“Today, Kakashi, I’m going to teach you how to use summoning jutsu.”

            The tall man was met with eyes that were bright despite being dull gray in color. Training time! This should be fun. There were always so many new things to learn, and Father always gave lots of praise when what he was teaching was done right.

The man smiled and put one hand to his mouth, biting his thumb hard. The tiny shinobi winced slightly at the blood, but kept on watching carefully. After all, ninja saw blood all the time, and a little bleeding thumb was nothing to take seriously. The boy’s father pulled out a scroll and began forming the hand signs, moving his hands slowly so his son could see. Then, he smeared his thumb across the scroll as he let it fall open and rolled it back again just as easily before slamming it onto the ground.

            The boy jumped when the scroll hit the floor and then again when a giant cloud erupted from it. A pack of dogs appeared in its midst, all different sizes and colors. The young shinobi stared at them, wide-eyed as they came to inspect and sniff him. His father smiled as he watched his son pet the summons.

            “These are the nin-dogs. You haven’t seen them before because I usually only call them when I’m out on missions. They are very loyal and reliable companions. And these,” he indicated a pack of eight puppies hidden behind the larger dogs, “are yours to train. These are your Ninken.”

            The boy grew excited as the nin-dog puppies wagged their tails happily at him and licked him- all except one, who wore an obvious wrinkled frown upon his face. The boy frowned back at him as the small saggy-skinned puppy, about four months old, gave a small yip. He felt his father’s hand on his shoulder.

            “Hey there, are you doubting my son?” the man joked, “I’ll have you know he’s already graduated from the academy and is well on his way to becoming a chuunin. I assure you, he’s well beyond his years and more than worthy of having a pact with.”

            The tiny shinobi beamed. His father smiled warmly at him and took out the contract scroll for him to sign with blood. The boy’s hand only shook slightly as he raised a kunai to his thumb. Once he had made his pack, he was swarmed by nin-dog puppies as all eight jumped on him at once.

            “Otosan!” the five-year-old whined from underneath the puppy-pile.

            Sakumo laughed and pulled him out.

            “There now, you respect Kakashi,” he scolded the puppies.

            “Kaka…shi,” the wrinkled puppy croaked.

            The silver-haired boy’s eyes widened, and he stared at his father unbelievingly.

            “He talked!”

            “Kakashi,” the puppy said again, confirming the information.

            Now the boy was smiling uncontrollably.

            “Pak-kun!” he yelled excitedly, giving the puppy his new name.

            “Pak-kun!”

            “What?”

Kakashi opened his eyes suddenly and looked around an unfamiliar room. He had been dreaming about his father again. His father and something else that had happened in what felt like a long time ago, but maybe not as long as he thought. It had only been a few weeks since his father had died, but Kakashi was already starting to forget what his voice had sounded like. Even in the dreams, it wasn’t clear.

            “Well, did you wake me up for nothing?” the small dog grumbled, “If so, I’m going back to sleep.”

            Kakashi shook his head, trying to banish the thoughts from his mind. Then, he blinked and took a look around the room, trying to remember where he was.  Oh yeah…Sensei’s…

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Though he had Iruka as a friend, Kakashi couldn’t help feeling alone after his father left him for the next world. At first, they tried putting him in the orphanage, seeing as he had no living relatives to care for him. Once he arrived, he isolated himself from the rest of the children. He wouldn’t talk, except when spoken to, and the only time his hidden face showed even the illusion of happiness was when Iruka came to visit him. His guardians began to worry about him- this child that always kept his face under a mask and rarely smiled. He was the perfect image of a well-trained shinobi, but to become like this so early in life wasn’t healthy for his development, they knew. So they began looking for a suitable family to adopt him.

Iruka’s parents were always very kind to Kakashi, but they sadly admitted that they couldn’t afford to raise another child right now. They were good people, proud of their village and willing to protect it at all costs. Both Uminos had reached chunnin rank with little difficulty, but neither had ever risen above that. His father had been seriously injured on a mission a few years ago, back when Iruka was too young to remember. It had left him with a bad arm that never fully healed and eventually had to be amputated. It was hard for him to live with, especially when he was forced to take lower-ranking missions. His mother had plenty of scars to show her own dedication to her village. She was often away on longer missions, but she always looked forward to coming home and spending time with her young son.

            Kakashi remembered the first day he had met Iruka’s parents. It hadn’t been long after he had met Iruka himself...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A wet and still-traumatized Kakashi was led by the hand back to the outskirts of the village from the memorial stone. There, he and the younger boy entered a modest home and were greeted by Iruka’s worried mother.

            “Iruka! Where have you been? Why didn’t you come straight home from the academy?”

            “I met a new friend,” Iruka replied, pulling Kakashi forward from the place he had reluctantly hidden behind him.

            His mother’s face softened a bit. She smiled kindly to the older boy.

            “Oh! What is your name?”

            “H-hatake Kakashi,” the seven-year-old muttered nervously.

            He wasn’t a shy child, but he felt so awkward. I hardly even know this kid, and now I’m meeting his parents. What if they don’t like me? What if they’ve heard-

            “Hatake?” Iruka’s mother whispered.

            Kakashi’s tears resurfaced as he gripped Iruka’s hand tighter. Iruka’s

mother immediately dropped down to her knees and took Kakashi into her arms, almost instinctively. The tiny chunnin stiffened. It had been so long since his own mother had died. Is this what it felt like when she hugged me?

            “There, there…I’m sorry about your father, Kakashi-kun. How would you like to have dinner with us tonight?”

            Kakashi looked at Iruka, who smiled and nodded encouragingly.

            “Okay,” the chuunin agreed.

            The silver-haired boy squirmed slightly in his seat as he tried not to stare at Iruka’s father and his missing arm. The man regarded the small chuunin with a small, almost hidden smirk.

“Don’t look so nervous, son. We don’t bite.”

Kakashi twitched at being called “son” by Iruka’s father. Iruka’s mother caught her husband’s eye and shook her head at him. The man quirked his lip and tried to give Kakashi a friendly smile.

“Get ready for some good food, kid- because my wife makes the best.”

“Stop it!” Iruka’s mother said embarrassedly, “Don’t raise his expectations.”

“But it’s true!” Iruka’s father laughed.

His son smiled brightly at him, and Kakashi watched curiously as Iruka’s mother began to serve the food, still blushing slightly. A bowl was placed in front of him, hot and steaming. Kakashi’s mouth watered as he suddenly realized how hungry he was. The first time he felt the flavor of the soup in his mouth, his eyes widened in surprise.

“What is this?” he asked before taking another spoonful…then another and another.

Iruka’s mother smiled.

“Miso soup with eggplant,” she replied, “Seems you like it.”

“It’s…so good!”

The soup was gone before Iruka’s mother had the chance to say anything else.

“I’m glad you liked it. You can come over whenever you like, and I’ll make that

for you, Kakashi-kun.”

            The chuunin blinked.

            “Really?”

            Iruka’s mother nodded.

            “Of course.”

            “Then- can I have another one… please?”

            She grinned and went to go refill his bowl.

            Kakashi had continued to visit the Uminos many times after that. Sometimes Iruka’s mother would find the masked boy staying up late with Iruka in his room, Kakashi having snuck in through the window. She never had the heart to kick Kakashi out, though she knew the orphanage was becoming concerned by his constant disappearances.

Finally, the man the young chunnin was training under, widely known as the Yellow Flash, declared himself the boy’s new guardian.

            At first, Kakashi hadn’t liked it. Who wanted to have a live-in sensei teaching you “lessons in life” in addition to lessons on the training ground? His sensei was such a strange man. His attempts to entertain his new charge usually resulted in Kakashi staring at him blankly and asking, “Sensei, what are you doing?” to which he would reply, “You’re far too serious for a seven-year-old.” And no more than a few seconds later (he was a genius) would come the retort, “You’re not serious enough for an adult.” Little smart mouth. Then again, the Yellow Flash didn’t seem to realize that attacking various household objects with origami shuriken was not always a chunnin’s idea of fun, even if said chunnin was still too small to wear his forehead protector without being blindfolded.

            After a while, though, Kakashi began to like living with Sensei – especially since he let Iruka come over whenever Kakashi wanted. Iruka loved Kakashi’s new home and guardian. The boys would sit around him with the Ninken and listen to the golden-haired man talk about all the high-rank missions he had been on and what had happened during them. They were fascinated.

“Aren’t you get tired of this yet?” he’d ask.

“No, keep going!” would come the reply from the two boys in unison.

Eventually, the stories would stop when Iruka had to be sent home. His parents worried when he was gone for so long, even though they knew he was safe with the Yellow Flash. The man could understand them wanting their child back for most of the day.

As time passed, the boys’ friendship had continued to grow. Sometimes after training, Kakashi would go meet Iruka at the academy and walk home with him. Today was one of those days. He said goodbye to Sensei and left carrying two sticks of dango to share. Kakashi didn’t like sweets too much, but he knew Iruka would love them. He focused his chakra and used it to jump up high onto the rooftops to make his way to the academy even faster. Then, the chuunin had an idea. He reached down to his knee, where he had gotten cut during training and slid hid thumb over the blood. A few hand seals later, a medium-sized white and yellow dog with small black sunglasses appeared before him- the dog that liked Kakashi the best. He smiled beneath his mask and ran his hand over the fur on the dog’s head.

“Can I have a ride, please?”

The dog gave a happy yip and offered Kakashi his back. The chunnin climbed on, and instantly, they were off.

When he got a bit closer, he could barely see Iruka standing near the outside swing where he usually waited for him when he knew Kakashi was going to come. There were two other boys with him, though. They were both bigger than him, but not any older than Kakashi. The silver-haired boy wouldn’t have cared, except that one of the boys was holding a kunai.

“You think you can get away with that, Umino? Making fun of my clan? What are you? You’re nothing. I bet no one in this village has even heard of your pathetic family.”

Iruka was scared, but he glared defiantly.

“I can say whatever I want! My dad says you’re the ones who always steal on missions, and because your dad got caught doing it, the people attacked their squad! It’s your fault his arm got hurt!”

The older boy grabbed Iruka’s collar and shoved him up against a tree. He gave him an icy look that made the seven-year-old tremble.

“He’s not the only one who’s going to get hurt,” came the low growl.

Iruka screamed in pain as the boy pressed the tip of the kunai up to his cheek and slowly started to drag it across his face, leaving a deep, bloody gash going from his cheek up to the bridge of his nose. The seven-year-old tried to push the hand away, but the other boy was stronger than him.

“H-hey, stop that,” the second boy stuttered timidly, putting his hand on his friend’s shoulder, but not daring to try to pull his arm away.

“Shut up!” the other boy snapped at him.

“He’s just a little kid!”

Iruka’s attacker didn’t let go of his shirt, but he lifted his kunai off the seven-year-old’s face long enough to elbow his friend in the ribs, knocking him down. The second boy gave up trying to help Iruka as he picked himself up from the ground and rushed off. The older boy scoffed in the direction he had run, but suddenly whipped back towards Iruka as the younger boy attempted a badly aimed kick. The bully glared and suddenly lifted his kunai again, slashing Iruka on the other side of the face to meet the first gash in the middle. He smirked at the symmetrical mark he had created, just as he heard the small thump of two sticks of dango hitting the ground behind him and the growl of a very angry nin-dog.

Before he knew it, the boy had been yanked backwards. He let go of a wailing Iruka and turned his head to meet the death glare of a certain silver-haired chuunin…who happened to be his former classmate.

“H-hatake!”

“Still picking on kids weaker than you?” came the cold reply, “It’s time you learned how it feels.”

By the time the bully’s friend had come back, scampering behind his sensei, Iruka’s attacker was on the floor, hands and legs tied, begging for mercy from the eight-year-old sitting on top of him and holding a kunai near his face. Iruka had his arms around the nindog, who was nuzzling him gently and licking the cut on his face.

“Hatake Kakashi!” the sensei snapped, “Off!”

The parent-teacher meeting that followed included the bully’s parents, the Uminos, and a very upset Yellow Flash giving his charge the Frown of Disapproval along with the secret He-Had-It-Coming Wink when no one was looking. The wink had only come after he had found out Kakashi had been protecting Iruka. Iruka’s mother threw a fit when she saw her son’s face, and it took almost a quarter of the meeting to calm her down. His father held a glaring contest with the bully’s father as the academy sensei talked on and on about school grounds policy. The rest of the meeting consisted of a round of lectures and half-hearted apologies. The boy who had attacked Iruka ended up being expelled from the academy for conduct unbefitting a future Konoha shinobi.

%%%%%%%%%%%%

“It’s okay, Iruka,” Kakashi told his sulking friend later, “Scars make you look cool! Only the toughest ninja have them.”

The academy student was not comforted. He had spent most of the day moping around the house, staring at his stitched-up face in the mirror every now and then until he couldn’t look at it anymore.

“I bet most of them didn’t get them from school bullies,” he mumbled to the chuunin.

“You never know. Besides, you said he did it because he was mad at you for saying what you meant! You stood up for yourself. That’s brave.”

            Iruka turned his dark brown eyes to meet Kakashi’s marble grey ones.

            “You really think so?”

            The silver-haired boy nodded.

            “That takes guts. You have the spirit of a shinobi!”

            He pointed to the bridge of Iruka’s nose. The seven-year-old stared cross-eyed at the chuunin’s finger.

            “And that’s just proof of it.”

            Iruka smiled, and Kakashi stiffened in surprise as he was thanked with a hug.

            “I never said thanks for saving me.”

            The chuunin gave his friend’s back a pat.

             “You don’t have to.”

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

            The next day, Sensei took the two of them out for ramen. He led them down the street, taking small steps to match their own pace and grinning down at Iruka now and then. The tan boy was swinging Sensei’s hand happily, smiling despite the large white bandage wrapped around his face. Kakashi, standing on the other side of the Yellow Flash, refused to hold hands. Sensei made another attempt to grab his.

            “Stop it, Sensei! I’m too old to hold hands!” the eight-year-old pouted.

            “You’re still short. And if you’re short, that means you can still get lost in a crowd, chuunin or not.”

            “I will not get lost. If I do, I can just feel for your chakra and-”

            “And what if someone tries to kidnap you? Someone stronger than you?”

            “I’m not a baby! I can take care of myself!”

            The Yellow Flash felt a tug on his other hand as Iruka tried to pull away.

            “I’m not a baby either! I don’t wanna hold hands!”

            Sensei frowned at him and then sighed.

            “You’re still seven, Iruka-kun,” Kakashi informed him, “You still have to.”

            Iruka scowled at him.

            “No, I don’t! I’m almost as big as Kashi-kun,” Iruka whined to Sensei.

            “What am I going to do with you two?” the golden-haired man moaned, “Your mother will have my head if I lose you, Iruka-kun.”

            The seven-year-old was still resisting, until the taller man bent down and scooped the boy up, relocating him up upon his shoulders. Iruka seemed to like this new position and pointed down at Kakashi triumphantly.

            “Now I’m taller than you!”

            Kakashi frowned at him.

            “You never do that for me, Sensei.”

            “That’s because you told me you were too old for it last time I tried, remember?”

            Sensei crouched down, offering the boy the vacancy on his back.

            “Do you want a ride too, Kakashi-kun?” he asked with a sly smile.

            “No,” Kakashi responded indignantly, crossing his arms, “Chuunin don’t ride piggyback.”

            The Yellow Flash smirked and leaned closer to Kakashi.

            “No one has to know you’re a chuunin,” he whispered, “You look like an eight-year-old to me.”

            Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck embarrassedly. It was true- he did want a piggyback ride, but what if someone made fun of him for it later? Then I’ll just kick their butt, he thought, but part of him still wasn’t convinced. He looked up to see Iruka smiling at him.

“Come on!” the younger boy said, “Aren’t you hungry too?”

Kakashi gave a nod. Not much of an excuse, but better than nothing, he decided. It’s better than holding hands. Taking one glance around to make sure no one was watching, he carefully climbed onto his sensei’s back, grabbing onto Iruka’s ankles on the front of his sensei’s chest to keep them both on while Sensei held onto Kakashi.

“Now then, if everyone’s happy, let’s get going!”

“Why do I have to sit under Iruka’s butt?”

The Yellow Flash’s triumphant smile faded slightly, but he decided to ignore Kakashi for once. The eight-year-old pouted but didn’t complain anymore. Sensei made sure neither of the boys was going to fall off, and then, the burdened man trudged forward on to his favorite ramen place, Ichiraku.

            “Quite a load you’ve got there,” the young chef greeted him.

            “They’re quite the handful,” Sensei laughed before wincing as Iruka tugged out a strand of his hair.

            Kakashi stared at the man indifferently from his sensei’s back. The Yellow Flash swung him around into a stool and then lifted Iruka off his shoulders to put him down in the stool next to him.

            “Order anything you want,” Sensei told them with a smile.      

            The boys looked through the menu excitedly and had soon made their choices. As they waited for their meal to arrive, Kakashi and Iruka listened to the Yellow Flash’s latest story.

            “This was one of the most difficult missions I’ve been on so far,” he told them, “There were a lot of risks involved, but my team came up with a plan to help us succeed. Two of them lured away the people standing guard at the front of the mansion. Then, I went in for the assassination with my other teammate as my backup. She was attacked halfway through, but I fell back and helped her defeat the enemies.”

            Iruka watched him, fascinated. Kakashi only looked down at his ramen, unimpressed.

            “The rules say you shouldn’t go back. Completing the mission is the most important part,” he mumbled, “not saving your teammates.”

            The brown-haired boy stared at him, wide-eyed.

            “But she could have died!”

            “She had her own role in the mission. What if sensei had been defeated too? Then they both would have died, and the mission would be failed.”

            “He wouldn’t have been defeated!” Iruka argued, “No one can beat him!”

            While the two debated this, the Yellow Flash simply studied his student while taking large slurps of ramen. Was this really coming from the boy he had just given a piggyback ride to? He’s a chuunin. He’s not like other children. Still, the way he thinks…This must because of what happened to his father.

            “Hey,” the blonde man told them, “Of course it’s important to complete a mission, but to do that, your team must be strong as one. Your comrades are your friends. You should think of them as part of yourself and always watch each other’s backs. If you lose trust in each other and separate, there’s a greater chance you’ll be picked off one by one. That’s why you should remember that the most important thing to a shinobi is teamwork!”

            Iruka beamed brightly, and even Kakashi cocked his head a little while finishing his bowl of ramen, but the young chuunin didn’t say anything after that.

            “Hey, Kakashi-kun,” the younger boy said to him after a while, “If we’re ever on a team, I’ll watch your back for you!”

            Kakashi suppressed a snort. Iruka protect him? He hadn’t even graduated from the academy! Despite this though, something felt inside the chuunin felt warm and made him smile at the promise.

            “Okay.”

            When they all had finished their meal, Sensei paid, and the three of them walked towards the training grounds. Kakashi’s eyes lit up as they reached the field. He loved to train. He was driven by the desire to grow stronger and stronger so as to keep up with the adults he now worked with. The chuunin and jounin he was grouped with on missions would always tower over him and boss him around with orders – usually simple things even a genin could do. They never trusted him with night watch. He’d end up with the earliest shift for fear that the little boy would fall asleep on the job. Like a baby. Kakashi hated it. After all, he could stay up till midnight without getting sleepy…well, sometimes anyway. He hated that they rarely took him seriously due to his size, but he was determined to prove them wrong. He hadn’t gotten this far just to be considered a pushover. 

            “Come on, Sensei!” he said, pulling on the man’s sleeve impatiently, “Let’s train!”

            “Hold on just a moment, Kakashi-kun,” the Yellow Flash replied, “Let’s give Iruka a chance to show us what he’s learning in class.”

            “Our sensei lets us practice with shuriken now!” the academy student stated proudly, “I can throw them without getting cut.”

            Kakashi held a bored expression, but Sensei gave him a look that told him he better be nice. The chuunin crossed his arms and gave a slight nod.

            “All right. Let’s see it. Hit that tree over there.”

            Iruka turned his head towards the tree his friend indicated and asked Sensei for some shuriken. The Yellow Flash handed them over reluctantly. He had never worked with small children before Kakashi and still felt guilty handing them such dangerous weapons.

            “Be careful,” he told the boy.

            “Don’t worry. It’s easy!” the boy assured him and threw a shuriken at the tree.

            It missed and sailed off to the right.

            “Wait! That one didn’t count!”

            He threw another and also missed.

            “That one didn’t either. This one-”

            Another miss. Kakashi shook his head to himself.

            “Let me show you, Iruka-kun.”

            He took a shuriken between his fingers.

            “Hold it like this,” he said.

            The younger boy copied him.

            “Pick a spot on the tree and aim a little higher than it. Flick your wrist like this.”

            He demonstrated in slow motion. Iruka did the same and released his shuriken. It landed with a thump on the tree.

            “I did it!” he yelled triumphantly.

            “Great job,” Sensei told him.

            Kakashi smiled a bit under his mask and gave an approving nod.

            “You’re a good shinobi, Iruka-kun.”

            His friend turned to beam at him. Then suddenly, he leapt onto the older boy and hugged him.

            “H-hey, stop that,” the chuunin said embarrassedly, trying to push him away.

            He always does this. Iruka held on tight.

            “You’re a good teacher, Kakashi-sensei.”

            The silver-hair boy blushed. Kakashi-sensei? He liked how it sounded. Iruka finally released him and gave some more shuriken a throw. He jumped excitedly whenever one hit, and Kakashi couldn’t help but smile some more.

             If we’re ever on a team, Iruka… I’ve got your back too.