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At the Valley of the End, Team 7 began again.
Kakashi landed lightly on the ground, close to where his three students sat huddled amidst piles of debris―cairns made up of the remnants of the broken statues, built not by weather but by war. Fatigue was seeping into his bones, and his eyes were throbbing from the wake of Obito's Mangekyou Sharingan. Splotches of light danced in his vision as he approached the three, his lips quirking involuntarily into a smile underneath his mask.
"Sensei!" Naruto beamed, cheerful despite the raw stump of flesh where his right arm now ended. Naruto: the hero, the boy who never went back on his word, the future of the shinobi world.
Sakura wiped at the tears on her cheeks and looked at their sensei. "Kakashi-sensei, don't move too much. I'll go back and get help―"
He placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled, remembering the countless times he had done so in the past to ease her worries. "I'm fine, Sakura."
"...Kakashi."
The jounin turned reflexively to the dark-haired boy who had called his name. "Sasuke," he acknowledged.
Sakura and Naruto looked at Sasuke with mirrored expressions of raptness, as if they were hanging onto his every word.
Sasuke bowed, graceful even in the face of defeat. "I'm sorry..."
Kakashi reached out a hand to pat him on the head, the emotions rising inside him like a tide responding to the gravity of the moon.
"...Sensei," Sasuke finished, still bowing.
And that was all it took for him to feel like weeping at the inexplicable combination of joy and relief that washed over him. Such was the power of an honorific his wayward student had never used with him until now.
Kakashi gathered himself together, feeling like a missing piece of himself had been returned to him, and chuckled slightly.
"Calling me that after all this time, Sasuke, even when you have surpassed me so long ago."
Sasuke looked up, incredulous.
Kakashi continued, looking at them each. "All three of you in fact. I ceased being your sensei when you finally surpassed me. When that happened, it was my turn to learn from all of you. And I have learned a lot."
There was hesitation, a slight tremble of the lips, before Sasuke actually smiled. He had been doing so in the last few hours, and only for the three people who were dearest to him. They had always been.
"Team 7, you have done well."
Naruto rubbed a finger under his nose and sniffed proudly. "Thanks, Kakashi-sensei. Even though you were always late, we couldn't have done it without you! Right, Sakura-chan, Sasuke?"
"Aa."
"Thank you, sensei," Sakura murmured, patting him gently on the arm. "You not only taught us how to become fine shinobi―you taught us how to become people, and for that we are grateful."
Kakashi was taken aback by her words. This young woman speaking like she had borne the weight of the world. And perhaps she had, in a way. They all had: Sakura with her dreams, her insecurities and frustrations, and her unchanging love for Sasuke and all the aches that it brought with it. Sasuke with his entire clan decimated at the order of his own village’s elders; he who had known love and then all of a sudden it was seized from him, to be replaced by hatred, and was led to believe he had to live his life with vengeance, constantly seeking out power. And Naruto, orphaned by his heroic parents, misunderstood, a kid belittled constantly for his foolhardiness and lack of talent whatsoever.
And all three of them were placed under his care, mere children bearing the weight of their worlds and learning from a man who was indirectly the cause of his best friend’s supposed death, who had killed his comrade with his own hands, who had failed to protect time and time again.
It was Kakashi who had learned from those three scrawny genin kids. He learned from Team 7 that there were things left to treasure and protect in this world.
Their sensei nodded then, concealing another smile under his mask.
"Well, I think we should get going. Have you two released the Infinite Tsukuyomi yet?" He inquired, standing up. The movement made his whole body ache with the effort, all adrenaline drained from his system.
"Yep," Naruto replied.
"Sakura, can you help Sasuke up? I'll go with Naruto."
She couldn’t help the blush that fanned on her cheeks, a warm flood of color more brilliant than all the dark blood spilled for the war. The three men didn't fail to see it.
"Yes, I'll take care of him," she answered, meaning so much more, and moving closer she took his good arm with gentle, measured movements. Sakura's green eyes sought Sasuke's lone dark eye, asking a wordless question.
He responded by holding onto her, his remaining hand giving a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder. She helped him up and he let her support him with an unconscious, essential trust that came naturally to him even after all these years, the same as when they were still twelve years old and the rest of their lives was yet to happen.
It wasn't so much a change as it was something returning from the past.
Kakashi and Naruto watched the silent exchange with varying degrees of hopefulness. They saw the past overlapping with the present, coming full circle. Naruto grinned amidst the angry bruises on his face, because everything right now was too momentous for him not to rejoice.
And when the tears spilled from blue eyes, they stung the gaping wounds on his face, but he refused to wipe them away. Naruto wept, because Team 7 was finally whole again. Not just together, but whole. They were finally putting a lid on the scrapes and bruises, on the bottled aches and grudges of the past. They were finally moving on together, facing the same way and going in the same direction, like rivers that had diverged but ultimately met in the same ocean.
His teammates watched him cry and he let them, because this time he was crying not out of despair or helplessness―it was out of happiness.
Sakura and Sasuke shuffled closer and the pink-haired medic-nin pulled Naruto into a hug, folding into him. Kakashi followed suit and draped his arms around the boys, Sasuke scowling a little before giving in and allowing himself to be taken in. He had a smile on his face and there were fresh tracks of tears on his cheeks. Sakura reached out a hand to wipe the salt streaks away, and then her hand stilled, holding him.
Neither Naruto nor Sasuke could embrace back properly, but within that small circle the four of them made, they both felt complete.