Chapter 29: Kakashi's Story
"Is he really becoming Lord Jiraiya's student this early?"
Kakashi mused, perched on a tree branch.
In his memory, Naruto didn't officially enter Jiraiya's tutelage until after the second stage of the Chunin Exams.
By that point, Naruto had finished his 'internship' as a ninja. He had done D-rank missions like finding lost cats and cleaning rivers, and he had also survived the mission in the Land of Waves—a C-rank mission in name, but a life-or-death battle against the S-rank rogue nin, Zabuza.
He was nothing like the completely green rookie Naruto was now.
"But... isn't this too fast?" he thought.
According to the original timeline, Naruto was supposed to be on that bridge in the Land of Waves, to see Haku take a fatal blow for Zabuza, to personally experience the cruel reality that "in the shinobi world, death can come at any time."
He was supposed to be in the miasma of the Forest of Death, desperate to protect Sasuke and Sakura, erupting with the Nine-Tails' chakra. It was in that fight against the Oto-nin that he would learn "comrades aren't a burden, but people you protect with all your strength."
But now, it seemed these critical, formative experiences were all about to be rewritten by this premature apprenticeship.
Kakashi remembered on that mission, Naruto staring at Haku's body, his eyes full of confusion and grief, asking, "Why would someone die for a bad guy?" And he himself could only answer, "In the shinobi world, there is no absolute good or evil, only things you want to protect."
It was that conversation that first made Naruto think more deeply about what it meant to be a shinobi.
And in the Forest of Death, Naruto clutching a curse-mark-tortured Sasuke, roaring, "I will never let them take you!"... that desperate resolve was the key step in his growth from a brat to a true shinobi.
If he starts training with Jiraiya now, will he ever get to experience those things?
Jiraiya's strength was undeniable. He could teach Naruto more advanced jutsu, more refined chakra control. But that cruelty, those bonds, the things you can only learn in the crucible of a real battle—you can't teach that with words.
It was like a sapling. It only grows a strong trunk by being battered by storms. Put it in a greenhouse too early, and while it looks protected, it loses the strength to grow deep roots.
But if he didn't let Naruto train... if the timeline was completely disrupted and the enemy attacked early... what would the shinobi world do without its "Child of Prophecy," Naruto, to protect it?
"Kakashi."
A hand, glowing softly, rested on his shoulder.
"Father?" Kakashi turned his head. It was Konoha's White Fang, Sakumo Hatake.
Sakumo Hatake's figure shimmered in the shadows of the tree, like mist about to be scattered by the wind.
"You are always worried about what should be, but you forget that fate is not a fixed path." He gently patted Kakashi's shoulder. "When you chose to break the rules to save your comrades all those years ago, didn't that disrupt the 'original track' of the mission? Do you regret it?"
Kakashi froze, his hand clenching at his side.
The blood and controversy of that day... it all flooded back. But he had never regretted that choice.
Unlike now, where he was caught, afraid of Naruto missing his chance to be forged, and just as afraid of the world falling into crisis.
"Naruto is no greenhouse flower." Sakumo's gaze went past the treetops, toward the training ground. The faint sound of Jiraiya and Naruto bickering could still be heard. "He has carried the weight of the Nine-Tails since birth. He grew up scrapping and crawling in loneliness. The resilience rooted in his bones isn't defined by a few fated battles."
He paused. "Jiraiya training him might make the rain in the Land of Waves or the mist in the Forest of Death fall differently, but the cruelty he needs to learn won't be lessened. The bonds he's meant to carry won't be weaker. Your job isn't to drag him back to the old path. It's to trust him. Just as I trusted you to choose the path of your heart at that crossroads."
The glow faded slightly, and Sakumo's outline began to blur.
He gave Kakashi one last look, his final words as light as a sigh: "Don't use the worries of the future to trap him in the present. Protecting the shinobi world isn't about perfectly recreating a timeline. It's about every shinobi, in the here and now, staying true to their heart."
As he finished, the glowing hand dissipated into the wind.
Kakashi sat on the branch, staring at his now-empty shoulder. His brow slowly unfurrowed.
"Father... was that really you? Or was it just... my future self?"
From the training ground, Naruto's shout of "This is so easy, I'll definitely get it!" drifted over, mixed with Jiraiya's boisterous laughter. The sound made the tension Kakashi had been holding for so long... finally, quietly, release.
"So what if the future is set? Why can't I, Kakashi Hatake, be the protagonist for once?"
"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura's voice came from below the tree. "Are you leaving?"
At some point, she had also arrived at the training ground.
Kakashi looked down and saw the pink-haired girl's worried expression.
He smiled, his eye curving. "Ah. I just remembered I have something to do."
As he prepared to leave, he saw in his peripheral vision, Sasuke hiding behind a more distant tree, his Sharingan locked onto Naruto learning the Summoning Jutsu.
Kakashi's steps faltered, and he turned in a different direction.
The wind in the Konoha graveyard was always cool. Kakashi stood before the Memorial Stone, his fingers gently tracing the familiar names.
"Obito... Rin..." His voice was lost in the wind. "If it were you, what would you do?"
He'd barely spoken the words before he laughed at himself. "Sorry, Obito. Forgot you're still alive. It's just a habit. Haven't broken it yet."
A leaf drifted down, landing in front of the stone. Kakashi suddenly smiled, pulling a brand-new copy of Make-Out Paradise from his pouch and placing it gently at the base of the stone.
"Borrowing this to you. It's the latest volume." His eye curved into a crescent. "I'm going to write my own story now."
As he turned, his peripheral vision seemed to catch a flicker of a black shadow by the stone, but when he looked again, there was nothing but the wind in the grass.
"Yo! Kakashi! Care for a youthful challenge?!"
Kakashi had just left the graveyard when he ran into his eternal rival, Might Guy.
"That time you almost became Hokage, I was depressed for ages! I was afraid I'd never get to challenge you again!"
Kakashi looked at the man in the green jumpsuit, flashing a thumbs-up, and sighed. "Guy, I don't have time right now..."
"Kakashi!" Guy zipped forward, grabbing his shoulders, his eyes brimming with hot tears. "You finally have that look in your eye again! This is how my rival is supposed to look!"
Kakashi sighed. "I'm on my way to the Hokage's office to report on today's training."
"Then let us decide with the speed of youth!" Guy's fighting spirit ignited. "Whoever gets to the Hokage's office first wins! The loser has to walk around Konoha on their hands for a week!"
Before Kakashi could even refuse, Guy was already a green blur. "Burn! My Youth!"