That night, they slept all together in the same room. Orochimaru slept in the bed, the younger snake was put to rest in blankets on the floor so he couldn't fall and hurt himself, and Kakashi took the form of a giant black wolf and curled up in a corner where he could watch both of them. He hoped he wouldn't sleep for a while. He wanted to do some thinking first.

Who am I? That was the central question of his demonic existence, his axis, the unspoken center around which every other question revolved. What is the nature of my existence? He'd passed through many different opinions about the world. The world had been a happy place, then a terrible thing he should stay away from, then a harsh trial he wasn't sure he could make it through, and then, finally, a place that was actually pretty okay and could become better. He had always been pretty sure he knew what the world was, no matter which of those visions he had at the time. But it was impossible to be sure about himself.

Am I one? Or multiple? Even that question, which seemed so basic, was hard for a demon to answer. He'd expected to have to worry about it in earnest only after he began a new life, but that was clearly not the case. Somewhere, he'd picked up an aspect of himself that did not match. Was it separate enough to qualify as another self? He flicked his tail against the wall and put that question away for later.

Is what I am engraved in me? Or can it be changed? So much about him seemed decided by forces outside his control. But he only sometimes felt crushed by helplessness, and he had to remember that he was freer than any other demon. He did not have a name etched into his soul. Instead I have this, this constant search for a name. Is the lack of a name any better? Either way, I have something my whole soul is patterned off of. It's only a question instead of a certainty.

Am I a person? What even was a person? As a half wolf, he called wolves people. Was a person, then, someone that could be part of a social group? He sighed in relief at being able to conclude at least one thing. By that definition, I am a person.

Three seemed like enough questions for one night. He checked the room again. Orochimaru was sleeping lightly but well. There was activity in the boy's soul. He could not be asleep, but whatever state of consciousness he was in was not propelling him out of his nest. That was good enough.

Kakashi lulled himself to sleep by mentally taking inventory of the supplies he would need for his trip to Konoha. He decided on none just before drifting off into dreams.

.

The next morning, as promised, he set off for the home of his endangered students. Well, one endangered student in particular.

"Tell me of your adventures when you return," the snake demanded.

Kakashi stared at him in puzzlement. "What kind of rude person do you think I am?"

Orochimaru gave him a pointed look.

Kakashi wagged his tail. "Mah, don't worry so much. This feels right."

The Snake Sannin watched him closely. "Perhaps." He didn't sound very confident or trusting.

But this time is different. This time, the journey feels distinctly right. I'm not going back just because I think I should. It's more genuine than that. "I will be alright," he promised. "And I'll be sure to tell you all about it when I come back."

Orochimaru was not reassured. "Don't attract the attention of any demons," he ordered.

"Of course. Happy planting!"

The snake nodded and turned away. Kakashi did the same. They were shinobi and they were hunters; neither was prone to extended goodbyes. Kakashi leaped up into the trees without a word.

He leaped from tree to tree in the same way he had as a shinobi. It had been a long time since he last did so, and he had done so before destroying all of his chakra. Did that make a difference?

It did. Without a steady flow of chakra, his legs seemed unsure of themselves. They burned briefly as he jumped, stopped in a matter of seconds, then burned again the next time he jumped. It was like they couldn't decide if they could handle this level of exertion or not. Kakashi grew annoyed with this and started running instead. But then the same thing happened! His legs would hurt at a normal running pace, the pain would diminish as he sped up, then it would return in a blaze of agony when he slowed down, and when he stopped running it would fade away in seconds, leaving behind a bizarre stiffness in his muscles. What the hell is going on here? It seems that chakra makes muscles react more consistently. That's going to make traveling at a run annoying… Perhaps I should walk…

So he walked. It gave him more time to enjoy the sights and smells of the forest anyway.

He was a long way from the Land of Fire. At this rate, it could take a week just to reach his destination. Kakashi knew this and only allowed himself to amble along for the morning, until he stopped and ate lunch. He had packed approximately one meal of food. Somehow, he had known that this moment would come. With a shiver, he was overcome by a powerful urge to trot along as a wolf. He immediately succumbed, releasing his darkness and giving himself the form of a white wolf. A gigantic one, of course; the form had to be large enough to carry his human body inside. But a wolf nonetheless.

He absorbed his pack into this form, as well. A wolf wearing a pack would look most odd. When that was done, he scented the air and set off at a traveling trot. Wolves could use this trot to travel surprisingly quickly. At his size, the walls of Konoha would be upon him before he knew it.

He passed through all number of smells, saw all manner of forest sights. A particularly graceful butterfly caught his attention, commandeering his thoughts for the next he-wasn't-paying-attention-to-how long. He passed a band of travelers, 3 men and 2 women, who shrieked and reached for their weapons. He crossed the road and was gone before a single one was drawn. Reflexively, he noted that this road led to a town he knew to be allied with Konohagakure. It was not officially part of the Land of Fire, but it received protection and supplies in return for being a convenient outpost for shinobi to use. It was a good thing he planned to reach Konoha quickly. He might just manage to get there before a messenger bird could.

Before he knew it he was running. Not out of a sense of urgency, no; he ran because it felt good to. His darkness didn't quite have a sense of touch, but he could feel it from the inside the same way he could feel his body from the inside. He knew exactly where it was and how it was moving. He knew, could sense, the swing of his legs back and forth. Even if he did not feel the dirt beneath his claws, that was enough.

He howled in joy as the forest flashed by. So fast! He was running fast, and there was nowhere that he had to be. This is what I left the village for! How could he run so fast with nowhere to be if he was part of the village? He would need a reason to run fast. He would need to be careful not to outpace his companions. But here, now… I can run wild.

Running wild as a demon scared him. But running wild as a wolf did not. His delight increased. He perceived himself to be running faster than he was, fast enough to have outrun his fears. As a wolf, I am free.

He slowed down to a trot again. But I should not make the mistake my father did. I am human too. I can't abandon that. He was not in real danger of doing so. He had to be human to enjoy a snake's companionship. Orochimaru kept him grounded, gave him something to return to. Without him, Kakashi did not know what he would do.

I would have to find something else. He considered options in his mind as he trotted along.

.

That night, he found a stand of trees dense enough to bed in and sleep undisturbed by humans. He checked it inside and out, pacing back and forth, familiarizing himself with every route in or out of his sleeping space. Any intelligent wolf would do the same. He also leaped up and familiarized himself with routes few other wolves had the ability to check, in case all ground-level paths were blocked. Any intelligent wolf, if they could, would do the same.

When that was done, he sat on a wide branch and looked up at the moon. It was waning, only a slim crescent of light remaining for travelers to use. Kakashi traced it with his eyes, from pointy tip to pointy tip. He could imagine a person sitting there in the curve of the moon, reclining against it. He wondered if there might be legends to that effect. Maybe in those far northern lands where no shinobi had ventured and angels spun peace out of light, there were mythologies of gods who used the moon's crescent to climb to the stars, or to rest during their travels across the sky.

Hmm… How did I never notice that was strange before? Where are our gods? The people he had met on that ship lived as if the gods were a part of their lives, just as sure and real as the ship they stood on. Where was faith like that among shinobi? In a world filled with death, justice, the nature of existence, and other mysteries beyond human explaining, shouldn't there be some form of belief to explain all of it?

Kakashi supposed there was. Shinobi existence was meant to serve the village. Death was honorable to one's village. Justice was decided by what best preserved the village's interests. And all the same was true of one's clan, one's ancestors. Shinobi did not usually pray or dedicate their lives to any deity, but they dedicated their lives to something.

It might be better to follow gods. Look how fallible our substitutes are. Villages could be corrupt. Even the best ones could have spells of corruption, as Itachi's story attested to. They were led by people, and no person in the world deserved unwavering faith. Clans were dangerous to decide one's life by, for the same reason. Poor leadership had destroyed many clans. To mistake these organizations for gods was to guarantee that one would have their faith betrayed. It was inevitable.

Although… There was no guarantee that religion was any better. Kakashi had only ever known one religious shinobi, that Akatsuki member called Hidan. His religion was immoral by almost every standard that existed. Perhaps it, too, had been twisted to fit the interests of the people who preached it, or he had interpreted the religion to suit his own bloodthirsty interests.

What made the beliefs of the angels any different? Maybe their belief in their gods was good only because the angels stabilized their society, preventing widespread corruption. Kakashi wagged his tail as he considered one other possibility. The snake statue really did move around. It would be hard to corrupt a religion when the very god it centered on appeared in the world on a regular basis.

Kakashi wondered what he should believe. He had to let go of the shinobi way, or he would never be more than a tool. Anxious breakdowns were a clear sign that he could not abandon belief altogether. So, he would have to find a replacement. What could he use as a guiding light in his life?

I can't risk betrayal. It would hurt, and I can't be sure what I would do if my vision of the world was destroyed. I came very close to becoming a monster once. I need something uncorruptible to ensure that does not happen again. Something not based on people. Something not based in the teachings of people, either. Yet, as a demon, I can't offer my soul to any god or have contact with them. Not a human, and not a god. What else is there to believe in?

He blinked as the light suddenly brightened. Thin wisps of cloud had been drifting across the moon, and now they passed. He looked at its crescent again, imagined a person reclining in it. A breeze blew, making the trees around him seem to whisper.

There are things right here in this world that are greater than people. Could the moon be entrusted with faith? The breeze?

Kakashi scratched his claws against the bark of the branch he sat on. It was true that the world, completely apart from living beings, was filled with a diffuse kind of soul energy. Entering the void inside the storage ritual had helped him see that. With his demon vision on, the darkness had been so complete that he could see a faint speck of a broken soul hours away. That was not possible in the living world. Could that spread of life energy be entrusted with faith?

Kakashi had doubts, and the night was getting late. He yawned and leaped down to the forest floor. He turned in circles, flattening the plant life and saturating the area with his scent, then lay down. He could not dig or find himself a den, but when he closed his eyes and breathed in his own scent he could imagine that he was in one. He slept easily.

.

The whole next day was spent searching for something to believe in. As he trotted, he kept his eyes and ears on a constant swivel. Something about the moon had led him, just for a moment, to feel as if he could attach himself to it. If he paid attention, perhaps that feeling would return.

Occasionally, he found his mind wandering off to ponder the nature of belief. Religions typically preached that there was a higher plan, prepared by a higher consciousness. The world was not mindless and random. But here he was, looking for an anchor of faith in precisely that. How is it possible for something mindless to offer comfort and guidance? Perhaps that's just an association I have with the moon because I'm a wolf.

But he passed another dancing butterfly, and its dance made something flutter in his heart. A large rock attracted his attention. A certain stand of trees had leaves of just the right shapes and density to create a dappling pattern that kept him mesmerized for ten straight minutes, and a voice in the back of his mind told him that was meaningful.

What am I seeing? Patterns, perhaps? Underlying order in nature? That felt right as a description, but not as an explanation. Why should leaves capture his attention, even if they were orderly? Why should appreciation of light patterns make him feel as if the world truly was beautiful? Why should the existence of a large rock surrounded by clumps of grass on a hill soothe his desire for meaning, however briefly? Why did these minor things have meaning?

Kakashi shook his head and set off again. He was starting to learn things about himself. I think too much. If I allow myself to be trapped in a cycle of thinking, that's when all the worst things happen. He broke into a run. He must not think any more. Action, movement, was the cure.

The way his darkness flexed back and forth as he ran was pleasurable, but unimportant. His body flexed the same way, and that was very important.

.

All that running took him to the borders of the Land of Fire by early evening. He slowed to a trot, and kept his head on a swivel again. If shinobi caught him, they would attack with weapons and chakra. When neither hurt him, everyone in the shinobi world would be greatly alarmed, Konoha in particular would move to high alert, and he would cause everybody he cared about to suffer undue stress. That would be very bad. Perhaps they should learn that there were threats weapons and chakra were useless against, but he should reveal that only after establishing that he was not one of them.

How should I travel, then? He stopped and hid himself while he considered his options. This form is very noticeable. If I want to avoid being caught, I would need a smaller form. But, the smallest form I have is my own body, which I don't want to be caught in. I can't transform into anything smaller because I have no chakra right now. Damn.

He decided to continue in the form of a large animal that was native to this region, and left his hiding place as a tiger. Tigers didn't have the same traveling mode wolves did, but he found the pace satisfactory. If he was uninterrupted, he would reach Konoha a couple of hours into the night even at this pace.

Of course he didn't expect to be uninterrupted. With his senses at full range, he sensed a patrol approaching from the east. He ran and found cover before they could sense him. Here's hoping I don't meet any sensor types…

As a matter of fact, he did. Someone passed close to him, and with a jolt, he saw that they were using the Byakugan. Crap! But the group passed by without a pause. He knew he was within range. The Byakugan is a visual jutsu. It uses chakra. Perhaps I am invisible to chakra? That was a very intriguing idea. He wasn't going to test it now though.

He could not help but pause and sigh once he entered the forest that Konohagakure was named after. These were the trees he had grown up in, the ones he had seen every day of his life until recently. Like a puzzle piece sliding into place, the familiar shapes fit into his eyes perfectly, and suddenly the world revealed itself. He knew at a look how it would feel to punch through a branch, how the smallest branches would sway beneath his feet, what sound the leaves would make to betray him if he moved unwisely. That was intimate knowledge only one born and raised among these trees would have. Before he knew it, he had jumped up into one of them. Yes, it was exactly as he thought. Even though he had never used a tiger's body before, he somehow knew the right way to hold himself.

I should not travel this way. A real tiger wouldn't. He forced himself down to the ground. As he walked, he continually had to keep himself from leaping up into the trees out of reflex. So I still have the habits of a shinobi. That's unexpected. Was it good or bad?

Thankfully, he had spent his share of time indulging his wolf half, as well. No onlooker would see a tiger blundering about and mark it as suspicious, because he did not blunder. The tiger form was awkward, but he made it work. The hardest part was the paws. He knew cats were supposed to be ambush predators, and therefore had pads on their paws to soften their footfalls. But they also had larger paws than wolves, and thicker forearms, and he didn't know how to use those pads, so his paws made more noise than they would have if he had had the correct ones. He made it work.

Kakashi reached the walls of Konoha around midnight.

.

They look happier. His shoulders relaxed as he saw the souls of those on guard at the wall. He hadn't known they were tense. He hadn't known that he feared the sight of another who would likely die by his own hand before the year was out. He shivered at the memory.

Now how to get in… He could manipulate light to make himself invisible like he had when leaving, but that felt cheap. The sight of home - No, not home anymore, my home is in the wild now - the sight of Konoha was awakening shinobi instincts. He wanted to indulge them. The tiger's skin turned black and disappeared, leaving only his own body. Only his own self.

Kakashi checked his clothing. He flattened the spikes around his neck and wrists, absorbed the small wings sticking out of his back. He also got rid of the designs. Even if nobody he feared would be able to recognize them for what they were, it would be very very bad if word of him sneaking into Konoha on nefarious business was leaked to his clan. They would know. They would be able to identify him, and they would realize that he hadn't simply run wild, which was considered understandable if sad. They would think he had become a traitor instead. He could not risk that.

The moon was even closer to new than it had been the night before, so he decided his hair wasn't too much of a risk. Now the only question was how to get in. Disguise himself to walk through the gates? Distract a guard and sneak past? Climb the wall and wait until nobody was looking to cross it?

Each of those approaches had advantages and disadvantages. Disguising himself would be fun, but there was just no way in hell anybody was going to believe a traveler was traveling at midnight on a nearly new moon. Distracting a guard would be easy and quick, but after passing through the gate he would find himself in the street, and who knows who else could have eyes on the street. Sneaking over the wall was much more difficult and involved waiting, but if he chose the right part of the wall he could drop down into a poorly inhabited area that would be free of spies. Kakashi put on the tiger form again and circled the wall, looking for a place he knew enclosed an area of no great importance. As a bonus, that section of wall was lightly guarded, because why would anyone attack there?

He could not cling to the wall with chakra. The wall was chakra-resistant. With darkness, he carefully formed dozens of little claws on the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet, and practiced on a tree to make sure they wouldn't rasp. Then he began to climb the wall.

He hid in the shadow of a tree most of the way. Nobody would deliberately look down at the wall itself, but if anyone happened to glance… He stopped in the tree's shadow and extended his senses to watch the guards.

The man above yawned. He was getting tired. His partner whispered that their turn on watch was nearly over, and offered to get the first a warm drink. The tired man nodded. His partner left.

As soon as the partner's back was turned Kakashi went over the wall. The first man was rubbing his eyes. He lowered his hand and looked around after hearing a faint scratching noise, but saw nothing. Perhaps some pebbles had come loose.

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. The shinobi part of him had been indulged. Now it was time for the demon part to take over. The goal of this mission was a demon's goal, and he would need a demon's powers to reach the power center of the village undetected. He placed a thin-walled bubble around himself and made it repel light, and closed his eyes. This time, unlike the night he left, he was not committed to being human. This time he could move freely.

Since he was looking for it, he saw it: the faint light that everything he looked at appeared to have. His demon vision was not entirely visual; it was some combination of sight, touch, and other things he didn't have a name for. That was how he could have such a hyper-detailed view of things like corners and dirt, even when such things weren't exactly within his visual field. He could have found his way around without perceiving anything to be lit up. Yet it was.

Why did I never wonder about that before? The only things that look like light in this view are souls. Therefore, this faint light must be faint soul energy. I never thought about it.

He reached the important parts of the village undetected. Kakashi chose not to drop the bubble, in case his earlier guess was correct and surrounding himself with darkness shielded him from sensors. Still bubbled and invisible, he leaped up to Naruto's window.

His former student still lived in that place. He probably could have chosen to stay anywhere he wanted after becoming the world's hero, but he had stayed here. The place was much more richly appointed than it had been before, and the floor was even clean. He wasn't living badly at all.

Kakashi kept the window from making a sound as he opened it. He slipped in, closed the window behind him, and searched for anything. A scrap of paper would do. He found one. Carefully, arranging it so that the paper would last a while before losing structural integrity and falling apart, he saturated the paper with his darkness. He hid the paper inside the fabric of Naruto's forehead protector. There. Now if another demon sees him, they will recognize that he is under protection.

Kakashi opened the window again, closed it behind himself, and departed the way he had come.

.

A/N: I know as much about the later parts of the show as I did when I started this fic: nothing. Naruto's living situation after the war is pure speculation on my part. I'm up to episode 416 now, and the site I used to watch on has gotten rid of its Naruto collection. I'm honestly not sure if I will ever finish the anime.