Beta-ed by Lil Miss Morningstar.
And here is the full twenty-first chapter.
The Pain of a New Day
Chapter 21
Kakashi stared in dumbfounded shock at the demanding toddler, utterly unable to answer the comically high pitched rage filled questions being fired at him in rapid succession.
"Oi! Sensei!" Naruto continued to screech, di-coloured eyes glaring at the silver haired jonin with a level of ferocity that only Naruto could reach.
Minato was in much the same state as Kakashi. As much as he'd been able to guess that Naru Hatake was in actuality Naruto Namikaze, having the confirmation was about as subtle as Tsunade's bra size.
In Kakashi's addled mind, little Naruto's words didn't actually register at all. No, instead the poor jonin was calculating escape routes that would be even more effective than travelling to the past. Because Kakashi Hatake, son of the White Fang, Wielder of an Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, Seventh Hokage of Konoha, had just come to the blood stopping, heart pounding realisation that there was a danger in this world that few if any would ever be able to outrun.
Naruto's mother.
"Oh sweet Gods of ramen, spare me." Kakashi whispered hoarsely.
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Jiraiya hummed to himself as he walked along the civilian path that led back to Konoha. He didn't much care that the ANBU in the trees above him were getting rather impatient. He was a Legendary Sannin for crying out loud and the title deserved the privilege of walking at one's own pace if one so desired. They should all be thankful that he hadn't decided to make a little stop for research purposes.
Yet, he didn't really feel much like doing research at the moment. Orochimaru, it was all too dark. Everything he'd seen, what he'd had to do, it was never far from his thoughts. Like the snake that the other sanin had become, Jiraiya could feel them lurking in the dark corners of his mind, keeping him on the edge of consciousness as he tried to sleep, keeping him from being the light hearted man he'd been before this mission had begun.
Well perhaps light hearted was too innocent a description. He'd known better than most of the deceitful ways of the Shinobi nations. After all he'd been travelling them in order to establish as best a spy network as he could. He knew ways of getting almost any information and usually, that information was never pretty.
Hadn't he left because he'd wanted to keep an eye on Orochimaru? To discover a way to bring the man down.
Bring him down, or bring him back?
Jiraiya sighed slightly as he finally had the answer to that question.
He wanted nothing more than to bring Orochimaru down. After everything he'd seen, and knowing that there was more to come, he knew without a doubt that Orochimaru was no longer safe left alive. There was no telling what he'd do.
"And there's just one more thing that needs to be addressed." Jiraiya muttered to himself before finally hopping up into the trees to join the ANBU, "Akatsuki."
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"It would seem, Orochimaru, that your home village is finally making a move against you."
The snake sanin didn't reply, other than to narrow his gaze slightly, the only sign of his internal rage. Years, years of research and experiments. And there was nothing he could do. If he came out of hiding, that bastard Kakashi would kill him. Worse yet, he'd proven that he had the ability to do so.
That little visit from a year or so before was never far from either of their minds.
"Heh, I wonder if you ever actually managed to do something useful." Orochimaru regarded the Shinobi who'd spoken with little more than the barest of glances.
One of their newest members, and perhaps the next one to die. Kakazu after all, had just killed the last one, claiming he needed a spare heart. Although, it was getting rather hard to replace the ones that Kakazu kept killing. Still, Orochimaru wouldn't be sorry to see this particular Shinobi go. And he didn't think anyone else would protest either.
"Hatake sure gave them all a good kick in the ass." Tobi muttered. "Have you ever seen Konoha take action so quickly? I mean other than the time they decided to make Kakashi a ninja in the first place, or that time they sent the sannin out against Hanzou. . . ."
A cold clinical gaze slid over to the other, most vocal member in the Akatsuki and stayed there for a moment longer than normal. It was the Akatsuki's greatest mystery as to how that particular Shinobi was still alive after experiencing Kakashi's rage. And it was also no secret to Orochimaru as to just how smart the seemingly rambling idiot was.
Yet, Kakashi was well aware of Tobi's continued existence but he'd done nothing about it, and that in itself was odd. Worrisome even. Orochimaru wasn't fool enough to believe that perhaps Kakashi was going to leave the world's problems as they were. The Hatake had been working towards something, and it was anyone's guess as to what that something might be.
"Heeeeey?" Tobi suddenly stated, tone going up an octave from excitement alone. "Do you think Kakashi knows about what the other hidden villages want to do and that meeting they had the other day. I mean he's back in Konoha right now so I don't see him being able to gather all that much information from there."
"I'm sure he does." Sasori all but growled. "And I'm sure he already knows how to counter all four of them."
"How is it, that one man, one mere man, makes us all quake and tremble?" Hidan scoffed, glaring at a kunai he was twirling around between his fingers.
"Because that mere man has come from a world where our deaths were possible. And that mere man has knowledge the likes of which we can only dream we had, knowledge on how to kill every Shinobi in this world. Even if you discount the fact that he's seen as a prodigy." Kakazu reminded, making Tobi wince and causing Hidan's kunai to pause in its steady pattern.
"Can't we just kill him?" Kuragai, that was his name. Orochimaru almost hissed in annoyance when that particular detail wormed its way into his mind. He didn't care for nor have the mental capacity to store the name of a dead man.
"No." A toneless drawl so cold that it sent shivers down Orochimaru's spine. "That is a mercy he does not deserve."
And that right there was the reason they all came to the Akatsuki. For that person alone, their Leader.
This was perhaps the one thing that Orochimaru could not be sure of. Whether or not Kakashi knew about this particular Shinobi. After all he wasn't here when Kakashi came for his visit.
"With the Shinobi nations united against Konoha, it will not be easy to obtain the Tailed Beasts. However, if we were to cause strife amongst the four, then we'll get what we want." Their Leader continued. "Still, I don't really know if I want to help Konoha in that regard. After all, causing disruption now will only keep the other villages from their plan. Nevertheless if war was to break out the tailed beasts would be heavily watched. Not much of a problem for me. It just makes things more complicated."
"Currently Konoha has two Kyuubi. And they do not know it. Well the majority of them anyway." Kisame stated with a grin.
"Causing chaos in the other four Hidden Villages might not be as easy as you think. Kakashi is a rather strong enemy to be united against. And showing ourselves now, when we are so new ourselves . . . that would be foolish." Orochimaru hissed quietly.
"You're just scared Hatake kills you." Kuragai scoffed, rolling his eyes at his imagined belief that the snake sannin wasn't all that his reputation spoke of him to be.
The snake sannin did not deem the remark worthy of a reply. Kakazu would kill him before long. The man, if he could even be called that, was not known for his patience.
"Orochimaru is right. We were never meant to work as a team, powerful as we each may be. Individually, or perhaps in groups of two we might accomplish something but anything less than the whole of the Akatsuki and Kakashi would come out victorious." The man paused, before continuing so softly and distantly it was entirely possible that he'd begun to talk to himself. "Unless I go take care of him myself."
Orochimaru had no doubt in his mind that their Leader could take care of Kakashi without much of an issue. The members of the Akatsuki wouldn't follow him otherwise. But what would his motives be? As far as Orochimaru had managed to observe, their Leader was quite happy to watch the world play itself out.
The only thing that the ex-Konoha Shinobi feared was the day their Leader was no longer happy with merely watching.
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"Sensei!" A high pitched bark of impatience. A demand for answers.
"How?" Kakashi managed to choke out.
"How what? That's what I'd like to know. What the heck is going on?!" Naruto responded grumpily.
Kakashi's brain had finally managed to get over the shock of what had just happened and was finally clicking into place. Thoughts raced through his mind, scenarios and possibilities. There were things he could do, such as things that would lock Naruto away leaving only Naru . . . but that was no longer fair. That was no longer Kakashi's decision to make.
All the carefully made plans, Gaara was going to blow a sand gasket when he heard about this. Potentially, the plans could all still be followed but that depended solely upon Naruto and he was currently a wild element. In fact, Kakashi couldn't even be sure that this really was the Naruto he'd come to know and follow as his Sixth Hokage.
After all, there was the Kyuubi and there was Sasuke's chakra. So there were too many unknowns in this situation. Way too many. And he was too sceptical to simply believe that this was Naruto plain and simple – as if Naruto was ever simple.
"What is the last thing you remember? In terms of what's happening in the war?" Kakashi's tone had grown serious, sombre. The tone he'd come to use in the war. His posture unconsciously changed, moving out of his slouch and more relaxed in a different way, more ready to strike down an enemy. In war, that could very well be the Shinobi sitting next to you. Traitors were not uncommon.
Naruto's features softened as his eyes grew distant, lost in a clouded world of pain and anger.
"Iruka-sensei." Naruto sighed, voice just managing to avoid catching.
"Okay, can you remember anything further than that?" Kakashi questioned, pushed.
Naruto remained silent as he focused his thoughts, trying to do as Kakashi asked of him. The small Shinobi took deep calming breaths as his eyes automatically drifted closed.
Minato watched in dumbfounded silence, amazed at how quickly Kakashi's entire demeanour had shifted. The surprise could not have been planned for in Kakashi's wildest nightmares. Yet he was calm and focused, sorting through the situation and finding a solution. His eyes spoke of patience and calculations. His tone spoke of authority and experience.
Once again, Minato couldn't help but wonder what kind of hell this Kakashi had come from. What was he trying to prevent?
It also showed Minato that getting the drop on this Kakashi was not going to be easy. That perhaps they never had anything on him in the first place. Kakashi had been in control of the situation the entire time.
Kakashi's gaze remained focused on Naruto, waiting for the moment where his body tensed and his eyes lids fluttered slightly before everything froze completely and in that moment he whispered so quietly it would be questioned that he'd been heard at all, "Naruto, you died."
Naruto released the breath he'd been holding shakily, eyes still shut. "Then?" he whispered back. "What is this?"
Kakashi debated silently for a moment before he sat down on the ground, as though sitting before a table in a prominent clan's household. He tugged slightly on Naruto's tiny shirt for him to do the same and only then did Naruto open his eyes, showing a sparkling new depth and intelligence that had only been hinted at in the eyes of Naru Hatake.
"Everyone on that mission died . . . except for me. He said that I must be punished, by watching those around me die, knowing there's nothing I can do to stop him." Kakashi looked directly into Naruto's di-coloured eyes as he spoke, but they did not stay there for long. The jonin's gaze drifted downwards, to the grass beneath them. The penetrating, soul deep gaze could only belong to Naruto and it would never be lost, even if his eyes were no longer the same Caribbean blue from before.
Tiny fingers reached up and gently touched the scar along Kakashi's face. "I thought he destroyed that?"
"He destroyed everything. Ran a Chidori through me too." Kakashi replied bitterly, keeping still instead of moving away from the soft touch as his initial reaction might have been. "But he healed me so that I may live out my punishment."
A gloved hand moved unconsciously towards the seal imprinted upon his skin but dropped to his side before the fingers could brush against the fabric of his jacket.
"I passed out, unable to complete the mission." Kakashi continued before Naruto asked another question. "When I woke up I was back in Konoha, the hospital. Sakura was keeping you in a pseudo live state." Here Kakashi had to pause, to keep the emotions out of his tone.
"Why? Why would they do that?" Naruto questioned with a frown.
"The fox. Why else?" Kakashi sighed. "They needed someone who could replace you. Your death left a serve gap in the balance of power and without the Kyuubi at the very least, we had no hope. We had nothing."
"But then, what am I?" Naruto's voice quivered slightly, as his mind raced with hundreds of possibilities. Through the war they'd seen impossibilities and atrocities that far exceeded that of the Edo Tensei.
"The result of a jutsu, created by the Sage of Six Paths. It was hinted that it was a variation of the jutsu that split the juubi into the nine bijuu." Kakashi answered quietly. "You were dead, but the Shinobi council ordered your life to be returned to you, despite not knowing what the consequences would be. In addition, a portion of His remnant chakra was fused into your core, further throwing out the results that such a jutsu would bring about." Kakashi lifted his gaze to Naruto's wide one and admitted guiltily. "I have no idea what's going to happen to you as you grow. In fact I hardly predicted that you'd regain your memories so suddenly."
This time Naruto was the first to look away. "I didn't."
"Didn't what?" Minato suddenly questioned, reminding the two that he was still there.
"Oh yeah, what the hell is he doing here?" Naruto demanded and just by his tone, Kakashi knew he was pouting.
"I'll explain it after you answer the question." Kakashi offered.
"Kyuubi." Naruto stated with a shrug. "When my rage boiled over into relying on his most basic primal rage, it unlocked something that Kurama had maintained. Perhaps it was the part of me that remembers. I don't think the jutsu that was used on me affected the seal. In other words, I don't think it retightened the seal to the level it was at when it was cast by my father."
"It would explain why every time you threw a temper tantrum, I'd have to dodge outbursts that boarded on a single tail level of fury and power." Kakashi muttered to himself, feeling more than a little disgruntled.
"Temper tantrums?" Naruto questioned, tilting his head slightly.
"You were returned to a childlike form and for the most part behaved like the child that your body suggested you were." Kakashi shrugged. "You were completely dependent on an adult."
Naruto's eyes glazed over as he retreated into his own thoughts for a moment. Kakashi waited silently, wondering what this would mean. Would Naru Hatake be lost forever, as though he'd never existed at all? This was a situation that involved a Shinobi where predictability became futile. Heck that entire situation was one big mess of unknowns. Even time travel was something that threw everything to the way side.
"Kaka . . ." Naruto breathed quietly, a statement far different from the way Naruto used to call him Kaka-sensei. No, this was Naru. So did that mean Naruto remembered?
The question was answered by one simple, outraged screech "YOU'VE SEEN ME NAKED!"
"Naruto, I changed your diapers." Kakashi deadpanned.
And so began the usual over-reactive screaming.
Minato leaned over to Kakashi and whispered, "Is he always like this?" The blonde's gaze was still pinned on the screaming toddler.
"Pretty much." Kakashi sighed.
"So much Kushina." Minato whispered with a shudder.
The screamed stopped as suddenly as it had begun and descended into hiccupping wails. Seemed the toddler part of Naruto wasn't quite all gone. Kakashi sighed before he pulled the distressed toddler into his arms and hugged him close.
"I don't understand what's going on." Naruto hiccupped.
"The punishment included a seal, a seal that allowed me to understand time travel." Kakashi stated quietly. "I didn't agree with the Council's plans for you and so I took you away."
"To where? And what does it have to do with my father?" Naruto replied unconsciously snuggling into Kakashi's embrace.
"Naruto, we're in the past." Kakashi answered, "We came to a point in time just before you were born and as such I was able to save your father from death. And your mother."
Slowly, Naruto lifted his head until he could see Minato, studying the other Shinobi silently and curiously. "So he's alive, really really alive?" Naruto questioned.
"Really really. No Justsus involved." Kakashi confirmed gently letting the small boy go.
Naruto took a small step towards Minato, uncertainty keeping him back. Kakashi watched as Minato's face morphed from that of an observing Shinobi and into the loving warmth of a father. He took the lead and closed the distance between himself and his son.
Minato was Naruto's father and Kakashi would never be able to live up to that, to replace all that Minato encompassed.
The simple and easy acceptance the man displayed was proof enough. The way he knelt down in front of the nervous boy that was his son showed a compassion that only Minato, his biological father, could give.
Large hands lifted slowly, cupping small cheeks and Mianto's smile had the ability to shame a thousand Chidoris. Kakashi felt his heart swell with an emotion he could not identify just as it grew heavy with the realisation that Naru was now forever lost to him.
"I had my suspicions about who you were." Minato stated quietly as his thumbs gently hooked into the edge of the mask's fabric. "And I don't know if I'm happy or not that I was right. But I do know that I'm over joyed to meet the man that you became." Minato continued, carefully pulling down the mask and caressing the whisker lines on Naruto's small cheeks.
Kakashi carefully straightened to his full height so as not to draw attention to himself. But he doubted they'd notice him anyway. As Naruto's eyes glistened with silent tears, he felt his heart pierce and took a step backwards, the only sign of his pain.
This was different from the Morino Protocol simply in that he'd planed that course of action. He had controlled that outcome. This however, this was not his actions. This was not part of his plan.
As the tears rolled down Naruto's exposed cheeks, Kakashi realised that the life that he'd created with Naru Hatake was officially over, an illusion that had been shattered.
Touching a hand to his wrist, Kakashi sent a message to Gaara before he focused his chakra and shunshined to Suna, unaware that the tears were rolling down his cheeks as well.
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Gaara stared at the words that shimmed across his hand, yet his expression did not show his internal shock.
He did not remain in shock for long, for as the moment the words shimmered away he already knew what he had to do. He looked up at the two elders and bowed. "I apologise but I must take my leave. Something has come up."
Gaara did not need to be shown to the door. He knew his way well having come here often. He left without another word, mind already dismissing that which they had been discussing until Kakashi's message had tingled across his hand.
A simple message, displaying even simpler words. "He remembers."
That told Gaara everything he needed to know. Naruto was back, and that threw everything out of control. Those three years of planning had the potential, only the potential, to be all for nothing.
Everything now depended upon Naruto's decision.
The moment Gaara was outside, the desert sands stretching out all around him, he called to the golden sea and pulled it towards himself. It took only a moment and then the Future Kazekage was no longer standing outside the home of the elders.
He found the jonin seated in a dark room of the house, silent and perhaps brooding.
"Where is he?" Gaara asked.
"With his father. Where else?" Kakashi replied tonelessly.
Gaara did not immediately reply. He watched the jonin carefully, trying to assess the Shinobi's state of mind as his eyes adjusted to the dark corner Kakashi had retreated into.
"Can I say something that's going to blow that prodigal mind of yours?" Gaara stated just as tonelessly, perhaps with the barest hint of sarcasm. His only reply was a slight shifting of Kakashi's head in his direction. "Naruto Uzumaki's parents are dead."
"What are you talking about? We saved both Minato and Kushina three years ago." Kakashi waved a hand dismissively, no longer interested in Gaara's words.
"No. We saved Naruto Namikaze's parents. There is a difference. The two are not the same." Gaara's voiced whipped across the air, so sharp it almost physically hurt. "You need to pull yourself together and start acting like the Shinobi you are. Ever since Sakura's death you've become little more than a decoration."
"What are you saying?" Kakashi's tone was low, a warning.
"Naruto Uzumaki was never yours to begin with. So the loss should not concern you. It's time that you got serious." Gaara scoffed. "I'm tired of babysitting you."
Kakashi pulled himself to his feet so hard and fast that the chair he'd been sitting in slammed against the wall with a sharp crack, indicating that one of the two had broken.
He glared at the younger Shinobi, eyes colder than what Gaara had seen them in a long time. The Sharingan spun wildly before morphing into its Eternal Mangekyou form.
"Naruto was your student. As was Sakura. As was Sasuke." Gaara continued, not flinching away. "But Naru Hatake was your son, and no one can take that away from you."
The last part made Kakashi freeze and Gaara continued. "Naruto never had his parents, but he had his friends and his teachers. He had you. When he became Naru Hatake that did not change. You became everything he had and just because Naruto remembers his past, does not mean it erases his present."
Kakashi took a step back, Sharingan eye returning to the three tomoe.
"Think about it." Gaara turned around, not even bothered by the fact that his back was facing Kakashi. "I'll go make food and we shall discuss the situation after that."
.0.0.0.
Naruto didn't quite know what to feel. He was over joyed to see his parents. He was devastated with his own existence. He was crushed that Sasuke had actually gone and killed him.
And he was also very much confused because he remembered every bit of his life as Naru Hatake.
He now found himself seated at a table, staring at a chattering version of himself. His mother was seated next to this other him and his father was on his right. He watched Kushina try and coax the sunny blond into eating a cheese and tomato sandwich. His father seemed content to chuckle quietly as Naruto spoke more than he ate. As for himself, he had replaced his mask, uncomfortable with his face exposed, and had remained silent since Kushina had been hurriedly informed of the day's events after her departure.
But for some reason, this entire situation felt too surreal.
He needed to speak to Kakashi. But he didn't know where the jonin was. Never mind that, as a supposed toddler, he wasn't about to be left to his own devices. But then, when he was a toddler the first time around, hadn't he been alone pretty much all the time?
"I need to go find Kakashi." Naruto stated quietly, ignoring the frowns Kushina and Minato were trying not to show. "He isn't in the village right now so I need to get him to come back to Konoha."
"And how are you going to do that?" Minato questioned curiously.
"I was never one for being subtle." Naruto replied before pushing away from the table and walking out of the room. "There are many ways." He continued, mostly talking to himself. "I could henge myself into my older form and walk through the streets. But how would that reach back to Kakashi? Then there's the fact that I can't rely on my chakra. Something isn't right with it. I could just . . ."
Minato watched with growing sadness as his son descended into whispers and musings, having an entire discussion with no one but himself. And for some reason this was almost agony to watch.
"You could wait." Minato suggested. "He'll come back eventually."
Naruto's other musings cut off and he closed his eyes, tilting his head slightly in consideration of the older blonde's suggestion.
"You underestimate him. He's not the same Shinobi you know." Naruto eventually replied. "He's far more calculating now. If you thought he was a prodigy before, you have no idea what he can really be like."
"What do you mean?" Minato's tone was serious, all traces of relaxation immediately wiped from his features.
"He was the go to Shinobi if we needed anything done. And of all the things we asked of him there was only one thing he could not do." Naruto shrugged as though that was answer enough. "Hell, the man managed to time travel. Isn't that proof enough?"
"He made it seem like it was entirely by accident." Minato muttered to himself with a frown.
"But isn't that the genius behind it? He didn't look for the answer yet he still found it. He looked at something and saw the secrets to time travel. How many people do you know, would be able to do the same thing?" Naruto chuckled fondly to himself, "He helped me develop more jutsus then I can count."
Minato remained silent, gaze locked upon Naruto as his thoughts ran through the implications of the boy's words. Just how much was Kakashi aware of?
That was something that he wouldn't know the answer to. In fact the more he thought about it, the less he understood. Kakashi's actions were all completely alien to him. Had he really thought that he knew the jonin? Twenty years was a lot of time. So much could happen.
No, he didn't know the jonin at all. And if he was really honest with himself, he didn't really know the younger Kakashi either. And that wasn't an inviting thought.
It also meant there was no way he was going to get the drop on Kakashi. He had assumed as much while watching Naruto and Kakashi earlier. But now he could basically scratch his entire idea. Kakashi wouldn't fall for it. Which meant they had nothing to use as leverage when it came to the other hidden villages which meant that Konoha was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
. . . . So where did that leave them, and where did that leave Minato?
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A was not a patient man. Not by any means except when it benefited his village. And that was the only reason he'd agreed to wait so long. They had a plan in place and he was eager to enact it but what the other Kage had said was all too true.
They did not have the Shinobi necessary. Well alone anyways. A had seen right from the start that if each of the four villages chosen their best Shinobi then they'd have the power they needed. And he was more than sure that the other Kage had seen it as well. Yet, none had mentioned it. No one was willing to give that much trust to the other Kage. They might have been working together but it was a rather tentative alliance at that, created simply and only from necessity.
A rather liked the idea of annihilating Konoha. That village had been around since the end of the Warring Clans, and well, it had been the reason for the end of the Warring Clans. But it was this particular event that made Konoha feel as though it was entitled to more than its fair share. That and their blasted Kyuubi. Konoha needed to be knocked down, taken out. It would create a power vacuum but it would also ensure that all Konoha's clients would need to go somewhere else to get their business done.
Logically they'd go to the place closest to Konoha. But if Kumo could establish a reputation so great, then people would come from far and wide for their expertise. And this was the reason A had decided to be patient and to wait. He needed time to train his Shinobi into the power that they needed in order to gain that reputation.
"Lord A?"
Said Shinobi lifted his gaze from the ground, admittedly having been brooding. He looked towards his assistant C and raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"What is it?"
"There are new reports coming in from Konoha. It involves Hatake and the Hokage."
"What more could possibly be happening in that place?" More a statement of sarcasm than of actually inquiry.
"It would appear that Hatake brought back a child with him. A child that Konoha has proclaimed as Hatake's own and has failed to mention to us and the other villages. However, there also appears to be a guardianship struggle taking place between Hatake and the Hokage." C reported tonelessly, presenting a docket that contained much the same information, just more detailed with reports and possibly pictures.
The possibility of pictures peaked A's interest enough for him to take the docket and open it.
"It is not within the realm of their obligations to inform us of a child, no matter his parentage." A muttered, more to himself than to C.
"Yet, the boy came with Hatake from the future." C reminded.
That however, was a slightly different matter. If Kakashi Hatake had managed to break through the flow of time and accomplish the impossible, then who else had managed to do the exact same thing? For all of Kakashi's genius, for some reason A doubted he'd managed to figure out the secrets of time travel on his own. If he had, then there would have been ninja coming from the future all the time.
Unless they didn't parade their arrival such as Hatake had.
Flipping through and past all the written reports, A remained silent as he skimmed through everything in the docket pausing only when the texture of the paper in his hands changed from the smooth roughness of paper to the glossy thickness of photos.
Lifting the top page into the air, exposing it to more light, A silently studied the half hidden features of the toddler attached to Hatake's extended hand. The toddler himself was grasping the jonin's hand rather tightly and just by the boy's stance alone, A concluded that Hatake's brat was every bit as intelligent as himself.
A strange colouring in the hair and the eyes suggested that the Hatake bloodline might be too dominant to be fully suppressed. After all, the white streaks of hair had to be from Hatake. It was a wonder there weren't more Hatake Shinobi within Konoha's walls. But then again, what had happened to the Senju line other than Tsunade?
A's examination of the toddler was interrupted by C's toneless enquiry, "Shall we send out a team?"
A team of assassins. The boy's intelligence was not lost on C and leaving this toddler to grow, to be trained and gain strength, it would be foolish. He'd kill many of their Shinobi and they'd be hard pressed to find the boy's match. Much like Kakashi Hatake.
Yet, the Raikage did not immediately reply.
As a Kage his choice was a simple one. Kill the boy and be done with it. Of course there were the minor complications of the boy being under the Hokage's direct protection as well as Kakashi's but those were trivial matters. In the Shinobi world, every ninja knew that if you were patient enough, an opportunity would always present itself. Skill really had nothing to do with it, other than to decrease the amount of time one would spend waiting for that opportunity.
Not to mention, taking away Hatake's son would create a distraction to both the Hokage and Hatake, making them vulnerable.
It would also push Kumo into a war. Retaliation would certainly come. A had no doubt in his mind that Hatake would know the very ninja who ever managed to kill his son, right down to how to kill that ninja and which village had given the order for the assassination.
As a man however, A couldn't help but look at Hatake, eyes sliding away from the cautious stance of a child who shouldn't have any reason to look so guarded at such a young age.
Hatake was looking down at his son. In all his encounters with the man, and there and been so very many, A had never seen such a genuine smile on Kakashi's face. Such contentment. The downright unguarded emotions that flashed for a single frozen moment in the jonin's eyes . . . it was as though this ninja wasn't the one he'd come to know as Kakashi Hatake.
A was a Shinobi, but he'd been a man before he'd been a ninja and no matter how much one tried, no matter how many lives they extinguished, they'd never be able to kill the soul within themselves. Even if only the smallest of sparks remained, something would reach out and reignite it.
"No. Leave them be. We have much bigger things to focus on." A replied after a long moment of silence. It was a decision that was not questioned. He was the Raikage for a reason. He could be shrewd and cold at the best of times, but he was also loved by his people and that love did not come from sending his people to their unnecessary early deaths.
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The sand was the first thing that Naruto noticed. It was always the first thing he noticed when it came to Gaara.
"So you're here too." Naruto stated quietly as the other ninja stepped towards him, appearing from the night air as though he'd been there all along.
"And so are you." Gaara replied blandly.
"I don't quite know about that one." Naruto sighed, keeping his gaze on the bloated moon, silently willing the clouds to move just a little to the left and away from the yellow disc.
"Meaning?"
Gaara did not sit down with Naruto, choosing instead to stand on the roof panel next to him.
The tiny ninja didn't reply immediately, tilting his head slightly as he thought the question over. "I feel another's mind within mine. Memories and feelings that are not connected to my life constantly run through my thoughts. It's confusing yet at the same time, it's me." Naruto paused again, closing his eyes as he contemplated his next words. "It's a small mind, troubled and damaged. But it's will is strong. Like mine. What I'm getting at is that it's easily over powered."
"Naru Hatake. A boy Kakashi has raised as his own on the orders of the Sandaime. Yet, a boy he has grown to love as his own." Gaara stated quietly. "Not so easily destroyed. At least I would hope not." Gaara titled his head towards Naruto before sighing heavily. "The sad reality is, you are not Naruto Uzumaki. You might have once been him, but that is not who you are now. Naruto Uzumaki died, and in his place another was born. You, Naru Hatake, not Naruto. It's a hard place to be in but it is what it is." Gaara shifted his stance so that he was fully facing the smaller Shinobi.
"You need to make a decision on where we go from here. Kakashi and I have made our plans. We, however, have placed them on hold, wondering what you'll do. I know you're confused and you need time to adjust but that is the one thing we're short of, time. As odd as that may sound, we don't have time to wait for you, Naru."
Naruto looked away at the mention of his alter self's name. Was that who he was? Who he had become? Was it who he wanted to be?
He was Naruto Uzumaki, but he wasn't.
Everything he was, everything that had happened to him, as Naruto Uzumaki was over now. Effectively all in a past that had never happened. Not in the reality they now found themselves in.
"I have just one really important question." Naruto muttered, thoughts raging between who he was and who he should now be. "Why do I feel Sasuke Uchiha? Why do I sense him?"
"Because there is a part of his chakra within you, fused to your core." Gaara replied and just by his tone, Naruto knew that this was not something Gaara has voted for. He was against this particular action.
"I already know about that. Kakashi told me earlier. But what I'm sensing now, it's different. I've been up here circulating Senjutsu, just circulating it because this body is too small to hold it, too new and young. But I can still feel those around me. I've been taking note of whereabouts and who's alive and who isn't." Naruto paused, a tiny smile lifting his lips. "It's quite the confusing experience. Yet, the situation within the village, within the very flickers that make up the Senjutsu, it's tense. Like everyone is waiting for a war to break out." The smile vanished, replaced by a complete emotionlessness. "And I can sense him. Lurking out there in the shadows waiting to strike."
"Naruto, Sasuke's younger self in here in the village, just as yours is." Gaara reminded quietly. "We left Sasuke behind."
Naruto didn't immediately reply, eyebrows furrowing together as he thought it over. "Yeah, maybe." Naruto eventually agreed but his eyes had frozen over, becoming the cold calculating gaze of the ninja that had led the Allied Shinobi Nations while they were on the battlefield.
"You can take me to Kakashi?" Naruto asked suddenly, gaze widening into the expectant look of a child. Such as Naru Hatake's.
"Yes. I think perhaps he really needs you to be there. He isn't taking this whole thing very well." Gaara looked away, thinking back to the jonin and the toll coming the past had taken on him.
With the Leaf's destruction hinging on Kakashi's actions, he wasn't doing very well at all. The stress had hit him harder than anything before, even when it came to the war. If there was one thing Kakashi had remained stupidly loyal to, it was Konoha. Before all else.
"However, you should inform your parents of your whereabouts." Gaara added, almost as an afterthought. The last thing they needed was a nationwide panic induced search. The Yondaime was strangely . . . protective. Overly so. It was strange to Gaara, connecting this blond Hokage with the man who had so willingly and blindly left his Jinchuriki son to the mercy of the people he so dearly loved.
To be fair, it was that same blind loyalty that had gripped Kakashi. Gaara has long since decided that in this instance, it was no longer about individual villages, but the Shinobi nations as a whole. They were after all, ninja. They would always be ninja and when one looked at it like that, there wasn't much else to it.
Naruto nodded absently before getting to his feet swiftly and silently. Gaara remained on the rooftop, leaving Naruto to go to his parents alone. It wasn't the Suna nin's place and he wasn't particularly comfortable with such situations.
When Naruto returned he didn't say a word. He merely held out his hand and Gaara took it, eyes traveling downwards and lips almost pulling downwards due to the height difference.
The sand swirled around them and when it settled back into the gourd on Gaara's back, they were no longer in Konoha.
Naruto glanced around at the room that was both familiar, yet all so new to him. It wasn't the bedroom. Just the front room. He'd lived here for three years. Three years of growing up with the Sand siblings.
"Gaara?" Yashamaru poked his head around the frame of the doorway, curious gaze growing sombre upon spotting Naruto. His interruption caused Naruto's thoughts to falter. He didn't have time to wonder about a dual mind with dual thoughts.
He had come to realise that being in the past meant they had a second chance. He could succeed where he'd failed before. It was enough to make his heart race if he allowed his thoughts to dwell too much upon it.
"How is Kakashi?" Gaara inquired quietly, ignoring Yashamaru's silence.
"He hasn't changed since you left."
Gaara nodded once before walking out the room, past his uncle without even glancing at the man. It might have appeared cold, but to those who knew Gaara, that was simply the way he was.
Naruto followed silently, offering a small wave of greeting for the other Suna nin as he passed.
"Stop dawdling Naruto. We have much to discuss." Gaara stated from ahead of the toddler sized future Kage, causing said Kage to jump and scurry along faster. Although, it was with slight annoyance at his toddler-like reaction to readily obey Gaara, who for all intents and purposes, had really been the other parent alongside Kakashi. The reaction was very instinctual.
"Hatake." The barked name reached Naruto's ears before his eyes landed on the jonin slumped in a chair.
Gaara had entered a room already and Naruto was perhaps a second behind him. Yet that second was enough for Kakashi's gaze to land on him first rather than Gaara, the one who had called for his attention.
"I thought you said you were going to go make food." Kakashi muttered.
"You're worse than I thought if you actually believed that. Yashamaru makes the food. I cannot cook remember." Gaara might have smiled but it was hard to tell, to really be sure. "Now, I have brought Naruto so that we may discuss what will become of our plans. We must include Naruto and get his input."
Naruto glanced towards the Suna Kage and grinned. Trust the red head to know what they both needed most. Neither Kakashi nor Naruto quite knew what to do with themselves, left to flounder around in the deep end of shark invested waters. Yet Gaara was guiding them, moving them to familiar territory and showing them a place where they knew exactly what the next move needed to be.
Step one in helping them heal.
Gaara pulled out a scroll and an image flashed through Naruto's mind. This particular scroll was heavily guarded and secured, simply because it held all of their plans and information. It wouldn't do for the wrong people, or even the right people to get their hands on that scroll.
The board of information that they had spent three years putting together was summoned into the room and Kakashi stood up, his features becoming cold and calculating, personal issues put aside.
"Our plan was simple." Gaara started, getting right to the point.
"At first our main focus and our only objective was to prevent the Kyuubi attack or at the very least, Minato's death. While the Kyuubi still attacked, we were able to stop Minato from using the sealing method that would ultimately cost him his life. I knew that he had had two methods in mind but one required more chakra than the other one, chakra he would not have had after fighting both Tobi and the Kyuubi." Kakashi continued. "By providing him with my chakra he was able to use the other sealing method, and thus preventing his death. The seal is no less effective, it just didn't require the compromise of his life in exchange for less of a chakra cost."
"And what of my mother?" Naruto asked thoughtfully. All Jinchuriki died after losing their biju. It was a fact. So her presence had really surprised him.
"That was something that eluded both Gaara and myself for some time. Eventually however, we learned that a medic nin used a forbidden jutsu, giving his own life so that Kushina may live. Much the same as Lady Chiyo did for Gaara. They believed that Minato would not be able to focus sufficiently with the death of his wife and thus leaving Konoha vulnerable to attack. It is Gaara and my belief that Danzou got involved." Kakashi's tone grew quiet as his gaze slid to the floor. "Hardly anyone knows about this though. The elders believed that if the other hidden villages thought Kushina strong enough to withstand losing a biju then it would be to Konoha's benefit."
"However, Kakashi's arrival has created a more devastating ripple effect then we had initially thought it would. The other hidden villages cannot accept Kakashi's existence, believing that Konoha is now above them due to the information that Kakashi might possibly give to Konoha. They wish to either destroy Kakashi or learn his secrets." Gaara moved the topic ahead almost abruptly but it was to distract Naruto from the fact that they had not had a plan in place to keep his mother alive.
"It is my belief that time does not like having pebbles thrown into its flow and Kakashi's arrival was much like throwing a boulder into a pond. It naturally wishes to settle again and thus will aim its events and taking away the boulder." Gaara added. "But this is all theory. Shinobi are not the most reasonable of people. And not to mention, we don't have any sort of comparative situation to go on."
"As for the other hidden villages, they're keeping their distance now, but the tension is building. Minato and Sarutobi had tried their best to keep things neutral and so far it has been working. But we know better. The other villages have banded together. Even Suna. And plan to attack Konoha. We're not sure on the exact time but Gaara theorises that things will happen as they must, as they happened before." Kakashi flipped the pages on the board until he was satisfied with the information it now displayed.
"Unless it is no longer possible for the situation to take place. Factors of which would be impossible for us mere Shinobi to predict." Gaara finished. "A situation will happen regardless of our efforts to change it. Yet, once again, this is all theory."
"The Uchiha Massacre." Naruto stated quietly, eyes travelling over the pages on the board, pages he'd seen a thousand times as Naru but never once really paid attention to. That's what they were trying to tell him. They knew that certain things in this world had a higher possibility of happening than others. Madara for example, had invested a great deal of time in the destruction of the once feared clan. Effectively, an event that had rocked the Shinobi Nations to the core but no one had realised it till it was too late. Sasuke's madness was one that ran so deep, Naruto knew there was no way to bring him back. Yet, his heart still tried. And he'd been killed for it.
A rage that had encompassed the Uchiha's very soul. Gripped it with a vicious agony so great that no amount of lashing out would quench that burning need to have the world feel what he felt.
Every time Naruto reached out to him, it was as though he merely insulted the Uchiha more and more. As though Naruto didn't and could never possibly understand the pain he was going through. Sasuke didn't understand that Naruto knew everything he felt, could feel it too with every life that Sasuke deemed worthy enough to snuff out personally, with every minute the war dragged on. Naruto felt every ounce of Sasuke's agony and then some.
"Why do you feel that it's going to be the Uchiha?" Naruto questioned, distracting himself from his own thoughts.
"Itachi is now a genin, one that I teach. He is under my influence and I might be able to stop him from enacting the massacre, but the other villages plan to strike Konoha at its heart. With the Kyuubi attack and Tobi's capture, we managed to spare the Uchiha most of the suspicion that they endured the first time around. However, most people have changed the suspicion to, if one Uchiha could turn traitor, then so could others. Hence, increasing Gaara's theory of what must happen, will happen." Kakashi explained, eyes frozen on the pages in front of him. "This means that, the Uchiha are still out casted for the most part. Which means they can still possibly be planning a coup, and they might still force Itachi's own hand. That is where I plan to stop him. However, with the Uchiha compound on the village's boarders, it makes them an easier target for assassination attempts from other villages. Other villages do not know that the Uchiha are under surveillance due to growing suspicion from Sarutobi and Danzou. With Minato so busy keeping the peace, he knows nothing of this."
Naruto's head was starting to ache. This was starting to get complicated and he'd never done well with complicated.
"With the Uchiha gone, Konoha loses one of their most powerful clans, as well as decreases their military strength. They'll be distracted for a moment and in that moment, that will be the time when the other villages attack."
"By eliminating the Uchiha clan, they would have eradicated, not just one of Konoha's most powerful clans, they would have eradicated the most powerful clan in existence sending a powerful message, and severely weakening Konoha in the process, leaving them vulnerable to any and all attacks for a moment in time, as Kakashi stated." Gaara elaborated. "From a Kage's point of view, it's single strategic move in a much larger game of shogi."
"Then, if the four great Shinobi villages weren't enough to deal with, the Akatsuki was not eliminated when Tobi was killed. In fact, Tobi managed to escape, using White Zetsu. I opted to let it slide for the moment due to personal reasons. We had already gained Tobi's Sharingan eye leaving him with implants. Sharingan implants will never work as well as his own eyes would have. He knows this and he is weakened because of it." Kakashi admitted bitterly.
So the same weakness that had gripped Naruto's heart in that fatal moment of hesitation had gripped Kakashi's as well. But he couldn't say anything about it or think much further on it because Kakashi had continued speaking.
"So there's Pein, Orochimaru, Tobi and Zetsu to worry about as well as the four other Kage and their armies. Admittedly, Minato had more on his plate than what's fair."
"To save Konoha, Kakashi was to lure Minato into activating Morino Protocol, ensuring that you would have been safe and with your biological parents while Kakashi convinced Konoha that he was in fact a raving lunatic–"
Naruto held up a hand to pause the barrage of information. It was a lot to take in and he needed a moment to process it all. So Konoha was between a Chidori and a Rasengan with the Akatsuki still rampaging around the Shinobi nations. Well more like dodging multiple bijudamas. This all spelled out disaster.
"We already know that Tobi and Orochimaru can be convinced, with the right incentive. We also know that so can Pein and Konan. Itachi, well I think it's safe to assume that Kakashi will keep him loyal and within Konoha. Kisame, is useless without his sword. Kakazu and Hidan can be killed and Deidera wasn't interested in joining the Akatsuki. It was Itachi that had to convince him. Itachi isn't going to be in the Akatsuki this time is he?" Naruto didn't wait for a reply, "Lastly, Sasori was never that hard to defeat, never our biggest worry." Naruto stated slowly, thoughtfully, more thinking out loud.
"Exactly." Gaara agreed.
"Now, what does this plan mean for the Uchiha?" Naruto asked, eyes cautioning the two older Shinobi to answer very carefully fully aware that they'd only half explained their plans to him. But he didn't care. He could sense they weren't going to get to this issue unless he asked. "Why haven't you mentioned anything about stopping their massacre?"
"At one point we believed that in order to stop Sasuke from becoming the same as he was, we had to stop the massacre from happening. But then, for Sasuke, it has always been about Itachi. So as long as Itachi was fine then so was Sasuke. We didn't know if we should let the other hidden villages strike out against Konoha or if I should kill the clan myself just to be extra certain that Itachi would remain in Konoha." Kakashi explained. "The only thing we were uncertain about was where Sasuke's latent anger would be directed. Obviously he'd want revenge for the death of his family but did we want it focused on an entire hidden village, the one that would carry out the attack on the clan, or solely upon me?"
"Was it ever an option to just keep the clan alive?" Naruto demanded. "Why are your aims so limited? First your focus is on my father and only my father when you could have prevented the whole thing from the start and then your aim is on Konoha and not the people of Konoha. Are you forgetting that Konoha can always be rebuilt, always. But not without the people who make it Konoha."
Kakashi was staring at him with wide eyes, frozen by the words of the Shinobi who'd once been his student, yet he learned more from the boy in front of him than he'd ever taught in return.
"I did not want to be God Naruto." Kakashi stated quietly, his only defence against the piercing and demanding gaze. "It's not our place to change things as we please."
"Then what is the point of being here at all? We might as well go back to Sasuke!" Naruto snapped, eyes growing disappointed. "You know me better than that Sensei! I will not sit by idly while people are getting hurt. Even if they're not from Konoha."
And that is why he was always the better Hokage. . . Kakashi chased the thought away, now not really the time for such sentiments.
It was time to talk about the next step.
"Before we start planning anything here, I would just like to say, that I would very much like to see my genin team through their chunin exams." Kakashi blurted, the thought very much as sudden as the statement he'd just made.
"Isn't that rather soon?" Gaara tilted his head very slightly to the side as he turned his gaze to the Jonin.
"Yes. In a week." Kakashi muttered eyebrows furrowing together in thought. "Itachi is no doubt ready, but it's the other three I'm worried about. If it's a squad based exam then they'll all be fine. It's the individual sections I worry about."
"Iwa isn't the greatest place for a Konoha team. Would it not be better to wait for Konoha's next hosting or for Konoha to hold an internal chunin exam?" Gaara suggested.
"But it wouldn't help with the relations between the hidden villages. They'd only see it as further things that Konoha are trying to hide." Naruto sighed. "They'd have to go, but don't be shy when it comes to stepping in should it be needed."
"I already planned on that." Kakashi admitted quietly. "Their egos will learn to forgive me should it come to such drastic measure. They'll thank me for it later." Kakashi shook his head slightly before looking up and clearing his throat. "Anyways, with that out of the way, what are you going to do Naruto?"
The tiny Shinobi looked away and towards the ground, frowning to himself as he thought Kakashi's question over. "There are two things I could do." He muttered. "I could be as I was . . . or I could be Naru Hatake." Naruto's gaze moved to the ceiling. "But both would require training. My chakra, it's different. There, but different."
Kakashi was too afraid to interrupt, too afraid to even be hopeful at the implications of Naruto's words. He knew that he could offer the option of locking away Naruto completely, having things just as they were before. Leaving only Naru Hatake. It was an option that Kakashi had been going to choose just before Naruto woke up. But not it was no longer a decision he could make.
"But I do know that I won't ever allow the world to become as it was. Not now that I have the power to stop it." Naruto turned his gaze to Kakashi, eyes growing as hard and determined as his words and tone had been. "Not over my dead body."
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I know this one is posted already but it's gonna mess with the system if I don't put it here.
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Extra 8 (Deckchairs are comfortable)
Jiraiya watched from the distant rooftop as Kakashi walked out of his apartment, using the front door strangely enough. The silver haired jonin hopped up onto the roof, an almost dopey smile on his face as he pulling out a small scroll and unrolled it.
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes in contemplation, wondering just what Kakashi was up to this time.
The jonin swiped a cut thumb across the seal on the scroll and a cloud of smoke announced the arrival of a . . . . .
Deck chair?
Kakashi set the chair so that it was in the area best suited to receive the most sunshine throughout the day. He then lounged in the chair in a way that only Kakashi could before pulling out a . . . no . . . he wouldn't.
Jiraiya clenched his jaw in a childish pout. This jonin. So blatantly mocking.
Sitting there, oh so as he pleases, with an Icha Icha book held so casually within his grasp, taunting the sannin, as if he knew.
Well two could play this game. It was a warm day and with a little nudge he could send that jonin right off to sleep. A few quick hand signs and a quick nearly undetectable jutsu later and that jonin would be gone to the world.
Jiraiya giggled to himself as he waited . . . . . just a little more.
The arm holding the book fell limply to the jonin's side as his lone visible eye slide closed. The book fell from his lax fingertips and thunked to the floor.
Jiraiya snuck as close as he dared, keeping his gaze on Kakashi the entire time. Without looking at the book he sent sightless fingers searching across the rooftop floor, snagging the corner and gleefully snatching it up.
Not taking a chance the sannin hopped away, back to the safety of his previous roof top.
Finally! He had one. With a large perverted grin, he opened the book and . . . .
Yelled out his angered frustrations making the silver haired jonin jerk awake.
The silver haired jonin was only further confused when the book he'd previously been reading smacked him on the head, having come at a rather fast, rather violent speed.
"Well gee, I know it's not his best work." Kakashi muttered as he picked up his book, "But Tales of a Gutsy Ninja just so happens to be my favourite."
I'd like to thank everyone for their reviews, follows and favourites. It's all very much appreciated.