"But clearly she doesn't feel the same way about you, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura didn't buy his dry explanation. "While she was unconscious, she called your name exactly 980 times."
"It seems Kakashi-sensei holds a very significant place in that girl's heart."
"I-is that so?" Kakashi scratched the back of his head awkwardly, trying his best to change the subject, but his lone eye kept darting toward the hospital room door.
The truth was, he and Rin weren't that kind of couple, but Rin was precious to him. That much was certain.
"Forget it, Kakashi-sensei. If you want to go in, just go." Looking at the thoroughly distracted man, Sakura felt helpless, though she completely understood. If it had been Sasuke lying in there, she probably would have acted the exact same way.
Then, Sakura gave one final stern reminder. "But you need to be careful. The patient just finished surgery and is extremely weak. She needs strict bed rest right now. I estimate she won't wake up until tomorrow morning at the earliest. So don't stay too long, Kakashi-sensei, and definitely don't do anything weird to my patient."
"I wouldn't do something like that," Kakashi protested.
"That remains to be seen. After all, Kakashi-sensei is always reading that kind of book in his free time."
Watching Kakashi's retreating figure hurry into the room, Sakura muttered quietly, "Other than calling Kakashi-sensei 980 times, she also called out to someone named Obito 784 times. To call someone's name that frequently... Obito must owe her a massive amount of money."
"Of course, Obito also owes Kakashi a lot of 'money'," Naruto chimed into the conversation, heavily emphasizing the word. "Not only does he owe Kakashi, but he also owes my parents and me an absolute fortune."
"So he's a deadbeat," Sakura nodded as if she perfectly understood the situation. "People like that are really disgusting."
"Not just disgusting. He's absolutely out of his mind."
'What if I had Kakashi and Rin get married right in front of Obito? Or forced him to be the officiant blessing the bride and groom? Now that would be quite a show.'
'Obito from my timeline actively murdered my parents. There's no saving him. But the Obito from Rin's alternate world might still have a shred of hope.'
Late at night, Guy stood completely alone in the Konoha Forest. The autumn wind was biting, and wearing only his thin green spandex, he shivered uncontrollably.
"Kakashi, where exactly are you?"
"This time, your famous lateness has dragged on far too long."
At that very moment, Kakashi stood vigil beside Rin's hospital bed, gazing down at her resting face with unprecedented tenderness. He swore a silent oath to himself: this time, he absolutely would not let Rin suffer any harm ever again. He would protect her with his life.
Only after permanently losing something do you truly learn to cherish it.
The formerly empty, solitary Kakashi now had one more vital bond tying him to the world.
In his dreary, worn-out life, there suddenly seemed to be a bright glimmer of motivation. 'If only the Obito in heaven could see this. Don't worry Obito I will look after Rin properly this time.'
At that moment, Rock Lee, passing through the Konoha Forest, spotted his teacher. He had seen Guy standing silently by that same large tree since early morning practice. When he finished his grueling daily regimen and headed home, he saw Guy still locked in the exact same position.
Lee wondered, "What is Guy-sensei doing?"
After observing Guy and thinking it over, Lee's eyes widened. "I understand now! Guy-sensei is doing standing meditation training!"
"By standing perfectly still, one hones their resolve."
"When the body's physical training reaches a bottleneck and you can no longer improve through simple muscle exercises, you need to temper your will to continuously elevate your spiritual energy. That is how you break through the limits and push your strength to the next level!"
"Truly worthy of Guy-sensei, to actually invent such a brilliant training method!"
Lee howled as if he had just been injected with raw adrenaline, his large eyes blazing with passionate fire.
"If Guy-sensei can stand perfectly motionless for an entire day, then I cannot lose to him! Starting tomorrow, I'll do standing meditation training too. I'll stand for three straight days! No, five days! If I can't, I will do 1000 weighted laps around the village!"
One week later.
"Kakashi, over here, over here!" A girl with short brown hair, dark brown pupils, and purple markings on both cheeks stood on the bustling street and enthusiastically waved at Kakashi. The thoroughfare had recently been restored to its former glory. Her energy was unmistakable. Gone was the weakness from just a week ago.
The street where they stood was Street No. 1008 of the New Land of Whirlpools. The original site of Konoha had been completely transformed, from architecture to infrastructure.
After all, this was a world of shinobi, blessed with incredible powers like ninjutsu. Rebuilding a nation from scratch took them only a fraction of the time it would require ordinary people.
In the original storyline, when Pain destroyed Konoha with Ultra Shinra Tensei, reconstruction had taken just two months.
And now, with countless shinobi lending their aid, Earth, Water, and Wind Release techniques all assisting, though what they were building wasn't Konoha but the Land of Whirlpools, making the project much larger and more complex, it still only took three months.
Maritime corporations also invested heavily, making this place even more prosperous than the original Konoha.
"Rin!" Kakashi quickly made his way to her side.
"I want to go look over there too!" Rin grabbed Kakashi's arm and pointed excitedly at the tall building ahead. She looked at everything with wide-eyed curiosity.
Kakashi nodded and let her pull him toward the spot she indicated. As long as it was Rin's request and wasn't completely unreasonable, he would agree. These past few days, his sole mission had been incredibly simple: accompany Rin. And keep accompanying Rin.
"By the way, Rin... do you mind all this?" Kakashi chose his words carefully.
Rin tilted her head, looking at him with a puzzled expression.
Under her gaze, Kakashi felt awkward. He instinctively turned his head to one side. "What I mean is, you wake up one day and suddenly over a decade has passed. Everything you knew has completely changed. Even the village is gone."
He hadn't expected Rin to be so candid. She shook her head. "I do mind a little, but-"
"Even though this isn't Konoha anymore, Kakashi, you're still here. And there are people I recognize."
She looked up at him with warm smile. "I never expected that after all these years, Kakashi, you'd still be as unsociable as before."
"And even though Konoha is gone, I actually rather like it here. There are many people laughing, and I'm sure that must be right!"
"Yeah, Naruto's done pretty well," Kakashi agreed.
The Land of Whirlpools mission 'given' by Fifth Hokage Danzo was incredibly simple, so simple it could even be called blunt. The goal was to build a nation where everyone could Eat Well, Dress Warmly.
"Naruto is Minato-sensei's child, isn't he? He's really something," Rin said.
Then she giggled as if remembering something. Seeing Kakashi's confused look, she playfully explained, "When we first met, I got quite a shock. How did that cool little Kakashi suddenly turn into a worn-out middle-aged man?"
"Rin..." Looking at her bright smile and hearing her teasing words, Kakashi felt embarrassed. He scratched the back of his head, his cheeks warming beneath his mask.
He really should have dressed up properly before coming to see her.
Rin seemed to have discovered an entirely uncharted territory. She laughed brightly. "Hahaha, Kakashi, you can actually get shy too!"
On the streets of the Land of Whirlpools, their shared laughter echoed for a time.
Seeing Rin so full of life, Kakashi's earlier worries completely dissolved.
In the Konoha Forest, Guy stood alone. He was sweating profusely as he punched a tree.
Rock Lee, passing by on his way to rest after training, called out, "Guy-sensei, why are you training alone again today? Where's Kakashi-sensei? Don't you two usually train together?"
The mere mention of it was enough. Guy's entire demeanor instantly collapsed. He dropped to the ground in a depressed slouch, a dark aura seeming to emanate from him.
"Kakashi hasn't shown up for training in a whole week!"
"A whole week! He's been spending all his time with Rin!"
Guy genuinely wanted to see Kakashi pull himself together and be happy. He was even glad to see Kakashi and Rin spending time together, sincerely offering his blessings. Still, he couldn't help feeling a little resentful.
"Really?" Lee's eyes lit up. "Then starting today, let me train with you, Guy-sensei!"
Guy didn't hesitate to refuse flatly. "No!"
Lee's energy far exceeded that of ordinary people, thanks to his constant training under Naruto he learnt to control Yang Release chakra. His physical recovery was abnormally fast. That obsessive style of training made even Guy, a training maniac himself, feel entirely outmatched.
This immediately reminded him of their last sparring session.
His legs had been so weak the next day that he could barely walk without trembling. Anyone seeing him would have thought he'd been up to something suspicious the night before.
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