The World Was All Before Him

The World Was All Before Him

- SuishouTenshi

A/N: A short chapter this time, but a lot of things are happening so I hope you won’t be bored. By the way, when you guys are reading this story, I hope you don’t take it at face value. For now, I’m using Kakashi’s eyes to write in third person limited omniscient, so a lot of things happening here are seen through Kakashi’s eyes, and the thoughts and deductions and conclusions would be his as well. So don’t believe everything you read, especially if it’s something introspective, because Kakashi can be quite dense when it comes to his own situations. Learn to read underneath the underneath!

Warning: Just a reminder... I love UST.

Act III, Scene II: Character of the Happy Warrior

There was an unseen rhythm in the air, one that Kakashi could feel pounding away within his very veins. The sharp clangs as kunai met kunai reverberated like thunderous drumming in his ears, and his borrowed Sharingan eye drank in every movement like a man seeking divine blessing.

In the large training ground just outside of the Namikaze manor walls, raged a battle any shinobi would kill to witness. With a compromise to minimize property damage between them, both Yondaime and Jiraiya had agreed to not use Gamabunta, Rasengan, or any other jutsu that might cause injury to any bystanders, which in this case, meant the wide-eyed Kakashi.

Even then, it was a friendly spar of epic proportions. There was a flurry of elemental jutsu that nearly overwhelmed Sharingan. Hand seals so complex and weapons so quickly thrown that Kakashi’s normal eye had long ago shut close under the strain of trying to keep up.

Half an hour into the battle had apparently meant that performance time was over. Instead of trying to one-up each other on who can do the fanciest jutsu, both master and student were ready to pull out their signature moves.

There was at first a brief pause during which the two elite shinobi, who were barely panting from their exertions, stood in absolute silence. Then, while Kakashi had not even sensed any movement, Jiraiya’s eyes widened in slight horror before he pulled a kunai to his right just in time to block a grinning blond who seemed to have gotten to Jiraiya’s side with the speed of lightning.

It had really been too long since Kakashi’d witnessed the Hiraishin no Jutsu.

From then on, Konoha’s Yellow Flash became an invisible current of air and energy. Sharingan gave Kakashi some advantage, but even he could only pinpoint Yondaime’ s position every five times Minato tried to land a blow on Jiraiya. Golden spikes danced around a smiling face, younger and happier than Kakashi could ever remember. His sensei’s body twisted and contorted in every direction, attacked Jiraiya with fervor at every opportunity, the Jounin vest he wore for the occasion blurred into the leafy background. And finally, there was brilliant laughter all around him.

Jiraiya was doing an incredible job blocking Yondaime’s attacks. He seemed to be able to sense the exact direction from which Yondaime would appear, and though the Fourth gave Jiraiya a lot of trouble, he did manage to dodge most of the blows in time to avoid serious injury.

The battle ended when a slash caused Jiraiya’s pants to drop to the ground. The Sennin relinquished his hold on his kunai and pulled up his pants with redness dotting his cheeks. Kakashi had barely taken in the sight when he felt soft strands tickling his neck. He didn’t have to look to know that Yondaime had collapsed in laughter and was using his shoulder for support.

“Brat, you owe me a pair of pants!” a pink Jiraiya shouted indignantly toward their direction.

Yondaime’s chuckles sounded too close to Kakashi’s ear, and through the mask covering his nose, Kakashi could still smell the strong earthy scent of his sensei mixed with a taste of lightning.

The young Jounin reached up in a hurry to cover his Sharingan. When his sensei still could not stop laughing, he turned his lazy eye on the blond head still atop his left shoulder.

“Sensei, could you get off me so I can fetch a pair of pants for Jiraiya-sama?” he asked flatly.

Yondaime looked up, his nose mere inches away, and Kakashi felt the air freeze in his lungs. “Can’t we leave him like this? You have no idea what he put me through when I was your age. Consider it payback.”

“Don’t bother, Kakashi!” Jiraiya shouted at them and promptly took off his pants altogether. Between looking at a Sennin’s naked bum and his sensei’s all-too-close blue eyes, the decision wasn’t really a hard one. Jiraiya, who apparently disliked underwear, strutted proudly toward the house.

Now alone in the half-demolished training ground, Kakashi waited patiently for his sensei to follow Jiraiya, but as he stared back into mischievous cerulean eyes, it didn’t seem like Yondaime had any intention of moving his chin off from Kakashi’s shoulder.

When Yondaime’s grin turned into a challenging smirk, Kakashi decided it was time the man acted his age, and so a lesson must be taught. Without moving away his glance — though staring into Yondaime’s eyes was not so different from looking into the sun — Kakashi slowly tugged off his mask and laid his face bare to his sensei’s close inspection.

He could hear the sharp gulp coming from his sensei’s throat as his scarred features were revealed. It wasn’t often that Kakashi took off his masks in front of other people, but he had done it enough to know the kind of reaction he’d get. He knew that the villagers, especially the older generations, would be instantly reminded of his father, and for those who knew the story, of Obito’s sacrifice. They would all stare in astonishment, in guilt.

For Yondaime, Kakashi had always thought that it was guilt that made him stare, guilt that he felt for not saving his precious student in time. As Kakashi predicted, Yondaime’s face instantly sobered, and he drew back to a respectful distance.

But Kakashi did not understand why calloused fingertips were reaching up to caress the bridge of his nose, the sharpness of his cheekbones, the confused wrinkle between his eyebrows, and he certainly did not anticipate his own shiver when a thumb brushed unhurriedly across his bottom lip.

It was not a look of guilt in Yondaime’s eyes, Kakashi realized belatedly. It was one of wonder.

Yondaime leaned in, and Kakashi noted with a numbing feeling that even at seventeen, he was still shorter than his sensei by a good four inches.

The inquisitive fingers refused to cease their exploration. It took every vestige of Kakashi’s pride as a ninja to keep his eye open when Yondaime’s creamy breath wisped over the tip of his nose.

“Don’t,” Yondaime imparted his order softly, “don’t ever show your face to someone else.”

Kakashi blinked but was afraid to nod, lest the movement brought his lips too close to somewhere dangerous.

Thankfully, a shout from the direction of the manor broke the charged moment. Jiraiya was waving from atop the ground walls with a sleepy Sasuke hanging from his back and a towel wrapped haphazardly around his waist.

“Oi!” Jiraiya yelled. “The kid’s hungry! Come back and feed him.”

All seriousness was gone from Yondaime’s countenance. He smirked toothily back at Kakashi and said conspiratorially, “Jiraiya still has the Hiraishin seal attached on his back, you know.”

Kakashi couldn’t move away in time. His arm was brutally grabbed, and he once again felt the disconcerting sensation of his body’s molecules flying apart and then being instantly put back together next to a startled Jiraiya and a fascinated Sasuke.

Growling, Jiraiya spun around in circles like a dog chasing its own tail. “Where is it, you damn brat? Where did you put the damn thing?”

Sasuke, still attached to Jiraiya by piggy-back, giggled as his legs were swung about, also effectively covered the seal that Jiraiya was desperately looking for.

Yondaime picked Sasuke off and threw him into the air a couple of times like a sack of melons and carried him away into the house. “Away we go, Sasuke-kun, we’ll wake up Naru-chan and have ramen for breakfast! Ramen, ramen, ramen!”

Sasuke imitated him in their repetitive chanting. Kakashi stayed behind to helpfully pluck off the small fuda and watched as Jiraiya set the seal ablaze.

“If it’s any consolation, Jiraiya-sama, I also hate it when sensei uses that jutsu.”

Jiraiya scoffed. “I wish you were old enough to see him when he first developed the technique. It made him dizzy constantly and he would throw up after every attempt. Really funny back then. Not so much nowadays.”

Kakashi rubbed his protesting stomach. He was lucky he had yet to eat any breakfast.

“He’ll be gloating about this for days.”

The toad Sennin huffed. “It’s that damn speed of his. I knew the Hiraishin seal had to be somewhere on me, but if I even took a fraction of a second to look for it, he would’ve had ample opportunity to remove a limb or two. We’re damn lucky to have your sensei on our side, I’ll tell you that. Give him another ten years, and I doubt even I will have enough energy to put him down if he ever goes rogue.”

Kakashi stiffened. “Sensei won’t do that. He loves this village.”

“Yeah, yeah, and he loves his son and his subordinates and his student. But wariness and suspicion are as important of a shinobi’s livelihood as trust and loyalty, and you’ll do well to remember that.” Jiraiya paused. When he spoke again, his tone was light and teasing again. “By the way, do the world a favor and cover up your face on missions, would ya? It’s a nice strategy to seduce your enemies into submission, I’ll admit, but we don’t need our own men getting distracted.”

Kakashi hastily put his mask back on. He didn’t have time to properly digest Jiraiya’s comment, however, because a sudden spike in chakra had propelled both of them into a mad dash for the manor.

The dangerously high level of chakra led them straight into Naruto’s nursery, where Sasuke sat at the foot of the bed rubbing his tear-stained eyes. Yondaime was fuming by the window and studying a note which had evidently been embedded into the windowpane with a kunai.

“Minato!” Jiraiya grabbed Yondaime’s foot just in time to stop him from rushing out the window.

Yondaime struggled against his sensei’s hold. “It’s the Mist. Peace delegation, my blond ass! They took my son!”

Sasuke bawled even louder. Kakashi had just absorbed the sheer wrongness of the vibrantly orange bedroom. There was a faint scent of a foreign chakra which was quickly fading away, and though the familiar sunshine scent that Kakashi had come to equate with Naruto’s spirit lingered still, not hearing the boy’s laughter or seeing those marred cheeks in a perpetual state of a smile made the barely noticeable vertigo from before rise up to the forefront. Not knowing what to do for the second time in his life, Kakashi went over and gathered the trembling boy into his own shaking arms.

“Calm down, you impulsive brat, where do you think you’re going?” Yondaime had stopped struggling, but Jiraiya apparently didn’t trust him enough to let go.

“The Mist delegates are staying at the Ronin Inn. I’m going there to get my son back.”

“And what happens when you run in there, accusations flying off your mouth, and the Mist denies everything? Do you want to start another war?! I didn’t recommend you to Sarutobi-sensei for Hokage just so you can screw up everything for this village.” Jiraiya looked like he was seconds away from backhanding his favorite student. “They’ve made the furtive attack, and what they’re expecting is a preemptive strike to make us look like the offenders.”

The great Yondaime seemed to deflate. Jiraiya threw him against Naruto’s bedside cabinet. “Now, you, stay. Or better yet, take Uchiha back to his parents and then go to Sarutobi-sensei, tell him everything, show him the note. I’ll take Kakashi and see if we can’t track those bastards down. They couldn’t have gone far since Naruto should have still been here when Sasuke woke up and came downstairs to find me. Isn’t that right, kid?”

Sasuke hiccupped against Kakashi’s collar and nodded. “He was sleeping.”

“But he is my son, sensei.” Yondaime insisted on being stubborn. “As his father, it’s my fault that he’s been taken.”

“Oh, don’t even try playing the guilt game with me, boy. I could say it’s my fault that you had to let down your barriers so I could come in, and that’s how Naruto lost the protection of his own home. Now, no more arguments, and start acting like a leader. Calm yourself, and I promise I’ll bring your son back to you, Minato.”

Yondaime didn’t reply, and Jiraiya didn’t seem to anticipate one. He beckoned Kakashi to the window and led their way out. The young shinobi snuck one last glance at his sensei, and saw war-weary blue eyes silently pleading him for some sort of confirmation.

Unable to help himself, Kakashi drew back to give Yondaime a rushed hug and whispered into his ear, “I don’t like to see you so weak, sensei.”

In another second, he was out the window. Kakashi could waste no more time on sentimental moments. Naruto had to be found, and the longer it took, the more difficult it would be.

If nothing else, he had to stop Jiraiya’s rampage. The legendary Sennin, for all his wisdom and skills, didn’t seem to realize that he was chasing down potentially dangerous kidnappers with nothing but a towel covering his most private parts.

- TBC

A/N: Next chapter shall include major ass-kicking, beginning of a long plot, and... you ready for this? Naruto’s first word!!! Let’s see if anyone can guess what it will be.

Title of chapter comes from William Wordsworth’s poem of the same name.