"Dad, why are we suddenly going on a trip? You never mentioned this before."
Kakashi was already a young man of twenty. Fooling him now was nothing like fooling him as a child, and Hatake Sakumo could not help sighing.
"Kakashi, you were so adorable when you were little. You never asked all these questions."
"?"
An enormous question mark appeared over Kakashi Hatake's forehead. Naruto Uzumaki clutched the hem of Kakashi's clothes and comforted him with a face full of sympathy.
"It's okay. I won't hold it against you, Big Brother Kakashi."
"Naruto, you..."
Are you missing a few brain cells?
How was this anything like going on vacation? We were clearly making a run for it! Especially... Dad, put that bundle down! You're not even pretending anymore, are you?!
Kakashi pressed a hand to his forehead, speechless.
"At least tell me why. Besides, I wouldn't really object to going over there in the first place. You don't need to hide it from me, Dad."
"Everything was decided long ago, Kakashi. The tide cannot be turned. I'm merely walking the path I believe is right. You were still little before, and I didn't dare act rashly.
"Now that you've grown up and can look after yourself, I can finally think about the rest of my life, too. Will I keep hiding away, or start over?"
Hatake Sakumo smiled. Kakashi was his pride: an elite jonin at twenty, accomplished in lightning release ninjutsu and no slouch in Hatake Swordsmanship either.
In a few more years, reaching Kage level would be no problem.
"Dad..."
He looked at his father with a complicated expression.
Kakashi had never imagined that his father had been hurt so deeply back then.
Even less had he imagined that this honest man had actually kept it hidden