Father and Son Reunited

Kakashi stared blankly at the broken blade in his hands. A moment later, he came back to his senses and looked up at Shiraishi, his eyes full of anticipation and nervousness.

"Senior, did it work?"

"Of course!"

Shiraishi smiled at Kakashi and guided him. "Focus your mind and imagine yourself entering the Ninja Blade."

Kakashi gripped the hilt with both hands. After taking a deep breath, he focused his mind just as he had during meditation, fixing his gaze on the Ninja Blade.

His consciousness wavered, and Kakashi felt himself falling into a dark abyss.

When his consciousness cleared again, Kakashi found himself in a place of nothingness. Endless darkness surrounded him, with only a campfire glowing brightly ahead.

"Kakashi, you've come so soon?" Kakashi's father, Hatake Sakumo, sat beside the campfire. Seeing his son appear so suddenly, still not yet an adult, a bitter smile crossed his face.

"Father!" Kakashi's body trembled slightly, his eyes reddening as he cried out in excitement.

Before the words had even left his mouth, Kakashi had rushed to Hatake Sakumo's side. Tears streamed uncontrollably down his face.

Hatake Sakumo stood and looked at Kakashi, concern appearing on his face. "Kakashi, it must have been hard living alone, hasn't it?"

"I'm sorry! I was an irresponsible father, and I made you face life on your own at such a young age."

Kakashi repeatedly wiped the tears from his face with the back of his hand. He tilted his head up, his heart full of hurt, but still forced a brave smile. "It hasn't been hard. I've taken good care of myself. I learned to cook, ate my meals on time every day, and trained hard. I, I..."

The farther he went, the more choked Kakashi's voice became. Trembling, he said, "It's just that I really miss you, Father."

Hatake Sakumo had been a renowned Shinobi World powerhouse in life. He had wielded a Ninja Blade and reaped countless lives, never once making a mistake. Yet now, his right hand—the hand that had never trembled while gripping a blade—shook uncontrollably.

He reached out with his trembling right hand and pulled Kakashi into his arms. "I'm sorry you had to suffer, Kakashi."

At that moment, Kakashi could hold back no longer. The longing he had buried since his father's suicide and death, his guilt over Obito sacrificing himself to save him, and the nightmare of killing Rin—all that endless pain and remorse erupted at once.

Kakashi clung to his father, tears pouring from his eyes as his body trembled with silent sobs.

Hatake Sakumo held Kakashi's head with one hand and gently stroked his back with the other. He said nothing, but his eyes were full of concern and self-reproach.

No one knew how long the tender, moving scene lasted. Only after Kakashi had cried until no tears were left did he slowly raise his head and look at his father with swollen, red eyes.

"Kakashi, how did you get here? Did you run into some kind of crisis during a mission?" Hatake Sakumo asked, wiping Kakashi's cheeks with his hand.

"I..." Kakashi looked at his father. Once the initial excitement had passed, he finally realized that his father seemed to have misunderstood something.

"I'm not dead, Father. I summoned you here." Kakashi explained.

Hearing that his son was still alive, Sakumo let out a long sigh of relief. Nothing could have been better news.

But soon, Sakumo began worrying about something else. Looking at Kakashi with concern, he asked, "Kakashi, you didn't learn some kind of Forbidden Jutsu just to see me, did you?"

As one of Konoha's top fighters, Sakumo had access to many secrets. He knew that using any Forbidden Jutsu came at a cost.

Kakashi hurriedly shook his head. "I didn't. I..."

"Why don't I explain it for you, Kakashi?"

Just as Kakashi was about to explain, Shiraishi's voice sounded from not far behind him.

Shiraishi's consciousness had entered the Ninja Blade at the same time as Kakashi's. He had simply stayed hidden in the darkness, not wanting to interrupt the touching reunion between father and son.

"Senior Shiraishi." Kakashi turned to look behind him. When he saw Shiraishi, his eyes were full of gratitude, no longer the lifeless eyes he'd had when they first met.

The moment he heard Shiraishi's voice, Sakumo turned toward him. "Are you a shinobi from Konoha?"

"Father, he's a friend of Minato-sensei, my guiding jonin. I was able to see you again today thanks to Senior Shiraishi." Kakashi introduced him to his father.

At that, Sakumo's face warmed with a smile, though a hint of wariness remained in his eyes.

It wasn't that Sakumo didn't believe his son. In the eyes of most shinobi, any jutsu that broke the boundary between life and death and controlled the souls of the dead was an evil Forbidden Jutsu.

"Senior Sakumo, my name is Shiraishi. I'm a shinobi from Konoha." As he introduced himself, Shiraishi walked up to the two of them.

"The summoning Kakashi just mentioned isn't a jutsu. It's a spell passed down through the profession of 'Spirit Channeling,' which existed even before the Sengoku era."

"The way this Summoning Technique works..."

Shiraishi repeated the explanation he had already given Kakashi.

After hearing him out, Sakumo's wariness eased somewhat. He thanked him sincerely. "Shiraishi, thank you for helping us father and son meet again."

"Don't mention it. I told you, this is a gift from me to Kakashi as an elder." Shiraishi replied with a smile.

Then Shiraishi looked at Kakashi and continued in a somewhat rueful tone, "Besides, I think this child Kakashi is practically a natural Spirit Channeler."

"A natural Spirit Channeler?" Sakumo looked at Shiraishi in confusion.

Kakashi, standing close beside his father, also looked at Shiraishi curiously, unsure why the senior had described him that way.

"I just said that to summon the soul of the dead, you have to find something that holds the deceased's lingering attachment. It's also best for the summoner to have some kind of connection to the dead."

At this point, Shiraishi paused, then pointed at Kakashi. With a hint of sympathy in his voice, he said, "I found three things connected to the lingering attachments of the dead on this child."

"Three..." Kakashi murmured, lowering his head. He already knew where those three attachments came from.

Images of Obito and Rin surfaced in his mind. Kakashi raised his right hand—the hand that had killed Rin—and slowly touched the Sharingan Obito had left him.

Obito, Rin, I miss you both too!

Sakumo watched his son in silence. Though he didn't know exactly what had happened, he could guess.

What a cruel Shinobi World! My son must have lost friends he treasured over the past few years.

"The Sharingan in your left eye, your right hand, and the Ninja Blade Senior Sakumo left you all carry powerful lingering attachments." Shiraishi said slowly.

Kakashi's body instinctively trembled. As if he had realized something, he suddenly looked up at Shiraishi and asked excitedly, "Senior Shiraishi, does that mean I can see them again?"

Beside him, Sakumo heard his son's words and hesitated. He wanted to stop him and tell him that casually breaking the boundary between life and death and disturbing the peace of the dead wasn't right.

But seeing the excitement and hope in his son's eyes, he couldn't bring himself to say it.