Something worth healing

by Wamp

Summary:

Never in his years of being a shinobi did he ever consider becoming a medic, he was trained to kill not to heal.
....
So what changed?

(first of all ur friends dying LMAO but anyways this is a self indugent fic bc i desperately need more medic kks and adoptive parents minato and kushina makes me wanna cry. Also kks is aged down by like 2 years bc why not haha)

Chapter 1

It won’t come off…

 

He whispered as the sound of running water bounces off the walls into the cold night.

 

It won’t come off…..

 

The boiling water and harsh scrubbing should hurt but he can barely feel the pain through the haze.

 

It won’t come off…….

 

He repeats it like a mantra, a regret, a punishment. His hands littered with scratches that bleed sluggishly and fingers that are pruning up don’t stop him from washing away her blood.

 

It won’t- !

 

The sound of running water stops and large hands clasps over his own and stops his actions. The fog that formed over his eyes quickly dispersed as clarity sets in and he looks up from his hands to meet bright blue eyes filled with concern.

 

Sensei… Right, he was over at Minato and kushinas house tonight.

 

Minato gently leads Kakashi away from the kitchen sink and to a nearby table and sits him down on one of the chairs. As everything starts to clear up again he notices the stinging in the wounds in his hands. Minato pulled away far enough so he could reach the cabinet to pull out a medkit but close enough where he could still reach Kakashi fast enough if he accidentally harms himself again since the first time it happened, now instead of the bathroom the medkit was moved into the kitchen. 

 

“Kakashi…,” Minato starts as he pulls a chair next to Kakashi and places down the medkit, “does this happen every night?” He asks and takes Kakashi's hand and wipes the blood forming around the wound carefully and then wraps it in bandages, he does the same for the other hand as well before taking both his hands and cupping it with his own. 

 

Dull grey eyes meet bright blue once more before Kakashi breaks eye contact determined to stare at their joint hands instead. Before Minato could ask again Kakashi nodded slowly, surprised that Kakashi even answered at all and even more concerned with the answer that was given by the younger, his resolve further deepens. 

 

“Kashi, do you want to live with us?”

Chapter 2

The already quiet room went absolutely silent. All the surrounding sound seemed to die, the only remaining sound was of their breaths as the anticipation built. 

 

Kakashi was shocked about the invitation his sensei had offered but he was conflicted, on one hand he didn’t want to intrude on his sensei's house and the fact that he could very much take care of himself or well enough that he could still perform well as a shinobi, on the other hand… On some days he felt like a husk of a person having to relive nightmares of his teammates dying, going through the guilt for Rin's death, and just the pure emptiness of his cold apartment… 

 

He wanted to argue against living with his teacher but the sinking feeling of laying in his freezing bed and falling asleep only to wake up with his heart pounding in his chest after the same repeating nightmare of Obito under the rubble and his hand going through Rin’s chest haunting him. 

 

It makes him want to take up the offer but he doesn’t want to trouble them with his issues, both Minato and Kushina are busy people who have their own problems especially Minato since he’s now the hokage and he didn’t want them to suffer because of him. He didn't want them to put aside their task just to tend to him because he couldn't keep in a little nightmare. What if they get tired of him? What if they hate him? Will they think of him the same or will they think he's “Friend-killer Kakashi”? What if-

 

“Kakashi please.” That made him emerge from his inner turmoil and snap his gaze back to Minato's eyes. “I’m worried about you, I have been ever since your father…” he trailed off a bit after seeing Kakashi tense up, “Ever since you were 5, and even more since the recent events especially it happening so close to each other. So please Kashi, I want to help you,” His eyes filled with determination, concern, and desperation all at once. “I don’t want you to go down a path where you would end up hurting yourself even more. I know I won’t be able to offer as much support as I want since I’m hokage but Kushina is here and she’s also concerned so Kashi please I- no we don’t want to lose you too.”

 

Silence…

 

“Sensei-” He tries to say but it comes out choked as he tries to suppress a sob, he’s so tired he just wants to forget and go back in time to fix all his mistakes but that won’t ever happen.

 

His father, Obito, and Rin are dead and it’s all his fault.

 

If he had been the one to die under the rubble instead of Obito he would still be alive and become a strong shinobi and Rin would probably still be alive with him already gone and would become an amazing medic. 

 

If he had been a better son his father wouldn't have killed himself and would still be here with him. With kakashi…

 

He should be better than this, he shouldn’t cry, that's not what a good shinobi does, he shouldn’t have to depend on his sensei, he's a legal adult. Hell, he’s a jounin for crying out loud! He should deal with it himself and decline he’s fine he doesn’t need help-

 

But he's just so exhausted and filled with regrets. Maybe just maybe… He inhales shakily… Maybe.. He blinked and let the tears that were welling up in his eyes fall down. Maybe just this once it would be acceptable, he doesn’t think he could bear it anymore so,

 

“Okay Minato-sensei, t-thank you.” He sobs out just finally giving up, tears that he kept locked up finally pouring out as his shoulder sags and all the strength in his body gives and he starts falling forward but he gets caught and pulled into an embrace. The guilt of all the deaths that revolve around him strangles his mind, his hands start to feel sticky and slick again he looks down and panics when he sees blood. His breath quickens as he starts to struggle against the hold but he is held firmly.

 

“Shhhhh, It’s okay Kashi, the blood isn’t there, your hands are clean. Follow my breathing.” His sensei’s calm voice washes over his distress, then a hand covers his eyes for a few seconds, he tries to follow his sensei's instructions feeling Minato inhale and exhale and tries to calm his erratic breathing. After a moment his breath evens out and the hand over his eyes is removed, he blinks again getting used to the minimal light from the moon spilling from the window and looks down at his bandaged hands not covered in blood.

 

“See? There’s no blood, you're clean Kashi.” A soft smile and kind eyes are the last thing he sees before the world fades into black.

.

.

Minato shifts the younger into a cradle as he leans back into the kitchen chair and lets out an exhale. He was not expecting Kakashi to actually agree so easily knowing how stubborn the silver haired ninja could be but maybe this shows how much of a toll everything was to Kakashi which only deepened his concern, looking down he sees the face of his student finally relax and give into exhaustion he smiles and stifles a yawn, it’s pretty late, it’s around 1 to 2 am right now. 

 

He suppresses another yawn as he goes to stand up to bring Kakashi back to the room he was staying in which is probably going to be his now that Minato managed to convince him to stay with them, he had offered to let Kakashi live with them because not only is he worried Kushina is also worried and they have been talking about trying to convince Kakashi to come live with them for a while now. 

 

Kushina and Kakashi didn’t really get along very well at first since Kakashi thought she was insufferable and annoying while Kushina thought he was a stuck up brat. They bicker a lot and sometimes get into screaming matches but after Obito died Kushina and Kakashi got closer. He didn't know how it started. Both of them refused to tell him. They still bickered with one another but in a light manner that cheers Kakashi up a bit so it’s a win in his book. So Kushina has grown fond of him since then and worries for him even more after Rin's death. 

 

Speaking of Kushina… 

 

“Is he okay?” She yawned but apprehension filled her violet eyes.

 

His own eyes softened as he walked towards her and nodded, “Kashi-kun’s fine.” 

She smiles softly and combs through silver locks with her hand, “We should probably give him the offer soon.” she whispered.

 

Minato beams at that, “Oh I offered it to him earlier and he agreed!” She pauses, shock written in her tired expression but is quickly replaced with excitement. “That’s great dattebane!” She exclaims softly before getting cut off by a yawn, “Though we should go to bed you have work to attend to hokage-sama,” she teased, Minato flushed “we can figure out Kashi-chans living arrangements after you come back.” 

 

And with that they walk to Kakashi's now room and tuck the 11 year old in bed before going back to their bedroom and falling asleep.

.

.

“-shi-”

 

He groans

 

“-ashi-chan”

 

The warm blanket gets ripped off him and he lets out a whine.

 

“KAKASHI!”

 

He wakes up to someone shaking him, he scrambles into a defensive stance. He only relaxes when he hears a familiar cackle as memories flood his mind. 

 

“How was your beauty sleep Kashi-chan, was it good?” Kushina teased, only to become serious and concerned, “How are you dattebane?”

 

He takes a moment to register the question that he was asked before sitting back down on the bed and replying, “maa I feel fine Kushina-nee,” and then he remembered Minato's offer last night, he shoots up eyes wide. “Minato-sensei-”

 

“We’re going to figure it out after he comes back dattebane! This is your room now!” 

 

He looks at her alarmed, “Y-you!... Are you okay with it?...” His voice falling into a whisper. Kushina let out a soft chuckle, “Of course dattebane! If he didn’t ask you last night we would've asked you today, we’ve been thinking about it for a while now so obviously I don’t mind Kashi-chan.” She ruffles his already messy bedridden hair, he scowls and half heartedly bats her hand away with a huff. She giggles and goes to stand up, before leaving she turns back to him and gives him a blinding smile. “I’ll make breakfast dattebane!” and then shuts the door. 

 

He gets out of his?- Bed and gets ready for the day, he goes into the bathroom and takes a shower and brushes his teeth, he changes into his training clothes that he brought over from his apartment and leaves the room to head into the living room. He takes in the aroma of the smell coming from the kitchen and realizes that Kushina is making his favorite, eggplant-miso. He feels warm thinking about how she remembered his favorite meal before sitting down at the kitchen table, all signs of last night were gone, blood droplets wiped clean and medkit stored away. 

 

He listened to the melody Kushina was humming as he watched her go about the kitchen with her fiery red hair in a ponytail, 

 

“Kushina-nee?”

 

She hummed in response

 

“Can I help you with breakfast?” she turned around and grinned. “Alright Kashi-chan!”

.

.

They move around the kitchen in silence minus Kushina's humming and finish making the meal. They set the plate down at the table and take a seat. 

 

“Are you going out training today Kashi-chan?” 

 

He takes a spoonful of the soup and nods, they fall into silence as they eat breakfast until Kushina asks, “Ne, what do you usually train for?” 

 

Kakashi pauses and thinks before replying with the list of things he does during his training hours which could go from dawn to dusk. Kushina gives him a look of disapproval before covering it up with her usual smile. “You train a lot for someone your age,”

 

He rolls his eye, the one he doesn’t have covered (Obito’s eye- ) and places his spoon down next to his empty bowl. “I have to if I want to get stronger.”

 

“You’re already strong though, especially at your age.” Kushina pointed out.

 

“Not strong enough,” he spat out and then, “I couldn’t save them…” He whispered.

 

If he had listened to Obito and valued their teamwork then Obito would still be here and not underneath a boulder because he was unable to dodge and that cost Obito his life since despite being a horrible teammate and a terrible excuse of a shinobi Obito still saved him. If he had realized the enemies intention faster he could’ve come up with a plan that would’ve stalled until sensei came and maybe if he had reacted faster he could’ve avoided killing Rin, she would also still be here but he was too slow. And that made him lose both of his precious people.

.

.

Noticing his rapid spiral Kushina admittedly panicked a bit, she spluttered for a reply or a quip or anything!

 

“Ne, what do you think about being a combat medic dattebane?”

 

…

 

“Huh?” they both go. 

 

Bringing back her composure she tries to add on to her suggestion that she completely pulled out of her ass. “Well I think you’re plenty strong right now Kashi-chan but if you keep training like that you might strain your body especially at your age dattebane! But if you want to save your teammates by getting stronger, why not also learn medical ninjutsu so you know, heal?”

 

He stares at her, she stares back. 

 

…

 

“That’s… not a bad idea.” Kakashi probably looks absolutely flabbergasted but he was genuinely considering it. Maybe he won’t make the same mistake as before…

 

Notes:

I actually have no idea where im going with this. Ok thats a lie i do but also i dont so bear with me 😭

i dont really have an upload schedule so dont really expect fast upload since school is starting soon too but thanks for reading this shit show💗💗😭

Chapter 3

As Kakashi gets ready to leave for training he ponders more on the comment Kushina made, why did she suggest it and why did he consider it? 

 

Ever since he could walk and mold chakra he was trained into becoming a weapon useful for the village so he had no time or reason to be pondering if he wanted to be something else other than a cold blooded tool used for mindless killing, that is all he was ever good for. 

 

But even then he wasn’t strong enough to prevent the deaths of those important to him, maybe learning medical ninjutsu could help and even save people who are still dear to him like Minato and Kushina and even Gai. 

 

He lets the thought simmer as he finishes tying bandages around his ankles and prepares to go out, before he could exit through the door though a voice calls out to him.

 

“Kashi-chan! Ne, do you mind if I tag along with you? We could also drag Minato out to lunch too dattebane!” Kushina asked as she approached him by the door. Already dressed with what seems to be bags filled with scrolls.

 

He fully turned to look at her and nodded, since he was going to be living here now he had to get used to her presence more often anyways, he was already warmed up to her so he didn’t really mind and he had a feeling even if he said no she would’ve just followed him anyways.

 

“Ok Kashi lead the way!”

 

“Yeah yeah.”

.

.

 

As they near one of the training grounds he glanced at the redhead who was looking ahead with a smile.

 

“Kushina-nee.” he said, trying to get her attention. He does as she looks down at him and tilts her head telling him to continue. “Do you know anything about medical ninjutsu?” He sees her face morph into small shock but it quickly turns into a soft smile as she goes back to looking ahead.

 

“Hm let’s see,” she taps her chin as if pondering, “to be honest I don’t really know much other than you need advanced chakra control and that you need to know a lot about the human body and other med-nin stuff dattebane.” she finishes her statement with a shrug. 

 

“Do you actually want to learn medical ninjutsu Kashi?” she questioned.

 

There was a long pause until a soft, almost inaudible answer came out of Kakashi. 

 

“Yes. I want to go down this route.” 

 

Kushina's smile grew, maybe the answer she suggested out of nowhere might allow Kakashi to go down a different path, at least he won’t try to turn himself into a mindless killing machine anymore and that's all she can ask for.

 

“You should definitely find a sensei dattebane! Maybe ask Minato if he can find you one, maybe one of the staff at the hospital!” she exclaimed as they finally reached the training ground. 

 

He grimaced at the thought since he didn't really know how to approach his sensei about this, would he be mad at Kakashi? Would he be fine with it? He doesn't know yet and is nervous about telling him also that would mean he would probably have to go to the hospital, he hated the hospital it always smelled like blood and medicine and death. Even through his mask he could smell it not to mention the fact how the staff treats him. 

 

He groaned before huffing out, “I don’t want to tell Minato-sensei yet and I’d rather just go to the library and learn the basics myself and then consider getting a sensei.” He knew he had to get used to the smell since that was a part of stepping in and deciding to go into this field but that didn’t mean he’d like it and not try to avoid it as much as possible. He should also tell sensei… Maybe later.

 

“You're gonna have to tell him sooner or later ya know! Maybe you should tell him during lunch.” she suggests while unpacking whatever scrolls she brought with her after finding a nice spot under a tree.

 

He offers her a shrug. He could probably learn a bit on his own, not that that stopped him from other things before. Also, he doubts anyone would teach “friend-killer Kakashi” anyways at least that's what he thinks considering everyone keeps sneering at him like how they did after his dad…

 

He shakes his head as he goes into a stance as he starts his kata.

.

.

 

He finishes his drills and walks on sore legs over to where Kushina is sat studying some seals, he gets closer and sits down gracefully because as much as he just wants to plop down on the ground it is unbecoming of him. 

 

He looks up into the sky and sees the sun directly above him, it’s lunch time. Looking back down at Kushina he notices her packing up her supplies mumbling something about something to do with ramen or something. 

 

He wonders about what he has to learn for medical ninjutsu, he already has pretty good chakra control especially for his age apparently though maybe his knowledge on the human body and herbs and all those med nin stuff are pretty lacking, afterall he wasn’t trained to be a medic, team Minato already had a medic and he killed her. 

 

He snaps himself from going down those lines of thoughts before rins face appears in his mind again, whispering his name, choking on her bloo- 

 

He gets thrown up on someone and lets out a yelp, his sight is blocked by a bunch of red.

 

“Right we’re gonna get lunch mister! And w-” “Put me down!-” “-e have to drag Minato out of his sad, sad, terrible office dattebane!”

 

He scowled as he spat out some of Kushina's hair that got into his mouth before reluctantly settling down, he knew he lost the moment he lost focus and let her grab him. 

 

“You didn’t have to haul me up here.” Kakashi complained, and he heard her let out a scoff. “Kashi-chan you were all in your head sitting there you didn’t even hear me call out for you.” even though he can’t see it he knows she is pouting. “But you alright? You were kinda about to spiral ya know.” Her voice drops to a whisper. He hugs her around her head a bit tighter before assuring her he was fine, she wasn’t really convinced but didn't push it much.

 

“Ya know, you can always tell us what’s on your mind. It’s okay to feel sad and cry Kashi-chan.” she added on softly. 

 

He frowned, he already showed weakness by crying infront of his sensei last night he doesn’t want to make it a constant thing, so he reminds her, “Shinobi aren't supposed to cry-” before he could finish she cut him off, “Yeah but at the end of the day shinobis are still human dattebane. It’s okay to feel emotions because that's what makes you human-," 

 

"Shinobis are meant to be a weapon for the villag-” 

 

“We aren't tools dumb dumb. Tools can’t feel and be expressive like us because they’re objects you are not an object Kashi-chan, I’m not, Minatos not, and everyones not.” they fall into silence after that.

 

“You should also tell Mina-”

 

“LATER!”

.

.

 

They finally reach the hokage office and Kakashi manages to convince Kushina to put him down but not without holding her hand though, (her iron grip is very strong-) Kushina knocks on the door and they hear a muffled “come in!”

 

They step into the office that has stacks of paper everywhere and avoid stepping on any documents. They see Minato writing on some scroll with his head resting on one of his hands with a tired expression clearly engrossed in his work.

 

Kushina giggles in a way Kakashi can only describe as deeply in love and rolls his eyes, “Looks like Hokage-samas working hard ne Kakashi-chan?” She teased. Minatos head immediately perks up and every sign of exhaustion disappears and is replaced with happiness at seeing his wife and student. 

 

Kakashi huffed a bit seeing his sensei change mood so fast before finally freeing his hand from Kushina's tight grip, shaking his hand to reduce the pins and needle and bring back blood flow. Minato regains his composure with a cough, “So Kushina, Kakashi, what do you need?” Bringing out his hokage voice again. 

 

He hears Kushina stifles a laugh at the voice before teasing him out of using it seeing it was just them. 

 

“Anyways, we're dragging you out for lunch dattebane!” Minato sighed, “I would love to but I still have some more work to finish.” He explains while gesturing to the stacks of paper piling on his desk. 

 

Kushina merely rolls her eyes, “You need a break too ya know, sheesh stupid workaholics you two,-” 

 

“Hey!” both replied slightly offended.

 

“Come on Minato please,” she gave her best pleading eyes and when that didn't work she offered a sacrifice instead, “plus Kashi-chan has something new he wants to learn dattebane!~” he paled at her reveals, now he has to tell sensei!

 

Minato, now intrigued pressed on, “oh? Something new?” 

 

Accepting his fate and also using the chance to play Minato a bit he decided to try and bait him.

 

“Maa sensei, I think we should discuss this at lunch, right Kushina-nee?” His voice teetering into a bit of malice at the end for her throwing him under the bus, she barely bats an eye.

 

Minato narrows his eyes, glancing back and forth at them and the intimidating stacks of papers trying to weigh his options. In the end he groans and curiosity and fear of Kushina won him over as he staggers around the desk and walks up to them.

 

Kushina beams and Kakashi starts to feel nervous.

 

“Alright you guys won, Ichirakus?”

.

.

 

They push back the curtains and step into the ramen stall, Teuchi greeted them as they sat down and ordered.

 

As they settled in the moment Kakashi dreaded arrived.

 

“Sooo what's the new thing you decided to learn this time, Kashi-kun?”

 

Minato looked at Kakashi and although he seemed to be fine he could see that he was slightly tense. They sat in silence for a bit until Kakashi caved and sputtered out, “Iwanttobeacombatmedic.” 

 

Minato blinks and processes what his last remaining student just spoke out.

 

Then…

 

His eyes widened completely, “Really?! Tha- That's great!” not expecting that answer at all.

 

Kakashi paused and looked at Minato, seeing the blond with a massive smile and shining eyes. “You aren't mad?” Kakashi whispered.

 

Hands grab him by the shoulders making him look directly at Minato's eyes, “Kakashi. I could never be mad at you, especially not for something like this. I'm glad you want to learn something new and decide that you want to be something else.” 

 

Kakashi felt some relief after telling his sensei he didn't even know why he was scared. 

 

“See Kashi, you're fine! I don't think he could ever be mad at you because he's too much of a suck up and a mother hen.” Kushina says happily probably because the aroma of ramen is lulling her into a trance.

 

“Kushinaaaaa I'm not a suck up nor a mother hen!” Minato pouted. Kakashi lets out a small laugh “You kinda are sensei.” Minato lets out a dramatic gasp and lets go of Kakashi in favor of clutching his pearls, “The both of you! Ganging up on your poor, poor hokage, the nerve of people these days.” He faked sobbed.

 

Kakashi felt himself relax a bit, maybe it can get better but then again he ponders,

 

What if he died instead. It should've been him that died under the rubble. Obito and Rin deserve so much more than scum like him. He looks up at Minato and Kushina talking and teasing each other, he knew both Obito and Rin's death affected them as well but they kept it hidden. 

 

The only reason he knows is because he saw how Minato threw himself into work after work and that he walked into Kushina sobbing while he was in a grief ridden haze. 

 

He's already caused so much grief to his precious people who are still here, he doesn’t want that to happen again and he absolutely doesn't want to lose them, their all that he has left…

 

“I'll work hard, I won't allow my comrades to fall unless I've exhausted every single option. I won't make the same mistake again.” he muttered under his breath. 

 

That's a promise. Both of his teammates died because he was a terrible teammate, his father died because he believed the words of the villagers rather than having faith in his fathers beliefs. He'll make it up to them. One way or another…

Notes:

Guh.
I will prob add more tags along the way to introduce more charas bc rn idk whos gonna be here bc my dumbass didnt make an outline :D
anyways if yall know a book/movie called maze runner and like it pls go harass my friend and check out his fic
its called "If You Ever Read This I hope I'm Somewhere Safe With You" Long ass name ik but shrugs
anyways Ty for reading!!

Chapter 4

After finishing up with lunch and departing with Minato, the both of them decided to go to the library. 

 

Kakashi since he wanted to find any scrolls or books about anything medical, and Kushina because she wanted to accompany Kakashi while also picking up some more sealing paper and ink in the store next door.

 

Although after telling his sensei about his change in course at what he wants to pursue and getting his support and offer to find somebody that can teach him, Kakashi still wanted to see if he could learn some practices on his own first. 

 

One of the main reasons was admittedly because of the staff themselves, he does know after maybe learning the basics he should in fact find a sensei because medical ninjutsu is more fidgety and delicate than just ninjutsu he doesn’t want to perform malpractice! 

 

So here he is now, inside the Konoha library with at least 4 different scrolls and a very thick book about the human body. He wonders absentmindedly if the librarian would let him borrow these books or if he has to ask Kushina to do it for him until a flash of short brown hair with familiar purple stripes appears in the corner of his eye. He quickly turns around, almost dropping all the scrolls only to find no one there.

 

He blinks away any haze and tries to calm his rapidly beating heart. 

 

What was that?... He exhales shakily and turns to find Kushina so he could leave as fast as possible. 

 

Walking down the isles he finds Kushina talking with Mikoto Uchiha. With her he could also see a small child in her arms, is that her child? Apparently he took too long pondering that and Kushina noticed him and called out to him.

 

“Kakashi-chan come over here!” Kushina fumbled around a bit with the materials she’s holding over to one arm and waved him to come, he came towards her hesitantly under the gaze of Mikoto. Once he got close enough he could see that the kid was around 3 to 4 years old.

 

“Uchiha-sama.” He greeted her with a small nod.  “Hatake.” She responded back with the same sentiment. 

 

Out of all the Uchihas the only one who didn’t want to gouge Obitos gift out of his eye socket was actually the main family. They were the few that respected Obitos dying wish, one that he could not fulfil and inevitably failed. He still remembers coming back from that dreaded mission and was immediately dragged into T&I for questioning.

 

Almost all the Uchiha’s wanted him to give the eye back and he was shuffled around so many different meetings. Minato and Rin tried to vouch for him but they only stopped the outrage when Fugaku finally had enough and put his foot down, while all of this was going down he got to see Mikoto a bit but they didn’t really say much to each other than just exchange pleasantries.  

 

He shifted his hold with the scrolls a bit not knowing what to say to quell the awkward tension, it also seemed the Uchiha matriarch didn’t either as she was glancing at Kushina. Not noticing the tension Kushina continued her conversation with Mikoto leaving Kakashi to stand there waiting for her to finish. He started looking around to occupy himself with something until he felt someone's gaze on him, he looked up and made eye contact with the baby Uchiha.

 

And for a split second he thought he saw Obito but the longer he looked he realized they look very different. He shook the thoughts away and continued to stare at the child.  

 

At some point the adults must have finished their conversation because the sound of their chuckles pulled him out of the staring contest he set with a 3 year old. He turned to look at them instead, slightly embarrassed for spacing out before Mikoto introduced the kid as Itachi.

 

He nodded and continued to wait as they proceeded to finish their conversation and then Mikoto and Kushina bidded farewell and they walked away leaving Kakashi and Kushina. Both of them started going towards the check out desk and Kushina got her scrolls smoothly and stood off to the side to let Kakashi check out. 

 

He walked up to the desk and placed down the scrolls and the thick book letting the librarian do their thing not batting an eye at Kakashi, He mentally felt thankful for that because he didn’t know what he’d do if he was refused service especially in front of the red-hot habanero. He might let it slide, preferring to quietly leave than start more conflict but he knows Kushina would not. The librarian gave him the things back and bid them farewell with a smile.

 

They left the library and headed back to the Namikaze-Uzumaki household.

.

.

After they got back they moved to do their own things, he unrolled the first scroll and started reading. It was generally about the basics and descriptions of what medical ninjutsu was and how it is used. 

 

He learnt that medical ninjutsu is a type of yang release and uses chakra mostly composed of physical energy. He ended up reading about it more and gained an understanding on how it worked, it isn’t just a jutsu that instantly heals you out of nowhere, it basically helps increase the body's natural healing speed with the casters chakra. You also need to convert one's chakra into a state where the recipient's body can receive it so you aren’t just pumping chakra into another person's system.

 

It is also versatile, being able to heal most injuries both internally and externally and it could also be used to flush out drugs and poison and treat illnesses. 

 

All of this sound interesting as well since not only being in the field would allow you to support others and heal them, having an intimate knowledge on the human body lets you be more versed in taking down enemies and the chakra control you need for medical ninjutsu makes you more efficient in managing your chakra, not to mention the knowledge on poisons and how to find a cure for it. 

 

He obviously knew why he didn’t bother or try to pursue becoming a med-nin but he can’t help but regret not taking on those lessons with Rin… Maybe if he was less absorbed into becoming stronger and valued the time they had left to spend together, maybe if he learnt a bit from her he could’ve been more helpful. 

 

His vision flickered and his hands felt sticky. He hears her calling to him.

 

“Ka-kashi…”

 

He rolls up the scroll and moves on to another about poisons, he needs to stop dwelling in the past. No matter what, they aren’t coming back. He already failed Obito and broke his promise.

 

Her blood is so warm against his freezing skin…

 

He killed her. He failed his promise. 

 

He grips the scroll and unrolls it trying to ignore the scratchy feeling underneath the bandages instead occupying his mind with information. 

 

Halfway through the scroll a cup was placed in front of him, startled, he looked up and saw Kushina taking a sip of tea from her own mug before taking a seat.

 

“I got you green tea since you didn’t really say what type you wanted after nodding the first time, captivated in your studies I see?” she commented. 

 

He gave her a half shrug not sure when he agreed to tea or when she asked but took a sip of the tea and muttered a thank you before continuing. 

.

.

He absorbed the information and read it back a couple of times trying to memorize it, he managed to remember some of them for the most part, he will have to go back and study it some more and test out making some of the cures. He also might as well go out and find some of the poisonous plants so he could maybe test it on himself and hopefully gain some sort of tolerance while also being able to test out some of the cures.

 

He isn’t sure how both Minato and Kushina are going to react to this plan but it’s not like he can’t do it in secret.

 

Kakashi re rolls the scroll up for now and puts it next to the first one for further study, the reason why he doesn’t use the sharingan to just simply memorize it is because it’s a drain of chakra, and something about using the gift Obito gave him to protect Rin to memorize the very passion the kunoichi had after he broke his promise and killed her feels gut wrenching.

 

He feels a shudder run through his body and suddenly he hears Rin's voice in a whisper, “You killed me, you’re replacing me.” in a cruel tone. He balls up his hand and feels his nails biting into his palms. He looks up and suddenly his hand is through her chest again and she’s looking at him with apathy, Kakashi freezes up as she drags her hands up from her side to rest them on his arm, her grip icy cold and filled with hatred. 

 

She pushes further until she's in his face and he could see her soulless eyes staring at him with hate, “You broke the promise Bakashi! You killed her!” another voice that isn’t Rin spoke eerily sounding like Obito but more scratchy as if his vocal cords were crushed. 

 

“You are scum Kakashi, you dirty friend-killer!” The voice yelled as Rins hands traveled up to his throat and chokes him. He can’t breathe. He can’t breathe! HE CAN'T BREATHE-

 

A graze against his cheeks knocks him back to reality as Rin dissipates away and he jerks away from the touch. He gasps as air fills his lungs again, he squints his eye and the messy red blob slowly clears into Kushina. 

 

Her expression morphed into surprise at him snapping back into reality, she schooled her face back to a neutral expression before slowly retracting her hand. She watches as Kakashi regains clarity and sees recognition when he looks at her, she comes up with a solution to distract him and get his mind off for a bit.

 

“Ne Kashi, do you want to come make dinner with me?” She asks with a beaming smile.

 

He took a few seconds to register before nodding still in a daze, her smile softened and she helped pull him up from his seat before going to the kitchen and starting dinner.

.

.

They ended up making Okonomiyaki for dinner and left some extra for Minato when he came home. 

 

They sat back down at the table they were working at and started eating. While they were cooking they didn’t really say anything to each other and just relished the quiet, but looking at Kakashi now she knows a serious conversation is gonna happen soon.

 

With each passing day her concern for the younger grows and even more since he decided to start learning medical ninjutsu because it’s only reminding him of Rin even more. She knows that's why there’s an increase in his episodes but also it’s good for him to slowly face his trauma and heal from it for him to become stronger. 

 

She’s mainly concerned about the fact he’s trying to bottle it up and keep to himself, he’s always been like this when she thinks about it. She wasn’t always close with him but she knows from Minato that he was always independent and liked to deal with it himself but he will crack at some point.

 

“Kakashi.”

 

He perks up and stops picking at his food.

 

She inhales, “Do you feel guilty about learning medical ninjutsu?”

 

He straightens up, face blank. Before giving her a monotone response, “I am fine Kushina-nee.” Scarily robotic for a child his age.  

 

She crumples and sighs exasperatedly, “Kashi please-” “I am fine. I am able to comprehend the material to a decent level and I look forward to continuing my studies on medical ninjutsu.” 

 

Kushina nibbled on her lips a bit in nervousness, their eyes met. 

 

Pleading violet and blank grey.

 

She lets out an exhale and shuts her eyes, breaking the connection. She knows she’s right when he starts deflecting like that, she just wants him to admit to it and talk it through and process it. She’s going to store this for later, now she’s just going to keep getting his mind off of it by engaging in conversation.

 

So with a strained smile, “Okay, how about you tell me about what you know so far dattebane!” she suggested.

 

Kakashi blinks and the blank mask he puts up is now replaced with a slightly fascinated and wistful look as he goes on the interesting things about medical ninjutsu. 

 

In a short moment she is able to see the child wonder that he lost from being a shinobi and the troubled past he has. And it appears as he starts explaining the difference between venomous and poisonous creatures and what some of the poison he remembers does and what the cure is from his memory. 

 

Her smile turns genuine the more he explains, he’s healing at his own pace.

.

.

It wasn’t until 8pm did Minato manage to come back from the hokage office, he put his coat on the rack and started unbinding his bandages from his ankles and took off his sandals. He walked into the living room and saw Kushina and Kakashi at the table engrossed in their conversation, he gave a small tired smile, “I’m back!”

 

“Welcome back dattebane!” “Welcome back sensei.”

 

He got closer and pulled out a chair and sat in it, “So about Kashi-kuns living arrangement?” 

 

Kakashi looked hesitant, “Are both of you sure about this? I don’t want to be a bother, I can take care of myself.”

 

Minato softened his eyes, “Definitely, we want you here Kashi. I don’t doubt that you can take care of yourself.”

 

Kushina leaned over to ruffle silver locks and Kakashi tried to get away from her with a scowl, “Yeah Kashi we want you here! Also Minato’s being a classic worry wart, but he does have a right for it ya know!”

 

Kakashi huffed as he fixed his hair, “I can help with housework and cooking since I’m going to be living here now.” he glanced back down at his scrolls.

 

“That’s great! I could use some help in the kitchen since Minato is so helpless.” Kushina teased. Minato started sputtering about how he wasn’t that bad he can at least make soup! They all laughed at his expenses and then they settled into a discussion about how this was gonna play out and work. 

 

They ended up agreeing that the guest room is going to be Kakashis and tomorrow they were going to help Kakashi move in from his tiny apartment, Kakashi said that he could so it alone since he didn’t have much anyways but they insisted and so Minatos is going to leave a clone at the hokage tower and they were gonna help pack. 

 

After they finished talking about their plans, Kakashi checked the time and saw that it was 10 and he felt himself get a bit sleepy considering how today he was kinda all over the place, he tried to hold on a bit longer wanting to finish the scroll he was currently reading. It was about illnesses and ways to find a remedy, but the more he tried to read the more blurry it got. Confused, he blinked rapidly trying to clear his vision, his eyelids feeling heavy with each blink.

 

The scroll in front of him was pried gently out of his hands and suddenly he was carried by strong arms, he tried to flail and wriggle out of the grip albeit weakly as his eyes got heavier and harder to keep open. This was unbecoming of him and he tried to fight sleep a bit more before finally giving up and going limp, before he fades into sleep soft chuckles are the last thing he hears.

.

.

He opens his eyes and he is standing in the middle of a forest. He feels a sense of familiarity with it, like some sort of deja vu.

 

He looked around more and for some reason he felt compelled to walk in a direction, the more he walked the more the area felt recognizable, his stomach churning he felt uneasy. He approached the edge of the forest and pushed past the trees and then froze.

 

There—The image of his arm penetrating through Rin’s chest-

 

And suddenly the feeling of another presence lets itself be known to him as rough hands grab his head forcing him to keep looking at— himself killing Rin!   When he tried to look away.

 

The same voice he heard from earlier returned this time with questions. Or at least that's what he assumes with the tone of voice but he was too immersed in the memory to process what was asked of him. 

 

The voice grew more aggressive and the grip on his head tightened, fingers started digging into his skull— it hurts, it hurts, IT HURTS!

 

He wakes up clutching his head in a cold sweat. He hasn’t had a dream like that yet, that wasn’t his usual nightmare. His head was pounding, his breaths were quick and uneven, his hands burned and covered in blood.

 

He ripped the comforter off of him and quickly made his way to the kitchen, he got closer to the sink, the view blurry due to the haze. He got to the sink but before he could turn on the tap he was dragged into an embrace and comforting whispers filtered through his mind. 

 

The grip around him tightened slightly and he let out a small yelp which made the arms around him relax and twitch with worry. He clutched the left of head where the sharingan lies. He was in pain one second and in another he was turned around, he opened his bleary eye and saw Minato.

 

After registering his sensei he doesn’t remember what happens next.

.

.

He awakens in bed with memories of last night foggy. He looked at the time and saw that the time was 5:30. Kakashi took his hand and started rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he stood to get ready, he wore casual clothes Minato allowed him to borrow from when he was younger. He took a look at himself in the mirror and saw a ghost, Kakashi stood there and just stared— . He quickly put on his mask after brushing his teeth. 

 

When he entered the kitchen sunlight was already filtering through the windows, he approached the fridge and checked what they had in stock. He managed to find enough ingredients to make tamagoyaki and started preparing the dashi, he adds water into the pot and then adding the dried kelp, as he turns on the heat to low and waits for it to boil he goes back to the fridge and retrieves the eggs before cracking them into a bowl.

 

After a minute he finishes off the dashi and lets it cool, While he waits he hears footsteps approaching and sees messy red hair emerge from the doorway. Kushina greets Kakashi with a yawn as she wanders into the kitchen, they exchange greetings as Kushina then takes over making the tamagoyaki and he gets started on coffee for the adults. 

 

When they were finishing up with breakfast and plating it on the table Minato entered all dressed and ready, “Good morning you two,” Minato took in the aroma and sighs, “smells great!” he compliments as he sits down. Kakashi nods at the compliment and Kushina hums, they eat their food with small chatter before Minato summons a clone and sends it towards the hokage tower, it looks at him with disdain before using hiraishin and teleports away.

 

Once Minato finishes with washing the dishes they all head out towards the apartment Kakashi stayed in.

 

While they made their way towards their destination they chose to walk in a secluded street and engaged in a conversation, it was mainly Kushina and Minato but Kakashi would nod and agree or say a comment or two.

 

At some point the conversation shifted gears to fuinjutsu and that's where he lost them. Noticing how lost Kakashi was Minato suggested excitedly, “Kakashi do you want to learn fuinjutsu?” All he got from his student was a side eye.

 

Minato wilted a bit and Kushina cackled at his expense but also expressed a dramatic sorrow at the missed opportunity, but then— 

 

“I wouldn’t mind learning a bit after I’m settled with medical ninjutsu…”

 

The both of them beamed at that, them being enthusiastic seals masters and kind of the only ones in Konoha and all.

 

They near his apartment as Kushina just finished explaining something about seals Kakashi barely understood while Minato engaged with his own bouts about seals, they were about to turn the corner before his apartment before a flash of green dashed out of nowhere in front of him and he only had a second to react before—

 

“MY ETERNAL RIVAL I CHALLENGE YOU!”

 

All three of them blinked at the sudden appearance of Maito Guy. Kakashi regains his composure, “Sorry Guy I am currently running an errand.” 

 

“WHAT KIND OF ERRAND MY RIVAL, WE CAN TURN IT INTO A CHALLENGE!” He topped his suggestion with a blinding smile and his signature thumbs up. Wincing at the loudness he awkwardly gestures to the two adults next to him, “No Guy, maybe next time?—” 

 

“HOKAGE-SAMA! KUSHINA-SAN! MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES I DID NOT NOTICE YOU AT FIRST IN THE FACE OF MY ETERNAL RIVAL!” he exclaims and does a 90 degree bow. 

 

Minato puts up his hands in a way to comfort him, “Ah no Guy-kun it's oka-”

 

Guy shoots straight up before exclaiming, “THIS WILL NOT DO! HOKAGE-SAMA, KUSHINA-SAN, MY ETERNAL RIVAL, I APOLOGIZE FOR STALLING YOUR TASK FOR THAT I WILL RUN 100 LAPS AROUND THE VILLAGE— NO 200!” before disappearing into the distance in a sprint.

 

…

 

 “Well what a great friend you have Kashi-chan!” Kushina expressed.

 

Kakashi flushed a bit before scoffing “We’re not friends Kushina-nee we're rivals.” in the back of his mind he questioned did he really deserve someone like Guy? Why is he still here? Why would he continue being in contact with someone like Kakashi? Actually, why is Minato and Kushina still with him? Why is—

 

A hand lands on his shoulder and snaps him out of his thoughts. Minato gives him a kind smile and Kushina grins at him and suddenly— he feels reassured if only ever so slightly he still feels reassured.

 

He finds himself smiling softly the rest of the way to his apartment.

.

.

Kakashi turned the key that unlocked his door and let them enter. True to his words Kakashi's apartment really didn't have much and was really barren, although the apartment was clean the only thing there was really just dust the space itself was as if no one even lived here, it was so empty.

 

Kakashi walked towards the direction Minato assumed was the younger’s room and told them to do whatever. Kushina ended up wandering around and Minato just followed her, the apartment just had the standard kitchen unit, a dining table, and a cheap couch all of them covered by a thin layer of dust.

 

They exchanged glances but before they could say anything Kakashi returned with 2 boxes stacked on another. “I'm back sensei, Kushina-nee.” Kushina leaned down a bit and grabbed the top box, “Is that all you have Kashi?” Kushina asked. He moved to stand next to Minato, “Yes, this is mostly my tools and clothes.” Minato took the box out of Kakashi’s hands before he could protest.

 

Minato let out a nervous chuckle before lighting up again, “Wait! We should go shopping for Kashi-kun!” Kushina lit up as well, “We need to get you room decor dattebane!” 

 

Kakashi stared at them as if questioning, he tilted his head a bit “Why? We have all my essentials already, there is no need for decoration.” He stated. 

 

Kushina used a free hand to pinch his cheek lightly and Kakashi swatted her hand away with a growl, “Yeah but you need a lil to make your room lively ya know.” Kakashi just rolled his eye. Minato stepped in before they could bicker and suggested they go back so they could put the stuff away, the both of them huffed and Minato shuffled the box into 1 arm and extended his hand out for them to grab, when they both did he hiraishin them home.

 

When they arrived at the house they helped Kakashi unpack the 2 boxes he had and was surprised to see that the “clothes” box was filled with his spare training clothes, 2 pairs of night clothes, and a whole comforter. They both give him the “look” before Kushina goes, “Kakashi what the fuck is this?” Minato sputtered when she cursed before hissing out in a whisper that she couldn’t curse in front of him, Kushina stuck her tongue out and went back to looking at Kakashi.

 

Kakashi gave her a shrug before responding, “I like the comforter.” The comforter— was a soft one with a shuriken pattern. Minato sighed and shook his head, “Kashi-kun, I think Kushina meant your lack of clothes.” 

 

He gave his sensei another questioning look, “Why would I need more clothes? This is all I need.” 

 

They gave him the most deadpan look he’s ever received from them.

 

Minato coughed, “Right anyways, you said this was the box your tools are in right?” He goes to open the box he was referring to, “Maybe you put more clothes in here since the comforter took up a lot of space—”

 

He opened the box to see it filled to the brim with different weapons, ninja tools and storage scrolls. 

 

He received another deadpan stare before Kushina exclaimed they needed to go shopping with Minato agreeing before the both of them dragged him out to go find more clothes and decorations. 

 

They roam the busy streets with people occasionally stopping and greeting Minato every so often, while they secretly glare at him— and the first place they stopped at was a clothing store, Kakashi still didn’t see the point of this trip at all but on the way here both Kushina and Minato told him his lack of clothes were not good and he couldn’t convince them otherwise so here they are.

 

His sensei and Kushina stepped inside and he followed them a bit behind them, people are still looking at him with hatred while they pass. He pushed through and tried to ignore them by sticking closer to his sensei, Minato noticed his uneasiness and coaxed him gently so he could be in between him and kushina. She saw the shift and gave him a pat on the back not once deterring from their conversation, Kakashi became more immersed in their conversation instead of the hateful stares and became less tense. 

 

They reached a section of clothes for kids his age and looked around— well it was mainly Kushina finding cute clothes and Kakashi rejecting them every time while Minato was trying to suppress his laughter after Kushina presented him with a glittery and very pink shirt, he was not impressed. They ended up having to move down a section after finding out Kakashi was smaller than he was supposed to for his age only after he found a shirt he tolerated and went to try it on only for it to be reaching mid thigh and a deep V line.  

 

While they were trying to find clothes Kakashi was okay with (Not cute and sparkly Kushina-nee, it’s undignified!) Minato had to leave and return back to the hokage tower because his clone popped notifying him of a council meeting so it was just Kushina and Kakashi, while scanning the rack Kushina tapped his shoulder once again and he let out an exasperated groan before turning around hoping it isn’t something childish again, “What did you find this time-” he saw what she was holding and paused—

 

It was a sweater with white and blue stripes going across, he reached out to feel it and realized that it was really soft. He caught Kushina's gaze again and she grinned at him, “It’s gonna be winter soon so you should be prepared dattebane!” he nodded dumbly still feeling the sweater and a warm bubbly feeling in his chest.

 

He managed to find 2 simple shirts and a few pair of pants before Kushina bought them for him while he waited outside, he insisted on paying her back but she just ushered him around the street prattling about a room decor, he reluctantly tried looking for something scanning his eyes around the stores and ignoring the stares still aimed towards him. 

 

As he was looking around trying to find anything he could count as decor he caught a glimpse of a person with a hood and orange mask before they disappeared. He continued staring at the spot the person was but there was nothing, he shook his head and assumed it was just one of his visions again.

 

Kushina just had enough at some point and dragged him into a random store that sold furniture and continued on from there, shelves filled with random decorations and chairs, couches, tables, basically anything you’d find in a furniture store. Kakashi just wanted to go home so he could study more about medical ninjutsu and attempt to apply it onto something for a try not decor hunt! 

 

Thinking about his studies he caved and just picked the next thing he saw, it was a stupid pathetic looking wet cat sculpture. Kushina leaned over to see what he chose and tried to hold in a giggle, “Ne it kinda looks like you dattebane.” she teased.

 

He choked on his words, “It does not!” 

 

“Whatever you say!”

 

Before heading home they decided to get lunch and Kakashi ended up buying some notebooks along the way too.

.

.

Entering his room with his studying material in hand and the other stuff he bought earlier, he put the pathetic cat he decided to name Neko (“Wow Kashi, very creative dattebane!” “Shut up!”) down on his bedside and he went to sit down at the desk then deposited the scrolls. The clothes they bought were hanging out to dry recently so he didn’t have to store them.

 

He went back and reread the scrolls to refresh his memories and started taking notes along the way using the notebooks he got earlier. His thoughts wandered back to Rin and how he sometimes saw her carrying a decently sized notebook around with some bookmarks poking out, he wondered if she ever got to finish it. Probably not because of YOU.  His grip on his pencil tightened and he concentrated jotting down notes instead. Kakashi wrote until he heard the front door open, “Minato-sensei is back” he thought before putting his pencil down and shutting and rerolling his notebook and scroll respectively, but before he finished up he wanted to try one last thing.

 

The mystic palm technique.

 

He knows he shouldn't just do it and needs something to practice on and in all fairness he shouldn’t even know the technique at all but he remembered seeing Rin doing it while the sharingan was out and he captured the moment. He feels dirty just by even doing this considering the factors but his curiosity grew with each moment he spent contemplating alongside guilt. Should he try it? Should he not? 

 

He sucked in his breath and attempted to perform the jutsu. Chakra coated his hands but instead of a soft green it was bright white, he let out a soft gasp and let the jutsu flicker out. He stared at his hands in shock, why was it white shouldn’t it be green? He didn’t get to continue pondering as a knock on his door interrupted his thought, he gave permission for entry and Minato poked his head through the door announcing that Kushina finished with dinner.

 

Dinner? Did he take that long contemplating? Kakashi gave Minato a nod indicating that he understood and the blond left with a smile. Instead of heading out right away he went to his tool box still unpacked and carefully started putting it away until everything was out of the box and neatly tucked away except for 1 thing.

 

Kakashi reached into the box and gently retrieved a framed picture, he looked longingly at the photo of team Minato, of Rin, of Obito. He stood up and went over to his bed and placed it down softly next to Neko then taking a step back, looking at his team photo now he is able to feel sorrow and regret at the loss of his teammates, he bites his lip and briskly leaves the room.

.

.

A swirl appeared in the middle of the room and a figure emerged from it. The person took a look around before their eyes landed on the picture of team Minato. Their hands clenched into a fist as it vibrates with rage before the figure disappears into the night once more. 

Notes:

RAAAAHHHHH I HATE SCHOOL
anyways this fic may or may not be making die inside slowly haha i didn't realize how cooked i was :D
also please feel free to comment i want to read them and explode
TY FOR READING!!

Chapter 5

Over the next few weeks Kakashi delved into a schedule with his training and missions, with this structure and consistency, his hallucinations and visions had gotten better and went back to mostly appearing at night. He still does his regular training in taijutsu and ninjutsu but now he’s slowly adding medical ninjutsu into the mix plus more chakra control training.

 

After the first time he tried to attempt The mystic palm technique his curiosity lingers still on why his chakra came out as a soft white, but when he went out and tried it on a fish he caught in a remote place with a river and it came out as the normal green, well it was lighter than usual but not white. He just played it off as him doing the technique haphazardly since he pulled it off without practice, he then spent his practice time near the same river, it has become somewhat of a safe haven for him to practice medical ninjutsu and expand his knowledge with the many plants and endless amounts of fish. It was also further away from the village while still being inside the walls so he kinda hangs out there as well during his down time from missions. 

 

Speaking of missions… At first Minato was hesitant in sending him onto solo missions with Kakashi’s obvious complaint of it.

 

(he went a bit crazy because of the people he took missions with, he promised to be a better teammate and he really tried! But they just keep their distance and are hesitant with him while reluctantly following his orders and requests. Some don't even try to hide their disdain and just being outright aggressive in their tone, Kakashi doesn't really care that much if they still complete their mission. It's not like it wasn't true.)

 

So he resorted to other means…

.

.

Minato's resolve slowly died down after Kakashi kept swapping his coffee with a random herbal drink every time he left it unattended for 1 SECOND— it also made his stomach feel a bit better— But that's not the point!

 

He finally caved when one morning after one hell of a night doing paperwork he took a sip of what he thought was his coffee that he was planning on relishing in, only to immediately spit it out all over the counter. Minato started coughing trying to remove the vile bitterness from his throat, panicked hands , found the sink tap and proceeded to wash the concoction away from his mouth.

 

In the background Kakashi emerged from his room dressed and ready then stepped into the kitchen looking none the wiser.

 

Kakashi stood next to Minato and reached to grab a cup from the counter, “Good Morning Minato-sensei.” He greeted feigning innocence. Minato shot him the most poisonous glare he could muster with a mouthful of water, He just gave him a fake sweet smile, one where his eyes shut.

 

The blond’s glare lessened as he relented and spat out the water, he let out a sigh while grabbing a nearby cloth to clean up the mess he made. “You know poisoning the hokage is against the law.” He commented exasperatedly. His silver haired student however continued on making his tea now sitting on the counter, Kushina would’ve scolded him and dragged him down but she is out on a mission right now so it's just them and that's how Kakashi’s been getting away with swapping is coffee since kushina would be stalking the kitchen like a hawk ever since that one time Kakashi kept getting away with drinking coffee for a few weeks much to both of their dismay of him being too young.

 

At first he noticed the taste of something that wasn't coffee but he didn't think much of it and caulked it up to him making tea instead since it tasted herbal and he didn’t notice how tired he was.

 

And over the weeks it got worse and worse in flavor. Much to the dismay of his poor taste bud and the fact he’s not getting his caffeine in. 

 

“It's technically not poison since it has medicinal value sensei, I’ve noticed your recent indigestion problems and just merely taken action that’s all.” Kakashi finishes off with a sip of his tea and goes to take his lunch box off the counter getting ready to pack it in his bag. Minato gave him a sideways glance before rolling his eyes and shrugged on his hokage cloak.

 

“Fine you win Kashi-kun,” Minato sighed but Kakashi noticed a hint of gleam in his eyes, “get ready and meet me in my office at 9!” Minato gave a wink before disappearing in a flash. Kakashi stopped drinking his tea to stare at the empty spot that Minato was at before dragging his eye to the clock sitting innocently on the wall, it read 8:50. Kakashi chugged the remains of his tea and pulled up his mask before hopping off the counter to the front door already packed and quickly locked the door and put the seals back up then took off to the roofs. The Namikaze-Uzumaki household was decently far away from the hokage tower and he had never wished until now the 2 had just lived at the hokage residence instead. 

 

As he approaches the hokage tower he could immediately spot a bunch of different shinobis blocking the main entrance, Kakashi cursed underneath his breath this must be karma for the past week at this rate he’s not going to make it on time! He hasn't broken his clean record yet and he isn’t going to start now! Looking up at the office where he could see the blond stock of his sensei's hair working in his office through the window, he got an idea and took off once more.

.

.

 

Minato felt a bit smug after pulling that stunt with the younger, he knows how much Kakashi likes being on time, looking at the clock it is now 8:59, the second hand ticking closer to it being 9 am. He felt his lips curl into a small smile ready to tell the younger that he was in fact late, the seconds tick by getting closer to the goal. He specifically knew this morning there would be a lot of people moving stuff in and out of the tower so he knew it was crowded. He also had the perfect mission to assign to his silver haired student, he was originally going to do it himself or send a few Anbus but seeing the situation it might be better for Kakashi to do it instead despite his reluctance at first.

 

He took a sip of his NORMAL coffee as it was seconds away from being 9 am when he heard a knock behind him, Minato sensed his Anbu guards tense up as he felt someone fumble with his wards, he quickly turned around and was met with Kakashi pressed against his window. He stared at Kakashi and the younger stared right back. He signaled the Anbu to stand back down and went to open the window, his student slipped in with 1 second to spare.

 

“You’re on time.” Minato stared dumbly down at his student, Kakashi huffed out as he regained air back into his lungs, “I’m on time.” 

 

…

 

“Anyways!” Minato says as he shuffles Kakashi to the front of the desk before sitting back down, “As I said, I have a mission for you,” with that statement he passed Kakashi the mission scroll the younger unrolled it and started reading, “This will not be a time sensitive mission due to the nature of it.” He hears a small choked sound and looks at his student, his mouth forming an amused smile. 

 

“I have to find Tsunade-obasan?!” Kakashi broke into a cough, “I-I mean Tsunade-sama!” 

 

Minato let out a chuckle as he watched Kakashi regain his composure, “Yes, I was originally going to do this myself but looking at the amount of time it might take since our latest sightings of her was a month ago near the border between the Fire country and Tea. And honestly Kashi-kun, I really did not want to assign this mission to you but looking at how you and her—” He glanced at Kakashi who was now looking at him with a neutral stare his eye looking more foggy than usual, “—know or known each other you might be able to convince her, also because of your current studies since you have yet to find a sensei.” 

 

Kakashi gave him a raised eyebrow or at least he assumed it was a raised eyebrow because he can’t really tell with a quarter of his face visible. 

 

“Is there a reason for her needed return?” Kakashi questioned an ugly feeling churned in his gut.

 

His sensei leaned back in his chair a bit and sighed. “I wanted to improve Konoha’s medical system since there was a recent case that was quite as the Naras put it ‘troublesome’. That and add in the fact that our medical system had been somewhat lacking ever since the third shinobi war… Who else should we seek out, none other than Tsunade-sama herself.” 

 

He nodded in agreement who else would know more about medical ninjutsu other than Tsunade herself, he had known why the Slug princess had left Konoha and otp to wander around with her apprentice instead, Kakashi barely remembers the time when she was still in Konoha since the only time he ever saw her was when his father asked her to watch him before he entered the academy and could take care of himself. Thinking back now maybe that’s the reason why he doesn’t entirely hate the hospital since when he had to be babysat by her Kakashi had to sit in her office while she worked and called him brat, then his father commited suicide and he stopped seeing her. 

 

His hands involuntarily clenched into a fist, he shoved the ugly feeling away.

 

Minato handed him another scroll, “When you find her give her this scroll it contains my proposal.” His sensei stood up and walked towards him and put a hand on his shoulder. “You can depart now if you want but maybe tomorrow since Kushina’s going to come back later today. Another thing,” his voice dropping into a serious tone, “I want you to give me weekly updates and if by 2 months and you haven’t found Tsunade-sama you must return, I don’t want you out there longer than 3 months— Actually I don’t want you out there longer than a month, maybe—” Kakashi rolled his eye relaxing a bit, “Sensei I’ll be fine, I can handle myself just fine. I can provide weekly updates and make sure to come back before 3 months. Does that satisfy you?” the hand on his shoulder tightened its grip before relaxing again.

 

“Yes, yes it does.” Minato sighed out. “Are you going to depart now?” He asked. Kakashi thought about it for a moment, leaving now would be time efficient as he could immediately start heading towards the Tea country since she might still be in the country if their last update was her skirting around the border, but also Kushina is coming back today and he hadn’t seen her in 2 weeks. If he leaves now he won’t see her in months, normally that would be fine but… Kakashi just caulked it up to him not wanting to face her ire when he returns. He made up his mind that he was going to wait for Kushina to return.

 

“I’ll leave tomorrow,” His sensei looked at him with curiosity, “Oh why’s that? I thought you’d leave immediately.” Kakashi scratched his cheeks nervously, “Maa I don’t want to face Kushina-nees wrath when I come back because I didn’t say hello to her before I left.” Minato let out a fond chuckle while giving him a look he couldn't really decipher before patting him on the back and dismissing him. 

 

Kakashi left the hokage tower in the usual manner as most of the crowd had disappeared during his mission briefing and headed straight to his usual spot by the river. He moved to a more secluded route once he stepped out from the main road, going in between the older buildings moving silently through the shadows, his usual path. As he got closer to his spot he could feel eyes on him, he stopped and pretended to shuffle around his bag while discreetly checking the woods around him. To his left he saw the bushes shake in a way that was barely noticeable and flicked a kunai in the direction of the other presence, he heard a thump of the kunai hitting the tree and a yelp as a kid tumbles out from the bush narrowly dodging his throw. 

 

“Who are you and why are you following me?” He pressed on. 

 

The boy as he could now see squeaks as he held his hands up in surrender, he has short black curly hair with matching black eyes and Kakash had a slight prediction that if the kid were to turn around there would be a uchiwa fan staring back at him. “Ah I d-didn’t mean to intrude! I just saw you walking nearby the place I usually visit so I got curious, that's all!” The boy looked no older than 6 but his stealth was pretty good, if Kakashi didn’t feel eyes on himself with his keen senses he wouldn’t have noticed the kid. 

 

Kakashi withdrew and crossed his arms, “You still haven’t said who you were.” The raven haired dropped his hands and scratched his cheek nervously “Oh I’m Shisui, Shisui Uchiha!” Yeah he figured. Before he could say anything Shisui spoke up again, “You’re Kakashi right? I think I’ve heard about you from the elders and sometimes from Obi-nii, you guys were teammates right?.” Kakashi could feel himself tense up at the mention of Obito and the Uchiha elders, he tries to gain his composure again and goes to answer the younger. “Yes, we were. I guess it’s safe to assume that you know why your elders mention me.” As he throws in a light accusation he sees a flicker of orange from somewhere in between the trees from the corner of his vision.

 

Shisui gives him a playful look fit for a 6 year old before answering, “It’s about the sharingan.” Kakashi doesn’t grace him with more answers or questions and gets ready to leave but before he could he noticed that the younger one was following him, “What are you doing kid?” Shisui made an undignified noise before sassing out “Kid?! You’re also one! You’re not that much older than me,” He circled around Kakashi in a playful manner before walking side by side with him, “also I’m bored so I’m coming with!” 

 

He was going to tell the younger to leave him alone but when he looked down at Shisui his words died in his throat as for a second he saw a glimpse of younger Obito in him. So Kakashi just clenched his jaw and continued forward as Shisui let out a slight cheer, they fell into a quiet chatter— well more of Shisui talking and rambling and him staying quiet. They finally reached the river and Kakashi went to his usual spot underneath a big tree and put his backpack against the thick wood before taking vials out of his pack which caught the attention of Shisui, “Hey what’s that?” He pointed to the vial filled with a ominous dark blue color liquid and one filled with a similar shade but was slightly lighter. 

 

Kakashi sets aside the vials as he goes to pull more stuff out of his pack while answering him, “It’s supposed to be a paralytic if I got the components right and the other is meant to be the cure for it. Once it’s used the muscle should lock up in 3 minutes after administration.” He finishes as he brings out some empty vials and scrolls, Shisui blinks at him before going to sit across from him eyeing the liquids. Kakashi goes back to getting his materials out like his notes and textbooks preparing to study and write notes. His bubble popped when Shisui made a grab for the vial, he quickly intercepted by grabbing the curious child's wrist before he could grab the dangerous liquid, Kakashi gave him a stern look, “No,” Shisui pouted, “You shouldn’t be messing around with delicate stuff like that.” He sighed as he let go of the Uchihas wrist.

 

Shisui pouted even harder before asking him, “Why? Have you even tested it yet? What if it doesn’t work? What will you use it for?—” Kakashi held his hand up to stop the flow of questions coming his way with an exasperated look, his heart throbs a bit as he is reminded of another mouthy Uchiha but he answers Shisui’s questions, “Because it is dangerous, no I haven’t tested it yet, if it doesn’t work then I’ll adjust the ingredients and keep making and testing until it works—” He pauses to regain his breath, “—It could come in handy in hindering the enemy by paralyzing them and either we could use the time to kill or capture them for interrogation.” 

 

Kakashi thought about it more on the effects of the liquid and he actually had to rethink his last option for capturing, since the paralytic causes the muscle to lock up that would mean it would affect things like the heart as well. But at the same time that's why he also had a cure for it, if it works that is. 

 

The human body can go around 10 minutes after the heart stops beating so that is enough time to administer the antidote and perform CPR if needed. Kakashi mused as he absentmindedly avoided the grabby hands of the rather quick child, he needed to make sure that the antidote does work though like what if they needed the enemy captured and they died because the cure didn't work? They would lose the needed information not to mention if it accidentally gets used on an ally.

 

But Kakashi didn’t know how to test it without the risk of others. 

 

His musing was cut off when Shisui finally retrieved the vial out of his hand, his eye widened with panic as the six year old child held the vial with gentleness and care he didn’t expect. And the words that came out of Shisui's mouth surprised him more than the time Gai had snuck up on him while he was bathing.

 

“I can be your test patient! Just think of me as an assistant!” Shisui says excitedly not knowing how speechless he made the jounin.

 

“No!” Kakashi exclaimed after recovering from the shock, the Uchiha had the audacity to stare at him with an incredulous look as if he didn’t just volunteer himself to do something harmful. “But how else are you going to test the cure to make sure it works?” The little brat opened his mouth. He took the moment the other was distracted to immediately snatch the paralytic back from tinier hands and quickly put it in his back pouch. The mini Uchiha opened his mouth to protest but he was faster.

 

“Okay how about this,” Shisui clamped his mouth shut, “when I come back from my mission we’ll see about testing it in a more safe environment and with more precautions. I don’t want the Uchiha after my head again for accidentally murdering their kin this time.” He finished with a tired look you only gain from your soul, almost leaving your body from trying to babysit a 6 year old kid. Shisui looked a bit disappointed but gave up opting to go back to sitting next to the tree and renewing a topic. Kakashi sat back down and pulled out his notebook that is starting to get thick with the amount of post notes and markers he’s added and pulled out the scroll he’d been working on and continued where he left off, occasionally humming to what Shisui says and contributing a cent or 2. 

 

The random chatter continued for 20 minutes till Shisui got curious and started asking him random medical questions or just questions about the human body.

 

“—broken bones usually take 6-12 weeks to heal without the assistance of medical ninjutsu, though with the help of medical ninjutsu depending on how good the medic is, it can help accelerate the healing by a lot.”

 

“So can you heal broken bones?”

 

“Ah, not yet my skill level is way far from that currently. I can only heal flesh wounds and stop minor bleeding.” Kakashi admitted feeling a bit disappointed with his progress, it was a pace he wasn’t used to after flying through other categories easily. The other nodded at his response before going back to folding a paper crane from a spare piece of paper Kakashi gave him earlier from his notebook, not a second later he heard a quiet hiss and looked over to see the Uchiha sporting a paper cut. The younger was about to put his finger with a small cut into his mouth before Kakashi grabbed his wrist gently but firmly and brought it closer.

 

“Do you mind if I try healing it?” He asked.

 

He proceeded to let go of the other wrist after receiving a nod and hovered over the finger, concentrating on his chakra letting it change into a light green almost pale and flow into the cut. The small cut closes in a few seconds and Kakashi cuts off his chakra. He stared into his hands and thought back to the color. It was still lighter than usual but at least it wasn’t pure white anymore so that’s something. He looked back at the other as the younger stared at where the cut used to be in slight awe, “Your chakra feels soft.”

 

What? He stared at the Uchiha. 

 

Kakashi hadn’t thought or known what his chakra felt like when he used medical ninjutsu before because frankly Shisui was the first person he tried it on but he thought it would be like the usual uncomfortable sandpaper feel, or at least that's what it feels like to him as a recipient of it. He just went back to writing as Shisui continued his origami after inspecting his healed cut.

 

Time passes by quickly the more lines he reads and the more information he absorbs as Shisui's chatter gets quieter and less frequent until it dies down completely. 

 

His hand ached a little from how much writing he ended up doing, looking at the sun he could tell it was past noon and his stomach served to remind him of that. Setting down his pen and note book he stood to stretch, he felt his spine pop along with his stiff muscles getting relief and went to pack his studies. Kakashi crouched back down to put everything away again and noticed that Shisui was now asleep. He sighs as he sits back down and pulls out his lunch that he packed this morning but before he opened it he paused and looked back at the sleeping child, “His body is still growing and needs nutrients, did he even eat breakfast today?” Kakashi thought about it and made his decision. 

 

“I can just use the fish after practice. I should’ve brought my fishing pole today.” He muttered softly as he stood up once more and pulled up his sleeves getting ready to wrangle fishes.

 

.

.

 

Shisui woke up to the smell of smoke and fish being cooked, he sat up feeling the soft grass underneath him and rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he tried to recall what was happening then he heard a voice and his memories rushed back.

 

“Oh, you’re awake. I’ll reheat the lunch now.” Kakashi reached over next to him and grabbed what looked to be a lunch box. It took him a moment to remember anything about a lunch box, he doesn’t remember even bringing anything with him other than a few blunt kunais to practice with that he totally forgot about upon encountering the silver haired shinobi. His face flushed with embarrassment as the reminder and at the fact his stomach started growling. 

 

But then he realized, “Wait, what about your lunch?”, Kakashi only just titled his head in the direction of the fish drilling over a fire, ah right the smell explains it. Shisui sheepishly chuckled and sat across the fire from the other. 

 

The sounds of fire crackling and the flowing river surrounds them. He looks at Kakashi past the flames as the other focuses on grilling the fish and warming up the lunch box with some sort of jutsu? He isn’t sure. Shisui ended up pulling out one of the practice kunais and started twirling them around his fingers absentmindedly as he thought about how he should get some practice in after eating something. The only sign he got was a bright gleam of metal shining before a senbon was coming straight for him, Shisui reacted by quickly deflecting, a second too late it would’ve hit his neck. He quickly got into a defensive position in case there were more.

 

A hum from the other made him look back at the silver haired shinobi, “Your reflexes are good” Kakashi comments as he takes the fish off the fire and places the lunch box next to Shisui while he goes and retrieves the senbon somewhere in the area. Shisui stood there and watched the other go pick up the senbon that he deflected away before getting out of position and sitting back down but still not lowering his guard. 

 

“Hey what was that for?” He asked with a slight pout. He received a shrug from the older as he walked back to the fire but not sitting down just yet instead continuing on, “I know you were skilled with the fact that you were able to hide and stalk me for sometime without me noticing you sooner, so I wanted to see how good your reflexes are.”

 

“So you aimed for my neck instead of anywhere else.” He mumbled, a little bit peeved. Kakashi only offered him an eye smile which weirdly disturbed him a bit. He decided to eat the food that was generously given to him instead of dwelling on the fact that Kakashi Hatake eye smiled at him. “Thanks for the food Kakashi-san!” He said with gratitude then started eating, as he ate he noticed that Kakashi wasn’t really eating the fish was basically untouched but when he looked back down to continue eating his own food, a portion of the fish kept disappearing. Which puzzled him even further as the other remained unmoved, so he kept his eyes peeled for when the other pulled down his mask to eat.

 

Shisui ended up unsuccessful in the end by the time they both finished their meal he was unable to see underneath the mask. Looking at the sky he deems it light enough that it isn’t time for him to go home yet so he thinks he has some time to practice, but just doing target practice gets kinda boring…. Shisui looks over at the 11 year old and has an idea.

 

“How would you feel about throwing senbon at me while I try to deflect again?”

.

.

 

In the end Shisui came out of the mini training session with his arms immobilized and a few needles sticking out of him. 

 

Kakashi ended up healing some of the scratches and removed the senbons from the other before both of them leaving separate ways which was followed by a “See you after your mission Kakashi-san!”

 

Seeing the small retreating figure of the Uchiha, Kakashi starts making his own way back to Namikaze-Uzumaki household. Weaving back into the alley ways avoiding the busy streets filled with crowds, Kakashi admires the setting sun from over the rooftops as the bustling crowd fills the atmosphere. Wandering the familiar empty streets he thought about his upcoming mission, this was… the first time he took a solo mission for so long, even during the third war he’d be out of the village for months stationed at a post but he wasn’t alone, he had a squad…

 

The team he didn’t have anymore.

 

Kakashi decided to move to the rooftops instead of lingering in the empty streets. If not to avoid the house of a certain kunoichi then it was to return faster and to feel the cold breeze despite the hot and humid climate of the month of July.

 

Halfway through jumping from rooftop to rooftops he paused and thought more about the mission. He didn't really give it much thought after going to his secluded spot and the whole encounter with Shisui but now, with the silence and peace of the setting sun and the quieting village he is left to his own thoughts. 

 

Would he be able to convince Tsunade to come back? That he doesn't know, him and the sannin were never really that close only knowing each other through his father, but he still saw her as family in a way where she took care of him when he was younger. The bitter feeling he managed to stomp down in the hokage office resurfaced, it hurt when she just left, her disappearance was quick and abrupt no goodbyes nothing.

 

What if he did find her after months just to have her leave again? He felt the ugly feeling come back at full force this time and he doesn’t know why, maybe it's because if she doesn't return with him he'd fail his mission. But that conclusion doesn't sit right with him as it would usually, he felt a sense of determination wash over him he has to convince her to come back, he doesn't want to dwell on the what ifs if he fails, he will succeed in bringing her back. 

 

He picks up the pace once more only slower than the first time, he lets out a bitter chuckle so quiet it gets lost in the wind blowing past him, if she doesn't return for the village sake maybe she would return for his, he could only dream that would be the case, kakashi allowed himself to think selfishly. Kakashi remembered Minato's remarks about him also maybe finding a sensei through her, would she even want to teach an insufferable brat like him? 

 

He lets the question die down as he sees the Namikaze-Uzumaki household get bigger the closer he gets as he gets ready to descend back down onto the streets. He lands gracefully, backpack bouncing up before settling against his back again and starts walking normally until he reaches his destination.

 

The moment Kakashi stepped onto the front porch the front door flung open (he’s pretty sure the hinges were broken) as he was pulled into a crushing embrace. 

 

“Welcome home dattebane!”

 

He felt his bones protest as he tried to pull out from the punishing hug he’d been subjected to by Kushina (he’s also pretty sure he heard a crack somewhere inside his backpack, he could only hope that it was an empty vial)

 

“K-kushina-nee… I can’t breathe!” He tried to sound firm but it comes out more wheezing than he’d like but it grants him freedom anyways. Kakashi doesn’t get a break though as he is now being pulled inside somehow managing to take his shoes off while Kushina was prattling on about something he wasn’t sure but he thinks he heard ramen. 

 

“When did you get back?” He asked since he thought he'd return before she could arrive but apparently Kushina beat him to it “Around an hour ago.” her voice fading as she left his side presumably going towards the kitchen now after depositing him in the living room. He set his backpack down beside the couch and looked at the coat hanger next to the door, Minato is still at the hokage tower it seems. 

 

A loud crash and Kushina's cursing brought his attention towards the kitchen, he sighs but underneath his mask his mouth is querked in a small smile as he goes into the kitchen to help the redhead. Kakashi stood in the doorway looking at the other flutters around the kitchen picking up the pots and pans scattered across the floor, “Kushina-nee do you need help?” he asks while walking closer to the other, “Sure can you get started on the broth? I'll help after cleaning up’ttebane.” she said looks up from where she was picking up the pans and standing up to put them away. 

 

He starts preparing the ingredients for the broth right as Kushina appears in front of the stove with a big pot and pours water in, after adding in the ingredients they let it simmer, occasionally removing the scum while cooking. At some point Kushina managed to yank his mask down to pinch his cheek still a bit plump with remaining baby fat, he scowled and batted her hand away trying to smooth the pain in his cheek out with his hand, he kept his mask down though as both Kushina and MInato has seen his face countless of times already add to the fact he normally doesn’t wear it inside anyways he just forgot this time. They’ve also seen him at his lowest too and yet still stuck by his side which puzzles him but he thinks he's starting to understand why, a faint blush appears on his face as he’s scooping out the scum from the broth.

 

He wonders why they choose to stay with him and help him from his lowest when they could do what he’s doing right now, removing the scum from the delicious broth as it would do much better without it. But they stayed, welcomed him in, took care of him. 

 

Kakashi realizes now that he'll miss them. He hadn’t felt this type of way since his father, he was too late to appreciate the existence of Obito until he’s left missing his ghost, too preoccupied over Rins safety that he wasn’t a hair's breadth away from her to feel distance and longing now he’s doing the same and missing her ghost forever. He doesn’t think he can stand missing both Minato and Kushina forever so he’ll work hard and learn to protect rather than to attack. Maybe then he can prevent things he wasn’t able to back then.  

 

With that conclusion he goes back to working on the rest of the meal joining Kushina in cutting vegetables. 

 

The wind blows softly against the tree making the leaves blow gently against the window as he looks at the 2 figures inside, his hood blowing off revealing spiky hair that reaches his shoulders. He scowls both at the figures and his hood as he pulls it back on and leaves. 

 

While chatting with Kushina Kakashi notices a spot of orange outside again, randomly throughout the days he would see it in the corner of his vision to the point there might be something wrong with his normal eye as well but he doesn’t pay it any mind as it eventually goes away.

 

Minato eventually comes home 2 hours later just in time for the broth to finish and they have dinner before he heads to bed already having told Kushina about his mission over dinner and partially getting yelled at before she starts fussing over him that’s when he decides to retreat back into his room and turning in for the night hoping to have a dreamless sleep. 

.

.

When dawn breaks Kakashi gets up and prepares to leave. He thankfully did have a dreamless sleep, he packs things into storage scrolls that could last for at least a week and also puts his textbooks and notebooks into scrolls too as he should still study while out, maybe he could pick up a thing or 2, like finding herbs that aren’t local in Konoha. He finishes packing and leaves the house heading towards the village gates not bothering to say goodbye to his sensei and Kushina as he didn’t think they would be awake yet, his heart throbs a little but he pushes forth as the village gates are in view. As he nears he finds 2 figures standing in front of the gate and he screeches to a halt as he takes in the image of Minato in his usual Hokage outfit and Kushina still in her pajamas as greet him. 

 

His breath stilled as Minato started talking, “You didn’t think we’d let you leave without a proper goodbye no?”

 

“He probably did ttebane..” Kushina mutters sleepily as she tries to fight sleep.

Still standing there he felt a hand land on his head as his sensei patted him, he only had it in him to scoff and move his hand away with a red hue blooming underneath his mask cheeks. Kushina on the other hand moved into hug him half asleep but ended up putting all her weight on him as she fell asleep on the spot, he only manage to not fall thanks to Minato taking Kushina in his arms instead as he grins sheepishly while the redhead had this goofy grin in her sleep probably dreaming about Minato or ramen.

 

Kakashi sighs and goes in for a quick and soft hug before retreating. 

 

“Goodbye Minato-sensei, Kushina-nee. I’ll write to you and see you in 3 months.”

 

Minato gives him a bright sunny smile as he shifts to carry Kushina instead. “Goodbye Kashi-kun! Good luck on your mission.” With that he’s gone in a flash.

 

And Kakashi steps out of the village, ready for his journey. 

Notes:

Hello yes, Im alive. school is over and im free :D my upload schedule will still probably be inconsistent so don't expect fast updates 3
Anyways thank you for reading my fic!
kudos and comments are appreciated!

also this is for the future but what would you all feel about this fic heading in an obkk direction when theyre older? please let me know if i should work towards it or leave it without ships!

Notes:

I wasn't gonna post this on ao3 at all and leave it to rot in docs but my friend told me to grow some balls so here we are. I have no idea what im doing crying. I have like 2 more chaps alr done will post later maybe