An Unknown World

Sixteen

The next morning Rin had left, waking me be just before the sun had come up to say her last goodbye. I had walked her to the village gates and watched as her and Tsunade walked into the forest, leaving me with the high that the last couple of months had given me.

A few short months later Minato-Sensei was promoted to be the Fourth Hokage as the war was ending. I had been personally invited to join the ANBU black ops working under the Hokage specifically as a bodyguard.

I had reclused myself again once Rin had left, not realizing how alone I had become before her accident. She was the only thing that I had to distract myself with, and when she left, it was like something was missing again, even if it was different this time.

The nightmares about Obito had come back full force as if they had never left, but this time they were accompanied by nightmares of Rin as well. Not that I hadn't had those before, but after all that had happened, I didn't expect them to return. Even worse, those were both accompanied by the ever so familiar feeling of suffocating and waking up drenched in a cold sweat.

I hate thinking back on the past anymore.

Today makes two years to the day since Rin had left for her training and I hadn't heard anything about where she was, what she was doing, or if she was even okay. The entire situation was nerve wrecking for the first year, but then I started trusting that this was how things were supposed to be. I had become numb after she had left, letting my emotions slip back into their familiar routine, which apparently made me perfect to join the ANBU. I had a certain 'Darkness' that they felt was needed to be an assassin. Guy and Kurenai were the only two of my peers who tried to stay in my life, and with Asuma having his focus on Kurenai, even she was distant sometimes.

I used my time in the ANBU to become stronger, even getting the nicknames "Copy Ninja" because of my Sharingan eye and the amount of jutsu that I had acquired because of it, and my least favorite, "Comrade Killer" because of what happened to Obito. Nobody would call me that to my face though, not only was I the captain, but I'm sure it was in fear of the same happening to them...Maybe it was better being feared than accepted.

The more time I spent among my new teammates, the less human I felt. I hardly recognized myself anymore when I was out on missions, I always left all my emotions at the village gates so that they wouldn't get in the way. Coming back from each mission made it harder to regain feeling though, that scared me more than anything. It was like I was a whole different person and as much as I hated the feeling, I also loved being able to forget.

...

I had spent the last week on guard duty outside of the Hokage's office, nothing exciting had been happening in the ANBU lately, so I asked to be put on light duty around the village until something important came up. I didn't like my talent to be wasted on missions that could be assigned to rookie members, of course my request was immediately granted being the head of the Hokage's security detail. I would watch as people walked in and out of the office; taking on mission requests, bringing documents to be signed, and the mountains of paperwork that needed reviewed and sent out to neighboring villages. Being the Hokage is not something that I would ever want to experience.

...

The door on my left creaked open slowly. Minato was standing on the other side.

"Kakashi, could you come into my office." He said, walking back to his desk on the opposite side of the large room.

I turned and walked through the door, closing it behind me, quickly taking a knee after entering, lowering my head respectfully. Although he had once just been my Sensei, Minato was now the Hokage, and I had to treat him as such even when alone in his presence. Even when time and time again he had told me that I could relax around him.