Just outside the forests of Fire country, a white haired sennin was talking to another white haired man, while a third man with glossy black hair, waited nearby. The three subjects of their conversation mirrored this particular trio in a way that was almost uncanny.
The old man brushed fluffy white hair away from the younger man's forehead and placed a finger in its centre. "Right, you almost have it. Now focus, see with the mist, don't try to look through to the other side, you can't. Only those within the mist are visible to you."
He squinted his eyes, and made an aggravated grunting noise. "I can't see a bloody thing, that's what I've been telling you. I could see alright before, when I was using that sand woman. But all I'm getting here is sort of shifty feelings."
"Of course you can't actually see, we don't have any eyes out there. If we sent in one of our people they would notice in an instant, and kill him. And after all the trouble and expense these ninjas cost us that would be a waste, you should know, you took most of our money. No, use the mist to feel for them, feel what they're thinking and saying. That's often more reliable than eyes anyway."
Deep in Konoha's forest Iruka took a step closer to Kakashi and Jiraiya, who seemed deep in conversation. Not to hear what they were saying, he could do that easily enough if he wanted to, unless, of course, they didn't want him to. No, the reason he wanted to be closer to his lover was purely protective, because he was starting to feel seriously creeped out. Which was worse , in many ways, than his anxiety over the explosion. And, although intellectually he knew that Kakashi surpassed him in every possible way, he was a Konoha ninja and the instinct to protect those he cared for deeply, ran deeper still.
Kakashi noticed, but of course he noticed everything, so Iruka was feeling uneasy. He redoubled vigilance over his outward expressions. Iruka wouldn't know from him how uneasy he was feeling too.
"So Jiraiya, you'll go to Hidden Mist, see what you can find out? I'd go myself but I can't leave…" Kakashi glanced in Iruka's direction. "And he'll need to find out what's happened to his other friends too."
"Ok, you've got good instincts kid. So did your father."
A huge toad appeared between them, or rather not quite between, because Jiraiya was perched on its head. "Come on old friend. We're going on holiday, back to the swamps."
Back beyond the Konoha border, the other white haired sennin smiled with smug satisfaction. "Right, did you feel one of them leave? Now we've got Hatake alone. Well except for that chuunin, but he won't be any trouble, not for this guy here. It's time to make our move. I need you to take him out, permanently."
"Kill him? Why? I… I had something very special planned for these two."
"Yes, Kill him. He's too dangerous, he got away from you before remember, drugged and sealed. And he's the Akatzuki's choice, over you. We can't have two Ketsuekimusha's ruling Konoha."
The big white haired man snorted and stamped his foot, like a bad tempered horse. "Ok, I'll make do with the chuunin, better than nothing I suppose. He looks as if he squeaks a real treat when he's tied down right, and he has pretty eyes."
The old man stared at him long and hard. "Don't start thinking with your dick, at least not yet. You've got to win first. Make sure you keep control, but don't get in the way of his instincts." He flicked a finger behind to indicate the large man standing impassively a little way off. "This one's special, you won't find another. You think you're strong but you wouldn't be half a match for him. Not even if you trained for a million years."
The pirate gritted his teeth. There was something about that stare that was scarier than anything in his worst nightmares. The old freak's amber gaze seemed to penetrate to the centre of his soul, making every weakness and every insecurity bubble to the surface. Despite his overbearing pride and his determination not to this time, he faltered and looked away.
"Yeah, I get it. He's the fastest, most powerful, most incredible ninja you've ever got your claws into. But big muscles don't count for much with these freaks. That other one's just a scrawny weasel, but I've never seen strength like his nowhere, and I've been around."
The sennin smiled indulgently. "You'll understand once you see him in action, but you have to move in closer, you won't have control from this distance. Not yet, it will come with practice. Release your body and flow through the mist, the way I showed you before. He'll follow, he has his own techniques."
"You ain't coming?"
"Regrettably. If I'm gone much longer our Akatzuki friend will come looking for me, and that would be… unfortunate. Just concentrate on winning."
Kakashi grabbed for Iruka's hand. "Can you keep up? Or should I go ahead?"
Iruka squeezed the fingers folded into his in a moment of indecision. It wasn't a question, it was an offer. He couldn't keep up and they both knew it, but he needed to be in Konoha now, and he'd get there faster with Kakashi's help than without it. He tightened his grip.
"Let's go."
The forest became a single blur of motion. This was jounin level skill, maximum speed with minimum chakra use. A feeling of being at one with, and being in control of, the laws of nature. The way a hawk must feel as it stooped from the heavens in a long dive.
Then just as suddenly they stopped. Kakshi wrapped his arms around Iruka's chest to keep him from falling from the fork of a silver birch. They'd landed high enough to see through the almost bare canopy, yet low enough to be covered by the taller parts of the underbrush.
"Can you feel the intent Iruka? Someone's blocking our path. I'm not sure who, it's so familiar I hardly noticed at first, but it's… different." Kakashi almost said more, but thought better of it. The dissonance in the sensation, friend and foe, good and evil, was making his skin crawl.
Then they saw him, silhouetted ahead, where the road cut through and the forest had been cleared to allow an unobstructed view of those approaching the village from the gate tower.
"Kakashi! That… that stance!"
Yes that stance. Of all the possibilities, this had to be the one. "I see it. Stay here Iruka, let me deal with this."
Iruka clung to him like a terrified child. His emotional state was already stretched to breaking point, and now it snapped and the flood that was released seemed ready to drown him. He knew that he was crying, knew that he was weak, that he was completely unworthy of the man he was holding onto as if the future depended on it. But he couldn't let go.
He was dimly aware of the dark stain from his tears spreading into Kakashi's shirt, where it pulled up over his throat to form his mask. "No, please. Don't."
Kakashi slipped from his grasp and leaped to the ground. Without thinking or caring about the consequences, he followed.
"But Kakashi, It's Gai. You can't kill Gai, you just can't!" The other half of his thought went unsaid. But they both knew what it was.
Kakashi turned towards him. His sharingan already uncovered as he fixed him with both eyes. Blue and red. Ice and fire. The quiet chill of his completely controlled answer was more frightening than the most furious outburst could ever have been.
"Iruka, you think I don't know that? You think I want to? But I can't let him get into Konoha, not like this. I have to do whatever it takes to stop him. Whatever! Do you understand? And if I fail you have to survive to get there first and warn everyone. So just… just get away from here, as far as you can, ok."
Iruka heard the words, but they didn't make any sense. Kakashi was like a stranger, some cold heartless killer, masquerading in his lover's skin. He said his name softly, as if to be sure that it was still the same man.
"Kakashi?'
"Fuck Iruka, aren't you listening. Get the hell away… now!"
He watched passively as Kakashi thrust a flattened palm towards him. White energy gathered on its surface for a moment, then a flicker thin lightening bolt, that cracked like a bull whip, sent him flying backwards through the trees. To land smashed into the crown of a large evergreen oak. He lay there, physically half stunned and mentally completely stunned, heart pounding like a jackhammer. He'd never seen Kakashi so determined or, he now realised, so scared. The enormity of the situation came crashing over him. This other Kakashi, the warrior not the lover, was fighting to protect him, and to protect his village. And he'd do it, he'd really do it. He'd fight Maito Gai to the death.
Kakashi watched the boughs of the one leafy tree in the forest fold in to embrace the man he loved. It was like a copy in miniature of that other tree. The tree of life, where either he or his rival would soon be resting, calm, at peace, free from the grief of this world. Very soon.
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Shizune heard the crack of the explosion and saw the plume of smoke just as she was almost back in Konoha. If there could ever be a situation where a curse might cross her lips, this would be it. The first time she goes outside the village to visit Tonton in three days and 'it' finally happens. Tsunade's luck at gambling must finally be starting to rub off on her.
It had been a long time since she'd used the power that had earned her jounin rank for anything but healing, but now was not the time to hesitate. She raced over the treetops like the shadow of a great bird crossing the sun, over the wall and up the side of the Hokage tower, entering through a shattered window. Stopping just long enough to throw up her breakfast, she tossed aside furniture and filing cabinets, stepped over fallen comrades, and made her way to Tsunade's office.
The door was blocked from the inside so she ripped it off its hinges. Inside she found Tsunade on the floor behind her desk, under the three inches of papers that covered every horizontal surface in the room like fresh fallen snow. Looping an arm around her mentor's waist she dragged her to the window and leapt out onto the roof of the next building, just in time to see med nins and emergency workers arriving on the street below.
"I have Hakage-sama, but there are other casualties, lots of them. Alive as far as I can tell, but they won't be for long if you leave them here. Forget first aid, just get everyone out and into the hospital, put them in the corridors, in the courtyards. Just clear this whole area and keep it clear, use wards if you need to."
The stunned looking med nins below moved in. Now they had orders, orders they could follow. It broke through their horror and confusion and they started to carry them out with robotic speed and efficiency. Shizune left them to it and made her own way to the hospital, checking Tsunade's vitals and appraising her condition as she went. By the time she had her set up on monitors and with an IV, the first of the other casualties were being brought in. She noticed shaggy blond hair peeking from under a blanket.
"Is that Naruto? Bring him here, I want him in isolation, somewhere secure. Maybe in the locked psychiatric ward."
The middle-aged man supporting one end of the stretcher looked up sharply. "Really Ma'am? I mean, I know what… who… this is, but they've been telling us for fifteen years that he's not dangerous."
Shizune couldn't resist the shadow of a smile as she ruffled her fingers through Naruto's hair and traced a finger along the whisker marks on his face. "He's not, if fact I'm fairly sure that he saved the lives of everyone in that explosion. But I have my reasons for wanting to keep him separate, at least for now."
She left him to start organising and checking on her other patients, who were accumulating rapidly, filling every available bed, the emergency cots, and being set down on the floor still on their stretchers. I was going to be a long day, and a longer night. And if her suspicions were right there was nothing she, or anyone, could do but wait.
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Kakashi hopped out of the tree and walked towards his rival. There was nothing to be gained from stealth in this mist. If Gai was trapped in the blood jutsu he was already connected to Ketsuekimusha and he'd know everything the mist could tell him.
"Gai, can you hear me? Break your mind free of him, push him aside."
Gai didn't move. He stood, poised on one leg, arms outstretched. Kakashi closed the remaining distance between them at his fastest speed and landed a kick, square on his forehead. He didn't move, didn't flinch. It was like kicking a mountain.
Hidden in the trees nearby, the pirate boss, Ketsuekimusha's newly minted heir, threw his head back and laughed. Yes, this was more like it. This was true power over men, the kind he'd been searching for his whole life. Maybe he wouldn't kill the white haired freak after all, at least not immediately. Once he was lying helpless on the ground he'd have his new ninja toy rape him, while he watched… from the inside.
Kakashi staggered back from his rebound, then flipped into a graceful landing. He spun off half a dozen shadow clones, then henged three of them into team Gai. It would buy some time and maybe, just maybe, there was something still in the other man that retained his fierce loyalty to his teammates.
There wasn't. Breaking his stance with impossible speed, Gai punched the Neiji clone, sending it flying back into the trees. The Tenten clone threw a shuriken plastered with exploding tags. He dodged it easily, not seeming to even notice as it gouged a huge crater a hundred feet away, then tossed a shuriken of his own, that made the clone explode in a puff of smoke. Kakashi released the Lee clone himself. He didn't need to watch Gai beat up his star protégé.
What other strategy could he try? A genjutsu might work, but could it deceive the mist? Gai's taijutsu was most effective in the open, he filled the area with the illusion of leafy trees. Gai clapped his hands together and released a wave of fire that demolished them and the remaining clones, while Kakashi fell to the ground huddled under a chakra shield. Under the cover of the attack he slipped underground. Resurfacing right under his opponent and throwing him high in the air. As he fell he enclosed him in a bubble of water, the water prison, it was worth a try. But with the gates wide open Gai had no difficulty in shattering it completely. He landed hard, but in a fighting stance, hands still blazing with flame. The fire, the smoke from the scorched ground, and the red mist swirling in the air, made the whole place look like a scene from the pits of hell.
So. No half measures. If he had to, he had to. Kakashi started gathering chakra for a chidori attack, with something extra, he couldn't take the risk that Gai would be fast enough to dodge it. This chidori would explode in a ball of plasma, he'd be lucky to survive himself. He watched Gai watching the white electrical energy compressing into a ball between his hands. Then suddenly he saw him dart into the trees.
Kakashi turned to track him, even Gai couldn't outrun a chidori. What he saw made him stop and take back the gathered chakra. Gai had hold of Iruka, one hand on his arm and one on his throat.
As he hesitated the red spun into a denser cloud in front of him and someone stepped out. Someone completely unexpected.
"Kakashi-kun, that's your name isn't it? If I remember right."
Kakashi snarled at the pirate boss in disbelief.
"Now I'm the one with the power Kakashi-kun. Wolf's blood, one tiny thought from me, and your pretty boyfriend dies."
Kakashi had him on the ground with a kunai at his throat in an instant.
"Don't underestimate me, Gai never would. Let Iruka go and I'll let you go. The two of us will finish this the way we started, as a clean fight."
"A clean fight between ninjas? That's about as likely as a clean fight between pirates. We both fight to win. But I'm not unreasonable. I'll let you have him, if you give me something I want in return."
Kakashi narrowed his eyes and pressed the knife down so that it scored the top layer of skin, not quite deep enough to draw blood. The pirate didn't flinch, he had guts, he'd give him that.
"Don't bother looking at me like that. Gep. Tell me where he is, that's what I want. And no tricks this time."
Gai snapped Iruka's hairband and combed his fingers through his hair. Then he kissed him, forcing his tongue into his mouth, running his hands down his sides and clutching his buttocks. Iruka squeaked in shock as he struggled uselessly against the jounin's iron grip.
The pirate licked his lips, breathing hard. "Ah yes, this one does taste good. Maybe I should take him with me anyway, take off his silly mask and put him under the power of the mist. I'll need something to fuck along the way, unless you'd like to show me in person. Then I can fuck you."
Kakashi bit the sides of his tongue, steeling himself against the provocation. "Why don't you just leave that poor kid alone. If you can control this mist you can have anyone you want. What's so special about him?"
"If you really want to know I'll tell you. If you'll give me some room." He pointed to the kunai still pressed against his trachea.
Kakashi pulled it back and let him sit up.
He rubbed at his throat, shooting the ninja a calculating glance. "Special. That's just what he is, special. I knew it the first time I saw him. That big old steamer we used to get about in, a good ship, fast when she got going, but old. She was always breaking down, well she washed up on some place, Mist or Cloud, I don't remember, so we went looking for any parts we could find to fix up her engines. And there was this kid, fourteen or fifteen years old, looking at me like I was dinner and he'd been starved for a month. Not when he thought I could see him mind, he was too shy for that. But I knew what he wanted."
Kaashi kept his expression carefully neutral. "So you gave it to him."
"Ah yes, and he was so sweet. I got him a bit tipsy, it didn't take much, then he was all over me. I'd never had sex like that before, not with no one. What I usually like is to feel a man under me, writhing and squirming, in my power. But not with him, not Gep. The way he kissed, and touched, it was good like I'd never thought possible."
It was harder not to react to this. "So you kidnapped him."
"Of course, I wasn't about to leave a gem like that behind."
"So you kidnapped him." Kakashi was almost there. The biggest problem with having more than a thousand jutsu's to choose from, was sorting through the damn things. If he could just keep the thug talking for a few more…"
"I was good to him, gave him everything he wanted.
"Yea, that's why he left with me, because you made him so happy."
"Fuck you!"
Through the sharingan, Kakashi tracked the moment that Gai released Iruka to lunge towards him, along with the pirate, moving at a fraction of the speed. Good, he had it, perfect timing. He hurled a handful of ice needles at Gai, that landed studded into the muscles of his neck like the spiked collar of a war-dog. Stabbed one into the pirate's neck, and snatched Iruka to safety in a single move.
Safely on the grass, a few yards from the unconscious bodies, he held him tight, not sure whether to kiss him or slap him. "You didn't go. I told you to go."
Iruka didn't answer. Gai had kissed him, Gai! His brain seemed frozen, as if it couldn't quite process the idea.
"Iruka! Why didn't you go?"
Slowly Kakashi's voice got through to him, one syllable at a time. "Kakashi… Ah… I'm…I'm sorry, but I couldn't leave you. I'm sorry, I just put you in more danger didn't I?"
"No. You saved me. Saved all of us. When he sent Gai after you, it gave me just the break I needed."
Gai, that name evoked extremely mixed feelings right now. "Gai! Is he…"
"No, just paralysed, it will wear off in a day or so. I'm not even sure where that jutsu came from. I don't remember copying it. I suppose I must have been pretty distracted at the time. But I needed something that would stop him cold without being a risk to you, and that's what happened."
"Yeah, ice needles. If they won't stop someone cold then I don't know what will." Iruka pointed to the pirate boss. "What about him? Should we kill him."
Kakashi shook his head. "Believe me, I'd love to. But if the old wolf sennin is already dead, killing him will kill everyone in the jutsu. Come on help me get Gai home so that we can ckeck out that explosion." He leaned in for a kiss.
Iruka put his hand over his mouth. "Eep no, not now, I taste of Gai."
Ugh, what an unfortunate thought. Kakashi smiled his trademark smile. "Maybe that's not so bad, I get to kiss two for one."
Iruka grinned but hit him anyway. "You damn pervert, you know if I didn't love you, I'd really hate you sometimes."