Early morning the next day Kakashi was surprisingly up and ready. He got himself cleaned up and made some breakfast for him and his little companion. The day before she had wandered off on her own after her meeting with the Hokage. He spent some time looking for her only to find her sitting at the KIA stone running her hands across the names imprinted there. It's the first he'd seen a child as young as her sit there and show their respect. He had decided to join her.
He could still remember the conversation they had.
~~~~~~~~
"Why do humans always fight? " Athena asked quietly. Her voice was somber as she stared at the stone.
Kakashi was quiet. He didn't have an answer to that. He himself had always wondered as well. It's seems that the only things humans are good at is fighting and raging war.
"Humans can be very disturbing creatures" Athena said at some point. "They are ungrateful. Hateful. Greedy. Hostile. Selfish. Thinking only of themselves and not giving two cents about others. Humans are scum"
Kakashi glanced at the child. Athena at that moment was radiating sadness. Depression. Anger and disappointment. He had noted that she was going through some emotional trauma, but she always pretended to be alright. At that moment though she wasn't hiding her emotion.
"All they do is take until there's nothing left and then they leave you to die. Take your trust and use it against you. Take your kindness to take advantage of you" She chuckled dryly. "They kill innocent in the name of peace"
Kakashi watched as the child shifted and brought her knees to her chest.
"Minato and Kushina. They didn't deserve to die. They just had a child. They were going to be happy. Shower him with all the love and affection they could. Naruto was supposed to have that. The love and adoration of a parent. But as all things go... Someone had to stomp on their parade and drown all their dreams in the blood of the innocent" Athena said. "The Uchihas well known and feared. They were suspected to be involved in the incident five years back. The fox was clearly being controlled and what other clan has that ability? Yes, an Uchiha was involved. He belonged to this very village but not anymore. The Uchihas present had nothing to do with it, yet they weren't given room to prove themselves. "
Kakashi widened his eyes slightly. It was clear to him that Athena knew exactly who was controling the nine tails. She confirmed that it was indeed an Uchiha but not one currently in the village. He might have to tell the Hokage.
"Your father, white fang of the leaf. An amazing Ninja, broke the rules to save someone on a mission. Instead of being honered his name was ridiculed because he broke the rules. As i said, humans are ungrateful. He saved their life's yet they talk bad about him" Athena sighed. "It's like Obito said, those who break the rules are scum but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum"
Again Kakashi was shocked by Athena's knowledge. She knew of his father and teammate. She even knew the quote that changed his perspective on life.
"At least there are some good Human beings in this world" She said. "Naruto with a heart as pure as gold and determination rivaling it. Hinata the purest creature you will ever find. She's too good for this cruel world"
Athena sighed again and stood up.
"I think we should head home"
~~~~~~~~~~
Kakashi approached the door behind which Athena should be. He knocked before pushing it open. Inside Athena was already dressed in training clothes and sitting on the window sill staring out the window with the same eyes she had yesterday. She seemed to be trying to decide if the world was worth anything at all. Kakashi was still a bit confused about her. She can be happy. He saw it himself. When she met him and the rest of the jonin. When she spoke to Naruto. And when she met Hinata. She was genuinely happy.
"You're awake already? "
Athena only nodded in response and slid off the window sill.
"Good morning" She greeted and walked past him and into the kitchen.
It was six in the morning so Kakashi wasn't expecting her to be up. As he watched her he wondered if she even slept at all.
"Did you even sleep? " He asked as he took his place by the dining table.
Athena looked at him as she chewed on the eggs she had stuffed in her mouth. Her eyes betrayed no emotion as she did.
"Interesting question"
She said nothing after that and just ate her breakfast in silence.
"Question for you Kakashi" She rested her chin in her right hand all the while chewing away on some eggs. "When do you plan on eating? "
Kakashi smiled under his mask before slowly removing it to reveal his face to Athena. Athena didn't seam fazed at all, but she did smile as she observed him.
"You're very handsome" She complimented.
"You seem familiar with my face"
"Oh, yeah, there was this one episode where you spent an entire day with Naruto posing as a photographer from another village. Naruto finally saw you without your mask and didn't even know it"
"I spend time with Naruto in the future"
"Yeah, you become his team jonin"
"You sure you should be telling me this? "
"Yeah, I doubt that will change"
Kakashi smiled slightly as they both finished their food
"Come on"
~~~~~~~
"You want me, a five year old with little to no muscle power to do ten push ups? "
Athena folded her arms and stared at Kakashi with raised eyebrow. She frowned when Kakashi nodded.
"And the same amount of pull ups, chin ups, squats, sit ups and lapps around this place? "
Another nod.
"Isn't this Guy's thing? "
"I am supposed to start you off with the basic next to teaching jutsu and such. You won't stand a chance with Guy if you can't at least do that"
Athena sighed in defeat. Kakashi had a point. She knew how Guy gets with his training. If she couldn't even manage the small amount given to her she was going to crap her pants when dealing with Guy.
"Might as well" She got down in the plank position. She spread her arms shoulder length apart and held her feet together. She took a deep breath and let out one slow one as she lowered herself to the ground. She was halfway through just one push up and could already feel the muscles in her arms and legs cramping. "Damn I'm weak" She mutered as she , with struggle, pushed herself back up.
~~~~~~~~~~
Kakashi stood aside and watched his young pupil go to work. She was weak, it was obvious and she said it herself. But she's also a five year old and there is a certain amount of strain she could take. Kakashi was only going to push her towards it, but not past it. That was Guy's job. He just needs to prepare her to be broken down and built back up again. As he watched he would give her some advice on how to cause herself less struggle in certain exercises. Despite how hard it seemed to be on her and how out of breath she was after just the push ups she pushed on without any complaint. Kakashi thought training a kid would be a bother and frankly annoying. Athena though was a different story. She wasn't loud or always crying. She wasn't pushy and going crazy for the randomest things. She was quiet, reserved and didn't need much. She was also very intelligent and observing. And brutally honest.
Kakashi stood over the five year old as she lay sprawled out on the sand. She was panting and covered in sweat. She did as she was told and didn't seem to be able to move anymore.
"Drink up" Kakashi pressed a bottle of water to her cheek.
"Do I have to do this every day for the next week? " Athena asked as she sat up and took the bottle.
"Yes, you'll get used to it" Kakashi responded. "You get a five minute break and then I'll teach you a couple of Jutsu"
"No tai jutsu? "
"That's Guy's, job"
"Fair" Athena shrugged. "So what type of jutsu am I learning? "
"Well normally i would start you off with the clone jutsu, but with the high amount of chakra you have it would be a waste of time, so I'll teach you the shadow clone. Well, each type of clone seeing as you have all elements"
~~~~~~~~
Athena was given the basic knowledge of the solid clones. She didn't see the need since she already knew how it worked, but apparently Kakashi found that it was beter if he explained before demonstrating. She was taught that signs for the jutsu and practiced them for an hour until she got used to effortlessly making them. Ram, snake, tiger. Those were the signs even though they are never really used.
Did she even have to know the damn signs?
"Kakashi, do I even need to know the handsigns when I could just do the cross sign? "
"You know about that? "
"Of course I know about that" Athena sighed. "I'm using that instead of the signs"
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and focused on spreading her chakra out her body. She had done it once before. Unconsciously, but she did it and remembered how it felt. This time she needed to shape the chakra and make a duplicate of herself.
"Shadow clone jutsu" She made the well known cross with her fingers. There was a small poof and she opened her eyes. She blinked when she found ten of herself surrounding her.
"Would you look at that" She ran a hand through her hair, clearing her bangs from her face. Her clones mingled amongst themselves. It was odd watching the scene. She never thought she would one day watch ten of herself talk to each other .
"Very nicely done" Kakashi complimented her. "You did better than I expected, as usual"
~~~~~~~
And so three more days went by. Everyday Athena would do her physical exercises. Everyday she would practice jutsu. She was taught how to walk up trees at some point. It wasn't all that hard. She noted that she had amazing chakra control. She obviously got it from her mother.
Athena had taken a break from training and was wandering the streets of konoha. She was deep in thought and not really paying attention to the activities around her. Still she carefully dodged anyone in her way. She was used to it after 15 years of wandering crowded streets.
She was thinking of everything that happened to her up to that point. It was all so surreal to her. She found herself going through so many emotions everyday. Everything she saw was fascinating. Everything she did made her feel proud. Everyone she met made her feel welcome. No one told her what she couldn't do. No one told her to just sit down and not speak unless spoken to. No one told her that she couldn't achieve something big. No one told her she was useless. It was all so new and her emotions were trying their very best to keep up and not overwhelm her. One moment she's happy. The next she's back to her depression. She's starting to think she might be bipolar.
She thought of this world. How she actually belonged. She belonged. She liked it. A lot. She felt like she belonged. In her previous life she never had that feeling. She was always an outcast. No one cared. No one talked to her. She felt alone. But here. It's different. She made two friends. She made friends with the two people she admires the most. One of them is her god brother. That still made a smile creep up on her. She had people that cared for her. The old Hokage was really worried about her. He wanted her to be ok. She noticed. She's not used to others caring. It's odd. Kakashi seemed to actually like her. He took her out for some dango a day back. It was now her favorite snack. He would make sure she eats on time even when she doesn't feel like it. When he notices that she's down he tries to cheer her up. Those moments are amusing to her. Kakashi doesn't know how to handle a kid. As calm as Athena could be she is still a child and he was not sure on how to lift a child's spirit.
And then there is her abilities. She possess all chakra natures and had chakra rivaling tailed beasts. She has chakra that big and yet has amazing chakra control. It wasn't hard for her to notice how overpowered she already was. With proper training she could be jonin level at the age of twelve. Her five natures were a shock, but after thinking it over she figured it might not have been so unexpected or rare. She's a Senju. The damn clan is known for this type of stuff. Both Hashirama and Tobirama had control of all the five. Even her mother had a knack for it. Tsunade possessed four chakra natures and can use them effortlessly. Then there is her chakra control, which she obviously inherited from her mother as well. And lastly her huge chakra. All she could think of that would make sense is the Uzumaki genes she possessed. It may be a small portion, but it seemed enough. She was starting to notice that she inherited more of her mother than her father. All she had of him was the red lines under her eyes. She hoped she wasn't a pervert like him. Or maybe she got his calm. He can be a calm man when he wanted to.
"It's you"
Athena looked up when she heard a familiar voice and came face to face with a very happy looking Naruto. It's been a while since she saw him. She was wondering how he was.
"Hey Naruto, it's been a while. How's it going? "
"Great, believe it! "
"If you say so" Athena smiled. The guy really was a ball of sunshine. "Wanna hang out?"
As a reply she got the biggest shit eating grin and an eager nod.