***
Chapter 12: :Kishi Kaisei
wake from death and return to life
***
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride. I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close.
Pablo Neruda
***
Present Day
: :Konohagakure Hospital, Konohagakure: :
The smell of burning flesh was one of the few things no shinobi of any level could ever forget. Even Tsunade, with all her years, had to step aside and empty her stomach as the acrid scent filled the air.
It had taken almost an hour to fully burn away the seals on Kakashi and Tenzo, and both conscious but paralyzed through the entire procedure.
The kind of pain that drove Shinobi mad long after it had ended.
Most of the ANBU that had responded were hospitalized with injuries from Tenzo's wood release.
Iruka and Sasuke had been shaking with exhaustion. Itachi and Shisui had carried them back to the Inuzuka Compound. Naruto had wanted to accompany Kakashi and Tenzo to the hospital, but Tsunade had been so furious, was still furious, that she'd ordered him to return as well.
He'd had the balls to be completely unapologetic through it all.
Stubborn brat.
Once Tsunade had finally made it back to her office to see what the smoke and alarms were about, she'd found Shizune and her other two assistants bruised and bleeding, her office destroyed, and a Root ANBU squad in pieces.
Kakashi had been a distraction.
What did that say about Root's resources, that a soldier of Kakashi's caliber was worth sacrificing as a distraction?
By the time she'd finished there, sending ANBU out to investigate the lives of the dead Root ANBU members, treated her assistants, and secured the scroll, almost a full day had passed. The Tower was in a fury, ANBU and Ibiki and the Division Commanders desperately trying to figure out how to block Root from the wards without taking them down completely and rebuilding.
They'd brought in Aburame Shibi, the quiet clan leader keeping a calm head amid the chaos. Unfortunately, he'd named Iruka as another fuinjutsu master worth bringing in, but Tsunade was not yet that desperate or that comfortable with the Chūnin.
Especially not after… Everything Asuma had said still rang in her ears.
Yet another revelation to pile on all the others and each one weighed her down a little more. Sparked a bit more resentment because she'd loved Hiruzen, and he hadn't…
Danzo had managed to do so much damage. If everything being claimed was true.
Which Tsunade had a moral and legal obligation to investigate, to find evidence, to find proof, but it sat deep in her gut, coiled and painful.
Instincts that made Tsunade angry because nothing she'd heard had truly struck her with surprise. Just indignation and disappointment.
They were her beloved Uncle Tobi's students. His pride and joy. And he'd loved the village, died for it and for them, and they just seemed determined to rip it all to pieces in a quest for their own power. Bastardizing his lessons until they were unrecognizable.
Where had they learned to be like that?
Because it sure as hell hadn't been from Tobirama.
She wasn't sure what to do about Iruka. Everything had changed, but at the same time, nothing. Because it wasn't new, he hadn't suddenly changed into someone else, but he had hidden his truth from the entire village for decades.
Although, shit, he was younger than Kakashi, wasn't he? By a few years, at least.
And Itachi was younger than Iruka, and she hadn't come any closer to making a decision about him either.
Regardless of Naruto's claims that Itachi had been operating on Konoha's behalf the entire time and the openings Hiruzen had left in the village wards for him, to most of the world, he was still a missing-nin with a terrifying reputation.
And Sasuke…
Naruto's manipulation for a pardon aside, that didn't mean things were back to what they had been before he'd left.
More to think about. More to do.
Root was getting bold, and shinobi she'd once considered stable, cornerstones of the village that were turning out to be anything but.
The pressure behind her eyes was building. She needed to sleep. Needed to rest, but there wasn't enough time.
Right now, she just wanted to check on Kakashi and Tenzo and find some good news somewhere. They'd awoken several times since they'd been admitted. Tenzo had tried to rip out his own tongue the first time and been sedated since.
Kakashi…
Kakashi had opened his eyes and had not moved for an hour before seemingly falling asleep again.
The medi-nins were terrified to leave them alone, and Jiraiya had not moved from Kakashi's bedside.
Pakkun was lying quietly beside a chair in the hallway outside when she arrived. It wasn't generally considered acceptable to speak to another Shinobi's summons without invitation, but why was he waiting outside when Kakashi was hurt?
"Pakkun?"
"He doesn't want me in there."
Tsunade sighed. Kakashi had always lashed out when he was hurt. "Please come in. I'm not sure how well this conversation will go over."
The nin-kin frowned but followed her inside, and they found Kakashi awake, staring out the window with the Sharingan spinning slowly.
Jiraiya sat at his bedside, shoulders slumped. Being completely ignored, no doubt.
"Brat, you'd better not be using-"
"Take it out."
She stopped. "What?"
"Take it out."
"The seal is gone, Kakashi. Your tongue-"
"The Sharingan."
It faded from his eye, and when he turned to her, it was with two stormy grey eyes that Tsunade had not seen in a long, long time.
"Take it out," he demanded, voice worn and angry.
"Kakashi," Jiraiya sounded pained, exhausted.
"Why?" Kakashi had never wanted it removed before, not even in those first few weeks when he'd still been mourning Obito.
"Take it out."
"No." Jiraiya and Pakkun spoke at the same time, turning to one another in surprise as Kakashi's face twisted in rage.
"It's not your decision." He raised his hand, made an aborted movement toward his eye before it dropped back to the bed.
The motion only seemed to make him angrier.
"I don't understand, Kakashi." Maybe he just needed to say something. Kakashi had always been bad about talking about himself, about what he was feeling. Maybe he just needed-
And then he started talking. About the Sharingan and the nightmares that were happening while he was wide awake. The paralysis, the genjutsu it was sending him into.
"It's doing it to me." Kakashi hissed.
"How is that possible?" Tsunade shared a look with Jiriaya, who just shrugged helplessly.
"It's not possible for a dojutsu to do as it wants. It's part of you, Kakashi." Jiriaya insisted tiredly.
"You think I'm making myself hallucinate murdering my father? My students?" He hissed, enraged. "It wouldn't work against Iruka."
"You were being controlled. They didn't know how to use it."
"It sealed itself away."
"It's just an eye!"
"It stops me every time I try to take it out."
"Kakashi, you can't rip out your own eye. That's you stopping yourself."
"You think I couldn't rip out my own eye? You know what I've done. That would be nothing."
The door behind Tsunade opened and closed as Itachi stepped inside. "The Sharingan will kill you long before it lets you rip it out, Hatake."
Tsunade eyed him, wary, but agreed. "You've had it too long, Kakashi. We don't know what will happen. Did you need something, Uchiha? This is a private room."
And you aren't technically a Konohagakure shinobi anymore, she didn't say. Though judging from the raised eyebrow he gave her, he heard it anyway.
Instead of speaking, he held out a hiate to Kakashi. It pulsed with a chakra Tsunade didn't recognize. "Put this on. It will stop the Sharingan from drawing on your chakra so much."
Kakashi ignored it.
"If you want the Sharingan to calm down, put it on. You nearly died. It's worried."
"It's an eye," Jiraiya insisted.
"Put it on, Kakashi," Pakkun said quietly, and Kakashi turned his glare on the dog.
Itachi walked to the side of the bed and put it on Kakashi himself, ignoring the furious look Kakashi gave him as he did.
But he didn't try to stop him, and Tsunade didn't realize until the hiate was secured, and Kakashi immediately reached for it that he couldn't have.
He lifted it once and then stilled. Tsunade held her breath as he seemed to take stock of something and then slowly replaced the hiate over his eye.
Pakkun didn't bother hiding his sigh of relief.
"It's Shisui's chakra," Itachi explained. "Iruka's convinced you want nothing to do with him." And there was a hint of reproach in his tone.
It went well with the flash of hurt on Kakashi's face, and Tsunade sighed.
"You didn't ask for mine." Itachi continued with a slight smirk. Because he would have made Kakashi ask.
That Sasuke refused went unsaid, though they all heard it, and Kakashi's face did that terribly blank thing it did whenever the hurt was piling up, and he didn't see a way to escape it.
"Our chakra has developed to maintain the Sharingan. It takes less for us. The hiate will help balance what it draws from you when it's not in use. If you actually rest long enough to heal, it will stop trying to make you."
"Make him?" Tsunade asked because that sounded concerning.
"The Sharingan is only as strong as the person carrying it. If you don't heal, it won't. Which threatens its survival, and I can assure you, Hatake. The Sharingan does not take the threat of death lightly."
Jiraiya opened his mouth, but Tsunade waved him silent. "He said it's been paralyzing him."
"You had a seal on your tongue that let someone else control you."
Surprise rippled through Kakashi's chakra, and the Uchiha smiled.
"The Sharingan prevents any kind of mind control, but the body is still vulnerable. I imagine it sealed itself when you went after Iruka?"
Kakashi silence was answer enough.
"And I imagine that it increased its draw on your chakra too?"
Tsunade and Jiraiya turned to Kakashi in surprise, but he remained defiant.
"The Sharingan won't let you hurt one of us if it can help it. It may be dedicated to its own survival, but it would kill itself and you to protect one of us."
"Because it's another Sharingan?" Jiraiya sounded doubtful.
"Because it's a Uchiha." Itachi looked amused. "It's not like there's been another non-Uchiha gifted a Sharingan. It likes you, or it wouldn't have fought so hard to save you."
"How the hell-"
"Think about what it showed you."
Kakashi's eyes narrowed, but Tsunade knew him well enough to see the wheels turning.
"You may not be self-aware enough to recognize it, but it was warning you. It likely paralyzed you whenever they attempted to activate the seal. It speaks to your great strength that this went on for so long before they were able to do so."
"So it made me murder my students to warn me I was going to hurt someone." Even as he said it, the realization seemed to set in.
"Fucking hell," Jiraiya breathed. "Why didn't anyone-"
Tsunade knew exactly where he was going and reached out to shut him up.
"Kami's sake," Pakkun snarled, but he was looking Jiraiya and not Itachi.
The white-haired Sanin fell quiet as Itachi murmured, "You were going to have a teacher, but things didn't…work out."
"Use your goddamn head before you speak, boy." And Jiraiya wasn't the only one who looked surprised by Pakkun snarling at him.
"What's going on?" Kakashi demanded.
Pakkun sighed and sat back on his haunches. "There is still much more to discuss."
"It would be easier to do so elsewhere," Itachi murmured and leaned down to pick up Pakkun.
"Put him down," Kakashi snarled, already climbing out of bed despite shaking limbs.
"Get back in the bed, pup. I'm fine."
"No." Itachi looked oddly serene. "Get up, Hatake. If you can."
"Damn it, Kakashi, don't-" Tsunade and Jiraiya both lunged for Kakashi as he threw himself to his feet and nearly landed on his face.
"You can come to." Itachi finished as they propped him up between them.
***
Non nobis solum nati sumus. (Not for ourselves alone are we born.)
Marcus Tullius Cicero
***
Present Day
: :Uchiha Compound, Konohagakure: :
The eerie emptiness that infused the Uchiha Compound made Tsunade shiver as they followed Itachi through the empty streets.
Jiraiya carried Kakashi on his back, the Jōnin having refused to stay behind when it was clear Pakkun would be going with Itachi.
And the Uchiha only seemed amused by Kakashi's glare.
Jiraiya was studying the compound as they walked, looking more perplexed with every step. "What seals did you use?"
The buildings looked like they hadn't aged a day since the Uchiha had stopped using them. Vegetation had grown wild, but not so much that it had taken over any of the buildings.
It was almost like time had stopped since the clan had died.
"You'd have to ask Iruka," Itachi responded, "That's his specialty."
"Funny, I never heard he was that good." Jiraiya was trying to pick a fight, and for now, Tsunade was content to let him.
Itachi hummed, "Perhaps you aren't yet at his level."
Jiraiya nearly dropped Kakashi as he sputtered in outrage.
Tsunade snorted in amusement. "Yes, Ji-ji, perhaps you're not good enough yet."
Jiraiya gave her the stink eye, but it felt good to tease him again.
The houses faded away into a garden, flowers in full bloom, and Tsunade and Jiraiya both stopped in surprise.
Brightly colored koi followed a series of creeks to several ponds filled with lily pads and reeds.
"Keep up," Itachi called back, and as they hurried to catch up, they passed blooming bushes of violet asters and indigo chrysanthemums that all three of them stared at.
"Have you ever seen-"
"No."
Tsunade made a mental note to ask the Yamanaka about them.
Which she quickly forgot as they stepped through a curtain of snowbell and wisteria trees and emerged on the other side to find an elegant, ancient vihara with a great Uchiha uchiwa carved on the torii gate at its entrance.
"This is the Hantahoru," Itachi murmured. "It is the gathering place of the clan when decisions must be made."
"Hanta…" Tsunade murmured and shared a sharp look with Kakashi.
Itachi ignored them. "The clan brought it with them when they first moved into the village."
"They moved an entire building?" Jiraiya's natural curiosity was winning out over his distrust of the Uchiha. "Why not rebuild?"
"The compound wards are based here. We would have had to start over."
"You use the old wards." Jiraiya guessed. "How many generations?"
"Over thirty now."
"Is that significant?" Kakashi muttered.
"Very," Jiraiya said simply, and he watched Itachi with far more consideration than before as they stepped through the torii and into the hall.
A great hearth stood against the back wall, the flames casting shadows over the painted walls. Faded illustrations of Uchiha from generations before. Smaller versions of the hearth lined the rest of the walls. Zabuton and small tables were stacked off to the side. Lanterns hung from the ceiling.
Two hulking figures waited in front of the hearth, but there were three chakra signatures permeating the room.
Tsunade recognized Tsume's nin-kin, Kuromaru, and stiffened. "What the hell is this?"
A great white wolf, almost a head larger than Kuromaru, lay next to him, seemingly asleep.
Where was?
Oh, a spider web spanned the ceiling to the floor to the side, and at its center, a spider the size of Jiraiya's hand and Jiraiya's hands were not small.
"You're standing in front of three gods, girl." Pakkun said tiredly from Itachi's arms, "Show some respect."
"Gods…" Tsunade trailed off, disbelieving, as Jiraiya carefully set Kakashi down, and they both shifted like they were ready to fight.
"These three," Pakkun continued, "Are three of the old gods. The ones that made this world. Long before humans existed or Kaguya came. When the mountains were still growing, and the oceans were still spreading."
Kakashi swayed, but Itachi reached out to steady him before Tsunade or Jiraiya could, and he guided Kakashi down until he sat. It spoke to how tired, how overwhelmed Kakashi was, that he let him.
"Gods?" Jiraiya didn't sound convinced, but for someone who'd been obsessed with a silly prophecy for so long, he was surprisingly against religion and gods and folklore.
The Senju had stopped believing in gods long before Tsunade's birth, and most of her experience and knowledge had come from patients who had reached for religion in their final moments.
Was that why their chakra felt so strange? So ancient and depthless?
The spider crawled down from its web and scuttled forward, waved two long legs in greeting.
"I am Okuninushi, Healer-hime. I weave the web of this world. The Aburame are my ilk. The Toad Clan among my creations."
Jiraiya sputtered.
"Along with many other summonses you've likely not met yet. My niece Tsuchigumo created your Katsuyu and her blood. I gifted Snowflake his moths."
"Oh." And Tsunade must have looked as faint as she sounded because Kuromaru growled.
"Sit down before you keel over." They sank down next to Kakashi as he spoke. "I am Kuromaru. I guard the door. The Inuzuka are mine and have been since they began. Pakkun and his lot are my creation, a gift to the Hatake when their blood first mixed."
Okuninushi and Kuromaru turned to the wolf expectantly, and when there was no movement, Kuromaru sighed.
"Moro. Enough. One of them is beloved of your lot. Another shares their blood. The last is…loved. By someone at least."
As Tsunade and Jiraiya shared a confused look, the spider scuttled over to Jiraiya and poked him with a leg.
"Take no offense," Okuninushi chirped, and Jiraiya sputtered, "You are simply the only one who does not belong to one of us directly."
"None taken?" Confusion and offense twisted across his face, and the urge to defend him rose. Tsunade knew him better than anyone else left alive, and that included exactly how much he'd struggled as a child when he'd been alone and unloved.
Just like Naruto and all those other orphans, Jiraiya had never been able to turn away.
"Why have you brought us here?" She wasn't quite able to keep the anger out of her voice.
Not that she'd been trying very hard.
The wolf raised her head and opened blood-red eyes.
"Watch your tone, human. I was there the day your kind was born, and I'll be there the day the last of them dies. I am Moro, god of the wild. I brought the first flame to your kind and led them through the darkness. The beasts of the air and of the ground are my creations. The Uchiha are my blood, the Tenshi Heisoban my will."
The Sharingan in her eyes spun lazily, vibrant, and vicious. Her chakra felt like a heavy blanket of fire, pinning them in place.
"I led the gods against Kaguya and her infection when she first came to this world."
"You lost." Jiraiya, because he had more brawn than brains most days.
Sometimes, sometimes, Tsunade just wanted to punch her teammate as hard as possible.
"Punk, are you ruled by Kaguya? Do you use chakra as you wish? Which one of us spent a thousand years sealed in the moon?" Kuromaru huffed.
"You simplify the problem to the point of ignorance," Moro snapped, fangs gleaming. "Kaguya is the mother of chakra. She ate the God Fruit. You would be nothing without her."
"She tried to destroy the world!"
Moro sneered, "I had forgotten how much you humans forget. Or simply don't bother to remember."
"Most of us don't have the ability to remember everything," Tsunade cautioned.
"Healer-hime is right, it is not fair to hold them all to the standards of your chosen children, Moro."
Which, ouch. Itachi winced in sympathy as Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Kakashi all flushed.
Okuninushi waved her legs again. "Listen, listen closely. Are you listening?"
Tsunade nodded and elbowed Jiraiya hard until he did, too.
"There was no chakra before the pale ones came. They brought the seed that grew into the God tree. It mixed with this world and produced the chakra fruit. Kaguya's kind uses it to harvest chakra from the worlds they visit."
Wary and already certain she wouldn't like the answer, Tsunade asked. "What happens after the harvest?"
"They leave. After the harvest, the world is nothing but a dead rock. Without chakra, there can be no life."
Kuromaru gave Jiraiya a pointed look, and Jiraiya slumped appropriately, "We stopped her."
"You re-sealed her," Moro corrected.
"Kaguya fell in love with this world when she came and betrayed her own people to remain. She ate the God Fruit, which freed the chakra of this world."
"And now we can all use it," Tsunade followed along.
"Very good, Healer-hime. Kaguya once loved a human of this world, had children with him."
"The Sage of Six Paths."
"Correct! And through them, developed Shinobi and the Shinobi arts, but eventually, this world infected Kaguya, and she turned on it. But they did not kill Kaguya."
"They sealed her in the moon."
"Finally, he starts to catch on," Moro drawled, ignoring Jiraiya's scowl.
"That seal held for a thousand years-"
"And he's lost it again. It did not hold for a thousand years. It could, but it did not. Do you think this is the first time Zetsu has tried to free his mother? Do you think Kaguya simply accepted being sealed away?"
"She's broken free before." Tsunade guessed and immediately wished for a bottle of sake.
A big one.
"Yes. And she has been sealed away again each time, at great cost. You are not the first generation tasked with defeating her, and you will not be the last."
"Why can't you just defeat her then?" Jiraiya muttered.
Kakashi inched away from him.
"We did not raise you to be weak," Moro seethed, chakra pressing down ever harder. "If you wish to live in this world alongside us, you will earn your place. We could simply retire to the Pure Land and leave this world to its fate, but we have not."
"We are not the only…forces invested in the survival of this world and its inhabitants." Okuninushi broke in, "The Sharingan will not allow the Uchiha to forget any more than it will allow them to be forgotten. It has spent generations molding them to carry it. It will not simply move on without them. And it will not go peacefully to memory. Would you simply lay down and die just because someone wanted you dead?"
"You talk like it's alive," Jiraiya muttered, and the three gods stayed silent.
Tsunade blinked slowly and turned to Itachi.
He offered a sad smile.
Pakkun sitting at his feet, turned away.
"The Sharingan is sentient." She breathed and that, that was terrifying.
"It wants to survive, just like all of us. Kaguya has a special hatred for the dojutsu that betrayed her and all those who carry it." Itachi offered.
"It does not help," Okuninushi added, "That the Uchiha were the first to turn against her."
Moro lips curled like she was smiling, but really, there was just a long row of very sharp teeth. "When the first Uchiha and her children stood up against her, they were decimated but victorious. None of us expected them to be willing to do the same again."
"Didn't really expect them to still be around for the next go," Kuromaru admitted. "Stubborn lot."
"That's putting it lightly," Tsunade muttered, thinking of her limited experience with the Uchiha.
"They stood again. And again. I was impressed." Moro practically purred. "Such defiance in the face of fate and overwhelming power. I went to the first Uchiha and claimed them as mine. I signed the summoning contract in exchange for the Sharingan."
What was more concerning, Tsunade wondered. A summoning contract with a god or a god with the Sharingan?
"Since then, the Uchiha have always led the war against Kaguya. Sometimes, they fought alone, sometimes allied with other clans. Many of whom have died out completely now."
"That's why Zetsu targeted Madara," Kakashi realized, Tsunade and Jiraiya glancing at him in surprise. "She was trying to cut the head off the snake."
"Indeed, Bright One. Calamity is the strongest his line will ever produce for many generations still to come. He would have led his clan against her. Allied with Pretty Flower, there would have been no hope for Kaguya's victory. She spent generations working the miasma into the world and the Uchiha in an attempt to shatter them and control Calamity."
"She succeeded."
"Did she?"
Jiraiya's eye twitched. For someone so obsessed with prophecy and fate, he was displaying surprisingly little patience for the ones who'd woven it.
"He brought her back, nearly destroyed the world."
"And yet he turned from her in the end. He founded the village with Pretty Flower that brought you all together. His descendants still fight together. The sons of Wicked Eyes still stand, and they will find their way to the Godfire before long. She did not manage to annihilate the Uchiha, and she did not defeat Calamity in the end."
Tsunade rubbed her temples.
"Is Madara going to show up next?" Jiraiya sounded faint.
"Calamity has another task. You will not see him again in this lifetime."
At Jiraiya's sigh of relief, Moro growled. "You should be disappointed, not relieved, Wide Eyes. Calamity has much to teach. And he has already found his way to the Godfire."
"Then why is he somewhere else?" Kakashi broke in.
"Because Calamity has sacrificed greatly and suffered greatly for the sake of defeating Kaguya. There is a time he wished for more than this one, and she would have him have it."
"Kaguya?" Jiraiya guessed.
"How are you still alive?" Moro muttered.
"The Rinnegan," Kuromaru interjected gently.
Back to sentient eyes, Tsunade thought with a groan and another glance at Itachi.
"Madara's battle in this life is over, but yours has just begun. Stop being distracted by what you think is important and pay attention to what actually is."
"What's the Godfire?" Kakashi asked, intent and more interested than Tsunade had seen him in months.
"The flame that will burn the world entire. An exploding star. The God Tree will not burn with a simple katon."
"How difficult is it to find?"
"Only two managed it of Madara's generation."
And that had been a strong generation, Tsunade thought. Strong enough to build a village in the face of generations of hatred.
"The Mangekyo is required to find it, and it comes with a heavy price, but it is the only flame that will burn the God Tree."
"You will need it soon," Moro said and let silence fall as her words sank in.
"Kaguya is free?" Tsunade's hands shook as she fisted them in her robes.
"Not yet, but she will be. She has already planted the seed. It will grow, and then you will be able to see it on the horizon. Once it is strong enough, its roots deep enough, it will pull itself into this world fully and free her. Then and only then will you be able to destroy it and fully seal her away again."
"We have to wait until she's free?"
"Can you destroy something that does not yet exist?"
Philosophy was Jiraiya's thing, Tsunade thought, rubbing her temples. "So we have to wait, and we need the Godfire."
Which meant they needed any Uchiha who had achieved the Mangejyo Sharingan. As many of them as possible.
"How long?" Because she had to prioritize, had to reorganize if they were going to fight another war so soon.
"Within the year," Okuninushi sighed. "There is no way to tell for sure."
"We won't…." That wasn't enough time, Tsunade thought, mind turning desperately.
Wasn't enough time to restock.
Train.
Wasn't enough time for children to grow up, and they would have to because the number of Shinobi killed in the war was devastating. It would take decades for their numbers to recover from the war that only ended months ago.
They did not have the resources to fight another war this soon.
"You have two choices, Healer-hime," Moro said. "You fight, or you die."
"How?" Because there was no path forward that didn't end in the annihilation of Konoha, either by Kaguya's direct hand or the loss of everyone to defend it and the ensuing collapse.
"You win." The wolf said it simply, that it really was that easy.
"How the hell are we supposed to do that?" Jiraiya sputtered. He sounded hopeless, the way he had when he'd first learned of Minato's death and lost what hope he had left for the world.
"Do you have so little love? So, little hope? Will that not drive you to greater heights?"
"We need more than that!"
"You do not. Calamity used it to break free. Pretty Flower used it to stop Kaguya from using him. Snowflake used it to buy the time needed. Without landing a single blow, they struck Kaguya deeply."
"Sometimes," Kuromaru said, "The strength to stand up once more is the strength to strike the final blow." He turned to Kakashi. "You are not a Uchiha, but you carry the Sharingan. You will not be able to reach the Godfire, but you may be able to achieve something else. Something that may work as a last resort should Kaguya succeed in killing off the Uchiha."
"Through Chidori?" Kakashi guessed, eyes narrowed in thought as the hound nodded.
"You must rest and heal first," Okuninushi insisted, crawling over to Kakashi and poking his foot with a thin leg. "All the way."
"I'll be fine," Kakashi muttered, but the spider just kept poking his foot.
"Lies. Lies." She sang, "You must heal first, or you will be of no use. Pakkun, put your pup to bed."
The nin-kin immediately stood and nodded. "Of course."
Kakashi sputtered indignantly but could do nothing as he and Pakkun disappeared in a puff of smoke and leaves.
Okuninushi crawled to Tsunade, all her eyes peering up, reflecting the dancing flames. It was almost hypnotic.
"You have failed that boy, Healer-hime. Though perhaps not entirely your fault, you must do better from now on."
Jiraiya drew himself up, ready to defend Tsunade until the end, but she reached out and put a calming hand on his arm.
The spider was right.
"I will."
"Your resources are limited," Kuromaru sighed, "You must be careful in how you use them."
They would only have so many soldiers to fight this war and no time to wait for more.
"I understand," Tsunade responded and inclined her head out of respect.
She was the Hokage. Regardless of what she thought of them, they should not have felt she needed reminding of that.
"Ask."
Her eyes jumped to the wolf.
"It is bothering you enough to distract you from what needs to be done. Ask."
But even with the opportunity laid out in front of her, all the questions she'd been slowly gathering over the last week when she searched for the words, they would not come.
"If you cannot ask the question, then perhaps it is not worth dwelling on?" Moro mused, the other two gods nodding in agreement. "You humans always get stuck on the things that don't matter because you are desperate to avoid dealing with what does."
Tsunade nodded and sighed tiredly. "Sometimes it's hard to tell."
"Sometimes." Kuromaru offered softly.
Jiraiya crossed his arms and legs.
Settling in Tsunade realized.
Oh boy.
"The prophecy-"
Moro snapped her teeth in disgust as Kuromaru sighed and Okuninushi climbed onto Jiraiya's knee.
Tsunade rolled her eyes, even as fondness bubbled inside her.
"Stop dwelling on that stupid prophecy," the wolf muttered. "Better yet, call Gamabunta here so I can eat him for bringing that stupid story into the world."
***
It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.
Benjamin Franklin
***
Present Day
: :Main House, Uchiha Compound, Konohagakure: :
She left the gods to Jiraiya and wandered out into the expansive gardens, finding her way back to the huge indigo chrysanthemums in the moonlight.
A still night seemed like a great gift now. The air crisp, just a few degrees shy of cold, and yet the flowers were full, lush. She ran her fingers over the silken petals and let her mind wander.
The clink of teacups roused her from her thoughts, and when she wandered around the bush, she found herself facing the engawa at the back of the Main House.
Iruka, his legs dangling over the edge, dipped his toes into an expansive koi pond.
Itachi sat next to him, slumped against Iruka's shoulder. A tea tray with a steaming pot sat off to the side.
With three cups.
Tsunade walked across the pond and took a seat next to them. Looking up at the moon as she and Iruka engaged in a silent contest to see who would give in and pour the tea first.
"Poor the damn tea, Ruka," Itachi muttered.
Iruka grumbled as he did, and Tsunade sighed as the rich flavor of dew and jasmine and honey burst across her tongue.
"Gyokuro. They mix it with Jasmine and honey in the Land of Tea. It was our father's favorite." Itachi offered, sipping his own as all three of them refused to acknowledge the weight of the first time either of them had mentioned Fugaku to her.
"It's delicious." She offered, reminded of the tea ceremonies her grandmother had forced her to endure as a child. All the hidden meanings and careful steps that were supposed to guide you through a silent conversation. Did the Uchiha use tea ceremonies the same way the Senju had? The Senju had been focused on control, skill, and the proper way of doing things.
Everything she'd been told about the Uchiha had made them sound wild and animalistic.
"The Senju used the tea ceremony to teach self-control and political acumen. Did the Uchiha do something similar?"
Iruka gave her a blank look, "What do you think?"
She was so surprised she snorted her tea and had to cough before she could speak again. "Damn it, Umino."
"Sorry." He didn't look very apologetic, and Itachi looked terribly young as he snickered next to him.
"Alright, can we set aside any personal opinions?"
"Not much to talk about then."
She narrowed her eyes at the smartass, "About one another."
Iruka's lips twitched, but he nodded. There was a grey pallor to his skin, more wrinkles around his dropping eyes.
"Tell me the story of the Uchiha."
"Descendants of Indra, from his only daughter specifically. Kikyo, the first Uchiha. She's the one who signed the contract with Moro. Who first developed the Sharingan. All Uchiha are from her." Iruka leaned back, watched the ripples from his toes spread across the pond. "Wanderers first. They spent generations moving from place to place. Yokai hunters when yokai were more common than humans. When the yokai began to die out, lords and wealthy merchants started hiring them as mercenaries. That was when they first came into conflict with the Senju. It wasn't long after that that they settled on the banks of the Naka River."
Right, Tsunade thought, a few miles north along the river from where the walls of Konohagakure ended.
"They fought Kaguya. They fought the Yokai. Then they fought the Senju and many other clans, and when it finally looked like there was no one left to fight, Madara and Hashirama formed the Village Hidden in the Leaves. We've been here ever since."
It was the first time she'd heard Iruka refer to himself as a Uchiha.
"In all things, we are strong. In all things, we love. In all things, we are devoted until death." Itachi intoned dutifully.
"Subete wa mura no tame ni." Iruka finished. "The Uchiha took an oath. Same as the one they made to fight Kaguya for eternity. To serve the village, beyond even death."
That was….
Rather intense, Tsunade mused. Dramatic. Passionate. Concerningly obsessive.
"Were they happy here?"
Iruka and Itachi shared a long look. "Mostly. The Sharingan looks to the horizon, always. It doesn't like being chained."
"Who does?" Itachi mused. "It seeks. Discovers. Achieves the next lesson, the next victory. That's how its ability to copy developed. It's always hungry for more, and humans are limited in that way."
"It's changed our physiology over the generations. Wider chakra pathways. Increased joint flexibility. Faster cellular generation."
"To support the Sharingan." They nodded. "Does it…talk to you?"
They stared at her for a moment, still and serious, and Tsunade's thoughts spiraled to mad voices and possessions and all Jiraiya's stupid ghost stories and -
Their shoulders started shaking.
"Brats."
Itachi grinned as Iruka ducked his head. "It doesn't talk to us. It's a parasite. We co-exist, depend on one another, but it's not a separate, distinct personality we deal with."
"Thank god." That was the last thing she needed. A bunch of souped-up shinobi with split personalities. "And Kakashi's is the same?"
Itachi nodded. "Mostly. There were seals put in place to protect him from the brunt of it."
"Those seals also prevent him from accessing the full abilities of the dojutsu." Iruka ran a hand through his hair. "We're still not sure what would happen to him if the seals weren't there. Most likely, it'd rip his mind apart."
"What are the chances of those seals failing? Or Kakashi breaking through them?"
"Nill." She didn't look convinced, so Iruka continued. "It's not a matter of whether or not he's strong enough to get through them or they're weak enough to break. There is a piece missing that will always prevent Kakashi from going beyond what he's achieved with it now. He's at the pinnacle for a non-Uchiha with the Sharingan."
"What's the missing element?"
"Our blood. That's what carries the Sharingan and the Uchiha Kekkei Genkai. Without our blood, the Sharingan is limited." Itachi assured her. "Father put further seals in place in the days following Kakashi's transplant to protect him from the Sharingan. Everything that's been happening to him since the war ended is the Sharingan trying to help in its own horrible, confused way."
A little bit of the stress bled out of her. And Iruka, too, judging from the way his shoulders eased and some of the shadows faded from his face.
"When did you and Kakashi…"
Iruka flushed, redder than Tsunade had ever seen him before, and fumbled with his cup.
"They haven't figured anything out, Lord Hokage. They're a pair of emotionally stunted fools." Itachi said cheerfully as he poured them all more tea.
Tsunade smirked as Iruka smacked his brother upside the head.
"Show some respect to your elders, brat." Itachi stuck his tongue out at him, and they devolved into a minor wrestling match as Tsunade inhaled the delicious scent of the tea.
Definitely brothers, she thought, studying them over her cup. Though they looked different on the outside, they carried themselves the same way. Shoulders back, spine straight. They both tended to look you directly in the eyes when they spoke to you.
She could see the holes growing in Iruka's chakra, frayed edges brought on by exhaustion and extended use, but even then, it resembled the placid, endless reach of Itachi's. Next to one another, it was impossible to tell where one ended, and the other began until the holes started to appear.
She thought about Itachi putting the hiate on Kakashi, even when he hadn't wanted it.
They both cared, no matter what the other person said.
Itachi had stayed away for years.
Iruka had stayed silent. A particular challenge for him.
A father who could not acknowledge his son in public.
Different methods for the same sacrifice.
In all things, we are strong. In all things, we love. In all things, we are devoted until death.
***
Human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.
George Washington
***
Present Day
: :Hantahoru, Uchiha Compound, Konohagakure: :
Jiraiya sighed, stroking his chin as he looked over the scroll full of notes he'd already made. "I don't understand."
"Because you're an idiot." Moro hissed, and Kuromaru sighed and rested his head on his paws.
"Just show him, Moro. The boy will learn better that way." Okuninushi waved her legs.
"Boy?" Jiraiya sputtered. No one had called him a boy in decades.
"Look at me," Moro commanded, and he did.
The Sharingan spun, and the world fell away.
***
Decades Before Today
: :Uchiha Compound, Konohagakure: :
It took Jiraiya a few seconds to get his bearings. To realize he was standing at the gate of the Uchiha Compound on a night not unlike this one. Cool and clear, stars above, solid earth below, and the world in between.
There were lights burning in a few windows, though most of the compound seemed to be asleep. It didn't look much different, and trying to line up past and present gave him a minor headache.
The vegetation and gardens were better maintained. Little personal touches, drying clothes, sandals that needed mending, bags, and other pieces of everyday life scattered around. One big house as opposed to the series of smaller houses of the Hyuga or the Sarutobi Clan Compounds.
Footsteps approached, and he turned.
Tears burned as Sarutobi Hiruzen approached the gates. A couple decades younger than the last time Jiraiya had seen him only months before his death. As always, he wore the robes of his office, steps slow and measured and never faltering.
Everything Tsunade had told him roared back, fighting against the memory Jiraiya had of their teacher. The warm smiles, the firm hand, the constant willingness to teach, and the sheer enjoyment he'd seemed to find in their presence.
How could that man have ordered the execution of an entire clan?
By one of its own sons, no less?
The Uchiha must have been plotting against the village. There was no other reason Hiruzen, who had always preached teamwork and kindness, would take a step like that.
And here he was, more than a decade before that night, stepping into the compound alone, not an ANBU around, walking in as if he did it every day.
Jiraiya followed, so lost in the study of his teacher that he missed the voices at first and didn't turn to look until they were already stepping into the training yard behind the Main House.
A group of children carrying out katas in formation were spread across the field. Most of them around five or six, a few older. He could even recognize a few. Naruto's beloved academy sensei, already with a scar across his face. Obito beside a white-haired boy. Two of them could have been Tsunade's other assistants, and there was Orochimaru's beloved student, grinning in a way she never had around her sensei. One of the Inuzuka, a girl that looked like the clan head. There was a boy Jiraiya didn't recognize who had scars across his eyes and the insides of his elbows. Asuma was there, and the small wave he gave his father was the friendliest expression of feeling between them that Jiraiya had ever seen.
Leading the formation was Maito Dai, a shorter, stouter version of his son, but just as enthusiastic as he chanted encouragement. On either side of him, Uchiha Mikoto and Uzumaki Kushina seemed to be doing their level best to make his students break their stride with laughter. Their exaggerated katas and war cries looked like something out of one of the Icha Icha Samurai movies that had paid for most of Jiraiya's travels in the last decade of his life.
He'd known Kushina and Mikoto were best friends, but watching them together was something else. He'd never had many dealings with the Uchiha, aside from a few missions and seeing Mikoto with Kushina or Minato. Mikoto had always seemed as somber and serious as the rest of her clan, but here, in private, she seemed just as silly as Kushina could be.
"Good evening." Hiruzen's voice made his head snap around and- oh.
Minato was there, bright and happy, sprawled out on the engawa, balancing a toddler who had to be Uchiha Itachi on his chest as he made faces. The child giggled, waving fistfuls of blond hair in a way that made Jiraiya wince in sympathy, but Minato only laughed.
He was leaning against Uchiha Fugaku, who gave off an amused air despite apparently being focused on the scroll he was holding. On his other side, Uchiha Kikyo, a senior kunoichi in the clan that Jiraiya had only met in passing, yawned and ignored Hiruzen's greeting.
Behind them, Hatake Sakumo was sprawled across Inuzuka Tusme's lap, her hand idly stroking his hair as he played a game of go against Aburame Shibi.
There was a gentle intimacy to the scene as Hiruzen approached and took a seat on the engawa.
An Uchiha Jiraiya didn't recognize appeared, placing a tray with a steaming pot of tea and a cup next to the Hokage before disappearing again before Hiruzen could even mutter a thank you.
He watched Dai's class as he sipped his tea, and Jiraiya did his best to memorize everything he could about the group sprawled on the porch. "They're doing well."
Fugaku hummed. No one else bothered to respond.
If anything, the Sanin realized, it seemed like Minato, who would have already been transitioning as Hiruzen's successor at this point, was ignoring him.
Hiruzen himself didn't seem bothered. He seemed…almost peaceful.
Eventually, he took a scroll out of his sleeve and held it out, though Jiraiya couldn't tell if it was too Minato or Fugaku.
It didn't seem to matter. Fugaku took it and opened it, holding it so Minato could read along.
Jiraiya stepped around to see what it was and nearly jumped out of his skin when Minato snapped up, cradling a startled Itachi to his chest.
It was a request for a Hokage's ruling. Permission to execute Uchiha Obito and Umino Iruka.
Tsunade had mentioned that. Said Asuma had told them all about the Council's attempt to align maintaining the balance of power with killing two of Fugaku's sons.
"Absolutely not," Minato snarled, fury blazing in his eyes.
"Hiruzen," Fugaku's voice was cold. It held a warning, a promise of violence.
Hiruzen looked hurt at their reactions, the others around them still as they watched. "Do you think so little of me?"
Neither man answered.
"They are my grandsons." And yet, that didn't seem to reassure Minato or Fugaku the way it should have. "I will not allow them to be hurt."
Something flashed in Fugaku's eyes, rage? Guilt? Jiraiya didn't know him well enough to tell, but he knew Minato.
His greatest student, the world's hope.
He didn't look convinced. Eyes narrowed the way they did when he was focused, about to pick apart an opponent until there was nothing left.
"More nonsense about maintaining the balance?"
"It is something that must be considered."
"It's bullshit. It's an excuse they're using to cling to power and influence they should never have been trusted with in the first place."
Had Minato always distrusted the Council? Jiraiya wasn't fond of their current policies and beliefs either, but he had fond memories of them from when he'd been Hiruzen's student.
Hiruzen seemed to wilt under Minato's rage.
"What's going on?" Mikoto appeared in front of them, Kushina at her side. Both women looked between the Hokage and their husbands, suspicious, and Hiruzen seemed to shrink further.
Afraid, Jiraiya realized with some surprise.
The scroll in Fugaku's hand burst into flame and dispersed into ash.
Mikoto's eyes narrowed. "Stay away from my children, Hiruzen."
"They are not yours." Hiruzen pointed out, and even Jiraiya stepped back from the look on the Uchiha matriarch's face.
"They are mine," Mikoto hissed. "I raised them. I taught them to walk and to talk. I tuck them in at night and soothe their tears. Your daughter did nothing but birth them and abandon them."
Itachi squirmed and whined in distress until Minato tucked him against his neck and murmured, ignoring Mikoto and Hiruzen to focus on the child.
At Mikoto's shoulder, Kushina's eyes were sharp and dangerous. "I hope our future children will warrant the same consideration, Hiruzen."
"Children are not pawns for political battles."
"They are not soldiers either." Her hand on Mikoto's shoulder seemed to calm her friend, and some of the tension in the air faded away. "You need to get them under control before Minato does it for you."
The man in question didn't look up from the child in his arms as Hiruzen admitted, "I know. They have…become concerningly bold as of late. Their roots have slipped deep within the village."
"The war with Kaguya is coming. We cannot afford distractions, Hiruzen." The Uchiha Clan Leader was a hard man from what Jiraiya remembered, but he was more off-balance from the fact that they were already preparing for Kaguya than he was by the surprisingly gentle tone.
Hiruzen had known about Kaguya all this time?
"We cannot ignore the threat in front of us for one that is on its way," Sakumo murmured.
"Kakashi is safe," Hiruzen assured him, "As long as he does not join the Hanta, Danzo will not recruit him."
Hiruzen actually seemed to believe that, Jiraiya realized, and wondered how it had gone between Hiruzen and his old teammate when Danzo had done just that years later.
Judging from the displeased look on Sakumo's face, he hadn't shared Hiruzen's faith.
"We cannot risk being unable to answer when she comes. We must be able to unite in the face of a threat like Kaguya."
"You won't be able to trust them even when they're standing next to you," Minato muttered. "They'll simply smile and nod and wait. The Uchiha will be decimated by the war against Kaguya, and the Inuzuka and Aburame are unlikely to fare any better."
Our allies will be limited, Minato didn't say, but even Jiraiya heard it.
Hiruzen responded simply. "The loyalty and service of the Uchiha goes beyond death."
What the fuck did that mean?
***
Present Day
: :Hantahoru, Uchiha Compound: :
"Back with us, Wide Eyes?"
Jiraiya opened his eyes to the ceiling of the Hantahoru, far more questions than answers spinning in his mind.
"What the fuck did that mean?"
***
Present Day
: :Temporary Rooms, Konohagakure: :
Kakashi had been out as soon as he'd hit the bed. Hadn't even been able to listen to Pakkun's apology, let alone make his own.
His eye had drooped as soon as he'd sat down, and even though he'd tried to rally himself, all it had taken was Pakkun gently pushing him over with a paw before his face was half-buried in a pillow, and he was sound asleep without even bothering to remove his new hiate.
Pakkun had sat there and stared at him for a while, watching the slow and steady rise and fall of his chest. The most relaxed Pakkun had seen him in months.
"Damn it, pup. You're too old to be worrying me like this."
The others had pulled then, and Pakkun had dragged them into the world to curl around Kakashi on the bed. It wasn't until Aki let out a curious whine that he looked over and saw someone had placed a repaired Mr. Ukki on the nightstand.
Which, he didn't have the energy to deal with this right now. There's no smell of threat or danger, and it's entirely possible it was Tsunade or Jiraiya or the Green Beast or even Iruka or one Kakashi's students.
It's not something to worry about until Kakashi has had some rest and they can figure out what they're going to do next because there's a lot ahead of them, and none of it was going to be easy.
Pakkun eventually curled up under Kakashi's chin, but he only managed a few hours of sleep before a scratching noise woke him.
When he looked up, it was just in time to see the wards fall, the window open, and someone tumble inside.
"Oh, for fucks sake."
***
Kakashi hadn't felt so rested, so warm and comfortable, in so long that he actually laid there for a moment after he woke, just savoring the feeling. He could feel the pack tucked around him, Pakkun shifting under his chin.
"Oh, for fucks sake." The nin-kin didn't sound pleased.
Kakashi's eyes snapped open as the wards around Konohagakure fell, falling like glass as something inhuman roared beyond the wall of the village.
Above him, Obito grinned, un-capped marker in hand. "Wake up, Bakashi. We've got shit to do."
Forget what Minato-sensei said. Violence is absolutely the appropriate response.
***
The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.
Bob Marley
***
~tbc~