The golden chakra in Shinju's palm gathered thicker and thicker, finally condensing into a sphere of light.
"In my name, Shinju of Namikaze," he intoned, "I summon back the heroic soul that sleeps in the Pure Land!"
"Return! Blade of Konoha — Sakumo!"
This time, the power erupting from the light sphere was completely different from before.
A pillar of white radiance shot straight into the sky.
Kakashi instinctively raised an arm to shield his eyes.
Then, slowly, he lowered his hand again and stared fixedly at the heart of that white light.
He was terrified of missing even a single instant… yet just as afraid that what he saw next would only disappoint him.
The white radiance began to shrink.
A figure gradually took shape at its center.
The standard Konoha jonin uniform.
A deep-green flak jacket, spotless.
Hair the same silver-white as Kakashi's.
His features were sharp and well-defined. There was no trace of exhaustion on that face, only the calm confidence of a top-tier powerhouse.
At his waist hung a simple, old-fashioned short blade.
That blade was the legendary chakra short sword — White Fang.
The man before Kakashi's eyes was not the defeated soul who had taken his own life in despair.
He was the man who had once stood at the very peak of the ninja world, whose mere existence made the shinobi of several great nations hesitate to move lightly.
Sakumo.
Kakashi looked at the figure in front of him.
In that instant, it felt as if time, space, everything around him… had lost all meaning.
Tears burst from his eyes, completely beyond his control.
Sakumo stood where he was, a dazed look still in his gaze.
He lowered his head and examined his own hands, feeling the unimaginably abundant chakra and strength surging through his body.
This sense of overflowing vitality… it had been far, far too long.
"This… is… the living world?"
"I was… already dead, wasn't I? Who has that kind of power… to drag me back into the world of the living? Is this Edo Tensei (Impure World Reincarnation)? But it doesn't look like it…"
He glanced around and saw the training ground that was both familiar and desolate, and he remembered his final moments.
His gaze stopped on the masked, silver-haired man standing there, face streaked with tears.
"…Kakashi?"
His voice carried some uncertainty, yet was filled with warmth.
"You've grown so much."
Kakashi could no longer contain the feelings he'd suppressed for decades.
He threw his arms around his father and hugged him tightly.
"Father… Father… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"
He choked on his own sobs, burying his head against his father's broad shoulder, repeating that overdue apology again and again.
Sakumo's body stiffened for a moment.
His son's embrace was so tight he could clearly feel Kakashi's trembling.
Then he raised a hand and gently patted his son's back.
"You foolish child…"
His own eyes were growing moist.
"The one who should be saying 'I'm sorry'… is me…"
"All these years I wasn't there for you… that's my failure as a father."
Shinju stood off to the side, quietly watching the reunion of father and son, making no move to interrupt them.
Under his command, another top-class fighter, one whose close-quarters strength could rival Kage-level, had joined his forces.
And Kakashi would be reborn from today on, emerging with a completely new self.
After a long time, Kakashi's emotions finally settled.
A bit embarrassed, he pulled himself out of his father's arms and roughly wiped the tear marks from his face with his sleeve.
He tried to regain the posture of the calm, elite jonin he usually was. But the redness around his eyes still betrayed the surge of feeling in his heart.
"Father…"
Sakumo carefully took in how his son looked as an adult, his eyes full of relief. In Kakashi's gaze, he saw a maturity that surpassed his age… and a deep, deep weariness.
It made his heart twist with pain.
"Kakashi," Sakumo spoke first, "these years have been hard on you."
Kakashi drew a deep breath, forcing back the fresh wave of tears that threatened to rise, and asked the question that had haunted him his entire life.
"Father… do you… regret it?"
"Giving up the mission… for the sake of your comrades."
Hearing this, a smile appeared on Sakumo's face.
"I have never regretted saving my comrades."
"The only thing I regret… is that I couldn't withstand the pressure, that I couldn't live on to see my son grow into a ninja more outstanding than me, one who understands how to cherish his comrades."
He glanced at Kakashi's Sharingan (Copy Wheel Eye). Sakumo didn't need to be told to know the story behind that eye. There had to be unbearable pain buried there.
"You must have… gone through a lot of suffering."
Those words were like a key, instantly unlocking the last shackle in Kakashi's heart.
He had always believed that his father's death was a denial of his own belief in "following the rules." Because of that, he had lived in contradiction and self-doubt, torn between mission and comrades.
Only now did he truly understand.
His father had never regretted his choice.
What he regretted… was only that he couldn't stay by his son's side, couldn't fulfill his duty as a father.
"Kakashi," Sakumo reached out and placed his hand gently atop his son's head, just like when Kakashi had been small, "you followed the rules… and you protected your comrades as well. You found a balance that belongs to you alone."
"You've done better than I did."
"You are my greatest pride."
In that moment, the elite jonin famed for his cool head and rationality, Konoha's Copy Ninja, the commander of [God Court]…
Was no longer a hero or a prodigy.
He was just a child who had finally received his father's approval.
Kakashi couldn't hold it back anymore.
He threw himself into his father's arms once again and cried loudly.
This time, there was no pain or regret in his tears — only release and joy.
Sakumo hugged his son tightly.
This embrace, delayed by twenty years, finally melted away every barrier and misunderstanding between father and son.
In a corner of the courtyard, Shinju watched the scene with a faint smile on his face.
When the emotions of the two finally calmed completely, Kakashi let go of his father, a shy smile on his lips.
Sakumo carefully straightened his son's slightly rumpled collar, then lifted his gaze toward the young man not far away.
He walked over to Shinju and bowed deeply.
Although Sakumo was much older than Shinju, he didn't care about that in the slightest now — after all, Shinju had just displayed a true miracle.
This was the highest respect a ninja could offer to the one who had granted him such a favor.
"Thank you for giving me the chance to make up for my regrets."
"And thank you for looking after this useless son of mine. Even if he might think he's already very impressive, there are always higher skies and stronger people out there."
"Hey, hey, Father… you don't have to put it like that," Kakashi muttered from the side, a bit embarrassed. "I'm not that weak, you know."
"There's no need to be so formal. We're all on the same side, Sakumo-sensei," Shinju said calmly. "What I want to correct are the mistakes this village once made. Letting a hero be slandered as a sinner… that sits wrong with me — and it's the greatest disgrace to Konoha."
He looked straight at Sakumo, the legendary Konoha's White Fang.
"Welcome back."
(End of Chapter)
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