The Kakashi Way - DAsObiQuiet, quathis (2024)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Naruto grunted and strained against the ropes holding him to the log again. And again his attempts at freeing himself failed (for the hundredth time that day). Some team he had, leaving him behind like this. Of course he'd get out of it! He didn't need them, after all… but… man, this sucked.

He slumped as his stomach growled again. He looked up at the sun that had crawled farther along in the sky. It would be evening soon and he still hadn't eaten more than a couple of bites of food all day. He hated going without food. Few things made him feel weaker.

But if anyone thought this would make him give up, he'd show them how wrong they were! With that little, mental pep-talk out of the way, he renewed his efforts, grunting and straining against the ropes again.

And he might have actually succeeded, too, had a figure stumbling into the clearing not distracted him.

The guy looked… kinda weird, for a ninja. He had shoulder-length dark hair, and half of it covered one of his eyes (kind of like Kakashi-sensei, now that Naruto thought about it). He wore a brown poncho and a wrap around his forehead. His pants looked worn, but were otherwise typical ninja pants, and his ninja boots and legs up to his knees had been wrapped in dark strips of cloth. He had a walking stick in one hand that he was leaning rather heavily on.

He looked weak, in Naruto's opinion. What kind of ninja just stumbled around like that?

The guy looked up and around, eye wide as he blinked (or at least, Naruto assumed it was blinking as he still couldn't see the second eye).

"Oh," the man finally said aloud. He had a soft voice that just made Naruto want to smack him one. Why could weak people like this guy be ninjas while he had to fight for every single ounce of recognition he got.

(The guy had to be a ninja, though, because no one else could get into the training grounds – Naruto had tried before, and if he couldn't do it, no one could!)

"Who are you?" Naruto finally called out, thoroughly unimpressed. "What are you doing here?"

The man turned his lone, black eye on Naruto, and his visible eyebrow crept towards his hairline.

"Oh," he said again. Then he put his hand to his chin… the one with the walking stick in it even. It looked so weird.

"What do you mean, 'oh', you jerk?" Naruto yelled and went to rush the guy… only to remember he was still tied to the log, so only ended up thrashing his legs. Still, that wouldn't stop Naruto from giving this guy a piece of his mind. "Just wait 'till I get out of this! Then I'll come over there and kick your butt!"

He wasn't quite sure why he wanted to beat this guy down, except that he looked so weak and he just happened to be right there.

The man just blinked for several seconds before he slowly approached and then squatted in front of Naruto, just out of reach of his kick.

"What're you looking at, huh?!" Naruto yelled, kicking out at the guy again.

To his surprise, the weak-looking ninja spoke a full sentence for the first time since he arrived. "How… long have you been here?" he asked.

Naruto got over his surprise at being approached and not shouted at quickly, only to pout at the question. "Why? I'm just practicing my ninja skills! Ninja have to get out of situations like this, you know?"

The man tipped his head to one side, studying Naruto intently. "That's not what I asked."

"So what?" the blond replied. "You gonna tell me I'm weak just 'cause I've been tied up here since noon? Huh?!"

To his surprise (again), the man didn't. He just blinked, then sighed.

"No one taught you how to get out of ropes… did they."

Naruto felt his eyes go wide. "Wait, there actually is training for this?!" he asked.

The man closed his eye and put his hand to the bridge of his nose (while still holding his walking stick… so weird).

"It's supposed to be taught in the academy."

Oh. That explained that. But… he'd gotten along without all of that so far, so why did he need it now?
"I don't need that stuff!" he exclaimed. "I'm fine on my own! I'm awesome like that and I'll figure this out! Then I'll kick your butt!"

The man raised his eyebrow, now looking thoroughly unimpressed himself. "Why?" he asked.

"For looking down on me! I'm the future Hokage, you know!" Naruto responded, kicking out again.

The man chuckled, which only caused Naruto's anger to build further. "You don't think I can?" he challenged.

The man just smiled a very, very small smile – although, it wasn't one of the cruel smiles Naruto had grown so used to on adults. "I believe you."

Naruto stopped kicking out as he felt his eyes widen in surprise. "You… you do?"

The guy just nodded, smile gone and face completely blank again.

Those words… weren't usual.

"Why?" Naruto heard himself ask before he could think better of it.

The man just shrugged. "Because you want it."

But… then why didn't anyone else acknowledge him like that?

Before Naruto could figure out something to say, the man sighed and spoke again. "Would you like to know how to get out of ropes?"

The blond's breath caught in his throat. "I… guess," he finally muttered. "Not that I need it, or anything," he quickly added on.

The man just nodded as if he completely agreed with Naruto.

This was getting really weird.

Naruto had wanted acknowledgment his entire life… so why did it feel weird?

"There are several methods for escaping rope. The genin method wouldn't be useful in this situation as you're tied bodily to the trunk. Normally, you would have to…" the man started, then went on to explain how to present oneself when being tied up, then what to do if that went wrong or one was unconscious when tied up.

Then he went on to ask what Naruto could move at that point.

"My my head, my hands and my legs," the blond replied, still pouting a little… but what the man had explained was interesting.

"Can you move your shoulder and arm at all?"

Naruto frowned and thought about that, then he tried to. He could move his arm up a bit.

"Work with that and see if you can figure out how to get that out."

"But what if I have to get out fast?" Naruto whined, even as he focused on trying to get his arm out of the rope. Kakashi-sensei had tied it really tight, but he was making progress, little by little.

"Then hope you have chakra."

Naruto frowned.

"Chakra?"

The man sighed. "The energy that allows you to henge and kawarimi."

"Oh, that stuff," Naruto said, recognizing what Iruka-sensei had explained to him… a couple of times… when he hadn't really been listening. Then he snorted. "I have chakra now. Hey, wait! Is there a super-cool jutsu for this?" he asked, completely emphasizing the accusation in his voice. The guy should have told him that to begin with!

"You need to know how to escape without chakra too."

"Why?" he pouted.

"Because you can't always use chakra. Getting out of traps like this takes time and patience."

"But I want out now," Naruto said again. He was hungry, dang it!

"Is that being patient?" the man asked pointedly, voice dry.

Naruto sighed. "No. You sound like Iruka-sensei." He didn't notice the man's eyes widening or the slight redness that came to his cheeks. Instead, the blond went back to working his arm out of the rope. He could almost… get his elbow… but he had to move his arm really weird and didn't have enough space to…

Then he grit his teeth and pulled as hard as he could. The rope hurt and scraped his arm, but it finally came out. And once he did that, he could move the rest of his arm out pretty easily.

"Hey! I did it!" he said happily, showing the man.

"Good," the man replied with a nod. "Can you get out of the rope now? Is it loose enough."

Naruto struggled and strained and felt the rope give a little more than it had before. Not a lot, but just enough…

"I… think so," he said, pulling on the ropes with his newly freed hand." After another couple of seconds, he got his other hand out and began pulling at the different ropes. Not long after that, he stepped away from the log, beaming.

"See! I told you I could get loose!"

The man nodded, looking utterly serious. "I never doubted you."

Naruto… actually really appreciated the guy now. "Uh, thanks," he finally muttered, rubbing the back of his head and looking away. Iruka-sensei said he had to be polite to people, and this guy had been really nice, considering. Even if he still looked weak. "I mean, I don't want to beat you up now."

"You're welcome."

The surroundings fell into silence for several seconds while Naruto tried to think of something to say to the guy he'd been threatening earlier. The guy who turned out to be pretty cool after all.

"So, what's your name?" he asked. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto!"

The man just blinked down at him for several seconds and Naruto almost wanted to take it back. The guy might not have known (although how, Naruto didn't know – everyone knew him, for better or worse), and now he might not be so nice. What if he hadn't recognized Naruto? Would his face twist up in the disgust the orphan had become so used to seeing? His stomach twisted up in a knot and he was about to say something before the man finally spoke.

"Indra. Call me Indra."

And he said it just as calmly as normal, no hint of disgust. Maybe he didn't know about the fox?

Naruto just grinned. "So, Indra, have you ever had Ramen?"

Indra just blinked.

xXx

Indra had insisted on a henge before going into town, and his henge was pretty cool. It looked almost as good as Naruto's! He'd said that he was on a long-term mission and some people might not recognize him and might attack them if he didn't henge, so Naruto suggested Iruka-sensei.

For some reason, the guy sighed at that. But he also henged into Iruka-sensei and accompanied Naruto to the food stand and even said he'd pay for the food. Naruto thanked him profusely and then almost slipped up and introduced his new friend to Old Man Teuchi and Ayame-nee, but he remembered just in time.

Indra didn't have much to say to Naruto, usually responding to questions with grunts or a 'hn' sound. He was almost as bad as the Teme, although seemed nicer and friendlier for some reason the Jinchuuriki didn't quite understand. Indra even gave him the idea that he could have used his kage bushin to untie him earlier! When he'd asked how, the man had pointed out that he'd freed his hands, however it might be really useful for him to get to a point where he didn't need to use a sign to summon his kage bushin. What a cool idea!

He decided he liked Indra.

He did seem genuinely surprised at how much food Naruto ate, even going so far as to mutter something about how he thought it would be far less as a child, whatever that meant.

Then he bid Naruto farewell and told him to keep practicing his ability to escape. It might save his life one day. Then he disappeared down a street with a wave of his hand – the one still holding the walking stick.

"Huh, what a weird guy," Naruto muttered, then shrugged and turned to go home, much happier than he'd been earlier that day. Besides, now he was officially a genin! How cool was that?!

He skipped home and went to bed that night with a smile on his face and a new precious person he would do anything to protect.

xXx

32-year-old Uchiha Sasuke looked over Konoha from his perch on the Fourth Hokage's head – the closest he could get to the stone head he was used to sitting on, but he had to make do with his best friend's father instead. He took what comfort he could from it, as his current situation really made him want to find the nearest bar and get completely and utterly soused, but he knew that would ultimately make everything worse (getting someone with a Rinnegan drunk always ended poorly).

Instead, he forced himself to focus on the situation and piece together what exactly had happened to him. The last thing he remembered was stepping through a portal opened by his Rinnegan eye to check on Kaguya's prison (something he did fairly regularly to keep his paranoia at bay). But instead of the smooth transition to his intended destination that he'd expected, he'd somehow stopped abruptly and been thrown? No… it felt more like he hit a wall and had then fallen down a flight of metaphorical stairs (or several). At least, that was the closest comparison he could think of.

He'd ended up on a very familiar training ground – one that had been destroyed years before in Pein's attack on the village. That had confused him initially (unsurprisingly), and still did to a small extent. Why would he end up here of all places and times? Here when the man he respected most among the living had been left tied to a log on the day they'd passed their final genin exam? His two high level doujutsu confirmed almost instantly that he hadn't been placed under any form of genjutsu, and so he could only conclude that he had accidentally traveled back in time. As implausible as that sounded.

So he'd dealt with the situation – trying to be as calm and patient with a young, bull-headed Naruto as he could be (he'd forgotten how bad his best friend used to be – although that gave him hope for some of Konoha's future generation), and now he had to figure out what to do.

His first thought had been to keep the timeline pure, simply because he could seriously screw up the future if he didn't (teaching Naruto how to escape ropes didn't count, and the kid needed to know things like that for his future anyway; besides it was so small, it couldn't hurt… right?). Then he'd thought back to some of the prevailing theories on time travel he'd studied, mainly due to the surprising amount of tales and anecdotes regarding people with high powered doujutsu having issues with time. If those theories were true, him going back this far should have created a branching timeline. Of course, that could only be true if there were now two Uchiha Sasuke's in the timeline, and so he'd sneaked into the Uchiha compound and verified that his younger self was, indeed, here.

In truth, seeing his younger self had been relieving. It meant his actions wouldn't directly affect his original time – for better or ill – which, in turn, meant he didn't have to worry about losing his own present. Which meant that he could honestly do just about anything he wanted in the here and now.

It was a heady feeling, knowing just how much he could screw with the future if he wanted to. He considered trying to get back to his own timeline and just leaving well enough alone, but he didn't know if he could undo the accident enough to get him home to the right time, let alone the right dimension. Which meant he'd have to wait for Naruto to come and find him (because he had little doubt the Uzumaki would, even if it meant defying all expectations and natural laws, because hey, it wouldn't be the first time), and in the mean time… well…

The penultimate Uchiha considered his options. He could go his usual route by, again, just leaving well enough alone, sitting back and just watching to see how the situation unfolded, then stepping in if he had to. He doubted he would actually have to do anything. He knew most of what the future held… and while that was likely the most intelligent route… it also sounded incredibly boring to him. It also felt… wrong somehow, to sit back and not do anything (and he wondered just when the dobe had rubbed off on him so much…).

He could go the Naruto route, he supposed. It would be interesting at least. If he just went in and told everyone the absolute truth and then dealt with whatever consequences came… he could just imagine the look on Kakashi's face when he told him about his future as the Sixth Hokage… That was honestly almost amusing enough to just go with it, but the idea of dealing with the fallout with the current Third Hokage (or even worse, Danzo) did not appeal to him.

With that out of the way, he moved onto the next idea, taking the Sakura route. Just insert himself here and there and punch through anything that he didn't like… that, actually sounded like a very appealing option.

Or the Kakashi route… and just troll everyone while observing the situation and showing up with low-key interactions while subtly teaching the past versions of his friends and family why any given situation was or wasn't the best idea. (He had to admit, screwing with his arrogant past-self did sound very… amusing.)

Hmm, as entertaining as the Sakura route would be, the Kakashi route seemed even better. It would also be a good way to head off some potentially damaging problems in the future…

Or he could combine them.

He felt a smile come to his lips that would undoubtedly make even his wife step back warily (it would probably make the future Seventh Hokage either sigh with resignation or prepare to meet Sasuke's challenge).

He chuckled quietly to himself as he stood.

Trolling everyone it would be.

Starting with Danzo.

It wouldn't be difficult to infiltrate root since, you know, he could make portals and had an unbeatable genjutsu.

This would be so cathartic.

xXx

Hiruzen woke to the flaring of chakra and immediately stood to unseal his door. Outside, he found one of his ANBU kneeling in submission. The others had remained at their stations.

"Hokage-sama," the ANBU, Rat, started, "I bring you news. Shimura-sama has been placed in the hospital."

The Hokage frowned.

"Why?"

"His arm and eye are missing."

Hiruzen felt his breath catch. Danzo, even now, was no pushover. Whoever could do that to him was a threat he would have to address (unless it had been a training accident, but somehow, the Hokage doubted it). He also felt his heart sink at his old friend's predicament. The advisor already couldn't use his bandaged arm and he only had one eye left.

"So he is blind," he muttered.

"No, Hokage-sama," the ANBU replied.

Hiruzen frowned again. "Explain."

"The eye that was taken… was his already damaged eye."

Well… that made no sense. "Why would someone take that eye?" he asked. "I was under the impression that it had been damaged beyond repair."

The ANBU, to their credit, didn't so much as fidget. "Head Medic Oba has asked for you, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen didn't sigh, but he wanted to. He'd already gotten to bed late.

He was too old for this job.

He'd been too old for almost two decades now.

"Yes, I will be right there," he said and closed his door to get dressed.

Two minutes later, he appeared at the Konoha hospital. The girl at the front desk, a genin who had never passed her teacher's test, jumped at the sight of him, but she immediately gave him directions to find Oba-san. He followed them and two more minutes later, he found the man in question.

The head healer was a short man, with dark green hair slicked back into a low pony-tail and large, round glasses. He'd been a chuunin, but had never gone very far in the traditional ranks as he had focused more on healing after obtaining his promotion, simply staying in the hospital to work as a medic.

He was one of the oldest medics there – had even been there when Tsunade had been in charge of the hospital during the war…

"Oba-san," Hiruzen said seriously.

The man looked up at the Hokage and straightened his back, likely hoping to hide the tired slump of his shoulders.

"Hokage-sama," he said. "Earlier tonight, Shimura-san was… left in front of the hospital."

Hiruzen frowned. "Left?"

The green-haired man nodded, looking nervous. "He was not checked in by anyone, simply appearing in front of the building. No one was seen in the vicinity."

Hiruzen always had operatives watching the hospital. He would have to check in with them.

"I see," he said before gesturing for the man to continue.

"In any case, he seemed to be suffering from a hallucination of some kind. If it is a genjutsu, though, it isn't one we can break. He also had some blood loss as his arm had been completely severed at the shoulder."

"His left arm?" the Hokage asked.

The man shook his head. "No, his right arm."

"The right arm that had already been severely damaged?" the Hokage asked.

Oba-san shifted nervously. "Well, you see… that's not the only thing, Hokage-sama. His arm is already growing back."

Hiruzen's eyes widened. "What?" he asked.

The medic shook his head. "I… don't know what to make of it," he said as he handed over a sheet with his observations written down. "His skin in areas around his arm looked… pale and patchy, so we took a sample, thinking it was a poison. We merely found human cells, but they're modified, heavily. They have excessive healing and… I'm waiting on the DNA results. They should be here any minute because they aren't originaly Shimura-san's.

"The thing is, Hokage-sama, with the results we've already seen and the cells we've found, Shimura-san likely had full use of his arm. We've found active chakra pathways leading to said arm and the same to his eye."

The Third closed his eyes as the implications ran through his head. "So, just to be clear, you are saying that Shimrua-san has had full use of both his arm and eye for an unknown amount of time?"

Oba-san nodded. "All results we've seen are saying that, yes-sir."

So… Danzo had lied to him. Well… it wouldn't be the first time.

"Is he still under the effects of the genjutsu?" Hiruzen asked after several breaths.

"Yes, sir," the medic nodded, nervously.

"Let me see him," the Hokage ordered.

"Yes, sir," Oba-san said, sounding relieved. He turned and began to lead Hiruzen down the hall but a voice calling out stopped them.

"Oba-san! We need you to… oh!" the medic-nin running up to them, a brown-haired girl with black eyes, stopped short when she realized who else was in the hall. "Hokage-sama! My apologies," she said, bowing low.

Hiruzen waved her off. "No harm done," he said, forcing a smile. She looked up, relieved.

"What is it, Matsuo-san?" Oba-san asked.

The girl swallowed, glanced between the two of them, and then focused on her medic superior. "Sir, Uchiha Sasuke has just shown up with… um… well… an arm, sir."

They both stared at her.

"A severed arm. It seems to have multiple Sharingan eyes implanted into it."

Hiruzen and Oba both balked.

"Excuse me?" they asked at the same time, then shot each other glances before returning their attention to the messenger.

She looked between them again before pleadingly turning to the Hokage. "Please come and see for yourself," she said.

After a moment's contemplation, Hiruzen nodded. He and Oba followed her down the hall. He felt bad leaving Danzo in his current predicament, but a Sharingan arm?

He suddenly realized this would be a very long night.

Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Chapter Text

Hiruzen practically stumbled into his office very late the next day.

Last night had been a nightmare.

Danzo had somehow implanted an enhanced version of Hashirama Senju's cells into himself, and then multiple Sharingan (because of course the severed arm Uchiha Sasuke had brought in in a nearly-blind panic belonged to Danzo too according to the cells found in said arm) and they still hadn't woken him from… whatever he was under.

In truth, Hiruzen suspected a Sharingan-induced genjutsu… but he didn't like those implications. Still, he'd be contacting Itachi himself got get to the bottom of this if he had to. That was one of the two explanations he could come up with at the moment, and thus he would have to look into it.

Thankfully, the other potential explanation was sitting on the windowsill of his office reading a familiar little, orange book as he entered.

"Shame on you, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said as he flipped a page. "I know one of my vices is being late, but I didn't think it would rub off on you."

Hiruzen had to take a deep breath at that. Part of him found Kakashi's comment amusing. Part of him found it highly disrespectful and annoying. He was running low enough on patience that the latter seemed to be winning. Well, that and the fact that he really didn't want to have this conversation with this particular ninja, but didn't have much of a choice. The man was involved due to his eye and his student.

Instead of getting angry or even laughing, though, Hiruzen just plopped into his Hokage's chair with a soft groan. His back hurt so much… growing old was not for the faint of heart.

He looked over to see one concerned eye staring at him and decided to just get this all over with.

"Where were you, last night, Kakashi-san?" he asked.

Kakashi blinked and then slowly, as if he expected an attack, put his orange book away, eyeing the Hokage warily. "Guy managed to drag me out to a bar and we had one of our… competition nights – by no choice of my own, I guarantee. I finally convinced him to head home around two in the morning."

So, around the time Hiruzen had been woken.

"Can anyone else vouch for you?" The Hokage asked. Not that it mattered with elemental and kage bushins, but it could help.

The silver-haired jounin's expression turned suspicious. "Yes. I can give you a list if you like."

Hiruzen nodded. "Please do."

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi started slowly, "what happened?"

Hiruzen sighed again. Then he explained everything: Danzo, the advanced Senju cells, the severed arm, both Danzo and the arm randomly appearing, the loss of Danzo's left eye (that was likely a Sharingan), the traumatized genin that they would have to explain everything to now (Hiruzen had every intention of throwing Danzo under the bus with that one), and all the implications thereof – everything from a spy to Sharingan-induced genjutsu to Danzo's multiple kakkei genkai theft and thus treason, along with having to look into everything the man had done up until that point (which meant he'd have to look into Root, and he was not looking forward to that).

Once he finished he sat back, reaching for his pipe and preparing to light it. He saw Kakashi open his mouth out of the corner of his eye.

"You are not allowed to say, 'I told you so,' on pain of me leaving this hat to you."

Kakashi immediately closed his mouth with a clop and said nothing.

Good.

Then he finished lighting his pipe and put it in his mouth, taking in a breath of the sweet weed he preferred. It went a long way to relaxing him, as short as the fix would be.

Then he turned his gaze on Kakashi again.

"Uchiha Sasuke is currently in the hospital being treated for shock. Later today, he will begin his mandatory mind-healing sessions with Yamanaka Inoichi. During those sessions, Yamanaka-san will begin to prepare him to eventually receive the truth about Itachi, which he will be told when he is mentally able to handle it."

Kakashi's eye widened. "Truth, Hokage-sama?"

He didn't groan, but it was a near thing. "Apparently, Itachi killed his clan because they were planning a coup that would have destroyed Konoha. He was ordered to do so by Danzo."

The silver-haired Jounin was not, by any means, stupid. He read the subtext, put two and two together and then Hiruzen had to look away from the horror and subsequent disappointment.

"That is an S-class secret."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said quietly. Good thing Hiruzen had dismissed his ANBU once he'd gotten Kakashi's denial that he'd been the one to attack Danzo.

"Team 7 will have to, officially, be on suspension for the next several weeks."

Kakashi's blank expression didn't change. "Yes, Hokage-sama." Oh, he was really upset if he'd reverted to ANBU mode instead of his lazy, sharp-tongued quipping mode. Hiruzen rubbed his temple. To be fair, he kind of deserved Kakashi's ire.

"We also have to look into this. Someone attacked Danzo, and I need to know who – yesterday. As such, you will be required to see T&I later today."

A subtle flinch, but completely understandable. That was never something any ninja wanted to hear.

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Inform the rest of your team. You can train them once you are cleared again. If you are not cleared, I will arrange something else. They will be taken care of, I promise." Not that his promises meant much, these days.

No emotions or reaction. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen took another breath of his pipe and ignored the headache building behind his eyes. "Dismissed."

Kakashi vanished. He didn't walk over to the window and jump out, like he'd taken to doing lately, but outright disappeared with a shunshin. Just like when he'd been an ANBU. Hiruzen made a subtle chakra fluctuation so the current ANBU waiting nearby would tail the silver-haired jounin until he showed up at T&I.

Then he once again lamented his lost retirement. It was hard to remember a time when he'd actually been good at this job.

xXx

Naruto grumbled as he shuffled along, kicking rocks, hands in his pockets. He hadn't noticed exactly where he'd gone, and thus hadn't realized he'd ended up back at the training ground where he'd passed the final genin test yesterday.

"Naruto," a voice had him looking up and he met Indra's single eye. That managed to chase away a lot of his gloom.

"Hey, Indra-san!" he said with a grin.

"What's wrong?" the man asked.

Naruto's face fell again. "My team was supposed to start missions today, but something happened to Sasuke-teme and Kakashi-sensei said that we'd have to work on our own training for the day. I know we're supposed to have graduated, finally, but this doesn't feel like graduation! We were supposed to start missions today! Instead the teme's in the hospital and Sakura-chan ran off to get him some sort of get-well present and now I'm all alone… again."

"Ah," Indra said. Then he seemed to think for a second. "You… don't know what D-rank missions – given to new gennin – are… do you."

He didn't say it as a question.

Naruto frowned. "Well, aren't we supposed to rescue princesses and protect the Damiyo and stuff?"

Indra blinked, then closed his eye and shook his head. "D-rank missions are easy missions in the village that basically equate to chores."

The blond just stared at the older Ninja.

Then, after several seconds: "WHAT?!"

The older man held up his hand and walking stick placatingly. He opened his mouth as if to explain, but then closed it again and seemed to think about it. Then he gestured for Naruto to come forward.

"Would you give the Hokage hat to just anyone?" he finally asked.

The blond froze in his tracks, looking affronted. "Of course not! It has to go to the strongest ninja! That's why I'm gonna earn it one day, dattebayo!"

"How do you prove you're the strongest ninja?"

Naruto opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out because… he'd never really thought about it before.

"By winning fights and… fulfilling missions?" he finally answered.

Indra nodded, "Partially. You also have to earn the trust of your fellow ninja and likely several clans."

"Oh," Naruto replied, then thought about it. He frowned. "How do I do that?"

"That's something you have to figure out on your own."

His frown deepened. "Oh."

"Fulfilling missions is a good start, though," Indra conceded. "But you can't become Hokage if you're not alive to do that. Would you want to send Sakura up against a whole group of missing nin?"

Naruto shook his head, worriedly. She might get hurt!

Indra nodded in agreement. "Right now, she isn't strong enough and doesn't know her team well enough to fight off something like that. When you leave the village, you have to completely trust your team. They will save you when you come across threats you can't handle."

"I can handle anything!" Naruto said, trying to sound sure, but it came off as shaky.

"There are threats even the Hokage can't handle," Indra responded dryly.

Naruto felt his eyes widen. "Nuh-uh!" he protested angrily, "Hokage-jiji is the strongest!"

Indra shook his head sadly. "He's a very strong ninja – one of the strongest – but he's also old, well past his prime and tired. Most of the other Kage would give him a run for his money, and there are a group of S-class missing nin who could be very problematic for any village, not to mention Orochimaru and—"

"Wait, who?" the blond butted in, wanting to defend his jiji more but not knowing who these people even were.

"Orochimaru is a sanin, a missing-nin and the Hokage's student. He's one of the strongest ninja in the world and is likely just as strong as – if not stronger than – the Hokage."

Naruto didn't know what a 'sanin' was, and hadn't known Hokage-jiji had even had a student. But still…

"He's still not stronger than Hokage-jiji!" Naruto insisted, almost desperately.

Indra sighed, then came over and squatted down in front of the blond. "My point is that there are some very real threats outside the village – threats even the top Jounin would have problems with. Those are the kinds of threats you have to survive to even get a chance to become Hokage. So, of course they won't send newly-minted genin outside of the gate until they have had more personalized training that can help them survive. D-rank missions, like weeding gardens and painting fences, are controlled activities that can prepare you for the real world."

"Weeding gardens?!" Naruto yelped. "How does that prepare us for missions outside the village?" he asked, angrily.

Indra shrugged. "Well, if someone had a water jutsu, they can practice using that to water gardens and gain better control of their jutsu. If someone has an earth jutsu, they can use that to try and target only certain weeds, just as in a battle. Then they can pick off their enemies and leave their allies alone. What jutsu do you know that could help you weed gardens?"

Naruto, to his credit, paused and thought about it. It only took him about twenty seconds to light up in realization.

"Kage bushin!"

Indra nodded. "Very good. And knowing how weeds can differ from food can help you survive if you're lost and don't have any rations.

"Every D-ranked mission is potential training. It's up to you to figure out how to use those missions to your advantage, get to know your teammates and the jutsu they're good at, then learn how to use them together for the fastest and most advantageous way of completing the mission."

Well… Naruto supposed that made sense, although he still felt like Indra had shaken his entire world. And there was also one other problem…

"But we're not training right now," he said (and he wasn't whining… he wasn't).

Indra looked around as if expecting to see someone else. "Oh." Then he stood and rubbed the back of his head. "Do you… want to train… with me?"

Naruto's eyes lit up and he nodded eagerly.

Then he paused. "Wait… how good of a ninja are you?" he asked suspiciously.

The man's expression turned dry again. "I'm a Jounin."

Naruto immediately brightened again. "Oh. Okay! What do we do first!"

The man raised an eyebrow. "We stretch."

The blond groaned. "But I stretched this morning. Iruka-sensei said to stretch every morning."

"It won't hurt you to stretch again."

Naruto let out a long-suffering sigh. "Fine."

xXx

Indra, it turned out, knew a lot about fighting. He told Naruto to take a stance and then just sighed and shook his head when he did.

"Naruto, where did you learn how to fight?"

The blond frowned, confused. "The academy."

"Who taught you, specifically?"

"Mizuki-sen… oh."

"Right," Indra replied, still shaking his head. "Make a hundred kage bushin. We're going to get these bad habits taken care of by the end of the week."

Naruto frowned in confusion again. "Why would kage bushin help with that?"

Indra just blinked at him for several seconds. Then his face screwed up like Naruto had said something that outright pained him.

"Okay, make one kage bushin for now, and I'll show you."

Shrugging, Naruto did as he was told. Then Indra took the kage bushin to the other side of the training area, and whispered something to him. The kage bushin looked affronted, but then Indra's hand whipped out so fast Naruto could barely follow it and the bushin vanished in a puff of smoke.

After a few seconds, the original Naruto looked affronted. "Oi! You take that back! Ramen is the food of the gods!"

Indra just stood there, one hand on his hip as he stared at Naruto. "How did you know what I said?" he finally asked.

"Well you said…" then it clicked. "Oh. Oh!"

The older ninja nodded sagely. "Whatever your kage bushin learns, you learn."

"So what do you mean 'take care of' bad habits?"

"Make a hundred kage bushin, and I'll show you."

He proceeded to make every single Naruto take the correct stance, then go through the 'most basic kata in existence' three times before he had them all dispel. The blond blinked as all the information came back to him. How had he not noticed that before?

"Do the kata again," Indra said.

Naruto nodded and went into the stance. It felt far better and more fluid than it had before.

"Better. Do it three times, then make a hundred clones and do it again."

"Why just three times, Indra-san?" he asked. "Why not go for longer?"

"Because we have to go slowly at first to make sure your instinct is to do it the correct way, and I have to double check that. By the end of today, you will know the first academy kata very, very well."

Naruto thought about that. "Oh," he finally said, then nodded. "Okay, Indra-nii! Thanks!"

It was hilarious to see the older man stutter.

At the end of the day, Naruto sparred his new friend. It was amazing how much more easily he could move now that he knew the right forms. He still wanted to fall back into old habits though, so Indra told him he had to go through that kata with ten clones every morning. Naruto sighed, but agreed. Then they stretched some more and Naruto went off to Ichiraku's. He had enough for two whole bowls tonight! It wasn't as much as he wanted, but it wasn't bad either.

He went to bed feeling far better about the day than he had after he'd met Kakashi-sensei and Sakura that morning.

xXx

Hiruzen managed to get some sleep that night (despite having even more paperwork than usual) and hoped that life had settled down a little into something more normal for Konoha.

Yeah, no.

That very much ended when Yamanaka Inoichi stormed into the room looking about ready to tear the entire Hokage tower down around him.

"Hokage-sama," he said, obviously restraining himself and making sure to act politely, albeit barely. "Why was Uchiha Sasuke never given mandatory mind-healing sessions before? Especially after the massacre?!"

Hiruzen blinked. Because what? That had been news to him. After something as traumatic as losing one's family, therapy was mandatory, especially for children.

Frowning, he took the folder in Inoichi's hand and flipped it open. It seemed he was indeed correct. Uchiha Sasuke's mandatory mind-healing sessions had been waved off. And, of course, the person who had waved them was blacked out.

Hiruzen resisted the urge to rub his forehead.

With a sigh, he rose to his feet and walked to one side of the room, placing a hand on the wall. It retracted into itself and a doorway opened, revealing the Hokage's private records room. He strode through it, looking for the Uchiha file cabinet, then rifled through the folders until he came across Uchiha Sasuke's. He opened said folder to find the exact copy of the page Inoichi had just handed to him. Then, with a mutter and a small channeling of chakra, a poof of smoke appeared above where the blackout had been, revealing the information underneath.

He closed his eyes, rubbed the bridge of his nose, then shut the folder and turned back around, walking back into the office and handing said folder over to Inoichi.

"I didn't know," he said. "I thought he had."

Inoichi opened the folder and looked at the name and all the new information. His stare turned stony, and then he looked back up at the Hokage.

"Shimura, again?"

Hiruzen didn't bother with a response, simply taking a seat and getting back to work.

Inoichi took a deep breath, apparently calming himself, before he spoke again.

"Why would he do that?"

"My guess is that such an action would either support Itachi's narrative or undermine it."

"Support Itachi's…" the interrogator paused, then took another breath. "Let me guess: Shimura was behind the Uchiha Massacre, too, and he either blackmailed or framed Itachi."

Hiruzen looked up at Inoichi and nodded tiredly.

The blond actually closed his eyes and visibly went through a Yamanaka mind technique… twice, if the Hokage wasn't mistaken.

Eventually, the mind-healer calmed down and spoke to Hiruzen, voice steady. "That boy is a ticking time-bomb. He is so focused on chasing after his brother, avenging his family and his utter need to be the best now because otherwise he'll never catch up to Itachi that I cannot approve him for active duty. At best he's a flight risk. At worst, he could snap harder than Itachi did… allegedly."

Hiruzen sat back, smoking his pipe again and frowning. "What do you recommend?"

Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Chapter by DAsObiQuiet

Chapter Text

"Hi, Sakura-chan!" a bright voice had Sakura sighing, especially when she saw no sign of Sasuke. Again.

It wasn't fair. He wasn't even at the hospital anymore!

And Kakashi-sensei wasn't here either. For the second day in a row. Not that that was unusual, but now they didn't know whether he'd actually show up today either, and it would take at least five hours to figure that out and… that just seemed like so much wasted time to Sakura. She could be doing so many other things with her free time. A new shop had opened up and she'd wanted to browse it before Ino had the chance to take anything good and then claim Sakura was copying her if they happened to get the same things. She also had a new novel her mother had gotten her – age appropriate of course – to read as well as a couple of scrolls and textbooks she'd taken from the library…

"I don't think Kakashi-sensei or Sasuke-teme will come today," Naruto said as he ran up to her, cutting into her thoughts and unknowingly echoing some of them.

That irked her. She didn't want to be thinking like Naruto…

A vein started throbbing on her forehead.

"So I was wondering if you wanted to train with me and my new friend, Indra!"

Almost immediately, her frustration and annoyance faded and she blinked at Naruto. "You have a friend?"

Well… she hadn't quite meant for her words to sound like that… oops.

Still, she didn't feel guilty enough to take it back. She'd spoken the truth after all.

Naruto huffed and crossed his arms. "Of course I do. Besides, Indra's awesome. He's super strong."

Her question of, 'Then why would he hang out with you?' didn't quite make it to her mouth before her blond teammate turned and began to run off, gesturing for her to follow him.

"Come on, Sakura-chan!"

For a moment she considered, then looked around at the empty bridge and decided that her curiosity at this new 'friend' of Naruto's would fill the time as well as anything else.

Eight minutes later, she found herself huffing as she'd followed Naruto to the training fields. Her teammate had been in last place for a reason. She knew for a fact that he failed at many things things, but apparently running at an insane pace was not one of those failures. Worse, he could just… keep it up. What was he running on?

"Oi! Indra-nii!"

Sakura looked up and then her breath stopped in her throat, which really hurt because she hadn't quite caught it yet, causing her to cough.

The man looked so much like an older Sasuke she'd had to do a double take. (And a triple, and a quadruple…)

"Sakura-chan! Are you okay?" Naruto asked, rushing up to her and thumping her on the back. It didn't help. At all. Actually, it hurt.

"I'm fine," she managed to get out, brushing Naruto's hands off and away. "It's just…" she paused and looked back at Indra, a blush rising on her cheeks. "Nothing. It's nothing."

"If you're sure," Naruto said, not sounding like he believed her at all, but then he moved on with his normal exuberance. "In any case, Indra-nii, this is my teammate, Sakura-chan. Sakura-chan, Indra-nii."

"Nii?" she asked. They looked nothing alike.

Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Well… I call Hokage-jiji, Jiji and I'd call Iruka-sensei Iruka-nii if he weren't already Iruka-sensei… so, yeah."

She just blinked at Naruto for several seconds before turning a questioning gaze on the (very hot) man.

"I… don't mind," the man muttered softly, looking away as a slight color came to his own cheeks. Aaand his cuteness level went from 'steaming' to 'smoking'… Why couldn't Sasuke do things like that?

She immediately shook that thought from her head. No one was cuter than Sasuke. Full stop.

"A pleasure to meet you," she finally said with a polite bow.

He just nodded at her stoically.

Yeah, this was one of Naruto's best ideas yet.

(Not that he had many, but credit where credit was due.)

Speaking of, her teammate almost shouted happily (he really needed some volume control). "I was thinking, since you helped me so much, that you could help Sakura-chan too!"

Wait… they hadn't discussed this before? Sakura wanted to sigh and rub the bridge of her nose, but instead she turned to the man and bowed a little.

"If you don't mind," she said hurriedly.

He just blinked at her, then shook his head. "I don't." His one onyx eye never seemed to leave her for some reason… not that she was complaining.

"Thank you," she said softly. He was, after all, taking time out of his day to train her teammate… and now her too, apparently.

"Awesome! What are we doing today, Indra-nii?" Naruto asked excitedly. Honestly, if he were a puppy, his tail would wag off of his backside with those levels of excitement.

"You are going to create 100 clones and we'll go over the second academy kata."

Sakura couldn't help but feel a sense of disappointment, even as Naruto nodded, determinedly. She already knew all that, although her estimation of his ability to teach went up if he knew her teammate needed help with his frankly terrible forms.

"I did the kata this morning, like you said to," the blond informed the man.

Indra nodded once. "Good. Show me."

"Um… what about me?" Sakura asked meekly, and if some annoyance crept in, well who could blame her?

Indra held up his hand and a clone appeared by his side.

"Waaaaaiiiiit!" Naruto yelled, pointing at the man accusingly. "You can use the kage bushin too?!"

The man blinked. "I'm a Jounin."

Sakura frowned. "So, every Jounin can use this technique?" she asked.

He turned his single black eye on her. "Jounin in most villages are required to have a corporeal bushin technique. Kage bushin has the most advantages, so that is the one I learned."

Oh. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at Naruto… Naruto who already had a hundred different corporeal bushins, each of them blushing and grinning, still sheepish, as if pleased. He already knew it so well…

Huh. Well, even a broken clock had to be right twice a day, right?

Still…

"Can… I learn that?" she asked hopefully.

The man's expression blanked. "If you tried, you would die."

That… hadn't been something she'd expected. "I'd… die?"

He nodded. "It requires… about a dozen times what your current chakra reserves are to make just one."

She couldn't help her eyes widening and then turning to stare in shock at her teammate who looked rather taken aback himself. Then she looked back at Indra.

"A… dozen?" she asked.

He nodded. "Naruto is a natural chakra powerhouse."

She had a very difficult time believing that.

"But then why—" she started, before cutting off and looking down, both embarrassed at losing control of her mouth and frustrated at the sudden realization.

"It's harder to control a larger amount of chakra," the man said, answering her unfinished question.

"Oh," was all she could say… whisper really.

"Really?" Naruto asked, also sounding surprised.

She looked up through her lashes and saw Indra nodding at her blond teammate… who looked thoughtful.

"That's awesome! But can we go practice now?"

Indra smiled fondly at that. It was small, difficult to see, but definitely there. "Yes. Meanwhile, my clone will help Sakura… san."

He seemed to add the honorific on as a last-minute thought, and Sakura had to wonder why. That… just seemed strange to her. Still, she thought it would be a weird question to ask someone who was about to help her train, so she decided not to.

"Um… what will I be learning today?" she asked instead.

"Well, first, we're going to spar so I know where you are in your katas. Then I'm teaching you to tree-walk."

Sakura blinked. "Tree walk?"

"It is a basic chakra control technique and you will be doing it for the rest of the day. If you want to improve your reserves enough to make a kage bushin, you'll have to drive yourself to the brink of chakra exhaustion as often as you can."

The pinkette couldn't help if she blanched a little… somehow she thought the next few days would be very difficult and wondered exactly what Naruto had gotten her into.

xXx

Ebisu checked his watch for the umpteenth time before he finally decided to give up and report back to the Hokage. He should have known that Hatake's habits would have rubbed off on his newly graduated, genin teammates. Whoever had decided letting that man anywhere near children had been drunk at the time. That was the only explanation. (He would never voice such thoughts aloud as he knew the Hokage and elders had been behind said decision… but he still had to privately question their thought process because seriously.) He also supposed he shouldn't have expected better from the demon container.

Well, either way, the Hokage would hear about this.

With an annoyed grumble, he stalked towards the Hokage tower.

xXx

Sakura groaned as she fell into bed.

Indra may be a very, very hot man, but he was also a devil in disguise – a slave driver that made Kakashi-sensei look utterly tame in comparison.

Once he'd initially sparred with Sakura and thoroughly wiped the floor with her, he'd informed her that while she certainly had the academy forms down, she didn't utilize them well. She was too stiff and reluctant to actually flow from form to form as she needed to. Back at the academy, the teachers had always praised her for going slowly enough to actually learn the katas, but now, apparently, she needed to learn to speed them up and (and he stressed this part extremely hard) actually apply them. The katas weren't just there to be learned, they were tools and bases upon which to build a style. They had a purpose and she was not utilizing them for that purpose… or so he claimed.

She'd honestly thought learning and practicing them would be enough and everything else would fall into place. Apparently not.

Then he'd shown her how to walk on trees… with her feet… and only her feet. Not run, walk. She'd been so pleased when she'd gotten the exercise down the first time and he'd even complimented her for her superior chakra control.

Then he'd made her walk up and down the tree for hours, until she'd lost that control and crashed to the ground out of sheer exhaustion.

He'd given her a chakra pill and then told her she'd have to sleep the effects off that night.

After that, they'd had lunch – some healthy greens and fruits bought by Indra (which was super nice of him – he wasn't even their official sensei!) along side a selection of bread and meats. Sakura had initially skipped those, until Indra had noticed and asked her why she did. She'd had to explain that she was on a diet and the look he'd given her would have made anyone cower away.

What had followed was one of the harshest scoldings she'd ever heard. At least Naruto had shared a part of it, too. But Indra had outlined how not having enough food (pointed look at Sakura) or the right food (pointed look at Naruto) would stunt their growth and stop them from becoming strong ninjas. Then he'd told her blankly that if she had to be on a diet, she wasn't working hard enough to be a decent kunoichi.

Reluctantly, she'd picked up some bread and meat just to stop his stare of doom™ so she could actually breathe again. Naruto had protested and then proceeded to bargain with Indra as to when he could have Ramen. Indra had argued skillfully, seeming to know exactly what to say to get a good compromise out of the stubborn blond. It was kind of impressive. She wondered how long the two had known each other.

In the end, he'd extracted a promise from her that she would not skip the more fattening parts of her meal while Naruto could have Ramen three times a week. Indra even promised he'd go with the boy to buy tasty things, and then pointed out that one's favorite food tasted better when they didn't have it every single day. The blond didn't seem to believe him, but looked to be willing to try something that would make his Ramen taste even better than it did now. Sakura just shook her head the entire time.

Once that had concluded, they'd cleaned up and Indra had made her go through her katas, correcting little things here and there that he said would help her move into the next form better. Then he made her spar with Naruto and she couldn't help but be shocked at how much better her teammate had become since she'd seen him last. His forms looked solid (at least the ones he was using) and his speed had improved greatly without seeming to deplete his insane stamina.

That didn't even count those times she tried to use a move that he wouldn't know if they'd only gone through the second kata… and he just pulled some random move out of nowhere to completely blindside her!

She lost a lot of those fights, but then Indra would make her get up and do it again.

It sucked.

She'd only won about a fifth of their matches, but couldn't help but be proud of those few wins.

Tomorrow she would have more.

She made sure to eat something sufficiently fattening on the way home before she'd stumbled inside with a tired wave to her parents. Then she'd brushed her teeth, braided her hair and practically fallen asleep on her way to flopping onto said bed.

It had been a long day.

xXx

Sakura woke hurting.

A lot.

She groaned at the bone-deep ache that seemed to circle throughout her entire body, but her alarm going off informed her that she had to get up to meet her team… or Naruto. Maybe if they were lucky, they could get Sasuke-kun or Kakashi-sensei back.

And for the first time ever, she almost wished for Kakashi-sensei over Sasuke-kun.

Because ow.

Still, she made herself stretch (which did help) and then stumble to the bathroom where she took a long, hot shower.

It felt wonderful.

Most of the ache had left her body by the time she made it down for breakfast. Thankfully her mom was up and had her typical salad waiting for her. Sakura took one look at it and sighed. Then she explained to her mother that as a kunoichi, she had to take in more calories. Her mother had frowned, but thankfully hadn't argued. Instead, she'd agreed to fix more in the mornings, but for today they only had rice that would be ready in time. Thankfully, her mom seasoned it so it didn't taste extremely bland, but Sakura hoped that future meals would be better. This would have to do for today, though.

She thanked her mother, kissed her cheek goodbye and then left.

Sadly, she only found Naruto at the bridge, and he looked excited to be training again. If nothing had convinced her of his insanity until that point, that certainly did. He dragged her off towards the training grounds where they found Indra-san once again. She prepared herself for another grueling day, but he only had her go through the katas a couple of times, correcting her stance until he was convinced she'd fixed some problems that he claimed tended to crop up when increasing form speed.

Then he'd had her walk up and down trees again for a couple of laps before he had her come and sit across from him.

Surprised at the request, she daintily lowered herself to her knees and sat there, waiting in curiosity.

"Naruto said something about you liking your other teammate… Sasuke?"

Was it just her, or did he wince at that?

She clenched her teeth and her hands curled into fists as she looked back at the group of orange and yellow now fighting each other. "Naruto…" she hissed.

"It's kind of obvious, actually," Indra said dryly.

Sakura harrumphed quietly and turned back around, cheeks reddening.

"There's nothing wrong with liking someone," the man went on, "but I've known several Uchiha."

The pink-haired girl breathed in and looked up, eyes wide. Oh, right… he must have known many before the massacre.

"Do you know what an Uchiha finds most attractive in a potential… partner?" he asked.

Sakura's eyes lit up. "Oh, Sasuke-kun likes long hair and thin waists and—"

"No," the other man interrupted, his eye closed as if restraining himself. He took a deep breath. "You could have shaved your head and belonged to the Akamichi and he'd still find you attractive if you were strong. The Uchiha chase strength. If you want to have a chance at him, then chasing after him and telling him he's the best no matter what happens is not going to help. It's only going to annoy him."

Sasuke's words from earlier that week shot through her head. "You're annoying."

Was… Was Indra-san right?

"The problem is, you can only really get strong if you also do it for yourself. And you joined the academy before you ever met Sasuke, so tell me, Sakura: Why did you want to become a ninja?"

It had been… a long time since she'd thought of those days – the days before Ino and Sasuke, way back into her childhood.

"I wanted to be stronger," she finally answered.

Indra didn't look impressed.

"Why?" he pressed.

Because her father had told her stories of these amazing, brave and strong people who were also ninjas… When she'd been younger, she'd wanted nothing more than to be one of those women from those stories.

But she couldn't tell Indra that.

She couldn't tell anyone that.

How embarrassing.

"What do you mean, 'why'?" she finally asked, a little put out. "Why wouldn't I want to be strong?"

Indra pursed his lips to one side as he studied her (or, that's what she assumed the little twitch of his mouth was supposed to translate into, but she didn't know him well enough to really be sure). Then he nodded behind her.

"You see Naruto, over there?" he asked. "You don't seem to think too highly of him now, but I promise you that even if only due to the sheer amount of chakra he has, he will go places. His dream of being Hokage is not out of reach because he will not stop." A wry, if soft snort followed that as he stared at the young boy with an expression the pinkette couldn't decipher. "I don't think it's in his vocabulary."

Sakura felt her eyes widen in surprise and then her brow furrow in bemusem*nt as she looked over at the loud-mouthed, noisy blond… and she just couldn't see it.

But then the image of all his kage bushin just appearing – a hundred of them, when even one would kill her twelve times over – and she had to reconsider.

"Your Sasuke probably wants revenge, and honestly, that is not the best or most stable reason to be a ninja, but it is powerful. It will drive him to do reckless things to get the kind of power he feels he needs to exact that revenge.

"And you… want to date a boy."

Sakura felt her stomach sink in shame. When he said it like that…

But she also felt that fire from her inner voice ignite. "That's not all of it!" she heard herself protest, and then wanted to sink into the ground for shouting at her current mentor.

Instead of berating her, though, he just raised his one visible eyebrow, looking skeptical.

"Oh?"

She looked away from him, down at the grass under her knees. "It's… hard to explain."

He didn't move a muscle except to say, "Try."

For a moment, she considered not doing so – just getting up and walking away, but then she remembered that Indra had gone out of his way to help them; to help her specifically, two days in a row.

He was still trying to help her.

So she took a deep breath and tried to put her thoughts into actions.

"I've… always known that my family was… not the type to fight. They're civilian and… in the stories, ninja have to protect them. I… guess I wanted to be one of those who, you know… fought."

Indra's expression fell to a deadpan. "You guess?"

She grit her teeth again. "Fine. I know I want to be one of those."

"One of those people who protects those they love – who are strong enough to protect them?"

Sakura blinked. Huh. Now that she thought about it…

"Yes," she finally said, nodding her head firmly.

Indra returned the nod, looking thoughtful again (and how he could do so without moving his facial muscles was beyond her).

"Hn. Well, I won't lie to you, Sakura: You have very small chakra reserves. You make up for it by wielding your chakra so precisely, but I doubt you will be able to get to a point where you can create a kage bushin before you're fifteen or sixteen – and that's if you work hard at increasing your reserves every single day."

The more he spoke, the more Sakura felt her heart sink.

"Oh," she finally whispered, feeling more ashamed than ever. Why hadn't she worked harder on expanding her chakra reserves in the academy?

"However, there are other options."

Sakura perked up and looked back up at the dark-haired man. "Options?" she asked.

He nodded. "Genjutsu is one path you can take. It requires immense control of one's chakra and deals more with manipulating your opponent's chakra than drawing on your own. I think you could excel at it. The other that I can see is to become a healer like Lady Tsunade of the Sanin. Being a healer is far more physically demanding, though. Currently, I would recommend you choose one to focus on and you can dabble in the other as necessary."

Then he fell into silence, seeming to expect her to choose.

But how could she? She didn't know which would be best! She could see herself standing next to Sasuke, throwing out elaborate illusions while he shot out fireballs, but she also loved the idea of nursing him back to health…

She opened her mouth to ask which path Sasuke would like more, but then realized that Indra probably wouldn't appreciate that. So she closed her mouth and tried to figure how to reword that.

"Which option would let me help my teammates the most?" she finally said slowly.

Indra smiled ever so slightly, but it still felt like a win to her.

"Eventually Sasuke will awaken his Sharingan. The dojutsu can see through most genjutsu and can copy and cast them near perfectly. Naruto has a… factor that lets him heal at a faster rate."

Sakura blinked. "He does?"

Indra shrugged and fell back into silence, staring intently at her. She swallowed and thought back on his words (a little annoyed that he hadn't answered her question), but forced herself to think through the situation. Well, if Sasuke could cast and see through genjutsu, then her being able to do something like that to a point of focusing explicitly on it may not be such a good idea. It would give their team extra coverage in one area while leaving them open in another… especially Sasuke. Sasuke who couldn't heal like Naruto supposedly could…

"I… think I'd like to learn medical jutsu," she finally said slowly.

And the deadpan expression came back. "You think?"

She opened her mouth to say that of course she knew, but then she realized that she didn't know. This was the entire course of her future life. That wasn't just something she could decide on a dime.

"Um… can I do some research?" she finally asked meekly, bordering on sheepish.

To her surprise, Indra smiled – an actual smile, not the twitches she'd been interpreting as smiles. "Good answer."

Sakura felt herself relax and smiled up at the man in front of her. She always loved giving the right answer.

"Take the rest of the day. Go to the library and do research. This is an important decision."

The pinkette nodded firmly, then rose to her feet before bowing lowly. "Thank you for your help and guidance again today, Indra-san."

He just smiled again, nodded and said nothing but, "Hn."

Chapter 4: Chapter 4

Chapter by DAsObiQuiet

Chapter Text

Kakashi didn't know what he was still doing in T&I.

Or, well, he did… kind of. That uncertainty was what really got to him, though. He was a former ANBU captain and an elite Jounin with multiple pages in multiple bingo books from multiple countries… and he'd kind of gotten used to, well, if not being in control of a situation, having the abilities and clout to sway those outcomes at least a little.

So being more or less tied to a chair with chakra suppressors strapped to his wrists and ankles for what had to be the third day in a row when he was positive he'd been cleared of any wrongdoing was… worrisome. At least the chakra suppressors stopped Obito's eye from draining him as badly as it often tended to when not covered… there was probably some sort of treatment option in that if he ever trusted a medic enough to tell them.

(He wouldn't. They would keep him in the hospital and that was not worth it.)

It didn't help that Yamanaka-san (his primary interrogator) had begun to ask very personal questions and Kakashi hoped that he'd be able to get some answers at least today… or released. He'd take either at this point.

As if he'd been called by Kakashi's stray thought, the current Yamanaka clan head strode into the room with a grim expression on his face.

"My apologies, Kakashi-san," he said, sounding completely sincere (Kakashi gave it 60-40 odds against that the man was actually honest in said expression). "I know this hasn't been ideal for either of us, but we had to get some things out of the way, especially with our recent look into some of Shimura-san's records…" he paused but had said that last part with a completely blank face… well, fudge. Kakashi wasn't sure he wanted to know what they'd found if the T&I specialist had this kind of reaction for someone he was interrogating (and Kakashi changed his initial assessment of 60-40 against to 70-30 for sincerity instead).

The blond man sighed and sat down in his chair, the comfortable one situated across from Kakashi's hard, metal one that had long-since made many parts of his body go numb.

Then, to his surprise, the man seemed to take Kakashi's current state in and sighed even more deeply before standing up and walking over to a wall, channeling some chakra through… well… something. Kakashi couldn't even sense the pattern that must have been required due to the chakra suppressants. Then, to his surprise, the wall slid aside. Behind it, Kakashi noted several pieces of information gathering equipment ranging from tables and multiple chairs all stacked together to… well… torture implements. He couldn't help if he tensed when Inoichi reached inside, and couldn't bring himself to completely relax again when the interrogator brought out what looked like a very comfortable chair. Then the blond closed the wall behind him and set the chair down next to Kakashi. He then proceeded to untie the Jounin, much to the silver-haired man's surprise.

"The interrogation is not finished, but you have been cleared of all wrongdoing in this matter," the blond man said tiredly. "I am untying you because I am positive you have the intelligence to not run, no matter the questions I ask. This is still an ongoing investigation."

He still didn't take off the chakra suppressors.

Message received loud and clear.

"Of course," Kakashi said, smiling with his eyes and mouth as he rubbed his wrists and stood to take the offered comfort. Now if only they'd give his mask back, he could pretend things were even somewhat normal.

Inoichi settled back into his chair and glanced at the folder he'd brought in with an almost forlorn expression before fixing his eyes back on Kakashi.

"What I am about to tell you is an A-rank secret and… it won't be pleasant for you to hear."

Well… he'd been through difficult before. Still, Kakashi couldn't help but be wary at the ominous statement.

Inoichi took a breath, seeming to steel himself, before speaking.

"Shimura-san seems to have wanted the position of Hokage for a while now – likely since Sandaime-sama was given the position." Kakashi allowed himself to frown at that as he sat down. It wasn't exactly something anyone in the know didn't understand. However, Danzo hadn't had the political support to take over after Minato-sensei… well, after the Nine-tail's attack, and likely still didn't, even if that support had been slowly growing in his favor.

"This morning, our ANBU found his personal record room. I suppose his paranoia over misremembering details overruled his paranoia at being caught because they were very much intact, despite having been rigged to incineration. The trap hadn't been set off, though." Inoichi's eyes narrowed suspiciously at that, but he must have dismissed it for later because he continued.

"According to them, Shimura-san wanted the Hokage's position badly enough that he was actively undermining the other Hokage candidates, up to and including the Sanin."

Kakashi felt ice begin to build in his stomach as Inoichi opened the (far too thick) folder, pulling out another folder – one of about eight – and opening it. "According to this, he has let information slip to multiple opposing forces since the second Shinobi war. We currently have documentation of information given to all of the other four elemental nations, bandits, missing nin's – including Orochimaru – and even minor elemental nations with the goal of, in his words, 'Highlighting Hiruzen's weak leadership.' In reality, it… makes a very strong case for treason.

"It's… disturbing because he claims to love Konoha, and honestly, I believe him, but he hates seeing that 'weakness' leading and consciously – actively even – undermined Konoha in a twisted attempt to fix the situation, making the village weaker so he could take the Hokage's hat." The Yamanaka shook his head and put the folder back inside the larger folder. "The Hokage and I both thought you ought to know that one of the incidences he had a hand in was the one at the Kannabi bridge. He notated how he hoped that by killing his students, he could drive the Fourth away from the Hokage's seat due to grief, as he 'carried on Hiruzen's weakness'."

Kakashi had known it was coming with everything Inoichi had said… but it still felt like a punch to the gut. Or a hundred. From Gai.

That horrible mission that had gone so wrong…

That had been a set up all along? By his own village?

No… by the village Danzo wanted to create. What, did he want Konoha to become another Mist? Simply to support his idea of strength?

And he had to kill off Obito to do it…

"W-" Kakashi started, but then had to pause and swallow, hating that he'd shown even that weakness. Then he continued as deadpan as he could. "What about the incident with the three-tails?" he asked.

Inoichi shook his head. "We haven't gone through everything yet, so we don't know, but we are not finding any documentation. Currently, I have to say that if it was a set-up, it wasn't from anyone inside of Konoha."

Kakashi honestly didn't know whether that made the events that had happened regarding Rin worse or better.

"And now for the really unpleasant part," Inoichi continued, sounding gentle. "I need you to tell me what happened at the Kannabi bridge again, Kakashi. I've read the reports – from all survivors – but we need to go over it for some clarification, and to make sure Shimura hasn't doctored anything."

The silver-haired Jounin's mouth went dry and he felt his insides clench. He did not want to talk about it. At all…

But… it was his duty…

And… he couldn't breathe. Why couldn't he breathe?

Normally in a position like this, he would chidori someone (or multiple someones) and then run away to hide and regroup. He didn't exactly have that option at the moment, which just made it all worse and –

"Okay, Kakashi," Inoichi was suddenly in front of him, when had he gotten there?! "I need you to breathe with me." He reached for Kakashi's shoulder, slowly so as not to startle him (he appreciated it more than he cared to admit, even to himself) then began to count. In for four, hold for four, out for eight. Repeat.

It… helped.

After several minutes that each felt like years, Kakashi could finally breathe on his own again.

Inoichi smiled once he saw his fellow ninja was stable (and horribly embarrassed) again. Then he sighed and rose to his feet.

"I looked at your file. You had your mind-healing waived after both incidents." It wasn't a question, but had been pointed enough that he answered anyway.

"I… don't need it," Kakashi said, although the words rang hollow. He'd always needed it… he just didn't deserve it. Not after everything he'd done (or not been able to do as the case may be). That and he hated the idea. He despised being vulnerable…

Kind of like he was now.

"All ninja need it," Inoichi replied, sounding exasperated.

"No," Kakashi shook his head. "I'm fine."

"Clearly," the blond replied sardonically. Kakashi winced. That revelation of Shimura's involvement had shaken him… badly. Really badly if he had lost this much control. He needed to get himself together.

And maybe go kill something.

Or many somethings.

Like Shimura Danzo and his flunkies.

Then the Yamanaka sighed. "Kakashi, I can tell you want revenge. I don't blame you, but you can't. We still need to interrogate Shimura at the least. I cannot release you until I feel you aren't a danger to this village or yourself."

Kakashi let out a harsh laugh. Funny, no one had cared whether he was a danger to himself or not in ANBU.

"Kakashi," Inoichi said quietly – and really, that tone was what drew his attention more than anything. It hadn't been loud or demanding, but soft. Not pleading either, just informing. "Shimura Danzo has caused this village enough damage. Please don't add onto it by hurting one of our best Jounin or any of Konoha's future ninjas. Danzo will get his comeuppance. I promise."

Too bad Kakashi couldn't seem to trust anyone's promises right now.

Inoichi must have recognized the expression in Kakashi's eyes because he sighed. "I'll get a set up for you here. We have some very comfortable rooms. But until you at least agree to attempt to work through this, I cannot, in good conscience, release you. You can come to me – or anyone with enough clearance – whenever you're ready and we'll even consider this a paid assignment, but you will be remaining here for now."

Part of Kakashi wanted to scream and yell and rage… but without chakra, he wouldn't be able to do much against another Jounin in their stronghold. He made sure to hold it all back behind his mask through sheer force of will.

For the first time in a very long time, it hurt to do so.

Once he trusted himself enough to respond, he simply nodded, but remained silent.

Eventually, Inoichi sighed and nodded to the door. "We will escort you to your temporary rooms. Please rest – or train or do whatever you have to. There will be access to an inside training room, even though I don't think it's a good idea to release the chakra suppressors or allow access to anything particularly sharp. Take that as you will. Don't forget that you will be watched while here."

This… was not a good idea. At all. This would end in either Kakashi's destruction, or the facility's. He wasn't sure which he preferred at the moment. He still nodded and rose.

"Although, I did get permission to return these to you," Inoichi said, withdrawing Kakashi's hip pouch from somewhere. The silver-haired man frowned for a moment. He wouldn't be allowed near anything sharp but… wait…

He couldn't help it if he looked hopefully at the man in front of him. Could he have…?

Gingerly, he reached out and took the hip pouch, then opened it. Instead of multiple kunai, shuriken, exploding tags and ninja wire, he found a series of books. Instantly, his relief caused him to slump a little as he clutched the pouch to his chest. He had his Icha Icha. Perhaps they could all get through this without severe destruction one way or the other after all.

(And he'd really need to reconsider his deflection of reading the stupid books in public if he really had grown this attached to them….)

xXx

Jiraiya waited for the best moment to slip in through his sensei's office window to make himself known. A ninja team had just left with an assignment and the Third sat back in his seat, taking a long breath of his pipe.

Perfect.

He shunshined just to the windowsill where he sat with an amused expression as his sensei stiffened.

Point one for Jiraiya. Zero for Hiruzen.

That never got old. Ever since he'd learned to do it, at least.

"Seriously, Sensei, do you have any idea how angry the toads are about the monkeys shedding all over Ma's chair when they came to deliver your message? This had better be good. I'm going to be running interference for months."

Hiruzen didn't react. That… wasn't good. No pity laugh, no eye-roll, no annoyance or fond exasperation or warm welcome or even a thrown kunai. Just a sort of resigned air. Jiraiya hid a frown at how just plain old his sensei looked. The man who trained him – who had always been such a pillar of strength both for his teammates and Konoha – looked like he'd just shrunk in on himself. It was hard to admit that he lacked even a fraction of the presence Jiraiya remembered.

The Third Hokage sighed. "Follow me Jiraiya, I need you to verify some information we recently uncovered." The old man stiffly rose and made his way to one of his secure file rooms. Jiraiya, caught off guard by the lack of any of his sensei's usual reactions, didn't immediately question the situation. At least aloud.

They came to a file room, and Jiraiya saw five full cabinets. Well, that's not good either, the spymaster thought. He recognized files that used seals to save space. There should be ten times as many records than the actual size indicated.

He was also already pretty sure he'd never seen these files before.

"What's this about, sensei?"

Sarutobi inhaled slowly before letting a thin, protracted breath out. "I found out recently that an old friend, who I thought loved the village, has been stabbing me in the back, not just personally, but the village as a whole as well."

"You finally got solid dirt on Danzo?" Jiraiya asked with a mix of eagerness and incredulity.

Sarutobi sighed again and looked to the side. The Sanin could count on one hand the times his Sensei wouldn't meet his eyes. One of them had been just after the Kyuubi attack…

"He was attacked by a still unknown assailant and left at the hospital. There, due to multiple strange circ*mstances, we found that he had multiple Sharingans implanted into his body along with what has been tentatively identified as Senju Hashirama's modified cells. That started a chain of events that led to ANBU raiding his residences for information." The aged Hokage locked eyes with the only student who hadn't abandoned him and the village. "I need you to go through and verify as much of the information as you can. This is all currently classified as an S-ranked secret, seeing as you are going through everything we have, and no one is to know without my express permission."

Jiraiya felt a chunk of ice form in his gut in anticipation of what he'd find in those records, but he nodded firmly, all joviality gone.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," he said, annoyed that his voice came out fainter than he would have liked.

Then he got to work.

xXx

Jiraiya wanted a drink, or ten. Or a hundred. Or maybe the entire bar.

He'd known Shimura Danzo since boyhood. He had been that creepy uncle who you tolerated because he was family, but never wanted to talk to. Unfortunately, he'd gotten worse as Jiraya had grown and risen through the ranks. He knew the man didn't follow (or even believe in) the Will of Fire like the Hokages did, but Jiraiya had never realized how low the older man had fallen. Murders, kidnapping, blackmail, extortion, and propaganda campaigns were all pretty much normal for Ninjas, albeit not to this extent… and most certainly not to his own village. That didn't even take into account the secret experimentations on civilians and ninja alike, the undermining of entire clans, or the unauthorized alliances, all in pursuit of the Hokage position… and that just scratched the surface. The Toad Sage had come across so many betrayals of the village and the ideals it had been built on that he'd grown a little numb and just wanted to forget about it all for a while.

The toad Sannin didn't know if he should rage, vomit, cry, or just get blindingly drunk (he was leaning heavily towards the latter). So many friends he'd lost to that man's manipulations, not to mention the friends of friends that had suffered as well. Jiraiya noticed that his notes had grown more and more terse as he'd gone on, and while he'd tried to keep them brief, he still had pages.

Pages that painted a very clear picture.

He glanced at a note specifically that came from an incident during the Second Shinobi War. A note regarding two shinobi who loved their village and had died because of the twisted "love" of another shinobi. Senju Nawaki and Dan. Jiraiya closed his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Tsunade needed to know.

Now to convince his sensei of that.

xXx

Twelve-year-old Uchiha Sasuke scowled as he calmly strolled (he didn't stomp or storm or do anything angrily – no matter what the civilians who smartly got out of his path said) to the bridge to meet his teammates.

It had been two days of utter torture.

(He'd say three, but he didn't remember much from that first day after he'd found that arm on his front porch.

He didn't shudder but he did push the thought to the side and redoubled his walking. He may or may not have looked even angrier every time he banished said thought from his mind… which happened a lot more than he would have liked.)

Then came two whole days of talking with Ino's father.

Ino, whom he utterly despised. Not as much as his stupid teammates, but she was pretty high up on the list of people he would very much not like to meet ever again. Her dad wasn't as annoying, but he'd made the list too because he'd stopped Sasuke from taking missions because he was 'mentally unstable' or some other crap – that stopped him from getting stronger, and that was unforgivable!

Sasuke was not mentally unstable! He just had his goals! What was wrong with that? Nothing! That was what! Who wouldn't want to get revenge on the man who had killed his entire family and mentally tortured him?! Why should he want to give that up?! He shouldn't!

Then the blond man had had the audacity to say that Sasuke didn't have to walk this path alone! That Itachi was a missing nin from Konoha and they'd back him up!

Well, okay, that hadn't been a terrible offer, but it had been an inconsiderate one because Sasuke wanted to kill Itachi himself! He didn't want to leave it to a team! He wanted to see that man's eyes as they slowly went slack from death, realizing that his younger brother had overtaken him! He wanted to watch has those eyes lost their Sharingan and didn't focus and—

"Oi, Teme, what's wrong with you?"

The loud voice broke him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see the red bridge where he remembered he'd been instructed by Kakashi-sensei to meet his teammates in the morning. It stood empty except for the orange-clad eye-sore that had been nothing but a thorn in his side for so long.

"Nothing's wrong," he spat back.

Instead of getting the typical angry response he expected from the blond, Naruto just looked at him with an expression that stopped somewhere between pouting and serious, eyes almost closed and making him look very fox-like with those whisker marks.

What was even up with those?

"Then why are you crying?" Naruto asked, co*cking his head to one side as if he was watching something he couldn't quite understand.

Sasuke felt his eyes widen and reached a hand up to brush his cheeks. His fingers came away wet.

He mentally cursed, using every word he knew to describe his utter fury (panic, not that he'd admit that aloud) at the realization. What should he say now?

"Shut up, Dobe! I'm not crying!"

"You so are!" Naruto shot back.

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!"

"Shut up! I'm not!"

"You shut up! You are!"

"Ahem," a new voice broke through their argument and Sasuke realized they weren't alone. Sakura had come up next to Sasuke, looking very uncomfortable.

"Morning, Sasuke-kun," she said with that bright smile.

"Oi! What about me?" Naruto yelled.

Sakura frowned and glanced over at him. Sasuke expected a harsh jab or something mean, but instead she seemed to deflate a little and said, "Good Morning, Naruto."

The blond looked just about as surprised as Sasuke felt, but unfortunately recovered faster.

"Good Morning, Sakura-chan!"

The pinkette sighed. Then she looked hesitantly back at Sasuke. "Um… are you feeling better, Sasuke-kun?"

No. But he didn't really want to say that, so just settled for grunting a, "Hn."

She must have mistaken that for a 'yes' because she smiled. "I'm glad."

He rolled his eyes.

"Well, let's go meet Indra-nii then!" Naruto cheered and turned to walk off the bridge.

Sasuke blinked. "Who?" he asked.

"Oh, since Kakashi-sensei had something come up, we've been training with someone else," Sakura explained.

That… was strange. He didn't know Kakashi-sensei wouldn't be there. Why? What had happened?

And why wouldn't anyone tell him anything?!

(He once again send a mental curse to Ino's father, who said he wouldn't be able to tell Sasuke everything until he deemed Sasuke could mentally handle it.

He could handle it!)

"Yeah! Come on! He's totally awesome!" Naruto said from the path, urging his teammates along.

Sasuke looked over at Sakura with one raised eyebrow. He'd only have today to train as tomorrow he'd have to meet Ino's father again (as much as he didn't want to).

She looked a little sheepish. "He is a very good teacher. He's helped both me and Naruto a lot. I'm sure he can help you too, Sasuke-kun! N-not that you… um…" she faded off, looking conflicted.

Sasuke didn't really care what sycophantic thing she'd been about to say.

"Whatever," he muttered. He may as well see who this guy they were talking about was. Of course, just because the guy could help his two teammates didn't mean he could help Sasuke who was leagues ahead of both of them. So he began to stalk after Naruto. If the guy wasn't all that great, he could go off and train by himself.

Sakura eeped when she realized he wasn't there and ran after him, falling into step beside him… annoyingly enough.

"I think you'll like Indra-san," she said.

"Why does Naruto call him 'brother'?" Sasuke asked. "He's an orphan."

Like Sasuke.

Sakura flinched a little. "Oh… um, because he's been helping us, I guess. It's Naruto. I don't really understand him."

Fair enough.

"Hn," Sasuke responded.

"A-anyway, he looks a lot like you, actually, Sasuke-kun!"

That caused the Uchiha to stop in his tracks and he turned wary eyes on Sakura.

Wait…

"What?"

Chapter 5: Chapter 5

Chapter by DAsObiQuiet

Chapter Text

Thirty-two-year-old Uchiha Sasuke smirked as he saw Naruto and the younger Sasuke of this time racing towards the training field. He could also see Sakura trailing behind them, trying her best to keep up. Hmm… maybe he should introduce her to Gai and Lee? It was a thought… but was that something Kakashi would do? He hadn't the first time, after all… and yet… the sheer torture but learning possibilities…

He'd have to think on it.

For now, well, he'd known this confrontation was coming and had been going through different scenarios as to what he would say to his younger self. He'd kept coming back to the thought, 'What would Sensei do?' and that had given him many options he hadn't really considered before.

Part of him wanted to test out the thousand-years-of-pain on the younger Sasuke… but even he couldn't bring himself to quite go that far… but nothing else seemed good enough.

So, for now, he decided to just play it by ear.

"There! I win!" Naruto said, panting heavily.

"In your… dreams," younger Sasuke shot back.

Future Sasuke (he'd have to think of himself as Indra to keep the two of them separate) just shook his head. He really had been such an idiot back then.

Deciding that now was as good a time as any to show himself, he appeared in the center of the training ground with a shunshin and began to stride towards them.

After a few seconds, Naruto saw him and immediately his eyes lit up (and wasn't that a good feeling – even his friend from the future didn't seem that happy to see him).

"Indra-nii!"

That would never not be strange.

But it would never be unwelcome either.

"Naruto," he responded, fondly exasperated.

Younger Sasuke's (eh, no, he was not giving up his name to that, so… Brat? Too endearing. Urchin? Better… Inexperienced Troglodyte? Accurate but too long. He'd just go with 'urchin' for now) eyes had suddenly grown large.

"Y-you…" he said, starting soft then growing to a shout by the end of the word, and sounded far more like he was imitating a ghost of some kind than anything.

'Indra' raised his one visible eyebrow. "Sasuke-kun," he decided to say, eye smiling. May as well play off as family… for now.

It was what Kakashi would do in his position and he'd decided to do this the Kakashi Way after all.

For the most part.

"It's nice to finally meet you."

"Y-y-you're an Uchiha!" the younger boy claimed.

Well, that made this a little easier, actually. Indra nodded. "I was on a long-term mission for the village. I only recently got back."

The Urchin looked dumbfounded.

Okay, this was a little fun, he had to admit. That look was utterly priceless.

Naruto glanced between them, confused.

"Uchiha? Like you, Teme?" the blond asked.

The Urchin didn't answer him, causing Naruto to scowl. Instead, the younger brunet glared up at his older counterpart, who decided to answer the blond.

"Yes. Sasuke and I are related," the older Uchiha confirmed.

Behind them, Sakura gasped and began to cough… again. That was the second time that had happened to her. She really needed to gain more stamina.

"Did you leave before or after the… the…" his younger self faded off.

Wow… Indra knew he'd been screwed up as a kid. He hadn't realized just how bad it had been.

"I heard about the Massacre before," he finally replied. The Urchin flinched while Naruto looked taken aback and horrified, even as he rushed to Sakura's side.

"The what?" Naruto asked.

Indra let out a long breath and met eyes with a still gasping Sakura. "Could you explain it to him, Sakura-san?"

The younger version of his wife nodded and grabbed Naruto's arm to drag him away, thankfully getting the subtext.

"Why did you leave me alone?" the remaining boy asked, sounding genuinely hurt.

Indra sighed. "Mainly because I only got back a couple of days ago… and you were in the hospital." All technically true.

The boy looked away. "They should have told me."

Oh, that needed to be nipped in the bud. "You'd never even met me before."

The Urchin scowled, not wanting to admit the older Uchiha may have possibly had any good reason to stay away.

"I'm sorry you've been so alone," Indra heard himself saying, voice softer than he'd intended.

The Urchin scoffed. "I'm fine. I don't need you."

The older Uchiha sighed. "It doesn't work," he finally decided on.

"What doesn't?" Sasuke asked, surprised and still petulant.

"Spouting a lie until it's true. Especially in this case, it never comes true just because you say it."

The younger Uchiha's eyes narrowed as he glared up yet again. "And what would you know?!"

"I know because I used to be just like you." Literally.

Sasuke's face had turned a rather interesting shade of red-purple and he looked about ready to explode. "You know nothing about me!"

Indra found it particularly difficult – almost physically painful – holding back his bark of laughter and utter contempt. Once he trusted himself to speak, he shook his head.

"Yes, because no one has gone through anything in this world quite as painfully as you have, and that gives you a lease on life. Everyone obviously owes you everything. My apologies, Uchiha-sama." He may have sounded a little too sarcastic there…

The boy looked taken aback again. "What?" he asked. "No! That's not what I—"

"But it is. Everyone has given you everything for as long as you can remember because you're the 'Last Loyal Uchiha'. You both depend on it and despise it because you think it makes you weak. So you refuse to openly rely on anyone as a ninja because that must make you weak too.

"You are nothing but a contemptuous brat who will never reach your goals as long as you have that outlook.

"Trusting in your teammates makes you stronger. Trying to do everything alone makes you weaker. Yes, terrible things have happened to you, but you don't realize exactly how easy you have it. You think that your life is the absolute worst and no one can ever have anything worse than you. You invalidate everyone else's pain simply because it isn't the same as yours!"

"No one else lost their family to the one person they trusted the most!" Sasuke yelled.

"I did," the time traveler said bluntly. That stopped Sasuke short.

"W-what?" he asked.

Indra sighed. "An old man my brother answered to pushed him… pushed him so hard he broke. He killed my parents in front of me. Only later did I find out that my parents were planning to betray the village. The old man wanted my life too, but my brother refused. However, he could tell me none of this under pain of death for both of us. For years, I hated him… but he did the best he could do under the circ*mstances, even if he didn't go about it… well."

He turned and looked into the distance, the world around him fading as he remembered his past. "I got my revenge – on both of them. I killed them, thinking it would finally satisfy my hatred and anger – that it would right everything that went wrong.

"It didn't."

He blinked, realizing where and when he was once again before he turned and looked at his younger self, who seemed both mesmerized and horrified, hopeful but devastated at the same time. "All vengeance ever did was take away my chances to find happiness again."

"Th-that's just you," The Urchin said, weakly. "My situation is different! It'll be different!"

"Will it?" Indra asked, co*cking his head to one side. Then he realized that a couple of words wouldn't change anything. He'd rarely been susceptible to the influence of vocalizations, or he would have given into Naruto's stubbornness far earlier. But he didn't let his disappointment show. Instead he just shrugged.

"I hope, for your sake, that it will be." The 'but I doubt it' at the end of that sentence silently rang throughout the clearing.

"Sasuke!" A loud yell of their shared name drew their attention as a familiar blond came rushing back towards them, a miffed Sakura following behind.

"Naruto, you idiot!" she half-hissed, half-yelled (Indra never knew exactly how she'd pulled that off).

The Jinchuuriki rushed up to his teammate, eyes shining in determination. "I'll help you find your brother! We'll kick his butt for what he did, dattebayo!"

The Urchin's eyes widened for a moment, surprise and an obviously overwhelming amount of pain practically flowed through them.

Before his younger self could screw it up by refusing, the older Uchiha stepped in.

"Then you'll have to train your hardest," he informed them, matter-of-factly. "Uchiha Itachi is an S-ranked missing nin – that means he's almost kage level. Three Jounin can take a kage-level shinobi, if they have the right skills and good enough teamwork."

The Urchin blinked, his mind having problems processing everything. "Th-three?" he asked.

"Of course, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said as she stepped up to them. "I'll definitely help you!"

"But…" the younger Uchiha started.

His older self cut him off. "You're all genin level right now. You cannot comprehend the differences in your power gap… but if you all work hard enough, you can all make Jounin within two years."

The Urchin frowned. "Even them?" he asked Indra, thumbing in his teammates' direction.

"Hey!" Naruto protested while Sakura looked utterly heartbroken.

Indra frowned, eyes narrowing. "Growth for a ninja depends on four things: direction, dedication, experience and instruction," he said as his expression turned stony. "Sasuke, you have had all of these. Is it any wonder you were ahead in the academy? Sakura lacked three of them, but at least two of those are easily remedied. Naruto lacked two."

Instead of a loud, angry disagreement, Naruto just grit his teeth as his hands balled into fists and he looked away.

"I've decided on my direction," Sakura spoke up. "I do want to become a medic nin, and I'll study hard to get there, Sasuke-kun, so I can heal you when I have to." Then, surprisingly, she turned to her blond teammate. "You too, Naruto. It'll be my job to keep you alive!"

The blond looked particularly surprised at that. "Sakura-chan…" he said, close to tears.

"Unfortunately… that means I'm off the market," she said pointedly, then looked at The Urchin with a sigh. "No dating… not even if it means Ino-pig wins. Helping my teammates is more important."

Indra blinked in surprise, then felt his lips twitch into a small smile. Kakashi had given them positive feedback if he recalled, as few and far-between as those instances were. "I'm proud of you, Sakura," he said. "You are now only missing experience. You will go far."

Sakura looked utterly pleased as her cheeks darkened for a second, but then her smile melted into a frown as she glanced at Naruto. "You said Naruto was missing two… but he had everything but experience, didn't he? With how he was always saying he'd be Hokage, no mater what anyone else said, that's both direction and stu… er… determination… right?"

The older Uchiha glanced at Naruto, who shrank in on himself a little, although not in fear, but in anger – like a fox getting ready to pounce. Not for the first time, Indra wondered what effects Kurama had on Naruto without either of them knowing.

"Naruto, can I tell them? Or would you like to?"

The blond flinched and glanced up at him, then nodded and looked away again.

The older Sasuke returned his nod. "Naruto's instruction was sabotaged, purposefully, at the academy."

The other two looked utterly shocked. "What? That can't be! Iruka-sensei—" Sakura started.

"It wasn't Iruka-sensei," Naruto cut her off, voice harsh and angry. "It was Mizuki." No sensei. Heh, that was so like the Naruto he remembered.

"But… Mizuki-sensei… he…"

"Was a traitor," Indra said.

"Why?" his younger self asked.

Everyone turned to him.

"Why you, of all people? Some random kid from the orphanage… you weren't even the only orphan, so… why?"

Once again Naruto, for the barest second, resembled a cornered animal, ready to run or fight. He looked helplessly at 'Indra-nii' for help.

Yeah, he hadn't been able to resist that expression in years. Having it come from a younger Naruto only made the effects of said expression worse.

"That is for Naruto to tell you. It is his secret alone," he said. "Don't pester him about it, but…" and he turned to Naruto, "they deserve to know. It's up to you to decide when to tell them, but don't take too long. Eventually circ*mstances may force you to reveal it, whether you want to or not, and all of your team may be in danger when that happens."

Naruto looked somewhere between resigned, betrayed, and utterly terrified. Then he shot that same expression at his shocked teammates.

Eventually his shoulders slumped and he nodded.

Then he looked back up at the older Uchiha. "You know?" he asked softly.

Indra nodded.

"And… you don't hate me?"

The older man shrugged. "Why should I? That isn't you." Which was all he could really say without breaking the Third's ridiculous law. Naruto looked so utterly grateful, the Older Sasuke immediately decided that he'd had enough 'emotional' talk for the day (more than enough, really – besides, Kakashi-sensei didn't do emotional talk).

"Now. Training," he said as two clones appeared beside him. "Sakura, I know some medical jutsu, although only the basics. I will teach you what I know, but you will need to find a better instructor. Books will help, but you cannot learn everything through books if you want to grow faster.

"Naruto, 100 clones. Now. today we go through the fourth academy kata."

Naruto groaned, but then several pops sounded and the area filled with orange.

"Meanwhile, Sasuke, you're with me." At least he hadn't called him 'The Urchin' aloud like Kakashi-sensei would have.

Sakura winced. "Good luck, Sasuke-kun."

The Urchin scoffed, finally back to his old self. "As if I need it."

"That is the type of hubris that will stunt your growth as a ninja," the older one called out. Then he grinned and looked back at them over his shoulder. "And I will take a page from my friend's book and beat that into your head."

Even Naruto looked a little worried. "Um… Indra-nii, you won't… kill him, right?"

The Urchin's's eyebrows rose and his head whipped between Indra and Naruto, disbelieving.

"By the time I'm through with him, he'll wish I had."

The younger Uchiha's face paled. The older's smile widened, perhaps a bit sad*stically… or would it be masoch*stically?

This… this would be fun.

xXx

Sasuke sat at the edge of the clearing… and honestly, he only sat because Indra had been merciful enough to leave him upright. It turned out the man only had one arm… and Sasuke still couldn't even lay a finger on him. He hadn't even moved all that much… and honestly made Kakashi-sensei look like… well… a genin.

Sasuke had made the mistake of actually saying that aloud.

"Funny you would say that. Hatake Kakashi is more of a prodigy than your brother. He graduated earlier, was in the field at a younger age, made chunin at a younger age and Jounin at about the same time – or would have, had Itachi ever tried to become Jounin. Instead he became ANBU at age 11. That wasn't possible for Hatake as his guardian refused to let him do so.

"Even now, Hatake is rusty due to his own trauma, and could still be considered a solid A-rank ninja bordering on S."

He'd emphasized each point with a hit of some kind, ending with Sasuke down on the ground trying desperately not to vomit. Now he understood why Sakura and Naruto had been wary of him going with Indra… the man was sad*stic. Sasuke could see the satisfaction in the older Uchiha's eyes – satisfaction at beating a younger boy up like this.

"Real… Ninja don't… have trauma…" he managed to get out as he forced his arms to lift him up. To his utter surprise, Indra laughed. Not a little chuckle, but an out right, mocking laugh.

"If you believe that, you're stupider than I thought you were," he hissed before dragging Sasuke to his feet and made him take a stance. He then proceeded to beat Sasuke down again, stating that trauma was a fact of life for ninja, and the only ninja who didn't have trauma were murdering psychopaths that couldn't even be trusted by their own villages. According to him, even people like the Demon from the Bloody Mist and the Konoha Missing Nin Orochimaru had their traumas, buried deeply, but still there.

"The moment you bury your trauma so deep you cannot feel it or anything else like it, is the moment you become your Itachi. Worse even, because then you would gladly murder the one you care most deeply about, and even Itachi couldn't do that."

"He… could! He… wanted… me to… grow strong… to test… his…"

Another mocking laugh from Indra. "You really think he told you the truth, that night? That there was nothing else going on? Honestly? He wants you to grow strong to test his strength? No. That excuse is so weak I'm surprised you accept it so fully."

Sasuke's already painful breathing hurt even worse when his breath caught in his throat.

"What… are you… saying?"

A snort. "Some ninja you are. Even Naruto would be able to get that and yet you look down on him so much. He and Sakura are better ninja than you are now, and better ninja than you ever will be if you don't change. Fine, I'm saying that no one really knows what happened that night except for Itachi and anyone else actually inside the compound from start to finish. To find out the truth, you will have to follow your Sensei's advice and look underneath the underneath."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at that. "How did you… know he said… that?"

Indra just stared down at him, stony mask reminding him so much of Itachi that he wanted nothing more than to utterly wipe the expression off the man's face.

"That's one of Hatake's favorite sayings. Anyone who has ever met him knows that."

After several more seconds of painful silence, Indra sighed and rubbed the back of his head, before squatting in front of Sasuke's sprawled form.

"Do you know why I beat you down?" he asked. Sasuke didn't answer, but Indra must have read his thoughts in his eyes. "Not to be sad*stic or cruel. Well… that was part of it, but truthfully, this is the kind of pain you will go through on a regular basis if you wish to grow stronger quickly. There is the fast way and there is the less painful way. Both will get you somewhere, but one will get you there faster… if you survive it without getting mangled. And even if you don't feel this physical pain, you will feel the mental and emotional pain. Most people find a balance between the two that they can mentally and physically handle because most people – including you and Itachi – cannot handle this level of pain every. Single. Day.

"Find your balance and stick to it, no matter how much you want to get stronger faster. What counts is that you get stronger, not when you get stronger. Even Itachi has to reach a plateau in his growth at some point. If you take the time to do it right now, you will be surprised at how quickly you will grow in the fairly near future – even months from now."

Then he'd dragged Sasuke up, slung him over a shoulder (much to Sasuke's protests) and sat him against a tree.

"I'll be back shortly," he said. "And that's one thing that will get you further than both Itachi and Hatake – taking the time your body needs to rest and recover. Your body can take you farther when it's at a hundred percent."

Sasuke just snorted, but he couldn't really move so only watched as Indra literally disappeared. Had that been a shunshin? If so, it had been one of the best shunshin Sasuke had ever seen.

And now he could only lean against that tree, trying to ignore the knot in his back as he thought about everything Indra had said and done and it just… ticked him off! He was about ready to force himself to his feet when the older Uchiha returned, Sakura on his back.

She took one look at her teammate and shouted, "Sasuke-kun!" She scrambled down and had just taken a step towards Sasuke (he wasn't sure if that would have been a positive development or not, but was leaning towards the latter) when Indra stopped her.

"I brought you here so you could see healing in action. You can't actually practice on a live human until you pass multiple tests – one of them including a dead or dying fish – but seeing healing in action can help. Now, watch."

Sasuke opened his mouth to protest – he wasn't some project to be worked on! But a glare from Indra had him clopping his jaw closed.

"Put your hands on mine, Sakura," he said. "Close your eyes and feel what my chakra does – but don't do anything yourself, understand?"

She nodded and did as she was told, closing her eyes. She didn't open them for several minutes as Indra proceeded to heal Sasuke. The aching in his muscles subsided, as did the pounding in his head and heaving in his chest. He trembled less (not that he'd been trembling much) and several sore areas that would have developed into bruises stopped throbbing altogether.

Eventually, the older Uchiha lifted his hands from Sasuke and Sakura opened her eyes, looking utterly thrilled. "That was… amazing, Indra-sensei!"

The man seemed taken aback by the title. "Sensei?"

She immediately backpedaled. "Um… sorry. If you don't want me to, I won't…"

"No, that's… fine," he finally said, face a mix of complicated emotion. "Just… remember I'm not your actual sensei."

She looked away at that, half-pouting, half-blushing. "You've taught us more than our actual Sensei…"

He sighed, looking suddenly tired. "Well, you're not wrong," he muttered. Then he shook his head. "Kakashi… has a lot to teach you." Why did he pause after that? This guy was too suspicious…

"But he's so…" Sakura started.

"He's never taught a genin team before. He's taught ANBU though. And if anyone asks, you didn't hear that from me. You figured it out yourselves." He glared at them until they both nodded. "Good."

Then he looked down at Sasuke specifically. "Do you feel better?"

The younger Uchiha nodded, begrudgingly.

"Good. Get up. We'll go again. After all, you want to get stronger, right?"

Sakura turned in worry to her teammate, just in time to see him pale.

Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Chapter by DAsObiQuiet

Chapter Text

Sasuke woke the morning after first meeting Indra with a groan. His body still felt like it would fall apart. Thankfully, he wouldn't be going to train with his teammates today. He kind of hated himself for thinking that. He needed to train to get stronger…

But he also needed a day to really think about… well, everything. Not just what Indra had told him – that something else had gone on that night or that Itachi had other motivations – but about what had landed him in the hospital. He hadn't even gotten a good reason as to why someone had dropped a severed arm with active sharingan in it or even how those sharingan had remained active enough without a constant chakra source to keep them so. He hadn't even really come to terms with lesser issues like the fact that Sakura had a drive and a direction to go with medical jutsu (surprisingly insightful of her) or that Naruto had been sabotaged because of something about him he was keeping secret. Something big, apparently. Although what that secret could be Sasuke couldn't even begin to guess at.

Unfortunately, he probably wouldn't be given a lot of time to think things through today as he had more mandatory mind-healing sessions he would have to go to. He groaned, really, really wanting nothing more than to stuff his head back under his pillow and pretend the day hadn't started yet. Instead, he sighed and, with monumental effort, dragged himself up.

He usually took his showers in the evening, but had been too tired the night before. So he headed into the bathroom, mind already focusing on the warm water that might actually help his aching muscles.

xXx

Sasuke frowned at the Shogi board and wondered, for about the twentieth time that day, why he was doing this instead of the 'mind healing' sessions that had been scheduled. Then, for the same amount of times, he reminded himself that as boring and useless as this was, it had to be better than said 'mind healing' sessions.

Shikamaru, his lazy ex-classmate, yawned and leaned his head down on his arms, showing how bored he was with Sasuke as an opponent. The Uchiha grit his teeth and made them move he'd been contemplating for a little while now.

"Your turn," he muttered.

The Nara looked up at the board, blinked, then sighed as he reached over and moved one of his pieces. "I win."

Sasuke had to restrain himself from flipping the table and all of its pieces over.

"This is so useless," he said.

Shikamaru, who had begun to reset the pieces, snorted. "Thought you'd be smarter than that."

"Oh," Sasuke asked in frustration, "what is actually useful about learning to play a stupid game?"

The Nara looked so utterly done and annoyed as he opened his mouth, but then he paused, seemed to think about it and shook his head.

"Too troublesome."

"Shikamaru," the boy's mother said, peeking her head in the door with a bright smile on her face. Even Sasuke could feel the warning it presented. "Why don't you explain it to Sasuke-kun? Would it be more troublesome to do that, or to be in charge of dishes for the next week?"

The younger Nara's shoulders drooped.

"Troublesome woman," he muttered, but then he sighed and rubbed the back of his head before fixing his annoyed gaze on Sasuke.

"Shogi tests your strategy. It's applicable to life in basically three ways: Individual, Small Group and Large Group. It's the most easily applicable to large groups because they tend to be the most limited by the amount of people they have, so they can be easier to predict. Think a contingent of manpower in a war. It is least applicable to small groups, though this depends on the group, the terrain involved and the makeup of said group. But small groups tend to be more versatile and powerful than individuals, but less mobile than a single person and so tend to be the least predictable. Obviously this depends on the individual but…" he paused when he saw Sasuke's slowly dulling expression and sighed again.

"In any case, shogi teaches you to think several steps ahead so you can predict the consequences of your current choices. For instance, if I move my pawn here, it opens up several options," he said as he moved one of his pawns forward one step. "You can also tell by this move that I've started to play a defensive game based on which pawn I'm moving. Moving another piece in another way – like, say, a knight – can be considered more offensive, but also more dangerous. How you respond to my move and how you open your game can tell me a lot about you as an opponent.

"If you move this piece here," he reached over and moved one of Sasuke's pawns, "then I know you're a generally offensive player and I can plan accordingly because of what pieces you can move after that. There are literally thousands (if not more) of ways to play a game, and thinking through every step you can move after this can help you figure the direction of your game.

"You can move any one of your pawns, your knights or your rook, initially. Each one of those moves will close down some moves for yours and other pieces, and open up other options. But going through each next step can help you go through each following move, and each step after that.

"Do you understand?"

For several seconds Sasuke studied the board and the different ways that the pieces could move. He felt like he was right on the cusp of grasping what Shikamaru wanted him to…

And then it clicked.

"It's like sparring," he said.

Shikamaru blinked. "What?"

"When you spar, if you go to kick, there are only so many ways you can move after that, which will affect how you defend and what attacks you can make in three or four moves. That's what you mean by applying it to an individual, right?"

The other boy blinked at Sasuke, then rubbed his chin. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Wait, so if I move this here… I can move these in the future and that's why you take so long to move sometimes, you're thinking through all the ways something can play out."

Shikamaru gave him a smug smirk. "So, wanna play for real this time?"

Sasuke shot him a grin back. "Hn."

Only later, after he'd left the Nara residence, did he realize what the boy had said about small groups applied to what Indra had said about three Jounin working together to take down a kage-level opponent.

"Oh," he muttered thoughtfully.

He ruminated on that for several seconds before he shook his head and continued home. He still wasn't convinced that the dead last and the fangirl (former?) would be any actual help as a team but… well… maybe he'd just have to wait and see.

On top of a nearby roof, "Indra" smiled. He wasn't sure what his younger self had had an epiphany about, but after what he'd heard about what the kid had gone through today, he had a couple of guesses. Some of them weren't so great, but most of them would be positive.

They would just have to see tomorrow.

xXx

"So, Kakashi, how are you today?"

The man with the single Sharingan understood why he had no access to sharp weapons at the moment. Because if he had one, he would have buried it in the head of anyone so utterly bright this early in the morning. False or not.

Then again, was it even morning? He didn't have access to the outside either so he couldn't tell.

He'd considered escaping. He likely could as he'd come up with almost a dozen plots at this point. Whether any of them would actually work? That was a question almost worth antagonizing T&I and the Hokage over.

Almost.

No matter what Inoichi said, he was not suicidal right now.

Speaking of, the man in question pulled a chair up to the bed Kakashi had curled up under. He hated that that was how he felt safe right now, but it wasn't exactly unusual for him to sleep on the floor with his ninken either. The tighter space just made him feel more secure.

He knew it wasn't actually safer, but whatever helped him sleep here. Right?

Still, despite his rather nasty mood at being woken up (when was the last time he'd had so much sleep? It was unnatural), he plastered on a bright smile and turned his head up towards Inoichi-san. "Yo." Then he shunshined out and back so he calmly sat on the edge of the bed as if he'd been there the whole time.

Inoichi raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.

Good.

"So you asked me for a list of what would need to happen for you to leave here. After speaking at length with the Hokage, we have decided that isn't an unreasonable expectation to have in this situation. Therefore, here are your three conditions:

"One, you need to tell me or someone else here you trust about the Kannabi bridge incident. We need to know how many discrepancies in the records there are, and having a first hand account will help the most."

Kakashi felt his throat tighten. He did not want to talk about it. He really did not want to talk about it… but if it got him out of here…

"Two," Inoichi continued, "we will need an oath to the Hokage himself that you will not go after Shimura Danzo or any of his subordinates, family or acquaintances without express permission directly from the Hokage."

He hated it – he really did – but he'd certainly seen that coming. It still made him want to attack something, even if he didn't show it. No, he made sure to keep a happy smile on his face.

"Three," the interrogation specialist looked hard at Kakashi, "you must come and see me once a week, every week, until I say otherwise."

Yeah. Not happening. Ever. Full stop.

That didn't mean he couldn't say he would. He was known for being late, after all…

Inoichi must have somehow (impossibly) seen that on Kakashi's face because he leaned forward, eyes narrowing slightly.

"If you agree to this and you don't show up to three scheduled meetings, I cannot give you a full bill of health and you will be honorably retired."

Kakashi's eye widened in shock because… what?!

"You can't do that," he said, "I'm an A-rank Jounin! You need me! The village needs me! The Hokage needs me!" He hoped he didn't sound as unhinged as he felt, because he had to convince Inoichi of this, no matter how untrue it was. Because… well, he knew the truth. He knew they didn't really need him. Shinobi came and went all the time. But… the idea of not being a ninja just… didn't compute. He couldn't wrap his head around it. He needed to be able to go on missions and throw himself into work he was good at – like assassinations. He was good at assassinations. Sitting around, unable to do anything for any time longer than a week would drive what little sanity he still had far, far away.

Besides, the idea of not being able to do anything to protect people… no matter how much of a failure he was…

Just no.

"What we need," Inoichi corrected him calmly (much to Kakashi's growing horror because he wasn't convinced…), "are good Shinobi who we can trust to take care of themselves. You are alive by a combination of sheer will, spite and Might Gai, and you know it. How many difficult missions did you purposefully almost not come back from?"

The silver-haired jounin didn't wince through stubbornness alone and mentally congratulated himself for it.

"I would never let my companions die," Kakashi hissed angrily. Funny, he hadn't shown this much emotion in years… not since before Minato-sensei… nope. Cutting that thought off now. He needed to stop right there and continue on his argument. He doubted he could lie convincingly in the state he was (he needed to calm down) so something at least somewhat truthful. "If that means I have to stay alive to help them, then fine! I will!"

Inoichi shook his head. "That's the problem, Kakashi, it's not 'fine'. Your life shouldn't be a side note. You aren't there only to keep other people you deem more important than yourself alive. Do you honestly think your life doesn't matter?"

"We're ninja," he said coldly. "Tools for our village. Nothing more."

The blond shot him an unimpressed look. "That is a basic they teach academy students to help them learn and understand what real life as a shinobi is like. I know you don't actually believe that because you aren't in Root. And yes, I know Danzo approached you. We found his documentation on it."

Just his name brought a cold fury to Kakashi's chest. The memory of him trying to trick Kakashi into killing the Hokage… and how could he have known that wasn't even a scratch on the iceberg Danzo had created.

But Kakashi hated that he missed the mindless days he'd spent in Root as a probationary member, where he didn't have to think or feel… it had been so much easier. He hadn't been there long, but there had been a reason why Danzo had thought he had Kakashi under his thumb. He'd taken to it so easily…

However, his time there and Danzo's plotting against the Third Hokage had taught him how dangerous that path could be. Which meant Inoichi was right, no matter how much he hated to admit it. He still refused to look away from the interrogator – refused to show any shame or weakness.

He also didn't answer.

Finally, Inoichi sighed and put a hand up to rub at his temple. "Look, you want out of here and I want to help. So why don't we at least start on those conditions I brought up earlier.

"We'll go with the easiest first. I need you to promise you won't go after Danzo, his family, any of his subordinates or compatriots. We can do this in front of the Hokage later, but for now, just tell me: Can you do that?"

Kakashi just glared at Inoichi for several seconds because not avenging Obito and Minato-sensei felt wrong.

Then again, this wouldn't be the first time he did something for the village that felt wrong.

"You have my word," he finally forced himself to say calmly. Not even through gritted teeth.

"That…?" Inoichi prodded with a deadpan expression.

"That I will not go after Danzo, his family, his subordinates or his compatriots with any intention to harm or kill them."

The blond's expression didn't change for several seconds, but eventually he sat forward with a shake of his head. "I see the loopholes you're leaving for yourself, Kakashi, but I'm going to trust you with this. We are investigating. We will put Danzo on trial. Everything he did will come to light. Please, trust us like I'm trusting you."

"I'm not a child," Kakashi said suddenly. He wanted to snap it out like a whip, but he kept himself in check. Barely. "Please stop treating me like I am one."

He felt so raw and open; like his mask had been utterly stripped away. And, he supposed, for all intents and purposes, it had. His lazy, lackadaisical attitude was not something he could hide behind right now and so he clung to the cracked facade of his ANBU persona – professional, cold, calculating and emotionless… except it wasn't working. For the first time in over a decade it wasn't working and he didn't know how to deal with that.

Inoichi just snorted softly, but to Kakashi's relief, didn't push it farther.

"How about the next one, then; can you tell me what happened at Kannabi Bridge?"

Kakashi absolutely refused to break down again like he had before, so he kept his emotions in check, slowly regaining his ANBU facade again – through sheer determination, but whatever worked.

"Take your time," Inoichi said. "I can wait as long as you need me to." And he meant it. Kakashi didn't know whether to be grateful or resentful because he did need time, but he still hated showing this weakness. Or, well, talking about it at all.

Eventually, he pushed those thoughts to the side and took a deep breath. And then another. And another. He repeated the motion until he felt calm again and then he opened his eyes and fixed Inoichi with a blank stare.

"My team received the mission to destroy the Kannabi bridge so as to disrupt the supply lines…" he began and then went through the mission with as much detail and as little inflection as he could. It still hurt… a lot. Not as much as he'd feared, but more than he wanted to admit. It was still everything he could do to just continue talking.

Inoichi's first interruption happened before he even got to the bridge, when they came across the Iwa nin scout on the way. Kakashi had explained how he'd rushed in with his team covering him, wanting to put himself out both as bait and as the main heavy hitter. He explained his reasoning as being the bait so that he could pinpoint the location of his enemies when they tried to target him. He didn't elaborate on why he had wanted to be the main heavy hitter. He should have known that Inoichi would want more explanation on that.

"Why did you want your team to cover you while you went out alone? Besides being bait, I mean."

Breathe in… and out.

"Because I was arrogant," he managed to say with a completely straight face. "I thought I could do it on my own. I was reckless and foolish because I wanted to show off my new jutsu. I honestly thought I was so much better than the others on my team… excluding Minato-sensei of course."

More breaths. Just keep breathing, he thought to himself.

"It almost got me killed that day. If Minato-sensei hadn't saved me, I would have died." And maybe they would have gone back to Konoha and would all be alive.

Inoichi paused and frowned at Kakashi, who couldn't help but tense. Had he said something wrong?

"Why do you sound as if you regret that he saved you?"

In his mind, Kakashi swore. Multiple times.

He also didn't answer. Again.

Inoichi's frown deepened, but he didn't push it.

Yet.

"You got wounded, not fatally but significantly?"

"Yes, sir."

"Where?"

Kakashi pointed to his right shoulder. "My teammate healed it as best she could. It wasn't perfect, but it healed enough that we wanted to continue on. We split up the next day, Minato-sensei going to the front lines while Obito, Rin and I went for the bridge, but were ambushed. While one of the ninja attacked us from the front, another sneaked up from behind and… grabbed Rin…" He faded off as something occurred to him.

Oh, he was so stupid. He'd always wondered why that ninja had simply knocked out and captured Rin when he should have killed her. Initially he'd thought it had been because they wanted to know plans and thought they could get information out of her, but she was obviously a chuunin at most, on a three man team of chuunins (because Kakashi had not deserved his Jounin promotion, the following conflicts had made that abundantly clear). She wouldn't have known anything… no. She'd been bait because they were the target. They and Minato-sensei. They'd been treated like a target the entire time, not a random infiltration cell there to do reconnaissance or damage.

"You put in your report that you assumed they wanted information."

Kakashi nodded, swallowing thickly. "It was the best reason I could think of for why they didn't kill her and then go after Obito and I. But… that would have just been a secondary boon had it been true. They were after us from the start. They wanted us to lure Minato-sensei in."

Inoichi sighed and nodded his head. "It's likely that Rin was taken to be used as bait, yes. My guess is that the two Shinobi aimed too high, wanting to take out the Yellow Flash himself. They couldn't have known when you split up, but it's likely they knew exactly who you were."

Kakashi felt his fingers digging into the wood of the bed frame, but didn't care. It hurt less than some of these revelations.

"They thought they could either subdue or kill us if we came after her, but if we hadn't, they would have set up a trap for Minato-sensei with just her."

Again, the blond nodded. "That was the conclusion we came to as well."

"We were blind," the silver-haired shinobi muttered.

"No, we were duped, by someone who was very good at what he did," Inoichi said, his own voice full of anger and bitterness. He looked up at Kakashi pointedly. "I'm not going to say don't feel angry towards Shimura. Actually, quite the opposite. This is his fault – his scheme. Do not blame yourself. Blame him. That is where the fault should lie."

Kakashi took a deep breath and nodded. He could do that. Didn't mean he wasn't to blame for anything that happened at all, but this shed so much new light on the subject. The resulting picture wasn't pretty and while it seemed easier to contemplate in some ways, in other ways it was just so much worse.

"In any case, please continue," Inoichi waved a hand through the air.

The silver-haired man nodded and went on.

It was easier to keep going this time, even knowing what would happen.

"Obito and I argued. He wanted to go after Rin. I wanted to stick to the mission. I… had issues."

"Because of your father?"

Great, another sore spot.

Kakashi took another calming breath. "Yeah."

When Inoichi didn't speak again, though, Kakashi looked up sharply.

"What is it?"

The other jounin seemed to brace himself (not helping Kakashi calm down) and spoke. "We've found evidence that a lot of the ostracizing that drove your father to commit suicide was either orchestrated or outright started by Shimura. The White Fang was a staunch supporter of the Third and he wasn't supposed to survive the mission he'd been sent on. So Danzo did the next best thing and drove him to kill himself by blaming the start of the Third Shinobi War on him."

Silence for several seconds and then the world seemed to fade out around him.

Kakashi didn't remember what happened next. All he could recall later was a red haze enveloping his vision. The next thing he knew, the floor dug painfully into his cheeks and he couldn't move well. It took him a moment to realize he was being pinned down by Inoichi and at least two ANBU. He could sense another three in the general vicinity.

"You back with us?" Inoichi asked. Kakashi tried to take stock of the situation and it took him longer than he'd like for him to really take everything in. He wasn't in his designated room, but the hallways of T&I. How… had he gotten here? A sharp pain in his hand throbbing was likely a clue… he had the memory of using the chidori to punch through the walls… vaguely. They were metal and more resistant to lightning than normal earth, but they were still earth and apparently that resistance could be overpowered. As could the chakra suppressors, apparently (although it left him terribly drained, he wondered how he'd made it this far without using any other jutsu). Nice to know that one of his escape methods was viable.

"Well, it looks like we're going to be getting you a new room," Inoichi said cheerfully. "And, unfortunately, we'll have to keep the chakra suppressing cuffs on you for now." As the blond spoke, he stood and stepped back, allowing the ANBU to drag Kakashi to his feet. Then he must have signaled for them to release their prisoner because they stepped back as well.

The silver-haired jounin turned to face Inoichi and actually winced when he saw the man had a swollen cheek that would likely form into a large bruise if he didn't get it treated. He also had an obvious, very jagged tear in his mussed clothes, likely where Kakashi had somehow torn it. He was glad the man had side-stepped whatever Kakashi had attacked with.

Funny, he'd never blacked out like that before.

"I think we should continue this later," Inoichi said. "You need some time to cool down – and please cool down. Do not let this fester." He took a deep breath and looked Kakashi in the eye. "Do not let him win. Dwelling on what Shimura has done will not help you in the long run. It will only drive your anger and hatred to new levels, and it's already detrimental and unhealthy. He set this up to gain more control – he's tried to control you. If you let him anger you that much, he will have succeeded."

Kakashi just watched the other man for several seconds before he let out the breath he'd been holding and nodded. "I don't need you to tell me that."

The other man just snorted and returned the nod. "Good.

"Now, let's get you to some new rooms."

xXx

Inoichi groaned as he plopped down in the seat across from Shikaku at their usual table in their favorite shinobi bar. Today had been an extremely trying day. To say the least. The very least.

His Nara teammate raised an eyebrow both in question and amusem*nt. Inoichi frowned at him.

"Hatake Kakashi is the most stubborn, self-destructive, hot mess of a shinobi I've ever met." And the man's amusem*nt went up several notches.

"Shut up and get me a drink," the interrogation specialist grumbled. "Where's Chouza?"

"With his wife. Date night."

Right. He must be really out of it to not remember that. And Shikaku's tone did not hide that he'd thought the same thing.

Inoichi groaned and hid his head in his arms. He was so done right now.

"Well, let me cheer you up a bit, then," Shikaku said.

The blond looked up at him over his arms, his own eyebrow raised in question. A glass appeared in front of Inoichi and he sighed gratefully as he went through his typical poison detection before grabbing it and slamming it back.

"Okay, what will cheer me up?"

"You haven't asked about Sasuke-kun."

Inoichi's face fell right back into its scowl. "What makes you think I'd want to talk about the second most messed up ninja in this village – who is, by the way, a genin, twelve years old and has never even been on a mission."

"Well," Shikaku said, "I spoke with my son. According to him, no one has ever explained the benefits of group attacks in a way that Uchiha-kun really understood – or in a way that stuck in any case. But once Shikamaru explained some basic tactics, Sasuke caught on surprisingly quickly. We may have actually gotten through to him."

Inoichi blinked, almost unable to believe it because that had been much faster than he'd anticipated.

"Really?" he finally said as he thought about the implications and potential there. "Then we need to drive the point home. Looks like I'll be commandeering his training tomorrow. Do you know where Kuranai is?"

Shikaku studied his friend for a second before a slow smile spread across his face. He saw exactly what his friend had in mind. Then he nodded over towards the other side of the room where Kuranai and Asuma sat in a corner booth and were making eyes at each other. Too bad Inoichi would have to ruin their date, at least temporarily.

"Be right back," he said, holding up a hand for more drinks and indicating with hand signs which table said order should be delivered to. Then he stood up and made his way over, not even having to force a bright smile onto his face.

"Forgive me for interrupting," he said as he stopped right by the table. The other two looked up at him, Kuranai with curiosity and Asuma with a frown. The ordered drinks appeared on the table with a whoosh as the ninja behind the bar delivered them – par for the course in a shinobi bar. Asuma picked up one of the drinks and sighed, but accepted the peace offering nonetheless. Meanwhile, Inoichi never took his eyes off of the kunoichi at the table. "Kuranai-san, would you mind if I had a word with you?"

Intrigued, she gestured to the seat next to Asuma and went for her own drink. Inoichi's smile widened as he took said seat and began to explain his proposition. By the time he finished, both Asuma and Kuranai looked amused.

"Well, I suppose I'll see you and Sasuke-kun tomorrow morning," Kuranai said with a smile.

"Excellent! I will stop imposing on your time," Inoichi replied and went to stand up. The other two bid him goodnight and he returned to Shikaku's table much happier than he'd been before.

"How is it you always know what to say to cheer me up?" he asked his friend as he retook his previous seat.

Shikaku shrugged and gestured to the drink he'd already ordered for Inoichi. "It's a gift."

Inoichi snorted, finished checking his drink for poison and then lifted it into the air. "To the little successes. I'll take what I can get at the moment."

The other man chuckled as he raised his glass and clinked it against Inoichi's. Then they both downed said drinks.

"So," the Nara head asked, leaning forward, "let me help you work out details for your little plot tomorrow?"

Inoichi grinned. "Why not?"

Chapter 7: Chapter 7

Chapter by DAsObiQuiet

Chapter Text

As he made his way down to his team's meeting point the next morning, Sasuke couldn't help but be a little surprised at himself. He was Uchiha Sasuke, the lone avenger. And he had reasons for it…

My foolish brother… If you want to kill me… curse me! Hate me! And live a long and unsightly life…

He had to get stronger. He had to kill Itachi. That was his mess to clean up and only his…

At least, that's what he'd thought. But Inoichi-san was right in that Itachi had deprived Konoha of the strength of an entire clan. Fellow Ninja, teammates and friends at least. It wasn't the same, not by a long shot, but… did that truly mean Sasuke couldn't accept their help? As long as he was the one to deliver the killing blow…

Run away… run away… and cling to your pitiful life.

Yesterday it had seemed so much clearer, but after a night to think it through… he wasn't sure anymore. About either side of the argument, to be honest.

And then some day, when you have the same eyes as I do, come before me.

But could he? Itachi had always been so much better than Sauske… and everyone had known that. Itachi had known. He had to have known with how their father had treated the two of them. Sasuke had been the spare. Even at a young age, he'd known that Itachi was the heir and Sasuke would always be second best.

And… it was hard to think past that. He'd tried, but, if he was honest with himself, he knew he always would come in behind Itachi. He could only hope for a miracle or for his supposed 'brother' to slip up enough for him to get in a decent shot.

But Itachi never slipped up.

If he wanted to kill Itachi any time soon, then he would need someone to help create openings.

When he thought about it like that, it all started to make sense again.

Besides, it was Itachi who wanted him to curse and hate and supposedly grow strong enough to test his 'brother' more…

And Indra-san was right in that that didn't make sense. Itachi had other ways to test himself, so why kill the entire family? And how? Sure, he'd been good, but had he honestly been that good? At 13? And if so, wasn't that just more reason for Sasuke to train with a team?

Yes, he finally decided. Yes, it was.

For the first time since he'd woken up an orphan at the age of seven, Sasuke felt a weight lift from his chest – a weight he hadn't even known he'd been carrying. The responsibility of avenging his clan had been something he would have happily carried with him for the rest of his life, however long that was. But that was the thing, no matter how willing he was, according to Inoichi-san (and Kakashi-sensei, and Indra-san and Iruka-sensei), he didn't have to. He just needed to find people who were willing to carry it with him.

Maybe Itachi had grown strong secretly hating everything around him… but Sasuke didn't want to be like him. So why was he taking that man's advice? He'd never really thought about it like that before.

Besides, even if he did try to go Itachi's way, and even if that was the only way to get strong in Itachi's eyes, it was painfully obvious to everyone who had ever known them that Sasuke wasn't Itachi. Perhaps it was time to stop trying to follow in his 'brother's' footsteps. He needed to do this his way, not Itachi's.

(The weight on his chest seemed to lighten even more… huh.

That… felt good.)

And for the first time ever, he was looking forward to training with his team. Well, kind of. More specifically, he wanted to discuss team tactics with Indra-san and then try for some practical application of some of the ideas he'd gotten yesterday. If he played his cards right, perhaps he could get his teammates to help him fight the older Uchiha like Kakashi-sensei had wanted them to fight him during their second genin test. While forcing himself to work with the other two specifically didn't exactly appeal to him, he did want to implement some of the ideas he'd spoken with Shikamaru about. He'd also come up with a couple of ideas of his own the previous night before he'd gone to bed. Although he'd likely have to heavily modify them for Naruto and Sakura now that he thought about it. They were, after all, the dead last and best paper nin of their class respectively. He had tentative hopes for Naruto now that his education wasn't being sabotaged (seriously, who did that to a future Konoha ninja?! Mizuki deserved whatever he'd gotten), but at the same time… it was still Naruto.

His enthusiasm plummeted whenever he thought about those two… but they would be what he had to work with, he supposed. At least for now. Maybe he should view this as a challenge? Hmm. Sasuke liked the sound of that. He started going over his teammates' current skill sets… and came up with nothing. No, seriously, the only thing that remotely set their team apart from the others of their class were the dobe's Kage Bushin and Sakura's ability to answer questions correctly. That was it. Nothing else about his teammates set them apart from his other classmates in any positive way.

Sasuke huffed in frustration and then shook his head. No, there had to be something that set them apart enough to be on Sasuke's – the head of the class' – team and not completely thrown out of the academy (although not for a lack of trying on Naruto's part…). But nothing came to mind. Nothing. He frowned as he realized he needed more information. Perhaps he should hide when he got to the meeting point? He could follow them and observe their training to see what, if any, new skills the two had developed. Yes, that sounded like a viable way forward. Then he could make accurate plans and—

A flash of light-colored hair drew him out of his thoughts shortly after passing the midway point. Years of looking out for Ino had honed his skills in that area at least. Sasuke wasn't sure he should be thankful that he saw his classmate's father striding towards him instead, wearing a smile that set Sasuke on edge. He briefly entertained the idea of dashing away and hiding from the older ninja. If Naruto could constantly escape ANBU, then surely it shouldn't be too difficult to hide from a Jounin… right?

After the initial pani— apprehension passed, his logical side pointed out how his last attempts against Jounin had gone: buried to his neck and humiliated by one, repeatedly beaten to a pulp by the other. Sasuke wisely chose to wait, albeit with a guarded expression.

The blond man greeted him cordially as he strode up to the genin. "Good morning, Sasuke-kun. I just wanted to let you know that there has been a change in plans for today. You are now scheduled to train with – or against, if you prefer to see it that way, I suppose – Team 8 under Yuhi Kuranai. Follow me, please."

Sasuke blinked in surprise and the young Uchiha barely got out a, "My Team—" before Inoichi cut him off, his smile growing larger (that did very little to put the genin at ease).

"I had Ino inform your teammates about the change, so you don't have to worry there. Now let's get going. We need to get there in the next ten minutes."

At first, Sasuke felt a pang of disappointment (small as it was – marginal, really) that he wouldn't be training with his teammates today, but then he thought about the skill set of Team 9 and figured some tracking focused exercises wouldn't be out of order, given his goal with Itachi. As annoying as the sudden change was, he could make the most of this situation.

So he nodded once, firmly, and then fell into step behind the blond Jounin.

At least it wasn't more mind-healing sessions.

XXX

The members of Team 8 hadn't changed much in the last few days, Sasuke noted with disappointment. From Kiba's rowdiness to Shino's stoicism to Hinata's withdrawn nature, he couldn't see how they could have possibly become anything more than what he remembered. Although, he had to admit that they also had their own skills and clan abilities that they hadn't been really allowed to use to the fullest extent in the academy. Not only did those clan techniques and abilities give them the potential to be much stronger than what he remembered, but they also made the three genin stand out when it came to their potential in tracking. Inazukas were known for their excellent hearing and sense of smell, Aburame had the ability to control bugs and then, of course, the Hyuugas' Byakugan. He actually wanted to see how well the girl could use those eyes of hers as there hadn't been much chance to observe her techniques before.

Sasuke had never heard of their sensei before she'd come in to pick them up on the day of their assignment. The woman he was introduced to seemed less jaded and more personable than either of the male jounin Sasuke had fought with in the last week. That might mean he had less likelihood of getting beaten down by her…?

This is the kind of pain you will go through on a regular basis if you wish to grow stronger quickly. Indra's words ran through his head and he almost found himself hoping she was stronger than she looked…

Somehow, that didn't strike him as a good way of thinking. He really shouldn't want to get beat into the ground…

"Hello, Uchiha-san," the Jounin Sensei said with a warm smile. "I am Yuhi Kuranai. I'm sure you remember Inazuka Kiba, Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata."

"Hello," he said as he bowed to them. Shallowly. He would be polite, of course, but that was all he had to be.

Kiba frowned. "Sensei, what's he doing here?"

"It isn't unusual for a sensei to bring in other students for spars and the like," she replied patiently. "Uchiha-san was the rookie of the year, right?" Nods from all of her students, albeit Kiba's looked annoyed. Sasuke didn't roll his eyes, but it was a near thing. "Well, we're going to have him fight each of you today. Unlike in the academy, this will be a no-holds barred fight except for permanent maiming or worse, of course. You can use any style of Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, whatever you wish.

"At first we'll try one-on-one and then we'll see where to go from there."

Ah, so that was why plans had changed at the last minute. Yuhi-san had asked for him to help train her students. Sasuke wanted to scoff. He didn't have time for things like this… but a glance back at Inoichi let him know that he wouldn't be getting out of it any time soon. He repressed his annoyance as best he could before sighing and preparing himself.

Turned out fighting each of them with no holds barred (save maiming and death) was far different than the taijutsu only spars they'd had at the academy. Not that Sasuke hadn't known that but knowing and experiencing were very different, it seemed. For one, they each had their own strengths, and each spar turned out differently than he'd initially thought.

Kiba fought almost wildly and ferociously, his taijutsu heavily modified from the basic style the academy taught. Apparently he'd spent more time honing his clan style, the use of which was discouraged and frowned upon in the academy – something about the same basis to work from for each kid? Honestly, if Sasuke hadn't fought Naruto on a regular basis, he'd almost say Kiba's clan style was outright brawl-ish. It had little obvious structure which made it difficult to predict, but also left several openings. However, Kiba took advantage of those hits Sasuke got in, tanking them and using the resulting closeness to get in shots of his own.

Maybe Naruto would benefit from learning a style like this? He definitely needed more structure than whatever he currently had. Of course, Indra had been working on that with him, but there was only so much one could learn in a couple of days.

Sasuke still won that spar, but it was more difficult than he'd thought it could possibly be. Once Akamaru grew, they would be a formidable pair. For now, though, the ninken couldn't fight much and served mainly as a distraction. It even worked a couple of times.

The Uchiha hadn't felt that proud of a win in a long time. From the strange looks Kiba gave him when he thanked the Inazuka for the fight, he hadn't expected Sasuke to be cordial. Which was ridiculous. He could respect strength.

Hinata was next and Sasuke couldn't keep his grin to himself. He had rarely fought her before. He knew of the clan rivalries between hers and his, but saw little point in it (especially now) and had always hated how the teachers had seemed to keep them apart. Now, though, he could go all out. He couldn't wait.

Fighting the Jyuuken was definitely an experience, and he winced at the pain in his arms when he blocked incorrectly (which happened more often than he'd like to admit). The biggest problem from her was how she didn't strike confidently. Oh, she knew where her hit would likely land and would often prepare for any follow ups she would need to give, but more than once he saw her hesitate. He knew it was likely just her nature coming through, but it still ticked him off.

"Fight me for real!" he said a couple of minutes into the spar. She froze, looking at him with wide, almost terrified eyes. "You're hesitating! Stop looking down on me!"

He knew she wasn't… but he couldn't help but feel that she was nonetheless. It reminded him of…

No. No, he couldn't go there. Not right now.

To her credit, she redoubled her efforts.

He still utterly defeated her not a minute later.

Shino, on the other hand… Shino took him by surprise. Sasuke went in for an attack and the other boy seemed to be happy to play the defense. Then, only minutes into the fight, Sasuke realized he was lower on energy than he should be. He frowned.

The other boy tipped his head to one side. "You have begun to feel it. I can tell. Why? Because you have slowed down."

Sasuke paused at that, scowling. "What did you do?"

"I had several of my bugs land on you. They have been siphoning off your chakra since our fight began. You will not have enough stamina to finish this fight."

It was probably the most he'd heard the other boy say… and to be honest, Shino probably shouldn't have told him that.

He had to finish this quickly.

So, instead of continuing to fight with taijutsu, he decided to go for Ninjutsu, pouring a good chunk of the energy he had left into his great fireball technique. Shino dodged, fairly easily, but that was fine. Preferred even. Sasuke could only grin as the technique set the area on fire. It was enough of a distraction that when Sasuke threw shuriken at him and Shino dodged again, he didn't notice the ninja wire that wrapped around his legs and tripped him up.

Shino 's eyes widened in surprise and he looked down, then back at the all-too-near fire. That was exactly what Sasuke needed.

He used a kawarimi to get behind the bug user and knock him out (he was immensely glad that worked). Then he collapsed and could only watch as the fire he'd created inched closer to them. Thankfully, a large burst of water raining over the field (and Sasuke and Shino) put the fires out. Shino woke up with that water in his face, but he didn't seem angry at all. On the contrary, he seemed almost impressed.

Sasuke wondered why. He'd been the rookie of the year for a reason.

"Excellent job, everyone," Yuhi-san said with a smile as she clapped her hands. "I know some basic healing and will be looking at everyone before lunch. I know it's a little early, but you all obviously need it."

So Sasuke ended up sitting next to a quiet Hinata as Kuranai looked over all of them. Once she got to Sasuke, she tsked at some of the internal damage that had been done to his arms via Jyuuken.

"S-s-sorry, S-s-sasuke-kun," Hinata whispered quietly.

He frowned at her. "Why?" he asked, utterly perplexed.

"I… h-h-hurt you," she replied, her voice even quieter.

"You were supposed to."

She just bit her lip and looked away, troubled. He didn't know what to say to her so he looked up at Yuhi, who just shook her head. He wasn't sure if that was her saying to drop it or that she didn't know what to do either.

"I'd be more hurt if you didn't," he finally decided. Hinata blinked and looked at him in surprise. "I need to get better – stronger. I have to. If people keep going easy on me, I never will."

Eh, she could take that however she wanted. He'd spoken more than enough. At least she looked thoughtful. And Yuhi's expression seemed somewhere between surprised and extremely pleased. He didn't know why…

Team 8 was weird.

Then again, Team 7 was pretty weird too, now that he thought about it.

"Alright, I hope you all brought some bentos," Yuhi said with a smile as she finished healing Sasuke. Her way of healing had felt less… abrasive than Indra-san's. Her chakra had been… smoother? Calmer? Brighter? None of those quite worked but were close enough, he supposed. He wondered why.

"Sasuke-kun?" the older woman's voice broke through his thoughts and he looked up at her. "Do you have a bento?"

Oh. Right. He shook his head. He'd been planning on buying a couple of onigiri from a nearby convenience store.

"Well, it's a good thing I usually bring an extra," she said as she handed a box to him. He blinked down at it and then up at her. She seemed to expect something.

"Thanks," he muttered, embarrassed.

Her replying smile could have given Naruto's a run for its money when it came to pure sunshine. "You're welcome!"

They all tucked in and that was when Sasuke noticed that Inoichi wasn't there anymore.

"Where is Yamanaka-san?" he asked politely.

"He had to leave due to his job," Yuhi answered.

Sasuke nodded and went back to eating. That made sense.

"Still the rookie of the year, huh?" Kiba said suddenly… around the food in his mouth. Sasuke had to concentrate to not make a face. Even Naruto wasn't that bad… most of the time.

"Hn," he replied.

The Inazuka snorted. "Same as ever, I see."

"Not everyone likes to talk all the time," Kuranai said, admonishing. "That's not necessarily a bad thing."

Kiba snorted. "My mom says if you don't talk things out, it just grows inside. She says to say what's on your mind. Or to fight it out. That works too. But she says that isn't always a substitute for talking."

"That doesn't mean you should say what is on your mind all the time," the brunet woman insisted. "You can give away vital information like that. Or you can hurt a teammate, bolster an enemy…" she faded off pointedly.

Kiba pouted and next to him, Akamaru – who had been eating a lunch of his own – yipped.

"Traitor," the Inazuka grumbled.

Hinata giggled and even Yuhi's expression softened.

"Fine, whatever," Kiba finally said as he went back to eating his lunch.

Sasuke looked around at everyone there. They already had an easy camaraderie going that his team seemed to lack. Was this what he should be looking for in his own team? He thought back to his two teammates and had to suppress a grimace. He wasn't sure they'd ever have a camaraderie like this…

He wasn't entirely sure he wanted one…

And yet…

Hmm.

They finished the rest of their lunches in relative quiet.

Once they'd cleaned up, Kuranai announced the next leg of their training.

"I think, since Uchiha-san won all the spars earlier today, it's only fair that the three of you fight him as a team."

That took everyone back and Sasuke felt himself pale a little.

Well, if what Indra said was true, he'd be getting stronger today after all.

xXx

Running from these people was impossible.

Granted he'd known that escaping a team geared for tracking would be difficult but he'd thought he could maneuver enough to get to a more favorable position. Maybe split them up a bit? But no, they all moved together and did not leave blind spots for him to exploit.

So he'd resorted to traps. Unfortunately, they took more time to set up than Team 8 allowed him – well, traps that wouldn't be immediately noticed by one of them. He could only scramble around doing his best to avoid the members (and especially the small Aburame bugs that drained chakra) while thinking of a plan.

He finally went with a simple if layered trap of having a tree snap at them with some shuriken attached. This allowed the Uchiha to distract Shino enough that he was able to sneak up on the bug user again (he was so glad that had worked a second time). Hinata and Kiba reacted quickly, though, and while Kiba moved around to come at Sasuke's side, Hinata moved in directly. A decent pincer, he approved – or he would have had he not been the target. Sasuke was forced to reposition himself to keep both in his field of vision.

When the Inazuka moved for the actual attack, Hinata immediately rushed to get Shino out the way. Then Kiba managed to put himself in between the Uchiha and his teammates. Sasuke charged Kiba in a side to side fashion to both keep Kiba from being able to brace himself as well as keep an eye on Hinata behind the Inuzuka.

When it looked like Hinata had sufficiently moved out of the way with Shino, Sasuke feinted along back and then to the side before speeding right at Kiba, catching the other boy just enough off guard to allow Sasuke the positioning he needed to throw Kiba down. When he moved in to properly restrain his captive, his instincts screamed at him. Sasuke jumped back just in time to avoid a Jyuuken strike to the shoulder, though it hit his wrist instead.

Hinata moved much faster than she had earlier, which caught him by surprise. Unfortunately, Kiba had recovered enough to kick out and trip the Uchiha up, bringing him to the ground as well. Hinata followed up with a palm to the chest (without chakra, thankfully), but it did signal his loss in this spar.

He lay there looking up at the canopy above him for several seconds as his mind caught up with what had just happened. How had she done that? He'd hardly been able to even follow her movement! And why hadn't she moved like that in their one-on-one spar earlier.

"S-s-sorry, Kiba-kun," he heard Hinata say. "I was t-t-too slow again."

That did not sound like the kunoichi who had more or less won them the spar.

"Nah. You did fine, Hinata," Kiba reassured.

Before he could say anything else, though, Yuhi showed up, a bright smile on her face. "Well done, team. I have absolutely nothing negative to say about your tracking formation. That would have put a chuunin team to shame, let alone another genin team.

"However," she continued, her smile fading away, "it seems we will need to work on transitioning into your team battle positions and formations. Kiba, you were lagging behind and that was why Sasuke could get to Shino. Shino, you need to watch out from behind. Your hive can't always warn you on time. And Hinata… well, you were the MVP of the exercise, picking up slack when you needed to and making sure you fulfilled your roll. Excellent job."

Hinata's face turned bright red and she nervously tapped her pointer fingers together.

"Although, we probably could work on your speed, you did everything right today."

"Th-th-th-th-thank you… S-sens-sei…"

Yuhi grinned at them, then finally turned to Sasuke. "You did a fine job as well, Uchiha-san. This was just the training exercise my team needed and I hope you learned something as well."

Sasuke, who had just sat up, nodded at her but said nothing.

"Well! If you're okay with ending training for today, we could go grab a mission," the older woman suggested brightly.

Instead of the excitement Sasuke expected, Kiba groaned.

"Not more D-ranks!"

Oh… right. He'd read about those. It had somehow slipped his mind that his team would have to do those before they got any real missions.

Sasuke sighed as he rose to his feet and brushed himself off. While Yuhi-san told Kiba off, Sasuke approached Hinata.

"Why didn't you move like that before?" he asked.

She started and backed away from him, eyes on his. "Wh-what?" she asked.

"Before, in our spar, you had a hard time moving. Just now, though, I had a hard time even seeing you move. What changed?"

The girl's nervous finger tapping returned and she swallowed. "W-w-well… you were g-going to hu-urt Kiba-k-kun. You'd already h-hurt Sh-shino-kun. I… c-couldn't let that h-h-happen."

Sasuke just stared at her for several seconds.

"You… wanted to protect them?" he asked slowly. The thought seemed a little foreign to him.

"O-o-of course!" Hinata said. "Th-th-they're m-m-my team-mates."

They're my teammates.

Huh.

And that had given her such strength…

"Hn," he finally said and they fell into silence while Kiba and Shino continued to speak to their Sensei about the spar and their contributions.

"U-u-um… h-h-how is N-n-n-aruto-kun?" Hinata whispered, her face going bright red again. Which was weird. Why would her face take on the same color that some of the girls in the class had taken on when they'd spoken to him?

And then it hit him.

Oh.

Oh.

Team 8 really was weird.

"He's fine," Sasuke muttered. "Been training a lot."

Hinata's face softened into the most heart-felt smile Sasuke had ever seen. "I-I-I s-see. I'm so g-g-glad."

"Hn," Sasuke replied.

Before either of them could say anything else, Yuhi turned to them. "Thank you again for your help, Sasuke-kun. Hinata, would you mind leading the way?"

The Hyuuga girl nodded and she stepped forward. "G-g-goodbye, Sasuke-kun."

"Yeah, bye," Kiba said with a wave of his hand. Even Shino lifted a palm in farewell.

"Hn," he said with an acknowledging nod.

Chapter 8: Chapter 8

Chapter by DAsObiQuiet

Chapter Text

Kakashi hadn't been able to sleep. He'd been able to eat… a little, but between the new knowledge regarding Danzo and old memories and scenarios running through his head, he'd barely been able to read his Icha Icha. Fortunately, this wouldn't be the first time he would be running on fumes. He'd be fine for now. It usually didn't start to get truly bothersome until the end of the second day. Day three on no sleep was unpleasant. Day four sucked. His record was six days, although he hadn't remembered much of the last two days and had ended up sleeping for almost two more days straight (in the hospital nonetheless) after that. It wasn't something he wanted to repeat.

He hoped he'd be able to sleep tonight.

He wished he could go and see the memorial stone. That would help some. Well, it usually did. But no, he was stuck here in T&I still because they said they couldn't trust him to go out with Danzo still alive. Well, they weren't entirely wrong, but Kakashi could follow orders. If ordered not to kill the man, he wouldn't. That didn't put maiming off the table. Or pranking. Or completely and utterly humiliating him. That last one sounded so nice…

Then again, he'd be required to promise (to the Third nonetheless) to not go after Danzo or his ilk… which really left so many exploitable loopholes… he could work with that. If there was anything to work with after he finally got out of here.

(Was he repeating himself? He could handle going on little sleep, but it had been a while…)

Or maybe he could ask to simply not be left out of any… punitive actions against the man now that something might actually happen.

Kakashi would have to commend whoever instigated this situation. They'd done it brilliantly. Then he'd kill them for getting him caught up in it all… or humiliate them. He'd heard the term 'troll' used in regards to some of his actions lately. He was fine with this.

Now he just had to figure out how to make it through the next appointment he had with Inoichi-san… because he realized he wouldn't be getting out of here until he fulfilled those requirements the interrogator had laid down.

He'd have to retell his memories of the Kannabi bridge… and he'd already resolved to do so. That didn't mean he was looking forward to it. And he'd have to set up appointments to come back or risk losing his career as a ninja.

How was he supposed to stay sane through all of this again?

At least they'd given him his mask back.

"Hatake-san," a professional, somewhat familiar voice drew him out of his reverie. He'd been trying to read his book while he thought. It hadn't worked very well. He welcomed the distraction to the monotony of his time here.

In the doorway of his cell (because that's what it was, no matter how comfortable), he saw a man in a dark blue – almost generic – ninja outfit with a chuunin vest and his Konoha headband stuck to a handkerchief (matching his outfit) wrapped around his head. He also wore sunglasses despite being indoors.

Huh. What was Ebisu doing here?

"How did you instill your despicable habits onto your students before you got the chance to teach them anything?" the man asked heatedly.

Kakashi resented that remark. He'd taught his team about teamwork! That was the most important thing any team should know. And he'd emphasized it from his test! That had been his first lesson!

The comment annoyed him enough for him to decide to play with Ebisu. It would serve the man right. Besides, he needed some entertainment.

Desperately.

"They read p*rn in public? Already? I'm so proud of them!"

Ebisu's expression darkened. "I wouldn't know, seeing as I haven't met them as a team yet! I haven't been able to even find them as individuals in the last week!"

"Oh," Kakashi said after several seconds. Then he went back to his book. "What a shame."

"I've waited for two entire hours at the spot you informed me you meet your team at! How could they all be so late! And why?!"

Oh. He hadn't expected that to work as well as it apparently had.

"Huh. I just figured it out," he muttered, half to himself.

Ebisu blinked behind his sunglasses at the non-sequitur. "What?"

Kakashi smiled brightly at him. "How I'm going to maintain my sanity while here. I'll be thinking of you and this moment the entire time."

That didn't seem to help the Special Jounin at all.

Good.

"What?! What does that have to do with anything I'm telling you? I just… why?!" the man asked, exasperated.

Kakashi eye-smile grew deeper. "It's the little things that make life worth living."

"Hatake…" Ooo, he'd pulled out his scary voice. He was even leaking some killing intent. How cute.

Eh, if he didn't give the man a bone, he'd be there all day and Kakashi had to see Inoichi soon.

Hmm… none of those reasons seemed like good enough incentive to make the Special Jounin go away… This was the most entertaining thing that had happened while he'd been here.

Then again, he also wanted to see the look on the man's face…

That was a good reason to enlighten him.

"I told you I meet them at 10 AM on the bridge," he said lightly. "I usually tell them to meet me around 7 or 8. They must have gone off to train on their own or something."

For several seconds, Ebisu just stared in open mouthed shock.

"Y-you… you… you!"

"I thought you, as a Special Jounin would have figured that out by now," he said thoughtfully as he turned a page he hadn't read (this time) in his book. "I suppose that's why you're still just a Special Jounin. Then again, now you know where to improve!" He shot another eye-smile at the man, outright smirking underneath his mask.

He was so happy to have that back.

"You're welcome!"

Oh, and Ebisu's killing intent increased.

"Hatake…"

"Ebisu-san," another voice called out. Ah, there he was. Right on time. Perhaps Kakashi hadn't lost his touch after all.

The Special Jounin turned to look down the hall, although he still kept his guard up towards the former ANBU captain. Huh, perhaps he wasn't a lost cause. Kakashi had always kind of assumed that Gai had just sort of dragged his old teammates with him on his way up to being an elite Jounin, leaving them behind only once they'd all graduated from chuunin. Genma was still a special jounin too, after all.

Although he got the impression that Genma wasn't a full-on Jounin because he just hadn't really gotten around to being tested. He never took things seriously enough. He was certainly skilled enough, though. But part of being a Jounin was the mind-set.

Which, clearly Ebisu didn't have.

"Inoichi-san," the Special Jounin said, almost whining. Oh, right. Choza had been his Jounin sensei, which means he would have likely known Inoichi. Maybe he saw the man as a sort of uncle?

That really just made this all the more amusing.

"What's wrong, Ebisu?" Inoichi asked, sounding confused – or mildly concerned, perhaps? Aw, family dynamics.

The man opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped for several seconds, glanced back at Kakashi, shooting one last sense of killing intent at him before he deflated. Kakashi just beamed at him. The man knew he was beaten. He'd sound far too childish if he said anything right now.

"Nothing, Inoichi-san. Hatake's just being a troll again."

Even though no one was looking at him, Kakashi still gave them a, 'who, me?' expression.

"Ah," Inoichi said… as if that explained everything. To be fair, it kind of did.

"I'll see myself out," Ebisu said tiredly.

"Then I'll see you later, Ebisu-kun," Inoichi said, as if to comfort the man. It seemed to work a little, actually. Aw, family dynamics.

(Actually, Kakashi was getting a little tired of that. Not that he'd let anyone know. The last thing he needed was Inoichi catching onto something like that and bringing the whole team in, just to annoy Kakashi.

He would too.)

The Special Jounin nodded, shot another glare at Kakashi, then turned and left. Inoichi stood in the doorway watching the other man go. Then he turned to his patient.

"Care to explain what that was about?"

Kakashi just smiled. "I gave him some information that, while being true, misled him. He didn't realize until I pointed it out to him."

The blond shot him a dry look. Then he shook his head, rolled his eyes and walked inside, unfortunately closing the door behind him. Not that Kakashi would have tried to leave right now anyway. Not when his status as an active ninja was on the line. (He hated that they'd realized that was actually an effective punishment.)

"Well, he'll have to learn eventually."

"Precisely," Kakashi replied with his signature eye-smile.

This was honestly the best he'd felt in over a week.

Ninja had to take their victories where they could find them.

Inoichi shook his head again, looking amused, but then he took a deep breath and sobered. Kakashi almost winced as all the joviality fled. He missed it already.

"So, are you ready to go over the rest of the Kannabi bridge incident today?"

Kakashi got the impression that if he said, 'No,' Inoichi would leave it alone. Then again, that would keep him stuck here for another day and, amusem*nt or not, he wasn't sure he could take that.

Sighing, the silver-haired man put his Icha Icha away. "Yes."

The blond looked hopeful at his answer, but also cautious. "You realize we'll have to go over it in detail to complete the report and find any discrepancies that may have found their way into the paperwork, correct?"

Kakashi didn't want to know how many doctored reports they'd found already.

Still, he took a deep, but silent breath and nodded, keeping the same smile on his face through sheer force of will.

"Yes."

"Whenever you're ready, then. We left off when Rin was kidnapped and you didn't want to go after her?"

Kakashi took another deep breath. "Yes. Obito and I argued. He told me my father had been a hero and then said he was going after Rin, with or without me. I went to continue on the mission… but I didn't get far."

He paused and closed his eyes. Only a couple of sentences in and it was already too much. But he went on.

"No one had ever called my father a hero before. Even after… it was supposed to restore his honor. It was supposed to make amends. It didn't." Thanks to Danzo… but not just Danzo. "His memory was just treated worse. And… I hated thinking about him. Minato-sensei asked what I thought of my father's situation several times, but I could never answer."

"Why not?"

Ugh… he really hated to say this but… no, he still wasn't in the mind-set to lie effectively. He swore silently – multiple times – before resigning himself to just telling the truth. "It hurt too much."

"Losing a parent at such a young age can do that," Inoichi assured softly, but… Kakashi shook his head.

"That's not it."

Inoichi frowned slightly. "Oh?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

The blond actually scoffed (albeit warmly) at that. "If that were true, you wouldn't have brought it up."

Kakashi froze. He knew interrogation techniques. He knew what people would supposedly do to assuage a guilty conscience… but he didn't have a guilty conscience…

Did he?

Then why had he brought it up like that?

"I'll ask only one time, Kakashi," Inoichi sat forward, fixing him with an earnest stare. "Why did talking about your father hurt?"

For several seconds silence reigned in the room, so thick Kakashi was having a hard time breathing… again. He really shouldn't… he couldn't look weak… and yet, hadn't Inoichi already seen him at his worst?

Was this a chance to finally just get rid of it all?

Should he take it?

"He… left me," he finally said, croaking the words out – words he'd buried for decades. "His honor… was more important than me… and I hated him for it. I couldn't see how wrong I was."

His words choked off at the end, but he refused to let himself cry. No, that was an indignity he couldn't allow himself. But he could admit one final thing.

"I was so selfish." Story of his life: the selfish genius, friend-killer Kakashi.

Inoichi shook his head. "No, Kakashi. Children at that age are egocentric. That is part of their brain development. Even a genius at that age wouldn't have been able to truly comprehend, and feeling that way would have been completely natural for you."

"But he did it to spare me…" Kakashi protested. He'd come to that realization later… just around the time of the Kannabi bridge, actually.

"Would you prefer to have your honor or your father back?"

He didn't answer because he knew which he would choose in a heartbeat, even now.

"I'd choose my father," Inoichi said, almost nonchalantly. Kakashi's head snapped up in surprise. He'd picked up on an undertone that sounded so… pained. All ninjas lost people dear to them, but he couldn't help but wonder who Inoichi had lost and what kind of impact they'd had on the man's life.

The interrogator saw the expression on Kakashi's face and he smiled sadly. "You'd be surprised what you can do with a good support structure. Regaining trust and honor while having someone you care for – and who cares for you back – around to help you through it is difficult, but not impossible. Compare that to having no one to support you as the price for having your honor intact?" And wasn't that exactly what Kakashi had? His honor, supposedly… but not trust, because Kakashi had had to regain that as well, even as a young child.

It was one reason why he'd openly despised anything but following the rules.

He hated that he was a little relieved that Inoichi had picked up on it.

"That doesn't make you selfish, Kakashi."

Yeah. He wished he could believe that.

But… it was nice to hear nonetheless.

Inoichi must have realized he wouldn't get anywhere else today with that line of discussion because he nodded and waved his hand slowly through the air again. "Continue with the report once you're ready."

Kakashi nodded and swallowed, trying to get himself back under control.

(He really hated T&I. Had Inoichi drugged him? That would make a lot of sense…)

"I… didn't want to lose them – my teammates," he finally said. "And I hated myself for it. But I'd remembered how Rin had healed me and how Obito thought my father was a hero and… I turned around and went after them. I got there just in time to save Obito from an attack. The man had an incredible camouflage jutsu, even able to hide his smell. I'm convinced it was a kekkei genkai.

"In the following battle, I lost my eye when I put myself between him and our attacker, and he woke his sharingan. That was how we won against him. Obito was able to see through the technique with his dojutsu.

"We patched up my eye and went into the cave where they'd taken Rin. They were trying to get information out of her when we found them. We fought the man we found in the cave and between the two of us were able to defeat him. But we didn't kill him."

Kakashi shook his head at their naivety. "We should have."

Inoichi sighed, though he didn't respond other than to nod – whether in acknowledgement or agreement, Kakashi didn't know.

The silver-haired Jounin (although he didn't feel like an elite Jounin right now) continued. "The jutsu the man set off was supposed to collapse the cave. We made for our way out, but a rock hit me. My covered eye made for a blind-spot I didn't know how to compensate for and it was on the side of my previously hurt shoulder.

"Of course the idiots came back for me," he said, but he spoke fondly, if bitterly.

Yeah, Inoichi had drugged him. There was no other reason for him to go off like this.

But as much as it hurt it… also helped somehow.

And he would take that knowledge with him to the grave.

"Obito… saw a boulder coming for me and he threw me out of the way. In my place he…" he faded off, unable to say the next words.

"Take your time," Inoichi reassured him. "We're in no hurry."

Part of him hated the blond for saying that. Part of him couldn't feel more grateful.

After several (far too many) seconds, he was able to force himself to continue. "The Jounin must have thought we were done for, but Rin and I weren't seriously hurt. However, when we looked back at Obito… "

And then he was no longer in the T&I department, but back at the cave-in. "Half of Obito's body had been crushed by the boulder. We tried to move it… we tried everything we could think of, but we didn't have the chakra reserves for techniques that would have done anything to that boulder. Rin wanted to try and heal him but…"

He shook his head.

"He gave me his eye as a present, you know," he looked up, recognizing he was back in his room at T&I with Inoichi.

It had been easier to come back than it normally was.

"That was the only reason the Uchiha let me keep it – it had been his dying wish."

"Rin-san must have been a talented kunoichi to transfer it like that in the field while it still worked," Inoichi commented.

Kakashi looked away from the man, and didn't answer. She hadn't been the most talented medic nin ever, but she'd been determined and well-learned.

He missed her so badly.

He pointedly did not think of his last memory of her alive.

"I could tell the ninja who had caused the cave-in was still there, so I went out to confront him with my new eye. It wasn't mature then, only two tomoe, but I was determined to take him out. Obito made me promise to take care of Rin—"

And his voice broke again.

He glared at Inoichi. "What did you drug me with?"

The man just smiled kindly.

Right, T&I. Ugh.

"In any case, that was the first time I could successfully use my Chidori."

"Because of your Sharingan?"

Kakashi didn't answer for several seconds. "I never thought of it as mine," he finally said softly. "It's on loan from Obito. Even if I can't return it until… until I see him in the pure lands."

Inoichi looked terribly sad for several seconds, but he just nodded and sat back, waiting for Kakashi to finish.

"Obito could tell, as could I, that reinforcements were coming. He made me promise to take Rin and go. However, before we could get her out of the cave, the reinforcements arrived."

Reinforcements because they'd likely been expecting the Yellow Flash, not his brat students.

Honestly, it made so much sense now. Why else would there be so many reinforcements?

And he hated it.

"The cave collapsed, I took Rin and we ran. We didn't get far, though. And that was when I remembered Minato-sensei's kunai – the one he told me to throw if we got in over our heads."

Kakashi chuckled mirthlessly. "Maybe if I would have thrown it earlier—"

"Maybe," Inoichi cut in. "But it sounds to me like you did the best you could for the skills you had at the time."

Kakashi didn't think he could believe that either.

"In any case, I told Rin to go. The ninja attacked. I threw the kunai and… I must have blacked out from chakra exhaustion.

"The next thing I knew, I woke up to Minato-sensei sitting next to me. It was night. Rin and I were alive but…" he faded off, shaking his head.

"Minato-sensei told me later he was proud of me, but I knew that losing one of his team hurt him."

"Of course it did," Inoichi said, his voice soft and warm. "Any teacher would be. But I know he was proud of you for doing your best, for learning and for trying and for saving Rin."

And that… well, that he could believe. It… hurt to accept because he still thought Obito should have lived instead of him… but Inoichi wasn't wrong.

"Yeah," he whispered.

Inoichi's smile widened and he gestured for Kakashi to go on.

"We went back to take out the bridge," he said. "In Obito's name. We managed to sneak past the enemy lines – probably because Minato-sensei had utterly obliterated them – and blew the bridge up with explosive tags and Jutsu. We didn't encounter any other ninja on our return."

"And everyone's reactions once you did return?"

Kakashi frowned and thought back. "The Hokage had been… relieved, but sad. The Uchiha were… well, Uchiha. They wanted me to give the eye back until the situation was explained to them. And even then…" he shook his head.

"Everyone else proclaimed us as heroes." He thought about that and felt a vindictive grin come to his face. "Bet that ticked Shimura-san off," he said brightly.

Inoichi snorted. "Probably."

They shared a smile for a couple of seconds before Kakashi's grin faded.

"Rin… was never the same," he said. Then he snorted derisively. "I suppose I wasn't either. Or Minato-sensei. He… tried, but the laughter in our team was gone."

Inoichi frowned. "Is that why you took up your… eccentricities?" he asked. "Being late, reading those books in public, trolling people…" He shot Kakashi a pointed look and then glanced at the door where Ebisu had been not to long before.

Kakashi's smile was wry and bitter. "Partly. I mean, he was always so positive and passionate. I thought maybe… those habits would help me be that way too."

"Did it?"

Kakashi sighed and shook his head.

"Hmm," Inoichi said. Then, finally, he sat forward, folding his hands together and resting his elbows on his knees as he fixed his patient (ugh) with his blue gaze.

"First, you should probably know that I don't remember any discrepancies between your report just now and the written one. I'll have to go back and look it over once more to be sure, but I think we're in the clear as far as this mission goes.

"Second, if you'd like to accompany me to the Hokage tower, so you can give your word to him, I can release you as long as you agree to come back to see me once a week when you're in the village."

Kakashi still hated that. Inoichi must have seen the disgust on his face because he shook his head.

"Kakashi, I want you to pay attention to how you feel about your past – about your father, your team, your missions, even Danzo. See if you don't feel better about it all. And if you do, please just try. Come back here and try to do what you need to do to become healthier. I'd prefer that you do it for yourself, but if not, then in memory of your former team, and for the sake of your current one. Those children need someone who can be invested in their future to help them grow into the ninja they can be – ninja that can survive."

That… made Kakashi want to squirm. He didn't, of course (the drug must be wearing off) but he still wanted to.

He couldn't invest too much into them because… what if they died? What if he got them killed too? What if he drove them to their grave?

But… then again, wouldn't he be doing the same if he didn't put his all into teaching them? If he only did the bare minimum like he'd been planning? Because the council wanted him to train Sasuke, and he would because he'd been ordered, but while Naruto was Sensei's child, he didn't want to be around the boy. And the girl… she had potential, but she was so much like Rin…

Wow… maybe he really did need some help.

Ouch. Bad brain for even thinking that!

Still…

"I… don't have much of a choice," he muttered, remembering that if he didn't agree to that, he would be forcibly retired.

Inoichi shook his head. "There is always a choice. You just don't always get to choose the consequences of those choices."

Kakashi finally sighed. "I'll do whatever I have to to get out of here."

Inoichi smiled. "I thought you'd say something like that."

Oh, great! Was he getting predictable in his old age?!

"Come on, Hatake-san," Inoichi said, rising to his feet and nodding towards the door. "Let's go get you released."

Chapter 9: Chapter 9

Chapter by DAsObiQuiet

Chapter Text

Getting out of T&I felt like the weight of the world had finally lifted from his chest. Going to see the Hokage… hadn't been nearly so nice, but it wasn't unwelcome either. It would earn him his freedom after all, and just about anything was worth that.

Just about.

He didn't want to find out someone had infiltrated the village and targeted his team while he'd been in T&I.

This was why he hated interrogations.

(The pain and torture may have something to do with it too… but potentially missing out on something important was far worse.)

He had made the requisite promise to the Hokage regarding Shimura and his lot, and was in the process of leaving to check on his team when he'd run into Ebisu.

"Pardon me Hatake," the Special Jounin had almost growled, showing a very thin smile over gritted teeth (Kakashi had noticed the lack of an honorific… he must have been really ticked—how delightful). "Congratulations on your release, but I suppose I should be thankful I ran into you. I was just on my way to the Hokage to ask who was assigned to your team in my stead."

The Copy Nin had paused. He hadn't been aware of anyone else being assigned… "Someone else? You didn't recognize them?"

Ebisu had shaken his head, "No. I'm sure I've never seen the man before. He had long, black hair, pale skin, looked kind of like an Uchiha, now that I think about it. He was missing and arm and had one eye covered."

Kakashi had frozen. An Uchiha, missing an eye and a limb…. It… couldn't be, he'd told himself. It couldn't. His usually easy breathing had hitched and the Copy Ninja hadn't been able to get its rhythm settled.

The other ninja had continued distractedly, "And so rude, too, He reminded me of you and your attitude a bit. Didn't even acknowledge my presence, even though I know he made me."

Panic and hope had warred in Kakashi like his nin-ken over a lone bone. He'd wanted to believe it could be him, but all logic and reason had screamed that it had to be a trick or trap of some kind. His hands had gripped the paperwork he'd been carrying, crinkling and wrinkling the off-white paper.

He'd forced himself to be calm. It had taken more effort than he'd like to admit. He kept telling himself he could be calm. He could be. (He had to be…)

Focus on the world around you, Hatake. The smell of the tower, the sound of people and ninja scurrying around on their own duties, the feel of the paper in your hands, Ebisu talking to you…

He remembered thinking he should probably listen to that.

"-Though I can't fault his results. Your team was quite attentive from what I saw." Yeah, no. He'd known he needed to see the Hokage.

Yesterday.

xXx

"He had long, black hair, pale skin, looked kind of like an Uchiha, now that I think about it," Ebisu described the man he'd seen with the team he'd been assigned to. That he'd taken off time to do a favor for the Hokage on Hatake's behalf. That he'd been misled to meet at the wrong time and place.

Hatake had some gall. Ebisu could have spent the week teaching the Honorable Grandson of the Third. And maybe no one else seemed to care that he taught the boy, but he did! Whether others respected what he chose to focus on or not, they should at least respect his time and effort!

Still… "Although, I can't find fault in his results," he admitted sullenly. "Your team was quite attentive from what I saw." He thought back to how the children seemed to hang off the man's every word. Why wouldn't Konohamaru-sama do that for him?

A thought for later. Right now he had someone to berate.

"Anyway… Um, Hatake… Hatake?" Ebisu turned his attention back to the man he'd been speaking to, only to find himself alone in the hallway. No pale-haired ninja in sight.

He grit his teeth. "Rude as ever," he grumbled and continued his furious march to the Hokage's office.

He got there just in time to see Hatake leap out the window… followed by an entire squad of ANBU.

What.

xXx

Naruto knew he wasn't the brightest candle on the cake. It used to bother him a lot, but at some point (he couldn't quite remember when), he'd stopped caring so much. Maybe it was when he realized that it didn't matter what he did, the teachers would always hate him and call him stupid. None of his efforts did any good, so he needed to focus more on things he was good at. Like pranking.

But he wasn't stupid either, no matter what those teacher-jerks back at the academy had tried to convince him of.

He didn't know why Sasuke couldn't be with him and Sakura. He only knew the Teme had gone to the hospital and had to assume it had been bad—although he couldn't really guess as to why or what had happened—simply because it had taken him days to come back. Same with Kakashi-sensei, although he just seemed to have abandoned them.

He didn't know why Indra was so different from every other adult he'd ever met… but he did know that after only a couple of days (almost a week) of working with him, both he and Sakura had just changed. It wasn't only that Naruto knew how to fight better now, but there was something else that just made him want to keep training. It wasn't funner (although it kind of was) but it was more interesting and he felt like he could do it if he pushed himself. He'd rarely felt anything like that at the academy.

Sakura was nicer too. He'd always thought she was super pretty with her pink hair and green eyes—they made her stand out like his bright hair and eyes did sometimes too. And sometimes people were mean to her about them too. So he thought they could get along and was determined to make sure they could! He would ask her on a date until she said yes and then they could kick butt when they weren't on dates and then they could get married and fight together. It would be awesome!

Except she never had wanted to. It hurt when she looked at him with the same eyes as the others, but he'd stuck through it. Iruka-sensei had changed his opinion, and Jiji said Naruto would have to change everyone else's opinion, so why not start with her?

But she hadn't changed until Indra-nii talked to her. Naruto didn't know what the man had said, but he wasn't sure if he should be happy that she was finally being nice or upset that Indra-nii had changed her opinion instead of him. He'd wanted to change her opinion of him because that would mean he could change everyone else's opinions!

In the end, though, he decided that just seeing her trying so hard to get stronger and starting to accept him was enough for now. And once she said she was off 'the market' (Indra-nii had explained that to him that night, which he really appreciated because it would have been embarrassing to ask anyone else), he'd stopped asking her on dates.

This new Sakura was different, but way cooler and he wanted to support that.

He hadn't expected something similar from Sasuke when he returned the second time. The Teme was the one to suggest a sort of bell test, like they'd had that first day with Kakashi-sensei, except against Indra-nii. The older Uchiha had looked more than a little amused at the idea. He'd also looked about as surprised as Naruto had felt when Sasuke had actually suggested it.

Then the man had agreed on one condition. With that, he'd taken a piece of cloth and tied it around his eyes.

"Why are you doing that, Indra-nii?!" he'd asked loudly. "You gotta be able to see to beat us!"

"Eyes are integral to Uchiha," Sasuke had agreed (much to Naruto's continued surprise).

"Which is why every intelligent enemy you come up against will do their best to blind you," Indra-nii returned calmly. "They'll throw up dust storms, attack light sources, even go for your eyes—and some of them are good enough to hit. It's always a good idea for Uchiha to learn to fight without their vision.

"Besides, without this, beating you would be too easy."

Sasuke had looked thoughtful (if a little offended) after that, and Naruto could see why. Then Naruto had to wonder if he had something people would automatically attack? Then again, Indra-nii said his biggest strength was that he wasn't predictable and that he needed to play to that to really make his fights count.

After that, Indra-nii had taken out a scroll he'd had on him and said that they had two hours to find him and take said scroll. Then, unlike Kakashi-sensei, he'd just vanished.

That was when Sasuke had brought Naruto and Sakura together to talk with them about what they could do.

It was weird, but not the strangest thing the blond had ever seen from his teammates, so he rolled with it for now.

The Uchiha studied them with narrowed eyes. "Give a quick summary of your current skillsets and strong points. I'm good at taijutsu, Katon jutsu, wire traps, and weapons. Sakura, you're up next." Sasuke spoke hurriedly, his voice snapping and no-nonsense. Naruto frowned, wanting to ask who put the teme in charge, but then he remembered what Indra had said about listening to his teammates and he bit his tongue. Just because he could see the merit in each of them knowing what the other could do, not that he would necessarily follow anything the teme said if he decided to be a jerk about it.

Their pink-haired team member straightened her back when Sasuke spoke her name and she suddenly looked very serious. Naruto thought she looked prettier like that too.

She nodded and briskly spoke, "I'm okay at taijutsu—I've been working on it pretty hard this week—and good with the Academy Three. I can tree walk pretty well now. My water walking is still a bit shaky," she paused to glance at Sasuke before finishing with, "I'm also proficient at traps."

Sasuke stared at her. "You can what?!" he asked quietly.

Sakura looked suddenly pleased. "I've been working hard this week, like I said! I will be a strong Kunoichi!"

Naruto co*cked his head to the side with a squint, "But you're already a strong kunoichi, Sakura-chan!"

The pinkette blushed and snapped, "Just tell us your strengths, Naruto!"

The blond shrugged and grinned, "Fine. I'm great at Kage bunshin and getting better at tajutsu every day! I'm good with weapons and surprise attacks. I'm also good at traps, but I need time to set 'em up, dattebayo!"

Sasuke nodded thoughtfully, "Ok, so with all that, I think I have a plan. Naruto, how many Kage bunshin can you make?"

The Uzumaki screwed his face in concentration. He hummed in thought before saying, "A lot. Dozens easy. More's not difficult if you want, though. I think I made over a thousand before."

Naruto couldn't remember ever having ever seen that look on Sasuke's face. The Teme was staring at him like he'd never seen him before. It made Naruto want to shift around until Sasuke turned his expression to their third teammate. Who nodded in confirmation.

"Right," Sasuke said hoarsely.

xXx

Sasuke stared at his teammate in utter shock. Even if Naruto had been exaggerating that… that was… corporeal clones took a lot of chakra. Even the least chakra intense ones were chuunin level at the least. He couldn't quite wrap his head around even a fraction of the numbers the blond had stated so nonchalantly so he turned to his pink-haired teammate.

Sakura's casual nod of agreement made the young Uchiha blink again. Sakura can walk on vertical surfaces and water while Naruto can create a veritable army… How much have I missed out on?! What have these two even been doing this last week?!

He tried to wrap his head around that again, but eventually shoved the implications of the utter chakra monster that was his teammate to the side in favor of planning their next moves against Indra-sensei.

He glanced around, searching for the man and trying to sense him out, but found nothing. "Right," he managed to get out, but then shook his head. Here and now. "Can your bunshin contact you if they find the target?"

The blond tipped his head to one side in confusion. "You mean Indra-sensei?"

Sasuke wanted to sigh, but settled for rolling his eyes. "Yes."

Naruto grinned as both he and Sakura nodded and the blond said, "When they pop, I get their memories! Almost instantly too!"

Sasuke blinked again because… that was not a chuunin level technique.

Deep breaths.

Here and now.

"Okay." That would definitely help in finding Indra-sensei. "We just need some for scouting right now. Make several and have them spread out to search. Meanwhile, we'll look for a good place to prepare an ambush to surprise him."

Naruto immediately made a cross shaped hand sign and shouted, "Kage bunshin no Jutsu!" Sasuke couldn't tell exactly how many clones popped into existence, but he suspected a few dozen at least. Somehow, he knew that this once, Naruto hadn't been exaggerating about his skills.

That… was such a useful technique… he had to learn it…

No, focus! Don't get distracted by powerful jutsu! Even if it's from Naruto. Especially if it's from Naruto.

The clones spread out in a nonsensical wave of orange. Sasuke hoped the multiple Narutos wouldn't alert Indra-sensei before they could actually ambush the man. Then he reexamined that thought and realized he just needed to plan for exactly that.

"Alright, once he know where he is, it'll be easier for us to find a good place to set up our ambush. We need to start looking for good areas. Once we get there, Sakura will set up her three fastest, strongest traps designed to hold him in place. Naruto and his clones will have to harry him and drive him to the right area. Sakura and I will both be waiting for him there. If he gets caught by the traps, great. If not, I'll attack him with Naruto. We'll…" he paused, not wanting to say the next words but knowing they were true nonetheless, so he spoke through gritted teeth, "have to attack together. Sakura, you'll be in the best position to look for an opening to get that scroll. That is our objective. Aim for the scroll before you aim for Indra-sensei."

Naruto nodded along with her, "Alright! We can also trip him up if I Henge some Kage bunshin into you and Sakura-chan! That should really help in confusing him! And if one of them attacking is Sakura-chan, then he won't think she's behind him, waiting to steal that scroll!"

Sasuke twitched a bit. He wasn't going to admit the dobe had a good idea he hadn't considered… even if it was a really good idea.

He swore silently, but aloud he simply said, "Sure, just keep it believable."

xXx

Sasuke… no, he needed to think of himself as Indra for now. Indra was not unused to traveling blind. It was something he did on a fairly regular basis actually. Few things could lure bandits in more than a sign of weakness. A one-armed blind man with a walking stick? He practically painted a target on his back.

Recently, he'd tried to pick out the bandits that were either desperate or coerced and tried to talk them into rethinking their life. It usually worked when he held kunai to their throats. He didn't think many of them actually turned their lives around… if he were Naruto, they likely would have. He didn't know how his best friend could do that, but he could. Part of Sasuke wanted to be able to talk people into turning their lives around… but part of him knew he couldn't really relate to people as Naruto did, and so would likely never be able to reach them.

Still, he'd made a point to try and give them a chance, often letting them go at a local town and even helping them out a bit if they asked for it. But he rarely continued to fight blind once initially attacked.

He could technically fight while blind, but it had been a while since he'd done so last—at least against a decent ninja opponent—and he felt a little rusty. That actually served his purposes for this little test that his younger self had proposed, though. The brats actually stood the barest chance of getting one-up on him now.

Hmm… maybe he needed to work on his attitude a little. Kakashi tended to act like he was the best thing since sliced bread, but he didn't actually believe it. And honestly, neither did Sasuke… although he had confidence in his skills.

He was just contemplating this and going over what techniques he should and shouldn't use—nothing more than b-rank jutsu, probably—when he felt the explosion of chakra. It was so familiar he almost had to smile. Almost.

Kage bunshin incoming.

He shook his head as he went to hide—not too deeply, but deeply enough that a genin Naruto would have to be actively looking for him. At this age, he hadn't realized his sensor abilities, and frankly Indra had no idea how to teach those to the kid. Part of that came with his Uzumaki heritage, but part of that came after he'd gotten on better terms with Kurama…

Oh, speaking of, he hadn't actually trolled the fox yet. He'd have to fix that…

Not two minutes later, several Narutos ran by, most of them on the ground seeing as he didn't know how to tree walk, but some of them were swinging or jumping through the trees as they'd been taught in the academy. That became infinitely easier once one knew how to tree walk, but he wasn't doing too badly of a job at the moment.

Several passed Indra by before one spotted him.

"There he is!" one of them yelled. Then he dissipated into smoke.

Well, that was his cue, he supposed.

He began to run through the tree tops. He considered it a leisurely pace, but it should push the genin…

He was beginning to understand why Kakashi had always called them his 'cute little genin'.

That thought caused him to pause for the barest moment. Maybe he was getting a little too into his Kakashi act…

"Kawarimi!" he heard Naruto's voice suddenly yell and then his eyes went wide as the kid appeared right next to him. He could sense the younger version of his best friend swinging for his head and he had to duck, jumping back, barely missing the boy's fist.

He… hadn't expected that, to be honest. What had Naruto even kawarimi'd with? A leaf?

Naruto, on the other hand, yelped as his fist didn't meet what he'd intended and then he shrieked and screamed as he fell to the forest floor, only to dissipate in a puff of smoke. He was glad that hadn't been the real Naruto as rescuing him now wouldn't drive home as much of a lesson, so he wouldn't have intervened unless he thought the boy was in serious danger. But that would have hurt anyone. Even Naruto.

Not seconds after the clone vanished, several other loud shouts of, "Kawarimi!" sounded and Sasuke found himself dodging young Narutos left and right. Good thing the boy had so much (and such familiar) chakra that he could read the moves from his chakra senses alone.

It actually took him several seconds to realize he was being herded and he had to hand it to the kid. He was so impressed, actually, that he continued to let the many clones drive him where they wanted him to go. It had to be an ambush or trap of some kind.

Several Narutos banded together and threw some of the clones at him, one after another. And with Naruto, he couldn't tell whether this was a distraction or just something he made up on the spot.

He couldn't help a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

And that was when his leg found the trip-wire.

Oh. Clever children. That would be too small for him to detect on such short notice without being able to see it.

He did sense the movement of the trap as he dodged the kunai set to fling in his direction… and the log. That had been a rather large log for this quick of a trap. Not bad there, genin. And then, just as he went to land, he heard the hissing that was a tell-tale sound of an explosive tag.

He used a kawarimi to get away from that one. He did remember Sakura favoring multi-layered traps, as had he, even at that age.

And then a whooshing sound and the blast of heat coming his way and such a familiar chakra signature…

Ah, so his younger self was attacking him.

Indra dodged by grasping onto a tree trunk with chakra in his hand, ignoring the pain as it pulled at his joints (he'd have to have someone look at those once he got back to his own time) and changed his momentum, bringing his legs up and around, then releasing his chakra as he launched up and over the enormous fireball. As he did so, though, several Narutos met him in mid air… Indra didn't remember him using the kawarimi so much…

"HaaaaaAAAH!" he heard Sakura's voice from off to the side and frowned. That wasn't her signature…

Oh. That was a henge. Naruto always had paid attention to the most random little details, and exactly how Sakura's voice sounded? That was just like his best friend.

But then where was the real—

Suddenly, he sensed her at his back, reaching for his pocket with the scroll sticking out of it. He may have panicked ever so slightly as he turned to grab her hand a little faster than he'd intended. She cried out in surprise.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled.

And then Indra wasn't holding her wrist anymore, he was holding Naruto's…

Wait… had the boy just kawarimi'd with his teammate? That was extremely difficult to do… unless one had an immense amount of chakra—far more than the person they were trading places with. Right. He'd bet that this Naruto hadn't even known that when he'd tried it… they'd have to address that.

Later. When they weren't in the middle of a spar.

He ducked as Naruto somehow found the leverage to swing for his jaw, then felt someone grab his ankle… and stick to it with chakra.

"Sasuke!" Sakura yelled as this had all happened in mid-air, when he'd had quite a bit of momentum going, and she'd anchored herself to a tree with her feet (right after being forcefully kawarimi'd too… he had to give this Sakura more credit, that had been brilliant) and stopped any momentum, redirecting it with a loud, "Ha!" as she yanked.

He knew he wouldn't be able to turn in time. If he had his second arm, it would have been a different story, but he didn't. Even Indra, with all his knowledge and past experience couldn't block his back without access to his dojutsu.

So he took the Kakashi route again.

He kawarimi'd. He could see why his former sensei used it so often now. Academy taught or not, it was immensely useful. In his opinion, the most useful of the Academy three. He could have shunshin'd, but why when he could use the academy jutsu to accomplish the same thing? He was teaching genin, after all.

His jutsu succeeded without him having to use a hand sign or call out the name, almost instantly transporting him away and replacing his body with a log… but he also felt slightly lighter. The weight on his back was different.

Heh. So he, of all people, hadn't been fast enough, and they'd managed to get it.

He landed and pulled off his blindfold, turning to face Team 7. He saw the three of them standing a couple of trees away, on a large branch and looking down at the scroll Sasuke held as if in shock.

Then Naruto whooped, jumped, pumped his fist in the air… and fell off the branch. Indra decided that as a reward, he'd stop him from getting hurt this once.

"We actually did it, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said excitedly.

"Yeah…" Sasuke said quietly, looking at the scroll as if he didn't quite believe it himself. He had a pretty good ideas as to how strong Indra was, after all.

"Once you obtain your objective, you would typically run and get it to whomever it needed to go to, not just stand around," Indra said as he landed back on the branch beside them, carrying Naruto over his shoulder. "And just because you obtain your goal doesn't negate the fact that you would likely be in enemy territory and shouldn't relax your guard or your awareness of your surroundings." He raised one pointed eyebrow at a sheepish Naruto as he set him down and backed away.

"However," the older Uchiha forced himself to smile like Kakashi would (it probably came off as a little scary as the genin all backed away), "you all did very well. Congratulations."

He turned to Naruto. "Your ability to come up with new ways to use old techniques definitely took me by surprise. You never became predictable, and that will be your biggest strength in battle. I hope you can see that now."

The blond nodded emphatically and Indra returned that nod with one of his own before turning to the younger version of his wife.

"Sakura, you were able to roll with the punches to an extent that you were able to take advantage of openings you wouldn't have been able to otherwise. You were focused, observant and inventive. Very well done."

She blushed and looked away, but didn't bother to hide her large smile.

Then he turned to his younger self. "Sasuke, you worked seamlessly with your teammates and put the success of the mission as your highest priority under your teammate's safety. That is something that took me years to learn after I became a genin at your age. I cannot tell you how proud I am of you… and your parents would be too."

Was it bad that Indra found it amusing that all three genin had gone bright red? Even his younger self (even though he was trying—and failing—to hide it).

Still, they looked so happy and accomplished. It was something he didn't remember from his Team 7 until much, much later.

Was this where he treated all of them to a meal or something? As a reward? Kakashi had never done that… but then again, Team 7 hadn't really come together until after the Wave mission… and even then.

Was this what it would have been like had Orochimaru not poisoned his mind with that stupid seal of his?

Indra was just about to open his mouth and suggest they go get some barbecue or ice cream or something when he sensed several new human signatures approaching quickly. He contemplated running, but ultimately decided it would be too much hassle.

So he continued to watch Team Seven talk excitedly among themselves as the ANBU (some with very familiar chakra signatures) surrounded them.

Ah. Too bad. It seemed his jig was up. So he turned to see the very man he'd been 'filling in' for leading the charge. Indra had wondered where Kakashi had gone.

The silver haired man looked livid.

Indra blinked at him for several seconds, then just forced another smile (the ANBU all prepared for an attack) and waved two fingers through the air casually.

"Yo," he said.

Chapter 10: Chapter 10

Chapter by DAsObiQuiet

Chapter Text

It had been surprisingly easy to track Tsunade down. Or perhaps he was just that determined… he wasn't sure. The burning need to talk to her about the vile truths he had learned certainly kept him motivated and focused. No time for distracting research.

Unfortunately.

But he knew how important this would be—how much it would mean to Tsunade to know. As much as he wanted to swing by the local bathhouse, he couldn't bring himself to do it, for once.

He'd do so afterwards. And spend hours there. Or days… depending on how well the upcoming conversation went.

He found her at a mid-sized casino, drinking straight from a large bottle at the bar with a wild look in her eye and a tenseness to her posture that indicated she was either looking for or expecting a fight. However, he knew her well enough to also see what others would miss: the underlying confusion and worry that screamed to him in her every movement. Something had really freaked her out.

Frowning, he looked around and sent his senses out. Nothing of particular note stood out to him that he wouldn't expect inside a casino… although, he also couldn't detect Shizune in the direct vicinity. That… could be nothing though. They weren't joined at the hip. Still, he wondered where Tsunade's loyal follower could be.

He took the seat next to her with a sigh, taking out his bottle of Toad Sake, but didn't open it. The sharp look in her eyes bore into his own when he turned his attention to her.

After a long moment of relative silence, she scoffed. "Figures. Just when I send Shizune away to start packing, you show up."

Jiraiya nodded grimly, his eyes not wavering from hers. He didn't even glance down at her (lovely) chest. No, he needed her to know how serious he was. "How much did you win?"

The blond grunted at him, "Getting right to it then?" She took another swig of her bottle. "Not my biggest win, but enough for a couple of these." He noted the label on the green glass she held up. Mid-range booze, so the equivalent of a long B-rank mission pay, most likely.

Jiraiya did some mental calculations. "Yeah, that sounds about right," he grumbled. As determined as he was, he had not been looking forward to this conversation.

Tsunade scowled at him, drained the bottle with one last, long swig, then got up to leave. "Whatever you have to say, I don't want to hear it."

The Toad Sage didn't bother standing up to try and stop her. "Maybe not, but you really should."

She marched over to him and he braced for physical aggression from his old teammate… just in case.

"What makes you say that?" she practically hissed.

Jiraiya spoke with a voice so low, only a skilled ninja could hear it over the sound of the casino in the background. "We got information on Nawaki's and Dan's deaths. I thought you'd want… or perhaps would need to know."

Tsunade flinched at the names and her eyes went wide. For several seconds, she just stood there, breath hitched and face pale. Then she looked away, obviously trying to wrap her mind around what he'd just said.

Eventually, she shook her head. "What could you possibly have to say about them?" she asked, her voice harsh and low. Yeah, about the kind of tone he'd expected. Then again, he knew he'd be walking on thin ice.

So he held the sake jug out to her.

She blinked at it, surprised.

"A peace offering. You'll need it," he muttered.

Her worry spiked obviously. Gingerly, as if the jug would break (it wouldn't, it was made by the Toads of Mount Myobokou after all) she took it and very slowly, sat down on the seat she'd just vacated. Her eyes stayed on Jiraiya, filled with a wary longing—she wanted to know, but knew this would not be a pleasant conversation.

"How… how bad?" she whispered, hugging the jug to her like a lifeline. She closed her eyes, bracing herself.

He could relate.

"They were targeted… by an ally." He tried to deliver that with as much gentleness as he could.

Tsunade's eyes snapped open, fixing her shocked gaze on his.

"What?" This time, it only took her a moment to process. Then the emotions came: Fury, guilt, sadness, and a longing—all aged and worn—flashed across her face. Eventually it calmed and she studied his expression again. Was it bad that he was glad he saw that familiar fire in her eye? It had been gone for so long…

"You really are serious right now," she said.

He just nodded.

She sighed and turned. "Follow me. This seems to be a conversation we'll want privacy for."

Jiraiya nodded and stood to follow her, sighing in relief. She knew herself well enough to take them somewhere she could destroy things.

Like mountains.

Hopefully the village didn't need those.

xXx

The moment Naruto saw Kakashi-sensei he couldn't help but grin, completely oblivious to the sudden tension from his teammates or the ready stances from the ANBU.

"Kakashi-sensei! We did it! We did the test! And we worked as a team, just like you wanted! We got the scroll from Indra-nii!" He grabbed said scroll from Sakura's hand and held it up triumphantly.

Beside him, Sakura smacked her forehead and Sasuke sighed. "Dobe."

"Hey!"

"Indeed you did," Indra said quietly, his warm eye landing on Naruto. Then he turned and looked pointedly at the silver-haired ninja. "The equivalent of the bell test, and they worked together to get the scroll from a far stronger opponent. It was quite impressive. A shame you weren't there to see it."

Kakashi-sensei's visible eye opened a little wider, but that was the only visible change before he closed said eye in what looked like a smile…? He'd done that when he first met them too, so that's what Naruto assumed it was.

"Good job, kids."

"What's going on?" Sasuke demanded as he stepped forward, body tense.

Naruto looked around at the visible ANBU and finally realized something was off.

"Nothing. Indra-san?" Kakashi-sensei turned to Indra-nii, who nodded once in confirmation. "Indra-san, here, needs to go with myself and the ANBU for a little bit, while you three need to go see the Hokage."

He eye-smiled again at them. Then he looked back at their current sensei. "That won't be a problem, will it, Indra-san?"

Naruto looked up at his newest friend, not quite sure what to think. Was Indra-nii in trouble? He really hoped not…

"No," Indra said, raising his hand to the side of his head, palm facing out… like he was surrendering.

The blond of the group swallowed, and he felt a zing of fear run through his stomach.

"Y-you're not going to hurt Indra-nii, are you?" Naruto asked Kakashi-sensei.

"Naruto," Sakura hissed, "be quiet!"

He ignored her.

"Are you?!"

"Naruto," Indra-nii turned to him, a small, comforting smile on his face. "I'll be fine."

The blond glanced around at the ANBU again, shuffling nervously. They didn't look happy…

"You… promise?" he asked.

His friend just nodded serenely.

"I promise."

That made him feel infinitely better.

"You'd better be fine," he said loudly, pointing at the man who just smiled a little wider. (He really didn't do big smiles, did he? Maybe Naruto could fix that?)

Then he did something weird. He, very slowly, reached over to brush his hair away from his covered eye, letting Naruto see it for the first time. It was… purple. With weird circles in it and funny marks in the center rings. Next to him, Sasuke gasped.

"Tell Kurama I said 'Hi'," was all Indra-nii said, before letting his hair fall back in place.

Naruto frowned and co*cked his head. He glanced over at Sasuke and Sakura who looked about as confused as he was. Then he looked back up to see Indra-nii walking along the branch over towards Kakashi-sensei, his single hand still held up in surrender.

"Hey! Who's Kurama?"

But Indra-nii didn't answer.

"If you will follow me to the Hokage Tower," an ANBU in a cat mask said quietly, appearing right beside them and making Naruto and Sakura jump.

The genin glanced at each other, then nodded at the ANBU and jumped down to begin the trek to the center of the village. Naruto clenched his fists, determined to make the old man tell him exactly what was going on.

He wasn't about to let one of his few precious people be hurt.

They'd just gotten out of the training grounds when his stomach started to feel weird. They made it about half-way to the Hokage tower when he had to stop because it just kept getting worse.

"Naruto, keep up!" Sakura shouted, looking back over her shoulder. The moment she saw him curled over, clutching at his stomach, though, her expression softened. "Naruto?"

She came running back to him. Ahead of them, Sasuke and the ANBU member both paused.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Sakura asked looking more than a little uncomfortable, her hand hovering between her and him as if she didn't know if she should touch him or not. That hurt a little, but was honestly better than how she and some others had treated him before.

"I… I don't know," he said through gritted teeth. Did they feel sharper? Weird… "My stomach feels… different."

"Different how?"

He shook his head, not knowing how to describe it; both hot and cold, and… swirly?

"H-here. I just found out how to do a diagnostic jutsu," she said, molding some chakra and holding her hand out to hover over his shoulder and back, then moving it up to his head.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked walking up to them with a frown.

"Naruto's stomach started… hurting I guess?"

The Uchiha scoffed. "Dobe, are you sick after using too much chakra or something?"

"No!" he growled… literally. Why was he growling? He also glared up at his teammate.

Sasuke stiffened and took a step back.

"N-naruto… your eyes," Sakura's voice said softly, shakily.

"What's wrong with them?" he asked worriedly.

"They're red…" she said.

"And slitted," Sasuke added on.

That… had never happened before! "What?!" he asked, then grunted as a particularly large wave of… swirly rushed through him. He gasped and clutched at the wall he was leaning against. He felt it crumble a little under his fingers…

"It… feels like there are two different types of chakra in you," Sakura said. "One is leaking into you from… well, your stomach? But that makes no sense."

And suddenly Naruto knew what it was. His breath caught in his throat and he backed away from his teammates quickly, not wanting to hurt them. Neither one of them seemed to know how to react to that with anything but surprise. Naruto couldn't focus on that right now though, because… Was the Fox trying to break out? Why now? What had happened?

"N-no," he started, but grunted again and his arm went right back to his stomach as another wave of the swirly… no the Fox's chakra rushed through him.

"S-stop," he hissed, directing that inside. If the Fox heard, it didn't listen.

"I'll get you to the hospital," the ANBU said, appearing next to Naruto and scooping him up. It surprised him because people rarely held him like this—in their arms… close. It was… nice. So he clung to the ANBU vest, hiding his face away despite knowing how weak it made him seem. He hated it but… a giant chakra monster was trying to break out of him! He deserved a little of this… didn't he?

"I… it's the Fox," he whispered. The ANBU tensed under him.

"The Hokage Tower then," they corrected themselves. "Come, quickly!" And with that, they were bounding across the rooftops, Sasuke and Sakura following behind as best they could.

Meanwhile, Naruto took several deep breaths and focused all of his concentration on stopping the feeling of the strange chakra overtaking him.

Then he was falling into darkness…

xXx

Naruto woke in water. Around him, he could see a tunnel of sorts, with pipes of all kinds running along it, stretching off into the darkness on both sides. The only sound that reached him was a slow dripping of water and, off in the distance, a growling?

Where am I? He thought, getting to his knees and then his feet. He looked in both directions once again before deciding to follow the growling. He… was a little curious, but honestly, the silence in the darkness behind him scared him more than whatever was making the growling, for some reason. Not that he was scared.

So he began walking. The growling grew louder and sometimes he could swear he heard words…

He didn't know how long he waded through the luke-warm water, but it seemed like a long time before he saw a light ahead of him. It wasn't bright, but it was different than the darkness he'd seen before. He hurried over, hoping for a way out or something, but what he got was a large room with a vaulted ceiling. On the other side of said room stood the bars to a cage… but not just any bars. No, these were larger than he was round and stretched just as high as the enormous ceiling, taking up the entire wall. Behind the bars, he could see nothing but darkness, although he could hear splashing… as if someone (or something) was walking. Pacing? And the growls had become so much louder that they reverberated through his very soul.

"Hello?" he ventured as he walked into the room cautiously, ignoring how quickly his heart sped up.

"There you are!" A pair of large, red, slitted eyes turned to Naruto who yelped despite himself and stumbled back, splashing the water around him.

"Uh… Yeah! I'm right here!" he said as loudly and with as much bravado has he could. He wasn't sure what he expected, but a long, loud sigh reminiscent of Iruka-sensei wasn't it. It was almost as if this wasn't…

"Y-you're the Kyuubi… aren't you?"

"Yes, yes. You may marvel at my magnificence... later. Right now, you need to tell that name-stealing, intelligence insulting, one armed fraud of an Uchiha to get in here right now!"

It was… more than a little scary to stand in front of this… creature when it—no, he radiated so much anger Naruto could feel it. At first he couldn't help but be glad that anger wasn't directed towards him.

But then he figured out who the Kyuubi had just insulted and his own hackles raised.

"Don't you talk about Indra-nii like that, you stupid fox!"

"QUIET!" The Kyuubi yelled and Naruto remembered who he was talking to. He gulped, and shrank back for a moment as the anger radiation increased, but then tilted his chin up in defiance, even as the chakra monster continued to rant. "You have no idea just what that… that intruder has done! At first I thought it an annoying coincidence, but his actions just showed it was a purposeful choice! He has stolen the name of my brother, the eyes of my father, and used them as his own! As if he has any right to either! This is unforgivable."

Naruto blinked. "Wait… you have a brother?" And a father but… yeah.

The fox paused for a moment and stared down at Naruto with a blank expression. Well… he didn't look as angry in any case.

"That is none of your business."

"Whadja mean its none of my business?! You sent that… swirly stuff—chakra or whatever—into me, totally freaked out my teammates and the ANBU…" he paused and felt a rush of concern, "And probably Jiji too!" Because the ANBU would probably tell him.

"There was no other way to contact you, idiot," the fox growled.

"I'm not an idiot! And I'm not letting you insult my nii-san because he reminds you of yours!"

"Indra was younger than me! I am the oldest!"

"And I'm not gonna bring him here just so you can yell at him!" Naruto continued without even acknowledging the Kyuubi's roar.

"I will not yell at him! I will tear him to pieces for daring to steal my family's name and bloodline and then taunting me for it!"

The blond clenched his fists and went to open his mouth again when the Kyuubi's words caught up with him.

"Wait… are you Kurama?"

"YOU DARE USE MY NAME?!"

Instead of responding, Naruto frowned, remembering back. "I… don't get it. How did he know your name? I didn't even know you had a name."

"Of course I have a name! And you will not use it or I will make your death particularly slow and painful!"

Why was this guy reminding him of Sasuke? Except… a bit more violent. But that wasn't exactly unexpected, he supposed.

"By the way, where is here?" he asked, looking around curiously. The anger was still there—everywhere—but the more he was around it, the more he got used to it. He could almost ignore it right now, so he looked more closely at the room and walls. They were all very smooth, like they'd just been built. And the cage gates even had some decoration on both of the far sides in a swirling pattern. In the center of the gates, sat a single piece of paper that said 'seal'.

Wait… was that piece of paper all that was holding the Kyuubi inside those gates? He hoped that seal was a lot stronger than it looked…

"This is inside the seal, brat!"

"Oh. Then how could Indra-nii come here?"

"Stop using that stolen name!"

Naruto frowned. "That's my nii-san's name and I'm not going to stop using it just because you don't like it."

"Insolent brat!"

"I am not!" he shot back, then shook his head. "You didn't say how he could get in here anyway."

"If he has his rinnegan unlocked than he has his Sharingan unlocked and he can use either to enter this space… theoretically."

Naruto just scratched his head. "What are those… gan things?"

Another sigh from the Kyuubi. It was almost as fun as getting one from Jiji. Funner than getting one from Iruka-sensei. And he was pretty sure that if the fox could do something to him already, he would have.

"I will not explain such things to a plebeian too stupid to understand."

Naruto didn't know what a plebeian was, but it didn't sound nice. Why was the Kyuubi always insulting Naruto like that? Yeah, he was stuck inside him, and that sucked, but that wasn't exactly Naruto's fault. It also seemed more than that somehow…

Wait… was Kurama… lonely?

Like Naruto was… because he yelled at people sometimes and said mean things he didn't really want to say when he was lonely… and angry. He tried to ignore it, but it happened anyway. Well, the fox kind of deserved it for what he did to the village… but only kind of, because no one really deserved to be alone.

"I'm not stupid," he said. Because that needed to be said.

Kurama just scoffed.

"And what should I call you?"

Silence for several seconds as the fox slowly turned to look at Naruto with a strange expression on his face.

"What?"

"You said you don't want me calling you by your name, so what should I call you?" And he thought Naruto was dumb?

More silence.

"Kyuubi No Kitsune or Kyuubi No Yoko as my greatness goes far beyond your mortal comprehension."

The blond didn't know what 'comprehension' was either but eh.

"Is just Kyuubi okay? Otherwise that's really long to say."

Why did the fox like to stare at him in silence like that?

"Whatever. Just get that impostor in here!"

Naruto frowned and folded his arms. "Look, I can ask him, but he might say no." He might not even know how to come inside the seal (that was actually really weird, now that he thought about it). Naruto didn't even know how he'd got in here.

Actually…

"How do I come back?" he asked before Kurama—Kyuubi could say anything.

Another sigh. Naruto tried not to smile. "Focus on the chakra in the seal and throw your mind in here."

The blond frowned as he thought about that, then nodded. "Okay. How do I get out."

"Just do the opposite! Honestly! Focus on the outside world and draw your mind there! It isn't that difficult, idiot."

"I told you, I'm not an idiot!" Naruto said. Kurama didn't answer, so Naruto assumed he won and nodded. "I'll see you later then, Kyuubi."

He waved at the fox and closed his eyes, ignoring the snort from the chakra beast. It took him a minute to get it, but eventually he did. The silence of the tunnels (sewers?) faded away into frantic talking and voices.

Then he opened his eyes, staring up at the rafters of Jiji's office. He could even hear Jiji speaking in the background in a much calmer voice than the one he'd heard before.

"… Then he just collapsed?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama," the ANBU—that was the voice from before—said. "I got him here as quickly as I could."

"That would explain why I sensed that chakra…" Jiji sighed. "As did likely every jounin in the village… and half the chuunin. If we're lucky, this will not get back to the civilian population. Let me look at that… Oh."

Jiji looked down at Naruto, noticing he was awake for the first time.

The blond just grinned. "Hi, Jiji!"

A long silence.

"Naruto, how are you feeling?"

He thought down to his stomach, but it felt fine. "I'm good, Jiji."

The old man frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Kyuubi just wanted to tell me to get Indra-nii to come and talk to him."

The Hokage stared at him blankly. "Talk… to him?"

Naruto tipped his head to one side. "Well, he said he wanted to 'rip him apart' and that Indra-nii stole his younger brother's name or something like that, but I think he really just wanted to talk."

More blank stares and silence. He was getting a lot of that today.

"Oh! By the way, you can't hurt Indra-nii! He's been super cool! He's totally awesome! He's been teaching me!"

Instead of making Jiji relax, that seemed to worry him more.

"Teaching you what, Naruto?"

"You know how Mizuki-the-traitor taught me? Well, he taught me wrong. On purpose! So Indra-nii told me about how I can remember what my kage bunshin learn and he's been going through the academy katas and teaching me how to do it right. But he also said to keep being unpredictable. That it's my greatest strength! He didn't ever treat me bad, Jiji! He's been super nice from the moment I met him! He took me out to Ramen and he started teaching Sakura and Sasuke too!"

The Hokage just sat back on his haunches—oh, they were on the ground, weird—and rubbed his forehead tiredly.

"Naruto, he's an unknown ninja who has potentially done some serious damage to our village."

"He wouldn't!"

"How do you know that?" A slightly out-of-breath voice came from the door. Everyone turned to see Sakura and Sasuke in the doorway. Apparently they'd been let through? Naruto usually had to sneak… or barge. They probably barged.

Still, Naruto couldn't help but be hurt at Sasuke's question. "What do you mean, how do I know that? You've trained with Indra-nii! You know how awesome he is!"

"All I know is that he's an unknown Uchiha who left me alone for years," Sasuke shot back.

"He was on a mission!" Naruto yelled.

"No, he wasn't," Jiji cut in calmly.

Everyone turned to look at him as he continued to speak. "I do not know of any living Uchiha except for Sasuke, here… and his brother."

Naruto frowned. Right, the jerk who had killed all of Sasuke's family except for him.

"As far as I know, there is no other Uchiha loyal to the village," the Hokage continued.

This time, the silence felt… heavy. Naruto didn't really know what to say to that, so he just stared at Jiji in horror.

"But… but he was so cool…" he eventually managed to say.

"He helped me learn how to tree walk and water walk," Sakura spoke up, her voice soft. "And he helped me choose my own ninja path to focus on."

Sasuke frowned. "He did get her to back off and focus… that was nice."

Sakura squeaked and her face went red. "Sorry," she whispered.

The jerk just rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Jiji! You gotta give him a chance!" Naruto said, choosing to focus on Indra-nii. That was more important right now.

The older man looked put out. "Naruto, just after you left him, your…" he paused and glanced over at Sasuke and Sakura, "condition flared up."

Condition? Did he mean the Kyuubi? Probably.

Naruto looked away. "That wasn't his fault. That was the fox's."

Jiji just seemed to get more frustrated. "Naruto, you need to stop trusting everyone who's nice to you just because they're nice to you!"

That wasn't fair! He felt his fists ball.

"Then I'd be even more alone," he said.

The Hokage didn't seem to know what to say to that, just looking pained. Eventually, he sighed.

"Naruto, I can't promise you that nothing will happen to… Indra. We have to investigate. If I didn't I would be letting the village down. That's what a Hokage does: make the hard decisions for the benefit of everyone."

Everyone. Because everyone didn't seem to include Naruto. It never did.

But he also got where Jiji was coming from. When he got to be Hokage, he'd probably have to make decisions like that too. Or he'd find a way to prevent those! Yeah.

"Just… please listen to him?" he finally asked, hating that that was the best he could do for Indra-nii. Well, if things got bad, he'd just have to go and break him out of… wherever he was being held later.

Jiji's expression turned sad and he reached down to pat Naruto on the shoulder. "I will. Now, I need to check your… stomach."

His seal, he meant.

"Uchiha-san, Harano-san," the Hokage turned his attention to them. "I will need written reports of every interaction you've had with Indra-san. I would also like to speak with you shortly, but for now, if you could wait outside while I—"

"Jiji," Naruto cut him off, trying to sound as strong and firm as he could, "I want to tell them. They're my teammates."

The old man blinked at Naruto, then looked warily up at the two standing in the doorway. "Are you sure, Naruto?"

The blond nodded firmly. "They deserve to know. Besides… I trust them." Because they'd worked so well together just now, and if he didn't begin to trust them, why should they trust him?

Jiji sighed. Not the kind of annoyed or frustrated sigh Naruto thought was funny, but a long, tired one. "Very well. Please shut the door while I examine the seal, Cat."

The ANBU nodded, ushered the other two inside and shut the door before disappearing.

That was actually really cool.

The Hokage brought his focus back to the present. "What I am about to tell you is an S-ranked secret that you cannot tell to anyone else without my or Naruto's express permission, on pain of death."

Sakura and Sasuke exchanged glances and then looked back, nodding. Sakura seemed a little shaken, though, as she audibly gulped. Sasuke just looked… intense.

"Roll up your shirt, Naruto," Jiji instructed.

The blond laid back down and did as he was told.

"Channel some chakra."

Ah, so the seal was why Jiji had had him do that every year for as long as he could remember. That made sense.

He did so.

Sakura gasped.

"What is that?" Sasuke asked.

"A seal," the Hokage said as he examined it. "The seal of a Jinchuuriki. Bijuu cannot be killed—not conventionally, in any case. So when the Fourth fought for the village twelve years ago, he had no choice but to seal the monster into a human, as they are the only vessels capable of housing a bijuu. Naruto is the container for the Nine-tailed demon fox."

Chapter 11: Chapter 11

Chapter by DAsObiQuiet

Chapter Text

Sasuke didn't quite know what to think.

Naruto—the dead last, the worst ninja in their year, the prankster orphan who cared more about getting a laugh than becoming a better ninja—held the Kyuubi inside of him?

What?

The Hokage sighed as he continued to examine Naruto's stomach, poking and prodding different points on the dark lines while the blond tried not to flinch. Sasuke didn't know if he wanted to laugh or scream at the whole situation.

The blond kept his eyes firmly on the ceiling, not looking at them as the old man continued to speak.

"A Jinchuuriki is literally what the name implies: a human sacrifice. Naruto is the container of the Fox much like a sealing scroll is the container for whatever item it holds inside of it. Obviously it is more complicated than that, but the basic concept is the same."

"More complicated than that…" somehow, Sasuke thought the Sandaime had a gift for understatement.

"In the past, the First Hokage captured the bijuu after being forced to seal the nine-tailed fox into the first recorded Jinchuuriki. He then gave each captured bijuu to the other hidden villages to maintain a balance of power. Otherwise the other villages could have—and likely would have—banded together to destroy Konoha. Jinchuuriki or not. That kind of a war itself would have destroyed this village—if not a good portion of the world—no matter which side 'won'.

Sasuke had focused on the idea that someone gave away that much power and the village being destroyed in a war no one could presumably win. Naruto, unsurprisingly, had caught onto something completely different.

"So there are others out there like me?" he asked, eyes wide and blinking, with a light in them Sasuke hadn't seen before. Not that strongly… not from Naruto.

The Sandaime smiled sadly. "Yes, Naruto. Suna already had the One-tail, so they were given the Eight-tails. Kumo was given the Two-tails and the Seven-tails. Mist was given the Three-tails and the Six-tails. Finally, Iwa was given the Four and Five-tails. Since then, many villages have lost or gained a Jinchuuriki. Someone—we are still unsure whom—stole the Seven-tails from Kumo, who then stole the Eight-tails from Suna. And while some of the Jinchuuriki are known, the villages try to keep them secret as they are often targeted for the sheer power they lend their village."

Sheer power.

Sheer power.

Sasuke sat there, staring in a stupor because he couldn't begin to comprehend the mind-set of someone who would just hand that kind of power over to one's enemies so knowingly. But then he wondered what he himself would do with that power if the other villages banded together and attacked. Would he just wipe them out of existence?

He could understand war and the necessity to kill. He didn't like the idea (he didn't want to be like that man at all), but he could understand it. But still, wiping out an entire village? Simply for not falling in line and either allying themselves to Konoha or becoming subservient… simply for the crime of not being born here. Because that's what it would have come to.

Part of him wanted that kind of power, and would likely choose to wipe his enemies out if he could. The rest of him realized that that man would likely choose the same… in part because he already had. And the idea of making the same, disgusting choice his brother would made him physically sick.

It took him a minute to remember Indra's words about how there was something else going on. And with everything that had happened recently, he was starting to really believe it.

Still. He didn't want to be like Itachi. Not anymore.

(He didn't.)

He shook his head, not wanting to think about it anymore. What had he been thinking of before? Right, the bijuu and their power and what their lives would be like right now if Konoha hadn't given giant chakra constructs away like candy.

The idea of giving Konoha's enemies bijuu scale power still did not seem to want to stick, but… well, he supposed it was a little more understandable when it came down to that, or all-out-war that would literally destroy perhaps the entirety of the elemental nations. It still went against every instinct he had.

And then Sakura spoke up, breaking him out of his reverie.

"So… Naruto will be targeted?" she asked worriedly. "By other villages?"

The Hokage looked up at her and nodded solemnly. "When the other villages find out who he is, yes."

Something about that had struck Sasuke as wrong. When other villages found out who Naruto was? The jinchuuriki were kept secret… It took him a couple of seconds to realize what about that niggled at the edge of his conscious thought.

The glares. Sasuke had always chalked the angry glances and stares the villagers gave Naruto up to something the blond's family had done or his pranks or something. He hadn't really cared before as Naruto hadn't been a friend, but he'd noticed.

But this changed everything. Because they knew. Everyone already knew. Well… obviously not everyone. Maybe only people above a certain age? That would make sense if the secret got out years ago…

"But that's why everyone hates him…" Sasuke decided to point out with a frown. Naruto looked away from them, his hands balled into fists. "Isn't it?"

"O-oh…" Sakura whispered, her voice both soft and harsh at the same time as she realized her teammate was right. "I… always thought it was the pranks."

The old man shook his head. "No. Although… that didn't help." He shot a reproving look at Naruto.

"They deserved it," Naruto muttered.

"No… I'm saying that everyone already knows," Sasuke huffed. "Except us, I guess," he grumbled that last part but then shook his head and returned to his previous tone. "If it's a secret, it's the worst kept secret in the village."

The Hokage sighed, suddenly looking so old. The change was both subtle and obvious at the same time. Sasuke felt his eyebrows raise in surprise. He remembered that the Sandaime had been Hokage for decades now. And he'd had to come out of retirement.

It took him a moment to realize that the man didn't want the position Naruto so coveted. Not really.

But he did it anyway. For the sake of the village.

He loved the village, or at least some of the people in the village, that much. He'd kept going because no one else had been good enough and willing to take the seat.

Both Sasuke's respect and pity for the man increased a large amount in those few seconds of insight.

"I tried to contain it with a law stating that anyone overheard discussing his status as the Jinchuuriki or as the fox itself, would have to face extremely unpleasant consequences," the Hokage said quietly. "I hoped that would give you a normal life, Naruto… but it seems that the older generation simply passed on their hatred to their children if not the reason for it."

Before Sasuke could make a comment, Sakura spoke.

"But that's not fair! He isn't the fox!" the pink-haired girl said suddenly. Naruto seemed to stiffen and then his head whipped around to stare at them as if he hadn't believed what he heard. Sasuke could see the hope in the other boy's eyes, even if the disbelief seemed to drown it out.

The Hokage shook his head. "No, but discussing it would only encourage those who would target him."

"That doesn't seemed to have helped much," Sasuke scoffed.

The Sandaime frowned at him. "He's alive and still here. That's honestly more than I initially could hope for." Sakura gasped but Sasuke's frown only deepened. He didn't think he agreed, but also didn't think arguing with the Hokage was a good idea.

After a tense, silent moment, the old man spoke, strong gaze never leaving Sasuke's. "It will allow me to punish any traitors who do target Naruto, which discourages people and does give him some protection."

The Uchiha felt his eyes narrow. That… was not a strong reason in his opinion. Then again, he could understand clinging to what protection one had left… even if it ended up doing just as much (if not more) harm in the future.

Still, somehow, that just didn't seem like enough. But from the look in the Hokage's eye, he wouldn't listen, and further arguing would do no good. He remembered that look from his father…

He pushed that thought away as quickly as he could, and said nothing.

"Well, Naruto," the Hokage said as he sat back and changed the subject with a finality no one in the room could miss… except maybe Naruto, "it looks like the seal is working fine."

Sasuke and Sakura exchanged glances, both realizing they'd remember that conversation before mutually and silently agreeing to move on.

"Why did it hurt him like that, then?" the pink-haired girl asked, frowning.

As Naruto put his shirt down and sat up, he sighed. "The fox wanted to talk. Something Indra-nii said freaked him out."

Sasuke was sure he wasn't the only one shocked by that judging from the sort of disbelieving squeak he heard from his nearest teammate and the stony expression from the Sandaime.

"What could someone possibly say to scare The Kyuubi?!" the Uchiha asked incredulously.

"And… will it happen again?" Sakura ventured, sounding small and worried.

Naruto looked down again. This time, Sasuke didn't blame him. She sounded so scared…

"Will what happen again? The Kyuubi getting… worked up, or the… results?" Sarutobi-sama asked, choosing his words carefully.

Sasuke glanced back at Sakura.

"Both?"

The Hokage sighed. "I couldn't say. I don't know what this… Indra said."

"He said Indra stole his brother's name," Naruto said.

Everyone stared at him. He shrugged. "What? I didn't get it either."

"Then most likely, yes," the Hokage said slowly, running a hand through his hair. "To both. Apparently we have no idea what will set the Kyuubi off, so we will have to be careful there. But it's also historically easier for the contained bijuu's chakra to manifest in times of need or desperation. The point of having a Jinchuuriki is to harness that strength for the sake of the village, so yes. That, too, will happen again.

"Although, while the Kyuubi is the strongest of the bijuu. It has been… historically difficult for the nine-tail's Jinchuuriki to use their bijuu's power due to the seals necessary to simply contain that power. This seal is far more free with the Kyuubi's chakra than other seals, allowing said chakra to trickle out and be absorbed into Naruto's chakra system. It's a brilliant piece of work that even I couldn't tell you all the details behind. The Fourth Hokage himself came up with it—albeit with some help…" he smiled nostalgically, expression sad and pained under the fondness. Then he glanced back at the genin in the room. "And it should allow Naruto to work as freely with the bijuu's chakra as other Jinchuuriki have been known to work with theirs, while minimizing the harm that would come to him.

"However, that power always comes with a price, Naruto," the Sandaime warned, voice stern and serious as he met the blond's gaze. "Just because the danger is minimized doesn't mean it isn't actually there. Your body is being acclimatized to the Kyuubi's chakra through that seal—is slowly getting used to it," he added on when Naruto looked confused. The puzzled expression left the genin's face and the old man went on. "But your body is not used to that power now. The more of that chakra you draw on, the more dangerous you will become, even to your teammates and allies. I cannot tell you exactly what will happen or how to control it, that is something you will have to learn on your own, but if you have to draw on that chakra, do not do so lightly. Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded, looking a little pale.

Then the Hokage turned to the other two genin in the room. "And can I count on you two to accept him? Understand and work with him? To not fear him as so many others do?"

Sasuke thought about that for a moment. Could he? Just accept the dead last? The boy who had a literal chakra monster living inside of him..

But then he thought back to what Indra-sensei had said about working together and how Naruto's training had been sabotaged. He thought of how far his teammate had come just in the last week and of his immense chakra capacity.

He thought of how useful that would be when going to stop Itachi…

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all?

So he took a deep breath and nodded.

xXx

Sakura didn't know what to think as she walked home from the Hokage's tower. She did so alone, her teammates having gone off after making their reports…

Reports about Indra-sensei—who was an unknown ninja and… just who was he? Was he really even an Uchiha? Sasuke-kun's family? Had he really been trying to help them?

Sakura thought back to the conversation they'd just had with the Sandaime Hokage. She remembered feeling so overwhelmed as so many things came to light. And then he had asked if they could accept Naruto… just like that. Even with all the danger he represented.

She hadn't known what to say at the time… so she'd just nodded. Sasuke had nodded as well, although he'd seemed just as hesitant at first. The Hokage had still looked very pleased with their answers, and Naruto, hopeful but wary. But then the Sandaime had asked them to speak about their experiences with Indra and the blond had launched into his protests about not hurting 'Indra-nii' again and Sakura had realized that it really was still just Naruto…

With a nearly unlimited source of power… but then, that was Naruto anyway. Or maybe he had that unlimited source of power because of the giant chakra monster sealed in his gut?

Was that what had drawn Indra to her teammate? The man had just shown up out of the blue and suddenly Naruto had a new sensei and… it was all terribly suspicious.

Sakura was by no means stupid, and so she had gone through every single action she could remember from the man, but nothing had come up that didn't seem like he meant anything but to genuinely help them. Nothing suspicious at all except that he was friends with Naruto and willing to train all of Naruto's teammates. And he had trained them… well. Sakura already felt stronger and more sure of herself in the last weak than she had in the last several years of her life. And yet…

She didn't want to think of Indra-sensei as the bad guy, but… there was so much stacked against him. Had he known about Naruto's… condition? Did he purposefully infiltrate the village to get close to Naruto? So he could kidnap him maybe? Or at least use him somehow… The thought made her shudder and clutch at her elbows to try and give herself warmth. She wasn't Naruto's biggest fan, but she didn't want him to get kidnapped just for the power he held within him. Power that the Fourth Hokage had sealed inside Naruto… who had been born on that night. He'd never had a say in it at all.

Something about that made Sakura frown. Why would he choose a baby of all available options? She wondered if the Fourth Hokage had known Naruto's parents and had thus put his trust in said baby. But then why a baby and not the parents? Perhaps they had already died?

Eh… plausible, but something still seemed off about it, and she couldn't think of what.

Frowning, she paused and turned to look at the Hokage monument, her eyes specifically searching the stone face of Namikaze Minato. She frowned. He looked so different with his face in stone like that. She was positive whoever had carved said face was talented with their earth jutsu, but he just looked so… dull. She'd seen pictures of him (of course, hadn't everyone?) and he'd always seemed so… vibrant with his yellow hair and blue eyes and…

Wait.

She frowned, and then blinked before rubbing her eyes and looking again. His face was more angular, thinner and taller… and yet… if she just put three whisker marks on his cheeks…

"It… couldn't be…" she whispered to herself. Then she frowned. "Could it?"

She turned and continued to walk down the street in a sort of dazed shock as she mentally compared the Fourth Hokage to Naruto…

There were so many similarities…

Nope. No. Just no. She slapped her cheeks and shook her head. She did not want to think about it anymore. She'd already felt overwhelmed and like she would not be able to grasp the implications of what she'd learned today for a long time. This was something she would have to deal with later. As in much later. Well… at least after she'd had a chance to just absorb everything.

And she had no idea how long that would take.

She groaned and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Just how many secrets surrounded Uzumaki Naruto? Did she want to know?

Somehow, she didn't think so.

That was when she noticed the dango stand on the street a couple of meters down the road. Screw it, she needed some comfort food.

Besides, calories, right? And if she gained any weight, she'd work it off tomorrow.

Chapter 12: Chapter 12

Chapter by DAsObiQuiet

Chapter Text

Kakashi's eye twitched at the silence. The only thing he could hear were his purposefully loud foot falls. The seals in this area cut off sound so thoroughly from anything else in the building and it was… unnerving to say the least. He glanced around at the blank, reinforced concrete décor and tried not to picture the walls closing in on him. Pacing helped, so he strode back and forth in the dull, gray hallway like the wolf many of his peers equated him to.

Just… why?! He'd only barely escaped this place not hours before and yet he found himself back here in T&I. He wanted to scream at the universe for the irony of the situation, but forced himself to remain as calm as he could. Acting unhinged here would be counterproductive to say the least. If he wanted to obtain his goals, then he needed to look stable (no matter the truth). And he would obtain his goals. He needed to know why this unknown entity had approached his team. The options never looked good when anyone unauthorized approached newly-graduated genin, but his team in particular offered even more nefarious reasons than normal.

They'd confirmed this "Indra" didn't have a henge going, or any other genjutsu they could detect, and the basic medical scan didn't find the usual markers of facial surgery… although, in truth, that didn't really mean a whole lot, just that he could have approached a very good, professional reconstructive surgeon. Still, it was worth noting.

The active doujutsu worried him, given it had tomoe like the Sharingan (though far more than should be possible). Could this intruder have gotten a Sharingan from somewhere and merged or changed it somehow? (What an utterly terrifying thought.) Or, perhaps a missing Uchiha that someone tried to breed? But if so, then the child had ended up with a failed mutation… Which, was honestly lucky for him. Hyuuga and Uchiha had tried to reproduce before, of course, with… disastrous results. The children of such unions tended to take after one or the other parent, but if said child was unlucky enough to inherit both… the babies didn't usually last long. That kind of chakra could eat a person alive from the inside (and had killed many mothers before said child was born, let alone the children). So even a failed mutation could be ground-breaking, no matter how useful or useless said mutation was.

Kakashi couldn't specify which option alarmed him more.

Because of this and similar ideas from T&I, they had the new prisoner on more than four times the chakra suppressors, two on his lone wrist, two on each ankle, one around each shoulder and one more to cover that active doujutsu. The former ANBU hoped that would be enough.

They'd already sent someone to the Hokage about that doujutsu, maybe the Professor could identify it and specify precautions? Like any form of Genjutsu—

Kakashi paused. A Sharingan-esque doujutsu, had been active in the village for an unknown number of days… could he have been the one to attack Shimura Danzo? Actually… he found that likely at first glance.

He… wasn't entirely sure what to think about that. Part of him wanted to thank whoever had attacked that monster, but this 'Indra' was still a very powerful, unknown ninja who had approached a teacherless genin team with immense potential but almost no experience… Not to mention, the last Uchiha, the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, and the top academic kunoichi of their class had made up said team. They'd been under the influence of this unknown ninja while Kakashi had been sequestered in T&I.

Yet more reasons to loathe this place.

But if this Indra had been the one to attack Danzo, which had put suspicion on anyone with a Sharingan in the village, it would have been easy to extrapolate how that should have certainly gotten Kakashi out of the way for at least a couple of days, which it had. Had the man set this whole thing up just to get to his team?

The former ANBU's paranoia-induced thoughts kept piling up, creating a sort of feedback loop as his mind circled around the possibilities and implications regarding the situation. He could feel it building and had just paused to… do something (he wasn't entirely sure what, but it probably wouldn't be helpful to the structure of the building), right as Yamanaka Inoichi walked over, likely saving both of them a great deal of time and effort.

"Calm down Hatake-san. I'll get the information we need, I promise."

Kakashi frowned, even though the expression didn't translate well through his mask. He knew Inoichi was good at his job—very good—and yet… "I should go in with you. I could help."

Inoichi raised an eyebrow, "I know you've been trained in this, but you are far too agitated right now, as well as too close to the situation, Hatake-san. While you are good at information gathering, it has been years since you went through basic interrogation instruction. Don't worry. You can leave this to me."

The silver haired jounin looked the older man in the eye, "And if he puts you under a genjutsu?"

The blond's expression fell flat. "If he can get me through all of those chakra suppressors, what are the odds that he'll ensnare you too?"

"Low. I have a Sharingan."

Inoichi sighed. "That you're willing to keep up the entire interrogation session? After you've just gotten out of suppressors yourself?"

Kakashi would not be deterred. "I can turn it on intermittently. And because of my Sharingan, I remember the training verbatim."

"With your agitation, you're more likely to give information away than to be of any real help," the Yamanaka head explained patiently. "Which you should know if you have your training memorized as you say." He shot the man a dry look.

The former ANBU didn't back down for a second. "I do remember. Which is why I can counter it. You know I can keep my emotions in check if I so wish." If he so needed… and he did need to here.

Inoichi's expression didn't change. "Like when you tore through the chakra suppressors, half the ANBU on guard (thankfully not fatally), and my favorite sleeveless haori?"

Kakashi blinked, then his eyes narrowed. "That was a… unique situation." His tone held no small amount of accusation. They'd been talking about known triggers after all.

"And this isn't?" the interrogation specialist returned immediately, unfazed.

"Of course it is. Which is just another reason to let me go with you."

The blond reached up and kneaded the side of his head. "I don't think we're having the same conversation, Kakashi."

He was losing the man… and that would not do.

So he pulled the last card he was willing to play. Perhaps a bit early, but there was such a thing as pushing too hard. So he softened his voice and let some of the tiredness show. "I need to know what happened to my students, Inoichi. Please." Because he never asked and he knew the man would pick up on it.

He did. The way he paused and then looked blankly at the Copy Nin, as if studying him, said as much. Then he let out a sigh and Kakashi knew he'd won.

"Very well. But I'm only doing this because I know that it will be the only thing to put your mind at ease right now, and since you are my patient as well, I will allow it." Kakashi didn't cringe, but it was a near thing. Inoichi continued."However, the moment I tell you to leave, you will not ask, you will not hesitate, you will do as instructed. And you must also ask me before you ask any questions, understand? Failure to do so will put you right back in here as a break risk." Meaning he would be labeled as potentially having a mental break of some kind and be a danger to a mission.

He really hated dealing with people who had actual threats to hold over him.

Still, this meant that he'd succeeded. He would be going into the interrogation room. Kakashi didn't show his triumph except to allow his face to relax marginally as he nodded. "Hai, Yamanaka-san." Just to show he'd accepted that as an order from a superior.

Thankfully it was enough as the man just sighed again, shook his head and walked past the Copy Nin. "Follow me."

Kakashi did.

xXx

There were… many downsides to being an interrogator, but one in particular that struck Inoichi every time he walked into the enemy detention area was the decor. Dull, cement gray with doors painted to match were supposed to give the prisoners a sense of hopelessness and a lack of distraction. It could get to interrogators too, though. Being in a boring, depressing room for hours on end could put a damper on anyone's mood, no matter how skilled and trained they were. Having to do so for days in a row could break interrogators just as much if not more so than prisoners.

It was one reason Inoichi embraced flowers and growing in his spare time.

As such, the Yamanaka head was not looking forward to the upcoming session. He had a sixth sense developed from his years of experience. He knew when someone would be hard to break. The utter calm on 'Indra's' face when they walked into the otherwise blank room only confirmed it.

He didn't sigh. That would start this off on a bad foot. No, instead he steadily marched to sit behind the table (bolted to the ground and made of metal so no one could jutsu their way out of it with an earth affinity) and nodded for Kakashi to go and stand behind and to the left of the man, so he could stop any break for the door.

Said door clanged shut with a solid finality, but the man's eyes remained closed. He didn't so much as flinch.

The two newcomers exchanged silent glances before returning their full attention to the prisoner.

"Name?" Inoichi asked, deciding to get right to the point.

The man didn't answer.

Inoichi swore silently.

"What is your name?" he asked again, a little louder, but the man still didn't respond.

Inoichi frowned. He hadn't wanted to resort to more… trying methods so soon. Some people enjoyed torturing others (hello, Anko), but the Yamanaka head was not one of them. Then a movement from Kakashi caught his eye and he turned his attention to the man. He was pointing to himself silently, his one visible eyebrow raised in question.

So… he wanted to try something? Inoichi's frown deepened. He didn't like that Kakashi wanted to talk so soon, not to mention the look on his face promised unpleasantness, but he had followed his orders and the rules set out for him… Eventually the blond decided he'd allow it. Inoichi did pretty well at playing the good cop anyway. So he nodded.

The silver-haired man took a breath and closed his eyes. Then he straightened and Inoichi saw the lazy Jounin mask he'd been trying to maintain (poorly) since they caught the intruder fall away, leaving behind the ANBU captain he used to be.

"Shinobi! Name! Rank!" he barked. It wasn't loud, but it was demanding, with absolutely no question in his voice.

To his surprise, the dark-haired man tied in the chair opened his single visible eye and looked almost lazily up at Kakashi. It… felt like watching someone looking in a mirror to be honest. He had the mannerisms down pat.

(Inoichi couldn't wait for the results of the DNA test…)

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" the younger man asked.

Neither ninja seemed to know what to say to that. Kakashi looked more shocked than Inoichi felt, but watching the boy with the chakra-supressing headband over one eye look lazily up at the man who had practically trademarked the trait of laziness was… surreal.

Then he had to consciously force himself to not burst into laughter. No, no. Think of Gai training… yeah. That worked.

A little too well, actually.

Inoichi caught a glance from Kakashi again—more asking permission—and tapped his desk chair three times softly, granting the silent request.

"You think this is funny?" the former ANBU captain asked quietly.

To Inoichi's surprise, the man seemed to think about that, then smiled so large his eye squinted closed, and nodded. "Yes."

"And once I start breaking your fingers?" Kakashi asked, returning the eye-smile with a generous amount of killing intent to go with it.

'Indra' wasn't even phased. He looked down at his left arm… or the lack thereof. "I've had worse. The most recent war was… difficult." Truth. The way his eyes faded a little into something haunted was extremely difficult to fake.

"War?"

Indra nodded, expression open (for an Uchiha). "I fought beside Senju Hashirama and Tobirama, as well as Minato Namikaze."

"That's not possible," Kakashi said, deadpan. Inoichi agreed. He was just using their kage against them… even if his body language still screamed he was telling the truth.

Inoichi decided he didn't want to get into violence and torture yet (too early in the morning) and leaned into the good cop role. "Really? Who did you fight?"

Indra blinked several times, apparently not expecting someone to humor him. Good. That meant he was off kilter.

"A giant plant monster that the Sage of Six Path's mother brought from space and planted. We had to fight her too. Through dimensions." He turned to Kakashi. "Avoid the lava dimension. Acid rain is easier to survive in my opinion."

What?

Okay, maybe they'd let him go too far. And this was getting out of hand too fast. The more experienced interrogator decided to put a stop to that and smiled gently.

"That's an interesting story, but we need your name and rank, please, Shinobi-san," Inoichi said, smiling warmly.

The man turned his dark eye onto the Yamanaka, seemed to regard him for a moment, then shrugged (it was a small movement, but still most likely a shrug…)

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Both of the light-haired ninja blinked because… what?

Great. This would probably end in that torture session he really didn't want to perform today. Still, he wrote down said information and gestured for Kakashi to continue questioning.

"Rank."

The Uchiha sighed, as if put upon. "Jounin."

"Are you a ninja of Konoha?" Kakashi asked shortly.

For several long seconds, the dark-haired man studied his interrogator in silence before nodding slowly. "Yes."

"Registration number."

The man smirked and then listed off a number.

More silence fell.

"That number is already taken. By someone other than you," Kakashi said dryly.

"Indra" shrugged (?) again. "That was the registration number given to me when I became a shinobi."

Inoichi noted the body language and had to struggle not to frown again because… according to what he could see, the man was still telling the truth.

He was really good. Inoichi made a mental note to sneak in a control question.

"You know the shinobi in question?" he decided to ask Kakashi instead.

The silver-haired man's eyes darted to him and then back to the prisoner before nodding.

"It belongs to Uchiha Sasuke," Indra said with that (extremely creepy) smile.

It didn't take long for Inoichi to realize what he meant. He glanced at Kakashi, who signed behind his back and out of sight of the prisoner that the information was, indeed, correct.

"I wouldn't know," the blond said, deciding to play dumb. It also fit with the more innocent, 'good cop' persona. "I don't memorize all the registration numbers of Konoha nin." True enough. Genin were just too numerous to keep track of. Especially fresh genin. After a moment, he leaned forward in curiosity. "But let's say that was the case, for argument's sake. Uchiha Sasuke is a newly graduated genin barely into double digits age-wise. So how can you be Uchiha Sasuke?"

He expected the man to say the child had been named after him or something along those lines.

What he got was an even wider creepy smile as the man said: "Time Travel."

What.

It took Inoichi several seconds to realize he'd actually heard that and then glanced at Kakashi, who already had his Sharingan spinning. He signed again. No genjutsu.

Well… the senior interrogator supposed that at least had the benefit of not having been tried before.

"From the past or the future?" Kakashi asked after getting permission, looking thoroughly done. "You spoke of our past Hokages, but are claiming you're Uchiha Sasuke, but fifteen years older?"

"Twenty, actually." Inoichi just sat in silence, observing their prisoner as Kakashi glared. After a moment, 'Sasuke' sighed and glanced at the lead interrogator. "You took a DNA sample," he went on nonchalantly—as if he weren't sitting in an interrogation room facing possible torture…

He was either very good, or speaking the truth. Or, well, what he perceived as the truth. He could be utterly insane and would not be the first shinobi who had a break with reality, intentional or not.

Inoichi and Kakashi exchanged glances. They needed more.

"Could you elaborate… Uchiha-san?" the blond asked with what he hoped was not a forced smile. He also decided to humor the man with the name for now as it would help him trust them more. (Theoretically.)

"To be fair, it was an accident," 'Sasuke' said in a tone Inoichi thought was supposed to be bright but just came off as sad*stic. Even that seemed fake though. This man… was obviously not used to smiling. (Which… did fit Uchiha Sasuke…)

"An… accident?" the older interrogator asked slowly.

"It happens with dojutsu more often than clans will admit." Well, that tone sounded true enough (although he still couldn't take the man at his word). "Though rarely by choice as it's… unpredictable at best and has a heavy resource cost."

"So… Byakugan and Sharingan users can, theoretically, travel in time if they have enough… resources?"

Indra nodded. "And Rinnegan users. It isn't easy to do, per se (not usually), but certainly possible."

Inoichi wasn't entirely sure he wanted to figure out the logistics and possibilities surrounding that. Not right now. He'd also have to talk to the Hyuuga to confirm that, so he focused on something else.

"Rinnegan?"

'Sasuke' nodded again (such a small movement, he didn't lend himself to large gestures—much like many older Uchiha he'd known…). "The dojutsu in my left eye. Under… certain circ*mstances, a Sharingan user can awaken their Rinnegan."

Well, he certainly didn't seem to have any reservation in giving them information… if they weren't getting a load of bull every time the man opened his mouth, in any case.

"So this isn't a separate dojutsu like the Byakugan?" Inoichi asked.

Indra looked thoughtful at that. "Yes and no. It is, theoretically, easier for a Sharingan user to awaken a Rinnegan, but one can be born with the Rinnegan as well—outside of the Uchiha even—although it is extremely rare."

"Awakening the Rinnegan or being born with it?" the blond probed.

"Both."

Kakashi signed that he wanted to ask a question and Inoichi gave the appropriate signal to allow him to do so.

"What techniques does this Rinnegan grant?" the silver-haired man asked in an impressively steady voice.

Indra co*cked his head to one side, thinking for a moment. "I don't have all abilities of any Rinnegan user, but I can see the chakra-flow within the body—not like a Byakugan as that was described to me, and I cannot see through barriers or solid objects—but it is similar. It allows easy manipulation of all five nature transformations and grants the Six Paths Technique.

"The Six Paths Technique allows for different abilities from attracting and repelling objects to controlling multiple summons at once to absorbing any and all chakra I come in contact with. I can also shift spaces within a certain area near me and open portals to other dimensions. That's how I came to be here, actually."

Inoichi and Kakashi were staring at him again in pure disbelief because… seriously? That kind of power was… nigh inconceivable. And why did he get the sense that they were only scratching the surface? (And again, he was getting no indication—even factoring in that he was obviously a trained ninja—that the prisoner was lying. What?!)

"Is… that on top of what a Sharingan can do?" the older interrogator asked.

"For me, yes, because I have a mature, evolved Sharingan."

"Evolved?"

"It's called a Mangekyou Sharingan and you can only attain it through watching one of your closest people die—usually by being involved in said death somehow."

Wait…. What?!

Kakashi tensed and Inoichi watched as he almost stepped back, but didn't. Also, for the first time, Inoichi saw a flash of pain crawl across Indra's face…

This man was really selling his story… and Inoichi found himself drawn towards buying it.

He needed those DNA results.

And Uchiha Sasuke's too.

Indra must have realized they didn't yet completely believe him because he sighed. "Second hidden pocket in my vest. Kakashi-sensei can channel some chakra into it without springing the trap and it'll reveal it."

Kakashi and Inoichi exchanged glances again and the former ANBU signed for orders. Inoichi thought through it. It could be a trap, but that was not likely… and they'd already stripped him down to his basic ninja outfit so it would just take a moment to go and get it…

Of course, the ninja could just be stalling for time, but they weren't in a war and there wasn't anything truly time-sensitive he could think of that this would involve…

"Kakashi-san, would you go and fetch it," he said with a bright smile.

Kakashi stared at him for several seconds before nodding. Then he calmly strode out of the room, leaving the two of them behind in silence. Inoichi made sure he did not let his guard down. If the man was going to strike, now would be the opportune time. Instead of attacking or trying to escape, though, he just closed his eye and slumped down in the chair a little.

"Why 'Indra'?" he decided to ask.

The man opened his eye and looked at Inoichi questioningly.

"Why did you choose the name 'Indra'?"

He closed his eye again. "Someone told me I was a reincarnation of an 'Indra' that lived centuries ago. It was the first name that came to mind."

Ah.

"If you're from the future, did you know me at all? Or anyone in T&I, really. If you give me some information, I can verify it." A 'good cop' would give him the opportunity. Besides, he was curious as to just how solid this man's story was.

When Indra looked up this time, his expression had blanked. "I… do not know you in the future. In… my universe, there is a war between four and five years from now. Unfortunately, you do not… survive. I hope to change that."

Inoichi's blood ran cold. Another war? One his little girl would have to participate in? One he didn't survive?

Well, he supposed that was an easy way to make a pretty conceivable future, and could have been made up on the spot, but still…

"A war against who?" he asked.

Indra's eye narrowed and he studied the Jounin. Inoichi expected another impossible-to-believe answer. Instead, he got:

"A group of S-ranked missing nin who attack and capture Jinchuuriki in an attempt to extract their bijuu. They succeeded in obtaining most of them before they could be stopped, starting with Suna's one-tailed Jinchuuriki and working upwards from there.

"They have some… surprisingly powerful people on their side, including my brother who was infiltrating them."

Inoichi's breath hitched, but he made sure he didn't show it. He'd been read in on that since it involved Sasuke as his patient… but no one else should know that.

"Your brother?"

"Uchiha Itachi," he said, deadpan.

"Infiltrating?"

Indra co*cked his head, looking intrigued. "When he was sent to kill my clan by Shimura Danzo," he practically spit the man's name. Ah, so there was a very good chance he was the one to attack the man, Inoichi thought as the prisoner continued. "He knew he would have to become a missing nin, so he was given the task of infiltrating the Akatsuki."

Inoichi hoped he hadn't paled because if outside people got that information, it could be devastating to Konoha… as in 'may not survive' devastating.

And that's if they lived long enough to go through this war with a 'group of S-ranked missing nins'.

How screwed up was their future? (If Indra could be believed.)

"Is that so?" Inoichi finally asked, making sure to sound interested and surprised (not difficult). "And how did you come to know this?"

Indra scoffed. "He told me when I went to get my revenge on him. It was confirmed by several people and some records later."

"You… killed Itachi?"

The prisoner scoffed. "No. He died of an illness he's been hiding for years when we went all out in that last fight. He wanted me to kill him as punishment for what he did that night… Even though it wasn't his fault." Indra snorted quietly and shook his head sadly. "He was just carrying out orders, but the guilt itself almost killed him."

He trailed off after that, eye distant and unseeing.

Before Inoichi could ask anything else, though, Kakashi walked in with a scroll in his hand and set it on the table in between the interrogator and the prisoner.

"Just as he said. In other pockets, we found storage scrolls for food, more weapons, tents and other camping equipment, more blank storage scrolls, a bag of money and…" he paused and eyed Indra with a puzzled expression, "a box of colored pencils with paper."

'Sasuke' shrugged. "I like to draw."

Kakashi blinked. "Those were… your drawings?"

"This coming from the man who reads p*rn as a masking and coping mechanism?" the Uchiha shot back. Then he shook his head. "I can't be good at everything. Besides I lost my left hand. I needed to retrain my non-dominant hand somehow."

Before Kakashi could respond, Inoichi held up his hand. "Could I open the scroll?" he asked.

'Sasuke' shook his head. "No. But Kakashi-sensei should be able to."

The two interrogators exchanged glances again, and Inoichi nodded for the former ANBU captain to (carefully) do so.

He did, slowly and only after examining the storage seal (it was an average seal, so he proceeded). A puff of smoke later revealed a book, obviously home-made and well worn. After more glances, Kakashi reached over and opened it.

Then his eye widened.

After a moment, he turned the book to Inoichi, who saw the large picture on the front page. It was a picture of a very ragged group of Konoha ninja. They looked like the current generation's genin but older.

"Is that… Ino?" he asked, picking out the blond girl grinning and showing a peace sign at the camera.

"That was taken after Naruto and I got out of the field hospital," Indra said with what sounded like fond exasperation. "It was a picture of the 'rookie nine' of our year… and team Gai. Only one of that particular group was lost in that war…"

And indeed, Inoichi could see the Hyuuga Heiress, the Inazuka boy, the Aburame boy, Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji, Gai's student with the twin buns in her hair, Gai's mini-me (not so small here…), a blank-faced, dark-haired teen Inoichi didn't know and finally, Sakura behind a bandaged Naruto and Sasuke.

"Both… you and Naruto are missing an arm here…" he pointed out after studying the picture a bit.

"We were both idiots."

That had a finality to it that said he wouldn't elaborate. Inoichi decided to let it slide for now. He had enough to focus on anyway.

The blond turned the page and his face paled again. Because on that page he found a picture of Gai… in a wheelchair. What could put Gai of all people in a wheel chair? Behind him stood Kakashi giving him bunny ears… in kage robes.

How terrible must the future be if they had to pick Hatake Kakashi as a Hokage?!

"Impressive photo doctoring, but I know these are fake as I would never be Hokage," Kakashi stated with forced casualness.

Indra (Sasuke?) chuckled, "Everyone knew you were just keeping the seat warm for Naruto until he finished training enough to take the spot. You did fine as Hokage, Kakashi-sensei."

The silver haired man grunted, "You didn't get my eyes right. I have two regular eyes here."

The bound man shrugged at him. "Madara took your Sharingan eye and Naruto had to use his Six-Path Sage powers to regenerate an eye for you. He did that right after he stopped Gai from dying when he used the Eighth Gate. Naruto couldn't save his foot though and Tsunade was… recovering from her own battle."

Inoichi blinked and rubbed the bridge of his nose. So many claims in just a few sentences that made little sense in reality, but were still theoretically plausible and drew his curiosity as a story. He also still felt this possible time-traveler kept telling the truth, as outlandish as that seemed. He was getting no negative readings indicating lies. Like Kakashi stated, the pictures could just be well doctored fakes… but they were good. Putting this much effort into a cover story would indicate they were after something big… and a Jinchuuriki fit the bill, but still…

Inoichi also had to ask himself what evidence could be provided that could be considered definitive proof either way? What if the DNA results showed a match between the bound man across the table and the newly made genin of Team 7? Would that make him believe?

And just how would they handle that case?

The paperwork alone… He shuddered. Did they even have paperwork for lost time-travelers?

The blond shook his head slightly to dispel that spiral of thought before it could spin out of control. For now he needed to focus on getting what information he could. They could parse out the truths and lies in it later. Maybe with the help of his old teammates and alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.

Inoichi grabbed his pen again, and looked steadily at the prisoner. "Okay then, ignoring the Kages you mentioned at the beginning for now, how far into the future do you claim to be from?"

Chapter 13: Chapter 13

Chapter by DAsObiQuiet

Chapter Text

Sarutobi Hiruzen listened, dumbfounded, to the story one of his more experienced and tested shinobi presented. Complete with pictures. One picture in particular stood out to him, showing two teens; an older, though still easily recognizable, Naruto next to someone who could be (was meant to be?) his own grandson, Konohamaru, in four or five years. He even had that extra long scarf his little Konohamaru always wore, looking old and well-loved. The Professor checked the photo over, but like their analysts, he couldn't find any indications of doctoring. If someone was pulling a con here, it was a well thought out and thorough one.

The Third Hokage looked back at Inoichi, gathering his thoughts. "And you couldn't find any discrepancies in his tale?"

The Yamanaka shook his head. "Some, but no major ones and no more allowances than I would give to any ninja reporting. He consistently gave the same or just differently worded answers on any given point and was happy to elaborate. I could get a feel for his body language eventually—as marginal as it is—but nothing indicated that he lied." The blond spread his hands helplessly. "Withheld information? Sure, but no outright lie."

Sarutobi hummed in thought, "How much of the information is currently viable?"

"Not much, as he didn't have current actionable intel…" the blond paused and then proceeded cautiously, "that hasn't already been potentially enacted. Which fits if he was a genin. He also seemed surprised on some of the more well known factors that any remotely experienced ninja would know at the moment—our relationship with other nations and such. He only knows what a fresh genin would know regarding anything unrelated to his clan." And Danzo, but apparently that was related to his clan.

The Hokage looked, once again, at another photograph, where Naruto, Tsunade, A from Kumo (of all people), Onoki of Iwa (even more surprising), a red -headed youth with heavy bags under his eyes and the kanji for "Love" over his left eye, and a mature looking Terumi Mei from Kiri all sat eating ramen together. In Konoha. At Ichiraku's (it looked like a newer stand, but still recognizable). The note on the back said "Ramen for the win!" Sarutobi shook his head and chuckled, maybe a little hysterically. He'd take what levity he could at this point. Naruto making peace through ramen sounded crazy, but it certainly fit the narrative he'd just been given.

Pushing the picture book away, he focused back on his lead interrogator.

"Did you get the DNA results?" Sarutobi asked, rubbing circles in his temple to try and avoid the oncoming headache. He doubted he'd succeed.

Inoichi nodded, looking uncomfortable. (Sarutobi was glad he could still read his ninja.)

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"And?"

The blond took a deep breath. "It matches Uchiha Sasuke."

Sarutobi sat back in his chair, trying to wrap his mind around that. Of course he'd be the one who had to deal with this… Why couldn't he find someone to take over his seat? Why?!

(Oh, wait… he did. Why couldn't he find a second successor?!)

"And he confessed that he attacked Danzo and that he knew he had just cause?" Sarutobi forced himself to ask quietly.

Again, Inoichi nodded. "Hatake-san wasn't happy about that, informing 'Indra' that he'd been stuck in T&I for days because of him."

Sarutobi frowned. Inoichi seemed to agree. "It was the first and only time he let his temper get the better of him."

"The prisoner's response?" Sarutobi asked.

"He claimed he hadn't meant for that to happen… that it had just been a 'happy accident'."

The Hokage just stared.

"He then told Hatake-san that he was beginning to understand why he trolled everyone. I made Hatake leave after that."

A beat of silence before the lead interrogator spoke up again.

"Indra… er, older Sasuke, I suppose, also told me to tell you, 'You're welcome,' in regards to Shimura-san. That by taking him out now, he prevented many problems that happen in the future. He only regrets that he couldn't have done more sooner."

Sarutobi could hear the censure in there and wasn't sure how he should feel about it. Part of him wanted to rage because he was the Third Hokage and Danzo had his place in the village. But if this was one of their ninja from the future… and honestly, Sarutobi knew he should have done something regarding his old teammate sooner, but he'd been hoping to give up the hat shortly. Opening anything regarding Danzo would have been him acknowledging he would be in this seat for years to come… and he hadn't been able to face that.

Which was his shortcoming.

How many people would pay for that? All of Konoha?

He let out a sigh.

"Does he have a way back to his universe?"

Inoichi looked relieved. Likely because Sarutobi had decided to buy Indra's story. Which meant the interrogator believed him too. (The Hokage definitely made note of that.)

"He's… waiting for Naruto to pick him up."

Sarutobi just stared at Inoichi for several seconds.

"He said he had no way of actually finding his home dimension without a hit-or miss method that was just as likely to get him more lost."

"And he expects Naruto to find him?" Sarutobi asked, skeptical.

Inoichi shrugged helplessly. "He did become Hokage in the future. Sasuke-san insisted he'd earned it and that he's defied the natural laws of reality for his teammates before."

Right. So Naruto had become that strong. Just how badly did Mizuki—and likely other instructors, to be fair—sabotage Naruto's academy years if he was that fast of a learner?

Yeah, that was it. The last straw highlighting just how badly he'd done and how far he'd fallen as Hokage. (He didn't want the hat anymore! He hadn't for decades!)

"Who did you say was the fifth Hokage?"

"Tsunade-hime."

Sarutobi knew she'd make a great Hokage, but… how did they get her to come back at all?

His question must have shown on his face because Inoichi spoke up. "Sasuke-san said something about her coming back after the Chuunin exams held in Konoha."

Oh. Well… he could wait another seven months, he supposed.

Or he could just talk to the man himself and see if he could get Tsunade there sooner.

Or, if this really was Uchiha Sasuke, maybe Sarutobi should make him the next Hokage. (He may or may not have smiled a little vindictively at that, even if he couldn't bring himself to really consider the idea as he still wasn't completely sure of this man's loyalty, even if he was one of their ninja from the future.

It was almost worth the joke just to troll the guy back.)

"Very well. Bring the prisoner to me. I'd like to have a discussion with him."

xXx

Indra sat across from the Hokage, chakra suppressors still on his three remaining limbs. (That meant he could use his Rinnegan to an extent. He wasn't about to inform them of this. Sometimes a missing limb really did come in handy.)

The old man watched the time-traveler warily. "So… Sasuke-san…"

Ah, so he'd accepted the truth. That made this infinitely easier.

"You may call me Indra," he said. "It is the name I have been going by."

Sarutobi's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Yes... the Reincarnation name."

Indra shrugged but didn't elaborate more. The Hokage didn't want to really discuss it, apparently, as he seemed to take that in stride and move on.

"For now, in this office, I would like you to go by your given name, Uchiha-san," Sarutobi said.

Sasuke shrugged. "Very well."

"I'm assuming you want to be instated—or reinstated, depending on how you look at it—as a ninja?"

The man paused. "The reserves, if that is possible," he finally decided. "There are some issues I need to address outside the village as soon as possible so I may not be available for every mission."

The Hokage's frown deepened. "Issues?"

Sasuke shrugged again. "The Akatsuki mainly. I'd say Orochimaru, but he'll be here around the Chuunin exams as well, so I figured I'd take care of him then or if I find time before then. Depends on how difficult some of the Akatsuki members are to track down."

Sarutobi looked entirely unimpressed. "The group Itachi is reportedly a part of?"

Sasuke snorted. "Itachi is a decent spy. He's a lousy saboteur. Unless you count himself."

The Hokage seemed confused. "But they're simply a mercenary group. Admittedly of A and S-ranked missing nin."

Sasuke nodded. "Yes. And they want to capture all the Jinchuuriki and their Bijuu to force the world into peace."

The Hokage blinked and then put a hand to the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes. "Forced peace never works for long."

Sasuke agreed with a sympathetic nod. "True, but desperate people will do desperate things."

"Desperate?" Sarutobi asked, tipping his head to one side.

"Desperate to stop the fighting," Sasuke said with a small sigh. "I can't say I blame them. Only their methods."

The old man rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "Uchiha-san, I cannot, in good conscience, send you out on an unknown mission to which only you know the details alone. I know all of our evidence points to you being Uchiha Sasuke, but what does that mean? Are you even still loyal to Konoha?"

That… hit a little too close to home for comfort and Sasuke barely held back a wince.

"Do you always carry around such identifying evidence?" The Sandaime continued. "The kind of evidence that just happens to corroborate your claim? The kind of evidence that would utterly destroy you on an undercover mission."

Sasuke snorted. "Me? On an undercover mission? The only two worse choices would be my teammates." He paused, thinking. "And that could be argued depending on the mission. I'm, ironically, much better at assassination and sabotage than infiltration simply because everybody knows my face. Sakura would just punch through everything she didn't poison and Naruto would befriend them all and turn them to our side more often than not—but everyone would see him coming half a continent away."

The utterly blank but still somehow disbelieving expression on the Sandaime's face was totally worth absolutely everything Sasuke had had to put up with up until this point.

Once he got home, he may have to do this more often.

"Naruto… has very few friends right now, after years of trying" the Hokage pointed out, but he did look hopeful so Sasuke would let the implications of that slide… for now.

"And because of that he clings to any sort of friendship he gets, then powers through any obstacle in his way, emotional or physical." Sasuke paused and thought about everything he knew about his best friend. "And he does it through fighting just as often as not."

The Hokage's expression turned blatantly incredulous.

"I've never figured it out either," Sasuke said, holding his hand up to show his innocence. "He even used it on me… multiple times." The Hokage didn't need to know it had only worked a handful of times, and most of that only recently, because it had still worked. "Over the smallest things, sometimes." That was also a recent development.

Sarutobi sighed. "I need more information before I can grant you reserve status. What exactly do you plan on doing to the Akatsuki?"

Sasuke frowned, then looked around at the shadows in the room.

"I've sent the ANBU out," the Hokage assured.

The time-traveler looked back at the Hokage with a wary expression. "That's not what I'm worried about. And I can't risk telling you my plans. Even here…"

The Sandaime shook his head. "Then I cannot let you out of the village unsupervised."

It was annoying, but honestly fair enough. He was lucky Sarutobi had believed him up until this point.

"Send a ninja with me," he finally conceded. He could compromise (no matter what Sakura said).

"And who, pray tell, could I send who could keep up with an S-class Uchiha?" Sarutobi asked dryly. He frowned and looked Sasuke up and down. "Does that rank still apply with your missing arm?"

Sasuke refrained from rolling his eyes. "Yes."

"Then I would have to send an elite ANBU or…" he faded off, looking thoughtful. Sasuke didn't like that look for some reason. It set his instincts on edge.

"Yes… that could work. It would have to wait until after the Chuunin exams… but—"

"No," Sasuke said almost immediately.

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"Not Jiraiya." He'd met the man a handful of times and couldn't help but think that the two of them together would end up completely destroying whatever villages they came to, completely by accident even. It would be worse than him and Naruto… arguably.

"Then whom do you suggest?" Sarutobi asked dryly.

Sasuke's first inclination was Kakashi. He could work with Kakashi, even now. But the man had a new genin team… so honestly, that was out of the question for long periods out of the village. His second thought (much to his annoyance) was Gai. That would be… more frustrating and difficult, but he still trusted the man to have his back. But Gai had the same problem Kakashi did. Sasuke would have to choose from current ANBU, but… there were few people who he even knew as current ANBU, let alone trusted. That had all changed after the fourth shinobi war.

Except for one… She'd become one of the most senior Jounin ANBU members after she'd survived the war herself…

"Yugao," he finally said. Even if she wasn't as elite as she'd been in the future, she would still be competent and someone he could trust.

Sarutobi thought about that, then shrugged. "Very well, she can go with you, but you will both go with Jiraiya once he comes back."

"That's cruel," Sasuke couldn't help but say. The Sandaime's unimpressed expression returned and the younger man couldn't help but be a little annoyed. "She's a woman. Traveling with Jiraiya."

The Hokage studied Sasuke at that, although the latter couldn't say what conclusion the former came to.

"Be that as it may," the old man finally said, "I will speak with Jiraiya and Yugao myself. But you must have a Jounin with you when you leave the village. Those are my conditions."

And he wouldn't get any better than that.

It wasn't ideal in any case, but he was positive he could keep Jiraiya from pervving on any female teammate they had. (If not, well, accidents happened with the Rinnegan.)

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," he said, managing to say it without gritted teeth even, as he stood. "For believing me."

Sarutobi nodded magnanimously.

As the time-traveler turned to walk away, he paused at the door, looking over his shoulder. "By the way, keeping the photo album on hand was Naruto's idea too. That's the kind of person he is and the kind of Hokage he becomes. So yes, I do keep that kind of 'evidence' on me at all times."

With that, he left the Hokage's office.

xXx

Hiruzen stared at the door as the former prisoner left his office. The old man vainly attempted to hold back another sigh. Another of far too many recently. He looked down at the collection of photographs and wondered at the thought process Naruto, as a Hokage, went through to have such obvious evidence on the body of an elite jounin. It didn't take Sarutobi long to put together a likely scenario.

Two orphans who likely didn't get to see each other often. And the most worn picture in the bunch looked to be of a pink haired woman holding a black haired little girl. "Sakura and Sarada" was written on its back in a semi-legible scrawl. All the photographs showing people together.

Naruto wanted to remind his friend of what waited at home.

Hiruzen put the photo down and opened a drawer in his desk, pulling a picture of his own out. His eyes focused on the family shot of himself, Biwako, and their children when young. He could almost hear his wife's sharp voice telling him to take better care of himself.

Eventually, he silently and carefully put the picture back and shut the drawer again. He took a moment to grieve the loss of his family—his life when he was younger. Everything had looked so hopeful back then. Just like Minato's had…

Which one of them had really come out on top, he wondered.

Then he shook such thoughts from his head, straightened his back and gave the signal for his ANBU to retake their positions. He'd have to give Sasuke… Indra (he'd need to get used to calling the man that) that point, at least.

He well knew the need for reminders.

Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Chapter by DAsObiQuiet

Chapter Text

Indra smirked. Kakashi was following him. Likely on the Hokage's orders. And he was being stealthy, but Indra knew his former Sensei's chakra signature very, very well. The man couldn't hide from him. Not anymore. Not unless he suppressed his chakra signature entirely, and even then.

Shaking his head, he turned back to his current task of preparing for his mission to find and completely obliterate Zetsu. For the first time since he'd come back in time, he walked through the market without bothering to use a henge. So many people just stared at him as he passed by or approached to buy things. He was, very obviously, an Uchiha after all.

This was just so… amusing.

Once he got home, he really would have to do more of this trolling.

(His Kakashi had created a monster, he suspected, and was thoroughly looking forward to the expressions on everyone's faces when they realized.)

(The Rokudaime would never be safe from Sakura's fists again.)

He was glad he made a habit of carrying enough of Konoha's money around, and that it was good even in this day and age. Otherwise, he would have had to resort to less… ethical resource management. He didn't want to steal from his younger self, though (even if the brat had more than enough money), so he decided to be frugal and bought the supplies he would need and only those before heading back to the training ground he'd more or less made his home base in this time period.

About half-way there, he decided to get the necessary confrontation out of the way. Knowing very well that Kakashi wouldn't give him the time of day if he called out or tried to approach a confrontation nicely, he simply shunshin-ed right behind where he knew his former Sensei to be.

"Yo," he said as soon as he landed, then pulled a kunai to block Kakashi's, which had been aimed for his neck. Eh, you surprise a ninja, you had to be prepared. He would have done the same thing.

Kakashi's one eye widened in surprise when he saw who it was, then narrowed. Oh, so Indra would have to deal with serious Kakashi. Well, more serious than normal in any case. He knew what his sensei was capable of when it got down to the wire, and while he still knew he could win, that didn't mean it would be a clean or easy win. This was Hatake Kakashi, after all, even if he wasn't the sixth Hokage yet.

True to form, the former ANBU captain didn't so much as utter a sound, simply staring at Indra warily.

"Here," Indra said, holding up a scroll and then opening it to show that it wasn't booby trapped before closing it and throwing it to the other man.

Kakashi caught it, looking slightly more puzzled and wary than before. "What's this?"

"The training schedule I had for the kids. Also some projections, ideas to explore for each of them and a little bit about all of them from the future. I also have some notes about Kyuubi on there, under the name 'Kurama' as an FYI."

Instead of opening the scroll, Kakashi made a kage bunshin and handed it over. The bunshin took it and began to read while the original kept his eye on the time-traveler.

Well, it was good to know that he could still be sharp when he needed to be. Ninja paranoia never really went away, after all.

The two shinobi spent the next few minutes in silence. The kage bunshin read the scroll quickly and after re-wrapping it, tossed it to the original and dispelled. Kakashi caught the scroll again without taking his eye off Indra and asked, "You put all that together in a week?"

Indra shrugged, "I've had a lot of time to think about it and a lot of foundational information on the three of us."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed again, but he didn't say anything.

Indra shrugged and turned to walk out of the bushes the silver-haired man had been hiding in.

"You don't have as much listed for Sasuke."

Indra paused and looked over his shoulder. "He has training resources. Have him go through the Uchiha manuals and scrolls. Those are all open to him and while he'll likely need some guidance to learn them correctly, he should be able to figure out what he needs to learn on his own. Just… keep an eye on him. He can be… overly-ambitious.

"The other two, though, don't have nearly as much when it comes to accessible material. You are their best resource and you need to realize that. They can't just find things on their own. Not if you want them to be as good as they need to be to not die before they're sixteen."

Kakashi snorted. "You all survived, according to you."

Indra shook his head. "Barely. And for the most part, I wouldn't attribute that to you." He shrugged. It was harsh but true. "All three of us had to find other teachers to teach us and… not all of us found reputable ones. Yes, we survived, but after going through a lot of issues we didn't need to go through. Both Naruto and I lost an arm because we were fighting each other… after the war finished. I can't say that wouldn't have happened if you would have stepped up and treated everyone like equals, but I can say it wouldn't have hurt."

The time traveler paused and took a calming breath. He… hadn't quite meant to go there. He'd forgiven his Sensei once he'd figured out exactly what Kakashi had been going through at the time… but that didn't mean it was okay. Apparently he still had some anger and resentment over how they'd been treated as genin, though.

"Look," he settled on, "they're not ANBU. I'm sure you've been told to not treat them like ANBU. But honestly, a watered down version of boot camp wouldn't be amiss. They can handle it. Maybe not immediately, but within a couple of weeks, if you keep conditioning them and pushing them—all of them. Sakura and Naruto will learn how harsh ninja life can be soon enough. You don't have to teach them that. Just… be there for them when they do learn it. You don't have to be nice about it or hug them or whatever—I know you're allergic to that," he rolled his eyes (not that he had room to talk, but he wasn't about to say that), "but just explain it to them and let them know you're there to talk. It can be uncomfortable, but they really don't need much.

"If you teach them well enough, all of them will pass the Chunin Exam when it's in Konoha next."

Kakashi's visible eyebrow rose. "That's in seven months."

Sasuke shrugged. "They have the natural talent if you bring it out."

The two fell into silence for several seconds before Sasuke turned to walk away again. "This is your legacy, Hatake, whether you want it to be or not. Your choice what to do with it."

Kakashi didn't speak with him again as he slowly made his way back to camp, although he also didn't leave Indra alone after that.

Eh. Fair.

xXx

Kakashi-sensei met team Seven the next day.

On time.

They'd only met him a little over a week before and even they knew that was a big deal. He still stood there on the bridge smiling that eye-smile and reading his little, orange book (what even was that?), but he was there.

Sasuke automatically went on guard. Sakura, who showed up not seconds later, audibly gasped. Naruto, the loudmouth, took one look and just stalked up to the jounin.

"Nee, Kakashi-sensei! You're on time! I'm proud of you, dattebayo!"

Sasuke inwardly groaned. Sakura outwardly groaned and dropped her face in her hands.

Kakashi-sensei just eye-smiled (again) and put his book away. "Thank you, Naruto. Now, hurry to training ground three. You have five minutes."

With that, he disappeared, letting leaves drift in the wind behind him. The three genin stared at said leaves before glancing at each other.

"Guess we'd better hurry," Sakura said, shooting one last look at Sasuke before taking off at a jog. "We should be able to get there within five minutes."

"Easy!" Naruto said, taking off after her. Sighing, Sasuke joined his teammates. They had to run two kilometers or so to get to the training ground. Yeah, it wouldn't be too difficult.

He didn't really expect Kakashi-sensei to be there when they got there, but he was. That just put Sasuke more on edge. Even Naruto was beginning to look uneasy. Either not seeing or not caring about his genin's unease, the jounin eye-smiled at them yet again.

"Good job. I'll make it four minutes tomorrow." Beside Sasuke, Sakura gulped. She was already breathing hard, though not as hard as she had days before. Huh.

"Today we're going to see how far you've come," Kakashi said. "So I want each of you to spar with me one on one. The other two will stay off to the side and take notes."

Before he could go on, Naruto raised his hand. "Oo! Oo! Kakashi-sensei!"

The silver-haired man blinked. "Yes, Naruto?"

"Can I make a kage bunshin to watch from different angles?"

More blinking (with one eye, but Sasuke was pretty sure). "That is an excellent idea."

"Indra-nii said it would help me!"

"Indeed it will. Now, how about you first, then?"

"Yes!" the orange-clad boy pumped the air. "I'll show you how much better I am!"

Kakashi eye-smiled again. "I don't doubt it." Then he turned to his other two teammates. "Sasuke, Sakura, why don't you sit near the tree over there?"

Sasuke nodded, assuming Sakura did too, as they both turned and sat under the tree in the middle of the field, soon joined by two Naruto clones. Sasuke gave them the side eye, but otherwise said nothing.

"Alright, Naruto. Lesson number one: Taijutsu only."

The blond pouted. "So no clones?"

"No clones."

He sighed. "Fine. But I can use weapons, right?"

"Hmm. Later. I want to see what you can do with just your taijutsu."

The blond nodded. "Okay." He fell back into the basic academy stance. It was a solid stance. He didn't charge, waiting patiently but watching their teacher warily.

Huh. He really had grown.

"Start," Kakashi-sensei said, and Naruto rushed forward.

Sasuke hadn't actively watched to see how different Naruto had become, but watching him now… if he hadn't known any better, he would have thought Naruto had been using the academy style—correctly—for years. Those kage bunshin were cheats and Sasuke wasn't jealous. (He wasn't.)

Kakashi-sensei still outmatched and outpaced the jinchuuriki at every step, but he also seemed very pleased. Especially as there were points, several times actually, where Naruto would duck differently than the academy style called for, or he'd use a kick where a punch should be. One time, he rolled sideways and even Kakashi-sensei seemed surprised at the move.

"Okay," the jounin said after a few minutes. "You can use weapons now."

Naruto grinned and began to throw kunai and shuriken. He had decent aim, albeit with fewer shuriken than Sasuke or even Sakura could throw. Sasuke preened a little at that, but he still noted a marked improvement in how Naruto threw and used his weapons. He also managed to set a couple of traps, albeit simple ones that Kakashi-sensei could avoid easily, but traps nonetheless.

"Ninjutsu," Kakashi said. Suddenly, there were dozens of Naruto's clones attacking.

"Indra-sensei said if I tried to make one of those clones, I'd die," Sakura said quietly. "Because it requires so much chakra."

Sasuke took his eyes off of the battle to stare at his pink-haired teammate. She sat with her arms wrapped around her legs, eyes staring out at the fight currently taking place. After a moment, Sasuke looked back out at the field in front of him, unable to keep his new found respect and shock off of his face. Next to them, the clones snickered.

Kakashi was using kawarimi to flash all around the field. Frustrated (by the looks on the clones' faces), several Narutos kept following him, only seconds behind as multiple clones were taken out of action.

"Genjutsu," Kakashi-sensei called out, and Naruto froze in his tracks. Then he frowned and looked around.

"Wait… why am I in here again? Where's…" his eyes went wide and he looked up. Even from where he sat, Sasuke saw his face go pale. "No… no it can't be… the seal…" His clones disappeared in puffs of smoke as Naruto took several steps back.

"Kai," Kakashi-sensei shouted just as Naruto tripped, scrambling away from something. A second later, Naruto looked around, breathing heavily.

Kakashi (did he seem a little shaken? Surely not) walked over to Naruto. "Good job. You've improved a lot. How about you make more clones to watch and go sit by Sakura. We'll be working on your genjutsu resistance in the future."

Shaken, Naruto nodded, holding his stomach as he walked towards his teammate.

"Sasuke," their sensei called. "Your turn."

Taking a deep breath, Sasuke stood and strode past Naruto, not so much as glancing his way. If Sasuke looked like that, he wouldn't want anyone staring at him either.

Sasuke didn't do as well as he would have liked with taijutsu, weapons, or ninjutsu, but he still did better than the dobe, he thought.

At least, until Kakashi put him under a genjutsu.

Suddenly, he found himself surrounded by the Uchiha compound, silent and dark. He could smell blood in the air. His feet took him towards the house at the top of the hill without his permission…

No!

"KAI!" he yelled, putting as much chakra and effort into breaking the jutsu as he could. Immediately, the compound vanished, melting into training ground three's bright, grass-covered field.

"Good job, Sasuke," Kakashi-sensei said. He stood near, but didn't try to touch him. Sasuke was grateful for that.

It didn't feel like a good job.

"Go ahead and sit down by Naruto."

Sasuke nodded and stiffly made his way back to his oddly quiet teammate.

"Are you okay, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.

He just nodded and sat in the spot she'd vacated. She watched him unsurely for a couple of seconds before turning around and hurrying towards Kakashi-sensei.

The two boys watched her start out with the academy style of taijutsu, and while she was definitely the worst of the three of them at it, Sasuke could still see some pretty significant improvement.

"That genjutsu," Naruto said quietly.

Sasuke didn't answer, his throat constricting.

"Your brother?"

"Close enough," Sasuke muttered, forcing himself to not wince. "The fox?" he asked Naruto, not looking over at him.

Naruto hunched down a little. "Yeah."

Neither one of them said anything else.

Sakura did better than Naruto with weapons, but worse than Sasuke (of course), pretty decent with ninjutsu, although she only really had the academy three to depend on, and the best by far with genjutsu.

"Kai!" she said, a little too fast, but she jumped right back at Kakashi afterwards. Sasuke felt a stab of jealousy.

After a couple more minutes of sparring, a very out-of-breath Sakura collapsed besides the boys, and Kakashi-sensei walked over to them.

"You three," he growled, practically emanating a dark aura. The next second, it brightened significantly, "Have improved. I'm proud of you, my cute little genin."

Sasuke felt himself relax a little, though that annoyed him because Kakashi seemed to like to do that a lot. The troll.

"It's all thanks to Indra-nii!" Naruto said happily.

"Hmm," Kakashi-sensei said, nodding. "I see. Although you all did the work. Don't sell yourselves short."

Sasuke almost scoffed. What work? He'd hardly been able to actually train at all this week (except for that torture session Indra called training). He did feel like he'd made some progress though. And he had a clearer goal—or a couple—to work towards. Figure out what was going on with Itachi, with Indra, and train with his teammates. By himself as well, but they had a lot to work out if they wanted to be able to take Itachi down.

(Funny, he'd seemed to kind of just accept that the three of them would be going up against his brother after all. When had that happened?)

He wondered if Kakashi-sensei had some information about the massacre. He wondered if he could bring himself to ask…

Coward. Itachi's voice rang through his head. Sasuke grit his teeth.

"Well," Kakashi-sensei replied. "Now that you've all had your warm-up week—" wait, what?! "—it's time for the real training to begin."

Sasuke would never admit he regretted accepting his hitai-ate at those words… because if the last week had been a warm up… No, he just had to be exaggerating.

Hatake Kakashi is more of a prodigy than your brother…

"Sakura," the pink-haired girl went white, even as Kakashi-sensei smiled at her. "You'll be walking up and down trees until lunch. Every tree within a kilometer. I've already marked them with an x. Also, I hear you have scrolls to study. Well, this is a great time to study them! After lunch, you'll be running laps around the pond… on top of the water, of course, and I can quiz you. There will be consequences for wrong answers."

"W-walk on… A-all day, Kakashi-sensei?"

"We need to get those reserves up. Stretch and get going. If you don't hit all of the x-es at least twice, I'll know."

With a shaky breath, Sakura started stretching.

"Naruto, Sasuke, you both get to learn tree walking today. We'll focus on that until lunch. After that I have a list of exercises you'll need to finish before you can go home." He pulled out a scroll, unlatched it and… it fell to the ground. He was still holding the other end.

Sasuke knew both he and Naruto blanched.

"I hope you don't feel left out, Sakura-chan. We'll be working up to allowing you to do all of these on water."

She whimpered.

"Uh… Sensei…" Naruto said slowly, "can I use my kage bunshin for these?"

Sasuke whipped his head to stare at the blond. The cheater!

"Hmm," Kakashi-sensei said, tapping his chin. "For the tree-walking, sure. As long as you don't get in Sakura or Sasuke's way. For the exercises? No. Your clones affect your nervous system when they return your memories, so they can help you build muscle memory as those are pathways in your brain you get used to activating. They can't help you build actual muscle."

Naruto nodded and slumped a little. "Hai, sensei."

It still felt like cheating.

"Well, you all have a lot to work on! You'd better get to it! Tomorrow you'll have to do all of this again, on top of a D-rank mission."

Sasuke expected Naruto to be excited about that. It would be just like him to not know what a D-rank mission entailed. Sasuke did. He'd looked it up earlier that week, after Team 8. Apparently, though, Naruto knew too as he cringed, but nodded. Sakura did much the same.

"Well, get stretching," Kakashi said happily.

Naruto groaned and began to stretch. Silently, although no less annoyed, Sasuke joined him. Then they got started climbing trees with just their feet.

"Oh, it helps if you take it at a bit of a run," Kakashi-sensei called out, sitting in a tree and reading his orange book. "And you may want to take a kunai and mark wherever you make it to. Keep track of your progress."

Sasuke frowned and ran at the tree he'd chosen. His foot imploded on the bark and he flipped back. Naruto fell right off.

"Well, that's exactly opposite of what I expected," their sensei said with a chuckle. He went on to explain the mechanics of tree walking. Sasuke listened with half an ear as he looked over to see Sakura calmly—if hurriedly—walking up and down trees like it was nothing.

He never thought he'd be jealous of her.

"Now, why don't you two get back to work!" Kakashi said happily.

"Hai, Kakashi-Sensei," Naruto and Sasuke muttered simultaneously and went back to trying to climb their respective trees.

Naruto got it by lunch. Stupid cheating shadow clones. Sasuke only got to about a third of his tree before falling right back down. He could get on a tree. He could stick to it. He just couldn't keep it constant.

"Good job, Naruto. Tomorrow you'll start on water walking. You too, Sakura. Tomorrow, we'll add the leaf control technique to your tree and water walking. Don't worry, I won't make you do it today."

"Leaf technique?" Naruto asked, tipping his head to one side and… kind of looking like a fox. Okay, how much of that had he gotten from the Kyuubi?

"It's an academy basic," Sakura muttered, "where you use your chakra to stick leaves to yourself."

"Oh, that. I was never very good at that. The leaves always blew away from me or didn't stick on at all."

"Hmm," Kakashi-sensei said. "In any case, learning to control your chakra on different points of your body simultaneously can only be beneficial in the future. Now, how about lunch!"

He took them to a barbecue. Then he left them to pay for themselves. Sasuke was beginning to think the word 'troll' wasn't harsh enough to describe their teacher. At least he wasn't sad*stic like Indra had been… he shuddered at that thought.

When he got back to the training ground and saw the list of exercises he and Naruto had to get started on, though, he revisited that thought.

This… would be a long week.

(He was wrong. His personal torture would last far longer than a week.)

Chapter 15

Chapter by DAsObiQuiet

Chapter Text

"Indra-san," Hiruzen said quietly as Indra walked into the Hokage's office.

"Hokage-sama," he said, albeit a little co*ckily. What? He kind of liked getting under the guy's skin. He deserved it. "You called for me?"

"Could you please release Danzo from the genjutsu?"

Indra frowned and his plausible deniability mode kicked in on instinct. "You think I can?"

Hiruzen's expression flattened and dried out, akin to Suna's planes. No, seriously, that was too amusing. "I am many things. A fool is not one of them." The point could be argued. "You did it. We need him released for questioning. You won't be punished as you obviously had good reason."

Not to mention they both knew Hiruzen would have a very difficult time punishing Indra at the moment. He'd be wanting to save any punishments for something more… drastic. Not that Indra had any plans of making him use anything that could remotely scare him, namely team 7.

Finally, he shrugged. "Very well. Although I insist on multiple chakra suppressors and a T&I cell to hold him."

It was only fair.

Apparently the Hokage realized that too, because he nodded tiredly. "Cat. Make sure Shimura Danzo is transferred to a cell in T&I, then escort Indra-san there."

Cat appeared before the Hokage, kneeling down. "Hai, Hokage-sama." Then they disappeared.

After a moment, the Third seemed surprised that Indra hadn't left yet. He looked up, curiously, if warily.

"May I ask you something, Hokage-sama?" Indra ventured carefully.

The man behind the desk's eyes narrowed as he studied the time-traveler for several seconds before finally nodding, albeit stiffly.

"How much did you know about the Massacre? Really?"

Silence that could have been cut with a kunai, lasting an eternity, but only moments.

Finally, the old man sighed. "I knew the clan elders would be killed. But that was supposed to be all."

So he'd known. About the coup, and the supposed 'solution'. Sasuke fought the betrayal that rose inside him. He'd known it was a possibility.

"Did you try talking to them?" he had to ask. Had they been given a chance?

When Sarutobi spoke this time, his voice hung heavily with shame. "No. I was… advised against it."

Sasuke (he was not Indra right now) felt his teeth clench. "By Danzo."

Another sigh. "Yes."

Sasuke pushed his anger down. Attacking the Hokage right now would not be beneficial in the long run, no matter how cathartic.

"Why didn't you just give him the hat?" he finally asked "You didn't want the Hokage's seat again. He did, he was strong enough. So why?"

"I couldn't let him have that kind of power and control."

Sasuke breathed. It helped. A little. "So you knew. What kind of man he was."

Hiruzen scoffed. "Of course, I did. I just… didn't think he'd go that far."

The time-traveler met the older man's eyes. "You did." Because they both knew it.

More silence until Sarutobi shook his head. "Perhaps you're right. I just…"

"Didn't have the will to fight him anymore?" Sasuke asked, practically spitting the words out, uncaring of the accusation in them.

Another sigh. "Yes."

"You shouldn't have taken the hat back."

"I didn't have a choice."

"Danzo was practically running this village behind your back."

"But he couldn't do so in the open," Hiruzen said. "I made many mistakes, Indra-san, but keeping the hat away from Danzo is not one of them."

Sasuke kind of hated that he was right.

Still…

"Sasuke-kun," Hiruzen said suddenly, his voice quiet as he sat forward. Oh, he'd dismissed his ANBU… Sasuke must have been very distracted to miss that. "I realize this is far too little, far too late, but… for what it's worth, I am sorry. I did not want the Massacre to happen like it did… or at all."

"But it did happen."

Another pause. "Yes. It did. And I will take the burden of the decisions I made that led to that to the grave. I will bear your hatred because I deserve it." With that, he rose, walked calmly around the desk, then knelt down in dogeza. Sasuke could hear those knees creak as he lowered himself, and the time-traveler's eyebrows rose. "I do not ask for your forgiveness, or your understanding, but know that I regret everything that happened—everything that led up to that event—from the bottom of my soul."

Sasuke blinked. He… hadn't expected that. He didn't quite know what to do with it either.

"Get up," he finally muttered. After all, nothing could be done about it now. Except… "Bring Itachi back to the village and I'll… consider your apology." Because just dismissing it felt wrong, but… the apology did help. He wished it didn't.

"I've already begun to lay the groundwork," Hiruzen said as he (very slowly) rose to his feet. "It will be up to Itachi-san himself, but if he wishes to return, he can, with my full blessing."

That still didn't seem like quite enough, but it was probably more than Sasuke should have expected, so he simply nodded. The Third slunk behind his desk and eased himself into his chair, likely playing up his age just to put Sasuke more at ease. It didn't work. Much.

"I wish I still had my advisors from before the Kyuubi attack," he said tiredly.

Sasuke scoffed. "More people running the village behind your back?"

Hiruzen shrugged. "Biwako was good at it." Hiruzen's eyes lost their focus for several seconds, obviously lost in a memory. Sasuke frowned, trying to remember who that was.

"Your wife?" he finally realized, surprised.

The old man nodded. "I may have become a little too dependent on her advice." He snorted. "She never did like Danzo."

Then she had to be pretty decent in Sasuke's book. "She died during the Kyuubi attack?" Sasuke asked, remembering hearing that somewhere, vaguely.

Hiruzen nodded. "Along with too many other good friends. Afterwards, all I really had to lean on were my old teammates."

Oh. Well… that explained a lot. A heartbroken old man had to retake the title with the most responsibility in the village without any of the support he was used to. Didn't excuse anything, but it did grant some perspective.

"She wouldn't have let things escalate like that," Hiruzen muttered.

Sasuke sighed. He got it, he did. If Sakura died, he wouldn't take it well, but at least he'd have his friends to lean on. Still…

"Just, get Itachi back," he said again, then turned to leave. "And don't underestimate Danzo again." With that, he walked out.

"Hai," he heard the old man say behind him as the door closed.

xXx

Tsunade knew her expression soured as she saw the gates to Konoha: The village she both loved and loathed; the village that had taken any love she'd ever had and twisted it. Her love was still there, still strong, still love, but a shriveled version of it. Like a dying, poisoned plant. Knowing that Danzo had been behind it all both helped and hurt her perception of the place she used to (still did) call home.

It was complicated, and she wasn't sure what to think of it all. Which ticked her off, of course.

If she'd been anything but completely focused on that and the information from Jiraiya, she may have noticed Shizune's own face light up, squeezing Ton-Ton just a little tighter. But she didn't. Instead, she stomped up to the gate (she was not throwing a tantrum, no matter what anyone said) and practically slammed her information papers down at the desk of the ninja guarding said gate.

The two men there stared up at her with slack jaws.

"T-Tsunade-hime?" one of them asked.

She narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Yes. Are you going to stamp my papers or am I going to have to go talk to Sensei illegally?"

Because she'd like to see someone try and stop her.

Both of them gulped and exchanged glances (amateurs, they should keep that kind of emotion off of their face on duty unless they could back it up) and then scrambled over themselves to check both her and Shizune's papers.

Three minutes later, she stalked vertically up the side of the Hokage tower while Shizune waited below with Ton-Ton. Several shinobi had stopped to stare at her, but she paid them no heed. Hefting herself in through the window, she landed in the Hokage's office and saw her old Sensei sitting there doing paperwork behind the desk.

"Where. Is. He?" she asked, stalking up to his desk.

Her old teacher sighed as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders (dramatic much?) and just looked up at his student.

"Hello, Tsunade. Wonderful to see you. How have you been doing? It would be nice to hear from you."

"Stuff it, old man," she growled, leaning over the desk, "and tell me where Shimura Danzo is."

Slumping back in his seat, the Hokage took a deep whiff of his pipe and let it out before answering. "I can't tell you that."

"Don't you dare give me that!"

Before she could say more, he cut her off. "How much did Jiraiya tell you?"

She felt her teeth grinding and took several calming breaths. "Enough."

"So the cliff-notes version," he said dryly.

She growled but didn't contest the point.

"That man—" she started, but again, he interrupted.

"Has done this village dirty. Yes."

"From dramatics to understatement," she said loudly, exasperated. "I'm going to destroy him, and you can't stop me. You may as well just tell me and save us both the trouble."

"I can stop you, and you'll have to get in line to kill him."

She felt her temper go from simmering to boiling. "He killed off everyone I ever loved!"

Wait, was that hurt in her Sensei's eyes? Tsunade wanted to take those words back almost immediately, because she did love her team and her sensei, but her pride wouldn't let her, so she just folded her arms and glared.

Hiruzen seemed to wither just a little more, but he still somehow, simultaneously stood strong. "He took Hatake Kakashi's entire family at the age of four, and then his team and his future during the war. He took Uchiha Sasuke's entire clan and stole their bloodline—multiple times—while framing Uchiha Itachi for it all. He let out information on Uzumaki Naruto's jinchuuriki status and encouraged the village's horrible treatment of him for his entire childhood in hopes of gaining him as a weapon he could train. We have over a hundred people—including children—who were taken into Root who have had their very identity stripped from them, Tsunade. That doesn't even include the spies—most of which are children—we've discovered. Half of them not even from this village, and the other half… we don't know where their loyalties lie. There was a very promising medic in the hospital who I'm not entirely sure if he even knows where his loyalties lie. I have stacks of information regarding people my former teammate has wronged, up to and including myself.

"So, as I said, get. In. Line." He took a deep breath. "You're not the only one whose life he's ruined."

Oh, no. No. She did not come this far to have her shot at Danzo taken from her. So, maybe a little childishly, she lashed out.

"And whose fault is that? Who allowed that all to happen?! Huh?"

This time, when he shrunk back, he seemed so much older, withered… weaker.

She'd never seen her sensei as weak before. Even in his old age he was strength just barely contained. He'd earned his title as 'The Professor' and one of the strongest men in the villages' history. But… her word had had more or less just implied that he'd grown weak, hadn't they?

She really needed to think about what she said before she said it sometimes. She needed a drink too.

"Mine. It's entirely mine." He looked up, meeting her eyes with a drooping gaze. "So if you want a shot at me, Tsunade, take it. Have at. I have no doubt you can." Almost as soon as he spoke, ANBU made themselves visible in the corners of the room, crouched in warning and preparation. Tsunade didn't so much as blink in their direction. They couldn't stop her. And everyone in the room knew it.

He… he was being serious. That shook her more than almost anything else he could have said.

"At this point," Hiruzen went on, "it would be a blessing. Perhaps then I wouldn't have to see everything I ever worked for come crashing down around me—see all the people I hurt because I was too weak and old to do anything—wouldn't have to watch them suffer for my incompetence. Maybe I'd finally have the rest I should have gotten twelve years ago. So please. Take a shot. At least then Orochimaru won't be the one to take me out."

Tsunade took a step back, hurt at the accusation, not just that she would even consider hurting her sensei, but that her old teammate would definitely do it. "Orochimaru? He's had problems, and I know he left, but he would never—"

"He's going to attack the village at the chuunin exam. With intent to kill me and either take over or completely destroy Konoha." The old man shook his head. "And he's another name on the list of Danzo's victims. Just in a different way." His eyes looked so distant… so haunted. "In some ways, worse.

"So please, Tsunade, tell me how to fix this? Almost everyone in Konoha deserves a shot at the man I trusted to help me run this village without turning it into a martial state—another Hidden Mist. And he tried to do just that. I need someone I can give this hat to, because I stopped deserving it a long time ago. But no one will step up. Jiraiya has his spy network that it would take years to hand over to someone else. If it weren't so vital to Konoha's survival, I'd say let it go, but I can't. You and Orochimaru both left. I had Danzo and my old teammates to choose from, and that's about it! Everyone else remotely capable of running the village either died in the Kyuubi attack or was undermined in the same attack to a point where if I had handed the hat over, it would have sparked a revolt!

"There is no one else. Not even me! We haven't had a real Hokage running this village since the Kyuubi attack. That's become blatantly apparent recently. And the only people who would do it would have hurt more than help.

"So I am begging you, Tsunade. Give me a solution."

They sat in silence for several seconds as her teacher did something he never did: he unloaded onto her. It was almost as shocking as it was sad. She'd never realized just how much this weighed on him… not that she hadn't known how difficult it was to run the village, but still. Her sensei had always been such a pillar… but even a pillar weakened with age, she supposed.

It was a wake-up call she hadn't realized she needed.

When she didn't answer, her teacher let out a long breath and sat back, putting a hand over his eyes. "And I've become so desperate as to ask someone who hates this village for advice. Surely that alone tells you how terrible the situation is."

Tsunade didn't shift uncomfortably, but it was a near thing. Hiruzen always did have a way of making her feel like a twelve-year-old gennin again.

"I… don't hate the village," she finally muttered.

The Hokage just shook his head. "You left. With no intention of coming back. If Konoha would have been razed yesterday, would you have cared at all?"

She wanted to say she would have—and it was likely even true, but… she would have gotten over it. Pretty quickly, too. Still would, to be honest.

"Indifference isn't hatred."

"Same result," he muttered with a shrug.

Then he shook his head. "I've realized why so few shinobi grow old. Because no one wants to see how badly they've hurt everyone around them. And I don't think there's a way for an old shinobi to avoid that.

"Age is a curse. The worst curse anyone could ever place on a ninja."

Okay, now he was almost sounding suicidal…

Which scared Tsunade more than she'd like to admit, even to herself.

They needed to get off the topic, and she still wanted to destroy Danzo… so…

She sighed herself. "What will happen to Shimura?"

Hiruzen curled in on himself a little more, but she refused to comment on it or feel guilty. Thankfully, he answered. "Right now, we're interrogating him." She almost asked if she could be involved. Almost. "After that, we'll have a public execution."

She took a deep breath. "Who will be the executioner?"

A pause. "Probably Hatake Kakashi. If not, one of the remaining Uchiha."

Tsunade frowned. "If I could… heal him… would you let me have my own shot at him?"

Hiruzen stiffened, and looked up, blinking. "Excuse me?"

She shrugged. "I can heal most of what someone could inflict at this point. I'd just have to have enough preparation."

Well… it would be more complicated than that, but she didn't need to be as careful as she would need to be if she was trying to save a life. Overstimulating cells could give someone cancer. But that wouldn't matter at this point. His bones didn't need to be aligned, even. He didn't even need to be functional. Just mentally present enough to feel her hand go through his heart.

Her sensei looked up, staring intently. His gaze seemed more present and more… alive than they had that entire conversation. Her hackles rose. That didn't mean anything good for her…

"It could take days—weeks even—to finish interrogating him."

Ah, so that was his angle. She grit her teeth. "I can take a spot at the hospital for a couple of weeks." She'd just have to avoid blood. She could do that.

Oh… right, killing Danzo might require her to see more blood. She may have to work on that too…

She could do this.

She could.

(Why did she not quite believe that?)

Well, she was determined to try.

"You'll find the hospital has changed quite a lot."

Oh. There was that too. She felt her eyebrow twitch. "Then it's a good thing I'll be here until his execution," she said through gritted teeth.

His face lit up. Which only succeeded in making her feel more guilty, but she refused to back down. "Only until his execution."

"Of course, of course," he conceded easily… too easily. He had something up his sleeves. "I assume you'll be taking over the Senju residence again?"

She snorted. "Not on your life. I'll be at a hotel. With Shizune. You'd better be willing to pay for it, because I won't."

His eyes narrowed. "We'll take this one week at a time. Come talk to me again next week, and we'll see."

There was the sensei she knew. That put her mind more at ease than she would have thought possible, but he was conceding, so she could put up with a couple of sessions with her old teacher.

"Fine. Inform the hospital I'll be in tomorrow."

He smiled at her. "Naturally."

She stood to leave, walking quickly towards the door.

"Oh, and Tsunade…" She paused at the door. "It is good to have you back. I missed you."

She couldn't answer. Her heart hurt just a little too much. So she just nodded and left.

Now to explain everything to Shizune…

xXx

Sakura had learned so much about the human body in the last weeks. She was good at memorizing things, so learning the names of the muscle groups hadn't been too difficult. It helped if there were diagrams, or if she could put it into practice, but even without all of that, she was good, and she knew it.

And was thankful for it. Because being quizzed on them while training with her team made it more… difficult. The fact that she had to do twenty pull ups on a tree branch, without chakra if she got the question incorrect sucked. She hated it. So much. As much as she liked an aid in helping her memorize things, this wasn't the way. Groaning in pain, she dragged herself through the streets of Konoha, heading for her house. They'd been doing a sort of crash course in training for the last couple of weeks and it hurt. It hadn't stopped hurting, the pain would just move around her body depending on the training. She could name each aching muscle, even. And she kind of hated that. She'd never felt them before like that. She really didn't want to feel them now, even if she knew it was making her stronger.

Her sensei was a demon. A one-eyed demon. He'd probably eat them if they let their guard down around him. Maybe that's what he was hiding under his mask: a monster mouth ready to suck them in when they were… ready?

Ready for what though? When they had enough muscle to—

No, she needed to get off of this ridiculous train of thought. Therein lay madness.

At least Naruto had gotten off of his whole "Rescue Indra" plan once he heard the man had been released. Sakura wasn't entirely sure as they hadn't seen him since he'd been arrested, but it had been enough for Naruto. She wondered how long that would last, because she had a sneaking suspicion he'd somehow drag both her and Sasuke into rescuing the guy if he really was still in T & I. She didn't remember Naruto being that persuasive in the academy, although he had been more focused on pranks at the time… and undermined.

Thinking of Naruto as a potential prodigy was… surreal.

"Oi, Billboard Brow!" a voice broke through her numb mind and she managed to drag her gaze up to meet…

"Ino?" she asked, almost as if she couldn't comprehend what she was seeing before her. Well, she wasn't quite seeing two of her former friend, but she couldn't seem to really focus either. She needed to get home.

"Wow," the blond (who always looked so perfect, why… stupid jealousy) flipped her ponytail over her shoulder and frowned at Sakura, who didn't even bother trying to stand straighter. She wasn't entirely sure her body could handle it at this point. And if she didn't want to be in utter pain tomorrow, she'd have to use half of her chakra pool to heal her muscles once it refilled… at least she should be building her reserves quickly this way. "You look awful."

Oh, right. Ino.

Sakura scowled. "Thank you for that. If you don't have anything else to say, I'm going home."

That seemed to take the blond back. "I… what?"

"You know, home? The place where we rest?" And hopefully recover before repeating everything tomorrow.

"You know, you're making it so easy," her former friend said, recovering quickly.

Normally Sakura could figure what the other girl meant, but right now she was just too tired. "Making what easy?"

"Sasuke, of course! You're practically handing him to me on a silver platter." She giggled. Meanly.

A wave of protectiveness sent a shot of adrenaline through Sakura's body, and managed to wake up her brain a little.

"'Handing him over'?" she asked lowly. Then she took a deep breath. Calm, she needed to stay calm. "There's so much wrong with that I don't even know where to start anymore. Okay, I'm focusing on getting stronger, with my team. You know, so we can survive out in the world where even the strongest genin don't always come home. That's a little more important to me right now than looking my best all the time. Besides, if I look good all the time, then I'm not working hard enough."

That seemed to confuse Ino, and she frowned, an angry blush rising to her cheeks. "Not working… are you calling me weak?"

No. Ino had some perfect ability to always look amazing. Sakura just didn't have that ability, but she wasn't about to tell her former friend that. She also wasn't about to tell Ino about how Uchiha liked strong spouses. Not that she wanted Ino to die (she didn't) but if Sakura got stronger first, she'd have a better shot. Right?

Ugh. Maybe she should rethink that.

Later. When she wasn't so tired.

"I don't know, am I?" she replied instead.

Ino stopped her foot, fists clenched at her side. She somehow still made that look graceful. Screw her. "You may work more closely with him, but I'll show you! I'll win him over, you just watch!"

A month ago, that would have had Sakura shrieking. Now, though…

She just snorted. "Good luck. You'll need it."

Ino's face darkened. "You really think I need luck?"

Sakura continued to stare dryly. "Yes."

The other girl's blue eyes narrowed dangerously. "Are you calling me ugly?"

The pinkette blinked. "What? No." Where did she get an idea like that? Oh… wait, did she think Sakura wished her luck because she wouldn't be pretty enough? Weird. Why had she jumped to that conclusion…

Wait, had she always jumped to that conclusion? And had Sakura just gone along with it, equating 'pretty' with 'best'? Yeah, that sounded about right.

Wow. Shallow much? Both of them. That kind of hurt to realize.

"Then what did you mean?" Ino asked, folding her arms in a huff.

Sakura sighed again. "I mean that Sasuke thinks differently than us."

"Of course, he's a boy."

That's not what she meant, but whatever. "I don't think you realize what I mean," Sakura muttered. "What he values and what we value are—or may be, I suppose—different. And we were pretty self centered to not realize that. It makes sense, we were kids, I guess, but…" she saw Ino's blank look and shook her head. She was still tired so rambling was a danger. She had to move on. "Anyway, when I instigated this stupid rivalry, we were both being dumb. I forgot there was a third opinion involved."

Ino's eyes widened. "Third op… what?!" she leaned forward, but didn't lower her voice. Of course. "What do you mean, 'A third opinion'!? Do we have another rival? Did Hinata decide to go after Sasuke too, now?"

Sakura blinked. "What? No! I… Ugh! You just proved my point. You and I were competing for his attention so much that we dismissed everyone else, including him. We forgot that he has an actual opinion, too, and he may not choose either one of us! As much as that would hurt, it's his choice. And he has a right to that choice. We do not have the right to take that away, Ino! And that's exactly what we were doing!"

Ino's eyebrows had begun to draw together nervously. "What? No we weren't!"

The pinkette rolled her eyes. "Really. So if two guys were fighting for your attention, and they refused to let you choose, how would you feel about either of them?"

"I…" Ino's mouth opened and closed for a moment, with no sound coming out.

"Exactly," Sakura said, trying to hold in a wince herself, because this didn't get any easier to say and continue to realize. Speaking it made it more real somehow.

"Think about it, Ino," she continued. "We were being awful and obsessed because we wanted what the other one did. But that 'thing' we wanted isn't a 'thing' at all! He's a human being. Everything about us for the last couple of years of school revolved around a boy, Ino. Take out the fact that it was Sasuke, and you just have a boy. What else was there? If he'd suddenly died—for whatever reason, his brother came back to kill him or something—then what would our lives look like?"

"Sasuke-kun wouldn't lose!"

Sakura snorted. "There are plenty of people out there stronger than Sasuke. And more importantly, us. So, I know what our lives would look like." She'd had nightmares about it. "In our final academy year, we'd have an empty expanse of nothing sprinkled with a couple of relationships to our parents, halfhearted schooling, and lackluster training. Because if he took up so much time, it did cut into our training. Who are we without him, Ino?"

The other girl looked really troubled now. "I… um…" It felt kind of good to render her friend speechless. Sakura nodded in satisfaction.

"Precisely, Ino. And I refuse to be nobody.

"Now, I'm going to go home to take a long shower and then go to sleep, after I eat the entire, very fattening dinner my mother is no doubt making. Oh, yes, by choice, because if I can't maintain my figure while I'm eating that much, then I'm not working hard enough."

"That… doesn't sound healthy," Ino muttered.

Sakura paused. Well, she wasn't entirely wrong. And yet… "Neither is starving ourselves so we look like some civilian ideal. Do you really think that's what Sasuke-kun wants?"

Oh… she'd gone too far, given too many hints.

But if that pushed Ino to become better, Sakura was strangely okay with that. More so than she thought she'd be, even if it lost her Sasuke. Not that she wanted tha… ugh. No, really. She. Was. Too. Tired.

"Goodnight, Ino," she said firmly when her friend didn't answer. Then she turned and continued down the street towards her home, leaving her former best friend staring after her.