Kakashi exited the Hokage Tower and stopped on the steps, one hand in his pocket, head tilting back as he looked up at the clear sky.
His thoughts never left Sasuke.
An Uchiha with jutsu not foreign to him.
A prodigy.
Sharp, isolated, burning from the inside out.
Too familiar in ways Kakashi had recognized from the beginning, even if he'd never said it aloud. He understood, now more clearly than ever, why the Third had given him that team.
Why Team Seven had been shaped the way it was.
He still remembered that short stretch of time, brief but precious, when it almost worked.
Training sessions that felt real.
Progress that felt earned.
A bond that had been forming quietly, stubbornly, in spite of everything.
And then it slipped away.
Why did everyone close to him always seem to disappear?
He'd never expected Sasuke to walk this path.
He'd watched the boy's bonds grow, awkward and uneven, but real.
Sakura's devotion, Naruto's rivalry that had turned into something dangerously close to brotherhood.
Even Kakashi's own connection to him, teacher and student, mirrored too closely for comfort.
He'd taught Sasuke with everything he had.
Prioritized him, sometimes at the expense of the others, even though he hated himself for it.
Circumstances demanded it.
Threats demanded it.
And yet it had been so easy.
Too easy.
Orochimaru had slid his claws in, whispered promises, branded him like livestock, and Sasuke had cracked.
Not because he was weak, Kakashi knew that wasn't fair.
He was young. Traumatized.
Starving for power and meaning.
Manipulated at exactly the wrong moment.
Still.
Kabuto and Orochimaru had taken him right under their noses.
And what hurt Naruto and Sakura even more was that the village had accepted it.
Swallowed it. Moved on.
Kakashi clenched his jaw.
He understood now why it had to be done.
Making Sasuke a missing-nin would have sealed his fate.
This bought time.
For the village. For Sasuke himself.
This was the most rational choice.
That didn't make it hurt less.
Yesterday, they'd thought they'd be a team for life.
He exhaled slowly.
It wasn't the village's fault.
It wasn't even Sasuke's fault.
In the end, Kakashi realized with quiet certainty, it was his.
He always failed to protect the people he cared about.
Every single time.
Jiraiya was already preparing to take Naruto under his wing.
That much was obvious.
Kakashi would then likely have to push Sakura toward Tsunade next, make sure she wasn't left behind, abandoned by circumstances she never chose.
And why did all of this keep happening?
Because he was too weak.
He'd been too weak to stop Orochimaru when it mattered.
Too weak to tell him to take his cursed hands off that child. His student.
Too weak to fight back when fear locked his body in place, when Orochimaru had looked at him like a joke, his Sharingan meaningless.
Humiliation burned deeper now than it had then.
But that wasn't the end of the story.
His eye drifted shut briefly, then opened again as resolve settled in.
Without the Sharingan, with the strange power he'd inherited now, the echo of something that reminded him of his father, Kakashi felt a path forming.
A higher one. A harder one.
He would climb.
High enough to shelter everyone he still had left.
Ideas had already begun to surface.
His mastery of Lightning Release refined beyond what it had ever been, pushed into something new.
Different. A change in nature, in color, in expression.
The Hatake style taken further than anyone expected.
He'd even considered possibilities he never would have before. Artificial solutions.
Not a dōjutsu. Something tailored specifically to him.
With Tsunade's medical genius, even a replacement eye built for function rather than heritage wasn't impossible.
Options existed.
He wouldn't allow himself to be humiliated again.
He wouldn't allow his students to rely on others because he wasn't enough.
Kakashi lowered his gaze from the sky, shoulders straightening.
This time, he would be strong enough.
...
Naruto sat on his bed, staring at the wall like it might explain itself if he waited long enough.
It didn't.
Yesterday, they'd fought.
Not sparring. Not training. A real fight. On the hospital roof, fists and words both landing too hard. Sasuke's eyes had been wrong, sharp in a way that scared him, and Naruto had shouted things he couldn't take back. Things he'd meant in the moment and hated immediately after.
But that was normal. That was them. They always clashed, always snapped, and then somehow ended up walking the same road again.
That was how it was supposed to go.
Today, Sasuke was gone.
Naruto squeezed his hands into fists, nails digging into his palms. "This is stupid," he muttered. "He wouldn't just leave."
He tried to tell himself that. Over and over.
In his head, it was obvious. Orochimaru. That creepy bastard with the snake smile. Of course it was him. He'd already tried to take Sasuke once. He'd marked him. Branded him. Of course he'd come back and grabbed him when no one was looking.
Kidnapped. That had to be it.
Which made it worse.
Because Tsunade, the old lady, the Hokage, whatever she was supposed to be, wasn't sending anyone after him.
"We're not doing anything right now."
That was what she'd said.
Naruto's jaw clenched. "Like hell we aren't."
It didn't make sense. Sasuke was his teammate. His rival. His friend. You didn't just… accept that. You didn't just let someone disappear and call it strategy.
Unless you didn't care.
The thought burned.
He paced the room, stopped, then paced again. His chest felt tight, like something important had cracked inside it and he didn't know how to fix it. Yesterday, he'd thought they'd keep going like this forever, pushing each other, getting stronger together, yelling, fighting, laughing, surviving.
Today, that future was just gone.
And Sakura…
Naruto swallowed.
He'd seen her when they brought her back. Pale. Shaking. Trying to be strong and failing anyway. She hadn't said much, just stared at the floor like she'd lost something she couldn't name out loud. Naruto knew exactly what that looked like.
It hurt worse than his own anger.
Sasuke leaving was one thing. Sakura breaking because of it was another. He hated that he couldn't fix either of them.
"Idiot…" he whispered, not sure who it was meant for anymore.
For a moment, he wanted to blame everyone. The Hokage. The village. Kakashi. Himself. Anyone. Everyone. Anything but the idea that Sasuke might have chosen this.
But deep down, beneath the denial, something colder stirred.
Sasuke had been desperate.
Naruto had seen it. Felt it. That hunger in his eyes, that need to be stronger no matter the cost. Naruto had shouted at him for it instead of understanding it.
And now he was gone.
Naruto dropped back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. His chest hurt. His head hurt. Everything felt wrong.
"…I'm not letting it end like this," he said quietly.
He didn't know how yet. He didn't know when. But one thing was clear in his mind, sharp and immovable.
He would get stronger.
Strong enough that no one could take his friends away. Strong enough that people couldn't just decide things for him. Strong enough that Sasuke would never have to run to someone like Orochimaru again.
If the world was going to shatter every time Naruto reached for something, then he'd just have to become strong enough to hold it together.
He clenched his fist, eyes burning.
"Just wait," he muttered, to the empty room, to Sasuke, to the whole damn world. "I'm coming."
...
Outside the window, tucked into the shadow of the eaves, one of Jiraiya's shadow clones allowed himself a small, private smirk.
Relief.
He'd been there the entire time. Quiet. Patient. Watching. Ever since Sasuke vanished, ever since Naruto's clash with Tsunade in the office exploded into shouting and near blows, Jiraiya hadn't taken chances. Knowing Naruto, really knowing him, there was no doubt in his mind that the boy might try something reckless. Sneak out. Chase Sasuke alone. Do something loud, emotional, and irreversible.
So the clone stayed.
Trailing him through the village. Lingering just outside his room. Listening. Sensing. Ready to intervene the moment Naruto crossed a line.
After the confrontation in the Hokage's office, after Jiraiya's harshest rebuke yet, words sharp enough to hurt and meant to, Naruto had come back here looking hollowed out.
He hadn't yelled. Hadn't thrown things. He'd just collapsed onto his bed and stayed there, unmoving, like something inside him had shut off.
Even Jiraiya had worried.
Hours passed like that.
Now, finally, the clone could feel it. The shift. The chakra stirring again. The anger, yes, but also something else, resolve settling where despair had been.
Good.
Very good.
This was exactly what Jiraiya needed.
Soon, he'd take Naruto away from the village. Training. Real training. Preparation for Akatsuki. Preparation for the kind of world that didn't wait for kids to grow up before chewing them apart. Sasuke would be the fuel. Even absent, even gone, his presence was carved too deeply into Naruto to fade. Rival. Brother. Anchor.
That bond wasn't breaking. It was hardening.
The clone's smile thinned as his thoughts turned darker.
This wasn't just about keeping Naruto from running after Sasuke.
It was about keeping him away from Danzō.
Because if Naruto slipped, even once, if he made a single public mistake, Danzō would pounce. The Nine-Tails jinchūriki wouldn't be a boy anymore. He'd be an asset. A weapon.
A problem to be "secured" under layers of legitimate concern and official language.
Jiraiya knew exactly how that story ended.
And he would never let Naruto walk into that wolf's den. Not while he was breathing.
So the clone stayed where he was, senses stretched, chakra coiled and ready.
If Naruto tried anything stupid in the coming days, Jiraiya wouldn't hesitate. Force. Harshness. Whatever it took.
Better Naruto hate him for a while than lose him forever.
Outside the window, the village slept on, unaware of how close it was to tearing itself apart.
And Jiraiya watched.