Thank all of you for your overwhelming support for my new story To Pass or Fail. I really hope to have the first chapter of Death and Reunion soon and keep your eyes open for the release of my secret project Roots: The Birth of Team Seven. It will be the epitome of love, loss, friendship, action, revenge, and drama.

Without further ado, I present the second installment of To Pass or Fail.

—Wolfe

Machinations

The sun had dipped low beyond the horizon, casting long shadows through the still bustling streets of Konoha. Throughout the village people milled in great crowds completely undeterred by the setting sun as they went about their business. Sultry smells carried promises of hot ramen, udon soup, roasted chicken, sweet dumplings and so many more mouthwatering dishes offered at the plethora of restaurants lining the main road through the Leaf. Couples walked arm in arm down the street occasionally stopping to look in the window of a shop before continuing onwards to their unknown destinations. Larger groups, mostly civilian with a handful of ninja squads throughout, spread across the streets chattering in loud carousing voices.

In the somber fire of the evening, a shrouded man gracefully maneuvered through all of the groups, his slender figure briefly parting the large crowds and disappearing into obscurity shortly after. A dark hood fell over his face, concealing his identity from the casual observer and dissuading even the most social of people from interaction. The shadow moved with an elegant precision known only highly trained shinobi as he eased his way towards his destination.

Residential areas of Konoha were rarely as crowded as the main street and such was the case as the cloaked man turned off the main path and into a quieter, less populated area. All around apartments stretched upwards towards the darkening sky, their varied heights causing a stair step of shadows to darken the street. With the perpetual slope of the city, it became more difficult for the newcomer to conceal his presence with simple misdirection and the off put of his dress.

After a couple worried looks and suspicious whispers from the denizens of the neighborhood, the man stepped into a nearby alley and wrapped his cloak closer around himself before jumping upwards to the rooftops. Taking a deep breath, the man surveyed the homes around him before locating the one he was searching for. Three rooftops down and a couple rows over, the shadow stopped and hopped onto the balcony below. The apartment was nothing special. Every room had a balcony, a small garden, and a sliding glass door all stacked from the ground floor up.

With a quick flick of hand seals and a pulse of chakra, the shadow unlocked the door before sliding it open and stepping into the welcoming darkness within. Not much had changed since his last visit. With steps trained from memory, he gently padded through the house towards the living room. Everything was exactly as he remembered it, a long overstuffed couch with a too-short coffee table in front of it sat next to an equally overstuffed chair. Other than the few pieces of furniture, the room was sparsely furnished, a small mirror hung on the far wall and a plastic plant sat dejectedly in the corner.

The slender man stretched his back out a moment as he surveyed the room deciding which piece of furniture he would take. The chair had always been his favorite but stretching out on the length of the couch seemed entirely too tempting as he contemplated the tense muscles in his shoulders and his legs sore from travel. With a deep yawn he threw the cloak from his shoulders and watched lazily as it drifted to the floor. With a deep groan he stretched out on the couch, propping his feet on the arm.

Within minutes Sasuke was asleep.

"One of our allies is going to turn on us and . . . it's going to be a bloodbath. If we can't stop this hundreds, no . . . thousands will die. Not just Leaf, but everyone caught in between."

Naruto's ominous words echoed through Kakashi's head as he walked through the crowded streets of Konoha. While he had no proof as the the voracity of the boy's statement, the implications alone sent shivers running up his spine. Konoha had yet to bounce back from the last great war against Madara's machinations and the Hokage seriously doubted any of the other great nations had fully recovered. He knew that any shinobi alliance would be tenuous, but it had only been two years.

The road outside of Kakashi's apartment was usually silent except for the occasional passerby who would wave cheerfully as their Hokage passed. When he had first become Hokage, Kakashi had naturally shied away from all of the foreign attention, preferring to keep himself locked away in his tower or otherwise out of the public eye. After a couple months though the people started to grow on him and he became more public in his appearances, even dropping the Henge transformation he would adopt to travel home.

Something about the people seemed off as the silver-haired man passed. The usual cheerful waves were replaced with hushed whispers and cautious sideways glances. Even the nice baker that always handed him a roll or warm bread slice was no where to be found. Kakashi tensed, knowing something in the neighborhood was out of place. Closing his eyes, he extended his senses as far as he could and tried to detect anything out of the ordinary.

Right away a strange, yet familiar smell reached his nose. It consisted of the forest, dust, and city smells, most likely that of a recently traveling person, even more subtle was the smell of char and static, the smell of a lightning and fire user. The faint smell of death was even more subtle than that.

Kakashi followed the smell to an alley a few blocks away and frowned behind his mask as he realized the person he was pursuing was in fact a ninja. Jumping upwards, he followed the scent over the roof tops of his neighborhood closer and closer to —his home? Without warning the trail dropped down from a rooftop to the balcony outside of Kakashi's apartment. Readying a kunai, the Hokage stepped forward.

The latch of his sliding door had a familiar chakra signature, confirming the silver-haired man's suspicions. With deft hands, he flipped through a series of hand-signs to unlatch his door just as the usurper had earlier. Inside, Kakashi was swallowed by the dark as he crept through his own home. Nothing in the kitchen was out of place, but the strangers smell was growing stronger with each step towards the living room. A long form had found its way onto his couch and was fast asleep, oblivious to the world around him. A careless mistake for any trained shinobi.

With an astonishing speed, the Hokage leaped over the couch and pressed his weapon to the intruder's throat. "Who are you!"

The sleeping man disappeared in a puff of smoke as a voice answered from a dark corner across the room. "You haven't changed a bit Kakashi-Sensei. I would, however, appreciate if you took the kunai away from my neck."

The bushin next to the couch disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Behind Sasuke in the corner of the room Kakashi relaxed his stance and pushed the young man away from him. "Why the hell are you sneaking around Sasuke! I have a front door!" The enraged Hokage threw his kunai across the room with such force it embedded to the hilt in the wall. He stormed in the opposite direction to flip the lights on, bathing the pseudo-battle site in a soft orange glow.

Sasuke rolled his shoulders a bit before gingerly stepping across the room behind his former sensei and plopping into the overstuffed chair behind him, one leg thrown casually over the arm of the chair. "I needed to talk to you before anyone realized I was back in town." The edge in his voice did nothing to put Kakashi at ease as he padded back across the room and flopped onto the couch.

"So you break into my house and wait for me to attack you?" Kakashi asked sarcastically, propping his feet on the coffee table, regarding Sasuke with a glare. "I feel like there are better ways to approach someone you need to talk with."

There was a pregnant silence in the room as Sasuke pulled his thoughts together. With a dark sigh he decided there was no way to beat around the bush. "Something is coming Kakashi." The young man's voice trailed off. "I—"

"You're having dreams of the future." Kakashi interjected, looking into the haunted eyes of his former student.

The Uchiha blinked and looked away, merely grunting in acknowledgment. "At first I thought they were nightmares about the war. Every dream seemed so similar to the ones I had about Itachi after he . . . Anyways, they started getting more and more vivid recently, almost the point I'm actually there." The normally stoic man was shaking, his entire complexion paling as the memories flooded his mind.

Kakashi bit his lip as the boy stopped speaking. He felt the same fear in the pit of his gut even though he hadn't personally witnessed the trauma. Words could only go so far though, and the more he pondered the dilemma the clearer the answer became.

"Sasuke, do you want a drink?" Without waiting for an answer, he stood stiffly and stalked into the kitchen. Opening his cabinet, he pulled a white bottle of aged sake from the top right corner and set it on the cabinet next to him. Next he pulled a worn pan from the wall mount below the cabinet, filled it half full of water and placed it on the stove. Grasping the knob, he turned it to the right, lighting the fire beneath it before placing the bottle into the center of pan to heat. The fire under his water popped, breaking the silence in the kitchen for a brief moment, but Kakashi did not seem to mind.

After a couple minutes had passed, the Hokage pulled an oven mitt from a drawer below the cabinet and and pulled the hot bottle of sake out of the boiling water, setting it on the cabinet while he reached into the cupboard to retrieve a two mugs and two saucers. That done, the placed them down, and then returned to pour a cup of steaming sake into the waiting mugs.

Sasuke had forgone his lounging position to sit stiffly in his chair. When Kakashi entered the room he attempted to avoid eye contact. "I don't need some fucking warm milk like a child Kakashi!"

Chuckling softly, Kakashi handed a steaming cup to the fuming man. "I think you'll find this more to your liking then."

Grimacing at his own stupidity, Sasuke accepted the sake and leaned back into this chair before taking a long sip out of his cup. The steaming liquid did wonders to relax his tensed muscles and slow the racing thoughts in his head, but little to ease the growing pit in his stomach.

"Why did you finally come back?" Kakashi asked quietly.

"I found them." The Uchiha didn't look up as he spoke, opting rather to stare into the depths of his draining cup.

Kakashi looked at him quizzically, his right eyebrow raising in confusion. "Found what?"

Grunting again, Sasuke swallowed the last of his sake, refusing to make eye-contact with the man across the room. Silently he raised his left arm and activated the storage seal inscribed upon it. With a sudden gust of air and smoke, two scrolls appeared in his hand.

"It took a while to find the second one. I knew where to find my brother." Sasuke's voice was almost a whisper as he unfurled the scrolls across the floor. "I almost couldn't recover the sage."

He took both thumbs into his mouth and bit, drawing a hot stream of blood before flashing through a long, complex set of hand-signs. With a final blur he slid the blood covered digits across the center of each scroll and closed his eyes. Smoke clouded the room as time and space opened with a small pop. A few moments passed in silence as the smoke cleared, revealing two forms laying on the scrolls. The body of Itachi Uchiha and the Mountain Sage Jiraiya.

After his meeting with Kakashi earlier that morning, Naruto had meandered through town trying to figure out how to spend the rest of the day. Food was normally his first response, but for some reason the idea of anything on his stomach seemed repulsive. He leaned quietly against a tree as he pondered who was still in town and away on missions. The war had taken quite a toll on people, and most of the Konoha ninja seemed relieved when mission orders reached their hands, as if it were an escape from their own personal horrors. People closer to the blonde changed as well, some for the better, some not so much.

Tsunade disappeared quite suddenly after the end of the war, staying just long enough to make Kakashi Hokage before leaving without a single word. While most of the village gossiped about the various reasons for her departure, a few hushed conversations with Kakashi and Sakura determined she most likely left due to the sheer stress the war had put on her body. Having used her Mitotic Regeneration technique in the battle with Madera, the three even feared she might be nearing the end of her lifespan.

Upon the Fifth's disappearance, the hospital immediately instated Sakura as head of the medic corps, a daunting task which ate all of hre time from dawn to midnight. Naruto shuddered thinking of the sheer amount of work Sakura had taken upon herself, but realized this too was a coping mechanism for the war. With both her menor and her long time love, Sasuke, gone, only her duty seemed to tie her to the village. Naruto smiled halfheartedly as he thought about Sakura still chasing Sasuke. Part of him ached for the voracity of her words on the snow covered mountains of the Iron Country, but he knew she would forever be just out of reach. He grimaced, thinking how Hinata must feel the same, chasing after him while he chased Sakura.

Neji's death had taken a great toll on the young woman. While Hinata had never really spoken much as a teenager, she spoke even less as an adult—only providing deep insight when needed. As a child her silence stemmed from crippling shyness, but now her silence stemmed from pensive thought and reflection. She had grown beautiful beyond words and Naruto understood this and the strength behind her confession of love. He couldn't commit to her though.

:Boy. Stop wallowing in the past and do something.: The gruff voice of Kurama resounded in his head. :We need to train if you want to have a chance of protecting either of them from what's coming.:

Naruto sighed deeply before pushing himself away from the tree. The sun was setting over the western edge of the city and bugs were starting to fill the night with their vibrant chatter. As the blonde wandered down the path towards the training grounds he closed his eyes and let the serenity wash over him.

"You know Kurama, I feel like Shikamaru is right about something."

The fox sounded slightly amused as he answered, raising a mental eyebrow:Hm? What's that.:

"Women are troublesome."

Kurama chuckled darkly. :I wouldn't know. There doesn't seem to be an abundance of nine-tailed demon vixens running around.:

"Demon vi— demon what?" Naruto replied, scratching his head in sincere confusion.

:Women. Fox women you imbecile!:

"Whatever. You'd probably scare them away anyhow."

Rounding the path, the duo found themselves outside of the training grounds, each gate marked with huge numbers. Some of the towering fences surrounded limitless expanses of trees while others were just small dirt plots with some practice dummies sitting silently in the center, their long shadows stretching out before them. Naruto wanted a smaller training ground, preferably with a tree or something to lean against, his training wasn't exactly exciting after all.

Roaming around the fenced areas, he finally found a nice small area with a single tree sitting in the corner and bee lined for it. Within moments, he was sitting with his back propped against the rough surface of the oak. Crossing his legs he breathed in deeply and forced all thoughts out of his head, much like he had when training in Mount Myōboku.

"Okay Fox, let's try this."

Closing his eyes, the blonde concentrated on bringing all of his chakra's into balance, mentally molding them into a rotating ball. He imagined making rasengan inside of himself without putting in all the power he would during an attack, rather, he focused on the spin and composition of the the chakra. In his inner mind, he could see a lumpy ball forming and spinning haphazardly. He breathed in deeply before compressing everything into a sphere. The ball stabilized and the lumps disappeared, leaving a single glowing orb spinning in the darkness.

When the ball of chakra stabilized, Naruto felt the Kurama's red chakra flowing into the ball as well. For a second the bumpiness returned as the blue and red fought against each other, refusing to mix. Together, red and blue chakra spiraled around, pushing out of the sphere at strange intervals without completely stabilizing together. Just as Naruto had compressed his chakra, Kurama did the same and suddenly a small pop echoed in the blackness of their minds. The orb started spinning faster and faster until neither the red nor blue chakra were visible and only a seamless purple orb spun in place.

:Now!: Naruto heard Kurama shout in the back of his mind.

Without hesitating, the blonde forced his consciousness back, shuddering slightly as he felt the massive presence of Kurama's surge forward.

For a second Naruto couldn't breathe. He couldn't feel his body. He didn't exist. He went from sitting back against a tree to floating in dark nothingness. He panicked. Struggling, he fought to regain something, anything besides the blackness around him. The orb shuddered and the purple briefly flickered from red to blue and back.

:Boy! You're losing it again!: Kurama's voice echoed darkly in the depths of Naruto's mind. :Relax and just let the transition happen.:

The panic subsided and suddenly the blonde found himself looking though the eyes of another. His senses were dulled and everything happening around him seemed to filter through eternity before he could actually feel it. With the link to Kurama, he understood things before he sensed them, the thought came before the sensation. It was a disorienting feeling, like his body and senses were five seconds behind his mind.

According to Bee, this was the first step to achieving a full transition. With practice, Naruto and Kurama's mind would balance and the lapse between time and sensation would lessen until it no longer existed. Ruefully however, Gyuki admitted they had yet to reach a flawless transition, and while theirs was almost perfect—with a barely noticeable lapse— the transition had never perfectly melded their minds.

Like wave distortions, reality and sensation connected briefly before falling into oblivion; when waves of reality intersected, the meld was right but when they diverged once again the meld broke. Over and over this cycle repeated, with neither mind completely merging like the chakras in hand had. With a final tumultuous lurch the connection broke, forcibly sending Naruto to the forefront, dislodging Kurama with a violent shudder.

Kakashi stared silently as the bodies before him disappeared into a large puff of smoke. Of all the things Sasuke could have done, recovering the bodies of Konoha's fallen heroes was the last thing the Kage would have imagined. Saying nothing, Kakashi leaned back into his seat and studied the man across from him. The emotional burden the raven-haired man carried was clearly visible as he looked across the preserved figure of his brother. The two could almost be twins, Kakashi found himself thinking, taking only slight exception for the dark tear troughs still prominently etched into the deceased face of Itachi. Breathing deeply, he glanced at the body of Jiraiya. While the two of them had never been incredibly close, part of him still ached for the great sacrifice the man made against Pein. Shaking his head, he returned his focus to Sasuke.

Silence filled the room as the raven-haired man rolled the scrolls and whipped his hands into a sealing jutsu causing black bands to wrap around the vessels and lock the contents inside. With a heavy sigh the Uchiha closed his eyes and turned around, his back facing Kakashi. The last of his spirit seemed to leave him as he uttered a single sentence the slipped into the air like death itself.

"I killed Itachi."

The words hung in the air desolately like a thick shrouding fog. A sickening silence followed as Sasuke returned to his chair, leaving the two scrolls laying abandoned on the floor.

"I want them to each receive a proper burial." Sasuke said suddenly, his deep voice breaking into the desolation hanging in the air. "But—" he added darkly, "I don't want anyone knowing I brought them back."

"Sasu—" Kakashi started, before the Uchiha's dark glare cut him off from across the room.

"No one." Breathing deeply, Sasuke looked away, instead choosing to watch the last rays of the sun dip beyond the horizon. "People should judge me for my actions as a whole, not some deed they think as penitence."

Kakashi nodded once. He knew Sasuke wanted to return to the village and he understood the need for earned acceptance rather than obsequious hero worship. The fawning attention Naruto had garnered after the last war was something that Sasuke had never wanted.

"Was this all you wanted to talk to me about?" Kakashi asked, feeling deep down that there was something more to this meeting.

Sasuke shifted uneasily in his chair as if something had suddenly discomforted him. His already pale feature bleached as he looked off into the distance. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"You've been dreaming something you think is going to happen in the future." Kakashi prompted, suddenly realizing Sasuke had also received chakra from the Sage of Six Paths. Even as he spoke, a plan was forming in his mind. He had only heard a second hand account of these dreams, but if he could actually see them in action . . .

Across the room Sasuke clenched his teeth. A surge of chakra pushed through the room and started swirling around the raven-haired man. Everything about the chakra seemed wrong, uncontrolled, wild. It was the same chaotic burst that had tormented Naruto in his apartment only this time it swirled in an evil black and red whirlwind.

"Kakashi!" Sasuke yelled out over the maelstrom, his deep voice barely crossing the room over the sudden cacophony.

Without thinking, Kakashi looked up and into the swirling ring of Sasuke's sharingan. The world jolted out of reality and burst into a tessellation of oranges, reds, and yellows. In the center Sasuke stood wordlessly, his head tilted back, face contorted into a silent scream. With great effort Kakashi pushed against the howling winds of Sasuke's Tsukuyomi into the hell fire epicenter. Grabbing hold of the boy's shoulders, the Kage wrenched him forward.

"I want you to show me Sasuke." The Hokage yelled his voice strong despite the doubts he harbored against Sasuke's sharingan. "Show me what you've been dreaming!"

Everything stopped, frozen in time as Sasuke looked into Kakashi's eyes, into his mind, down the the depths of his soul before wrenching it into his own dark world.

The cold, piercing wind howled across the river causing huge waves to crash against the shore over and over again. On the northern banks, Konaha forces stood with their weapons drawn, their Hokage standing proudly before them. The southern shore harbored an unknown force, their blank eyes staring blindly towards the ranks of Konoha, their Kage staring forward resolutely. In the center of the river stood four forms.

Saskuke looked at the shadowy figures to his left and right, knowing deep down they would defend his back until the end against the monstrosity before them. The jinchuriki howled as the monster inside ripped forth, tearing him apart from the inside out, bits of flesh and gore raining upon both standing armies. Kakashi gave the command to charge despite the warnings Sasuke's squad was screaming.

All around people were dying. Two Kage were embroiled in a jutsu match beyond comprehension, their powerful chakra expulsions causing huge quakes in the ground below. More people fell. The waters were flowing red with the carnage of the battle.

Silence. Both sides retreated from the battle field knowing something was coming. Something terrible. As nothing happened tensions eased and uneasy mummers rippled through the ranks. Even the Kage, so embroiled in their match stopped. In the center of the battle field a single figure slumped forward and fell to the ground.

The sky split as a single scream ripped through the ears of everyone around. Suddenly there was nothing.

Everything was dark and the Uchiha found himself walking in a water-filled facility. The dim lights cast dark shadows on the walls the sickly sweet stench of death brought tears to his eyes. A hollow roar echoed down the hall, all the anguish of loss laced into a war cry. Sensing something terrible was about to happen, Sasuke ran toward the sound until he stood before a set of golden gates.

Inside, Kurama held the mangled body of Naruto. The foxes eyes were wide with anger and clouded with rage. Another horrible cry ripped forth from his enormous chest as he placed the boy onto the ground before him. The water started boiling rapidly all around with huge curls of steam wafting from the surface and disappearing into nothing. Flames burst all around, as the facility shook violently. Chakra streamed unchecked from the fox in great billowing swirls of red and orange.

Kurama roared once more, a promise of destruction as he crashed through the gates.

Hey guys! Sorry about the wait. I was trying to finish of my semester and then I had to go to South Korea. I'm going to try to post more often as to keep all of you appeased. Additonally, I have one finally story to announce. It is a Yu Yu Hakusho fan fiction of the same calibur as the rest of my works. Keep an eye out!

—Wolfe