Fanfic / What You Knead (Naruto)

Kakashi hadn't exactly intended to pick up The Art and Science of Bread. He just wasn't paying attention to which books he was grabbing, needing to read something to get his mind off of yet another mission gone sour. And he certainly hadn't thought he was going to put the cookbook to good use.

But with his injuries keeping him off the fields of battle and training alike, he had to pass his time somehow... and baking couldn't be that hard, right? And when his first effort turns out less than ideal, he realizes that that's okay. He screwed up, and nobody died for once.

Huh. How about that?

So begins AgentMalkere's What You Knead, a Naruto Fan Fic that explores a world where Kakashi accidentally picks up a healthy coping mechanism by getting into cooking, resulting in some pretty major changes as he reassesses his life and what he wants out of it. Naturally, this in turn impacts those around him, especially as he reaches out to their resident jinchuuriki and becomes a major figure in Naruto's life long before the boy graduates...

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This fanfic includes examples of:

• Adaptational Badass: Kakashi being a better teacher allows Team 7 to be better ninjas by the time they do the Wave Country mission.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Jiraiya's faults are laid bare a lot more plainly than they are in canon, particularly his tendency to run away from his problems. Kakashi's decision to switch to reserves causes Jiraiya to call him a coward, leading Kakashi to point out his hypocrisy. Jiraiya ends up coming across as incredibly irresponsible at best and an outright bully at worst, at least whenever he interacts with Kakashi.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • Kakashi's willingness to reach out to Naruto early in his childhood as a secret guardian leads to Naruto viewing Kakashi as a cool Big Brother Mentor figure, as opposed to the friendly but still comparatively more distant student-teacher relationship they have in canon.
  • Sakura goes from actively disliking Naruto at the beginning of their careers to being neutral towards him. This is made apparent when she declares her dislike to be Ino-pig instead of Naruto.
  • Sakura starts out just as crazy over Sasuke as she was in canon, but Sasuke endangering her during the bell test leads to her opinion of him quickly souring. Sakura is willing to forgive him afterwards, but it's clear that Sasuke has a long way to go to quell Inner Sakura's anger towards him.
  • Team 7's dynamics are overall healthier than they were in canon due to Kakashi helping address the issues his students have due to he himself being in a better headspace.
• And Then What?: When Kakashi casually asks Sasuke what he intends to do after murdering Itachi, Sasuke has no answer.
• Anger Montage: When Orochimaru learns Jiraiya managed to lift the Cursed Seal he placed on Sasuke, he becomes furious and destroys parts of his lab in a rage.
• An Arm and a Leg: Haku loses his left arm to Kakashi's Chidori when he jumps between him and Zabuza.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • Kakashi's minor Freak Out over not knowing how to handle children gets stymied by Iruka gently asking him one:
    Iruka: Kakashi... you've been basically tutoring Naruto for nearly five years now. What did you think you were doing if not teaching him?
  • Sasuke gets one against the manifestation of his younger self, responding to their assertion that they don't have to be afraid anymore due to the power granted by the cursed seal with "Then why are you still terrified?", citing how he's hiding alone in the darkness for all his claims of not being afraid.
  • Hinata is staggered when Lee frankly asks her "Do you love the Gentle Fist style?", suggesting that she needs to pursue something she's passionate about learning rather than focusing on something out of obligation.
• Armor-Piercing Response:
  • When Hiruzen protests that Kakashi can't simply retire, Kakashi reminds him of just how long he's served and that he'd like to learn how to be a person before it's too late. This convinces the Sandaime to let him become part of the reserves.
  • Jiraiya's attempt to call Kakashi out for retiring gets turned against him with one:
    Jiraiya: You have a duty to Konoha. What would Minato say?
    Kakashi: I think he'd say, 'Why is my ten year old son living in an apartment by himself, sensei, instead of with his godfather?'
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: Sasuke finds himself in a verbal variation when facing the cursed seal's influence.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Slight variation; when Kakashi asks Kurenai to help Sakura train her genjutsu weaving, she agrees in part because they took flowers to Hinata after her preliminary match.
• Broken Ace: Kakashi starts out as one, being a skilled ninja with a Death Seeker streak due to Survivor Guilt and blaming himself for losing nearly all of his friends, loved ones, and teammates. Part of the reason he enjoys baking so much is because he's not naturally skilled at it, and has to gradually learn the ropes... along with learning that not every mistake has horrific consequences.
• Broken Pedestal: Sakura's idolization of Sasuke effectively ends during the bell test, with Inner Sakura outright despising him for how he put her at risk.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Discussed; the more powerful and high-ranking shinobi Team Seven meet, the more they recognize the tendency of those shinobi to have various quirks. After getting introduced to Jiraiya, Naruto openly wonders "Just how eccentric am I going to have to be to become Hokage?"
• Cathartic Chores: The very premise of the story is that Kakashi finds a healthy outlet for his issues by taking up baking.
• Chef of Iron: Kakashi becomes one of the semi-Retired Badass variety.
• Chekhov's Classroom: Kakashi instructs Sasuke on a lesson he learned from Shisui about using things learned via Sharingan, known as the "Can-May-Should" rule^* Are you physically capable of doing it? If it's an ally's ability, do you have permission to use it? And finally, is it a good idea to use it?. After getting the cursed seal, he realizes it very much violates the last part of the rule which helps him resist.
• Chekhov's Boomerang: Sasuke's inability to reliably turn off his Sharingan helps him catch that Kakashi's condition is worsening during their trip back to Konoha. Later on, more of the 'pointless moments' he'd accidentally memorized comes into play when he's fighting the cursed seal's influence as a crucial counterargument to his younger self's claims that anger is all he needs.
• Child Soldiers: Tazuna gets forcibly reminded of both sides of this trope. Kakashi has the team debate the merits of shuriken versus kunai to remind the man that the "brats" he's badmouthing could easily kill him. Then Kakashi's Post-Victory Collapse and Naruto's resulting panic reminds the bridge builder that they're children with loved ones of their own.
• Close to Home: Naruto reacts poorly to Orochimaru relaying to Sasuke that Itachi considered his brother useless, because he knows how much that hurts. This causes him to lash out against Orochimaru on Sasuke's behalf and he gets taken out of the battle for his trouble.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: As Kakashi notes when upbraiding Tazuna, if the bridgemaker had simply been honest about his village's situation, the Hokage would have been willing to waive part of the fee until after the mission was completed. His decision to lie instead meant he was saddled with an inexperienced genin team and an utterly furious jounin who makes clear that he has no qualms with potentially leaving him for dead.
• Could Say It, But...:
  • Kakashi uses this to confirm to Team Seven their suspicions about Naruto's parentage, as well as hinting that the only reason he isn't telling them directly is because of the Sandaime's orders.
  • Similarly, when they're looking for hints about how to deal with the second part of the Chuunin Exams, he declares that he can't give them any, and that he 'definitely wouldn't recommend to pack the way you would have if you'd known about Zabuza and Haku in advance.'
• Crossing the Burnt Bridge: After getting over her crush on Sasuke, Sakura elects to make amends with her estranged former best friend Ino.
• Death Seeker: Kakashi outright calls his fourteen-year-old self "suicidal" due to his Survivor's Guilt. Taking up baking helps him overcome this.
• Didn't See That Coming: Orochimaru's Plan A for taking Sasuke, placing a Cursed Seal on him that preys on his anger that would compel him to come to Orochimaru fails because of two things he could not predict: Jiraiya, who could help break the seals, being in Konoha at the time, and Sasuke through his interactions with Team 7 learning there's more to life than his desire for revenge which his Sharingan helps him remember while under the effects of the Seal, making the Cursed Seal weaker than otherwise, which were more recent developments.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • A mild example occurs when Sasuke talks about killing Itachi. Kakashi remarks he'll have to get in line as Shisui was rather popular within ANBU, causing Sasuke to realize that more people lost someone to Itachi than just him.
  • Tazuna deliberately misrepresents his village's situation in order to keep the cost down. He fails to consider that You Get What You Pay For, and the seemingly low-risk mission would be given to an inexperienced team... or that the deception's exposure would destroy his credibility and leave Kakashi ill-inclined to help. To say nothing of his antagonizing, insulting and berating the people who are supposed to be protecting him.
  • Gato fires Zabuza and then takes it a step further by insulting his companion Haku without considering the fact that none of the remaining ninja on his payroll are capable of stopping him if he reacts violently. Sure enough, Zabuza reacts violently and Gato pays for it with his life.
  • Naruto's and Sasuke's first attempt at a Combination Attack results in a massive fireball that burns down most of the training ground and nearly kills them. In their defense, they had no idea the attack was going to loop back around on them.
  • Played for Laughs when Kakashi offers his students the opportunity to decide whether or not to enter the summer Chuunin Exams, aiming to treat them as adults. He laments doing this after they opt in, realizing too late just how stressful it will be to let them go.
  • Played for Laughs when Kakashi points out to Jiraiya that while Minato may forgive him for how long it took for him to actually attempt to build any kind of relationship with his godson, Kushina will likely kick his ass once he reaches the afterlife. Jiraiya outright admits that he hadn't considered that aspect.
  • As part of their ongoing debate as to whether shuriken, kunai, or senbon are superior, Team 7 makes a bet where they have to eat lunch using their weapons of choice as utensils. Naruto spears his food without much difficulty on a kunai while Sakura uses senbon as chopsticks. Sasuke finds himself struggling to eat anything using a shuriken.
• Dramatic Irony: Had Zabuza merely waited a few hours, he could have killed Tazuna with ease once Team 7 left. Due to Tazuna lying about the mission, they were only staying with him until Kakashi was recovered enough to travel.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: While others poke fun at Kakashi's culinary exploits (and blunders), Jiraiya is particularly derisive and scornful, questioning his decision to retire and start a bakery when he has no natural talent for baking. What he doesn't recognize is that for Kakashi, the ability to fail without serious consequences is part of the point, and key to what makes baking such an effective outlet for him. The inverse of this is Gai, who immediately recognizes that his Eternal Rival needs the bakery as a means to emotionally heal and is fully onboard with Kakashi's plans, even when Kakashi himself is reluctant to identify his own motivations as such.
• Driven to Suicide: Played with. When Sparrow blames Kakashi for not noticing anything off about Itachi and brings up his "Friend-Killer" nickname, Kakashi is not quite driven to the edge, but he gets close enough that he better understands the headspace his father was in when he committed suicide.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Despite serving Konoha as a loyal ninja from the tender age of five, Kakashi still gets the moniker of 'Friend-Killer Kakashi' thrown in his face when Sparrow blames him for Itachi slaughtering the Uchiha. This spurs him to reevaluate his priorities and leave ANBU behind.
• Epic Fail: Kakashi's first few attempts at baking go hilariously wrong, partially because he doesn't even have the proper cookware to make bread.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Iruka enters the story when he bangs on Kakashi's apartment door to "make sure you'd set your apartment on fire on purpose rather than by accident." Followed by helping him figure out what went wrong and offering his assistance in making his first pork buns.
  • Jiraiya waltzes into the Ryouken Bakery two years after Kakashi's retirement and promptly starts harassing him for daring to do so, only to retreat after having his hypocrisies thrown back in his face.
• "Eureka!" Moment: During the second of the Chuunin exams, Naruto realises they don't need to fight the other teams to steal their scroll. They could sneakily steal from another team, which, as Naruto says, is closer to what shinobi should be doing.
• Exact Eavesdropping: When Kakashi threatens to give Jiraiya a poor introduction to Naruto if he doesn't stop insulting his cooking abilities, Naruto arrives just in time to overhear the example he gives.
• Exact Words: Invoked by Kakashi when Hiruzen reactivates him:
  Kakashi: Forgive me, Hokage-same, but I believe your exact words were 'in the event of a serious threat to the village', and I don't understand how one maladjusted twelve year old constitutes a serious threat to the village.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: At her teacher's urging, Sakura starts wearing her hair up in a bun after the bell test. She later adds a lacy semi-cover to it at Haku's suggestion, followed by some senbon as hairpins.
• Fatal Flaw: Jiraiya is Prideful, impulsive and perverted, and tends to run away from his problems and regrets rather than face them head-on, naturally creating further regrets.
• Foil:
  • Jiraiya reflects the path Kakashi avoided taking; namely that of continuing to avoid dealing with his regrets and remaining mired in the past. Kakashi's annoyance with the ero-sannin has undertones of I Hate Past Me, heightened by how Jiraiya remains reluctant to own up to his mistakes.
  • Hiruzen himself Lampshades the parallels between Kakashi and Sasuke when convincing him to take him on as one of his students.
    Hiruzen: If ever there was an ideal role model for a young man who has lost everything and is subsequently drowning himself in darkness because he doesn't know a better way, I think it would be you.
  • Both Tazuna and Gato are incredibly disrespectful towards the ninja they hired to protect themselves, caring more about money than the people involved. Tazuna gets better about this once the implications of hiring children and putting them In Harm's Way fully dawns upon him; Gato remains a cocky Jerkass who only cares about himself to the end.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Played With; while Sakura forgave Sasuke for endangering her during the bell test, Inner Sakura remains utterly furious with him.
• Four Is Death: When drawing lots to determine who will be matched up for the last stage of the Chuunin Exams, Sakura gets number four, pitting her against Gaara of the Sand.
• The Gadfly:
  • Kakashi takes to leaving his failed bread loaves around ANBU headquarters just to screw with the others, causing them to declare the bread cursed and that they're being haunted by the spirit of a baker.
  • As one of the few who know where the "cursed bread" comes from, Tenzo takes a great deal of pleasure in eating it in front of the other ANBU, even leaving it around the way Kakashi used to do. Before he took this up, Shisui had done this as well, and after the Uchiha Massacre and Kakashi's retirement, Tenzo picked up the torch.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Sakura slaps Sasuke to keep him from attacking Tazuna over Kakashi's injuries.
• Glad He's On Our Side: When Sakura gets better and more terrifying with genjutsus, Naruto remarks he's glad she's on his side.
• Glad I Thought of It: In a variation, Sakura gives Sasuke full credit for how he adapts Naruto's plan for dealing with the bell test, without acknowledging how Naruto came up with the idea in the first place.
• Go for the Eye: Team Seven uses this tactic to take down one of Orochimaru's snakes in the Forest of Death.
• Godzilla Threshold: When Team Seven find themselves facing the disguised Orochimaru, Sakura shocks them by invoking 'Training Field 16', referring to the area Naruto and Sasuke nearly torched with their nascent Combination Attack.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Kakashi enters one briefly during the climactic battle on the bridge after hitting Haku with his Chidori.
  • Sasuke goes into one in the Forest of Death after snapping Zaku's arms.
• His Story Repeats Itself:
  • Sparrow's spiteful accusation that Kakashi was responsible for Itachi's Face–Heel Turn reminds Kakashi of how his father was Driven to Suicide by similar treatment. Rather than mutely accepting the blame, he decides enough is enough and retires from active service.
  • During their mission in Wave, Kakashi is brutally reminded of how Rin died at his hands when Haku leaps in to shield Zabuza. This time around, he reacts faster and is able to avoid punching his Chidori through Haku's chest, though it still costs Haku his left arm.
  • After Neji nearly murders Hinata, Sasuke hallucinates an image of Itachi standing behind him, wondering if the Hyuuga realize they're raising a potential clan-killer.
• Hope Bringer: Naruto's love of Rousing Speeches makes him one for Tazuna's whole village.
• Hypocrite: Jiraiya criticizes Kakashi's decision to retire from active duty, trying to guilt-trip him by invoking Minato's name. He then implies Kakashi has no room to criticize how he abandoned his own responsibilities, only to find out the younger ninja has actually built a bond with Naruto over time, unlike himself.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • The Uchiha Massacre still happens, leading to some severe Mood Whiplash when Kakashi returns from a mission to learn what occurred in his absence.
  • Naruto still learns the Kage Bunshin technique; in this case, Kakashi teaches him directly.
  • Kakashi still ends up as Team Seven's genin instructor, thanks in no small part to Hiruzen casually exploiting his bond with Naruto and adding a heaping helping of emotional blackmail.
  • Mizuki is still caught out as a traitor in spite of the initial events leading up to the discovery not happening due to Sakura accidentally finding evidence of his treachery while on a D-Rank mission.
  • Though it takes him a moment, Zabuza still recognizes Kakashi from his older entries in past Bingo Books.
  • Team 7 still fights Zabuza and Haku on the bridge, even though they weren't actually there to protect Tazuna.
  • Orochimaru still attacks Team Seven in the Forest of Death, and bites the cursed seal into Sasuke's shoulder.
  • Sakura still fights Ino for her preliminary match; Naruto still fights Kiba, Neji still fights Hinata, and Lee still fights Gaara.
• Innocently Insensitive: Sakura unintentionally hurts her teammates by complaining about her parents, not thinking about the fact that she's the only person on the team who isn't an orphan.
• Instant Expert:
  • Inverted as a plot point. Kakashi has no natural talent for baking, and that's what endears it to him. He can fail any given individual attempt and it lacks serious consequence, unlike his failures as a ninja.
  • Deconstructed. Kakashi instantly getting how a ninja technique works makes him a good student, but a terrible teacher. He lacks the ability to break explanations down or approach the lesson from a different angle. Picking up baking helps him address this flaw. Kakashi gets to learn something the way ordinary people learn, and learning the ability to break down lessons makes him a more effective teacher by the time he is made to be the jounin-sensei of Team 7.
• Internal Reveal:
  • Following his retirement, Kakashi ensures that Naruto won't be left wondering where Dog-san went by pointing the kid towards his new bakery, revealing his former Secret Identity to him.
  • After an argument with Sakura, Kakashi reveals some of his past to Sasuke, including how he was squadmates with Itachi.
  • Sakura and Sasuke inadvertently help Naruto realize that Kushina and Minato were his parents.
• It Only Works Once: Orochimaru can only apply the cursed seal to a person once, a problem given that Sasuke had his removed.
• It's Quiet… Too Quiet: When Team Seven escorts Tazuna to his bridge on the last day of their stay there, Tazuna notes that nobody seems to be working, hoping that the crane isn't malfunctioning again. Naturally, the cause turns out to be much more insidious.
• Jaw Drop: Lee, Tenten and even Neji react this way when Naruto cheerfully informs them how Team Seven's first C-Rank mission went.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: For all the pride he takes in being 'Konoha's best spymaster', Jiraiya is prone to acting impulsively on faulty, incomplete, outdated or outright wrong information, coupled with a bad tendency to ignore or run away from the consequences of his mistakes. His former teammate Orochimaru identifies this as one of his Fatal Flaws, exploiting this tendency of his to trick him into chasing false intelligence out of Konoha so he won't interfere with his plans to usurp the Chuunin Exams.
• Last-Name Basis: Zabuza ends up referring to Kakashi exclusively by his surname, due to being less familiar with his name and reputation.
• Lethal Chef: Zig-Zagged with Kakashi. While his initial efforts result in a lot of 'cursed bread', he gradually gets good enough to open his own bakery. His first attempts at any recipe tend to turn out poorly, and though repetition is the key, this doesn't stop Iruka or the kids from teasing him about his Epic Failures in the kitchen.
  Naruto: Iruka-sensei told me that any time you use your kitchen for something that isn't bread related you set it on fire.
  Kakashi: That's a gross exaggeration. What Iruka-sensei actually meant to say is that you should always leave jam making to the professionals.
• Living Is More than Surviving: Kakashi comes to realize that there is more to life than surviving being a ninja, and tells the Sandaime as much when asking to retire.
  Kakashi: I've been a shinobi since I was five. I may be very good at being a shinobi, but... I would like to learn how to be a person while I still have a chance.
• Local Hangout: Kakashi's bakery quickly becomes one of the main places Team 7 hangs out at after their formation. Sakura explicitly calls it a place where she can feel safe.
• Loophole Abuse:
  • While Kakashi has been forbidden from telling Naruto about his parents, he realizes that he's still allowed to tell him stories about his old team, including his sensei and said sensei's girlfriend, as long as he doesn't actually reveal their last names.
  • This is why Kakashi teaches Naruto how to use the Kage Bunshin — so he can pass his graduation exam by demonstrating he's capable of creating a bunshin.
• Loving a Shadow: After spending time with Sasuke on Team 7 forces Sakura to learn she doesn't actually know him, Sakura realises that she didn't actually love Sasuke for who he is, instead loving her own image of him. It stings her that Naruto gets Sasuke better than she does.
• Manipulative Bastard: Downplayed since it is for a relatively minor thing, but the Sandaime uses emotional blackmail to reactivate Kakashi so he can be Sasuke's Jonin-sensei, promising to put Naruto on the same team too.
• Meaningful Echo:
  • Sasuke's Jerkass Realization sets in with the passing thought that 'solitude made you starve to death', referring to his growling stomach from refusing Naruto's offer of food. This same thought comes back later when he's resisting the cursed seal's influence.
  • Before the Chuunin Exams, Sasuke and Naruto joke that it's Neji's destiny to get punched in the face. Sakura agrees with them after he nearly murders Hinata.
• Mental Health Recovery Arc: Centers around Kakashi using baking as an outlet to gradually work through his Guilt Complexes. Sasuke receives one as well.
• Mistakes Are Not the End of the World: Discovering this is central to Kakashi developing a love of baking. When he screws up in the kitchen, the consequences aren't nearly as dire as they are during missions. Even the most hopelessly burnt hunk of not-bread is no big deal at all. He specifically notes how nice it is to completely and utterly fail, only to have his hands merely covered in flour rather than blood.
• Money Is Not Power: After firing Zabuza, Gato boasts that he owns all of Wave Country. Zabuza is not impressed, and his money doesn't stop Kakashi's borrowed tanto from killing him instantly.
• Mundane Utility: Kakashi keeps up with the demands of his bakery by staffing the kitchen with his shadow clones.
• Must Make Amends: After calling Kakashi a coward for retiring (after nearly twenty years of service), Jiraiya later returns and admits he didn't have all the information and that Kakashi was right to do what he did.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Tazuna's face turns gray with dismay when Naruto calls Kakashi 'Nii-san' after his Post-Victory Collapse.
  • Sasuke mentally asks himself this after breaking Zaku's arms while under the corruptive influence of the cursed seal.
• Never My Fault: Sasuke breaking out of this mentality enough to apologize to his teammates for botching the bell test is what convinces Kakashi to pass them.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Sasuke's attempt to swipe the bells while Kakashi is still holding Sakura hostage gets him to reconsider passing the trio, giving him a succinct "The Reason You Suck" Speech over willfully endangering his teammate's life.
  • As Kakashi makes clear, Tazuna's dishonesty nearly screws over his whole village, since the lower rank meant it was assigned to an inexperienced genin team ill-equipped to deal with such a big job.
• Noodle Incident: Apparently, the mishap with making his first pork buns wouldn't be the last time Kakashi accidentally set fire to his kitchen. One of the alluded to incidents involved making jam.
• No-Sell: Downplayed when Orochimaru survives the 'Training Field 16' maneuver. They are injured; it just isn't enough, and they taunt those responsible by telling them "Nice try."
• No, You: Jiraiya uses the 'adult' variation of telling Kakashi "I wouldn't go throwing stones in glass houses if I were you, Hatake." Only for Kakashi to counter that he, unlike Jiraiya, was under strict orders not to approach Naruto until he was at least four, followed by proof that he did, in fact, build a relationship with the ero-sennin's godson.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Team Seven opts to take this approach to the Chuunin Exams, with Naruto deliberately playing up the Dumb Blonde stereotype, Sakura acting like a Fangirl, and Sasuke downplaying the sharingan.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Kakashi goes through a succession of these the more he remembers what he's read about Zabuza in the Bingo Books.
  • Played for Laughs when Sakura wonders if Konohamaru calling Naruto 'Boss' means their teammate has minions, causing Sasuke to freeze up.
  • Team Seven has a collective one when Orochimaru effectively No Sells their Combination Attack in the Forest of Death.
  • Sakura reacts this way when she sees that her opponent for the third stage of the Chuunin Exam is none other than Gaara.
• Only Sane Man: Kakashi regarding the questionable decisions made by the upper brass regarding the treatment of Naruto and Sasuke. On a basic level, he thinks it should be illegal that both were effectively left to fend for themselves before they were even teenagers, especially the latter as he was left in the home where his parents were murdered. He also questions why nearly everyone else chose to ostracize Naruto and why no one bothered to question Sasuke's unhealthy drive to kill Itachi.
• Out-of-Character Alert: After Sakura and Ino reconcile and Sakura tells Ino to respect Sasuke's boundaries, both Naruto and Sasuke immediately notice the difference. Naruto suspects Sakura's poisons did something to her. Sasuke suspects an impostor replaced her.
• Pinocchio Nose: One of Sakura's tells for when she's lying is when she pushes a few strands of loose hair behind her ear.
• Plot Parallel:
  • Sasuke's desire for revenge against Itachi threatens to drown him, much like how Kakashi was overwhelmed by his guilt complexes over the loved ones he'd lost and teammates he'd failed. Kakashi recognizes this, and tries to help Sasuke find better outlets for his pain, much like he stumbled into baking.
  • Tazuna's Jerkass Realization is solidified when he watches the rest of Team Seven freak out over Kakashi's Post-Victory Collapse, hammering home that the trio he dismissed as just kids were, in fact, actually children, with loved ones just like him and his fellow villagers. Later on, Gato is faced with a similar scenario with Zabuza and Haku, and cruelly laughs, showing No Sympathy for their suffering or recognition of them as anything other than replaceable assets.
• Point of Divergence:
  • Accidentally picking up a cookbook and subsequently deciding to throw together a loaf because 'why not' blossoms into a brand-new career path for Kakashi, eventually spurring him to leave ANBU of his own volition and open the Ryouken Bakery.
  • 'Dog-san' builds a relationship with Naruto through his anonymous donations of food, until Naruto considers Kakashi to be his Big Brother Mentor.
  • Thanks to Kakashi's help with his homework and training, Naruto isn't stuck as the dead-last of his class, ending up solidly mid-range.
  • Kakashi is more honest with Sasuke about his own traumas and regrets, and gets him to question his plans for the future; as a result, Sasuke has enough Heroic Willpower to reject the cursed seal.
  • Since Kakashi didn't remain active after leaving ANBU, he lacks his canonical reputation as the Copy-nin.
  • During their confrontation on the bridge, Kakashi manages to divert his Chidori enough to avoid inflicting a fatal blow on Haku.
  • Because Sakura went over the bingo book in a desire to avoid more surprises after the Wave Country Mission, she recognises Orochimaru when he introduces himself and her warning her teammates manages to limit his options.
  • Due to their closer bond, and Kakashi serving as their greeter for completing the second stage of the exam, Team Seven immediately informs him about what happened in the Forest of Death, and Sasuke voluntarily drops out in order to focus on dealing with the cursed seal.
  • In her prelims match, Sakura manages to actually beat Ino instead of the fight ending in a draw, so she passes on to the last stage and is matched to fight against Gaara of the Sand.
  • The combination of Jiraiya's presence in Konoha and Sasuke's closer bonds with his team allows them to undo Orochimaru's Cursed Seal before it has a chance to do severe lasting damage.
• Power Incontinence: When Sasuke first awakens his Sharingan, he has trouble keeping it turned off, resulting in him randomly memorizing pointless moments when it activates uncontrollably.
• Quantity vs. Quality: Discussed when Kakashi is mulling over the idea of trying to bribe Tsunade to return to Konoha in case his students need her help. Iruka suggests he go for volume, plus a bottle of the really good stuff to sweeten the deal.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Kakashi turns the tables on Jiraiya's efforts to guilt-trip him by spelling out all the ways that the ero-sennin shirked his own duties.
    Kakashi: You were the only person the Sandaime's orders didn't apply to, and you're a seals master. Nobody would have questioned you spending time with the village's jinchuuriki. It wouldn't even have been the first time you had taken in war orphans! You were just too much of a coward to take any responsibility.
  • Once the truth behind their first C-Rank comes out, Kakashi spells out for Tazuna just how badly he screwed himself and his village over by lying, proving himself to be an untrustworthy and ungrateful client who treated Team Seven like crap after endangering them with his deception.
• Redemption Equals Affliction: Haku loses an arm Taking the Bullet for Zabuza, but survives and convinces him to stick around and help defend the village.
• Resignations Not Accepted: Downplayed. When Kakashi decides to fully retire from being a ninja, the Sandaime protests due to him being that valuable. They reach a compromise where Kakashi can retire from active service, but must be available for emergencies.
• Retired Badass: Kakashi becomes one when he leaves ANBU and active service in order to focus on the Ryouken Bakery.
• Running Gag:
  • Kakashi's fellow ANBU dealing with the 'cursed bread' that keeps mysteriously cropping up in their base kitchen. And elsewhere.
  • Jokes and comments about how Kakashi requires multiple attempts to master most recipes, and how disastrous his first efforts tend to turn out.
  • Team Seven's never-ending debate about whether shuriken, kunai or senbon are the best projectile weapons.
• Saying Too Much: One of the reasons why Kakashi doesn't introduce himself to Naruto right away after his four-year gag order expires is for fear of this, not wanting to blurt out anything about his Strong Family Resemblance and invite Hiruzen's wrath.
• A Scar to Remember: Sasuke is left with a palm-sized scar from the cursed seal after it's removed.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Discussed and ultimately subverted. When Kakashi discovers that Tazuna lied to him about the dangers of his escort mission, he flatly states that he's well within his rights to terminate the mission on the spot and abandon him to die. The two compromise with Kakashi agreeing to remain with him until they reach his village, and then departing immediately, but Zabuza attacks before they can leave.
• Serious Business: For Team 7, whether senbon, kunai, or shuriken are the more useful ninja tool. They've had several debates about it throughout the story.
• Sidetracked by the Analogy: Downplayed; Sasuke doesn't understand what Jiraiya means by 'tip of the iceberg', having never seen one before and not really knowing what it is aside from what the word itself implies. Namely, something icy.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift:
  • Kakashi starts wearing simple, comfortable clothes after his semi-retirement, and his updated uniform as Team Seven's jounin instructor includes a clan sleeve with the Hatake markings.
  • While Naruto retains his Iconic Outfit for wearing around the village, on missions, he starts wearing an outfit with darker, rusty orange, blue and black.
  • Sasuke switches his white shorts for brown ones after discovering that the white ones are see-through when wet.
  • After their experiences in Wave Country, Sakura follows Naruto's example and gets a darker version of her Iconic Outfit with black markings instead of white to wear during missions outside Konoha. She also adds a lacy half-cover to her hairbun, and later a couple of senbon disguised as hairpins.
• Small Role, Big Impact:
  • Sparrow inadvertently inspires Kakashi to retire when she attempts to blame him for Itachi's actions, making him realize just how little respect he's received for all his years of service and decide he's had enough.
  • Despite his death, Shisui's memory continues to guide Kakashi, and he passes on one of his key philosophies to Sasuke: the 'Can-May-Should Principle', which Sasuke takes to heart.
  • While Hinata already knew Lee as one of Neji's teammates, she doesn't start really getting to know him until Nurse Sasaki enlists her aid in distracting him during their extended stay at the hospital.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Team Seven's adventure in Wave Country ends with Zabuza and Haku surviving and completing a Heel–Face Turn.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: While he still cares for her, Kakashi admits he's never actually forgiven Rin for forcing him to murder her.
• Spit Take: Invoked. Kakashi waits for Hiruzen to take a pull on his pipe before revealing his plans to start a bakery, making him choke from the shock.
• Spotting the Thread:
  • While in Kakashi's apartment, Sakura spots a picture of Minato and Kushina, the latter of whom she immediately pegs as Naruto's mother due to how similar they look. Once she realizes the the only differences between them are their hair and face, she realizes that the Fourth Hokage was Naruto's father.
  • Subverted with the cursed bread. Kakashi is surprised no one who didn't already know made the connection between the "cursed" bread left around the ANBU base and him starting a bakery. Tenzou mentions he deliberately misled people on why Kakashi started a bakery.
• Take a Third Option: Played for Laughs when Kakashi asks his students to debate the merits of shuriken versus kunai. Rather than tiebreaking for Sasuke and Naruto, Sakura suggests that senbon are the best. Kakashi concedes the point; Sasuke and Naruto do not.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Kakashi being more open about his own past trauma and helping Sasuke move out of the Uchiha Compound help the boy become a genuinely friendlier person.
• Trauma Button: Haku unknowingly presses Kakashi's due to looking like a young girl around Rin's age, causing him to panic and divert his chidori at the last second rather than kill the boy.
• Underestimating Badassery:
  • Sasuke and Sakura initially do this with Kakashi, assuming that they're dealing with a semi-retired, half-blind, forty-something baker as their jounin instructor.
  • Tazuna dismisses Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke as just kids, ignoring how they're also ninja that he hired to protect his village.
  • Kankurou dismisses Kakashi on first sight, unlike his sister, who averts this by recognizing the signs that he's a jounin.
• Vicious Cycle: The root of Jiraiya's many, many regrets. He has a tendency to run from people who remind him of his past mistakes, which only leads to those people distancing themselves from him and bad things happening to said people because he wasn't there for them, which only ends up creating more mistakes that he wants to run from.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Jiraiya attempts to call Kakashi out for switching to the reserves, only for Kakashi to turn the tables and ream him out for effectively abandoning the village and his responsibilities there, including Naruto, his nominal godson.
  • Iruka angrily confronts Kakashi over teaching Naruto the Kage Bunshin.
  • Kakashi calls out Sasuke for putting his teammate at risk by trying to dive for a bell while Kakashi has Sakura pinned with a kunai to the back of her neck.
  • Both Gai and Iruka confront Kakashi when he decides to enroll Team Seven in the summer Chuunin Exams despite only having them for a few months.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Kakashi suspects that Gaara is much like him — that Suna lied about his rank in order to sneak him in as a ringer, much like how Konoha lied about Kakashi's rank so he could help Rin and Obito pass their own Chuunin Exams. In reality, Gaara is legitimately still a genin; just one who happens to have a Tailed Beast sealed inside of them.
• You Get What You Pay For: Kakashi warns Tazuna of this when it comes out he downplayed the danger he was in. He paid to be escorted home and protected from bandits, so he got a team of ninja who could handle that rather than what he needed: A team who could handle S Rank ninja and would protect him until his bridge was complete.
• You Have Failed Me: Gato fires Zabuza out of impatience at his failure to kill Tazuna. This proves to be spectacularly ill-thought-out, as there's now nothing stopping the missing-nin from killing him on the spot (which he does).
• Younger Than They Look: Thanks to Kakashi's silver-white hair and status as a member of the reserves, Sakura and Sasuke initially assume that he's pushing fifty.

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