Outside in the Hokage Tower corridor, Goten and Kakashi happened to run straight into each other at the office door.
Kakashi looked unbelievably awful. The dark circles beneath his mask practically drooped to his chin, and his whole body radiated an air of "I have absolutely nothing left to look forward to in life."
"Uh... Old Kakashi, you look terrible."
Goten patted him on the back, looking completely sincere.
"Go home and have some extra noodles to build yourself back up. I'll tell Dad to add an egg for you."
Kakashi tugged at his mask and said nothing.
He didn't want to talk right now. Not a single word.
His mind hadn't stopped churning the entire way back from Sunagakure.
Shattering the Five-Seal Barrier with one punch, crushing over a hundred puppets into a ball of scrap iron, flicking Kisame away with one finger, casually crushing Sasori's core, and "recharging" someone who was thoroughly dead back to life.
Every time he thought of one of those things, his right eyelid twitched. Five things, five twitches. Now his right eye felt like it had a motor installed.
The two pushed the door open and entered. Tsunade was reviewing documents behind the Hokage's desk, while Shizune stood beside her holding a tea tray.
Kakashi walked up to the desk and stopped.
"Lord Hokage, I wish to resign as Team 7's Jonin leader."
Shizune froze, her hands suspended in midair with the tea.
Tsunade put down her pen and leaned back in her chair.
"Your reason?"
Kakashi gathered his words for two seconds. He didn't speak quickly, but every word carried the weight of "I have reached the absolute limit of my patience."
"First, he shattered the Five-Seal Barrier, which requires five people acting simultaneously to undo, with one punch. He didn't undo