Date Written: 7/15/19

Date Posted: 7/15/19

Kakashi slipped out of the hospital early once again. It was rather easy. They apparently had not taken to tying him down yet like in the parallel days of his youth. Oh well, eventually, they will learn.

His teammates were worried about him for all of one afternoon, but he proved he was good to go, and so they began training in earnest. Of course, Obito wanted to learn that cool purple jutsu, but to be honest, as much as Kakashi now liked him, there was a measure of caution in teaching him such a dangerous technique. Did this Obito harbor the same kind of darkness inside? Would all it take was one traumatic incident, which every shinobi is bound to encounter, to send him over the edge?

So Kakashi decided to compromise and simply worked on increasing Obito's control over his lightning affinity. Rin was looking for some training from him too. She liked all the traps he set, and she said it would be a great defense around field medicine sites. He obliged her, and Obito paid attention as well. No prankster could resist traps, after all.

Kakashi himself knew that the thing he needed to work on this most was his physical strength and agility. The speed would come with more sparring. He spent the next month getting him into passable condition, but he needed an edge just like when he was an adult. And there was one ultimate way to accomplish that. People would look at him crazy, but it was better than being looked on as a coward for dropping the shinobi way. So on the thirty-first day:

"Gai! I challenge you!"

A hush fell over the bar. Shinobi in the Leaf village started drinking early. It was only four in the afternoon, but Kakashi recognized a lot of people who would've been his longtime chunin and jonin peers.

Gai silently stood up from where he had been telling Asuma how he so looked forward to being a jonin-sensei, with Asuma reminding him he had to make jonin first.

Then Gai put on a big smile and proclaimed, "I accept your challenge!" Oh how Gai had waited for this day. He remembered asking his father about the boy named Kakashi so long ago. Gai could tell that this was going to be a fearsome ninja. And then he quit, and Gai understood why. But it was so disappointing. He was so sure he found his rival. So what good fortune that his rival had come to him!

Immediately, Kakashi felt a little nervous. Perhaps he bit off more than he could chew. The real reason he had done this was to make up for the way he had treated Gai in their younger days. He felt guilty, especially considering how Gai never took offense, and in the end, they were the closest of friends.

"So what shall it be?" Gai asked. "Since you just started up again, I'll let you choose the challenge!"

"Taijutsu," Kakashi stated grimly.

A bunch of whispers started up among the shinobi crowd. Surely, Kakashi had a few screws loose, they mumbled amongst each other. Either that or a death wish.

If Gai's eyes could've shined brighter, they would've. "Very well, time and place?"

"Training ground 3, nine o'clock in the morning."

"Whoosh! My rival, you are back! I must go home and tell my grandmother." And then Gai zipped off, without saying so much as a goodbye.

Rin happened to be at the bar and so she approached Kakashi. Naturally, she had to ask, "Are you sure about this. You know about his skill."

Kakashi shook his head. "That is exactly why I'm sure. The only way to get better is to push yourself."

Rin's eyes fell, and Kakashi immediately sensed the problem. "That doesn't mean you have to have a bunch of deathmatches," he told her. "I once knew a kid who stumbled his way to greatness, just because he never gave up."

Kakashi frowned. "Not saying that you are stumbling, Rin, just that, you should definitely have it in the bag."

Rin smiled. "Thanks, Kakashi."

The fight was attended by the largest crowd of people since Itachi faced off against Shisui in a practice match. At almost the very beginning of the fight, Minato even showed up, along with a grumpy Tsunade, complaining about men and their macho stupidity.

Gai and Kakashi faced each other twenty paces apart. Kurenai offered to be the match referee, and so she stood in the middle, prepared to blow the whistle.

"Alright," she said. "I want a good clean fight. Taijutsu only. Ready? Go!" And then she booked it out of there was fast as she could.

Both Kakashi and Gai decided on an early strike approach and so before the audience could blink they were exchanging blows in the center of the field. A lot of people lost their money after the first minute when Kakashi did not go immediately down. Occasionally, it even looked like Kakashi was winning. But then it was clear who was beginning to tire. Kakashi winced at a fist which landed near his kidney, and he wasn't afraid to admit, he totally skedaddled a foot which was coming for his collar bone.

I can't keep this up much longer, he admitted. In the beginning Gai had been testing the waters, but apparently Kakashi had met his standards. Now Gai was going all out.

But there was one way. Chakra could be converted to energy, so that left the only question, where would he find a bunch more chakra?

"Kaimon!"

Instantly, Kakashi's body was refilled with energy and his movements increased twofold.

The audience collectively gasped, while Gai looked on in shock. That shock was quickly replaced by determination however, and he too, shouted, "Kaimon!"

Then the real fight began, the tempo having increased dramatically. You could hear the sound of their fists it seemed over a kilometer away.

Very soon, Kakashi found himself losing steam, and so he did the only logical thing. He upped the ante. "Kyumon!"

"Kyumon!" Gai echoed. Then he proceeded to fight off a ballistic Kakashi. This was even better then he could've imagined. Another opponent to go this all out on. Truly, he had chosen the perfect rival.

Kakashi on the other hand, was not having so much fun anymore. His muscles were beginning to hurt, and he could feel that he was putting too much strain on his bones. He had only ever practiced the first gate consistently, and only when he had some privacy. Two gates was pushing it, but at the moment, that didn't matter, because his competitive nature was beginning to take over.

"Seimon!" he cried.

Unfortunately, Gai redefined the ante when he simply skipped to the fourth gate, bypassing the gate of life entirely. "Shomon!"

The fight did not last long after that. Kakashi, knowing when he was outmatched, deferred the victory to Gai. A crowd of shinobi swarmed them both, saying how that was the most awesome match they've ever experienced. Kakashi could even see some respect in a few ninjas' eyes that once held only contempt for him.

He and Gai went to shake hands when both of them started cramping tremendously, falling to their butts and massaging their muscles for dear life.

Tsunade from her perch above the field in the lookout tower, simply sighed. She would have to give a stern talking to that boy. He was finding himself in the hospital too much.

"Three gates, huh," Tsunade remarked to Minato as that sat in her office, discussing the latest events. "I mean, I always knew that boy Gai was a nut, but Kakashi too?"

Minato shook his head. "Gai says he didn't show him. He couldn't have been self-taught, could he?"

Tsunade smirked. "The answer to that is a resounding 'no.' An amateur using one gate would be enough to shred most of their muscles, let alone three. Kakashi in there, is mostly okay, just strained. He did it efficiently, which is the strangest part."

"Who could've been teaching Kakashi all this advanced stuff? I mean, never before seen jutsu's, the eight gates, what surprise is he going to throw at me next? And if he could've done this stuff the whole time, how did he let that Iwa team take him?"

"Well," Tsunade shrugged, while lighting up a cigar, "Why don't you just ask him?"

Minato nodded. But it was a conversation he was not looking forward to. He had tried to impress upon Kakashi that he understood and that it didn't matter since the day he chose to become a civilian. He was one of the only ones there for Kakashi. And now to begin suspecting him of something? How would that affect him?

In the end, Minato chickened out. He figured he would just let time tell. And maybe even, Kakashi would open up on his own. He let the team go on a few real missions B-ranked missions, usually just to help fortify one of the "hot" border stations. They completed quite a few C-ranks within at the next village over. Obito was flying high, but you could tell he wanted more. Unfortunately, Minato feared that soon there would indeed be more.

"Jiraiya, so glad to see you back."

"Happy to be back, my friend. I bring good news and I bring terrible news."

Minato sighed and leaned back in his Hokage chair. "Let's start with the good news."

"It turns out Iwa has no real plans of antagonizing us. They're still weak from the war, and they're not about to let their bitterness against you outweigh the wisdom of rebuilding their strength. Their academy is still thirty-three percent down. They know they are in no position to make a move. So Kakashi, given his displayed abilities, should be safe for now. However, that leads to the problem. Iwa is weak. Kumagokure is weak. Heck, even though Suno is supposed be our allies, there's rumours over there."

"Rumors of what?" Minato frowned.

Jiraiya leaned forward. "They are all united by one fact: Kono is not weak. They feel vulnerable. Even though we haven't made a single move to suggest it, they fear the possibility of us completely dominating the shinobi world."

Minato shoved his papers forward. "Bull-"

"You have to think about it, Minato. You were the deadliest ninja in the third shinobi war by three whole fractions. And then Kono made you Hokage. What kind of message do you think that sent? Then there's the so-called Sannin and the nine-tails. We tried to spread the rumor that the Sarutobi was in no condition to fight, that he was too old. But Onoki is not stupid. He makes sure to mention to the others just what kind of fighting shape the God of Shinobi is in. Plus, there's Itachi who's made a name for himself. And people still remember Shisui. And if you think those two "freaks," Kakashi and Gai, as I already heard them described by their fellow village shinobi, will stay a secret for long, you're sadly mistaken."

Minato growled, "What am I supposed to do? Step down? Is that it?" He was being sarcastic, but then the more he thought about it the better the idea sounded. "I personally killed Danzo. You think that would've been enough to show everyone we're not about to be a bunch of warhawks."

"Unfortunately," Jiraiya replied soberly. "In this matter, the threat of Danzo's shenanigans would've helped."

"I am not about to artificially hamstring my own forces just to make a bunch of people feel safer in their beds at night."

"No, and I am not suggesting that. But while Danzo went about it in the wrong way, he had the right idea. In the end, we are just an individual threat. His root tried to make sure that the villages were always divided. The philosophy being, if a war broke out it would be everyone for themselves, and no one wants that. What we need is a indissoluble ally. And I know who just might fit the bill."

Minato looked somberly at the team he had gathered. He had argued against himself for days, but in the end, the shinobi in question had improved drastically. They were the best fit for the job, and there was not a legitimate reason to exclude them. Sometimes, he hated being Hokage. Sending people you care about on dangerous missions daily took a chunk out of your soul.

"Welcome to your first debriefing. This will be the most classified missions of your life. And time may tell, your most important." He surveyed the young pupils around him. Rin was the only normal one, standing at attention, a professional look on her face. Itachi was expressionless as usual, his eyes as dead as they've ever been. Obito was practically jumping out of his pants. And Kakashi was staring out the window, hardly paying attention to him.

He sighed internally. The village sure had a talent for finding the weird ones. But he couldn't talk, he reminded himself.

"In two weeks, you will be departing to the Land of Rain. Yes, that Land of Rain, home of the Salamander." He felt a little better when everyone seemed to give a reaction at that piece of news. You won't be going alone," and it seemed they all gave a sigh of relief. Orochimaru will be accompanying you, although you will rarely see him." Suddenly, they were all tense again. Even the mention of his name had that effect on people.

"Your mission will be to secure the hand of friendship from the resistance leader, a young shinobi like yourselves named Yahiko." This might be the biggest gamble in history, he thought. Because if in the end Yahiko succumbed to Hanzo's regime, it'd be an open buffet on the Leaf. But he trusted in Jiraiya's instincts, although Jiraiya wouldn't say what made him so confident. He said Itachi would surely recognize it when he saw it.

"As a result a couple of you will be undergoing deep cover training for the next twelve days, Rin and Obito. Kakashi and Itachi, you will simply undergo a refresher, since you both have experience in these sort of things. After that, for the next eleven days, you will undergo training by the ANBU commander herself. I expect the both of you to come out of the training twice as good as you are now."

Kakashi and Itachi glanced at each other. They hadn't said a word since the training exercise. Kakashi didn't know whether there was a tension or whether the two of them just didn't have anything to talk about.

"Alright, enjoy yourselves tonight, my friends. Because tomorrow, the work begins."

THNKS 4 READING.

It'll probably be another week before I update. I want to catch up on some reading.