Chapter 48: Unpleasant Truths and Dark Legacies
Kakashi's single visible eye remained fixed on his book, but his attention had laser-focused on the boy now scrambling to his feet—the spiky blond hair, the whisker marks, the outrageously blue eyes that held echoes of a man he'd loved like a father.
Minato-sensei's son.
The thought was a familiar ache. He'd been assigned to Team 7 not just as a jōnin instructor, but as a silent guardian. The Third Hokage's orders had been clear: protect the Jinchūriki, protect the last Uchiha, and guide them. The fact that two of his three students were already in hospital beds before introductions was... an unconventional start.
Naruto's mindless charge held no threat. Kakashi didn't even bother to close his book, simply sidestepping and using Icha Icha Paradise to tap the boy's head with a soft thwack, sending him stumbling.
"Kid, I'm your jōnin instructor. Why are you trying to stab me?"
He used the book to pat Naruto's head again, a mix of exasperation and something perilously close to fondness already forming. In all his years, he'd never encountered someone so recklessly, gloriously straightforward. Was this really the son of the brilliant, tactical Fourth Hokage?
—Poof!
The Naruto before him dissolved into white smoke.
Shadow Clone? Kakashi's eye widened a fraction behind his mask. Not entirely thoughtless, then.
Two more kunai sliced through the air—one aimed at his legs, the other descending from above where the real Naruto had launched himself from the ceiling vent.
[System Notification: Live Stream Active]
[Viewers: 101 Pure Land Residents]
[Current Donation Pool: 312 viewer points]
[VIP Highlight: Sakumo Hatake - "That boy's form... it's familiar..."]
Tobirama Senju (VIP5): Not bad, Fourth. Your son possesses a crude but effective tactical instinct. Distraction with a clone, attack from two angles simultaneously.
Minato Namikaze (VIP1): His ethereal form glowed with paternal pride. He gets his creativity from his mother! And perhaps a little from my own innovative spirit! Did you see that feint?
Tobirama Senju: Didn't you and your wife die the night he was born? When exactly did you contribute to his "upbringing"?
Minato Namikaze: Spiritual guidance! I visit him in his dreams! ...Sometimes.
Tobirama Senju: I've accessed the dream-frequency logs. Your visitation rate is 0.03%. Try again.
Hyuga Hizashi (VIP1): The boy has grown more capable than I assumed. His chakra control for the clone while launching a dual assault shows training.
Yuhi Kurenai (Regular Viewer): Using a clone as a disposable scout and distraction is solid genin-level tactics. The Fourth's legacy lives on.
Might Dai (Regular Viewer): Such youthful vigor! It reminds me of my own son's springtime of youth!
Uchiha Madara (VIP1): Snorted. Two children pecking at each other. This is what passes for combat observation?
Sakumo Hatake (Regular Viewer): That jōnin's posture... the way he shifts his weight... It reminds me of my son, Kakashi. Is that...?
Rin Nohara (Regular Viewer): Her spectral form flickered. It... it is him, Sakumo-san. That's Kakashi.
Sakumo Hatake: This young lady knows my son?
Rin Nohara: We were classmates. Under Minato-sensei.
A heavy, silent pause stretched in the Pure Land stream.
Minato Namikaze: Sighed, the sound carrying centuries of regret. Sakumo-san. Rin was... she was one of my brightest. A true Konoha kunoichi.
Sakumo Hatake: Why does the Fourth Hokage sigh so sorrowfully?
Another beat of silence. In the living world, Kakashi effortlessly deflected both kunai with two fingers, his book still open. But in the afterlife, a truth was about to fracture a father's peace.
Minato Namikaze: If I had detected Kirigakure's Three-Tails implantation plot earlier... if I had been faster... Rin wouldn't have had to...
Rin Nohara: Sensei, please. It was my choice. I couldn't let them use me as a weapon against Konoha. I'm a student of the Hokage. I did what I had to do.
Sakumo Hatake: This girl is a hero of the village, then. Tell me, child—who delivered the final blow? If the streamer can locate them, I will fund any vengeance you require. My son is a powerful jōnin; he could assist.
The chat froze. The usual bickering between Uchiha and Senju, the commentary on Naruto's clumsy assault—all of it stilled.
Rin Nohara: ...
Sakumo Hatake: What is it?
Minato Namikaze: Sakumo-san, please, don't—
Ren Arakawa (subvocalizing, his voice cutting through the spectral tension): Because the one who killed her was your son. Hatake Kakashi.
In the hospital room, Ren watched Kakashi disarm Naruto with a gentle wrist lock, the boy yelping as his kunai clattered to the floor. But in the stream, a ghost's world shattered.
Sakumo Hatake: ...What?
His voice was barely a whisper across the void.
Ren Arakawa: Her heart was pierced by Kakashi's Chidori. She died in his arms.
Sakumo Hatake: No. That's impossible. My son... Kakashi would never... He has the heart of a Hatake! He protects his comrades! He—
Rin Nohara: Her voice was gentle, unbearably so. It's true, Sakumo-san. I made him promise. I ran towards his Chidori. It was the only way to stop the Three-Tails from being unleashed on Konoha. He... he kept his promise to me. He protected our home.
A silence deeper than any grave filled the stream. The playful banter was gone. The political maneuvering, the ancient rivalries—all meaningless before this raw, personal agony.
Sakumo Hatake: ...My boy. My Kakashi... carried that? After I... after I left him with my own failure...
Tobirama Senju: His voice, usually so clinical, was subdued. A tragedy woven from duty and sacrifice. The shinobi world consumes its young.
Uchiha Madara: Hmph. To kill one's own comrade to awaken greater power... it is a dark path, but a known one. This Kakashi has Uchiha-level resolve.
Uchiha Izuna: Indeed! I killed my brother's wife to help him awaken the Mangekyō! True power requires sacrifice!
Tobirama Senju: Revulsion colored his tone. You two are monsters. Trading the lives of loved ones for ocular power?
Uchiha Madara: You understand nothing, Senju! The path to protecting what matters is paved with impossible choices!
Hashirama Senju: His voice broke, full of grief. Madara... I never knew you believed such things. To kill a family member for power... I never expected this darkness from you.
Uchiha Madara: SHUT UP, HASHIRAMA! You, with your naive "Will of Fire"! You never understood what true strength costs! You never had to make my choices!
The stream erupted into chaos—accusations, defenses, the visceral pain of Sakumo Hatake's silent mourning bleeding into the ancient feud between the Founders.
In the hospital room, none of this was visible. Kakashi had Naruto in a loose headlock, the boy complaining loudly.
"Alright, alright, you're my sensei! I get it! Let go!"
Kakashi released him, his eye crinkling. "Good. Now, introductions. I'm Hatake Kakashi, your jōnin instructor. Things we will learn: teamwork, survival, and how to not hospitalize each other before our first meeting." His eye flicked to Ren, still by the door. "Arakawa. You're still here."
Ren met his gaze. Behind Kakashi's lazy smile, Ren's Meditation technique sensed the deep, still waters of pain—old, familiar, and carefully contained. The grief of a man who had lost his father to disgrace, his best friend to darkness, and his teammate to his own hand.
Ren Arakawa (subvocalizing): He carries it all. And he has no idea his father just learned the worst of it.
"Just leaving," Ren said quietly. He gave a final nod—to Kakashi, to the unconscious Sakura, to the pretending-to-sleep Sasuke, and to Naruto, who was now grinning despite his defeat.
As Ren stepped into the hallway, closing the door on Team 7's inauspicious beginning, the cacophony in the Pure Land stream began to slowly quiet, replaced by a heavy, mournful stillness.
Sakumo Hatake had gone silent.
Rin Nohara was trying to comfort him.
Minato Namikaze was apologizing, over and over.
And Uchiha Madara and Hashirama were locked in a bitter, silent stalemate.
Ren walked down the hospital corridor, the weight of the dead's emotions pressing against his senses. He had just weaponized a tragic truth to make a point, and the aftermath was more somber than he'd anticipated.
Ren Arakawa (subvocalizing): Sometimes the truth is the sharpest kunai. And it always cuts both ways.
He stepped out into the Konoha sun, leaving the hospital and its ghosts—both living and dead—behind. But the echoes of that revelation would ripple through the Pure Land for a long time to come, changing alliances, deepening wounds, and reminding everyone that even in death, some pains never fully heal.