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It was no secret that underneath that mask, Hatake Kakashi looked exactly like his dad.
The face, the eyes, the jawline, everything was his dad. Even his negligence to self-preservation came from his dad's side of the family. Therefore, Kakashi spent most of his early life in his shadow, yearning to make a name for himself.
He achieved, became Rokudaime of the village he cherished the most, had three beautifully groomed half-his-students, an alive Eternal Rival and lived in a finally achieved peacetime. But something was missing.
After using Kamui so 18 times in the war, Kakashi sort of understood the working of it. After retirement, he played around with seals, different equations, factors and finally created a space time seal that was a cross of his sensei's Hiraishin and Obito's Kamui.
(Kamui was never his to begin with.)
After unfortunately passing away after Isshiki's awakening, Kakashi woke up. He was in his old house, with the Kamuihiraishin fading away from his wrist. Walking through the streets he saw ghosts of the dead wandering through the marketplace, going about their daily routine. Ghosts bowing to him as 'Hatake-sama'. Seems like ghosts needed to be remined to that he did not need -sama.
(They were ghosts, weren't they?)
But Kakashi couldn't find his dad in the mix. He was pretty sure they looked like twins now. But instead, Kakashi found love, surprisingly. She was a beauty, and perhaps his dad could wait for another time.
Kakashi put on his shinobi tactics and created a fake personality, no way some pretty girl would fall for a monster like him. He even lost his mask.
And it was worth it.
A beautiful wedding later, a son was welcomed into his home. But fate seemed follow him here to. A week later, the death of the Hatake Matriarch roamed the streets. Devastated, Kakashi raised his son alone, like he would be for the rest of his life.
Missions. Kakashi loved to be back on missions. Out of shape from sitting in that cushiony seat for so long, but he still completed his missions. He took them ruthlessly, because ghosts were now invading into his space. His team. So something went wrong. Of course. Another trait he shared with his father.
People avoided him, the betrayer of the village, but he didn't care, he knew who he was.
(Did he?)
But it was the ghosts he couldn't stand, he would sometimes see a blue clad goggled boy or a brunette with purple stripes, or an enthusiastic blonde, a pervert in the bathhouse. They wouldn't leave him alone here too, huh?
He became more and more similar to his dad, detaching himself from his son, the outside world, not because of guilt, but because he was tired. Tired of looking and staying with ghosts. Could he leave? Leave this sort-of-but-not paradise?
A few days after his son graduated the academy, Hatake Sakumo was found dead in his home, from a self inflicted wound. A wound to finally get away from this land of ghosts.
A few days after graduation, Sakumo's son began his journey of eternal suffering.
Everybody knew that under the mask, Hatake Kakashi was like his dad.
But no one knew how alike they were.