Chapter Thirty Three: The Beginning of the End
Clad in a simple black cloak and a straw hat, two figures meandered their way past all of Konoha's security measures and slipped into the village undetected. The villagers tossed them strange looks as they proceeded through the Konoha market, but all of those were ignored in favor of seeking out for two familiar faces.
Upon seeing other familiar faces that they didn't want to see, the two men slipped inside a teahouse, taking a seat on one of the wooden benches. They didn't order anything and the employees were too scared to approach the table. They were left unbothered.
Kurenai and Asuma stopped in front of the teahouse, changing the conversation to talk about Izumi's latest mission. One of the members tensed and that didn't escape Asuma or Kurenai's watchful eye. Pretending to turn away, they allowed the two men to leave.
When they turned back, the table was empty once more. The two moved to follow after the two men, intercepting them near the lake.
"State your purpose," Asuma demanded, already holding out his chakra blade. One of his hands reached up to tip up his straw hat, revealing his red eyes. Grasping the straw hat, Itachi Uchiha lifted it off of his head, bringing it down to his side before he released it. The straw hat bounced against the pavement before it fell flat.
The second man opted to yank off his straw hat, tossing it into the water. Shisui Uchiha. His eyes were still black, but that could quickly change in an instant.
"Kurenai san. Asuma san," Itachi greeted quietly. "Please do not interfere with our business and allow us to proceed through the village; otherwise, we will have no choice but to take you down."
"And what is that business?" Asuma asked again.
"We are looking for something. Or rather, someone," Itachi answered. "We do not wish to engage in a battle, but if you don't stop molding your chakra, Kurenai san, we will be forced to."
Said woman immediately stopped her genjutsu, shocked that Itachi had seen right through her. Both of them were at a loss as to what to do. They couldn't just let two traitors wander freely around in the village, but at the same time, both of them would have a hard time taking on one Uchiha, much less two of them.
Of all of the times for Izumi and Gai to not be with them…
"We cannot allow you to do that," Asuma stated evenly. Kurenai had many years of experience in reading Asuma's body language to know that he didn't feel as courageous as he sounded. Truth to be told, Kurenai didn't either.
How could she beat them when Itachi saw right through her genjutsu before she even casted it? Not to mention, they were both former Konoha shinobis and had an idea of Asuma's fighting style.
Before either of them could make up their minds, Itachi caught them in a genjutsu, paralyzing both jonins. By the time Kurenai had broken out of the genjutsu, both Uchihas were nowhere to be seen. After breaking Asuma out of the genjutsu, the two of them headed towards the Hokage Tower to report the incident.
Without the cover of their straw hats, the two Uchiha cousins opted to jump across the rooftops towards Kakashi's apartment. Any Anbu that they ran into were quickly dealt with, with a simple genjutsu. By the time anyone recovered, they were long gone, making everyone who encountered them wonder if it had been real. It felt like a distant memory.
The person they were looking for was conveniently home.
The moment they teleported into the apartment, Rin was on her feet, two senbons directed their way. They dodged, allowing the senbon pierce into the curtains behind them.
"Why are you here?" Rin demanded, hands already forming to put up a sound genjutsu. Shisui aided her by layering genjutsu in the surrounding area.
"We have urgent news. Is Kakashi here?"
"No, Team Seven has already been called away to assist Suna. Does this have something to do with the Kazekage's kidnapping?"
"Yes," Itachi confirmed. "The Akatsuki is making their first move. Sasori and Deidara have already retrieved the one tailed beast. Currently, all of the Akatsuki have gathered to extract the beast out of the Kazekage. The process will take three days."
"And you came to warn me?"
"Our real bodies are currently located near Konoha," Shisui explained. "You will be able to travel faster to Suna than our clones. Remember the scroll we gave you back then? In the last few years we were able to gather more information about each members' abilities. Here."
Rin accepted the scroll.
"Kakuzu and Hidan will be assigned to capture the two tails next," Itachi continued. "When you confront them, you will need to be careful. They are known to be the Immortal duo because Kakuzu is incredibly difficult to kill and Hidan cannot be killed."
"And who will be coming after the three tails?"
"Pein hasn't given orders for that, but the Akatsuki knows that you are the host for the Sanbi. Be careful. We'll contact you again once we know more."
"I see."
Their clones poofed out of existence as Rin unravelled the scroll. Skipping over the other members for now, Rin went straight to the ones called Deidara and Sasori.
Deidara, former Iwa nin. Forms explosives out of clay. Clay can be molded into any shape and size. Susceptible to genjutsu. Believe that the clay is weak against lightning, but theory not confirmed.
Sasori, former Sand nin. Real body hidden inside of puppet. Utilizes poison. Further abilities are unknown.
Swiping her backpack off of the floor, Rin darted out of the door, running to intercept Team Gai, who she knew were being sent out to provide backup for Team Kakashi.
If she was correct, today was the third day since the Kazekage was taken, which meant they had a couple of hours left to save the Kazekage. It wasn't the first time nor would it be the last that Rin wished she had a summon like Kakashi's ninken or the Uchiha cousins' crows who were able to deliver messages. Gnawing at her bottom teeth, Rin slipped past the two chunins on post and darted into the forest.
Three hours at top speed running, Rin could finally pinpoint Team Gai's chakra signatures. Team Kakashi's chakra signature was a bit fainter, too far away for a non sensor to pick up. Forming the signs for a clone, a carbon copy of herself appeared right next to her. Placing a hand on the back of her clone's shoulder, Rin teleported her clone to Kakashi while her real body raced to catch up with Team Gai.
The appearance of a newcomer shocked all three chunins of Team Kakashi, especially Sakura who hadn't been able to sense her presence. As a tribute to all of her years on the field, Chiyo didn't even flinch, but if one looked closely, she had drawn a kunai hidden in her sleeve. Kakashi was the only one who remained at ease.
"Yo. What are you doing here?" Kakashi asked without even turning to face Clone Rin. Clone Rin easily kept up with Team Kakashi as they continued to leapt through the trees.
"I have important intel on the Akatsuki members." That had gotten everyone's attention as they listened intently to her explanation of Deidara's skills, then Sasori's.
"Sasori, huh?" Chiyo murmured under her breath. Sakura didn't miss her statement.
"You know him?"
Chiyo nodded solemnly. "My grandson."
"And where is your real body, Rin? Don't tell me you are still in Konoha?" Kakashi inquired, tipping his head slightly to the side.
"Catching up with Team Gai," Rin answered. "Up ahead in the clearing, three o'clock direction. One chakra signature. It's Itachi Uchiha."
Sasuke visibly stiffened at the mention of Itachi's name. Naruto shouted at him to snap out of it, dragging him along by the hand. In less than two minutes, they were intercepted by Itachi. All members hopped down from the tree into the clearing where Itachi had been waiting for them.
"It's not his real body," Rin commented. "Kakashi and I can take him, the rest of you should hurry to the cave."
"What, no!" Sasuke protested. "He's my brother. I will fight him as a Sharingan user against a Sharingan user."
"Sasuke's right!" Naruto interjected. "We aren't going to leave our comrades behind. Besides, you'll need backup, Kakashi sensei. Rin sensei is just a clone."
"If my calculations are correct," Rin began gravely. "You have approximately forty five minutes before the Akatsuki finishes the extraction process and Gaara dies. If you stay and fight, then you won't be able to save him, Naruto."
"Then at least I can stay," Sasuke insisted.
"No." This time it was Kakashi who spoke. "Deidara is supposedly weak against lightning nature and besides me, you are the only one who can use lightning jutsu. You need to go with the rest of them."
"I-"
"Futile discussion," Itachi cut in. "None of you will get past me."
As he finished speaking, the entire area was doused in genjutsu. Sakura was the first to break out of the genjutsu, followed by Kakashi. The two of them went to work to dispel the genjutsu from their comrades, but Itachi had taken that momentarily distraction to strike at Naruto's frozen body. Clone Rin jumped in the way, taking the kunai for Naruto, kicking at Itachi to force him backwards.
She disappeared into a puff of smoke.
Itachi followed up with a fireball jutsu. Kakashi countered with a water wall, exploding the area into a slew of evaporation mist. His hands moved to form the sequence for the Silent Mist technique that he had copied from Zabuza.
The mist thickened around them as Kakashi regrouped with the rest of his team, motioning them to get out of there. Naruto looked hesitant, but eventually nodded, his blue eyes expressing pleading to his sensei to stay safe.
They left. Itachi sensed their presence and moved to go after them, but Clone Kakashi intercepted him, locking him into a hand to hand combat while the real Kakashi slid underground to plant explosives around Itachi's feet.
Itachi caught Clone Kakashi into a genjutsu. In the landscape, he watched the paper thin version of Kakashi flail around as he began to burn to ashes, starting from his feet. Eyes narrowing at the realization, Itachi cancelled the genjutsu. The Kakashi in his hand poofed out of existence.
Kakashi broke through the earth, with a lightning charged kunai ready to slice off Itachi's head. Itachi leapt backwards, foot touching the land mine. Kakashi teleported to safety as the explosions triggered one by one.
A black feather fluttered down to the ground. Jerking himself out of the genjutsu, Kakashi whirled around just in time to block Itachi's kunai. His free hand reached to mark the sleeve of Itachi's Akatsuki cloak.
"You were always the weakest in genjutsu among the four of us," Itachi murmured. "But I suppose you have gotten better over the years."
Then he disappeared into a flutter of crows that dived to poke Kakashi with its beaks. Not the type to fall for the same trick again, Kakashi broke through both layers of the genjutsu. Unsheathing the sword on his back, Kakashi channelled lightning chakra through it before he teleported, materializing right in front of Itachi's face.
The sword pierced through Itachi's abdomen, slicing through Itachi's palms in his attempt to block the sword. The Sharingan faded from his eyes, allowing them to revert back to its black color. Moments later, his body disintegrated into a pile of ash, leaving a dead body on top. Pressing two fingers to his neck, Kakashi confirmed the man's death.
Tucking his sword back onto his back, Kakashi tossed one last look at the dead man before taking off in the direction of the Akatsuki's hideout.
As Rin sent her clone to inform Kakashi, she finally caught up with Team Gai and Pakkun. Pakkun didn't look marginally surprised at her arrival, he probably smelled her a while back, but the rest of Team Gai wore varying degrees of surprise on their faces. Mostly Gai, before he pointed an accusing finger at her, claiming that Kakashi sent her to hinder their progress to the caves so that his team could get there first.
Rin sighed. "This isn't a contest, Gai. I have important information that I need to share."
After she finished informing them of everything that she knew of the Akatsuki members, Gai declared that they would travel faster to ensure that the Kazekage didn't die. Lee followed up his enthusiasm, proposing a race to the caves. Tenten and Neji exchanged weary looks before taking off after their two overly enthusiastic comrades. Rin followed.
Two chakra signatures. One heading for Team Kakashi and the other? Heading straight for them.
Tossing one of her senbons to the rock ahead, Rin flashed in front of Team Gai and was the first to engage Shisui by the time that Team Gai had reached the clearing.
"Go!" Rin shouted. "I'll take care of him."
"But-"
"Gai, your team is no match against his genjutsu," Rin stated sternly as she ducked to avoid a kick to the head. Her forearm raised upward to block his next hit as her free hand swung, slashing at his torso with her chakra scalpel. Shisui teleported away to safety, landing on top of one of the rocks.
Rin vaguely registered Team Gai's chakra leaving the area before she put her full focus back into the fight, where Shisui was currently dousing the entire area with genjutsu. She dispelled it, countering it with one of her own.
From there, it was a full on genjutsu battle. To anyone who was watching the battle, it seemed like the two of them were just standing there, doing nothing, when in reality they were trying to outwit the other.
Her genjutsus skills weren't to be trifled with, but to catch Shisui, the one who had taught her genjutsu, was an incredibly difficult feat. Rin could only be grateful that she had been able to detect all of his genjutsus thus far. One of his signature genjutsus, a fear inducing one, had almost gotten her, but a bite to her bottom lip had taken care of that.
No, at this rate she would never win if the genjutsu battle continued to drag out any longer.
In terms of speed, she wouldn't have an upper hand either as Shisui wasn't known to be Shisui of the Body Flicker without a reason. To this day, Rin didn't exactly have a counter for his jutsu either.
Then it could only be her ice style jutsus, yet it would be too easy for Shisui to counter as his third change in nature was lightning…
Mind made up, her hands moved together to perform a jutsu when her body froze. Her eyes glazed over as she was pulled head first into a blanket of darkness. After using every trick in the book to break out of the genjutsu, Rin concluded that this was something akin to Itachi's Tsukuyomi. Unescapable.
But that didn't mean...her hands finished the last seal in the sequence as the world around her changed and she fell under.
Twelve year old Reo Hatake scowled as his mother fussed over him, spinning him around to make sure that he had everything. He had just put on his sandals and was ready to slip out of the house undetected when his mother stepped into view.
His father once told him it was a terrible idea to cross his mother so he allowed his mother to fuss over him.
"Weapons pouch?"
"Full," Reo deadpanned. "Dad already checked it over last night. I have enough weapons to fight a war, Mom."
"What about your med kit?"
"I sealed it into this scroll. Besides, you already taught me a bit of medical ninjutsu. I'll be fine. At this rate, if I don't get going, I'll be late to meet with my team. You don't want me to follow Dad's bad habits do you?"
His mother sighed. "I suppose you're right. Be careful, alright."
Reo tried not to scowl too much as his mother ruffled his silver hair, messing it up. Forcing a fake smile, Reo promised his mother that he would be alright before darting out of the door. On the way to meeting his team, his hands were buried in his hair, trying to fix it before he met up with his team. Annoyance was etched across his face...why did his mother not understand that his hair didn't naturally stick up like Dad's did? And that he actually had to spend time combing his hair in the mornings.
Regardless, Reo was not about to be caught looking like he just rolled out of bed. Not in front of Mirai.
Back at the Hatake compound, Rin smiled softly after her son, chuckling lightly to herself at his annoyed expression. Perhaps she came across as overly annoying to Reo, but neither she nor Kakashi had any parents. The only motherly figure she had in her life was Kushina and to call her overbearing would be an understatement.
But Rin wouldn't want to have it any other way.
Rin forced herself to go back to the kitchen to prepare lunch as she heard Himari's laughter down the hall. She smiled softly to herself.
At least one of her kids wasn't eager to leave the house yet. Himari seemed content to take her time at the Academy, progressing at a normal speed while Reo had wanted to graduate as quickly as possible. Both Kakashi and her had rejected the idea, wanting to allow him a normal childhood.
But like father, like son, Rin supposed. His ambition to graduate quickly was just like his father, who still held the record for earliest graduation and earliest promotion to chunin.
Himari bounded into view, with all eight of Kakashi's ninken following her. Pakkun was sitting on top of her daughter's head, placing his paws in front of her brown eyes as he indulged her in a game of Peek A Boo.
Pakkun was getting soft in his old age. Or maybe he just had a spot for Himari as he often told Kakashi and practically everyone else that he wasn't to be treated like a regular dog. Yet he allowed Himari to do all of the things he didn't allow others: to pet him, coddle him, carry him around, touch his paws, call him cute, among other things.
Gently setting Pakkun down on Bull's head, Himari bounded over, tugging on her pants.
"Mama, where did nii san go?"
"He's on a mission. He might be gone for a couple of days."
"A really scary mission?"
"Well no, but it is a bit harder than the missions he has taken before so it will take him longer this time. Don't worry, your nii san is really strong, so he'll be alright."
"I know he's strong," Himari insisted. "It's just...well he promised that he would help me train today."
Upon seeing Himari's sad expression, Rin couldn't help but to comfort the girl like she had done many times before. It was always because either Reo or Kakashi had forgotten their promises to her, having gotten caught up in their work. That wasn't really an excuse, but Rin understood that they weren't doing it on purpose.
Himari was too young to understand these kinds of things.
"Listen, I can train with you in a bit. After all, I'm a lot stronger than your nii san so I can show you even cooler tricks than he can."
Himari didn't look satisfied. "Yeah but-"
Rin knew what she wanted to say. She didn't want to train with Reo for the sake of training, but did so in order to spend more time with her brother. After all, doing anything other than training to Reo seemed like a waste of time.
Like father, like son.
At least Reo wasn't a stickler for rules like Kakashi had been at his age. At least Reo somewhat got along with his teammates. At least Reo still understood the importance of family and how lucky he was to have one.
"How about we go visit your Papa later? I know you miss him." His ninken whined in agreement as they flopped onto the floor, forming a circle around Himari. Even his summons felt neglected...imagine being his daughter…
If she had known how much work went into planning for the upcoming chunin exams, Rin might have told Kakashi to pawn off his responsibilities to Naruto, who was eager to learn how to be Hokage. It was unfortunate that Naruto had recently taken on his own genin team and was too busy training them for the upcoming chunin exams to help organize said event.
Himari reluctantly accepted Rin's proposal. Akino was sent to inform Kakashi that he better clear his schedule in the afternoon. Or else.
When Kakashi came home that night, long after Himari fell asleep, Rin couldn't help but spill her concerns.
"She misses you and Reo," Rin began. "Do you want me to take over your Hokage duties so you can spend more time with her? I think she's getting tired of it just being me."
"Maa, so you can lecture me about pawning off my responsibilities onto other people?" Kakashi teased. "But yes, I would like that. After the chunin exams though because I have a list of things that I need you to do for me…"
Rin thought she had served her time as the Hokage's right hand man, after having spent more than half of her life serving the Yondaime, then during the Sandaime's second term, and then being worked to exhaustion under the Godaime. But no, she couldn't escape, not from the Rokudaime…
While Kakashi disappeared down the hall to take a shower, Rin passed by Himari's room to check up on her. The sleeping girl was clutching a stuffed dog toy tightly to her chest as she rolled over in her sleep. Kakashi's eight dogs slept on the floor all around her bed. Shiba stirred lightly at Himari's movement, but drifted back to sleep upon seeing that there was no danger.
Rin turned to pad quietly down the hall to her bedroom as a figure snuck up behind her, with a kunai in hand…
And Rin whirled around to deflect the kunai with her senbon, kicking the unknown figure with enough force to knock him back several meters. Several of his ribs snapped in half upon impact. That had been enough for Shisui to undo the genjutsu, body hunched over as he clutched his abdomen. The Uchiha was breathing heavily as his Sharingan faded from his eyes.
"How?" he questioned.
"That genjutsu is one that puts the victim in their dream landscape, correct?" Rin began, twirling a kunai lazily in her hand. "Then when the victim is complacent in their own dreams, you come to kill them. However, you were under my genjutsu before yours even started. I made you think that I was unaware, that I was too complacent in living in my dream to notice you."
Adding a bit of wind nature chakra to the kunai, Rin flung it at Shisui, who didn't have enough strength to dodge. The kunai nicked the side of his face, drawing blood.
Shisui smirked. "You've come a long way since being that girl who wanted to become a jonin. Now…"
"I'll lay you to rest." Teleporting right in front of Shisui, Rin jammed a kunai into his stomach and watched him burst into a flutter of ashes. A Suna shinobi crumpled on top of the ashes.
Sighing, Rin took off towards the caves, hoping that they made it in time to save Gaara.
"Both of our decoys have been taken down," Zetsu reported. "And Konoha shinobis are outside the cave as we speak."
Pein tsked. "Five minutes and we will be finished. The barrier should stall them long enough. Sasori, Deidara, you will handle them when we are finished here."
"The Sanbi and Kyuubi are among the group," Zetsu revealed. "Should we capture them while they are at our doorstep?"
"Do what you can," Pein ordered. "But I do believe the Konoha shinobis are no pushover. Itachi, Shisui, perhaps you can shed some light on their capabilities."
"The Kyuubi boy trained under Jiraiya, one of the legendary Sannin," Itachi began. "And Kakashi Hatake, one of our former teammates. If that is the case, then it will not be easy to take him down, especially with his teammates. He is weak against genjutsu, but his teammates are not."
"And the girl?" Deidara prompted.
"Based on past encounters, Deidara," Shisui said. "You won't be able to take her down. I was the one who personally taught her genjutsu and since you are so easily fooled by genjutsu…"
"Oi. I won't fall for the same tricks twice," Deidara insisted.
"If you say so," Shisui responded. "Her genjutsu has improved immensely to the point where she is capable of outwitting my decoy."
"Tsk wait and see. I'll take down both of the jinchuurikis and prove you wrong."
Right as they finished sealing away the one tails, the boulder of the cave broke into pieces of rubble. The phantom images of the other members faded out of view. Deidara and Sasori leapt down to meet the Konoha shinobis face to face.
"Give back Gaara!"
A/N: Hi again!
Himari may or may not have been inspired by Himawari from Boruto hahaha. :) Somehow I ended up liking her more than the main character lol. But in all seriousness, I had this image pop into my head. Since Kakashi doesn't have kids in canon, I always thought if Kakashi did have kids, his dogs would be super protective over them. Welp, too bad it was just a genjutsu.
I tend to write long A/Ns so going to keep this one short today. Next chapter is called Art is an Explosion.
As always, thanks for reading! Until next time!
-MM