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It wasn’t really anything big that changed Kakashi’s mind, really. He’d like to say that he’d never even thought about disobeying the Sandaime—but then Naruto’s little hand reached out to grasp his finger, and—
Oh. Kakashi thought. He was so small.
Minato-sensei and Kushina-nee always seemed so big, to Kakashi. He’d known them since he was 5, after all—and he had only really started getting his growth spurt recently.
They would never know how tall he would get. Would never laugh and dramatically exclaim how he’d betrayed them by getting taller, or wail about how cute he used to be as a child. They were dead, after all, and dead people no longer had the ability to fill a room with personality and laughter.
But Naruto—their son—he was so tiny. Born a bit prematurely, in an evidently futile attempt to control the Kyuubi’s seal and ensure that it couldn’t break free. Born from giants, and yet so small—would he grow to be like them? Something so tiny. Would he inherit his parents’ dramatics? Would he cry out about perceived unfairness? Would his smile—
Naruto’s lips twitched, and the tiny pup broke out into a smile that was very nearly larger than his entire body, and started giggling.
Ah, Kakashi thought, holding the newest member of his pack close to him, So the answer is yes.
~~~***~~~
“It’s for his own good, Kakashi,” The Sandaime sighed, the smoke from his pipe still floating upwards from where he had set it down. “Minato and Kushina had many enemies, you know this. Most of them are even aware of her… status. If it were to be known that they had a child, there would be no way of stopping them. He will grow up safer without that danger or pressure weighing him down.”
You won’t even say his name, Kakashi thought. And you would claim his entire life, all that he has left, and leave him nothing of his own.
“I can keep a secret,” Kakashi stated. He was glad his voice hadn’t cracked during this conversation—that would’ve undermined his attempts to claim his little brother a baby.
The Sandaime just sighed, again. He’s done nothing but, ever since the attack. “Anyone who has ever met you would know that you would never take in just any child. They would see a blond Uzumaki and remember exactly who your teacher was and who he has always been taken with, and draw every correct conclusion there is to draw.”
“I can protect him,” Kakashi argued.
“You are strong,” the Sandaime agreed, “But not even you could fight off every enemy his parents have made. The moment you turn your back, they would take him.”
“Then I will never turn my back,” Kakashi stated, a fire burning in his eyes.
The Sandaime simply looked at him. A moment of silence passed, and he said, “You will not interact with him, Kakashi. That is an order.”
Kakashi stilled. A beat passed, but then he lowered his head. “…May I see him one last time, Sandaime-sama?”
A sigh. “Once.”
~~~***~~~
Kakashi really had meant it to only be the once, as his Hokage had ordered. He’d been obeying the man since he was 5 years old, after all—he’d known his whole life that said life belonged to his village.
But Minato-sensei had told him—
(“You belong only to yourself, Kakashi,” Minato-sensei told him, as Rin was patching up Obito on the other side of the training field. They’d gotten into another one of their countless fights. Despite his prodigious memory Kakashi didn’t even know what had started it—half the time, Obito would simply pounce on him after Kakashi said something.
“We are Shinobi, and we belong to our village,” Kakashi repeated blandly, as he had said to Obito just before the fight broke out.
Minato-sensei gave him a look—the one he gave Kakashi whenever he said something that made him upset or sad.
“We are people, Kakashi,” Sensei told him quietly, attempting to look him in the eyes even as Kakashi purposefully stared at his forehead. “And we belong to ourselves.”
“Is that why you tell Kushina-san that your heart belongs to her?” Kakashi asked blandly, raising an eyebrow. Really, he could at least stand to be consistent.
Minato blinked, “When did you— …Ah, right. Hatake ears, you hear everything…” He mumbled to himself.
Kakashi nearly jolted—Sensei was the one who had told him to hide his more enhanced senses, helped to train him not to react to the quietest sounds, or the sharpest smells. It made sense, a single extra card in his hand could one day save his life, after all. Was that statement also training? Was this something else he was supposed to pretend to not have heard?
“I tell Kushina that my heart belongs to her because… I, well… I care for her—”
“You’re ass over nose in love with her,” Kakashi corrected.
“I—where do you hear those phrases?!”
“Sensei.”
“Ah, um. Ahem,” Minato shook his head. “Like I was saying, because I am… as you said. Because I care for—”
“Love her.”
“Kakashi.”
“Tch.”
Minato sighed. “Sometimes, Kakashi, when you love someone, you give them a part of yourself. A part that is given to them willingly, without… expectation, for an exchange and also an implied trust that they will not mistreat you. If you’re extremely lucky, they’ll give you a part of themselves, as well. It doesn’t even necessarily have to be love. If you care for someone, admire them, enjoy their company… some part of them stays with you, even long after they leave. Just as a part of you stay with them even after you leave.”
Kakashi stared at Minato blankly. “And?”
Minato blinked, blushing suddenly. He made as if to turn away—from embarrassment, most likely—but managed to keep himself looking forward, though it took a moment for him to look Kakashi in the eyes again.
“And so,” Minato continued, clearing his throat. “You belong to yourself, and those that you care about. No one belongs, in the sense of property, to the village. We are not tools, Kakashi—we are people.”
Kakashi just looked at him doubtfully. “Yes, sensei.”)
–And he hadn’t believed his sensei then, and as an ANBU assassin with a dead sensei, he believes him even less now. Hatake Kakashi belongs to Konoha, and to the Hokage.
Uzumaki Naruto, on the other hand?
Holding Naruto in his arms for the first and (for what the village at large will know) last time, and seeing his smile?
If he ever belongs to anyone other than himself and those he chooses, Kakashi might cut off the offending hand himself. Even if said hand is the village which holds his leash.
“First rule of being a Shinobi,” Kakashi whispered to Naruto’s tiny baby head, disguising the motion as a kiss for his watchers, “Shinobi are people, and they belong to themselves.”