When Naruto woke up, he felt refreshed, as if yesterday's worries had been left behind.
While he was still under great pressure, he was not living a bad life. Even if he was dancing on the edge of a knife, he had cheat-like abilities, endless resources, and an impressive network of connections.
His romantic debts were many, but none of them could truly bind him. At the end of the day, he was decisive, and what happened between consenting adults was fair game. He gave what he owed.
Except for the sincerity, he had given everything.
While eating breakfast, Naruto sorted through his thoughts and turned his attention to the Land of Wind. The mission involving the Jashin's Followers was nearly complete, and he just three more people.
He planned to try his luck in the Land of Wind, and while he was at it, visit Gaara.
'But three more people… where to find them?'
Even if he was short on 'materials', he wasn't desperate enough to act recklessly. He'd only target those who were useful to him, but had no personal ties, as he'd never harm those close to him.
…
"Kakashi, that… person from yesterday." She wanted to say the blond guy, but she held back. "Uzumaki Naruto… Is he your student?"
The two were walking side by side on the streets of Konoha, and there were only few people early in the morning.
When Kakashi had woken up at dawn, the old man had peeked through the door crack to make sure the person inside was still there, that it wasn't some hallucination, before finally relaxing and pretending to be cool.
Now, he was taking Rin to the Konoha Hospital for a full check-up. Since this was the first time someone was resurrected, Kakashi had no idea what to do. If she was missing something internally, it could cause problems later.
After the examination, there would be an intelligence review to prevent spies. It involved the safety of the village, so these were inevitable. Kakashi had already explained this to Rin.
While Kakashi knew better than anyone that the Nohara Rin in front of him was genuine, the situation was bizarre. Even if he vouched for her unconditionally, the higher-ups would object.
Rin was a Konoha's Shinobi and understood this. While she was a little nervous because she had never experienced it before, Kakashi promised to stay with her the entire time.
How could the Rokudaime Hokage have so much time? What about work?
Naturally, it all got dumped on Shikamaru.
The moment Shikamaru walked into the office, he was greeted by the 'pleasant surprise' of two desks piled high with paperwork.
As Kakashi pondered how to smoothly handle Rin's records, Rin suddenly asked him that question out of the blue.
He looked up, momentarily stunned, "Naruto? Yeah, he is."
After answering, he couldn't help but ask curiously.
"Did he tell you that?"
"No." Rin shook her head, "Yesterday, all three of them called you 'sensei', but the last one's attitude was clearly different. Hmm…"
"He really is... sigh." Kakashi let out a long sigh, too ashamed to even talk about his students.
One had defected from the village to wander the world, another had little sense of belonging to Konoha, and it was already a great blessing that he didn't turn around and become an enemy of the village.
As for Sakura, she was pretty close to Naruto.
'Whatever. As a teacher, I'd already failed spectacularly. Besides, my students were grown now, so their paths were their own to choose.
"You'll need a full physical check-up later. Don't... worry too much. The person in charge is my student." Kakashi scratched his cheek and added.
"A female student, and also a disciple of Tsunade-sama."
"Tsunade-sama?" Rin's eyes widened in surprise, and she turned to look at Kakashi, "Tsunade-sama actually takes disciples now? Back then, there was no chance at all."
"It's something that happened in the last few years, Tsunade-sama returned to the village and took up the position of Hokage…" Kakashi slowly recounted what happened in the past twenty years.
Rin listened intently, marveling at how strange and wondrous time could be. Well, resurrection is not just wondrous, but downright eerie if mishandled.
"To become Tsunade-sama's disciple... that's really impressive." She sighed.
Kakashi glanced at her, thinking to himself, 'Even after twenty years of slumber, Rin was still the same Rin… observant, kind, and sincere, just as she always had been.'
'If it were an ordinary person, they might've blurted out something like, 'To become Tsunade-sama's disciple, how lucky.'.'
But honestly, there'd be nothing wrong with that statement. After all, given Tsunade's power and status, countless young geniuses had begged to be her students with no success. Calling it luck wouldn't be an exaggeration.
But Rin had said Sakura was impressive, not lucky… Such thing just felt nice to hear. What was even rarer was that this wasn't some polished social grace, but simply her nature.
Kakashi remembered that Tsunade had been Rin's idol back in the day, but the war had gotten in the way.
"Yeah, she really is impressive." He echoed, snapping out of his thoughts.
The two chatted idly as they walked, soon arriving at Konoha Hospital just as the sun fully rose. Rin looked up at the building, feeling a sense of unfamiliarity.
"The previous one was demolished and they moved here." Kakashi mentioned offhandedly and looked around, "This way. Follow me inside, no need to wait at the entrance."
Following the staff's directions, Kakashi knocked on Sakura's office door. A response came from inside, but what greeted them was a shock of blond hair peeking through the gap.
Looking at the smiling face that appeared from the crack of the door, Kakashi's eyelid twitched several times.
"Naruto? What are you doing here?"
He'd always suspected there was something unusual about the relationship between these two students, but now he was catching Naruto here first thing in the morning, Kakashi's face darkened, 'This guy really is…'
"Figured you'd come, so I got here early." Naruto didn't bother with the truth, casually pulling the door open.
Inside, Sakura stood neatly dressed, smiling brightly as she greeted him.
"Good morning, Kakashi-sensei."
Then, Sakura's gaze shifted to Rin, her smile turning even sweeter, overflowing with warmth.
"You must be Rin-neechan, right?"
The girl's face flushed at the overly affectionate address. She nodded slightly in response, then lowered her head shyly after glancing at the others.
Kakashi was a little helpless, 'The way she called me 'sensei' made him sound like some old man, while Rin got the sweet 'neechan' treatment. Was she deliberately teasing me?'
Kakashi was almost certain Sakura had learned this act from Naruto, 'That guy was a troublemaker through and through… always scheming and never up to any good.'
"Alright, alright, enough nonsense." Kakashi interrupted them, "We're here on business. Sakura, give Rin a full check-up."
"Understood, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura replied cheerfully.
She'd already heard the gist of the situation from Naruto. In fact, her version was even more detailed than Kakashi's. And aside from Obito's identity, she knew pretty much everything.
"Neechan, come with me this way." Sakura pulled Rin away.
Naruto and Kakashi followed, waiting in the hallway outside the examination room. Kakashi pulled out his Icha Icha Paradise from his pouch, his eyes scanning the pages absently.
"Kakashi-sensei, you read that carefully?" Naruto, who is leaning against the railing, suddenly threw out the random question.
"Huh?" Kakashi had been zoning out.
"It's been ages, and you haven't turned a single page." Naruto pointed at the book with a grin.
Hearing this, Kakashi was speechless and stuffed the book back into his pouch.
"How's it going inside?"
"No idea. If you're that anxious, sensei, you can always go in and check." Naruto smiled.