Chapter Text
Kakashi has spent a lot of his life contemplating how it would end.
It’s a morbid pastime, but Kakashi has never pretended to be well-adjusted. And it’s not like he’s the only person in his line of work that dwells on that thought—the life of a shinobi isn’t made to last. Shinobi constantly walk the knife’s edge of mortality, and a good one is willing to fall on whichever side best serves their people.
Kakashi probably thinks about it more than others. He doesn’t consider himself special by any means, but he’s seen things that have brought him perilously close to swan diving off the side that would let him stop fucking feeling.
His father’s cold body, crumpled in a growing puddle of his own blood.
Obito’s empty eye socket watching them leave him behind, still breathing as he’s slowly crushed to death under a boulder no one could move.
Rin’s expression, soft and forgiving as her ribs and spine tear at the flesh on his arms until his blood mingles with hers.
The way he scowled under his mask as Minato-sensei and Kushina waved him off to his forced vacation, none of them knowing that this would be the last time he’d see them alive.
The way he unraveled over the coming years until all he’s able to do is play at being a perverted, lazy sensei because he doesn’t really know who he is without that mask.
Every time the thought comes to mind, it just always makes sense that everything will end with the scream of his own chidori piercing his chest.
He never would have guessed that it would end in utter silence and horror as he tracked the descent of the only person who’d managed to worm his way into Kakashi’s heart in spite of the walls he’d fortified around it.
But here he is—helpless, motionless, always too fucking late.
Because Naruto’s chakra is gone, leaving a void in the air around him as his body plummets to the ground.
Kakashi doesn’t flinch as Kushina and Minato’s screams ring out beside him. He doesn’t react to Sakura’s pained gasp or the way Obito watches in resignation. They lurch forward as one, but they all know they’re too far away.
They can’t catch him.
The ground shakes on impact, and the earth cracks as dust fills the air.
Everything is still.
Everything is silent.
Everything is wrong.
And that wrongness suffocates him, pressing into his ribs as his body refuses to breathe, refuses to move because there’s no reason anymore, there’s nothing—
But suddenly, there is.
The emptiness explodes, and it feels like—
Minato freezes next to him. “That’s… not possible.”
Kakashi sucks in a breath as the dust clears in a gust of wind.
It’s Naruto, but it’s not, and his heart stutters in his chest as he tries to make sense of what he’s looking at.
The Naruto who’d fallen from the sky had been painfully young, stubbornly hopeful even as his face froze in silent laughter.
The Naruto in the crater… he’s not wrong, but he’s also not what he should be.
He should be dead, for one, Kakashi’s brain supplies unhelpfully.
Instead, he’s standing tall, radiating with a power that makes his previous chakra feel like an echo. His eyes are clear and sharp as they catalog everything around him, and Kakashi feels something that might be hope when they catch on him.
And then his face twists into a scowl that’s so deeply Naruto, Kakashi almost smiles. He spins to the giant tailed beast next to him—and what does it say about Kakashi that he’s only just noticing it—and points accusingly.
“You stupid, self-sacrificing idiot!” His voice is deeper, sharper, and full of rage and grief.
Behind him, Sakura snorts softly before clapping a hand over her mouth with wide eyes. Kakashi understands the urge to laugh—that might be the most hypocritical thing they’ve ever heard the blond say. But then Naruto keeps talking, and any humor they might have found in this exchange disappears.
“You promised we’d both die! You fucking lied to me and tried to leave me behind!”
The fox—Kurama, Kakashi reminds himself—flicks his tails in annoyance. “I never actually said you’d be the one dying.”
“Don’t you fucking dare bring up semantics, asshole!” Naruto stalks forward like he’s not the size of one of Kurama’s claws. “You’re stuck with me, bastard. You’ve had thirty-two years to make peace with that, so quit trying to leave me.”
Kushina exhales sharply. “Thirty-two…?”
The words echo in Kakashi’s thoughts, and he swallows through the sudden burn in his throat. Naruto is two years older than him now, just like that.
Kurama huffs, but there’s an edge of regret to that sound of frustration, and he leans down and noses at Naruto gently. “It’s not like I wanted to, kit.”
Disbelief hangs in the air like a physical thing, and Kakashi glances at Minato. His sensei looks just as lost as he feels, and Kakashi isn’t sure whether that makes him feel better or worse.
“What the fuck is going on?”
It takes Kakashi a second to realize that question hadn’t come from one of them, and they turn in sync to see Madara watching Naruto from across the battlefield. For the first time, Kakashi finds himself on the same page as the man responsible for every traumatic event he’s ever experienced.
Naruto blinks and looks around like he’s just realized where they are. He leans to the side and peers around Kurama, and his shoulders slump. “Oh. Right. You’re still here.”
Kakashi is going to die, he’s absolutely sure of it. There’s no rage in the way Naruto says that, no grief or fear.
It’s pure, unfiltered, undisguised irritation.
Like the continued presence of the man dangerously close to enslaving everyone on earth is nothing more than an inconvenience.
Sakura makes a choking noise, and her other hand flies to her mouth. Kushina looks like she doesn’t know whether to laugh or scream, and Minato has that look he used to get when he watched Kakashi and Obito argue. Obito has the expression of someone who’s looking at something that hits a little too close to home and is more than a little embarrassing.
And Madara?
He’s gaping with all the grace of a god being told for the second time today that there are several priorities ahead of him before he gets to be relevant.
Naruto hammers it home with a roll of his eyes, and he turns his back on Madara. “I’ll get to you in a minute.”
Kakashi couldn’t hold in the strangled laugh that spills from him if his life depended on it, and Naruto’s blue eyes snap to him, softening instantly.
“Hey, sensei! Still hanging around, huh?”
“Not for much longer, given how invested you seem to be in driving me to an early grave.” His voice only shakes a little, so he counts that as a win.
Naruto laughs, and it feels like a balm sinking into Kakashi’s skin. “Nah, you’re way more fun alive.”
What does that mean–?
He turns his attention to the others and fucking waves. “Hey, Tōchan, Kāchan! Man, it’s so weird seeing you guys again.”
Kakashi can almost hear the click as everyone collectively realizes that as ridiculous as this situation is, that man is definitely still Naruto.
Minato half-raises a hand to wave back. “I could say the same to you.” His tone is amused, and Kakashi can tell he’s compartmentalizing and shoving the weirdness away to deal with later.
Naruto just hums. “Eh, I’m pretty sure you’re weirder. You died a really long time ago, ya know. Although–” He turns to Kurama with a frown. “Did we actually die, or did we come back in time?”
Kurama stares at him. “How the fuck would I know?”
“I dunno,” Naruto responds, sarcastic enough to cut, “how the fuck do you know anything about nuclear fusion?”
The fox glances away haughtily. “I’m allowed to have hobbies.”
“Who the fuck picks up things like quantum mechanics as a casual hobby?”
“People who are at constant risk of losing brain cells out of sheer proximity to you.”
“Wha– Screw you, you’re the only thing keeping you here. You can leave any time you want, dickhead.”
“Apparently not,” the fox mutters snidely.
There’s a beat of silence in the wake of those words, oppressive and loaded.
And then—
Naruto puffs up like a grievously offended house cat, and Kakashi feels a wave of relief so strong, it almost bowls him over.
Definitely still Naruto.
Familiar.
Grounding.
Real.
With absolutely atrocious timing.
“Maa, Naruto, can the two of you settle this later? This battle is still uncharted territory for most of us.”
“—and shove it up your—” Naruto pauses mid-rant and blinks. “Oh, right. I guess this is the first time you guys are doing this.” He points at Kurama again. “This isn’t over, asshole.”
He pointedly ignores Kurama’s muttered “it never fucking is” and turns to face Madara. “Right! So you should know you have four options. Well, three. Actually, really just two.” His grin is feral as his features shift and sharpen, and he widens his stance in anticipation. “You can calmly listen to me explain why you’re an actual moron who’s been manipulated by a plant alien for the last few centuries, or I can tell you while I kick your ass. Your choice—I’ll be having fun either way.”
Madara blinks at him, confusion and anger at war in his expression. “What does that even mean?”
Naruto’s shoulders slump. “Aw, option A? That’s the boring one.”
Kakashi wonders what it says about him that his only reaction to that is a bone-deep fondness.
Kushina huffs, drawing his attention. “This is your fault, isn’t it?” She gestures broadly at Naruto and Kurama.
He rolls his eyes. “It’s funny that you think I’ve ever had any kind of control over the way your son behaves.”
“Um, sensei?” Sakura breaks in quietly, hopefully, coming up to stand by his shoulder. “That feels like–”
He’s shifting a bit to put her behind him before she finishes the sentence, because he knows that chakra.
A beat later, Sasuke crashes into the battlefield like a sulky lightning strike, right next to Naruto.
Kakashi’s eye starts spinning again, and he leans forward in anticipation.
“Oh! Hey, Sasuke!” Naruto greets him casually, like he hasn’t spent the last several years chasing the boy across the elemental nations.
Kakashi tilts his head. Huh. Maybe he hasn’t.
Sasuke gives Naruto a bland once-over before turning to face Madara.
Naruto deflates with a pout. “Sage-jījī already warned you about me, didn’t he?”
Sasuke doesn’t answer, just places his hand on his hip with an air of disinterest.
If his sharingan weren’t active, Kakashi might have missed the tension in his shoulders and the way he leans ever-so-slightly away from the blond.
That probably won’t blow up later.
Wait, Sage-jījī—?
Kushina makes an intrigued sound. “Is that Naruto’s boyfriend?”
Sakura splutters loudly, flailing behind Kakashi, and Kakashi—
Huh. He doesn’t really like that.
Doesn’t want to look into why.
He’s almost grateful for the explosion that pulls everyone’s attention back to the standoff in the center of the field.
Naruto laughs from Kurama’s head, the spot where he’d just been standing smoking slightly. “Alright, option B it is!” He crouches, ready to launch.
“Hey, kit.” Kurama grabs his attention. “Wanna try again?”
Naruto squawks, derailed. “What do you mean, try again? It just fucking killed us, we’re not doing it again!”
“It won’t kill us this time, brat.”
“Am I just supposed to believe that? How stupid do you think I am?”
“We do not have time for me to answer that question,” Kurama says dismissively. “But I’m telling you, it’ll work this time.”
Kakashi sees the way Naruto’s fingers clench in the orange fur, the way his jaw tenses. “Kurama…”
That single word carries so much pain, guilt, and fear—the emotions of a man who sacrificed everything he had to keep this being alive and would do it again in a heartbeat.
“I promise.” The fox’s vow is quiet, sincere.
Kakashi leans forward, mirroring Naruto’s pose. He doesn’t know what they’re about to do, but he does know Naruto–
“Fuck, fine. But I swear to the gods, if you get yourself killed again–”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Hurry up, would ya? I’m sick of this guy’s face.”
“No, don’t you dare–” Kushina’s voice cuts through the air with all the terror of a mother about to watch her son die for the second time in one day.
But Naruto doesn’t hear her, and all they can do is watch as he sinks into Kurama.