Chapter Text
Kakashi was grateful to have Zabuza with him as they made their way back to the Leaf. It wasn’t long before his mask was back in place, although his headband remained straight across his brow. He should have felt at home with the Leaf ANBU, but he didn’t. He was still technically a missing nin, being taken home to face trial for his desertion, at least that’s what he thought.
Itachi blinked when Kakashi asked him about it. “What do you mean desertion? The Hokage sent you on an undercover mission. I delivered the mission details myself. It was top secret, only the Hokage, you, and I knew about it.”
Kakashi stared back at the young man who, just a few weeks ago, had entered his apartment and warned him to flee his home. “Itachi-”
“Your mission was to go undercover as a missing nin. We didn’t want you to be killed, obviously, that’s why we set such a high bounty for you to be returned alive if captured.”
Kakashi cleared his throat, struggling not to be amused by Itachi’s matter of fact delivery, as if this wasn’t entirely contrived. “And my mission was?”
“Top secret, we can’t talk about it even now. But considering everything that’s been revealed since Orochimaru and Zetsu’s captures, plus Obito’s return, we can let people draw their own conclusions.”
“Better let that one go Hatake,” Zabuza chimed in. “Sounds like thinking about it too hard is above your paygrade.”
Kakashi and Itachi both ignored the eavesdropper’s banter. “And the Uchiha clan?” Kakashi touched his closed left eye for emphasis. After the discovery of Danzo’s implants, certain members of the clan would still be less than happy to see Kakashi with Obito’s eye.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Itachi replied, his face becoming grave.
“Will there be a coverup? With what Obito did in the Mist I mean,” Kakashi added. He suddenly felt tired. Obito had nearly destroyed the Mist Village from the inside.
“Considering your relationship with the Mizukage-elect,” Itachi replied, “I think the Mist will forgive the Leaf for what our missing nin did, so long as we punish him accordingly.”
Kakashi blinked. “My relationship?”
Itachi nodded. “Aren’t you and Terumi Mei romantically involved?”
Zabuza snickered.
Kakashi stared, unable to compute this last sentence. Then his cheeks got hot, the cool night contrasting with his maskless face. “What? No, of course not! What made you think we were?”
Itachi stared at Kakashi with his black eyes, as if it were obvious.
Kakashi was at a loss. He looked around and caught Zabuza’s eye. The man wiggled his thin eyebrows at Kakashi suggestively. Kakashi let out an exasperated sigh. Just because he and Mei were both single did not immediately make them an item. He didn’t know anything about her or her dreams besides becoming Mizukage. Still, he wouldn’t mind finding out if the opportunity presented itself.
Kakashi was drawn out of his thoughts when the silence alerted him to Itachi’s continued stare. Had he been daydreaming? Kakashi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “I’m going to bed.”
0000000
It was strange to return to the Leaf Village. He had only been exiled for a handful of weeks, but it was the longest Kakashi had ever been away from home. Once his “secret mission” was known, people would welcome him back with open arms. Until then, the march through the streets toward Hokage Tower looked more like an execution squad than a triumphant return. It was a muted, poignant walk rather than the joyful routine of a mission completed.
It was only Zabuza, Kakashi, Itachi, and Shisui that headed for the tower. The rest of the squad had already peeled away, taking Obito with them via an unseen route. Villagers stopped to point and stare, not only at Kakashi but at Zabuza as well. Anyone wondering about the bounty on the duo, since Kakashi and Zabuza had yet to be formally pardoned, was dissuaded by the Uchiha ANBU flanking them. It was as much for their protection as for show.
The Hokage was not in his office, as it turned out. Itachi and the others were rerouted to the Hokage’s residence in the Uchiha district. More stares and whispers, but nothing Kakashi wasn’t used to from the clan.
As they neared the Uchiha dwelling, Kakashi saw young Sasuke and Naruto, his sensei’s son, playing in the yard. His heart clenched as the blonde fell from a tree. The young boys were attempting to tree-walk with little success. The two stopped what they were doing to watch and follow the procession into the house. Fugaku smiled indulgently at the young boys but just the same, signaled his wife to have them led away. She rose to do so, shooing the boys with her hands.
“Who’s that?” Naruto asked, pointing at Kakashi. Zabuza still proudly wore his Mist Village headband but despite Kakashi’s Leaf Village one, Naruto didn’t recognize the man.
“It’s rude to point, idiot,” Sasuke pushed Naruto’s extended hand down.
Fugaku looked at Kakashi for a moment and smiled. He then turned to Naruto. “He is your brother, Naruto.”
Naruto stopped to blink in confusion. Mikoto looked at her husband in surprise but didn’t say anything. Her black eyes grew damp. Naruto’s confusion turned to melancholy.
Before Naruto could ask, Fugaku smiled. “He is not your brother by blood, but he was very close to your real parents, like a son to them.”
Kakashi struggled to maintain a passive face when Fugaku caught his eye.
Naruto looked up, his interest piqued. “So he’s my brother, like how Sasuke is my brother?”
“Exactly,” Fugaku replied. “I look forward to introducing you. But he’s been away on an important mission, so I have to speak with him first, alright?” He waved with a hand. Mikoto, nearly in tears herself, gestured the boys out of the room.
Naruto nodded, excited to meet someone else who could tell him even more about his parents. It wasn’t the same as having them there, but it was still nice to hear about them.
Kakashi had about had it with being an emotional sponge, constantly filled up and wrung out again, for the last few weeks. He knelt before his Hokage, bowing his head while he collected himself.
“Hatake Kakashi, I assume Itachi has informed you about the termination of your mission?”
Kakashi knew better than to argue. This mission of his seemed more real all the time. It certainly felt more real than his life over the past five weeks. He’d fled his village, befriended three Mist ninja, found out that Obito is alive, the world was saved from the machinations of an Uchiha thought to be long dead, and possibly assisted in overturning leadership in a foreign village. It was all too much. “Yes sir.”
“Then I would appreciate your verbal report later on when we’re in the security of my office. Until then, I’d like to know why Momochi Zabuza is in my house.”
Zabuza grinned, showing off his teeth. He gave a little bow. “I am here as an emissary from the Mist Village, Lord Hokage. Mizukage-elect Terumi Mei sent me to be here in case Hatake Kakashi’s efforts in apprehending Uchiha Obito were not properly acknowledged. That, and to be sure you knew how seriously we in the Mist take this breech in our security. Our confidence in the Leaf’s ability to handle their missing nin, in this peaceful time, has been shaken.”
Kakashi nearly laughed aloud. He had no idea that Zabuza could be so eloquent. He must have been working on that stilted speech the entire trip back. That, and it was simply ridiculous that Zabuza petition for the Leaf to take better responsibility for their missing nin when Zabuza himself had yet to be cleared of his own desertion status. Still, Kakashi remained silent. Now was not the time to undermine his friend’s bluff.
Fugaku smiled a bit, acknowledging the swordsman’s boldness. “I understand your concerns. Please relay to your village’s leadership,” it was too dangerous, politically, for Fugaku to acknowledge anyone as Mizukage at this point. As Mei had said, Yagura may still retain his position as Fourth Mizukage, “that we take Obito’s desertion and subsequent activities very seriously. We frankly thought him to be deceased. He has been listed as such since the last war.”
Zabuza bowed again. “I’ll be happy to relay the Lord Hokage’s message.”
When Zabuza was dismissed, Kakashi couldn’t hold himself back any longer. “Lord Hokage, what will happen to Obito?”
Fugaku frowned deeply. “He will be tried for his crimes, privately. There’s no need to draw any more attention to this than is necessary. His counsel could probably get him a lightened sentence with an insanity plea but that will only be the difference between life imprisonment and execution.”
Kakashi nodded.
“As for you,” Fugaku continued, “we need to discuss the status of your left eye.”
Kakashi felt Itachi stiffen behind him but he ignored the boy’s unease. He was ready with his reply. “The Uchiha clan can have it,” Kakashi replied immediately.
Fugaku was startled. “Are you sure?”
Kakashi nodded. “Obito, the Obito that I knew, wanted me to see the future with his eye. He wanted me to defend the Leaf with it when he couldn’t. He, that Obito, is dead but his ideals are not. If giving up his eye is better for the security of the Leaf, then that is what I will do.” Obito’s eye had been a gift, but also a burden for Kakashi. At this point, his duty was to let it go rather than hang on. He could honor Obito’s, his Obito’s, memory in other ways.
Fugaku nodded. “This certainly makes things easier. And we can get you on an organ donor list so that you may return to active duty as soon as possible. I’m going to need you in the coming months.”
Kakashi couldn’t help it, he felt pride well up within him. He was useful outside of his village, in and of himself, but it was still nice to know that he was wanted and needed at home. He was not simply a tool. He was worth something. His father had thought so, Minato-sensei, Obito, Rin, Itachi, they had all tried to show him. It was about time Kakashi saw it in himself.
“What would you say to an emissary position in the meantime? You seem to have made some friends in high places in the Mist.”
Kakashi struggled to maintain his composure. Was this about Mei again? They were just friends, barely friends really. “It will depend on how the Mist chooses to deal with Lord Yagura, sir.”
“Exactly my point,” the Hokage replied, “you know more about this situation than we’ve known in months. You can provide us with valuable insight.”
Kakashi could feel Itachi laughing at him. It was as if they were trying to pair him and Mei up.
Still, Kakashi didn’t feel disappointed. If he was ordered to get to know Terumi Mei better, well then, that was a burden he would just have to bear. He smirked behind his mask. “I will do whatever the Leaf needs,” Kakashi replied.