Chapter Text
His father is dead and, for a long time, all he can do is stare.
He has seen blood before, has even shed it more than once, both in the controlled environment of training and in the sheer danger and speed of battle, in one of the many missions he has undertaken. He is used to violence, to gore and to the stench of death. A lot of shinobis are, and he isn't the youngest of them, Kiri nins have it much worse.
But still. This time, it's his father laying on the ground and not a random stranger, and he can't find it in himself to pretend like this is normal, like this is what he is supposed to do, what he's supposed to live with everyday. He forgets about the Academy lessons, about his headband and about his duty to his village and, for a few minutes, a few hours, he feels like a normal child, small and weak and so so lost.
He cries.
His hands find his father's face and he flinches at how cold it is. The man had probably been dead for several hours when he found him in the morning. Soon, he will start decaying and the smell of blood will be replaced by one of rot, the kind that never really went away once it had impregnated a place.
Kakashi realises quickly that he doesn't want to see what his father is going to be become once death takes away whatever humanity his body has left and makes a decision. He gets up slowly, glances at the corpse on the bedroom's floor one last time, and leaves the house to go warn the Uchiha police of what has just happened. Some part of him wants to believe that his fellow shinobis are going to be respectful and take care of the older Hatake's body but he remembers the sneers and the hateful looks and, deep inside, he knows that it isn't going to be the case.
He doesn't want to think about this.
He tells again and again the story of how he found the corpse and is almost relieved when he realises that no one really seems to care. They take to Hatake Sakumo's death without showing any emotions and he is coldly informed that he's going to have to pass a test to see if he's going to be allowed to live on his own. No one presents him wih any condolences of any kind but no one looks happy either. He is left alone to grieve.
There is an empty feeling in his chest, he feels detached, absent.
Kakashi passes the test without any difficulty whatsoever. Even before this morning, he has always been used to looking after himself. These last few weeks, his father had been irresponsive at best and he has had to learn how to cook his own food and clean the house if he wanted to be in good health enough to keep on training with Minato-sensei. He is clever and motivated enough that he became proefficient at it in only a few days. Being a genius has some perks after all.
Thinking of Minato almost makes him cry right in front of the bored-looking chunin that has to make him go through his quick cooking test but he manages to blink back the tears and keep on the brave and unemotional façade he managed to have all day. His jonin-sensei will not be back until a month later, at least, and he feels incredibly lonely but that doesn't mean that he should ridicule himself in front of a fellow chunin. He has standards.
Shinobis are supposed to be strong.
He goes home hours after he left it and the corpse is gone but its smell, however, stays. He tastes copper and steel and, as he bends down to grab his father's katana, its blade and handle covered in dried blood, it's so overwhelming that he gags and almost vomits right there, on the floor where Hatake Sakumo died, the night before.
In the end he straightens up and puts the sword down on Sakumo's bed because he can't see what else to do with it. After a few minutes of absolute emptiness and of trying to figure out what he's supposed to do now, he decides that it's getting a little late and that, maybe, he should just go to bed.
He ends up lying on his back in his futon, staring at his ceiling and listening at how silent the house is now that he's the only one living inside of it. He thinks about all the other orphans the war is going to make and wonders if, maybe, his father did really have it coming. Kakashi has always been taught that teammates and bonds won over everything else, including orders and hierarchy but now he doubts it. Sakumo showed weakness, chose his team over his village and now he is dead and there is a war about to go off.
He falls asleep with a bitter taste in his mouth and his eyes hurting from all the tears he has been holding back during the day.
Strangely, he doesn't dream of Sakumo.
There is no nightmare, no shame, no pain. And, when he opens his eyes in his dream, because he just knows that it's one, he's alone and naked inside of a big white room and there is a distinct lack of cold, blood or anything of the sort. Kakashi doesn't really know if he is supposed to be relieved at this or disappointed.
It's not that he feels like he deserves the pain but he has been so empty since his father's death that it would be good to feel something, anything.
He is drawn away from his dark thoughts by a sparkling blue light that, slowly, starts to expand in front of his eyes, quickly forming the shape of a large rectangle, a bit wider than his face, in front of which it is currently floating.
What a weird dream. And how strange it is that he's having it now of all moments.
Words start to form on the rectangle and he leans closer. Curiosity is in his nature and even what happened earlier that day couldn't take that away from him.
[New player registered]
Kakashi stares blankly at the three words and notices distantly that there is something looking a bit like a white bar slowly filling up below them. Right next to it are numbers, a percentage that is rising as the white of the bar is slowly taken over by a bright blue. Once it reaches, a hundred percent, it stops and, for a moment, everything is still.
Then the world explodes.
He cries out in surprise and tries to protect his face with his bare arms. He has not yet the reflex of calling up his chakra to enhance his defense but it doesn't seem to be an issue since, despite the room dissolving (and quite violently at that) in front of his eyes, he appears to be completely unharmed by it.
The day just keeps getting weirder.
The room he is now standing in is now a little smaller and a lot darker, its walls a dark gray and a lot of strange blue symbols running over them, moving and twisting in a way he has never seen before. As he looks around, bewildered, he notices that he, himself, has changed as well. He is now wearing is standard shinobi gear, with his mask and the gray and black clothes Minato-sensei helped him select a few months ago, after his chunin promotion.
Well, this is a dream after all. It isn't really that surprising that he's able to change clothes like that.
He turns around once again and is greeted by the sight of another rectangle, this one much larger and bigger than the first one he read. A bit surprised by the sheer size of it -it's currently taller than him-, it takes him some time before finally decides to see what it's about. Once he does, he reads this :
[CHARACTER CREATION – BACKGROUND
Current background : Child genius
Change background ? Y/N]
Under these three lines was a list of a dozen or so strange association of words such as "Orphan of war" or "Dead last" and it takes him a few minutes of frowning and trying to figure out what he was supposed to do with the writings before he, completely by accident, taps it with his hand and watches in astonishment as it changes once again.
He has apparently touched what is described as his 'current background' and, as it expands and as he starts to read it, he feels a cold feeling of dread start to pool up in his stomach. And there he thought he was having a nightmare free night. It seems like there is no way for him to escape what just happened to him and to his father.
[Child Genius
Hatake Kakashi, son of the famous White Fang and last heir of the Hatake clan, is defined by his intelligence and by his talent for the ways of the shinobis. A genius amongst his peers, he seemed destined to shine until his father's disgrace and, later, death left him all alone. Now, he has to use his cleverness and the few resources he still has to try and live up to his potential and redeem his family's name.
Bonuses :
+50 Intelligence
- 10 Charisma
-100 Reputation with [Konoha civilians] and [Shinobi Corps]
+100 Reputation with [Roots] and [Anbu]
Equipment :
Mask (Status effect [Mysterious])
Standard shinobi gear
Kunais x100
shurikens x100
Scrolls x20]
He doesn't bother trying to make sense of the second part of what was written on the rectangle, focusing on the story. Being remembered of his new status as an orphan makes his throat hurt and his heart sink. He taps the rectangle again and watches as the description disappears, leaving him once again with the strange list.
Kakashi still feels as if he's about to cry so, to keep his mind off of the evergrowing emptiness in his chest, he taps one of the strange names, reading it calmly and pretending that everything is fine, that it's just a normal, innocent dream.
[Hopeless Romantic
Ever since he was able to read, Kakashi has been fascinated by love and by the idea of romance. Despite being born in a shinobi family, he has no real love for the art of war and would rather spend his time trying to find his true soulmate at help other people find theirs to. He is known in Konoha for being gentle and a little naïve but is still loved by many, including his parents, for his enthusiasm and his optimistic approach to life]
He blinks slowly at the description and tries looking at a few more before finally coming to the conclusion that the rectangle seems to be proposing alternate versions of his childhood, each and every one of them more different from his own than the last. Weren't he in a dream, he could have considered it seriously, he thinks quite often about what he could have been if he wasn't born in a family like his, but, as it is now, he has no wish to entertain such a fantasy. This dream is becoming more and more real by the minute, this has to stop.
Even if he's sleeping, he can't allow himself to be weak. His life is what it is and if he stops and starts living in a fantasy world made of 'what if' and how 'if only", he's never going to become a great shinobi and surpass his father.
His father ...
Kakashi shudders and, quickly, taps the little [No] right next to the [Change background ?] question.
The rectangle blinks out of existence and, when it comes back, it has separated in a few smaller boxes that float a little higher than it used to. Each one of them has a single word written on it and, next to them, are a few lines that aren't contained in a box or in a rectangle.
Hatake Kakashi
Level 23
HP : 60/60
CK : 55/55
He frowns at the words, wondering what [HP] or [CK] even mean and what it says about him that his 'level' is at twenty-three, before turning his attention to the small boxes above his head, taking them in with curiosity, for once overpowering the emptiness and he uneasiness he seems to be feeling almost constantly now.
[Profile]
[Skills]
[Inventory]
[Quests]
[Library]
[Achievements]
[Settings]
Still utterly confused, he tries to stand on his toes to reach the rectangles, tapping them with the tip of his fingers. His size is something he tries not to get too upset about, he's only six after all, he'll probably have a growth spurt later in his life, but it doesn't stop it from being a little annoying in situations like this.
Father always used to catch stuff for him when it was out of his reach.
Kakashi briefly closes his eyes and chastises himself. This is his dream, he doesn't have to think about Sakumo. Not now and not ever, if he can help it.
[Profile
Name : Hatake Kakashi
Age : 6
Race : Human
Affiliation : Konoha
Rank : Chunin
Level : 23
Title : -
Statistics :
Strength : 7
Agility : 19
Speed : 25
Intelligence : 62
Wisdom : 4
Charisma : -18 (+10) : -8
remaining points : 0
Status effect :
Genius : -20 Charisma, +50 Intelligence
Mysterious : +10 Charisma, people might want to discover your secret]
Reading this, he quickly understands that his so-called "statistics" are supposed to be an assessment of some of his physical and mental abilities but, considering that he has no frame of reference and no way to know if they are high or actually rather low, he isn't sure what to think about them. The only thing he can definitely think is that he is apparently not a charismatic person.
Well, he always did have some trouble making friends with the other kids. Maybe that's why.
He ends up looking over his skills, that are pretty much exactly as he expected them to be, with a fairly full [Shinobi Skills] and a much smaller [Civilian Skills] which, curiously, contains a level 2 out of 20 cooking skill. He does know how to boil an egg and cook a steak, but his culinary talent doesn't go much further and he wouldn't consider himself especially "skilled" in the kitchen, this dream is definitely strange.
Kakashi would probably have spent more time reading what was written in the other boxes, but he doesn't have the time. Just as he was reaching for the [Inventory] rectangle, his vision starts to blur and, suddenly, he's laying in his bed and there are birds chirping at his window.
He stays still for a moment, listening to the low whistling of the wind passing through the trees in the garden and smelling the faint metallic smell coming from the room right next to his own. By reflex, he tries to find the sound of someone's breath, slow and sleepy, but only the creaking of the floor and the walls answer him and he has to come to the conclusion that this is his reality now.
His father is dead.
He's an orphan.
He's alone.
No one will take care of him now, he has to deal with things on his own like the adult he has become when he had passed the genin exam, a year earlier. He's not a kid anymore, he's a ninja.
Kakashi takes a deep breath and sits up, ready to go prepare himself for a long day of training and trying to forget just why exactly his chest is feeling so strange.
Then, he sees something.
Something blue.
Something bright.
Something that is hovering just above his eyes.