This was as unbelievable as a fairy tale; someone who had long passed away was now standing alive before him.
It wasn't a genjutsu, nor a Transformation Technique, but a genuine deceased person who should have been resting in the Pure Land.
Kakashi slowly pulled his forehead protector back down, covering the Sharingan that trembled slightly due to shock.
Although his heart was still filled with unbelievable shock, the facts were before him, and he had no choice but to believe.
"Kushina-sensei... it really is you... I..."
His voice unconsciously dropped, and his gaze shifted, never daring to meet Kushina's eyes.
"Hey, hey, why are you being so formal?" Kushina's tone was natural and affectionate. "This reminds me of when I was pregnant with Naruto, and Minato asked you to be my guard.
We were already very familiar then, but you always acted so formal."
She spoke of the past lightheartedly, while Kakashi could only nod awkwardly, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the edge of his clothes.
"You've grown so much..." Kushina carefully observed the silver-haired Jonin, who was now much taller than her, her voice tinged with emotion. "It feels like a dream.
That little brat from back then has turned into a handsome man now."
Such ordinary small talk with a long-unseen acquaintance was a completely new experience for Kakashi.
He could only nod clumsily in response, his throat feeling as if something was blocking it, unable to utter a complete syllable.
Seeing Kakashi's awkward appearance, Kushina sighed softly.
She put away her casual tone, deciding to ask some questions that had been lingering in her mind.
"How have you been all these years, after Minato and I left?"
"...After Sensei's sacrifice..." Kakashi's voice was low and hoarse. "I joined Konoha's Anbu, and then... a few years ago, I left the Anbu and became a Squad Leader Jonin..."
"Anbu, huh..." Kushina's brows furrowed slightly. "The lifestyle you chose is still as tough as ever."
But, her tone softened, "However, as I just said, I'll have to properly thank the friend who pulled you out of Anbu later.
You're Naruto's teacher now, right?"
Kushina sensed something from Kakashi's answer.
Based on her understanding of Kakashi's personality, he wasn't someone who would voluntarily leave the Anbu, so she deduced that it was Kakashi's friend who pulled him out of the Anbu.
"Mm..." Kakashi finally looked up, a complex expression flashing in his eyes. "Naruto... he's really excellent, just like Minato-sensei."
"But, I already know," her voice carried suppressed emotion, "Naruto, in the past, because of some damned old guy spreading rumors, lived a... very lonely life..."
Upon hearing this topic, Kakashi's heart sank.
He knew what Kushina was going to ask next, and his recently lifted gaze dropped again, almost burying his entire face in his collar.
"In the past, after we left," Kushina's voice was very soft, yet every word was clear, "did you ever care about Naruto?"
Kakashi's heart was already burdened with immense apology and guilt.
When his deceased teacher asked, "After we left, did you protect everyone else?" he felt an unprecedented sense of shame.
"...No," his voice was almost inaudible, "I'm very... very sorry... I... only met Naruto for the first time when he graduated from the Ninja Academy..."
The expression Kakashi showed at this moment was truly rare.
In the eyes of most people who knew him, Kakashi Hatake had always been a cheerful and outgoing Jonin, leisurely carrying a copy of make-out paradise all day, appearing harmless to everyone.
Aside from his decisive actions in battle, no dark side of his personality was visible in his daily life; at most, he was a bit lazy.
Yet at this moment, he hung his head like a criminal, enveloped in a heavy sense of guilt.
"...Why...?" Kushina's voice was filled with deep disappointment. "You clearly had that responsibility.
Why... do all of you have to disappoint me...?"
Listening to his teacher's disappointed words, Kakashi lowered his head even further.
He didn't defend himself; he was never the type to make excuses for his mistakes.
Disappointing his teacher was a fact, and neglecting young Naruto was also a fact.
These past mistakes, no matter how much he apologized now, seemed pale and powerless.
According to his understanding of his teacher, speaking in such a tone usually meant that anger was about to erupt.
Kakashi silently prepared to be hit—he even felt that a beating might make him feel better.
Kushina gently set down the vegetable basket in her hand.
Kakashi closed his eyes, waiting for the anticipated pain.
Suddenly, he felt himself being pulled forward by a force—was she going to strike?
He kept his eyes tightly shut, offering no resistance to the impending action.
"...?"
However, the expected pain did not come.
Kakashi opened his eyes in confusion, finding that he had been pulled closer not to be hit, but to be embraced in a warm hug.
His head rested gently on Kushina's shoulder, and this sudden tenderness left him at a loss.
"...Sensei... Sensei..."
The anticipated violence did not occur; instead, there was unexpected acceptance.
"I'm sorry... Kakashi..." Kushina's voice became unusually gentle. "I said some harsh things because I was emotional..."
She gently patted Kakashi's back, as if comforting an injured child. "I can imagine, even if you might not be as good as Naruto said, you must have had a very hard time all these years..."
"The matters with Obito... and Rin, those two children, must have hit you very hard... You must have suffered a great deal... And precisely at that time... Minato and I also abandoned you and left..."
"It should be me saying sorry... I was your elder, yet I couldn't do anything for you during your most painful times... Instead, I just left like that..."
Kakashi's eyelashes trembled violently; this feeling of being cared for and understood was too unfamiliar to him.
A surge of wanting to cry welled up in his heart, and he tried hard to suppress it.
When people endure pain alone, they unconsciously activate psychological defense mechanisms, forcing themselves to be strong to cope with difficulties, but this does not mean that their hearts are not in pain.
And when others actively show concern, the brain judges that it is in a "safe environment" and no longer needs to maintain its defenses, and the grievances and sadness that were deliberately suppressed will naturally flow out.
The deep-seated pain in his heart was like an unopened letter, and the gentleness and care of others were the keys to unlocking his emotions.
After experiencing that gentle care that Kakashi felt he didn't deserve, Kushina gently released him.
Looking at the tall Jonin who seemed especially fragile before her, she couldn't help but recall the equally despondent young Kakashi during the period after Minato's other two students had successively sacrificed themselves.
She had actually always tried to care for all of Minato's students as if they were her own children, but the successive wars and Kakashi's later display of aloofness and precociousness prevented Kushina from ever finding a suitable opportunity.
"I still have so many things I want to ask you," Kushina's tone returned to its usual gentleness. "It's almost lunchtime now, so let's go to Naruto's house.
Once I'm done cooking, we can eat and chat."
She suggested gently, but Kakashi was still deeply entrenched in his guilt and remorse, unable to extricate himself.
"...No... you don't need to trouble yourself..." he declined softly. "Afterward, I will report everything to you one by one..."
"Don't be so formal, I've said it several times.
Let's go, really, there's no need to be polite."
"...Really... really no need..."
"Eh? I don't like that about you.
Hurry up, or else I'm going to get angry."
"...This... too much trouble...?!"
"Bang!"
Kakashi's third refusal was not yet finished when a sharp pain shot through his head.
The next second, he was already knocked to the ground, seeing stars.
"When I tell you to come, you come! How many more times do I have to say it?!" Kushina retracted the fist that had just struck Kakashi's head, her crimson hair flowing without wind.
"You're a hundred years too early to dare to disobey me!"
She looked down at Kakashi sprawled on the ground, her tone carrying an undeniable assertiveness. "Now, immediately, right now, come home with me for lunch.
Understood?"
This familiar punch instantly pulled Kakashi back more than ten years in time.
Back then, whenever he was stubborn or overly persistent, his teacher would always use this method to make him sober up.
Kakashi lay on the ground, feeling the stinging pain on his head; this long-lost, rough yet caring way of interacting, paradoxically, made him feel a strange sense of peace.
"Yes... Yes... I understand, Sensei."
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