Kakashi went in pursuit of Ibukai as soon as the Hokage was secured and the enemy nin had been dealt with. He had a familiar sinking filling in the pit of his stomach as he saw smoke rising from the district Ibukai lived in. It only got worse when he arrived at Ibukai's home, which had been reduced to a pile of burning rubble.

The feeling worsened when he saw Ibukai kneeling in front of his house, a dead Sound nin not far from him, clutching something in his hands. The heat was bad enough to scorch him, but he wasn't moving.

Quick as a flash, Kakashi was dragging him away from the flames and assessing his minor burns. Unless he missed his guess, the boy was suffering from a severe case of chakra exhaustion as well. The mask had been burnt almost totally away from his face, and Kakashi sighed, but the action was silenced as Ibukai looked up at him.

Hopelessness, agony, rage, hatred, all these emotions and more were present in the boy's fully mature Sharingan, the three tomoe spinning as he took in Kakashi.

That's when Kakashi noticed the object in Ibukai's hands. It was the boy's copy of The Tale of an Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, and it was soaked in blood.

... ... ...

"How is he?" Anko asked the medical nin as he exited the hospital room Ibukai had been placed in. Thanks to the forewarning from the Sand nin (or so they believed) even though the village had suffered casualties, the hospital could hold them all, even if it was packed and almost all medical nin were overworked.

Said medical nin stopped tiredly in front of Anko. "Physically? His wounds have been treated and will heal in a week or two. He has a severe, and I mean severe, case of chakra exhaustion. He's in an induced coma, but he'll be out of it in a couple days. As far as mentally…" He sighed and shook his head. "That'll be a Yamanaka's job to figure out. He seemed to be in severe shock before we put him in the coma, though."

She growled. "Damnit."

"If that's all, I have other patients I need to tend to."

Anko made a shooing motion that sent the medic scurrying as she entered her student's room. He was laying, heavily bandaged, and she sighed as she inspected him. Multiple stab wounds was one of the phrases in the report at the foot of his bed, as well as severe chakra exhaustion and severe burns. The blood-soaked copy of his favorite book was on the stand next to his bed, drying slowly in the afternoon sun.

"The hell happened, kid?" She asked softly.

Later that evening…

Miko and Sepi were standing by their unconscious teammate's bedside, silent. Finally, it was Miko who broke the silence.

"He almost died for characters in a fantasy." He almost whispered, not understanding. "Why?"

"Because they bleed to." Was Sepi's answer.

... ... ...

"Mom!"

Too much time lost. Another enemy. The hawk strikes again. Safe. Burning. The snake wrecked it all.

"Mom!" I screamed, tearing the burning rubble away with my bare hands. Hot blood soaking the pages, the book thrust at me. Golden smile. The hawk swoops in, the roof collapses. The hawk doesn't scream.

Hot blood soaks into my burned hands. Flames lick at my face. I can't bring myself to care.

*AN: Short chapter, I know. I promise to update Monday. We're getting into some deep, emotional stuff, I know. I promise though, if you guys just stick with me and this story, it'll turn out good. After all, the best blades are forged in the hottest fires.*