~ The Hidden Leaf Village ~

Kakashi had been lost in thought as he walked around the construction going on in the village. He had just dropped off Karin so she could be interrogated and just finished making his report to the elders. All this sudden responsibility just came out of nowhere, and Kakashi found himself with mixed feelings. He knew, since Tsunade is still unconscious, that the village needed a leader to guide them through regaining its strength.

Kakashi stopped and looked up towards the Hokage stone faces, up to Minato's face, as many thought went through his mind. He wished he could've shared how he felt with (Name). Thoughts of taking care of Rai as well as the war even bothered him. Kakashi was concerned with how much he has to do although he may not have shown it in his nonchalant expression.

"Minato-sensei... it looks like I might be the next Hokage-" Kakashi said before he was caught off-guard.

"Yo! Kakashi!" suddenly felt a hand push him forward. He looked back to see it was Gai, grinning as he greeted his friend.

"Looks like you got home in one piece. How are you? You weren't injured, were you?" Gai spoke as he inspected Kakashi for any injuries and checked if his hair was still spiky.

"Oh, I'm okay." Kakashi said nonchalantly. In the past, Gai's presence would've been annoying to him. However, he felt somewhat relieved to see his friend when it has been nothing but surprises appearing lately to him.

"Alright, in that case let's have a match! It's been a while since we last had one!" Gai spoke with excitement as he had his thumbs up. Kakashi only looked at Gai with confusion.

"Why?"

"Why?! What do you mean why?! Because you and I are eternal rivals, that's why! We've had over 100 matches up till now. Let's add another one!" Gai said as he dramatically spun into a pose.

"In that case.." Kakashi said as he held his fist out to play Rock Paper Scissors since it was their go-to match.

"No using the Sharingan now." Gai instinctively began to stretch as he was about to put his fist out.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors!" They both said at the same time while almost actually playing the game until Gai realized he was distracted and didn't actually want their match to be a simple one.

"No! I don't want Rock Paper Scissors! Our challenge will be... that!" Gai spoke as he pointed to the Hokage stone faces.

"I've set up a goal there. We'll race to there." Gai said as he burned with the flames of youth.

"Now's not the time for-"

"That's exactly why I want to have a hot challenge! You'll accept it, won't you, my eternal rival?!" Gai asked as he looked at Kakashi, determined to not take no for an answer. Kakashi sighed.

"You're right. No time like the present I suppose." Kakashi smiled as he returned his attention to the finish line of the race.

"Alright, let's do it!" Gai yelled as he and Kakashi did a handshake to seal the deal.

~ Time Skip ~

Lee was next to the finish line, doing push-ups with one arm behind his back, waiting for Gai and Kakashi.

"While Gai sensei is battling it out, I will fight too!" Lee said before he suddenly felt the ground shake and saw his teachers running from a distance. He stood up quickly and positioned himself right next to the finish line to determine the winner.

Gai and Kakashi were screaming as they pushed themselves past their limits to reach the goal. When they crossed and stopped themselves, they quickly turned to Lee to hear who won.

"Lee, who won?!" Gai asked with excitement as he eagerly waited for Lee to respond. Lee couldn't make out any words as he began to smile and grin.

"Kakashi sensei is... the winner!" Lee said, causing Gai to fall to the ground in defeat. For a second, he believed that he had won the race.

"That was a pretty good challenge." Kakashi said as he smiled. Suddenly, a bouquet of flowers appeared in his face. Kakashi then looked up to see Gai looking away as he was giving him flowers.

"Congratulations!"

"No... this is nothing to be congratulated for." Kakashi spoke as he thought the flowers were for winning the race. Gai faced Kakashi with a serious expression.

"Congratulations on becoming the next Hokage!" Gai smiled. Kakashi was caught off-guard by the sudden gesture.

"When you become Hokage, you probably won't have too much time to be accepting my challenges. That's why I wanted to challenge you for the last time before it happened. Thank you, Kakashi." Gai spoke as he handed the flowers to Kakashi.

"It won't be the last time. We'll still be eternal rivals. That won't change." Kakashi smiled as he caught both Lee and Gai off-guard.

"Seriously, Gai. I find it reassuring having you around. I hope I can count on your continued support."

"Ka-Kakashi..! You're making me cry!" Gai said as both himself and Lee were crying intensely from Kakashi's words.

"I can't bring the whole village together by myself. Hey are you listening?" Kakashi spoke as he found himself trying to speak over their loud crying. Then suddenly he heard someone call for their attention.

"You're Hatake Kakashi, aren't you? The next Hokage?" A man yelled as he was running towards Kakashi along with a boy wearing a safety helmet.

"Yes, well..."

"Oh, this is perfect! Let me measure your face! I want to get a mold too!" The man spoke as he approached Kakashi and grabbed his hand. Kakashi found himself a bit embarrassed and confused.

"W-What's going on?"

"It's for the Great Stone Faces. The Stone Faces of the Hokage! I need you to come with me." The man spoke as he began to pull Kakashi away from Gai and Lee.

"J-Just a minute! I need to go see my son!"

~ Time Skip ~

Suddenly, Kakashi found himself in front of the Feudal Lord and his advisors. They were discussing which number Hokage he would be since Danzo never actually got to assume his role in office. He sighed as he waited for them to finish their discussion. He wanted to hurry since he wanted to see his son.

As the advisors finished their discussion, one of them whispered their decision into the Feudal Lord's ear. He then closed he fan and returned his attention to Kakashi.

"All right. Hatake Kakashi, you will be-!" Feudal lord said before he was cut off by the sudden crash of the doors opening. Kakashi looked behind him to see Gai, who seemed to be in a hurry.

"Please excuse me!" Gai yelled as he caught everyone's attention.

"Gai?" Kakashi said as he was surprised by his sudden appearance.

"What is the meaning of this?! We are in an important conference." The Feudal Lord spoke in a serious tone due to the rude intrusion.

"I have come to report a sudden change in the state of affairs!"

"What? A sudden change?" The Feudal Lord questioned.

"Lady Tsunade... has awakened from her coma! She's alive and in great health to resume her position as Fifth Hokage!" Gai smiled as everyone was shocked for the exciting news. Suddenly, everyone broke into multiple different conversations. Kakashi sighed as he felt relieved that everything worked out. Without the stress of becoming Hokage, he now could focus on other matters that would've been impossible to attend to himself if he had became Hokage... and that was his mission to bring you home.

"Um... well... May I go home to my son now?" Kakashi asked as everyone still seemed busy with their own conversations. Then Gai grabbed Kakashi's shoulder and smiled.

"Why don't we go and eat at that sushi boat restaurant? Let's see who can eat the most! Then we can go visit my god son!" Gai spoke as he flashed a smile at Kakashi.

~ Time Skip ~

Kakashi knocked on a door as Gai was out of breath behind him from eating too much. They waited patiently until the door opened to reveal Kurenai.

"Oh, Kakashi. You're back." Kurenai smiled at him. She let them both in and motioned for them to be quiet. Kakashi then saw not only his son but Mirai as well, sleeping next to each other in a crib beside the couch. He smiled as Gai cried next to him from the cuteness.

"Rai has been an extremely good boy, he hasn't cried one bit since you dropped him off. But he does like to stare at Mirai at times, he has your nonchalant expressions, Kakashi." Kurenai chuckled as Kakashi sweat-dropped.

"Thank you so much for watching over him, Kurenai. I really appreciate it."

"Of course, I'll watch him as many times as you need until (Name) comes back. Speaking of (Name)... how did it go?" Kurenai asked with a concerned expression. They all sat down in the living room and waited for Kakashi to respond.

"Well, we found her that much is true... but she wasn't ready to come back to the village yet." Kakashi sighed as he thought about when you said no to his attempt to rescue you. Kurenai and Gai seemed confused.

"What do you mean, Kakashi?" Gai asked as he was rather engaged.

"(Name)... has been captured by the enemy. We could've saved her if we tried, but she refused our help. It seems like she has some unfinished business, but the only thing I can think of is that she's trying to protect Sasuke from Madara." Kakashi spoke as he had a serious expression. Kurenai seemed worried.

"Madara? As in Uchiha Madara? Hasn't he been dead for years?" Kurenai asked. Kakashi nodded as he remembered the events going on.

"That's also what I thought, but apparently he has been around the entire time. He is the masked man that (Name) was around during her investigation of the Akatsuki."

"If that is the case, then we should be helping (Name)-chan immediately! We don't know if she recovered any of her strength after giving birth! That and my god son needs her." Gai said with determination. Kakashi only clenched his fist.

"I know that well enough, Gai. We need to make a plan before we blindly look for her. We might have an opportunity during the war to save her. But for now, we wait." Kakashi said as he got up and picked up Rai and gently rocked him back and forth.

"I promised you I'd bring your mom home. I won't let you down, Rai."

A/N: I'm sooooo close to the war arc! Can't wait to dabble in that part of the story!!!