Dedicated to TheHollowWorld.

Welcome!

Plot is by E3-FantasyandReality. It will be co-written by the both of us! :DD Because he already has too much on-going stories on his profile. (Check them out!) Some chapters will be individually written by him or I, and the others will be co-written. :)

You'll be able to tell who's written the chapter at the end of the chapter - Exciled3 (is E3) and xox (is me)! :P

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Mistakes are collectively our fault.

Tragic Paradox

Kakashi trudged through the damp silken grass that was overwhelmed and left limp by the over-pouring, bleeding clouds from above. He soldiered on, knowing well he had just evaded possible death, with a drawn conclusion about the infamous leader, Hanzō. The man was the notorious leader of Amegakure, yet he remained hidden behind the wooden lattice wall. On that of that –

His foot stopped mid-drift. With enough discretion, he spun out his kunai and concealed it under his cloak before he looked over his shoulder. His speculation was confirmed as he sauntered through the sycamore filled landscape with a tightened eye –– he was being followed. Of course, to ring off any suspicious behaviour, he tried to remain composed. But that wasn't enough, it seemed.

"Hatake Kakashi, you are to be taken into custody for the suspicion of spying in another village's affairs in the guise of a warranted Chūnin exam permission from the Godaime Hokage." One masked man announced sternly, parting his feet apart slightly. He was preparing himself for a fight.

The silver-haired man retained his cool composure, certain that this man was the least of his concern. What really bothered him was the rest of the hidden ninjas who were cloaked under the mist, and darkness the trees provided. What to do, he contemplated for a moment. Without precisely knowing where the others lurked, Kakashi was damn sure that he can't exercise a well-calculated attack so he could insert a substitute of himself with a lightning clone, and swiftly flee. Judging by the lingering, ill-concealed chakra that tapped into him – over thirty ninjas surrounded him.

He sighed in defeat, certain that he was trapped like a caged bird. However, at the back of his mind, he knew that he cannot afford to be captured –– for Tsunade waited for his mission's outcome. She needs to know what Amegakure has been deduced to. Maybe he can secretly summon Pakkūn to deliver the message, he thought. The success of his delivery was not favourable, however. Kakashi was a jaded man, one whose had enough experience to expect the worse than the best. He was a realistic man; naïveté and ignorance does not run in his system.

It couldn't be helped. He slotted his kunai back and raised his hands up, making the masked man ease his position. Once Kakashi saw the man relax, he reached back down and twirled out another kunai with an attachment. He immediately launched it off. Thick yellow clouds dispersed in the cold night and clouded the man's sight. Before long, Kakashi emerged through the thickness and disarmed him hastily, using the jagged weapon against him by lodging it into his chest. Swiftly the Hatake made his exit, with the rest of the pack running behind and beside him –– they were trying to box him in.

Kakashi rushed into the thickness of the woods, using it effectively by setting off bombs on the trees to deter the rest from taking the same route as him. He reached for his last paper bomb and slapped it on a humongous tree which deprived the rest from his route. However, just as he was about to take the leap of fate into the water below, he became completely surrounded.

All thirty shiny swords came into their possession, pointing so daringly at him. Some ninjas were already in mid-air, weaving seals frantically to wound him, possibly kill him.

"Fire style-"

"Water style-!"

That was all Kakashi needed to hear to slam his hands onto the rigid ground and summon four mud walls to shield him from the incoming danger. The denseness of the water broke through his barrier and allowed for the heat of the fire to crumble the remaining cracks that survived the first wave. When the walls broke down into crumbled pieces, Kakashi's presence was nowhere to be found. Quickly, the troops were filled with trepidation –– where could he have disappeared to?

The mist around them grew thicker and thicker and thicker. It was not natural, a minority finally concluded.

But it was already too late.

Shrivelled cries and clangs of metal were heard around them. Blood drenched the wet pavement and growls of wild dogs echoed throughout the woods. Once the smoke finally cleared, the bloodied Leaf ninja stood triumphantly, twirling the kunai around his forefinger, surrounded by his trusted ninken.

The task had been completed.

All that was left was to bury these bodies to remove the evidence. He closed his exposed scarlet eye and put it to rest, keeping his scarce chakra on leash. As he carefully mounted the bodies on top of each other, idle and delicate footsteps rang at the corner of his ear. His face wrinkled and voiced his profanity before he whipped around to find a lone masked man. Tresses of ginger hair stuck out, but the rest of his identity was kept hidden.

He merely stretched his hand out and Kakashi felt the gravity of his presence. This man was certainly not ordinary. Then he spoke slowly, deep and coherent: "You cannot live under these circumstances, Hatake Kakashi."

He remained poised despite the grave predicament he found himself in. "Do you know what this could trigger? Assaulting me is the same as assaulting the Leaf and the Sand. I was delegated here by the Godaime herself to send word about the upcoming––"

The fingers clenched and Kakashi saw a torrent of wind directed against him, hurling objects directly at him. He grunted when he felt the sharp edge of one of the dead soldier's katana lodge perfectly into his upper thigh, whilst the other plunged into his abdomen. His ninken snarled and tried to keep him safe, but even they knew it was futile.

When the gust died down, the man lowered his hand and rolled his shoulders back. "You can no longer live. You will die here today, Kakashi." He took a step forward, whilst Kakashi was inclined to take one back to retain the distance between them. "You will know Pain."

The Copy-ninja opened his left eye and allowed it privy to his chakra, feeling it greedily eat away at his source of power in return for a meticulous analysation. It was then that he saw tendrils of blue flames gathered around the man's eyes, behind his mask. What kind of technique does he possess? He didn't weave any seals to unleash such a potent amount of wind.

Just who was this man?!

He fell on his knees, grunting at the weaves of blood pooling down below him. He was beginning to lose consciousness. Fatigue, chakra-exhaustion and being wounded was taking a toll on him. He looked at his summon and nodded curtly at them, to which they responded hesitantly and dismissed themselves with a puff of smoke.

He needed to get out of this situation. He needed to get back into Konoha, to inform the Hokage of what he had witnessed. If he doesn't –– There was no time to think about that!

The man had his arm outstretched again.

The masked man watched as the silver-haired Jōnin struggled to gain enough momentum to stand up again. However, once the man found his footing and calmed his ragged breaths that showed exertion, he noticed something different in his eye. The pattern –– the standard three-tomoe –– was no longer present. The blackness of the points had joined and curved into an inward shape of a shuriken. It was a new pattern.

Kakashi wryly smiled underneath is mask, breathing heavily. The man tightened his hidden eyes at the sight of the defiant man. He proved to be more dangerous than he looks. Although completely rid of exhaustion, he was still willing to fight. What is it with the trend of Hidden Leaf shinobi acting so tough?

Why was he defying imminent death so adamantly?

No matter. It was all a fruitless attempt.

"Almighty––" his eyes pulsed and bled out with unparalleled feat of power, "––Push!"

Mangekyō sharingan!

Within a second, the shadowed man witnessed Kakashi warp himself and dissolve into thin air without any evidence –– as if he were just a ghost. It was clear that he had escaped using that wretched eye of his. It gleamed, and he must have used it subconsciously when anxiety and adrenaline pumped through his veins.

He was gone.

What a shame, but he cannot pursue the man since his identity was to be kept hidden until the appropriate time.

He turned around, his cloak flapping with the wind.

"Mission failed."

Tsunade was sat behind her desk as per usual, filling out all the entrance forms of the possible chūnin candidates. The day was serene –– and it would have been better had Shizune not confiscated her secret stash of sake. There was no time to dawdle about it though, because she was already two days behind. As she finished the last feminine stroke of her character with ink, the door suddenly burst open and a medical ninja rushed in, without showing respect or regret for their intrusion.

Before she could address his sudden presence with an underlying threat of throwing him out of the window if he does it again, the man curly spoke:

"Hokage-sama, Kakashi-san is in the hospital! We need your assistance immediately!"

Tsunade had already slipped into her green jacket and rushed out of her office before he could expand on the matter. She sauntered through the halls of the hospital room and was guided into the room where Kakashi was kept. When she entered, the cluster of medics parted like the Red Sea, and she scrutinized his naked body that laid on the examination table.

A blue hue clouded around her dominant hand and she scanned him thoroughly for any more internal injuries that hasn't yet shown in the scan. Once she skimmed past his body and was sure that the most critical injury he had was a chronic injury in his abdomen, she sighed. This will make him an inactive ninja for a while. She placed her hand on his open wound and released her pent up chakra onto it, applying light pressure to close the gaping hole. She watched him twitch, her chakra was stirring him up.

With her spare hand she lightly stroked his forehead and reassured him that everything was going to be okay. His struggling stopped and his eyes were forcefully pried open by the stubborn man. He licked his lips and watched her place her hand on his other wound, healing it promptly.

"Tsunade-sama, about my mission––"

"Just shut up for a while, Hatake," she softly scolded. "Your well-being is my priority. Unless you want to bleed out, remain still and go back to sleep."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama."

After the healing procedure was completed, the silver-haired man shifted cautiously to not have the small blanket fall off along with his dignity. After all, it was the only thing covering up his… "Tsunade-sama," he began again.

She didn't reply, refused to. Instead, she settled the palm of her hand on his forehead and emitted some of her chakra into his system to steal his consciousness away. She watched the man fall back down, deep in his slumber.

Tsunade quickly ordered the remaining nurses to take him into the recovery room; with an emphasis to not let him escape at all cost. Even if he smiles at them. He has a record of making her female –– and a few male –– nurses and doctors to have a nosebleed when he smiles at them. This was especially true when his face was exposed.

Too bad for him, she was immune to it.

Kakashi awoke sluggishly under the covers of his bed, feeling the soft zephyr dancing around in the confinement he was in again. Sixth, he counted. This was the sixth time he has been hospitalized. It's become a frequent thing that many of the staff have started a bet on it. He hated the feeling of behind surround by these four walls. It made him feel oppressed. He winced when he tried to roll his right hand, feeling a small click in his shoulder blade that introduced him into an acute sense of pain.

Before he could express his agony, the hospital door slid open, and the best medical ninja casually walked in with a clipboard in her hand. She took a stool and propped it next to him. She gave him a soft rueful expression that didn't hold any reprimand for him –– but for herself. He has never been privy to the blonde's feelings –– and frankly, he doesn't want to have such an access now. He'd rather deal with an overly violent Tsunade than a fragile one any day.

"You have been taken out of the mission board for two weeks." She said a matter-of-factly, detached and to the point. "In that time being, I want you to rest up in the hospital. Shizune will run frequent tests on you to monitor the wound in your abdomen. It's deep, and the healing process will take longer than the usual wound. Complications can also surface since it wasn't a clean wound. Blood vessels and nerves were damaged. While this wound is fresh and healing, the affected area will lose its functionality until all lost or damaged tissue is repaired. You're lucky to not have it puncture one of your vital organs."

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama," he bowed his head in disgrace. "I didn't mean to be such a hassle. I swear, I'll complete my mission to a much higher standard."

"I'm not telling you to apologise." Her eyes eyebrows knitted a frown at his response and obedience, taking blame that wasn't his. "Honestly, Sakumo raised such an obedient child. It's getting on my nerves. Stop apologising for everything you do –– because you're not doing anything wrong, you fool."

"Oh, right. I-I'm sorr-" he stopped mid-way when he saw her eyebrow twitch with irritation. "I…"

"Just shut up." Tsunade snapped, coating it with more irritation to hide her concern for the man. He was reckless. He could have died for God's sake! Of course, this was the burden she carried with every man and woman she would send off into missions. But losing an elite was not in her cards. She needed Kakashi in her arsenal –– and in her personal life.

Being a Hokage was not the most sociable job one could have. Being stuck and buried under paperwork stops you from talking to people. However, people like him, Shizune, Jiraiya and that little snobby blond brat who insists on branding her 'grandma', warmed her mundane life. He was practically her friend, believe it or not. A right hand and a friend. Sending him as a lone ninja made her see just how much she underestimated the circumstance, and how poor her judgement was. She should have planned ahead and anticipated for something like this to happen.

Instead of speaking, Kakashi raised his hand up and waited for her to acknowledge his wish to speak. "If I may," he said when she looked at him, "I'd like to give you the brief of my mission."

"Go ahead," she replied exasperatedly, waving her hand at him in a dismissal fashion. "I don't think you'll even take 'no' as an answer."

His eyes arched upwards. "You know me too well, Tsunade-sama."

"So…?"

"Has it not come to your attention that I am not due to arrive until tomorrow? The distance from Konoha to Amegakure is simply too great a feat to travel within a day –– nay, half a day." He spoke languidly, meticulously eyeing her body language that suddenly grew rigid. When there was clear silence in the air, the man continued, "Something happened."

She huffed and folded her arms underneath her breasts, keeping her lips pursed. Judging by the tone of his voice, this 'something' was major and not something to be overlooked. She shifted slightly on her stool and braced herself for the worse.

"I need to train first to find out…." Kakashi concluded softly, looking at her meaningfully, as a way to coax her to submit to her good side so he could get an early dismissal form. However, he was met by a disapproving look from the Hokage. He was already prepared for that. (A ninja must always be prepared). He slowly reached up to the hem of his mask, ready to pull it down and flash a smile.

Tsunade was already aware of what the man intended, and hastily reached out to stop him from exposing his lower face. It was already too late for the Godaime, though.

He smiled wholeheartedly, hoping it would butter her up to his request. Instead of receiving the normal –– verging on cliché –– expression of having a nosebleed, the side of his face was greeted by the palm of her hand. He groaned out dramatically as his body was forced to the side by the force of her slap. The sting echoed in the hospital room, and the Copy Ninja found himself with a throbbing red cheek, the imprint of Tsunade's hand firmly embedded into it.

"Don't you even dare try and use that against me, you foolish man."

Kakashi sheepishly rubbed the patch of soreness of his skin, glancing back to see a red-streaked faced Hokage sitting prominently on the stool. It didn't happen all together and as sly as Kakashi had initially concocted in his head, but he radiantly exposed his mirth at the clear fact that he made the Hokage burn up.

She was a woman, after all. Who would have thought? After burying herself in such a glowering aura, he could no longer see her as an opposite sex. But right now, with her burning face glowing the shade of a tomato, he couldn't help but express his gaiety.

"Fine," Tsunade huffed in defeat. "You can start tomorrow. But for tonight –– you're staying here to recuperate. Am I clear?"

He refrained himself from smiling again. "Crystal."

As promised, the silver-haired man stayed stationary in his hospital room, with the help of his porn books that were promptly delivered by Pakkūn. He read and read, and flicked and flicked the pages over, until sunrise came. On the last crisp page of Icha Icha Makeout Tactics, his head snapped back and he looked at his window, noticing that the sun had already set in the blue inked sky.

With a relaxed sigh, he put two fingers up and disappeared with a puff of smoke. When the nurse entered his room with his discharge paper, she was met by an empty hospital bed with an abandoned –– clearly over-read –– collection of porno.

"Pervert…." She huffed away, hiding her burning cheeks as best as she could.

He may be a pervert, but he sure was a looker.

Tsunade, as always, groggily shifted her head on the desk in her office. She groaned with exertion and irritation when the sun's rays peeked through momentarily before blasting straight at her face. She wrinkled the lines of her youthful mask in retaliation, and grabbed the nearest scroll she could find on the desk. "Let me sleep, goddamnit!" With a bit of effort, she hurled the cylinder object into the room. It was briskly caught by the one-and-only masked pervert.

Kakashi looked at the dented scroll that had imprints of her fingers with a frown. "Now, now," he lightly began, throwing the object up and down on the palm of his hand, repeating it as he sauntered closer to the dangerous Hokage. "The village is already functioning, Tsunade-sama. It's your job to rise along with it."

Her hazel eyes narrowed ominously and its shade darkened considerably at the audacity Kakashi showed carelessly. "Well some people didn't sleep 6 o'clock in the morning now, did they?" she spoke rhetorically. Not to mention, she was not a morning person. Not in this life nor the last. A few people can attest to this, including that Perverted Gallant, Jiraiya. The poor man was sent to the sky when he 'accidentally' fell on top of her when she was asleep. With the gift of hindsight, the Gallant may not have fallen on her purposely, because Orochimaru was there, and she remembered them bickering about her lover, Dan. While Jiraiya showed great disdain, Orochimaru just rolled his eyes. And that sparked the Shinobi War between the two.

She smirked, enthralled by begotten memories.

He shrugged, "I didn't sleep at all."

Tsunade faintly registered back to reality, meeting his mismatched eyes. "Yeah, I know. I've had the report of your activities during your stay in the hospital last night from the ANBU team I've sent."

"You sent an ANBU team just to spy on me?" He asked, mildly concerned and oddly flattered.

Tsunade picked up the report they submitted hours before. "Seven o'clock: reading Icha Icha Paradise. Eight o'clock: reading Icha Icha Paradise. Nine o'clock: having mild nosebleed from reading Icha Icha Paradise. Ten o'clock: reading Icha Icha Makeout Troubled Paradise. Eleven o'clock––" she grimaced at the repetitive statements, slamming the paper back down on her desk. "Don't you ever do something else?"

"What can I say?" He shrugged. "I'm a loyal reader. Once I start, I will never stop until I get the job done."

Later that afternoon, Tsunade was notified by his summons that her attention was needed. When she arrived at the training grounds, she was beyond mortified to find the man huffing and puffing on the spot, drenched in his own blood and sweat. She watched as the unscathed shadow clone vanished upon the given command of its user. He looked overly-weary and his chest expanded rapidly as he ruggedly inhaled. The kunai slipped from his hand and the sudden feeling of light-headedness washed over him.

Kakashi finally dropped onto his knees, still perspiring heavily. He touched his borrowed eye. No matter what he did, he could not activate the new sharingan again. He was forced to crane his neck up when a feminine silhouette glowered over him. He tried to smile underneath his mask, but the concern that plagued her face wiped the very thought from his mind. Instead, he bowed his head and continued to regulate his breaths.

Tsunade knelt down in front of him and placed the palm of her hand on his bicep. A distinct emerald glow shone and began to knit the light injuries he sustained from his own shadow clone. "Putting yourself in danger…." She softly scolded, meticulously cleaning up the mess he created. "For a hailed prodigy, you're very stupid."

"I'm sorry."

"What were you trying to achieve? A prolonged time off action? Because that can easily be arranged!" A fist into his gut should suffice.

"I just––"

"What?!"

"I didn't know what caused my sudden escape from that masked man in the Hidden Rain, but I remember feeling this new power throbbing through the veins of my eye. I think I might have awakened the next level of my sharingan, Tsunade-sama. If I can somehow get it to activate…"

"You teleported with that eye?" She questioned. "The only Uchiha I heard who could do such a thing was Uchiha Shisui."

"I didn't teleport," he clarified. "It's more on the lines of warping myself into another dimension." His icy fingertips touched his closed borrowed eye in frustration. "This is too tedious for my liking. I thought by exposing myself to danger, it would give me the key to reawaken this new power I acquired."

"Open your eye. It may have been strained." Tsunade lithely took the masked man by his chin, and tilted his head upwards in an angle. She scrutinized the state of his eye and conclude that it was indeed strained. "Reckless man," she muttered.

Just as she was about to apply her green glow on his prized possession, the sharingan began to pulse and swirl. It captured the blonde Hokage's attention, and she found herself oddly entranced by the erratic motion of the tomoes. The three wheel eventually started to spin and turn into an inward shuriken. The jet black hue it contained with the blood pool around it ominously alarmed her. She flinched back but before she knew it, the eye had activated without the commands of its master.

She was instantly sucked into another dimension.

Tsunade fell through the cracks of blackness, rendered mute from screaming. After plunging into the abyss, the Hokage somewhat felt at ease. Her vision hazed and the small light at the end of the tunnel abruptly closed shut. Her body continued to drift off, further and further down where oxygen proved to be a scarce source.

Before she could feel herself hyperventilate rapidly, her body was wrung around and dragged roughly in the dark. She didn't know what happened after that, nor did she have any clear visuals on the entire experience. All she remembered was that it was pitch black.

And she passed out.

When Tsunade painfully pried her eyes back open, she was greeted by a halo filled with a myriad of evergreen hued leaves drifting in sync with the zephyr. She continued to stare up, hypnotized. It wasn't until her fingers twitched that her attention was reverted back to reality. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and massaged her temple, groaning haggardly as if she just had a hangover.

As she scanned her surroundings she noticed that nothing registered in her mind. Nothing was familiar. She was sure she wasn't sent into one of the Training Grounds, because she knew its terrain inside out. She whipped her head left and right –– where the hell was that man?!

Oh, she was going to kill Kakashi when she sees him again. She cracked her knuckles at the thought. That smug face will be wiped clean.

Her plot of vengeance was interrupted when a crack of twigs and a rustle of dead leaves disrupted her iota of awareness. She looked over her shoulder and saw a boy with shaggy black hair, donned in a dark purple yukata. The boy didn't look lost, if anything he looked as if he was looking for something in particular.

"You," she said, rising up. "Do you know the way out of this forest?"

"To where?" He asked back, raising a brow. "The nearest village is twenty miles; you would have to go through several clan restricted areas to get to it, of course."

"I want directions to the Hidden Leaf."

"Huh?" He cocked his head sidewards and gave an ape-like expression of confusion. "What the hell is that?"

"Brat––!" She was going to explode.

"Who are you calling 'brat'?" He evenly interjected. "You're around the same age as I."

"Flattery won't get you anywhere."

"I'm not flattering you. I'm stating a matter of fact." He pointed straight at her, "You're shorter than me too."

She looked down at herself and shrieked after she looked down and saw that she wasn't greeted by her fine chest. It was flat. She was flat –– a cardboard again. Looking violated, she clutched herself. Her matured body was gone and it had been replaced back to her prepubescent self.

Why was she fourteen years old again?

"Are you alright?" The body inquired further. "If you're lost then I can take you back to our clan compound, keep you safe until the war here is over."

"War?"

"Yes. This area is a battlefield. It's not safe for people like you."

Tsunade surrendered her pride and allowed herself to follow the footsteps of the dark-featured boy. He led the way with confidence backing up his stride. His analytical skills were beyond sharp and refined – even the slightest movements alerted him; he must be a ninja. Finally, after hurdling past so many obstacles, she asked him gently: "What's your name?"

His footsteps halted and he gazed at her over his shoulder with a frown. He turned on his heels and placed on hand on his hip, and grinned mightily.

"I'm Madara."

The Hokage could have sworn that her heart stopped beating for a second.

"M-Madara?"

Just when Tsunade couldn't possibly think that her luck could be any more fucked up ––this happens.

She needed her sake. And she needed more than a dozen of it.

Kakashi woke up, in an upside down position, as his legs were hooked over a tree branch. Before he could fully interpret that he was upside down, the branch snapped in half. Thankfully, he was extremely agile, and he managed to twirl around to land smoothly on his feet. He dusted off the leaves that clung on his clothes –– noticing that he wasn't donned in his Jōnin uniform. "What the hell––?"

He looked down, scrutinizing his outfit and the size of his feet and hands. He hurried to the stream of river, kneeling down to look at his reflection. His hair was free from the restriction of the shinobi headgear, leaving his hair to obscure his borrowed eye. Before he could contemplate on what the hell had happened and how he seemingly just sucked the Hokage into another dimension, he heard light steps approach him with caution.

An enemy.

Or a civilian.

It didn't matter. He had to act. He whirled around and slapped out a kunai out of his pouch. However, he fell short when a large katana pointed harshly against his throat. His lone black eye met a pair of maroon eyes that were crowned with white hair. They stared at each other for the longest time. The man had a scowl written all over his face. Kakashi arched a brow, he looked familiar.

"Tobirama!" A light voice bellowed out, body hidden. It was not long until the owner of that voice pushed through the shroud of trees not far from them. It was a boy with a brown bowl-haircut, a direct contrast to the other boy's striking locks. "Don't. He's just a passerby."

"Still." He insisted sharply, pointing the blade even more against his skin.

Kakashi found himself at mercy of the Second Hokage, having the pristine sword nearly jammed into his throat. If anyone told him that he would meet the Second Hokage and First Hokage in this kind of predicament, he would most certainly call them crazy.

But here he was, kneeling in front of the infamous white-haired man.

The sword prickled against his skin.

He should have just stayed in the hospital with his beloved porn books.

It would have saved him from this kind of shit.

Exciled3