Chapter Text
Naruto was still not used to the fact that he was Hokage in training. That his dream was actually coming true.
He smiled to himself as he strolled the quiet streets of Konoha, having finished all of his reports for Tsunade.
The cool breeze usually carried a sense of calm, but tonight it was different. Naruto felt uneasy. He scratched at his chest, trying to get rid of the growing anxiety.
He turned round the corner leading to Ichiraku’s when he halted abruptly. He knew his favourite ramen shop was closed as it was already late at night, but it was the sight of the familiar figure standing in front of it that stole his breath away.
It was Kakashi.
The man who had disappeared into the shadows of Konoha’s most dangerous and secretive missions, his only explanation at the time being that he needed to do it as his way of dealing with everything.
No matter how much Naruto pleaded for his only sense of stability in his chaotic world not to leave him, Kakashi offered him an apologetic gaze filled with guilt, patted his head, his last words being: “I have to. You’ll understand when you are older, Naruto.”
Well, he was older now. He still did not understand. He still carried a hollow space in his chest which now hurt even more as he stared at his former mentor.
"Sensei?" Naruto's voice cracked slightly as he called out, his heart pounding faster than it had any right to.
Kakashi turned to face him, his face hidden behind the familiar mask and that ever-present, lazy eye. The lanterns from the ramen shop cast a soft glow across his still unruly hair, enhancing its silver glow. His posture was relaxed and arms crossed, but something in his stance suggested that he had been expecting this.
“Naruto,” Kakashi greeted. His tone was steady and almost casual, like he hadn't been gone for half a decade. “It’s good to see you.”
Naruto felt a rush of emotions—relief, happiness, confusion, but most of all… anger. His hands balled into fists as his thoughts raced.
"You've been gone for five years and that’s all you have to say?” Naruto’s voice rose, frustration and hurt spilling out. "You never even wrote a letter to me or Sakura to let us know if you were alive."
Kakashi's expression didn’t change. He let out a small sigh as though Naruto’s outburst was nothing new. "I had my reasons, Naruto. You know how things are with missions. I was needed. It’s not something I could discuss with anyone."
“I am not just anyone!” Naruto shouted, his voice accusatory.
The silence between them was louder than any words and for a moment it seemed as if something flickered in Kakashi’s eye. Guilt? But it was gone in the blink of an eye.
“Of course not. But even then, I couldn’t risk it.” Kakashi quietly confessed.
Naruto was taken aback by the admission. It still did not erase the years of pain, but it comforted him a bit that his sensei did not regard him as everyone else.
“So, what, are you back or just passing by?” Naruto asked, his throat tight.
“I am going to stay for some time. I missed the village. I missed you and Sakura.” Kakashi confessed, his gaze steady.
Naruto’s chest tightened.
“You are the one who made the choice to leave us. You can’t return now and act like everything is the same.” Naruto said, bitterness lacing his words.
Kakashi’s gaze was cool, but not unkind. “I am aware of that and I am not asking for it.”
Naruto swallowed and looked away. “Then what are you asking for?”
There was a pause, filled with so many unspoken things.
“How about I start making up to you? I can buy you ramen tomorrow.”
Naruto huffed. “I am not that easily bought.”
“Didn’t think so. How about I buy you ramen until the end of the month and we’ll see what else I can do.” Kakashi’s voice had a slightly teasing note, but all Naruto could think about was that his sensei would be here for a month. Maybe even more. He didn’t want to have hope, but the flutters blossoming in his stomach told him otherwise.
“Fine. For old time’s sake, I will allow it.” Naruto tried to still act offended, but when he saw the way the corner of Kakashi’s eye twitched in something close to smile he knew that he was not fooling anyone.
“I couldn’t ask for more.” Kakashi said as he began to walk away and raised a hand in a greeting.
Naruto had to fight the urge not to chase after him, afraid that his sensei would disappear again.
But, he promised.
If anything, Kakashi sensei never gave false promises.
It wasn’t enough to make him feel at ease, but it was the beginning.
He exhaled slowly and looked up into the sky.
The void in his chest already seemed to lessen.
༄
True to his word, Kakashi didn’t leave again.
Despite saying so, Naruto was still harbouring that fear that his sensei would be called to another secret mission in the middle of the night and leave due to his duty towards the village, regardless of his promise.
However, two weeks had passed now and Kakashi was still there.
It was unnerving how easily his sensei had slipped back into his life.
They ate ramen together sometimes and sparred occasionally. There weren’t many words exchanged between them, but he had wanted to stay angry at him longer. To somehow punish him. But then Kakashi would correct his footing with a casual touch on his ankle or push him off-balance with a smirk and a well-timed counter and Naruto’s brain would stutter, heat rushing up his spine.
That was another thing which frustrated him. These new things he started noticing about Kakashi and the strange feelings he had regarding these revelations.
At first, it was subtle.
A casual brush of Kakashi’s arm during a training debrief. Nothing unusual, but enough for Naruto to think about it longer than he should have at night in his room.
Then it was him noticing the way Kakashi’s sleeves were always pushed up a bit, revealing the sharp lines of his forearms. Naruto had no idea why the hell he noticed that now, but he did. Once he did, there was no way that image did not stay carved in his mind. Then it was the way his silver strands moved in the wind when they stood on the tower roof. Sometimes, Naruto stared long enough that even Kakashi tilted his head and asked him if he was okay.
Being as smooth as he was, he would always sputter that he was absolutely fine.
Even if the older man suspected it was a lie, he did not call Naruto on it.
It wasn’t just Kakashi’s physical traits that made him feel like he was slowly losing his mind.
It was how his sensei’s voice, low and dry with humour, settled under Naruto’s skin like it always belonged there. It was the realization that Kakashi truly listened to him when he spoke. The way he acknowledged his thoughts like he mattered and it made him warm all over.
How could he not feel weird in Kakashi’s presence with all of these thoughts assaulting him on a daily basis? He had known the man since he was a brat who couldn’t even conjure a decent clone. Now here he was getting flustered whenever Kakashi’s gaze was on him for a beat too long or if the man stood too close to him during mission reviews.
The worst part was that Kakashi didn’t seem affected at all. He was as calm as ever and as if he hadn’t disappeared for five years. He probably still regarded him as a kid.
He had no idea how to handle this new, unexpected situation.
“Naruto, spacing out again?”
He didn’t even realize he had been glaring at the training report for some time now, too lost in thoughts of Kakashi who was now leaning over to point something in the said-report, his eye narrowed, that infuriating smirk playing across his lips as he stared at him. That was also something new, Kakashi pushing down his mask more often, but only in his presence. To Naruto it seemed like a pretty big deal. A sign of trust. Also, was Kakashi even aware how damn handsome he was with the mask not covering most of his face?
Naruto jolted at the closeness and the man’s words, but not before he inhaled his scent, the faint smell of smoke and trees. His breath caught, ears burning.
“Wha—no, I am not!” He got defensive, but Kakashi just hummed. “You have read the same line six times already.”
Naruto groaned and dropped his head to the table. “You are so frustrating.”
“It’s a talent,” Kakashi replied smoothly.
Later, when he was finally alone in his apartment, Naruto ran his hands through his hair as he paced across the room.
“This cannot be happening,” he muttered as he looked up at the ceiling as if he would find an answer there how to tackle this problem.
༄
The hardest to keep his composure was during their sparring sessions. He was sure he failed miserably each time. Like today.
The sun burned low behind the training fields as they moved fast with practiced moves and almost casual familiarity.
Naruto ducked low, sliding beneath Kakashi’s strike. He came up with a palm aimed at Kakashi’s chest, but the man sidestepped and grabbed his wrist.
Their bodies collided. Naruto’s back hit the training post behind him with a thud and Kakashi pressed close to keep him pinned.
“You're still telegraphing your left,” Kakashi murmured.
Naruto’s breath hitched.
They were too close. Kakashi’s hand was still around his wrist, his other palm braced just beside Naruto’s head. His mask was inches from Naruto’s face. It wasn’t just the physical closeness that threw him off. It was the intensity of Kakashi’s gaze, quiet and sharp, like he saw too much.
Naruto’s chest heaved. He could smell smoke and sweat and faint traces of book-paper. His mouth opened, but no words came out.
Kakashi blinked and then stepped back. “You're distracted.”
“No, I’m not!” Naruto blurted, too fast. Too loud.
Kakashi tilted his head. “Then keep your focus. Or next time, you’ll be on your back.”
Naruto turned away quickly, missing the twitch at the corner of Kakashi’s eye. His face burned all the way to his ears.
༄
That night, Naruto couldn’t sleep.
He was sprawled on his bed, one arm flung over his eyes, his mind spinning. He had wrestled demons. He had saved the world. So why the hell was he undone by one man? His sensei, no less?
This was stupid.
This was so stupid.
He rolled over, growling into his pillow. “He still sees me as a kid,” he muttered to himself. “He has to.”
And yet... sometimes, Kakashi looked at him like he didn’t. Like he saw all 21 years of Naruto’s life carved into him. Like he respected him not just as a student, but as an equal.
Maybe it was just him being delusional as he wanted him to.
He groaned and flipped the pillow to the cooler side, trying to ease the frantic thoughts in his head.
༄
Days passed and the feeling only grew heavier. Naruto now knew more than he ever did about Kakashi because he observed him so often. That was why he was now armed with knowledge that his sensei pushed up his hitai-ate when thinking. He had a scar near his collarbone. His eyes crinkled when he was truly amused. He remembered thinking long ago that he wanted to be like Kakashi when he grew up.
Currently, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be him, or be with him.
What complicated things further was Kakashi himself who always seemed unfazed. Naruto couldn’t figure out if the subtle brushes of contact during training were accidental. If the way Kakashi lingered in conversation now was just out of familiarity. Or something else.
It drove him crazy.
He decided one evening to to corner Kakashi and just ask. But when when they were walking side by side under the lanterns and the words were on his tongue, Kakashi turned to him with that usual maddening calmness.
“You’ve been quiet lately. Something on your mind?”
Naruto panicked. “Nope. Just tired.”
Kakashi gave him a slow look. Not judging. Just waiting.
Naruto chickened out and couldn’t say it. Not yet.
༄
Naruto was beginning to hate the sound of silence. Especially Kakashi’s silence.
It used to bring him comfort, the way Kakashi could say so much with just a glance or a quiet nod. But now that Naruto's own head was so loud, the silence between them felt like a wall he couldn’t climb.
Training became a daily battlefield—not just of fists and chakra, but of Naruto’s will to not say something stupid. Or even worse, do something stupid.
Like yesterday. When he had taken a kunai swipe to the ribs because he had been too busy watching the way Kakashi’s shirt clung to his shoulder blades when he moved.
"You're distracted again," Kakashi had said, kneeling beside him with casual concern as he pressed a bandage to Naruto’s side. "Thinking about ramen?"
Naruto had flinched, not from the wound, but from the ridiculous urge to lean into that touch.
“Sure,” he had muttered. “Ramen.”
But it wasn’t ramen.
It was Kakashi. Lately, it was always him. Except now it was becoming dangerous to his physical well-being and not just emotional one.
Kakashi will start to think he is completely incompetent if he doesn’t pay more attention during their sparring sessions.
It was infuriating that Kakashi was never awkward. Never thrown. Never flustered. He was constantly that presence which seemed unshakable.
Did he even notice?
Naruto started watching more closely. The small things. Pauses in conversation. That slight moment when Kakashi’s eye lingered. But each time Naruto thought he caught something, it was gone just as fast. Smoothed over. Buried.
He tried talking to Sakura about it once.
“You ever think someone might not see you the way you see them?” he asked, arms folded behind his head, faking nonchalance.
Sakura raised a brow. “Like romantically?”
Naruto shrugged. “Or... at all.”
She smiled, knowingly. “Naruto, people notice more than you think. Even if they pretend not to.”
He wanted to believe her.
But every time he stood across from Kakashi in the field, fists raised and blood pounding, Naruto felt like he was the only one coming undone.
༄
One night it was just the two of them reviewing the debrief side-by-side in the mission office, stacks of paperwork and ink-stained folders scattered across the desk between them.
Kakashi was reading aloud. His voice was smooth and posture relaxed until Naruto leaned over to grab a stray scroll.
He didn’t think. He just moved not giving it too much thought.
His hand accidentally brushed Kakashi’s thigh.
A fleeting touch.
But Kakashi’s thigh jumped under his hand.
It was subtle, just a stiffening of his back and a sharp inhale. But to Naruto, who had spent the last few weeks cataloging every blink, every breath, every damn shrug, it was deafening.
Naruto froze.
Kakashi’s eye slid sideways toward him. He cleared his throat deliberately and set down the scroll.
“You good?” Naruto asked, trying to keep it casual, though he was hyper-aware of their proximity now. He didn’t move his hand which now rested lightly on Kakashi’s thigh. Not yet.
“Fine,” Kakashi replied.
But his voice was slightly strained.
His posture was still too upright. Controlled in the way that screamed: I noticed. I'm pretending I didn’t.
Naruto pulled his hand back slowly, pulse racing.
Something flickered in Kakashi’s eye. Not anger. Not discomfort. Something else. Caught. Cornered.
He reached for a pen, but fumbled it. The damn thing rolled off the table. Kakashi reached for it quickly and acted like nothing happened.
Naruto wasn’t going to let him off so easily.
“I didn’t know I could surprise you,” Naruto said quietly.
Kakashi looked at him, his composure having returned, but not completely. “You’ve always surprised me.”
It came out before he could stop it.
They both paused. That silence again, but this one felt different. Charged.
Naruto blinked. “Oh?”
Kakashi picked up another scroll, eyes lowered. “You just don’t realize how often.”
And then he stood up, quick and smooth, scroll in hand. “We should finish this later. The Hokage needs my report.”
With that, he left.
Naruto sat there for a full minute after the door closed, staring at the spot Kakashi had been occupying.
He exhaled slowly, a shaky grin forming against his will.
So you’re not made of stone after all.