Sorry, Naruto. -Kakashi

Silence No More

Silence.

That's all it had been for a long time.

Silence.

Silence was all it had ever been, as far as Kakashi was concerned.

He drifted endlessly through the black void of his mind. It was infinite. Because it was all Kakashi knew. In this void, he could not even remember his own name. Or his purpose. Or what his best friend had looked like. But Kakashi found he did not want to drift anymore. He found he instead wanted to live a finite life. He found he wanted to know his name, and his purpose, and what his best friend looked like.

And it was silent no more.

Laughing could be heard down the hall. Kakashi turned his head. A short, blonde kid ran in Kakashi's direction, followed by another kid with black hair. The blonde boy seemed to have something the other wanted. He chased the short boy for it, but he was just out of reach. Just as they were about to reach Kakashi, a pink haired girl appeared between them. She scolded them sternly for making a racket. The blonde boy apologized, the other shrugged. Then, the pink-haired girl turned to him.

"Are you not going to scold them too, Kakashi-sensei? It really is not appropriate behaviour for a ninja."

Kakashi? So that was his name.

He found himself speaking automatically, about things he did not know of before, "Sorry, Sakura." Sakura?

"Hmph." Sakura turned her head.

"Why don't you go train, Naruto, Sasuke."

Naruto and Sasuke.

"Fine," said Naruto.

Sasuke ran off.

Kakashi chuckled, and continued down the hall.

The hall dissolved into white light, which was replaced by a new ringing, and an ellipse that contained the blurred faces of two people. Kakashi blinked, and his life came back to him in a flash. Obito, Rin, Minato-sensei, Kushina-san, Gai, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke. He blinked again, and he could see clearly again.

The two that hovered over him were Sakura, and Tsunade. They were calling his name.

"Kakashi-sensei."

"Kakashi."

"Hm?" He answered weakly.

"You're awake," said Tsunade.

Kakashi nodded, and moved to sit up, but was instead met with a shock through his entire body. He winced, and relaxed back down.

"How long have I... been gone?"

"3 days." Tsunade replied.

"Ah. Did I at least succeed?"

"Sort of. You did manage to chase Sasuke away."

"That's good, I guess." Kakashi sighed, he had hoped to have beaten Sasuke for good.

"I am... surprised I lived."

"Yes. Well, you're only alive because Sakura got to you so quickly. If she had not been there, you may have died."

Kakashi nodded his appreciation. He would have shown it more gratefully, but there was only so much he could do.

"Here's your report." Tsunade handed him a piece of paper.

It wasn't good.

According to the paper in his right hand, Kakashi had managed to almost completely blow his left hand to bits originally, but thanks to Sakura's healing he was able to get out with only a severe fracture. He had also managed to get his right shoulder sliced halfway to the bone, presumably from Sasuke swinging just as Kakashi let go, break a rib, bruise a few others, and nearly bleed out. Miraculously, nothing was beyond recovery.