Chapter Text
Hatake Kakashi didn’t know exactly why he was summoned to the scene. He wasn’t ANBU anymore for kami’s sake. But the undeniable figure of the Hokage stood in the middle of the clearing, his pipe nowhere to be seen. As of yet, Hatake had never ignored his leader’s commands.
Hatake glanced around. He saw an academy teacher, barely recognizable under the blood coating his face; not his own. The only injury he had was that of one kunai shoved into his chest. It had penetrated his chest cavity and struck his heart.
Well placed, Hatake noted with a dry appreciation.
It was tempting to joke. However Hatake hadn’t become a ninja of his rank by being completely socially incompentent. He could at least read the mood of his Hokage. All the same, he didn’t understand why the Hokage would be investigating the death of an academy teacher.
Stepping closer to the village leader he saw that the Third’s form had been blocking a figure from view. On the ground, half curled into a ball, was Uzumaki Naruto. His appearance was only recognizable because of his hair and the bright orange of his trousers, both of which were stained red or brown. The damage done to the body was severe.
His corpse was very still, a trace amount of chakra residue lingering in the core. The boredom and slight irritation at having been woken up so kami-damn early, vanished. What little grief was allowed room in Hatake’s heart burst anew. He pushed it to the side, preferring anger, and then, as one in his field of work must do, detachment and temporary acceptance.
It wasn’t like he had been close to the boy. The argument sounded weak in his mind.
“What happened?”
“Mizuki betrayed his village. Naruto gave his life to stop him.”
Hatake said nothing in response. He had spent many hours guarding the child in his youth. Had demarcated in his mind the similarities between the little Uzumaki and the late Kushina. He’d accepted the boy’s fate, feigned disinterest. It wasn’t like he cared. It wasn’t like he’d devoted at least some of his hopes to the child’s future.
“Maa, but what really happened?” Hatake said softly, kneeling down to look at the boy better.
His eyes were vacant of life, the bright blue reminiscent of his father’s. His body was still pliant, postmortem rigidity not yet having set in. Hatake reached a hand out, fingers barely brushing against a lock of hair. It was soft, like Minato’s.
“It is what the village is going to hear.”
Hatake stood up, trying to shove his emotions back down. It was despicably easy once he turned his head away from the corpse. He met the sorrowful gaze of the Hokage.
“Why am I here?” he asked.
He was useless in this situation. There was nothing he could do; he killed, was trained in proper removal of evidence and the like, not whatever was needed here. The Hokage said nothing for a moment.
Hatake was a little perturbed to see the tears which rose to the man's eyes. But they didn’t fall.
“I had hoped,” he paused, voice overcome with emotion, “that it would be some comfort to the child to have someone here to mourn him.”
Hatake noted the chilling lack of people in the clearing. Aside from the Hokage, who would miss the boy? Surely at least a teacher, but taking in the other dead body, it was likely that no one from the academy would miss his presence, aside from maybe friends? He had no guardian, lived on his own, caused grief for most of the village, even if it wasn’t anything serious.
That left the Hokage, and it seemed Hatake, who hadn’t even formally met the child. And what was his grief but that of the loss of the last gift his sensei and his sensei’s wife had given to the world? He didn’t know Naruto, had never wanted to for the pain it meant in remembering. He couldn’t mourn the way the Hokage would, he didn’t even want to.
Hatake gave a somber nod of his head, turning his eyes back to the body. Not wanting to ponder on the last tragedy of the Yondaime, he turned to analyzing the damage done. The right arm had been broken, the humerus, it had been done early in the fight, the body having time to respond and the area swollen. Numerous cuts, mostly defensive wounds on his arms and legs, were gratuitously spread across the skin.
He didn’t doubt that there were more broken bones, ones which had come later or couldn’t be seen.
His chest was mangled with strikes, plain black t-shirt shredded and mixed with skin. Hate, not aloof and goal-oriented precision, had been the motivation behind the violence. Either that or an academy student had presented a real challenge for the chunin. It was a laughable idea, except, he has the kyuubi in him, it could’ve helped.
Hatake shoved the monstrous thought down. The boy was dead, not only was fear unkind, but it was absolutely unnecessary. He tried to sharpen his focus on analyzing the scene to escape his train of thought.
The rest of the damage was relatively light, at least in comparison to the most likely fatal wound: the cutting of the boy’s throat.
It wasn’t a clean cut, instead ragged, having done damage to much of the surrounding tissue, and it hadn’t hit the main artery, or at least it had just barely nicked it. The boy had probably retaliated and killed his teacher, slowly bleeding out himself, before coming over here and curling up the way he had.
He’d been murdered by a teacher, a teammate, someone who’d sworn their life to protecting him.
The anger was difficult to manage, Hatake stuffed it down again, though it lingered like a thick miasma, his muscles slightly tensed. He let his mind drift, gaze focused solely on the body. The chakra residue shockingly was still present, with normal nin it left within minutes.
Something abnormal then happened. The chakra residue spiked. Just barely, but it was noticeable to Hatake who had been closely watching. The Hokage tensed. He’d seen it too.
It happened again, and again, in time measurements akin to a heart beat. It took a moment, but Kakashi realized that the chakra, though extraordinarily weak, was familiar and was centered on the boy’s heart.
“It can’t be,” the Hokage whispered.
Kakashi blinked, finally placing the familiar chakra. The Kyuubi. It was essentially keeping the boy alive, barely, the chakra residue was the monster saving the boy.
Hatake stood, tensing up. If the beast had escaped-
The boy’s chest began to stir. Tiny, labored breaths began to come from him.
“Get a med-nin, now!”
Hatake acted immediately, jumping away. A team of ANBU were nearby, guardians of the Hokage, and Kakashi passed on the message, he knew that on every team one member was specially trained in medical jutsu in the case that the Hokage was injured. The bear anbu immediately moved, and the rest of them followed.
Hatake returned on the principle of the fact that the Hokage had not dismissed him. In the clearing the bear masked ANBU was attending to the child, hands glowing green. Hatake exchanged a look with the Hokage and received a nod of dismissal.
He left, not sure what to do with what had just happened.
It had been almost four months since the incident with Uzumaki and the teacher, who Hatake had now learned was named Mizuki, and nothing had been said about it anywhere. The Hokage had apparently deemed it something worth covering up. Hatake was inclined to agree with that decision, if a twelve year old who’d failed a basic academy test could steal village secrets then what other security issues did Konoha suffer from. It wasn’t something you wanted broadcasted to neighboring villages or Bingo book nin.
In that time Hatake had been assigned a genin team and given, for the first time since starting the whole teaching debacle several years ago, strict orders to keep them. There was Haruno Sakura, a booksmart civilian born girl, and then the famous last Uchiha, a boy who as far as Hatake could tell was an embittered and emotionally unstable child. There wasn’t a third, merely the promise that if Naruto could recover enough to return to his education and career then the boy would be placed on his team.
Receiving a two man team was unusual, though it wasn’t unheard of. It was made worse by the gaping difference between the Uchiha and the civilian born girl. She was booksmart but lacked any determination, with some imagination she would make a commendable academy teacher, if she ever made it to chunin. The Uchiha had an incredible amount of potential, Hatake saw himself in the boy. It disturbed him, because the child had the personality which made him capable of becoming a monster.
He hated them.
Questions from the genin about the third member of the team were not answered, though Hatake knew who they were and why they weren’t with them.
Uzumaki Naruto would not be joining his team for another month, if of course he was deemed mentally well enough. With the accelerated pace which the Kyuubi was healing the boy at, it was determined that he needed only five months to physically recuperate enough to join his team. Injuries like his would’ve killed a normal person and ruined the career of a regular jounin, in the lucky case where they survived of course.
Hatake didn’t want to consider the mental repercussions.
Today, the fourth day on their pitiful journey toward genin team, the jounin had brought his team to a field just outside the village walls.
The Uchiha was having to spar with Haruno. The boy looked miserable. Hatake noted it with spiteful happiness, the boy needed to learn some patience and the pink haired civilian needed to toughen up, and fast.
He turned his eyes to his book and tried to pick up where he’d gotten lost. It was easy to settle back into Shinshi’s efforts to woo the ever in distress damsel. Minutes had passed when Pakkun came bounding over. He had a scroll in his mouth.
Hatake stared, Pakkun was supposed to be training some young pups at the training ground who needed more practice in the human world.
The children immediately stopped, barely pretending to be busy as they both looked over in interest.
Pakkun dropped the scroll.
“Hokage-sama came, he wanted me to give you this.”
Even on Pakkun’s ever dower face, it was easy to see his curiosity. Hatake wasn’t nice, he merely took the scroll and leveled Pakkun with a dismissing look. The dog shook its head, used to the reticence of his packmate.
Hatake opened the scroll and read it. Rolling it back up he looked over to his students. Neither were doing anything, both looking at him apprehensively, clearly waiting to see what would happen. For a moment he considered bursting their bubble and just forcing them to continue sparring even as he went and did his own thing, in fact, it wouldn’t be difficult to just set up an easy little unnoticeable genjutsu with some wood propped in the tree to make it look like he was there.
Letting out a soft sigh he quickly cut off his train of thought. Responsibilities, responsibilities, he sighed mentally.
“You’re dismissed for the day,” he said, waving at the children before using jutsu to move himself away and out of their sight.
The summons called for him to meet the Hokage at the hospital. He knew what it was about.
Konoha’s hospital was huge, it had been given an ample renovation, and a large, widely accepted tax had helped build and support it. That had been twelve years ago.
Easily maneuvering through the halls with his hands in his pockets and appearing as indifferent as usual, Hatake made his way towards the room.
He stopped outside the door, glancing idly at the room number. He knew it was the correct one, even if he’d never gone inside, he’d spent the first few nights sitting at the window watching the unconscious boy and wondering.
Inside a very awake Naruto was sitting up, the Hokage seated near him, the man’s hat removed and placed on the bedside table.
The Hokage was forming signs for sign language.
“This means water.”
Hatake let the door shut and his nearly silent entrance was broken by the sound. The boy’s head snapped up and bright blue eyes stared blankly at him before dodging over to the Hokage. Naruto was tense and his heartbeat had picked up. The Hokage smiled softly and the child stared at his lap.
“This is your new sensei, Naruto.”
Hatake stood at the foot of the bed and pulled a hand out of his pocket to wave, eye smiling as best as he could and trying not to appear threatening.
Naruto didn’t even look up at him, instead his eyes grew wide with betrayal and he speared the Hokage with a hurt look. The Third’s visage grew sad and his smile faded a little.
“Naruto, you’ve always wanted to be a ninja, I promise Hatake will be a very good teacher.”
The boy made a sign which Hatake recognized as “no”. He made it again, violently, forefinger and middle finger hitting his thumb simultaneously. He repeated the motion, shaking his head “no” as well.
“Ah, well, Naruto, please just think about it. For now, rest.”
Naruto gave a tiny nod of his head, looking away from the man. The Hokage smiled sadly and stood. He walked out of the room, Hatake leaving as well, with Naruto’s blue eyes following them.
They didn’t linger in the hall, the Hokage immediately walking toward an empty room just right next door to Naruto’s. In fact, both of the rooms next to Naruto’s were empty. The jounin was sure he could guess why.
The Hokage turned to Hatake.
“His vocal cords are damaged. He can’t speak above a whisper,” the Hokage let out a sigh, staring out the window, “You see how he is? He doesn’t want to be a ninja anymore.”
Hatake gave a nod of his head, but he didn’t say anything.
“It isn’t an option for him, he is a jinchuuriki, he has to learn how to fight. For the sake of the village and for his own safety. I need you to convince him to become a ninja. He needs to trust you.”
Hatake had no immediate answer. It wasn’t an easy task, or a short one. It was a rather unfair one too, Hatake had neither the knowledge nor the patience for children. Trust was also a dangerous word, he couldn’t trust the kyuubi and therefore couldn’t trust the child. As for the boy trusting him, it seemed too cruel, he’d merely be lying and manipulating the child.
“Hai, Hokage,” he replied quietly.
He didn’t exactly have the ability to refuse.
“Get to know him, do what you have to for him to trust you.”
Hatake gave another nod. As the Hokage stepped past, he patted Hatake’s arm, his grief quite apparent.
“I’m afraid Naruto is not the same, he might never be.”
He probably wasn’t wrong. Not that it was of consequence, the boy now was the only one that mattered. What was lost could be mourned by someone else.
The Hokage walked away and Hatake was left in the hallway. He looked over to the door, considering it. His mission was straightforward enough, he needed to start with getting a feel for the boy’s mental state and what he responded positively to. If Naruto was anything like before, desperate for attention of any kind, then he was bound to react well to positive interactions.
Entering the room with a smile, Hatake seated himself in a chair near the bed. Naruto was already tense. It was unusual, the image clashing with Hatake’s knowledge of the boy. He’d been the ten year old who’d successfully painted the Hokage mountain without anyone noticing for a few good hours and then had crowed about it, even as he’d been punished. An indefatigable prankster, scared of nothing with a perpetual smile on his face.
The thing before him was practically shaking in fear.
“Hello Naruto, I’m Hatake Kakashi, it is very nice to meet you.”
Naruto just stared at him.
“The Hokage told me that you want to be a ninja. I am going to be your teacher.”
Naruto kept staring.
Hatake shifted in his chair and Naruto tensed up. It was quiet in the room for a long while, meanwhile Kakashi had pulled out his book. Naruto kept his eyes on Hatake the entire time, afraid and wary.
After almost an hour, the boy had relaxed slightly, looking at his book about Japanese sign language and taking frequent pauses to glance at Hatake uncertainly.
Naruto was attempting to mimic the sign for “fishing”, but he was struggling.
“You point your fingers outwards,” Hatake said quietly, not looking away from his book.
Naruto jumped, staring over at Hatake. He glanced at the book and then at the man. He slowly retried the sign with Hatake’s suggestion. He looked over one more time at Hatake, blue eyes less scared and now just slightly more curious.
Hatake said nothing and they fell back into silence, Naruto continuing his struggle, this time with finger-spelling the various kanji.
The boy eventually fell asleep. Hatake stood, eyeing his soon to be student and someone he couldn’t help but feel he’d let down. The Sandaime was making a mistake, he couldn’t help the boy. He couldn’t help the traumatized Uchiha, nor protect the soft and unprepared Haruno. He could see his failure already, and he was determined to steel himself against that pain. They were all nothing to him.