Chapter Text
Hatake Kakashi stared long and hard at the scroll in front of him. He stared at it, as if hoping that somehow it would spontaneously combust and he could get out of the headache of paperwork that the thing was threatening to cause him. He couldn't use a jutsu, that was traceable, after all.
Besides, it wasn't really the scroll that was causing issues, it was the four people who'd shown up at the gates, dirty, beaten, and exhausted. Considering who they were, they were immediately rushed to a 'secure' location, where they were questioned exhaustively. The report that had found itself in his hands had jogged a memory, and he'd immediately gone searching through the mission archives.
He remembered this mission. They'd been ambushed by an Iwa patrol that had strayed over the border into Fire. After taking them out, they'd been about to move on, but one of them hadn't been dead yet, and had activated some sort of seal. Kakashi remembered a feeling of floating, and then it had been like they were split in two. Apt, considering the next moment, they were staring at doppelgangers of themselves. There'd been no time to react, as the copies had seemed to vanish into thin air.
Whatever jutsu had been used had left a huge, glowing seal behind. Minato-sensei and others had studied it for the next week that it had remained glowing on the ground before it had vanished into thin air. Sensei had later told them that the seal had basically split the four of them in half, and sent the other versions of themselves into the future. Kakashi hadn't really believed it back then, even with how convinced his sensei was. But a report had been filled out, and kept in the Hokage's office.
Kakashi sighed. His proclivity for avoiding paperwork where and when he could aside, he now had to deal with the aftermath of that twenty two year old mission. It was about time that he went to see them, and he wondered if he should go in his Hokage robes or not. Probably should, even if it was bound to cause a stir. Other than Obito, he wasn't all that sure how the rest would react to his current 'rank'.
He pocketed the scroll, then stood and headed out the window (still refusing to use doors wherever he could), two ANBU following at a respectful, but ready distance. His old team had already been moved from T&I to a secure part of the hospital (since they'd been injured on their mission back then) so that was where he headed. He met Sakura in the lobby, looking frazzled, but adorable, in her white doctor's coat.
"Finally!" she groused when she saw him. "Shishou's been waiting for you to show up for ages."
"Maa, Sakura-chan," he said. "I had to find the mission scroll to match their claims."
Sakura snorted. "I bet it was in a spot you were supposed to go through ages ago, wasn't it?" was her scarily accurate guess. "Whatever. You know where they are, off you go, before shishou realises you're here, and haven't gone up yet."
Kakashi gave her a charming eye smile (which she scoffed at, was he losing his touch?) and headed up to the top floor, where their arrivals from the past awaited him.
…That sounded ominous, and he quickly discarded that notion.
The ANBU guarding the room gave him a quick nod, opening the door for him. Almost immediately he winced, hearing his younger self and a rather ear deafening Obito arguing already, with Rin trying to calm them down. There was a heavy, long suffering sigh that he recognised as sensei's and, sensing the extra chaos that would erupt when he showed his face (figuratively), Kakashi stepped inside.
"Would you two shut up!" an annoyed Tsunade suddenly snapped, then looked up to see her fearless leader (he was never repeating those thoughts out loud in her vicinity ever, or either of her proteges, but especially Sakura) and she scowled.
"About time you showed up!" she snapped. "What the hell took you so long, you brat!?"
"Maa, I had to make sure I found the right report," he said.
"Whatever," Tsunade scoffed, but before anyone else could say anything, there was a cry of outrage.
"What the hell is this!?" Obito all but howled, finger pointed accusingly at him. "Why the hell are you wearing the Hokage robes, you baka!?"
"I wonder…" Kakashi mused, rather enjoying the way Obito went so red at that, though before he could say anything, Kakashi pulled the mission scroll from inside his robes and threw it to his old sensei, who caught it easily.
"What is this?" Minato asked.
"Mission report," Kakashi told him as he unravelled the scroll. "Filed progressively a few months after the 'incident' that brought you here."
"Does it include a way for us to get home?" Rin asked.
Kakashi wasn't too sure how to answer that, but after a sigh from Minato, he didn't have to. "I'm afraid not," he said. "From the looks of it, that jutsu… basically, it 'twinned' us. If we did somehow manage to go back, there would be two of each of us there."
"So… we're stuck here?" Rin asked.
Mini Kakashi, who'd been studiously avoiding looking at his older counterpart since he entered the room, snorted, likely in disbelief. "I don't buy it," he denied.
"Read the report yourself then, if you want," older Kakashi said, and a rather reluctant Minato showed it to his student.
"Where was the report?" Tsunade suddenly asked. "Was it in the 'must read immediately' section of the archives?"
"Yup," Kakashi said.
"That's the shelf you're supposed to go through within a week of taking the Hat," Tsunade remarked rather casually.
"That would be the one," Kakashi agreed.
"Er…," Minato spoke up now. "How long have you been Hokage, Kakashi?"
Kakashi mused thoughtfully. "Oh, about eight months now," he told him.
Everyone in the room gaped at him, except Tsunade, who snorted. "And how long did it take you?" Kakashi asked her.
"…Almost made it to five months," she admitted. "But Shizune finally caught me out on it."
"Sorry to hear that," Kakashi sincerely commiserated.
"So," Minato cleared his throat, interrupting them. "Since this says that we can't, and also didn't, go back, what are you going to do with us?"
"…Probably integrate you into the village," Kakashi said. "Though there are some things we'd have to go through before that happens. There's a lot for you to all catch up on, some of you more than others."
"Are our future selves around here also?" Rin asked.
Kakashi and Tsunade exchanged a look, but before either of them could say anything, there was a soft knock at the door, temporarily putting off that rather nasty subject. "Enter!" Tsunade called, and Sakura stepped in.
"Shishou, sensei," she greeted. "Shikamaru sent a chuunin over to say that the elders want to see you, sensei."
Kakashi groaned. "When?" he asked.
"Right now, I'd guess," Sakura said. "But Shika's message suggested that he knows you'll take longer, so… Oh! And shishou? Shizune's out of surgery finally."
Tsunade nodded. "Alright, I'll head over there now," she said. "Sakura, can you finish up here for me?"
Sakura nodded and Tsunade handed over four charts to her, before abandoning them to the fates. (bit over-dramatic, but who cares?) Kakashi let out a sigh.
"Kakashi- er Hokage-sama, uh, what should we call you?" Minato asked, glancing between the two Kakashi's.
"…Hokage-sama's probably best for the moment," Kakashi said, then turned to Sakura, who was looking over the medical charts. "Did you need me to stay for anything, Sakura?"
Sakura shook her head without looking up. "You can head back," she said. "Just leave the ANBU here, these guys won't be going anywhere until I'm finished with them, anyway."
Kakashi nodded, and was about to leave, but then Rin called out, "Wait! You didn't answer my question."
Kakashi closed his eyes briefly. "Maybe you should just go," Sakura said. "I'll answer any questions they have."
He nodded gratefully and left, taking a route back to his office that would ensure he was at least an hour late.