A/N: This is the start of my second fanfic, I have this one, The Scars Never Heal and Fade to Black. I have a complete inability to write more than one at once however, so which ever one gets the most reviews in one week will be wrote FIRST, the others will be continued either way. It will just be after I finish the winning fic. There may also be a poll on my profile, not entirely sure yet
Summary: Konohagakure has fallen. The world as Team Kakashi knew it was over. Everyone they cared for was dead. The Third, Iruka, Sakura's parents...everyone and they don't even know why it happened. Takes place just after the Wave arc.
P.S Remember kids, If an evil snake man offers you power, tell him no. He only wants you for your body.
Kakashi listened idly as his genin charges chatted amongst themselves, their first C-rank mission had not gone as well as he hopped. Hell it hadn't even really been a C rank, in less than two hours it turned into a A-rank mission. But against his better judgment he let them continue on with it anyway. That was a mistake.
'I'm a failure as a sensei, Sasuke almost died, Naruto had to use the Kyuubi's chakra to survive and I didn't even bother with Sakura at all. She could walk up and down tree easily after the first day, I should have taught her the water walking exercise, but I didn't. I could have prepared her for what was coming, but I didn't. I'm a failure plain and simple. But I will make it right. I will train them better. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if i don't'
Sasuke would be the easiest, with his sharingan he could learn a lot of jutsu in a short amount of time and Naruto was determined enough to learn anything just through willpower alone. His giant chakra reserves helped a lot though.
Sakura would the be the hardest, she was practically designed for medical jutsu, but he had no talent there and with her low reserves, most of his ninjutsu were off limits to her. Genjutsu was the one place he could truly help her with, it wasn't his specialty but he definitely knew a few and If he could get her stamina and strength up then advanced taijutsu or kenjutsu might be an option but that would be a good ways down the road.
He sighed, that would be a lot of work, 'maybe I could just sign her up for medical jutsu training at the hospital...No, no, I can't shy away form the work again. I will over see her training myself, maybe the hospital could be a side thing, if she wanted.'
He began to go over a new training schedule in his head, making sure to add teamwork exercises to the list when he heard Naruto and Sasuke arguing. Naruto and Sasuke argued constantly, though it seemed to be born more out of habit now and less out of general dislike of each other like in the past. That was a start.
"NARUTO STOP ANNOYING SASUKE-KUN." The pink haired girl yelled "But Sakura-chan that bastard started it." "Don't call Sasuke-kun a bastard Naruto-baka." Sakura hit Naruto over the back of the head.
Sasuke watched with a slight bit of amusement albeit hidden amusement as Naruto fell to the ground with a large lump on his head. He didn't hate his teammates as much as he used to, he even begrudgingly respected Naruto because of how hard he worked.
Sakura was still a fan-girl though, for the life of him he couldn't understand why she couldn't get that he was simply not interested in her. He eyed the pink haired girl as she pummeled the blond idiot. Well it could be worse he figured, she could treat him like she treated Naruto. He barley hid his grimace when she landed a particularly nasty right hook.
The Uchiha frowned he could see the village now, the place didn't hold the fondest memories for him. It was after all, the place where his entire clan was murdered in cold blood by his own brother. His mind was taken off of his dark past when Naruto began the ritual of asking their pink haired teammate out. How he could get the shit beat out of him by her and then immediately ask her out was beyond him.
"Oi Sakura-chan, do you want to go on a date when we get back to the village?" The blond jinchuuriki asked with enthusiasm. He wasn't sure why he asked her so much, but he did. Always expecting a rejection and a fist to the face. But maybe this time would be different, that was what he said to himself, though he never thought that it would be.
Sakura smiled cheerily at the blond, "Sure Naruto, I'll go on a date with you." She said in the sweetest voice she could muster.
Kakashi froze when he heard her answer, his one eye visibly widened. Sasuke almost fainted and Naruto was simply staring at the girl in shock "huh" he manged to mutter.
"I said I would go on a date with you...just as soon as Sasuke goes on a date with me." She said with a smile. She wasn't stupid, by the time she convinced Sasuke to go out with her, Naruto would have totally forgotten what she said.
Kakashi was sure that this was not healthy behavior for a genin team to have. While it was slightly funny, it would drive wedge between them. He should probably make it rule to not date your teammates.
Finally after the pause the blond shouted with a joy. "Why are you so happy dobe? I'm not going to go on a date with her." The raven haired boy said.
The blond still had a goofy smile on his face "Because she didn't outright say no. I'm Making progress."
Sasuke caught himself before he could smile. Naruto's logic, however flawed, did make a little sense. The raven haired Uchiha turned his gaze on Sakura, expecting another one of her violent beatings to befall the blond. However he was shocked to see the girl had a smile on her face.
"Sakura...Your smiling, I figured you were gonna hit me again." The blonde said, sounding confused.
Sakura wanted to get mad, she really did but she had hit the blond imbecile enough for one day so instead she settled for playfully punching him in the shoulder. "Is that better, Naruto-baka?"
Kakashi smiled at the display of friendship even though it was small one, maybe there would be hope for some teamwork and friendship in this team yet. He turned his eyes back to the village in front of them, The village gates were easily visible now, the large walls that surrounded the village and the gate guards...the gate guards were laying on the ground in a puddle of blood.
Kakashi quickly crouched threw his hands out to stop the genin in their places. "What is it Kakashi-sensei?" The now crouching Naruto said a little too loudly. "The Gate guards are dead." Kakashi said quietly.
"Wh-what?" Sakura said, her voice trembling. 'Does that mean the village is being attacked?' Sakura thought, worrying about her parents. She looked over to Sasuke, he had a stoney expression on his face. A kunai was gripped tightly in his hand.
She turned her gaze to Naruto, he looked strange, he didn't have his goofy grin, instead there was a small frown. She couldn't believe he hadn't freaked out and started running blindly towards the village. After all he had bum rushed a ANBU level Shinobi who, if not for Sasuke and Naruto, would have killed Kakashi.
"Here,take these." Kakashi said in a disturbingly serious tone. He handed each of the genin an ear piece. "stay hidden. If you see anything radio me. I'm going to investigate...if I don't contact you in 15 minuets, run, go back to wave." With out waiting for a response the man shot towards Konoha with speed only Sasuke could follow.
The genin quickly hid themselves in the Forrest that surrounded Konoha."What do you think is going on Sasuke-kun?" The pink haired girl asked nervously. "Just stay quiet Sakura." The Uchiha said with a cold edge in his voice. He instinctively activated his sharingan.
"You can feel it too, can't you Sasuke?" Naruto whispered, "Something is really wrong" the Jinchuuriki's voice was shaking slightly. Sasuke's eyes shot to the blond, "Yeah..." The Uchiha whispered back with a nod. It reminded of the night his clan massacred, the same sense of dread that he felt then, he was feeling now.
"GET UP YOU LAZY ASS, WERE ALMOST AT THE VILLAGE." A voice shouted suddenly and angrily from the forest behind them. Sakura's eyes widened with shock, she knew that voice, It was Ino.
"You guys heard Ino too right?" Naruto asked suddenly, shocking both Sasuke and Sakura. "How did you know that was Ino's voice, Naruto?" Sakura asked incredulously, she didn't know that he knew Ino's voice well enough to tell.
The blond threw his hand behind his head sheepishly, "Well, I did hear her yelling about Sasuke a lot back in the academy, plus she is the only person in Konoha that loud." The blond said with his goofy grin back on his face, the present danger and situation forgotten by all but Sasuke.
"I can think of one person who is louder." Sakura muttered under her breath, then a thought hit her "What if they try and go into the village!? They could get hurt! We need to warn them!" Sakura said worriedly, Ino may be her rival in love, but she was still her best friend.
"They have a jonin with them, Sakura. They will be fine." Sasuke shot her a glare as he spoke, this wasn't the time to worry about nothing, any jonin worth his salt would see the bodies, or at the vary least realize there were no guards at the gate.
"But what if they don't have a jonin with them?" Sakura asked. "Maybe I could send a clone to warn them?" Naruto offered helpfully.
Before Sasuke could reply, Kakashi's voice came across the radio, "Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, there are no signs of hostiles inside, I'm going to check for clues as to what happened. Do not enter the village, I repeat, DO NOT enter the village." The edge in his voice was frighting to the three genin, not that they would admit it.
Sasuke listened to the voice of his sensei intently, it was clear to him that there was something their sensei was not going to tell them, either there was a really dangerous enemy in the village or there was something in there he didn't want them to see. Either way he didn't want them going in the village.
If there was a strong enemy in the village, one strong enough to have Kakashi so on edge, then he might be able to kill Kakashi. Sasuke still needed Kakashi, he wasn't strong enough to kill Itachi yet, so he still needed a teacher. That meant he couldn't let Kakashi die.
Luckily he knew where there was Jonin in the area. "I think Kakashi might be in trouble. Naruto send a clone to tell Ino and her team whats going on, tell there sensei that Kakashi might need back up."
"Who the hell made you the boss, Teme?" Naruto asked angrily.
"Just send one Dobe." Sasuke shot the blond a glare
Naruto growled lowly, "Fine, asshole." The jinchuuriki made the clone seal and channeled a fraction of his chakra into the jutsu, creating two clones. "Ah dammit I still can't make just one" with a sigh, Naruto tossed a kunai into the extra clone.
Shrugging off the minor headache he gave his orders to the clone, to which it gave a mock salute and took off into the direction of Team Ten.
(BREAK)
Yamanaka Ino was not happy, her hair was a mess. she was dirty, and she smelled bad. 'Stupid week long mission' she thought angrily. It was just a simple C-rank, but it was in the middle of freaking nowhere. One of The Border Patrol Chuunin was stealing from the rich dignitaries while no one was looking
The mission had been easy enough, they caught him in the act. That wasn't the problem, the problem was that they had to stay hidden until they caught him. That meant no hotsprings, no beds, no nothing, she wasn't even allowed to brush her hair but once a day! It wasn't like she didn't know this would happen, she was a shinboi, it came with the life, but that didn't mean she had to like it!
But to make her already bad mood worse, they were finally getting close to the village and Shikamaru refused to stand the hell up and get moving, it was so frustrating!
"Ino, will you please stop screaming?" Shikamaru asked, sounding annoyed. He quickly realized that was a mistake, judging by the face Ino made...
"NO I WILL NOT STOP SCREAMING UNTIL YOU STAND THE H-MMM" Ino was cut off mid rant by a hand landing on her mouth, much to her disgust.
She quickly grabbed the wrist of her 'attacker' and jerked him into her view "Naruto?" her face would have been amusing to the jinchuuriki under any other circumstance.
Asuma had seen the boy coming at the last second, he was surprised by how little noise he had made, but he was even more surprised by the serious look on the kids face. He had seen Naruto enough to know he was never serious.
"Ino, you have to be quite" Naruto ignored the clear glare she sent at him "Jonin-san, The village may be under attack, The gate guards are dead, Kakashi-sensei is inside and he may need backup."
Asuma quickly spit out his cigarette, before he could respond however Ino took off running towards the village, knocking the clone to the ground, dispelling it.
All she could think about were her parents, she didn't even stop to realize she would be charging head first into a gruesome graveyard.
(BREAK)
Naruto knew Ino was going in the village, he didn't know how he knew it, but he knew it. He couldn't let her get hurt. Not because of him. So he ran, as fast as he possibly could, if he could beat her to the gates he could stop her from going in, so that's what he had to do.
Sasuke saw Naruto take off running for the village, apparently something had happened, and as much as he hated the idiot, he couldn't just let him go into a situation that could kill him without at least attempting to help.
"Sakura, follow." with the simple command Sasuke shot like a lightning bolt after the quickly fading orange image of his teammate, with a confused Sakura following closely behind.
(BREAK)
Kakashi could smell blood and burning flesh before he even set foot inside the gates, the stench actually burnt his nose, and it only got worse the closer he got to the village. By the time he actually got inside it was almost unbearable, and it was easy to see why.
The streets were littered with bodies of shinobi and civilian alike, decapitated, cut in half, burned to a crisp, Kakashi had never seen a slaughter like this, not even during the Third Shinobi World War. What concerned him the most however, was that there wasn't the first sign of an enemy, no enemy bodies, no inconsistent blood patterns, nothing.
The priority in this situation was to find the Hokage first and foremost. If the Hokage had fallen, or was unable to issue orders, then he was to search for enemies, survivors and information. Maybe memorizing all the proper and obscure protocol when he was young would finally pay off.
Before he would do any of that however, it was important he radio his team, this could destroy the mind of a genin should they stumble upon this scene. "Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, there are no signs of hostiles inside, I'm going to check for clues as to what happened. Do not enter the village, I repeat, DO NOT enter the village."
He didn't wait for a response, there wasn't time. In one quick motion he pulled the radio off and crushed it in his hand. He had company to deal with.
"That wasn't smart, protecting your team like that. You could have ordered them to help you." A deep monotone voice rang out from behind Kakashi.
Kakashi could feel the intense chakra coming off this guy, and that was saying something since he wasn't a sensor. "Maybe so, but my sensei said that those who leave their comrades behind are worse than trash."
Without warning, Kakashi turned to throw a kunai at the head of the man, only for him to find no one there.
"I can respect your sensei's belief system, sounds like something Sarutobi would say... You should know I'm sorry about all of this, If I could, I wouldn't follow through with it."
"Then why do you?" Kakashi asked, if he could get him talking, maybe he could find him. Kakashi waited for a response, focusing his ears, in an attempt pinpoint the location of the enemy.
"I'm afraid you have to die now." Kakashi turned in an instant and blocked the incoming blade with a kunai. The man lashed out with a kick knocking Kakashi back a few feet. For the first time, Kakashi stood face to face with his attacker, and presumably one of the people who had attacked the village.
He was a tall, fair-skinned man with white, shaggy hair, he wore armor emblazoned with the Senju symbol worn over a simple black suit, with a distinctive white fur collar. This armor was constructed from numerous blue metal plates, formed into multiple protective guards along his body. This was accompanied by sandals and a happuri engraved with the Konoha emblem, in the place of the more traditional forehead protector.
Standing before Kakashi was The Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama. The copy-nin was struggling with the very idea, this was a man of legend, the creator of The Kage Bunshin, The Flying Thunder God Technique and the... the Edo Tensei.
That was the only way Kakashi knew how someone could come back from the dead. Perhaps he was jumping to conclusions, and it was just a henge, a really good henge.
"So you reconsigned me." Tobirama stated as if it were a matter of fact. "and now your contemplating if this is a henge, right? Its not. I was summoned to the land of the living by man named Orochimaru, along with my brother, and his rival, Uchiha Madara,"
Kakashi noted that was the first time his voice betrayed any emotion, the man clearly hatedMadara. Then a thought occurred to Kakashi "The Edo Tensei was your creation, can't you break it?"
Despite the small ongoing conversation, neither one allowed their guard to drop. "I did break it." Tobirama suddenly grabbed his head and dropped to the ground in pain. He clinched his eyes tightly and let loose a low growl as he began to shake violently.
Kakashi saw an opening that he had to take. he pulled up his headband, revealing his sharingan. His hand erupted in a light blue ball of lightning and he shot forward with extreme speed and stabbed his Riakiri through the chest of The Second Hokage, effectively destroying his heart. The shaking body of the kage relaxed and went limp.
Kakashi expected blood, a lot of blood, instead, much to his surprise he only saw floating dust and ash. In an instant Tobirama seemingly came back to life, he wrapped his left hand around the wrist of Kakashi and locked eyes with him.
Tobirama's eyes had changed, gone were his dark red eyes, they had been replaced with purple eyes with a strange ripple pattern. Tobirama stood, his face not betraying any emotion. He placed his hand on a tanto strapped to his back, drawing it one quick motion.
Time seemed to slow for Kakashi as he began moving his hand to block the blade. Before he could however, he felt another presence behind him, holding his other hand back. He realized in that instant, he was going to die, there was no way around it. The blade got closer and closer to his throat, he could see it, but what good would that do if he couldn't stop it? Then he heard two words he never thought he would be happy to hear.
"DYNAMIC ENTRY"
His sharingan took in every detail as Tobirama's head snapped to side at an awkward angle. Tobirama was threw several yards through the side of a building. Kakashi, his wrist now free kicked back into the second man restraining him. It burst into smoke, revealing itself to be a shadow clone.
Kakashi fought the urge to smile when Gai landed beside him.
"Was that Senju Tobirama?" Gai asked, sounding surprisingly calm.
Kakashi replied with a nod. "He has been brought back by the Edo Tensai, he should start recovering soon."
The copy nin pulled out a small scroll from his equipment pouch. He unrolled the scroll in the direction of the building Tobirama had been thrown in. Between twenty and thirty kunai were unsealed and sent flying into the building.
Gai, already realizing what Kakashi was doing, began his hasty retreat. With Kakashi close behind, forming the ram seal as he did so.
In a glorious display of youth, the entire building went up in a fiery explosion, sending ruble and debris far into the sky.
(BREAK)
Asuma was close behind Ino, she wasn't very fast, at least not compared to him he could have caught her easily enough, and he would have, if hadn't been for the gigantic explosion going off somewhere from the middle of the village.
This was the point where he would be forced to choose between his responsibilities as a jonin sensei, or his responsibilities as protector of his village. It was the first hard decision he had to make since he left the Guardian Shinobi Twelve.
He may have chosen to stop Ino, to knock her out and take her back to Shikamaru and Choji, if hadn't been for Naruto following closely behind him, intent on stopping her himself.
This time he would have to trust Naruto to keep her out of the village. The boy was competent enough to talk her down, he was smarter than he let on, at least for Ino's sake he hopped the boy was.
With his decision made he took to the trees in an attempt to get the village as fast he could.
(Break)
Naruto hadn't been fast enough, she had made it inside the village. Not only that, her tunnel vision regarding her mother had somehow allowed her to ignore the carnage and gore that littered the streets and now Naruto had no way of finding her.
'If only Sakura-chan were here, she would know where Ino would go.' as if on cue he heard someone emptying their stomach behind him.
Naruto turned to see his teammates, Sakura had been the one throwing up. She had tears welling up in her eyes that made it clear she wasn't handling this well at all.
Sasuke was a different story entirely. Unlike Naruto, who didn't seem to notice the bodies at all, Sasuke couldn't stop staring at them. He hid it well, but he was having flashbacks of The Uchiha Massacre. He could here the voice of his brother in his head, mocking him.
Sasuke could feel his hands begin to shake, he could feel the sweat forming on his brow and he unknowingly activated his sharingan. The anger, sadness and hate were welling up inside him, he was almost at his mental breaking point.
Luckily for Sasuke, the sound of Naruto's voice brought him out of his flashbacks and back into reality.
"Do either of you know where Ino lives?" The level of worry in Naruto's voice, made it clear to both of them that she had ended up in the village as well somehow.
Sakura appeared to regain some life at hearing her rivals name. "Her family has a house behind the Yamanaka Flower shop." Sakura managed to get out, though the words sounded rushed and there was shakiness in her voice.
Then a thought occurred to her 'What about momma and daddy?' as soon as that thought hit her, she darted down the street, heading to her families apartment.
Sasuke cursed under his breath when she ran off. "Naruto! Go find Ino! Meet me at Sakura's house." Naruto watched Sasuke take off after Sakura, he wanted to follow, her, he wanted to believe that if something had happened to her parents that she would want to have him there just as much as Sasuke, but he knew that simply wasn't true.
So he reluctantly began his search for the Yamanaka.
It didn't take long for Naruto to find the flower shop, he had been there to meet a blonde guy with a long ponytail whenever his nightmares had gotten too much for him to handle when he was little. 'Sakura said her house was behind the flow-' he line of thought was broke when his eyes came to rest onto the back Ino, standing just inside the door of the shop.
He could tell even from the distance that her shoulders were rocking, and as he got closer he could hear the sounds of her sobs.
That was always a weakness he had, he hated seeing people cry. Especially girls, and that went double for girls he knew. He never really got what he should do in situations like that. So when he actually got close enough to comfort her in someway, he just went with what felt right.
Naruto placed his hand on her shoulder. She didn't even seem to register that someone was touching her. That was when he saw why she was crying like she was. There was a woman laying on the ground in a puddle of her own blood.
The woman looked just like an older darker haired Ino, it was clearly her mother. Naruto had no idea what she must be going through, it must be hard to lose your mom, but he never had one in the first place.
He was at a loss, he didn't know what to do, he had never lost someone close to him, hell, he didn't even have anyone close to him until recently anyway. He was pretty much left with instinct on this one.
Without saying a word Naruto walked in front of his fellow blonde, allowing her to register that he wasn't an enemy, and then he pulled her into a strong hug, allowing her to lay her head on his shoulder as she cried.
He heard her weakly call him "Naruto-baka" under her breath, which he guessed was a good thing. At least she wasn't freaking out and trying to hit him, that was pretty much his only experience when it came to hugging girls.
The hug went on for a long while, Naruto knew right now was not the time to make jokes, or be restless. It was obvious even to him that Ino needed someone to hold onto, a shoulder to cry on. It wasn't something he was used too, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying being close to someone like this. However all things must come to an end, this one was just a more violent ending than most.
Naruto, although he wouldn't admit, wasn't the best shinboi ever, in fact he had many flaws, but his eyesight wasn't one of them. That was one the Kyuubi enhanced abilities that he would put to use on this day.
Because of his enhanced eyesight, he saw the barrage of kunai heading towards Ino's back from far enough away to have time to react. Not knowing what else to do, Naruto spun himself and Ino one hundred and eighty degrees around taking the kunai into his own back. Blood flew from the blond jinchuuriki and splattered onto the ground.
Ino's eyes widened when she saw the kunai hit Naruto, Naruto, the dead last of the academy, had just saved her life.
A/N alright, finally got this done. Remember if you liked this and want it continued before the others to review. Feel free to read and review the others, I'm gonna set up a poll as well so vote on which one you like best there as well.