Chapter 1: The one when he became sensei
Chapter Text
The Genin Sensei
If Minato had blinked, he might have missed it.
A scrap of orange shot across the training field like a firecracker, shouting at the top of his lungs.
“I’M GONNA BE HOKAGE—BELIEVE IT!”
Minato froze mid-step. His heart jolted. For a second, the world blurred, and he saw a toddler in frog pajamas standing on a windowsill, pretending to give orders to an imaginary village.
But this wasn’t a memory.
This was real.
His son—older now, thirteen, brash and bright and full of life—was somersaulting through the air with his sandals untied, charging at a stunned pink-haired girl and a brooding boy with duck-butt hair.
Jiraiya let out a low whistle. “That’s him.”
Kushina’s eyes glistened. “Look at him. Look how loud he is!”
And then, calmly sitting against a tree, nose buried in an orange book, sat Kakashi Hatake.
Same mask. Same hair. Same lack of urgency.
Minato’s mouth twitched.
“Do you think he’s even watching them?” Kushina asked, incredulous, as Naruto belly-flopped into a patch of mud.
“I think he’s watching just enough,” Minato murmured.
Kakashi didn’t move.
Not when Naruto failed a substitution jutsu. Not when Sasuke grumbled about wasting his time. Not even when Sakura screamed because Naruto had landed face-first in her lunchbox.
But the moment a stray kunai flew too close to Naruto’s head—
Thunk.
Kakashi caught it. One hand. Without looking up from his book.
Minato’s eyebrows rose.
Jiraiya scoffed. “Showoff.”
But he said it fondly.
Eventually, Kakashi stood.
He flipped the page in his book, tucked it into his vest, and clapped his hands once. “You all fail.”
Three horrified genin stared at him.
“What do you mean fail?!” Naruto wailed.
Kakashi’s visible eye curved into that infuriating crescent. “I told you. Those who abandon the rules are scum. But those who abandon their comrades…”
He let the words hang.
Sakura and Sasuke looked away. Naruto stopped yelling.
Kakashi crouched. “You left each other behind. That’s not how a team works.”
Sasuke mumbled something.
“What was that?” Kakashi asked.
“…so what now?” Sasuke muttered louder.
Kakashi pulled out his book again. “You try again. And again. Until you learn to act like comrades. Or die trying.”
Naruto turned pale.
“But,” Kakashi added, “you can eat lunch first.”
“Even Naruto?” Sakura asked. “He… he was told not to.”
Kakashi didn’t look up from Icha Icha Paradise.
“I won’t tell if you don’t.”
Minato blinked.
“Wait a minute,” Jiraiya said slowly, leaning in. “Is that—?”
“Yes,” Kushina confirmed. “That’s your book.”
“Ohhh,” Jiraiya grinned, smug and delighted. “I knew he was a man of taste.”
Minato gave him a flat look. “He’s reading porn in front of my son.”
“It’s literature,” Jiraiya corrected.
Minato shook his head, a mix of fondness and horror blooming in his chest. “That’s my student. That’s my student.”
“You’re welcome,” Jiraiya said smugly.
As the sun dipped behind the training field trees, the genin sat together eating in silence. Naruto smiled crookedly. Sakura laughed. Sasuke didn’t leave.
And Kakashi sat nearby, seemingly absorbed in his book.
But his eye flicked toward them every few seconds. Watching. Checking.
Guarding.
Minato stood behind the tree line and let the sight etch into his memory.
His son was laughing.
His student was watching over him.
And for the first time since arriving in this broken journey through time, Minato didn’t feel despair.
He felt something achingly close to peace.
“I didn’t get to raise him,” he whispered. “But Kakashi did.”
Kushina took his hand.
Jiraiya turned away, suspiciously quiet.
The laughter of children drifted through the trees.
And for a brief, precious moment, the ghosts of the past stood still — and smiled.
The Mask He Never Takes Off
It began, innocently enough, with a sandwich.
Sakura handed it to Naruto. Naruto promptly dropped it. Sasuke snorted. Kakashi, as usual, read silently nearby.
Then Sakura whispered something to Naruto.
Naruto’s eyes widened.
“I bet he has buckteeth,” Sakura said. “Or maybe… a huge mole.”
“No way,” Naruto whispered back. “It’s gotta be something crazy. Like a mouthful of fangs.”
Sasuke muttered, “He’s probably just ugly.”
“I heard that,” Kakashi said without looking up.
Minato and Kushina watched from the training field wall as chaos unfolded.
Team 7 launched their mission.
Their goal? Unmask Kakashi.
They tried distraction jutsu, baited traps, even a smoke bomb.
Kakashi dodged all of it with lazy efficiency.
The moment Naruto pounced from above, Kakashi simply sidestepped and let him crash into a tree.
“He’s not even trying,” Minato chuckled.
“Neither are they,” Kushina smiled. “They’re trying everything but teamwork.”
Jiraiya cackled. “That’s my boy. Master of psychological warfare. He probably convinced them he wants to be caught just to mess with them.”
Eventually, Kakashi yawned and poofed away with a body flicker—leaving a note behind:
“Nice try. Let me know when you figure out teamwork.”
Sakura screamed.
Minato wiped away a tear from laughter. “He learned to troll them better than I ever did.”
The Matchmakers
Three days later, Team 7 met at Ichiraku under hushed secrecy.
Kakashi arrived late.
Naruto thumped the table dramatically. “Sensei, we need to talk about your romance life.”
Kakashi froze.
“I beg your pardon?” he said flatly.
“Reading pervy books doesn’t count,” Sakura added sternly.
Sasuke just sipped his tea and muttered, “You need a distraction.”
Naruto grinned. “We think you and Miss Yugao would be great! She’s serious. Mysterious. Kinda scary. You’d get along.”
Kakashi blinked. “This is a team meeting?”
“No, this is an intervention.”
Minato nearly fell off the roof laughing.
Kushina smacked his shoulder. “Shh, you’ll blow our cover!”
“This is revenge,” Jiraiya muttered, half amused, half offended. “All those years of teasing him about women, and now karma's returned through his genin.”
As they left the ramen shop, Naruto whispered to Sakura, “You know what? Teuchi’s daughter might be even better.”
Sakura blinked. “What?”
“Free ramen for life if they get married.”
Minato stared, horrified. “Did he just try to pimp his sensei out for noodles?”
Jiraiya howled with laughter. “The boy’s a genius.”
The Mirror named Sasuke
It was sparring day.
Kakashi stood across from Sasuke in the clearing. Naruto and Sakura sat on the sidelines with a blanket of snacks.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. “Don’t go easy on me.”
“I never do,” Kakashi said coolly.
Minato leaned forward. “He looks like he’s actually preparing.”
Sasuke lunged with a flurry of kicks and feints. Kakashi parried, casually, easily—but he didn’t counter.
He was letting Sasuke come to him.
And Sasuke hated it.
“He’s taunting him,” Kushina said, bemused.
“He’s training him,” Minato corrected, smiling. “Just like I used to do to him.”
Sasuke snarled, frustrated. “Are you even taking this seriously?”
Kakashi tilted his head. “Are you?”
That did it.
Sasuke launched Chidori—not fully formed, but close. Kakashi dodged at the last second and placed a gentle chop at the back of Sasuke’s neck, knocking him down without real harm.
“You’ve got power,” Kakashi said. “But you don’t listen. You’re trying to win, not learn.”
Sasuke gritted his teeth. “Tch.”
Kakashi’s visible eye softened slightly. “I used to be like you.”
Sasuke blinked.
“I thought strength alone made me right. That being the best meant being alone. It doesn’t.”
Minato inhaled sharply.
“That…” he murmured, “that wasn’t for Sasuke. That was for himself.”
Jiraiya crossed his arms, unusually serious. “Maybe he’s finally learning to say what he wished someone had told him.”
Kushina smiled, eyes damp. “He became a good teacher.”
Chapter 2: If at first you don't succeed
Chapter Text
Operation Unmask Sensei – Part 2
It was a sunny afternoon. Too peaceful. Too calm.
Which could only mean one thing: Team 7 was planning something ridiculous.
“Okay,” Sakura whispered behind a tree, notebook in hand. “This is Plan F.”
“Wasn’t that the honey trap?” Naruto asked.
“No, that was Plan D.”
“What was E?”
“Use Ino as bait.”
“…Oh yeah. That failed fast.”
Across the field, Kakashi leaned against a tree with his ever-present Icha Icha. His body was relaxed. Too relaxed.
Minato, Kushina, and Jiraiya crouched unseen on a nearby roof, watching intently.
“I still can’t believe he never shows his face,” Jiraiya muttered.
“I’ve only seen it when he was little,” Minato said. “He used to pout if his mask slipped down.”
“I never saw it,” Kushina whispered, eyes gleaming. “This is kind of exciting.”
“We are spying on your grown-up student with three children trying to remove his clothes,” Jiraiya said.
“Don’t make it weird,” Minato hissed.
Team 7 launched.
Sakura tossed smoke bombs. Naruto flung kunai in every direction. Sasuke, to his credit, tried to sneak from behind with near-perfect silent steps.
Kakashi moved once.
Poof.
A log took the kunai. Smoke dispersed. Sasuke landed in mud.
A squirrel chewed the bait ramen.
Kakashi, now perched atop the training post, flipped a page of his book. “You’ll have to try harder.”
Minato was grinning ear to ear. “He’s enjoying this.”
Kushina laughed. “That’s because he’s exactly like them.”
Jiraiya held up a spyglass. “Someday. Someday we’ll see the truth…”
It happened at the most unexpected time.
Kakashi thought he was alone.
It was evening, and he had just returned from a solo mission. His vest was off. His gloves tossed aside. He stood near the stream that cut through the woods east of the village, washing the blood from his hands.
Then—
He pulled the mask down.
Minato sucked in a breath. “Wait.”
Jiraiya nearly fell from the tree. “Is it happening?!”
Kushina squealed into her sleeve.
They watched, barely breathing.
There it was—his face.
Sharp jawline. Pale scars across his chin and down the right side of his neck. A faint shadow of stubble. Thin lips, slightly parted in a sigh. His nose was straight, his expression neutral—but there was something oddly soft about it in the fading light.
And those eyes.
Not the weary, guarded eye he always showed to others—but tired. Raw. Quietly human.
“...He’s handsome,” Kushina whispered.
“He’s too handsome,” Jiraiya said in horror. “That’s not fair.”
“He looks like Sakumo,” Minato murmured.
Kakashi sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. Then the mask came back up. In one fluid motion, he was the Copy Ninja again.
They didn’t say anything for a long time.
Until Jiraiya muttered, “So that’s what half the village has been fantasizing about.”
Minato elbowed him.
Matchmaking Mayhem – Part 2
“Let’s be honest,” Sakura said, slamming her notebook on the table at Ichiraku. “Sensei is a disaster.”
“I heard that,” Kakashi muttered from behind Icha Icha Tactics.
“You were meant to,” she snapped. “We’ve been your students for over a year and you still dodge every personal question.”
“Some would call that privacy.”
Naruto pointed his chopsticks at him. “Some would call that suspicious.”
“Or lonely,” Sakura added quietly.
Kakashi blinked once. Then resumed reading.
On the roof, Minato folded his arms. “This is becoming a full-blown conspiracy.”
“I approve,” Kushina said cheerfully. “They care about him.”
“They’re bullying him.”
“It’s what family does.”
Team 7 reconvened the next day in Sakura’s living room, mission charts and folders spread across the table like a tactical war room.
“Okay,” Sakura began. “Let’s face it—Sensei is objectively attractive.”
Naruto gagged. “Ugh. Gross. That’s like saying a scarecrow is hot.”
Sasuke, from the corner: “He has symmetry.”
Naruto blinked. “Wait… what?”
“I said what I said.”
Sakura ignored them. “He’s tall, mysterious, smart, well-respected, and probably looks amazing under that mask. That’s exactly the type Konoha kunoichi swoon over.”
“So what’s the problem?” Naruto asked.
“He’s emotionally unavailable,” Sasuke muttered.
“Also emotionally constipated,” Sakura added.
“Also, he reads porn in public,” Naruto pointed out.
“Which is why,” Sakura continued, undeterred, “we need outside input.”
She slapped down a list.
“Phase Two: Kunoichi Opinions.”
First stop: Shizune.
Sakura approached her with mock-casual grace. “Hey, hypothetically, would you consider dating someone like Kakashi-sensei?”
Shizune blinked. “Kakashi? He’s… intense. Quiet. But kind. Maybe. If he actually asked.”
Sakura grinned.
Second stop: Kurenai.
Naruto nudged her in the market. “Hey, would you ever date Kakashi-sensei?”
Kurenai laughed. “Oh no. That man is way too good at vanishing when emotional intimacy is involved.”
“...She knows him well,” Sasuke muttered.
Final stop: Tsunade.
Naruto, bold as ever, asked while she sipped sake.
Tsunade stared him down, then said flatly, “I don’t do emotionally stunted men with trauma complexes.”
Naruto scurried away.
Minato winced from afar. “That… tracks.”
Kushina snorted.
But as they regrouped, something unexpected happened.
Yugao walked past them in the mission hall.
She paused mid-step when she heard them muttering about Kakashi. “You’re… trying to set him up?”
Sakura perked. “You know him?”
Yugao shrugged, then after a beat, added, “He was my team captain in ANBU. He always brought me extra ration pills because I forgot to pack them. Said it was ‘standard protocol.’ It wasn’t.”
Naruto stared. “Wait a sec—do you like him?!”
Yugao flushed slightly. “He’s… not as cold as people think. Just guarded.”
Then she disappeared into the next room, face still faintly pink.
Team 7 exchanged looks.
“I think we just found our new target,” Sakura grinned.
They planned it meticulously.
An anonymous mission scroll delivered to each.
“Urgent intel drop. Rendezvous at the teahouse at 19:00. Civilian cover required.”
Kakashi showed up in a dark grey yukata, slightly crumpled but clean. He looked mildly suspicious.
Yugao arrived moments later, in a simple lilac kimono. She froze when she saw him.
“You too?”
Kakashi blinked. “I didn’t request backup.”
“I didn’t either.”
A beat passed.
Then realization dawned.
“…Team 7,” they both said in unison.
Kakashi sighed. Yugao laughed.
And then, to everyone’s surprise — they stayed.
Minato, Kushina, and Jiraiya sat outside on a nearby roof, watching the flickering teahouse lanterns through the window slats.
“He’s smiling,” Minato said softly. “Actually smiling.”
“And blushing,” Jiraiya added, delighted.
“He looks… young,” Kushina whispered. “For once, he doesn’t look like he’s carrying everyone on his back.”
Inside, Yugao sipped her tea and said quietly, “I used to think you were terrifying, you know.”
“I probably was,” Kakashi replied.
“I liked it,” she admitted. “And I think I liked you.”
He didn’t answer immediately.
But he reached over, took her hand, and said, “I think… I hoped you did.”
They didn’t tell anyone.
But Team 7 suspected.
Sakura noticed the faint smile Kakashi wore during missions. Naruto caught him staring off thoughtfully mid-battle. Sasuke once saw him leaving Yugao’s apartment — at dawn.
The Taste of His Own Medicine
The First Argument – Team Tactics, or Lack Thereof
It began with a rock.
Specifically, a rock thrown by Naruto at Sasuke’s head.
“Dobe!” Sasuke growled, dodging.
“Bastard!” Naruto barked back. “You’re always trying to act cool!”
“You’re always trying to act, period.”
Kakashi sighed from the sidelines, rubbing his temple. “We’re supposed to be practicing traps.”
“They are practicing,” Sakura muttered. “Just not together.”
Minato stood on a distant branch, arms crossed, watching the scene unfold.
“So,” Kushina drawled, “how does it feel?”
Minato tilted his head. “What?”
“To watch your golden boy suffer through the exact same dynamic you once complained about when Obito and Kakashi argued nonstop?”
Minato smiled faintly. “I’m... healing.”
Jiraiya clapped him on the back. “You earned this.”
Kakashi, meanwhile, remained perfectly still as Naruto and Sasuke descended into increasingly creative name-calling.
Eventually, he pulled out a scroll, unsealed Icha Icha, and perched on a log.
“Continue,” he said. “I’m timing you. Whoever runs out of insults first does a thousand push-ups.”
“Wait—what?!” both yelled at once.
“Also, Naruto,” Kakashi added, “next time, aim with your eyes open.”
The Second Argument – Mission Debriefing
In the mission hall, Sasuke crossed his arms.
“We would’ve finished faster if someone hadn’t tried to ride the wild boar.”
Naruto slammed the table. “I was distracting it! That’s a valid tactic!”
“It wasn’t part of the plan.”
“I am the plan!”
“You’re a hazard.”
“You’re a buzzkill!”
Kakashi sipped his tea.
“I need a sedative,” he muttered.
Minato, from the ceiling beams: “Now you know how I felt.”
Jiraiya whispered, “You could almost call it poetic justice.”
The Third Argument – The Great Kunai Debate
“Why are your kunai orange?” Sasuke asked, eyes twitching.
Naruto puffed out his chest. “Because they’re awesome.”
“They’re visible from space.”
“That’s the point!”
“I’m going to stab you with your own aesthetic choices.”
Kakashi simply stood there.
Dead silent.
Then turned slowly to the left.
Then to the right.
Then walked into a tree on purpose.
Minato burst out laughing from the forest canopy.
“He walked into a tree.”
“I have never been prouder,” Kushina said.
Minato’s Grave
Later that week, under a blanket of dusk, Kakashi stood in the cemetery.
Minato’s grave sat on the highest hill, shaded by an old pine tree.
Kakashi knelt.
For a long time, he said nothing.
Then he exhaled.
“…They’re driving me crazy, sensei.”
The wind rustled the pine needles above him.
“Naruto and Sasuke, I mean.”
A pause.
“…Okay. Mostly Naruto.”
Another pause.
“…Okay. Equally both.”
He folded his hands.
“They bicker all the time. They remind me of me and Obito. Except louder. And with more collateral damage. Yesterday they exploded a pond. A pond.”
He shook his head.
“I get it now, sensei. I really do. All those missions I spent arguing with Obito. All those times you sighed. I thought you were just being dramatic.”
He looked up at the stone.
“…You weren’t.”
Silence.
Then, softly: “I’m sorry. For making you the middleman. For not realizing how hard it must’ve been to lead two teenage disasters with trauma.”
A breeze brushed against him.
Kakashi smiled faintly.
“I think this is my karma. I hope you’re laughing, wherever you are.”
Minato, hidden in the shadows just behind the hilltop tree, closed his eyes.
And smiled.
Chapter 3: The trials of Girl Dad Kakashi
Chapter Text
The Perfume Incident
The day started like any other.
Until Sakura arrived smelling like she’d face-planted into a flower shop.
Naruto gagged audibly. Sasuke rolled his eyes and immediately took ten steps away. Birds dropped from the trees.
Kakashi blinked once. “Sakura.”
She smiled sweetly. “Yes, Sensei?”
“…You do know we’re training today, right? Not… going on a date.”
She blushed furiously. “I just thought it would be nice to—freshen up.”
Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose. “Sakura…”
He took a deep breath.
Minato leaned forward. “Oh no. He’s about to parent.”
Kushina grinned. “Let’s go.”
Kakashi knelt to her level, tone surprisingly gentle.
“Sakura,” he said. “You’re a kunoichi. In the field, if someone can smell you coming, they can kill you before you see them.”
Sakura blinked. “But I wasn’t trying to—”
“I know,” Kakashi said. “But out there, that scent becomes a trail. And in battle, wearing perfume is like shouting your location with confetti.”
Sakura’s shoulders slumped. “…Oh.”
Kakashi patted her head awkwardly. “Save it for your wedding.”
She turned beet red.
Naruto cackled. Sasuke muttered, “Tch. Idiot.”
Minato shook his head. “I do not miss this age.”
“Speak for yourself,” Jiraiya said, scribbling into a notebook. “This is gold.”
Kushina snatched it from his hands.
The Sex Ed Memo
It arrived in Kakashi’s mailbox folded in triplicate and stamped by the Hokage’s office:
MEMO: Genin-level instructors are required to provide a minimum 30-minute educational session on safe sex and interpersonal conduct by end of quarter. Sign and return to confirm compliance.
Kakashi stared at it for a long, long time.
Then he set it on fire.
He arrived late to training the next day. His visible eye was twitching.
Sakura perked up. “What’s today’s lesson, Sensei?”
Kakashi paused. Then held up a single index card.
“Today’s topic is: ‘Don’t.’”
Naruto blinked. “Don’t what?”
“All of it.”
Minato was doubled over. “He panicked!”
Kakashi handed each student a pamphlet from the medic-nin division.
“Read it. Ask questions. Not here. Not now. Not to me.”
Sakura blushed. Sasuke looked mildly insulted. Naruto, for once, looked terrified.
Kakashi added flatly, “If I catch any of you practicing without chakra suppression seals, I will personally assign you to clean the Hokage Monument with a toothbrush.”
Hormones
Later that week, Team 7 returned from a short mission in the Land of Tea. Sakura walked several paces behind, head down, arms crossed, radiating rage.
Kakashi turned mid-step. “Sakura?”
She snapped, “Don’t talk to me.”
Naruto whispered to Sasuke, “What did you do?”
“I existed, apparently.”
Kakashi approached cautiously. “Are you injured?”
She shook her head sharply.
He waited.
Then sighed. “Is it… hormones?”
She whipped around. “WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HORMONES?”
Naruto took cover. Sasuke immediately body-flickered into a tree.
Kakashi blinked, raised his hands, and simply said, “I’ll be over there if you need me.”
Minato was wheezing. “He sprinted away.”
“I’m not judging him,” Kushina laughed. “He’s a lone shinobi, not a school nurse.”
Jiraiya was still scribbling furiously. “This is going in my next book. The Puberty Chronicles.”
Bonus Scene: Shinobi Dad Therapy Hour
Kakashi found himself slumped beside Asuma on a bench near the mission desk. They both stared straight ahead.
“You ever have to talk to Ino about… you know?” Kakashi asked.
Asuma took a slow drag of his cigarette. “Nope. Delegated it to Kurenai.”
“…Smart.”
“I thought so.”
Pause.
“They argue all the time,” Kakashi muttered.
“So did we.”
“Sakura’s got perfume. Naruto’s screaming. Sasuke’s giving me flashbacks to my own attitude problems.”
Asuma chuckled. “They’re perfect, then.”
Kakashi sighed. “I’m dying.”
“You’re raising shinobi.”
“…Same thing.”
They sat in companionable silence.
Above, Minato watched quietly, heart warm.
“They’re… figuring it out,” he said softly.
“They’re all idiots,” Kushina grinned. “But they’re ours.”
Sakura’s crush on sense
It began innocently enough.
Sakura was watching Sasuke train—again—and growing increasingly annoyed.
He was brooding. Again. For the fifth day in a row.
“Why do I like you?” she muttered under her breath.
Then her gaze drifted.
To the other side of the field. Where Kakashi was leaning against a tree, eye lazily half-lidded behind his book, legs crossed.
Effortlessly cool.
Elegant. Mature.
Possibly single.
Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
Emotionally distant? Check.
Sarcastic? Check.
Sharingan? Check.
Sakura gasped.
“…Wait.”
Minato leaned forward from the tree canopy, concerned. “Why is she staring at him like that?”
Jiraiya peeked over. “Oh no.”
Kushina clapped a hand to her mouth. “Oh YES.”
The Symptoms Begin
It started subtly.
Sakura blushed when Kakashi praised her form during kunai drills.
Then she laughed—too loudly—at his deadpan one-liners.
Then she started showing up early.
With homemade bentos.
With cute chopstick sets.
With little notes tucked into the lid that said things like:
“Even a cold shinobi needs a warm meal ☺️”
Naruto choked on rice the first time he saw it.
Sasuke just walked away.
Kakashi blinked once, glanced at the bento, then slowly, silently body-flickered into the nearest tree.
Minato wheezed from the cliffside. “He FLED. He fled from lunch.”
The Escalation
A few days later, Yugao passed the training field on her way to a patrol assignment.
Sakura narrowed her eyes like a hawk tracking prey.
Yugao offered a friendly nod to Kakashi. He returned it politely.
Sakura dropped her training log.
Then glared.
Minato raised a brow. “Did… she just glare at a jonin operative?”
Kushina doubled over laughing. “SHE THINKS SHE HAS A CHANCE.”
Jiraiya was taking notes at lightning speed. “This is better than any chapter I’ve ever written.”
Later that week, Kakashi went to retrieve Icha Icha Tactics from his locker and found it filled with glitter, perfume, and a sticky note that said:
“This is not appropriate literature for young, impressionable minds. 😊 Sakura.”
Kakashi stared at it for a full minute.
Jiraiya howled. “She defiled the sacred text.”
The Peanut Gallery
Asuma found out first.
“Your student has a crush on you,” he said to Kakashi at lunch.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I saw her glare at Yugao like she was an enemy agent.”
“I said I don’t want to talk about it.”
“She’s been bragging to my students about how your chakra control is ‘so refined it practically sings.’”
Kakashi made a noise like a dying animal.
Kurenai joined in. “She told Hinata your left eye ‘glows like a cursed moon.’”
Genma walked by mid-bite into a dango stick. “Hey, heard your genin wants to fight Yugao for your honor.”
Kakashi buried his head in the table.
Asuma grinned. “This is karma for everything you did to Minato-sensei, isn’t it?”
From above, Minato folded his arms. “YES.”
Imaginary Kushina gives advice
That night, Kakashi sat alone on the Hokage Monument, staring at the stars.
“This isn’t happening,” he muttered.
A wind rustled nearby.
“Kid,” came a familiar, teasing voice from inside his head. “Suck it up. She’s thirteen. You’re a grown-ass shinobi. You’ve killed people twice your size with fewer nerves.”
“…You’re not real.”
“I carried a tailed beast in my belly and still managed to raise a whole child. You can have one awkward conversation.”
Kakashi closed his eyes. “This is the worst hallucination ever.”
“And if you dodge it, I’m haunting you.”
He sighed.
“…Fine.”
The Talk
The next day, Kakashi called Sakura aside after training. She beamed. Her cheeks were pink.
Kakashi squatted beside her, one eye crinkling.
“Sakura.”
“Yes, Sensei?”
“You’re very smart.”
She nodded, bashful.
“And brave.”
“Thank you—”
“And developing an affection for someone you admire is completely normal.”
She blinked.
“But,” he added, gently, “crushes are like explosive tags. Harmless from a distance. Dangerous when you try to carry them around.”
She turned beet red.
“I admire you too,” he said. “Not because of your bento. Or your glitter war on literature. But because you keep growing. And I need you to keep doing that.”
She was silent.
Then mumbled, “So you… don’t like me back?”
Kakashi reached out and gave her a gentle, carefully mentor-appropriate head pat.
“Not that way.”
A pause.
“But I will always have your back.”
Sakura looked down. Nodded. Her voice was soft. “I… think I still want to impress you.”
Kakashi smiled. “Then stop sabotaging my reading materials.”
From the treetops above, Minato, Kushina, and Jiraiya stood silently.
“He handled that better than I expected,” Minato whispered.
“He handled it exactly how I expected,” Kushina said proudly. “That’s our boy.”
Jiraiya sighed dramatically. “I’m still mourning my book.”
Chapter 4: Stories about my dad
Chapter Text
The Confrontation
Kakashi was cornered.
Literally.
Naruto had him backed into a training field wall, both palms planted against the stone beside his sensei’s shoulders like a cop drama interrogation.
“I knew it,” Naruto said. “I knew you were hiding stuff from me!”
Kakashi sighed. “Define ‘hiding.’”
“You were taught by the Fourth Hokage! You knew him. You knew my dad .”
A long pause.
“I may have… mentioned… that once,” Kakashi muttered.
Naruto pointed a finger an inch from Kakashi’s nose. “You’re gonna tell me everything , or I swear I’ll rasengan all your Icha Icha collection. All of them,
From the trees above, Minato watched with morbid fascination. “Oh no.”
Kushina elbowed him. “Oh YES. You deserve this.”
Kakashi sighed and folded his arms. “Fine. But I’m skipping the top-secret stuff.”
“Deal!”
“…Also, don’t repeat any of this.”
“Double deal!”
The Jutsu Naming Disaster
Kakashi leaned against a post and said dryly, “Did you know your dad had the worst jutsu naming skills in history?”
Naruto blinked. “What?”
“I’m serious. He once tried to name the Rasengan… Spiraling Chakra Orb of Destiny: Friendship Blooming Sky Rotation Technique. ”
Naruto froze.
Minato buried his face in his hands. “That was a placeholder name! ”
Kushina cackled. “It was twenty syllables, Minato!”
“ I was under pressure! ”
Jiraiya wiped a tear from laughing. “This is why I insisted he run names by me."
Naruto stared at Kakashi. “You’re kidding.”
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. “I am absolutely not. It would’ve been a genin punishment just to say it.”
Sunshine and Sadism
“Also,” Kakashi added, “he believed every training session should begin with positive affirmations.”
“…What?”
“‘Let’s greet the day with a smile!’” Kakashi mimicked, deadpan. “‘Now 500 kunai throws. While singing.’”
Minato groaned. “It builds morale!”
“It built resentment, ” Kakashi muttered. “He once tried to get us to wear matching wristbands. Said it was team unity.”
“ I designed those! ” Minato gasped.
“They were pink, Minato.”
Kushina snorted. “Oh my god. You tried to make ANBU wear matching accessories when you became Hokage.”
Minato buried his head in Jiraiya’s shoulder. “I wanted them to bond! ”
Ramen Ruins Lives
Kakashi stared off into the distance.
“I used to dream of Ichiraku’s being destroyed. Cratered. Vanished from the map.”
Naruto gasped in betrayal.
“Don’t look at me like that. Your dad made us go there three times a week. Every team dinner. Every. Team. Dinner.”
“…That’s amazing,” Naruto said reverently.
“No, it was madness. I can still taste the miso broth in my nightmares.”
Minato rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay, that one’s fair.”
The Hair Conspiracy
Kakashi waved vaguely. “And don’t get me started on the hair.”
“What about it?”
“Everyone thought it looked stupid.”
“They did not! ” Minato protested.
“They just didn’t say it. Because he was the Yellow Flash and they feared a kunai to their throat before they can even finish the insult.”
“…That’s just respectful leadership.”
“It looked like a sea urchin exploded.”
Kushina had fallen over laughing.
Even Jiraiya couldn’t argue. “He’s not wrong.”
The Page 32 Incident
Kakashi squinted at Naruto. “And your dad said he never read Icha Icha. ”
“…Okay?”
“Then how come he once quoted page 32 word for word when he was delirious after an ambush?”
Naruto’s jaw dropped.
Minato went red as a tomato.
Jiraiya howled. “YOU READ IT!”
“I READ IT TO UNDERSTAND YOU !”
“Awww!My cute little student reading my porn.”
The Regret
After Naruto left, bouncing off to brag to Shikamaru about his dad’s ramen obsession and terrible jutsu names, Kakashi stayed behind.
Alone.
Minato, invisible in the trees, didn’t move.
Kakashi knelt before the grave again.
He didn’t speak right away.
Then, softly: “He deserved better stories.”
A breeze passed.
“I spent so much time being angry,” Kakashi whispered. “About war. About orders. About Obito. About Rin.”
He looked down at his hands.
“And I took it out on you, too. I didn’t say it back. Not once.”
Minato’s heart clenched.
“You always told me how proud you were of me. And I just… brushed it off. I thought I didn’t need to hear it. But I did. And somehow you knew it.”
He bowed his head.
“I’m sorry I didn’t say it then,sensei. So I’m saying it now.”
A pause.
“You were the only one who ever wanted to stay. For me. Until you couldnt.”
”Thank you for being you.”
In the treetop, Minato wiped his eyes.
Kushina gently squeezed his hand.
Jiraiya said nothing, unusually still.
The stars shimmered above them.
And for a long time, no one said anything at all.
Chapter 5: The one when he became Hokage .... reluctantly
Chapter Text
Kakashi Hatake stared across the Hokage’s office at Tsunade, who smiled like a cat that had just seduced the canary into a pie. They were surrounded by stacks of scrolls, a freshly-brewed pot of tea, and a tension in the air that Kakashi couldn’t quite name—but instinctively distrusted.
“So, Kakashi,” Tsunade began lightly, pouring his cup for him, “what robe size are you again?”
Kakashi didn’t answer immediately. He stared at the steaming cup of tea as if it might explode.
“Still medium, I think,” he replied coolly. “Why?”
“Oh, no reason.” She took a sip, almost too casually. “Just doing some spring cleaning on personnel files.”
“It’s November.”
Shizune coughed violently from the corner, choking on her clipboard.
Unseen to the living eye, perched on the tiled rooftop just outside the office window, Minato Namikaze, Kushina Uzumaki, and Jiraiya watched the exchange with keen amusement. All ghostly forms, present not in body but in spirit.
Kushina (snorting): “She’s baiting him.”
Minato (fondly exasperated): “He’s going to see through it. He always was too sharp for his own good.”
Jiraiya (grinning): “Not sharp enough to dodge that hat forever.”
Over the next week, Kakashi became increasingly suspicious.
-
A courier dropped off a box labeled “Hokage ceremonial robes.” Kakashi sent it back with a note: wrong address.
-
Tsunade “accidentally” left the Hokage appointment scroll open on her desk during lunch.
-
Gai approached him with tears streaming, asking what color frame Kakashi wanted for his “Greatness Portrait.”
Kakashi, cornered in Ichiraku by Naruto and Shikamaru, calmly muttered:
“If they make me Hokage, I will approve one week of annual ramen shortage as punishment.”
Even more days later:
-
Kakashi deflects every question.
-
He “accidentally” misplaces forms.
-
He suggests that Naruto, Genma, or literally a potted plant would make a better candidate.
At one point, he’s caught whispering to Gai:
“If I run far enough, they can’t Hokage me. That’s the rule, right?”
Gai (sparkling): “Youthful evasion! A noble test of spirit!”
A grand village-wide festival was announced:
“KONOHA UNITY CELEBRATION – PEACE AND NEW BEGINNINGS”
Kakashi read the flyer. “Suspiciously vague.”
Kakashi arrives suspiciously dressed in his ANBU gear — just in case he needs to bolt.
Naruto: “Why are you dressed like you’re about to escape underground?”
Kakashi: “Because I am.”
He scans the crowd. Sees the decorated platform. The stage. The empty Hokage hat stand.
Kakashi (deadpan): “This feels personal.”
Tsunade takes the stage. Speaks briefly.
Then smiles with that terrifying "I'm retired in five seconds" expression.
“There’s one shinobi who stood tall after everything. Who embodies Konoha’s resilience. Whose leadership is calm, wise, reluctant—ideal, really.”
She turns, lifts the Hokage hat, spins on her heel, and—
YEETS THE HAT DIRECTLY AT KAKASHI’S FACE
Tsunade: “Tag. You’re it.”
She vanishes in a poof of chakra smoke before he can retaliate.
From above:
Minato (tearing up): “That’s my boy. That’s my boy.”
Kushina (wiping her eyes): “He’s gonna cry.”
Jiraiya: “He did cry. Inside. Look at his soul breaking in real time.”
Kakashi, standing on the stage in stunned silence, the hat now perfectly atop his silver head, mutters:
“I’m going to kill Tsunade.”
The crowd erupts into cheers.
Children throw confetti.
Gai poses heroically with streamers.
Naruto clapped louder than anyone, grin so wide it hurt.
Later that night, Kakashi stood alone in the Hokage office.
He stared at the desk.
At the stacks of paperwork.
At the fresh calligraphy that read “Sixth Hokage.”
He looked at the photo frame beside it — a gift from Naruto — containing a picture of Team 7, awkwardly posed but smiling.
He reached for it, thumb tracing their faces.
Then, softly:
“Minato-sensei... you really stuck me with your kid.”
Outside the window, the wind stirred.
In that silence, Kakashi smiled behind his mask.
“Alright. Let’s do this my way.”
The Hokage Tower was quiet.
Too quiet.
Minato peered through the window with growing dread. “He’s still alive in there, right?”
Kakashi was slouched behind a mountain of scrolls, his head resting on one hand, Icha Icha propped discreetly inside a mission ledger.
He hadn’t moved in twenty minutes.
A faint, tortured sigh escaped him.
Kushina squinted. “Is he… dying?”
“He’s doing paperwork,” Minato said solemnly. “He wishes he were dying.”
Inside, Kakashi scribbled something onto a budget request.
“Denied,” he muttered.
Another.
“Approved.”
A third. He stared.
“…Who put in a formal requisition for ‘Emergency Duck-Shaped Smoke Bombs’?”
Pause.
“…Genma.”
He sighed. Stamped “APPROVED.”
Jiraiya grinned from the rooftop. “He’s corrupted by power.”
Minato smiled faintly. “He’s efficient.”
“He’s insane,” Kushina added. “But I love it.”
Hokage School Visits
“You have to give a speech,” Iruka whispered.
Kakashi stared at the row of academy students watching him like he was a celebrity.
He cleared his throat.
“I was once like you,” he began. “Young. Bright-eyed. Idealistic.”
Pause.
“Then I became a ninja.”
Minato coughed hard from the ceiling beams.
Kushina covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.
One child raised a hand. “Lord Hokage, what’s your favorite part of being in charge?”
Kakashi blinked.
“…Mandatory silence.”
The kids stared.
Then giggled.
Kakashi sighed. “Fine. Here.”
He pulled out a scroll and poofed — a plush doll of Pakkun.
“Pakkun handles most of the decisions now.”
The children swarmed.
Kakashi was swallowed in a sea of sticky fingers and screeching voices.
Minato chuckled. “He’s never getting out of that alive.”
Jiraiya beamed. “He’s soft. Look at him.”
Kakashi stood perfectly still as three kids braided his hair.
He didn’t even try to stop them.
Chapter 6: It's my face, not yours
Chapter Text
In the Hokage office, Shikamaru stood with a scroll in one hand and a soul-crushed expression on his face.
Kakashi stared at him across a desk littered with budget forms and a half-eaten rice cracker.
“So let me get this straight,” Kakashi said.
Shikamaru sighed. “Yeah.”
“You want me to stand perfectly still—”
“Correct.”
“—for hours—”
“Probably.”
“—without my mask—”
“Mandatory.”
“—so a bunch of sweaty sculptors can chisel my nose into a cliff?”
Shikamaru stared at him. “Also your cheekbones. And ear symmetry. And jawline proportions.”
Kakashi’s eye twitched. “How is any of that necessary?”
“Lord Third’s ears were lopsided. They want reference images this time.”
From the window above, Minato grinned. “Ah, the sculptor trauma finally kicks in.”
Jiraiya snorted. “Took them three tries to fix sensei's ears.”
Kakashi leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “Denied.”
“You can’t deny your face. That's the village Hokage's face.”
Kakashi: “Watch me.”
Shikamaru pulled out another scroll. “Tsunade-sama already signed off. Sculpting starts next week. You have to give them a face.”
“…Can’t they just make it artistic?”
“This is a face, not Icha Icha: Clay Edition.”
“Harsh.”
Shikamaru pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look. Either you take off the mask, or we let Naruto draw it from memory.”
Kakashi paused.
Horrified.
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.
“Your call.”
Naruto burst into the Hokage Tower the next morning like a battering ram of chaos and energy.
“WE HAVE A PLAN!”
Kakashi didn’t look up from his paperwork. “Is it another duck bomb?”
“Nope.”
“Did you glue Gai to his office chair again?”
“…No comment.”
Sasuke and Sakura flanked him, looking equally suspicious and exhausted.
“We’re going to help you confront your fear, Sensei,” Sakura said brightly.
“You’re going to unmask me,” Kakashi said flatly.
Naruto beamed. “Exactly!”
From above, Minato muttered, “This feels familiar.”
Kushina leaned over. “It is familiar. They’ve evolved from genin idiots to professional idiots.”
Jiraiya nodded sagely. “Like true shinobi.”
"Technically, Naruto and Sasuke are still genins."
"Well, good luck to the next chuunin exams."
Team 7’s plan was deceptively complex.
Step 1: Invite Kakashi to a fake “security drill meeting.”
Step 2: Replace the meeting scroll with Icha Icha: Limited Edition.
Step 3: When Kakashi opened it, a genjutsu trap would flash a “show your true self” image and rip the mask off with wind jutsu.
They executed the plan with precision.
Kakashi opened the scroll.
Paused.
Turned to them.
“…Really?”
Naruto panicked. “NOW, SAKURA!”
Sakura released the genjutsu seal.
Sasuke flung the wind scroll.
There was a POOF.
Smoke everywhere.
When it cleared—
Kakashi stood completely untouched.
But every member of Team 7 was now wearing a replica of his mask.
Naruto blinked. “Wait. What just—?”
“You triggered a reflection seal,” Kakashi said mildly. “I upgraded it after the perfume incident.”
Sakura: “Of course you did.”
Sasuke: “Tch.”
Two days later, Kakashi sat on a scaffold near the Hokage Monument, arms crossed, mask still firmly in place.
Beside him, the lead sculptor adjusted his goggles.
“Just a peek, Lord Hokage?”
“No.”
“Maybe the lower half?”
“No.”
Naruto appeared behind them, grinning. “C’mon, Sensei. You already trolled us with the mask seal. What else do you have to lose?”
Kakashi tilted his head.
Then, in one swift motion, reached into his pocket and pulled out a sketch.
It was a crude, stick-figure level drawing of his own face.
With a mustache. And sunglasses.
“Use this,” he said.
The sculptor looked mildly ill.
That evening, as the sun dipped behind the mountains, Kakashi finally sighed, tugged the mask down just a bit — enough to show the bridge of his nose and his jawline — and said, “Three minutes. Don’t blink.”
The sculptor nearly cried from gratitude.
Naruto, of course, blinked.
Sakura fainted.
Sasuke pretended not to look but definitely looked.
From above, Minato watched his student with a smile. “He still hates attention.”
Kushina beamed. “But he let them see him.”
Kakashi collapsed face-first into the couch with the groan of a man carrying a thousand years of paperwork.
“Make it stop,” he muffled into the cushion.
Yugao walked by with a tea tray. “Another council meeting?”
“They debated for twenty-six minutes over the proper color of the Hokage robe lining.”
“What color is it now?”
“I don’t even know. I blacked out around minute eight.”
She set the tea down beside his head. “You’re very brave.”
“I’m suffering.”
“You’re the Hokage.”
“Against my will.”
He rolled over dramatically and threw his arm across his face.
“I just want one day. One peaceful, Icha Icha-filled, dog-walking, no-interruptions day.”
Yugao tilted her head. “So go take one.”
He cracked open his eye. “I walk ten feet outside, and suddenly I’m everyone's uncle, therapist, or fire evacuation coordinator.”
She smiled.
“Well… what if they didn’t recognize you?”
Pause.
Kakashi blinked. “What?”
Yugao sat beside him, casual. Innocent.
“No one’s really seen your face.”
Kakashi narrowed his eye. “You’ve seen it.”
“I earned it.”
He smirked, "Yeah, you did." Got a smack in the head.
He groaned again. “I hate how good your ideas are.”
The next morning, Konoha woke to a novel sight. That no one appreciated because no one knew enough to notice.
A silver-haired man with a pleasant face and no mask was calmly walking along the outer market district.
He wore a blue sweater. Civilian sandals. And was eating a sweet bun.
No one stopped him.
No one bowed.
No one threw a mission scroll at his head.
He was invisible.
Kakashi turned to Yugao, stunned. “It’s working.”
She took his hand. “I’m a genius.”
“You are.”
He bit into another bun. “You know, I never get to do this. Just… be. No expectations. No masks.”
“You know no one is forcing you to wear a mask, right?”
They wandered the streets — shared mochi, browsed a bookstore, even stopped to pet a corgi wearing tiny boots.
Kakashi was in paradise.
Yugao watched him fondly. “You’re smiling.”
“I might keep this face.”
“Again, absolutely no one put a kunai to your head and forced you to wear a mask."
From the rooftop above, Minato blinked. “Wait. That’s Kakashi. Isn’t it?”
Jiraiya squinted. “No mask. Clean face. Smiling. Laughing. Is this a genjutsu?”
Kushina stared. “That little traitor didn’t even introduce us to his girlfriend yet.”
That evening, just as the sun began to fade, Kakashi stood beneath the tall pine that shaded Minato and Kushina’s graves.
Yugao stood beside him quietly, her fingers laced with his.
There were no words at first.
Then Kakashi cleared his throat.
“I’ve been meaning to do this,” he murmured. “Should’ve done it earlier.”
He reached into his vest and pulled out a small box.
Yugao gasped. “Wait—”
“Not yet,” he said, smirking faintly. “First, introductions.”
He knelt between the graves.
“This is Yugao. She’s smarter than me. Calmer than me. Still laughs at my jokes. Keeps me human.”
He looked up at the names etched in stone.
“You would’ve liked her.”
He hesitated.
Then said, softer, “And she makes me feel like I’m not broken anymore.”
Yugao reached down and brushed his shoulder.
Kakashi smiled up at her.
“I’ll come back,” he whispered. “With her. With a ring. Maybe even a dog dressed in formal wear.”
He stood.
And bowed.
Not out of protocol.
But love.
From the canopy above, Minato’s chest ached.
Kushina’s eyes shimmered.
Jiraiya wiped his nose and muttered, “Someone better tell Gai. He’s going to cry for three days straight.”
Chapter 7: Stories about my mom
Chapter Text
Team Dinner (Whether You Like It or Not)
“You’re coming.”
That was the message, stapled to a shuriken, embedded in Kakashi’s doorframe.
In pink paper. Sakura’s handwriting. Decorated with glitter.
The words “no excuses” were underlined.
Six times.
That evening, Team 7 sat at a long table in a little izakaya downtown — Naruto already on his third skewer, Sasuke trying to ghost out the window, and Kakashi looking like he’d rather be ambushed by missing-nin than trapped in small talk with his former students.
Sakura was glowing.
“This is team bonding,” she said.
Naruto raised his glass. “To surviving Sensei’s training!”
Sasuke muttered, “Barely.”
Kakashi toasted his drink in the air. “To surviving you three.”
They clinked cups and laughed.
It was warm. It was familiar. It felt… right.
Hours later, one by one, they slipped away.
Sasuke vanished first.
Sakura waved goodbye and whispered, “You’re welcome,” to Naruto before heading out.
Kakashi stood to leave, but Naruto lingered.
“Hey, wait. Kaka-sensei?” he said, suddenly fidgeting.
Kakashi paused. “What is it?”
Naruto scratched the back of his neck. “Just—uh… favor.”
Kakashi raised a brow.
Naruto hesitated. Then looked up, eyes more earnest than Kakashi had ever seen.
“Can you tell me about my mom?”
They sat on the restaurant’s back porch, legs dangling off the edge, drinks forgotten beside them.
Kakashi smiled faintly.
“You sure you want to know?”
Naruto nodded. “I know who she was. I just… wanna know who she really was.”
Kakashi looked out at the stars.
“Alright,” he said. “But you asked for it.”
“She had the worst temper I’ve ever seen in my life.”
From above, Kushina immediately yelled, “RUDE.”
“I once saw her throw a clipboard hard enough to knock out a jōnin three ranks above her. He didn’t even say anything. I think he snoozed during a debrief?”
“Okay, that one was justified!” Kushina huffed, hands on hips. “That guy called me ‘Red Pepper’ during a funeral debrief.”
Minato winced. “He did deserve it.”
Jiraiya muttered, “He had a concussion for three weeks.”
“She only had one default mode,” Kakashi continued. “Loud.”
“IT’S CALLED PROJECTING,” Kushina shouted.
“She sneezed like she was challenging god to a duel.”
“GOOD LUNGS ARE A BLESSING, KAKASHI.”
Minato coughed into his hand. “You once startled ANBU from three blocks away.”
Kushina raised her chin. “Ninja ears are too sensitive. Not my fault.”
“She liked to think she could cook.”
“Oh no,” Kushina said darkly.
“She made us Team 7 bento boxes.”
Naruto lit up. “Really?”
“Really,” Kakashi said. “With enthusiasm. Excessive enthusiasm. Aggressive enthusiasm.”
“…Define ‘aggressive’?”
“She once put wasabi inside a strawberry onigiri.”
Naruto’s soul left his body for a moment.
“ONE TIME!” Kushina yelled down at the world. “ONE ACCIDENTAL FUSION DISASTER!”
Jiraiya: “You also made seaweed and cinnamon rolls.”
Kushina: “Cultural fusion is brave.”
“Minato-sensei used to bribe us.”
Minato froze. “Wait—”
“‘Pretend you love it,’ he said. ‘I’ll teach you that water jutsu you want.’”
Kushina turned, slowly.
“Kushina—”
“You bribed them?!”
“It was diplomatic! I was maintaining team morale!”
“You TRAITOR TO LOVE.”
“I was the worst actor,” Kakashi added. “But I really wanted that jutsu.”
Minato muttered, “You were ten. You sold your dignity for a basic D-rank.”
“It was a very cool water wall.”
Kakashi’s voice softened. The teasing fell away.
“But… she also gave the best hugs.”
Kushina paused.
“They weren’t those light little shoulder pats. She hugged you like she meant it. Like she was trying to wring the sadness out of you.”
Kushina whispered, “I was.”
“She’d grab you so tight your ribs complained.”
Naruto smiled, a little watery.
“She used to walk past my apartment all the time,” Kakashi added. “Said she was ‘walking the dogs.’”
Kushina crossed her arms stubbornly. “They needed exercise.”
“We didn’t own dogs, dear” - Minato
Naruto blinked. “Did she own dogs?”
“Pretty sure she didn't.”
Pause.
“…Wait. So whose dogs were they?”
“No idea. I’m think she just… borrowed them.”
Naruto stared.
“No one complained,” Kakashi said. “Because who’s going to confront Kushina Uzumaki and live?”
Jiraiya burst out laughing.
Kushina sniffled, but lifted her chin. “I was keeping an eye on you, idiot. Just… y’know. Stealthily.”
“She always knew when something was wrong,” Kakashi said quietly. “Even if you didn’t say a word.”
Naruto listened, frozen.
“She’d pester you. Feed you. Yell at you. But she wouldn’t let you go.”
Kushina wiped her nose and whispered, “You were my brat. Of course I didn’t.”
Kakashi’s voice dropped.
“She would be proud of you, Naruto.”
Naruto blinked hard.
“If she were here… I know she’d be proud.”
He looked up at the stars.
“She made sure the last thing she saw was your face.”
They looked down from their ghostly perch — at the boy she never got to hold, now a man with her fire and laughter — sitting cross-legged beside a silver-haired shinobi whose childhood pain had once carved into her heart like kunai.
“They became each other’s family,” she whispered. “Even though we weren't there to make sure of it.”
Minato smiled through the ache in his chest.
“And Kakashi remembered everything.”
Kakashi ruffled Naruto’s hair gently. “Don’t repeat any of that. I have a reputation.”
Naruto laughed through a sniffle. “Sure thing, Sensei.”
“Seriously. One word, and I make wasabi cupcakes.”
Naruto gagged.
From above, Kushina grinned, eyes watery. “Still got it."
Chapter 8: I am proud of you
Chapter Text
Hokage Tower — early evening. The light is golden, filtering through the blinds. Papers stacked. Missions signed. Tea lukewarm.
Kakashi, Sixth Hokage, sits behind his desk, slouched just a little, reading something dull but necessary. He sighs and rubs his temple.
That’s when the world shifts.
The hum of chakra, familiar and ancient, prickles against his skin — and then…
They appear.
Minato Namikaze.
Kushina Uzumaki.
Jiraiya of the Sannin.
They don’t flicker like ghosts. They don’t echo like memories. They are here.
Kakashi freezes, hand still hovering over his pen.
“…Am I hallucinating?”
“Nope,” Jiraiya says with a wink. “You’re just overdue for a little divine intervention.”
Kushina doesn’t wait. She barrels forward and hugs him.
Hard.
Kakashi doesn’t breathe.
“I’ve wanted to do this for so long, you little porcupine.”
“…Hi,” Kakashi says, stunned, muffled against her shoulder.
Minato gives a soft smile. “It’s been a while, Kakashi.”
Kakashi blinks hard. “You’re dead.”
“Temporarily unavailable,” Jiraiya corrects.
ANBU Years
They sit. Tea is poured. No one drinks it.
“You didn’t sleep,” Minato says simply.
Kakashi lowers his gaze.
“You didn’t stop. Not after us. Not after Rin. You went straight into ANBU.”
“I had nothing else,” Kakashi says. “I was good at killing. So they kept giving me people to kill.”
“And you took it,” Jiraiya says. “Every mission. Every fallout. You volunteered to be Danzo’s blunt instrument.”
“I didn’t know who else to be.”
Minato’s eyes are kind, but unyielding. “You were my student. You were more than that.”
Kakashi’s jaw clenches. “Not then.”
“You were,” Minato insists. “You just didn’t know it.”
Kushina gently says, “You broke the cycle, Kakashi. You didn’t become him.”
Him. Sakumo. Or Danzo. Or even Obito.
“I wanted to,” Kakashi admits quietly. “Some days.”
Sensei
“You were such a mess,” Jiraiya laughs. “They gave you kids and no instruction manual.”
“Team 7 was the worst,” Kakashi says fondly. “I love them, but they were the worst.”
“Sasuke was you,” Minato smiles.
“That was the problem.”
“Naruto was you, Kushina.”
“Exactly why you’re still alive is a miracle,” Kushina says, exasperated and proud. “Also — you read my baby porn in front of him?!”
Kakashi coughs. “They turned out fine.”
“You traumatized them into bonding.”
“They’re bonded, aren’t they?”
“…I hate that you’re technically right.”
Minato is quiet for a moment. “You raised them well. Even when you were grieving. You gave them what we couldn’t.”
“You gave him us,” Kushina says softly. “You made sure Naruto knew.”
Kakashi shrugs. “You don’t not feed your team.”
The Hokage
Jiraiya walks slowly to the window, looking over Konoha.
“You didn’t want this job.”
“No.”
“But you made it yours.”
“It got quiet,” Kakashi says. “No wars. No coups. No child soldiers.”
Minato looks proud. “You made peace.”
“I signed paperwork. Mostly treaties.”
“That’s peace.”
“And you brought the Hatake name back,” Jiraiya adds. “I heard what the dogs said.”
Kakashi blinks. “You… heard that?”
“I was a sage, brat. I still have good hearing.”
Kushina takes Kakashi’s hand.
“You never stopped protecting him.”
Kakashi doesn’t speak.
Minato steps forward and clasps Kakashi’s other shoulder.
“I should’ve said it more when I was alive, but I’ll say it now: I’m proud of you. For everything. For surviving. For growing. For making hard choices. And for staying kind underneath it all.”
“…I wasn’t always kind.”
“But you came back to it.”
Jiraiya adds, “You’ve carried so much that wasn’t yours. Now it’s time to let some of it go.”
The chakra hum begins again.
The golden light fades into violet dusk.
Kushina hugs Kakashi once more, and whispers, “Get married. Have brats. Read books that aren’t Jiraiya's.”
Kakashi grins. “No promises.”
Minato lingers at the doorway, and offers a final bow.
“You made me a legacy worth having, Kakashi. I am proud of you.”
Then they’re gone.
Kakashi stands alone in his office.
Then smiles to himself.
“…Took you long enough,” he murmurs.
He walks to the window, looks out at the village — his village — and breathes in the evening air.
There’s still work to do. But not tonight.
Tonight, the past forgave him.
Eve15 on Chapter 3 Wed 30 Jul 2025 02:05AM UTC
Comment Actions
Eve15 on Chapter 5 Wed 30 Jul 2025 02:33AM UTC
Comment Actions
Eve15 on Chapter 8 Fri 01 Aug 2025 02:37PM UTC
Comment Actions
inspiredbychemistry on Chapter 8 Thu 07 Aug 2025 10:18PM UTC
Comment Actions
The_Tales_of_Hoffmann on Chapter 8 Fri 08 Aug 2025 12:24AM UTC
Comment Actions
inspiredbychemistry on Chapter 8 Fri 08 Aug 2025 06:57AM UTC
Comment Actions