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The school bell rang out loudly through the corridors of the academy. The teachers did not try to finish their sentences – the kids were not listening to them anyway. The weather was perfect to go together to the playground and spend some time on playing before their parents would go get them for dinner.
The first year class was no different in reaction for the bell and their plans after school. The group of children poured from the classroom, chattering excitedly one through another.
‘Did you see it, Kakashi?!’ Gai was jumping excitedly next to his Rival, shaking his little fists in the air. ‘I made it! I made a clone, you were so right about the hand seals!’
‘It was only one though’ noticed Kakashi. ‘But it looked just right.’
‘It’s an improvement!’
‘It was a nice done clone’ chimed in Kurenai with a smile. ‘Nice one, Gai!’
‘Thank you! Kakashi told me how to get better and it worked!’
‘Of course it did’ scoffed Kakashi, raising his chin. ‘I would not give a bad advice.’
‘Ha!’ Gai clapped his hands, grinning ear to ear. ‘I can’t wait to tell papa about it! I’ll have to show him how good my ninjutsu got in just a week!’
Kakashi hummed, glancing at him. Gai was over the moon and his happiness seemed to be contagious because all their colleagues were more giggly than usual as well. He reached out and patted his arm.
‘It was a really good clone, Gai’ he said in a serious tone of voice. ‘Now you have to practice so you can make more.’
‘Yosh! That’s my next goal!’
‘…Maybe start with the substitution technique’ offered Asuma. ‘Because I’m sure teacher will test us from that in two weeks.’ He made a face. ‘He always tests us from new stuff after two weeks.’
‘True’ sighed Kurenai. ‘It’s tricky!’
‘Easy’ argued Kakashi.
‘Shut up, for you every technique is easy’ snorted Asuma and bumped him with his elbow.
‘Also true’ agreed Kakashi with a smug look on his face. It earned some chuckles around him.
‘Yeah but to be fair, everyone who was showed it before the academy is good at it’ noticed Rin, turning around to join the conversation. ‘Now its just a matter of evening out our skills before we graduate!’ She smiled and gave Gai a thumb up, making him smile even more. ‘Keep up the good work, Gai! You showed everyone today!’
‘Yes! My next goal is to master the substitution jutsu!’
‘And if you fail?’ asked Kakashi slowly, tilting his head, well familiar with his ‘self-rules’. They made him able to do 500 laps around the schoolyard.
‘I’ll try even harder! I’ll make 500 push-ups standing only on my fingers!’
‘…That will do I think…’
Gai laughed proudly, making everyone around him chuckle as well.
‘Kakashi!’
The boy abruptly stopped, surprised and turned to find the owner of the voice. He gasped quietly when he saw his father leaning on the lantern near the academy walls.
‘Dad!’ He trotted to him, leaving his classmates behind. 'You're early!'
Sakumo smiled at him, pulling one hand out of his pocket.
‘We finished with the report faster than we thought. I figured I’ll come by to pick you up from school.’ He ruffled Kakashi’s hair, making him grunt in annoyance even if the boy secretly liked that gesture.
‘Cool! Will you train with me? You haven’t for so long!’ complained the boy, grabbing Sakumo by his vest and giving it a long tug.
‘Actually, I wanted to teach you something new today’ he whispered, leaning to him.
Kakashi’s eyes widened in awe, still holding onto the vest. He bent his knees, making himself hung in the air on it.
‘Let’s go!’
‘Don’t you want to say goodbye to your friends first?’ He nodded towards the group of kids waiting nearby, unfazed with his child hanging on him like a keychain.
‘…Uh, yeah.’ He turned his head around. ‘Go without me! I’m coming with my dad!’ he called, having no intention of letting go of his father’s vest anytime soon.
Gai waved at him.
‘See you tomorrow, Rival! Bye, Kakashi’s dad!’
Sakumo chuckled and waved as well. Kakashi spend at this boy house almost a week recently and it was hard to not notice Kakashi grew fond of him. And to think that a few months ago he was doubting anything good would come from knowing him!
‘Bye, Kakashi’s Rival!’ he called to the boy, smiling.
‘Dad!’ hissed Kakashi, back on his feet and tugged at his clothes again. Sakumo only laughed at his kid’s embarrassment and Gai’s excited reaction.
‘Train hard to beat my son!’ called Sakumo. Gai grinned and assumed his usual pose.
‘Will do! It’s a promise!’
‘Daaad! You’re so embarrassing, stop!´ Kakashi almost whined, trying to pull him away because he gave a thumb up back at Gai. Sakumo gave in and with a laugh, allowed to be dragged aside.
‘Are you hungry, Pup?’
‘No! I made myself lunch and ate everything. We can go train now!’
‘Now, now, no need to be so impatient! I have the whole afternoon for that, we have time.’
Kakashi only huffed, still frustrated at how embarrassing his father was in front of almost his whole class. And he had the nerve to find it funny – not only that, but he dared to encourage Gai to keep annoying him into a challenge or something.
On their way home they stopped off to buy some fruits (Kakashi demanded apples) and eventually – finally – they were home.
Kakashi was almost crawling out of his skin when Sakumo at last took pity on him and invited him outside to sit on the porch.
‘I think it’s a good time for you to learn this technique, Pup, considering your clan heritage. If your mother was still around, you most likely would have been given your dog some time ago. You would grow up and learn together, creating joined techniques and become an inseparable duo.’ Sakumo smiled sadly at the boy sitting next to him. ‘Unfortunately it is not possible since there is no Inuzuka in our family anymore. As you know, the clan affiliation is inherited from the father. In your case it’s me and the Hatake name.’
Kakashi nodded solemnly, staring intently at his dad. He was almost vibrating because he could not wait to see what he would learn today, but he also wanted to hear what Sakumo had to say.
‘My – our – clan was never as big as Hyuuga, Uchiha or Inuzuka, we are just a small branch descending from the Inuzuka family. For some time we were not even a part of Konoha, which changed after my grandmother brought us back here after my father passed away.’ Sakumo reached to brush away hair out of his son’s eyes. He gave up long ago on trying to make them into something relatively groomed – they were just out of control. He had a feeling his kid’s main chakra nature was lightning release. He would have to bring some paper to check it. ‘Your grandma brought back another thing.’ He reached for a scroll hidden in a wooden box. ‘It’s a kind of time and space technique which allows the user to summon an animal they have a contract with.’
Kakashi gasped, scrambling to his knees.
‘You’ll teach me to summon your pack?’
Sakumo shook his head.
‘Not exactly. It’s about time you start building your own. You’ll sign the contract and summon your first ninken.’
Kakashi made a choked sound of excitement, trying to contain his emotions and doing a bad job at it. His own, first ninken – and he was going to have a whole pack just like his dad! He hoped it would happen fast because he wanted to meet all of them already.
‘It’s going to be a puppy, just like you. You’ll have to bond and learn each other before you’ll be deemed ready to summon the second one. It’s possible to get two more at once, it happens sometimes.’
‘I’ll be getting new puppies until I’ll have eight summons?’
‘Yes.’ He smiled. ‘Ready, Pup?’
‘Yes!’
‘Alright. When you sign the scroll with your blood and your name, your chakra will tell what kind of dog you’ll be the most compatible with. Depending on your chakra nature and potential, you’ll build your own, unique pack.’
Kakashi fished out a kunai, ready to cut his finger. He nodded firmly, waiting for a signal to start.
Sakumo carefully unwrapped the woden scroll and laid it gently on the floor in front of them. His name was written as the last one.
‘You know what to do’ he noticed with a little crooked smile. Kakashi nodded and cut his thumb hard enough to make it bleed. He damped all fingers in blood and carefully placed his hand on the next free space, taking a moment to push a little chakra out of his fingertips for the scroll to absorb it. ‘Very good. Now, write your name underneath.’
‘With the blood too?’
‘Yes.’
The boy nodded and slowly wrote his name, making sure it was looking neatly.
‘The hand seals are boar, dog, bird, monkey and ram. Once done, place an open palm on the scroll and we should see your summon.’
With trembling hands, Kakashi impatiently but still carefully produced the series of seals. His little palm slapped the ground with loud ‘Kuchiyose no jutsu!’ on the boys lips and a circle with lines running from its center appeared under his palm. There was a cloud of smoke, and for a second the time seemed to stop.
Sakumo pressed lips in a thin line when a small, cream pug with black face suddenly appeared. Just as expected, his Pup got it right with the first try just like every technique he tried so far. There were still some cracks in the house wall when he made the ground shake with an Earth Release technique even before he turned four years old.
‘It worked!’ gasped Kakashi, jumping to his feet and pointing at the animal. The little dog looked around and fixed its gaze on Sakumo, apparently deciding to look for instruction from an adult. ‘Dad, I’ve got a pug!’
The puppy’s attention snapped back to Kakashi – after all, the human pup was the one who summoned him.
‘Very good, Pup. Nice job’ praised Sakumo, placing a palm on his son’s shoulder. ‘You’ve got a small breed. It seems like your pack will be mostly out of small to medium sized breeds. Still, maybe you’ll be able to have a big one too, the time will show.’
Kakashi slid back on the floor to lay on the front in front of the ninken, holding an eye contact with him.
‘Smaller ninkens usually excel at tracking and hunting a target. I suggest you to focus on developing that skills – it pairs nicely with sensitivity of your sense of smell. You’ll make a fine tracking shinobi with your pack.’
Kakashi chuckled with a nod.
‘It sounds awesome!’ He reached to the pup, who was patiently waiting for the humans to finish the explanation so they could get properly introduced.
‘Give him your hand, Pup.’
Kakashi offered his palm for the dog to investigate. The little pug took his time giving it a thorough sniff, still staring at the boy with a dead stare of half-closed eyes. The black color around his face was similar to the outline of the mask on the human-pup’s face, he noticed.
‘Hello’ he said quietly, his small voice trembling a little. ‘I’m Kakashi. I’ll be summoning you from now on!’
‘Pakkun’ answered the dog, causing Kakashi to almost squeal – he had gotten a talking one in the first try! Sakumo chuckled, surprised and shook his head a little, with a smile watching the pug giving his son a paw. ‘I’ll be summoned by you from now on.’
Sakumo hid face in his palms, taking a slow breath. A little pug with matching face colors, oddly serious voice, dead stare and similar mannerism? It was almost too much for his poor, old heart.
‘Your paws are very soft’ complimented him Kakashi, giving the beans a little rub with his thumb.
‘Yours are soft enough.’
‘Thanks!’ They stared at each other for a moment. ‘Can I pick you up?’
Instead of answering, Pakkun retreated his paw and trotted closer to the boy. He jumped on him (he was still sprawled on the floor) and took a spot on the small of his back. Kakashi looked up at his father, eyes wide in pure delight.
Sakumo chuckled and ruffled his hair.
‘Great job, Pup. I’m proud of you.’
Kakashi grinned with a nod, but did not move beside that – he had a dog sitting on him, he did not want to topple him over.
His father introduced himself to Pakkun as well. Since there was still time before supper, Sakumo decided to send Kakashi off with his ninken to hang around some more while he prepared the food. He was glancing at them through the kitchen window – they were busy with themselves, Kakashi seemed to be talking almost all the time.
What was to be expected, Kakashi sat his new companion by the table and Pakkun got something to eat as well. Despite extraordinary circumstances, Sakumo insisted Kakashi would have his usual evening training anyway. He had to leave the room to not burst into laughing when Pakkun decided to serve as an additional weight – Kakashi held him in his arms while doing sit-ups and lunges, and the dog stretched out on the boy’s back when he was sweating over making at least ten push-ups more than the last time. Gai could run 500 laps, and he saw him doing 500 push-ups in one go as well! It was unacceptable, Kakashi was not able to do that many and it had to be changed quick. What if he challenges him for a contest like that? He would loose and he was not having it.
He was shaking when he was finally done and could not muster any additional strength to get up on his own.
‘What’s up with that, Pup?’ asked Sakumo, looking up at him from sharpening his tanto blade. ‘You’ve been training much longer than usual.’
‘…I wanted to see how many I can do in one go’ he mumbled to the floor, lying face-down. Pakkun was still seated on his back, unimpressed with his surroundings. ‘Doing 500 push-ups is impossible.’
‘That’s a lot’ he hummed. ‘Perhaps during a whole day in series would be more suitable for you?’
‘But dad’ he whined. ‘I have to make them in one go! The same with crunches and squats… And I can’t move' he added quietly, because his arms and leg felt like gave out completely.
‘Don’t push yourself too hard, Kakashi.’ He flipped the tanto, glancing at him. ‘What’s up with it suddenly? Why 500?’
Kakashi was quiet for a moment.
‘…Gai doesn’t need a whole day and series to do it' he mumbled to the floor.
Sakumo blinked, looking up again.
‘Gai can do all of that at once?’ he asked, surprised. Kakashi lifted his head to look at his father, clearly offended.
‘He can! And then he can walk home!’
Sakumo whistled, raising his eyebrows.
‘That’s impressive!’
‘It’s annoying!’
He chuckled, looking at his son with a fond smile.
‘Remember when I told you that he would surpass you eventually?’
‘…Yeah’ he grumbled, looking away. Of course his dad was right, he always was.
‘Well, there is one thing you can do with it. Training, training, training.’
‘No matter how many he can do, I’m still better at ninjutsu!’ he noticed grumpily.
‘Oh? If I heard correctly today, he got his clone right, didn’t he? You helped him when you were staying over.’
‘…He only made ONE! And it’s just a basic clone, when I can make shadow clones already!’
Sakumo laughed, nodding.
‘That’s true! But I’ve told you before, don’t get too cocky, Pup! He’s already ahead of you in strength and endurance, isn’t he?’ He turned back to tending to his blade. ‘Everybody has different talents. Yours is clearly ninjutsu, but you don’t have to excel at it to become a good shinobi. There are also other qualities and something tells me that that boy has that something to become really good one day.’
Kakashi pouted and laid flat on the floor again. Maybe he could make it ten more that day… Or at least five. He scrambled back onto his arms and feet, ready to try doing more push-ups - if Gai could do so much, he could make a few more today for sure!
‘If regular ones are too difficult now, prop yourself on your knees.’
The boy only grumbled something in response, staring at the floor. After the fourth rep he was shaking like a leaf then he was trying to get back up. Pakkun jumped off his back and scrambled underneath his chest, trying to help him properly finish the exercise. Kakashi used his knee to not drop flat on the floor.
Sakumo only chuckled silently. Kakashi could deny all he wanted, but he knew anyway that he did see Gai as his rival – and there he was, pushing himself past his limits because he refused to stay behind. He was curious to see how far these two would get together. He had to invite Dai-san for tea and finally properly thank him for taking care of Kakashi for those few days. He smiled to himself, watching his son struggle with the last push-ups.
‘I think that's enough for today. Come here, Pup.’ He gestured at the boy. Panting, he scrambled back on his feet and patted his hands clean. He barely stopped next to his dad when he got grabbed by the sides and pulled onto Sakumo’s lap. ‘There we go! Off, you’re getting heavy!’ he added with a chuckle.
‘I’m not a little kid anymore’ he noticed seriously, squirming to get comfortable. Pakkun made an offended sound and followed the boy. He got pulled up at Kakashi’s lap.
‘Of course you’re not’ sighed Sakumo, amused. He ruffled Kakashi’s always messy hair. ‘You’ll get taller than me soon.’
‘Don’t be silly, dad’ sighed Kakashi. ‘Maybe I’m already five, but I won’t get that big anytime soon’ He ruffled Pakkun’s ears.
‘Now, now, you don’t know that. If you keep eating nice and healthy, and stick to your bedtime like a good boy, then you might hit that growth sprout any day now.’
Kakashi turned to look at him and squinted suspiciously.
‘Does it really work like that?’ he asked slowly.
Sakumo scoffed, raising an eyebrow.
‘Of course it does. Good diet and rest are a must if you want to grow big and strong!’
Kakashi hummed, slowly turning away.
‘…Alright. I believe you.’ He switched to kneading his puppie’s meaty sides.
‘That’s a relief’ he sighed, messing with the boy’s hair again. ‘Now, watch closely. I’ll show you how to properly sharpen this blade.’
‘Okay’ He sat more comfortably when Sakumo reached back to the sharpening stone. Kakashi was seated in between his arms.
‘For a start, we need to remember that we have to treat both those edges as two separate blades. To do this, we need to understand angles of each edge. They don’t have to be the same. The transition between two edges should be treated like they are a tip of the knife.’ He tilted his head to take a look at his son’s face. ‘Is it clear?’
‘Like two swords in one?’
‘Exactly. The tip, right there, is sharply angled and this is the edge that has to be treated as a secondary edge. The main edge, the long one, is to be treated separately. We use a sharpening stone and we start from the long edge. Hold it like that… Pay attention to the angle… Very well. And now start slow with long, continuous strokes. But watch out for the edge, it has to stay the same from end to end.’ Sakumo let go of Kakashi’s hand and for a while he just watched. He corrected him. ‘Not so fast, Pup. You’re learning, so focus on keeping the angle right. Once you got that covered, you can work the speed up a little.’
‘…Okay.’
‘Don’t round over the corner. Go along the long the long edge… And stop. Change the angle, and now the same thing across the short edge. And now just… Keep repeating the same movements. And there you go, Pup.’
‘It’s easy’ he noticed, eyes fixed on the knife.
‘It is, but it’s also easy to mess up if you have wrong technique. Remember that it’s better to spend twice as much time on sharpening tanto once, than having to fix the shape and angle because you got impatient.
Kakashi nodded.
‘Okay.’
‘Be careful when you check the edge, don’t cut yourself.’
‘I know.’
‘It’s already sharp, you don’t want to slice your finger off.’
‘…I know’ repeated Kakashi. He turned his head to look at him. ‘I know how to see if a knife is sharp, dad.’
‘Of course. I know you know. Just making sure.’ He smiled. Shurikens and kunais were one thing, but using a sword was different! Pup was not used to it and just a second was enough to end up with a nasty cut. He would need time for his little hand to get used to it. ‘And tomorrow when you’ll be after school’ he added, his voice warm and low. ‘We’ll go practice it behind the house. I’ll show you how to use it.’
Kakashi beamed, nodding.