That night—
On the balcony of Kimoto Doichi's house—
A familiar figure appeared once again.
Doichi sighed.
"Kakashi… my house does have a front door."
Kakashi Hatake ignored the remark, gazing at the moonlight.
"Looks like you're really satisfied with that kid. I've never seen you join a team dinner before."
Doichi stepped beside him.
"Seems like you're paying a lot of attention to him too."
"But you should remember—he's my student."
Kakashi chuckled slightly.
"Why so tense? Worried I'll take him from you?"
Doichi didn't deny it.
"I am worried. He's far more outstanding than I expected."
He paused.
"And the one watching from the forest today… that was you, wasn't it?"
As a former Anbu jōnin, Doichi's perception was sharp.
Even Kakashi's presence hadn't gone unnoticed.
Doichi added with a smirk:
"Using shadow clones to teach your students… if they found out, they'd be pretty upset."
"And your team isn't exactly ordinary either."
Kakashi didn't respond to the teasing.
Instead, he said quietly:
"That kid… he's changed you."
"You weren't like this before."
Doichi didn't deny it.
"…Yeah."
"If I don't teach him properly… I'll regret it for the rest of my life."
Kakashi was slightly surprised.
He hadn't expected such a direct admission.
But thinking back to Orion walking fearlessly toward the waterfall—
Even Kakashi felt it.
A rare kind of resolve.
"That kid's talent… might even surpass mine," Kakashi said with a bitter smile.
He himself had once been Konoha's greatest prodigy—
Graduated at 5.
Chūnin at 6.
Jōnin at 12.
A legend.
Yet—
He still felt Orion might go beyond him.
Doichi shook his head.
"Not quite. At twelve, you were already a jōnin. He's still just a rookie."
Kakashi snorted.
"If he had my resources, he'd already be there."
"The academy held him back."
After a brief silence, Kakashi asked:
"So… what do you plan to teach him?"
Doichi hesitated.
"…I'm not sure."
"My techniques aren't suitable for him."
"Most of my skills are interrogation-based. I don't want him ending up in Anbu."
He sighed.
"Beyond basic elemental jutsu… I don't have much to offer."
Kakashi looked at him for a moment.
Then said:
"If you're willing… I can help."
Doichi froze.
"You? Help me?"
"Aren't you worried about Hiruzen Sarutobi finding out?"
After all, Kakashi was already responsible for training Naruto and Sasuke.
Kakashi shrugged.
"Then don't let him know."
"For now, we're mostly doing missions inside the village."
"With his talent… before he even leaves Konoha, I can raise his jutsu level to that of a jōnin."
Doichi stared at him in disbelief.
He knew Kakashi's reputation—
The "Copy Ninja," who had mastered thousands of jutsu using the Sharingan.
If Kakashi personally taught Orion—
His growth would be explosive.
Still, Doichi asked cautiously:
"What do you want in return?"
Kakashi answered simply:
"Occasionally… I want to borrow him for missions."
Doichi's expression changed instantly.
"You want to take him on dangerous missions?!"
Kakashi nodded.
"You know as well as I do—greenhouse training won't produce strong shinobi."
"When I was twelve, I was already on real missions with Minato Namikaze."
Doichi's voice rose.
"That was you! He's different!"
"He's just a fresh graduate—he hasn't even experienced real combat!"
"The missions you take… even jōnin face danger in them!"
"There's no way I'm letting my student risk his life like that!"
Kakashi remained calm.
"You're wrong."
"He's not an ordinary child."
"If you train him too safely… you'll turn him into an average ninja."
"Is that what you want?"
Doichi's eyes hardened.
"I'd rather that… than see him die before me."
The balcony fell silent.
Two elite shinobi—
Both right in their own way.
One believed in protection.
The other believed in tempering through danger.
And at the center of it all—
Was Orion.
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