Tale of a setting sun

"Distant Thunder"

                Despite the years that had passed since they had last seen one other, Kakashi didn't appear to have changed much. He still wore his hitai-ate over his Sharingan eycovered the lower half of his face. There may have been one or two more wrinkles around his lone visible eye, but his hair had always been silver—and while threelike a long time to Naruto, in the grand scheme of things, it probably wasn't very long at all.

 "You look the same, sensei."While still facing the counter, Kakashi's eyes veered to the side towards him. "I'd say the same about you, Naruto, but I'd be lying. You've grown.""I finally hit my growth spurt," he replied drily."It's not surprising, given who your parents were.""Who knows? At this rate, I'll catch up to you, sensei.

"Teuchi slammed two steaming bowls of ramen before them. "Eat up!"Taking out a pair of chopsticks from a wooden box, Kakashi said, "'Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his teacher.' Or so they say."The miso broth and the ramen noodles were thick and hot, and the pork belly slices melted into Naruto's mouth.

 They downed their broths at the same time, lowerdown on the counter. The other customers in the stall had started to talk again, and the ambient noise of their chatter circled around them.It was Kakashi who restarted the conversation. "I'm heading Team Shirakumo now."Naruto had suspected as much. 

"Are they giving you as much trouble as we used to do?"Through the mask, the corners of Kakashi's mouth lifted back. "If only. With the way Sakura and Menma are constantly at each other's throats, I'm just amazed theone piece through their chūnin exams. I suppose Sasuke probably had something to do with it...""Then I take it they won't be participating in the chūnin exams going on right now?""They've been chūnin as of two years ago. 

While the other jōnin teachers have been exercising a bit more caution with preparing their students, when it came to thcouldn't have stopped them even if I'd wanted to." His old teacher's voice was exasperated, but Naruto could detect a note of pride in it.The news of the other jōnin teachers holding back their genin was hardly surprising for Naruto. In wartime when personnel was running scarce on the battlefields, awho could throw a shuriken was promoted to chūnin and sent out to fight.

 But in peacetime as they were now, when their ranks were already thinned out, it must hthe unexpected blow to lose two promising young chūnin and a veteran jōnin on what had started out as a standard B-rank mission. 

What was more disconcerting for Naruto, however, was the careful way Kakashi was treading regarding the topic of his new team. He thought it was a given that atalents would be charged with the instruction of another promising team. Still, considering the atmosphere of their last exchange before Naruto left the village, Kaktrepidation was understandable. 

"Is that you, Naruto? You're back!"Naruto took a second to identify the blonde male in Leaf chūnin fatigues beaming down at him as a member of Team Shirakumo. Or rather, Team Kakashi now, he sDrawing up before them, the male—Menma, as he recalled it—took in Naruto's appearance with a wide-eyed look of disbelief. "Wow, it's really you. How was your tMenma leaned in towards Naruto, dropping his voice conspiratorially. "I heard you were with one of the Sannin."It seemed Menma had yet to learn a thing or two about personal space; Naruto felt himself sweat.

 "Congratulations on your promotion."Surprisingly, Menma waved a dismissive hand. "Oh, that was a while ago. What's more impressive is that you got direct training from one of the Sannin. I mean—Kno hard feelings, but—a Sannin.""None taken," said Kakashi cheerfully.

 "Menma, aren't you supposed to be helping to proctor the chūnin exam?""Ugh, right. I was looking for Sasuke, but then I heard that Naruto was here..." With a grimacing salute, Menma disappeared under the stall flap.Left in the wake of what felt like a passing storm, Naruto looked down into his bowl, his reflection swimming in the remaining flecks of oil. While he didn't know exabeen expecting, it looked as though everyone was doing well. In his absence, the world had continued to move.