Young Kakashi frowned. "Are you stupid? Obito's an Uchiha. Of course he wears the Uchiha clan uniform."
He assumed Sasuke was some spoiled young master from the future, looking down on Obito—an orphan and the Uchiha Dead Last—so his tone toward Sasuke was downright rude.
But Sasuke ignored the provocation and only shouted even more hysterically:
"Stop joking! If you keep messing with me like this, I'll kill you!!!"
Young Kakashi, clueless that the Uchiha Clan no longer existed in this era, was one second away from calling Sasuke insane.
His razor-sharp tongue had already prepared dozens of perfectly humiliating, profanity-free comebacks, ready to fire in rapid-fire bursts—until Minato Namikaze placed a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Since we've already met," Minato said, "I think it's best if we seal each other's memories when we part, Kakashi."
Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto all froze when the man—who looked almost identical to the Fourth Hokage—casually addressed Kakashi-sensei by name.
Sakura glanced at their silver-haired, hopelessly delinquent jōnin.
"Kakashi-sensei, do you know him?"
Kakashi opened his mouth but couldn't find the words.
He didn't understand what was happening any better than they did.
"Enough worrying! Didn't Minato-sensei say he'd seal everyone's memories later?"
Young Kakashi's arrogance didn't soften even when dealing with his future self.
"To you, we're from the past. I'm Kakashi Hatake. That idiot lying on the ground is Obito Uchiha. And this is Konoha's Yellow Flash—Minato-sensei! The man who'll probably become your Fourth Hokage!"
Minato scratched his cheek shyly at his student's blunt praise.
Naruto's eyes bulged as he looked from the much-younger blond man—who looked nothing like the face on the Hokage Rock—to the skinny, masked boy standing beside him, who somehow managed to look even cockier than Sasuke.
"W-wait—you're Kakashi-sensei?!!"
"No way?! This is our delinquent jōnin instructor?!"
Sakura nearly screamed. "Kakashi-sensei was this handsome as a kid?!"
And he looks like such an elite!
Though still just a tiny bit less cool than Sasuke-kun ahhhh~~
Ka… Kakashi?!
Sasuke's eyes widened as he jerked his gaze between the young Kakashi and the present Kakashi.
How could this arrogant brat—who looked like he believed the world owed him money—possibly turn into that lazy, fish-like Kakashi who was late every single day?
Did that mean everyone eventually turned into the boring adults they hated?
He imagined himself becoming future Kakashi's slacker form and immediately felt crushed, his heart screaming rejection.
Young Kakashi understood exactly what they were thinking and snorted with disdain.
"You sure you're not an imposter? There's no way I'd turn into an adult like you. Impossible!"
Kakashi looked at his younger self with something close to pity.
Because he'd lived through everything… while this boy had lived through nothing.
He found his younger self painfully ignorant—ignorant enough to hurt.
He then turned his head toward Minato, whom he hadn't seen in twelve years, and whispered softly:
"Sensei…"
His voice was hoarse, the kind of hoarseness that came from restraining emotions he couldn't afford to release.
Young Kakashi clicked his tongue.
"How long has it been since you last saw Minato-sensei? Even if he became the Fourth Hokage, you could still visit him at the Hokage Tower."
At twelve, he couldn't possibly imagine the future.
But Minato, a seasoned elite ninja, understood the implication behind Kakashi's expression perfectly.
"Kakashi… how old are you now?" Minato asked the older Kakashi.
"Twenty-six, Sensei."
Minato nodded. So they had traveled fourteen years into the future.
Troublesome. He had no idea how they would return, when they would return, or whether time would continue flowing normally in their own world. If both timelines continued moving at the same pace, the Kannabi Bridge mission would certainly fail.
He had no way to contact their original world either. Their only hope was that when they returned, it would align with the precise time and place they'd left.
He studied Kakashi, now taller than him by a full head, and noticed his left eye covered by the forehead protector. Earlier in the fog, he'd heard people call him "Sharingan Kakashi," "Copy Ninja Kakashi."
Clearly, Kakashi had lived through a great many hardships.
Otherwise, how could the sharp-tongued prodigy he knew wear such a heartbreakingly heavy expression?
Judging from Kakashi's reaction upon seeing him, Minato deduced one thing:
He probably hadn't lived long as Hokage.
Poor Kushina! Widowed at such a young age?!!
Was she okay?! Was she okay?!! Was she okay?!!!
No, no—this wasn't the time to worry about that. More importantly, he looked healthy, meaning he likely hadn't died of illness. As Hokage, he wouldn't have been taking dangerous missions either.
So the only possible cause of death was—
An exceptionally powerful enemy attacking Konoha.
And as Hokage, he would have stood at the front.
Even if it meant sacrificing himself.
"Minato-sensei!" young Kakashi suddenly called out.
His hand, wrapped in a fingerless glove, pressed firmly against his student's back and pushed him two steps forward.
Naruto, already reeling from seeing the Fourth Hokage he admired so much appear out of nowhere, stiffened even more when Kakashi shoved him out from the line. He turned back, pretending to complain, though it was mostly to hide how nervous he was.
"Wh-what are you doing, Kakashi-sensei!! Don't just shove me out like that, dattebayo!"
A sadness Kakashi couldn't hide flickered in his eyes. Seeing his teacher—who should have been dead for twelve years—standing here alive made his chest ache. He couldn't stop himself from wanting Naruto to meet his real father, even if neither of them knew the truth.
At the very least, between the boy's surname and Kakashi's actions, Minato-sensei would be able to guess Naruto's identity. And besides, there was that bright golden hair just like his, and those clear blue eyes.
"Sensei, this is Naruto Uzumaki. He—"
His Adam's apple bobbed beneath the mask, the tightness in his throat making it difficult to speak.
"He admires you… and sees you as his goal."
"His personality and his dreams are just like Obito's…"
Kakashi glanced at Obito Uchiha lying on the ground, afraid that if he said another word, his voice would break.
"To become Hokage, right?"
Minato smiled. "We heard him earlier."
He crouched down, meeting the eyes of the smallest, thinnest member of Kakashi's team— Naruto Uzumaki.