16

Chapter 16: never learned to raise my hand, was too busy raising hellChapter Text

"Hurry up, Bakashi! Rin's already waiting up there for us! What if it starts before we even make it to the stands?" Obito huffs, bodily dragging Kakashi behind him as he marches purposefully up the stairs to the viewing platform, determination set on his face.

Kakashi sighs. For once, it seems like Obito is determined to make it on time. There were no old ladies stuck in trees or cats that needed help crossing streets or whatever to speak of. He has always suspected Obito has been chatting out of his ass this whole time; it's nice to finally get the confirmation. As always, Kakashi is right. Order is restored to the universe. Everyone can pack up and go home now.

He doesn't even get what the big deal is about this whole assessment. He'd only had Minato at his own jounin exam and that had already been pushing his limits even though Minato had needed to be there as the person who nominated Kakashi for the promotion in the first place. It's supposed to be an exam, not a spectacle.

Obito obviously disagrees. What Kakashi can't decide is whether this is because Obito wants to see a jounin exam in general or because he just wants to Namikaze Raijin in action. Honestly, it could just be both.

For all that Kakashi himself has only spoken to the man once, he hears an awful lot about Raijin. Obito seems to be prepared to launch into a lecture about the man's 'coolness', advise giving skills and sense of humour at any given moment, like it is something he rehearses every night before going to bed.

Minato isn't much better. He's less vocal about it because their sensei likes to pretend he can somehow maintain his dignity around them even after they've seen him walk into a tree on multiple separate occasions because he'd been too busy daydreaming about his seals or Kushina. But he always gets a dopey look on his face whenever someone so much as mentions his brother, his chakra going warm and fuzzy and expanding like hot summer air, becoming noticeable even without being directly in contact with their chakra.

Rin thinks it's hilarious. She's too polite to outright laugh at her teammates but her eyes take on that particular gleam in her eye and the corners of her mouth get pinched like she's barely biting back a smile. Most people don't believe that Rin is a meddler through and through, but Team 7 knows all too well. Rin likes being nosy involved and she likes laughing at her team and she likes them being happy. Raijin becoming somewhat of a fixture in their lives despite being a veritable stranger checks all those boxes for her.

It seems like Kakashi is the only one who doesn't know what to make of Raijin. Admittedly, he isn't really a fan of change—especially one that closely involves two of his most precious people. It puts him on edge that both Obito and Minato are so emotionally invested in this strange shinobi who seems to have dropped into their lives quite literally out of nowhere.

No matter how he thinks about it, it isn't smart to trust a stranger so much to the point of exposing such vulnerability to them. Obito looks up to Raijin as something of an older brother, and Kakashi gets that it'd be hard to not to do that consider Raijin literally saved Obito's life, but he doesn't think he's wrong to think that some caution is still warranted.

If not from Obito, then from Minato at least. It's not like he thinks Minato is stupid—far from it; Kakashi knows exactly how capable Minato is and just how shrewd the man can be. He has to have good reason to accept Raijin so easily into his life, especially in the middle of a war, but Kakashi can't help the part of him that stands on edge at the thought of what this shinobi could do to the people Kakashi loves and cares about.

Like it or not, Kakashi is a Hatake of the main line. He is literally genetically wired to be closer to his instincts than most other shinobi, and something about the man had set Kakashi on edge from the moment they met. There had been a certainty within him that there is more to Raijin than appears to the eye, raising the hairs on the back of his neck when their eyes had first met and Raijin had looked at Kakashi like he knew all there is to know and then some about him, all before Obito had even introduced them.

Something about the man is familiar. Like a dream that Kakashi can't remember anymore. There is a surety about him that shouldn't exist considering that Kakashi doesn't know him. It itches at the back of his mind but he can never seem to grasp what it is. Why he keeps feeling like he should recognise Raijin, should remember him from somewhere; should have some explanation for why the more instinctual part of his brain is convinced the man is safe and will keep Kakashi safe too.

It doesn't make sense. It is clear the blond wields a powerful charisma, and he does it well, too. Knowingly. Comfortably. People like that are people to be watched. They're easy to let your guard around and that makes them dangerous.

Kakashi feels discomfort in how he too wants to give in and trust Raijin when he still doesn't know the man. If no one else maintains a wariness for him until he has proven himself to be trustworthy, then Kakashi will—for the sake of the people he cares about.

Neither Obito nor Minato deserve to get their hearts broken, and Kakashi will make sure they don't.

"Yo, Bakakashi," Obito waves his hand in front of his face, snapping him out of his reverie, "quit being lame and zoning out. The exam is gonna start and you'll end up missing it."

Kakashi rolls his eye and shoves Obito's hand away. He crosses his arms and glares at the arena below them. "I didn't even want to be here in the first place," he grumbles.

Obito rolls his eye right back, making a face for good measure. "It's not like you were doing anything important anyway."

"Besides," Rin chimes in from Obito's other side, leaning out to smile disarmingly, "it's good for both of you to spend time together. The key to a happy life together and all that."

Letting out an absolutely scandalised gasp, Obito whirls around to gape at her. "Rin!" he shrieks, his voice reaching quite the impressive pitch for a teenage boy.

Entirely unrepentant, Rin only blinks at him with wide eyes and smiles with feigned bemusement, obviously rather pleased with herself.

Kakashi…doesn't get it. She has taken to making comments like that every now and then, and more often than not, it results in Obito getting a weird look on his face as he shoots shifty glances at Kakashi repeatedly. There's clearly some shared secret there that Obito wants to keep hidden from him in particular, and Kakashi tries to not care but it's starting to kind of get on his nerves to be honest.

He doesn't want to be on the outside anymore. He knows now that he can't afford to waste time acting like he isn't emotionally invested in the people he has grown to care for despite his best efforts. Kakashi doesn't want to feel like he's still the boy he used to be—the one that didn't know to appreciate what he had until his teammate was crushed under a pile of rocks and it was his fault.

Man, why can't things ever just be easy for once?

Kakashi sighs, feeling a lot older than just eleven-years-old.

"Oooo, he's here! He's here!" Obito points excitedly, leaning far against the railing to grin down at the arena where Raijin has just stepped up onto the platform.

Kakashi narrows his eye at the man as Raijin immediately catches sight of them thanks to Obito's enthusiastic flailing and shoots them a languid grin and wave. It's not just false bravado either. The line of his shoulders is at ease and the slant of his mouth is relaxed. This is a man who doesn't believe he has to worry about his performance.

According to Obito, there's some reason for that—apparently Raijin is only here so they can figure out if he'll make tokujo or full jounin. Either way, the man will walk out of here with a high rank by the end of testing period. Well, at least, Minato's only brother will not be disappointing the expectations the village no doubt already has for him.

Akimichi Chouza—the exam proctor—walks out onto the platform and clears his throat to bring them all to attention. "We will now be proceeding with the jounin exam for Raijin," he announces. Kakashi blinks at the lack of surname used. No Namikaze? "Konohagakure requires its jounin to display proficiency in a wide array of skills. Today's tests will include those for taijutsu, genjutsu, ninjutsu and a specialisation. Are you ready, Raijin-kun?"

Flashing the proctor a quicksilver smile, Raijin nods.

Chouza smiles and nods back. "Very well. The first round will be a demonstration of your taijutsu against Hyuuga Yoichi. You don't need to win; the judges will decide whether you pass or not depending on the level of proficiency you display."

Once Raijin gives his acknowledgement, Chouza takes a step back and waves Yoichi onto the platform.

"You will fight until one of you forfeits or is unable to continue any further. Killing and maiming are not permitted. Understood?"

Again, Chouza waits until both shinobi give their acknowledgement and then finally leaves the stage. In the space of a heartbeat, the match is called to start.

Even so, nothing happens at first. Both shinobi slip into their respective stances. The Hyuuga falls into the typical defensive ready stance of the Gentle Fist. Raijin lowers his own centre of gravity, arms coming up to defend his core. Both of them stay tense, eyeing the other with knife-like focus. Not unusual considering a Hyuuga is at play here. It's always a good idea to keep distance before the Gentle Fist can succeed and block off any of your tenketsu, rendering limbs useless for the rest of the fight.

Kakashi's gaze drifts over to the opposite side of the upper floor where the viewing box is for judges and nominators. The Hokage himself has made an appearance to come watch, an unusual occurrence for typical jounin exams. Really just drives home that nothing about Raijin's circumstances is ordinary to have such big players be invested in him. Minato watches his brother with sharp eyes, his face unreadable. Next to him, Jiraiya's face is split into a wide grin. Since they're the ones who officially nominated Raijin for this exam, his performance reflects directly on their judgement. Even so, neither of them looks particularly nervous. Jiraiya looks downright thrilled.

Kakashi rolls his eye. Everyone has gotten caught up with this new guy and straight up lost their damn minds as far as he's concerned.

Raijin, for his part, already seems to be done with trying to play defensively. All at once, he is moving, smoothly flowing into a crouched run and darting in close to try and take out his opponent's feet from under him, forcing Hyuuga Yoichi to leap back. Giving him no time to catch his bearings, Raijin closes the distance immediately and presses in close, lashing out hard and fast with a series of jabs and punches that force Yoichi to maintain his defence. As soon as Yoichi attempts a counterattack, Raijin is whirling into a roundhouse kick to force him back.

"His style is…" Obito trails off, unsure, leaning further out to get an unobstructed view. His sharingan is on, tomoe swirling lazily as he surveys the fight closely.

"It's a mess," Kakashi summarises blandly.

That's not to say that Raijin is bad by any means. In fact, he's good. He's fighting close quarters with a Gentle Fist user and successfully keeping his opponent on their back foot while he does it. What is strange about him is how much of a mishmash his personal style is.

It might be harder for Rin and Obito to pick up since they don't have as much experience fighting outside the village having only made chuunin recently, but Kakashi recognises some of Raijin's patterns and stances. Keeping his arms near his core in an Earth typical defence, using shin kicks to keep Yoichi at a distance like a Wind shinobi, the fast boxing style from Lightning, and the neatly flexible form of Konoha's own taijutsu style.

He has never seen anything like it before and Kakashi can't help but gape a little. Raijin deftly dodges Yoichi's palm strike, easily moving into a kick aimed at the Hyuuga's face as he flips away, using his hands to twist halfway through so when he stands back up, he can maintain his balance enough to immediately throw himself into a hard crosscut punch.

The patchwork of styles shouldn't make sense, but it does. It's like watching an optimal combination of speed, force and stamina. Raijin's fighting isn't graceful like Minato, Jiraiya or even Gai. It's brash and quick and meant to force a path through where there is none. But it's effective and there is next to no wasted movement. Anything that isn't necessary has been completely stripped away and what is left behind has been taken and twisted into something incredibly efficient.

Now, Kakashi isn't a taijutsu specialist or master himself, but if he had to guess, he'd say that Raijin used Konoha's taijutsu katas as a basis. They might have been the first ones he learnt so he has just built his other skills on top, or it could be that Konoha's style is simply the one that provides the most stable foundation to support the insane column of his other styles.

Either way, it's new and unpredictable. To his credit, Yoichi does a good job reacting to it, lending credit to his own skill. He's unable to land too many effective hits but he also doesn't take too much damage himself. The problem for him lies in that he can't get in close for long enough to close Raijin's tenketsu points which drags the fight out. It puts Gentle Fist at a disadvantage if it can't serve its primary purpose.

The whole thing might very well come down to who can hold out for longer.

And, initially, Kakashi bets against Raijin. It seems logical at first when considering how much moving around the blond has to do to always dance out of Yoichi's reach. But then as the minutes pass by, Yoichi starts making attacks that stay closer to himself and Raijin still doesn't appear to have even broken a sweat. His hits lose no force or speed, his feet never stop moving, and he continues to lead Yoichi around the stage like he has all day to spare.

"He fights like Kushina-san," Rin comments quietly, her eyes slightly narrowed in thought.

She's right. Kushina favours a strategy that involves simply tiring her opponents out since her stamina is entirely unrivalled by virtue of her large charka reserves. She wins most pure taijutsu spars because there's no way to physically outlast her and she's good enough that only skilled opponents have the technique to take her down successfully.

Looking at Raijin, Kakashi can see where Rin caught the similarities. There's a grin on the man's face that speaks of familiarity; he is relaxed because he probably predicted this. It's not like he and Yoichi have been waiting in stillness all this time. He has consistently kept the other man moving at a relentless pace with his flurry of attacks, and Raijin is skilled enough that simply responding to him without missing a beat is a difficult and draining task.

All this time, he has been edging Yoichi towards exhaustion, waiting and watching for the first sign of the man getting tired enough to make a decisive move.

And it finally comes. Being tired means slower response time and a higher likelihood of simply missing things. It isn't easy to watch everything your opponent is doing and everything they're gearing up to do to follow up. The constant awareness is a hard thing to maintain even with the aid of a byakugan, and at last, Yoichi trips up.

Raijin feints with a left hook that the other man shifts to block, leaving his flank wide open. Without missing a beat, Raijin lowers himself and plants his fist in Yoichi's gut, visibly knocking the wind out of the man. He doesn't wait any longer, following up immediately to target the same spot he just hit again, putting enough strength behind each punch that he lifts Yoichi clean off his feet with each strike.

Yoichi doesn't even make it back to the ground before he's being thrown back from a direct kick to the face. The Hyuuga scrambles to prevent a static fall, throwing himself into a backward roll so he can come up standing. Good thing he does because Raijin is on him again within a second, merciless in exploiting every ounce of damage he has dealt since the beginning of the fight, specifically going after the spots he knows he has weakened.

Breath caught in his throat, Kakashi can't help but lean forwards as he watches Raijin spin into a high kick, his foot catching the side of Yoichi's head and hurling the man straight into the ground.

The entire arena watches, waiting for what both the men will do next. But Yoichi stays down, form crumpled in a heap, and it becomes clear that the man has been effectively knocked out by that final clip in the head.

Chouza approaches the platform, crouching down briefly to make sure the Hyuuga is in fact still alive before turning to address the audience. "Yoichi-kun is rendered unable to continue. Raijin-kun wins the taijutsu round."

"Hell yeah!" Obito whoops, pumping his fist through the air.

Kakashi cringes. This is why he hadn't allowed his teammates to come see his own exam. They'd have made a ruckus in their support of him and Kakashi would have probably ended up using an earth jutsu to become a permanent smudge on the ground.

Raijin doesn't appear to be embarrassed in the least though. The man simply spins around to flash them a smile and a V-sign, winking at Obito with laughter in the lines of his face.

"That was fun," Rin declares around a grin, looking satisfied with how the fight turned out.

"They'll do ninjutsu next, yeah?" Obito asks, directing his question to Kakashi.

Kakashi shakes his head. "They'll test how he holds up against genjutsu first. Then there's three ninjutsu matches. You're required to win at least one and do reasonably well in the others. They'll probably break for the day after the specialty skills round."

Gaping, Obito shudders. "That's so convoluted. Why are there so many tests?"

"They can't just let anyone become jounin," Kakashi points out. "Plenty of people never make it."

"Well, at least Raijin-san seems to be off to a good start," Rin offers.

Obito nods in enthusiastic agreement. "And ninjutsu is his main thing apparently," he chimes in. "He won against the jounin who did his preliminary test, you know."

"So he's probably set for those too." Rin hums idly, turning to Kakashi. "What did you do for your specialty round, Kakashi-kun?"

"I had a spar with my tanto," he answers. "You're supposed to show proficiency in some weapon other than kunai and shuriken, or have a specialisation in T&I or something."

Obito tilts his head. "I wonder what Minato-sensei did."

Rin shrugs. "Fuuinjutsu maybe?" she suggests.

Frowning, Kakashi shakes his head. "I'm not sure if he was good enough back then actually. There aren't many seal masters around anymore, so I don't really know what the required qualification is."

"Either way, Raijin-san is almost definitely going to use sealing as his specialty," Obito interjects. "Think it'll be another spar? That has to be rough."

Rin winces and nods in sympathy. "We'll just have to wait and see."

By the time it all comes to an end, Raijin kind of just wants to make like Shikamaru and go find some nice grassy hill to curl up and take a nap on.

The jounin exams are literally so complicated for what.

At least he doesn't have to bother worrying about his results. Everyone in the arena had known even before the second day of testing ended. Raijin had won his taijutsu match, annoyed the hell out of the Uchiha shinobi who couldn't keep him in a genjutsu for the life of him, breezed through all three of his ninjutsu matches, and then nearly blown up the whole arena during his fuuinjutsu specialty spar.

Using seals in battle is still a work in progress, honestly, but at least Raijin had gotten to have fun with the challenge. He could have demonstrated his proficiency even by sitting down and peacefully drawing out seals for other purposes but that wouldn't be fun for anyone. This way, everyone got to enjoy a spectacle.

Except for the poor kunoichi he almost exploded on accident. She probably didn't appreciate that. Oops.

The glorified game of tag in the woods had been fun too. Raijin had been tasked with hunting at least six out of twelve scrolls hidden throughout the Forest of Death. That included scrolls attached to shinobi of various ranks who actively moved around to make it hard for him to track down. The idea was to prove his trapping, tracking, and intelligence gathering skills. Admittedly, he'd maybe had a bit too much fun with unleashing his…creativity in that one.

He's pretty sure at least one genin has been irreversibly traumatised. ANBU's Jackal will probably never be able to stomach the sight of confetti ever again either.

But it's not like that's his problem.

Raijin just did as asked and went above and beyond to deliver. He has jounin in the bag.

Until he doesn't.

"You don't exactly have mission records," Hiruzen explains, looking amused by the uncomprehending way Raijin blinks at him. "You've proven that your skills are undeniable but we have no precedent for what kind of missions best suit you. The quality of your performance, how you behave on a team, and how you respond to leading on the field—these are all important factors in deciding what kind of missions you can be assigned to going forward."

Okay. That…makes sense, unfortunately.

Sighing, Raijin scratches at his cheek. "Well, how are you planning on finding all that out without sending me on missions?"

"I will be sending you on missions," Hiruzen corrects with a shake of his head. "You are being assigned a jounin supervisor who will accompany you on each mission. If needed, he will intervene, but his primary task is simply to observe you."

That also makes sense. Raijin nods slowly. "Okay. What kind of missions?"

Hiruzen puffs out a breath through his pipe, the scent of tobacco wafting over and burning in Raijin's nostrils. "We'll start with solo B-ranks. Depending on how you do in all your missons, I'll see about testing you with a S-rank at the end. Once you have at least fifteen missions under your belt, you will have your official rank as a full jounin of Konohagakure."

Raijin hums. He knows that it's essential for him to assimilate as a functional member of the village—not just for the sake of his mission but also for his future beyond that. He needs to have purpose after he has finished securing the future; needs a source of income, friends, family, and a home.

But he can't say he's looking forward to completing high ranking missions for a village at war. Not after being a part of the shinobi alliance and fighting alongside people from every country, getting to know their stories and learning from them. It won't be easy to turn back from all that and start fighting solely for Konoha's sake again—not when it includes actively dealing heavy damage to people who had been his allies and friends. People who fought and died for him.

Sage, what a mess.

If he's lucky, he'll get away with manning outposts and running carrier missions. Maybe even rescue and retrievals.

Realistically, though, he knows what he'd do if he was in Hiruzen's shoes with a shinobi of Raijin's calibre before him. He knows he's practically a textbook frontline fighter what with him being a ninjutsu powerhouse. To put him anywhere else would be to waste manpower.

Raijin will most likely not be getting lucky.

He purses his lips. Compartmentalise and deal with it later. There's no time right now; not until he has figured out what to do about ROOT and the Uchiha problem.

"Who are you going to assign as my supervisor?" he asks tentatively. He's hoping it'll be someone he doesn't know. No sudden attacks of emotions to worry about that way.

Except that it seems like Hiruzen has it out for him for some reason because the next words that come out of his mouth immediately have Raijin considering the benefits of fucking right off to some glacier in Land of Snow.

"Nara Shikaku," the old man says as if he isn't actively making life difficult for Raijin. "I believe you're already familiar with him."

There's laughter in his eyes as he says this. Like it's an inside joke. Like Raijin shouldn't be trying to figure out how he's going to fake another identity to infiltrate the village again once this whole farce falls apart.

Because there's one person who could see through all of Raijin's bullshit to figure out exactly what didn't add up about the fake parts of his persona and that is one Nara Shikaku. Future jounin commander; current Nara clan head; part-time nosy snoop; full-time genius; all round pain in the ass.

"He will be the one to accompany you on your missions and report back to me," Hiruzen says.

Nice. Because clearly fate itself hates him in a deeply perverse way, Shikaku will literally be getting paid to watch and pick him apart. The only way this could get worse is if Kaguya herself decides to drop the fucking moon on his head right now.

"Ah, he's here now. I can introduce the both of you," Hiruzen carries on pleasantly. Raijin suddenly has the insane urge to stick the old man's head right through his stupid hat for retribution. He finally gets what Sasuke's whole deal was with revenge.

Behind him, the door opens and clicks shut.

Hiruzen spreads his hands, smiling at both his shinobi. "Nara-dono, this is Raijin-kun. You will be accompanying him on his missions to judge how he will fit in with the rest of the jounin corps. Raijin-kun, as you know, Nara-dono will be your assigned supervisor."

When Raijin finally turns to look at Shikamaru's dad, the Nara is already staring dead-eyed at him.

"Ugh," Shikaku says with absolutely no preamble.

Raijin's mouth clicks shut. Honestly, he's kind of offended. What the fuck?

At least, Hiruzen looks just as startled.

Shikaku only sighs deeply. "You're going to be troublesome," he states. "I can already tell."

And, well, Raijin can't really say anything to that. He cringes, unable to deny it because it's not like Shikaku's wrong. Raijin could admit to that even if he hadn't been told as much by Shikamaru in his own timeline. Several times, in fact. Like, thrice before breakfast on a normal day.

As rhough he can already sense this, Shikaku sighs again and shakes his head.

Great. So they'll just be miserable together for the next fifteen missions or whatever. Bonding!

Raijin is absolutely going to break into Hiruzen's house at the earliest opportunity and glue the old man's furniture to the ceiling for this. He's going to take Sasuke's moniker as The Revenger.

'I will have retribution,' he swears solemnly.

'Shut up,' Kurama thinks back at him, disgruntled.

'Vengeance!'

'Shut up!'