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It isn’t often that Naruto has time to spend with his son. He regrets it sometimes. Being Hokage has been his dream and - while it isn’t everything he imagined it would be as a kid - he loves it. Being able to help the villagers, protect the village, guide the next generation, watch over the Will of Fire.
The trade off is missing a lot of his kids’ lives. Briefly, he wonders if his own father would have missed this much of his life if he’d lived.
Probably.
Kakashi-sensei had warned him what it would be like. His sensei had missed a lot of things and had to make a lot of people angry to make the important things. Weekly fights with Shizune and Shikamaru over whether or not he’d be going to Gai-sensei’s physical therapy appointments. Biweekly fights with Sakura over whether or not he’d be able to make their Team 7 dinners.
Being Hokage wasn’t easy and neither was being a father.
Being both? It was a little bit harder than Naruto expected it to be.
But, at least Boruto had gone out to dinner with him this time. Last time it had been a fight and his son had vanished into thin air. This time they’d gotten a tense dinner out of it and Boruto reminding him - for the twelfth time - that if he missed Hinata’s birthday dinner he would never be forgiven.
Sometimes it already felt like he was never going to be forgiven.
Sighing, Naruto glanced down at his son. Boruto had his hands shoved in his pockets, scowling for all he was worth at his feet.
Ah, man.
Naruto really had to do something to bond with Boruto before his son ended up hating him. Sasuke was never even in the village and Sarada loved him.
Ahead of them, Naruto caught a familiar flash of purple against pale cheeks. Sukea.
It had been ages since the last time Naruto had seen the reporter. He’d heard he’d been in town around the time of the graduation exam and then again during the bomb scare. But he hadn’t actually seen the man.
Amazingly, he looked the same. Like it hadn’t been two decades since the first time they’d tried to unmask Kakashi together.
Man had those been the days. Running around with Sakura and Sasuke, before everything got hard. They’d laughed a lot in those days. Kakashi definitely knew what they were doing, he’d set up plenty of traps and tricks for them, though he’d never admitted it. He’d just gently compliment their teamwork at the next training session with a twinkle in his eye.
Maybe he should encourage Boruto and the new Team 7 to try and unmask Kakashi. No one ever would, but it was definitely a team building exercise.
And Kakashi would probably find the humor in it. He normally did.
“Hey, Old Man Kakashi,” Boruto said as Sukea passed them.
“Hi Boruto,” Sukea replied easily, nodding to Naruto.
Naruto raised a lazy hand in a wave, his mind still spinning on how to bring up to Boruto that he should -
Wait.
What?
Naruto spun around but Sukea was already gone.
No.
It couldn’t be.
Sukea had tried to help them unmask Kakashi. He’d helped them break into the files… With skills that he’d gotten as a former ANBU. Just like Kakashi. But he’d spent all that time trying to take pictures of Kakashi’s real face. All of which failed.
But that was ridiculous, wasn’t it?
To think that Kakashi had pretended to be someone else entirely and wasted chakra on a shadow clone, just to run around with them to unmask himself. It was completely and utterly ridiculous.
“Uh, Dad?” Boruto called from ahead of him. “You okay?”
Naruto spun back to his son, heart thrumming in his chest. “You just… Sukea. That was Sukea.”
“Uh?”
“But you said. You called him… Was that Kakashi-sensei?”
Boruto blinked. “You’re being weird.”
“Boruto! You called Sukea “Kakashi”! Is Sukea Kakashi-sensei?”
Boruto took a step back, looking at him like he’d lost his mind. “Yes.”
Yes.
Kakashi-sensei and Sukea were the same person.
For years , the freelance reporter that would pop up once in a while to help them unmask their sensei had been their sensei all along! All these years of wanting to see Kakashi’s face and they’d already seen it!
“I have to tell Sakura and Sasuke.”
“What? Dad, where are you going?”
Sasuke arrived back in the village in record time. He must have used the rinnegan because he arrived before Sakura and she was just across town. Both of his teammates look at him expectantly, their nerves humming in the air.
Naruto let out a long breath, lacing his fingers together. “I don’t know how to tell you this.”
How did he tell them?
They’d think he was crazy.
“Out with it, Naruto,” Sasuke barked. “You said it was urgent. What is it?”
Letting out a calming breath, Naruto pushed his nerves aside. So they’d think he was crazy. It wouldn’t be the first time. And it wouldn’t be the last. But they had to know. They deserved to know.
“Kakashi-sensei,” he said, watching Sakura’s body tense with concern, “is Sukea.”
Silence followed.
Two seconds.
Five seconds.
Ten seconds.
“You, you,” Sakura spluttered. “You idiot!”
Her chakra coated fist collided with the back of Naruto’s head. Kurama howled with laughter.
“Ow! Sakura!” Naruto yelped, cupping the back of his head protectively. “You can’t hit me like that. I’m the Hokage!”
Sakura’s fist tightened again, her teeth grinding audibly. Beside her, Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose. Like Naruto had given him a headache.
“You idiot ,” Sasuke sighed. “You said this was urgent.”
“It is urgent !” Naruto threw his hands up. “Don’t you guys get it! Kakashi-sensei is Sukea! He’s been making fools out of us for years!”
Sasuke rolled his eyes.
Sakura sighed. “Naruto, first of all, Kakashi-sensei always makes fools out of us.”
“Speak for yourself,” Sasuke huffed.
Predictably, Sakura ignored him. “Second of all, that’s ridiculous. You really think Kakashi-sensei dressed up as someone else and sent a shadow clone out so that he could run around with us, trying to unmask himself? Who would do that?”
Naruto stared at her, waiting for it to click. Because it would click. It had to.
“Oh my god,” Sakura said, her jaw dropping in horror. “Kakashi-sensei is Sukea!”
Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Why do we care again?”
“Because he’s been making fools of us, Sasuke!”
Sasuke sighed. “Yeah, but you’re never going to get him to admit it. He’ll just play dumb, like he always does.”
“That,” Naruto said, slamming a fist onto the desk, “is exactly why we’re going to do it.”
“Do what?”
“We’re going to unmask Kakashi-sensei! Then he can’t deny it!”
His teammates blinked at him.
“You want to try and unmask, Kakashi-sensei?” Sakura echoed.
Sasuke looked unimpressed. Though, when did he ever look impressed. “Naruto, it didn’t work twenty years ago. Why would it work now ?”
“Because,” Naruto waved his hand at them, “we’re us now. We’re stronger than Kakashi-sensei. And Sakura’s way smarter than Kakashi-sensei. We’re gonna unmask him. Hokage’s orders.”
“This is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done,” Sasuke sighed.
“You don’t seriously think this is going to work?” Sakura hissed at him.
Naruto pressed a finger to his lips. “Shh, they’ll be here any minute.”
“Haven’t we tried this before?” Sasuke asked, elbowing Naruto. “Move over, you moron.”
“Both of you, shut up,” Sakura snarled.
The bush around them shook lightly as they all tried to peek through. Himawari would be by with Kakashi any second now. She was the perfect inside man. Kakashi might not admit it, but they all know he favored the baby of their little family. He used to let her color on mission reports in his office. She had full access to his snack cupboard. And he’d drop everything to take her to a festival.
He would never suspect that Himawari would be luring him into a trap.
The sun beat down on them as they waited and Naruto struggled not to vibrate with excitement. This was it. They were finally going to get to see Kakashi’s face. He was going to have to suffer with the knowledge that he’d lost .
“Where are they?” Sasuke asked. “You said they’d be here at noon. Its five after.”
“Kakashi-sensei’s late to everything. Just shut up and wait.”
“Shut up, both of you,” Sakura hissed. “There’s Himawari.”
Naruto’s youngest was indeed making her way down the street, but she was on her own. There was a new plushie under one of her arms and she was holding a fresh ice cream cone with the other.
“Naruto,” Sasuke growled. “Where is Kakashi?”
“Did she sell us out?” Sakura hissed.
“She would never!” Naruto said.
Himawari paused in front of their bush, looking up at them with bright blue eyes. “Kaka-jiji says hi. And try harder.”
Disguises? Perfect.
Chakra signatures? Hidden.
Kakashi-sensei? Walking toward them with Gai-sensei.
The two were deep in conversation. Naruto caught Sakura’s eye across the street and nodded. On the roof above her, Sasuke blended in perfectly with the tiling. No one would ever see it coming.
Naruto hefted up his pot of hot strew and waddled across the street in front of Kakashi and Gai. Sasuke’s kunai landed in a flash and Naruto’s foot caught it. He tripped dramatically, knocking into Sakura, who scowled and shoved him, yelling about drunks - just like they planned.
The pot soared through the air.
Naruto’s chest lifted with excitement.
Gai yelped as the hot stew covered him. Behind his wheelchair, Kakashi’s clean head poked up.
“Maa, maa,” he said, standing himself up. “That was close. Come on, Gai. Let’s get you home.”
God dammit.
“This will never work.”
“We’re running out of options!” Naruto threw his hands in the air. “We’ve tried chakra traps, seals, the kids. Everything! Nothing works!”
“You can’t really expect him to tell us the truth,” Sasuke hisses.
“Do you have a better idea?”
“Will you two shut up!” Sakura raises her fist in warning. “We’re trying everything here! If this doesn’t work, its back to the drawing board.”
Naruto moaned. He really didn’t want to go back to the drawing board. He was the Hokage. A war hero. The child of prophecy. But here he was, defeated by a single man who didn’t even have a fraction of the chakra he had.
Kurama snickered.
Naruto bit back the urge to tell him to shut it when there was a knock at his office door. Kakashi slipped in with a raised eyebrow, his expression carefully neutral.
“You called, Lord Seventh.”
It was smug, teasing. Like Kakashi knew exactly why he was here. He probably did. He’d evaded all of their attempts embarrassingly easily and brushed it off like it was all accidents. But he knew. He had to know.
Naruto knew he knew!
“Alright,” Naruto said as Kakashi slipped lazily into the seat across from him. Sakura and Sasuke stayed beside him, both glowering at their sensei as well, “time to tell us the truth, Sensei!”
“Oh?” Kakashi crossed his legs and leaned back in the chair, his head cocked to the side. “And what truth would that be?”
“The truth about who you are!”
His eyes crinkled in that smug, Kakashi smile. “Your loving and humble sensei?”
Naruto slammed his hands on the desk as he stood. Kakashi didn’t flinch. If anything, he looked bored, one eyebrow raising a little higher.
“You’ve been Sukea this whole time, haven’t you?”
“Sukea?” Kakashi echoed, feigning innocence. “That reporter you all got caught breaking into ANBU records with?”
“Don’t play dumb with us! We know it’s been you!”
“What an interesting theory.” Kakashi hummed.
“Answer the question, Sensei!” Sakura ordered. “Are you Sukea?”
“Maa, maa, Sakura. What do you think? Have I been secretly moonlighting as a reporter, just to mess with you? Just to make you think you could see beneath my mask just to snatch it away at the last minute? That seems a little much, doesn’t it?”
“That isn’t an answer,” Sasuke seethed.
Kakashi heaved a heavy sigh and leaned forward, eyes twinkling with fake sympathy. “Why, my cute little students, does that sound like something I’d do?”
“Yes!”
Another sigh. “And so you’ve dragged me in here to, what? Confirm what you already know? Or are you asking because you don’t know? Tell me, my sweet little genin, if I tell you what you want to hear will it bring you closure? Or will you spend the rest of your lives wondering if I let you win?”
Silence.
Something curled in Naruto’s chest. A wonder. A confusion.
They were right?
Weren’t they?
But what if they weren’t?
What if Kakashi was just friends with Sukea and they set this whole thing up?
Naruto moaned and dropped his head onto the desk. On either side of him, he felt Sakura and Sasuke deflate. Chuckling, Kakashi ruffled their hair and left.
When Naruto was young, mourning was a quick thing. The looming dangers of war and fragility of peace made it impossible for anyone to linger on the loss of those they loved for too long. But times had changed. Now, peace was the norm. There was no war on the horizon, no distraction to turn his thoughts to.
They buried Kakashi on a bright day. Like the sun itself was happy to finally give him a break. A lifetime of war and fighting had left its mark. Naruto couldn’t help but think about how young sixty was. But it had been a peaceful thing. The letters he left behind - written by shaky hands that made it hard to read - left them all in tears but promised that he’d had a good life. And that if illness was the thing that took him out, he was luckier than most.
It was hard to believe the man in the coffin was his sensei. He looked like he always had, in a black suit with a black mask covering his face. His eyes were closed, hands folded neatly over his abdomen. If Naruto didn’t know any better, he’d think Kakashi was sleeping. But, Kakashi never really slept.
Peace made it possible to mourn. He felt Kakashi’s absence everyday.
It was strange. Kakashi hadn’t been in the village consistently for years. As soon as he’d retired from Hokage, he’d spent his time traveling with Gai. And the two deserved it. They’d never gotten the freedoms others had. Naruto hadn’t passed Kakashi on the street every day for years, but there was something about knowing he never would again that left a hole in his chest.
There was a strange sense of nostalgia, exasperation, and humor in finding the camera in Kakashi’s apartment. Months after the funeral, Naruto agreed to help Gai go through Kakashi’s things. They kept enough to remember his beloved teacher but donated what they could. The camera should have been an unsuspecting thing, but it caused Naruto to laugh like he hadn’t in months.
He brought it to dinner with him. Sakura collapsed into tearful giggles and Sasuke grumbled under his breath, but it was good natured.
“I can’t believe how long he kept us going on this.” Sakura’s voice wobbled as she turned the camera in her hands. “Sage, it's been months , I shouldn’t be crying anymore.”
Naruto shrugged. “It’s okay, Sakura. I still cry too sometimes. I mean, he’s Kakashi-sensei. It's just so weird to think…”
We’re never going to see him again.
“Well, at least we know now,” Sasuke muttered, taking a long drink of his beer. “I can’t believe how long he kept up the repor-”
Sakura’s hands clasped down on Naruto and Sasuke’s wrists, her grip bruising tight and her green eyes fixed on something in the distance.
“Sakura?” Naruto turned to follow her gaze. “What’s-?”
Sukea.
Sukea was standing across the street, laughing at something a vendor said as he dug in his wallet.
Sukea.
No.
No, it couldn’t be.
Sukea was Kakashi-sensei.
And Kakashi-sensei was…
“A ghost?!” Naruto squeaked.
“Don’t be stupid,” Sasuke said, already rising as Sukea accepted his bag and started down the street.
Naruto scrambled after him. But, by the time they made it to the street, masses of people crowded around them. Sukea was gone. Naruto stared down the street.
Something old and uncertain swirled in his chest.
Was he going crazy?
That was Sukea.
It was definitely Sukea.
But… But… But…
“Nnnoooooo!”
Smirking, he placed down his bag and pulled off the wig. The damn thing was itchy - so were the purple markings - but he could handle it.
It appears that my time may be coming. It's a hard thing to realize, one’s own demise. But I can go in comfort knowing that, with your help, your father and the rest of my cute little genin may never know true peace.
It gives me great pride to bequeath to you, the mantle of Sukea.
It may seem like a lot of work, but I promise you, it is always worth it in the end. Enjoy the time you have to torment your father. You never know when it may come to an end. Know that I am proud of you. And no matter where you go or what you do, I will always watch over you.
All the best,
Kakashi-jiji
Boruto glanced down at the letter and grinned.
Kakashi-jiji was right.
This was going to be fun.