Space-Time Apostasy

Chapter 4: Retrain

The next morning, Kakashi had made sure to be early.

It was strange, waiting alone in the field, consciously having made the decision to be not only on time, but early. It was nerve-racking, knowing that in just an hour or two, Rin and Minato would be back, and Kakashi would have to talk to them and pretend to be a detached, uncaring teenager—when he was anything but.

Ah, and it was also just a little boring.

His fingers kept twitching towards his pouch to reach for his trusty book, Icha Icha Tactics. But of course, that book was still a good twenty years from even existing.

Dammit.

No one was here yet. He sighed, his adrenaline from yesterday almost completely gone.

Kakashi had been too on edge last night, his mind racing at breakneck speeds as he had kept replaying the day's events in his head. Then, once he had exhausted every possible angle and interpretation of what had happened, he had started imagining future possibilities: conversations with Rin and Minato, fights with Obito, strategies for Kannabi Bridge.

He'd gotten hardly any sleep.

He rubbed his eyes, then dully settled into a stance to begin yet another series of mind-numbing katas. No one could say Kakashi wasn't taking his acting seriously, now.

At least yesterday had given him more than enough time to think things over. And his brief chat with Obito had established that they could both do nothing but lie low and wait until the mission at Kannabi Bridge. For now, he'd just have to ensure he acted calmly and rationally around Minato and Rin—the only two people besides Obito that he had little choice but to interact with, and the only two people that could probably make him fumble up.

Kakashi wanted to tell them the truth, he wanted so desperately to just spill everything. They were his sensei and his teammate, and if Kakashi could just tell them—about the Sanbi, about Madara, about their deaths and how they could avoid them—

But he couldn't.

They would just ask questions, too many questions. Minato would go from jōnin sensei to jōnin of Konoha, would decide that it was his duty to report these village-altering events to the Hokage. And that was the last thing Kakashi wanted.

He wanted to get the bridge mission over with, activate Obito's eyes, leave, and then save his own damn world. If he stayed here too long... well.

Kakashi would be lying if he pretended this world wasn't acutely, terrifyingly enticing.

He pulled out some shuriken. He might as well begin target practice a bit early, since forcing himself to do katas when there was no one watching was beyond torturous. Even if basic shuriken practice was so far beneath him that he could do it backwards, in his sleep.

He eyed a tree in the distance, stretched his arm back—and paused. Hmm. Why be boring and throw them in the same spot, over and over? He might as well try to throw the shuriken in the pattern of...oh, a Konoha leaf symbol.

He smiled slightly, and threw. One, two, three shuriken. He reached back into his pouch. Four, five, six, seven shuriken. Eight, nine, te—

"Good morning, Kakashi!"

The throw went wild, missing its mark by three whole inches. By Kakashi's standards, a mortifyingly rookie mistake.

He forced himself to relax. "Good morning, Sensei," he said, in what he hoped was a suitably neutral tone. Suddenly, his mouth felt all too dry. Minato was here much earlier than what Kakashi recalled was typical.