Time Travel? What The Fuck?

Chapter 17: Trial and Error

Kakashi was seeing ghosts everywhere.

The first ghost he'd seen had been in his sensei's son. The boy was a perfect blend of his old sensei and Kushina. He looked just like the fourth Hokage, the blonde hair, the eyes, everything. But he was so much like Kushina too. He had her strong will, her short temper, her love for ramen, and basically everything else that made her an Uzumaki seemed to have passed down to him. He might look like his father, but he was 100% his mother on the inside. What made it all even worse, or better depending on your viewpoint, was that he'd also inherited his desire to become hokage from both his parents. Sure Minato-sensei had eventually become hokage, but that didn't mean Kushina hadn't wanted it just as badly. In fact, kakashi was sure the only reasons she hadn't gotten the job was because she was both the Kyūbi jinchuuriki and too hot tempered for it. Being a leader took diplomacy, and that was something she had lacked.

After being dismissed by the hokage (or rather, dismissing himself), he'd gone to the memorial stone for the rest of the day. He hadn't meant to spend that long in front of it, it had just happened. And before he knew it the sun was setting and his stomach was telling him it was time to eat. This tended to happen a lot after a bad mission. He'd find himself gravitating towards graves and memorials, wishing he could discuss them with his fallen comrades. Sometimes he did, but as always, they never spoke back.

As was to be expected from stone slabs.

Sometimes he saw things that reminded him of them the days he'd visit their graves. He liked to think to himself that it was them calling out beyond the grave just to say hello or something equally as corny. It could be something as simple as a lilly, which was Rin's favorite flower, or a short sword like the one his father used to kill himself with. It didn't matter what it was, in the end, they were wisps of a past he'd long since given up on moving on from.

It had been years, but Kakashi was seeing ghosts everywhere.

And now he was seeing Obito's.

"Hey sensei," Naruto chirped when the jōnin finally decided to show up at the training ground. It looked like the three had already started running drills, knowing he'd be late and deciding to take advantage of the time instead of just wasting it doing nothing. Looking at the boy though he was shocked when he finally saw what he was wearing.

It was Obito's jacket.

Sure the colors were inverted, but it was the same design, same length, same everything. Kakashi was sure that if Naruto turned around he'd see the Uzumaki spiral on the back as opposed to the Uchiha fan, but it was inconsequential.

He blinked once. And again.

Of course he should have figured the boy would buy a new jacket, seeing as the other one was destroyed. But jeez, what were the chances?

"Uh, sensei, you okay?"

The voice shook him out of his reverie and he found himself looking down at Sakura giving him a careful, steady look.

"Hm? Oh, yes. Never better," he lied, crinkling his eye into one of his iconic smiles. He hoped it didn't look too forced.

"Okay..." She trailed off, unconvinced. Naruto and Sasuke shared a look between them that suggested they felt the same way. Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the three of them. Since when were genin so good at reading emotions? Shrugging, he brushed off the thought of the stupid jacket and forced himself not to dwell on it.

"Anyways, I'd like to start off today by first congratulating all of you on completing your first A-rank mission. Not a small feat for any genin to manage, let alone those fresh out of the academy," he said warmly. "So good job, you three." His words were met with bright smiles and twinkling eyes. "But now that you've proven you can hold yourselves in a real battle, you're training will be that much harder."