The client turned out to be a grey-haired and bespectacled man with a constant look of annoyance on his face, neatly matched by the constant bottle of liquor in his hand. He wore a brown V-neck shirt with an obi tied around his waist, as well as a conical hat and a towel around his neck to protect him from the Land of Fire’s beating sun.

“I am the great bridge builder Tazuna,” he said by means of introduction. “I expect the lot of you to provide me the greatest possible protection while I work on completing my bridge in the Land of Waves.”

As the five of them headed towards the Village gates, the client explained his situation to the group. It turned out that the Land of Waves was a small island near the Land of Fire, supposedly famed for its many rivers and mangroves, and that the bridge was meant to connect the isle to the mainland.

“The Land of Waves doesn’t have ninja and we’re not wealthy like your country,” the old man said in grumbling tones. “We managed well enough trading by ship back in the day, but now a ruthless bandit lord has taken over our ships, and he’s bleeding us dry. That’s why we need my great bridge to bring trade back to our country.”

Kakashi finished the explanation for him while handling the paperwork at the chūnin guard post. “It seems parts of the bridge have fallen apart for no discernible reason, and Tazuna suspects this bandit lord is behind it. So as Team Seven, it’s our job to protect him and figure out what’s going on.”

Tazuna took a swig from his bottle, and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “Yeah… that’s about it.”

Naruto barely heard the explanation over the sound of his own humming, as he stepped through the open gates and crossed the village boundaries, a broad grin plastered on his face. He took a deep breath, taking in the forest scents of pine trees and damp leaves. Before him stood the wide open world, filled with wonder and adventure. The sun was hot, but a light breeze served to cool him down… everything was perfect. He stretched his arms into the air and proclaimed his excitement to the world.

“Alright! Let’s do this!”

Sakura raised a bemused eyebrow. “What are you so excited about?”

He grinned at her. “It’s just that… I’ve never been outside of Konoha before! I can’t wait to see what the rest of the world looks like.” Naruto would have explored the outside world a long time ago, or at least sent a shadow clone to go scout out the country as far as he could, but leaving the Village without permission was strictly forbidden to any ninja, and would immediately mark him as a deserter.

She smiled at him. “I suppose it is nice to get out of the Village. At least my parents won’t be telling me what to do for once. In a way, it’s almost as if we’re independent adults already.”

The old bridge builder looked at the two of them apprehensively, before turning to Kakashi. “Hey… will I really be safe with these kids?”

“You’ll be fine,” Kakashi assured him. “Don’t worry: I’m a jōnin and I’ll be protecting you myself. Besides, Sasuke is from the Leaf’s strongest clan, and Sakura was the brightest pupil at the academy.”

“The Leaf’s strongest clan?” The bridge builder shot an uncertain glance towards the brooding Uchiha heir, who was slouching with both hands in his pockets. “You don’t mean… that tragic clan of legend?”

“The very one,” Kakashi said, and Sakura nodded solemnly along with him.

“Yeah,” said Naruto with a roll of his eyes. “And I’m the last scion of the Uzumaki, a clan of powerful ninja-cooks famous for their advanced ramen techniques. They built their Hidden Village inside of a giant whirlpool because they figured it was the last place anyone would look, which seemed like a really neat idea until one day the entire Village disappeared in a mysterious, whirlpool-related incident.”

The bridge builder turned back to the others. “Is any of that actually true?”

“Not even remotely,” Sakura said with a note of irritation. “The Uzumaki were a ninja clan famed for their prowess with sealing techniques. They were destroyed by their enemies because they spent all their time pouring over ancient scrolls and doing research instead of training an army to defend themselves.” She paused, a thoughtful expression forming on her face.

Hearing his family’s fate described like that gave Naruto pause too, but for entirely different reasons. The world’s greatest seal-using clan was wiped out one year before the attack on Konoha, making the Fourth Hokage the only one who could still seal the Kyūbi… there’s just no way that’s a coincidence, is there?

Sakura shook her head and continued. “Anyway, there are still plenty of Uzumaki refugees scattered around the world; Naruto just doesn’t bother to keep in touch with his cousins, that’s all.”

Kakashi looked at the two of them, and shrugged. “Well, we’re not going to get to the Land of Waves by talking about it. Let’s go.” He strode forwards, and Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna followed close behind.

Naruto stared at them in horror and dismay. “What… what are you doing?”

Kakashi raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “…walking?”

“I thought so, but I was gonna give you the benefit of the doubt. Why are we walking?” Naruto looked to his team-mates for help, but they only gave him blank stares in reply. “We’re ninjas! We don’t walk places. We run at top speed, or leap from one tree branch to the next. Sometimes we get carried on the backs of giant spirit animals, if Jiraiya is around. Ninjas don’t walk.”

The bridge builder turned to glower at him. “I hate to burst your bubble, kid, but I’m not a bloody ninja. I can’t do any of that tree leaping rubbish, and my back aches enough when I walk, never mind running.”

Naruto groaned. “Seriously? You guys are planning to walk all the way to the Land of Waves? Do you have any idea how long that would take?”

Sasuke turned to their teacher, speaking up for the first time since they departed. “The moron does have a point. I can think of better ways to spend my time.”

Kakashi shrugged. “Yes, well… unless one of you has another means of transport available, walking it is.”

“Aha!” Naruto cried triumphantly, reaching for the scroll on his back. “I was waiting for you to say that. See, I’ve got a storage scroll here that my dad taught me how to use.” He spread the scroll out onto the ground, revealing a meter-wide parchment covered in incomprehensible scribbles, with an empty circle in the centre. “Just stand in the middle, old man, and I’ll activate the technique. It might be a bit cramped in there, but as long as you’re in the scroll we can carry you while running at full speed!”

Tazuna stared at the parchment. “The kid’s not serious about putting me inside that scroll, is he?”

“He can’t put you in the scroll,” Sakura assured him. “The storage seal is a space-time technique which transports an item to a dimension where time does not flow. It doesn’t work on people, and even if it did it would almost certainly kill them.”

“Not a problem,” Naruto said confidently. “How cool would his body need to be, exactly, before he’d no longer count as a person but as an object?”

In reply, Sakura gave a sharp rap on the top of his head with her knuckles. “Naruto, no! You’re not killing our client and putting him inside a scroll.”

Sasuke placed a hand on her arm and gave her an admonishing look. “Sakura, we’ve been over this. You mustn’t hit Naruto; it’s not good for his emotional development.” She laughed bashfully in reply.

Naruto rubbed his head, which throbbed painfully. “Go fall on a wakizashi, Uchiha.”

The bridge builder turned to their jōnin sensei for support. “Ah, is this… normal?”

“Hm? Oh, yes, ninjas can get quite morbid. It probably has something to do with the fact that we’ve been trained from birth to kill people.” Kakashi gave him an encouraging thumbs-up. “Not to worry, I promise that nobody’s going to kill you and put you in a scroll as long as you pay us to keep you alive.”

“Fine then, no scrolls,” said Naruto, who was not so easily defeated. He formed the seals for the Shadow Clone technique, and immediately a fresh batch of Naruto’s spawned and ran back the way they came. “I’ve got other ideas. What if I carried you on my back? ”

“I don’t think so,” said Tazuna, in a tone that made it quite clear what he expected from the other ideas.

Right when the mind-numbing tedium of putting one foot down in front of the other was about to completely overwhelm what remained of Naruto’s crumbling sanity, he saw movement on the road behind them. A group of identical figures were pulling what appeared to be a wagon. Relief washed over him when one of the clones dispelled itself and the memories of his actions returned to him.

Kakashi turned as the clones rushed in and parked the cart in front of the group. “What now?”

“It’s a cart,” Naruto explained. “Since we’re out of spirit animals, my shadow clones are gonna pull it while the old man sits on it, and together we’ll hopefully move a little bit faster than a snail’s pace.”

Kakashi frowned. “Where did you get this?”

“From the Village, which you may have noticed is still right over there.” He pointed towards the Village perimeter walls which were still plainly within sight. “I bought it from a merchant, at the price of approximately one millionth of a chakra sword.” He turned to the bridge builder, and gestured over his shoulder with his thumb. “Now get on the stupid cart and let’s go already.”

-o-

The group travelled all the way through the Land of Fire until they neared the coastline. By the time the sun started to go down even Naruto’s prodigious stamina had run out, and so they settled down for the night. Naruto pulled out the tents from his giant scroll, followed by a complete set of camping supplies, and the rest of the company bore increasingly incredulous expressions as Naruto’s clones set up an entire encampment right in front of their eyes. Naruto was right in the process of setting up a defensive perimeter complete with spikes and caltrops when his teacher finally stopped him.

“Naruto, I appreciate you taking security seriously, but you know we’re not actually at war, right?”

Naruto shrugged, too tired to argue. “There’s always bandits and rogue ninja around, and this wouldn’t be the first time a war started with a surprise attack on travelling shinobi… but hey, you’re the captain.”

“Honestly, I kind of like it,” Sakura admitted with a sly smile. “At least we get to travel in comfort. Now instead of having to eat military rations, we get to sup on a warm meal of…” She picked out a random item from Naruto’s supply scroll, and her brow instantly furrowed. “…ramen? Seriously? You can bring any hot meal you like in those scrolls and you bring ramen?”

“What? I like ramen,” Naruto said defensively. “Just because I can store a cooked meal doesn’t mean I’ve got to. Otherwise having more freedom would give me fewer options, and that’s just silly.”

Sasuke shook his head, visibly torn between being amused and angry. “And this is where my money has been going to? You had better repay your debt at some point, dropout, because I’m not paying for this.”

Their teacher shut that argument down before it could begin, and soon enough they were sitting around a small campfire, courtesy of Sasuke’s fire technique. The sun was well and truly gone now, leaving the surrounding forest pitch black except for the pale light of the waning moon above. Though it was impossible to make anything out in the darkness beneath the forest canopy, the sounds of nocturnal animals scurrying about reminded them they were not quite alone. The bridge builder looked increasingly ill at ease, and after dining on a meal of cooked rice and chicken – ramen having been voted out – Tazuna excused himself and went to sleep. That just left the four ninja.

Kakashi rubbed his hands in front of the fire, his masked face illuminated by the orange glow. A small flame dancing in his one visible eye lent him an aura of mystery. “Well, now that we’re all warm and cosy, I figure it’s time for me to tell you all a little story. After all, that’s what captains do, when they’re on a mission away from home with their adorable little students…”

“Oh, a story!” Naruto’s excitement rose and just as quickly gave way to suspicion. “Wait, this isn’t gonna be one of those inspirational stories, about heroism and teamwork, is it? Iruka-sensei used to tell us those back in the Academy to motivate us or something, and they were always boring and predictable.”

“Hmm, not quite. Rather, this is the story of how I lost my comrades on a mission, and how I acquired this eye of mine.” He tapped the forehead protector that covered his Sharingan for emphasis.

It was subtle, but it was there: Sasuke rose up ever so slightly, his eyes opening a fraction wider as some of his weariness was replaced with anticipation. Sakura, meanwhile, hugged her knees close to the fire and looked as attentive as always. Even Naruto stopped fidgeting as he realized who would be featuring in that story. All three of them were listening closely, though for entirely different reasons.

Satisfied that he held a captive audience, Kakashi raised his masked chin theatrically. “Now, where should I start? Ah yes: It was the day I was promoted to jōnin, back when I was a member of team Seven under Namikaze Minato, during the Third Great Ninja War right before everything went wrong…”

-o-

“…for I was a lot more bent on the rules those days, you see, and it drove Obito absolutely up the walls. I would chastise him for acting nothing like the stoic Uchiha of legend, and he would complain that I must have bribed the examiners for me to have ever gotten promoted to jōnin. I didn’t really think about it at the time, but it’s amazing that Rin put up with it for as long as she did before finally blowing up on us. The two of us didn’t dare say anything to each other for a full week.” Kakashi-sensei stared into the crackling fire, seeming to smile wistfully, though the mask made it awfully hard to tell. “Anyway, Minato-sensei had no choice but to put us and Rin into a three-man cell after that, for the casualties of that War had left the Leaf’s military more depleted than ever, and so we continued the mission without him.”

Naruto gingerly held up his hand. “Excuse me? Kakashi-sensei?”

His teacher looked up, momentarily shaken from his reverie. “Yes? What is it?”

“I didn’t want to interrupt your story so I was gonna wait until you finished speaking–” This earned him an encouraging smile from Sakura and a condescending pat on the back from Sasuke. Naruto glared at them both before continuing. “–but you’re saying the mission was to attack a bridge?”

“That’s right.”

Naruto paused a moment, then continued when no explanation was forthcoming. “Ninjas can walk on water,” he supplied helpfully.

Kakashi shrugged. “Civilians can’t. Supply wagons can’t. And you’d be surprised to learn how many ninja never master the skill, especially in dry countries like the land of Rock. It takes quite a bit of practice and decent chakra control to learn, and most never considered it a high priority. You see, when you’re living in times of war, all your effort is focussed on preparing for the next battle and surviving the next mission, and learning the wrong technique can be fatal. That’s why almost all our skills are focussed on combat.”

Naruto gave him a dubious look, and gestured at their camp. “Ninjas can also store things in scrolls.”

“Ah, but that skill is even harder to come by. The Hidden Stone couldn’t exactly afford to have their jōnin spend all their time storing supplies in scrolls for less skilled ninja to use, not when there was a war going on.” Kakashi shrugged. “But you’re not entirely wrong. The Council members, the ones directing the war effort on both sides, sometimes forget the distinction between fighting a war and playing at fighting one. They employ elaborate strategies they learned from the last war, not because it offers the best chance of winning but because admitting ignorance would invalidate their position as directors of the army.”

The three genin stared at him in bewilderment, shocked at hearing him state the truth so plainly, but Kakashi only seemed to smile at them from behind his mask. “So, as I was saying. We were supposed to attack the bridge, but as it turned out, we were attacked before we could even reach it…”

-o-

“Rin was gone: A Rock ninja must have taken her while we were fighting the others, and I’d been so occupied with my own duel that I never even noticed.” Kakashi’s fists clenched, the burned remains of the fire casting his hands in an orange glow. “Obito wanted to go after her right away, but I pointed out that Minato-sensei could just teleport to her when he returned. I tried to argue that they’d only want to use her medical skills to heal the wounded, but he would hear none of it. In the end, he turned his back on me, and gave me a choice: Either I could come with him, or he would go to save her alone.”

The three of them sat there, waiting long seconds for their teacher to continue speaking. Finally, Naruto could restrain himself no longer. “So what happened then, sensei? Did you go with him to save Rin?”

“Hm?” Kakashi looked at him as though in surprise. “What do you think? You already know that both Rin and Obito died, and I received my Sharingan that day. It should be easy enough for you to figure out…”

Sasuke nodded absentmindedly, still staring into the fire. “Obviously, the fact that Uchiha Obito died means that you couldn’t convince him to stay with you. Since you alone survived you must have waited for the Fourth, but by the time he arrived the others were already dead. Most likely, Obito awakened the Sharingan right before his death, and Namikaze took one of them for himself and implanted the other into you for your secrecy. Although, I’ve never heard of the Fourth Hokage having a Sharingan…” He paused, reflecting. “Hn. He must have sold the other one then, when he realized that the Uchiha clan would never allow him to keep it. Meanwhile you kept yours secret behind that eye patch, until secrecy proved… no longer necessary.” His countenance darkened, then, as he spoke those last words.

“That’s a very logical analysis,” Kakashi allowed. “So, what do you think I did wrong, then?”

The Uchiha heir seemed to give it some thought. “Your original plan was sound; the problem was that you couldn’t get your subordinate to go along with it. You could have used genjutsu to plant a suggestion in his head, or even just knocked him out from behind.” He nodded to himself, as if affirming the answer.

Naruto looked from one to the other in disbelief. “Oh come on! There’s no way you just waited around while your friends died, Kakashi-sensei. You can’t just stop the story there and act like any of that crap actually happened. How did it really end?”

His teacher shrugged. “Most battles are decided by the time swords are drawn, not when they are sheathed. It’s easy to listen to how a story ends and imagine yourself wise after the fact, but if you can’t predict what would’ve happened in advance, then your decisions wouldn’t have been any better than mine.” He turned to the last member of the team. “What do you think, Sakura?”

She looked up in surprise, as though she had not expected to be called upon. “Ah, let me think.” She knit her brow in consternation. “Assuming there wasn’t anything unexpected like another ambush, you either waited for your teacher while Obito left by himself, or you fought together but they died before the Fourth could save you. The fact that Rin and Obito died makes the former seem more likely, since Obito wouldn’t have stood a chance without you. I suppose your survival is more likely if you waited, but then you wouldn’t be here to tell the story if you’d died.” She frowned again. “Having a Sharingan implies that you went to help Obito, but then you could also have implanted it afterwards…”

By the time she trailed off Kakashi was looking at her with both eyebrows raised. “Well. I wasn’t expecting that answer. More importantly, what do you think I should have done?”

She shifted uncomfortably. “To be honest, I think the problem was that you had poor team relations to begin with. If you had worked out your differences beforehand, you would have been better able to come up with a solution. The way your team functioned, I think that something like this would have happened sooner or later, regardless…”

He gave her one more measured gaze, then stood up and stretched. “I see, that does sound like good advice. Thank you Sakura.” He turned around and looked up at the night sky, which was now filled with stars. “Well, it’s getting late. We’d best get tucked in so we have a good night’s rest before tomorrow.”

“Wait, you can’t just…” Naruto opened his mouth in protest, shut it angrily, and then opened it once more. “Do you wanna know what I think is wrong with your stupid unfinished story? What’s wrong is that a bunch of kids with knives were trying to destroy a stupid bridge in the first place! What’s wrong is that you had a teacher who could teleport, and you still managed to get separated! Why… how come we’ve got a thousand different techniques for killing people, but we don’t have any to talk over long distances?” He clenched his hands into fists, staring hard at his lap. Iruka-sensei wouldn’t be in the hospital if we did, and Mizuki-sensei wouldn’t be in some dungeon getting tortured by the Anbu. “And why… above all, why’s there even such a thing as war in the first place?”

Nobody said anything for a while, as Naruto’s breathing slowly returned to a more normal rate.

At last, his back still turned to him, Kakashi spoke once more. “An interesting reply – it’s quite similar, in fact, to the answer Minato-sensei gave me, when I asked him the same question.” As he turned towards the fire again, there was an odd gleam in his one visible eye. “His solution was to become Hokage and change things from within. He laboured for two years, sacrificing his life and happiness, and even now I don’t know if he considered it worth it.” Kakashi kneeled down and placed both hands next to the fire. A moment later the entire campfire sunk into the ground, swallowed whole by the dry soil until not a trace of it remained. Their only light source gone, their teacher was left as little more than a black outline against the stars. “Trying to change other people’s minds is not easy, Naruto. It’s even harder than changing your own. If you choose that path, you’re going to have a very frustrating life ahead of you.”

As their teacher made to leave, it was Sakura who spoke up, one last time. “Wait, Kakashi-sensei. You asked all of us what you could have done better, but what do you think you should have done?”

“What do I think I did wrong?” Kakashi somehow managed to make it sound as if he had never thought about it before, and this was the first he heard of it. “Why, I shouldn’t have let my friends die, of course.”

He gave a jaunty wave, and then he sauntered off towards his tent. “Good night, children.”