Kakashi cut the wire, releasing a rain of kunai and shuriken on his location. The man easily dodged backwards and closer to his hidden location. Kakashi manually triggered the explosives on the ground below, having forced him into that location with the first trap. Haruki cursed and jumped upwards to avoid the explosion; his back now exposed to Kakashi.
Kakashi moved.
He collected chakra at the base of his feet and launched himself forward, white saber unsheathed. Haruki sensed Kakashi, weaved his body to the right and ducked as Kakashi made contact. The saber dug through Haruki's upper left shoulder and sliced through his collar bone, making Haruki grunt in pain.
Kakashi flipped midair to avoid having his back to his opponent and landed on the ground below. Kakashi examined the injury he gave Haruki and noted that it was less damage than Kakashi hoped to start off with, but the wound would slow Haruki down and impede him in close combat.
Haruki glanced at his injury then turned to face Kakashi with annoyance clear on his face. Kakashi smirked and readied his saber once more, crouching down into a battle stance "This is as far as you go, Haruki san."
Haruki scoffed, gathered chakra in his feet and rushed at Kakashi, kunai out. Compared to the numerous enemies Kakashi had fought in his lifetime, he noted that his opponent had average speed levels. Right before Haruki attacked with a frontal attack, he let out a burst of speed to stand behind Kakashi and struck.
Kakashi easily saw the attack and crouched, the kunai slicing through air, a few strands of hair floating above. Not giving his opponent time to move away, Kakashi followed with a sweep of his legs to knock him off balance. Haruki read the attack and flipped forward, above of Kakashi and landed in front of him. Kakashi slashed his saber forward, yet Haruki twisted and caught the saber with his kunai, metal and metal clanging loudly.
Haruki immediately started to push his kunai hard against the saber. With the adult's superior physical strength, Kakashi was being pushed closer to the ground. Knowing he wouldn't win a contest of strength, Kakashi abruptly relaxed his grip as he twisted his body even lower to the ground and shifted to the side. The sudden lack of force caused Haruki to slightly lose his balance, and from his crouched position Kakashi took the opportunity to flip his grip on the saber and slice at Haruki's feet as he dashed away from his opponent. The saber met its mark, leaving a shallow cut on the man's calf.
While not deep, Kakashi noted the glint of annoyance resurface in Haruki's eyes. Clearly, he didn't expect a fight and had tried to end it then and there. Conversely, Kakashi was analyzing his opponent's fighting habits before going in for the kill as his usual style. While he could easily read Haruki's taijutsu, his body was barely keeping up. He wouldn't be able to act carelessly. Knowing that, Kakashi unleashed his first jutsu to take note of how his opponent would react.
"Lightning Beast Tracking Fang," he called out, and a wolf of lightning streamed rapidly towards Haruki. Haruki dodged the attack by jumping over it at a faster speed and showing he could still kick into a higher gear if need be, although it seemed one directional. That was, at least somewhat reassuring.
Haruki ran through hand seals of his own, and Kakashi recognized the seals of the Earth Wave Jutsu, luckily one of the first Earth jutsu he learned. Clearly, Haruki was still underestimating him; wanting to throw him off-balance and then finish him off with another quick attack. As Haruki slammed his hands on the ground, Kakashi in the memory of his past moniker, ran through the same seals faster, catching up to Haruki and in tandem they called out "Earth Wave Jutsu."
The two jutsu moved towards one another and collided, causing the earth to shake and an explosion of rubble chunks to rocket outwards. Haruki did not expect the same jutsu as a counter and was delayed in his escape as shock stilled his movements for a few seconds. Despite jumping backwards, his delayed reaction forced him to be caught in the collision and he had his hands raised to protect his face as the rubble struck him.
Kakashi, aware of the impending collision, had immediately launched upwards onto a branch after he finished his seals. He struck at Haruki's left side. His saber connected but Haruki was already in motion, bringing his right hand to grasp Kakashi's hand to stop the momentum. The saber dug into Haruki's side but stopped before it could do serious damage. Haruki then used his left hand to elbow Kakashi on the head. Kakashi's hand was still stuck in Haruki's grip, and he couldn't dodge. The attack connected and Kakashi exploded in a shower of blue light. Electricity painfully coursed through Haruki who cursed out loud.
The real Kakashi jumped at the opportunity, kunai charged with lightning in hand and moving in to strike the finishing blow. He was centimeters away from connecting when he felt a rush of chakra gather around Haruki and Kakashi's kunai met a wall of hard stone. His charged kunai wasn't powerful enough to strike through the stone and clanged uselessly before flying upwards as Kakashi let go. Better to let the force unarm him than revibrate through his arm and injure him.
Before he could counter, Kakashi felt a rush of air from his left and raised his left arm to guard his face, the right arm crossed behind his left to support against the incoming attack. A punch of hard rock slammed into Kakashi, sending him flying before crashing into the ground, the momentum dragging him along the earth. When Kakashi came to a halt, he grimaced in pain as he lugged himself into a battle stance once more, grateful that he had reinforced his guard with chakra. He was sure that his left arm would have been broken otherwise. Right now, it was heavily bruised and pulsed painfully, but still functional. Probably a fracture, he noted.
In the clearing, where Haruki previously was, now stood a golem of stone, double the size of his adversary. The menacing behemoth stood proud in its muscular frame, with each segment of its body appearing to be made of boulders organically fused together. Kakashi noted that the torso twisted slightly, indicating agility despite its stony composition. The only part of Haruki Kakashi could make out was through the eye slits on the stone head, where Haruki's eyes looked back at him with a calculated gleam.
"I never would have thought I'd have to use this form against a child," Haruki's tone was thoughtful. A final gambit of defense, Kakashi cursed. "Clearly, I won't be able to kill you and move on without a serious fight. You will die here, but take pride in getting me to fight seriously, child of Konoha."
Those words of warning were all Kakashi was given before the massive golem rushed towards him. Kakashi braced himself and got into a defensive pose. Haruki jumped diagonally before the golem came crashing down onto Kakashi's spot. Kakashi heard the whistle of air from the force of the golem's decent and immediately dodged with a back flip. The golem crashed into the ground, sending debris flying, a few stones crashing into his frame.
The golem used the momentum to rush towards Kakashi, who ducked under a right punch thrown his way. As Kakashi continued to dodge the attacks at the last second, he noted that this form of Haruki's was slower, but it covered more area. One hit from those would be devastating and Kakashi found himself barely edging away from attacks. Each missed attack let out a rush of air that whooshed around Kakashi' frame, a reminder that the slightest miscalculation would be devastating.
Kakashi tried to create some distance but just as Kakashi used some chakra to jump away, Haruki seemed to realize that he wouldn't catch Kakashi with frontal attacks and two more golems appeared. These golems were much smaller in size, a bit large than Kakashi's frame, but appeared to be built for speed. They also appeared to be controlled by Haruki remotely, as opposed to the behemoth. A sign that the jutsu was quite the chakra drain.
Kakashi concluded that these were the golems the man was famous for using to manipulate enemies into certain positions. He would do so by overwhelming his opponents with the golems' attacks and coming in for the killing strike. Knowing that in a fight of endurance, Kakashi was at a disadvantage, he needed to deal with the golems quickly.
As the golems came in to attack him, the behemoth prowling on the sidelines, Kakashi made his move. He brought his hands into the familiar seal, "Shadow Clone Jutsu". The two silver-haired ninja moved away from one another, remaining in parallel. As the golems got close, both Kakashi and his clone threw exploding tags at the rushing stone figures.
The golems were barely damaged, only pausing for a second to resist the recoil of the explosion. However, Kakashi's goal wasn't to damage them, just buy him a few precious seconds to jump back farther way, widening the distance between them once more. The golems continued their rush, but this time Kakashi was prepared to meet them.
As he jumped back, the original Kakashi had tied ninja wire to a kunai, throwing it to his clone while he secured the other end of the wire onto another kunai. Once they landed, they each held the end of the ninja wire cable and rushed forward to meet the golems head on. As they ran forward, the two channeled lightning chakra through the wire, creating a weaker but usable version of his Lightning Cable jutsu.
Kakashi's left arm screamed in protest as he focused on maintaining his position, his fracture flaring up in pain, but he didn't slow down. If the clone had taken the right side, it would have dissipated from the fracture, so he gave it the easier job. His clone should be thankful.
Haruki noticed and manipulated the golems to evade by rolling to the sides, clearly trying to pincer Kakashi from the behind with the smaller golems while he attacked from the front. Yet, Kakashi and his clone quickly gathered chakra to their feet and jumped to the side, covering more distance than the golems' rolls did. With that maneuver, the four combatants were nearly standing in a single file line, with the Kakashis at the far most positions.
Kakashi observed that his wire would connect, but at the speed they were going it won't be enough to slice the golems, therefore, he and his clone gathered chakra in their feet once more before bursting forward at the same time. The lightning-charged wire connected. With the added speed boost, the strength was enough. The rock creatures were sliced in half and crashed into the ground, landing in a useless bundle on the ground. Kakashi disconnected the cable and clutched his left arm in pain, glad for the small respite to catch his breath.
While it was weaker than his original Lightning Cable, lacking the sheer force and speed of Raikiri, the two smaller golems were built for agility not defense. Thus, Kakashi was optimistic his attack would work even if it wouldn't against the larger golem protecting Haruki.
The man's curse was music to Kakashi's ears. For the first time since they started to fight, Haruki was clearly rattled. These golems were what earned him his notoriety, and they were defeated within one minute. Moreover, it took a lot of chakra to create golems that can be manipulated without chakra threads. Haruki wouldn't be able to create more of them easily.
Kakashi was never one to play fair, and saw the opportunity to annoy his opponent further, "Too bad Earth is weak to Lightning," he shrugged casually. He was rewarded with an eye twitch. That said, he couldn't celebrate early. He was already around 65% down on his chakra so dispelled his clone to save up on chakra. I need to end this soon.
Haruki was already charging at him again, but unlike the beginning, Kakashi now had a plan. As he found himself dodging the behemoth once more, Kakashi discretely removed the seal binding his spiritual energy, feeling his chakra reserves' balance start to shift. He wouldn't face an imbalance issue because Kakashi was now going to spam his spiritual energy and aggravate Haruki even more than before. Let nobody say that driving your opponent mad in frustration was not a sound strategy.
"Lightning Senbon Jutsu," Kakashi manipulated his chakra into many lightning senbon that fired in quick projectiles at his enemy. The senbon struck the golem in the chest, but they didn't do much damage, barely cracking the armor. Although the senbon lacked power, it meant that they relied heavily on spiritual energy and Kakashi now had that in spades.
Haruki, however, was an S-Ranked level threat, and wasn't going to simply try to crush his opponent with uncreative attacks. As Kakashi released the third volley of senbon at the golem's leg, he heard Haruki call out "Earth Flow Spears". Kakashi flipped upwards to avoid the first spear that came at him, using it as leverage to push himself to the side to avoid another. He ducked to avoid the third and felt a stab of pain in his right calf.
As another pillar came rushing towards him attempting to skewer him, Kakashi grabbed the top of the pillar stabbing his leg and used his hands to push himself into a handstand as the pillar crashed into the other one. Kakashi grunted in pain as the movement allowed him to break away from the pillar, but his leg was now bleeding profusely. He quickly jumped away again.
The fact that Haruki was inside the golem and could cast jutsu without Kakashi being able to see the hand signs was frustrating. He would accuse the man of cheating if they weren't ninja. He was tempted to use the Hidden Mist Jutsu to even the score but didn't want to tip Haruki off that he could use the water element.
Haruki didn't give him a chance to dress the wound as he attacked him once more with pillars, and moved in to attack in tandem with the pillars. As Kakashi ducked under the golem once more, he took out one of his custom energy absorption seals and slapped it on the stone. The seal was designed to absorb a continuously small amount of only spiritual energy, thus, wouldn't be noticed by the ninja early on unless he was a sensor ninja.
Now it was just a matter of time. It was sheer adrenaline allowing Kakashi to still dodge and ignore the pain in his leg, still launching wave of senbon after wave at his adversary. Between dodging pillars and waves of Earth, as well as the towering golem, Kakashi managed to add another seal to the back of Haruki to speed the process along.
Haruki wasn't idle either. The stone ninja had managed to nick him in various places, leading to multiple shallow wounds, worst of which was a small gash on his side. Frustratingly, these were all injuries he could have avoided. He saw the attacks but simply couldn't get his body to move fast enough to react in time.
"You're getting desperate, you brat," Haruki scoffed as he batted away another volley. Kakashi internally smirked. He had respected that Haruki wasn't the garrulous type of fighter, not giving anything away as they traded blows. If he had decided to speak up mid-attack, it meant that he truly did believe he had won and had grown overconfident.
To play up the part, Kakashi replied boastfully, "You never know unless you try," and released yet another wave of lightning senbon at the golemn. The golem was now littered with small scratches from the senbon attacked, but none had penetrated deep enough.
"You may think you have succeeded in delaying me, but someone with your aptitude for lightning jutsu will grow into a serious threat for the Stone," Haruki continued the conversation while rushing in with a punch and completely ignoring the senbon, "Therefore, killing you here before you can mature is just as beneficial."
"I don't plan on dying, Haruki san," Kakashi smirked as he jumped upwards to avoid the attack.
It was at that moment Haruki launched another jutsu attack, "Earth Dragon Bomb Jutsu."
Kakashi observed the small cracks in the armor start to get wider, the golem jutsu was destabilizing. On that note, he immediately countered with ninjutsu of his own, "Water Dragon Bullet."
The jutsus collided in midair, releasing a shower of water and mud onto the combatant zone. "You still had the water element under your sleeve? How does Konoha keep pumping out geniuses?" The man grumbled, his voice giving away his frustration that the fight was still ongoing "This game of cat and mouse is over!"
Haruki gathered chakra at the leg of the golem, dashing forward and closing the gap between them. Kakashi jumped above the block but not quickly enough; his injuries had started to slow him down. Kakashi collided with the behemoth's chest and the slam rocked his body as he fell to the ground a few centimeters away. He rolled to the side quickly and righted into a battle stance but realized it was unnecessary.
The force of his body hitting the golem's chest was the final nail in the coffin. The cracks made by the senbon started to grow larger and crisscross all over the body as the balance of the jutsu broke. As the cracks connected, they grew larger and more rapidly. The golem creaked under the damage and fell to its knees. Haruki moved to dispel the jutsu to escape the now brittle rock, but Kakashi moved faster.
"Lightning Rod Jutsu," he muttered, channeling his lightning chakra through the pools of water the dragon collision had created. The pools of water, that Haruki was now conveniently standing over. The pools of water, that Kakashi had made sure to keep Haruki around, waiting for this moment.
The speed of electricity was faster than Haruki and the electricity stunned him in place. Before Haruki could shake off the shock from the jutsu, Kakashi gathered his chakra into a familiar rotating ball and rushed forward and shouted "Rasengan!"
His sensei's jutsu connected and the golem completely disintegrated. Given the damage, the remainder of the golem's body was not enough to cancel out the Rasengan which was still rotating strong and further collided into Haruki's chest. Haruki let out a gasp of pain before being launched away. Not wanting to risk it, as he had seen enemies get up after being hit by the Rasengan before, Kakashi followed suit.
Haruki's flight halted as he crashed into a tree, but Kakashi was there to meet him before he recovered. Once in front of Haruki, Kakashi crouched down and released a devastating upwards kick, catching the ninja in his jaw and launching him into the sky.
The jaw is a weak point because direct blows to it can shake the brain sufficiently, potentially causing a concussion intense enough to render a person unconscious. At minimum, it would cause the person to momentarily lose ability to move. Between that, the electric shock and the Rasengan, Haruki became a sitting… or rather, flying duck.
Kakashi moved to jump, but knowing he was close to victory, the adrenaline in his body was fading. The pain in his calf shook his leg into a stand-still. He became acutely aware of the throbbing in his arm and leg, the rapid rise and fall of his chest for keeping a pace his younger body wasn't used to and the dizziness that came with blood loss.
"Not yet," Kakashi growled, shook away all the pain and launched himself to the sky, his brow sweating profusely as his body shook in fatigue. Right under Haruki, he kicked the man higher, then threw ninja wire to grab him and pulled him under. Now above him, Kakashi unsheathed his saber, and slashed him across the chest, right through where the Rasengan met its mark. Not done yet, Kakashi twisted in the air, and kicked the man in the head, sending him crashing into the earth below. His saber still out, Kakashi rolled downwards to gain more momentum, gaining speed with each flip. Once close, he righted himself and struck down with the chakra-charged saber, burying it into his enemy's back and through his heart. Haruki's body spasmed briefly then lay still.
Kakashi sat on top of his enemy's back, panting deeply, his hand still clutching his saber. Black spots danced in his vision as his brain finally processed the blood loss, fatigue, and pain. It wasn't chakra exhaustion at least; that was the only reason he was still awake, but his body was at its limit. Knowing it was a bad idea to lose consciousness without knowing if any other enemy were close by, Kakashi tried to fight the darkness. To no avail, he finally slumped forward on top of Haruki, his head resting on the saber still stuck inside his enemy's body. I hope Rin and Obito arrive with backup before I bleed out.
CWC-CWC-CWC-CWC-CWC
Kakashi's consciousness started to return, and he blinked a few times to clear his vision and gazed upon a wooden ceiling. Before he could process anything else, he heard Rin's voice from his right.
"Kakashi kun!" her voice was a mixture of relief and worry in one. She had noticed he was awake and Kakashi heard the scrapping of a chair being pushed back as Rin stood up. "How are you feeling?"
He turned to face her and saw Obito also standing next to her, face etched in worry as well. He didn't see his sensei and his stomach flip flopped. "Minato sensei?" he asked instead, his voice a bit raspy.
"I'm right here, Kakashi kun," Minato's voice came from the left and he turned to face his sensei, relief washing over him.
"Thank Konoha," Kakashi muttered in relief and moved to get up. Rin immediately jumped in to help him sit upright. He winced as the wound in his leg pulsated but otherwise Rin seemed to have healed him well. His left arm was in a sling. He had bandages wound around his stomach and smaller ones across his body. His leg seemed to be the worst of it. If slight movements hurt, he was sure he won't be able to walk on it right now. Once he was settled, Rin handed him a glass of water which he quickly gulped down.
"I think that's my line," Minato chuckled once he was sure Kakashi was fine, "When I noticed Haruki was missing and his trail led back to this outpost…" he let the statement hang in the air, implication clear.
"Now you know how we felt when you went to chase three S-ranked ninja," Kakashi grumbled in annoyance. Minato chuckled in reply but stopped when Obito burst out in anger.
"It's not funny!" he exclaimed, his hands balled into fists, "Rin and I thought you died. When we found you, you weren't moving… you were as still as a statue and pale as a ghost! And we still didn't hear anything from Minato sensei! We didn't know if he was alive or not. Rin... we… I…."
"Obito kun," Rin's voice was soft as she grasped Obito's hand reassuringly, "We're all safe now. That's what matters."
"No!" Obito was still enraged, and tears started falling down his face, "This is crazy!"
"Obito kun," Minato walked over and kneeled in front of his student, hands on his shoulders in comfort, "what our team faced was definitely crazy, as you put it. Unfortunately, sometimes we find ourselves in crazy situations. We're ninja. The best thing you can do is pick yourself up, learn from them and be grateful that your comrades made it out alive. I know you must have been terrified, and I'm proud of all of you."
"Maybe Rin and Kakashi, I couldn't do anything," Obito muttered, "I was useless."
"That's not true," Rin pipped in, "when we asked for backup and Itame san was hesitant, thinking that the safest option was to hang back and reinforce our defenses here… I was devastated. I couldn't speak. But you immediately ripped him a new one. Your words inspired him to coordinate backup."
"It wasn't needed anyway," Obito scoffed with a dismissive wave of his hand, "Kakashi already killed Haruki by the time we arrived."
"I was bleeding out quite badly if I recall," Kakashi spoke up, "My last thought before I drifted into unconsciousness was hoping that you and Rin would bring backup before I bled out. Maybe it wasn't as dire as I recall and maybe I would've survived until, Itama san was it, realized that the fight was over and sent help. Anyway, I'm glad that I was right to trust you two to get backup."
"Kakashi?" Obito was clearly stunned by his teammate's reassurance.
"Besides," Kakashi continued, "it was luck that kept me alive. I could read his attacks, but my body couldn't keep up," here Kakashi gripped the sheets in frustration "I got lucky, any of his attacks could have fatally injured me. I almost died a bunch of times. I seriously needed that backup, probably in 9 out of 10 possible scenarios during that fight." He overplayed the odds a bit as it was more of an even match, but his team didn't need to know that.
"Thanks," Obito smiled hesitantly. He then removed his hand from Rin's grip, stepped away from his sensei and wiped away his tears with his arm. He buried his face in his elbow as he composed himself. After a few moments, Obito took a deep breath and brought his hand down, giving them all a smile. Minato, now reassured Obito was alright, ruffled his hair before standing up.
"You're truly learning the art of encouragement, Kakashi kun," Rin teased, and he gave her an unamused roll of his eyes.
"That said though, it wasn't just luck, Kakashi kun" Minato turned back to Kakashi "You're selling yourself too short. It still takes great skill to fight against someone of Haruki's caliber. Luck may have factored into it, but it was also your technique. I examined Haruki's body before sealing him away. Rei san said you beat him up quite badly. Well, she used more colorful language but anyway. That was a nice Rasengan," he gave his student a thumbs up at that.
"It's not enough," Kakashi shook his head. There were so many things he needed to accomplish; he couldn't afford to die here. "I started to focus on my physical training recently, I even purchased a set of weights. But it took me too long to realize that gap in my skills. I have to get faster so I can keep up. I won't be as helpless next time."
"Bakashi, you beat an S-Ranked ninja! Stop being such a bummer," Obito complained.
"If it wasn't for the element of surprise, him underestimating me in the beginning, my lightning countering his earth element and sheer dumb luck, it would have ended differently," Kakashi muttered. Sure, from his team's perspective it was quite an achievement. He wasn't eleven though.
"How did you defeat him anyway?" Obito pipped in, his previous worry now replaced with excitement for a good tale. Kakashi was about to reply but his stomach beat him to it and chose to grumble in hunger. He blushed behind his mask.
"We got caught up in the conversation!" Rin exclaimed. "You need to eat; I'll go get you some breakfast." Without waiting for a reply, she dashed outside the room.
"Why don't you go with her Obito," Minato suggested, "Also, be sure to pack up all our belongings because we need to still head out to deliver those supplies."
"You got it, sensei!" Obito saluted him with a wide smile before chasing after Rin, "I still want to hear the story, Kakashi!" he shouted before leaving the room as well.
"The mission!" Kakashi cried, "we're late in delivering those supplies."
"Yes, but seeing as to how we stopped a 'behind the line' invasion that could have been devastating, one more day isn't the worst thing," Minato winked at him before grabbing the chair and sitting next to Kakashi once more.
"I can't walk though," Kakashi spoke up, "am I staying here?"
"No, I'm going to carry you," Minato sighed, "there was a debate to send someone else but with the breach, we don't know if there are any other ninja around. Nobody here can match an S-Ranked ninja, so I need to be the one to take the supplies."
"That still doesn't explain why you're taking me if I can't move," Kakashi pointed out, "Won't I just be a hindrance?"
"Maybe," Minato acknowledged with a frown, "but I don't trust Itame san with your care. Sure, I can understand where he came from, yet I won't leave you with a person that was willing to abandon you to your fight. It's only three hours to the main camp, we should be fine. Worst case, I'll summon the toads to take you the rest of the way."
"Hmmm," Kakashi refused to comment. He did think his sensei was worrying too much, but then again, he wanted to be with his team. Moreover, his sensei had no way of knowing that it was only those four ninja if history was still mostly on its set course.
"One more thing," Minato added, "we're not telling people you defeated Haruki san."
"Makes sense," Kakashi shrugged, "That will immediately put a target on my back, and as I've said, I have a lot more to improve on before I can handle S-Ranked ninja without having lady luck on my side."
"Ye..yea that's true," Minato blinked in shock, "I ah, well honestly I expected some push back."
"Why?" Kakashi decided to probe before he said anything.
"Well, you know…" Minato looked uncomfortable.
"I don't," Kakashi raised an eyebrow in faux confusion although he had an idea as to what his sensei was hinting at, "that's why I asked."
"I thought you'd be upset that a chance to prove yourself was taken from you," Minato spoke slowly and was clearly choosing his words carefully. Kakashi understood the undertone; his younger self would have seen this as a major step in redeeming his clan's honor.
"I guess," Kakashi titled his head as if pondering, "To be honest, I was just focused on buying Rin and Obito enough time to escape."
"I'm so proud of you, you know," Minato smiled, "well, part proud and part wanting to reprimand you for being so careless."
"I didn't have a choice; it was either me or all of us" Kakashi's voice went low as he stared his sensei in the eyes to convey seriousness. This was a chance to set a new tone for his personality and he would take it. It was tiring being so despondent all the time. "I didn't think I'd survive. I resigned myself to that when I sent Rin and Obito on their way."
"I know," Minato sighed as he sat next to Kakashi on the side of the bed, extended his arm around his student's shoulder and comforted him with a half-hug. Kakashi felt Minato squeeze his shoulder in support and relaxed. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there."
"You don't need to apologize sensei, you can't always be there," Kakashi shook his head in disagreement, "Besides, it was peaceful in a way. Even if I had died, Obito and Rin were safe and somehow… well somehow that was enough for me. There was also regret for not reaching my goals. I don't know…. ahhh it's weird." Kakashi crossed his arms and sighed. Internally, he was proud of his performance. Maybe a career in the movie industry wouldn't be amiss as a backup plan.
"You had quite the near-death experience so it's normal to be confused about how you're feeling. It will take you a while to sort out through your emotions and epiphanies" Minato reassured him. "I'll be here to talk once you've had some time to mull over your thoughts."
"Thanks, I guess. Don't worry though, one thing I know for sure is that I'm going to get stronger," Kakashi told his sensei, "I don't plan on dying anytime soon."
"Of that I have no doubt," Minato chuckled "I know I'm not often involved in your training as I keep getting sent to the frontlines, but if you ever need any guidance…"
"I will," Kakashi nodded with a soft smile.
"Speaking of which," Minato stood up again and rummaged for something in his pouch and took out one of Kakashi's spiritual energy custom seals, "the backup team found this seal and I recognized the ink coming from Kurokawa's Sealing Arts. I never saw this seal for sale before. Did you make it?"
Kakashi cursed internally, he wanted to keep his skills in the sealing art hidden for now. He can't grow leaps and bound across all ninja arts. He wanted to focus on ninjutsu so he could use more of the jutsu he knew and was planning on revealing his ability to channel the fire element next. It wouldn't be believable to have leveled up fuinjutsu to A-Ranked level and have learned a fourth element in such a short amount of time. More and more things were outside of his control than he had hoped. Oh well, it's not like I use a lot of fire jutsu anyway.
"Yea, I was learning about chakra absorption seals and was trying to separate the matrices into functional seals by themselves," Kakashi explained "Another example of how lucky I was to have had them on me."
"No wonder you were interested in my sealing scroll the other day. You should've said something I would have taught you. Anyway, you used the seal to imbalance the golems?" Minato's excitement rose once he verified that his student had created the seal.
"Haruki had a final gambit of defense that was a towering golem, so I used it on that," Kakashi nodded, "The smaller golems I…"
"Cut in half," Minato filled in, "I went back to examine the scene once I was sure you'd be alright. I don't recall you having a jutsu that could do that though."
"It wasn't a jutsu," Kakashi elaborated, "I created a shadow clone, tied ninja wire between two wires and ran lightning through them. At the last moment I also added a burst of speed that gave additional strength to manage the feat."
Minato whistled in appreciation, "That's really creative!"
"I'm trying to create a similar jutsu, so I had it in the back of mind," Kakashi rubbed the back of his head nervously, "I took it from there and improvised."
Minato was about to reply but was cut off by Rin coming in carrying a tray, "Kakashi kun, I managed to get you some eggplants!" her face flush with excitement, Obito right behind her.
"Thanks," Kakashi nodded in gratitude as she handed him the tray. He took in the aroma of eggplants and was excited to dig in.
"Eat and then get freshened up, we're heading out in forty-five minutes," Minato commanded. When his three students replied in unison, Kakashi saw Minato's eye thrill in relief. Being a sensei, he knew it was adorable when students would reply together in one beat, it used to warm his heart. His sensei was probably grateful that all three were alive and well to do so.
"I need to finalize a few things with Itame san so we'll meet at the outpost gates," Minato continued. Before he left, Minato caught his eye and gave him a nod. Kakashi got the message and knew that their conversation wasn't over. He nodded back and then busied himself with eating while listening to Obito and Rin's chatter. While part of him wanted to brainstorm over how to move forward with the reveal of his sealing knowledge, he decided to simply appreciate being in the moment with his teammates and relaxed. There was time before Minato sensei would be free enough to have a full-blown conversation. When that happened, he would begin executing his plan to change the past.