Prologue

While a man is the master of his fate, no doubt, there is still a fate which cannot be denied. Humans make choices all the time, but there are only so many things they can choose from. We may choose what we grow up into but we don't who we are born to. We may choose who we love but we do not choose who we meet and in what circumstance. If only Romeo had seen Juliet picking her nose as she gnawed at a chicken bone rather than across the hall - well the Montagues and the Capulets may have met their ends differently (since of course there can be no denying Death).

God (or more aptly Creator) has His own agenda and we must not be too harsh if for His agenda some of our fates seem illogical. There are many universes to correct such anomalies and in each the Creators differ - either in mind and body or in their agenda.

Hatake Kakashi was part of one such universe. Of course he was part of many others - but our particular Kakashi doesn't know that.

Kakashi is most famous for inhabiting the universe known as Narutoverse - a name that signifies the agenda of The Creator. The Creator owns Kakashi (and all other members of Narutoverse) in any other universe as well, but minions make changes of their own, they drive their own agenda - infusing their own limited intelligence. They are less pressed to have a plot, a message - they twist and contort the characters for their own amusement.

In our universe, Hatake Kakashi leads a life of lesser neglect - the minions maintaining this universe seem to love him a little more. They also dislike plot-holes, even though they can't cover them all.

Part 1: Inheritance

Hatake Sakumo had lived a famous life. He had been regarded on par with the Sannin and was a notoriously dreaded name in the shinobi world. Of course he decided to live his life by his nindou and paid for it by getting ostracized and ridiculed and being eventually pushed to suicide but that did nothing to lessen his skill or power.

Young Kakashi may not have understood it, but his father loved him with all his heart. He gave him his tantou - and along with it all the power he had acquired. Shiroi Kiba, the man, may have died but Shiroi Kiba, the power was passed on. Kakashi would learn to wield it with proficiency over the years, the sealed knowledge of Sakumo Hatake's powers projected into his conscious when he needed it or was ready for it. It was an inheritance of love and duty - the village and his son may have failed Sakumo - but he had loved them no less. He would not fade into oblivion - he would pass on his powers to the most worthy inheritor of his Will of Fire.

Many years later, when an enraged Kakashi slashed the blade to avenge his dying friend, it did not shatter like the ice in his heart. It cut clean through, like the newly ignited fire in his spirit - the piercing, white hot flame that reminded him of why he had loved a great great man and why he would forever love a great great boy. He had found his nindou again and the blade's power had magnified manifold. Shiroi Kiba was reborn.

Part 2: Tuition

Minato came to know, once he had taken the boy under his wing, that if there was one fault to Kakashi, it was his dutifulness, his loyalty. It was a virtue alright, encouraged by society and peers for it benefited them. But in Kakashi and for Kakashi it would be forever his fault. If only, he had been a little selfish, he may have lived a happy life.

The boy was a genius alright. He had plentiful chakra - he had to. He had made Chunin at six and that clearly implied that his Chakra reserves at six were more than the many of the opponents he faced. But it was not just his Chakra. He had tremendous grasping power, able to comprehend the most complex of things and internalize them faster than anyone Minato had ever known. The boy also had ingenuity, adapting and improvising in the most difficult of circumstances. He had seen him create new techniques, combine old ones to expand their scope and power and master difficult imperfections all in the middle of battle. To cap it off, he was incredibly battle-hungry, reckless even at times. Always in the front and in your face kind of fighter, tenacious and attacking, never one to back down.

He was a gifted student and Minato was quite fond of him. Kakashi was walking a lonely path no doubt but Minato was sure his conscience was pure. The boy would forever defend those who mattered - Kakashi may not know it but Minato did. So Minato taught him his most precious technique - the Hiraishin no Jutsu. He had to pass on his skills to someone capable, someone deserving and there was no one better than Kakashi. There could be no one better than him.

Part 3: Invention

His detractors had often said Chidori was nothing but a simple thrust attack. It needed too much speed to be successful and left the wielder open to counterattack. He privately laughed at them. Someone had set off these rumors, someone had even said that Yondaime had personally made that observation when he had first used the justu, and people had lapped it up. That all of this belied conventional logic - was pointed out by no one.

Chidori was an invention. Its mother had been necessity and its father had been his own tactical genius. Fighting Iwa Nin, who tended to wear thick armor and use strong defensive techniques, while still a boy who was smaller and slighter than his opponents, Kakashi had felt the need for a one shot kill technique that would penetrate defenses, guarantee success and prevent potentially injurious squirming or flailing of the target. If the Chidori was as simple as his detractors made it out to be he would have simply run at his opponents with a lightning laced Kunai!

It was a combination of two jutsus: one which his father had used, a technique that temporarily transformed lightning into a blade with cutting power and the other was Minato's Rasengan. When Minato had said that combining the chakra nature with the Rasengan would make it more deadly - Kakashi had immediately gotten working. It took him an year almost to get the jutsu right - but when the Chidori arrived - it was a sight to behold. The jutsu worked like a drill - a Rasengan powering Sakumo's lightning blades, focusing the cutting power on a point and then running it along the edges. It was more effective than the Rasengan at penetrating those armor plates which guarded the Iwa nins' vitals. Once it would penetrate the opponent's defenses leaving clean, gaping holes, Kakashi would let loose the lightning in his hand, electrocuting and stunning the enemy - an effective and unerring killing technique.

If the jutsu had a real weakness it was that it made too much noise and emitted too much light - weaknesses that despite his best efforts Kakashi had not been able to eliminate. This meant that he could not use it for stealth assassinations and so Kakashi would usually just charge his opponents with his hand ringing with the chirrups of a thousand birds.

He would go on to develop many variants of the Chidori - making it as good as a nature release in itself. He would even learn to imbue the White Fang tantou with it - enhancing its cutting power significantly. It was his jutsu and he was a genius after all.

Part 4: Gift

It was there in his left eye. He had felt the thrill of its power and then the exhaustion of its presence. He liked the gift, but he did not like to keep his eye covered all the time, nor the inefficient drain of chakra which it was affecting continuously causing his actual reserves to be lower than his maximum, constantly. The medics had been helpless and the Uchiha had been as contemptuous of his problems as they had been indifferent to the death of their clansman if not more.

He had discussed with Sensei and Rin - and they had all decided that the Sharingan needed to be forced to adapt to Kakashi's chakra - otherwise its use will always be a problem for Kakashi. They had gone through various sealing and assimilation techniques, thanks in part to Minato's prodigious knowledge of these things and Rin's persistence to help Kakashi. Ultimately they had found a seal that would force the Sharingan to de-activate when not in use and his body to assimilate the genetic and chakra-specific variations that it carried - each successive use of the Sharingan made it more efficient for him and in the mean time his chakra returned to its normal state. Over the years, while his reserves continued to grow, the penalty the Sharingan imposed on them continued to lessen. What was more, he didn't have to always cover his eye. It was a gift that had been treated with respect and love and not negligence.

Part 5: Progression

Sharingan gave him much acuter vision and some level of pre-cognition. Fast as he was, it enhanced his reflexes making him truly invincible in a head on fight. The properties of the Sharingan, which his detractors had claimed allowed him to use the Chidori in the first place, should therefore have been enough to avoid impaling Rin with it. There was no way she jumped in front of him and he couldn't side step her, faster as he was than her and able to see her every move clearly. But perhaps this version of the tale was more acceptable to people and he did not bother to correct them. He knew what had happened, knew that there was no other outcome possible, that Rin's death had demanded her utmost courage and his complete acceptance that he was destined to lead a wretched life. The Kiri shinobi would have released the Sanbi and Rin would have died then. Even if he killed the Kiri ninjas then also the seal would have broken and the Rin would have died. By killing Rin, he had killed the Jinchuriki and thus dissipated the biju in her - it was the best outcome they could have had in those circumstances and neither his love for her nor his promise to protect her had been enough to save them from a lifetime of regret that was to come.

But he had felt it, felt the Mangekyou awaken and the shift in power it caused in him. How could he remain unaware of it, when the world stilled and his pain found a weapon deadly enough to wield? But grief and exhaustion swept him and he experienced vicariously his hatred let loose on a world that was now dark forever.

Part 6: Preparation

Minato was nothing if not thorough. He had understood the development of Kakashi's power and his own knowledge in the matter was extensive, what with being Hokage and aware of how the Uchiha had controlled the power that shared Kushina's belly with his baby. While the standard procedures were tried and tested, Minato had taken an extra layer of protection. He had worked with Kakashi to develop the Mangekyou to control the Kyubi in case anything went amiss.

Nothing would go wrong, he kept on telling himself, as he and Kakashi trained the newfound power in his student's left eye. It kept Kakashi's mind off things, gave him a reason to continue to live and take care of himself and get stronger, get better. More than that, it gave Minato peace of mind that there was just one more line of defense in case things didn't go as per plan.

Part 7: Containment

Uzumaki had carried the Kyubi for generations. The last Uzumaki was dying. Kushina was dying. Even though he looked calm, focused but calm, fierce but calm, Minato's mind was screaming at him - his lovely, loud, obnoxious love was dying. The plan in his mind formed - there was one way to stop it all - if Shinigami wanted his wife, he would have to move his lazy ass and do some work - he was going to be summoned here and he was going to do some serious work.

But the Uzumaki had carried the Kyubi for generations and the last Uzumaki was dying. His son was a baby, new born, and he didn't know if Naruto could handle having the vast amount of demonic chakra pushed into him just minutes after his birth, Minato didn't know if his son had any Uzumaki chakra in him or not, Minato just didn't have enough information. Besides the shinobi who had caused all this had escaped and he would most certainly try again. The Uchiha, Uchiha Madara as he had claimed, was going for the Kyubi and Naruto wouldn't be ready in time to defend himself against him. He could not seal the Kyubi in Naruto - it just wasn't the right strategic choice and Minato had to choose fast.

There was someone, someone whom he had been training for long now, someone who was capable and a fierce fighter and who could control the Kyubi too - someone who could use the brief reprieve he had earned them to become stronger and face off against whatever madman came knocking. He didn't need the burden the Kyubi would bring, but the village needed him to do this - to become the container and learn to use its power and safeguard the village. There was no other choice.

As the Shinigami made his appearance, Minato used Hiraishin to call Kakashi to him.

Part 8: Successor

Hiruzen had been called back from retirement. Not that he was not up for the job, but he had retired and that meant he had assessed himself to be less than in top form. Minato had been ready to succeed him and it had been settled. Now his successor was gone and Hiruzen was not sure what to do. It was a serious crisis visible only to Sandaime. He needed to groom a successor to, the fifth Hokage otherwise the future of the village was in danger.

Minato had been grooming multiple candidates, not all as potential Hokages, but definitely with interest enough to make sure that future succession of Konoha was secured. Of all those in whom Minato had been taking an active interest, Hatake Kakashi topped the list, being the Yondaime's apprentice and privy to much of his techniques and strategies. Now Kakashi had the Sharingan, was the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi and could use the Hiraishin - all of this pointed to a Shinobi with high potential.

The choice was logical for Sandaime - when he had seen Kakashi work for the better of the village by attempting to rescue Kinoe and reject Danzo's dark visions for a despotic Konoha. He took him under his wing and began to groom his as his successor. Kakashi was brittle for all the loss he had gone through and it took Hiruzen much time and patience to develop a worthy leader in the compulsive warrior but step by little step he made progress.

Hiruzen had intended to announce Kakashi's promotion as the Hokage after the Chunin exams - they were confident of promoting Sasuke to chunin and Jiraiya had shown interest in training Naruto separately - this would have reduced the burden on Kakashi and so he and the Council and Shikaku Nara and various Jonins had prepared to facilitate the transition.

After the Chunin exams, Kakashi did become the Godaime, although Hiruzen wasn't there to congratulate him for it.

Part 9: Prophecy

There would be a man who would bring peace to the world - a student of Jiraiya. Kakashi had been a student of Jiraiya - seeing as Jiraiya had been friends with Sakumo, Minato's teacher and the author of Icha Icha. And so in the most indirect way possible, the job had been Kakashi's - to bring peace to the world. He had mostly succeeded - Sasuke hadn't left the village, Itachi had returned with truckloads of information on Akatsuki and Danzo had been put down - Tobi aka Obito was confronted - the situation never escalated to a great war. With their superior intelligence, Konoha kept striking Akatsuki bases and taking out their Shinobi until Obito had no place left to hide. Pushed to the corner, they had met in battle - and while Kakashi had been shocked that it had been Obito, he had not been subdued. Obito had killed many beautiful lives and by then committed too many crimes - he could love Obito, miss him as a friend, but now there could be no forgiveness without justice. As he drove the Chidori through his second friend, he felt his heart break seeing Obito smile - appearing somewhat relieved that his plan had not gone through and happy that he would be meeting Rin at last again. Kakashi wished he could join him but world peace wasn't here yet and he was nothing if not dutiful to a fault.

Obito had given him his other eye and Kakashi had used it re-establish a world order that was much more robust and much less prone to war than ever before.

Part 10: The end

Of course he found love. And why wouldn't he have children? Through a life of pain and suffering he had persevered and finally found some joy - maybe his friends were dead but Kakashi liked to think about the ones that were there. His students had become fine Shinobi and precious to him. There were others - Guy, Tenzo, Asuma and Kurenai, Yugao, Genma and many more. They were there, they had all scraped through and they looked to him for being their guiding light. He didn't know it but he had inspired many people and would continue to do so - it had been his duty.