Blindsided and beaten, Kakashi could only pin the blame on Obito.
Unfortunately, his ordeal wasn't over. Uchiha Sogetsu came on with a stride that recognized no kin, voice cool: "Is this all the White Fang's son amounts to?"
"Shut up!"
Kakashi swallowed blood and stared him down, eyes red. "You don't understand anything!"
Thud.
A heavy, chambered punch slammed into his gut. Ribs cracked—seven, maybe eight. Blood sprayed from Kakashi's lips as Sogetsu grabbed him by the hair, pivoted, and flung him across the floor.
Kakashi tumbled a dozen meters, only to be ground underfoot. His cheek mashed into the dirt until half his face felt buried.
"Kakashi, your father died to protect you."
Sogetsu's heel pinned his skull; he looked down at the rage-twisted boy and enunciated each word. "If White Fang saw you now—hiding at home, lashing out blindly—he'd be even more disappointed."
"Don't you dare say that man's name!"
Kakashi nearly cracked a molar, hatred burning in his eyes. "You don't get it. He broke the shinobi code. He deserved it!"
Through Spirit Sight, Sogetsu saw his mind a snarl of pain. He pressed, weaving suggestion through his words. "Rules exist for those who won't survive without them."
"You talk so big—what about you?" Kakashi shot back, feral. "Aren't you living by rules?"
His father's lonely silhouette flashed up again. The door. The floor. The blood.
"That man—the White Fang—wasn't he a strong shinobi?" Kakashi roared, wrenching free in a burst of strength. He rolled, snatched the short blade with his left hand. "If that's true, why did he die? Answer me!"
"In the shinobi world, rules are iron."
"A shinobi who can't complete a mission is trash—should… should be discarded!"
He swung the blade wildly, tears spilling, a porcupine of hopeless spikes stabbing at anything near.
That mess of motion couldn't touch Sogetsu. He tightened his fist and drove it into Kakashi's face.
Boom.
Kakashi hit the wall and slid down. The knife clattered away. His eyes lost focus, staring at nothing, emotions scrubbed blank.
Sogetsu walked up, crouched, and looked him in the eye. "Calmed down?"
"They say… my father was trash. That he cost the village dearly."
Kakashi bowed his head; tears fell, one by one. All that he'd held down finally broke loose. His voice shook. "Tell me—was my father wrong? Were they right? Is a shinobi who fails a mission really just… trash?"
"Don't bother with the noise of failures," Sogetsu said, gentling his tone and running a hand through the boy's hair. "The strong don't say what the world is. They say what the world should be."
"The strong… say what the world should be…"
Color crept back into Kakashi's eyes. He mouthed the words, something in him catching light like sun spearing gray cloud.
"White Fang died for one reason: he wasn't strong enough."
A slow whirl opened in Sogetsu's pupils—black tomoe turning like eddies in a deep lake.
"White Fang… wasn't strong enough…"
Kakashi's gaze went glassy. His muscles loosened. The mind's guardrails dipped; awareness thinned. Sogetsu led him step by step into a light trance. His words would sink like brands into the softer clay beneath consciousness.
Crude, yes—stable, even more so.
At Rank VI he couldn't push to lethal extremes or force betrayals of ironclad taboos, but he could steer a hurting heart.
"White Fang's death fills you with anger," Sogetsu murmured. "You've begun to doubt the rules you once worshipped. You question whether your father's sacrifice was worth it. You suspect the rumors were fanned on purpose—wonder if his teammate's 'betrayal' was a deliberate trap."
"You also know you're still weak. Even if you know, you can't change it. You can't avenge him."
"So—you'll bury your hatred deep."
"You believe Uchiha Sogetsu is right. The weak have no say in the world, and no power to change it. So you will become strong."
"Uchiha Sogetsu helped you see the truth and find the right path. He is your guide—and your goal."
"You will trust him without reservation, Kakashi."
That warm voice dovetailed with the shape of Kakashi's own thoughts, and the heart accepted it like sliding into a hot spring. Agreement rose, unbidden. The words felt… like his.
"Remember all of this as your subconscious reflection," Sogetsu finished softly. "When you wake, forget that I spoke to you, forget any odd behavior you showed. Deep down, grow attached to Uchiha Sogetsu, and accept his creed."
He snapped his fingers.
Click.
Focus flowed back into Kakashi's eyes. A fierce, clean assent surged up inside him—alongside a hard, hot anger for those who'd driven his father to death.
"You're right. My father wasn't wrong—the world is. I won't let him die for nothing. I'll get strong—as strong as you said."
He pressed the anger down and let cool resolve rise to the surface. "Thank you, Uchiha Sogetsu. Your words showed me this world."
"No thanks needed." Sogetsu watched his reactions settle and, satisfied the suggestions had taken, smiled. "Treatment's done. I'll take my leave."
"Thank you for your time, Mr. Sogetsu," Kakashi said, polite and steady. "I look forward to meeting you again."
"Consultation fee: one hundred thousand ryō." Sogetsu held out a hand, easy. Hypnosis was hypnosis—hazard pay still applied.
—
The next day, Team Minato came to visit after hearing Kakashi was "cured."
The moment Obito and Rin pushed open the door, they both froze.
Who… is that?
The face swollen like a boar's head, the body wrapped in bandages head to toe—was that Kakashi?
Even Minato, paragon of calm, felt his bright smile crack.
Yesterday's scene replayed behind his eyes.
"It took some work, but the outcome's good," Sogetsu had said then, offering a thumbs-up. "Kakashi's out of the shadow. Don't worry."
That's… how a therapist does it?
Rough methods indeed. But the results were hard to argue with.
Minato Namikaze had his doubts—deep ones.
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