Chapter Text
They won the war, Naruto is hailed as the saviour of the shinobi world. No one is prouder than Kakashi. His little genin, now considered the second coming of the sanin. All of them are powerful in their own rights. Naruto didn’t even need to be explained, Sakura’s mastery of Tsunade’s signature healing mark and pivotal role in providing healing to the allied forces and Sasuke … well, power always came at a price. But the fanfare of the end of the war was dying down as the entire shinobi world tried to reestablish what everyday life looked like. The alliance of the shinobi forces is holding strong, no doubt due to Naruto’s influence. And somehow Kakashi has found himself as the sixth hokage. He’s not sure how he let Tsunade strong arm him into it but she did it somehow, convincing him he was just keeping the seat warm until Naruto was ready to take over. In the most surprising twist, Naruto himself admitted he wasn’t ready to take the hat. Well that and he was only 17. There’s so much work to be done, rebuilding the shinobi forces within each hidden village, but the casualties of the war still completely weighed everyone down. There wasn’t a single person who had escaped that grief, that pain. Kakashi personally thinks he’s going to require a lifetime to process Obito’s role in the war and seeing Minato sensei. Each village was trying their best, all the kages helping each other out. Of course, all of them invested in Naruto’s recovery with his new arm and such. Naruto had managed to convince the kages to let Sasuke be pardoned of his crimes, it was simultaneously hard and easy. For one, Naruto had everyone’s unwavering trust, on the other hand Sasuke had done nothing to earn any trust even if he’d helped defeat Madara and Kaguya. Gaara especially took the most convincing to agree, seeing as he was Naruto’s best friend and had seen first hand how much wreckage Sasuke had caused for Naruto, how much damage Naruto suffered at the hands of Sasuke. But Gaara trusted Naruto more, but privately warned the raven that if he so much as breathes wrong, the kazekage would kill him himself. Sasuke had refused the arm Tsunade built for him, saying he wanted the reminder of his bonds, his humanity. Kakashi and Sakura had sent the raven off a few days ago, Kakashi also warning his kid privately that his other kids had fought tooth and nail for him, they deserved more than to be stabbed in the back by him … again. Kakashi is sure Naruto said his own warnings and farewells to Sasuke anyways, he spends the afternoon cheering Sakura up saying Sasuke would come back for real this time, that he needed time alone to figure out who he wanted to be.
Kakashi now openly admits that they’re his kids, anyone with eyeballs can see how much the now hokage adores the three, sees them as his kids.. How fond he is of them, how protective. How they hold special places in his heart no one could ever come close too. The proof stands in the picture on Kakashi’s desk in the hokage office. Of simpler days, when the three legends were fresh genin, when Kakashi was still Kakashi of the sharingan. People privately joke that it’s like a dad who keeps his family portrait on his desk, Kakashi doesn't disprove or say anything refuting the statement. It’s been a month since he watched his kids punch a literal goddess, and watched two of his kids blow each other’s arm off. A month since his kids had finally reunited, finally came home to him. A month since it all ended. A month after a war means people are finally starting to process what the hell happened and how much they’ve lost. Adrenaline wearing off as everyone tries to settle into a new normal. Enough time has passed for people to feel the emptiness, the weight of loss after a war. Kakashi has seen it in his own friends who’ve now lived through two wars - in Guy’s career ending injury, in Kurenai and little mirai with no Asuma, in the way Tenzou still can’t quite put together that he’s not being held hostage anymore. Sees it in the children who his generation never wanted to experience war , what remains of the rookie 9 and the extended konoha 11, he guesses its 12 now since Sasuke’s back. The way Shikamaru insists on being his assistant to help Naruto later on, while juggling taking over as clan head. In the way Ino tries to find her footing as clan head, learning the ropes of T&I to help the way her father did. In the way Choji has become a lot more protective of the other two in the ino-shika-cho trio, the guilt for being the only one with his father left palpable. In the way Lee and Tenten are trying their hardest to hold it together with Neji’s death and their sensei being permanently out of commission. In the way Kiba and Shino are always helping Kurenai with Mirai, or comforting Hinata who is struggling with Neji’s death. In his own kids. In the way Sakura still throws herself into the hospital, eager to take over from Tsunade that Kakashi sometimes has to physically drag his only girl away with force, the way she still seeks him out in the middle of the night with tears of not being able to do enough, all the death she faced head on as a medical nin, tears over her boys. Kakashi comforts and holds her through it. Sees it in the way Sasuke looks so lost in the world that it makes Kakashi’s heart ache for the raven. Sasuke whose entire world flipped upside down at the revelations behind the massacre and Itachi, the was Sasuke doesn’t trust the world or himself. The way he only truly trusts Naruto to keep him grounded. All Kakashi can do is be a steady presence for the boy who seems so lost and confused, as though this life isn’t the right one, as though he’s starting from scratch, Kakashi supposes he is. Sees it in Naruto the most. The way the boy gets caught in flashbacks and nightmares all the time. The way the sunshine boy sometimes looks like he’s trying entirely too hard to hold it together. The way he holds the weight of all the loss and destruction of the war on his own shoulders. Sees all the loss, everyone’s grief and problems as his fault. Just because he was jinchuriki, just because he happened to hold the nine-tails, Kurama, who was the last tailed beast together with B’s eight-tails. Naruto’s heart is too big, bleeds too much that Naruto takes it all on himself. Berates himself for not being able to do more, to save more people. As though the child didn’t do more than everything. There wasn’t a single person who thought negatively at all about the boy but himself. Kakashi sees it in Naruto the most. Sees the way the bright eyes dim every so often throughout the day, the way his fight instinct, his protective instincts don’t seem to go away. As though the boy is still stuck in survival mode.
Kakashi sighs softly, enough time has passed after the war for everyone to hit the second round of grieving. There’s the instant grief when one dies, then there's the grief you have to learn to live with. The grief that sneaks up unexpectedly throughout daily life. The kind of grief that catches you off guard, out of nowhere. Kakashi knows it all too well, and seeing it reflect on the kids who survived the war doesn’t make it less painful. Saw the way Shikamaru started crying when he saw a shogi set tucked away in one of the drawers of the hokage office. Saw the way Tenten broke down after seeing the academy kids practice shuriken throwing, saying she used to help Neji train his blindspot by throwing weapons at him. It’s all unexpected moments that hit hard, where you think you're doing fine and suddenly you're drowning again.