Forewarning, possible graphic material? Like TWO, SEVEN keeps things vague. Happy Pi Day~

We never really learn from

our first mistake or the second or third.

It only hits us when we are given

the last chance.

Anonymous

A Measure of Darkness

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep." Reincarnation!OC

— Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

SEVEN

A Measure of Darkness

The Great Bridge — Finale

"It's Kakashi's Jounin promotion. Considering how Kakashi and you have gotten to know each other, I hope you can get him a present as well!"

Huh. The day is almost here. A few days after his promotion, Kakashi leads his own squad. One of his members refuses to give him a gift until he lies under a boulder, dying.

It's the day to save the first Uchiha, one of many. I don't feel prepared but I doubt I ever will be.

"Ah," I grunt to basically continue the conversation with minimal effort. Rin, as chatty as she is, keeps speaking.

I'm lost in my thoughts, wondering if the present I get him should be a cryptic warning for the future. Even if Kakashi and Obito aren't so openly hostile to one another, their antagonistic relationship wasn't the reason Rin was captured.

The girl in question managed to drag me to a market section, where I soon find myself walking home with a rose quartz gem in hand. Something about protective qualities? I wasn't listening.

I quickly tuck the gem in my pocket as I cross into the Uchiha Compound. Nearing my home, I see Father has his belongings packed up and he wears his Jounin uniform.

"Leaving again?" I say.

He looks at me with a touch of detachment, nothing fatherly. Father pulls at his long sleeve and states, "The one who leaves is us."

I had formatted the question wrong in my head all due to him adding the subject last. So after rephrasing, my heart skips a beat.

"Where are we going? I have medical school, though. I'll get behind—"

"Unimportant," he says. "Do you remember your prediction last December?" I nod cautiously. "Somehow, your prediction was extremely accurate."

Father folds his arms over his chest, gaze frosty.

"Naturally, I've researched into your extracurricular life. It is impossible for you to have been betraying the Leaf. The only conclusion I can surmise is that you predicted this event entirely."

"Well..." Making a ninja suspicious is a death sentence. "It's not as if Earth is unpredictable. They're stubborn, traditional people."

Father grunts. "Impressive to have such an analytical mind at a young age. Do you mind if I put it to the test?"

"Huh?"

He closes his eyes, a bit smug. "I've confirmed the plan the Yellow Flash. The son of the White Fang will lead the party via his Jounin status. Because of his role, it would be for the best to have three ninja at his disposal. One of which being a medical ninja."

He's talking... like he's giving me a mission with Kakashi and Minato. It's a little unbelievable.

Is this some kind of trap? Or... no, Father wouldn't do anything that hasn't been done in the past.

But I suppose toddlers who know the future isn't something that can be recreated easily. He must be thinking outside the box.

That's bad. There's no telling what he'll do next.

"At any rate, we leave this evening. The Yellow Flash and I will take a route apart from your own. Mission details will be explained by the bequest of your leader." Punctuating his sentence, he hands me my already packed bag. I slip on the heavy thing comparable to my med school backpack. "One final thing: be careful."

Team Kakashi is expected to meet at the northwest exit. As I run along the rooftops—difficult considering the house on my back—I see them in the distance. Three teenagers that shouldn't have to go through this mess at all.

Kakashi leans against a building with a faux bored expression while Rin teases a flustered Obito. Minato is nowhere around. He must trust Kakashi a lot.

"Takenaka!" shouts Obito. "I see! He's the third member! I actually thought the green bean was gonna be it!"

Rin pokes his elbow. "Guy said he was sorry, Obito."

"He's still really friggin green, though!"

I can finally stop moving. I'm breathing a little heavy. I slow my breaths while they chat, eventually bowing and saying, "Thank you for allowing me to attend this mission. I'm... probably the last choice, but I thank you all anyway."

They probably didn't have a choice considering my dad.

"It's no problem, kiddo!" Obito stands me up and ruffles my hair. "It's just a simple mission! Nobody'll get hurt! I won't allow that to happen, you know!"

I force a laugh.

"I look forward to seeing how our training sessions have worked," adds Kakashi, a slight nod at me.

"Yup, Kakashi-sensei!"

It still really bugs me how different he is. Time won't let me forget. He's supposed to be a stickler for the rules. Rin doesn't love Obito. But as I never really met Kakashi or Rin until now, I can't ask Obito directly why did everyone change.

What piece changed everything?

Obito was fated to win his second Chuunin Exams without my help.

Surely the three went onto the Sand mission in canon, save for the fact Obito nearly died protecting Rin and almost ruined my fourth birthday party.

And then the Uchiha brat uses my head as an arm rest.

"Here's your time to see me in action, y'know!" Obito's grin is bright and goofy. "It'll be like watching a movie, Takenaka!"

I'd rather be an actor.

I grunt quietly to keep Obito going, not really knowing what it implied, but that doesn't stop the hyper knucklehead. I don't want Obito out of my sight. If something goes wrong... if Madara—I need to know.

I hug him. I feel how the sudden act makes him freeze up.

I concentrate.

My artic water like chakra is washed out by Obito's lava chakra. He has an insane amount of physical energy. Maybe that's why he's not dead from the explosion so long ago. But this imbalance means his ninjutsu doesn't work well.

Spiritual and physical energies. Balance. Though mine tips slightly in favor of spiritual, I still do my best to maintain an active lifestyle to keep the energies as close to equilibrium as possible.

When I let go, I can still feel his chakra.

"Hey! Don't do sudden—" Obito stops. He opens and closes his mouth wordlessly while I focus on his energy. "We're going to be okay. Have a little faith, eh?"

Would Rin or Kakashi let me hug them, too? No, not Kakashi. He'll Replace into a scarecrow with a henohenomoheji and a rain check. I think Obito might get jealous if I hugged Rin; or, she's a smart cookie and she'll know I'm doing something weird.

We're moving before long. Night swallows us all, especially Kakashi and I with our dark blues. We move without too much of a rush. Obito manages to control his chitchat. A while later, Kakashi starts to whisper.

"The mission is simple," begins the new Jounin. "Disguise and infiltrate. Get as close to the Kanabi Bridge as needed and demolish it. We will be cutting the Earth supply line short," he adds with a pointed look to Obito.

"Oh. Gotcha!"

"Disguise and infiltrate?" I say. I know what the words mean. I just don't recall that happening in the series. No, it definitely didn't happen like that.

"Yeah. Just over this hill, and we'll get our uniforms."

Uniforms?

Kakashi digs up an innocent looking hole. Out of it comes a thick briefcase that still has a new smell, beyond the general dirt aroma. He flips the locks and three uniforms are there. Red and brown.

Soon they dress and it's like looking at Earth ninja wearing the faces of those I care about.

"Brown is ugly color on me," Obito huffs, rolling the sleeves down, dismayed the red stops at his wrists. He looks strange without his goggles, the old ones, on. "At least Rin looks pretty in red."

Rin giggles. She attached her pink apron on the uniform for a more feminine touch. She even tied her hair back with a red bandanna and a forehead protector.

Kakashi looks the least different. His uniform has the the sleeves removed. He puts back on his arm bracers and twirls a kunai in his hand. "Everyone all good? Remember our names are irrelevant, but our last names are powerful. It won't do if you tell Earth you're an Uchiha, Obito."

"I wouldn't do that intentionally!"

There is a bag remaining in the briefcase. "And me?"

Kakashi's gaze follows my own. "Oh. Standard Earth Medical Force uniform. Here—"

Their uniform is way more baggy on me compared to the Leaf's. A red kanji is painted on the front and back, the character for healing. I even get to wear a hat that reminds me of the military back in my old world. Sadly, I have to part with my mask (earning teasing from Obito). But I can't say goodbye to this heavy ass backpack enough.

With my height and decent chakra reserves for my age, I can pass for a Genin. Once my hands are gloved up and my shinobi shoes traded for ultra comfortable medical-nin boots, we resume walking.

"We're guiding Takenaka to the bridge," Kakashi continues. "That means the course we take will loop around the Hidden Grass to make it appear as if we traveled from Earth. The type of medic Takenaka is portraying is the one who checks out damages from explosions. We have intel that suggests a large portion of the supplies are intended for the Explosion Corps."

"So we're demolishing the bridge," I say, "but you don't have any explosives? Are you going to use Earth's supplies to blow it up?"

"You're exactly correct. As this is a disguise mission, it would not do to have Leaf-made explosives in enemy territory that practically invented them."

Okay. This is okay. We should be far away from Obito's death site. At any rate, I'm not going to be constantly worrying when I can be doing things that will save his life.

"Will Rin still remain a medic?" I say.

"No," she replies instead. "Whenever there is a team, a proportionate amount of medics are ascribed. All medics or shinobi with some education in medicine or botany are required to fulfill the medic role. Since you're our medic, I'm not bound by medic laws but shinobi laws!" She sticks her tongue out, laughing.

Ah. Okay. Then I'm forced to follow Tsunade's Creed and the Mito Uzumaki Compromise. In short, I cannot hurt any enemy. I must rely on these three to not get me killed.

(I feel nervous?)

The only time I'm able to fight back is if I am the last standing member of the team. Then a medic's priority is to collect their member's corpses or to not die and force the Leaf to be out a medic.

In hindsight, it makes sense I'm the medic. I'm the weakest and least experienced member. Like this, I should be far away from danger.

"I'm not really a licenced medic," I say, throwing in a cheeky grin. "Don't really expect for me to heal you guys."

"Don't be like that." Rin looks at me with bright eyes under the starry sky, hands crossed behind her back like an innocent schoolgirl. "I happen to think you're a talented boy already."

"Well... just because of that, I'll make sure I won't harm you when I heal you."

Obito is very quick to reply, "Hey! You mean you were going to hurt me and Kakashi?"

"Not intentionally. But if mistakes are made..."

"You're too cruel to be so young!"

"On the bright side, once this is all over, I'm sure only you'll need healing, anyways. Kakashi is Kakashi; Rin is a medic. And then there's you, our most gutsy, fearless ninja."

"Oh yeah!" Obito reaches for his goggles. With them absent, his hand gropes empty space. He tries to cover his obvious mistake with a wide grin. "I'm gonna be Hokage one day!"

And maybe I can make his dream come true.

It's dawn by the time we rest. Since Earth is active during day and we want to be seen as little as possible, dinner and sleep are at the brightest points of the day. Many wildlife and people are active so we sleep for very short bursts of two hours, three times.

They, older than me, more experienced than me, aren't too affected by the sudden sleep change. I find myself wanting to get in my bed and sleep off this soreness and pounding headache.

At night we continue with a brisk jog. I don't have the stamina to be jogging for very long but I definitely try my hardest. Eventually I have to be carried on Obito's or Rin's backs as Kakashi—the Jounin-sensei and strongest member—has to remain in peak physical condition.

"Have you been feeling extra fatigued lately?" Kakashi says with a nod over his shoulder at me as we jog.

"Guess so," is my response, almost incoherent from my gasping.

"There's a simple explanation for that—we've crossed into a different time zone." His voice lowers into something I consider a super nerdy voice. "We are now one hour behind the Leaf. However, Earth and its capital, Rock, doesn't endorse our time zone. When we're in their territory, don't think of it as Leaf time minus one hour, but simply Leaf time."

What? That's so needlessly complicated! But I guess if you really hate a country, you just might do irrational garbage like that.

At any rate, our loop is halfway completed. We're at the remains of the Hidden Dust Village, a former hidden village of Earth that both Wind and Earth fought for until nothing was left, and we decide to rest for the day before heading to Grass. The Dust is a funny blend of Wind-style buildings and Earth-style buildings. There are adobe homes decorated by cloth that was once a pure white color, now turned yellowish, brown, and crisp. There are the typical earth and mud buildings of Earth, followed by beautiful statues cracked and chipped by time.

The ground is half stable rock and half slippery sand. I like to think the sand remains from the Battle of the Dust only a decade ago.

This is why I love history. I can see the village and can imagine the people who risked their lives for territory, resulting in a draw. Just under my feet should be more than a hundred liters of blood. Perhaps even decomposed corpses or lost weapons.

"You don't even look scared," Obito complains with a wary look. "You just missing a sense of danger?"

"There's nothing scary about this. It's completely fascinating. The air's a bit more thin, scents are a bit difficult to detect. I've never felt such silky sand before!"

I talk to Obito about everything I know about this place up until Rin cuts the conversation short. What was supposed to be a light jab turns into silence once I see her pinched brows.

"What's wrong, Rin?" Obito, too, tenses and peeks his head out the adobe window.

"Kakashi said he sensed other ninja." Rin bites her lip.

"Whaaa? No one ever comes here!"

"We can't be too sure of that. We're so far away."

A cool wind pushes all of us from behind. We all spin around to face the breeze, expecting a confrontation, only to find Kakashi.

"Three enemy ninja, Wind," he clips. "We can't have our cover blown. They die."

"Um, no," Obito says. "Tie them up. Then Rin can use her green hands to comatose 'em!"

(He's right. Too much chakra via Mystical Healing Palm Technique will result in coma.)

"Fighting to kidnap will take too much time and effort. After all, I'm sure they aren't in the mood to let us go."

"We're the good guys and good guys don't just murder because it's easy!"

"I don't want any of you getting hurt, Obito, Rin, Takenaka."

"So have faith in your teammates! We'll knock them down no problem!"

Kakashi is only 13. Yet his exhausted expression makes him seem so much older. With a look to Rin, he acquiesces. "Rin, with me. Obito and Takenaka, you can use your Fireball for a distraction. Distractions aren't infractions of your rule, huh? Rin and I will sedate them from behind."

Unease fills my stomach. It's exhilarating. But someone might end up hurt.

I mean, can a good guy kill? If not killing kills more allies than killing, are they really good?

What good are morals if you're an assassin?

I'm pretty certain my dad already knows the answer to these questions. It's brought the mindset that the life of a shinobi is nothing but violence and war.

I follow Obito as he goes and intercepts our new targets with the coordinates Kakashi gave. My arms are straight arrows behind me as I run behind Obito, feeling the high winds graze my fingertips. Obito then stops and skids to a halt, leaving me to quickly do the same before I run into him. His Tiger seal is ready to go. I mirror him.

Obito chuckles. "It's... kinda cool."

"What?"

"I've never fought side-by-side with an Uchiha like this. You know, I feel super powerful. Guess that's why we've got a lotta pride."

"Pride is a good thing. Arrogance is not. There's a fine line between the two, Big Brother."

From the top of the hill, fine dust clouds from feet drift upwards like cigarette smoke.

"Heh. Is that so?"

His response is meaningless but it helps us to burn away our nervous energy.

The first head peers over the curve, a face mostly covered by a brown mask and black goggles. The person's torso comes into view and we see it is a man followed by two other men. A team of three.

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

I go through the seals faster, but the time to convert the stolen energy within me makes it so that when we both breathe out, it's nearly in sync.

Obito's fire is bigger than mine while mine glows a bright blue. The orange and blue mesh at the center. A violet color.

The slow moving spheres of energy hit the ground and sets everything up in flames.

Obito has to activate his Sharingan to see past the disorienting colors. "One of them is a little injured. Yeah, definitely Wind. Sand and Wind are shit at defeating Fire."

Obito pulls out a kunai and hands me one as well. It's the same metal I'm used to throwing with. Aside from a few chips and scratches and dirt dried onto the handle fiber.

Then I watch as the two members leap off building walls, unaffected by the blaze, and head towards us, hands moving in sync.

I didn't realize it before now.

It's terrifying watching your enemy prepare a technique and you don't know what's going to happen. If you aren't quick, it's all too easy to become a nameless shinobi and have a sudden, insignificant death.

The men tear off their masks—scarred, unbelievably dried mouths—and blow. A clear surge distorts their image. The fast-moving winds accelerate to us.

I prepare Replacement while Obito uses his eyes to avoid the winds. I find myself in a balcony overlooking the battle while the winds rip through what was me. With the severed log dropping on the ground, the two face Obito.

One throws shuriken. A sweet scent fills the air. An oily scent. A little familiar. Obito easily avoids the blade and retorts with Phoenix Sage Flower Technique. Both parties resort to dodging.

I look away from the fight, wondering where the rest of my team is at. I see, running along rooftops, Kakashi with the legendary White Chakra Sabre in hand and while Rin has a small Rasengan. Blues and whites and the clear-colored wind. They are in a deadly dance with the third enemy, rather than aiming for a quick death.

Obito isn't making much progress with it being two versus one. The Sharingan makes everything easier to see and react, but he has limits. The Wind ninja alternate between throwing weapons and casting techniques. Obito is wise enough to not use taijutsu against man twice his height and strength.

It smells like a plant. Definitely something familiar.

Beautiful lady.

Eye drops.

Pupils.

"Nightshade." A little more hysterically, "Nightshade."

I remember from pharmacology. Those weapons are poisoned. They litter the ground. A prick is probably enough to murder Obito right here.

Duh. The Wind specializes in poison.

I knew they wanted to kill us. I know we're not supposed to kill them. But it's really stupid. We're killers. Everything we're taught and feed teach us to murder. Why join a profession and not like that they murder? I refuse to let Obito's kindness get him killed.

I ready another Replacement. Without anything to pop the afterimage? of me, it'll remain here. I focus on pushing my chakra to the bigger guy's back.

A darkness too fast for my mind to comprehend flashes before me. I'm left with a sense of cold before I reorient. I've hit his back, sent him tumbling to the ground. Before he can reach me, I brush my kunai around his neck, making sure to wedge the blade between the second and third cervical vertebrae. Even without checking his vitals I know he's dead.

I don't hear Obito admonishing me. That's because the other has a kunai drenched in fluid dripping at Obito's neck. The man speaks of him being an Uchiha.

Our cover is completely blown. But they'll be dead. The dead can keep secrets.

It's all too easy to Replace and copy the exact same thing. Only that after days of running, poor sleep, a Fireball, and three Replacements it all exhausts my body so much that I nearly collapse into the blood pouring from the man.

Obito puts me over his shoulder.

"I said no killing."

The fire starts to die down, the chakra used to fuel the flames begins to run out.

"They use poisons. If Big Brother slipped up, Big Brother would be dead. Would Rin or Kakashi be happy? Kushina? Minato?"

"Why're you so okay with this?" His tone is less angry and more tired.

"Father understands what shinobi do. If you want, you don't have to kill. But if you're about to die, I'll definitely kill whoever wants to kill you."

Obito starts walking in a particular direction. He can probably see his teammates. He fails to reply, other than grinding his teeth. With ease, he steps through the weakening flames. My own fire energy is very low. I make a mental note to start a campfire sometime.

Kakashi and Rin are alright. At their feet, the unconscious third member.

"Where are the others?" Rin says, standing on the tips of her toes to see past the flames.

"Dead," replies Obito.

"Eh? You said we couldn't..."

"Poisons. It... they... it wasn't easy. Sorry. So what next?"

Kakashi seals our victim inside a storage scroll made for dead bodies and leaves it in a conspicuous place for someone to happen by. Nobody really questions it. None of us are particularly new to war.

He then goes around and surveys the damage. We don't really need to fix the damage the fire caused, but there are two corpses that need disposing. Rin is about to aid Kakashi in doing so, but he holds up a hand that pauses her.

"Obito," he says, "you killed this man?"

"Yeah, so what?" He shuffles me higher on his back.

"Only a kunai?" Kakashi just keeps his eyes locked on the drying red.

"It worked, didn't it?"

"All right. Rin, we'll seal these up. And their weapons, too."

Kakashi agrees to let us rest for the night in the Dust. After what had happened, no one is eager to sleep in Wind-built houses. Instead, we choose a decent Earth building littered with dead beetles.

As we're indoors, we all agree on a campfire. Kakashi rearranges the vent in the building so that the smoke empties out the house discreetly rather than a smoke cloud signaling we're here.

Rin, probably haven sensed the somewhat sour mood, claps her hands together and says brightly. "Right, Kakashi! We all have presents for you, as our new Jounin!"

Kakashi, on the edge of the light, seems to want to disappear. "Ah... that isn't necessary."

"Yeah huh!" Obito is digging into his shirt. "Ask your dogs to hold onto these gifts, all right? I don't want you losin this."

I take out the rose quartz. Its pink glistens with the firelight.

"Here's my present first." Rin bows as she hands Kakashi his present.

Kakashi takes the box and undoes the cord keeping the cloth wrapped around. In the box are three scrolls, embroidered with gold and silver calligraphic Japanese characters. The elegance reminds me of Karada's handwriting he forced me to mimic when I was little.

"Rin, thank you." Kakashi stares at the girl with huge eyes, tone low with barely concealed excitement.

"Hey! Me next! Look at it!"

Obito shoves his gifts in Kakashi's hands. Said gift is a clear jar of cinnamon powder—going by the smell.

"Eh?" I say. "Is Kakashi a pastry chef now?"

"No, I just heard that cinnamon's real good at getting rid of bad spirits and nightmares," Obito says. "You like it Kakashi?"

"Yes. Thank you." Kakashi holds the jar tightly.

"Er, I'm last, huh? Here you go..." It feels anticlimactic to hand Kakashi my rose quartz. He even holds it in his hands, looking at me for guidance. "I... um, it's got healing properties. For protection and strength." I shrug. "I like miscellaneous charms."

"Then this will be my good luck charm. Thank you."

My words abandon me. I give him a thumbs up.

Kakashi soon summons Pakkun to hold onto his scrolls and jar. He tucks my gem in his pocket.

"So anyway," I'm mumbling, "why did you get Kakashi those scrolls, Rin?"

"Oh! Kakashi's been really interested in Sealing Techniques lately," Rin says. "He's been bugging Minato-sensei, and Kushina, and Jiraiya-sama occasionally."

"That's funny. I never knew Kakashi liked sealing."

I look at him pointedly.

"Just needed an inspiration," replies the enigma laconically.

"Give up, kiddo." Obito ruffles my hair. "He won't even tell us. Anywho, all this sand brings back me to the old days..."

"The diplomacy mission? The one you nearly died in, Big Brother?"

He winces. "Not that bit. Everything else."

I decide to try naivety. But being as I am, I wonder if they believe this "toddler" is capable of it. Obviously I go for Rin first, the most warm and social of the three.

"It terrified me when I got the news from Kushina! I really thought Big Brother was going to die. But he fought through it. You must've been really scared too, huh, Rin?"

The sweet girl pulls at her bandanna. "Yes... it wasn't nice, for sure. I missed Obito. I didn't realize his value until it could've been gone."

"Was Kakashi scared, too?" Kakashi's eyes don't reveal anything significant. "Big Brother told me you two used to fight. I don't know if that's still true..."

"It was complicated. Everything was... still is. A little less so," he fumbles. "A boy whom everyone hated sacrificed his life, nearly died, and yet there were people who grieved. Minato-sensei... Kushina..."

He trails off.

Now I'm aware of the solemn atmosphere surrounding us. I can't pressure them anymore. I'm so confused, but I guess I'm not as charismatic as Naruto. I can't get an entire flashback.

"When I become a Genin," I state, eyes lingering on every one of them, "I want my team to be just like you three. You're a family more than friends. You've bonded through tough days and happy days. You're inseparable."

"Mhm!" Rin bobs her head in agreement.

Kakashi closes his eyes turned crescent from happiness.

"It's all thanks to me," Obito chuckles. "You just gotta believe harder and harder and it'll come true, no matter what! That's the secret to life!"

"That's right, Obito!"

"With his track record, I don't doubt him."

When I become a Genin one day...

I'll have a team. I really do want to rely on them, just like Team Minato.

Life was hard when I was 18. I hadn't even gone down the route of buying a house or car, not my own family or wedding. But I knew it was hard. Money ruled the world; loans and debts were going to be my future.

The world is so much better together than alone.

.:

I volunteer to snuff out the campfire and we resume our trek back to Grass. We have to take shortcuts and rarely traversed paths to avoid meeting other Earth forces. Most of terrain I see is either infinitely long plains or rocky, dried earth from previous battles. In some places, I see the remains of weapons forgotten by their wielders.

We know we've reached Grass by the distant sound of explosions. At this point we travel by trees. Grass is notorious for its, well, grass and its greatest advantage is the abundance of the flat terrain. It makes sneak attacks impossible.

Obito leaps particularly high and I'm able to see the backs of Earth shinobi charging so predictably at the Fire shinobi. No signs of Minato or my dad.

"I thought the Yellow Flash would be here," I murmur to Obito only.

"He said he'll be here to monitor the battle strategy. They want Sensei as a general," Obito says to me, just as quiet.

"He isn't a general already?"

"He is, but this'll be his promotion."

"Congratulations..."

Obito grunts in response.

Team Minato lands on grounds deep in the Fungi Forest. The oh-so creative name probably comes from the abundance of sun-hiding trees with fungi growing up the sides. Maybe it has to do with the above average size of the Fungi Forest's mushrooms. A brief smell of decay fills the air, along with water and dampness. I slide off Obito's back and find the ground a bit too soft.

"We'll arrive in forty minutes," Kakashi reports.

"The sun's setting though," I say. It bothers me to see the pitch black shadows the forests casts, hear insects chirps I've never heard before.

"Exactly. This operation can't be completed otherwise."

I look at Obito. He watches me back, face fatigued by something more exhausting than our journey. "All right?"

He rubs his head. "Will be. Just thinkin too much. All right, let's do this!"

"Obito," Rin chides lightly, casting him a curious look. The two have a silent conversation with their eyes. Rin seems to lose as she reluctantly turns and tells Kakashi we're ready to move.

There is no moon tonight. The sky is black. Kakashi guides us through scent, Obito tells us things his Sharingan sees. Rin holds onto Obito's wrist.

My father taught me a year ago about using chakra for limited night vision. I really hadn't used it in forever, especially with my first attempt at chakra suppression taking me by surprise.

The technique uses my breathing to push bits of chakra out. It'll travel a straight line unless it hits something. Then I know to avoid it. The only issue is that it's a highly visible technique because of the glowing chakra. The technique is best used at home in one's own terrain.

The footsteps we make—no louder than the insect chirping—stop.

Fire appears from nowhere. I, behind everyone, crouch to the ground in Obito's shadow, hoping that whoever is there, they'll mistakenly expect three people.

It's a woman. Her uniform is torn and bloody. A few holes shows off the body she has underneath. Especially all the tattoos written in blue ink. In her hands is a torch burning bright.

"What ya'll doing up?" says she, voice deep for a woman.

"Chuunin with a Genin medic," Kakashi says, shrugging. "Here to drop him off and run before the battle starts up again."

"Earth ain't raised no cowards." Her eyes darken.

"Earth ain't raised no Chuunin to fight, either. We do what Tsuchikage-sama demands from us. We said we deliver a medic, we do."

"Why only one?"

Kakashi doesn't respond. I take I should speak up now. I walk into the light cast by the torch and start off with a quick bow.

"Explosion expert medic. There are a lot of explosives being carried across Kanabi. To free up Chuunin and Jounin medics, I've been assigned to see that the explosives do not injure foolish shinobi."

My heart is beating so hard. I could definitely die right here.

"Some of 'em are retarded." The woman jerks her head back. "Follow me. I'll guide ya."

"Shouldn't you be resting, though?" Kakashi says.

She pauses mid-stride. "I'm supposed to be patrolling tonight. Quit messing around and let's go. I don't trust them sneaky Lightning and Fire shinobi."

We've got no choice. Even if we knew we can defeat her, someone will get suspicious she didn't return. If we give a ninja any reason to be suspicious, we might as well throw in the towel.

She moves far more slowly than our pace. She looks at the trees, the whites of animals' eyes reflected in the darkness. It takes us everything we have not to act twitchy and keep calm.

Obito and Rin keep signing something to each other as we walk.

After a while, Kakashi takes a silent yet deep breath. I see his stomach stretch out far. He meets Obito and Rin's eyes.

Like that, three ninja are charging, kunai in hand.

The woman stops and spirals, first taking Rin's wrist and flinging her away, then using her arm bracers to block Obito and Kakashi's blades. The four dash away from each other. Rin flickers to the boys' sides, leaves still stuck in her hair.

I'm lost.

I crouch down so I become less of a derp standing in daze and pretend I'm a hardened ninja waiting for his time to strike.

Rin dashes to the woman first and water is pulled from the ground. It lashes at the kunoichi. Kakashi is up next, electrifying the water.

The woman backflips onto a tree. The lightning-enhanced water reaches her the roots. Hot blueish white electricity snakes up the tree she rests on. She bounds off it, hands flying fast—I catch Ram—and the earth pierces the ground around the three.

Obito, airborne, throws chakra-enhanced kunai. Blue streaks whip through the night lit by the eerie white of Kakashi's lightning. The woman, a blur, dodges and I see a flash of a tag before smoke. It's Kakashi who touches the ground first. He disperses the smoke.

She's not there.

"Look around you," Kakashi urges, darting his head around, sniffing.

Obito's chakra turns to me and accelerates.

At that moment, the ground rocks and my feet fly.

Can't breathe. I start to reach for my neck to find skin in the way. Straining muscles. Not my body. I can feel a hot breath. I try for a Replacement, but she snatches my hands and squeezes so hard, I'm sure they'll break.

"Chakra sensor, folks," the woman is saying. "All Earth shinobi got that same feel and you guys don't. Ya'll random. Of all people, you see me. You ain't very lucky, huh?"

Someone says "Put him down!" I can't see in the dark. Tunnel vision helps little. My body fights the arm trapping my throat instinctively. All that matters is that I breathe again.

Something heavy resonates through my body and eliminates all feeling.

Did I make Karada-sensei upset again? I'm going to have blunt force trauma before long...

Tied to a chair? A wooden one. The heavy, itchy rope pinches my spine against the painful grooves on the back of the chair. My hands are cold and barely want to open. They've been in fists for too long. Rope ties them to the chair. Similarly, my ankles and feet.

My head throbs. The room I'm in is dark. A candle burns on the table. The flame flickers and distorts with the breathing of a man sitting across from me. His silhouette is a black lighter than the room's darkness.

Pain. I'm the captured one. I can feel a wooden floor under me so it's highly possible this isn't a collapsible cave.

"You ain't no Water or Sand. Too pale. Too clean," rasps the man. His breath is horribly stale. Morning breath. "I hope you're Cloud—I've always wanted to break those pretentious bastards."

Odds are not good. Damn.

I stay silent. Nothing is really going to help me. My chakra—they didn't seal my chakra; they must really think I'm no serious threat—can do little against this man. Or to even escape.

"I'm the king here. I'll break you. I'll make you squeak until you're nothin but a husk. Here, I have all the time I need. Choose wisely, boy."

This isn't reality. I could be in the cave—explosion. Damn Kakashi didn't have Minato's kunai all because of this stupid stealth mission! What the hell? I've done nothing at all!

"Aggressive, eh? The mad ones are the funniest ones to break. They lash out like they can hurt me. It's hilarious!"

He lunges for me. The candle falls over. Nothing but the whites of his eyes and the faint tickle of unwashed hair.

"Entertain me! Let's go! What are you afraid of? Let's start there!"

The world bursts into a thousand shards. My body is free. I fall back and land on my ass, barely propping myself up with numb hands. The earth is rocky and dried from the blazing sun. Red dust floats and expand in the air slowly. Unnatural.

"No..."

Kakashi is behind me. I see him peering down a large hole, one eye closed shut and dripping blood. I scramble to his side and find too many. Too much to count. Too many corpses, cleaned and ready to go for dissection. Relaxed faces that look like my parents, Rin, Naruto's parents, Obito, and other Leaf ninja I saw briefly.

The smell has a taste. I gag but don't vomit. I don't have a stomach in this world. Nor heart rate or chakra.

"Kakashi..." I don't know what to say.

"It can't be helped. This is how life ends. With death." Kakashi's one eye meets my eyes. Emptiness.

"We can stop this. Naruto did—"

Naruto's not born yet. Soon. Not now.

"It can't be helped."

He jumps.

I reach for him.

My hand passes through his blue shirt.

Kakashi is one of the many corpses ready for surgery. His eye containing the Sharingan is empty.

Red.

The corpses drift in the red river. The sky reflects the water surface. For a split second I think the dead flies above me.

A sword sticks through my chest but I feel nothing. It makes for a terrifying reflection in the river and sky.

I know someone watches me. I turn.

My parents, too, join the dead. Father wastes away his red on Mother's chest.

Itachi stands as the sole survivor, impervious to everything and remains unreflected everywhere.

Behind him, the super moon is blood red. Its aura shines over Itachi, nearly godlike.

My brother's chakra is silver.

I start to ask Itachi why. Hot liquid bursts from my mouth. Ah. My lungs are filled with blood and I hadn't noticed. Then there's the issue of my spinal cord being severed into two, yet I suffer no paralysis.

Itachi's Mangekyou are shining.

"A little birdie told me about the eternal eyes," my brother says calmly. "If you had Sharingan, I could have kept you alive."

No you wouldn't.

Cough. Gurgle.

"Your pain is ephemeral. Mine will carry through the afterlife. Consider yourself judged by God. This will be your Paradise."

Itachi—

Gag—

"You've gone past your expiration date." Itachi grabs the sword handle still buried in my chest. "Let me make this quick."

With no warning, Itachi moves up.

My brother splits into two, disconnected halves. Blurs into red and black and blacker.

Even blacker.

My head whips to the side. I hear things breaking in my mouth. Soon, I feel a tooth loose on my tongue. The hole where it lived is hot, sensitive, bloody.

"Death and murder? That all? You're boring."

A kunai is shoved through my hand, though with the rope limiting blood flow, it hardly hurts.

"You've barely lived. There are things out there to be afraid of. What's the point of fearing death when it's inevitable? You think you gonna live forever?"

He breaks my body, as if really matters. It does not hurt. The images, though, are different but the pain can't reach me.

I've seen worse in med school—

The room reverts to normal in a single blink. My body is unharmed.

The candle burns bright. Enough for me to see Rin and Obito seated in across from me, both tied up. Rin has tears streaming down her pink face, screams underneath the mask. Obito swears like a sailor.

I sense nothing from him? Can I even within an illusion?

"Let's have fun with these two. They're also ensnared by my illusion, so they'll get to watch you have front row seats to their torture."

No. No. It's okay if it's only me. I can handle it. I'm mentally 18! They're thirteen—they don't deserve to go through this—

It doesn't matter. I can't break the illusion and so I think it tortures them more to see me unable to look away.

Release. Release. Release.

Disrupt chakra flow? That's right, isn't it? It won't break? This isn't my chakra! Mine is chilly—this is too warm—what?

The status quo is renewed. Obito and Rin aren't harmed.

The cycle repeats.

Where's my chakra? I have to disrupt. Disrupt. Release.

"Release!"

My body is weighed down. I'm practically on Jupiter, with its gravity bajillion times stronger than Earth.

It smells horribly familiar.

Smoke, ash, burning.

I'm sweating hard. It stings my eyes. Makes the robes stick on my skin.

The ground shakes my body. It's hard to breathe; the heat.

"Takenaka! Look at me!"

An Earth shinobi slaps my cheeks. Behind him, I can see fire glowing underneath the door frame.

"Hey! Wake up!"

The final slap throws my head, jostles my brain. My nose is leaking something that's too thin to be blood and too colorless to be mucus.

"Stop," I bark. My feet are dangerously unstable. My chakra hardly listens to me.

"I thought you were a vegetable! I need you! Come on!"

I look at the shinobi closely. "Obito?"

Sure enough the teen has a scar just like him. But my Obito has two arms. Not an arm and a half. Certainly not an arm turning dark purple and leaking puss. That would imply more than 24 hours have gone by since I'd seen Team Minato. It's still night out.

But that's his chakra.

"What the hell they do to you?" Obito groans. "We need to go."

"...wh-where?"

"Anywhere but here. Got to find Kakashi—"

The door bursts open. Out comes a ninja wearing a white, wooden mask like a horrible cosplay as a Pinocchio without his long nose. From nowhere, the ninja manifests a giant scythe with a razor tooth blade pattern.

"Anbu." Obito lets me go and blows fire, engulfing the ninja. Black bursts from the flames like sunflowers.

The scythe cuts a few more inches off the stump, still smoldering. The Anbu ninja's cloak is burned away, leaving a muscle shirt that exposes how jacked our enemy is.

He seizes my collar and picks me up.

"Medic."

His voice is distorted. I can't tell what the voice sounds like. It makes my brain shudder.

The smoking blade is poised next to my throat.

I touch the man's wrist.

I activate the Chakra Scissors Technique. Instead of cutting fabric, I aim for a major arm artery.

Bright red bursts from his new wound. He drops me as he rushes to close the wound. I cut open another artery in his leg, finish it off with severing a lumbar vertebrae. The ninja spasms in a pool of his own making.

Obito swears and grabs me. He bursts out the doorframe he had just burned up. Now he darts through the burning building, choking on the air as I do. I manage to control enough chakra for the Hypoxia Treatment technique. Obito looks grateful for the burst of oxygen finding its way to his lungs.

The desperate boy runs out into the night sky, trips, because the ground is rumbling. From the distance, a dark red light lingers.

The place I ended up in was a stolen home. It crumbles. It goes up in flames.

Obito drops to the ground, throwing me off and ruining my technique. He flops on his back and holds onto his stump. It's still a thing I have to fix.

It's infected. He'll die.

Keep calm.

My heart rate is as low as it can get. Inhale. Exhale. I'm meditating while wide awake.

Remain focused.

Amputation required. Antibiotics are necessary, but I don't have the required equipment. I could use the antibiotic technique, but I need the chakra for sterilization and Mystic Palm. I have a means of amputation: the kunai Obito gave me. A rock is nearby. I can break the bone with it. I pull out the kunai, enhance the blade's sharpness, sterilize. Don't have any pain medication or techniques to dull pain.

Know limitations.

"This will hurt," I tell him. "You'll probably pass out quickly. You may go into shock. I can probably fix that."

He laughs. "Nice try. You said... you wouldn't int-intentionally hurt me, Takenaka..."

"No time to waste," I reply, terse. "See you in a few hours. Maybe days. I dunno."

"Ta-Takenaka?"

First is the rock that snaps the ball and socket joint apart. I move the detached bone as far away as I can so that only muscle and nerves are cut. It's not pretty-looking; I do my best to avoid cutting arteries and some veins before I'm prepared. Nobody's taught me how to tourniquet a shoulder. I go ham on all the nerves, though.

Obito had screamed at one point, but now he's silent.

I need to treat him for shock. It could be from low blood pressure to pains greater than childbirth. Disease. Infection.

I need to close the wound. I remember Nonou did something weird... first I cut off skin and fatty tissue from his feet. The gooey yellow and red gump is placed on his "arm" where I stitch it together. Nonou used chakra strings. Hair-thin threads of blue glow connect the tissue. I bandage his feet and "arm" using shreds of my clothes and deal with treating his shock.

I don't have a VSS on me. I do a Blood Monitor to see that, yup, low blood pressure and foreign bacteria in his system. Plus a little chakra exhaustion. His sympathetic nervous system is going haywire.

I try and treat them to the best of my ability. My Mystic Palm works so slowly as I focus my shuddering chakra to work and not ignore me.

At some time, I notice the sun's risen. Pain, Obito looks like death. I read stories of medics so delirious they spent hours healing corpses.

"Takena—Obito!"

I know Kakashi is nearby. I keep my eyes shut. I need to do this.

"Is Obito...?"

—he's about ask me if he's okay even though he has two eyes.

"He needs help, Kakashi. Does he look okay? Do you want him to die?"

Kakashi flinches. "Sensei's almost here."

"Almost? The Yellow Flash is always late! Dammit." I open my eyes and notice we're missing a person. "Where's Rin?"

I only look over because he takes too long to reply. Kakashi has two functioning eyes. Sure he's got still raw wounds and burn marks. He doesn't need Obito's Sharingan. At this rate, he'll never be Kakashi of the Sharingan.

His two eyes are wavering. Pulling inwards. Water rises in the white. His jaw quivers under the mask.

"I—Rin—I'm," he breaks off.

Nonono. I hate how cold I've become. I force myself to breathe steady. It should calm me down. It does not. My heart continues to beat wildly.

"Kakashi. It's okay. Later."

He's shaking his head. "My fault. My fault. Once again, someone risked their life. Not for any reward or fame. For bonds. Why—"

—is as far as his monologue-thing gets before I see yellow.

My brain takes its time slowing down the image I saw while, in reality, something grabs me. A blue flash breaks the reds and browns of Kakashi's uniform.

The world fizzles out of focus.

It feels like I've slammed into a brick wall face first. At the speed of sound. Every part of my is racing to catch up. Dragging behind. Green. Familiar. Voices—men, familiar more. My chakra, the most comforting thing in the world. The warm chakra being pulled away from me. My sore, exhausted body.

It all fades to nothing.

.: SEVEN END :.

What does that say when the shortest chapter I've written is only 8000 words?

Is it a bit Mary Sue-ish for Takenaka to join the mission? If Fugaku canonically took a 4 year old to war, I reasoned that assigning a medic-nin to a team in a time of war (where it is assumed medics are called to war whenever) wouldn't be too implausible? (Wasn't toddler!Kabuto healing soldiers with Nonou in his flashback?)

If it is, then I suppose we should suspend our disbelief because either SEVEN could be a chapter of second-hand information about the mission or it could be a chapter in which the OC is proactive? But I didn't want him to be a Big Damn Hero. He's a total noob, not even Genin. There's noway 5-year-old!Takenaka could save the day with some kind of genius strategy or convince Kakashi/Rin/Obito to do some convoluted maneuver to save the day with no casualties!

The real world don't work that way.

I dunno. I don't have anyone to bounce ideas off of. I just assumed this would be more interesting to read rather than more medical days.

REVIEWS

(there was so many this time; normally it's like 5, or something, a chapter; this was 10-plus)

* That made me laugh so hard: Konoha's Anatomy! This isn't supposed to be a medical drama! Konoha MD. Leaves. NER (ninja emergency room). I can do this all day...

* TBH fuuinjutsu (Sealing Techniques) is pretty lit when you're a master (see Jiraiya or Minato or even Shikako Nara).

* Not gonna lie, totally an Uchiha slice-of-life. But it'll pick up in pace! I really like slice-of-life style shows, steady and gradual processes that expand over a long time.

* About Kakashi calling our dude dead last - gotta love how ninja be. Is he really dead last? Is that just Kakashi's prodigy childhood making him biased? I think Kakashi can be amazing at anything he tries, he just needs the right push. Maybe he just assumed his sensei's son and Itachiprodigy's brother would become strong regardless. I dunno bout Sakura tho.

* [Regarding Takenaka's constant panic] Calm down? Hahaha... he really does need to. He's going to hurt himself.

thank you all!

-14 Mar. 2018