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Lived twice and died twice, that's gotta be a record nobody had in their biography. Well, nobody who would upfront said they had. He was either very lucky or very unlucky to have the chance to add such a record in his biography.
Snorting, he decided he was unlucky. The first time he died, he was busy evacuating people from the bomb-targeted building. His eventual death there wasn't much of a surprise, because he had prepared himself for it. The risk was in his job description. What surprised him was the case of the bomb exploding at the hall, instead of at the top of the tower, as listed in the warning they got. He was truly regretful for not being able to save everyone in time.
The second time he died, he also died in action. This time, he died fighting his enemy. It wasn't so bad, he thought then. He did regret not being able to save his precious people, since he wasn't able to take his enemy to hell with him. His precious people would have to fight the enemy in his place. Which might, or might not, result in their demise.
What topped the second death was the meeting with his Father. Oh, God, how he regretted and mourned. But after a talk, a serious talk, he felt better for a while. Just a while, because he realised he had died without accomplishing anything.
"I'm surprised,"
He snapped his attention back to his Father, surprised to find the Elder back here, "I'm surprised too. I thought you have left,"
"Not so fast," Father snorted, sitting down next to him again, "There are still things we need to address after all that,"
He nodded, staying silent. He knew there was nothing else for them to do other than talking in this void. He did find it amusing that his Father left after finishing a part of their conversation earlier.
Father leant back, giving him a measuring look, as if knowing what he was thinking. Not commenting on his feign innocence, Father recommended, "Why don't you check your mind?"
"What?" he asked, surprised by that suggestion. It did come out of nowhere, "I can't do that. I'm not a Yamanaka,"
"It's your mind," Father replied dismissively, "Just check it,"
Still confused, he did as told, checking his mind despite not having the proper Jutsu to do it. He was around long enough to pick up one or two things from a Yamanaka, after all. And so, after closing his eyes, he tried the simplest method, meditation. When nothing came to mind, he opened his eyes again, turning to his Father in question.
Sighing, Father shook his head, "Your mind has been dulled by that orange books, I see,"
"I think not," he replied lazily, not taking offence, "I'm still as sharp as ever,"
"You haven't realised it," Father pointed out, not amused
"What is there to realise?" he asked, genuinely confused by what his Father wanted from him. He even re-catalogued his life to try and find what he missed.
Letting out a long sigh, Father did something he never did. Never had the chance or never wanted to do, same difference. Anyway, his Father hit him on the head, lightly, with a hint, "Your previous life,"
" My what? " he asked in reflex, despite already recognising what his Father meant
When Father only silently stared at him, he sheepishly scratched his head. Yeah, okay. His memory of previous life...
What did it have anything to do with his current life? Sure, it was unheard of, for people to remember their previous life after their...second death. The flashes they saw when they died was of the current life they lived, not their previous one. Either way, having memories, knowledge, from his previous life was useless when he couldn't go back anymore. He was dead, end of the story. He would not appear in the living world, with new knowledge that could improve or ruin lives, in any case.
"Really," Father shook his head, muttering things under his breath, "You do remember reading this scene before, don't you?"
"Mmm," he hummed, rubbing his masked chin, "My mind is currently blank, but I think I know what you're talking about,"
"I'll say take your time, but we don't have much time left, so make it quick," Father said, rolling his eyes, "This assimilating memory of yours takes too much time. At this rate, we are going to be late,"
He couldn't stop the chuckle from escaping him. Somehow, he felt lighter, happier. His head, which was already blank, felt clearer. How phenomenal.
Father noticed, "Done?"
"I think so," he replied lightly, "My mind is still blank though,"
"Might as well," father said, not unkindly, "You will get overloaded if it isn't blank. Just call forth specific memory as a test,"
"Which one?" he asked, recalling the memories of evacuating people from danger in both lives, through that one question
He was surprised to know he could accept such knowledge of reincarnation so easily. He had lived half his life on Earth before living another half his life in Elemental Nations. He had lived twice and died twice.
Marvellous. How was his mind still working so excellently?
"What happens from now on?" Father asked warmly, distracting him from the wonder of the brain
"Hmm," he closed his eyes, remembering something he shouldn't know, "Pain revived everyone, including me, after Naruto talked sense into him,"
He could feel his heart rate accelerate once he finally apprehended what would go on in the living world. Damn, this void made him feel too much at home. He shouldn't feel comfortable in his current circumstance. Not when his precious people were still fighting for their lives. Not even in death, he would quit .
He heard his Father's relieved sigh.
"I thought you will never realise it," Father said with a stern look on his eyes, negated by the warm smile on his lips, "I'm glad you manage to remember,"
He didn't reply. He was feeling too much to make sense of his words. Gratitude to his Father, determination for his comrades, and resolution on his life.
Among those feelings, the most pressing feeling that monopolised his soul right now is... Hysteria.
How could he-?!
How did he-?!
In this void with nobody else but his Father, he would freak out and get it over with. Otherwise, he would more than likely freak out people in the living world when he was revived.
To act very out of character for him, he first took in a deep breath in preparation. Then, he yelled his soul out, "I AM IN NARUTOVERSE!!"
Father rubbed his ears, listening and watching idly as his Son freaked out by shouting at the top of his lungs about various things fans did when they realised their fantasy came true. While it was eerie to see his adult Son be like that, he wouldn't say he disliked it. The Son he remembered was too emotionless. This one was slightly better.
"I can't believe I did- I did nothing for Naruto!!" he wept after he was done with shouting, experiencing mood swings in succession, "I ignored him! I left him alone! Can you believe that, Father? Can you? I freaking left Sensei's Son to fend for himself! Oh, how cruel was I?!"
"You were in ANBU, it couldn't be helped," Father said, trying to console him awkwardly, because both of them knew that was not an excuse
"Even after I left ANBU, I still ignored Naruto!" he sobbed, totally ashamed of himself, "Even when I'm his Sensei, I still ignored him! Oh my God! Oh my God! I'm no different than Kakashi Hatake!!"
"You're Kakashi Hatake," Father reminded him, slightly alarmed
"No, I'm not," he shook his head in denial, "I'm currently Kioku Hoshina, a fan of Naruto. I freaking can't believe I was so cruel to Naruto!"
"The one who was cruel to Naruto was Kakashi, not Kioku," Father pointed out, not denying his Son's cruelty, even though he wasn't someone qualified to talk about it, having left his young Son permanently , "You said you are Kioku, now, so it's not your fault,"
"I'm still Kakashi though," he moaned, rubbing his face in frustration, "It is my fault,"
Father gave up in consoling his Son, determining correctly that no matter what he said, his Son would find a fault in it and berated himself further. While waiting for his Son to calm down by himself, he took entertainment in guessing where the line of thought his Son would go to, up or down. It was mostly down, but there were up too, like when his Son remembered that orange books, Icha-Icha series.
Why were the books be the up in his Son's life, Father couldn't fathom. He didn't want to, either.
His Son turned to him suddenly, when in the middle of a speech about Itachi Uchiha's awesomeness, eyes wide with horrors. Seeing the open mouth while hearing no sound, Father decided to ask, "What's wrong?"
"I have been an adult man twice, yet I still act like a wee boy. How shameful is that?" his Son groaned, metaphorically flinging himself into the void in shame
Father laughed. He laughed because he was happy to see his Son behaving like a boy when he didn't get to, before his death. Although, in an adult's body, his Son did look shameful. He told his Son so.
"You're quite evil and sadistic, Father," his Son muttered, swaying back to his side and taking a seat beside him, "You should have stopped me,"
"I can't," Father replied, stating the fact with a straight face, "I tried,"
His Son let out a suffering sigh, "Now what? What should I do from now on?"
"It's something you should decide on your own," Father replied, knowing it was the truth, "Whether you let the story advances like the way you read it, or changing it for worse or better,"
"Why worse first before better?" his Son asked, as if not understanding how the world worked himself
"In this world, always expect the worst," Father responded simply, humouring his Son with the answer. Hugging his Son with one arm, he added, "If you ask for my opinion, then I will say: just be yourself,"
"Kioku or Kakashi?" his Son asked, sounding torn
"You're both," Father replied, tightening his embrace, "Both are you. Either way, your initial is still K.H.,"
"I don't know you can joke," his Son commented faintly, his body fading out from the void
Staring at the empty space in his arm, Sakumo Hatake shook his head and smiled sadly, "Good luck, Son,"