Land Of Fire :
Konohagakure no Sato :
Hatake Household :
The September air in Konoha was deceptively peaceful, carrying the scent of pine and charred wood from the evening fires. At the gate of the Hatake estate, Kakashi stood as still as a statue, his lone eye fixed on the aging back of the Third Hokage as he retreated down the street.
It had been twenty-four hours since Team 7's return.
The Third Hokage had visited that evening to deliver the results of the initial interrogations: Zabuza and Haku were clean. They knew nothing of the Sharingan theft. The village would continue its investigation, the Old Man had promised, but Kakashi had tuned him out halfway through.
The words were just noise. The only reality that mattered was the hollow, cold weight behind his forehead protector.
As the Hokage disappeared around the corner, Kakashi turned back into his house. The silence of the empty rooms rushed out to meet him. He didn't turn on the lights. He simply stood in the entryway, the darkness familiar and unkind.
(In the end, I lost the last memento of you,) he thought, his hand twitching toward the fabric covering his left eye. (What would you think, Obito?)
The ghosts of the past—Obito, Rin, Minato-sensei, Kushina-sama—seemed to crowd the hallway, flickering in the corners of his vision. Minutes bled into hours. Kakashi remained a puppet with its strings cut, until a sharp, rhythmic knock broke the spell.
He moved mechanically, his joints stiff, and pulled the door open. He found himself face-to-face with the blonde .
"Ugh, you okay, Sensei? I just came to check up."
Kakashi looked at Naruto. The boy's blue eyes were searching with worry .It was only then that Kakashi realized the sun had fully set; the streetlights were humming with a low, electric buzz.
Naruto watched the man before him. Kakashi looked like a wraith—a man on the precipice of a final, irreversible collapse. Naruto had debated visiting at all, but the memory of the last three days—of Kakashi's hollowed-out expression—had nagged at him.
(I hope he doesn't decide to end it with A Suicide ) Naruto thought grimly
Looking at Kakashi now, Naruto saw a man with nothing left to lose, and that was the most dangerous kind of shinobi. He had prepared speeches, tactical encouragements, and logical breakdowns of why the loss of the eye was a net gain for Kakashi's stamina. But looking at the "Walking Corpse" of the Copy Ninja, the words felt like ash.
"I brought dinner," Naruto said simply, lifting a pair of packed boxes.
Kakashi's eye flickered with a faint, ghostly recognition. He stepped aside, a silent invitation. Naruto gave a quiet greeting as he crossed the threshold, heading straight for the kitchen. He worked with a quietness , setting out bowls and chopsticks. He returned to the table with a large, steaming container.
"Ramen??" Kakashi asked. The scent of the broth—rich, salty, and familiar—tugged at a memory of better days.
"Yup. It's a special Deluxe bowl from Ichiraku. I had Uncle Teuchi put extra pork in too."
Naruto sat opposite his teacher, the steam rising between them like a veil.
"Itadakimasu," Naruto said softly.
"...Itadakimasu," Kakashi echoed.
They ate in a silence that was heavy but no longer suffocating. Naruto matched Kakashi's agonizingly slow pace, watching as the man went through the motions of survival.
When the bowls were empty, the silence returned, thicker than before. Naruto looked at the lethargic man across from him.
(What am I supposed to say?) Naruto wondered. (He's heard every word of encouragement Konoha has to offer over the last decade. And after taking that eye for myself... any attempt at comfort feels like a lie. and disgust )
In the end Naruto decided something after sighing
( Let's give up , Without Sharingan , Kakashi doesn't matter much Anyway )
Without the Mangekyou, the "Copy Ninja" was dead. What remained was just Hatake Kakashi. Not worth the effort and brain-cells.
Naruto's shoulders finally relaxed. He stood up, the chair scraping softly against the floor. "Well then, I will be going."
He offered a short, respectful bow and moved toward the door. Kakashi followed him like a shadow, his movements still mechanical. At the threshold, Naruto paused and looked back over his shoulder.
"Well, you don't need to worry, Sensei," Naruto said, his voice dropping "I will take care of Team 7."
Kakashi stayed silent, watching as the blonde boy vanished into the night.
The moon was high when Kakashi finally found himself standing before the cold granite of the Konoha Cemetery. The wind hissed through the grass, whispering names of the fallen.
The Konoha Cemetery was a place of eternal autumn, where the wind always seemed to carry the scent of dried leaves and forgotten promises. Kakashi stood before the Memorial Stone, his shadow long and jagged under the cold September moon.
"I lost it all," he whispered to the dark. The words felt like a final confession, the sound of a man finally surrendering to the gravity of his own grief.
"No, you have not!"
The voice was like a thunderclap, shattering the gloom of the graveyard. Kakashi turned, his lone eye widening as a familiar, bulky silhouette emerged from the shadows of the ancient cedars.
Might Guy stood there. His usual boisterous grin was absent, replaced by a look of fierce, unwavering Youth . His green jumpsuit was dark in the moonlight, but his spirit was a bonfire that refused to be extinguished by the night.
"A certain blonde student of yours came to find me, Kakashi, Someone you definetly haven't lost , just like your eternal Rival " Guy said, stepping forward until he was at arm's length.
"He seemed to think you needed a reminder that your springtime of youth isn't over—it's just changing seasons."
Kakashi looked at Guy, then back toward the village where Naruto had disappeared earlier that evening. A strange, bitter-sweet warmth began to thaw the ice in his chest.
"Guy..."
"Don't say a word!" Guy struck a pose, his thumb held high, though his eyes remained soft and searching.
"We have a challenge to complete, Rival"
Guy practically dragged Kakashi toward Training Ground Three. However, during the walk, even Guy's usually exuberant mind began to grasp the true depth of the shadows clinging to his friend.
He realized that a sparring match—their usual cure-all—wouldn't save Kakashi tonight. Sparring was for the body; Kakashi's soul was the part that was bleeding.
When they reached the center of the clearing, Guy stood across from his rival.He saw the lethargy in Kakashi's stance, the way his shoulders slumped.
He looked at the man who had lost his father, his teammates, and his sensei—and now, the last physical link to that past.
"Kakashi, my eternal rival," Guy addressed him, his voice uncharacteristically solemn. "Tell me something."
"...."
"I thought you promised to protect your comrades," Guy said, his voice hardening. "Then why are you acting like a ghost over a lost eye?"
"...Guy, that was—"
"Do you think Obito would blame you?" Guy interrupted, stepping into Kakashi's space. "Do you think he would be disappointed that you traded that eye for the safety of your students? For the success of the mission?"
The question hung in the air like a bared blade. Kakashi flinched. "....No. But that eye was the only thing I had left of him."
"Then will you give up on protecting your comrades now that the eye is gone? Was that promise Only there because of that eye " Guy interrupted.
".....No. But without the Sharingan—"
"As expected of my eternal rival!" Guy shouted, his eyes flashing. "Then are you merely disappointed that the memento entrusted to you is gone? Or are you truly telling me you can no longer fulfill your duty?"
Kakashi looked down at his hands. "I am not certain that I can protect them now... not without Obito's help "
"Kakashi, your team needs you! You are their teacher and their Captain! Are you going to live forever in this disappointment?"
"...Guy, you don't understand—"
"In the ninja world," Guy said, quoting the very words Kakashi had once made his creed, " those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum."
Kakashi's head snapped up.
"My rival is Hatake Kakashi," Guy declared, stepping into a combat stance.
"Not 'The Kakashi of the Sharingan.' I remember a genius who graduated at six, became a Chunin at seven, and reached Jonin at twelve. You were Konoha's most youthful genius long before that eye ever touched your socket!"
Kakashi remained silent, the words echoing through the hollow spaces of his mind , the words raining down on him like hammer blows, forging something new out of the wreckage of his pride.
"Don't say a word!" Guy struck his pose again, his thumb high. "The challenge remains! And we do it with the eyes you were born with! "
The rest of the evening was a blur of high-level Taijutsu. Guy pushed Kakashi until his lungs burned and his muscles screamed, leaving no room for gloomy thoughts. For a few hours, there was only the rhythm of the strike and the parry.
Midnight had long passed when Kakashi finally returned to his empty house. The exhaustion of the training had settled into his bones, but his mind was finally clear.
Kakashi moved slowly toward his desk, opening a drawer he hadn't touched . He pulled out the black box Naruto had given him on the road. He opened it, looking at the black-and-silver blade—a specialized kunai/knife/blade, larger than standard, etched with the Hiraishin formula.
(Naruto gave this to me,) Kakashi thought , his fingers tracing the cold metal.
( Did he give it to me as a student honoring a teacher? Or... did he deem me weak?)
He replayed the last two months in his mind. Naruto's stance had never softened; he had remained distant, and a capable subordinate and Nothing more. Only when Kakashi had risked his life in the Wave did the boy's gaze shift.
Then came Naruto's final words from earlier that night:
'I will take care of Team 7.'
Kakashi's mind flickered like lightning. The realization hit him with the force of a physical blow.
(So, he considers me undependable. He thinks I'm pitiful.)
A bitter, self-deprecating laugh escaped from behind Kakashi's mask. To receive the title of "Sensei" only after showing his most pathetic side... it was a sting to his pride he hadn't expected.
Kakashi Considers them his comrades , He even Wanted Naruto to acknowledge Him as his Sensei , so which He can ask for forgiveness over all these years of absence but after Just One mission
( acknowledgment out of pity .... Just What Kind of Sensei Have I become ? )
Kakashi looked at the blade again, then at a photo of Minato Namikaze and their team on his wall
(Minato-sensei... I wanted to be like you. Someone who erases all worries just by being there.)
Kakashi once again lost in memeories , Seconds , Minutes , Hours went by .
Kakashi stood near the window as the first grey light of dawn began to bleed over the horizon. When the first true ray of sun hit him, he straightened his back.
Looking at The Rising Sun , Kakashi Vowed
(A lost eye will not stop me from honoring their sacrifices. It will not stop me from protecting my comrades. And it will certainly not make me weak.)
With a newfound resolve, Kakashi tucked the Hiraishin blade into his pouch. He moved through the house, heading into the basement—
The air was thick with dust and the scent of old steel. Kakashi approached a sealed chest that hadn't been opened in a decade.With a steady hand, he broke the seal.
Inside lay an old, weathered scroll and a Short sword in a simple sheath.
Kakashi picked up the scroll and unrolled it. The kanji at the top seemed to glow in the dim basement light:
[ Hatake Style : WHITE FANG SWORD ART ]
He gripped the hilt of his father's legacy, his single eye burning with a light that hadn't been there for a decade. For the first time in years, Kakashi didn't feel like a borrower of someone else's power.
"Father," Kakashi whispered into the silence. "Give me the strength to protect my comrades... just like you."