Patience is a virtue

War is over

The war was over and every single person is bustling with joy; laughter, exclaims of excitement and teamwork echo through the air.

But not everyone is as happy or full of merriment. You can't be when you're a shinobi.

We're supposed to be happy and eventually, you can find people who cheer, but most of us are silent. We wait. We can't believe it's actually over. Our nightmare came true, and then went back to the land of dreams. We are scared and we are sad because we lost our loved ones. It's not easy to handle.

And there he is. Our hero. He stands there, he cries, during his 17th birthday.

And the only thing I want to do is go there and hug him. He saved us, our planet and our lives.

But what was the price? There's always a price.

He lost everything. He had to say goodbye to his father. This time forever. He had gone through so much, so quick and he had to cope with it all.

I started to walk to him, slowly, carefully. Each step was painful, each step was significant. I wanted just to sprint there, but I couldn't. I opened my mouth to speak, but what came out wasn't my voice. Or, the voice didn't belong to me at least.

"Oi, dobe!" He exclaimed, hands at his sides, clenched and ready. Feet set to the sides, ready to go into a sprint.

But Naruto turned nonetheless, eyes still wet from tears. But determination was set on his face. As strong as ever he was.

"What is it teme? I need to do—"

"No, we're going to settle this now and finish with it..." My eyes widened as I watched Sasuke stare hard at Naruto, eyes set into a deadly, challenging look as he focused on the blonde. His only remaining purpose was to battle Naruto once more; to find out who was stronger than the other.

"You know where to find me!" And with that, the young Uchiha turned on his heels and started on his way. But Naruto was fast, he dashed forward and grabbed Sasuke's hand and pulled him back, held him back.

But Sasuke scowled venomously, and pulled his hand out of the blonde's grasp. His eyes held hate and jealousy as he stared down his comrade.

"We have to fight Naruto, don't you remember? It's our faith."

"No, it's not Sasuke. You were late for our chunin exam, so I will repeat especially for you, since Neji is not here to tell you by himself what I said to him. There is no faith, you can't just be destined for something. It's your life, your choices, and your karma. Sweet Kami, how can you be that stupid. Don't you see it? We don't have to fight anymore! We can go back home, live in peace, just be happy! Why you want to fight?! Why the fuck you have to prove something?! THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY FUCKING SENSE SASUKE!"

Naruto was angry, shivering in irritation as he watched Sasuke scowl at him, lips twisted stubbornly. He clenched his fists tight, holding his defensive stance as he stared on.

I walked to them in the slow pace, I had no idea what to do, but I had to do something.

"Ma, maa, calm down you two. There is no need to fight. Sasuke, don't you have enough? We just defeated Kaguya. We all need to rest, we all need to—"

My footsteps quickened as Sasuke's foot moved forward, almost closing the distance between Naruto and himself. I wasn't going to sit by and let a fight happen, I wasn't going to let them fight again.

"Shut it Kakashi! You did nothing! You don't have your sharingan anymore! You are too weak for me right now, I won't even bother to answer your questions!" Sasuke answered, angrily and stubbornly as his fists threatened to punch Naruto.

They stared at me, I was angry, I was shaking and I felt the power.

My vision became sharper and I felt slightly dizzy, but I felt re-charged all over again. Which was impossible. I had almost completely drained my chakra, my sharingan was gone and I had nothing else that could help me in a fight. "Anou Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, eyebrows raised as he turned to face me, moving forward slowly and a little cautiously.

I blinked rapidly, trying to distort the sudden feeling I had. Yet, he still felt the same.

"Sensei?" Naruto called again, this time he seemed even closer. A warm hand cupped my masked cheek and I almost felt my face flush from the touch.

From a wanted touch.

Naruto's bright blue eyes are staring right into mine and the hand on my cheek seems to get even warmer.

"It seems like you still have your eye, or rather eyes..."

Shocked, I raised my hands towards my eyes and wave them around slightly.

Both of my eyes blink and I can feel myself smiling gently. And then Naruto chuckles and cheers, taps me on the shoulder and stands by my side, smilingly and questioningly looks at Sasuke.

Scowl still present and hands clenched at his sides. But he didn't move, he didn't speak, he didn't try to run away. He stood with us.

And slowly came closer, eyeing Naruto and myself before nodding and looking away saying. "I guess, we can leave it for another time..."

(A/N) Yep, we improved this chapter with MadGravity7_ . Nothing new is here, just slightly different from the original one. Hope you like it better. 

Till the next time ✌️