Kakashi closed the book in his hand and tucked it back into his pouch.
"First, introductions."
"I'm Hatake Kakashi. Things I like and dislike—I don't feel like telling you. As for dreams, nothing worth mentioning. I have a lot of hobbies… that's about it."
A typical Kakashi-style introduction—half-hearted and full of riddles.
"Your turn."
He looked at Rin.
"Name, age, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams… keep it simple."
Rin lifted her gaze and met his eyes.
Her voice was clear and steady.
"Uchiha Rin, eight years old. I like quiet… and my family. I dislike meaningless conflict and betrayal. My hobbies are training and reading."
"My dream… is to become strong enough to protect what I want to protect, and…"
She paused slightly.
"To uncover the truth of the past."
The words truth of the past were spoken with deliberate clarity.
Kakashi's breathing halted—
Just for an instant.
The laziness in his gaze vanished, replaced by something sharp.
At first, he had only thought the girl resembled Nohara Rin.
The same name.
Similar eyes.
Even that gentle, quiet aura overlapped faintly.
But now—
Under the afternoon sunlight—
As he truly focused on her face—
A chill crept up his spine.
The curve of her brow.
The texture of her black hair.
The way her lips tightened slightly when concentrating—
There was another shadow.
Another face.
Uchiha Obito.
A name that should have been buried beneath Kannabi Bridge.
It struck his heart like a poisoned senbon.
His covered left eye throbbed faintly—
The eye Obito had given him.
A gift.
A curse.
Two people who should have been gone—
Yet somehow—
Their traces were fused together in this eight-year-old girl.
Coincidence?
One coincidence might be fate's joke.
But countless coincidences stacked together—
Became inevitability.
Kakashi's fingers tightened slightly.
Behind his mask, his breathing grew heavier.
The Hokage's meaningful gaze.
The vague records in ANBU files.
That sentence—
Truth of the past.
This girl—
Felt as if someone had deliberately created her—
Using Obito and Rin as a template.
After a long silence—
Kakashi forced himself back to calm.
He reached into his pouch—
And took out a bell.
Only one.
Tied with a red ribbon.
"Your situation is special. You graduated early, and there's no suitable slot in any current genin team."
"So tomorrow's survival test will be… adjusted."
"Your objective is to take this bell from me."
"No teammates. No assistance. Just you."
"If you fail—you return to the academy."
A nearly impossible condition.
For a newly graduated genin—
To take a bell from Kakashi—
Alone—
Was absurd.
Yet Rin's expression didn't change at all.
She simply nodded.
"I understand. Alone… take the bell."
"Good."
Poof.
A cloud of smoke dispersed—
Kakashi's figure vanished from the rooftop.
But the tension he left behind lingered like an invisible web.
Rin didn't stay.
She turned—
And walked toward the exit.
Her small figure carried a resolve far beyond her age.
The brand-new Leaf forehead protector reflected a cold gleam beneath the sun.
The moment she disappeared down the stairs—
A figure emerged from the shadow of the water tank.
Kakashi.
He leaned against the cold metal, his book unopened.
His visible eye stared at the empty rooftop.
"Truth… of the past…"
He repeated the words quietly.
Uchiha Rin.
Early graduation.
A face that mirrored two dead people.
Her words.
The Hokage's reaction.
Everything—
Was too deliberate.
Like a script already written—
With her placed right in front of him.
Why?
To reopen old wounds?
To test him?
Or…
Something connected to the dead?
His left eye throbbed again—
A pulse deep within his blood.
"…Obito…"
...
Hatake Kakashi stood alone before the cold stone of the memorial.
A bouquet of pure white flowers rested in his hand.
This place—
Was where he came to speak to the dead.
Or perhaps—
To confess to himself.
Today—
His mind was more chaotic than ever.
He bent down—
And gently placed the flowers before the stone.
His gaze fell first on one name:
Nohara Rin.
The girl whose smile was forever frozen at twelve.
The one who had tried to protect everyone.
Then—
Slowly—
His eyes shifted.
To another name carved into the stone.
Uchiha Obito.
One lay buried in Konoha's cemetery—
With a grave of her own.
The other—
Had no body.
Only a name etched into cold stone.
They had not walked together in life.
And even in death—
They were separated.
One rested in their homeland.
The other—
Wandered in absence.
This distance—
Was more cruel than any words.
Kakashi's fingers brushed over the engraved names.
Cold.
But not as cold—
As what lingered in his heart.
"…Obito…"
"…Rin…"
Two names.
Two weights.
Enough to suffocate him.
"Today… I met a girl."
He paused—
As if unsure how to describe it.
"Her name is… Uchiha Rin."
"She has your name… your eyes… even that quiet presence."
"And what confuses me even more…"
His gaze shifted again—
Toward Obito's name.
"I saw traces of you in her too."
"The shape of her brow… her hair…"
"It's strange… isn't it?"
He asked—
As if the dead could answer.
But only the wind replied.
"She said her dream is to protect… and to uncover the 'truth of the past.'"
Kakashi repeated the words softly.
"This doesn't feel like coincidence."
"It feels… arranged."
"And if that's true…"
His voice lowered.
"…what is the Hokage hiding from me?"