#sometimes yes

Kakashi has known about his father’s job since he was a kid. Unable to put Kakashi in any school, and always cautious because of his job in the business, Sakumo always kept his son close. Raising him around his co-workers, having him taken care of by a nanny that was checked and approved by the organization, and even allowing Shikaku, Choza, Inoichi and SHibi to teach Kakashi about the things that they did when he was young.

When Kakashi was about twelve years old, Sakumo found himself helping a civilian hide himself away from some people who had put a hit on his head after he witnessed a hit. A sloppy job in Sakumo’s opinion, but the man is an old friend of his and he refuses to leave him to fend for himself in this situation. Along with his old friend, Maito Dai, comes his son. A very energetic, in-your-face kid that overwhelms Kakashi at first.

Needing someone to take care of Dai’s son while they sort things out, Sakumo decides to pay the nanny a bit more to take care of both kids. It’s not Kakashi’s favourite solution at first, but as the days go by he finds that he enjoys Gai’s company. Growing up with a nanny and not being allowed to go to regular schools, Kakashi isn’t used to hanging out with other kids.

When Sakumo finally sorts everything out and has a new life for Dai and Gai, Kakashi is upset to have to say goodbye to them. Recognizing his son’s hurt, Sakumo promises that they’ll keep in touch. He’ll always be available to Dai if they need him, and they’ll need to make check-ins to ensure nothing bad has happened.

For years Kakashi and Gai continue to keep in touch through messages sent by their fathers, and through them, Gai learns how to decipher messages even though he has never thought about being a spy like Sakumo before.

On Gai’s eighteenth birthday, he gets into contact with Sakumo. Requesting to train under him as a spy so that he can help people just as Sakumo helped Dai.

When Kakashi and Gai see each other again, they’re a little surprised by how much they have grown. The two of them didn’t share many photos, and never had video conversations, so they didn’t realize just how much their friendship had changed.

Growing up, Kakashi always loved training under Shibi the most. Although he wasn’t all that interested in hacking, he found that Shibi had the easiest time explaining things to him and was the person that he enjoyed spending his time with the most.

For Gai, his favourite training is Yoshino. Seeing the woman in action is a treat that he never thought he would want, and just having the knowledge of what she can do to an enemy puts the fear of the universe into him. How Shikaku can be married to such a deadly, terrifying woman he will never know, but the man seems happy in that marriage so he’s not going to question his taste.

When they first start taking on jobs, Kakashi and Gai are put under the leadership of Choza Akimichi. As their handler, Choza gives them their jobs and provides them with the information that they need to get their work done. When things go south, he always has plans set in motion to get them out safely.

Thankfully, things don’t go south often. Kakashi and Gai are surprisingly effective as a team. Even when they work with others, such as Genma, Ibiki and Rin. The only times that they have a mission go south is when something unexpected happens that cannot be properly adjusted for no matter how hard they try, or when the information they are given is insufficient.

At the age of 26, after years of being an effective team for the organization, Kakashi and Gai are presented with some trainees that Shikaku thinks would learn best from them.

Gai is assigned Rock Lee and Tenten. Two orphans who are otherwise not known by anyone, but who were picked up by Inoichi during a mission when he saw them standing up to some bullies picking on a much younger person. Recognizing their potential, Inoichi decided to ask if they wanted a chance to get away from the lives they had, and both of them jumped at it.

Kakashi is only assigned one trainee, but he’s more than happy with that. Haruno Sakura is a force of her own, ready to learn everything that he has to teach her and more than happy to be thrown into hand-to-hand combat training against Lee and Tenten every once in a while.

Although Kakashi only has one official trainee, he does also work with Shino Aburame once in a while. Helping him to expand his skill sets even though the kid knows that he wants to be a hacker just like his father.

What Shino refuses to admit to Kakashi is that he has had a little bit of a crush on the man ever since he was a kid sitting on his father’s lap watching Kakashi learn about Hacking. A fact that Tenten and Sakura both pick up on quickly, and tease Shino mercilessly for.

Shino is thankful that Kakashi never seems to notice, but where he thought his crush would go away if he saw Kakashi in action and was able to pinpoint imperfections in the man he finds it getting worse.

Seeing the way that Kakashi hands a spar with Maito Gai, a man who is physically stronger than him and more agile, has Shino is on the edge of his seat wondering if there really could be any negative qualities in Hatake Kakashi. No matter how hard he looks for one, he cannot find them.

Sakura always gets a kick out of watching Shino when he can’t tear his eyes away from Kakashi-Sensei. She thinks that it’s the cutest thing ever, and while she doesn’t understand what he sees in the older man, she is more than happy to try and embarrass him in any way that she can.

Thankfully, even the longest-standing crush is bound to go away. Shino never finds anything about Kakashi that he particularly dislikes but the more time that he spends with Tenten the less he finds himself thinking about the older man. And before he knows it, all he can think about is the way that Tenten moves when she’s sparring with Lee, her sharp wit, and the way that she smiles whenever she sees him.

Where Sakura used to tease him about his crush on Kakashi, she instead tries to push him towards Tenten. Always suggesting that they practice some of their skills together, spar, or just hang out whenever they get a break from training. She does this both because she thinks the two of them would make a cute couple, and because it gives her the chance to spend a little quality time with Lee.

Although they’re training recruits, Kakashi and Gai still do missions where they’re needed. Where they can listen in or even watch through the camera, their students do get a better idea of what goes on during missions.

It’s usually a fun experience for the kids. Seeing the way that Kakashi smooth talks himself out of all sorts of situations, or how Gai can go in and take out a threat with ease. Watching Kakashi show them how to tap phones, break into buildings, plant cameras, and everything else that he needs to do to gather information is enlightening for all of them, and Sakura is always taking notes to improve her methods and approaches to the same situations.

Kakashi’s favourite thing to do for training is to find all sorts of different locks, manual and digital, and throw them in front of Sakura and Shino to see how quickly they can pick them or override them. Naturally, it never takes Shino long to get past the digital locks, but when it comes to the good old-fashioned dials and key locks, Sakura has him beat by a mile.

As good as Kakashi and Gai are, not every mission can go perfectly smoothly. Things go wrong. Adjustments sometimes can’t get made fast enough, and people get hurt.

Seeing Kakashi being brought home on a stretcher one day after a particularly bad mission is one of the worst moments for not only his father but all of the kids as well. To have to face the true danger of the job that they’re taking on, and not knowing if someone they care deeply about will be able to pull through.

It’s two weeks that Kakashi ends up training under Gai, and practicing the skills that Kakashi has already taught her. Wondering if the man would be able to continue her training after the injuries he received, or if he would be one of those people who is forced to retire young because of the damage to his body.

Thankfully, Kakashi is a stubborn man. There’s a lot of healing to do, but he’s not someone to give up on the job he worked so hard to get. Even when he has to make adjustments due to the injuries that never quite heal perfectly he’s still able to keep going.

Knowing that her teacher isn’t going anywhere, Sakura finds a new excitement for the things that he has to show her. Pays a little more attention when he’s sitting there with her carefully going over the different methods of tapping someone’s phone or sneaking a tracker on their person.

The first mission that Sakura, Lee, Tenten and Shino get is with supervision from all of their teachers and with Kakashi as the handler. They have been training for years at this point and the goal is simple. Sneak into a high-profile politician’s building, steal some important files off of his computer, and get out without being caught. Lee is the distraction, Tenten the guard, Sakura the one to go in and get to the computer, and Shino the hacker.

As soon as Sakura gets to the computer and puts in the USB that Shibi gave her, Shino gets to work downloading everything that they need. There is a close call, with Lee unable to keep the target distracted for quite long enough. Thankfully, Shino can get the information in time and Sakura makes an escape through the window and sneaks into the other room to avoid being seen. When the coast is completely clear she leaves the building and meets up with Lee and Tenten.

After a successful mission, the team is treated to dinner on their Sensei’s. It’s the first time that all of them go out together, and they end up having a blast. Of course, the job is never mentioned, and instead, they talk about a ‘successful business meeting’ so that people have no idea the true nature of their celebration.

The information that they get leads to the politician’s dismissal from office and a few new targets being placed out into the world. Targets that Kakashi, Gai and their students are certain they will have no problem taking care of.

As any good Spy does, Kakashi and Gai have competition in their field of expertise. Rivals, as Gai likes to call them once in a while.

Kakashi’s Rival is from another organization, Uchiha Obito. Although he’s not quite as smooth and stealthy as Kakashi he is very good at his job and has proven more than capable of keeping Kakashi on his toes. Rin always likes to joke about the little rivalry that the two of them seem to have built, enjoying the looks that Kakashi gives her whenever she mentions Obito in front of him.