-Hokage Building-
After talking to the receptionist lady on the desk just outside his grandfather's office, Kajirama was kindly assisted by the lady as she opened the door for him after a fond ruffle on the head. This treatment wasn't unusual for Kajirama, ever since he could remember, everyone in the village dotted on him, but he understood that it was because of the status of his shinobi background.
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked up at the sound of the door opening, he smiled with a bit of surprise on his tone. "Ah, Kajirama. What brought you to visit your Ojī-san today?"
Kajirama smiled. "Ojī-san I was wond-" He paused as he remembered they weren't at their house. Kajirama suddenly stood upright in a formal manner and bowed to Hiruzen with respect. "Hokage-sama, I was wondering if I could ask you a question regarding something."
The Sandaime looked at Kajirama with surprise, startled to see his grandson acting mature, and in a eloquent manner. Furthermore, he used 'Hokage-sama' instead of 'Ojī-san' as honorifics to address him. Even the Anbu, who were hiding in the shadows somewhere, couldn't withstand revealing a bit or more astonishment behind their mask, as they looked over Jiraiya Ogata and Anzu Sarutobi's child attentively.
The old kage shook his head with an amused smile on his face. It seemed they had underestimated Kajirama's aptitude a little bit. "What is it, Kajirama?"
Kajirama stood straight from his bowing, but he never left the graceful manner he carried himself with as he nodded and stepped forward. "I wanted to ask about a man named Sakumo Hatake." A spell of silence hung in the air as the old kage glanced at his grandson with a blink.
"What brought the curiousity upon the White Fang of Konoha may I wonder?"
"Well..." Kajirama pondered before speaking. "I visited my Okā-san's grave today after school. I noted that there's a lonesome stele of rock far away from the rows of headstones behind the Memorial Stone, I was wondering why a single monument that's a person of Konoha would be isolated from where it should rightfully be erected." He lied smoothly.
"Is that so?" Hiruzen released a sigh. The old kage could dicern that there's more to it than what his grandson was presenting. "You're friends with Kakashi Hatake, am I correct?"
Kajirama flinched at the question, nonetheless, he tried to stay calm but he couldn't help himself fidgeting a bit. "That's right, we got along well as with my other classmates, Hokage-sama."
Instead of outright admitting it, Kajirama utilized the grounds as classmates within the Shinobi Academy, making him sound less doubtful as it was a good form of excuse to put less fault on his first words spoken within their short interaction.
Biwako did a good job on grilling Kajirama and Asuma etiquette lessons, and that goes to show today. After all, 'A good shinobi should know how to mask their intentions and emotions'.
If Hiruzen felt astounded by this, he did a great job hiding it. Well then, back to business:
Hiruzen released a smoke from his pipe. "Honestly, I'm afraid I'm not entirely sure if it's my place to tell you the story of the White Fang."
"Why not?" Kajirama queried.
"Hmm..." Hiruzen looked deeply at his grandson's expression, and he could see that the young one was really eager to know about it. "Might as well tell you Kajirama."
"Sakumo Hatake is your classmate's - Kakashi Hatake's father. He was a hero of our village, a fine shinobi through and through who died while protecting it..." Hiruzen trailed off, seeing Kajirama's amazed expression, he continued. "Or so that's what they say."
Kajirama became pensive. "What do you mean by that?"
"Sakumo didn't die protecting the village, but he took his own life after he was villified by his everyone around him." Hiruzen stood up from his chair as he turned away from Kajirama to watch the sun setting and the pouring rain slowing down above the parting clouds.
Kajirama's eyes slowly widened in bewilderment as he gasped softly. "What..."
"The White Fang... The shinobi that everyone look up to... Especially your friends, Kakashi. Until that incident." Hiruzen cast his mind back to that day as he told Kajirama who was listening with all his attention, sporting a contemplating expression.
"Six years ago, he led an operation I assigned him to lead a deep top secret mission behind enemy lines, I don't have any alternative except your father, Jiraiya or either of my students - who were capable enough to execute it. Unfortunately, at that time, they were preoccupied managing the battlefield against Amegakure's borders and were facing the legendary Shinobi, Hanzō the Salamander." Hiruzen took another puff of his pipe, Kajirama could somewhat feel something burdening his grandather's shoulder but he kept listen on.
"With Sakumo assigned, it went bad, and I could still remember his report about that day." Hiruzen closed his eyes. "He had either two choices - either save the mission, or his comrades - even the people who rescued turned against him and slandered him, the ordeal took its toll on Sakumo, physically and mentally, but to save the lives of his comrades, Kakashi's father took the mission on hold. It resulted in a great deal of damage from his supposed mission which was too late to make it up in the end. Both the land of fire and his peers blamed him for everything that went down south because of his actions... Until finally, he took his own life under that pressure. That's how Sakumo Hatake, the White Fang of Konoha that even the Legendary Sannin, your father and his co-students, paled in comparison compared to his achievements on that war."
"The White Fang... Was a greater of a shinobi than Otō-san?" Kajirama muttered beyond the belief of his own mind. He didn't thought there was someone, except his grandfather or mother, could ever outdo the accomplishment of the Sannin at that war. But, what disturbed Kajirama was the last words Kakashi uttered: 'But I'll never be like you...'
With those words, it leaves Kajirama to interpret different interpretation, numerous to be exact, however it depends on the person's point of view, nonetheless, no matter how many times he interpret Kakashi's words in different directions, it wasn't anything good, that's for sure.
After a few moments of silence, neither Kajirama or Hiruzen spoke a word, until, Kajirama decided to speak the matter that was troubling him the moment he heard of his grandfather's words. Kajirama showed restrains on what he was about to say, but, nevertheless he spoke quietly. "... Where were you, when the White Fang needed someone, anyone on that day, Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen turned around as he narrowed his eyes towards his grandson with perplexity. "What do you mean by those words, Kajirama."
"You know, I never met my mother, Hokage-sama." Kajirama stared, although Hiruzen was remorseful somewhat hearing that, he knew it wasn't about that, but something else, he stood silently to hear the boy out for now.
"Sometimes I felt longing to see her someday, even for just a day, a minute, or even a second within a dream..." He spoke as his white-hair covered his expression. "I'm always wondering what it felt like to have the presence of someone, someone that would guide me on somethings and comfort or either scold me whenever I did something bad or good..."
Kajirama spoke, as Hiruzen squinted his eyes, not getting where his grandson was going with this.
"However, after some time I grew pessimistic..." Kajirama sink his words as he gazed intently into his grandfather's eyes, and at that, Hiruzen knew now what he wanted to say as he pursed his lips, not knowing how to respond, while turning his gaze around to the front of the office's door with a blank and thoughtful expression on his face.
"As I finally realized that, the deceased couldn't be brought back to life no matter how much I desired to see her and longed for my Okā-san, I could only accept fate helplessly and take actions that will help me, and the others around me, as to not feel burdened from the excruciating feeling I got of those desire. So I ask of you this, Hokage-sama." Kajirama continued to gaze at his grandfather with no fear. "Where were you? When you were around the village, the Hokage, who was supposed to protect and thought of the well-being on his/her people inside the guards of this village? Were you so focused on your 'paperwork' that you didn't have anytime to send someone, an Anbu or even a letter of recognition towards what Kakashi's father had done, either it was good or bad?"
Hiruzen's breathing became somewhat shaky, he wanted to speak, but he couldn't find the words that would explain himself. "That's... Indeed." Hiruzen once again closed his eyes, while a dejected smile slowly formed on his face, unknown to the white-haired grandson behind him.
"Thank you for the visit, Kajirama. It was wholesome, like always. I'll come back home tomorrow to help you with some questions you have with your training after I finished some of my work here in the tower..." Hiruzen spoke neutrally.
Kajirama nodded as he knew he was dismissed, albeit a bit forcefully by his grandather's words. He bowed down to bid his farewell and then walked out of the room, leaving a softly smiling Hiruzen who had heard and understood of those words Kajirama had spoken.
He looked up at the sky, where a rainbow was found there after the rain clouds parted. He whispered. "Jiraiya, your son is becoming more and more of a certain shinobi I once admired, even till this day..."
"I don't have any excuses on the matter regarding Sakumo, my child. As you're correct, I should have been there for him, when he needed someone the most."
...
(Timeskip - Five Months Later)
"Alright kids, this is the final day for the first semester. The testing done today with all of you will go on your report cards, so please take this seriously…" The teacher spoke, his voice and eyes pointedly glaring at a certain black haired Uchiha of his who merely stuck his tongue out at the man for pointing at him specifically.
He let out a tired sigh and picked the stack of papers on his desk, starting to distribute them all around the class as he continued to inform his class what they're about to do for today:
"After Text Examination will be the Practical Examination, your sub-instructor - Mubo Kurawa and I will examine how far you've progress with your shuriken or kunai throwing, the katas and stances of your Taijutsu, and how well you got Bunshin no Jutsu[Clone Technique] down. As I said, this will be recorded on your report card, please take this seriously, to those that do spectacularly would be promoted directly above your current class after your papers and report card are reviewed by the Council Elders."
The students in his class began to start a commotion after hearing those, as they clamored at their teacher.
"Itamo-sensei, you haven't informed us about that!"
"This ain't fair sensei! If we knew about this, we could have studied much more..."
"Quiet!" Itamo-sensei shouted at the top of his lungs as he slammed his hand on the table in front of Anko with a 'slam!', causing the girl to flinch in surprise. The class immediately got muted. "You should have studied more then before the first semester's exam." Seeing his student's being silent while sulking still, he continued with a shrug of his shoulder. "However, I'm as surprise as you my students, this was the new instructions given to me by Hokage-sama. There weren't anything like this happening before, either you're lucky getting this chance or not, it doesn't matter. Now, you have an hour before the bell ring, proceed with your papers."
Kajirama took the paper from the instructor, putting it down on his desk with the blank side facing him as was instructed to them and waited patiently on his desk, his fingers crossed in front of his mouth with an almost peaceful aura surrounding him. Although he was surprised by the instructor's sudden announcement, he didn't want to think too much about it. The thought of jumping another year would really was tempting, all the more seriousness on how well he'd perform then.
The instructor stood in front of the class, glancing at the clock to see it was almost time and spoke up as soon as the second hand of the clock hit 10.
"You may begin." His voice rang through the silence of the room. Kajirama flipped the test around, his eyes working their way through the questions furiously to see if there was anything that would trouble him. And much to his relief there wasn't anything of that caliber, instead it seemed a little easy to him.
His pure blue eyes glanced to the side, to see his friends raring past the test like an enraged bull and he snickered softly at his friends, even the lazy Nara, who seemed like he would burn straight through the paper in a few moments. Although, he was worried about Akio and Obito though, they aren't an amateur on fighting, they are far from that, but when it came to test like this...
Kajirama sigh softly, he'll leave it up to fate and he sent prayers for the two. Kajirama wasn't the only one having this thought, as the others in their group also clasped their hands as if on a prayer for Akio and Obito.