A/N: Blink, scratch your head, and do a double take. What's this you see; an update? Are you dreaming? Who knows.
Kabushi padded quietly across hardwood floors, leaving behind dusty footprints with his every step. The air in the Hatake Compound was musty and stale – no surprise due to the decade of disuse. The moment he'd been allowed to, that tiny eight-year-old Kakashi he'd been had swapped that haunting Compound with a cold apartment unit. The apartment was still nothing like a home, but he hadn't cared; Sakumo's death had frozen Kakashi's every desire for the warmth and comfort, knowing too well how easily it could be ripped away.
With shaky rattles, several jammed traditional sliding doors broke free to allow a flow of air through the house. Kabushi sneezed at the sudden gust of airborne dust.
Little Kakashi had followed Kabushi and his Anbu guides as the older man was shown to the Hatake Compound. Kabushi remembered the teen's dark eyes as the Compound was unsealed, doors cracking open for the first time in ages.
Kakashi had been full of silent rage and haunted hatred. Kabushi was full of regret and life-time of grief.
Perhaps months ago, he would've also be flooded by crushing guilt as well, because he'd realised he'd done the unthinkable to Sakumo by scorning that great man who had sacrificed everything for his village. But in front of that campfire, in the void that was a pit stop before his journey to the afterlife (or resurrection, as it turned out), he had his time with Sakumo to unload his apologies and gratitude. That had been the first step to his ongoing process of healing.
Little Kakashi, however, was nowhere near that state. He was only now being nudged towards appreciating Sakumo's actions, towards understanding the fallacy of the Shinobi rules, and towards acknowledging those he called teammates. It was a slow and steady journey, Kabushi knew.
When Kabushi stepped across the threshold and into the Compound, Kakashi had long disappeared already, unable to watch, unable to stomach the sight of the Compound active again and bring back memories better left in the crevices of his mind.
Kabushi couldn't blame him.
"Kabushi!" Obito's voice called out.
Kabushi nudged open a window before turning around. Obito had let himself inside, obsidian eyes wide as he took in the dreary interior. "Do you have permission to be here?" Kabushi asked, because after that last fiasco, he doubted these kids were allowed around him without supervision.
Obito shrugged, thumb pointing over his shoulders. "Minato-sensei and Rin came with me."
The blond strolled forwards in a more sedated pace, expression reminiscing. Rin followed behind him, with more courtesy at the intrusion than Obito.
"Kabushi," they greeted, subdue, likely influenced by the Compound's atmosphere.
Kabushi nodded back.
"I hope you don't mind the kids tagged along inside. They were curious about the place," Minato said sheepishly. "Where is Kakashi? I was under the impression he came with you?"
"He left early on."
"Oh?" he said casually, though that sharp look in his cerulean eyes told just how attentive he was, despite Minato's mellow tone and posture. "Did he say why?"
"I wouldn't know," Kabushi lied, knowing full well Minato was only fishing for his response.
When Minato only nodded wordlessly, Kabushi disregarded him, turning to the kids. Obito and Rin idled as the older men were talking, so safe and alive that sereneness washed over him. It was almost enough for Kabushi to find relief, despite the obvious scrutiny he and Naruto were now placed in.
"Hey Obito," the silver-haired man said out-of-the-blue, hand gesturing for him to come closer.
Obito did so. Minato watched coolly, silently, but Kabushi ignored the other man's caution.
"What?" Obito asked.
Kabushi rested his gaze on the young Uchiha. This was an Obito who would be able to experience all the joys of life that his had missed. Kabushi's lips stretched to a gentle smile under the mask. His hand affectionately ruffled the Chunin's hair.
Obito blinked cluelessly at him. "Uhh, okay?" he said to the unexpected fondness.
Kabushi didn't bother to explain, hand still rested on the top of his head, as if assuring himself the teen was still present, and nothing like the ghosts of him that relentlessly haunted his every waking hour.
There was confusion on his face, but Obito endured Kabushi's gesture otherwise quiescently, because he felt the tenderness in Kabushi's actions, and really, this was more than anyone in the stuffy Uchiha clan had ever genuinely given him. Though he did ask, "Are you substituting me for Kakashi?" almost unable to keep the envy out of his tone.
"Of course not," Kabushi scoffed without the least hesitation. "You're two different people."
Obito's heart warmed.
Rin smiled over at her teammate, happy on his behalf, before her head turned to look around, pulled by her curiosity.
"So this is the Hatake Compound?" Rin said, interest in her tone. "I didn't know there was such thing – Kakashi never mentioned it before."
Kabushi quirked a brittle smile under his mask. He removed his hand from Obito's raven locks, striding to the side of the house. "If Kakashi had his way, I don't doubt there wouldn't be one." He ran a hand across the yellowing walls, gloves turning white from dust. "It's not something you'd rebuild if it burnt down," he said honestly, because after the destruction of their beautiful village post Pein's attack, the Hatake land had remained barren as he wished it to be.
"That's stupid. Why burn down a perfectly good house?" Obito said in ridicule.
"What about all his memories here?" Rin added, appalled.
Kabushi let out a breath from the depths of his stomach, eyes faraway. "The bad outweigh the good, I'd think."
When Kabushi had wandered aimlessly throughout the house earlier on, to air out the rooms, his feet had halted in front of that nightmare of a study room. He'd dropped a hand on the sliding door, but it'd stayed there, unable to exert the proper strength to open it up. His nose already cringed from the scent of blood – or perhaps it was the mere memory of that puddle of crimson spilt on the tatami mats -, and the silhouette of his father's crumple form laid prone in the back of his eyelids. His will had faltered, and he'd left the room untouched for another day longer.
There'd been good times in this homey Compound, once-upon-a-time, but Sakumo's death had long shrouded over the whole of the place with his blood red shadow. Kabushi forgave him, but the taint could not be washed out.
Obito blinked at Kabushi's answer, and perhaps that wasn't understanding flashing across his gaze, but it was a thoughtful glimmer, nevertheless. "I bet there's plenty of good if you try to find it," he said at last.
Kabushi shrugged. Obito gave him and Minato a glance before he wandered off, dragging Rin with him, to find something in that childhood home of his teammate to prove Kabushi wrong.
There was an indulgent tug on Minato's lips as he watched the teens go. "He's right, you know?" he said to the Hatake. "I remember coming here with Jiraiya when I was younger – dinners with Sakumo and his wife, and later seeing Kakashi crawling through the house as an infant." The man's expression softened at the memories. "You have heard about Sakumo's death and Kakashi's views on that, but that is only one side of things. The Compound may have ended on that tragic note, but it houses more than just that event alone."
Kabushi gave him a meaningless smile. "But sometimes it hurts too much remember the rest," he countered ruefully.
He let out a sigh. Then, with a tilt of his head, Kabushi directed Minato towards the kitchen. The teabags were stale and unusable, but the cups only needed a quick rinse. He set a kettle of water to boil as he leaned against the counter, arms crossed over his chest. "So, may I ask why you're here?" Kabushi said, watching the man busy himself by wiping clean the kitchen table for their use.
Minato raised a blond brow. "Just seeing how you were settling down," he said simply.
"Mmm, and here I was waiting for an interrogation."
"Did you want one?" the blond retorted.
"You say that like you're not interested," Kabushi replied, with a knowing look. The travellers' unexpected appearances had already been a curious thing. Kabushi knew it'd never escaped their notice that Naruto looked eerily like the blond. Now that they learnt they'd lied about his name, the fact he carried a demon inside of him, and was an Uzumaki as well, Kabushi was certain his old sensei was itching for answers. If not out of his own satisfaction, then for Konoha's safety or Kushina's concern – because who knew what dangers the 'brother' of the Kyuubi posed as a threat, and how exactly was he related to the only other Uzumaki in Konoha?
"So, Naruto?" Minato commented at last, seemingly unable to help himself.
"It's a good name for a young boy," Kabushi answered idly, utterly unhelpful.
"A good name for food, you mean," a snicker sounded from around the corner, sounding suspiciously like Obito. There was a muffled sound, much like skin slapping across mouth, and shushing.
Minato turned towards the noise and cleared his throat pointedly. Tiny feet scrambled off.
A wiry smile stretched across Kabushi's face.
"Any reason why you lied about it?" Minato said, suddenly pulling the conversation back on track. His tone was more serious this time, likely had kept it light earlier because he'd known his students had been listening in. There was no such buffer this time.
The genuine humour slipped off Kabushi's face, replaced by something a bit more artificial, but there weren't many who could tell the difference.
"I heard from a completely reliable source that you Konoha-nins are addicted to your ramen. It wouldn't do to have my student boiled and served on noodles," Kakashi said sounding all the world serious.
"That would be cannibalism."
"Oh? My mistake."
Minato shook his head, exasperation intertwined in this action.
"And Uzumaki?" he continued, and Kabushi was surprised the blond wasn't pushing. On the other hand, this wasn't an official interrogation, and his students were still nearby and he probably didn't want them caught up in the repercussion should Kabushi react badly. He'd likely only asked for curiosity's sake, and to silently judge how willing Kabushi was to share.
Kabushi sighed, and pulled the kettle off the stove. He distributed the cups between them, fingers curling over his own. "There are rumors that the Uzumaki clan house a jinchuuriki. Perhaps those rumors are not of my student, but he is still one all the same. I didn't want anyone to misunderstand Naruto as the Uzumaki of the rumors. I've seen blatant hatred towards jinchuuriki before, and I wanted to spare my student even the possibility of that hatred."
Which was a poor excuse as far as excuses went, but it was the best one Kabushi could come up with on the spot that encompassed all the points.
"If he is safe from judgement of anyone, it is from the Uzumaki clan itself," Minato said softly. "You've met Kushina already."
"Yes we have," the silver haired man agreed instead of continuing as Minato was discreetly prompting him to. Minato made a slightly frustrate sound from the back of his throat, but didn't continue to persist. Kakashi was certain the man remembered the look of utter fondness and longing Naruto had had on his face when he had first met the redhead. Kakashi had tried to snap his student out of it, but the expression on Naruto had been too strong to be ignored and forgotten so easily.
"You never mentioned it to her."
"No."
"The Land of Whirlpool had few survivors. Didn't you think for Kushina's sake, at the very least, to let her know she still had relatives left? You had no excuse before you even knew she was here, but after meeting her ... aren't you the ones persistently insisting on the wonders of actual family?"
Minato had an excellent point, but Kabushi merely scoffed, pretending he didn't agree with it. "And then what? Suffer suspicion for lying about Naruto's family name? And though the Uzumaki may tend to generally be free of judgment to hosts of tailed beasts, there are always exceptions. I'd rather not my student risk opening up to Kushina only to have her scorn him later on when she realized what he was. We didn't know she was a jinchuuriki too until the other day."
"Kushina wouldn't," Minato said confidently. "Even if she not been one herself." The blond was quiet for a second, blue eyes studying the Hatake's face raptly. "I'm surprised Kushina didn't recognise him. Large clan or not, Naruto would stand out with his blond hair. Most Uzumaki have distinctive red hair," he said as if in passing wonder, and made no mention to Kushina's presumption of how Naruto had been born after Whirlpool's destruction.
"It came from his father," Kabushi confided easily. "And from what I know, Naruto's family left very soon after he was born." Left' just had a different meaning to it than the one Kakashi wanted his sensei to pick up on.
Minato pursed his lips. Then at last he took a sip of his hot water and sighed, letting the unplanned interrogation reach its end. "Well," he told Kabushi, "Kushina has been insisting on spending time with Naruto. Maybe she'll remember his parent."
"He'd like that," Kabushi said agreeably, "if only just to be able to escape the boredom that comes with being confined indoors," because he hadn't forgotten his student was to be placed in house-arrest after the hospital deemed him certified to be released.
Hopefully the invitation mean Naruto hadn't lost his parents' trust yet.
Days later:
Rin and Obito made their way to Kakashi's small apartment unit.
Though the three rarely visited one another, that didn't mean they were clueless of their teammates' places of residence. It had been a task early on by Minato-sensei, in order for them to get to know each other better. Perhaps he'd hoped the children would spend time together outside of training, for meals or sleepovers, but the plan had failed. Obito was an Uchiha, and the Uchiha were not fond of outsiders intruding their Compound. Rin was Obito's crush, and the teen was always too nervous to accept an invitation to come over. Kakashi refused to try to get along with either of them in training, let alone his private time.
Still, it made the current of task of finding Kakashi's unit simpler.
Obito was talked idly to Rin as he reached Kakashi's place, as if the job of locating Kakashi was trivial, and his main objective was entertaining Rin instead. Though truth be told, outside of missions, Obito considered that to be fact, always.
"- it's not fair that they won't tell us," Obito was saying to Rin, while his hand continued to pound on Kakashi's apartment door.
The door wrenched open, and Kakashi caught the end of his words, moving out of the way before Obito's hand could accidentally strike him. "What makes you think you have the authority to know anything?" he said immediately. Though he didn't know what the conversation was about, Kakashi was smart enough to deduce it, knowing how much of their lives recently revolved around those two unknowns living in their village walls.
"Shut up, Bakakashi," Obito replied on reflex, only to suddenly blink as a thought dawned on him. "Oh wait a minute. Kabushi's your uncle, so do you know what happened?" There'd been nothing, no rumours, no speculations, about Kabushi and Narui's involuntary visit to the Konoha jail. All they knew was what they heard that day the two had been seized – the possible treason against Konoha.
Which, in Kakashi's opinion, was reason enough, and why would he care more than that?
The silver-haired teen gave him a bland stare.
"Oh come on," Obito whined. "Tell me already. Something happened. Aren't you worried for Kabushi?"
"I don't care about that man," Kakashi spat. The silver-haired teen had briefly entertained the idea, that small wasted optimism, that perhaps Kabushi was someone who he could open his heart to. He reminded Kakashi of what he'd lost, that spark of memory of what family was. But that had clearly been a lie. His father, and now his Uncle. What was the point of trying if everyone just betrayed him in the end?
"What is your problem, Kakashi?"
"Are you just going to ignore the fact that he'd done something to warrant being sent to prison?" Kakashi reasoned, perhaps not quite answering Obito's question, not that the idiot realised.
"He was let out," Obito argued, voice heating up.
It was a tentative release, Kakashi was certain. "Narui is in the hospital, and that man has been sent to the family Compound."
"Yeah, so? They were both still released," the teen countered. Then he paused and corrected absentmindedly, "And you mean Naruto."
Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "What?"
"Naruto's in the hospital," he reiterated unhelpfully.
Rin elaborated, "We overheard Sensei and Kabushi talking about it. It seems Narui's real name is Naruto." She sounded bashful at the admittance of eavesdropping, but that was the least of Kakashi's care.
Kakashi's head swiveled towards her, gaze still sharp as ever. "When was this?" he demanded, because he didn't hear about this, and Kabushi hadn't been released all that long ago.
Rin fretted under his intense gaze. Obito had no problem drawing it away from her.
"We were at your family Compound-" the raven-haired teen began, rearing for a long rant, but he was cut off before he could even finish.
The intrusion had clearly hit all the wrong buttons. There was a loud bang as Kakashi's palm slammed against his plastered wall. "Who gave you permission to enter," the silver-haired teen snarled.
Obito stiffened at Kakashi's unreasonable cry. "We don't need your permission. You don't even live there," he spat back, arms crossing over his chest. "You never even told us you had one in the first place," he said, indignant, because though the team didn't know everything about each other, Obito thought four years was enough for Kakashi to confide to them the fact he had an actual family Compound. If anything, to retort against all the times Obito complained about his own Uchiha Compound.
"Stay away from it," Kakashi roared instead.
"Make me," Obito huffed. "What's your problem. It's a nice house."
"There's nothing nice about that place. It should be burnt down," Kakashi growled, not dissimilar to Kabushi's speculation. Obito had to wonder how earnestly the older man paid attention to Kakashi's behaviour for him to be able to understand his thinking so well. "And Kabushi should be kicked out of Konoha," the silver-haired teen added obstinately, comparable to stomping on Obito's flash of insight.
"I'm sick and tired of you hating your uncle for nothing," he growled.
"He's not my uncle."
Obito threw a punch before he could help himself, spurred by Kakashi's words. How often he'd wished for relatives half as kind and thoughtful as Kabushi – Kakashi was a bastard who didn't know how to appreciate things in front of his face. Wasn't he supposed to be a prodigy? Then how could he miss the way Kabushi watched and cared for him, underneath his teasing?
"No!" Rin exclaimed.
Kakashi snarled, ducking the other boy's punch, paying no heed to her. Swiftly, he turned on his heel, arm thrusting out in the same motion. A kunai shot past the Uchiha, a hair's breath away from hitting.
"Ha! Missed," Obito taunted, but Kakashi didn't reply.
Instead, his arm contracted, and the glistening of ninja wire tied to the kunai he'd thrown suddenly made itself known. With a sharp tug, the window behind Obito snapped open, kunai still coiled around the latch. A kick was all that was needed to bodily remove the teen from his apartment unit.
It took a second for Obito to realise there was no wall behind him to catch his thrown form. "What the hell!" Obito screamed. His heart panicked as he fell, stumbling inelegantly as he clumsily braced for the unexpected drop.
Kakashi hopped through the window, sneer on his expression. He perched crossed-arm on the adjacent fence. "Missed, did I?" he said haughtily down to the teen.
Admittedly Kakashi had been trying to get along better with Obito since that last dreaded mission, finally understanding how much Obito valued him and Rin. Still, he truthfully wasn't as impassive as he tried to play off about Kabushi's betrayal. He needed someone to lash out at, and Obito was always so eager to break into a scuffle with him.
"Lucky shot," Obito bit back, leaping to his feet. He pulled his arm back.
"Boys! Stop it!" Rin interrupted, rushing between them. She hopped down on the fence beside Kakashi, hand latched on her sullen teammate's arm to drag him down with her as she jumped.
There was a scowl on Kakashi's face, but he let her, because Rin meant no harm. Though his trust would not be freely given, he did acknowledge the efficiency of a tighter team.
Obito faltered at the sudden appearance of his crush between him and his target, and huffily shoved his offending fist into his pocket instead. "I wasn't going hurt him," he muttered moodily, at her disappointed tone.
"As if you could," Kakashi riposted.
Obito's posture bristled visibly.
"Kakashi," Rin admonished, then, "Obito." She turned towards both of them. "I know you boys like your spars, but now is not the time. Save it for the training grounds; we're in a residential area."
Obito shrunk into himself. Kakashi only huffed.
"Anyways," she continued, "Obito and I came for another reason, other than getting into another senseless argument," she said with a pointed stare at the teammate who instigated the mess to begin with. Obito shuffled his sandaled feet, head dropped into his chest.
"What do you need?"
"We've been summoned to the Hokage Tower. There's a new mission for us."
WtWtCH
The three ninjas made it to the Hokage Tower in a timely fashion after their minor scuffle. With a greeting, they knelt in front of the Hokage, looking ever the professional subordinates, and nothing more like the bickering children they'd been only moments before.
"Ah, you're here. Excellent," Hiruzen said.
"We apologise for our tardiness," Kakashi said for the group, though the glower he sent at Obito wasn't very discreet.
"Nothing to worry about," the man forgave, because it hadn't been urgent – if it were, he would've sent out an Anbu. If Kabushi had been present, he would've told them how lenient the Hoakge usually was to minor faults like that. Never mind the fact they'd not even managed to reach Kabushi's usual level of unpunctuality. Hiruzen gave the children a placid nod, carrying on, "In regards to your recent mission at Kannabi Bridge, a follow up is necessary to observe the impact of our previous success."
The three stood in military attention as the Hokage explained the situation.
"Rest assure, it is nothing taxing. A simple B-rank," he continued. "I believe Team Kakashi can easily accomplish this task." The Hokage explained the mission, the three teens standing tall and proud before him, accepting the task. "Questions?" he asked, once the briefing was over.
Obito cocked his head, curious. "What about sensei?"
"Minato will not be joining your team; he will be dispatched on his own mission in a while."
Kakashi frowned, feeling indignant at his teammate's question. "Are you questioning my ability?" he said tersely. "We are more than enough for a B-rank."
Obito glowered at him. "No need to get all cranky. I was just asking," he muttered, looking away.
The honest truth was that Obito was nervous. It would be the first time they carried out a mission without their sensei's supervision – that last mission didn't count because Minato had kept tabs on them, whether they realised or not, reappearing before them during their worst moment and saving their collective lives.
Yet this time, they were completely and utterly alone.
Obito had sworn to himself he would make sure he would keep Rin safe this time and all times to come, but he couldn't do it himself. Kakashi was milder now, than the indifferent, solitude bastard that almost left his teammate to die. But there was a learning curve there. Obito wasn't a fool not to notice he was still wavering, on the edge of re-following his chosen path of life or to test the waters of the choice Obito had shown him. Kakashi was especially fluctuating, with Kabushi's actions chaining doubt to his mind.
Obito wished Kakashi could see Kabushi wasn't as deceitful as he was making him out to be.
"If there are no further questions, you are dismissed," the Hokage's voice cut through his thoughts.
The three dropped into a bow, before heading to the door. Kakashi turned the handle, only to be assaulted with the one thing he wanted to avoid. There was a mob of silver hair on the other side of the door, Kabushi, with Naruto by his side.
Kakashi tensed, head jerking away, steps quickening. Rin blinked at his actions and then dropped a nod at the older man in greeting. Obito openly grinned.
Naruto grinned back.
Kabushi gave them a nod, hand unconsciously ruffling Obito's raven hair as he passed by.
"Again?" Obito said. "Not that it bothers me or anything," he hastily added.
Kabushi didn't tell him how fifteen years of a recurring nightmare was hard to break free from. Nor could he ever explain the utter relief he still felt from the sensation of Obito, real and solid, under the palm of his hand.
Though he really should stop if he didn't want to catch any unwanted attention. The Hokage was already observing their interaction with a calculating glaze. – and no doubt Minato had already relayed to him Kabushi's actions earlier in the week in the Hatake Compound.
Kabushi's single eyes spared a second to track the kids' backs as they trod out of the office to make way for the newcomers, before shaking himself out of it and carrying on.
Naruto watched him, partly concern, partly pleased, because he had known just how badly Obito's death had impacted him. The blond had felt the influence whenever they had training together, losing his teacher to the memorial stone for hours on end before he would finally grace the future Team Seven with his presence.
"Problem?" Hiruzen asked casually, though he knew better that he would be answered honestly.
"Of course not, Lord Hokage. I was merely worried for my nephew. I haven't seen Kakashi in a while," Kabushi replied. He tilted his head, and adopted a sulking look. "I think he's ignoring me," he said in a light tone.
"I see." Hiruzen steepled his fingers, staring over them at the two. "It is only expected, after the stunt you pulled in Yu no Kuni. What had you hoped to achieve with that?" he said.
"Mmmm, seemed like a good idea at the time," Kabushi replied, ignorantly. Naruto looked away mutely.
"I truly wonder if you hadn't foreseen the consequence of such acts towards your relationship with young Kakashi, or had you proceeded with your actions despite that? It makes me wonder about your claim to rekindle your family connection," he mused, slowly, softly, to no one in particular.
Kabushi bristled, but didn't respond. There was no need to defend himself, because he saw the Hokage's words as he meant them to be – rather than doubt, it was a threat, daring him to do the boy any harm if his love for him was only a lie.
On the other hand, there was a low growl under Naruto's breath. "Sensei cares!" he asserted. His fury tapered when the Hokage glanced over at him with a measured look on his features. "Sensei cares a lot," he said again, more softly this time.
"May I ask the purpose of our summon here?" Kabushi asked politely, drawing the attention away from his student.
Hiruzen made no comment about the pull away from the topic, because he'd said his piece, and Kabushi had been warned.
"Despite my misgivings about the two of you, I have yet to find fault in your assertion of doing Konoha no harm. As such, I am willing to officially grant you both tentative citizenship."
Without a pause, Hiruzen shuffled through the paperwork on the large wooden desk in front of him. He leaned back on his chair when the right forms appeared in his hands. "There are some minor technicalities that need to be worked out still for the two of you to be lawfully accepted. This time spare us of the lies," the man said, no amusement in his tone.
There was an almost sheepish look on their faces. "We will try our best," Kabumo said bashfully congenial. But Hiruzen could see under that teasing, and realise the man hadn't given him a definite answer.
"Names."
There was a small pause, and then, "Uzumaki Naruto," the blond said proudly, so relieved like a burden off his back.
Hiruzen jotted it down and turned to the older man beside him. "Hatake Kabushi," the Hatake only said. The Hokage regarded the man with an intense gaze, but didn't comment otherwise.
"Ages," he continued instead.
"Fifteen and twenty-nine," Kabbushi answered for the two of them.
"And of your histories," the man said, tone accusing of lies.
Kabushi didn't visibly respond to the challenge. "Nothing we didn't mention before," he insisted instead. "I am a traveller since a child with my mother. Naruto is an orphan I picked up along the way. There may have been more to Naruto than I mentioned, but my silence was for the boy's safety, because I know some shinobi's views on jinchuuriki, and I will not let my student be treated as a weapon."
"And how did you find out about it yourself?" Hiruzen asked, projecting curiosity, but it was honestly an interrogation.
"I told sensei," Naruto interrupted, knowing full well Kakashi-sensei wouldn't implicate him if he didn't need to. But it was hard enough to lie to the Hokage as it was. "I found out it was sealed into me after I was born."
"Why was it?"
The blond shrugged, "Donno. My parents are dead so they can't tell me."
"However you were able to find out when it was sealed but not why?" Hiruzen pressed skeptically.
Naruto froze for a second, before shrugging, eyes glancing over at Kabushi. "Uh, well it's not my fault that's all they left for me to find out."
"Perhaps," Kabushi cut in, "they didn't want to burden Naruto with the knowledge. Knowing he already had something sealed into him, something that would make others fear him, was already burden enough. No parent would want to their child to carry so much weight on their shoulders."
Naruto resolutely didn't visibly sigh in relief at Kabushi's follow up.
The Third's fingers tapped a rhythm on his desk. "Perhaps," he allowed. "But did you not fear Kabushi would leave you once you informed him of the guest in your stomach?" he asked.
Naruto shrugged. "It's sensei. I trust him. Kabushi-sensei's a pervert, and he's always late, but he would never let anything happen to me, no matter what. I know it."
Kabushi's heart warmed. Since the day he promised that to his precious Genin during their first C-turned-S-rank mission, Kabushi tried to live up to his words. Sometimes he wondered if his kids ever believed him, seeing them turn to other mentors, or in Sasuke's case, leaving Konoha completely. It was pleasant to see Naruto had taken his words to heart.
The Hokage didn't say anything against Naruto's conviction.
"Very well," Hiruzen agreed. His hand moved slowly across the papers in front of him, his cursive scrawl filling the page. "I'll need you to report to the immigration office before everything is finalised. I will send an Anbu to direct you there once the paperwork is finished. Until further notice, you are dismissed."
The two before him bowed in unison. They turned towards the door, but while Naruto's action was natural, Kabushi's was full of hesitance.
Hiruzen's face was lowered as he regarded the forms on his desk, but his eyes were peeked unnoticeably on the Hatake's lingering form. Regardless, he didn't react, forcing Kabushi to speak up. "A moment of your time, Hokage-sama?"
"Is there a problem with my edict?" he said, finally looking up.
"No sir. I only wish to enquire about Kakashi's mission…"
"Oh?" he murmured, voice silkily dangerous. "You are surely aware such things are confidential, unless there's a particular reason you believe you need to be privy to the fact?"
"I don't wish for details," Kabushi refuted promptly, hearing the unspoken implication. Because only a spy would want this information of coming missions, and Kabushi couldn't be suspected of one so soon after only just released from the judgement of treason. "I only want to know the difficulty – for Kakashi's safety."
"I do not believe he will have trouble with it," Hiruzen replied, unhelpfully.
"I see," Kabushi said, equally as unhelpful. But it appeared he never expected the Hokage to tell him much in the first place, merely using his concern to open upon the topic. Despite himself, Hiruzen indulged him, curious to see where it would lead.
"And what do you see?" the Third probed.
Kabushi gave a soft, but anxious glance. "That you have trust in you men," he said, deceptively mild. "But they are only children."
"You wish for them to have back up?" the man inferred. His face gave away nothing of his thoughts, merely answering, "You underestimate my shinobi."
"It is in the midst of war. The unexpected can occur."
Kabushi was paranoid for these children – unnecessarily so. There was something more ominous in the man's thoughts than simply an uncle's concern for his precious nephew. Yet he refused to be anything but painfully vague. "Do you have so little faith in these three?" Hiruzen asked.
Kabushi held his silence because it wasn't the children he had no faith in, but their ability to defy the fate that had befell them in a possible future, without help. Because Kabushi remembered a mission in his future that had been labeled as simple and straightforward by the mission scroll, but it had been anything but in the end. Or rather, the mission itself had been easy, but it was the interference of Mist ninja bent on capturing Rin that ruined the world for Kabushi. He'd failed Rin when she'd been kidnapped in the end, despite his best efforts, and was turned into the host for the Three-tails.
On the other hand, Team Kakashi had slipped out of the linear timeline once already, when Obito survived, and they hadn't known a thing then as well. Maybe it wasn't so much a stretch that they could defy their fates themselves?
Kabushi's gaze turned away from the men present in the room, staring out into the beyond. Did he have faith?
In Obito… always.
Kabushi let out a long breath. Finally he shook his head to the Hokage's patient gaze. "He would never let anything happen," Kabushi acknowledged reluctantly, because that was a truth he could never deny. ("To her," he didn't tack on).
Hiruzen took the 'He' as young Kakashi, because he was the commander of the mission, and there was no reason for Kabushi to correct him in the misunderstanding. "Indeed, Kakashi has proven himself capable of leading his team to success. His last mission had a positive outcome."
Kabushi nodded absentmindedly.
The Hokage leaned over his desk. His fingers laced together as he regarded the man. His eyes were dark and attentive. "Then let me ask you again, Kabushi. Why are you so worried? I can't help but find the similarities your current reaction parallel to the one of the team's previous mission." And they all remembered what happed last time, and the predicament that led to Kabushi and Naruto's imprisonment.
Kabushi's expression was calm, posture slouched in an idle stance that didn't betray his mood. Yet, he didn't seem aware his right hand was twitching, scrubbing against his thigh, as if drenched uncomfortably in unseen grim.
"Nothing of the sort," Kabushi denied, smile forced on his lips. The travellers had only been released, and even a fool knew a repeat offense would not be overlooked as lightly as the last. "I-" Then the silver-haired man's posture untensed and he held a more genuine expression. "I believe in Team Kakashi. I have belief in him," – I couldn't save her, but, "he can do it."
The Third nodded to himself. "Then there is nothing to be concerned about. The mission is not as dangerous as you may fear," he offered once more, then, perhaps to make peace with the other man, added, "Truth be told, I have confidence even a two-man squad is more than enough, let alone a team of three."
"I know," Kabushi didn't say. "You sent two previously and I failed your expectations," he also didn't add.
"It's just for the sake of my apprehension," Kabushi said instead, voice tight.
Hiruzen noted it, but only moved to shake his head. "The unfortunate result of war," Hiruzen replied calmly, "is that we are always short on men," and that was more than enough reason for a refusal to send back-up – especially since the anxiety was baseless and seemingly unlikely.
The Third dismissed Kabushi and Naruto not soon after that. The second their toes crossed the threshold of the doorway, Naruto turned towards his sensei. "Again? So soon?" he said in disbelief.
Kabushi smiled humourlessly but didn't say a word.
Later that day:
"This is everything?" Hiruzen asked with a frown. The Anbu who had delivered the document nodded silently, and Hiruzen's brows only furrowed deeper.
He'd asked his shinobi to retrieve the medical documents of Kabushi and Naruto's initial stay in the Konoha hospital, yet the files he received were incomplete. He was missing the report for one half of the travelling duo, with no indication of Kabushi's stay. He knew his nurses did a better job than this.
The Hokage settled his pipe on the pipe tray, slowly easing his way out of his chair. "It seems I should get to the bottom of this," he murmured to himself. There was something going on here he wasn't aware of, and for the travellers' sake he hope they weren't involved in this particular plot.
He was due for a break anyways.
Pushing aside his paperwork, the Hokage set course for the Konoha General Hospital.
At the doorway, the receptionists stood to bow at his presence, but the man merely waved them down and continued his stroll. He casually wandered through the halls, searching. Finally, "Nurse, where are the rest of the files for the two 'unknown' patients treated here previously?" he said startling a young brunette engaged with chatting with a fellow colleague.
The woman turned to the voice, flustered, before professionalism took hold. "Hokage-sama, I apologise for not noticing you." She handed off her clipboard to the other nurse, rattling several simple orders, before giving him her undivided attention. "Patients?" she echoed. Her eyes caught the folders the old man held open in his hand. "Oh, please excuse me." She leaned forwards to catch a glimpse of the pages the man had flipped to, her own signature signing off the releases. "These should be the ones, sir. They should be all there."
"Indeed? Was there not another patient brought in with this young man?"
The nurse stared at the diagnosis, trying to bring up a face to the notes. "Young man? Oh, the young blond Namikaze-san brought in. Let me think… the other man with him." She looked thoughtfully for a second before her face lit up, "Ah yes, I submitted his file to be filed as per protocol, Hokage-sama."
"Is that so?" the old man hummed.
As if spurred on by that the young nurse continued. "Upon uncovering his Anbu tattoo, I immediately pulled his file from public view. The moment he was discharge, I properly submitted his folder to the secure Anbu storage unit to preserve his confidentiality."
"His Anbu tattoo," he echoed softly.
"Yes sir. Namikaze-san had not mentioned it to me when he brought the two of them to be checked over. When I noticed the tattoo, I immediately set to verify its authenticity, and once proven genuine, I attended to his needs as unobtrusively as possible." The woman tilted her head in worry. "Have I made an error, sir?" she asked in dread.
"Oh, no, no dear girl. You've followed proper procedures," he comforted with a warm smile on his face, and incredulity in his mind.
Anbu were anonymous shinobi, hidden behind the mask of ceramic mask; their medical information, information that could be used against them, was held in just as much of a secret, thus couldn't be filed alongside of everyone else in the village.
The exact members in the back ops were privy to no one but the Hokage himself, so their tattoos were used as authentication, while the nurses and doctors tried their best to avoid recalling anything about these confidential beings the moment they left their care. The methods to authenticate the mark distributed to Anbu Captains, nurses, and those in the need-to-know, and these measures had never failed them until now.
How could Kabushi be tagged with an authentic tattoo when Hiruzen was confident he'd never been Konoha Anbu – never entered Konoha before?
Replicating that tattoo was not a simple task. The Anbu tattoos carved into the arms of all the members of the black ops was formulated with a special mixture of ink and chakra that only the current Hokage knew.
Unless there was a more sinister, long-running plan hidden behind Kabushi, the theories upon theories that Hiruzen concocted in response to Naruto's tenth 'half' demon quickly dwindled down to a few glaring suspicions.
There was a single assumption that Hiruzen was particularly in favour to, because it quite nicely encompassed all these passing clues Hiruzen inferred from the travellers' words and actions. However, it wasn't without faults – most noticeable how it was possible, and also Kabushi's seemingly erroneous insistences.
Like only earlier, the Hokage was unceremoniously reminded of another time Kabushi came to him, plead on his lips. Yet nothing as worrying as Kabushi's attitude suggested had occurred in the end, and the Hokage couldn't help but wonder if this time would be a similar case as well.
Did Kabushi have genuine concerns, was he merely drawing needless paranoia, or was the world not conforming to what he knew?
The Third could have all the theories he wanted, but without proof, they still meant nothing.
Hiruzen rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Did you take a blood sample of the man, by chance?" the Hokage enquired towards the nurse, but it was a far shot indeed.
She shook her head in confusion. "No sir, he did not require one. All both patients required was a wash and rest to recuperate their chakra. There were minimal cuts that required little attention to."
"Of course," Hiruzen nodded in dismissal. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. "That is all, then. Please, don't let me interrupt your work."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen watched as the young nurse hurried back to her duties. His fingers spun the unlit pipe in his robes as he made his way back to his office, considerations swirling in his mind. He may still doubt Kabushi's insistence that something would occur, and the fact still stood that Kabushi had been wrong once before, but he couldn't deny that the Hatake's distress had been worrying.
He drew his mind to the scene of his office once more, from the moment Kabushi crossed the threshold. Kabushi had been worried, but despite so, he was still a shrewd shinobi – because despite how much he lamented at his nephew's new mission, Hiruzen had an odd, odd suspicion it actually wasn't Kakashi Kabushi had been worried for. Kabushi's attention seemed to linger more on another teen recently than Kakashi himself.
The man laced his fingers behind his back as stared up into the darkening sky. Then, in a decisive action, the Hokage plopped his pipe into his mouth and set to planning a new strategy.
That night:
In the Hatake compound, Kabushi sat by the window, eyes drawn to the moonless sky as he tried not to remember the crackle of his chidori, and the blood coating his hands. It was different because Obito was there, and with the kid's studious devotion to Rin's wellbeing, he would never let Kakashi impale his arm through her chest. Surely nothing could go wrong this time around?
In his office, the Hokage pulled a tired hand across his eyes and finished signing the remaining few paperwork on his desk. Then he turned to calls to his Anbu, resolution at last, Kabushi's concealed look of fear lingering in the back of his eyelids. He said profoundly, "Inform Uchiha Obito there has been a change to the mission. He is to be pulled out from the team."
A/N: Truthfully this chapter is a bit meh to me. But I don't dislike it enough that I'm willing to rewrite the whole chapter, otherwise the story will never move on past here.
