22 Jonin rank Hatake Kakashi
In the office located in the Hogake Tower, Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed lightly.
He had just gotten even more paperwork.
The root cause of the matter was one silver haire anbu. Or ex-anbu. Hatake Kakashi, an A-rank shinobi listed in the bingo books. A fearsome combatant that was responsible for many completed A-rank and S-rank missions.
Known via many names.
Son of the White Fang.
Student of the Yellow Flash.
As well as a moniker he gained in the 3rd Great Ninja War. Kakashi of the Sharingan.
He might actually be the strongest Jonin that the leaf currently has. A prodigious talent that rivaled even the Fourth and the two previous Uchiha talents.
Graduated the academy at 6.
Jonin at 12.
Joined the anbu at 15 and became the anbu captain at 16.
Though for all of these legendary and remarkable feats, the shinobi was filled with many flaws.
To his very core, he was plagued by his own inner demons.
Life of the former anbu was not so kind, as he was plagued by multiple traumas all stemming from the deaths of his loved ones.
Hiruzen sighed as he took out his pipe. He needed a smoke for he had quite a lot of work to do. Especially more so now, since of the scene that just happened minutes ago.
"Hatake Kakashi..."
That man was the cause of his current headache. Of course, Hiruzen didn't hate the man. His headache wasn't because of any ill will towards the silver haired shinobi, but because of how much more work the man unknowingly gave him.
He sighed as he glanced at the stack of papers on his desk before he stood up.
To glance at his window. From his office's window, he could overlook the village. He watched as the citizens busied themselves. Some working, some laughing, some playing or hanging with friends.
"Well... you indeed deserve that as well Kakashi..." Hiruzen mumbled as he smoked out a puff of tabacco.
It has been hard on silver haired shinobi, Hiruzen knew that. After all, most of if not all the man's closest and dearest friends had perished.
Then he took a glance at the wall near him.
Three portraits hung. There, on the wall, hung the giant framed portraits of the three deceased hokage.
The First Hokage, Senju Hashirama. One of his mentors and master. The man he idolized growing up.
The Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama. The person he held great respect for and the person he himself considered his hero. The person that named him hokage and sacrificed his life for he and his allies to escape.
And finally, the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato. Naruto's father and Kakashi's sensei. The hero of the leaf.
"Minato... it seems I really do owe you an apology... I wasn't able to take care of your son nor last remaining student" Hiruzen muttered as he remembered the conversation minutes ago.
"And in the end, I still had to manipulate Kakashi..."
…
…
…
What happened moments earlier…
Hiruzen sat on in his office as he signed some papers that littered his desk. Naruto went to the academy so he reluctantly had to appear in the office with his real body and not a clone.
"Damn you... paperwork..."
He read through different requests from various squads or mission requests, signing ones which he felt were necessary. Though the door opened before a silver haired man appeared.
He was wearing his anbu vest along with the rest except of the mask and sword.
The man though not wearing his porcelain mask, still chose to wear a cloth mask that covered just everything except his eyes. Even then his headband covered one of his eyes making his only other eye, his right eyes.
"Kakashi? What are you doing here, you don't have a shift today?" he asked as the man walked up to him and stopped right in front of his desk.
Putting the porcelain mask on the desk right in front of the hokage before taking the sword and doing the same.
"Hey! You're messing up my paperwork!" Hiruzen said angerly though he wasn't serious about it. He knew of Kakashi's purpose the moment the man entered without his mask.
Then Kakashi took off the anbu vest and put it on the table as well.
"So... this is your decision?" Hiruzen asked as the Kakashi nodded.
"Yes... Lord Hokage. I... no longer wish to continue being in the anbu nor do I have any wish to continue being a shinobi" Kakashi Hatake said.
"What?" Hiruzen said surprised, he thought Kakashi wanted to just leave the anbu, yet the man actually meant he wanted to quit being a shinobi altogether.
"I've thought about it... perhaps being a shinobi, I am not fit to be one" Kakashi stated his opinion.
"Does this have anything to do with yesterday's matter? Uzumaki Naruto, your sensei's son?" Hiruzen spoke as he saw Kakashi tremble slightly.
"...I see, do you perhaps believe that since you could not even protect Uzumaki Naruto, that you can't be a shinobi?"
Hearing that Kakashi was taken aback. The hokage had guessed his thoughts on the matter perfectly.
"Yes Lord hokage."
"I once thought that in order to complete a mission, even leaving behind your comrades, those that slow you down, was needed. But I was wrong" Kakashi explained as Hiruzen nodded.
I can't even protect my loved ones, nor could I protect sensei's son... I was blind and could not even see his harsh treatment with this sharingan of mine... in this state, can I even protect the village?" He asked the elder.
"..." Hiruzen thought about it for a few moments before he smiled.
"Kakashi, you made mistakes... but so what? We're humans aren't we, we all make mistakes... what's important is to make sure we don't make the same mistakes. We could change" Hiruzen said as he stated the exact phrase Naruto used on him.
"What's important is not making those mistakes again, Kakashi. Now that your eyes have been opened, are you still willing to do nothing?" The kage said.
"I..." Kakashi started but had no other words to say. "I'll give it some thought..."
"Then how about just becoming an ordinary jonin? It's not as taxing as being an anbu" Hiruzen said
"How about this, I'll regulate you to the position of Jonin. This way you can have a more relaxed schedule as well as interact with the village more. I've been thinking that... you would be a perfect Jonin to teach Naruto once he graduates" Hiruzen stated as Kakashi widened his eyes.
"Jonin-sensei... me?" Kakashi said shocked.
"Why not, Minato was there for you when you were all alone. Now, it's your turn to do it for his son" Hiruzen said. "I'll give you time to think about it, if you so wish, you can decline. Dismissed"
"I... " Kakashi wanted to say something but ultimately decided against it before bowing. "Yes, Lord Hokage"
...
...
...
Leaving the Hokage's Tower, Kakashi was inevitably going to attract attention.
Without his anbu vest, all he wore was a sleeveless tight fitting shirt. As he walked around, he naturally gained the attention of passing by pedestrian's and citizen's.
Most of these citizen's and pedestrian's lived through Minato's reign, so they obviously knew of Kakashi, Minato's student. As well as some knowledge of the man as he gained such a fearsome Moniker during the last war.
"Huh?"
"Isn't that, Kakashi-sama?!"
"I haven't seen him for years, I thought he died..." Some pedestrians whispered.
"Are you stupid? It's just that Kakashi-sama couldn't bear Minato-sama's death, so he just threw himself into the anbu. My son who's in the same generation as Kakashi-sama told me this" Another person rebuked.
Kakashi of course heard all of this, but didn't care.
He had too much in his thoughts to bother. Until he came across a particular stand as he walked by.
'Isn't that... Jiraiya-sama's...' Kakashi thought as he saw one of Jiraiya's, his sensei's Master's book. He's seen the man writing it once when he came to visit his sensei's house.
Walking up to the stand, he asked the seller "This is Jiraiya-sama's book right?"
"This... Yes, yes it is Kakashi-sama, are you perhaps... interested?" The seller said as he looked side to side. Seeing no women paying attention, he leaned forward and said.
"Kakashi-sama, this is a limited signed edition. The last one in my stock, I can give you a 10% discount, if you want"
Kakashi hearing this furrowed his brows. He only read Jiraiya's "Tales of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja" but still had knowledge of the newer works by Jiraiya. Kushina always complained to his team with how the man always wrote the smut in her and Minato's house.
'I guess, I'll give it a try...' Kakashi nodded as he proceeded to buy the whole volume of books.
After that he sealed it in a scroll and walked away. Though as he walked by a familiar dango shop, he heard a voice call out.
"Oi, Kakashi!" A man in a green spandex sporting a bowl cut yelled.
Inside the Dango shop were a multitude of different people that were his age and people who were in the same class as him. He remembered that most of them came to check up on him once in a while after Minato and Kushina died.
Sighing to himself, he remembered Jiraiya's words from when he once asked about his other three students.
"People need to talk to someone on a daily basis, even if it's just small talk, or their hearts end up sinking into gloom. When you talk to someone, without trying you can feel your bonds with people around you and you remember to be grateful to be alive. That's all part of being human" He remembered Jiraya say.
Putting his hands in his pockets, he shook his head and made his way to the dango shop.
"Troublesome" He spoke under his mask.
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Chapter End
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