24 years ago…

"We're reporting to you live from outside Konoha with an update on this disturbing turn of events. This morning has seen a turnaround as Special Forces enter the barriers. Led by Captain Sakumo Hatake, the infected have been pushed back into the southwest district, where they have been quarantined. As of now, officials report the death toll at over two hundred. Men, women, and children have all been affected, and as of now, no cure has been found.

Among the reported casualties is Captain Hatake's wife, Karen Hatake, who was, according to recent reports, six weeks pregnant. As of now, no bodies have been removed from the district, and it is expected that there is a possibility that no bodies will be returned to families from the quarantine.

Trust us to keep you informed as new information comes to light."

14 years ago

Sirens rang out, beating against a youth's ears as he curled in on himself. Everything was dark around him, and chaotic. An unfamiliar wetness ran down his pale face, burning his eyes and making his shoulders shake. What had been wrong with her? Why had she tried to kill him? He said that was his mother, and mothers were supposed to love their children. Was that love?

His father loved his mother. That's what they said. So then why did he kill her? Matching streaks of liquid had run down his face when he'd done it – shot her in the head, splattering the silver-haired youth with blackened ichor, right before putting the object to his own head. With a loud boom, red blood joined black on the nine year old's face, and he let out an involuntary cry as he was hauled away by the men.

It was cold there…so cold. The darkness crept on him, seeping into his body and his mind until he thought he was going to drown in it. He was going to die from the darkness.

Only, just when he'd resigned himself to his fate, the door creaked open. Light flooded in, blinding him, but in the brightness, the youth could make out one thing coming towards him. A man, with a warm smile on his face, his bright blue eyes caring and compassionate – something he had never seen before. Luminous yellow hair spread around his head, and the way the light hit it…it made it glow like a ring around his head.

The man reached for him, a single inviting hand stretching for his shaking form. The pale-haired child took it without hesitation, and let himself be lifted from the ground into the man's arms. A sudden sense of peace overtook the child, and he was spirited away from the chaos of fire, screams, and explosions.

5 years ago…

A single black eye fell angrily on an incoming officer on the scene. "What took you so long?" the young Special Ops agent grumbled. At only nineteen years of age, Kakashi Hatake was the youngest sub-commander of a Special Ops team in the history of the organization.

"Oh Kakashi, you're always worrying. Don't be in such a rush all the time, huh?" the late officer grinned, scratching his head sheepishly and adjusting his goggles.

"Obito!" the other Special Ops member, a brown-haired girl in her mid-twenties, chided. "You're always late!"

"Aw Rin, don't be so serious! It's not like they're actually going to send us in there. We're too low-leveled." He cast a sideways glance at Kakashi. "Well, at least some of us are."

Kakashi huffed, but secretly, though he would never say it out loud, he didn't want to go on any mission without the team he'd grown so used to being with. Rin, Obito, and the man he considered to be more of a father than his father had been, Kiiro Yondaime.

Of course, if it was a choice between going in by himself, and going in with his team on this particular call, he would've preferred to go by himself. Men with explosives were not something to toy with, and the situation was too dangerous. He didn't want the people who, as much as he was loathe to admit, he had come to call his friends, in such a dangerous situation.

"Hatake! Uchiha! Karada! Over here!" Kakashi turned to see the head of the Special Ops, Chief Hakujo. He immediately turned and saluted, and at the look on the man's face, spared a moment to pray that his mentor would arrive. He knew that the hope was pointless, given that Kiiro was already on an assignment halfway across town. Probably the same group, if Kakashi had to take a guess, spread out in different locations, because there was another going on aside from the two.

Dutifully, Kakashi strode over to the chief, locking his feet together and standing at attention before balding man. "Yes Chief?" He asked as Obito and Rin fell into step behind him.

"Hatake! All of our men are spread out through the city. You and your team are the only ones we can spare." Already, Kakashi's gut was twisting itself into a tight knot. "I need you, Uchiha, and Karada to go in there, and get those hostages out."

Kakashi could hear his heartbeat in his ears. 'Is this what fear feels like?' He could barely remember the last time he'd felt it. The strange clenching in his gut, the heat on his face, with the chill down his spine. He wasn't frightened for himself. He knew that he could die and he wouldn't be afraid. Nothing could be more frightening than the thing that stared back at him in the mirror every day; the memories that plagued him at the mere sight of the atrocity in his left eye socket.

No, he was afraid for Rin and Obito. His friends, who despite their seniority, weren't as capable as he was in such a situation. What he was truly, truly afraid of wasn't that something bad would happen and he would die, it was that something bad would happen and he would live while his friends died. That fate seemed unbearable.

"Sir," he began, taking care to control his shaking breath. "We aren't qualified for this," he said. "We've only been a team for a few months. We are all fairly new to the force. We would probably end up doing more harm than good." Kakashi finished, and clenched his fist at his side. Silently, he hoped – he begged fate or whatever it was that controlled his future that the Chief would listen to reason.

It seemed though, that fate was not on his side. "Hatake, that's an order. You are one of the most capable on the force, and the Minato Squad has been training for something just like this. You're the best we've got, so it's time to do your job."

Cold realization gripped Kakashi. He wasn't getting out of this. But at least he could try to get the others out of it.

"Sir, I think it might be best if I went in myself. It will be easier for me to infiltrate the building solo than with a team."

For a second, the Chief actually seemed to be considering it, but then "I don't think so, Kakashi!" Obito shouted. Kakashi could have screamed at him right about then. "There's no way in hell we're letting you go in there by yourself!"

"He's right, Kakashi," Rin joined in, and Kakashi realized that he had started a losing battle. There really was no way that the two of them were going to let him go in on his own, even if it was for their own good. He doubted they even realized the severity of the situation. They'd been through academy drills, and simulations, and a few real world situations. Kakashi had seen much more than they had though, on solo missions and working with Kiiro. Kakashi knew though. He knew that the men inside weren't sound of mind. He knew that the hostages were all strapped with explosive devices. He knew that there was virtually no way to get inside, and they couldn't snip the men because they were standing clear out of sight, and the second they tried, the dead man's switches clutched in their hands would release, triggering a room full of explosives and killing everyone. He also knew that their demands would never be met. No matter how good a person Lord Sandaime, the head of the district of Konoha and neighboring territories was, he would not submit to them. They were asking him to disband the city, and turn his official powers over to the leaders of one of the nearby territories. It would spell disaster for a lot more people than the relatively small number of people contained inside the facility.

"All of you," the Chief decided finally. "All of you go in."

And just like that, his fate was sealed.

Not fifteen minutes later, screams and fire spewed out from the building. Something had gone horribly wrong. One of the hostages had panicked and given away Obito's position. Kakashi had just finished lifting the second to last one, all now free of their explosives, out by harness, so there was nothing he could do as the last man – the only one who's throats had not been slit, and whose switch had not been secured – released his grip on the switch.

In an instant, the force alone of the explosives strapped around the maniac's body sent Kakashi, still tethered to the roof of the building, into the wall. His harness snapped and he plunged to the ground as debris came down around him.

Through the daze, everything seemed to move in slow motion. Rocks fell as Obito shouted and Rin screamed. He couldn't hear what they were saying, only watch as concrete and beams plummeted to the ground. One beam caught Kakashi's blurred sight, and he followed it down…to Obito.

Oh God, Obito!

His confusion and agony forgotten, Kakashi made a mad dash for Obito. He started desperately trying to push the beam off of the half of his body, refusing to acknowledge the painful truth. The massive metal beam had fallen several stories and fallen on Obito's entire right half, from his shoulder over.

"Obito!" Kakashi screamed, and Rin's voice joined his.

Blood dripped from Obito's mouth as he opened his eyes. "K…Kashi," he choked out, more blood streaming from his mouth by the second.

"Don't talk, you idiot. I have to get you out of here," Kakashi snapped out, feeling an unfamiliar wetness gather in his eyes. He threw rocks and metal bars away from the pile that had formed atop his friend, ignoring the pain as cuts and gashes began to cover more and more of his hand. He threw his shoulder against the beam, screaming for Rin to get help as his feet slipped and slid on the ground. Each time he fell, he landed harder until he could barely get up.

"Kashi…s…stop…gotta stop…" Obito murmured, blood continuing to gurgle out, now from his nose as well.

"It's moving!" Kakashi shouted back, refusing to halt his attempts to free his friend. The logical part of his brain knew that even if he did free his friend, he wouldn't survive. But Kakashi wasn't listening to logic.

When he fell the next time, Kakashi felt a hand grasp weakly at his shirt. He didn't pull away, raising his eyes to meet Obito's. The older youth was smiling. "'s okay…Kash…'s okay," he gasped out. "Kash…closer," he said. Kakashi watched him, horror on his dirt streaked face. He leaned forward nonetheless, his ear close to Obito's bloody lips. "Promise…you'll do something…for me," he whispered wetly, blood thickening his speech.

"What?" Kakashi's voice was weak and strained. What did Obito want him to promise?

"Promise," Obito repeated, more urgently.

This time, Kakashi nodded. "I promise. What do you want me to do."

"Don't…Don't forget how to smile." Then there was a sharp intake of breath, and then nothing.

The silence was deafening, and then a sound shattered it, cutting through Kakashi's mind like a blade through his heart. The sound of bullets firing, glass shattering, and Rin screaming.

Kakashi didn't need to look to know that Rin had been shot. He knew the scream – knew the wetness of it meant a lung had been punctured, and the following shots hadn't missed.

The teen, once pure silver hair now stained with blood and dirt, sat back on his heels amidst the wreckage that contained the bodies of his two friends. His worst fear had been realized. He had lived, and, he saw as he glance behind him to see the still body of the brunette, and back to the bloody corpse of his best friend, they had died.

There was no stopping the animalistic scream that tore from his throat, and he reveled in it. Reveled in the pain that shot up his arms as he clenched his battered fists and pounded them into the floor. Reveled in the tangible agony that did nothing to stop a much sharper, less physical pain in his chest.

And amidst the darkness and flames, a head of golden hair appeared in his vision. Arms wrapped around his shoulders, lifting him up and away from his friends despite his struggles, and for the second time in his life, he was pulled from the wreckage of his life by the blonde-headed light that arrived just in time to save him.