Uchiha Shisui had left, taking Itachi with him.
Kakashi's lips curved into a faint smile as he recalled the reluctant glint in Itachi's eyes moments earlier.
Shisui's sudden appearance had caught him off guard, yet it was precisely that interference that made this brief encounter with the young Uchiha prodigy far more productive than expected.
Shisui… you really don't understand people at all.
Now that he possessed the power of Light, Kakashi no longer had any reason to fear Shisui's Kotoamatsukami.
That was why he had met the man's gaze head-on, without the slightest hesitation.
Not all Mangekyō Sharingan are created equal, after all.
Shisui's Kotoamatsukami might be hailed as the ultimate genjutsu, but that reputation belonged to the era of Shippuden. What did it matter to Light—a power that originated in the age of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations?
Still—
"It's a shame Itachi doesn't get decent meals very often," Kakashi murmured to himself.
"Guess I'll have to give Hikari an extra serving tonight."
He glanced down at the fish in his basket and chuckled softly. Slinging the fishing rod over his shoulder, he picked up the basket and started home as the sun dipped toward the horizon, painting the sky in warm amber.
"Shisui-nii?"
"What's wrong?"
On the way back, Itachi glanced worriedly at Shisui's unusually pale face.
"Itachi…" Shisui's voice came out strained. "What kind of person do you think Lord Hokage is?"
He stared at the younger boy walking beside him, the question weighing heavily on his tongue.
He still couldn't figure out why Kakashi Hatake had taken such an interest in a nine-year-old child of their clan.
But the memories kept surfacing.
The man on the Land of Frost battlefield—face cold as ice—calmly suggesting to Jiraiya that they flood the enemy with water release, without a trace of hesitation.
The same man who, moments later, ordered the execution of surrendering shinobi without batting an eye.
Uchiha Shisui felt true fear coil in his gut whenever he thought of Kakashi.
He feared that ruthless, bloodless detachment.
No matter Kakashi's intentions, Shisui had no intention of letting that man anywhere near the Uchiha clan's brightest genius.
"Lord Hokage?" Itachi tilted his head, puzzled by the question. "He's amazing. He protected the village."
"Shisui-nii, I think you and Father are being a little unfair to him. He is the Hokage, after all."
The answer was so earnest, so matter-of-fact, that Shisui's heart immediately sank.
Even so, he forced the words out. "But… he's the one who started the war."
Itachi's confident expression faltered. His small fingers curled at his sides.
War was terrifying.
It was exactly why he had once stepped forward in front of Hikari, offering himself without hesitation.
But—
Senior Kakashi was still Lord Hokage.
"The outcome was good in the end, wasn't it…?" Itachi's voice grew quieter.
Shisui reached out and gently ruffled the boy's dark hair, softening his tone. "Come on. Let's head home. Mikoto-san should have dinner ready by now."
"For the next little while, I'll be the one taking you out to train."
He had no desire to debate the morality of war with a child. He simply wanted his extraordinarily gifted little brother as far away from the Acting Hokage as possible.
Yet even as the thought formed, a cold glint flickered in Shisui's eyes.
Acting Hokage today… official Hokage tomorrow.
[Uchiha Shisui's emotional fluctuation +1] [Chakra +1%]
He's definitely scheming something.
Kakashi, standing in the kitchen with an apron tied around his waist, felt the system prompt and smiled to himself.
Judging by Shisui's attitude today, the man was never going to approve of him.
Even though he already wore the hat.
Kakashi couldn't help but wonder what exactly had been going through Shisui's mind the moment he awakened his Mangekyō—how despairing, how arrogant those thoughts must have been to birth a technique like Kotoamatsukami, a genjutsu nearly impossible to resist unless you wielded something of the same caliber.
Because everyone else is wrong, and only I know the truth—so all of you should just obediently follow my will?
Well. None of that mattered anymore.
Kakashi turned his attention to the still-flopping fish on the cutting board. He brought the flat of his hand down in a light tap. The fish shot upward. In the same breath, his kitchen knife spun once in his palm, blade flashing. Scales flew off in perfect sheets; gills and entrails sailed neatly into the trash bin.
It was over in an instant—clean, painless.
At least Kakashi liked to think the fish hadn't suffered.
He watched the body give one last twitch, then brought the knife down again. Flashes of steel danced across the flesh. Moments later, uniform slices of translucent white fish lay neatly arranged, leaving only a pristine skeleton behind.
"You're scary good with that knife," came a soft, admiring voice from the doorway.
"We're having fish tonight," Kakashi replied without turning around. He already knew exactly who it was.
"Mm!" Hikari stepped inside, fresh from her first day of recovery training now that the seal had finally been lifted.
Kakashi lit the stove with practiced ease, heated the pot, and moved through the kitchen like he'd been born in it. What should have been ordinary cooking techniques became something almost artistic under a shinobi's inhuman precision and Kakashi's own peerless blade work.
"Where'd you even learn to cook like that?" Hikari asked, eyes wide as she watched his hands dance.
"When you spend enough years alone, you pick things up," he answered honestly.
In his previous life and in this one, Kakashi had always eaten alone.
Until Hikari came along.
"So you just waited for me to cook for you, huh?" she teased, a mischievous lilt in her voice.
Kakashi's ladle paused mid-stir. He glanced back at her, offering the awkward, polite smile of someone definitively caught.
"…Want to go buy some braised side dishes later?"
Hikari's cheeks puffed out when he dodged the question entirely.
Annoying guy. Not only did he take advantage of her every chance he got, he'd shamelessly turned her into his personal chef for three whole years.
"Hmph. You go buy them," she huffed, turning her head away with an exaggerated snort.
"Got it~~" Kakashi sing-songed, gaze returning to the pot where creamy white fish soup was beginning to simmer.
Quiet, peaceful days.
Hikari stole a glance at him, then another. Unable to resist, she inched closer.
Only after imprinting Tsukuyomi on him yesterday did she truly realize just how absurd Kakashi's chakra reserves were.
That scent of chakra…
It was richer, denser than even Uzumaki Mito's had been—the woman who sealed her all those decades ago.
Who was the real Uzumaki here?
Wait.
Was she imagining it?
It felt like… his chakra had grown just the tiniest bit denser since yesterday.
Hikari leaned in, subtly sniffing the air around him, faint confusion in her crimson eyes.
But that wasn't important right now.
She wanted to siphon his chakra—
"What are you doing back there?" Kakashi asked, turning his head just enough to catch her in the act.
"Who's doing anything?!" Hikari yelped, jumping back a step and whipping her head away. "Don't get full of yourself!"
Kakashi blinked.
He hadn't actually asked why she was getting close.
"You watch the pot. I'm going out to buy those side dishes," he said, untying the apron and tossing it straight into her arms.
He strolled into the living room, shrugged on a jacket, and headed out the door without looking back.
The moment he was gone, Hikari stared down at the apron in her hands.
Slowly, instinctively, she brought it to her face and inhaled.
The mingled scent of chakra… and Kakashi.
————
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