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Kakashi really had it rough. First, he lost his father. Then, just as he started building friendships, Obito died, and he "personally" had to kill Rin.
Not long after, his teacher and his teacher's wife died too. The two kids they left behind—one of them turned out to be a Jinchūriki. Even if he was a genius, even if he was some god-tier Kakashi, that kind of tragedy is too much for anyone.
"So now you've gone from protecting my mom… to protecting me, huh?"
"Yeah, the Third asked me to keep an eye on you from the shadows," Kakashi said with a nod, not trying to deny it.
"Let's go home," Akio said softly, grabbing Kakashi's large hand with his small one. Kakashi nodded, pulled his mask back on, and walked off with Akio.
As they walked through the village streets, people kept greeting Akio warmly, giving him snacks and little toys. Everyone knew he was Minato's son. And now that Minato had died sealing the Nine-Tails, Akio had become the son of a hero—an orphan of a legend.
People already liked Akio to begin with, but now the whole village treated him with even more kindness. Kakashi looked down at the bags of gifts he was carrying and let out a quiet sigh. If only Naruto could've been treated like this too... would he have grown up differently?
Probably, Akio thought to himself. If it were Naruto…
When they got home, Kakashi handed everything over to the nanny. Minato and Kushina may have passed away, but Akio could still afford to keep her around. He didn't really want to—he preferred to live alone—but his body was still too small. Cooking and house chores weren't exactly practical for him yet, so he had to make do.
In the blink of an eye, twelve years passed. Akio had grown into a pretty handsome young guy with messy black hair and all-black clothes. Unlike most ninjas, he wasn't wearing those open-toed sandals—his shoes were fully covered and black too. He was currently zipping through the forest at high speed.
Whoosh!
A flash of black light. He yanked a kunai out of a tree—it looked just like Minato's kunai, complete with the same markings. The one who grabbed it was, of course, Akio.
"Ten years, and I'm still not as fast as Dad," he muttered, shaking his head.
"You've got class, Akio," came a voice from below. Kakashi had appeared, standing at the base of the tree. He wasn't wearing his mask anymore—he had left the Anbu behind. He just happened to be passing by and spotted Akio.
"I sent a shadow clone in my place. Flying Thunder God takes way too much chakra. I can only use it five times before I'm wiped. Gotta meditate and get my chakra back up," Akio said, plopping down into a meditative pose.
"You're incredible. You've already learned Flying Thunder God and Shadow Clone?" Kakashi said with a chuckle.
"That's not all," Akio replied smugly. "If I'd only learned two jutsu in all these years, what kind of genius would I be? That'd be a joke."
In reality, other than Flying Thunder God and Shadow Clone, the only other thing he'd mastered was the Rasengan. He hadn't even learned a single C-rank jutsu.
It wasn't because he didn't want to. It was because there were no other ninjutsu scrolls in the house—just sealing jutsu scrolls. But those were ridiculously complicated, and without someone to teach him, they were basically unreadable.
So here he was, twelve years old, and aside from those three big techniques, all he had were the basic Transformation, Clone, and Substitution jutsus, along with some taijutsu. Sure, Flying Thunder God and Rasengan were enough to make people jealous, but in this world, just those two weren't enough to keep you alive.
"You're about to graduate soon. Then you'll start taking genin missions," Kakashi said.
"Genin missions are just chores and errands. I'll let my clones deal with those. Kakashi-bro, do you have any wind or lightning style scrolls I can borrow?"
"I've got some at home. I'll bring them to you." Kakashi nodded and left, coming back shortly after with two scrolls filled with Wind and Lightning Style jutsu.
"These only have C-rank techniques. I memorized the B-rank ones with my Sharingan. If you want them, I'll write them down and bring them tomorrow."
"Perfect. Thanks, bro," Akio said, jumping down from the tree and taking the scrolls. "Man, you really got too much free time, huh?"
"Yeah, nothing much going on lately," Kakashi said casually.
"How's Naruto doing?" Akio asked.
"Same as ever—goofing off every day. The Third is constantly stressed about it." Originally, Kakashi only found out Naruto's identity when he became the Seventh Squad leader. But because of Akio, he learned about it earlier. Not that it made a huge difference.
"Is he wearing the clothes I sent him?"
"Yeah, he is. You really put in a lot of effort—new clothes every year, always the right size. You even get him a birthday gift every year. He has no idea who's sending them, but he's always happy to receive them," Kakashi said with a grin.
"I can't go see him, so I've gotta do something. Otherwise, I'd be letting Mom and Dad down." Akio smiled too, flipping open one of the scrolls to read.
"You'll both be doing missions soon. Odds are, you'll run into each other out there."
"I'm looking forward to that day… Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
As he finished speaking, Akio formed a few hand seals and unleashed a gust of wind that tore through the forest, bending trees and shaking loose a rain of leaves.
"…You only read that once, didn't you?" Kakashi said, speechless.
"Yup. Feels like Wind Style jutsu just click for me. One look and I can do it. Probably just how my body works," Akio replied with a grin. No wonder the Inzoro Clan became one of the Big Three Families by specializing in Wind and Lightning Style—this body practically devoured those techniques.
"Then try this," Kakashi said, raising a hand that crackled with electricity. "Chidori!"
"Chidori?!" Akio's eyes lit up. He leaned in, watching closely, then stretched out his right hand. Chakra started to gather in his palm, sparking with electricity. "Chidori!"
"You're not a genius—you're a monster," Kakashi muttered, letting the electricity in his own hand fade.
BOOM!
Akio slammed his Chidori into a tree, and the whole thing collapsed with a crash.
"This is awesome!" Akio stared at his right hand, clearly hyped. With a body that could master Wind and Lightning Style jutsu just by looking at them, he was almost on par with someone born with the Sharingan.
"Looks like I can pass all my Wind and Lightning Style techniques down to you after all," Kakashi said, grinning. "Guess I haven't let my teacher down."
"....."