, "I'm almost done. Could you be quiet for a moment and let me concentrate, or are you not capable of even that?"
His team seemed to relax at the familiar harsh rebuttal from the rule-abiding ninja. Even Obito's shoulders relaxed a fraction as he moved to reply when Minato spoke up, cutting the argument short.
"Let's leave Kakashi to his studies while I explain the training today," Minato intervened as Obito glared at Kakashi "I want to assign you some solo training. You each have some individual areas you need to improve on."
"Solo?" Obito was obviously curious and decided to yell at Kakashi later, turning to give his sensei his full attention.
"Yes," Minato nodded "since Kakashi is still recovering from his illness, I thought this would be a good opportunity to work on some individual skills. I already told Rin she'll be working on improving her stamina, you'll focus on some chakra control exercises and Kaka –"
"Ehhh! I know my chakra just fine," Obito complained, interrupting Minato "I want to work on the Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu if we're doing solo training."
"It's not up for debate," Minato sighed at the complaint. First Rin, now Obito. Why couldn't his students just trust his judgement.
"But I want to get the jutsu down, I'm so close," Obito wasn't deterred.
To prove his point, Obito ran forward, going through the signs of the jutsu and released the fire technique. Although the expected outcome of the jutsu was to have bullets of fire shoot out in a barrage, Obito's technique released misshapen spheres of various sizes. Some were so big that they collided and formed larger bullets. The various sizes gave each bullet a different speed, so instead of having a barrage of bullets head towards an enemy, they were faced with random balls of fire passing by at random rates.
"You really have improved," Minato encouraged him when he saw Obito's face fall in despair, "Last time I saw you use the technique most of the spheres collided and the jutsu fizzled out without making much distance. There will be more time to perfect the jutsu, but for today it's best if you improve your chakra sense."
"But I just need a bit more time with it," Obito whined "I almost have it!"
"Improving your chakra control is what you need to get the jutsu down," Minato lectured. "Rin, why don't you get started on some katas to warm up while I take Obito through the chakra control exercises, then I'll join you."
"Sure thing, sensei," Rin smiled and moved to the left side of the training field while Obito and Minato took the right side. Kakashi, grateful for the reprieve, closed his eyes, laid his head at the tree bark, and took a deep breath. Interacting with his teammates was harder than just observing them from afar. He was close to letting his emotions out and needed a moment to capture his breath again.
After calming down, Kakashi observed his team from afar to get more comfortable around them. Rin was going through some basic taijutsu kata, and while her moves lacked power, she moved with the grace of hours of practice. Obito, on the other hand, appeared to be struggling with the exercises their sensei had given him, if his frustrated pout was any indication. His sensei was as calm as ever, guiding him gently as Obito tried the exercises again.
When the aching in his chest was replaced with boredom of watching low level training exercises, Kakashi went back to his book, flipping back two chapters. With all the commotion, he hadn't really focused and was mindlessly going over the pages. I really need to get my act together and stop wasting time spiraling.
Refocused, he found himself getting lost in the familiar advanced ninjutsu theories and concepts. At one point, he moved to the ground and unsealed a scroll and pencil, noting down ideas of how to alter his Chidori and other jutsu as he went along. Concepts regarding shape translated into various possible lightening forms, concepts regarding size morphed into ideas for tiers of strength while concepts of area effects transformed to ways he could manipulate the terrain to his advantage.
It was funny, but investing time in ninjutsu theory reminded Kakashi of the time before his life turned into one tragedy after another. A period in his life when he would spend most of his free time consuming knowledge on all topics, mainly ninjutsu. However, the constant hits to his psych dissolved his passion for anything beyond fighting to protect future generations. His reading material was replaced with Jiraya's novels as an escape from reality. Some of the possibilities he was drawing out weren't the first time these jutsu had occurred to him, but after Obito's death he had tucked his notes away for a later date that never came to be. Guess it took the weight of Konoha on my shoulders to rekindle my passion for knowledge.
That was how Minato found him, sitting under the tree scribbling into a scroll passionately. Minato smiled fondly at the look of absolute concentration on his student's face and decided to leave him be. Kakashi sensed him though, and looked up to his sensei after finalizing a note in the margins.
"Was going to ask you to spar a bit with Rin," Minato informed him, "If you're too engrossed in your studies don't worry about it. You do need move a bit today though, so make sure you run through katas when you're done."
"That's fine," Kakashi shook his head, stretching his hands above his head and shifting his gaze to the sky, the position in the sun surprising the silver-haired ninja. "Is it already around 2 pm?"
"Ah," Minato nodded "you kinda got lost in your studies there."
"It's fascinating to read about the various options for building a jutsu based on the effects you are looking for," Kakashi shared his thoughts, "it got me thinking, sensei, what are you planning for the addition of your nature to the Rasengan to actually do?" he emphasized the end.
You didn't need to consider the result for jutsu that don't require hand seals to create them since they react in accordance with natural law. Naruto, for example, only added wind and the Rasengan adapted accordingly. Chidori, on the other hand, used seals. His original idea was flipping the script, focusing on nature manipulation, and then adding the shape. However, as his younger self worked on the jutsu he got an idea for the effect he wanted and used seals to get the intended result.
Mulling over these two different methods of jutsu creation was how Kakashi came up with the trick to adapting his Chidori. Instead of an elemental jutsu, he was going to recreate it as pure nature manipulation and adjust with shape manipulation for various effects. It will be harder… much harder. He had to take his nature manipulation skills to the highest level, just as Minato did with the Rasengan. The Fourth Raikage used a version of such manipulation with his Lightning Clock to give him his speed, but it was an effect on his entire body as opposed to a purely offensive jutsu. If Kakashi managed to take his nature manipulation ability to that level, it would allow him to flexibly wield Chidori and adjust its strength, range, effect and so much more. He would essentially be wielding lightning as an element, and not a series of individually executed jutsu. It made him curious to the thought-process his sensei employed to create the epitome of shape manipulation.
"I never did tell you how I created the Rasengan, did I?" Minato exclaimed with a smile his joy infectious. Kakashi gave a soft smile that was thankfully covered by his mask as he shook his head in the negative.
Minato sat in front of Kakashi eagerly, "It's quite the tale! It was during the Second Shinobi World War. I was on a mission in the Hidden Village of Rain and my squad ended up fighting Roshi and Han from Iwa, have you heard of them?"
"Yes, Iwa's jinchuriki. You fought both at the same time?" Kakashi replied with a question of his own. He knew of the jinchuriki, of course. Unlike his students' generation, jinchuriki were common knowledge as there was a flee on sight order for jinchuriki during the war. With the Kyuubi attack, the Academy removed the subject of jinchuriki from the curriculum so young shinobi didn't ask too many questions and protect Naruto's identify from his generation. While the Third Hokage meant well, Kakashi thought it was overkill given that it could have resulted in ninja being caught unawares.
Regardless, the fact the Kushina was the host of the Kyuubi was a well-guarded secret. Kakashi only found out after he was tasked with guarding Kushina during her pregnancy. It was surprising that most Konoha ninja didn't realize that Konoha possessed the Kyuubi as other Hidden Villages had jinchuriki and they played a large part in building their strength. Most villagers simply believed that their status as one of the main Hidden Villages came from being the first village to be founded along with the residence of some of the most prominent clans and blood line limits. They assumed Konoha didn't need a jinchuriki to maintain the status quo.
Kakashi, being a genius, knew there was more to it. Since Madara used the Kyuubi in the fight against the First Hokage, his younger self believed that Konoha had the Kyuubi stored away but not in a host. He just never had a reason to voice this opinion out loud, and knew that if he was correct, such knowledge would be classified as sensitive information. Kakashi wasn't going to betray Konoha. He wondered if others had come to the same conclusion and chose to remain silent as well. The revelation of Kushina's jinchuriki status came as quite the shock to him.
"Fight might be a stretch," Minato chuckled nervously, "during the face-off, both transformed into their Tailed Beasts and attacked us with balls of condensed black and white chakra. The technique was so dense that the ground under them began to get flatten into the shape of a crater. They call it the Tailed Beast Bomb. Knowing that's not a jutsu that can be blocked, I used the Flying Thunder God to teleport the entire team out of harm's way. Even after we teleported far away, we could see the destructive power the jutsu created, it was like nothing I've ever seen before. It was a close call."
"You had to flee?" Kakashi asked incredulously. He was used to ninja fleeing from his sensei, not the other way around. He vaguely cursed his younger self for not being interested beyond the jutsu.
"Yes," Minato nodded seriously, "Jiraya sensei was with me and two other jonin, but fighting against two jinchuriki that had a solid relationship with their Tailed Beast would have definitely resulted in some casualties even if we did manage to win. Also, I was only fourteen."
"Sounds like the most sensible course of action," Kakashi placated him but internally snorted at the defensive tone his sensei took at the end. Who knew his sensei had some ego underneath all that kindness and down-to-earth personality.
"Anyway, that was the inspiration for the Rasengan, I wanted to create something that would counterattack the Tailed Beast Bomb," Minato continued.
"That's a scary thought," Kakashi shuddered at the implication. While he never saw one personally, he heard the account of Jiraya and later Tenzou. He could only imagine the level of destruction such a jutsu would do.
"Without a jinchuriki in Konoha, if the jinchuriki of our enemies joined the skirmishes more often, Konoha would be at a large disadvantage." Mentally he wondered how Kushina played a role in all of this but knew his sensei wouldn't bring her up. In fact, Kakashi noticed Minato tense lightly at the mention of a Konoha jinchuriki. For less experienced ninja it would have gone unnoticed, but Kakashi was an experienced jonin of Konoha.
"Exactly," Minato nodded and quickly shifted the topic away from jinchuriki, "I struggled with containing the chakra. The Tailed Beast Bomb doesn't rotate, but Jiraya sensei gave me the hint that the easiest way to knead chakra is by following the whorl on your head. I was desperate for anything at that point, but apparently I have two whorls, each in a different direction."
"I didn't think that was possible," Kakashi stated and nearly laughed at the crestfallen expression on his sensei's face. Clearly this was a point of annoyance.
"That didn't help," Minato muttered "but then Jiraya sensei gave me a twin popsicle. When he split the popsicle, it made me realize that since they're both essentially the same, it didn't matter which popsicle I got. Similarly, it didn't matter which direction, rather, I needed to knead the chakra in both directions simultaneously. That's when I finally completed the base form of the Rasengan."
"Let me get this straight," Kakashi interjected with disbelief "you're telling me that the ultimate shape manipulation jutsu was inspired by a combination of Tailed Beasts, the whorls of your head and a popsicle?" He didn't even bother to hide the incredulity in his voice. He was sure that even his younger self would've been thrown off at the revelation, stoicism or not.
"Yes," Minato chuckled nervously "Rasengan's original is Ice Pop Inspired Nimbus Jiraya Twin Whorl Sphere."
Kakashi visibly sweat-dropped, "Maybe leave that part out when you tell the story. I respect you a lot, sensei, but I'm finding it hard not to judge you harshly right now."
Minato startled at the off-brand-comment from his serious student, but then laughed out loud "Well noted."
"So did it work against a Tailed Beast Bomb?" Kakashi asked curiously.
"I never got the chance to test it out against a jinchuriki again," Minato said but Kakashi observed the minuscule signs of lying. He determined that whatever the full truth was, it had to do with Kushina. To spare his sensei, Kakashi avoided a follow-up and brought the conversation back to the technique.
"Back to nature manipulation," Kakashi rediverted "did the Tailed Beast Bomb have a nature element that matches the Tailed Beast?"
"No," Minato shook his head "but imagine how strong it can be with the addition of nature! To answer your original question, I already got to the intended effect I originally strived for with base Rasengan. Now I want to take it to the next step. I don't know if it's possible to add nature manipulation to it, but if it is the outcome would be devastating."
"I think that helps," Kakashi mused, bringing a hand under his chin in thought. This was his chance to give his sensei a hint as his story reminded him of Naruto's solution to look two ways at the same time "Two whorls…. that's a curious idea."
"What do you mean?" Minato titled his head lightly.
"You have to do two things at the same time," Kakashi mumbled, thinking how Naruto needed a clone to swirl his chakra in two ways, then a third to add nature manipulation. "Adding nature manipulation will be like trying to do three things at the same time. You are pushing the limit with the Rasengan by doing two things at once. Is it in any way possible for one person to do three things at the same time?"
"Interesting line of thought," Minato's eye sparkled in excitement "The question isn't whether adding nature manipulation to the Rasengan is possible. The question is how I can split my focus to doing two advanced skills simultaneously! Could sealing be the solution. Is there a way to seal manipulation. Or maybe there's a way to contain Rasengan's form long enough to focus on nature manipulation. I can already think of different things to try."
The moment of truth arrived.
"Or a shadow clone," Kakashi supplied casually.
It was instantaneous.
The widening of the eyes.
The slightly open mouth.
The metaphorical light bulb switched on.
"That's it!" Minato was ecstatic and then grabbed his student by the shoulders, "Kakashi, you're a genius!"
Kakashi simply shrugged, not feeling that he was worthy of the praise. Sure, he gave Naruto the same tip, but it felt like cheating, building to this moment with his future knowledge. It didn't matter though, they were ninja. The most important thing is for the team to grow stronger. Minato is Kakashi's hope for the future of Konoha and Naruto's happiness. The stronger he was, the better. This time around, the Fourth Hokage will be the one to guide the ninja world to a better future.
Minato's exclamation attracted the attention of Rin and Obito. They gave each other confused looks before trudging over.
"The shadow clone can build the Rasengan and I can experiment with mixing the nature element," Minato was saying "Who knows, with the knowledge transfer ability of shadow clones, mixing nature with the Rasengan might become second nature to the point where you won't even need a clone."
"What's wrong, sensei?" Obito asked in confusion, his face scrunched up in worry as he and Rin approached.
"He had an epiphany," Kakashi shrugged.
"About what?" Rin asked curiously despite breathing heavily, her face covered in sweat from her stamina training.
"Kakashi gave me a potential idea to finish the Rasengan," Minato replied "I have to test it out. You don't mind if we wrap up for today?" Obito and Rin were still thrown for a loop but dutifully nodded along with Kakashi. "Great, see you tomorrow!"
A cloud of smoke later and their sensei was gone.
"What the hell, Kakashi!?" Obito now turned to Kakashi who was rolling up his scroll and resealing his notes away.
"You know how Minato sensei is when he gets excited about jutsu," Kakashi gave the Uchiha a bored glance as he got up and dusted himself off.
"What did you tell him?" Rin asked then took a swipe of water to quench her thirst.
"We were just talking about how the Rasengan is like doing two things at once. Adding nature manipulation would be doing three. It seemed to give him an idea," Kakashi didn't elaborate on all the details. Rin and Obito didn't know much about the technicalities of the Rasengan anyway. It was still beyond their level, so Minato had only taught Kakashi thus far.
"What do you two want to do?" Rin questioned. "It's only lunch time. Do we stay here and train?"
"I want to keep going," Obito jumped in "The sooner I master these control exercises the sooner I can learn the Phoenix Fire Sage jutsu."
Kakashi didn't want to spend more time with his team today. He was already emotionally exhausted from having to interact with them pretending nothing was wrong, as little as that was. It was easier with his sensei as he didn't have a guilt complex on top of melancholy. Obito died to protect him whereas Rin used him to commit suicide; it still hurt immensely thinking about it. With Minato, Kakashi knew he wouldn't have been helpful against the Kyuubi, and he wasn't there at the moment of death. Not to mention, Naruto was a daily reminder of his father. Somehow, those factors made it easier to converse with the man.
However, seeing Rin's eager face looking at him Kakashi felt torn. He wanted to announce that he was leaving too but was surprised to hear his voice request a spar from Rin, "Minato sensei told me he wanted me to have a light taijutsu spar with you, Rin." Rin's eyes lit up and all Kakashi wanted to do was take it back and run away.
"I want to spar with Rin chan!" Obito's jealousy distracted Rin and gave Kakashi a chance to take a deep breath.
"Obito kun, you just said you wanted to keep working on your chakra control exercises," Rin frowned.
"That's when I thought we're going to continue solo training," Obito whined "I don't want to be during boring chakra control exercises while you have fun sparring."
"You need to sort out your priorities," Rin scolded him. When Obito's face fell, Rin sighed in sympathy before changing her tone. "Obito kun, how will you be Hokage if you don't train in what will make you stronger? Besides, I'm excited to see the Phoenix Fire Sage jutsu!"
Another stab of regret filled Kakashi at Rin's kindness. She really had a big heart and didn't deserve to have that heart obliterated and charred into nothing. The ache only got worse when Obito pumped a fist in the air, "Of course, I'm going to learn this jutsu and much cooler fire jutsu. With my fire jutsu and Sharingan I'll protect Konoha as the Fifth Hokage. Just wait, Rin chan!"
Obito then rushed back to his training spot without a care in the world. But no, Obito didn't become Hokage. Obito was crushed, along with his dreams. Crushed before he could grow up, before he could foster a romance with Rin, before he could enjoy unlocking his Sharingan… all because of him.
"Are you alright, Kakashi kun?" Rin's concerned voice broke through the haze of his morbid thoughts, and he startled to attention.
"Sorry," he muttered "got lost in my thoughts."
"Are you sure? You've been quiet today," Rin still had a worried frown as she searched his face, for what, Kakashi wasn't sure.
Stop caring so much, I don't deserve it.
"I'm fine," he dismissed her instead and moved towards the sparring arena, forcing Rin to follow him and drop the matter. Kakashi used the short walk to collect himself again. It's going to be exhausting if I must sort out my emotions every few minutes.
When they made it to the center, Kakashi turned to Rin, devoid of any emotion and addressed her indifferently, "Rules, just taijutsu. The goal of the spar is for you to build your stamina."
"What about you?" Rin asked, surprised Kakashi would help with her training if he didn't receive a training benefit in return.
"I just recovered from my illness, so Minato sensei wants me to get some light exercise before I push myself in training. I think it's ridiculous but don't want to get stuck hearing a lecture from him so it's easier to get it over with," he shrugged. Rin's disappointed gaze at Kakashi's lack of enthusiasm to spar with her hurt; he didn't want to cause her any pain.
To avoid any more conversation, Kakashi charged at her, surprising the young ninja who barely managed to jump back to avoid the kick directed at her. Kakashi didn't give her much chance to recover before he dashed forward again, throwing in a few punches that Rin blocked and weaved around.
He focused on analyzing his speed and reach, slowly building up the feel of his younger body and improving his timing. Rin was too busy trying to avoid getting hit that she couldn't tell that something was amiss, thinking Kakashi was just holding back. Kakashi recalled the few times he had taijutsu spars with Rin in the past, he had never gone all out either, as the match would be over in seconds if that were the case. Even Obito avoided a full out taijutsu spar with Rin for the same reason.
As they continued to dance around, Rin's defenses started to wane. Kakashi found a gap in Rin's defense and moved to throw in a punch aimed at her lower right abdomen. He was about to connect when an imaged flash in his head - Rin, a hole in her chest, blood coming out of her mouth, and eyes wide in shock. Kakashi faltered, opened his hand in a palm and pushed her away instead.
Rin stumbled back but didn't fall as Kakashi had reduced the force as much as possible. In retaliation, Rin crouched down and attempted to swipe Kakashi off his feet. Kakashi easily avoided the sweep by flipping forwards.
Right punch, low cross block, turn, roundhouse kick,
Kakashi... Rin angry, voice enraged.
Blink the images away,
Dodge, axe kick, left jab, left jab, right hook,
Kakashi, KAKASHI.
Reality and dreams merged,
Rin's chest bleeding…
Jump back, deep breath.
Focus on measuring reach,
Right punch, 6 cm short,
Adjust.
Backwards flip, 43 cm short,
Adjust.
Dodge, few milliseconds too late,
Adjust.
His entire focus shifted to the technicalities of his taijutsu. The calculated analysis pushed the images farther and farther away. Kakashi was grateful that Rin seemed to be solely focused on keeping up that she didn't seem to notice anything wrong in Kakashi's fighting style.
They exchanged more kicks and punches, and it wasn't long before Kakashi broke through her cross armed defense. Rin's hands shot upwards in the air and Kakashi moved in with a horse kick, ready to send her across the field. The kick, aimed at her chest, caused Kakashi to falter again as the images resurfaced and his leg froze right in front of Rin's chest, centimeters away from connecting.
"Kakashi kun?" Rin asked, her breath ragged but still managing to convey worry as relaxed her stance. He stepped back and lowered his leg.
"It's nothing," Kakashi sighed as brought his leg back down to the ground and placed his hands in his pockets "you look tired, let's stop."
"Do you think I'm that weak? You've been stopping short of connecting your hits since the beginning" Rin's concern was replaced by anger. It seemed that Rin caught on more than Kakashi gave her credit for.
Rin's anger reminded him of his recurring nightmare, Rin repeating his name over and over again, her anger increasing with each iteration of his name. He barely managed to block the images during the spar. Without the distraction, he could feel his chest tightening and knew he needed to placate Rin and then escape before he broke down in front of her.
"Well?" Rin asked again when Kakashi remained silent.
"Taijutsu isn't your specialty," he settled on after a beat.
"Obviously," Rin scoffed "that doesn't mean you have to hold back this much. I can take a few hits. I'm not fragile."
"You've been neglecting your physical training," Kakashi continued "At this rate, you're going to be a medical ninja confined to the hospital." He bit back a wince at his words; not meaning to be that harsh.
However, to ensure that Rin's fate was different he had to wake her up to the reality. Sparring with Rin just brought to the surface how weak her taijutsu was. It was much worse than he recalled, probably since he didn't pay much attention to her skills in the past. It was no wonder she was easily captured during the Kannabi Bridge mission and then by the Mist ninja.
"I have low-chunin level taijutsu skills which is in line to the development of chunin specializing in medical ninjutsu" Rin was clearly upset.
"Third Clause of the Medical Ninja Laws, no medic ninja shall ever die until they are the last of their platoon," Kakashi repeated the words verbatim "The Yellow Flash is our sensei, we're only going to be sent on harder and harder missions. If you can't defend yourself, then you'll only end up becoming a liability. Taijutsu is the foundational form of defense."
"I just want to protect my comrades" Rin bit the bottom of her lip in frustration. "I constantly worry about one of you being hurt in a way that I don't know how to treat. I won't forgive myself if that happens."
"Imagine if we're at the frontlines and you heal ninja after ninja as they're carried in from the battlefield. After healing a few, you've exhausted your chakra pool because your physical energy is low. Then, Obito comes in, injured. You know the advanced technique to save his life, but you don't have the chakra to perform the procedure. Is that any better? You just more or less told Obito how he needed to train all his skills, the same applies to you." Rin's eye quivered and Kakashi was afraid she was going to start crying.
He was already emotionally exhausted and wouldn't be able to handle a crying Rin. He needed to escape. Part of him felt guilty for upsetting Rin when all he wanted to do was shelter her. Nonetheless, the logical part of him knew that better upset and determined than happy and dead. I won't let Rin become an easy target again.
Rin took a deep breath and then gave Kakashi a nod "You're right." Kakashi nearly gapped at her; that was unexpected. He really underestimated Rin. She was stronger than he ever gave her credit for. He was so used to seeing Rin as someone in need of protection, especially after the promise he made to Obito. It seemed that he needed to reevaluate his perceptions.
"But Kakashi kun, there are better ways to say things, honestly," she gave him a small, exasperated smile.
"Whatever gets the idea across," he shrugged, still a bit put off.
"That's not how the world works," Rin laughed and Kakashi felt some of the darkness lift from his heart at the sound. "I'm going to get back to stamina training. I have some things to think about and am not in the right headspace to spar again."
"Ok, I'm going to leave then," Kakashi replied succinctly, not trusting himself to say much more. He could finally leave.
He raised his hands into the familiar seal of the Body Flicker jutsu and barely heard Rin thank him before he puffed away, and his apartment materialized. I'm the one that should be thanking you, Rin.
Safe in the confines of his apartment, Kakashi closed the curtains and sank to the floor, his back resting at the foot of the bed. He brought up his knees close together, folded his arms to rest on top of them and dug his head inside. A wrangled sob escaped his throat, but he managed to temper it down.
He hadn't cried since the Fourth Hokage's death. By that point, Kakashi had lost so much that very few things could phase him to the point of tears. Rin. He never truly forgave her for committing suicide by his hand. It had traumatized him greatly. Still haunted his dreams even as an adult. Part of him hated her for that. Yet, talking to her and witnessing her kindness firsthand again, the only feelings that remained were heartache.