FINAL ROUND

HATAKE KAKASHI vs SENJU TSUNADE

Reasons for submission under the cut

When Gai is made a genin at age seven, Kakashi shows up at his place with a bento box made by him and an offer for a challenge. It's a bit out of character, but Gai's not about to turn down food and a challenge. He'll take that offer enthusiastically.

They end up having a spar in training field two and eating their bento boxes on top of Hokage mountain over looking the village.

While eating his lunch and talking to Kakashi about all of the things he's excited about now that he's officially a genin, Gai can't help but ask why Kakashi asked him for a challenge. It's not something that he has ever done before, and most of the time he says he's too busy for challenges and 'kid stuff' because of his missions and training.

Kakashi doesn't speak immediately. Instead he looks down at his food and picks at the grilled fish. After a while, he looks up at Gai and gives him the best smile he can come up with.

"Because you deserve something good," he responds with fondness. "I tried to think of a good present for your graduation, but I couldn't think of anything that you could use or that you might want. But then i remmembered that you like our challenges and just..."

He waves a hand around the space they're sitting in.

"Hanging out. So i thought it would be a good gift. At least, better than nothing."

Gai can't stop smiling for the rest of the day.

His rival, wanting to get him a gift. Thinking he had no idea what to get him and accidently coming up with the best present he could ever ask for.

Mafia Au- Bodyguards Needed

Glass was scattered all over the floor. Every single window in the room shot out, leaving a giant mess everywhere made up of glass, dead bodies, and blood. Kakashi had heard that there was a firefight in the office that morning, but he hadn’t expected to find dead bodies still littering the floor. Usually Shikaku has those sort of things dealt with pretty fast.

“Prep yourself,” He glanced back at Gai, waiting for him to respond with a sharp nod of his head before continuing into the office. “You called, Boss?”

“I did,” Scanning his eyes over the older man Kakashi cataloged each of his injures. One bandage over a bloody patch on his forehead, another one on his arm that Kakashi guessed was caused by a bullet, and multiple lacerations all over his body. “I have a new job for you.”

“Does it include scolding you about the windows?” Kakashi frowned when Shikaku glared at him. “You can be mad at me for pointing it out all you want, but you know I’m right.”

“You are going to be so annoying at this job,” Shikaku grumbled under his breath. “But, yes. Unfortunately it does involve you scolding me about the windows. But don’t push your lucky Kakashi i will only handle so much.”

“Enough to keep you alive,” Kakashi responded with a bored tone. “So, what is the new job hmm? I hope you don’t plan to have us running around fixing everything? I’m not exactly the best at handy work.”

Terrible at it, in fact. It was one of the few things he wasn’t really great at and neither was Gai.

“Well, if you can’t tell,” Shikaku waved a hand towards the two dead bodies still laying on the floor of his office. “I’ve kind of lost my body guards.”

“A downfall to having that kind of job is that you die to protect the boss sometimes,” Kakashi nodded. “Shame too. they were actually not complete idiots.”

“What a nice thing to say about the dead, Rival,” Gai muttered behind him. “Bodyguards. Is that what the new job is? you want us to be your new body guards?”

“Name a better duo for the job,” neither of them said a thing. They knew why Shikaku had presented them with that challenge, and he wasn’t wrong. There were few people who worked as easily together as Kakashi and Gai, and even few that had each others backs as much as Shikaku’s. “Exactly. You’ll start tomorrow. Today you’ll get fitted for your new outfits.”

Great. Just what he wanted. More new clothing.

“First things first,” pointing towards the window, he ignored the glare that Shikaku threw his way. “you’re not seriously going to keep sitting in this office, are you? It’s bad enough your windows weren’t covered before, but now there’s not even glass to protect you.”

“I assume you have ideas already to fix that?” Shikaku huffed, pushing himself out of his seat and heading to join them. “Before you ask, the threat has been taken care of. Yoshino happened to be in the area.”

Kakashi would feel sorry for the poor dumbass who pissed of Yoshino, but in this case they deserved whatever came to them.

“I’ll make sure everything is fixed up for tomorrow,” he promised with a bored look. “After we get finished with…new clothing…”

At least being sized for a new outfit would give him a chance to think. The Tailor never asked too many questions so he didn’t have to do a lot of talking. If Gai didn’t talk his ear off of course.

“I except it.” Heading for the door Shikaku made his exit with a wave of his hand and left Kakashi and Gai standing in the room alone.

“So,” Gai turned to look at him slowly, smiling when he shrugged his shoulders. “Bodyguards Kakashi. That’s a lot more exciting that the work we’ve been doing.”

“It’ll certainly be interesting,” he agreed. “Stressful too.”

“But we can handle it,” Gai slapped him on the shoulder and laughed. “We can handle anything together.”

Kakashi didn’t respond to that. He didn’t need to.

Gai was simply stating a fact and there was nothing to add to it.

“Let’s celebrate tonight,” Gai insisted, smiling when Kakashi sighed. “Come on Kakashi. It’s a rare occasion to celebrate in this job.”

“Fine,” turning towards the door Kakashi moved to make his exit with Gai hot on his tail. “I’ll cook, you bring the booze.”

“Of course, Rival,” He grunted when Gai slapped a hand on his back. “It’ll be the best dinner ever.”

Always so excited. Kakashi would never understand why Shikaku had decided that him and the worlds answer to ‘How to create a human embodiment of the sun’ would make a great pair, but he wasn’t complaining.

Gai was his human sun, and he wasn’t going to share him with anyone else.

Mafia Au- Rock Lee

12 years old, Lee only has one friend at the orphanage. Tenten. They spend almost all of their time together at school or at the orphanage, and there’s not a person who could seperate them.

Which is why it’s no surprise to him that Tenten’s there by his side when some goon decides to pick a fight with him after they bumped into him on the street.

They’re both willing to leave it be and walk away. They don’t want to make a scene, but it’s just their luck that when Lee thought of the person as a ‘goon’ he wasn’t actually wrong. When Lee and Tenten try to walk away they suddenly find a gun pointed in their face and the guy is talking about being part of some sort of gang.

this is not how Lee thought he would meet his end, but he’s seeing his life flash before his eyes as he stars down the barrel of a gun.

But then, just when he thinks the gun’s about to be fired becaise the guy is getting angrier and angrier, someone shows up out of nowhere in a flurry of green and disarms the man within seconds.

Lee’smimpressed, and maybe a lottle star struck.

that was amazing.

“are you two ok?” He looks up to see kind eyes staring down at him, and for the first time in years he feels like there’s an adult out there that isn’t completly horrible.

“Ok? we’re alive!” Tenten cheers by his side, smiling when he looks over at her. “that was amazing… uhh…”

“Gai,” the man’s smile only grows. “You two should be careful. Not everyone on the street is nice.”

“No one is,” Tenten grumbls under her breath. “Lee just bumped into him. He didn’t even do anything wrong.”

“Well, everything is fine now,” he starts to look around the area “are your parents around? I’m sure they’re looking for you.”

Neither of them respond. They stopped answering questions like that years ago.

“I see,” his response surprises them, but more than that his smile does. “Usually i’d say not to tryst strangers, but i think you two could use some dango.”

Lee’s not sure when they actually make it to the Dango shop. He’s still a little dazzed by everything that has happened.

All he really knows is this Adult, the first person other than their teachers to be nice to them in years, is really cool and he wants to be just like him.

The two year time gap would have been perfect for Sakur to get over her feelings for Sasuke.

Like, Imagine her hanging out with everyone else more since all of her team is gone, and slowly getting closer to Lee who somehow always ends up in the hospital from pushing himself too hard in his training. Sometimes with torn ligiments, sometimes because he fell/slipped during training and injured himself.

Sakura always being the one to heal him because he argues with her less and is always willing to sit down and let her do her job while she talks to him.

Sakura seeing how hard Lee works to become a top rate shinobi regardless of his short comings, and Lee seeing Sakura fighting to become a successful medical ninja as well as a strong Shinobi who can protect herself.

Sakura realizing after a while that she hasn mt thoughts about Sasuke in days, but for some reason she can’t get her mind off of Lee

What Is This Genjutsu?

AO3 Link

There it was again. That stupid smile that made his stomach do funny flips and his chest tighten in a way that almost hurt. Why was it that whenever Iruka smiled at him he felt like the world was coming to an end?

“Kakashi?” Iruka tilted his head, his smile getting a bit softer as he examined him. “Is everything alright? You seem…quieter than usual.”

It’s a jab. He knows it’s a jab and his brain is already coming up with a comeback to put Iruka on his ass, but the words never leave his mouth. Instead, the only noise he can produce is a small squeek and a quick apology before dismissing himself from the situation.

Whatever genjutsu Iruka was using on him, it was effective. Even when he tried to release it, or just ignore the weird feelings it was causing inside of him, it never worked.

Clearly he was learning from a master.

———————————————————————————-

Ramen.

A nice, relaxing bowl of ramen. For once he had actually been looking forward to the chance to enjoy some food with his students. They had all been working so hard since their return from their latest mission. They deserved a bit of a break.

That all came crashing down on him when he entered Ichiraku to see one Umino Iruka sitting there waiting, a bright smile lighting up his face when he caught sight of them.

“Naruto, Sakura! You’re here! And you brought Kakashi with you I see,” his heart felt like it actually stopped for a moment when Iruka turned that smile his way. Almost as if he had died in his spot.

“I-hi…” holding a hand up, he cringed when nothing else left his mouth. Why was it that whenever he saw Iruka he became incapable of speaking?

“I see you’re ask talkative as ever,” Iruka laughed, and oh how that laugh made Kakashi’s knee’s weak. “are you here to watch over Naruto?”

I thought that was your job?

His brain screams at him to reply with those exact words, but they refuse to come out. Instead all he does is shrug his shoulders and offer up a pathetic “i guess.” in response.

How embarrassing.

“Come on, Kakashi-Sensei!” Naruto jumped up onto the seat beside Iruka and smiled back at him. “Stop wasting time and order already.”

Order, right. He still needed to ask for food.

Taking a deep breath, he took the seat on the other side of Iruka. Determined to give himself as much space between him and his students as possible, and perhaps wanting to sit by Iruka. Thought he couldn’t explain why exactly he felt that particular desire.

“So,” That smile. He couldn’t take his eyes off of that smile. “Ho was training?”

When he finds himself unable to respond with words, he simply gives his shoulders a shrug and turns towards Teuchi.

Whatever this weird genjutsu was, he really needed to figure out how to break out of it and fast. Before others started to figure out what was going on.

———————————————

“Ask him out,” Looking up from his book, Kakashi leveled his eyes on Gai and did his best to act like his sudden appearance out of no where hadn’t scared the crap out of him. “You can’t stop staring at him, Kakashi. Just ask him out already.”

“I don’t like him,” he grumbled under his breath, trying to convince himself as much as Gai. “I’m just trying to figure out what Genjutsu he’s using.”

“You know, for a genius you’re pretty dumb,” he would glare at Gai, but a nudge to the shoulder stops him. How can he be mad at his best friend when he’s just trying to help? He’s not sixteen anymore. “You like him, Kakashi. Anyone with eyes can see that.”

“By ‘anyone with eyes’, you mean you, right?” Of course Gai could pick up on something he couldn’t. He was actually good with emotions unlike Kakashi. “How do you know it’s not a genjutsu.”

“Just, trust me,” Gai laughed “and go ask him out. I hear he likes Ramen.”

Just what he needed.

Another Ramen loving fool in his life.

———————————————————-

“Kakashi!” Iruka’s eyes lit up when he looked up from his desk to see Kakashi sitting on the window ledge into his classroom. “You do know i have a door, right? It’s fully functioning and probably a lot more comfortable than…that.”

Even now, being scolded for his poor choice in entrance ways, Kakashi couldn’t help but feel a warmth in the pit of his stomach.

“I-uh…sorry…” dropping his feet to the floor, he pushed himself away from the window and pocketed his hands. He still hadn’t quite figured out what he was going to say, but Gai wasn’t letting him hang back any longer, so here he was. “Ummm, i was wondering…”

Iruka’s eyes stayed on him, waiting for him to finish whatever sentence he had started.

Unfortunately, even he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to say. At least, not until one words stuck out in his brain. Something Gai had told him Iruka liked.

“R-ramen!” He exclaims suddenly, surprising even himself with the volume of his voice when he manages to speak again. Forcing his volume down, he took a deep breath and tried again. “Would you maybe…like to go for Ramen, with me?”

“Ramen?” Iruka blinked, a small smile pulling at his lips. “Kakashi, are you asking me out on a date?”

His body screams at him to turn and run. To just forget about this whole thing and hide away in his apartment until Iruka forgets. Maybe a week, two if Naruto hears about it.

But he plants his feet in the ground and forces himself to stand there and wait for Iruka’s answer.

“I would love to,” the warmth in his stomach only grows when Iruka agrees to a date. Becoming a small fire and making him feel like he had just been punched in the gut, but somehow in a good way? “Let me just put everything away.”

“Uh, ya…” he couldn’t belive it. Iruka had said yes. Iruka, the definition of sweetness and support, had yes to a date with him. Hatake Kakashi. Konoha’s resident disaster.

How had he gotten so lucky.

“Wait outside for me?” Iruka’s smile is brighter this time. Full of life and expectation. “But, please use the door. I really don’t want anyone seeing you climbing out of the window.”

There was nothing left for him to say.

Nodding his head, he headed towards the door and made his exit from the room. Though, as soon as the door slid closed behind him he couldn’t help but relax his shoulders and slump against the wooden frame.

A date.

He was going on a date with Iruka.

How had he gotten so lucky?