A/N: You guys are great!
A little heavier than I'm used to writing in this fic, but its important!
Title comes from a quote from Ralph Ellison
Enjoy~
Konoha
The Sandaime Hokage looked down at the report in his hands, face grim. Ever since he had become Hokage after the Yondaime's passing it seemed as if every decision weighed heavier. He was too old for this. Sighing, he looked up at Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, Mitarashi Anko, and Morino Ibiki. The entire room was sealed from any prying ears, and they had all made it a priority for no one to know they were gone from their day jobs.
Shikaku had a similar file in his hands, eyes narrowed, expression just as grim. "There are not many choices we have."
"Che," Anko huffed, crossing her feet, "Ain't nothin' we can do about that now, what's done is done and we've taken long enough to debate about it. And if this report doesn't seal Shimura's fate I don't know what will. We need to move, and quickly." A deep frown crossed her face, "As much as I like that Hatake, he sure made a lot of problems for us."
Ibiki's lips pressed in a firm line, the only thing to show his stress, "It makes me wonder if this was perhaps his plan all along. But his motives are still unknown."
Hiruzen took a long puff, setting the file down, "No matter his motives, we know nothing about him therefore we cannot predict the outcome. The only thing we can do is protect our own interests. And to me, that is Konoha and it's people."
Shikaku nods, "If this gets out as is, it could rip us apart worse than Kirigakure's civil war. The man told Jiraiya this specifically, yet we still can't rule it out that he may tell others. If civilians, or worse, other villages, have even a small inkling that Itachi-san may be innocent…" The rest went unsaid, but it made all of them frown.
"Hm," Inoichi hummed, forehead creasing, "Then we must control how, and what is found out. Perhaps if we create a counter story, one similar enough that will still protect Konoha from civil war we will be able to avoid most damages."
"That is my suggestion as well," Shikaku said, closing his eyes briefly, "If we do nothing, one of two things could occur. One, nothing, two, this man, Hatake, speaks of this to someone else, and Konoha within months will be ripe with rumors. It will not only affect morale, but also put us in a position of weakness to our enemies. If we openly tell what has happened, about Itachi's innocence and the role he played in his clan's assassination before their coup d'état, Konoha would be torn in two. Danzō wouldn't hesitate to make his move, not to mention Uchiha Sasuke would be under threat, and Itachi-san would not be pleased. No doubt, angry enough to go against Konoha and take his brother away, willing or not, leaving us without a prominent doujutsu. Yet, if we do as Inoichi says, we have the greatest chance at coming out of this relatively unscathed."
"I also agree with Shikaku and Inoichi's assessment." The heavily scarred man spoke, hand rested on his chin in thought, "A counter play is best. We could place the blame on Danzō and his secret organization, getting rid of his festering ROOTs, and all the while using this as a reason to clean out the rest of the council and ranks. It could almost be called a good thing, if I weren't so uncertain of the outcome. We will have to be extremely careful about this, if Danzō gets even the smallest idea that we are moving against him, he'll make his own play, possibly for Hokage."
"Perhaps if we spin it right, we can keep the Uchiha's coup out of this, making it safe for the Uchiha, and even possibly have Itachi's crime's resolved." Anko piped in, twirling in the chair, "Since we're blamin' Shimura anyways, may as well place other crimes at his feet. We'll come out smellin' like roses." She winked as her chair turned around again, making Hiruzen's lip twitch involuntarily.
Their discussion went on long into the night and finally they resolved some of their plans when light broke through the clouds. It wasn't even close to fruition, but it was a start. All of their clones in the secret meeting room dispersed, and Hiruzen sat back in his chair at Hokage tower. He opened one of his desk drawers, revealing a picture of Danzō and him when they were younger, and the weight on his shoulders grew. If anyone saw him at this moment, all they would see is a sad, old man grieving.
"Dear friend, this time, I cannot save you from your actions." He set the picture back in the drawer, closing it with a finality that rang through the air. Gathering himself, he took out a pen and piece of paper. The steady strokes of the brush on paper soothed some of his melancholy, and his ending lines relieved a part of him he hadn't known was there.
...And so, Jiraiya, I'm tasking you to bring back Tsunade, but first, you must stop by the village before you depart. I'm sure you'll be happy to know that your godson has graduated early with two other students, top marks. It has been a struggle trying to find a teacher for those three as their previous one resigned. Sometimes it is almost like looking at you three when you were younger. Ah, the trouble you three used to get up to, but I digress. This will keep Uchiha Sasuke and Naruto out of the village during this time of upheaval, plus give you time with him you have missed. And I have a feeling Naruto is the only one who can sway Tsunade, he is more charismatic than his father (and as stubborn as his mother too).
–S. H.
P.S. If Konoha's situation worsens; keep them out of the village.
A small frog in the corner of the room hopped onto the desk, swallowing the scroll and disappearing from sight.
Western Fire Country
Kakashi sneezed, "Maa, someone's been talking about me~"
"Tch, nothing good I bet," Deidara muttered crankily.
"Now now, my cute little—," Kakashi paused, tilting his head, "Jounin?"
Two blue eyes stared at him flatly, "Yes, I'm jounin, don't sound so damn hesitant." Asuga tried to cover her laughter from behind them, but was failing terribly. It had been a couple days until she had lost some of her tenseness (Kakashi's silliness helped get rid of his supposed scary S-rank persona).
"Now, my cute little jounin," The blond's scowl deepened. "Why don't you say that again after another training session? Hm?" A sadistic gleam in Kakashi's eye made Deidara gulp.
All the blood drained from the blond and he shook his head quickly. "No, no, I'm good, yeah."
"That's what I thought."
"Training session?" Asuga questioned, speeding up next to them. "Is it that bad?" She ignored Deidara's glare.
"I wouldn't say that," He said, thinking back fondly on how Deidara had cursed his name for days. The brat had asked Kakashi to train him as he had himself after all. It only took five days for Deidara to give up on the extreme training, pure stubbornness the only thing that had pushed his student that far. A giggle escaped his lips, making Asuga look at him wearily and decide not to further that line of questioning.
Deidara tried to not look relieved, and changed the subject while he had the chance, "Ne, Asuga, why'd they choose you for this mission, hm?"
She looked momentarily surprised, "Why do you want to know?"
He shrugged, but now Kakashi was interested as well, "It doesn't seem like a mission most would want. The parameters would be practically nonexistent, and you'd be going in blind. If Kakashi was more of the kill and ask questions later type, you might have died before you got to approach him."
"Actually, I wasn't chosen, I volunteered."
Kakashi and Deidara shared a look, and the blond couldn't help his disbelieving shout, "Volunteered?!"
"Maa, don't sound so shocked someone would want to meet me, Deidara. I'm quite popular these days."
"Your face on a bounty poster doesn't count as 'popular', yeah." He replied, then shook his head and turned to Asuga, "But really, what made you do that?"
"To be truthful, it was so I could meet Kakashi-san." She said with an unrepentant smile towards Deidara, who could only gawk. Kakashi's form radiated smugness, giving her an eye-smile.
"Deidara, Asuga has just replaced you as my favorite student."
"She's not even your student, yeah!"
Asuga snickered, and Kakashi turned his gaze towards the young woman, "Not many would want to meet me after I infiltrated their village and escaped from their ANBU."
"Ahaha, yeah." She shrugged, weary look coming to her face. "It wasn't just because of that."
"Then what, hm?" Deidara questioned, eyebrow twitching.
The woman fingered her mahogany hair, becoming hesitant. "Its… well, uh, you see, I'm actually Gaara's cousin, from his father's side."
"Gaara? Who is that?" Deidara asked, but ultimately went ignored.
"As nice as that is, that wouldn't have prompted you into accepting a mission to deliver a scroll to an S-ranked, possibly violent, shinobi," Kakashi drawled, but behind his mask he was grimacing. He had never heard of a cousin of Gaara's before, so that only meant she was killed before the redhead had turned his life around.
She flushed, "Look, most of my life I've seen how Gaara's been; uncontrollable, dangerous, and above all, crazy. But I was also old enough, and around him enough, when he was under Yashamaru's care. Back then… he was different; more gentle… a child under an extreme amount of stress. Yashamaru's death changed him, and I honestly can't hold it against him, as he was the only one that ever cared for him."
Deidara was soaking this all up, interest shining in his expression, "And?"
"Well," Asuga looked forward, bangs covering her eyes, "One day an even crazier shinobi broke into the village and kidnapped my baby cousin for a few hours. The village went ballistic, thinking that he'd hurt him," Kakashi read the undertone, noting that she meant they had thought he'd release the Ichibi in the village, "But he did something unexpected, this shinobi returned him whole, and for lack of a better term, fixed. Then he left, no demands, no rewards, nothing. As if it was natural to do those sorts of things without wanting something in return."
Kakashi hummed, "Sounds like I'd get along with him."
Asuga huffed, shooting him a glower, "Don't be coy."
Understanding dawned on Deidara, making him groan and push his hand through his hair, "For fucks sake Kakashi, what the hell goes through your head?"
"That's what I would like to know as well," Asuga said dryly, staring at the man in question.
"Lots of things, but preferably not kunai. Those aren't the greatest things to have in your head." Asuga and Deidara sighed, knowing to give up when Kakashi got in one of these moods of non-answers.
The next few hours went in silence, with a couple of small conversations that died quickly as they went near Kusa and Ame's borders. Those two countries weren't the most peaceful, so it was best to be cautious around them. It quickly became clear that it was for a good reason, as Kakashi paused, smelling dried blood in the air as the wind changed. The other two halted behind him, ready for any attacks, as they couldn't sense what he could.
"Blood, Northeast, a couple miles ahead of here, and lots of it. But it's stale. Most likely a couple hours old."
"Should we go check it out?" Asuga said, her brows furrowing. She clutched the kunai harder, breathing evenly to keep the adrenaline down.
"There could be survivors," His minion added, and that made Kakashi almost raise an eyebrow. Perhaps being around him had more influence on Deidara than he had realized. In the other life, Deidara had been a coldhearted killer, blowing up towns for money before becoming Akatsuki.
Kakashi ignored the warmth in his chest, "Hm, we'll proceed with caution. Deidara, fly above and give us a heads up if you see anyone coming our way, or looking for a fight." Deidara stared at him for a good few seconds.
"I can't fly." He said flatly, looking at him like he was insane.
The older man sighed, and pulled him aside, away from Asuga's keen ears. "Deidara, you have a kinjutsu that allows you to put chakra into your clay, yes?"
He nodded.
"Now, you can mold that clay into anything you want?"
Another nod.
"And with that form you can make it move?"
Deidara's mouth opened and closed a few times, "You mean…" Kakashi smiled.
"Yep."
"What. The. Fuck." He growled, eye twitching in full force, "And how long have you guessed I could do this?"
"Truthfully?" Kakashi tilted his head, smirk coming to his lips, "Since you showed me your ability."
Asuga, standing patiently on the sidelines, watched in amusement as Deidara squawked in anger and started throwing miniature spiders at Kakashi. She sighed, gaining their attention, "Deidara, you're lucky the wind is carrying the sound away from our destination. Or else all the secrecy would be for naught."
"B-But I—he…" Deidara threw his hands up, and then pinched his nose. Ignoring the chuckles from Kakashi he pulled some clay out from his pouch (one that the man had bought for him after a few days spent together). It didn't take long until the bird was formed and Deidara stomped onto it, flipping Kakashi off, before the clay shakily rose off the ground and into the air.
Asuga and Kakashi followed behind more slowly, but still in range in case Deidara gave them a signal. The few miles passed by quickly, and Kakashi couldn't sense or smell anything dangerous. The blond swooped down and landed next to them, blank expression alerting Kakashi. "It's a small town. Or was a small town. I suspect no survivors."
Deidara lead them to the town, and Asuga gasped, hand coming up to cover her mouth. It was like out of a horror show, bodies strewn in the streets and limbs at odd angles. Blood was splattered across doorways and dripping down walls. The silence was the worst; no sign of life could be heard. And at the edges of the town were shinobi of Kusa, as if they had been acting to protect the civilians. One man half-laid overtop a child, face forever contorted in pain. Deidara bent down to stare at the little girl, no bigger than three, with her head twisted and empty expression.
"There is no art in this, yeah," He muttered, closing the poor girl's eyelids.
"Who would do such a thing?!" A tear slipped down her cheek, and Asuga tried to keep the rest from falling.
"There's no use in wondering now, whomever did this is long gone." Clenching his fist, Kakashi walked forward, surveying more of the tiny town.
"But… we can't just leave them here!" Asuga yelled, glaring down at the toy gripped in a small fist.
"No, we can't," Came the soft reply, silencing all of her rage. Kakashi sighed, looking up at the sky as it started raining, washing away most traces, if there were any to begin with. Only a few hours earlier and they would have been passing by. If he hadn't stopped and had dinner… A sharp, quiet laugh escaped him. It seemed he was always too late when it really counted.
Not that it mattered, he thought bitterly, what were a dozen more lives to the hundreds he already carried?
A/N: Wow, did not mean for this to get angsty. But it happened. I mean, it had to at some point, lol. Kakashi is a very complex man, and I didn't want him to come off as flat, since that would just be disrespecting his character. And also, you have to have the bad times to show the good. ;)
I was really hesitant to post this chapter, as it's very plot orientated and a different tone than my previous ones. Hope you liked it anyways, and please, comment and tell me what you did or didn't enjoy.
Don't worry, it'll get back to the humor very quickly ;3
Q: In every anime you've watched, whose laugh/catchphrase do you think was the most annoying?
Mine was Trebol from One Piece. That guy was sooooooo aggravating!
