Underneath the Underneath (KAKASHI)

The three genin of Team 7 all realized how odd their sensei was the moment they'd first met him. He wore a weird mask over more than half his face, and at his obviously young age he had more silver hair than the Sandiame. Even with the mask and hair being explained he was still odd.

He was late to everything. Birthday parties, meetings with fellow Jonin, meals, training; no matter the occasion he was late. But he was also always on time. He was always three hours late. No more no less. With the same excuse every time too. He'd gotten lost on the road of life, followed up with a statement about running into a black cat.

He smiled with his eyes but whenever he looked at them, they were filled with one of two emotions; fear or sadness. Sometimes both. Even if he was exuding pride one of the two other emotions was vying to be the main one.

When he gave the odd hug he always held on as if he never wanted to let them go. As if he was afraid to. As if he knew he would have to because his shoulders would always sag before he did.

What may you ask are two almost thirteen and one just turned twelve-year-old supposed to do you may ask when they have three free hours a day seven days a week? Investigate of course. Not right away, however. They needed to learn how to stalk people without getting caught.

Naruto was great at evading detection, like a switch flipped in his brain, however he wasn't too great at the opposite as jonin would always catch him five minutes in. They practiced for weeks on jonin and then the anbu before they felt they were good enough to track down their sensei. When they did, they were confused.

He was sitting by the memorial stone. The one he'd shown them during their secret mission. He wasn't talking either. Just sitting there with a small sad smile to his eye. That answered the question of where is Kakashi sensei but now the question was why he was there.

The asked around. They read around. The only information they were sure of was that Kakashi was a ninja since he was younger than them. He'd fought through the war. His genin teammates had both died but not together. His jonin sensei had also died years later. His father had been dead even longer and he'd been alone since.

And then they'd found the journal. It had come from one of the buildings that had to be demolished a while ago and they'd finally gotten to the box it was in. They weren't even going to open it but then a picture fell out. A picture of a young man with blond hair who they realized was the fourth Hokage, a young boy with a smile as wide as Naruto's wit goggles and Uchiha hair, and a young brown-haired girl that stood as firmly as Sakura did. And there under the Fourth's hand stood a young boy with cold eyes and silver hair. It could only be Kakashi Sensei.

They debated reading the journal because this was obviously very personal to a dead relative, but they viewed Kakashi Sensei as family as well and they would have to be voyeurs to a dead family member to understand a still living one.

The journal talked about the boy, Obito's feelings for his team, the read through his romantic feelings for Rin and instead read about Kakashi. They learned about the tragic end to their sensei's father. How he became a stickler for the rules. They read until the journal abruptly ended. They were at a dead end, but they had a clue of where to continue. There was another name in the book. For a Might Guy. Apparently, he and Kakashi were childhood friends and hopefully he was still alive.

It was hard tracking him down, however. Most ninja cringed and edged away from the conversation the minute his name was spoken. It wasn't until Hinata who had been in the market overheard the conversation and mentioned that the man was the sensei to her older cousin. Her cousin had a major stick up his ass but had no issue telling them where they could find his sensei.

The next day found them waiting at the entrance to the village for a tall black-haired man in a green jumpsuit. They were mildly surprised and disturbed that he seemed to have procreated as there was a young carbon copy at his side. They quickly told him why they were there and begged for information. Guy tried to dissuade them, told them that he just couldn't tell them, but he was so moved by their youthful bond and love for his dear friend and rival that he spilled it all.

They understood why Kakashi sensei looked at them like he didn't want to let them go now. It was because in a sense he'd been on this team before. Almost literally as it'd been the same number. He'd been on the team before and he'd lost them all. In a way he felt like they all left him behind. He held them at arm's length because he was preparing himself to lose them all over again. He hugged them and pushed them away because he didn't want to, but he felt he had to. That just wouldn't do they all thought fiercely.

He had them. They were here and alive and well and thriving and they just needed a way to show him that they wouldn't be leaving him behind anytime soon. So, what did they do? They went back to planning. It took time to figure it out. It wasn't until they came across something in one of the Uzumaki scrolls that they decided what to do.

It was an age-old tradition. The same way your DNA didn't die in your hair the same was said about your chakra. It would always remain neutral in whatever strand of hair you shed no matter your state of life. You could forge jewelry of weaponry with the chakra from your loved ones with a seal and you would feel them right there with you as if they were still there. Not like a ghost either but more just a since of them. To make it even luckier Obito's journal had a lock of hair from every member of Team 7 Minato.

They worked in secret. At night after missions and training they went out to the cliffs and dug into the rock until the came across the iron ore they would need for steel. They pummeled the rock face into the early hours Sakura's brute strength making the task move faster. They pummeled for days, a whole week before they moved onto the next step.

They had to melt the minerals down slowly at a consistent temperature. Sasuke taught Naruto and Sakura an Uchiha fire jutsu that allowed them to release steady streams of condensed fire if they breathed through their nose. It took time to get it down and Sasuke's stream was the most consistent.

Using a stasis seal that he learned from his mothers scrolls Naruto kept the ore at its current temperatures until they were able to move on to the next step. When the ore was at their highest melting point, he had to extract the chakra from the hair and pass it into the melted ore. They'd already made their presses for the shapes the jewelry and weapons would be in. Something sentimental for each of them.

Because the seal was so temperamental Sasuke and Sakura were tasked with keeping the ore at the highest points while Naruto and his clones extracted and implanted the chakra. In the end they had seven different slabs of molten iron ore, each imbued with its own chakra.

Now for the easy part pouring and shaping the steel into its molds. It took another hour and sure they'd only have about an hour of sleep but tomorrow would be a special day.

That morning Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were each sitting down in front of the memorial stone waiting for their sensei. It wasn't hard to notice his arrival as there was a slight surprised stumble a few feet away. All was silent and they sat there quietly allowing him his time with his lost team. After his three hours Kakashi and his genin stood and made their way to their training grounds. There under Kakashi's usual spot was a package with his name on it in Sakura's neat handwriting. Picking it up he paused at what he felt.

Looking at the three he saw them talking amongst themselves while shooting him shy nervous glances. Opening the package carefully he took out six small dog tags. Each tag had a name on it, and a feeling associated with that name. With shock he was reminded of the feeling when he felt chakra flare subtly from Sasuke that matched the tag with his name on it. It was his team's chakra. Their essence. A piece of their life force.

At the bottom of the package there was a letter from his genin. The letter spoke of their love for him. Their sorrow of the Team 7 legacy. Their faith in him. Their trust. Their hope. That they weren't going anywhere. That he wasn't going anywhere. That they would always be there no matter what. And for the first time in a long time Kakashi believed those words. Turning towards them he paused at the similar feelings he got from them.

On each of Sakura's hands were three separate rings. From here he could feel the chakras from himself, Naruto, Sasuke, Rin, Obito, and Minato. Around Naruto's neck were six thin necklaces with the same feeling. And Sasuke had six earing's in his left ear.

He said nothing but with a warm smile he walked up to the three and pulled them into a firm hug. He breathed them in ruffled their hair and then let them go. Except this time, it didn't feel as if he were saying goodbye and more like simply the end of a warm hug. Afterwards he started training.

Nothing was ever said on the event but that didn't mean that things didn't change. Kakashi no longer went to the memorial stone every morning. There were days that he went but he was never late to team training, or meetings again. Some days he didn't go at all because the memorial stone was no longer the only place, he felt close to his loved ones. He'd never felt closer to them than in his own skin before now.