Of all the things he had done in his life this was, if not the most dangerous, the most unusual. He fought people who breathed fire, fled a man who could grow a squid out of his back, but never before had he been face to face with a zombie of their former leader. Let alone two of them.
Genma was down, already swept away by Rin to get help. The girl was watching them, along with her brother, each of the twins with a palm on one half of a sealing array they'd set up on the other side of the glowing box he was trapped in.
A gaggle of clones was around them, defending the pair from any oncoming attacks, or taking the hit until Shibi, who had come to help, took them out completely. Shino had appeared as well, and on top of that there was one of the Kazekage's children guarding the pair.
Yes, Kakashi decided, this is the weirdest fight I've been in.
He ducked out of the way of a legion of wooden spikes aimed at his head, his sharingan blazing to keep him alive. He sent out thanks to Obito for saving his life against as he lunged forwards. The Toad Sage was busy with the Second while he tried to get close enough to the First to slap on the seals that the Uzumaki pair had sent to them.
The children were waiting outside, patient as they could be. It was up to the people on the inside to get their work done.
It was easier said than done. The Hokage were the strongest from an era war torn in ways that even Kakashi couldn't fully comprehend. They were like him, warriors from childhood, from infancy, not blessed with innocence or ignorance. Like him and so much stronger.
Except…
He was keeping up. Without Mangekyo he was able to stay toe to toe with a former Hokage.
Jiraiya was very close to actually beating the Second.
Kakashi knew he was good, but he wasn't as good as the God of Shinobi. So, they were weaker in their resurrection than they were in their lives.
Lucky for him and Jiraiya, or they would both be dead already.
Kakashi slipped out of the way of a knife flying towards him and used the movement to pitch himself forwards, towards the ex-Hokage. He swung with a kunai and was caught with another. His arm shook with the effort of pushing against the Senju.
He only needed to get close enough to attach the seal…
He dropped his knife suddenly, sending the Hokage pitching towards him. They didn't dodge attacks since it wouldn't do any good. Hashirama didn't block the punch he aimed at his chest.
Didn't dodge in time to avoid the seal slapping on when he opened his palm.
"Now!" Kakashi shouted, vaulting away from the First.
Naruto activated one of the twin arrays, sending golden light around. The seal on the First's chest glowed brilliantly and started spreading across the paper, off of it and onto the body of the undead shinobi.
Symbols danced over, crossing and winding over the surface. Thin, delicate almost, yet they held more power than he first assumed.
Kakashi had no idea how much chakra it required to reverse Orochimaru's seal until he felt a dangerous, dark chakra from over where his students were. He dared look over to see Naruto, eyes narrowed with his focus. Blue had fallen into red, his cheeks were darkened with harsher whisker marks. His grit teeth shone through parted lips, baring fangs.
Rin had her own violet eyes resting on his, unaffected by the reaction.
Kakashi couldn't focus on that right now. He needed to keep his attention to fight.
Only, the fight was over between him and the Kage. With the ink stretched across his skin the light had returned to his eyes. A kunai was being forcibly shoved out of the back of his skull where it then made friends with the rooftop bellow them.
Hashirama Senju looked down at his body and the twirling markings that danced across his chest and arm. Still more slithered up his neck and pulsed across his cheeks.
"You have very talented Uzumaki," he observed. It brought a proud smile across Kakashi's masked face. There was a sliver of it missing where blood decided to pool.
"Yep. They're good kids." Good kids that had activated a second seal to free the white haired Senju as well. Kakashi rolled his shoulders back, focused his eyes on Orochimaru who was swinging a sword harshly at the Third.
Their Hokage had already taken a direct hit, bleeding dangerously quick from a gash in his side.
Kakashi's blood chilled at the sight. Near simultaneously the four other ninja turned towards the Snake, weapons drawn and hands poised.
The fight wasn't over yet.
Word had spread of the Kazekage's murder, and with it loyalties had shattered apart. Those ninja of that Sand had either surrended or turned on their former allies, tearing apart the Oto forces with such ferocity most Konoha Shinobi were allowed to sit back and watch as the blood was splattered across their village.
It was a truly frightening sight.
The Snakes that had broken down their front gate were driven away, and the Hokage's fight with Orochimaru was wrapped up neatly.
There might as well have been a bow put on top of the surrender that Baki, former Kazekage's advisor, signed for them. It was a sign of good faith that he was allowing their jinchuriki to stay in the village for the time being.
The only down side, apart from the deaths and destruction, was the fact that Orochimaru got away. He was hurt, crippled horribly, but the snake managed to slither away. Like he always did.
What he left behind was a monumental disaster.
Building were destroyed, lives were ruined.
Worst of all, we had a million new chores to do, disguised as missions.
Missions. Glorified yard work. At least we got paid for it, and we weren't the only ones doing it.
While resources were stretched thin thanks to the losses and the increased border patrols the rebuilding was left to the injured, and those too young to do real work. Genin and Academy students were set to practice our carpentry while the civilians did their own work, around their houses and neighbors hoods, volunteering and spreading out supplies to those that had lost their homes in the invasion.
Even Naruto and I were given our portions. Fair portions.
Things were changing.
Word had spread about Naruto and I helping during the attack and all of a sudden we were less hated. Even liked.
It was infuriating.
With a burning heart I left behind my finished part of the house. Hinata, Shino and Tenzo watched me go but didn't stop me. I'd been moody for a while and they were learning that I would snap at anyone and anything right then.
I will tell you, fighting against a scientist with a god complex was much, much easier than fighting cancer.
Both, however, left me drained. Physically I was better off than nearly anyone in the village. It was mental and emotional strain, one that dragged down on me until I couldn't stand to see another smiling face aimed my way, even those of the ones that I loved.
So I left, early in that morning, storming off to the south gate. It was the most secluded, the lowest in the city. There, fog was still thick as soup, hanging around beneath trees where the sun could not burn it off.
I was angry.
Angry at the people who had switched so quickly from making our lives miserable to offering us fresh baked bread that wasn't poisoned, giving us store credit to place where we weren't even allowed to step foot in before.
I was as red as my hair with everything bubbling inside.
It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. We did nothing and they hated us. We had to work to prove that we were worth common decency. That wasn't right, in any way shape or form.
I was acrimonious at times, I knew. I had been a horrible person so maybe, maybe karma was still coming after me for that. But truth be told, it wasn't teaching me to be a better person. This life…
This life was teaching me to be a murderer.
How was that better than a bully?
The treatment I suffered didn't make me want to repent or rise above, it didn't make me kinder the way people thought. Pain didn't bring bright smiles.
Pain brought more pain, hatred led to more hatred.
What was it they said in Brotherhood?
"Bloodshed gives way to more bloodshed. Hatred breeds more hatred until all of the violence soaks into the land, carving rivers of blood."
How many years had it been since I'd heard Lust say that? Sophmore year, so… almost sixteen years. Impossible. Ridiculous.
They hated me so I hated them back. Now they were tolerant, even friendly and I still had no love in my heart for the masses or the village in which they lived. Only my friends. A number that was growing steadily to include the Aburame and Hyuuga in its numbers, the way my heart once held room for the Uchiha.
That didn't mean I was going to forgive and forget the others.
The cycle of my thoughts was cut short when I stumbled across a dazed guard at the gate, staring off into space.
A dazed guard, a misty morning, the attack done and rebuilding in process.
My spine straightened.
That Uchiha boy is back.
And he has a fishy friend with him this time.
It wasn't ideal. I'd hoped for at least another week before Itachi got back but it looked like that wasn't going to happen. Which meant that I needed to pick up my pace. I knew where they were going to be, and I had markings all over the area, but that wasn't what I was going for.
If my plan was going to work I needed a scroll, eight kunai, the ever missing Tora, and a whole, whole lot of luck. And, all of my friends being somewhere else.
Once my team had been formed I had begun revising my plots for the future. Putting contingency plans behind contingency plans.
I felt like Batman sometimes.
As I moved through the village, towards where I knew the confrontation would take place, I was tracking where everyone was. My brother and Sasuke were helping with Hinata, which was one of two. Shino and Tenzo had moved over to where a bakery once was.
Okay. Okay. I could do this. My last plan had worked, sort of, so maybe this one would too.
With a burst of chakra I was off, into the sky above.
Or I should have been, had I not almost choked on my own collar when someone yanked me back down to earth.
He didn't know why Rin was being so fidgety.
Normally the little red head was the more level headed of the pair. While it was true that he brother was being his usual self, running ahead and barking up a storm.
Or something. Jiraiya wasn't really paying attention to that one. He wouldn't wander too far, and if he did then he was loud enough they would know.
The main concern here was Rin. She was twitchy. When he'd gone to pick her up he'd had to physically drag her out of the village, listening to a string of protests and vulgarity he had no idea the girl was capable of. She kept trying to make up excuses for what she had to do. Meet with her team, rebuild a house, all things that there were hundreds of other shinobi already working on and could do in her place.
Personally, Jiraiya thought she was trying to meet with her little boyfriend.
The creepy kid with the glasses.
Tenzo might not be too happy he was taking his student away without warning, but it was important that he get her and Naruto out of the village for a while. Forces were moving in the shadows and he had to make sure nothing happened to them.
The village wasn't going to be safe until reconstruction was finished, the best place for them to be was with him.
Whether they wanted to be or not.
Naruto seemed fine, after he'd made a speech about training. His sister was, unfortunately, less interested in 'secret mountain top training'.
Jiraiya sighed as they neared a town. Honestly. Why had he agreed to be a godfather?
An image of Minato and Kushina, smiling side by side, popped into his head. The old man looked back at the children, now walking together. They were so similar. Stubborn and willful, the both of them. Naruto was just as loud and boisterous as his mother, and Rin was equally as shrewd and talented as her father.
That didn't mean they weren't their own people.
Naruto was more invested in other people than either of the last generation. He was more impulsive, more brash, and had the power to draw people to him.
A power shared by his sister.
Rin. The loyalty she inspired did not come from loud speeches or shared pain. Her gathering was based off of slow burning love. She didn't seem aware of the changes she caused, or what she was doing to those around her. In fact, Jiraiya doubted highly that she realized just how much some people cared about her.
It was a shame.
She was too blinded by her own bitterness.
Yes, he was well aware of her loathing for their home. In truth he couldn't find it in himself to blame her. He did hope, for all of their sakes, that she would learn to forgive.
"This is a weird city."
Naruto's voice broke him out of his thoughts. All around them the town spread out, full of vendors, games, and street performers. Naruto was observing it all with wide eyes and huge interest.
Rin was looking mutinous.
Jiraiya was almost positive that if he wasn't watching her she would have made a break for it. For that he couldn't fault her. After all, this was her first time outside of the village. At least as far as he knew.
She should have been running already if he knew her personality, instead she was brooding the way she did when someone ruined a hard worked out plan. The idea that he may have done that was concerning. He 'd seen what happened to the fools that committed that crime.
Nothing good.
"Don't you think so?" Naruto ribbed, pulling Rin's violet eyes away from the mangy dog.
She smiled at her brother. "Super weird. Jiraiya picks weird vacay spots, huh?" she tossed her arm around his shoulder, showing herself to at least be in a good mood when Naruto was involved. He always brought her lighter side out.
"Hey!" Jiraiya whined, objecting, "I pick perfect vacation spots. You're just too young to appreciate it."
"So why'd you bring us?" Rin sassed, sticking a hand on her hip.
Jiraiya sputtered comically. "Because I'm teaching you maturity!"
It took less than three seconds for both of the twins to explode into laughter, leaning against each other. Cheeks turned read and eyes squinted shut. The sage promptly kicked the girl in the calf, sending her dropping to the ground with a startled yelp.
She glowered up at him but it was easy to see that her bad mood had waned somewhat. Her violet eyes lightened and there was distinct twitch to the edge of her mouth.
"You're a terrible person," she informed him flatly. Jiraiya shrugged carelessly.
"Maybe. Why don't you go find us a hotel for the night and I'll be there soon," he sent a very pointed, long look at a girl in a short skirt and a dropped shirt. Her short hair bobbed around round cheeks.
Rin's face scrunched up and she grabbed her brother's hand.
"Give us money," the red head ordered shortly.
Jiraiya balked. "Get your own!" His demand brought an identical scrunch to his godsons face.
"Then how will we pay for the hotel?" he reasoned. Sometimes, Naruto would say something with reason, or intelligence that his normal jovial self obscured. Even small things that could come out of his mouth sometimes stunned Jiraiya. Words of wisdom that were a stabbing reminder of his father.
This wasn't quite to that extent but it was still a small sliver of reasoning that the bright orange and the loud, reckless personality was normally without.
"Fine, fine," he grumbled, fishing his wallet out. Didn't these kids bring their own money with them? And here he was hoping to skim off their bank accounts. Instead he doled out enough to get them a place for the night.
"Nothing too expensive. We're ninja, not Noblemen."
Rin cleared her throat pointedly.
"Or women," he tacked on, exasperated.
The red head smiled sweetly up at him, an expression so plastic it belonged on a doll, and swung her brother around to take along to find lodgings.
Jiraiya pushed his fingers through his hair, watching them go.
He was going to regret bringing them along. He could feel it.
The hotel room was nice enough. A little dusty, a little chipped in the corners but it was cheap and there were no bugs crawling in the bed. I left the window open to let air float in, curling the curtains around in a tumultuous dance of dark yellow.
I liked yellow. It was bright, reminded me of hair that I would never see again. Yellow was the sun and the grace that I had fallen from, had let myself fall from when I first let scorn stab from my tongue into someone who did little to deserve my scorn.
I had been a person with social power that let that go to my head until it twisted me into something horrible. I was, simply put, a bitch. I know that now.
This entire adventure, my cancer, my death, my new status as Jar of Demon, was karma slapping me across the face.
Some of it I will admit that I deserve. The Melanoma was my own fault for the constant tanning. The blindness that accompanied it was deserved for my crimes. My death was by my own hand.
This life, however. This time as a jinchuriki, this discrimination.
It is a crucible. One that no one deserves.
There was a knock on the door.
Once, twice, trice and a drum roll.
Naruto grew incredibly still by my side, his thumb ceasing its incessant flipping of channels. That sound was horribly, painfully familiar.
It was the knock Itachi used when he was going to walk us to school in the morning. The knock Mikoto made before she pulled the door open with one hand and balanced a plate of snacks on the other. It was the knock Shisui implemented to announce he was standing behind us.
It hurt.
Naruto crossed his fingers with only a wide eyed glance at me and I did the same. Our numbers increased to four. While the real two of us made to push into the either side of the door our copies went to answer the knock.
All this done without a single word said between us.
The wood swung open to reveal black hair and red eyes, devoid of the kindness that had once laced them and guarded us.
"Hello," Itachi demurred. A shadow fell across his shoulder, accompanied by a sharp toothed grin.
"I didn't think they'd answer," Kisame's eyes were bright with amusement.
"I didn't think fish could breath on land."
Sometimes, I wanted to hit my brother.