Interactions...

After leaving the Hokage's office, Kakashi body-flickered to the outside of his apartment. He took out his keys and unlocked the door, making a creaking sound. Kakashi walked through the doorway, closing the door behind him. He placed his keys in a cup on the counter and took of his sandals. Kakashi's was about to move to the living room, before his stomach grumbled. He chuckled in embarrassment.

'Heh, maybe I should make something. But how do I know if everything's fresh...?'

Kakashi snapped his fingers in realization! He suddenly went through hand-seals before landing on the final one building up Chakra. He lifted his hand and bit his thumb, causing a tiny dollop of blood to appear from his skin. He slammed his hand on the wooden floor and smeared a streak of blood on it. Suddenly a puff of smoke erupted in the house and when it cleared a small pug was seen.

In a gruff, deep voice it spoke.

"Kakashi-kun, what have you summoned me for?"

Kakashi looked sheepish.

"Well Pakkun, I just came back from a mission and was thinking of making something. But I don't know if everything's fresh, so I summoned you for..." Kakashi trailed off.

Pakkun gained a tick mark on his face.

"You idiot, why not just eat out!"

Kakashi suddenly sweat-dropped.

'Damn, how could I not think of that?'

"Well thank you Pakkun, your advice is greatly appreciated."

The pug chuckled in a weird way.

"Advice? All I did was...." he began, before being dismissed by a embarrassed Kakashi.

Kakashi took back his keys and put on his shoes again. He walked out of his house before locking it again. He reached for his back ninja pouch, before pulling out the "latest" volume of Icha-Icha tactics! He flipped open the book and started at the beginning. He began to walk out of his apartment complex and out into the street's of Konoha.

'Gotta keep up appearances after all." he said while winking.

As he walked, he noticed people's eyes trailing his back. Parents, well mostly mothers, moved their children away from the cool-looking Jounin while glaring at him, while the fathers discreetly thumbed him up. He chuckled at this.

Kakashi was about to reach his destination, before a blur of green dashed in front of his vision. Kakashi slowly tilted his head up and was met by the blinding smile of Maito Gai. Kakashi almost lost his composure looking at Gai again. The last he saw of him, Kakashi thought he had died while fighting Madara. But he steeled himself.

Gai then began to speak.

"My eternal rival, Kakashi! I had just finished training with my Genin team today, before I saw you reading that youthful book! But never mind that, I'm actually here for one of my awesome challenges! We'll have an eating competition!" Gai youthfully exclaimed while waggling his huge eyebrows in excitement.

Kakashi slowly tilted his head at the Taijutsu master.

"Hm, what did you say? Sorry Gai, I was to busy reading my book."

Gai quickly backpedaled, before falling to his knees. He gripped his hands so hard that his knuckles turned white. He looked to the sky, as if cursing the heavens.

"Damn you Kakashi! How can you be so hip and cool!"

Kakashi shook his head at Gai's antics.

"Okay Gai, I'll partake in the competition..." he said, as Gai suddenly shot up in excitement.

"Yes, this is most youthful! I have seen a new sushi restaurant on my way-"

"But" Kakashi interrupted "I'll choose the restaurant. Besides, the last time you had sushi, you almost ruined my clothes with your vomit." he said while deadpanning.

Gai had the decency to look sheepish, before following Kakashi to his destination. He rambled about his mission and his Genin, while Kakashi just listened. They soon arrived in front of a food stall, with red flaps proudly displaying the Kanji for "Ichiraku Ramen" in gold print.

The two walked into the stall and were greeted with "Hello's" from Ayame and Teuchi. They sat down on the seats and Ayame came up to them with a notepad and pencil in her hands.

"Ohayo, Kakashi-san, Gai-san, what can I get you today?"

When Gai was about to speak, Kakashi interrupted him.

"Ayame-san, get us two challenge Ramen. It's one of those days."

Ayame nodded in understanding and jotted down the order. She went back into the kitchen as the smell of Ramen wafted through the stall. Twenty minutes later, two extra large bowl of Miso Ramen were held by Ayame, as she placed them down on the counter before going back into the kitchen and taking out four more full bowls, two for Kakashi, two for Gai.

She placed a timer on the counter, and waited for a few seconds. Kakashi and Gai became tense. They split the chopsticks open and held them tightly. Kakashi bent over the Ramen bowl, while Gai twitched his hand.

"Ready, set, go!" Ayame announced while holding a mini red flag.

They both dove into the Ramen and a few seconds later a clean bowl was placed in front of Ayame. Not phased, she placed another bowl as they dove in once more and finished in few seconds. Just as Kakashi was about to start his 3rd bowl, a voice shouted from outside the stand, distracting him. Gai immediately capitalized on this, and finished his bowl. He screamed about Youth and how he was one ahead now.

"Ayame-neechan, I need some Miso Ramen now, Dattebayo!"

One, blond haired, orange loving, Naruto Uzumaki barged through the flaps of the stall and jumped into a seat, not noticing the two jounins beside him. Kakashi stared at Naruto in a wonder.

'N-Naruto....' he thought in pain and hope.

This was a Naruto 4 years of pain and hardship away. Kakashi felt faint as he saw his student demand for Ramen.

Ayame chuckled in a kind way.

"Naruto-kun, I'll give you your Ramen in a bit, I'm kinda in the middle of something." she gestured to the two Jounins.

Naruto turned to the Jounins with a scowl on his face, but then he noticed their headbands (well waistband for Gai) and their flack jackets. His narrowed eyes suddenly turned into stars as he stared at them with unbridled awe.

"Wow, Dattebayo! You guys are Jounins! I've heard about from Iruka-sensei, he said Jounin were the best of the best!"

Kakashi shook himself out of his stupor. He eye-smiled at Naruto and began to speak.

"Hello there,.... Naruto was it? I'm Kakashi and this is Gai." he said pointing his finger at himself and his friend.

"Hi there! How's it like to be a Jounin, do you go on cool missions, have you saved a princess before!" Naruto rambled.

Before Kakashi could answer, Gai shouted about how Youthful Naruto was and told him some his stories. Kakashi shook his head and paid for the meal. He gestured to Gai, who was finishing his story.

"And then I had to fight this one kid in the Chinin exams, Obito-"

"Gai! Let's go. The kid needs to finish his meal."

Gai seemed to realize what he was about to say, and looked apologetically towards Kakashi. He waved him off and walked out of the stand, with Gai following him. Naruto looked on with a concealed sad look on his face. But Kakashi noticed it.

He walked up to Naruto and patted his head. Naruto looked up with confusion and some joy.

"See ya kid, we have to go on some...."

Kakashi looked around the stall, before bending down to Naruto's level. He whispered the rest of the sentence.

".... secret Jounin business. Think you can keep that secret?"

Naruto's eyes sparkled and he nodded with vigor. Kakashi lifted himself up and winked at Naruto. As he left the stall he heard one last thing from Naruto.

"Bye-bye, Jounin-san!"

Kakashi smiled. He walked away from the stand, and met up with Gai. They both started walking down the street. As he walked with Gai, the whole of Konoha was bathed in an orange light from the rapidly falling sunset.

Soon the sky had turned a dark blue and it had turned into night-time. Kakashi had walked with Gai to his house, and the Browed Beast declaed that he would beat Kakashi once more. Kakashi rolled his eyes and walked away while waving.

After leaving Gai's place, Kakashi body flickered away.

....................

He reappeared in front of a slab of stone in a grassy field. There were countless flowers n font of the stone and the stone had many names engraved on it. Kakashi knelt in front of the stone and fell silent. After a few minutes of silence, he began to speak.

"This is the last time I'm probably going to speak to you.... Rin, Sensei. I'm not going to wallow in my pain and misery anymore. I was given a mission and I'm going to complete it. For the good of the world! I just wanted to say this."

He got up and turned around to the stone. As he looked back at it, he said one last thing.

"Rin, Sensei,.... I'm going to bring Obito back into the light!"

With that promise, Kakashi body-flickered away, leaving the area silent once more.