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Days 1-3
With the sunrise, comes wakefulness. Kakashi has long been accustomed to rising with the morning light, and so he gets up without much preamble, listening to the birds singing outside his window and appreciating the way the room brightens slowly, bringing him to his senses in that slow, un-rushed fashion he prefers. He showers, dresses, makes himself breakfast, then heads out to the training grounds for his morning practice.
Out on the training field, an array of target dummies in front of him, Kakashi breathes slowly and centers his chakra. He feels it. Feels its white-hot presence burn beneath his skin, feels it build, flare, concentrate.
He performs the hand-seals, then holds his right arm out to one side and lets his chakra accumulate there until it’s nearly exploding. He’s watched Minato-sensei do rasengan a million times by now, and in theory, it shouldn’t be that difficult to do with lightning chakra instead of wind, but the electricity is so hard to control—
He loses it a second later. Frustrated, Kakashi scowls, then does the seals again and, more impatiently, forces the chakra to behave.
This time, he’s got a good handle on it. He rushes forward towards the training dummies and slashes at one of them successfully, but the attack is so fast even when Kakashi isn’t trying to be. It’s hard to follow, nearly impossible to keep control of. He reins the chakra in, controlling it with an iron-fist, and manages to destroy three more training dummies before he loses control again.
He steps back with a sigh. It’s progress, he supposes.
He can’t remember the last time he’s struggled so much with a jutsu. Probably because he never has.
The sun is fully risen now, and with it comes Minato and Rin, finally making their way to the training grounds, Obito nowhere in sight. Of course. Why would that idiot ever actually be on time?
Kakashi acknowledges his teammates with a nod, then returns to his training. Just because he’s being evaluated for Jounin doesn’t mean he can slack off on his studies—there’s a war going on, and Kakashi will have to fight in it.
He readies chidori again. He can feel Minato-sensei watching him, and can definitely tell that Rin is worrying about him, but he ignores both in favor of pushing for mastery over his jutsu.
Obito shows up about a half-hour later, apologizing and explaining that he had to help a cat stuck in a tree. Kakashi rolls his eyes. Yeah, right.
“Well, now that we’re all here,” Minato claps his hands together. “We can get on with the lesson I had planned for today. I know you guys were probably looking forward to more combat training, but I figured we could try something new today. I want to teach you about fūinjutsu.”
Kakashi perks up, interested. Every time he’s asked Minato about learning the sealing arts in the past, his sensei has shrugged him off and told him he wasn’t ready for that yet. Is it finally time?
“Fūinjutsu? Like storage scrolls?” Obito asks, scratching his head.
“Yes, like storage scrolls, though fūinjutsu can be used for a lot more than that. Come here.” Minato sinks down to the grassy ground of the training field and gestures for them all to follow him. Rin is down first, followed by Obito, followed by Kakashi, who had to make sure his weapons were properly secured.
“The art of sealing is similar to our written language in that seals have their own strokes, characters, and format that must be followed in order to form a proper seal. Unlike normal language, though, the media is also important—ink, surface, stroke pattern, chakra release, they all impact the creation of a seal and how effective it will be.” Minato pulls out one of his hiraishin kunai and lays it in front of himself, then points to the writing written along the handle. “Let’s break down the language in this…”
Kakashi has made a decision: he loves sealing. He won’t say it aloud, certainly won’t act like it, but the art, the technicality, the versatility, it’s all exciting. He wants to drag Minato off into a sealing studio and force his sensei to teach him everything there is to know.
He doesn’t. If only because Obito and Rin would join them and ruin the experience.
Kakashi settles on subtly expressing his interest in learning more about the art. When Minato agrees, Kakashi nods, then gets up and leaves to go find lunch. Obito is too distracted with his pitiful attempts at flirting with Rin to notice.
Kakashi is called to the Hokage’s office that afternoon and promoted to Jounin. He’s not surprised or particularly delighted by the development—though he is excited to have the authority to boss Obito around—so he bows and gratefully accepts the patch that denotes his new rank.
He summons Pakkun and sends him off to tell Minato-sensei the news.
Kakashi has a few errands to run now that he’s been promoted, namely picking up his new Jounin-grade supplies. A fresh set of kunai, exploding tags, storage scrolls, and supplies to sew the patch to his uniform. It doesn’t take particularly long, but Kakashi does wish he could be training instead.
Minato finds him once he’s back in his apartment, putting away his things.
“Congrats on the promotion,” his sensei says, catching Kakashi by the jacket and pulling him in for a hug. Kakashi winces the entire way through it.
“Thanks.”
“I got you a gift!” Minato pulls out something covered in cloth from his vest and passes it over to Kakashi. He can immediately tell that it’s a weapon.
Unwrapping it, Kakashi finds one of Minato’s three-pronged kunai. It’s not the same one from their lesson earlier today, but it’s nearly identical in weight and markings. Kakashi can’t help but get a little giddy now that he knows what most of the markings mean.
“Maybe one day you’ll be able to use it for its intended purpose,” Minato says, then shrugs, “but until then, it’s still a plenty sharp weapon.”
Kakashi looks up at him, pieces of his hair slightly in the way. “Thank you.” Then, he tilts his head to the side. “Do you plan on teaching me hiraishin?”
“When you’re older,” Minato says with a nod, moving to lean against the small table in Kakashi’s apartment. “Since it’s such an advanced technique, I thought it would be best to let you learn everything else first, and then I’d teach you hiraishin. What do you say we start when you’re fifteen?”
Kakashi grimaces. “That’s ages away.”
“Well, you will need to spend years learning all of the theory behind sealing first…”
“Years for other people, maybe,” Kakashi huffs. “It will probably only take me a couple of months.”
Minato laughs, throwing his head back. “Fair enough. How about we start hiraishin whenever it is that you’ve mastered sealing?”
Kakashi resists the urge to roll his eyes and demand to be given all of the materials immediately, and instead just nods and accepts Minato’s terms.
“Perfect,” Minato says, then stands all the way up and wraps an arm around Kakashi’s shoulders. “Come on, dinner is on me. Our team is going to be assigned a mission tomorrow, so we better rest and eat while we can.”
Kakashi perks up. “A mission?”
“Yep.”
“An important one?”
“Very.”
Kakashi can’t hide his gleeful smile, but that’s what the mask is for. “Can’t wait.”
Minato doesn’t return his enthusiasm.
The next morning, Kakashi receives word of his team’s mission and meeting spot. He makes it there early and waits patiently. Minato gets there next, only a few minutes after Kakashi, who has taken to sharpening his kunai in preparation.
“You’re running point on this mission,” Minato informs him.
Kakashi nods, prideful. Of course he’s running the mission; he’s a Jounin now.
When Rin arrives, she gives Kakashi a medkit as a gift for his Jounin promotion. He thanks her and silently thanks her again for giving him something useful and not stupid.
If Obito gets him anything, it will undoubtedly be stupid.
Then again, that assumes Obito will remember to get him anything—unlikely—or will even show up on time. Even more unlikely. Kakashi rolls his eyes.
How anyone can be as useless as Uchiha Obito is truly beyond Kakashi’s comprehension.
Some twenty minutes pass before Obito reaches them, rushing through the trees, tripping over a vine, and falling face first into the ground, coming to an unceremonious rolling stop in front of him. “Did I make it?” Obito asks.
Kakashi crosses his arms. “No. You’re late.” By fifteen minutes, nonetheless. How did this idiot expect to get anywhere as a shinobi if he couldn’t even follow basic time-keeping skills, much less the actual, important rules? He leans over Obito, condescending. “What time did you think we were supposed to meet?”
Obito groans. “I was on the way! But I had to help an old lady who had too much luggage cross the street!”
And that took you fifteen minutes? What a joke.
“And something was in my eye,” Obito continues, rubbing at his face with the back of his hand.
Kakashi scoffs. “So, you’re lying.”
Minato cuts in. “That’s enough, Kakashi. Obito was being helpful.”
“I even carried her bags all the way home for her!”
Unbelievable. “You’re being too lenient, Sensei,” Kakashi says, berating. Obito tilts his head back to drop eyedrops into his eye as Kakashi continues on. “There’s no way that a person in need appears every time he has some place to be. This is a matter of him not caring about the rules. You should remember that those who break the rules are regarded as scum.” He kicks at the dirt disdainfully.
“Do you even have a shred of kindness in your heart?!” Obito asks him. “All you ever talk about is the rules. What really matters is discipline!”
“Of which you have none,” Kakashi counters, still glaring down at the other. It is impressive, actually, the lack of self-awareness the Uchiha has. Discipline? Really? Kakashi is the one with discipline here, not Obito.
“Bakashi!” Obito stands to his feet, hands balled into fists.
“Okay, that’s enough you two,” Rin cuts in, smiling placatingly. “We’re all on the same team.”
Kakashi would literally rather be on any other team. Minato-sensei and Rin were fine, but Obito? A total pain. A useless moron. Weren’t the Uchiha supposed to be a respectable clan?
“Obito!” Rin cuts in, looking at Obito expectantly. “Do you remember what we talked about the other day? You know, getting Kakashi a promotion gift?”
Obito’s face goes red and he averts his eyes. “Sorry… I… forgot.”
“You didn’t get him anything?” Rin’s tone turns sour, disappointment clear in her voice as her brows furrow.
“No.” Obito doesn’t even look that upset about it, more outraged than anything.
Kakashi is actually relieved. “I don’t mind,” he assures, mostly aiming the statement towards Rin to placate her. “It wouldn’t have been anything worthwhile anyway. Getting something useless would’ve just gotten in my way. Let’s get going.” He turns in the direction of where their mission lies, beginning to take off at a decent pace, knowing they have a long way to go to reach Kannabi Bridge.
“You’re so annoying,” Obito bites out as he and the rest of the team follow Kakashi. “I can’t believe they made someone like you a Jounin.”
“I can’t believe they let someone like you be a Chuunin.”
“Hey!” Obito points aggressively at him, which Kakashi resolutely ignores in his march towards their destination. “I am Uchiha Obito of the Uchiha clan! I’ll be even better than you when my sharingan awakens!”
“It’s ridiculous that you’re relying on awakening your dōjutsu. Isn’t everyone in the Uchiha clan elite? You should be better than this already.”
“Wha—?!”
“Sages, stop it you two!” Rin shouts at them. “Can you save your arguing for when the mission is over?”
Kakashi rolls his eyes but keeps his mouth shut. Obito does the opposite, gesturing at Kakashi wildly. “He’s the one who started it!”
“I don’t care,” Rin says. “You’re both so childish.”
Kakashi recoils. Him? Childish? He hasn’t been a child since tou-san—since he found—since he decided that the rules are the only things that matter.
“Let’s go over the mission details,” Minato says quickly, interrupting before either Kakashi or Obito can retaliate against the comment. “We’ll be splitting into two groups. I’ll be separating from the three of you and taking to the front lines, while Kakashi will be leading the main squad in destroying the bridge.”
“You’re taking the front lines?” Obito asks. “By yourself?”
Minato hums. “Yes. I’ll be a diversion. There’s no shortage of enemies in either location, but I’ll be able to keep the majority of them off of your backs so you can focus on your infiltration. Remember: Kakashi is your Captain for this mission, not me. I’m travelling with you to the border, but we’ll be separating after that, after which point, it’s Kakashi’s word that’s law. I need you three to work together on this mission. This is too important to fail.”
“Got it, Sensei!”
They’ve just crossed the border when they run into a group of thirty attackers. Kakashi ignores Minato’s suggestion that he stay back and jumps into the fight, igniting chidori in his palm and reminding Minato that this is his mission. He’s in charge, not anyone else.
He tears through eighteen of them in a matter of minutes and leaps for the nineteenth, chidori shrieking as it slices towards the enemy, but he misjudges the distance. The enemy’s blade cuts his shoulder and is about to go deeper when Minato appears and teleports him out of danger.
Kakashi whirls on his sensei. “What did you do that for?! I almost had him!” It’s not even an overestimation of his own skills; Kakashi would’ve done far more damage with his chidori aimed at the man’s stomach than the nin would’ve done with his pathetic sword. It wasn’t even a fatal hit. Weakling. Shinobi always go for the kill.
“That was reckless!” Minato shouts at him. He gestures Rin forward. “Heal him, please. I’ll finish up this fight.”
Rin approaches Kakashi, already beginning a healing jutsu, which he allows as Minato disappears to handle the dwindling opponents. Kakashi winces beneath his mask, but refuses to make a sound as his wound stitches itself back together under Rin’s touch.
Minato returns to them when Rin is almost done. “Kakashi’s injury is serious, we’ll retreat and regroup for now.”
“I’m fine!” Kakashi insists.
“No, you’re not,” Obito counters. “You completely ignored Sensei’s warnings and charged ahead all on your own!”
“Oh yeah, and what were you doing, Uchiha? Whining in fear? At least I got something done.”
“I had dust in my eye!”
“Of course, dust. You know, the shinobi code of conduct—“
“That’s enough, both of you,” Minato snaps. “Kakashi, we’ve had this conversation before. The rules are important, but they’re not everything. There are times when you must improvise or ignore the rules to get the best outcome.”
“There! You see!”
“Obito,” Minato cuts into the boy’s exclamation. “You’re at fault too. You’re wearing goggles, there’s no way dust could have gotten into your eye. If you’re going to preach about discipline and strength, you have to actually act strong too. Got it?”
Obito makes a face like he might start crying. It’s a good look on him. Humility, that is.
“Yes, sensei,” Obito says through quivering lips.
Minato turns to Kakashi. “Also, Kakashi, you shouldn’t use that jutsu anymore.”
“What?!” Kakashi hisses out. He pulls away from Rin’s touch—she was pretty much done anyway—to face his sensei head on.
“Your attack obviously has power and speed, but it makes you too fast. You got injured back there because you couldn’t anticipate your opponent’s counterattack. It’s an imperfect jutsu. Continue to use it, and you’ll put your life in danger.”
Kakashi feels his eyes widen and his heartbeat quicken, a sickening sense of inadequacy and failure settling deep in his gut. He tries to shove it down and ignore it, but he can’t quite manage it. You can’t fail. You can’t be like him.
“Teamwork is the most important aspect of being a shinobi. If you three can’t figure that out, then you have no business being on this mission.”
Kakashi swallows. He grabs the memory of his father and stuffs it deep into the recesses of his mind, refusing to think of him for even a moment longer. He’ll just have to work on the jutsu, that’s all, figure out some work-around for the speed issue—
“Yes, sensei,” Rin and Obito say. Kakashi gulps and nods along with them, unable to find his voice underneath the many layers of emotionlessness he’s buried himself in.
Minato separates from them the next morning to head towards the front, wishing them luck. Kakashi takes his team and heads further towards the bridge their mission lies at, but only halfway there, they run into a trap.
It all happens too fast.
One moment, Kakashi is fighting an enemy, their blades clashing as he chases the older nin up into the treetops, intentionally getting them further away from his more vulnerable teammates. Obito is fighting, fire coating the forest in a whirlwind. Even Rin is engaged with an enemy—
The next, Rin is grabbed. Every opponent disappears in a puff of smoke.
Kakashi touches back on the ground. He watches Obito rage. “They took her! Kakashi, we have to go after her!”
Kakashi considers it for a moment before shaking his head. Going after her is against regulations, it’s exactly the mistake tou-san made, it’s the exact sort of scenario that will lead to failure. “We can’t.”
“What?!”
“The two of us must continue this mission.” It’s the rules. Kakashi doesn’t like it, and he thinks Minato probably wouldn’t either, but it doesn’t matter. Kakashi knows what happens when a shinobi the village is relying on prioritizes their friends over the mission.
“What about Rin?!” Obito gets up close to his face, hatred brimming in every ounce of his features.
“Rin comes later,” Kakashi assures. “The enemy wants to use her for information, so they won’t kill her right away. Also, she’s a medic nin, so they’ll keep her as a prisoner of war and treat her well so she can heal the wounded on their side. She’ll be fine. The problem only lies in the enemy figuring out our strategy. If they learn that information, they’ll increase security on the bridge, and our mission will be impossible.”
Obito shakes with rage. “You’re assuming her safety on baseless assumptions!”
“I’m basing my assumptions on logic.”
“What if those assholes don’t care about logic? What if they’re just lackeys who could care less about whether it’s smarter to keep her alive or not? We have to go back for her! Right now, saving Rin takes priority.”
Kakashi can’t even look at him. He’s too busy looking at the ground, seeing blood pooling over tatami, his nose assaulted by the sickeningly sweet scent of death, his ears ringing as all noise fades away, replaced only by the pounding of his heart.
“A ninja must sacrifice a comrade in order to carry out a mission,” he says hoarsely. He believes it. He does. “That’s the rule. We can’t fail this mission. If we do, the war will go on and more lives will be lost, more than just hers.”
“You don’t know that!” Obito’s hands are balled into fists, swinging like they might be aimed for Kakashi’s face soon. “Everything you’re saying is just assumptions! Rin has been through life and death with us, she’s saved your life more times than I can count, and you’re okay with just leaving her behind?!”
“She was doing her job.”
Obito’s fist actually flies this time, hitting Kakashi square in the jaw and Kakashi’s so shocked by the force of the hit that he doesn’t even roll to catch his fall, hitting the ground hard.
“I hate you!” Obito yells. Kakashi sits up, rubbing at his jaw.
“I don’t care,” Kakashi counters. Plenty of people hate him. He’s used to it. “I’m the Captain of this mission. You will obey my order.”
Obito stomps up to him and grabs him by the cross of his weapons straps, hauling him up to his feet with surprising strength. “If you’re so strong, Captain, why won’t you try to save Rin? You’re strong enough to do this mission, so you’re strong enough to save your comrades too, right?”
Kakashi keeps his tone carefully even. He refuses to let his mind wander anywhere deeper than the surface. They’re wasting time with this pointless argument. “If you give into emotions, even for a moment, and you fail your mission as a result, you will regret it later. That is why shinobi are forbidden from expressing emotion while on assignment. You know that.”
“Forget the rules! This is our friend we’re talking about!”
“Fine.” Kakashi glares at Obito and briefly entertains the idea. “My opinion hasn’t changed. I told you yesterday, useless things only get in the way. Emotions are useless.”
Obito’s trembles rattle all the way through to Kakashi from where they’re connected by Obito’s grip on the strap of Kakashi’s uniform. “Are you serious?”
Kakashi only continues to stare.
“You seriously believe that?!”
Kakashi nods. He does. He has too. Giving in to emotions, letting himself dwell on the past for even one second, to think about how much he misses his father—
The weight of his father’s blade on his back is suddenly heavier than it’s ever been.
“I do.”
Obito’s eyes go wide and he shoves Kakashi away from himself. “Forget it. You’re impossible. An emotionless prick like you could never understand. I’m rescuing Rin. Have fun with your mission.” Obito stalks away from him with long, angry strides that take him as far away from Kakashi as fast as possible.
“You don’t understand,” Kakashi mutters. His hands clench. The smell won’t go away.
Obito stops. “I believe the White Fang was a true hero.”
Kakashi’s spiraling thoughts come to a complete halt. He stares at Obito’s back with wide, shocked eyes. No one—no one has ever called tou-san a hero before. Not since… not since before.
“Maybe it’s true that those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum!” Obito turns to him with a harsh glare, determination set in every line of his features. “If I’m going to be trash one way or another, then I’m picking the option I know is right.”
He turns back around and marches away. Kakashi watches him go, feeling as though his whole world has been turned on its head.
Kakashi makes it about ten steps in the direction of the bridge before he stops. He tilts his head up to the sky and groans.
He’s going to regret this.
I was right, Kakashi thinks bitterly as he clutches at his eye, He should’ve let Obito die. Or, at the least, let him get stabbed instead of jumping in front of it.
“Kakashi! Are you alright?!” Obito grabs him by the shoulders and pulls him up into a seated position, resting against Obito’s lap. Blood pours around his fingers, dripping down his hand and staining the fabric of his uniform.
“I’m fine. Could you focus?” Kakashi hisses out through his teeth. He managed to push the enemy off for a moment, but they don’t have long before he comes back. The nin abandoned the kunai he’d used to slash Kakashi’s eye, meaning there is no way to track him by scent now. That damn camouflage jutsu. “Are you crying?”
Obito reaches up and removes his goggles, wiping the tears away from his eyes. “Sorry.”
“Ninja shouldn’t cry,” Kakashi berates. He pulls his hand from his eye just to make a point. “I’m not dead.”
“Yeah—“
“Obito!” Kakashi interrupts the second he notices the footsteps imprinting the moss of the trees. Obito whips around in a split-second, his blade extended, and Kakashi hears the moment it pierces skin.
The shinobi falls dead.
When Obito faces him again, his eyes are bright red, two tomoe visible in the sea of crimson.
They find Rin being held hostage in a cave, surrounded by several enemy shinobi. She’s caught under a genjutsu that has rendered her motionless. He and Obito engage, the two of them working together in a way they never have before, fighting through opponent after opponent in their efforts to reach their friend. Kakashi leaps over one guy, slashing his father’s tanto along the man’s neck as he goes, and then rushes towards Rin now that the path is clear. Obito is hot on his heels.
“Kai,” he says, breaking her out of the genjutsu. She blinks to awareness, looking around and finding Kakashi and Obito leaning over her, several enemy shinobi still surrounding them. Her gaze studies Kakashi’s features, namely, the wraps covering the entire left-half of his face.
Kakashi pulls a kunai from his pocket and starts to cut Rin’s bindings while Obito smiles at the girl. “We’ve come to save you!”
“Your eyes,” she says distantly. It’s not clear whether she’s talking about Kakashi’s lost one or Obito’s developed sharingan. Not that it matters. They’re out of time.
Just as Kakashi finishes slicing through the last of the ropes, one of the Earth nin finishes a jutsu. The ground begins to shake violently and the ceiling of the cave cracks.
“We have to go!” Kakashi yells, hauling Rin to her feet and pushing her in front of him. The three of them take off, running as fast as they can for the exit as the cave collapses around them. Rocks rain down from the sky. Kakashi feels unsteady as he runs, his depth-perception out of wack with only one remaining eye—
A rock hits him in the head. He blacks out.
When he comes to, it’s eerily quiet. He groans and tries to rise, but when he does, everything spins. He gives up, face flopping uselessly back into the dirt.
“Rin… Kakashi… are you alright?”
The sound of Obito’s voice, broken and weak as it is, stirs Kakashi into further action. He grits his teeth through the pain and ignores the way the whole world spins, pulling himself up into a seated position and looking around to ascertain the situation. Rin is next to him, similarly struggling to get up, and Obito…
He finds Obito half-crushed beneath a massive boulder. There’s blood everywhere. Kakashi’s heart leaps into his throat, and before he knows it, he’s by Obito’s side, trying fruitlessly to push the boulder off of his friend.
It doesn’t so much as budge. Even when Kakashi pours chakra into the movement, the boulder doesn’t move, and it feels as though the tremor of Kakashi’s overworked limbs is the only motion in the entire cave.
“It’s okay, Kakashi.”
“It’s not.” He pushes harder, flooding his arms and legs with chakra, trying to remember his father’s teachings about how chakra must be manipulated to move something so heavy.
“I don’t think I can make it,” Obito chokes out as blood seeps from the corner of his mouth. “I can’t feel my right side at all.”
The admission is Kakashi’s breaking point. He strikes the boulder with heavy fists, cracking the rock but doing nothing else. “Dammit!” He cries out. He can’t do this again. He can’t lose someone else, he can’t have yet another body at his feet, he can’t.
He can’t.
Rin is crying behind him. Kakashi curses the situation further, asking the gods why?
The only answer he gets is Obito coughing up more blood. He’s got minutes, if not seconds, and Kakashi can’t look at him. He falls to his knees and beats uselessly at the ground, tears falling from his remaining eye as he laments his mistakes. He shouldn’t have hesitated to save Rin, he should have listened to Obito in the first place, he should have been a better teammate and a better Captain. If he had, none of this would have happened.
“I forgot…” Obito says, his voice even weaker than before. “I never did give you a gift. I’ve been wondering what I should get you… and I just had a thought,” he coughs again and Kakashi’s gaze snaps up to him. He’s so pale. He looks cold, like maybe all he needs is a warm blanket and a cup of tea. “Don’t worry,” Obito laughs a little, “it’s not useless. I want… I want to give you… my… sharingan.”
“Obito?” Rin whispers.
Obito forces a weak smile. “You’re a great Jounin, Kakashi. And Rin…” he wheezes, harsh, grating. “You’re the best medical ninja I’ve ever met. Kakashi, I know you deserve it… and I know Rin can do the surgery… so please… accept it.”
Rin recovers from her shock first, stepping forward and pulling out her medkit. “We don’t have much time. I can start it right now.”
Kakashi isn’t ready for that. Surely there’s something else they can do, some way to save him, some way to fix this cursed mission. Kakashi would rather go back in time than go through with this stupid idea.
“Kakashi… I don’t have much time. Please… let me become your eye… and see the future… with you…”
Kakashi heart pounds in his chest. He can feel the weight of the white chakra blade on his back. It’s… it’s the only option. He can’t change the past. He can’t stop this from happening.
“Okay.”
Kakashi engages with the enemies again. There’s even more of them than before, but he doesn’t so much as hesitate, pulling his father’s blade out and opening Obito’s eye. The world is so crisp. He can see the movement of each shinobi’s chakra like ripples in a pool of water, and the clarity of it all feels unnatural.
He hates it.
He doesn’t dare close the eye.
As he rushes forward to meet the nin who collapsed the cave on them, he isn’t thinking about the fight. He’s thinking about his mistakes, his failures, how Obito deserved better, how Rin deserves better, how he’s a horrible teammate and how Minato-sensei will be disappointed in him.
His father would be disappointed in him.
The slashes downwards and the white chakra blade breaks on contact with the shinobi’s arm guard. The metal rings, reverberating through the air and Kakashi’s chest like a death knell. He pivots in mid-air and lands, rotating, and lighting up chidori to go in for a second hit before his opponent can recover.
It’s a perfect jutsu now, thanks to Obito.
His hand slams through the shinobi’s chest. Kakashi yanks his arm out and the body collapses to the ground. Kakashi heaves in laboured breaths.
There are more enemies waiting for him, hanging back, gauging his strength now that their friend is dead. Kakashi accepts the opportunity for what it is. He can’t win against that many opponents, not in the state he’s in, and he still needs to go back for Rin.
When he does, he finds the two of them holding hands.
“Kakashi… promise me… you’ll take care of Rin.”
Rin’s grip tightens.
“I promise,” he says. He reaches a hand out so he can help pull Rin out of the debris. “Come on, Rin.”
He feels the activation of chakra behind him, another jutsu, the earth beginning to shake again. “Rin!” He demands, louder this time.
She takes one last look at Obito and whispers a goodbye, then takes Kakashi’s hand. She screams Obito’s name as the ground collapses further on top of him, and Kakashi pulls her close and drags her away, his own screams caught in his throat as they retreat.
He has to fight. He has to protect Rin. He has to live, so that Obito can see the future.
He doesn’t want to. He wants this day, this cursed mission to end. He wants a redo. He wants a million things he can’t have.
He ignites chidori again.
“Wow,” one of the enemies says in a mocking tone. “You still have the will to fight? Even in this hopeless situation? You’re quite the determined one.”
With his other hand, Kakashi pulls out the blade Minato-sensei gave him and prepares himself to lunge, muscles tightening. His shoulder still hurts, as does his eye. He’s so tired. “Rin. You need to run.”
“Kakashi—“
“Please. I promised I’d look after you, and right now, I need you to run.”
She nods shakily, and climbs to her feet, turning tail. Kakashi finally springs, like a predator just waiting to pounce, lightning piercing through heart after heart.
All he can think is this: Tou-san never failed his friends. He might’ve failed his mission, but he never lost a comrade. What a joke I am.
All he can think is: I don’t deserve Obito’s gift, I’m scum, I abandoned Rin. Obito should be seeing the future on his own accord, not mine.
He blacks out sometime during the fight. The last thing he sees is a familiar shock of yellow hair, and the last he hears is the strike of metal on metal, like a bell tolling. Must be Minato fighting, kunai against kunai.
When he comes to again, Minato is smiling down at him. His sensei fills him in on what he missed—his return right after Kakashi blacked out, the defeat of the remaining enemies, and their further advance to Kannabi Bridge’s location.
They destroy the bridge. Rin cries. Obito is gone. Kakashi feels nothing but unending, all-consuming guilt.
They go straight back to Konoha that night, reaching the village right as the sun begins to lighten the horizon. Kakashi stumbles into his apartment, strips himself of his gear, and doesn’t even bother to shower before collapsing into his bed.
He’s out before he can even think to cry.
Repetition 1
Kakashi wakes up in his bed to the singing of birds outside his window and the early morning sun rising steadily over the horizon. He stays in bed, staring up at the ceiling with his left eye closed.
Obito is dead.
The thought hurts more than he cares to admit, cares to think about. His teammate is dead and it’s Kakashi’s fault. What sort of team leader lets their team die? Even if the rules say…
He shakes the thought off. He needs to get up. If there’s one thing he learned from his father’s death, it’s that time doesn’t stop moving just because he wants it to. Obito isn’t coming back. He needs to get it together. The Uchiha will undoubtedly want this sharingan back, and it was Obito’s dying wish that Kakashi take it, which means it’s his responsibility to keep it safe.
He slings his legs over the side of the bed. Takes a breath. Feels the grief settle heavily in his chest. He pushes it away and himself off the bed, heading for the bathroom to shower, hoping the water will help him reset his head.
When he steps into the bathroom, he catches his reflection in the mirror and—
There’s no scar.
He steps closer to the mirror, hesitantly opening his left eye…
The sharingan isn’t there.
Kakashi stares.
Was it a dream? Did he hallucinate the Kannabi Bridge mission? Is everything fine and Kakashi’s going crazy?
He grips the sides of the sink with white-knuckled hands and struggles to rein himself in, his mind flying through a million possible explanations for what’s happening. He repeats kai more times than strictly necessary, stabs himself in the arm with a knife, hyperventilates on the floor, bandages his arm up, and nearly pokes his own eye out while trying to figure out if it is really his own and not Obito’s.
The conclusion he comes to at the end is that it must’ve been a dream. A really, really realistic dream. He’s not under a genjutsu, and he certainly has his own eye in his face right now, which only leaves the remaining option of… the last few days never happened at all.
It should be relieving.
It’s not.
Kakashi skips the shower. Instead, he gets dressed on shaky legs and eats a minimal breakfast, reaching the training fields a whole hour later than he’d usually arrive. The sun has risen fully and Minato and Rin are already at the field, clearly looking for him, if the way they keep glancing around is any indication.
Rin catches sight of him first. She lights up. “Kakashi! There you are! We were worried about you.”
“Why?” Kakashi asks bluntly.
Rin and Minato glance at each other. “Because… you’re late?”
Kakashi looks around, sees Obito nowhere in sight, and says, “No, I’m not.”
“Well, I guess not,” Minato says, eyeing Kakashi like there’s something deeply wrong with him, “but you’re always at the training grounds for at least an hour before the rest of us. Are you okay?”
Aside from feeling like he’s lost his mind? “I’m fine.”
Neither Minato or Rin look convinced. Kakashi turns away from them. “I’m going to practice now.”
He leaves them behind in favor of beginning to jog around the field, warming up his body before starting his proper training routine. The exercise helps him calm down and relax, his body settling into a familiar rhythm of feet hitting the ground, breaths coming in hard, his heart pounding in his chest. It feels good. He doesn’t practice chidori. He can’t do that right now, not with his memories reminding him of—
Obito shows up. Kakashi stops in his tracks, staring at the boy that is still alive.
“I’m so sorry that I’m late, guys. I had to stop and help a kitten that was stuck in a tree.” Obito reaches where Minato and Rin have been standing. His smile is bright.
Kakashi stares.
That’s exactly what he said three days ago.
Coincidence.
Kakashi shakes his head and returns to training, making the seals for a mud wall. His heart isn’t in it. Nothing happens.
“Well, now that we’re all here,” Minato claps his hands together. “We can get on with the lesson I had planned for today. I know you guys were probably looking forward to more combat training, but I figured we could try something new today. I want to teach you about fūinjutsu.”
Kakashi stills. His hands cramp up.
“Fūinjutsu? Like storage scrolls?” Obito asks, scratching his head.
“Yes, like storage scrolls, though fūinjutsu can be used for a lot more than that. Come here.” Minato sinks down to the grassy ground of the training field and gestures for them all to follow him. Rin is down first, followed by Obito.
Kakashi doesn’t move.
This is all… this…
“You coming Kakashi?” Rin asks.
Minato laughs. “I know, I know, you’re surprised because I’m finally teaching you the stuff you’ve been begging me to train you for years. Come on, sit with us. This lesson will be fun.”
Kakashi believes him. The lesson had been fun. That’s the problem—Kakashi’s already learned it.
Okay, he rationalizes to himself, this is just a really detailed case of deja vu. You’re fine. Act normal.
He joins the three of them. Minato smiles brightly, and begins the lesson, word for word of what Kakashi had heard just three days ago.
Kakashi doesn’t pay much attention. He’s too busy digging his fingers into the bandage on his arm, trying to break the genjutsu, to stop hallucinating, to stop feeling like he’s going crazy.
The entire day goes like that. The lesson, his promotion, his errands. They all go exactly the same, with each conversation being identical unless Kakashi is the one to initiate some sort of difference.
He’s in his apartment once again when Minato shows up. Kakashi hasn’t bothered to put away his supplies this time.
“Congrats on the promotion,” his sensei says, catching Kakashi by the jacket and pulling him in for a hug. Kakashi stares aimlessly at the wall on the other side of him for the duration of it until Minato lets Kakashi go so he can step back.
“Thanks.”
“I got you a gift!” Minato pulls out something covered in cloth from his vest and passes it over to Kakashi. He already knows it’s the same three-pronged kunai from his not-dream. He unwraps it and stares at the text on the side with the same sinking sense of dread that has been following him around all day, the knowledge that this day has been a beat-for-beat repetition of three days ago.
“Maybe one day you’ll be able to use it for its intended purpose,” Minato says, then shrugs, “but until then, it’s still a plenty sharp weapon.”
Kakashi nods. “Thanks.”
“You like it?”
Kakashi hums. “It’s great.”
Minato frowns. “You don’t sound happy.”
Kakashi’s not.
Minato pokes him. “There’s something wrong with you. You’ve been begging me to teach you sealing for years and when I finally did, you didn’t seem to care, and now I’m telling you that I’m willing to teach you hiraishin one day and you look… I don’t even know what to call this. What’s going on?”
Kakashi shrugs. He swallows tightly then looks up at Minato. “Mission tomorrow, Kannabi Bridge, you’ll be on the front as a distraction while the three of us destroy the bridge. Right?”
Minato balks. “How do you—did they tell you when you got promoted?”
Kakashi shakes his head.
“Then how…?”
Kakashi turns away and tucks the kunai into his mission pack, knowing he’ll need it tomorrow. Assuming tomorrow goes the same way today did.
Evidence suggests it will.
“Kakashi,” Minato lays a hand on Kakashi’s shoulder and forces him to face him, “how did you know that? What is going on with you?”
“I don’t know,” Kakashi admits. “I don’t know if it was a dream or what but—“ he balls his fists—“I’ve lived today already. I knew Obito was going to be late because he was helping the cat, I knew you were going to teach us sealing and give me a kunai, I know Rin’s gift will be a medkit, and I know how the mission will—“
He stops. He takes a breath to stop himself from reaching a state of hysteria. He’s seconds away from reaching up and ripping out his hair.
“Obito dies in two days.”
Minato stills. “What?”
“He’s going to be crushed by falling boulders. My eye will be cut out and he’s going to give me one of his sharingan to replace it. He’s even going to make a stupid joke about it being my promotion gift since he forgot to get me an actual one.”
Kakashi doesn’t look at Minato’s expression, but he knows everything that’s going on inside his sensei’s head regardless.
“Are you sure it’s not—“
“Genjutsu? Been trying to break out of it all day.” Kakashi’s holds up his arm and pulls back his sleeve to show the bandage covering the wound he’d given himself this morning.
Minato’s face twists as he picks up Kakashi’s arm to inspect it.
“Maybe it’s not genjutsu, but that doesn’t mean there might not be something wrong with your head. Should we go to the hospital?”
“Sensei,” Kakashi deadpans. “If I were losing my mind, why would I know the future?”
“Maybe you just think you know the future.”
Kakashi pulls his arm back and lowers his sleeve again. “Let’s test it, then. We’ll go about the rest of the next two days without me actively changing anything, and you can tell me at the end of it if you still think I’m going crazy.”
Minato doesn’t particularly look like he likes that plan.
Kakashi raises a challenging brow. “So, are you going to invite me to dinner or not?”
Minato pauses, surprised that Kakashi knew that too, considers the situation, and then nods. “Okay. Let’s play this game.”
When Rin arrives to the meeting point the next day, she gives Kakashi a medkit as a gift for his Jounin promotion. He thanks her and makes pointed eye-contact with Minato. His sensei’s expression twists, but otherwise, he doesn’t say anything.
He stays silent as he waits for Obito to arrive. He knows how he’ll do it, remembers his own reaction too. He just has to follow the script.
Twenty minutes pass before Obito rushes through the trees, trips over a vine, and falls face first into the ground, coming to an unceremonious rolling stop in front of Kakashi’s feet. “Did I make it?” Obito asks.
Kakashi crosses his arms, but he can’t find it in him to keep the same biting tone from the first time around. “No. You’re late. What time did you think we were supposed to meet?”
Obito groans. “I was on the way! But I had to help an old lady who had too much luggage cross the street!”
Kakashi knows.
“And something was in my eye,” Obito continues, rubbing at his face with the back of his hand.
He averts his gaze. He knows now what’s been wrong with Obito’s eyes, and can’t even act like he’s willing to argue about it. Guilt eats away at him.
Rin takes the silence as a chance to speak up. “Obito, do you remember what we talked about the other day? You know, getting Kakashi a promotion gift?”
Obito’s face goes red. “Sorry… I… forgot.”
Kakashi feels more than sees Minato go stiff at that as well. At least Kakashi is finally starting to have some credibility with his claims. He continues to stay silent, his arms crossed like a petulant child, as Obito says something about making it up to Rin, who only rolls her eyes and tells the boy that he needs to be making it up to Kakashi, not her.
“Okay,” Minato claps his hands together. “Why don’t we go over the mission details?”
Kakashi doesn’t change anything. Everything goes just as it did. He even gets himself stabbed, even though he knows now how to avoid it.
He doesn’t change anything, until the moment Rin is kidnapped. After that, he can’t bear the thought of having an opportunity to fix things and throwing it all away for a stupid bet with Minato.
He doesn’t argue with Obito. They rush after Rin immediately, tearing after her kidnapper like two wolves chasing prey. They don’t manage to catch up in time, their bodies smaller and less accustomed to chakra-enhanced running, so by the time they reach Rin, the Earth nin are already back in their cave and ready for a fight.
It’s an all-out brawl. Kakashi ignites chidori, despite knowing that it’s an incomplete jutsu, and makes to kill as many opponents as he can. He won’t let things happen like they did.
He gets to Rin. He wakes her from her genjutsu and drags her with him towards the exit, knowing how little time they have left.
The rocks fall.
Kakashi narrowly avoids the rock that hit him in the head last time. Rin gets struck in the shoulder, and collapses into Kakashi’s side. He drags her weight with him and searches wildly for Obito amidst the crumbling cave, finding him running as well.
Obito gets hit in the head with a rock and he falls, just as Kakashi did, knocked out immediately by the force. Kakashi’s breathing hitches and he forces Rin to run to safety while he turns around for Obito, grabbing his friend and tossing him out of the way of the falling boulder.
It hits him instead. He blacks out for a moment, but he doesn’t die. Just like Obito. The rock didn’t hit him the same way it did Obito, leaving his legs and torso crushed but his head mostly free. That’s almost worse.
He can see his team. He can see Obito and Rin rushing towards him, screaming his name, clawing at the rocks and begging him to be okay.
He’s still conscious when Minato gets back from the front—fifteen minutes earlier than last time—and can see him decimate what little remains of their attackers, whirling around on them.
“Obito!” Minato yells, then spots their trio and rushes over. “You’re okay—“
His eyes fall on Kakashi.
Kakashi gives him a faint smile, his eyes curving into crescents that hurt to make. He can’t feel his legs, and his right arm is screaming at him, but his left one and his head are free enough.
“Kakashi.” Minato sounds heartbroken.
“Couldn’t let it happen again. Sorry.” Kakashi’s words are stilted. His vision starts to go dark, dipping around the edges, spots filling in the space in between. It’s near impossible to breathe now.
Rin is sobbing, her face in her hands. Obito has accepted what’s happened and is shell-shocked now, entirely unmoving. Minato sinks to his knees in front of Kakashi, taking his free hand into his and wrapping his fingers around Kakashi’s much smaller palm.
“You did good,” Minato chokes out. Kakashi can feel him shaking.
He knows that isn’t what Minato wanted to say. He knows this man, knows him better than he ever got to know his own father, and knows that Minato is barely holding it together. Kakashi knows that you did good was a last minute replacement of what did you do?
Kakashi doesn’t have much energy left. He tightens his grip. He’s scared of dying, but prefers it to watching Obito die again. He’ll take his own death over one of his teammates’ any day, and isn’t that a novel thing? Kakashi’s learned a lot these past few days.
He takes a shuddering breath. It’s his last.
“Teach me hiraishin tomorrow?”
Minato’s tears finally fall.
“Yeah, Kakashi. I’ll teach you everything I know.”
Repetition 2
The sun’s light filters into his room. The birds sing outside.
Kakashi bolts upright in his bed, gasping, panting, feeling phantom pain lancing across his body, except he’s—
He’s fine. He’s alive. He’s—
What?
He scrambles to get out of his bed and rushes over to the bathroom, flipping on the light and grabbing the mirror with both hands, staring at his face that isn’t missing an eye, doesn’t have a sharingan or scar, and doesn’t look like it’s been assaulted by falling boulders. He rips off his shirt. There’s no wound in his shoulder either.
Kakashi sinks to the floor and puts his face in his hands. He’s losing it. That’s the only explanation. He’s not just lost the plot, but rather lost the entire fucking book. Actually, scratch that, Kakashi’s taken the book, ripped it to shreds, stomped on it, set it on fire, and then tossed its flaming corpse out the window.
He bangs his head back against the wall.
Okay, so, he’s actually going crazy. Kakashi can work with going crazy. Plenty of people go crazy, right? He’s good. He’s so good.
He gets up, gets dressed, and walks himself not to the training fields, but to Minato-sensei’s place. He knocks heavily on the door and is greeted moments later by a groggy Minato still dressed in his pajamas.
“Kashi?”
“I think I’m having a mental breakdown,” Kakashi firmly announces. “Please help me.”
Minato stutters, gapes, shakes his head several times in confusion, and then opens the door. Kakashi takes that as his cue to go inside.
“What do you mean you think you’re having a mental breakdown?”
Kakashi sits on the couch, straight-backed, and probably looking entirely lucid. He feels anything but. “Yesterday, I had my eye cut out, got crushed by a bunch of falling rocks, and died. The day before that, I was stabbed through the shoulder. The day before that, I intentionally cut my arm to attempt to break out of the genjutsu I thought I was in. The day prior to that, I had my eye cut out, watched Obito get crushed by rocks, and had one of his eyes transplanted in place of mine. Today, I have none of those injuries or modifications despite clearly remembering all of them. Thus, mental breakdown.”
Minato stands in the living room, shirtless and barefoot, his hair a mess from sleep, his pants askew, looking down at his tiny student who just presented the most baffling case for insanity known to man, and turns around to walk towards the kitchen.
“Sensei, this is serious.”
“I know. I need coffee.”
“Sensei, I feel like I’m reliving the same three days over and over again.”
“Uh huh. Coffee first.”
Kakashi wants to scream. Instead, he straightens his shoulders and continues to present his case. “Here is how today has gone the past two times: I have trained in the morning, been joined by you and Rin, Obito joins us later and complains about having to help a kitten stuck in a tree. Your lesson for the day is about sealing. We get lunch, I get promoted to Jounin, I run my errands, you find me and congratulate me on my promotion by gifting me one of your kunai. We discuss my future training in the art of seals and learning hiraishin, then the two of us get a celebratory dinner together at Ichiraku’s. The next day we are assigned to a two-day mission to destroy Kannabi Bridge. You act as the decoy and fight on the front lines while the three of us go on to destroy the bridge. Rin is kidnapped and someone dies. Then, I wake up in my bed at home.”
Somewhere through the explanation, Minato’s coffee stopped pouring into the mug. Kakashi stares at the puddle on the floor.
“You going to fix that?”
“I don’t even know what your mission tomorrow will be yet.”
Kakashi hums. That’s not surprising. He’ll probably find out in a couple of hours. He stands up and gets a dish towel from one of the drawers in Minato’s kitchen so he can start cleaning up the mess his sensei has made.
“Kakashi.”
“I know. Going crazy. That’s why I asked for help.” He starts cleaning up the puddle of coffee, letting the fabric soak up most of the mess and wiping away at what it initially misses.
“I don’t think you’re going crazy. This sounds worse.”
“Worse? What could be worse?”
Minato crouches down to be at his height, holding Kakashi by the shoulder, effectively stopping his cleaning attempts. “Have you messed with any temporal jutsu lately? Something that would trigger this?”
“Temporal jutsu?” Kakashi shakes his head. “Of course not.”
“Are you certain?”
“Sensei, I’m going crazy, not stuck in some—some—some time loop. That would be absurd. Those don’t exist.” Kakashi pushes hard enough to continue cleaning despite Minato’s resistance, and firmly does not entertain the idea of any sort of temporal jutsu being involved.
“Okay,” Minato rubs his face. “Okay, sure, let’s go with that. Why don’t we go to the hospital and get you checked out?”
Kakashi hates hospitals.
“Alright.”
The medics don’t find anything wrong with him, aside from having elevated stress levels. Kakashi retells his story no less than five times, but without proof of those events happening (which, they can’t, because he’s changed the course of the day), they have no reason to believe he’s caught in a temporal jutsu of any kind.
“Hatake-kun,” one of the medics says gently. “You’ve experienced a lot of stress in your lifetime. It is our diagnosis that, for now, the best thing for you to do will be to rest for a few weeks. We’ll put you on medical leave and keep you from the active roster—“
“I can’t do that,” Kakashi complains immediately. “We’re at war. I’m a Jounin, you need me to fight, not sit around resting.”
“You’re not a Jounin yet.”
Kakashi scoffs and rolls his eyes. “In every other iteration of this day, I get promoted to Jounin. In my memory, I’ve been a Jounin for four days now.”
The healer nods at him sympathetically, but Kakashi can tell she doesn’t believe him for a moment. Kakashi looks over at Minato, who has been hovering nearby the entire examination, worrying his lip like an over-protective father.
Kakashi tips his head back to glare at the ceiling. “Fine. Rest. Can we leave?”
Minato sighs. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s leave.”
They don’t go to Kannabi Bridge. A different team is assigned it, one that’s less capable than Team 7. They all die on the mission. The soldiers on the front die too, overwhelmed by the enemy. Konoha is losing the war.
Kakashi convinces Minato to let him sleep at his place, just so that if the loop happens again, he’ll know the moment he wakes up. Minato lets him.
Kakashi falls asleep on his sensei’s couch, swaddled in more blankets than he strictly needs, with his pack curled up in various positions around him.
Repetition 3
Kakashi wakes up in his own bed.
He picks his pillow up off the bed, throws it across the room, and screams.
He doesn’t bring up his insanity case to anyone today. He tries not to seriously entertain the idea of being in a time loop, instead choosing to scrutinize every moment of the day to see if there’s some indication of why he’s stuck in this endlessly repeating series of days.
The first day ends. He finds nothing. Minato tells him that he appreciates that Kakashi didn’t mock Obito today, which Kakashi nods absently in response to, silently thinking that he has more important things to worry about than Obito’s lateness.
The last thing on Kakashi’s mind right now is the rules.
The second day begins their mission. Kakashi doesn’t leap into the fight this time, instead leaving all of their opponents to Minato-sensei, who handles them swiftly and effectively. When the second day ends, he’s still uninjured and nowhere closer to figuring out what put him in this…
He’s not calling it a time loop.
Minato leaves the next morning. Kakashi and his team continue on.
“Kakashi, are you all right?” Rin asks him hesitantly as they walk. They’ve got another hour before they come across the shinobi that will kidnap her. “You’ve been so quiet the last two days.”
“I’m fine.”
“Rin’s right,” Obito says. He reaches up, removes his goggles, and rubs at his eyes. “You haven’t even insulted me once.”
“Do you want me to?”
“Well,” Obito starts, then pauses to genuinely consider it. “No?”
“What Obito means is that we’re worried,” Rin cuts in, stepping up and gently laying a hand on Kakashi’s shoulder. “We’re your team. You can talk to us if there’s something going on.”
Telling Minato was one thing. Kakashi would sooner light himself on fire than admit to them that he’s either going crazy or stuck inside a—
“I’m fine,” he repeats, gritting the words out. “Focus on the mission.”
“I’m fine,” Obito mocks, his voice taking on a high-pitched, nasally quality. “I’m Hatake Kakashi, all I think about is rules, rules, rules, mission, mission, mission.”
Kakashi might smack him. He grinds his teeth together and walks faster. He takes specific interest in a nearby tree, wondering if the tree is holding the key to escape his seemingly endless torment.
“Okay, seriously, what is going on with you?” Obito steps in front of Kakashi, cutting off his path. “That should’ve gotten me at least a death glare, if not a full-on berating. Are you sick?”
Rin steps up too, placing the back of her hand against Kakashi’s forehead. “He feels alright…”
“Bullshit.” Obito pokes Kakashi in the chest. “Come on, yell at me or something.”
“Why would I yell at you?” Kakashi asks, exhausted. He just wants to finish this mission and figure out what is causing this whole debacle. He doesn’t have the time or the energy to pretend to be mad at Obito for every little thing anymore.
“Oh my sages,” Obito says like he can’t believe those words just left Kakashi’s mouth. He holds his hand up in a familiar sign. “Kai.”
Kakashi purses his lips and gives Obito a deadpan look.
“I had to check!” Obito defends. He gestures to Kakashi’s figure. “You always find something to yell at me about! We haven’t gone a day since we met in which you haven’t found something wrong with me, whether it’s my lateness, or my fighting stance, or how I occasionally break the rules—“
“Occasionally is an understatement,” Kakashi tells him, then sidesteps around him and Rin, continuing on with their path. The two of them stutter over several noises of surprise before rushing to catch up with him.
“Is this about Obito forgetting to get you a gift?” Rin asks.
“No.” Kakashi’s gotten Obito’s gift before. He does not want it.
“Then what is it?”
Kakashi doesn’t answer.
“Maybe he’s upset about something with his Jounin promotion?” Obito whispers, not quietly, to Rin. “Or maybe Sensei’s mad at him?”
“Maybe,” Rin agrees. She speaks louder, addressing Kakashi. “Are you mad at Minato-sensei?”
“No,” Kakashi huffs. He extends his senses, looking for any possible source of his predicament. The only chakra feels is the innate nature chakra in the world around him, and the signatures of his two companions, which…
“Wow, and I thought you were impossible before—wha?!” Obito is cut off by Kakashi whirling around on him and grabbing him by the face, staring directly into his eyes.
“Is it you?” He hisses at the still non-existent sharingan eyes. They look completely normal, not at all red, no tomoe, no spinning. They’re just… eyes.
“Is what me?” Obito squeaks out. “What are you doing?”
“Kakashi?” Rin adds, looking between the two of them with deep concern.
“Your eyes started itching two days ago, right?” Kakashi asks, his grip on Obito’s jaw not letting up. He continues to search the depths of his eyes for answers to his questions.
“Uh… yeah? I guess?” Obito reaches up to pull Kakashi’s hand away, but to no avail.
“Describe it. What did you do?”
“N—Nothing? Bakashi, what is wrong with you? First you’re acting weird and now you’re…? Wait, what are you doing?”
“Looking for your sharingan.” He wonders if maybe the eyes have manifested already and Obito just didn’t notice—after all, he had two tomoe back in the cave, which is an unusual starting amount. Maybe he’s already unlocked the eyes at one tomoe and the events of the mission unlock the second? Not that Kakashi really understands how it all works. He’s heard Obito discussing it before, but the mechanics of the sharingan are a decently well-kept secret among the Uchiha Clan.
“My—“ Obito splutters and this time successfully pulls Kakashi off of him. “I don’t have the sharingan yet.”
Kakashi’s not convinced. The timeline lines up too well—Obito’s eyes start acting weird on the same day that Kakashi’s endless hell starts and said loop stops the day Obito dies? It can’t be a coincidence.
“Are you sure?” Kakashi asks him. “Describe what’s been going on.”
“Yes, I’m sure. I’ve just had dust in them, that’s all.”
“You’re wearing goggles.”
“An eyelash, then.”
“What unlocks the sharingan?”
“Emotional stress—“
Kakashi punches him in the face. Obito hits the ground, hard, and Kakashi looms over him. “Are you feeling emotionally stressed yet?”
“Kakashi!” Rin yells at him. She grabs his arm and drags him away from Obito’s prone figure, her grip surprisingly strong. “What is going on with you!?”
“Yeah!” Obito sits up, clutching at his face where he was hit. “Have you lost your mind?”
Kakashi checks Obito’s eyes. There’s not a hint of red. There has to be, though. Right? What else could be causing this situation if not some sort of weird Uchiha magic?
“Are you absolutely positive you haven’t activated your sharingan?” Kakashi asks, being held back like a rabid dog by Rin.
“Positive!”
“What is this about?” Rin asks him, trying for a gentle tone despite her iron grip on Kakashi’s arm. “Please, if there’s something wrong, you can tell us.”
Kakashi’s face scrunches. He decides to give up for now. He’ll be watching, though.
“It’s nothing. I’m sorry. This mission is just stressing me out, that’s all.” He lets himself go lax in Rin’s hold and she lets him go after a moment of hesitation. “Come on. We have a mission to finish.”
Kakashi takes back off in the direction of the bridge. He thinks about the upcoming attack, the one in which Rin will be kidnapped. If this situation is being caused by the sharingan, unknown to Obito (clearly), then the best way to break it would be to…? Stop the cause of it?
“I feel like we need to be calling Minato-sensei,” Obito whispers to Rin as they follow him. The other still has no idea how to be quiet. The Kakashi of a few loops ago would berate him for that too, but frankly, the Kakashi of this loop has no interest.
“Agreed,” Rin says back. “He’s obviously not well. The problem is that Kakashi is the only one with a way to contact him.”
“Damn.” Obito’s feet scuff against the ground. “Don’t you have medic’s authority or whatever?”
Rin doesn’t answer immediately. “You mean when a medic can relieve their superior from duty due to medical reasons?”
“Yeah, that.”
“I do,” Rin agrees hesitantly. She clearly doesn’t like the idea. “But that implies Kakashi is of sound-enough mind to listen to the order, and after that display… I don’t think he is. It might do more harm than good.”
Obito mutters a string of not-quite swears. Kakashi keeps marching ahead, ignoring the conversation behind him. If it comes to it, he’ll give in and explain his predicament, but given how much he’s changed the timeline this go-around, and how much he still hopes to change, he doesn’t have much convincing evidence left. Downsides of being on the third day of the loop, he supposes.
The thought process does give him an idea, though. If the loop is triggered by the actual activation of the sharingan, then maybe what Kakashi needs is not to activate it, but rather to stop its activation?
No, he realizes a moment later. I’ve already done that, back when I prevented the entire team from going on the mission.
Kakashi keeps thinking.
They walk for another forty minutes before reaching the spot where the ambush happens. Instead of leaping into the fight, Kakashi falls back to protect Rin, not letting anyone get near her. He stabs a man through the eye, and mistakes the strangled cry he hears for his.
“Obito!” Rin yells from behind him. Kakashi’s head snaps to the side to find Obito being held hostage.
“I’ll take this one,” the man holding the Uchiha sneers, then disappears in a cloud of smoke.
“No!” Kakashi yells. Shit, this wasn’t supposed to happen. Both of them were supposed to be fine—
The rest of their opponents leave as well. Kakashi grinds his teeth together and holds back the desire to scream.
“We have to go after him,” Rin says.
Kakashi nearly agrees. He’s agreed every other time, so why should this time be any different?
Because he always agrees. For once, its time to see what happens if he doesn’t.
At least Rin won’t argue with him like Obito did.
“No.” Kakashi’s tone is final, demanding, brokering no argument. “We destroy the bridge, then we go back for him. They won’t kill him immediately.”
“What?”
“Let’s go. We can’t waste time.”
“But Obito—“
“Do you want him to die?” Kakashi asks her as though it’s a threat. “He will, if we don’t hurry. We need to destroy the Bridge.”
She clearly doesn’t like it. She rocks side to side on her feet, bites her lip, and then hesitantly speaks. “Kakashi… I don’t think your judgment is sound right now. I think… I think I need to relieve you of your duty.”
Kakashi balks. “No, you don’t. I’m fine. We have to go.”
Rin shakes her head.
“Rin.”
Rin looks both pained and terrified. “Kakashi… any other circumstances and maybe I’d agree with you, but you’ve been acting off these past few days, and after the incident earlier with Obito… you’re clearly not well. Please stand down. If we go after Obito, I’ll let it go. No one has to know.”
Kakashi doesn’t want to go after Obito. He knows exactly where that will lead them. He balls his fists up tight and makes a noise of anger deep in his throat that sounds like a wolf’s growl. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because it won’t work! Either he’ll die, or you will, or I will! It’s hopeless! We have to go destroy the Bridge, and then we’ll go back for him.”
The exclamation, oddly enough, only seems to cement Rin’s decision. She gulps, then shakes her head at Kakashi, like he’s a child who’s just disappointed their parent.
“I, Nohara Rin, Medical Officer, am formally removing you, Hatake Kakashi, Jounin, from duty. Please comply, or I’ll be forced to submit you for insubordination and defiance of the Shinobi Code of Conduct.”
Him? Defiance of the Code of Conduct? The idea is so ludicrous that Kakashi can’t actually wrap his head around what’s happening.
“You’re pulling rank on me?” He asks faintly.
“Yes.” Her response is meek, and she won’t meet Kakashi’s eyes, but she says it nonetheless.
Kakashi doesn’t know what to do. Going after Obito will be pointless; nothing but death awaits them in that cave, but if Rin won’t follow him to the Bridge, then what is left to do? What can he change? How does he break the loop?
He can’t. Not this go-around, at least. Rin’s pulled rank. Kakashi might be getting used to playing fast and loose with the rules, but even the wildest of shinobi aren’t willing to risk a medic’s report on their permanent record. And if Kakashi’s idea does break the loop, then on his permanent record it shall be.
Kakashi slumps. All fight leaves him.
“Okay. Let’s go save Obito.” He starts walking in the opposite direction, a pool of dread sloshing around in his stomach, knowing what awaits him and knowing that he can’t do anything to stop it. “May I lead the way, Captain?”
Rin’s face twists at the title. She nods.
Kakashi brings them to their deaths.
It’s Rin who gets crushed this time. Obito screams and his eyes transform in a way they never have before, both of them becoming pinwheels instead of twin tomoe. The Uchiha fights in a rage, tearing apart opponent after opponent in a bloodbath just as red as his eyes have become.
By the time Minato shows up, it’s already over.
Kakashi sits down on the ground and bows his head, silent, as Minato tries to comfort a wailing Obito. He tries to rationalize the situation, make sense of everything that’s happened today, but he can’t think past the sound of Obito’s screams and Minato’s own muffled crying.
Obito’s sharingan evolved even further this time. Does that mean the loop will change?
Kakashi pulls his legs closer to his chest and closes his eyes. He hopes not.
Repetition 4
Kakashi learns from his mistakes. Half of the key to getting what he wants is acting normal, so he does. He makes annoyed quips at Obito and proclaims his newfound status as a Jounin over and over again until even he is sick of hearing it. He doesn’t get himself stabbed, but that’s more of a precautionary move than anything else.
When they reach the ambush again, he tries to protect both of his teammates, but he’s too slow and can’t manage it. They grab Rin.
Obito demands to go after her. Kakashi doesn’t even argue, turning and walking the other way, deciding his only option is to abandon her and destroy Kannabi Bridge.
Doing the fight at the bridge alone nearly kills him. He receives a stab wound to his stomach and a deep laceration along his left leg that won’t stop bleeding, but in the end, the bridge is gone. The mission is complete.
A flicker appears in front of him and Minato is there. Kakashi’s eyes widen as the older shinobi looks around at the wreckage and spots Kakashi amongst it, doing his best to address his wounds with the small medkit Rin gave him.
“Kakashi!” Minato yells, rushing towards him. His boots grow sticky with blood when they step into a puddle Kakashi left. “What happened? Where’s Rin?”
Kakashi grimaces as Minato takes over the stitching efforts for him, his steady hands doing much better than Kakashi’s shaking ones. “Kidnapped. Obito went after her while I destroyed the bridge.”
“You separated from each other?”
Kakashi nods.
Minato’s brows furrow, but any disapproval he may feel doesn’t get voiced as he focuses on tending to Kakashi’s wounds. “You’re going to need surgery.”
“I know.” Assuming this works and he makes it to tomorrow.
“You were reckless.”
“I did what needed to be done.”
“I’m sure you think that.” Minato wraps bandages tightly around Kakashi’s wounds and then hauls him up onto his back. “Let’s find your team.”
They find them.
They’re both dead.
Kakashi’s lip quivers at the sight. Rin is still in her bindings, her throat slit, like she’d only been kept alive because they needed her to tell them what the mission was, and the second they knew—when Kakashi destroyed the bridge—they killed her. Fast and decisive. Kakashi wonders if she even broke out of the genjutsu before she died. Obito isn’t much better, with several stab wounds to the torso. He’s laying on the ground with his neck and limbs out at odd angles. He was likely stabbed and then tossed from the tree he’d been doing reconnaissance in.
“You left them,” Minato whispers to Kakashi, venom in his tone. “You left them to die. What is wrong with you?”
Kakashi recoils at the tone, a full-body tremble starting up that he blames on the blood loss.
Minato whirls around on him. He’s got Kakashi’s blood all over his hands still, and his usually bright eyes are dark and stormy. “You were supposed to be a team! What sort of Captain leaves their friends to die?!”
“I thought it would work,” Kakashi admits quietly. He should’ve known they’d both die. He’d been so caught up in the idea of destroying the bridge being the key to breaking the loop that he hadn’t even considered that Rin and Obito would die if he left them alone.
He’s not Minato. He can’t be everywhere at once. He can’t fight armies. He’s just the kid whose own father wouldn’t even stick around for him.
“You thought what would work?”
Kakashi shakes his head solemnly. “I’m sorry.”
Minato must see his regret, because he purses his lips and steps away from Kakashi, horror in his eyes as he leaves to go collect the bodies of his students.
Kakashi doesn’t know how to fix this.
Repetition 5
Kakashi doesn’t show up to the training grounds that morning.
His being late is enough to make Minato worry, but it only gets worse when Obito shows up for training and Kakashi still isn’t there. Minato tries not to panic, but Kakashi being late is so out of character that his brain immediately jumps to the worst possible explanation for why his student is not there.
Minato instructs Rin and Obito to do some sparring together and hurries off to find Kakashi. He checks the reasonable places first—Kakashi’s apartment, other training grounds, the hospital—and when he’s not at any of those, that’s when Minato starts to actually panic.
Kakashi is not at training or in any normal location for him to be. If he’s not in one of those locations, then there’s probably something wrong with him. Except, he’s not at the hospital, so there isn’t something physically wrong with him. Which leaves…
Minato finds himself in Konoha’s graveyard, watching from afar as his student stares down at one of the countless stones in the cemetery, hands by his sides, unmoving, as though lifeless.
He almost turns around to leave. If Kakashi is ready to acknowledge his father again, then he should let the kid grieve in peace, but when he looks at Kakashi, he gets the sense that the little Jounin isn’t actually grieving.
He approaches, making sure his steps are loud enough against the grass to make his presence known well before he reaches Kakashi, and when he does get there, he finds himself standing there with him, staring down at the grave marked with the leaf symbol of Konoha.
“He’d be proud,” Minato says after several minutes of silence between the two of them.
Kakashi doesn’t respond.
“I’m proud of you,” Minato adds, realizing he’s never actually told him that despite how many times he’s thought it. “You’ve come a long way.”
Kakashi’s breaths are even, measured ones. Minato wonders if the kid is even listening to him. He crouches down and tugs on Kakashi’s sleeve, trying to get him to look over, to break his dead-eye stare, anything, really.
“‘Kashi?”
Finally, Kakashi’s eyes move, but not to Minato. He looks up at the sky, head tilting back as he stares up at the puffy white clouds drifting overhead.
“I wish he were here.”
Minato clenches his free hand, silently wishing Kakashi had said anything else. Kakashi has always been an independent child, and after his father’s death, Minato tried to step up for him, tried to take care of him, to encourage him to grieve his father and honor his legacy. Instead, he watched Kakashi shut down. Kakashi never visits the graveyard, he never speaks of him, and he rejects everything the man stood for. Kakashi hates his father.
Having him wish Sakumo were here should have been a good sign, but Minato doesn’t think so. It feels like an omen.
“I wish he were here, too.” He looks down at the gravestone. The leaf engraving on it feels like a mockery, given the way Sakumo died. The man was a hero, he saved lives, and the village despised him for it; hated him, shunned him, acted like he was a failure. He wasn’t. They made Kakashi feel like the only way to separate himself from his father’s legacy was to become something else entirely, something mean, something cold, something emotionless and empty.
Minato wishes he could change that. He tries to encourage Kakashi to find friendship in his teammates, to realize that the rules aren’t everything, but it never works. He can’t even get the kid to smile.
“Sensei… this is going to sound crazy… but I think I’m stuck in a time loop.”
Minato blinks. Of the things that could have possibly followed the beginning of that sentence, he never would have guessed it would be that.
“What?”
Kakashi sighs and buries his face in his hands. “I keep living the same three days over and over again. I try to change things, I try to fix them, but it only gets worse. Obito died the first time around, then I died, and then we all lived but I still woke up in the loop again, and then both of them died and—“ Kakashi breaks off, pulling at his hair. “I’m tired of it, Sensei. I can’t keep watching them die. I’m not strong enough on my own, I need help.”
“Kakashi…” Minato feels at a loss for words. There’s obviously something wrong—maybe he’s under a genjutsu of some kind? Or he’s having some sort of mental break? Either way, they obviously need to visit the hospital.
“Let me guess. You think we need to get my head checked?”
Minato pauses, then nods. Kakashi pulls his hands away from his face long enough to give him an expression of long-suffering. “Done that already. They didn’t find anything. You’re welcome to try to break me out of a genjutsu as well.”
Minato takes the offer. “Kai.”
Nothing visibly happens. Kakashi sighs. “I’ve tried that a few times already.” The kid gives his father’s gravestone another look, then stands. “I have a theory that Obito’s sharingan might have something to do with it, but all of my evidence is circumstantial at best.”
Minato stands with him. “Obito’s sharingan?”
“Yes. He develops it on the mission.”
Minato, like most others, is only partially familiar with the workings of the sharingan, but… “What triggers it?”
“It varies. Most often, though, it develops during a fight with an opponent using a camouflage jutsu. He happens to be the same man who kidnaps Rin.”
Minato reels at the revelation. “Okay… let’s say for a moment that I believe you.” He doesn’t, but he’s willing to entertain it for now. “Tell me everything.”
They get assigned their mission again.
Kakashi realizes the effects of the change too late.
Minato doesn’t separate from them to go to the front, instead choosing to disobey orders and stay with his team. The change is enough to protect Rin (or Obito) from being kidnapped, which allows them to continue on towards the bridge.
It goes well. Better than any other iteration. Until it doesn’t.
Without Minato present on the front to fight the invading army, the Konoha soldiers are overwhelmed by their forces. The forces, which immediately turn towards the small team of shinobi making their way towards Kannabi Bridge, their packs laden with explosives that will destroy Earth’s ability to move supplies across the river.
They attack in full. Kakashi curses as his team is immediately overwhelmed.
Rin is fending off two kunoichi that are twice her height, struggling to stay alive. Obito’s using his newly awakened sharingan to copy moves as fast as he can, to take down as many enemies as possible, but he’s overwhelmed. Kakashi’s got a little more luck on the two of them, being a better combatant in all aspects, but that means he’s taking on more enemies than the two of them combined. He doesn’t have the sharingan, but his chidori is still the strongest jutsu he has. He uses it, accepting the consequences of the slashes he receives as a result of the imperfection in the jutsu.
Minato is taking the worst of it. Kakashi can’t keep eyes on him, with how fast Minato is flitting around the battlefield, stabbing through skin and breaking necks in rapid succession, trying to take the brunt of the fight off of his students.
Kakashi takes a knife to the arm and retreats. Obito does the same due to a slash to his jaw. Rin gets thrown back by a powerful wind jutsu. The three of them are losing. Minato is the only hope they have.
They’re being cornered. Backed into a mountainside, where a tall cliff looms above them—their only escape path is to scale it and run for Konoha’s border.
A shinobi with a sadistic grin on his face prepares a jutsu that is all to familiar to Kakashi, and a sinking sense of horror fills his stomach as the cliffside erupts, rocks beginning to rain down on them from high above.
“Run!” He yells to his teammates. He pushes Rin in front of him, then grabs Obito and the three of them dash for safety, even as enemy shinobi throw kunai at them to slow them down.
Obito gets hit. Kakashi returns for him, grabbing his friend and pulling him with him. The moment of hesitation is all it takes, though, and he knows that he isn’t going to win this loop either.
Rin makes it to safety.
Kakashi accepts his fate.
A kunai flies in front of his face, its three-prongs glinting in the light of the fires burning across the battlefield, the seal on it taunting Kakashi like a joker laughing in his face.
Minato flickers in. Kakashi feels himself get scooped up and thrown, his body tumbling through the air, crashing into the ground, and rolling several times before he can get his bearings and scramble to his feet.
When he does, he finds Obito next to him, still face-down in the dirt, but far away from the rocks.
Minato lies where Kakashi had been standing only moments prior, his body pinned under the weight of the boulders, blood pooling out from underneath him.
Kakashi gulps. He remembers blood on tatami, the smell of decay and burnt flesh, seeing his father’s body on the floor of their house and—and—
“Sensei!” Rin cries out. One of the nin she was fighting takes the moment of distraction for what it is and stabs her through the neck, yanking the weapon out fast and messy, blood spurting out from the wound.
Kakashi watches her crumple too.
Obito screams. Kakashi can’t.
Instead, he scrambles forward, rushing towards the boulder, thinking I can save him still, he’s Minato-sensei, he can survive this.
The rocks are too heavy.
Even if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t matter. Namikaze Minato is dead.
Kakashi bows his head, fingers scratching at the rocks hard enough to bleed, his whole body shaking with shock and grief. The few enemy shinobi that remain let him mourn, because they know it will be more fun that way when they finally kill him.
Obito’s fighting, though, trying to kill the woman who killed Rin. Kakashi doesn’t even bother to get up. His hands and knees are in the pooling blood, his tears occasionally dripping down to join them.
Please reset, he begs silently. Please erase this too.
Behind him, he hears Obito’s cut-off cry. He doesn’t have to look to know that Obito’s dead too.
This is my fault. This is my fault. This is my fault. I shouldn’t have told Minato. He’s not supposed to die. Rin isn’t supposed to die. Not Obito either, please.
Just me.
Kill me as many times as you need. Just don’t hurt my team.
As if his wish is granted, a sword plunges through Kakashi’s back. He feels his organs shudder slowly to a stop and silently hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow.
Repetition 6
Sunlight streams in through his window and the birds sing their songs. Kakashi curls over onto his side and cries.
Repetition 7
Kakashi’s plan is ridiculous in how simple it sounds on paper while also being unreasonably, incredibly difficult in practice. It feels like the sort of dumb shit Obito would come up with, what with all of the rule-breaking, evasion, and general insanity that is involved.
Unfortunately, it’s Kakashi’s plan.
Even more unfortunately, he’s sticking to it.
Kakashi gets up that morning, gets dressed, straps every weapon he owns to his person, and then climbs up to the roof. He looks across the slowly awakening village to Hokage Mountain, with the three faces carved into the side of it.
“I’m coming for you,” he says under his breath. It sounds like a threat.
He leaps off the roof and makes his way to the Hokage Residence.
The only good thing about being in an endlessly repeating time loop is that Kakashi is free to employ trial by fire. In other words, he can mess up as many times as he needs, because it won’t matter in three days’ time. His plan involves using that to his advantage.
Kakashi manages to sneak into the building through a window, and after that, he casts the best genjutsu he can in order to imitate the likeness of an ANBU guard. He walks confidently through the halls, searching for the library.
He finds it. Unfortunately, he also finds an Uchiha guard. The Uchiha’s eyes lock onto him and immediately see through the genjutsu.
Kakashi manages to get about five slashes of his kunai in before he’s caught in a powerful genjutsu curtesy of the sharingan. He doesn’t even try to break it.
The Uchiha knocks him unconscious. Kakashi’s last thought is that this would’ve been easier if the guard had killed him.
He wakes up in an interrogation room, his arms and legs bound by heavy shackles to a chair. The room is dimly lit and Kakashi can immediately tell by scent alone that he’s underground, with the familiar mixture of damp earth and musty air unique to Konoha’s few subterranean buildings. Blearily opening his eyes, he finds himself sat at a metal table, with an empty chair waiting across from him. A T&I chamber, then.
He catches a whiff of a scent that doesn’t belong in the room.
Minato-sensei.
He groans and lets his head hang. This is not how he wanted this to go. Note to Kakashi of the next loop, the library is guarded by an Uchiha. You want to break in? Don’t try to use genjutsu.
“You’re awake,” a voice deadpans. It takes Kakashi a minute, but he eventually pins it as Yamanaka Inoichi. He raises his gaze and finds the man hovering in the corner of the room, his arms folded in front of his chest, watching Kakashi with an expression on his face that screams unimpressed.
Standing next to him is Minato-sensei. The fact that his sensei hasn’t said a word to him yet is evidence enough that the man is pissed.
“Want to explain what you were doing?” Yamanaka asks.
Kakashi debates it. He really does. “No.”
Minato’s gaze turns thunderous. His sensei steps forward and drops himself into the seat across the table, his chin tilting upwards as if to silently say, try that again.
In other circumstances, Kakashi might’ve folded and explained himself. In this particular situation, though, Kakashi really just wants to find a way to either kill himself or get killed. So, instead of responding, he eyes the weapons pouch on Minato’s vest and thinks of how he’s going to get his hands on it.
“Kakashi.” Minato finally speaks, and the darkness of his tone is something Kakashi’s only heard from the sidelines, hovering behind his sensei while the man threatens an enemy. It’s odd to be on the receiving end. “You tried to break into the Hokage’s library. You know what the punishment for that is, don’t you?”
Yeah, Kakashi does. Unfortunately, the sentence for that particular crime is only death if you’re an outsider. He’s not.
He’s pretty certain he can slip out of the shackles. They’re just slightly too big for his arms—clearly built for adults, not troubled youths facing the impossible task of fighting time itself. He just needs to wiggle a little bit, maybe dislocated his thumbs…
“You wouldn’t happen to know if the library contains any texts on temporal jutsu, do you?” Kakashi asks conversationally, moving his body like he’s stretching his limbs out.
“Temporal jutsu?” Minato repeats incredulously. “Kakashi, what has gotten into you?”
“That sounds like a no,” Kakashi quips, then turns to Yamanaka. “What about you? You know if they’ve got anything like that in there?”
Yamanaka doesn’t so much as blink.
Kakashi’s not surprised. The short conversation is all he needs though, successfully slipping out of the shackles and lunging across the table, surprising Minato with his speed and also with the direction of his reach.
Kakashi gets his hands on a kunai. He leaps back and out of Minato’s range, careful to keep his eyes on Yamanaka as the shinobi rushes forward to subdue him. Kakashi doesn’t give him the chance. He brings the kunai up to his throat and cuts.
He hits the floor seconds later. Minato and Yamanaka rush to provide some sort of first-aid, but Kakashi pushes them off with what little strength he has left.
“See you tomorrow,” he says, eyes curving up into a smile that belies his fear at that not being the case.
His eyes slip closed.
Repetition 8
So, genjutsu is not the way to go about it.
Dogs it is then.
Kakashi breaks into the Hokage Residence again, summons his pack, and sets them on the guard. They’ve got the poor Uchiha on the ground and unconscious in seconds, after which Kakashi instructs them to bring the guard back to Kakashi’s apartment and to keep him out until Kakashi is done.
He makes a clone, disguises the clone as the guard, and stations it outside the library doors. The jutsu won’t hold up under any real scrutiny, but it’s Kakashi’s hope that at this time of morning, no one will question it.
Drifting through the halls of the library, Kakashi realizes he’s made a critical error in his assessment: assuming the scrolls would say what they contained. They do not. He steps past blank scroll after blank scroll, knowing that some of these could be about Konoha’s taxes and number of falling-related accidents while others could be information actually useful to his cause.
Eventually, he finds himself in front of the forbidden section. It’s chakra-locked, with only pre-approved chakra signatures able to enter. Kakashi curses his luck.
He turns around and returns to the section of the library he can get into without kidnapping someone else. Finding a scroll of use in all of this unorganized mess is a near-impossible task, but he might as well make use of the fact that he’d gotten in here in the first place.
He picks the shelf on the far right and starts systematically combing through each scroll. He finds multiple useless scrolls—seriously who felt the need to record the squirrel population of the Forest of Death?—but amongst them, he does find one of interest. A scroll about Senju Tobirama, in fact. Kakashi takes note of its location, then continues on.
He gets through three shelves before several ANBU guards rush in. Kakashi doesn’t let them get so far as to surround him before he’s pulled a kunai and slit his own throat.
Repetition 12
Having made his way through every single scroll in the library, aside from the ones in the forbidden section, Kakashi breaks in one more time to steal all the ones he thought might be useful, and then leaves just as quickly as he’d entered.
He settles down in his apartment with six scrolls, eight dogs, and one unconscious Uchiha. Cracking open a scroll, he settles back to do some research.
An hour into his reading session, Minato knocks on his door. Kakashi scrambles to his feet and opens it, only letting it go so far as to show his face and nothing in the background. His dogs, thankfully, have it covered, with Shiba dragging the unconscious shinobi away and Bull and Bisuke working to hide all of the scrolls.
Kakashi fakes confusion. “Sensei? Do you need something?”
“Uh…” Minato starts, giving Kakashi a concerned once-over. “You’re late to training.”
Kakashi performs a quiet gasp, then intentionally fumbles around, saying, “Sorry, Sensei. I was doing some private training with my pack. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Minato relaxes, but not enough for Kakashi to think his excuse has been fully believed. “Well, I’m just glad you’re not sick or something. When do you think you’ll be at the training fields? I’ve got a pretty cool lesson lined up for today.”
Kakashi hums thoughtfully. “Twenty minutes? I just need to clean up and get dressed.”
“Sure. I’ll see you there! Oh, and,” Minato smiles brightly, “you’ll want to be on time. Obito will tear you a new one if you aren’t.”
“Hah.” Kakashi can imagine. Obito never gets the chance to harp on Kakashi for being the one to break the rules. If only he knew. “I’ll be there.”
“Perfect. Say hello to the pups for me.”
A loud bark sounds from behind him. Kakashi closes the door.
He waits until he can no longer sense Minato’s signature before looking to his pack. “Alright, grab the scrolls, we’re running.”
His ninken, unfortunately, do not remember any of Kakashi’s previous loops, but they’re good dogs and don’t question him for a second as they scoop up all of their supplies and set off into the distance to get some reading time away from any interruptions.
“Haha! He’s late!” Obito points an aggressive finger at nothing in particular. “That’s twice in a day he’s been late!”
“That’s not something to be happy about,” Rin chides. “Kakashi’s never late. Do you think there’s something wrong with him?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care! I totally won!”
“Won what, exactly?”
Repetition 13
“Sensei,” Kakashi greets. It’s once again the crack of dawn and Minato is only half-dressed. Kakashi slips past the man and into his apartment, beelining it to the kitchen to prepare coffee because he knows the second he gets into this conversation, Minato will want it.
“Kakashi. What, uh, are you doing?”
“I need your help.”
“Oh,” Minato sounds surprised. Makes sense, Kakashi rarely asks for help. At least, he rarely did before this whole debacle. “What with?”
Kakashi finishes the process of making the coffee, pours it into a mug, and slides the drink over to him before responding. “I need you to help me break into the forbidden section of the Hokage’s library.”
Minato splutters. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“I don’t think I did.”
“It’s exactly what it sounds like. Very few people have access to the forbidden section, but I know you’re one of them. I checked the logs the other day.” By that he means two repetitions ago, when he had some extra time in his schedule to break into a different section of the tower and check the verified personnel paperwork.
“Okay, okay, not that I am agreeing to this, but what in the world could you possibly need from the forbidden section of the library.”
Kakashi stares his sensei straight in the eyes and deadpans, “Edo Tensei.”
Minato’s jaw drops. His coffee is, luckily, still sitting untouched on the counter, otherwise it likely would’ve fallen as well. “You want me to find the forbidden Edo Tensei jutsu for you? For what?”
“So I can resurrect the dead.”
Minato gapes like a fish out of water, then looks down at his coffee, up at Kakashi, down at his coffee, and then grabs the mug and takes a long sip. He sets it back down. “Kakashi,” Minato starts calmly, too calmly, and Kakashi can already tell that he’s jumped to the wrong conclusions about the intentions behind needing Edo Tensei. “I understand that life has been cruel to you, but I don’t think resurrecting your dead father is going to help any.”
Yeah, Kakashi should have seen that misunderstanding coming. He eyes the knife block on the counter and wonders if its too early in the day to go ahead and reset the loop.
“I’m not resurrecting my father.” Kakashi rolls his eyes. “I’m resurrecting Lord Second.”
Minato turns around and walks away. Kakashi wants to hope that it’s a silent agreement to help him, but when Minato flops face-down onto the couch and doesn’t move, he decides it’s probably not. Kakashi rounds the counter and crouches in front of him.
“Would it make you feel better if I resurrected my dad first…?” Kakashi asks the unmoving lump, “because I can do that. It’s more of a practice thing at this point in time.”
“Why would you need to practice that?” The lump’s words are muffled by the couch cushion.
“Because Edo Tensei is an extremely difficult jutsu. Of course I’d need to practice, I’m not stupid. Resurrecting Lord Second won’t go perfectly on the first try.”
Minato groans. “No.”
“No?”
Minato’s head finally tilts to one side so that Kakashi can see half of his face, the singular blue eye that’s visible watching him closely. “No, I’m not helping you break into the forbidden section of the library. What sort of prank is this?”
Kakashi frowns. “It’s not a prank, it’s a genuine request.”
“That’s worse.”
“Please?”
“No.”
Kakashi sighs. “Fine.”
He stands, walks to the kitchen, pulls a knife from the knife block, and gives a now-concerned Minato a peace sign before stabbing the knife into his thigh.
“What the—!?”
He bleeds out in five seconds flat.
Repetition 19
Kakashi kidnaps the Hokage.
It’s… surprisingly easy to do, actually. He expected the ANBU guard to put up a fight, but only one was on duty in the early morning and Kakashi was able to slip right past him. The Hokage himself was still asleep in his chambers. Kakashi placed a sedative-soaked cloth over his mouth, waited a few moments, then grabbed the body and ran.
He makes note that, once this loop-thing is over, he’ll have to inform security about all the ways he’s discovered to break into what should be highly secure locations.
Dragging the Hokage’s unconscious body through the halls of the Hokage Residence is less than ideal, but he manages well enough. Getting the Hokage’s chakra to flare enough to unlock the chakra-seal while unconscious is also less than ideal, but with a decent amount of effort, he successfully accesses the vault.
He leaves Sarutobi on the floor in front of the door and begins looking around. This section is just as unorganized as the rest. He would be disappointed in whoever managed the library, if the mess wasn’t obviously intentional.
He picks a section and starts looking.
Repetition 22
Kakashi deposits the Hokage back into his bed, climbs out the window, and rushes out to go find somewhere to hide for long enough that Minato won’t find him. He ends up settling himself down on top of Hokage Mountain, far enough away from the edge that no one can see him.
He pulls out the scroll he’d stolen.
Time to memorize the entire jutsu in one day.
Repetition 25
It takes Kakashi more than one day to learn Edo Tensei, but in his defense, it’s a complicated jutsu and half of the instructions are subjective. Also, Obito found him on one attempt and Minato on another, after which he had to reset the loop because both of them tried to stop him from his attempts to resurrect the dead.
Today, though, he breaks into the Senju Compound to perform the jutsu for real this time. Lord Second’s corpse is guarded under no less than a dozen seals, half of which are covered by extensive vines that have taken over the dilapidated family graveyard, which does not bode well for Kakashi’s luck in accessing the body.
He surveys the seals as best as he can with his limited knowledge of fūinjutsu, determines that they’re beyond his skillset, and then starts thinking outside the box.
He can’t break the seals, and the seals keep anyone from tampering with the coffin or its contents. He isn’t skilled enough in fūinjutsu to attempt to override the existing seals and somehow force an opening, which leaves… what, exactly?
Kakashi paces around the coffin for the better part of twenty minutes, coming up with solution after solution, only to realise one reason or another that said solutions would fail.
He settles on using chidori and dealing with the consequences. Sometimes, you just have to intentionally spring the trap.
The consequences, he soon finds out, are extensive. He breaks into the coffin after fifteen minutes of battering the exterior with chidori, slicing through solid stone piece by piece until he gets through. The seals throw him backwards several times, set the place on fire once, attempt to drown him, and also cause a series of slashes that leave massive cuts all over Kakashi’s body.
But he gets in!
He looks at the body, decides he’s too tired to deal with that right now, and sits down on the nearest high surface. He’s soaking wet and covered in cuts, burns, and bruises. There’s a half-metre of water flooding the yard, some vines that evaded the water are still on fire, and there’s a Kakashi-shaped dent in the opposite wall. Not worth it.
“I’m finding an easier way to do that,” Kakashi groans to himself, rubbing his temples. His ribs are totally broken.
After a fifteen minute break, he gets up and carefully arranges his chakra to water-walk, not that standing on top of the water will make much of a difference at this point with how wet he already is, then approaches the coffin.
He takes a breath and begins the ritual.
Repetition 26
Kakashi pumps a fist in the air when the jutsu actually works. Yesterday had been… disappointing, to say the least. Less so that the jutsu hadn’t worked, Kakashi had kind of been expecting that, but more so the realization that he’d have to break through the seals again. At least this go-around he dodged the slashing attacks.
Now, Kakashi has a formerly-dead Hokage standing in front of him.
“Hello,” Kakashi greets. He’s soaking wet, his hair plastered to his forehead and his clothes in a similar state on his skin, making him look small in every sense of the word. He raises his chin to preserve some dignity. “Nidaime-sama.”
Senju Tobirama studies Kakashi for a long, silent moment, long enough that Kakashi starts to wonder if he’d forgotten to include the man’s personality in the resurrection process. Then, he seems to come to a conclusion about his circumstances.
“Child,” Tobirama greets. His voice is deep, deeper than Kakashi expected based on the stories he’s heard of the man, and his tone is flat. Emotionless.
Before the Hokage can ask what Kakashi’s doing, he launches into the story of his time loop problem, explains why he needs Tobirama’s help specifically, and then gestures to the mess that has become the graveyard.
“Before we get into all of that, though, can you teach me how to break the seals or otherwise bypass them so I can resurrect you in the future without having to deal with all of this?”
Tobirama shows emotion for the first time since his arrival by smirking at Kakashi. He turns and moves towards the coffin, running a hand along the burnt surface.
“I was not the one who designed these seals,” Tobirama confesses. “I do not know how to bypass them without being able to see the full, original design. You’ll have to take note of what the seals looked like before you damaged them.”
Kakashi closes his eyes. He accepts his fate to another day of trap-springing.
“Okay. I’ll do that tomorrow. Let’s work on other topics first.”
Tobirama surveys the graveyard tucked inside the center of the Senju Compound, then shakes his head. “Not here. Come.”
Before Kakashi can react beyond a nod of agreement, he is grabbed by the collar and swept off his feet. In the blink of an eye, he and Tobirama are elsewhere in the compound, a room which Kakashi quickly recognizes as a study.
Tobirama strides over to a large bookshelf that extends the length of the wall, presses his chakra into several nodes on the frame, and then begins grabbing books in droves. He turns around and hands Kakashi a stack of six.
“These are all on seal-work. Begin reading.”
Kakashi nods, finds himself a seat, and begins to read. Tobirama busies himself with other things in the room, looking through the shelves and taking catalogue of what texts have been removed and which ones haven’t, as well as looking for any records regarding what seals had been placed on his coffin.
It doesn’t take long for Kakashi to tune his presence out entirely, invested in his studies.
“Did the seals on my coffin have an alarm system?” Tobirama asks a couple of hours into the study session. The words snap Kakashi out of his focus, and he looks up, confused by the question.
“I don’t know.” He tilts his head to one side, his now-dry hair flopping over with it. “Why?”
“There is someone approaching.” Tobirama steps up to the exterior wall and places a hand on it, his eyes closing in focus. “Male, early twenties, wind chakra nature.”
Kakashi tilts his head back and groans. “That would be Minato-sensei.”
Tobirama doesn’t seem certain on what he’s supposed to do with that information, raising a brow at Kakashi in silent question. Kakashi closes his book and rises. Casting out his senses, he locates Minato-sensei picking around the Senju Compound; Kakashi silently wonders what in the world led the man to the conclusion that Kakashi was here.
“I’ll be back.”
Kakashi heads out in search of his sensei, finding him tracking Kakashi’s previous path through the house. He looks up and spots Kakashi, expression brightening. “Kakashi, there you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you. What are you doing here?”
Kakashi waves Minato off as he tries to check on Kakashi. “I’m fine.”
“That’s good, but that’s not what I asked.”
Kakashi huffs. “I’m resurrecting the second Hokage so he can teach me hiraishin, because asking you to teach me hiraishin always opens up a can of worms.”
Minato blue-screens. He stares at Kakashi like he’s gone crazy. “You… what?”
“I resurrected Senju Tobirama.”
Minato continues to remain motionless.
Kakashi turns around. “Leave. I’m busy.”
“Wait—wait, wait, wait, Kakashi,” Minato rushes out his words, stepping in front of Kakashi and looking him up and down much more intensely than he did earlier. “Kai.”
Nothing happens. Kakashi rolls his eyes. “I tried that already.”
Minato shakes his head, then grabs Kakashi by the shoulders. “You’re not making any sense, Kakashi. Come on, you clearly need a hospital or a genjutsu specialist or… something.”
Kakashi rips away from his hold. “Been there, done that. I’m serious about you needing to leave.”
“And I’m serious that you’re not well. Resurrecting Lord Second? Teaching you hiraishin? Kakashi—“
“TOBIRAMA-SAMA!” Kakashi calls over Minato’s shoulder into the other room. There’s a beat of silence in which Minato’s lips twist in pity, only for the moment to be quickly cut off by the arrival of Senju Tobirama.
Kakashi approaches the former Hokage, gesturing to Minato. “This is Namikaze Minato. Minato-sensei, this is Senju Tobirama.”
Minato has gone pale.
“You—you seriously resurrected Lord Second,” Minato whispers. Then, rather uncharacteristically, he adds, “Kakashi, what the fuck?”
“Time loop.”
“That—that doesn’t explain anything.”
“It does.”
“Kakashi, why do you think you’re in a time loop? And why, pray tell, is your solution to that to resurrect Lord Second?”
Kakashi folds his arms. “The loop ended the first time with Obito dying. The second time, with my death. The fifth, with the deaths of our entire team, yours included. It always ends in death, no matter what changes I make. Therefore, the plan is to learn hiraishin and so that I can move quickly enough to stop anyone from dying at all. That should, hopefully, break the loop.”
Tobirama nods along seriously, as though he’s been in on it this entire time and hadn’t found out about the situation only a few hours ago.
“Okay, okay.” Minato pinches the bridge of his nose. “Why do you think learning hiraishin specifically will accomplish this?”
Kakashi gestures to Minato’s whole person. Minato gets the point.
“That’s… fair. Listen, Kakashi, it’s not that I don’t believe you here, it’s just… don’t you think this is all a little drastic?”
“Have you lived the same three days on repeat over twenty times in a row?”
Minato purses his lips. “No, but maybe you need a break. Let’s go home and discuss more sane solutions to this problem.”
Kakashi has spent the last nineteen repetitions getting to this point. He is not entertaining the idea of changing plans until it has been proven that learning the flying thunder god technique doesn’t work.
“No.”
“Kakashi—“
Kakashi huffs in annoyance. This day isn’t getting any further now that Minato-sensei has found him. The man will nag and nag and nag until he gets what he wants, which is for Kakashi to stop summoning people from beyond the grave.
Well, there’s no other choice. Time to kill himself.
As Kakashi pulls a kunai, he notes to himself that he really needs to get more creative with how he goes about doing this in the future. Bleeding out is getting boring.
Repetition 27
Kakashi takes incredibly detailed notes of the seal before he starts hacking away at it with repeated blasts of concentrated lightning. He fails to dodge the fire this time around, and therefore, when he next summons the former Hokage from the dead, the man is greeted with the sight of a sopping, petulant preteen whose hair and shirt have been burnt off.
Kakashi, fed up, tosses his notes at Tobirama. “Tell me how to turn those seals off.”
Tobirama catches the scroll but doesn’t bother to open it, too busy being confused by the situation at hand. “Child, what are you doing?”
“Time loop. Don’t ask further questions.” Kakashi turns on his heel and gestures for the Hokage to follow him. “Come on, we’re going to the library.”
Tobirama follows him, opening the scroll and reading as he walks. By the time they’ve reached the Senju Compound library, he’s finished reading and looks too intrigued by the puzzle at hand to continue to argue with Kakashi’s orders.
Kakashi pulls the books off the shelf he’d been given yesterday, and gets to work. Tobirama, similarly, starts working on a counter-seal.
“Did the seals on my coffin have an alarm system?” Tobirama asks again, a perfect mimicry of what he said yesterday.
Kakashi tosses his head back, groans in annoyance, and snaps his book closed. “Male, early twenties, wind chakra nature?”
Tobirama blinks in surprise, then nods. “Yes, that is correct. I take it you were expecting him?”
“He found us yesterday too,” Kakashi explains, pulling himself to his feet. “He’ll find his way in here soon enough. Have you finished the counter-seal for your coffin?”
Tobirama makes a noise that doesn’t inspire confidence. “I need at least another hour.”
Kakashi nods in understanding. “In that case, we’re going to have to knock Minato-sensei out.”
Tobirama raises a brow. “His chakra is refined. He won’t be easy to fight.”
“I know. Listen, here’s the plan…”
“Kakashi, there you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you. What in the world are you doing?”
Kakashi stands in front of his sensei and proceeds to come up with the stupidest explanation he can possibly come up with. Something so incredibly ridiculous that Minato will let his guard down and won’t notice the Edo Tensei’d Hokage hovering above the doorway he’s about to walk through.
“I’m reading… erotica.”
Minato stops walking. Right in the doorway. Gotcha.
Tobirama drops down from the ceiling and tackles Kakashi’s sensei to the ground, the butt of a kunai hitting the man in the head, knocking him out cold in seconds. Minato crumples. Kakashi feels a little bad.
“Okay, I’ll tie him up. You continue working,” Kakashi says, grabbing Minato underneath the arms and dragging him to the nearest structure strong enough to hold back a Hokage-level threat should Minato wake up and choose violence. This structure ends up being a large column. Kakashi struggles with Minato’s weight, his tiny feet sliding against the floor fruitlessly until he reinforces them with chakra and really puts his back into it.
He ties Minato to the column. Surveys his work. The man’s hands are kept far away from each other and Kakashi has taken all of his kunai and sealed them away, which should leave the man with no way to escape using ninjutsu. Genjutsu won’t work—not with Tobirama in the room, at least—and so that only leaves Minato’s base strength.
Kakashi hopes for the best and gets back to work. Tobirama is scrawling furtively into a notebook and constantly cross-checking his work against the scroll Kakashi gave him, working as quickly as he can, knowing they have a time limit before Minato wakes up.
Not to mention that Kakashi will have to learn and memorize the counter-seal.
He sighs and settles back down, cracking his book back open and returning to his studies. Tobirama has him learning intermediate-level fūinjutsu. Seals more complicated than the basic ones Kakashi has learned from either the Academy or from Minato-sensei, but not anywhere near as complicated as what is required to understand the methods behind advanced techniques like hiraishin. If there’s anything Kakashi has learned from this experience, its that while hiraishin may look simple in practice and on paper, in reality, the jutsu is anything but. Bending space-time takes an intimate understanding of seals, chakra flow, chakra natures, energy balances, and physics. Even a slight mis-stroke or an incorrect flicker of chakra can send the user flying halfway across Fire Country, or worse, teleport them inside of a solid object.
Despite the fact that Kakashi has a monopoly on dying at the moment, he’s not looking to fuse his atoms together with the nearest building. If he’s going to die every day, he wants it to be fast.
An hour and a half later, when Kakashi is carefully copying the seals shown in the book onto a piece of parchment, Tobirama finishes what he’s been working on and steps back.
“This should do it,” he says, approaching Kakashi. Kakashi sets his practice aside and takes the scroll in hand. The counter-seal Tobirama has devised is… complicated. It won’t be easy to learn, much less replicate, but Kakashi will do anything to not be burned, cut, thrown, and soaked to the bone again tomorrow.
He promises Tobirama that he’ll learn it. The Hokage nods and steps away, finding himself some other task to busy himself with instead of hovering over Kakashi’s shoulder while Kakashi memorizes a seal.
“Kakashi…?”
Kakashi looks up, finding Minato awake and surveying his surroundings, biceps flexing against the rope holding him back, testing its strength.
“You’re awake,” Kakashi notes dryly. Should he ask Tobirama to knock him out again?
“What are you doing?”
“Memorizing this seal,” Kakashi explains, then returns to said task.
Tobirama is watching Minato carefully over the rim of his book, red eyes analyzing the threat in front of him. Kakashi wonders how long Minato would last in a fight against Lord Second. He wants to believe in his sensei’s strength and abilities, but the Niidaime’s chakra signature alone is on another level.
“You… did you resurrect Senju Tobirama?”
“He did,” Tobirama confirms for Kakashi. “I take it you’re the child’s teacher?”
“I am. What is going on here?”
“Long story,” Kakashi says. “Short version is time loop. Don’t worry about it, you won’t remember this tomorrow.”
“I—“ Minato falls silent with a frown, his brows scrunching up. He tests his bindings, but quickly realizes that he’s well-secured. Tobirama takes that as a sign to return to his own work, turning and leaving Minato alone.
Kakashi leaves Minato to his thoughts as well, knowing that he only has so long left to memorize the seal Tobirama made him. He starts in the top right corner, carefully copying down the sigils onto a new piece of parchment to help him memorize the strokes. He supposes it’s a good thing he’s always had a good memory. Still, the entire process would be easier if he had a way other than his own mind to retain information across loops…
“Let’s say that I believe you about the time loop thing,” Minato says slowly, looking between Kakashi and Tobirama as if thinking I genuinely can’t come up with any other explanation for why my student would be summoning a Hokage from the dead. “Why are you doing this specifically? Why not ask me for help?”
“Did that first.”
“And what? I refused to help you?”
“No, you helped. Then, you died. I’m not doing that again.”
Minato takes that in. “What happens in this loop? What’s so bad that I die at the end?”
Kakashi bites his tongue and debates not responding at all. It’s pointless to. No one remembers anything that he says, no matter how many times he explains it or what changes he makes. The only reason he decides to explain is because he wants Minato to shut up long enough that Kakashi can actually study this seal, so that when tomorrow rolls around, he can make the day slightly less agonising to go through.
“Mission gone wrong,” Kakashi says shortly. “I’ll break out of it when we all live at the end.”
“How do you know?”
“I don’t.”
Minato sighs with that sort of inflection adults use when they’re pitying you. Kakashi hates hearing it come from his sensei’s mouth, despite the fact that he’s heard it more from this man than any other person before. “I see. Okay… let me help you again, Kashi. Tell me what the plan is and I’ll do what I can to help you break out of this.”
“Really?” Kakashi sets the seal Tobirama gave him aside and stands, moving towards where Minato is tied up. Having Minato’s help will be instrumental to how fast he can learn.
“Of course.”
Kakashi unties Minato. His sensei stands and stretches his arms out. Then, in the blink of an eye, Kakashi is outside, Minato pinning him down to the ground. He can’t immediately tell how far they’ve teleported, but he knows it’s far outside of the Senju Compound.
“I’m sorry, Kakashi. I know you’re struggling all alone. I’m going to help you, okay? We’re going to figure out who’s done this to you.”
Kakashi struggles against Minato’s hold. It’s no use.
“Tobirama,” he wheezes out. He flashes his chakra in a frantic pattern, hoping the sensor will be able to feel it regardless of where Minato has brought him.
“Kakashi,” Minato hisses. “Stop struggling. Please. I just want to help you.”
“This isn’t helping!” Kakashi snaps at him. “What are you planning to do? Lock me up in T&I for going crazy?”
“If that’s what it takes. Kakashi, this is absurd. You’re not well—“
A massive wall of water slams into the two of them, sweeping Minato off his feet and taking Kakashi with him. Kakashi holds his breath, feeling it strain his chest the longer the two of them spend tumbling through the water. A hand wraps around his collar and drags him out of the torrent, letting him breathe again and shake the water from his eyes.
Tobirama sets him down on top of the water. Minato surfaces not much longer after, flickering to stand on a nearby tree. They’re in a training field near the Forest of Death, still inside the village but far enough out that it will take a moment for ANBU guards or the Uchiha police to arrive.
Minato performs several hand seals. The man’s classic rasengan forms.
Kakashi tugs on Tobirama’s sleeve. “Let me die.”
“What?”
“The loop will reset. I’ll handle it better tomorrow.”
When Minato launches forward to attack Tobirama, Kakashi leaps in front of the Hokage, taking the blow straight to the center of the chest. Rasengan cuts a hole through his chest. Minato’s eyes widen in horror.
“Kakashi—No, Kakashi, no, no, come on—“
Minato’s arm is yanked out of Kakashi’s chest and his body is caught by his sensei as he falls to the ground. Minato clutches Kakashi close, tears brimming in his eyes.
“Don’t cry, Sensei,” Kakashi tells him with what little breath he still has left. “I’ll fix it.”
Repetition 28
“I see. Okay… let me help you again, Kashi. Tell me what the plan is and I’ll do what I can to help you break out of this.”
Kakashi snorts. “Been there, done that. I’m not falling for it this time around. Just sit still and be quiet.”
Minato reels back, eyes bugging wide. “Kakashi, I wasn’t going to—“
“You were going to hiraishin the two of us out of here the second you were free so that you could take me to the hospital or T&I because you think I’m going crazy. I’m not. If you try anything again, I’ll have to kill you.” It wouldn’t last, but the idea of hurting Minato in any serious way settles in his stomach in an uncomfortable way. He’d rather keep things peaceful.
Kakashi returns to his studies. Minato makes several more attempts to get his attention or break out, but both Kakashi and Tobirama ignore them all.
Kakashi memorizes the seal. He performs it no less than five times with Tobirama watching, before he feels confident enough in his ability to recreate it tomorrow.
Then, he ends the loop.
Repetition 29
It works. Thank the Sages.
Kakashi and Tobirama return to hiraishin.
Minato finds them yet again.
Kakashi ends the loop.
Repetition 30
“I’m getting tired of this,” Kakashi proclaims when Minato finds him and Tobirama again, despite the fact that Kakashi took precautions this time and moved them to a different location.
He throws himself off the nearest building.
Repetition 34
Kakashi actually snaps. He has Tobirama kill Minato the second the man walks into the room, then continues with his studies without blinking.
It’s only when he’s about to reset the loop that he wonders if the time loop is starting to damage him more ways that just physically. He wonders if what it’s doing will be permanent.
He ends the loop by swallowing an exploding tag.
Repetition 35
Kakashi chooses violence today.
He stomps into the Senju Residence with all the grace of a wet cat, performs the least refined Edo Tensei ritual yet, and once again resurrects Senju Tobirama.
“I’m stuck in a time loop, you’re teaching me things so I can break out of it,” Kakashi deadpans the second Tobirama is lucid. “We were working on hiraishin, but we’re putting that plan on hold for now. I need to know the shadow clone jutsu so my teacher stops hunting me down and making me kill myself halfway through our lessons.”
Tobirama blinks slowly. “You’re…”
“In a time loop, yes. It’s been thirty-five repetitions. This is the ninth day I’ve resurrected you, and therefore the ninth day we’ve had this conversation. Anything else you want to ask, Lord Second, or can we get into the lessons so I can stop reliving the same day over and over again?”
The man takes a moment to process Kakashi’s statement, then accepts that yeah, the story seems legit. Kakashi appreciates that. His believability score is probably supported by the fact that he’s a child who has successfully revived a former Hokage from the dead.
“Shadow clone jutsu,” Tobirama nods. “Let’s begin.”
It takes him an hour to learn.
They return to hiraishin directly after.
Repetition 39
“You’re getting close,” Tobirama assures him after yet another failed attempt at performing the space-time jutsu.
“I’m not,” Kakashi bemoans. It’s nearly nighttime now, and Kakashi has been attempting this jutsu all day, to absolutely no avail. There hasn’t even been one off-chance occurrence of him getting the jutsu right, just… nothing at all. This shouldn’t be that difficult. “What am I doing wrong?”
Tobirama’s lips pull down into a frown. “It’s not that you’re doing something wrong.”
Kakashi can’t help but roll his eyes. “If I weren’t doing something wrong, then this would be working.”
“Not so,” Tobirama says, shaking his head. The larger man approaches Kakashi and kneels in front of him, poking a finger into Kakashi’s chest and tracing it along what Kakashi soon recognizes to be his chakra pathways. “This technique requires absolute precision and perfect timing. You must be able to activate over one-hundred of your tenketsu simultaneously, at the frequency that matches the level dictated in your seal, molded to the exact specifications needed for the jutsu. You are performing the jutsu correctly, but you have yet to properly mold your chakra. It will take time and repetition before your body becomes accustomed to manipulating that many tenketsu at once. Be patient.”
“Hm.” Kakashi pulls away from Tobirama, preparing the jutsu again.
Tobirama raises a hand to stop him. “Take a break. Your chakra pathways are exhausted, as is the rest of you.”
Kakashi shakes his head and prepares an argument, but he doesn’t even get through the first word before Tobirama taps him on the forehead and he’s out cold.
“What are you reading?” Kakashi asks Tobirama the next day, an hour into the continuation of yesterday’s attempts.The former Hokage sits at a desk with a book and a cup of tea. There’s a massive snow leopard curled around Tobirama’s feet, tail twitching as it dreams.
“The theory behind temporal sealing,” Tobirama explains. “I’ve been researching whether or not it is possible your predicament was caused by a faulty seal.”
“Is it?” Kakashi asks. He’s tried not to think too hard on what caused this time loop, mostly because he hasn’t got an answer. His theory of it being related to Obito’s sharingan feels shaky at best; the loop happens regardless of what becomes of Obito’s fate, and besides, wouldn’t it make more sense for Obito to be the one in the loop if it were caused by his sharingan?
“I’m not sure,” Tobirama admits. “To create such a seal, it would need a massive framework and an immense amount of chakra. You likely would have noticed it by now.”
“Seals can be condensed or hidden,” Kakashi reasons, thinking of the techniques used in the seals written on Minato’s kunai that hide large parts of the text into other parts, like putting a box inside of a box.
“Yes,” Tobirama agrees, then sets his book down, picking up his tea to sip at it. He pets his summon’s fur with the other hand. “However, a seal capable of trapping you in a three-day time loop that is static if you make no changes, and adaptable if you do, is no simple feat. As I see it, if this were the act of a seal, there would be no way to account for some of the things you have done or witnessed.”
“How do you mean?”
“I mean, the seal would likely break or become unstable in some way as a result of things it could not anticipate. Like you performing Edo Tensei, for instance.”
Kakashi’s mind begins to race. He can see where Tobirama is going with this—seals are complicated things, yes, but they are designed to perform a specific function. Even faulty seals either work for a certain purpose or don’t work at all. Yet, Kakashi has done things in his loops that no seal could account for or anticipate in its design, primarily summoning a Hokage from the dead. It shouldn’t have been possible. At the very least, since Tobirama was brought back using Kakashi’s chakra, he should be keyed into the loop, able to remember each new repetition.
But he isn’t.
He thinks about his Obito theory. “What about a kekkei genkai?”
Tobirama frowns thoughtfully. His summon cracks an eye open and stretches before nudging its head into Tobirama’s hand.
“That’s certainly possible. I have not heard of such a bloodline limit, but such a technique would naturally be a closely kept secret.”
“Could a sharingan do it?”
Tobirama’s eyes narrow. “It’s not impossible. Why?”
Kakashi launches into his explanation of his theory, but also gives the older man the reasons he doesn’t think it possible as well. When he’s done, Tobirama crosses his arms and hums, thoughtfully.
“I have spent many years studying the Uchiha.” He’s says the name like it’s a curse. “The sharingan, in particular. Never have I been privy to an explanation of what their eyes can do, but through careful observation, I have noted that their eyes can evolve past the three tomoe pattern most think it stops at.”
Kakashi remembers. “The pinwheel.”
“You’ve seen it?”
“Yes. Obito’s eyes evolved to that in one of the loops.”
“Was it the first?”
Kakashi thinks about it, then shakes his head. “No, his eyes never developed past two in the first loop.”
Tobirama’s lips purse and he scratches behind the ear of his summon. “In that case, it is unlikely your friend caused this loop. The sharingan’s abilities are limited in the earlier stages, and it is only once it progresses to the pinwheel stage that I believe he would have the ability to place you inside a time loop.”
“What about a genjutsu?” Kakashi asks immediately. “I mean, I’ve already tried breaking out of genjutsu, but maybe this one is so strong that I can’t break it?”
Tobirama doesn’t look convinced. “It’s not impossible, but once again, you likely would have noticed by now. Fraying at the edges, inconsistencies, people acting different from how they usually do. It would take the work of the evolved sharingan for it to be perfect.”
Kakashi wants to deflate and sink into the ground. “So, it’s not a seal, and it’s not the sharingan.”
“No, most likely not.”
“Where does that leave us?”
“I’m not sure,” Tobirama admits. He stands, and his summon rises with him. “We will have to work off of your theory for now. Save your team in the end, and hope that is enough to break the loop.”
Repetition 43
Kakashi performs the hand-seals. He feels space contort around him, snappy, his body warping and—
He comes out where the hiraishin seal marker waits for him.
“Yes!” He exclaims. It worked. It worked, it worked, it worked.
Tobirama claps politely at his success.
“Again,” Kakashi decides. He’s not ending this loop until his hiraishin is perfect.
It takes all night. He’s chakra exhausted, barely able to function, and seeing things that aren’t there—shapes in the corner, hot coals and blood on the floor, bodies in his arms—but when the sun rises and the second day of the loop begins, Kakashi has mastered hiraishin.
“Impressive,” Tobirama says to him once Kakashi finally calls it quits and slumps onto the floor. The Hokage approaches him and crouches over his form. “How many loops did that take you to learn?”
Kakashi is too tired to answer much beyond a slurred, “about twenty.”
“You should be proud. That technique took years to create, and you have perfected it beyond even that of what I know.” Tobirama’s hand lays on his head and ruffles his hair. “You are an excellent student.”
Kakashi’s eyes droop closed. “Minato-sensei perfected it. I just watched.”
“Not many can do that.” Tobirama’s head tilts to the side. “You’ve exhausted yourself, though.”
“It’s okay. The loop will reset.” Kakashi releases the shadow clone he’s had standing in his place all day, and with the memories it brings comes the drain.
He dies peacefully today.
Repetition 44
With the sunrise, comes wakefulness. Kakashi rises with the morning light, a pip to his step that hasn’t been there in weeks. He gets up without preamble, listening to the birds singing outside his window and appreciating the way the room brightens slowly, bringing him to his senses in that slow, un-rushed fashion he prefers. He showers, dresses, makes himself breakfast, then heads out to the training grounds for his morning practice.
He does everything in his power to keep the day the same from the very first loop. He goes to the training grounds, he berates Obito for being late with the same biting tone he always uses, he pretends to soak in Minato’s sealing lesson as though he hasn’t spent the past month becoming a semi-master, he accepts his promotion, he thanks Minato and Rin for their gifts.
Minato’s gift, in particular, he clutches close to his chest. He’ll need this tomorrow. For once, he has no intention of dying.
He mostly lets the mission go on as it first did, with some minor differences. He doesn’t let himself get stabbed, for one. He still tries to prevent Rin’s kidnapping, and when that fails, he doesn’t argue with Obito about whether or not they should follow. Instead, he stabs Minato’s kunai into a tree, and then the two of them rush after the Earth shinobi. When their enemy launches their counter-attack, Kakashi is careful not to get his eye slashed out either.
He wants that eye. He’s going to need it. Time won’t be resetting, not if his plan works.
They find Rin as she always is: being held hostage in a cave, surrounded by several enemy shinobi. She’s caught under a genjutsu that has rendered her motionless. He and Obito engage, the two of them working together, fighting through opponent after opponent in their efforts to reach their friend. Kakashi leaps over one guy, slashing his father’s tanto along the man’s neck as he goes, and then rushes towards Rin now that the path is clear. Obito is hot on his heels.
“Kai,” he says, breaking her out of the genjutsu. She blinks to awareness, looking around and finding Kakashi and Obito leaning over her, several enemy shinobi still surrounding them. She smiles at Kakashi, big and watery, and he returns it, patting her shoulder.
“We’ve come to save you!” Obito chirps cheerfully. Kakashi pulls a kunai from his pocket and cuts Rin’s bindings.
Just as Kakashi finishes slicing through the last of the ropes, one of the Earth nin finishes a jutsu. The ground begins to shake violently and the ceiling of the cave cracks. This is it. This is what he’s been preparing for, the moment he has yet to defeat.
“We have to go,” he says quickly. He grabs both of them and hiraishins to where he left the kunai, taking his two passengers with him. They land among the boughs of a tall tree.
It worked. Holy Sages it worked.
“What the—“ Obito looks around wildly. “Where—where are we?”
Kakashi laughs. He actually laughs, doubling over and clutching at his stomach because he finally won. He did it. He saved them.
“Hiraishin,” he explains briefly. “Come on, we have a bridge to destroy.”
“Wait, what do you mean hiraishin?” Obito splutters as Kakashi starts walking in the direction of their next target. “Since when do you know hiraishin? Also, did you just laugh?”
“Since three days ago,” Kakashi says with a shrug, and doesn’t bother to answer that other question. He’s still giddy. He can’t wait to wake up to something different tomorrow, can’t wait to not know what will happen next.
“Since three days ago?” Rin asks, sounding skeptical. “When did you have the time to learn? Did Minato-sensei teach you?”
“He taught you and not me?” Obito says, offended.
“No, I learned through independent study,” Kakashi explains vaguely. “It’s not important, all that is is that we’re all safe and we can finish the mission now.”
“Right…” Rin and Obito give each other looks, and then shrug and follow after Kakashi.
The three of them reach Kannabi Bridge a few hours later. Kakashi is on edge the entire time, expecting something terrible to happen, for hundreds of Earth nin to descend on them in droves, but it doesn’t happen. They fight a few shinobi, yes, but the worst of their injuries is a stab wound to Obito’s shoulder and a slash across Kakashi’s leg, both of which are quickly tended to by Rin. Obito’s wound remains wrapped in bandages, but Kakashi’s cut is so minor that her jutsu heals it immediately.
They destroy the bridge.
Minato joins them, tired from his fight at the front, but not injured or dying. It makes Kakashi stupidly happy again.
He’s even happier when he gets home safe and crawls into his bed, tucking his blankets up under his chin and thinking about all the things he’s going to do tomorrow.
Kakashi wakes up to sunlight streaming in through his window and birdsong making its way through the walls. For once, he’s not upset about this.
He gets up and showers. He makes breakfast. He summons his dogs and plays with them, celebrating his victory. He can’t believe he finally did it; they all got home safe, the mission is complete, the loop is finally over.
He goes to the training grounds and works on chidori. He knows that it’s an incomplete jutsu, but maybe there’s some way to modify it so he can use it without needing a sharingan eye…
Minato and Rin show up an hour later, greeting him. Kakashi nods to them in lieu of stopping to talk and focuses on chidori. He needs to either slow the attack down somehow or add a secondary feature to the jutsu that will fix the tunnel-vision issue, but how does he do that? Maybe he should ask Tobirama—the man is known for being a genius at creating jutsu.
Obito shows up after twenty more minutes, gasping for breath. “I’m so sorry that I’m late, guys. I had to stop and help a kitten that was stuck in a tree.” Obito reaches where Minato and Rin have been standing. His smile is bright.
Kakashi stops dead in his tracks, a sinking sense of dread flooding his gut as the words he’d heard countless times are said once more. Let it be a coincidence. Please, let it be a coincidence.
“Well, now that we’re all here,” Minato claps his hands together. “We can get on with the lesson I had planned for today. I know you guys were probably looking forward to more combat training, but I figured we could try something new today. I want to teach you about fūinjutsu.”
Kakashi’s hands clench and he feels physically sick. It’s not a coincidence. The loop isn’t over. It has reset.
“Fūinjutsu? Like storage scrolls?” Obito asks, scratching his head.
“Yes, like storage scrolls, though fūinjutsu can be used for a lot more than that. Come here.” Minato sinks down to the grassy ground of the training field and gestures for them all to follow him. Rin is down first, followed by Obito.
Kakashi doesn’t move. His head spins and it takes everything he has to keep himself breathing steadily.
“You coming Kakashi?” Rin asks.
Minato laughs. “I know, I know, you’re surprised because I’m finally teaching you the stuff you’ve been begging me to train you for years. Come on, sit with us. This lesson will be fun.”
Kakashi has heard those exact words before. Last time, he’d managed to brush it off as deja vu, or a weird dream, or maybe him going crazy, but this time he knows better.
“I—“ Kakashi’s voice gets stuck in his throat. His eyes water. “I don’t feel good. I’m going to go back to my place.”
“What?”
Kakashi turns around and leaves as quickly as he can. His team calls after him, but Kakashi is gone before any of them can catch up, stumbling into his apartment and closing the door behind him, sliding down its length until he’s curled up on the floor.
It didn’t work. He saved everyone at the end and successfully completed the mission, but it didn’t work. Why didn’t it work?
What will it take to break out of this?
Some hours later, there’s a knock at his door. Kakashi’s moved from his spot on the floor in order to become one with his bedcovers, and he isn’t interested in leaving them despite the visitor at his door.
The visitor in question, it turns out, is actually visitors. After getting no response, Minato opens the door, and he, Rin, and Obito all pad into Kakashi’s apartment, calling out his name gently. They find him in the bedroom, staring listlessly at the far wall, not acknowledging him at all.
“Kakashi?” Rin asks softly, laying a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay? Should we bring you some medicine?”
Kakashi doesn’t need medicine. He needs this time loop to end. He finally won, he finally did everything he needed to, finally saved everyone, and it meant nothing. The loop reset. He’s still stuck.
“What is wrong with you?” Obito says, rounding the bed and getting in Kakashi’s face. His tone is the exact opposite of Rin’s. Nice and understanding isn’t exactly in Obito’s vocabulary.
“Obito,” Minato berates, grabbing the other by the collar and pulling him away. “Be nice. Both of you, step out for a moment. Make Kakashi soup or something.”
There’s a moment of hesitation before Kakashi’s teammates nod and step out, heading for Kakashi’s kitchen. They won’t find much in the way of food. Kakashi doesn’t have anything in his fridge.
“Hey, Kakashi,” Minato says softly, crouching down in front of Kakashi. He doesn’t touch him like Rin did. “What’s up, buddy? You don’t look sick, and you were fine this morning. Did I do something wrong?”
Kakashi blinks his eyes slowly, lids staying closed for longer than intended before he opens them again. “No, you didn’t.” His voice is hoarse.
“Then what’s wrong?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“I promise, I do. Whatever it is, I can help.”
He can’t.
“I’m stuck in a time loop,” Kakashi explains yet again. He doesn’t know how many times he’s given this same spiel before. “I thought I broke it yesterday, but I didn’t.”
“You—“ Minato frowns. “What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said.”
“Can you explain a bit better?” Minato leans an arm against the side of the bed, shifting his weight around. It can’t be comfortable, crouched the way he is.
Kakashi sighs and curls in tighter on himself. “It doesn’t matter what happens. Who lives, who dies, how the loop ends, it always starts again. I can’t even kill myself to get out of it. There’s no way to stop it.”
Minato’s lips purse. He’s wearing the same expression on his face as he always does when Kakashi’s explains this; the one that says ‘I should bring you to the hospital’. The one that says he thinks Kakashi is either crazy or being manipulated. “How long have you been in this loop?”
Kakashi’s lost track at this point. Last he counted, he was somewhere in the late thirties, so… “Forty repetitions, at the least. Maybe fifty.”
“Oh.” Minato looks around the room, as though at a loss for what to do with that information, before he finally asks, “can you tell me what happens?”
Kakashi does. He tells him everything—every single death, in excruciating detail, every lesson with Lord Second, his most recent loop and how it should have worked. It should have broken him out. How he’d won and yet it meant nothing.
By the end of it, Minato looks like he’s aged a couple of years, deep lines pulling at his forehead and around his mouth. If there’s any question of Kakashi being crazy now, he shows no signs, instead looking at his student with a deep sense of grief for days he doesn’t remember.
“I just want it to end,” Kakashi confesses quietly. He doesn’t know what he has to do. He’s already tried everything. He’s gone to the extreme, practically broken himself in order to finally win, and it doesn’t even matter.
Minato swallows and reaches forward, brushing Kakashi’s hair out of his eyes. “I know, Kakashi. We’ll… we’ll figure this out.”
Kakashi doesn’t answer any further, instead pulling the covers up and rolling over. He shuts his eyes, trying to force sleep to come. Minato takes the hint and leaves.
“So, Sensei says you’re stuck in a time loop,” Obito says, leaning back in his chair until it tilts. There’s four bowls of soup at the table, and where they got the ingredients, Kakashi isn’t sure. He’s not even sure they actually cooked any of this in his kitchen.
“Yeah.”
“What’s it like?”
“Horrible.”
Obito frowns. Rin glances between Kakashi and Minato, before tilting her head to one side and moving her hand closer to Kakashi. “Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not particularly.” Kakashi’s all talked-out for the day. He’s tired; his nap earlier did nothing but make him feel worse.
“Oh.”
“Let’s start with the most important part: figuring out how to break out of this. You’ve already tried a few things—” Minato holds up a hand and starts counting off on his fingers—“It doesn’t matter who dies in the loop, it always resets. Preventing our mission tomorrow also has no effect. Similarly, saving the whole team at the end doesn’t work either. So, what does that leave?”
Literally nothing, Kakashi bemoans silently. He stirs at his soup. They made miso, which he appreciates, mostly because it’s difficult to mess up miso soup and therefore the meal actually tastes good.
“Do you remember what started the loop in the first place?” Rin asks.
“If I did, I wouldn’t have this problem.”
“Oh… well… maybe we can try to figure out what started it. Was there anything of note in the first loop that might have happened to cause this?”
Kakashi pinches the bridge of his nose. “No.”
“Okay, but obviously it can’t just be anything,” Obito cuts in. “Time loops don’t happen out of nowhere, right?”
“It would take an incredibly powerful jutsu to do something like this,” Minato says thoughtfully. He sips at his soup, then sets his spoon down. “A kekkai genkai, most likely.”
“Tobirama says it’s too complicated to be fūinjutsu,” Kakashi adds, thinking back to their conversation about the loop’s possible causes. “The seal wouldn’t hold up.”
“Wait wait wait, sorry,” Obito holds up a hand. “Tobirama? Like Senju Tobirama?”
Kakashi hums.
“What have you been doing in all of these loops?”
“Resurrecting the dead,” Minato fills in. “But back on track—is it possible you’re not the only one in the time loop? Maybe this loop is being caused by a source outside of your control and you’re just trapped in it.”
Kakashi thinks about it. He tries to find any indication of that being the case in his memory. If someone else were in the loop, they’d be changing what they were doing on a day by day basis—Kakashi hasn’t noticed any of that. All changes were initiated by him. Not only that, but his “suicides” have dictated when the loop ends—if he didn’t want to complete the loop that day, he could just end it early. That suggests he’s the one at the center of it.
He says as much to his team.
“That is helpful, though,” Rin says cheerily. “If that eliminates everyone except you, then that means the source is you and you alone.”
Kakashi can follow that logic. There’s one problem with it, though. “Maybe, but then that implies that I have some method of triggering a time loop, which I do not.”
That brings their thought processes to a halt.
“Hm,” Minato says helpfully.
They cancel the mission tomorrow—not just Team Seven’s presence on it, but the presence of any team at all. Minato and a small squad of other shinobi still go to the front to fight the battle there, but the assignment to Kannabi Bridge is delayed until further notice. The hope is that delaying the mission might affect Kakashi’s loop somehow and give them an idea of where to go from there, but Kakashi’s not convinced it will work.
He spends the night pouring over notes with Tobirama, explaining every theory he and his team came up with as to what could have caused this loop. In the end, the conclusion they reach is the same: the source must be Kakashi, but it can’t be, because he isn’t capable of such a feat.
Kakashi uses the altered timeline of this loop to enjoy living a seemingly-different day for once.
Repetition 46
Kakashi gets up the next day and stares out the window, trying to think of what he could possibly do this time around. Try the mission again? See if succeeding twice is the key? Or should he summon Tobirama and try to learn more? Maybe he should go completely off-course and see if he can glean any information from outside the scope of what’s he’s been doing? He could try to capture an Earth nin and interrogate them for information.
In the end, he decides to run the mission again. Maybe there’s something he missed.
Repetition 48
Kakashi gets himself kidnapped this time. That’s a new one.
His teammates fail miserably at saving him.
Repetition 51
He gets an idea while sitting through another one of Minato’s fūinjutsu lessons—maybe the loop wasn’t caused by a seal, but could it be stopped by one?
He ditches his lessons, puts a shadow clone in his place to distract from his absence, and then summons Tobirama to propose the idea.
After nearly two hours of explaining the loop, all of the theories, and then Kakashi’s new idea, they get to working. It’s not as easy as just asking Tobirama to make a seal that can manipulate space-time. Making such a seal will take weeks, perhaps even months—and Kakashi is the only one able to remember more than three days in a row. He’ll have to not only remember every addition Tobirama makes, but understand the theory behind what is done so he can explain the seal to others during each new loop.
So begins Kakashi’s quest to become a seal master.
Repetition 57
Kakashi gets Kushina and Minato involved.
Repetition 62
Kakashi tries the mission again.
It still doesn’t work.
Repetition 65
“It’s not enough.”
Repetition 70
“This seal isn’t going work. It’s not possible to override time itself.”
“Well, what else can I do?!”
Repetition 79
Kakashi ends the loop like how his father ended his life all those years ago. It doesn’t work either, but it was worth a shot.
Repetition 80
Every so often, Kakashi gives up on trying to break the loop that day. He even gives up on going along with training, missions, and explanations. He spends the day in bed. Today is one of those days.
When Minato comes to check on him, he tells him as much. Minato asks him if he’s sick, to which Kakashi’s explanation is an uninspired cough and a “yeah.”
Repetition 82
Kakashi asks the Hokage himself for help. Not just Lord Third, he even goes as far to resurrect Lord First, as per Tobirama’s suggestion.
Then, as per Hashirama’s suggestion, he resurrects the man’s wife, Uzumaki Mito. The lot of them have a big sealing party with a metaphorical banner hanging above their heads that says “get Kakashi out of this gods-forsaken time loop” in big, bold characters on it.
They work for three days straight.
Repetition 84
He finally gives up on the seal. Even with several experienced seal masters and Kakashi’s ever growing well of knowledge, they determine that it isn’t possible to create and maintain a seal capable of doing what they want to do. Especially without knowing what the cause of Kakashi’s loop is.
Repetition 87
Kakashi visits the Hatake Clan Residence for the first time in years. He pads around the house, hearing ghosts of memories and recalling times better than this. He walks into the dining room and remembers an aunt of his coming over to have dinner with them—it ended up being her last. She died on a mission in the war only a week later. Something about the situation bothered his father, though Kakashi doesn’t remember why. He passes the kitchen and remembers his father teaching him how to chop vegetables. The earthy aromas seem to fill the air as he drifts by. The coals his father walked across before committing seppuku are still on the ground, cold now. Kakashi can see the bloody footprints leading away. He follows them until he reaches his father’s study. The bloodstain is still on the floor. Kakashi holds his breath.
He doesn’t like being here. It used to be his home, his safe-haven. Now it’s something else, something cursed, something that makes him feel hated and un-needed, something that can be abandoned. He’s a little boy left all alone.
Kakashi doesn’t know why he came here.
Repetition 93
Kakashi tries the mission again, changing as many things as he can. It ends in disaster, even worse than any loop before, and it ends abruptly when Kakashi intentionally teleports himself off a cliff.
The fall is easier than bleeding out.
Repetition 94
Kakashi shows Tobirama chidori, explaining the concept behind it and the weaknesses he’s noted. It’s a nice break from constantly thinking about how to get out of the time loop; instead, he spends his day thinking about how to perfect his imperfect jutsu.
When the history books say that Senju Tobirama is a genius at creating jutsu, they aren’t lying. Tobirama has an impressively deep understanding of how each hand-sign affects each tenketsu, and how each tenketsu affects the outcome of the jutsu performed. Kakashi soaks in the information the former Hokage gives him like a sponge. He’s known the basic theory behind ninjutsu creation for years, but knowing past the basics feels like opening up a whole new world, just as learning fūinjutsu for the first time did.
Repetition 97
He perfects his new chidori on his own. He’s fixed all of the drawbacks—there’s no tunnel-vision, the jutsu is more maneuverable, and he has the ability to modulate the power output. It’s everything he always wanted the jutsu to be.
If only it could break the loop.
Repetition 99
Kakashi digs. It’s the dead of night and the cemetery is a venerated place, and yet here he is, with a shovel, digging up the corpse of his long-gone father. It’s not ideal.
His dogs stand guard around the cemetery, watching for anyone who might disturb him or otherwise try to stop him. At this point, disrespecting the dead is the least of Kakashi’s concerns in life, and so here he is, digging. His arms ache and he’s covered in dirt, but he’s almost there. He could’ve used a jutsu for this, he notes, but when he’d started, he’d wanted the physical exercise. He doesn’t anymore.
Finally, he gets to what he wants. Performing Edo Tensei is second-nature to him by now, and the process goes smoothly.
When his father wakes up from death, his skin is pale and cracked, his eyes are all-black, the dark Hatake irises not different enough from the black sclera of Edo Tensei to make a difference. He stands there, unmoving, waiting for Kakashi’s command. Hatake Sakumo finally looks every bit the shell he was in the months leading up to his death.
“Hello, tou-san.”
He’s like a sleeper-agent, the way his father seems to come to life, straightening and looking around—he sees the cemetery, the hole dug around them, and Kakashi covered in dirt holding a shovel.
“Kakashi?”
Kakashi hums his approval. Watches as Sakumo’s eyes go wide as he takes in his son’s figure.
“You’ve grown up.”
You have no idea, Kakashi thinks bitterly. “I have. I’m a Jounin now.”
Sakumo smiles. It’s just like how he used to, when he was proud of Kakashi for learning a jutsu or for successfully completing a new skill. It’s that smile that pushed Kakashi to progress as fast as he did.
“Must be the youngest Jounin in history.” Sakumo steps forward to look at Kakashi closer, brushing Kakashi’s hair out of his face.
“I am,” Kakashi confirms.
Sakumo hums, content, still smiling at him like he’s the greatest thing he’s ever seen. It hurts. He should’ve been alive, had that smile every single day, instead of just now, in this moment, and likely never again.
“And you’ve mastered quite the jutsu,” Sakumo jokes. “Whatever possessed you to put Edo Tensei in your arsenal?”
“That’s actually what I’m here to talk to you about,” Kakashi says. He steels himself for yet another long, painful explanation. He’s getting good at them, at least. “I’m stuck in a time loop. I’ve done everything I can think of to get out, but none of it has worked. I need help.”
Sakumo’s eyes go wide and he steps back a half-step. “You’ve activated your loop already?”
Already? “What?”
Sakumo pinches the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t think it was possible to activate the loop before puberty, but I guess you’ve always been a prodigy, maybe even more than me.”
“What are you talking about?” Kakashi feels the words rush out, demanding, his heart thundering in his chest. Sakumo knows? He didn’t even pause at the concept of the time loop, only that Kakashi is in one already. What does that mean?
“The Hatake kekkei genkai.”
Kakashi shakes his head in denial. “The Hatake don’t have a kekkei genkai.”
“We do,” Sakumo counters. “It’s a better kept secret than any other. Imagine what our enemies could do if they knew we can manipulate time to get the outcome we desire.”
The concept alone stills Kakashi in his tracks. Dozens of loops now, hundreds of days, and the answer was… him… all along? He’s the one who caused this? It wasn’t the jutsu of the sharingan, but rather his own?
He shakes his head again. “I didn’t activate any jutsu.” Surely, he would have noticed.
“You must’ve,” Sakumo says. “It would’ve sounded like a bell tolling. Back in the very first loop. Do you remember that?”
The first loop was so long ago. He furrows his brow and wracks his memory for the moment, but it doesn’t come. “I don’t.”
Sakumo’s lips purse. “How long has it been?”
Kakashi’s lost track. If he had to guess… “At least over eighty. Or ninety. It’s a three-day cycle, but I don’t always finish it.”
“Eighty,” Sakumo breathes out, like that number is unheard of. He crouches down in front of Kakashi, getting on his level, looking at him with pity in the depths of the black voids. “I’m sorry. Mine was only six. A four-day cycle.”
Twenty-four days. Not even a month. Kakashi’s lived at least four times that inside this wretched loop.
“How do I get out?”
“You’ll need to remember your starting conditions, what you thinking and feeling when you activated it. It’s only when you complete all conditions as part of the same loop that it breaks.”
Kakashi’s brows furrow. He doesn’t remember what he was thinking and feeling three loops ago, much less back on the first one. “I can’t.”
“You must. It won’t break until you’ve satisfied all conditions. What were you doing at the time?”
The first loop. He tries to remember the bells, tries to recall what was going on at the time. The first loop, as terrible as it was, paled in comparison to some of the other loops Kakashi has been through. It’s difficult to remember what was so awful about it. “Obito died… he gave me his sharingan. Asked me to protect Rin. I was fighting the Earth nin. That might’ve been it.”
“Okay, let’s work from there. Have you saved and protected them?”
“Yes.”
“Then, you’re missing a piece. What else did you want?”
He doesn’t know. He tries to think of what might’ve been going on inside his head that long ago, but he’s changed so much since then, that even his best guesses could be completely off. He shakes his head, at a loss. “I can’t remember.”
Sakumo sighs and closes his eyes, rocking back onto his heels.
“My loop was during my mission. You know the one.”
Kakashi feels a familiar weight in his chest.
“We only get one,” Sakumo says. “Each of us only get to use our kekkei genkai once, and that was when I activated mine. On the first loop, my team got captured and I abandoned all of them to complete the mission. It worked, I finished it and went home. Except one of my teammates broke during interrogation and they knew it was Konoha who’d done the deed; they declared war the next morning. All of them were killed. I swore I’d save them, each and every one of them. That was my condition.”
Sakumo laughs, though it’s hollow. “In hindsight, I probably should’ve been more specific. Save my teammates, finish the mission, and stop the enemy from learning which village performed the deed. I wasn’t thinking straight at the time, though. That’s the issue with the loop; it’s not based on logic, it’s based on emotion.”
Kakashi feels sick. The mission that dictated the rest of his father’s life, the one that led the entire village to hate him for years, for all of Kakashi’s childhood, to the point of suicide… was his time loop?
Kakashi was still a baby when his father went on that mission, and for most of his childhood, he was too young to notice or care about the repercussions. Sakumo wasn’t always broken. He used to brush off the hatred, the isolation, the criticism, used to rebuke people with “could you have done better?” He used to handle it all so well. Until the years of isolation wore down on him. He grew his hair out long to try to regain his honor, but no one cared to listen to his silent pleas for forgiveness. Eventually, it broke him.
They ostracized a hero for saving his teammates over completing the mission. Little did they know, he’d completed the mission first, and it ended in disaster.
Kakashi bows his head. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to—“
“I’ve hated you,” Kakashi rushes out, cutting his father off. “I’ve hated you all these years, and I’m sorry.”
Sakumo recoils.
Kakashi keeps going. “I rejected everything you taught me. I only followed the rules, only focused on completing the mission, on doing everything in my power to distance myself from you. It wasn’t until recently that I stopped doing that. I’m so sorry, tou-san. I’ve disappointed you.”
“Kakashi,” Sakumo says softly, his tense shoulders melting. “You could never disappoint me.”
“But I abandoned you. Everything you taught me. I left it all behind.”
Sakumo chuckles, then reaches over Kakashi’s shoulder, pulling a familiar tanto off his back. “No, you didn’t. You’ve still got this.” He rotates the blade around, the metal reflecting white in the moonlight. “You carry this around every day, don’t you?”
Kakashi nods.
“You can’t have hated me that much, then.”
“I—“ Kakashi bows his head and fights to keep the tears at bay.
“I did what I did to protect you. My biggest fear was that my dishonor would leak onto you and cause them to hate you too, just for being my son. I sacrificed myself so you could live free. If living free means abandoning everything I taught you, then that’s okay with me. All I ever wanted was for you to be happy.”
All I ever wanted was my father there, Kakashi thinks, but doesn’t dare say. He will not disrespect Sakumo’s choices with those words.
“I miss you,” he says instead.
Sakumo sets the blade down and pulls him in close, holding him tight against his chest. Kakashi feels himself break, and suddenly, all of the stress, all of the pain, all of the isolation of his loops comes spilling out of him. He cries, tears flooding down his face, though he doesn’t even make a sound.
Sakumo holds him through it.
Eventually, it comes to him. His conditions. He remembers wanting to save Obito, wanting to protect Rin, wanting to fix it all so Minato isn’t disappointed, but he also remembers this: a deep desire to make his father proud.
Is that what he’s been missing all this time? This simple conversation?
“I’m going to try the mission again,” Kakashi vows. “I’ll do it right. I’ll make you proud.”
“I’m always proud of you, Kakashi. No matter what.”
It feels like a weight taken off Kakashi’s chest, like some hidden burden has been lifted from his shoulders in the form of a promise that Kakashi can’t fail him.
“I love you, tou-san.”
“I love you too, Kakashi. Now, go break your loop.”
Kakashi nods and steps back, preparing to end the Edo Tensei ritual. Sakumo smiles at him, and Kakashi can’t help but mirror it.
“Bring me back again when you’re done.”
“I will.”
Kakashi packs for the mission. It’s an old habit by now, having done it so many times before. For the first time in ages, though, he thinks it might actually be his last.
On the way to Kannabi Bridge, Kakashi works up the courage to talk to Obito.
“I’ve been overly-critical to you,” Kakashi says as the two of them walk side-by-side. Rin’s several paces ahead of them, and Minato is taking up the rear. They’ve yet to split up.
Obito’s brows furrow. “Huh?”
Kakashi fiddles with the handle of the hiraishin kunai in his thigh-holster. “I’ve been rude to you over the years. It wasn’t fair to you, and I’m sorry. You’re a good shinobi, though I really do think you should work on your sense of timing.”
Obito looks back at Minato, as though to ask if he’s hearing this too. Minato only shrugs and gestures for Obito to respond.
“Uh… thanks, I guess?” Obito says, floundering. “Where’s this coming from?”
“I’ve had a lot of time to think lately,” Kakashi says with as much nonchalance as he can muster. “You’re a good friend. I want you to know that I do think highly of you, even if it doesn’t always seem like it.”
Obito gapes, completely at a loss for words.
Kakashi walks a little faster and catches up with Rin. He falls into step beside her and immediately notices her cheeky smile.
“You know, when I dreamed of you and Obito being nice to each other, I never imagined you’d initiate it.”
Kakashi rolls his eyes. “I’m not that mean to him.”
“You kind of are.”
He rubs the back of his neck. “I’m not always that mean to him,” he amends.
“Sure.” Rin huffs a laugh. “I’m glad you’re feeling self-reflective. What brought this about?”
Kakashi looks down at the forest floor passing beneath his feet. “I’m a Jounin now. It’s time I grow up. My team matters to me, and I know I’m not the best at acting like it, but I care about you all. I’ll always protect you.”
Rin’s eyes go wide and watery, and she clamps a hand down over her mouth to stifle a sound of surprise.
“We care about you too, Kakashi.” She bumps her shoulder into his. “And don’t forget, we’re a team. We’ll protect you just as much as you’ll protect us.”
He knows. They’ve proven it countless times already. “Thank you, Rin.”
Kakashi leaves a kunai buried in the bough of a tree.
They find Rin as she always is: being held hostage in a cave, surrounded by several enemy shinobi. She’s caught under a genjutsu that has rendered her motionless. He and Obito engage, the two of them working together, fighting through opponent after opponent in their efforts to reach their friend. Kakashi leaps over one guy, slashing his father’s tanto along the man’s neck as he goes, and then rushes towards Rin now that the path is clear. Obito is hot on his heels.
“Kai,” he says, breaking her out of the genjutsu. She blinks to awareness, looking around and finding Kakashi and Obito leaning over her, several enemy shinobi still surrounding them. She smiles at Kakashi, big and watery, and he returns it, patting her head. “Told you.”
“We’ve come to save you!” Obito chirps cheerfully behind him. Kakashi pulls a kunai from his pocket and cuts Rin’s bindings.
Just as Kakashi finishes slicing through the last of the ropes, one of the Earth Nin finishes a jutsu. The ground begins to shake violently and the ceiling of the cave cracks. He knows what to do, having relived this very moment countless times before.
“We have to go,” he says quickly, then grabs both of them and hiraishins to where he left the kunai, taking his two passengers with him.
“What the—“ Obito looks around wildly when they land high up in a tree. “Where—where are we?”
“Hiraishin,” Kakashi explains. “I’ve been learning it. Come on, we have a bridge to destroy.”
“Wait wait wait,” Obito splutters as Kakashi starts walking in the direction of their next target. “What do you mean ‘you’ve been learning hiraishin?’ I want to learn it too!”
“You can learn it next. I’m sure you’re talented enough.”
Obito’s eyes go wide, then narrow. He leans in towards Rin. “He’s being so nice lately. You think he’s feeling okay?”
Rin laughs. “I think he’s feeling fine, Obito. He’s just happy.”
“That’s… weird.”
The three of them reach Kannabi Bridge a few hours later. They fight their way through the shinobi protecting the bridge, place their explosives, and down the entire structure. The shockwave it sends out rattles his bones.
It’s the most satisfying destruction of Kannabi Bridge Kakashi has seen in a long while.
They return home late, but they’re all too keyed up to go to bed immediately. So instead, they celebrate. The successful destruction of the bridge means the end of the war is near, and Team Seven is one of the few shinobi teams to make it all the way through the war with all of their members in tact. They just survived what should have been a mission from hell.
As Obito shows off his sharingan and Rin tells another team about how their mission went, Kakashi hopes, more than he ever has before, that this is his last loop. Not because he wants it to end, but because he wants this timeline to stay.
“So, they told me you know hiraishin now,” Minato says to him, a curious quirk to his brow. “Care to fill me in on when you learned it? It wasn’t from me.”
“Maa…” Kakashi shrugs, feeling a little playful in the glow of the lantern lights and celebratory cheers. “I asked Lord Second for a few tips.”
Minato balks and laughs, throwing his hands into the air. “Fine! Don’t tell me. I should’ve guessed a genius like you would’ve figured it out on your own eventually.”
Kakashi hums. “You should’ve.”
Minato slings an arm around Kakashi’s shoulder. “Your mission today was flawless. I won’t lie, I was worried that you weren’t ready to be a Jounin yet, but you proved me wrong. You took care of your team, and you finished the mission without a hitch. I’m proud of you.”
Kakashi tries not to preen. He really does. But after months of failure after failure, feeling like he actually won, like he did it right, feels good.
“Thank you, Sensei.”
Day 4
When Kakashi wakes up, it’s raining.
He slings his legs over the side of the bed and stares out at the downpour. He can’t remember the last time he saw it rain. It’s a beautiful sight.
He gets up and heads to the bathroom to take a shower. He has a long day ahead of him. For once, he has no idea what awaits him. He knows he’ll spend it with his team, though, and that alone is enough to excite him.