Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns Naruto. I just fool around with it.
Notes: I wrote this drabble in September, 2013, so it does not quite comply with the manga chapters released afterwards. Still, Kaguya aside, it could easily be considered canon-compliant.
Honour to the dead
The dust settles upon the broken granite bones of the carcass of a once great forest. Close to its heart, Kakashi Hatake struggles to rise from the rubble and wonders if he is still alive. The roaring burst of the final attack on Madara Uchiha has deafened him for the moment and his muscles are either spasming in agony or dead-numb from injury. As the silence peels itself away, a string of celebratory cries - one here, another there - makes itself known. We won, they say and, if the world still knows that there was a war that might have been lost, then it must mean that they have succeeded and survived.
Kakashi sucks in a large gulp of air, coughs out the dust, and exhales. His body seems to be reacting normally, even if he is exhausted to the marrow.
There is a feeling of generalized euphoria on the battlefield. Naruto cannot leave Sasuke's side - probably afraid the other will disappear on him again. Everyone in the Ninja Alliance is celebrating somehow. Even the Edo Tensei Hokage. Minato sort of gravitates close to Naruto, feeding off of his son's energy but not wanting to intrude. Even the First Hokage, who has been dead longer than most of them have been alive, is celebrating along with the rest of them, cheerfully talking with his granddaughter.
It truly is a time for joy. Only for Kakashi, it's not.
He navigates the cracked ground toward the epicenter of the struggle, toward where he had last seen Obito before Madara had decided to cease playing his games and took over.
He is surprised to see a white head bent over his friend's remains. He feels a surge of protectiveness - Obito has been through enough - but, in the end, he decides to ignore the Second Hokage.
Tobirama watches him watch Obito, sees his Konoha vest and his blind sharingan.
"Did you know him? Before?"
Kakashi, bone-tired, sees no reason to hide it. "He was my best friend, once, though he never knew it at the time."
Tobirama continues to watch him closely. "You should go join the others who are celebrating. Remember your friend as he used to be."
"I will. In a moment."
Ninja dealt in death. They were tools to be discarded and forgotten once they were of no more use. Mourning a fallen opponent was particularly pointless.
"What is it like? Death?"
Tobirama can see enough to know the reason the question was asked. He is prepared to give his standard response, that a ninja has no need for emotion, but, after everything that has happened on that battlefield, after witnessing a young boy's promise to protect his friends save the world, he is no longer certain whether that is the truth.
"Peaceful." In truth, he does not know. His memories jump from death at the hands of a Kumo ninja to waking in the basement of the Uchiha temple.
Convincing or not, Kakashi smiles at the answer. "Good. Then his dream came true, in the end."
Tobirama eyes him after the strange declaration. He has difficulty believing that any madman such as the Juubi's jinchuuriki was deserving of a happy end, but he sees no reason to share the thought with the Hatake boy who cares for the dead.
In silence, they contemplate the whims of fate.