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Hagoromo finishes his compliments to Naruto and Sasuke, pride bleeding through his rough voice no matter how hard he tries to stay composed. Kakashi watches on with a smile he can’t dampen, because he sure as hell is proud of them too. All three of his kids. He’s so damn proud.
The legendary man floats closer, and Kakashi moves to take a step back. Even if Naruto and Sasuke don’t know Hagoromo personally, they are still his sons reincarnated. Perhaps it’s best to give them a moment of privacy.
But the Sage of Six Paths isn’t focused on his students, his attention is on...
Ah shit.
“Kakashi....” Hagoromo starts and Kakashi keeps his flinch subtle. Just his first name, spoken confidently and with familiarity. He really isn’t going to beat around the bush, huh?
“Sage.” He nods back, averting his eyes. His kids are looking between the two of them with curious eyes.
“Did she recognize you?” Hagoromo’s voice is soft.
Kakashi thinks back to when Kaguya had first appeared, white hair flowing with a red hue under the cursed moon. He knew it would’ve glowed silver in its regular light, just like how his father would describe in the past. Sakumo spoke of her hair frequently, running his fingers through Kakashi’s with a sad smile every time.
She had made a beeline for Naruto and Sasuke, hands outstretched with tears in her eyes. Kakashi hadn’t liked that expression on her gentle face, but he also hadn’t liked her approaching his students— his kids .
He had taken a step forward, not exactly sure what he, in all his ordinary glory, could do in the face of the rabbit goddess, his—
She had turned her head then, and her gaze rooted him to the ground more firmly than any jutsu could have. He vaguely remembers holding out a numb arm to keep Sakura back. He had felt Sakura’s chakra flaring at the sudden attention turned towards them, but Kakashi knew Kaguya’s focus was solely on him at that moment.
Her expression had thrown him back years and years until he was barely older than an infant. The face looking down at him was blurry and he couldn't discern the features. Cold hands grabbed onto his tiny fingers as a voice murmured a song he couldn’t remember. It was so long ago.
Beauty personified, cub. Not even the moon could do her justice . Sakumo had hummed, holding him up to the night sky as if the few extra feet in height brought the toddler close enough for the moonlight to caress and hold tenderly.
Kakashi had stared up at absolute beauty that his child mind couldn’t comprehend or remember clearly. Now, at thirty years old, he was memorizing the details of her face even without the aid of the sharingan.
He comes back to himself with a series of fluttering blinks, and turns to look at Hagoromo, who is patiently waiting for his response.
“I think...” Kakashi swallows, “I think she did but...”
She definitely had recognized. But.
“When she realized which side I was on...” He rubs at his aching forehead, pushing at the headband soaked in blood and sweat.
“I don’t think I...it mattered to her anymore.”
Her tears had glimmered on her face, and he had seen them, even through the blurry haze of lava-induced heat as he hung onto (quite literally) his and Sakura’s life with the help of a flimsy scroll.
Hagoromo...Hamura...I hate you. She had spat, lips quivering and eyes flickering to his face for a split second.
Kakashi I hate you. He had heard.
“She could never hate you.” Hagoromo’s voice cuts through his thoughts and his flinch is more apparent this time.
“You were the only one she ever let call her kaa-san , after all.” The Sage’s eyes are kind, an almost amused smile on his lips.
He rolls his eyes without much thought, opening his mouth to retort, when-
“Wait wait wait, Kakashi-sensei. What?” Naruto interrupts, stepping between the two with wide eyes.
“Kaa-san?” Sakura frowns.
“You mean Kaguya is-was your-” Sasuke actually stutters.
“MOM?!” The three screech into his ear in sync, and the nostalgia feels almost good.
“Oh my god...” Kakashi buries his face in his sweaty hands with a groan. He’s too tired for this.
“It’s true though.” Hagoromo protests, looking younger with the grin that’s slowly spreading across his face.
“Anija, please stop.” Kakashi pleads.
“Anija!?”
“Six Paths gramps is?” Naruto’s head is going to fall off at the pace he’s whipping it back and forth between his sensei and...ancestor? Pseudo-dad? Does this make Kakashi-sensei his uncle? He’s going to need Iruka-sensei’s help to draw up his family tree. It’s definitely gonna look more complicated than it had the first time he drew one for a project back at the Academy.
“Kakashi-sensei’s an alien?” Sakura ponders, surprisingly serene. She hadn’t been lying when she said nothing was a surprise to her anymore at this point. Her sensei had always been weird. Of course he would turn out to be an alien moon baby.
Sasuke is pacing the ground, grinding his teeth together. “I knew it. I always knew it. I had connected the dots.”
“You didn’t connect shit, teme- ”
“I’ve connected them and no one ever believed me!”
“Sasuke-kun, you were twelve and overdramatic.”
“I’ll show you overdramatic—“
“You were always Mother’s favorite.” Hagoromo hums thoughtfully over the sounds of Team 7 having a meltdown over their sensei’s true lineage.
Kakashi resists the urge to shuffle his feet, hand pressing against his forehead again. The throbbing had only increased steadily the longer the fight had dragged out. Kaguya’s chakra had pulled and pulled against his, urging him to return to her. To help her.
To save her.
“After what happened today?” He finally says. “I think that title belongs to Hamura-nii .”
Hagoromo busts out a laugh that comes from deep within. Kakashi lets himself be soothed and smiles, savoring and memorizing the joy in his eldest brother’s voice.
Hagoromo moves closer, pressing an ethereal hand against Kakashi’s forehead.
“It hurts because you’ve hid them for so long.” He scolds and runs the hand through Kakashi’s wild hair in one quick motion. The sudden release of pressure makes Kakashi let out a breath of relief. His head feels lighter than it has for decades. The headband slides off into his waiting hands at the sudden appearance of the two protrusions. The noise besides him grows even louder.
“HORNS?!”
“Sensei, you’ve got HORNS?”
“Oh what the hell .”
“Oh my god, they really were horns.” Minato wails from where he stands, watching the entire thing play out. If he still had hands, he’d be burying his face in them.
“You sealed them when Kakashi asked you to and you didn’t even think to ask him what they were?” Hiruzen raises an eyebrow, watching his successor whine to himself. Minato looks cowed.
“I...I didn’t know if it was hereditary. I didn’t want to be rude .” He hisses back defensively.
Hiruzen merely sighs. “I suppose Jiraiya, Tsunade, and I owe Orochimaru an apology for doubting his theories.”