Azure Dragon --- Between Earth and Moon
The Earth was below them.
Not small yet.
It would get small.
But for the first hour it was still large enough to see the shape of continents.
The curve of coastlines.
The specific blue-green of the ocean.
Naruto was lying on his stomach watching it get smaller.
He'd been doing this for forty minutes.
He hadn't said anything.
Neither had Kakashi.
Bai Yan was at the front of the Dragon, working through something in his head.
His eyes were open but he wasn't looking at the Earth.
The Dragon moved without sound.
Not flying exactly.
More like the space between Earth and Moon had been persuaded to be shorter.
"It's getting smaller," Naruto said.
"Yes," Kakashi said.
"I knew that would happen," Naruto said. "I just didn't expect it to feel like that."
"Like what."
Naruto thought about it.
"Like the village is something I'm carrying rather than somewhere I am," he said.
Kakashi looked at him.
"That's---" He paused. "Yes. That's what it feels like."
Naruto kept watching.
He could still see Konoha if he knew where to look.
A specific point on the continent.
Getting smaller.
He held the token.
The warmth from the other side was steady.
"Kakashi-sensei," he said.
"Mm."
"The Obito evaluation."
Kakashi was quiet.
"You don't have to---"
"I want to," Kakashi said.
Naruto waited.
The Earth got smaller.
"What hurt most," Kakashi said slowly, "wasn't the harm he caused. I knew about the harm. I'd been living on the edge of it for years without knowing the source." He paused. "What hurt was the distance."
"Between who he was and what he became."
"Yes." Kakashi looked at the Earth. "I was there for both ends. The beginning, and---not the end. Not yet. But what I've seen." He was quiet. "I watched a twelve-year-old who used to run late to everything and trip over his own words trying to impress people---I watched that person become Pain's tool."
"The largest gap," Naruto said.
"Yes." Kakashi's voice was very even. Not controlled. Just --- carrying it steadily. "The scroll said it clearly. But I'd known it. I'd known and told myself for years that there was nothing I could have done."
"Was there?"
"No," Kakashi said. "That's what I've concluded. He was under a boulder in a foreign country with a lethal wound. I didn't know he survived. I had no way to---" He stopped. "But the evaluation didn't ask whether I could have acted. It just showed the distance."
"And you had to look at it directly."
"Yes." A pause. "I've been looking at a lot of things directly lately."
Naruto was quiet.
He thought about everything Kakashi had read in the last three weeks.
About the rivals ranking and he kept showing up louder than the silence.
About the Obito evaluation and twelve years of guilt he'd carried without naming it as guilt.
About a book held open but unread.
"Do you think he'll be okay?" Naruto said.
Kakashi looked at him.
"Obito?"
"Yes."
Kakashi was quiet for a long time.
He thought about Tobi's message.
I'm changing the sequencing. The Kaguya problem first.
About the eye. You used it well.
He thought about I meant it. I want you to know I meant it.
He thought about twelve-year-old Obito who had meant it completely.
"I think," Kakashi said carefully, "that the starting point doesn't disappear. Like the scroll said." He paused. "So yes. I think he'll be okay. If he chooses it."
"He's choosing it," Naruto said.
"How do you know?"
"Because he messaged you," Naruto said simply. "He didn't have to do that. He did it because he wanted you to know. And that's the same as the starting point."
Kakashi looked at him.
At the twelve-year-old.
On the back of an Azure Dragon between Earth and Moon.
Watching the village get small in his hand.
"When did you get wise?" Kakashi said.
"Jiraiya-sensei asked me that too," Naruto said.
"What did you tell him?"
"I've been counting birds for two weeks."
Kakashi made a sound.
Not quite a laugh.
Not not a laugh.
He looked at the Earth.
He thought about a man in a foreign country under a boulder who had made a choice.
About how choices didn't disappear.
About how the distance between who you were and what you became was real but not the whole story.
About come back in ten years.
About the rivals ranking.
About two twelve-year-olds who were, between them, building something the world was going to need.
"Naruto," he said.
"Mm."
"After this---when it's over. The Kaguya situation. Whatever comes after."
"Yeah?"
"I want to keep teaching you," Kakashi said. "Properly. Not what I've been doing." A pause. "You've outpaced what I was giving you."
Naruto turned to look at him.
Kakashi was still looking at the Earth.
"I don't mean technically," Kakashi said. "You have Jiraiya for that. And Tobirama, apparently." His mouth did the thing it did. "I mean the other things. The things that aren't technique."
"Like what?"
Kakashi thought about it.
"Like how to carry things without being crushed by them," he said. "Like how to look directly at what's hard and not flinch away." He paused. "Like how to show up for people who aren't expecting you."
He finally looked at Naruto.
"You already know most of it," he said. "But there are things I can still show you. Things Obito showed me, that I can pass on." He paused. "That's what I want to do."
Naruto looked at him.
At Kakashi's visible eye.
Which was, currently, doing something it rarely did.
"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said.
"Mm."
"You're already doing that."
Kakashi looked at him.
"You've been here the whole time," Naruto said. "You came to the noon meeting. You drafted the Toneri reply. You sent me the census direction when I needed it." He paused. "You were the first person to tell me about Obito's eye. And you said it like it mattered."
Kakashi was quiet.
"You've already been teaching me," Naruto said. "I just wanted to say."
Kakashi held his gaze for a moment.
Then he looked back at the Earth.
"...Right," he said. "Good."
Naruto smiled.
He went back to watching the village get smaller.
He held the token.
Felt the warmth.
They traveled in comfortable silence the rest of the way.
Group Chat:
[Kakashi Hatake: Transit is proceeding normally. No anomalies on the Kaguya resonance.]
[Bai Yan: Confirmed. Clear going.]
[Sasuke Uchiha: I can confirm from here. The resonance is stable.]
[Second Hokage Tobirama Senju: I'll maintain awareness on the Pure Land side.]
[Jiraiya: I'm watching the ground. All clear.]
[Might Guy: KAKASHI!! ARE YOU SAFE?! THE MOON IS VERY FAR!! I FEEL WORRIED!!]
[Kakashi Hatake: I'm fine, Guy.]
[Might Guy: YOU SOUND FINE BUT THE MOON IS VERY FAR!!]
[Kakashi Hatake: It's a Dragon transit. We're stable.]
[Might Guy: THE AZURE DRAGON IS VERY LARGE AND IMPRESSIVE BUT IT IS ALSO THE MOON!!]
[Kakashi Hatake: Guy.]
[Might Guy: YES?]
[Kakashi Hatake: I'll be back tomorrow.]
[Might Guy: ...]
[Might Guy: OKAY. I WILL PREPARE A LARGE MEAL FOR YOUR RETURN!! THE POWER OF YOUTH NEEDS NOURISHMENT AFTER MOON VISITS!!]
[Kakashi Hatake: You don't need to---]
[Might Guy: IT IS DECIDED.]
[Kakashi Hatake: ...Thank you, Guy.]
[Might Guy: OF COURSE!! WE ARE ETERNAL RIVALS!! I WILL ALWAYS COOK FOR YOUR MOON RETURNS!!]
[Rock Lee: GUY-SENSEI!! I WILL HELP!! THE POWER OF YOUTH WILL FILL THE KITCHEN!!]
[Might Guy: LEE!! YOSH!!]
Naruto read this exchange.
He started laughing.
Quietly.
Into the back of the Dragon.
Kakashi pretended not to notice.
He was smiling behind his mask.
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