Chapter 17: Different Roads
By the end of February, Jiraiya had formally taken over the intelligence division, and the jonin corps had begun a steady round of reassignments. With the higher-ranked jonin tied up, a number of lower-priority missions were handed down to chunin-led teams, and Kakashi, Might Guy, and Furukawa Osamu seized the opening. The three of them threw themselves into mission after mission without a break.
Young as they were, the team had earned their clients' trust through results alone.
* * *
Kakashi went to the Memorial Stone alone. The short blade sat across his back as he stood before Hatake Sakumo's name, not moving, not speaking, for a long time. When he finally broke the silence, his voice came out barely above a murmur.
"Father. Those three chose to take their own lives too."
He stared at the engraved name.
"Teammates like that weren't worth saving. If you'd chosen the mission, maybe everything would have turned out differently." He lowered his head. "I won't make the same mistake. Osamu is entering the Chunin Exams. A few more years and we'll be leading our own missions independently."
"Keep watching me. I'm ready."
"..."
* * *
By the time Osamu arrived at the training ground it was already noon. It was a rare clear day, but Kakashi stood there with the same dead expression he'd worn for weeks, all the energy drained out of him.
Osamu, in his black training clothes, didn't comment on it. Compared to what he remembered from the story he'd arrived in, Kakashi's current state was already much better than it could have been.
He reached behind him and drew the short blade. When he channeled wind-nature chakra into it, the weapon lit up white, and Kakashi's eyes went wide.
"Sakumo-sensei's blade could cut through almost anything," Osamu said.
"Kakashi. If you want to inherit the wind affinity with it—"
"No." Kakashi cut him off. "I won't be weak like my father. I'll keep using it, but I'll find a kenjutsu style that actually suits me."
He said it firmly, then drew several slow, deliberate breaths.
Every time he thought about his father swinging this very blade to rescue those so-called teammates, the ache in his chest came back.
Osamu read the shift in his mood and didn't push. He tossed a scroll across to Kakashi and spoke plainly.
"If you don't want to build on wind-nature transformation, then take a different road. This is an A-rank lightning-style jutsu I haven't finished refining yet. You can develop it in whatever direction suits you."
"Don't rush it. Once the technique activates your body, the speed gain will cost you your field of vision. Be careful with that."
Kakashi was about to ask something, but Osamu was already tossing him the short blade and running through hand signs.
Boar. Rabbit. Monkey.
Vivid blue arcs crackled across Osamu's right hand. The sound that followed was sharp and layered, like a thousand birds crying out at once. Kakashi stood absolutely still, staring.
"The core of this technique is generating a massive volume of chakra by activating the body's cells," Osamu said. "Watch the output through your hand. Too much and you'll hurt yourself badly, potentially damage your chakra pathways. If you channel it through the blade instead, you can work around that flaw, but that part you'll have to develop on your own."
Following what he felt was the right way to pass this on, Osamu demonstrated while he explained, watching until Kakashi nodded, then pushed the lightning-nature chakra output higher.
Whoosh. Boom.
He vanished from where he'd been standing. On the rock face across the training ground, a large circular crater had appeared. Kakashi stared at it. The force was beyond anything he'd imagined.
"Don't chase raw power," Osamu said, walking back. "If you keep activating your body and pulling out more chakra in sequence, you already know what the end result is."
Kakashi looked at the crater for another moment, then down at the ground.
"Death." He said it without hesitation. "I won't misuse it."
He was quiet for a moment, then added: "I'll make sure my father sees what I choose."
After the basic explanation and demonstration, Osamu moved on to guiding Kakashi through lightning-nature chakra transformation. The cellular activation method, refined through Tsunade's input, wasn't especially difficult to trigger a second time. The real challenge was the precision of control.
Running a rough count against Kakashi's chakra reserves, Osamu put the numbers together: even with a successful activation, Kakashi could manage a single full release, barely. Osamu himself could release the Chidori four complete times with full power.
He's already at four Kakashi-units, he noted privately. The secret compounds and Gathering keep strengthening the body.
The Yin Seal's sage chakra accumulation ran entirely on those compounds. Whenever he refined them, Osamu got the strange feeling he was doing something that had no business working in a ninja world at all.
"This is harder than I expected," Kakashi muttered, breathing heavily. He'd failed to release the technique and was now sitting on the ground, right hand trembling. "My whole hand's gone numb."
Osamu had already stepped over and pressed his palm against Kakashi's hand, the Mystical Palm flowing naturally. He added one more reminder while he worked.
"Getting the initial activation is enough to handle most fights. With your instincts, stay away from straight-line charges. I don't want to find out you drove yourself through someone and took yourself down with them."
* * *
By mid-March, the cherry blossoms were out again.
Nohara Rin, soon to move up to her fourth year at the Academy, had finally earned her place among the top students in Class A through steady, determined effort. Her grades held in the top five, and her progress in medical ninjutsu had been going smoothly.
Her mood, though, had been low. It had been a long time since she'd seen Kakashi.
Word going around the Academy had left Rin quietly worried, and the few times she'd gone to find him he'd been out on a mission.
At lunch, the girls clustered around Shizune out of habit, the way they always did lately. Osamu had been showing up at Tsunade's side again, which meant there was a bento box in the picture.
"Furukawa-kun is seriously impressive."
"Shizune's definitely got him. That bento is basically a love letter."
"How is the beef marinated? This is unreasonably good."
"Are you thinking about quitting to be a ninja?"
"There's nothing wrong with being a homemaker. Ninja work is dangerous anyway."
"..."
The chatter came from every direction. It had been like this ever since Shizune made the mistake of sharing her oversized bento once. At first some of the girls had at least made an effort to seem subtle about it. That had lasted about a week.
Shizune kept her head down and ate. She never joined these conversations. What she wanted was to keep up with the coursework, and every time she watched Osamu and Tsunade deep in discussion over a new technique or a compound formula, a quiet frustration settled over her.
She hadn't even managed the basics of the Yin Seal. She'd blacked out trying to accumulate the chakra for it.
"Shizune," Rin murmured beside her. "Has Osamu mentioned anything about Kakashi recently? Did something really happen?"
Shizune gave a small nod. She saw the worry on Rin's face and kept her voice soft.
"Give Kakashi some time. He'll be all right."
At the next desk, Uchiha Obito had his ears practically pointed in their direction, straining to catch the conversation. For the rest of the afternoon he kept glancing sideways at Rin without quite meaning to.
After school, Rin waved goodbye to the others but didn't head home the way she usually did. Obito noticed and followed at a careful distance, telling himself it was just concern.
When he realized she was heading toward Kakashi's place, the familiar sinking feeling arrived right on schedule. He talked himself through it the whole way there.
It's just a coincidence.
Kakashi opened the door and blinked when he saw Rin standing there. Before she could say a word, his nose twitched and he looked past her.
"Come out."
Obito stepped out from where he'd been hovering, rubbing the back of his head with an awkward grin. He opened his mouth to say something.
Kakashi looked at both of them. His expression hadn't changed.
"Thanks for coming. But I don't need teammates without talent."
The door closed.
Obito stared at it. He heard Rin's breath catch and turned to find tears forming in her eyes. Something in him went hot and loud.
"Get back out here!" he shouted at the door. "You owe Rin an apology!"