#i think that kakashi is apologizing for what he sees as dragging tenzō into his complicated situation with gai. he knows hes being | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

laisaxrem · 3 years

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Naruto Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Yamato | Tenzou, Haruno Sakura & Yamato | Tenzou, Haruno Sakura/Hatake Kakashi Characters: Yamato | Tenzou, Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura, Senju Kaede (OC), Orochimaru (mentioned), Hatake Tomomi (OC) (mentioned), Hatake Momoko (OC) (mentioned), Tsunade (mentioned), Masumoto Yūki (OC) (mentioned), Hatake Kakashi's Ninken Additional Tags: child surprise, dad!Tenzo, Friendship, Poor Tenzō Summary:

Tenzō's day begins with an unexpected surprise: a woman, a civilian with whom he had an affair a few years earlier, knocks on his door, a child in her arms. The child, she says, is his son.

«He looks like your bonsai version», the kunoichi let out at one point, unable to hold back her wonder as she studied the sleeping face of the little one. «Sakura, please…»

Tenzō wandered around the Village like a zombie, the sleeping child wrapped in his arms.

How the fuck could this happened? What was he supposed to do? How… For a moment he felt the panic attack oppress his chest but he managed to dominate his body with the pure strength of his mind – the training of the Root finally did something good, at least.

But he needed to sort this out. He needed to speak to Kakashi and knew it was late but hoped to find him still in the office.

Eventually he managed to reach his destination, the Hokage palace, and entered the circular room through an open window.

Kakashi was there, sitting in the chair that had belonged to him until a few years ago, a pile of papers on the desk, a roll of a A-rank mission in his hands. On his arrival he did not turn around but raised an arm in greeting. It was evident that he expected him to speak. But Tenzō wasn't even sure he could think anymore. Finally, the former Hokage turned in his chair and when he saw the child held in his arms, he raised an eyebrow and abandoned the scroll.

«All out», he said, evidently to the ANBUs on guard. «What happened? Who is that child?» he asked after a few seconds, when he was sure that the two ninja teams were no longer within earshot.

«Kaede. He’s name is Kaede», Tenzō replied, swallowing hard as he tried to gather his thoughts.

«Sit down», Kakashi ordered, getting up and bringing the chair to him.

He widened his eyes at that offer.

«I can’t. That is –»

«It’s a chair and you need to sit down. So do it. Now».

Tenzō did. Because his senpai had used the tone of voice he used when he was the captain of the ANBU team and had to be obeyed quickly and without objection by his subordinates.

«And now tell me what happened», he ordered standing in front of him.

Tenzō had to think for a moment. How to explain what had happened? Where could he begin? His head was a mess and he had never felt this way in almost fifty years of life. Eventually he forced himself to open his mouth and the words began to come out spontaneously.

«This morning a woman showed up at my house, this child by the hand, saying she needed my help», Tenzō began, automatically obeying that tone of voice again. «I let her in because I recognized her face: she was a civilian with whom I had a relationship long ago. She told me this child is my son», he threw out, in one breath, ignoring the stunned expression on the ex Hokage’s face. «And she’s gone».

«Wait, she’s gone? Where? When will she come back?»

«Never», he replied, his tone flat.

«How…?»

«She drugged my tea», Tenzō explained, guessing Kakashi’s question. «When I woke up there was no trace of her. There was only a farewell letter for the child».

The other shinobi was silent for a moment and Tenzō knew he was gathering his thoughts, putting together the pieces of the puzzle. He hoped that at least he would succeed because personally the ANBU was groping in the dark.

«Forgive me a moment, Tenzō, but… you are a jōnin, and a tremendously skilled jōnin, too. How the hell did a civilian drug your tea without you noticing?»

«After her revelation I lost control and yelled at her for explanations», he explained, feeling vaguely embarrassed at the memory of his outburst. «The boy ran to the bathroom and I went to get him. Afterwards my state was too altered to recognize the presence of the sleeping drug».

«It’s not that I don’t understand, but what the fuck Tenzō».

«I know, senpai, I’m really sorry».

Kakashi shook his head and put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a reassuring smile.

«It’s okay, there's no need to apologize. Hand me the letter», he ordered as he placed his hand on the ground to summon Pakkun and make him smell the object, ordering him to follow suit. When the pug had disappeared out the window, a little hesitant, he added, pointing to the baby: «Can I see him?»

Tenzō nodded and with extreme delicacy turned the child to expose his face. And Kakashi held his breath, just like he had done a few hours before, because the resemblance was truly incredible, almost surreal. And it froze his veins, a fixed thought that was beating in his brain and that threatened to make him scream.

«So, you have a son», Kakashi said after a moment, the neutral and controlled expression of someone who has seen a lot and knows that with a wrong move he could trigger the injured animal.

At least that was how Tenzō felt, who shook his head decisively.

«It is not possible…»

«Look at him, he’s identical to you as a child. He has your eyes, your features…» Kakashi pointed out… as if he hadn’t already noticed it, as if he didn’t think he had a mirror of the past in front of him, when he was in front of the child.

But although logic and common sense dictated that this had to be his son, Tenzō knew he couldn’t be. No, he couldn’t.

«Senpai, it can’t be. I have always been careful…» he tried to say, in the hope that his old friend, his old companion, would understand and would not ask for more, that he should not be forced to relive that humiliation and pain of many years before.

But of course it was Kakashi, the one in front of him, and he trusted the man so much also for his intelligence and his stubbornness.

«Apparently not enough».

«He can’t be my son», he finally resolved to say, now resigned to reveal even that secret of himself that only one person in the world knew.

«Listen Tenzō, maybe you reproduced with spores like mushrooms, I don’t know what to tell you», Kakashi blurted out, irritation starting to infiltrate his voice.

But the ANBU was in no mood for jokes or reproaches, not now, not with those thoughts crowding his mind. Not even from his senpai.

«It’s not funny», he replied, fighting the irritation with anger. It was the only thing left to him at that moment.

«Neither is the fact that you deny the evidence».

«I’m not denying it, I… Tsunade-sama said I am sterile», he finally admitted, his eyes cast down. He didn’t want to see the Rokudaime’s reaction to that news.

«What?»

«Orochimaru’s experiments with Shodai-sama cells apparently made me sterile», he explained, trying to keep a flat tone, intending to convey to him that that wasn’t a big deal… and that that child couldn’t have been his son.

Silence. A few seconds of pure and awful silence followed his confession. And he didn’t look up.

«Ah. I see. I’m sorry, Tenzō».

He shook his head at Kakashi’s soft voice. He didn’t want pity from him; he wanted help, he wanted answers, he wanted someone to tell him what the fuck to do now.

«It’s not like I wanted to have children, so it was never a problem». “Liar”. «But now…»

«I see. We can do a DNA test, but I have to talk to Sakura or another doctor…»

«Sakura», he interrupted him and finally ventured to leave that very interesting point of the floor to look Kakashi in the face. He took no pity on it and this helped him maintain eye contact. And it was perhaps the hardest thing he had done in recent years. «But only her. Please».

«Don’t worry. No one else will know anything from me until you decide the opposite yourself. You know you can trust me », he added, putting a hand on his shoulder. Tenzō knew it.

***

Half an hour later they were both in the living room of the Hatake house, Sakura listening to her husband’s explanation as she continued to glance at the child curled up on her sofa next to Tenzō. He had woken up when they arrived and watched the three adults with wide, tearful eyes; then the twins came trotting around and, after observing the newcomer for a moment, they took him by the hand and dragged him away. After less than twenty minutes Momoko had arrived in the living room saying that the new baby had fallen asleep while they were playing and Tenzō had silently gone to retrieve him leaving the twins alone to play with Bisuke.

«He looks like your bonsai version», the kunoichi let out at one point, unable to hold back her wonder as she studied the sleeping face of the little one.

«Sakura, please…»

«Sorry», she said to Tenzō, who had a grim face. «So, are we going to do this DNA test?»

«Yes, please».

«Give me a second». And she left the three males to run to the kitchen where she grabbed a sterile swab that she knew had been left in the cutlery drawer since Aki had stopped using them to build towers, and a couple of plastic freezer bags, then went back to the living room and passed one to the ANBU, nodding. «I need some hair. With the root».

The latter nodded and carried out the order, dropping a lock of brown hair into the bag. Meanwhile, Sakura knelt in front of the child and gently let a little bit of chakra flow in a point of the jaw, making it open just enough to allow the kunoichi to slide the swab inside the baby’s cheek. When she was satisfied she threw the stick into the bag, sealing it carefully and gently closed the mouth of the probably-son of Tenzō.

Then he took both bags and wrote a few words on them as Kakashi called Shiba. She knelt beside the ninken and strapped the bag of samples to his back.

«Bring them to Yūki», she instructed him while scratching a spot behind his ears that made him melt every time. «Leave them to her, only her, understood? And tell her that they have absolute priority: I want the results as soon as possible».

Shiba nodded and took off like a rocket.

Sakura sat back down next to Kakashi and watched her old taichō.

«Tenzō, I would like to discuss with you how to behave if the paternity test is positive», she said quietly, carefully measuring her words because the man still seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown. «I know what you’re thinking… that’s what I’m thinking too». And judging by the killing spark in Kakashi’s eyes, that was exactly what went through his head too.

«Really? I don’t think so», Tenzō replied in a lashing tone.

Sakura leaned forward and squeezed his hand slightly, ignoring the poison in his voice.

«Do you think that, being you sterile, the child… Kaede… is probably an experiment by Orochimaru. An unauthorized experiment», she began calmly, not letting go of his hand. «If so, we should step in and end Konoha’s collaboration with that sadistic bastard once and for all».

«Sakura…»

«You’ve known for years how I feel about him, Kakashi, so don’t make that face», she retorted, exasperated. She had nearly twenty-five years of grudge against that being, in her soul, and the fact that he had helped the Alliance during the war had not erased her memory of the fear and pain of the attack on Konoha during her first chūnin exam, as well as anger at what Sasuke had become in three years spent in Orochimaru’s hands. So no, Sakura couldn’t accept the Sannin as a companion and ally and Kakashi knew it well (he was present at his fight with Tsunade about the matter after all). «But before we jump to conclusions that would be devastating for everyone in the Village – and although I’m dying to smash that… man in the face – I’d like to ask your permission to undergo a couple of fertility tests», Sakura continued. ignoring her husband’s grunt at the restrained insult to Orochimaru. That was not the right time to deal with old grudges and disagreements with her lovely husband and her shishō: their friend needed help and at that moment he had priority over everything. «I imagine it has been several decades since Tsunade-sama visited you, and our medical skills have greatly improved in the meantime».

«Okay», Tenzō said immediately, his voice flat.

But the woman shook her head.

«Wait to accept. One of the tests, the most thorough, is also very invasive». And she began to explain the procedure, which among other things involved inserting a long needle into the patient’s urethra. At the end of the explanation both men were pale and nauseated.

«Okay, I agree», the ANBU captain finally repeated, his voice a little weaker than his first, fervent consent. «When do you want to start?»

«The DNA test will be ready in a couple of days but if you agree we could start with the first fertility tests as early as tomorrow. I would leave the procedure we talked about only as a last resort, in case the test is positive and the previous analyses inconclusive or negative».

Tenzō nodded. It was evident that he felt the need to act and, unable to speed up the paternity test, was forced to fall back on what he could check.

«Can we start this evening already?» he asked in fact, and with a look in his eyes that broke Sakura’s heart. All she wanted right now was to punch someone, and Orochimaru was the first name that came to her mind. But she had to hold back, for her friend.

«All right. If you’re sure…»

«I’m sure», Tenzō said, his voice as hard as the expression on his face.

«Okay, give me a minute». And she went back to the kitchen where, after a moment of searching, she found a couple of airtight plastic containers she had bought when Megumi started eating solid foods. In theory they should have been used to prepare baby food at home and store them correctly, but Sakura had never found the time or the desire to do so and had always bought ready-made baby food.

Back in the living room after having taken a look at her children who had collapsed on the mat with Bisuke on guard, she passed one to Tenzō who looked at it questioningly. Sakura, trying to remain as professional as possible, asked: «Have you had sex in the past three or four days?» Tenzō shook his head, the blush blooming on his cheeks. «Good. Then we can proceed. You need to fill up the container. Of sperm».

«Fill it up?!»

Had it not been such a delicate moment, Sakura would have laughed at the shocked expression on the face of her former taichō.

«A sample will do. But I need everything, from the first to the last drop», she specified with a reassuring smile.

«Ah. I understand», the man stammered a little, his cheeks even redder, his eyes avoiding those of the kunoichi… maybe she had to work better on her reassuring expression, after all. «Do I… do I have to do it now? Here?»

«Tenzō!» Kakashi roared indignantly, almost making the child crouched on the sofa wake up.

This time Sakura couldn’t hold back a chuckle.

«Our presence will not be necessary», she assured him, ignoring her husband’s menacing eyes. «You can use the bathroom. Or do you think you need… ah, video material to give you… a hand in the matter?»

«Sakura!»

«What? This is a question I ask all my patients. Masturbating in a cup is not at all easy».

«Kami-sama, I don't want to hear», Kakashi muttered, hiding his face in his hands.

«The bathroom will be fine», said the other shinobi and flew out of the living room.

For a moment there was silence between husband and wife, a silence that was broken by the Rokudaime.

«Thank you».

«For what?»

«For having a plan», he began, going to crouch on the tatami in front of Sakura and take her hand, the mask now lowered to show his wonderful features. «For acting as a doctor, for keeping me from rushing to Orochimaru and killing him with my own hands, for taking matters into your hands, for distracting my friend, for giving him something he can control».

«I wanted to do more, give him an answer immediately…»

Kakashi shook his head, grey eyes two pits of sadness.

«When he got to the office earlier… You should have seen him, Sakura, he was shocked. I didn’t see that expression on his face since we were just kids».

Sakura sighed. He had known Tenzō for more than twenty years now, and after the war the respect she had felt for the man had slowly turned into a strong friendship. Seeing him in that state, feeling his anxiety, seeing the fear in those dark eyes usually always calm, had broken her heart. And she dared not imagine how Kakashi, who had known the man for much longer, felt.

«You know, part of me would like an excuse to go to Orochimaru and tear him apart», Sakura confessed as she stroked Kakashi’s unruly hair.

«I know», he sighed and leaned forward, wedging between her knees so that he could put his arms around her waist and rest his head in her lap.

They remained like this for a while, Kakashi hugging her while Sakura played with his hair, a reassuring silence that enveloped them.

After perhaps fifteen minutes, light footsteps roused them from that semi-numbness.

«I’m done», Tenzō announced from the doorway, his cheeks still very red (from embarrassment or excitement Sakura didn’t know).

Kakashi sat back on the sofa, the mask miraculously returned to its place to cover his face, and Sakura stood up, stretching her sore shoulders a little.

«Okay, give it to me so we can get it over with», she asked, reaching out her hand.

But Tenzō hugged the container as if it were the most precious thing he had, the redness that spread from cheeks to ears.

«May I… I’d rather keep it myself», he muttered, taking a half step back.

«I have to take it to the hospital and get tested within an hour».

«I come with you».

Sakura raised an eyebrow, slightly irritated (and if the situation hadn’t been so delicate she probably would have flung herself to the man and stolen the container without too many ceremonies).

«You know that sooner or later I’ll have to take it anyway, right?»

«Better later than sooner», Tenzō muttered, his eyes fixed on the ground as if the tatami in the living room were the best piece of art ever created by human hands.

A grunt behind her told her that Kakashi was holding back laughter. Understandable.

«Okay than, let’s go», Sakura finally gave in and turn to give her husband a light kiss on the cheek and then walk towards the door. «Men», she muttered in exasperation as she slipped her sandals into the genkan, well aware that Tenzō could hear the insult.

He had the decency not to answer and followed her to the entrance, Kakashi at his heels.

Sakura raised an eyebrow in the direction of the man who shrugged with a simple «I’ll come with you», and called Bull and Urushi back, entrusting them with the three sleeping children.

***

Tenzō, in a corner of the lab with Kakashi, watched Sakura work on his sample. And yes, it was awfully embarrassing. The whole situation had been embarrassing but on the one hand he was grateful because for a while it had distracted his mind from the thought of Orochimaru.

The thought that Kaede was an experiment terrified him as few other things had done in his life. He hadn’t even stopped to think about what it meant for him to have a son, taken as he was in terror of the prospect that that son was yet another experiment with human guinea pigs. And he knew he had to think about it, he had to decide what to do with the child… well, Tenzō had no idea how to raise a child. He wasn’t a father, and he didn’t have someone around to help him… No, he didn’t want to think about it, he couldn’t think about it, not until he got the test results. He realized it was a stupid decision, that he was behaving like a coward, but now in his mind there was only Orochimaru and the memories of his early life in the laboratory, immersed in that cylinder of hot liquid. There was no room for anything else. The only thing that apparently managed to live with the terror was embarrassment, and that mix was making him nauseous.

Sakura finally stopped looking at the microscope and got up, the folder on which she had written in the last half hour clutched in her hand.

«Then?» Tenzō asked, his mouth dry, fear swelling in his chest like a balloon and making it more difficult for him to breathe.

«Macroscopic analysis is pretty good», Sakura began, her eyes rolling over the notes she had taken. «Viscosity, colour, smell, it’s all in the parameters. The pH is a bit low but nothing to worry about. And the volume of ejaculation is definitely above the norm».

Tenzō felt the redness go down from his cheeks to his neck. He had always thought he would die on a mission, or to protect the Hokage, and instead fate had decided to make him die of embarrassment in a laboratory in Konoha. Ironic.

«As for the microscopic analysis, however, the motility is actually a bit weak but you have more than sixty million spermatozoa per ml and the morphology is pretty good. So my diagnosis is asthenozoospermia».

Tenzō didn’t know if it was embarrassment or anxiety but he didn’t understand much of what Sakura was saying.

«Which translated for those who are not doctors means…?» Kakashi intervened.

«To give you a definitive answer, I would have to repeat the exam in three months», Sakura replied, her eyes still fixed on the test results, her brow furrowed a little, as if she were trying to grab something that was missing. Then she finally looked up and smiled at Tenzō. «But no, you are not sterile. You do not have a very high fertility but not too far from normal; indeed, considering your age it is rather good».

«How is it possible?» he asked, his voice a little trembling, relief and terror mixed together. «Tsunade…»

«How old where you when she took the test?»

Tenzō thought for a moment, trying to recall that day.

«Nineteen. And a half», he added thinking that it might be useful for Sakura to be as accurate as possible.

He earned another smile.

«Have you repeated it? About three months later?»

The man nodded.

«Strange. Very strange. Unless…» Sakura broke off, a different expression on her face, as if she had solved some riddle. «Let me guess, the other time you didn’t ejaculate completely in the container».

Tenzō nodded again, a part of his mind already busy deciding how to put an end to his sufferings because maybe not even in a million years would he be able to look Kakashi and Sakura in the face again after that day.

«A large part of the spermatozoa is emitted at the beginning of ejaculation and if that fraction is not collected, the results are staggered», explained the kunoichi, distracting him from his thoughts.

And finally the embarrassment gave way to understanding.

«So I’m not sterile?» Tenzō asked quietly.

«I would say no».

«And… isn’t he an experiment of Orochimaru?»

Sakura’s smile grew warmer and her green eyes took on a sweet note.

«I can’t say that, at least not yet. DNA analysis could help, though», she began, her voice reassuring. «The only thing I can say is that the odds that three years ago you were fertile are very high. So yes, Kaede could be your natural child».

Tenzō’s heart began to beat faster, almost deafening him, and that horrible weight that had oppressed his chest since that morning suddenly melted.

It was a hand resting on his shoulder that awakened him and a bubble of gratitude swelled in his throat.

«So there might be a lot of little Tenzōs out there», Kakashi said, the smile evident in his voice.

«Senpai!» Tenzō yelled, glancing at Sakura who was trying hard to hold back her laughter. The man felt his cheeks flush again: he didn’t think he could blush so much, he had to admit it, but that afternoon he had proved him wrong. «I… I… I have always been careful!»

«Not enough, evidently», the Rokudaime teased him, his hand, still resting on his shoulder, radiated serenity and Tenzō couldn’t really get angry with his old friend. «And yet I thought I gave you a good speech when we were kids».

Here, perhaps he had to re-evaluate his choices in terms of friendship.

«Senpai!»

Tenzō felt the embarrassment mount again but this time he welcomed it with open arms because it was no longer entwined with terror but with relief.

«Thank you», he whispered, and the grip on his shoulder tightened and Sakura smiled at him and even the last fraction of anxiety dissolved.

Now he had to figure out how to deal with Kaede, how to be a parent to that child who had just lost his mother. It was something that terrified him but in a completely different way than Orochimaru’s thought. And he was comforted by the idea of having Kakashi and Sakura and his other friends around. And for the first time since the doorbell had rang that morning, Tenzō smiled.

#yamato #tenzo #kakasaku #kakashi is a good friend

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