Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A distinct numbness gave way to a pull.

The pull felt, in a way, familiar, similar to his Limitless yet also in a way distinctly different. More importantly, the distinct numbness, the feeling brought on by being locked away, placed into some stasis, melted away, his ears hearing it shatter before he found himself ending up somewhere new.

Satoru found himself in a place he knew he couldn’t get to without his Limitless, to which his mind jumped to the familiar pull of his Min-chan’s teleportation technique, remembering the excitement in the child’s sparkling eyes at his attempt at mimicking his good old Uncle Sato’s Limitless technique.

It was genuinely lovely to experience his powers from another person’s perspective, particularly that of a young child. However, he did explain to Min-chan that there was a definite difference between his Limitless technique, only to congratulate a crest fallen child on managing to create something not only better, something that had been thought to be lost.

“I’m so proud to be a member of the Hatake clan in this lifetime instead of a Gojo,” he thought to himself as he said, “Huh. That felt like Min-chan’s…”

He’d been in the cave, surveying the place, taking everything in, Rikugan looking up yet seeing everything, that he was somehow trapped in a cave with three small brats, two of whom stared at him in a wide-eyed manner that disinterested him. At the same time, he was entirely and utterly interested in the child vomiting onto the cave floor that he totally wasn’t trying to give some space to and totally wasn’t trying to ignore the embarrassment of.

Except said child didn’t have the same common decency to give him some personal space, coming flying at him with a kunai in his hand, killing intent clearly there, and a growl that—

“I definitely love being a Hatake,” Gojo cleared in his head, grabbing the child’s wrist as the Hatake baby with his same ability for some strange reason failed to penetrate his Limitless. Only, there was one part he didn’t like. “Eww. Why is it the baby Hatake’s puke got through, of all things?”

One of the other children gasped out, “Who?”

“Haven’t you kids heard of Konoha’s Blue Eyed Demon? Huh. Interesting.” Only, he didn’t have time to think of that at all as Baby Hatake’s own Limitless decided to kick in, throwing them away from each other. He heard the distinct snapping of bones, and not his own, which made him worry about his baby Hatake, but he was determined to claim the poor pup regardless of what anybody said.

But—

“Kid. Your use of Limitless. Ugh.”

“Hatake-san?” The girl tried to be polite, deciding he was the best person to ask questions of, which was rather wise given the hole in the cave ceiling he and baby Hatake had managed with their clash of Limitless.

“Hatake-san?

“Hatake-san? Kakashi’s the only Hatake?”

So now he knew his baby Hatake’s name, but didn’t get a chance to think about that much when there was an obvious enemy outside of the cave that he needed to take care of, so without hesitation, he popped up using his limitless power, and he didn't hesitate.

In his previous life, he held back, but in this life—

In this life, he got to use his powers to protect the things he cared about, shit be damned, and people feared him in a very different way, a way that he’d managed to make a name for himself once he got going as a shinobi, so much so that part of the reason he was sealed away wherever he’d been—

And they definitely recognized him, the Blue-Eyed Demon of Konoha, who was in other nations’ books as “flee on sight,” not that ever did anybody any good, as he took each one out with ease, though—

“A bit rusty,” he said, returning to the children, seeing the boy still on the ground, shaking while the two children stared in awe at the power of the limitless.

Which he used without hesitation to toss the obnoxious little boy who looked to be of the good old stick-in-the-mud Uchih clan up and out of the hole, which resulted in a grumble from the child and some mild cursing while the girl—

He waved, giving her his best disarming smile, and lifted her far more gently, setting her on his shoulder temporarily while he waited for the Uchiha brat to peer down. Then he used Limitless far more gently in a way that resulted in the boy panicking amusingly as he reached out to grab the girl’s hand.

“Rin!” the boy called out, not that Gojo had any plans to remember the girl’s name despite the way she looked down at his baby Hatake in worry, only to nod her head and use the Uchiha brat as a ladder for getting out, leaving the baby Hatake with him, which—

More vomit, with the adorable thing passing out in his arms as he left through the hole in the roof, cradling him. Nor did he expect another kunai to try to breach his Limitless, though he figured the person in question got so close so fast and with such ease—

“Baby Hatake’s got one of Min-chan’s seals on him, but that burst of limitless might has sent Chakra through it, huh?”

“Sensei!” Obito called out.

Min-chan stiffened, then, “Sato-san?”

“Not…”

“Kakashi!”

“Maybe now isn’t the time to tease Min-chan?” Satoru thought to himself, allowing Minato to take his baby Hatake away as he grinned ear to ear. “Well, nice to see you again, too, Min-chan!”

“Sensei,” the little girl said.

Mentally, Satoru frowned. “Right. Min-chan must be these kids' Jonen sensei, but then why wasn’t he with the brats?”

“Everyone grab onto me, so we can get to a safe place to regroup,” Minato said, resulting in the two brats latching onto his sides and Satoru reaching out to grab Minato’s sleeve, resulting in a squack from the Uchiha brat.

They landed in a clearing, near some large rocks, where Minato gently set Kakashi down. “Rin?”

“Got it!” Rin said, using…

One of Satoru’s eyebrows went up. “Oh. So maybe your name is worth remembering. Medical ninjitsu at your young age? Impressive, child. Definitely worthy of my baby Hatake’s team.”

The Uchiha brat, though, was useless, just standing there with his arms crossed, glaring at him.

Satoru decided to glare back, lifting the cloth covering his eyes to do so, which resulted in a very startled gasp.

“Sensei. I’m not sure what…” Then Rin stopped. “Does Sato-san know?”

“What?” Minato asked, then turned. “Sato! What did you do?”

“Our…”

“About Kakashi’s kekkai genkai?”

“His what?” Minato squacked out, and then—

The poor kid, the Hatake bastard, was opening up baby Hatake’s eyes, looking horrified.

“Hey. Didn’t Sa…” Satoru tried asking.

Only, Minato held up his hand. “Not another word, Satoru. You and I? We’ll talk about the state of the Hatake clan later. Got it.”

Which of course didn’t sound good, but then, neither did baby Hatake having a kekkai genkai that was supposed to be so rare that there was no way Sakumo could have known another Hatake child would end up with the kekkai genkai.

“Minato’s eyes show glimmers of it,” Satoru thought to himself. “As do some other pups, but they never awaken the actual thing. Their eyes are just special. Wonder what would have happened had you actually awoken Rikugan. Would they have accepted you as different, born out of wedlock, as you were a child?”

Not that Minato wasn’t accepted, but who his actual parents were—that was kept under lock and key, let it come back to bite the pup later on.

But then maybe—

“Sensei? Who is he?”

“Never mind that,” Gojo said, frowning, asking the question that had really bothered him. “What’s a jonen sensei doing so far away from his baby chicks, Min-chan?”

This earned him a definite glare from Minato, who wasn’t his cute, adorable Min-chan anymore, making Gojo wonder how much time had passed. “These two are Chunnin, and Kakashi is Jonen.”

“How is that any of his business?”

Gojo let out an irritated sound at the Uchiha brat’s word. Rin frowned. “How should we proceed, sensei?”

“It’s for Kakashi to decide when he comes too, Rin.”

“Who cares about a stupid bridge!” the Uchiha brat finally decided to be useful.

Rin frowned, while Minato looked at him. “A stupid bridge? A stupid bridge, our enemies can bring their supplies across, Obito.”

“I don’t think Kakashi should continue,” Rin said, moving to splint his wrist, startling Minato. “So I’ll try to convince him to let you, me, and Obito go there while he stays with Hatake-san.”

Minato didn’t look happy. “What are his injuries?”

“There’s the kekkai genkai,” Rin said. “Bruised ribs and elbow, while his wrist on the other side…” She frowned. “The next best thing to convincing him is making sure it’s properly splinted, because…”

“Stupid Bakaashi.”

“Not nice,” Satoru chirped, hands in pocket, but from the sounds of things and the look on Minato’s face. “Damn, kid is stubborn and will work right through it.” He looked around. “There’s nothing Minato can do as he’s not exactly in charge, the kid is, though if the kid is as overwhelmed by Rikugan and Limitless…”

So he decided. It was a simple matter, given that he knew the lay of the land, could figure out what bridge they were talking about, be there, destroy the bridge, and return before anyone knew.

Except that Minato noticed.

He’d returned in time to hear Rin telling Minato there was a limit to what she could do to heal the boy’s wrist, making Satoru glad he’d gone ahead and finished the mission, because who said finding long-lost Hatake to finish one’s first Jonen mission was against the rules?

And things looked headed in the right direction, only for his baby Hatake to wake up screaming, on top of Minato being distant in a way that made Satoru uncomfortable. The screaming—that was even out of poor little Rin’s depth, but as Minato and Rin both thought—

“The mission…”

“Done and dusted,” because there was absolutely no way he was letting his baby Hatake, the one person within his lifetime to have the same power as he, go and do something stupid, as he knew he himself was prone to do.

The Uchiha brat really didn’t like him, and Minato didn’t like the fact that Satoru took charge, but, “You know I can get there faster than your hi-jindo-sei,” and he left, leaving Minato glaring at the nickname.

Chapter Text

To say the Konoha hospital was in an uproar when he arrived with one Hatake Kakashi would be an understatement.

There had, after all, been absolutely no announcement from the front gates of his arrival with a patient because his Limitless allowed him to bypass the front gates. He didn’t care, cradling Kakashi in his arms. “Yo! I’ve got a baby Hatake here to be admitted.”

And they jumped into high gear as the baby Hatake stirred, and vomited as they shifted the child from his arms onto a gurney, but the number of times the child vomited—Sotaru was alarmed.

He commented on it, intending to tell the staff just how many times the boy had thrown up when Kakashi tried to open his eyes. “Hey? Don’t open your eyes. You’ll—“

There came another scream, and one of the male medical nin came forward as Kakashi passed out, his eyes closing. “What kind of jutsu has been used on his eyes?”

“Jutsu?” Sotaru frowned. “Not a jutsu.” To which the staff looked at him funny. “It’s his kekkai genkai.” He lifted the blindfold. “See?”

Then, one of the female medical nin looked at him, eyes wide. “Wait? You? You’re a Hatake?”

As if being a Hatake was somehow strange, but for some reason, it was. Another male medical nin frowned. “Can’t he turn it off?”

“Yeah, no,” Sotaru said, jamming his hands into his pockets. “Seriously. Don’t base your knowledge of his dojutsu on what you know of others. We have the oldest and most powerful one. Idiots.” Yet a part of him knew, from his own experience as a child, just how confusing his kekkai genkai was for everyone around him, whereas in the Gojo clan, nobody was confused, and everyone feared or saw a tool to be used.

“He’s overstimulated,” the first medical nin said, a frown on his face.

“When is Hatake Kakashi not overstimulated?” the female said. “He’s a known flight risk because of this.” And then there came a pause. “Sorry, but you can’t go any farther than this. You’re not…”

“Family?” Satoru said. “I’m a Hatake.”

“Yes, but…” the woman paused. “You’re not listed and…”

“You might say I’ve been out of the loop,” Satoru said. “Min-chan,” he pointed at Kakashi, “the child’s sensei?” They were pulling the child away. “My last memory of him was him being this age, this size. ‘Kay?”

“Not okay,” he was told. “You’re not related.”

And then Satoru hissed. “I’m staying until the family head gets here, understand?” He followed after, and—

Someone outside the group tried to stop him, only to let out a yelp as they hit Satoru’s limitless.

“Try and remove me.”

“Yes, well,” the first medical intern frowned. “You don’t need to wait until the family head is here.”

“Yes, I…”

“He’s the family head,” the man said. “Hatake Kakashi is the family head.”

Sotaru froze, and they started walking away. But then, “I’m his uncle.”

“Sure,” one of them said, rolling their eyes.

“Sakumo is,” he started saying, correcting himself, swallowing. “Was my older brother.” This made them stiffen. “I bloody hell don’t know what’s happened while I was gone, or why Ji-nii is being a shit head, but I am not losing sight of my nephew, who is a minor, unless he’s taken into emergency surgery by you lot, or the Hokage summons me, though as far as I’m concerned, the Hokage can at this point come to me.”

“Fetch T&I,” one of them muttered.

“You do that,” Satoru said. “Forwarn them they’re dealing with the Blue-Eyed Demon of Konoha, and I’m rather pissed, but it might be better to get the Hokage involved, because I’m not leaving the baby Hatake, got it?”

They relented, because they couldn’t touch him, guiding them both into—

It was a room where the lights were dimmed, and Kakshi was lifted from the gurney onto the bed as they examined him, the medical nin frowning at Kakashi’s wrist as Sakumo sat down. “So?”

“I’m not able to…”

“I’m family,” he insisted.

“Namikaze Minato is listed as his emergency contact.”

“Namikaze Minato is out in the field with his two other students, making his way back here at this moment, their mission otherwise being a success, or so I suspect they’ll report in,” Sakumo said, leaning into his hand, waiting.

Nobody told him anything, as he refused to do so. Not until Minato arrived, telling them it was fine, did the man in front of them reveal himself to be Kakashi’s uncle, the younger brother of Hatake Sakumo. “The Hokaage wants answers?”

“He’ll get answers to where I’ve been later,” Sakumo said, never being one for following the rules. The look on Minato’s face resulted in a huff. “It’s not as if I’m hiding them, though I don’t really have that much of an answer. You could relay someone sealed me up somewhere, place unknown, unremembered if you really wanted.”

Minato sat down instead, head in his hands, hanging low.

“You can’t blame yourself.”

“I wasn’t there, as…”

“You couldn’t have known, Min-chan,” Satamo said, the inclination to ask what happened to Sakumo exactly going out of his head. “Who cares as long as it was an honorable death? Definitely going to kick Ji-nii’s ass though. This shouldn’t have been left to Min-chan.”

He didn’t look anywhere in particular; he didn’t need to, but Minato was—

Minato was taking this rough, but then, “He is Sakumo’s bastard eldest, so of course he’s going to take issue with something happening to the pup. He’s too much like his father in that matter. As for his mother…”

He’d rather not think of how Minato came about, particularly since Jiraiya would throw an absolute fit if he knew. However, part of the reason he didn’t want to was because he’d walked into Sakumo’s room fully aware two people were there despite the blindfold, only for it not to click until he’d turned his head from the book he’d intended on correcting, much to Sakumo’s dismay, to realize both parties were under the shikibuton naked.

“Sakumo married, though? I mean, at least I hope he did.”

“He’s been acting strange?”

“Huh?”

“Kakashi,” Minato said. “Do you think he was acting odd because his body was wanting to wake the Rikugan?”

“Huh. That’s food for thought,” Satoru thought. “And an alarming one, given what that meant for me.”

He waited for Minato to provide him with more information, beyond noting that the whole team had noticed he’d been acting oddly recently, but it never came. And then—

“Baby Hatake’s awake, Min-chan.” He didn’t move, didn’t have to, to see Minato stir from his sleep, tretching, surprised, then fully worried. Still, he stepped in to stop Kakashi from lifting the blindfold the hospital staff had so kindly provided, and for some reason, a mask as well—something to do with preventing overstimulation.

He watched the boy’s body twitch and move, unused to the sensory input of his eyes, even with the blindfold, as he reacted to the two other students who’d come to check in on him, with the Uchiha brat insisting on calling him a fake Hatake.

“Joy. You are a major joy, kid.”

Which alerted Kakashi to that kid’s presence, but Rin? Oh, was that a whole different story?

“Seriously, Uchiha brat. Stop getting pissed off. It’s not Kakashi’s fault you announced yourself; otherwise, he could surprise you with how talented he is by saying both your names.”

Kakashi wasn’t thrilled, though, to learn the man was a Hatake. And the Uchiha brat, of course, had to throw a tantrum over Kakashi getting a kekkai genkai when he’d not awoken the Sharingan.

“What kind of friends do you even have, for…”

Except Rin was okay, because to his amusement, Rin called him out for calling Kakashi baby Hatake, not that he cared what Kakashi thought. Which led to—

“Maybe I shouldn’t have brought Sakumo up,” Satoru said, observing, yet the reaction from Kakashi, the way he worried his lip—something else was off. “It’s almost as if…”

And then he saw the way Kakashi reacted to the third child to show, the way he acted as if they were strangers, but weren’t.

“Oh. Oh, this is a familiar feeling.” Brt Uchiha, of course, couldn’t take a hint, claiming Kakashi’s awakening of a kekkai genkai was unfair in a world where a war was obviously going on, and Satoru decided to distract Kakashi with the fact that sweet little Rin brought a gift.

To which he started playing around, slowly filling Kakashi in on their abilities, such as being able to see Kakashi’s frown under the mask, because the mask did nothing to hide the Chakra running through the body, as well as the positive and negative energies in the world. And Minato helped with a finger test, only for Uchiha brat to claim yet again that it was unfair.

The kid also went off on Kakashi being ungrateful for Rin’s bento, not realizing the thought of food was likely making baby Hatake nauseous. “I really don’t like this kid.”

And—

“Ah. Apparently, that’s the real reason,” Satoru thought to himself, hearing the girl make it clear that her romantic interest was in his sweet little pup and not the annoying Uchiha brat. And so he purposefully dug it in, that Rin liked his Kakashi, and not the Obi-brat as Rin set down the bento, “How sweet of your little girlfriend.”

Which—

He’d not meant to—

Satoru caught the way Kakashi flustered up.

“Oh. So it’s mutual.”

Not that Obi-brat—

Obi-brat insisted they weren’t taking the bait, but—

Oh—

“What’s that?” Satoru became worried, not wanting to believe he heard Kakashi say what he just did, but his rival, the third child, insisted Kakashi wasn’t scum. “Bloody? What’s wrong with the kid?”

So he orchestrated the kids to leave, to get Minato out of the room, and—

Learned that Shi-chan didn’t like sweets. “And that’s going to be a problem with your abilities, kiddo.” But then he wondered if that hadn’t been a problem before, brushing it aside, but he made sure to let it slip how Kakashi was feeling by saying Min-chan would bring back nausea meds.

They left, and Satrou sighed. “This is going to be a pain.”

Chapter Text

“Reincarnation?”

It was a question that had to be asked, and it did catch baby Hatake off guard.

“Ah. Time travel. That must be what you theorized?” Satoru leaned into his hand. “I assure you. It’s a reincarnation, but in your case, you reincarnated into an alternate version of the world you know?”

Which—

That resulted in the child looking at him in horror, making Satoru worried. “Hey?

“How?”

So Satoru went into it, trying to explain as best as possible. Still, at the end of the day, the child calling himself scum confirmed his thoughts, because there existed that self-doubt, that self-hatred, possibly what Minato saw. However, that may have been there all along and was now exasperated by how instantaneous the merger of memories was.

Baby Hatake wanted him gone, and—

Baby Hatake was being evasive.

Satoru didn’t like that.

“Tell me what, kiddo,” Satoru said. “What did Min-chan not tell me that he should have?”

“He killed himself.”

“Wait.” Satoru felt his brain fry. “Sakumo-nii.” He took a deep breath. “Nii-sama would never abandon someone like that.”

Which only upset Kakashi, resulting in him being down on himself, which Satoru wasn’t going to have, only, “I’m the one person he did.”

And it hit home.

It hit home exactly where the root of the small pup’s self-hatred was.

He tried approaching the child, apologizing, only to see how hurt and broken the pup in front of him was. “I’ll try to choose my words more carefully.”

Only to learn Kakaashi wasn’t aware that Ji-nii was his uncle, that the boy only knew him as Jiraiya, the sensei of his sensei, just in time for said sensei to come in the room, becoming downright irate. “What have you been telling him?”

“Some job you’ve been doing!” Satoru hissed.

“I told you. I wasn’t told anything about the Hatake kekkai genkai,” Minaato snapped, setting Kakashi’s medicine down. And things—

They seemed to be going fine, until Satoru brought up, “Lovely girlfriend Shi-chan’s got.” He found himself pointing out as Minato became more irate with him, “It’s not going to be preteen puppy crushing forever, but what, Min-chan, are you going to do when it transfers into roaring teenage hormones?”

Only for Kakashi to remind Sakumo he likely didn’t need a sex talk, though Minato took this as Satoru having crossed a line.

“As if I could have had time to give him the talk while you were gone!” Satoru thought to himself, but then—

Minato wasn’t putting up with him, of him explaining to Kakashi, who was somehow convinced the girl he liked was better off with the guy she didn’t have feelings for, and—

Oh, was Minto mad!

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have said, “I need to have a word with your soon-to-be-dead Uncle Satoru, okay?”

Minato was serious, trying to push past the Limitless to drag him out of the room, with Satoru finally relenting when Minato said they should find somewhere private to speak, to which Minato teleported them to the Hokage summit.

“What the hell are you thinking?”

“Why are you acting like I’ve done something wrong?”

“Kakashi is traumatized enough without you…”

“So? You’re fine taking a traumatized child out on the battlefield, Min-chan?” Satoru spat out. “Where’s your duty as his older brother?”

Minato flinched. Then, “He doesn’t know.”

“What do you mean he doesn’t know?”

“I promised Sakumo.”

“Okay. So not a good topic,” Satoru thought to himself. “And what is this I hear about him killing himself?”

Minato just gave him a blank look.

“Well?”

“You had to. You had to say something to him that brought Sakumo up, didn’t you?”

“It was just about Sakumo not telling either of you! And he didn’t, because he died, and the kid just corrected me!”

“It wasn’t just a correction!” Minato said, to which Satoru rolled his eyes. “Kakashi was only five!”

“And he’s what now?” Satoru said. “The same age you were when we last saw each other?”

Minato’s hands clenched. “I didn’t graduate at age five, did I?” Satoru’s jaw dropped. “And I definitely couldn’t have become Chunnin at age six.”

“Are you sure Sakumo killed himself?” Satoru blurted out, “Fast tracking a kid like this, even if they are a genius, isn’t normal. I can’t think of a parent that would want to let their kid graduate from the academy the same year they started.”

“Don’t,” Minato said, voice straining. “You’ve not been here, Satoru. You’ve absolutely no understanding…”

“I’m here now.”

Minato glared.

“And you’re both stuck with me.”

Minato gritted his teeth, his hands clenched. “If it weren’t for your bloody powers.”

“Which baby Hatake has as well,” Satoru said, then he sighed. “I do need to apologize for something.”

Minato’s eyes blinked. “You didn’t intend to stay away. Not like sensei.”

“Yeah. He,” Satoru took a deep breath. “His broken wrist may have been the result of our Limitless colliding.”

“Wait?” Minato’s eyes widened in horror.

“You need me,” Satoru said. “As much as you both are loath to, because I’m the only one who knows squat about the kekkai genkai.”

“Why would you collide your…”

“I didn’t. Not on purpose,” Satoru said. “Though I had thought about it, the way he tried to kill me when I first appeared, and he saw me was a threat to him and his friends…”

“Wait?” Minato closed his eyes. “Kakashi put comrades first?”

“Why wouldn’t he?”

Minato frowned.

“Earth to Min-chan!” Satoru waved a hand in front of Minato’s face, then—

“Because. It’s what led to Sakumo spiraling.”

“What do you mean?”

“He chose comrades over the mission,” Minato said. “This war?” He sucked in his breath. “The village blames him.”

Satoru frowned. “Why?”

“Because. There’s the mistaken belief that the mission would have stopped the war from coming to us.”

The cogs in Satoru’s brain started going. “You mean there was a leak?”

Minato stared, then. “Yes? I guess?”

“Missions of that caliber would be top secret, so someone had to have leaked the details,” Satoru said.

“It wasn’t his comrades. They sided with the village the moment it was leaked.”

“Ah,” Satoru said. “So those ungrateful bastards decided their own lives, the lives Sakumo saved, were more important than his own? That kind of mission would have failed either way.”

Minato looked out at Konoha. “That’s not how the village sees it, or Kakashi. He’s too young, so it’s understandable, but had the White Fang fallen that day, Konoha would have lost far more moral than learning of a mission where the White Fang was deemed a failure by whoever leaked it.”

“And are you sure?” Satoru said. “That Sakumo killed himself?”

“Please. Stop,” Minato said. “You weren’t there, watching him spiral.”

“Yeah, because I would have knocked sense into anybody bad mouthing my nii-sama,” Satoru said.

“Look,” Minato took a deep breath. “Kakashi? He’s a bit different.”

“A Hatake genius, no?” Satoru smiled. “How’d Jiraiya end up an idiot, I don’t know.”

“Satoru,” Minato said. “Kakashi’s brain works differently.”

“How is that a bad thing?”

“He’s a very black and white way of thinking, for starters. And then there was the issue of over stimulation, which has been present since he was born. But socially, he’s behind his peers, and not just because of what happened to Sakumo.”

Satoru tilted his head. “Like?”

“Like what you were trying to explain to him, asking him if he understood what Rin meant when she told Obito that she liked him, but didn’t like-like him?”

“And?”

“That’s something that goes over his head. Lots of things that don’t go over a normal person’s head, or ours, go right over his. Social cues, social norms. He…”

“Oh. Autism.”

“What?”

“Shi-chan is autistic,” Satoru chirped, putting two and two together with his knowledge from his past life.

“He’s what?”

“You know. Autism,” Satoru said, waving a finger, not really thinking over what he said. “I can deal with that.”

“What is autism?”

“A neurodevelopmental disorder!”

And then—

Minato’s anger flared.

He could tell, because—

Minato’s chakra flared.

“It is not your place,” Minato said firmly. “For you to be diagnosing Kakashi.”

“It’s not a bad thing!”

“Not a bad thing!” Minato said. “This coming from the person who doesn’t hesitate in giving the Hokage the middle finger any time he wants?”

“Oh, come on!” And then—

Satoru frowned, turning, sensing something approaching, and then—

Knuckles cracked, and red hair flew all over the place. “Minato?”

“My beautiful Red Hot-Blooded Habanero!”

Kushina let out an ack as Satoru pulled her into a hug, lifting her, swinging her around, and laughing while Minato looked less than thrilled.

“So!” Satoru chirped. “When do I get to meet my grand-nephews and grand-nieces!”

The redhead pushed away, spitting fire, glaring. “Minato! What is he talking about?”

Satoru’s smile faultered. “Wait? She doesn’t…”

Minato glared. “I promised. I promised Sakumo. I promised both of them. You of all people…”

“So! The Blue-Eyed Demon is back?”

“Oh!” Satoru leaned over, waving. “You think you can now break through Limitless, dear!”

“Can you both stop it!” Minato said, only to hold up his hands as Kushina turned on him. “I should have told you!”

“Told me what!”

“Sakumo and Lady Tsunade are my parents!” Minato blurted out, holding up his hands.

“They…” Kushina paused, blinking. “Wait a sec. You’re a Namikaze.”

“That’s my foster father’s family name,” Minato said. “The man who is the father of my other two half-siblings who are in Suna.”

“You really didn’t think it was a good idea to tell me that our future child might have cousins they might run into and might want to marry without realizing they’re related? That maybe they should know that?”

“Sorry!” Minato said. “I’m sorry. I meant to get around to it! Honest!”

“Like, when?”

“Stay out of this, demon,” Kushina said, frowning. “I know you’ve been busy trying to keep Kakashi on the right track. Speaking of which…”

“Don’t tell him. Either of you,” Minato said.

“Why? Why are you nodding your head?” Sakumo said.

“The uncle who’s been away has no say!” Kushina snapped.

“Hey,” Satoru lifted his blindfold, looking at Minato, who cringed. “You may want to fill your girlfriend, hopefully fiancée, and soon-to-be married in on Kakashi’s current situation.”

“What is he?” Kushina frowned, then, “Your kekkai genkai?”

“Yeah. That,” Minato said. “Apparently, Kakashi has it as well.”

Chapter Text

“Kid?”

Kakashi felt like crying, swallowing as that man, the stranger who claimed to be his uncle, lifted the fork he’d been using to eat Rin’s bento. He’d tried to eat the food, but—

He felt overwhelmed by everything, with nothing having gone to plan since he’d woken up in his eleven-year-old body, quickly discovering that despite his adult memories, his emotional state was that of an eleven-year-old child. He’d also, on planning to die in the cave, had thought he’d done quite well in hiding the fact that he’d been thrown back into the past.

A glance up at Minato, the way Minato’s mouth twisted into a frown, the look of worry he always got when Kakashi pushed himself too much—

“Perhaps I didn’t hide things at all.”

“Kid?” Satoru said, frowning. “You barely ate.”

“I tried,” Kakashi said.

“Satoru, don’t push him,” Minato said, looking tired.

“Hey!” Satoru said, clapping his hands. “Our favorite Red Hot-Blooded Habanero, Shi-chan?”

“Idiot,” Kakashi muttered, glaring at the man, wondering if he had a death wish.

“She said she’d be coming by later!” the man chirped.

Kakashi looked at Minato, frowning. “What did you do?”

He watched Minato stiffen, drawing his breath in.

Kakashi felt his eye twitch. “Are you both trying to get Kushina to kill you?”

“She can’t,” Sakumo said, then pointed a finger at Minato. “And won’t!” Which, Kakashi wasn’t sure he understood the “she can’t” part. “Anyways, maybe you’ll eat a bit more for her then, pup?”

“Maybe,” Kakashi mumbled, the words sticking in his throat. He’d wanted to finish Rin’s bento because she’d gone through so much trouble to make it, only for him not to be able to. Taste was delicate, as Rin knew his peculiarities when it came to food, but the issue was everything else. He let out a whimper. “I want to go home.”

“Oh,” Satoru said, looking excited, while Minato stiffened, frowning.

“Kakashi, you’re still…”

“What’s your room like?” Satoru asked, sitting up straight. “I mean…”

“My apartment, you mean?”

“Not the Hatake compound?”

Kakashi stared at him through the blindfold. “You mean where To-san committed suicide? Are you kidding?”

The man, the stranger, wasn’t happy. “And what, pray tell, do the rest of the Hatake clan think of this?”

—confusion—

Definite confusion.

“What other Hatake?”

“Minato,” the stranger said, punctuating every syllable, glaring at Minato for—

Kakashi watched through his blindfold as Satoru pulled Minato aside.

“What the hell are you doing, Minato?”

“What…”

“How does he not know about the rest of the clan?”

Kakashi frowned, while Minato said, trying to keep his voice low, “It’s complicated.”

He almost hadn’t heard that, but then his hearing—well, a certain uncle hadn’t factored that into things. “What do you mean it’s complicated? Sakumo…”

“You’ve not been here, so you’ve absolutely no idea what happened, and…”

“You need to tell him,” Satoru interrupted. “And not just about this, Min-chan.”

“You can’t be serious,” Minato said.

“Given Kushina agrees with me?” Satoru said. “A rarity.”

“I told you!” Minato said, voice straining. “I promised Sakumo!”

“To hell with Sakumo!” Those words—

Of course, they would perk Kakashi’s interest and start him getting out of the hospital bed on the side closest to the window.

“Don’t say that,” Minato said.

“You know what I mean!” Satpru said. “To hell with the promise, Min-chan.”

Kakashi stiffened, swallowing, and glanced at the window, a feeling of dread settling in the pit of his stomach, but then it began to sink in. “Minato kept things from me?” As for why, “Because of a promise to to-san? Why would…”

“As if you’d even understand,” Minato said, still trying to keep his voice low, sounding nervous, because—

Minato knew Kakashi’s hearing ability, but Kakashi’s eyes were now on the window, his younger self wanting to bolt simply because Minato had kept things. At the same time, Kakashi hated hospitals, and, “Why am I even thinking of me as being different selves?”

“Understand?” Satoru snapped. “That promise you made…”

“Stop,” Minato said, glancing nervously over, even though he couldn’t see Kakashi through the pulled screen, as if he were worried—

“Yup. About me fleeing,” Kakashi thought to himself, eying the drawn blinds and the noise it would make going back up, but lifted lightly—

Kakashi’s eyes blinked, taking in the fact that through the blindfold, he saw everything outside, minus the bright sunlight, though what he saw was very different than a normal vision and—

“I won’t stop,” he heard the stranger say. “That at the end of the day…”

“Satoru, please.”

“Your to-san…”

And those words.

Kakashi dreaded hearing what came out of Satoru’s mouth next.

“Stop!” Minato snapped.

But Satoru didn’t stop. “…was in his right mind…”

“Yup. He’s referring to Sakumo. Meaning…” Kakashi started fiddling with the latch on the window, wanting out, away from that, from that particular unwanted truth that Minato had kept.”

“He might…”

“…when he had you make that promise?”

“…hear you.”

“Out. Now!” Kakashi thought, trying to open the latch without Minato hearing, wanting to get away from the man who—

The man who—

“Who lied to me my entire life. My entire two lives,” Kakashi thought to himself.

He could see Satoru turning his head, as if the man knew what he was doing.

“Of course he can!” Kakashi started to panic, not wanting to face Minato in that moment, not after finding out.

“Yeah, about that,” Satoru said, hiking his thumb towards Kakashi. “Kid definitely heard.”

“W…what?” Minato’s voice filled with panic as Kakashi continued fiddling with the latch.

“Why is he trying to escape through the window?”

“Kakashi!” Minato called out, speeding around the curtain towards him, to stop him.

“Don’t touch me!” Kakashi said, so full of frustration, wishing he wasn’t stuck in his eleven-year-old body again, that he wasn’t emotionally eleven again with all of his adult memories.

“Wait a sec,” Satoru said, grabbing Minato’s arm.

Kakashi didn’t care now if he was heard, and the latch came, and he started fumbling for the windows.

“Let go.”

“You may not want to…”

And then—

The world exploded.

Or more of the window in front of him exploded, and possibly some of the wall as Kakasahi found himself tumbling forward, out the window and onto the ground, hitting hard, because it wasn’t from the first story, and when he looked up—

“What the hell have I done?” Kakashi thought, standing up despite the pain, looking up at the third story where an explosion had definitely occurred, taking out a window and some of the wall.

And he ran.