Artemis's spark of temper didn't get much more than a raised eyebrow from Kakashi; thankfully, at least one of them did have experience dealing with this sort of thing. Not that Kakashi's results had exactly been spectacular, but hopefully Artemis would be at least a little less stubborn than Sasuke. Whether he was or not, Kakashi had learned an interesting fact; Haku apparently wasn't the only one suffering. Artemis hinted that he had his own issues, though Kakashi couldn't yet guess as to what those were.

"It takes a lot of practice to be able to do something like that." Kakashi would know, since he was the type of person who could smile as he told someone that everyone he'd loved about had been killed. "And a certain type of person, I think. But if something happened to you, I'd imagine Haku-kun would be able to pick up on it. So it's probably that he's doing his best not to burden you."

Hiding everything they were feeling. Somehow, Kakashi doubted that this was the best approach to things, but the one they were most likely to attempt to take. "Whether or not you can push it aside, Artemis-kun, you're the only one who can move past it. Whatever has happened to you, either you'll be consumed by it, or you'll overcome it. But you're the one who chooses which path you go down, even if your friends scream at you to pick differently." And if he was lucky, those screams would get through, even if it took a few years.

At least he seemed to accept Kakashi's story about the rumors being spread. Thankful for that, the jounin nodded, but held his tongue when it came to asking just what Artemis might do even if he was upset. Some buttons just didn't need to be pushed.