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Sakumo used to tell stories about the Hatake Clan. About how they fought, about how they grew and how they became a shinobi Clan instead of samurai and farmers.


The story Kakashi loved most was about how they became wolves.


Kakashi grew up with his ancestors, with their stories, with their life and deaths. Sometimes, when the midnight came, he would sit down by his father's side and wait. So his father would tell him.


"We are Hatake. We came from earth and lightning, from wolves. We ran from woods to moon, calling up the night. Our ancestors had risen and fallen, one by one, becoming nothing but wolf spirits, to wait for their successor's call."


He would look at Kakashi with that soft, strange smile.


"We don't die, Kakashi. We wait. We wait, because we know how to. We wait just like we waited for moon, for life, for hunt. And when we hear the call, we came forward, to protect and to attack. Our ancestors had done so before, when there were no men walking on the earth, when all there was to live was spirits and animals. They answered the call of moon."


Then, his father would look at the moon. He would whisper the next words as if he didn't want anybody but Kakashi to hear them.


"They answered my grandfather too. He was brave and cunning, with such wild instincts that he himself could have been a wolf as well. But when his time came, it wasn't because of the old age."


He would look at Kakashi once more.


"It was on a battlefield, with a few dozens of ninja of a different Clan ahead of him. If the enemy could pass through him, they would get to a village, which housed not even a hundred civilians. They had orders to burn that place down, because that lands belonged to the Hatake and they supplied the Hatake with eggs, milk and rumors. They thought that they could weaken the Hatake like that.


Of course, my grandfather couldn't let that happen. In that village resided my grandmother, still weak from birth with their newborn son, my dad.

But there was no one within the village walls who could fight with ninja. The Hatake were samurai and farmers, they only used chakra for their swords.

So my grandfather fought. With everything he had, knowing that he couldn't leave that battlefield alive, he went through the ranks of enemy nin. But his power had an end. He knew that the end had come for him. So in the heat of the battle, he did the only thing he could to save the village. He used a forbidden technique that belonged to us, given by wolf spirits and moon itself to Hatake."


By this part of the story, Kakashi would climb to his father's lap to join his father while watching the sky. They would keep their eyes on the moon, feeling all of their sharp teeth sting. Kakashi would feel like a real wolf.


"That particular technique always resulted with user's death, but also completed the battle when it was used, no matter what. With this technique, my grandfather had managed to destroy that enemy platoon. He saved my dad and my grandmother, but died while doing it. A hero's death, if you ask me."


Sakumo would laugh as if he felt Kakashi's annoyed eyes on himself.


"C'mon, cub. I promise, I'll tell you about the technique my grandfather used when you become a man. You know how this works."


Kakashi would pout endlessly till his father'd have enough and try to tickle him. Without doubt, every single tickling fight would end with Sakumo face down on the floor and Kakashi sitting on his father's back, smiling triumphantly. Without him knowing, Sakumo would chuckle, eyes closed with his big grin.


When Kakashi had learned his first kata on Hatake style tantōjutsu successfully, he became an adult within the rules of Hatake Clan, so his father had started teaching him that technique.


Kakashi was four.


His chakra coils were underdeveloped, chakra reserves were too little, so he couldn't use it. His father didn't let him anyway. He was forbidden from using it.


He probably couldn't use it till he was at least seventeen. Sakumo decided that Kakashi should at least join the Academy before he fully learned that technique, so he told him how the technique worked but didn't teach him how he should mould his chakra towards his blade.


Then, his father died.

--

After his father's death, everything happened very fast for Kakashi. The hate, the whispers and dirty looks started to decrease, he graduated, and then he was suddenly a part of a genin team. He had no idea what to do, rules were everything he had, the only thing he had and suddenly there was Obito and Rin and Minato-sensei and Kushina-nee and it was different, Kakashi was different-

Then it happened again.

Obito at the cave-in, Rin by his own hands, Minato-sensei and Kushina-nee with Kyuubi, they all left.

Kakashi never managed to use that jutsu, his chakra coils were still underdeveloped. It was funny, he never learned how to mould his chakra that way anyway. After a while, he decided that he could never use that technique, not like this. Either it was all a story, or Kakashi didn't have enough information on how it worked.

Obito was supposed to live, but he pushed Kakashi out of the way of the boulder. Rin was supposed to live, but she jumped in front of his attack. Minato-sensei and Kushina-nee were supposed to live too, they were only one left behind, but they had to save the village. And now, little Naruto-

Had Kakashi knew that kind of technique, he would use it in a heartbeat to save them. His life didn't matter compared to theirs, he was worse that trash.

Obito would know.

--

At ANBU, when he was eighteen, Kakashi tried to use that technique.

His team members were tired, injured and there was lots of Kumo-nin trying to pursue them. So Kakashi told his team to run and stayed behind. But he was getting desperate, so he did only thing that came into his mind.

He molded his chakra towards his father's sabre in a way he never did. His body was on fire, everything was pulsing with chakra, he almost did it-

Obito's Sharingan pulsed, and his father's sabre shattered.

The backlash sent enemy a few yards back. Kakashi hit a tree so hard that he lost his vision for a few seconds.

Not even waiting for the black dots in his vision to disappear, he held the pieces of his father's sabre to his chest and ran.

--

The technique didn't come up for years. Kakashi decided to forget it. He always carried the pieces of his father's sabre with him in a scroll, sealed away for good.

Kakashi almost forgot all about it.

He almost managed to deceive himself into thinking that he forgot about it, that the disappointment in his heart was not there, burning and bleeding.

Almost.

--

Pein attacked. Kakashi didn't make it.

He met with his father again, told him the words he wanted to say and saw his smile once more.

Then, his father taught him the technique. He had a sad expression.

"I feel like you're going to need it, cub."

Kakashi eye-smiled.

"I'll do what I will have to do." He tilted his head a little, "After all, I am your son."

Shock looked funny on Sakumo's face.

Kakashi decided that he liked it.

--

When Kakashi woke up, he found his father's sabre in one piece, waiting for him in its sheath.

He carried the sabre with him.

--

So this is where it came to, Obito.

Looking at him, Kakashi could only see a shadow. Not the Obito who had taught him the lesson he held close to him at the darkest times, but a shadow, mocking, twisted to something he wasn't supposed to be.

In front of him was Obito, Zetsu and Madara. Behind him was Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. Behind them were all the comrades they fought with.

Kakashi knew he had no other choice.

If I want to help-

For some time, Kakashi had almost believed that they all would be alive after all of this. That Naruto would become Hokage, with Sasuke, Sakura, Sai and all of his precious people beside him, and Kakashi would watch their back for them, because they were awful at that.

Though, Kakashi didn't have that chance.

If I want to be useful-

Sakumo had died. Obito had died. Rin had died. Minato-sensei and Kushina-nee had died too.

Kakashi was still alive.

If I want them to see the future-

There was a pattern. His time had come, didn't it?

"I- I..."

Kakashi took the necessary position.

"I have to protect them."

For a second, he thought his words echoed across the battlefield. Thought, that wasn't true. It was impossible, there was too much noise. 

But somehow Kakashi could hear it as if everybody were saying those words with him.

"I will protect them."

Kakashi started the first kata of Hatake style tantōjutsu. His white chakra, a gift from his ancestors, from the earth and lightning, from wolves, shined around him.

Just like his father showed him, Kakashi molded his special chakra towards his father's sabre. The white glow intensified, and Kakashi felt time slowing down.

He heard a yelling more powerful than others, directed at him. But he couldn't understand it, he couldn't hear. All he could hear was-

A lullaby. Not just a lullaby, but the one his father singed to him at the nights of the full moon, at his mother's death anniversary. With a soft wording, pure and unfamiliar words echoed in his head. He didn't know what the song was about, that language was long-lost in the winds, or it was not meant to be for humans. But he felt the song, he knew what it was.

A call for those who wait for it.

A wolf howled. Another answered the first, the third followed the first two. One more, one more and one more, hundreds of them echoed across the battlefield.

The fighting stopped. From nothing but the air, wolves started to form, plunging towards White Zetsu clones and shredding them to pieces.

The lullaby was too loud. Kakashi could feel his blood boil, the earth beneath him shifting and calling for the lightning. Who was singing? Who was calling?

Kakashi stood his ground, kept going on the movements, never stopping the kata. The faster he went through it, the more insistent the lullaby became. He could feel the animalistic snarl blossoming on his face, visible through even his mask.

His kata ended.

The lullaby stopped.

Something snapped.

Every single wolf left their enemies, and circled around the frozen Uchiha pair. As if a genjutsu was done, as if the time froze, nobody was moving except Kakashi and the wolves.

Kakashi held his ground without moving from the last position of his kata.

"Why calling us?"

The growl came from none of the wolves, but came from all of them at the same time.

Kakashi's soft voice answered.

"To protect."

A big wolf sniffed him, other one pushed from his side to test his sturdiness. Kakashi didn't move.

A whole new shimmering appeared in front of Kakashi. A white-furred wolf brushed to his leg.

Father.

Kakashi heard a whisper, "Come, warrior."

Kakashi went. Wolves helped his pack.

They won the war.

Kakashi became a wolf.

--

Sakumo used to tell stories about the Hatake Clan. About how they fought, about how they grew and how they became a shinobi Clan instead of samurai and farmers.


The story Kakashi loved most was about how they became wolves.