Chapter Text
The world wobbled, his eye adjusting to working on its own again. The fight was longer than he had predicted, the chakra drain much more serious than it should be for a mission of this calibre. Kakashi could feel his hands shaking, so he tucked them in his pockets. The air that had previously felt comfortably warm was now cold, raising goosebumps along his exposed flesh. Water and sweat dripped from his hair, tricking down his chest to mix with the blood from the hits he took in the fight.
He took a deep breath, trying to lower his heart rate. The adrenaline would only exacerbate the chakra exhaustion. White stars were flickering in his vision, slowly blurring as Kakashi fought to keep his eye open. His hands and face tingled, almost numb, yet little pinpricks of pain flared across his skin. Kakashi stumbled, his body feeling heavier than a sack of rocks. He could feel his legs shaking beneath him, trembling in time with his hands.
‘I should probably sit down’ Kakashi thinks, a moment too late, as his legs finally crumple. He hears a shout as his knees hit the ground, but he’s out before his head meets the dirt.
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He starts to gain awareness slowly, his hearing coming before his vision. Voices are garbled above him, and for a minute it feels as though he was back in Zabuza’s water prison. But after he takes another deep breath, he can distinctly feel hands on his body, supporting his legs and shoulders. His sight comes a moment later, as he slowly blinks his eye open. Faces blur in his vision, splotches of pink, black, and yellow.
“He’s awake!” Someone yells, much too loud for a man barely gaining consciousness. Kakashi groans, his temples pounding in time with his heart. The first symptom of chakra exhaustion for him was always an awful headache.
“Shut up, idiot! You’re too loud,” Another voice chimes in, and Kakashi silently thanks this kind soul.
Another few moments later, and Kakashi’s brain decides to start working. “Sasuke?” He croaks, his throat tight and rough. He hears a ‘hmph’ from above and concludes he guessed right.
His eye swivels, taking in his surroundings. He’s lying on his back, staring up at the trees. Sun trickles through the leaves, painting the ground in shades of gold and brown. It would be quite peaceful if he didn’t have two Genin less than a foot away from his face.
“Where are we?” Was the first of his questions, more politely phrased than some of his other thoughts. The pink blob (who he has now brilliantly deduced is Sakura) sits back, and the yellow smudge (Naruto) follows suit. Sasuke had the decency to give him a few feet of space.
“We’re in the forest, just south of the border to Cloud.” Sakura, ever perceptive, announces. “You lost consciousness around an hour ago, so we’re heading to Tazuna’s house. His daughter and her son live there.”
“How did we get here?” Kakashi asks, an inkling feeling of dread building. The last thing he remembers was the outskirts of the forest, near the lake that Zabuza had initially attacked them by.
“We carried you!” Naruto cheers, still much too loud. “At first it was hard, cuz you’re super tall and your head kept hitting the ground, but we figured it out! An’ we were going to keep carrying you all the way to the cabin but then you woke up.” He sounds almost disappointed, as if lugging around his unconscious teacher was on his bucket list, and Kakashi had ruined the challenge by waking up.
“Great… thanks you guys,” he rasps, pushing himself to his elbows. The world pulses and he shudders, muscles cramping from lack of chakra. He’s still slowly coming back into his body, his arms and legs feel heavy and uncontrolled. A few moments of struggle later, he’s sitting up, resting his head in his knees and taking deep breaths.
“You’re not looking too good, sensei. You aren’t sick, are you?” Naruto’s voice breaks his peaceful silence. Kakashi sees the boys hand going towards his forehead and raises a shaky hand to stop him. He shakes his head, opening his mouth to respond but Sasuke beats him to it.
“No, it’s chakra exhaustion. He went too far in the fight and now his body is paying the price for it.” The raven haired boys voice is tactical and calm, though his signature edge of irritation is missing. If Kakashi didn’t know better he would think that he even heard a hint of concern.
There’s a pause as Naruto takes this in, nodding thoughtfully. The nine-tailed fox had always supplied him with an ample amount of chakra, so he had never experienced chakra exhaustion of that scale.
Kakashi lets his eye fall shut, trying to calm the dizziness. It has the opposite effect, a queasy sort of rocking sensation has him forcing it open again. ‘In through your nose, out through your mouth’ Kakashi chides himself, willing his body to just. stop. shaking. The clearing is silent for a minute, the Genin seemingly unaware of his epic battle to not throw up or pass out.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but chakra exhaustion can be pretty dangerous, right sensei?” The concern in Sakura’s voice is much easier to pick up on than Sasuke’s, and she hovers next to him, green eyes full of worry. Great. Now he was scaring his students.
“It can be, but don’t worry. It’s not that bad.” Kakashi backtracks, his kids had been through enough, and he would hate to only add to their stress.
“You’ve been passed out cold for over an hour and you can barely sit up, I think that qualifies as ‘that bad’.” Sasuke pipes in. Rude but true, and poorly timed. Sasuke had never been the best at reading the room.
Kakashi grits his teeth, feeling his frustration rising. There was no way he was losing an argument with a 13 year old.
“Right, but I’ve dealt with chakra exhaustion plenty of times. I know my limits, and I know whether it’s dangerous or not. This is only mild.” He leaves out the fact that this is only the early stages, and that his condition is definitely going to worsen over the next few days.
Sasuke is about to respond, when Kakashi and his mediocre at best argument are saved by Tazuna’s incredible impatience.
“If you two are done bickering, I’d like to get home now. I don’t know about you, but I don’t enjoy standing around in a forest for hours.” The old man grumps, as if Kakashi’s current state wasn’t caused by the shinobi saving his life. Naruto seems to feel the same way, as he starts on another loud rant about “ungrateful old men”.
Seizing the moment of distraction, Kakashi puts the last of his energy in struggling to his feet. The tree behind him earns its status as an invaluable comrade, holding him up as his legs almost immediately buckle.
The sudden change in altitude makes the ache in his head roar back to life with a vengeance, the world going completely black for a moment. All Kakashi can do is take slow breaths and try to stay upright until his vision returns.
He blinks his eye open for the second time, ignoring his students worried glances and Naruto’s persistent demands that he be carried, and takes a few steps towards the direction Tazuna was heading. His legs tremble, and he staggers, but his new best tree friend keeps him from completely falling. A few steps later, and Kakashi feels almost steady, though he doubts he will be for long. Taking advantage of what he knows is probably the very last of his strength, he follows Tazuna through the forest.
The pace he sets is miserably slow, but he’s walking on his own, albeit with the help of several trees. It takes probably double the time to reach the cabin, but there was no way he was being manhandled by his students when he could still walk.
After what feels like an eternity, a small house comes into view and the bridge builder announces they’ve arrived. The greeting Kakashi gives Tazuna’s daughter probably barely counts as civil, but one good look at his battered, shaking, frame has the woman ushering him towards a spare bedroom. Kakashi gets the guest mattress and his kids are stuck with their bedrolls. He can’t help but smirk at Naruto’s outburst when he realizes only his sensei gets a proper bed.
With as much grace as he could muster, Kakashi collapses onto the bed. Sakura had insisted he take off his sandals and flak jacket to try and minimize the amount of dirt and blood he got on their host’s bed, though they both knew it wouldn’t help much. He scans the room, does a quick headcount, and is almost immediately asleep.
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