Chapter Text
“Kuso!”
Kakashi sighed, slamming the book shut, then followed his gaze to the young boy who had been training under his supervision since dawn. He gave his student a look, analyzing the chidori technique he was performing flawlessly, just missing something that would help him see the right line to attack.
"Don't push yourself so hard, Kaoru!" Kakashi shouted at him, then bounced off the tree and headed towards the fourteen-year-old.
Despite everything, the pink-haired teenager ignored his teacher's advice. He started attacking the training stake from both sides with both punches and kicks, finally throwing out a bunch of kunais and shurikens.
"You're before lunch, you're about to collapse from exhaustion. Please, rest,” Kakashi repeated his request, but Kaoru completely didn’t hear him. “Kaoru!”
Nothing was getting through to the young boy, and Hatake wryly thought that he was just as stubborn as his mother. And when the teenager still didn’t respond to the increasingly insistent call of his teacher, Kakashi decided to give up. He returned to his previous position, leaning against the trunk of the tree, and resumed his reading. He had no idea how much time had passed, but when he heard someone else's footsteps, he looked up from his book and gave the newcomer his charming smile.
"Still not giving up?" Sakura asked, still wearing her hospital gown.
Kakashi shook his head. “Nope. And he's completely ignoring my requests to take a break," Hatake added.
Sakura drooped her arms, stepping closer.
"I give up, I don't know how to reason with him at all," she replied.
"You don't have to, he'll realize eventually that he doesn't have to be perfect at everything."
"Talking with Naruto doesn't help... he won't listen to anyone, not even me," she said sadly, placing a large picnic basket on the grass at her former teacher's feet.
Kakashi tucked the book into his side pouch, focusing all his attention on his former student.
“You know, he’s pretty good, he mastered chidori technique much faster than..." Kakashi fell silent for a moment, examining the young woman's reaction, and when he noticed that she was staring at him with the same depressed eyes as before, he finished, "Sasuke.”
The sound of his name in his mouth sounded like the worst kind of trash, because that's what it was supposed to sound like. Since the day Uchiha Sasuke failed to take responsibility for his actions, Hatake Kakashi, the Rokudaime Hokage banished him from Konoha forever. Even the current Hokage didn’t tolerate his former friend. You just had to break old ties sometimes... and Naruto knew that Sasuke crossed the line one day fifteen years ago.
A hand clad in a fingerless glove rested on the young doctor's shoulder.
"I thought he would give it a rest for a while, we live in different realities since there’s peace all over the world..." Sakura said.
"Exactly, which is why it's so much harder to wake up the Sharingan in times of peace. And yes, Sasuke already had the second level of Sharingan at his age, but that doesn't mean that Kaoru has to be the same age,” Hatake commented, grabbing the pink-haired kunoichi's chin with his free hand to gently lift her head up.
“I know, and to me he's perfect in everything he does. He doesn't have to have a Sharingan to prove anything to anyone... but I know how it is at the academy... and he's the last one of the Uchiha clan who doesn't have a sharingan... they're definitely making fun of him, but he won't admit it.”
Kakashi leaned in to place a short kiss on Sakura's lips, but quickly pulled away when he heard Kaoru finally decided to join them. He shifted his gaze to the fourteen-year-old boy, who collapsed from exhaustion as soon as he took a step further.
Both Sakura and Kakashi rushed towards him. It wasn't the first time Kaoru had abused his abilities, but it was good to have the best medical ninja on hand for such emergencies.