Konoha: At His Fingertips by MegaB

Chapter 3: Phoenix Rise

Shisui stooped and hauled the collapsed blond onto his shoulder.

"Would you quit staring and gimme a hand here?" He snapped.

"But-but! I still have no idea what just happened!" Anko whined.

"You and me too, but if we don't get him somewhere relatively sane, we'll never get an answer out of him!"

Seemingly snapping her from her trance, Orochimaru's erstwhile protégé shook her head before throwing one of Naruto's arms over her shoulder, Shisui repeating the action for the other.

"God, he's gotten damn heavy! This can't be from just Ramen!" Shisui grunted, shifting his grip on the young teen's torso so that he wouldn't fall over mid-stride.

"Blasphemy! Naruto? Eating something other than Ramen? Don't let him hear you say that or who knows what'll happen!"

Shisui sighed and began his journey towards the street, Anko attempting to move in-sync to avoid any unfortunate accidents. When they breached the side door leading out into a cobblestone street attached to the main road in front of the quiet neighbourhood corner, Shisui breathed in the moist, calming scent of the ocean to the north on the outskirts of Mori.

"What the hell were you doing here Naruto? This place is so far from Konoha…" He whispered. The blond grunted in his sleep but other than that, showed no signs of regaining consciousness.

"Where should we take him?" Anko asked, peering anxiously up and down the small back street.

"No idea. Somewhere quiet I guess."

They both tensed at the sound of pattering feet, one, no, two pairs approaching their position. They distinctly heard laboured breathing, puffing, yet vaguely excited. They shared a bewildered glance before turning to the far entrance of the street where two faces snuck around the corner with cautious expressions.

One was female; raven locks straight down to mid-back, glitteringly mischievous eyes and a broad grin. The other was a short boy, far more reserved, his tousled brown hair pulled into a loose centre-parting. They were both dressed casually although the girl held herself with poise, denoting a certain measure of training, a Bokken tied to her waist with a grey sash.

"Oh look, Takashi! It's 'Ruto!" The girl chirped. For some reason, this caused her small compatriot to groan in consternation.

They jogged up to the two Konoha-nin, both relieved at the sight of the unconscious blond. Anko and Shisui exchanged another look, this time of dawning realisation.

"And what would you two want with little ol' Naruto? See, we got dibs on this dunderhead!" Anko growled.

Mio clapped excitedly before reaching a slim hand out in front of the purple-headed Jounin's nose.

"My name's Mio! Any friend of 'Ruto's is a friend of mine!" Her voice almost matched her megaton smile.

She's so…bubbly! Anko thought. She shook the girl's hand however, noting her above average grip strength and focused eyes. So this was one of the people the stupid Gaki had hung out with since leaving the Hidden Leaf…

"Anko," she responded, eliciting a grateful giggle from the overly-happy girl. Anko frowned internally at the situation; they needed to move. She was prevented from moving ahead by Shisui's voice.

"Would you two know anything about why we found this idiot drunk to his toes and hiding in a Wine barrel?" He was certainly as irked at the past couple of minutes as she was it seemed.

Mio giggled again.

"Oh, that might be because he decided it was fun to hide in there," she said.

"And why, exactly, would he want to hide in a Wine barrel?" Anko would have laughed at the audible whine in his voice if she wasn't so curious herself.

"Well that's because he was trying to sneak into the pub of course! Terakado-jii thought it was a great idea to pick on the Kazejin and Naruto decided he wasn't having any of it."

This time Shisui really did groan.

"What he's tryna say," Anko offered, "is that he wants to know what situation would cause him to want to hide in there in the first place-"

"Oh! In that case, Naruto's our leader, you see, the leader of the Kazejin! We sort of do our own thing around town, pulling pranks and stuff. Naruto wanted to get inside that shop, but couldn't through the front door, and that's what he decided to do instead."

Anko looked slightly put-off at being interrupted so easily, yet she didn't say anything. They really did need to get indoors.

"…I'm not saying I understand a word of what you just said but…do you have somewhere we can talk to this lunatic in private? Somewhere indoors preferably," Shisui asked hesitantly. Mio turned to grin at Takashi, yet the shorter male didn't seem to share her enthusiasm.

"Sure! We'll take you to our hideout!"

Anko distinctly got the impression that the word 'hideout' was uttered a tad bit over-eagerly. She couldn't help the swirling of dread that began at the pit of her gut as the black haired girl sauntered off down the street, her gait oddly reminding her of a Cheshire Cat.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"This….this is what you call a hideout?"

"Yup!"

Anko groaned.

"It's an abandoned warehouse! I expected an underground bunker with the latest tech or something far more awe-inspiring than this!"

"How old, exactly, are you again?"

Takashi's questioned was answered by a swift kick to the shin and Anko couldn't help but notice the frosty glare Mio sent the boy's way.

Shisui settled Naruto's unconscious form gently into a rickety plastic chair cushioned with not more than a thin layer of uncovered, stained foam. The blonde's arms flopped uselessly at his sides although he made no move to wake up.

The two Konoha-nin glanced around them surreptitiously, taking in the strange, cold brick and metal building they had been invited to. The four of them had entered through a side door leading to a desolate garden; traces of fern and flora barely poking through the dusty gravel that seemed to bury what could have been a lush environment in the past. The sides of the building were liberally spread with corrugated Aluminium divides, though the majority were showing signs of rust and decay.

The room they had taken to was bare of anything besides a couple of plastic chairs, a naked bulb swinging lazily below the ceiling. Anko had noticed that many of the rooms they had passed on the way to their current residence were very similar in size and substance, if they had lights at all that is.

She shivered in the cold, the walls doing barely anything to inhibit the slight breeze whistling through the many gaps and holes peppering the building. She supposed that it would grow on her if she had to stay here every day, although whatever could convince her to return would have to be monumental to even be considered.

She turned back to Mio, the girl smiling happily as she stared unwaveringly at their mutual acquaintance. A question came unbidden to her lips and she found herself opening her mouth without really meaning to.

"How long has you known him?"

Mio's head snapped to regard her, the tinge of joy gleaming through her features.

"About a year and a half, I guess. He stumbled in here around that time and one of the boys tried to beat him up. It didn't end well for that guy hahaha!" Anko smiled at that, she could just about see exactly how such a scene would have played out.

"You lot Shinobi then?" Takashi enquired anxiously. Anko has noticed that he seemed to be fidgeting ever since they'd set their friend down on his seat, as if he had some lingering doubt he was dying to have addressed. Shisui sighed tiredly.

"Yeah, we are. I take it the Hitai-ite gave it away, huh?"

Takashi snorted derisively.

"What would the tree-huggers have to do with the Kazejin's leader I wonder."

Anko frowned; what was it with this guy?

"You mean he hasn't told you where he came from before you met him?" Shisui thought aloud.

"No!"

Takashi's answer was a bit too snappish to not be suspicious. Shisui eyed the boy for a moment before addressing Mio.

"Well, to answer your question, he's one of our best friends. He was born and raised in Konoha. He left us two years ago for his own reasons and we've only just managed to track him down."

"Well he obviously wants to stay here then, doesn't he?" Takashi retorted waspishly.

Anko glared at the boy.

"You say one more utterly stupid thing and I'll make sure you can't speak for the rest of our conversation. Better yet, get outta here kid; you're obviously way too immature to be in on this."

Takashi protested verbally before Mio told him to shut up and pushed him out the door, slamming it angrily after him.

"Sorry about him. He actually cares for Naruto quite a lot even if he pretends he really doesn't," Mio muttered. "So why did Naruto leave in the first place?"

Anko and Shisui exchanged an uneasy glance.

"Things…things happened, and it was a little bit too much for him to take. He's had a hard life and the situation in Konoha…"

"It's complicated," Shisui finished. Mio frowned, that really was very little information.

Three heads turned as a clear moan escaped the blonde's mouth from across the room. Anko rushed to his side and cradled his head to stop him from straining his neck from the strange position he found himself in.

"Oi Gaki, wake the hell up! We've been looking all over for you, ya know?"

Naruto opened his eyes ever-so-slightly, blearily peering from under hooded lids at the room's occupants. He gave a startled flinch when he noticed just who was before him, his eyes snapping open so quickly that he almost fell from his chair at the pounding pain that flashed through his head.

"Anko-nee, what are you doing here? Urgh-" His eyes widened comically as they lit upon a person he never thought he'd see again for the rest of his life. Shisui grinned back in typically cheesy fashion.

Of course, his greeting was not at all what any of them suspected.

"Sirius! What the hell are YOU doing here? I thought you fell through the veil-"

Naruto slumped to the side, head lolling after Shisui's cross-punch to the temple.

"…Ignore that," he stated during a heavy moment of silence. Anko nodded vigorously to show her approval and Mio sighed exasperatedly.

When he did regain consciousness for the second time, it was far more like the blond than before.

"SHISUI WHAT THE HELL? I thought you was dead man!" The chair shook for a moment before he glanced down at his bindings.

"Why the heck am I tied down?" He asked slowly. Anko cackled with glee as Shisui squatted in front of their friend and patted his cheek.

"Oh that's because we don't want you going insane on us like last time. Course, you're already insane, but we're trying to prevent any extra insanity you see. Madness is bad for the heart and all that, especially when madness is already there and only increases-"

"I think you made your point," Anko blurted. Naruto sat stunned, his eyes unable to leave the dark depths of his Sharingan-wielding brother.

"How?" he asked, the single word carrying far more emotion than the others expected. Mio grimaced.

"Urgh, I'll…I'll be outside I suppose," she said, striding to the door, Bokken swinging haphazardly before opening and closing the door with a snap. Naruto hardly acknowledged her departure, such was his focus on his erstwhile friends.

Shisui remained before him, features creasing into a soft smile at Naruto's concern. His hand trailed down to rest on the Jinchuuriki's shoulder.

"Tsunade fixed me right up Naruto. She's the best medic in the world for a reason," squeezing his shoulder he stood up and glanced down at the blond. "Don't get me wrong, it was a serious injury and nobody else could've healed me."

"That can't be right 'cause…" He frowned."…because she told me she'd fixed everything back then but you just weren't waking up!"

"He's right in front of you 'Ruto," she smiled. "That's good enough isn't it?"

In a burst of Wind Chakra, the ropes surrounding him fell to the ground and he leapt forward in a rush, crushing Shisui in a bodily hug. The Uchiha-survivor let out an exhilarating laugh, swinging his brother in all but blood around and around in the air. They calmed after a moment, Shisui setting Naruto down on his feet gently.

"Whoa, I guess," he paused to wipe his nose, "I guess I missed so much, huh?"

Anko smiled. "You did. But there's a lot of time to make up for it!"

Anko and Shisui glanced at each other worriedly when Naruto's face fell at her proclamation.

"I-"

"What are you thinking Naruto? There's no reason to not come back. The Sandaime wanted you in Konoha and I'm sure that hasn't changed," Shisui said, ever-so-softly.

"It's not that," Naruto shook his head. "It's Madara! He-"

"Madara's dead," Anko cut in. She recoiled at her own tone before continuing hesitantly. "Like Orochimaru; we found his body halfway to the border with Ame."

Naruto collapsed, his legs giving out from under him. All this time! All this time! He'd been worrying all this time, justifying his self-imposed exile by the haunting words of a man who he'd killed by his own hands. He looked at them now, calloused and shaking as they were.

His own hands.

He looked up, catching the purple-haired Tokubetsu Jounin's gaze with his own shimmering depths of azure.

"How-"

"You killed him!" Anko snapped. "Madara and Orochimaru! Two of the most dangerous people in the entire world Naruto! Why the hell are you running from your own damn ghosts?"

Naruto's eyes were wide, staring at her with something akin to shock, not that she noticed however, she was too far caught within her ensnaring anger, the demons that had been seeking to tear her apart for two years, to stop anytime soon.

"You're one of the most freakin'-powerful kids in the world! Why the hell are you running away again and again? IT'S MAKING ME SICK!"

She stopped to catch her breath, Shisui almost as surprised as the focus of her anger at her sudden outburst.

"Anko, I don't think-"

"THE HELL YOU DON'T!" She screamed. "I've been all alone for three years Goddamnit! You turned into some paranoid whacko, Kakashi was off trying to commit suicide and THIS GUY-" She rounded on him once again, eyes streaming with tears as her emotional turmoil, hidden for so long, finally rushed to the forefront as if a mighty dam had suddenly collapsed.

But they never heard what she was going to say next, for before she could continue, her throat convulsed with a strangled sob, catching her unawares and bowing her head in her utter sorrow.

If the room had been tense before, the awkwardness had now sky-rocketed. Naruto, realising suddenly what had happened during his absence as suddenly as a gust of wind steals your homework on a blustery day, cautiously approached his friend and hugged her. Anko continued to cry, huge gulps of air wracking her body with tremors she hadn't felt since her abandonment in her teenage years.

"I missed you all so Goddamn much!" She wept. "It was like…it was like those days before I got promoted, all my own-" She gulped in another lungful of air as if it were her only hope.

"Every day," her head rose an inch, steel amethyst eyes glittering with unshed tears. "Every damned day telling myself that it'd get better, that you'd come back…"

After an indefinite amount of time, Naruto wriggled to step back; somehow noticing that Shisui had appeared by his side rubbing circles into Anko's back. They parted uneasily, a small pink tinge washed over the tip of Anko's nose and cheeks.

"Thanks," she murmured.

They sat on the floor then, all three of them not knowing what to say and not wanting to be the first person to broach the silence after Anko's breakdown. Naruto, realising how cold it was in the bare room, muttered as he drew his hands into seals and then finally snapping his hands forward and expelling a small fiery-orange ball of flame that settled into the middle of the room and immediately causing the temperature to rise. Anko and Shisui stared at it for a moment before Shisui raised an eyebrow.

"Do I want to know?" He asked.

"I learnt that when I was staying here. Neat trick huh?" He grinned.

"Pretty useful, I suppose," Anko whispered, rubbing her arms as if to trap the heat within them. After another moment of silence, all three burst out laughing for no apparent reason they could rationalise.

And it was to this scene that Mio re-entered the room.

"Everything ok now?" She prodded gently, closing the door with her foot as her hands were full with a tray of juice and Onigiri.

"Just peachy, Mio." Naruto replied.

"Good," she said. "We were wondering if it'd take a fight before you all shut up!" Ignoring the glares sent her way, doing nothing to deter the full-blown smile upon her lips.

"You're going back to Konoha." She remarked, stabbing a finger in Naruto's direction.

"Huh? Wha-"

"No buts!"

"I didn't even say but!" Naruto complained.

"You were thinking it!"

"That wasn't even a question!"

"Well done, you've proven you can talk."

"Mio!" Naruto growled. "I will decide whatever the hell I wanna do! You-" he began, jabbing his own finger at her face, "will simply have to accept it!"

Her smile only widened if that was possible.

"I know that. Everyone wants you to go though. A lot of us have noticed that your focus is never with the Kazejin even since you formed us up."

Naruto looked down guiltily.

"It's not my fault Mio. I wanna stay, I really do. It's been really cool with you, Takashi and the others!"

Shisui leaned forward, a sombre expression on his face.

"That's one of the reasons we came to get you actually. We know this was your choice and we respect that and would've left you alone however long you wanted," he said, ignoring the sharp glare Anko sent his way.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, thoroughly confused.

"It's Kakashi. He's trying to kill himself."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You didn't tell us you were staying with someone else," Shisui said over the streaming wind as they flew through the trees at a breakneck speed. "We would have given you a bit more time to say goodbye…well, I would have anyway," he said, shooting a glare at Anko's grin on his other side.

Naruto waved off his concern as he positioned himself for another jump, springing nimbly from a branch that whipped up in front of him.

"No worries. Jii-san took me in after- after I landed on his doorstep. I was bleeding out my ears after the fight with Madara and I didn't know he was dead. Didn't wanna take the chance of him bein' alive and getting to me before I managed to get outta the area."

He glanced up at the clouded sky, pondering the last few years of his life, wondering how fickle his existence was. He never understood how he ended up where he ended up. He'd never even considered leaving Konoha for such an extended period of time, nor meeting such a diverse range of people as he did in Mori. It was better for him than he could ever admit aloud.

"So what was his name? That old guy, I mean," Anko enquired after he shot her a confused look.

"Oh…well, I dunno actually."

Anko gaped at him.

"You lived with the guy for over two years and never asked him what his name was?"

Naruto sighed.

"It's not as simple as that Anko-née. Jiji can't speak. He can't write either otherwise I would've asked him," he said, scratching his leg idly, his sweatshirt rippling over his chest as the air caught within its voluminous length.

"Oh," she responded after a pregnant silence.

Shisui held up a hand and all three landed in a small clearing devoid of grass. In fact, it appeared as if the ground had been forcibly smoothed at some point in the past. The soil was soft but not damp, free of rock and grain, yet a few weeds had begun to grow around it, shaping an almost perfect oval ringed by trees. It was a beautiful spot, a sense of tranquillity spreading through the soft sway of green around it coupled with the scent of fresh, damp pine wafting through the air.

"We'll stop here for the night. As it is, we're ahead of Kakashi anyway. We'll move out in the morning and hope to be there by mid-afternoon. Hopefully that idiot is as cautious as always and is still scoping the place out," Shisui huffed and began pulling his storage scrolls from the small pouch slung on a strap over his shoulder.

Naruto couldn't break the feeling of déjà vu. The makeshift camp reminded him of something in his memory but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"I've been here before," he muttered. Anko's head swivelled to look in his direction, a strange look spreading across her features.

"You probably have. We're on the border to Kusa," and then it was Naruto's turn with a shocked expression.

"But that's-"

"He's dead Naruto. What do you think happened to his base after that? We've been getting job requests all year for Nuke-nin popping up all over the country."

Naruto glanced at her, trying to gauge her reaction to his realisation, but she sighed and looked away; her eyes glazing over ever-so-slightly.

"Can't fault you kiddo, you stomped him into the ground and I am happy for that. Orochimaru was a monster, I just…I guess I wanted to do it with my own hands 'cause of how much he hurt me back then," she sighed. "It's selfish, I know, he's hurt so many other people too, and it ain't my right to do it but-"

"We should just be happy Killer Bee was around. If he didn't have Silvana with him, the Snake would've gotten away again," Shisui growled, his eyes flashing in anger. He was asleep, asleep! When all the crap went down, he had to be in a damned coma of all things.

The trio busied themselves with laying out their sleeping bags, Naruto's a dull orange with blue panda bears decorating its tubular surface. Anko couldn't help cracking a grin, before all three fell into peals of laughter, holding their sides collapsed on the ground. When they finally settled, warm gazes almost setting each other off once again, Anko spoke up, her throat trembling with suppressed mirth.

"You know, Jiraiya told me about Orochimaru. Some of the things I didn't know but I realised he and Sandaime-Sama used to tease each other over all the time," She stared into the flames that Shisui belatedly lit in the middle of the campsite. "Hah, more like Jiraiya always tried to bring it up but old Sarutobi always threatened him if he didn't shut up!"

"What was it?" Naruto asked, curiosity shining in his vivid blue eyes.

Anko dissolved into another set of giggles just at the thought of what she was about to say, after a few moments of silence broken only by her laughter and the other two's amused glances, she started up again haltingly.

"Remember- remember how Jiraiya would always bring up that thing about a tiger?" At Naruto's nod, she continued. "Haha well, turns out Sarutobi was teaching his team anatomy and, well-"

She broke off once again, her elbows tucked around her as she gasped for breath.

"Sorry- it's just so, so funny!" She idly wiped a couple of stray tears from her eyelashes, the pearly droplets glittering in the glow of the campfire as they fell to the ground.

"Basically, they strung up and skinned a tiger they caught on one of their missions whilst Sandaime-Sama pointed out all the different organs and bones and stuff. He was discussing some really complex blood vessels and he and Orochimaru got drawn into a debate about the arteries running to the back two legs. They decided to test who was right and Orochimaru pulled out a Kunai and went to cut into it."

She looked around, barely holding in her cackles at the other two.

"He missed the right place and ended up slicing a more…disgusting area I guess!" She chuckled again, her voice going hoarse from her continued hysterics. She almost burst as dawning realisation, almost awed-horror, and then an absolute priceless look of morbid glee flittered over Shisui's face.

"You mean-"

"Exactly! They ended up spattered in white gunk! It even went in their mouths, 'cause they were so shocked at what he'd done!"

And then she lost it, her and Shisui rolling around on the ground as the full meaning of what she'd just said began to take root in Naruto's younger mind.

"Oh my God…that is…that is disgusting!"

And just like that, Shisui set Naruto off as well. A few minutes later, they somehow lay side-by-side staring up into the canopy, the twinkling stars almost visible through the almost misty cloud-cover.

"I never got to say sorry to him, you know?" Naruto whispered.

Shisui laid an arm over his shoulders, the three of them just reveling in the comfort of each other's presence.

"At least you were there Naruto. I didn't even get to see him before he died. He lived a long life at the top of his game. He was possibly the most accomplished Shinobi ever to live. I can't mourn his passing knowing what I do; it'd disrespect my memory of him," Shisui never once took his eyes from Naruto's as he spoke, compassion aglow, even in the smouldering black of his irises.

"Yeah," Naruto responded, grief thickening his tongue. Both were snapped from their ensuing funk as well-honed reflexes brought their arms up to catch the two ball-like objects striking their faces.

"Oh, stop moping around you brybabies!" Anko remarked annoyingly. "Get something in your stomach and then get some sleep!"

Naruto looked down at the strange looking fruit he now held. It was coloured with a radial gradient; blue and grey mixing in the most unnatural ways. He squeezed it lightly within his palm, feeling the squishy flesh beneath the thing skin against his fingers.

"What the heck is this thing?" He asked.

"Ugh, no idea. Picked it up in the forest along the way. At least it's food."

Shisui glanced at his own sceptically. "I don't think you're entirely sure about that yourself, Anko," he remarked.

"Course I am!" And with that, she took a huge bite with an echoing crunch, something that caused Naruto to wince for some reason. Gut reaction, he reasoned.

Within a few moments, something very weird began to happen. The phenomenon was known as a drugged Mitarashi Anko. The only sign that anything was wrong was the sudden slackening of her shoulders as she belly-flopped upon the leafy ground.

"Umm, Anko-née, I am so not eating this."

"But it'sh delishowus 'Ruto!" She slurred, her eyes dilating as she squinted to take him in.

"If you say so…" He muttered, considering her with a frown.

Shisui tossed his into the bushes around the clearing.

"I didn't know fruit could be drugged. First time for everything, huh?" He said.

Naruto nodded before having to tackle Anko to the ground since she was trying to undress for a reason known only to her.

"'Ruto, Geroff me!" She shouted.

"Not until you calm down!" He shot back.

"Senjashuuuuuuu~" She declared, her arms swinging wildly around beneath his weight. Naruto yelped as a trio of snakes slithered lazily down her arms before he realised that the effects of the fruit seemed to be carried over to them. The snakes flopped languidly to the ground, their eyeballs flitting around without focusing on anything.

"Right," Naruto said, "I've had enough." And at Shisui's raised eyebrow, he slammed a fist into the back of his friend's neck causing her to collapse, unconscious.

"Well that's one way to do it, I suppose!" Shisui said.

"Oh thanks for your help, Uchiha Genius."

At the lauded Shinkirou's affronted look, Naruto slid into his sleeping bag and turned over for the night, a smile already stretched across his face.

He wouldn't say it, but he'd be lying if he said he hadn't missed this.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Morning dawned beautifully. There was something to be said about Naruto's frame of mind in recent years; he'd began to relish the simpler things in life. People who'd known him would say that was always the case for the blond bundle of energy of the past but Naruto had really begun to realise just how vast and awe-inspiring the real world was.

As the sun peaked the horizon, it rays flushing the fields of grass with a hazy glow that shone with such lustre that he was dazzled, he watched from the seated position in his rapidly warming sleeping bag. It was crazy, he decided, how humans could mess up everything so easily when the world went round and round without fail, never once breaking from its God-given pattern.

Shisui had awoken before him and had already set about clearing up the area. He'd doused the fire last night to allow them a comfortable sleep; Rice Country grew humid at this time of year and they would have sweat buckets if he'd left it to burn till its embers. Anko, however, was still snoring softly, and he wondered if she'd been cured of the drugged fruit over the course of her sleep.

Speak of the devil.

"Whassat, mornin'?" She whined, still half asleep even though the sun was very much in her eyes.

"That's what generally happens every twenty-four hours Anko. Get up, we need to move out as soon as we can," Shisui said whilst stuffing the last of his supplies into a small camping bag.

The trio rose lazily, eating breakfast in the swaying breeze beneath the canopy of trees to the south of their encampment. Once they'd finished and were suitably rested, Shisui slapped a hastily drawn map in front of them and they gathered round with grim determination.

"Ok, so Kannabi bridge. Kakashi's likely point of insertion was to the east, as that's the only route the Konoha border is open to. Danzou would never choose brains over a shorter mission time if he could help it."

Anko frowned. "This is Kakashi we're talking about. Knowing him, he probably disregarded anything Danzou said if he could think of something better."

"True," Shisui nodded. "However, given what we know of his state of mind, I don't think he'll be doing that for this mission."

Anko shrugged, a pensive expression settling upon her soft features.

"Naruto, in the last two years since Killer Bee disposed of Orochimaru, his underlings have gone off-radar. There've been mass breakouts of Nuke-nin from all over the world forming into their own small groups and causing havoc wherever they please. The Hi no Kuni intelligence division has been prioritising the removal of the Konoha-nin in relation to this situation and Kakashi's been hunting them down for the last six months or so."

Naruto nodded to show he understood, Shisui took it as his sign to continue.

"We're talking along the lines of three to four A-Class Nuke-nin here; we're not sure if they were the butt of one or more of Orochimaru's depraved human experimentation, so their actual fighting level we don't know," stabbing his finger at the two circled areas around what could only be described as a bridge's ruins drawn by hand, Shisui looked up seriously. "Those are the locations of the most likely position that the Intelligence division expected them to be camped out at. They've been attacking the town close by using hit-and-run tactics for almost a month now; the mayor came to Fire Country's council to request Samurai involvement, but the cads up there obviously thought it was too low for them and shifted it to Konoha instead. This means that Kakashi was sent solo with our forces stretched thin as they are."

The Uchiha survivor ran a gloved hand through his hair, glaring hard at his own map for a moment.

"Look, I'm not sure how much Kakashi's told you about his past; I mean, I wouldn't even know had I not been drafted into the ANBU selection process when he was coming down from his prime. Kannabi bridge is…it's very important to him, I suppose." He shifted uneasily, playing on the edges of his Hitai-ite.

"Where his old team lost Obito, you mean," Anko blurted out before looking away guiltily.

"Yeah, my oldest cousin died there back then. It's where he got his Sharingan. It was the last time the old Team 7 was together," He closed his eyes wearily. "All I'm saying is…just be prepared that Kakashi went off knowing this was a suicide mission."

What he meant went unsaid. Shisui and Anko found their gazes straying to the youngest member of their group, his eyes far off in the distance, considering something neither could fathom. A tense silence fell upon them as they unconsciously waited for his reaction.

Naruto blinked languidly before staring at the two in surprise.

"What?" He said.

Shisui grinned. "What were you thinking just now?"

"You lose some things, you gain some things, right?" He smiled, though there was little humour written in it. "If he's feeling all lonely 'cause his first family's gone…well, that's what the second family's for, right?"

"You do know you say 'right' and 'see' way too many times to be normal?" Anko elbowed him in the ribs.

"Yeah, you're such an uneducated brat! What did we spend all that time teaching you for?" Shisui chided as he put the young blond in a headlock. Naruto shook himself out of their teasing and turned to them.

"I think we'd better leave before 'Kashi does something stupid," he suggested.

"Oh wow, when did you grow a brain?"

"Unlike you, Anko-née, I don't need Dango to replace what's already there," he said with a deadpan voice. Shisui laughed heartily at her indignant squawk as the trio set out to save the last of their group.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Perhaps the hardest thing in life is to accept something that you have never seen. It was funny, Kakashi had pondered, just how strange those sorts of experiences were, whether it were trusting the word of someone you loved, friends or family, all the way up to religious people believing in God. People had looked up at the sky and thought 'hey, maybe there's something up there, something bigger and more complex than this world we live in' even though they couldn't see it, or better yet, even have any proof in support of such a notion.

Life for a Shinobi was always the same. After ten years of patrols, assassinations, ambassadorial roles and the like, each mission devolved into another monotonous routine. It was probably the biggest reason for a promising ninja's stagnation; reliance on certain techniques that begin to form their only techniques. A Shinobi became defined by his own routine, his own choice of ninjutsu even though that wasn't necessarily all there was to him. How many of the thousand Jutsu Sarutobi Hiruzen had known had he actually used? How many had Kakashi used for that matter? All those memorised since Obito had cursed him with his Sharingan.

It was hard to disassociate the reality one lives to the utopia one believes in. Kakashi had begun to realise this; his utopia had been one with his friends in it, living by the ideologue, the modus operandi Minato-Sensei had bequeathed to him. Team 7 were a tightknit group upon Uchiha Obito's demise, and Kakashi knew not what path he would have followed if he had remained standing to this day.

He glanced down at the map in his lap, booted feet crossed beneath him. He had no luggage, no equipment save for what he held on his person. His most precious belonging rested on his back, the blade passed down to him from his father, one that had broken and reformed. Danzou's orders were crazy, he knew that, they always were, and yet he hardly cared that he was a walking occupational hazard at that moment.

Kannabi Bridge, how he hated that name. And yet, he was somehow, inexorably drawn to it like a moth to flame. He couldn't explain it, yet he knew unconsciously that his life would end there, just as Sharingan no Kakahi's had begun.

He stood gracefully, folding the map into the flap of his hip-pouch, pausing only to sip at his water bottle and quench his seemingly parched throat. It had been like that ever since he'd heard of this mission, and no amount of liquid could stop the feeling of thirst at the very core of his being.

It was mid-afternoon, long grass and swaying stalks surrounding him in a heady embrace of nature's smell. He stole cat-like, through the trees, his eyes seeking out the landmarks only he could find.

The only other two who would've recognised them were dead.

Mud turned to murky water, foliage to rock as his memories finally overtook him once again. He stopped on the edge of a cave, the whole structure having collapsed years ago. It was here that his mind led him, it was here that he had begun.

With morbid curiosity, he began to dig. His intelligent mind recoiled at what his heart was pushing him to do, yet he could not stop. He struggled onwards, overturning huge boulders sunk deep into the crevices of the earth that the Iwa-nin had made all those years ago. And finally, finally, he reached the bottom, his eyes hungrily taking in the rocky terrain that had been his brother's grave. At some point his hitai-ite had slipped from his forehead and the cloth lay pooled at his feet, exposing the eye he had inherited.

There was nothing there, predictably, time having disposed of fragments of bone and living flesh due to the pressure from above. If he looked hard enough, he could just about make out the faint traces of dried blood, the vicinity having preserved it in the moisture of underground havens. Or maybe that was his mind's eye playing tricks on him.

"Having fun digging up your friend's remains?" Someone chortled from behind him. He neither cared, nor wanted to face him. Why would he, it was futile in the end, wasn't it?

"Ahh~, this is boring Gen-san. Can't we just kill him and get outta here? It's hot as a beach out here," another voice whined.

Irakuro Gen, his mind supplied one of his mission's targets. A-Class Nuke-nin, though his exact origins were unknown. He was likely an Ame-defector, joining Orochimaru's forces only to be stabbed in the back and used as a prison guard or test-subject. Abilities were unknown.

Kakashi glanced up slowly, his eye twitching slightly as the sun streamed through the trees, painting the grey backdrop of stone a white-washed colour with a hint of the pasture that had surrounded the place in days bygone. Even the dirty water, the swirling, grit-filled bog, glittered merrily, basking in weather's glory.

Only one thought passed through his strangely silent mind. It was a good place to die.

And so he turned, casting off the shackles of his past, the melancholy of his present and the nightmares of his future. He turned slowly, his hand unsheathing the White Fang with an ethereal sliding of metal. The edge shone with un-blunted lustre, the weight as light as his heart.

And the fight began.

It was inevitable that he would lose this battle, he knew, whether he was referring to his life as a whole, or the events surrounding the moment. Yet in the daze of his movements, the roar of his flame, the crackle of his lightning, the thud of his stone or the swish of his metal, he barely registered the fact that his sword left a shimmering white trail of pure Chakra in the wake of its slice, gutting the first through the neck, the second through the bowel. He spun, light as a feather, his palm barely touching the ground before it tore a trench a meter wide before him.

He hadn't felt the lance of electricity lodge in his left shoulder, his arm hanging limp thereafter. He hadn't felt the Chakra bomb that had thrown him through two trees either, his eyes fixed on his opponents but nowhere at all.

And as he flipped forwards into a forward roll to avoid a boulder careening for his head, he recognised the seals placed on the outcrop he had alighted on.

Explosive seals, primed and trigger-controlled.

His death foretold, he had already accepted it maybe as Naruto's eyes had widened that day on the roof of Hokage tower. Maybe he had known that the chance that had presented itself, a family after a family, was his last one he would ever have the opportunity of taking.

And as the seals lit up in a beautiful pattern of golden swirls, the intricacies of the seal blending over as the power grew within them, he knew the truth that he had so long turned his back on.

You only realise the blessing of what you once had when it is taken away from you.

Yet it was not to be.

He was jerked back furiously by a force so strong, that it totally enclosed him from the ensuing blast that tore through stone like a hot knife through butter. His hair burnt at their ends, curls of smoke rising from his charred clothing, he rolled and rolled, his energy spent before a small, strong hand grasped him by the nape of his neck and hauled him bodily upwards.

"What the hell man, were you trying to die?"

Golden hair swinging in the wind, grey fatigues with a blue, worn t-shirt. Cerulean eyes that had no depth; it was like looking into the past, how far back you go is up to you.

"Take it easy man, we got ya. Those guys aren't getting out of there alive," the voice said exultantly. He recognised it, he was sure, but it wouldn't, couldn't tell him who it was. Pain began to cloud his senses, the preceding fog conquered by currents of agony as his wounds finally caught up to him. His vision flickered, a huge mushroom-shaped explosion tearing through the area, ferocious winds throwing his head back like a rag doll. He idly realised he'd been placed in a sort of groove within the ruins of the bridge, raised from the ground, affording a good view of the area.

A jolt of pain so strong, sharpened his mental faculties and he managed to see through the vapid mist clouding his senses for a brief moment.

Just in time too.

Naruto's fist swung, so fast it appeared to disappear in mid-arc only for the final Nuke-nin to scream in unadulterated pain as he was struck cleanly through, cracking rib bones and squelching flesh. He struck so hard and fast, that even though half his arm passed right through the man, the now limp body was thrown dizzyingly into the wreckage of a beam of the once proud bridge.

Alas, his neck, mind and eyes could take no more and he slipped into the unending bliss of sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Time passed fuzzily for Kakashi after that. He had vague moments of awareness, lying down beside the heat of a fire, movement as the team moved from one area or the next. It took him three days to become lucid enough and understand the messages his faculties were sending him.

He came to very much in the heart of Hi no Kuni. If he looked hard enough, he could just make out the spire that was the entrance of the Information exchange bureau. He was somehow back to Konoha, a place he thought he'd never see again. But he could see now, really see. The mists that seemed to hold back his senses for so long had disappeared. He couldn't tell someone when it was the last time that he could feel in such way.

And what a feeling! His mind was ablaze, his skin tingling as if every single neuron in his body were firing at random intervals. It was a nice feeling to see.

"Awake again huh? Stay with us for more than two minutes will ya, Kashi!"

His head turned ever so slowly, his neck hurting from disuse.

"Naruto?" he rasped, his dry lips sliding roughly over one another.

"Yo, Sharingman!" He raised his hand in greeting.

"You're back," he croaked slowly. He was almost blinded by the smile he received in return.

"Yup! Right back where it started man. I reckon I gotta do what Jiji asked me to ya know?"

Kakashi could only stare disbelievingly as he tried to comprehend his statement.

"Then…then…" He could barely contain the hope that seeped into his voice.

Naruto's countenance darkened considerably. The blond stood, and Kakashi realised he'd grown in the years they'd been apart. His wiry frame was still slim, not healthy in anyone's eyes, and yet he had a strength about him, a power that attracted people, moreso than Kakashi had even felt from the Yondaime.

"That sucker's gonna die. I'm gonna gut him myself," he said with such conviction that Kakashi realised just who he was referring to.

Danzou's days were numbered. In fact, Kakashi hazarded the guess that he wouldn't last till tomorrow. What would come, would come. He felt empty of the negative emotions, the sadness of his past was gone. He breathed in deeply, only to cough at his parched throat. But it was there; the light airy feeling of release.

His demons were gone. Maybe he had to accept them first before they would leave.

Maybe, maybe he had to die to be born again.

And Kakashi would do that. He was already born anew.

ZZZZZZZZZZ

And so we close the book on this chapter of the saga. It was important for Kakashi to escape the clutches of his past. Things were boiling over with him for too long, like a kettle that would eventually explode if you covered its spout.

There's some very heavy foreshadowing in this chapter. I won't say anything but…read it as you will. Fiction has an amazing aspect in that every reader reads it differently. Every individual can draw their own conclusions, and that's half the fun of writing.

And so with these half-truths and hints at more to come, we move back to Konoha and the meat of the storyline. That said, I've got a HP-fic prologue cooking, and you might have a chance to peruse it in the coming weeks. Once again, apologies for the atrocious review replies, especially to dear jolteonforever; I do read all of them, and I hope you can continue to support me and offer your help whenever you feel the need.

So enjoy, and hopefully the next one will be out far quicker than this.

~MegaB