Chapter 6 - Stepping Forward

Hatake Kakashi liked to consider himself a dutiful shinobi.

While he hadn't had a very good track record of protecting the people that mattered most to him, he was at least able to see to his subordinates. The man would be proud to say that in every mission he assigned his ANBU any tasks, he did it while preparing them to the best of his ability.

That part of him was exactly what was cited by the Hokage as one of the main reasons for his promotion to captain. Besides that, what was noted in the evaluation was a sense of duty, and a keen eye for detail.

So when he was informed that the containment team, the segment of Root-trained ANBU agents that were supposed to be distributed across all the various teams that Kakashi managed were tasked with surrounding the Uchiha Clan compound, he'd been more than a little concerned.

Yes, tensions between one of the village's founding clans and the rest of that same village was higher than it had ever been.

Yes, the clan had gone quiet in the months leading up to the fateful night that he'd been given the assignment by the Hokage.

And yes, Kakashi had sort of managed to glean from the conversations he's heard over the past almost-decade that the council had thought that an Uchiha had been involved with what happened on the night his sensei ─ the last of his childhood team ─ had died.

Had the Uchiha clan been planning something that had made the village's leadership actually consider having the containment team keep them there? Had the village decided to take action? The fact that they'd been asked to keep people from going in and out only made it worse.

Because if something was going to happen, it was going to be violent, and it wasn't going to be pretty, that's for sure. The Uchiha might have been getting sidelined as a clan for nigh on a decade now, from what he'd seen, but they were still powerhouses, especially those that knew how to actually use their Sharingan.

Kakashi ought to know, he'd managed to get himself some notoriety in the bingo books while just running around with half of a full set.

So he steeled his resolve, and assumed the worst, and got his teams prepared while providing the Hokage with details on how he'd arranged his people, as the old man wanted to be made aware of every detail and every development as it happened. They were on the cusp of Konoha's first ever civil war since Madara's rebellion after the village had been founded.

Huh, how appropriate.

But on the first night that they'd been watching, nothing happened. And nothing on the second night, too, or the third, the fourth, or the fifth.

It was a whole week of quiet, and Kakashi had been starting to get nervous.

So after that fifth night, he'd made it a point to be there just as the shifts were changing after midnight. Because if someone had managed to figure out their schedules despite how he'd made it a point to shuffle around those same schedules for the week just to keep people off their tracks, then something was going to happen around that time.

And still there was nothing for the next few days. Nothing from the village, and nothing from the Uchiha. Kakashi almost entertained the idea that whatever it was the Hokage and the council was worried about had either sorted itself out or wasn't going to happen.

Was it terribly naive of him? Maybe, but Kakashi knew that these things had to be addressed one way or another, and certainly no one had bothered to start stabbing each other yet because none of his people had been hurt, and there wasn't any news of deaths from the clan or the village.

Then the compound burst into flame in the dead of night.

It wasn't a fire that started in one of the houses and blazed through the rest of it, or an explosion that rocked the area and decimated the buildings.

No. One moment the Uchiha compound was there being illuminated by the light of the full moon. The next, the entire place was aflame in the largest bonfire Hatake Kakashi had ever seen.

The moment that happened, Kakashi had gotten in contact with his lieutenants to get the village's fire brigade there, and instructed anyone that knew water jutsu to help put out the flames.

As he did so, he'd revealed his Sharingan and began combing through the night for whoever might be responsible, and immediately noticed movement from the Naka Shrine.

Whoever it was looked like they were leaving, and Kakashi couldn't have that. He charged his body with lightning chakra and raced off to intercept them.

He didn't recognize the uniform, if it could even be called that. Was that… Samurai armor? Odd to see that these days. Underneath that were black robes and various weapons and scrolls. The opponent had a katana holstered to their waist, though Kakashi could argue that a ninja using a sword wasn't exactly unheard of. It was practically part of the ANBU uniform, after all. The manner it was worn was distinctly samurai, however.

Looking to where the face would have been, he was met with a plain, white mask framed by brown hair.

Both he and the woman ─ because it was definitely a woman ─ paused. Her head tilted ever so slightly in what was either curiosity or surprise. Kakashi wasn't sure.

She attempted to move past him, dashing off to his right with a long leap that would have let her touch on the cliffs of Kinenhi-zan.

Oh he couldn't have that. He overtook her with another charge of chakra, this time facing her with a hand on one of the swords slung over his back.

"What brings you to Konoha at this time of night?" he asked.

The woman's response was to veer to his right again and start climbing up the wall.

Kakashi intercepted her, this time with sword drawn.

She blocked the strike with a bracer. Sparks flew on the contact and she let herself fall briefly before reattaching herself to the cliff face using both her feet and one hand. Her remaining hand was held out defensively in front of her.

His Sharingan saw no damage on the armor. Good quality. He'd never seen any that dark though.

"I assume that you attacked the Uchiha compound?" Not that it could have been anyone else. A keeper of the Naka Shrine wouldn't have been dressed like this, and was unlikely to be there at this time of night. Besides, the shrine was maintained by the Uchiha clan. He doubted she was an Uchiha.

The woman didn't immediately respond, but she didn't move, either. Kakashi remained still, too, with his sword drawn and free hand ready to form whatever hand seals he'd need if he felt her start to gather chakra for her own jutsu.

After almost a minute of the two standing off, the woman raised her hands in surrender before speaking for the first time, "Alright. I'll come quietly. On condition that you take me to the Hokage."

"No."

"I'll let you tie me up and even seal my Chakra, but I'll only come quietly if you take me to the Hokage. Besides, don't you want to know what this was about? Surely, the Hokage would be willing to explain it to you."

She gestured vaguely in the direction of the fire that was still raging.

"You've seen what I'm capable of. Do you really want to start a fight with me here so near the village?"

A loud boom thundered through the night, definitely waking everyone within the walls. Pillars of flame erupted from the burning Uchiha compound. For that brief moment, it almost looked like daytime.

"Water was a really bad idea." the woman added. Kakashi could hear the smugness in her voice.

Now it was Kakashi's turn to think, though he kept his weapon trained on her and she kept her hands raised. Her stance had changed to one less aggressive, but he was certain she was as ready to engage in a fight as he was.

But she raised a good point. This woman had either gotten into the village without alerting the guards or the barrier, or had been in the village the whole time. She also managed to get past the containment team that had been actively working to keep people away.

The whole damn thing stank of her having insider information. So either there was a spy, or whatever she did was sanctioned by at least the Hokage, if not the council as a whole.

And done over Kakashi's head.

"What's your name?"

She chuckled. "My designation is Ghost."

He squinted at her. He'd heard of that callsign, if only in rumors. Jiraiya of the Sannin ran Konoha's biggest international intelligence network. It had been setup by Namikaze Minato during the war with the help of a very small team and maintained by the man's sensei in the years that followed. It was arguably one of the Leaf's biggest assets.

According to the stories, the ninja that had helped his own sensei set the whole thing up and helped Jiraiya run it now was someone that went by ghost.

Kakashi thought it was just a rumor. There wasn't exactly a description, and he'd never seen anything in bingo book copies of other nations.

He supposed that the woman really did earn her callsign then, in that case. As far as anyone knew ─ either in this village or the rest ─she didn't exist.

"Fine. But I'm at least binding your hands and sealing your Chakra." Kakashi held out a hand. "And surrender your weapons to me."

She nodded. "I'll have to drop them because I doubt you want to walk up to me while I'm armed." Then, she fell.

His eyes widening, Kakashi burst towards her expecting her to try and escape again. Instead, Ghost reattached her feet to the cliff face and used her chakra to slow her fall. The woman's hands were held up in surrender the whole time.

"I don't want to damage my weapons. You understand, I'm sure."

Once she was back on solid ground, she began disarming herself. Her katana came first, sliding out of the belt and being placed against the cliff face. Her supply pouch and scrolls followed. Afterwards, she presented her hands to him, palm up.

After she was bound and her chakra sealed care of a rudimentary, portable seal he placed on the center of her back, he sealed all her weapons into one of his own storage scrolls. He kept her on the edge of his Sharingan's vision the whole time, but she didn't make any more suspicious moves. He was pretty sure the chakra seal would be easy to remove if someone knew their seals, and if this woman did work with Jiraiya like she claimed she did, he was pretty sure she was.

All the same, he'd be able to tell if she was removing it, and it would give him time to knock her out or kill her. That would have to be enough.

When he finished, they sped off to the tower.

Getting in without alerting the other ANBU was child's play. When you were captain, you had a very good idea of where all of your subordinates were when they were on-duty. Within minutes, they were walking in through the office's front door.

Inside, he saw the Hokage seated behind his desk with the entirety of the council seated around him.

All eyes turned to the new arrivals. Immediately, Kakashi could see the bags in everyone's eyes. Hells, Aburame Shibi was here without his sunglasses. He never knew that was a sight he'd ever see.

"Ghost," The Hokage's eyes seemed to narrow, and Kakashi could see the old man's shoulders stiffen. "I thought you were heading straight home afterwards."

The woman shrugged and walked into the room. Kakashi moved to keep up with her to make sure she didn't do anything, though he didn't think she'd be able to do much with the bindings, the seal, and several of the village's best ninja in the room.

"This dog caught me, unfortunately." She stopped a few meters away from the desk and gave the council a shallow bow. "My apologies."

"She threatened the village." Kakashi chimed in, this time the other councilors all turned to the woman, who shrugged.

"Had to convince him not to fight me. Hatake Kakashi isn't exactly known for being subtle in a serious fight. I didn't want an engagement to draw attention to me. One person was already more than I'd wanted."

Kakashi scowled. She recognized him, using just his hair? He doubted his Sharingan was visible through his mask.

Hiruzen shook his head, while the rest of the council relaxed, seemingly satisfied with her answer.

"That was quite the fire you started, Ghost." stated councilman Shimura Danzo. He was on the seat closest to the Hokage's right.

"I promised I'd be thorough." Was her response. Kakashi could hear the amused lilt in her voice. "This way, there are no Sharingan to steal."

"Or much of a compound left at all." added Nara Shikaku.

"Burning the bodies individually wasn't ever going to be practical." It was Utatane Koharu that spoke this time, leaning back into her chair. "Not if she was working alone. Besides, this makes it seem like Itachi-kun burned the place to the ground himself."

Kakashi felt a pit open in his stomach. So it was sanctioned after all.

What followed was a debriefing of Ghost while Kakashi was permitted to remain in the room. The woman had systematically disposed of the corpses of every Uchiha remaining in the compound, alongside the compound itself. She confirmed that there were no survivors. Unfortunately, she also mentioned that she saw someone working with Uchiha Itachi, and she had reason to believe this was an outsider. She recommended that Jiraiya check on the village's barrier system and maybe work on improvements for it. The council approved.

Afterwards, Kakashi was informed of what happened since the Hokage saw little reason in keeping the man in the dark any longer. The council also confirmed that no one else besides him saw Ghost, as her involvement on the matter was to be strictly kept under wraps.

Once that was done, Ghost was released of her bindings and the chakra seal, and her weapons returned. Afterwards, both were dismissed as the council all stood to turn in for the night. Kakashi and Ghost were out of the door first.

The woman sighed when they entered the empty hall. "I'm sure Jiraiya's wondering what's taking me so long now. No thanks, Kakashi-san."

Snippy. Kakashi turned to her and sent him one of his winning smiles. "I didn't know you and Jiraiya-sama were shacked up."

He blinked. Wait, wasn't the Sannin living on Azuchi with Minato's kid?

She responded before he could say anything. "We live together, but you'd know that if you ever went up the mountain, you ass."

Her hand went up to remove the mask.

Kakashi's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

Ghost was such a terrifyingly appropriate designation, after all.

~TtT~

The following day found a still-dazed Kakashi sitting in what was a private ward of the Konoha Hospital that's apparently been permanently reserved for Namikaze use sitting across his once-dead teammate.

Originally, he'd been asked to meet her at Azuchi, but after an incident that happened near the house involving two of their guests, he'd been asked to come here instead. Kakashi thought he'd probably have to get Komachi a nice snack from Uchiha Izumi's bakery after this. Even when the now-owner of the place was in the room next to them, he knew the shop was still open. He'd passed it on the way here.

Nohara Rin sat across from him, occupying one of the plush chairs that surrounded the glass coffee table in the middle of the room. She looked comfortable in all the wealth that decorated what was essentially a sitting room inside the hospital. It was very strange to see.

Her hair had grown longer, now falling to maybe the middle of her back. Currently, it was tied in a partial tail. A lengthened face studied him impassively as she set down the pot of tea between them and started pouring them both a cup. She adjusted her haori after that.

The black haori decorated with the Namikaze clan's sigil alongside the logo of the Namikaze Corporation.

"We can talk here." she said as she took the cup of what looked like black tea and took a sniff of it, closing her eyes as she did so. "We have privacy seals all over this room. Not even Hokage-sama's crystal ball can look in here. Though the doors are unlocked in the interest of the medical staff needing access to Izumi, so you'll have to watch out for that."

She took a sip and sighed in pleasure.

"So I'll do my best to answer your questions. I'm sure you have a lot, Kakashi-kun.".

"You faked your death." Was all he said, not looking at her. Instead, he opted to pick up the cup and took in the smell, himself. Fruity.

He pulled his mask down and took a sip. Kakashi nodded in appreciation. It was good. Besides, if she was taking off her mask both figuratively and literally, he could afford to do so, too. It's not like she hadn't already seen his face when they were children, anyway.

"Cinematic, wasn't it?" She gave him a self-satisfied smirk. He knew what she was talking about.

"You and I remember that day very differently, Rin-chan." Kakashi spied the chandelier reflecting from the surface of his tea as he put it down. "I saw you getting impaled with a sword before everything turned dark."

Looking up, he saw her look soften as she nodded in understanding. "And then the smoke, the fires, and the blast. You were knocked unconscious after that, they told me. I was out like a light just as the blades got shoved in my guts. They were coated in some very strong stuff."

The ANBU captain tried to suppress a squint at her choice of words and failed. He could actually feel his face contort, though his now-returned teammate was kind enough to avert her gaze by looking at her half-empty teacup.

"Was it really necessary?"

"For security? Yes." was what she said in reply. "You know what I was up to, Kakashi. Minato-sensei thought it was best that a ghost be the one to run an intelligence network during the war. Besides, there weren't a lot of people that cared about me in the village besides you and sensei at the time. We just felt it needed to be convincing. You were the only possible witness. You actually knew who I was, and Minato-sensei was in on it."

Because if something was going to be done, you may as well be thorough about it. It was a sentiment he could respect, even if he didn't really agree with it.

"So the stories were true, then. You setup Minato-sensei's intelligence network."

She made a noncommittal gesture with her free hand while the other took hold of her cup so she could drain it of its remaining contents.

"I mean, I got training first. Remember how I more or less dropped off from missions a little under a year after we got back from the Kannabi Bridge?" Kakashi's eyes closed and he took a deep breath at the memories that came back. He didn't know if Rin also felt the need to stop, but she did if only for his benefit.

He nodded, recalling how she disappeared into some village-based assignment. It had been a relief to him, and he couldn't find it in himself to question it.

Rin continued, "I was fast-tracked into Root's Communication and Administration division. Minato-sensei and Danzo-sama wanted me to be able to handle people and organizations."

So she was a Root graduate. "I'm surprised it wasn't under Tracking and Detection, or Stealth and Assassination." He pointed out the other departments he'd more-expected spies to be put in.

"My job was to manage the spies, not go around doing the spying myself." She sent him a smirk and shrugged. "Though Minato-sensei did focus on my stealth training during the times he was in the village before I was slated to go dark."

Still, it was a bit amazing to imagine his sweet teammate Nohara Rin who only ever wanted their team to get along and to become a medic being Konoha's spymaster during the Third Great Shinobi War.

"And after the war, you kept going?"

"Had no real reason to come back." The woman stated as she moved to refill her cup. "And I was pretty good at the job. My information helped us strangle the other village's supply lines, after all. I also started working for the Namikaze Corporation shortly before the war ended. No better cover than to actually be doing work that took me all around the continent, right?"

Once Minato was being groomed for the position of Hokage, and Orochimaru had retired and decided he wanted to travel the world, Jiraiya had been brought in to help run the network in Minato's stead.

Kakashi listened to it all. "You never came back to the village?" he whispered to her as he held his cup with both hands, looking at the reflection of his face on it. "Why didn't you tell me when the war was over?"

A hand touched his knee. Her eyes bore into his, and she gave him an apologetic smile.

"I came back a handful of times, though I didn't really need to. When Jiraiya took over, I could just pass my information to him and he'd handle relaying it to the council. I only ever came back for Minato-sensei and Kushina-san. They sort of became my family at that point.

"Also," the woman continued, taking back her hand and picking up her cup. Kakashi saw the woman that had been so confident and self-assured last night shrink into herself as she, too, regarded her cup with false fascination. "It was easier being dead. Being Ghost. Before then, the only people that cared about me in the village were you, Obito-kun, and Sensei. I did so much more for both the village and myself out there. Coming back on a permanent basis was never really part of the plan."

"And then Naruto happened."

Her smile turned rueful. "And then Naruto happened."

"And still you didn't tell me?"

"I'd planned to, you know." She actually lifted her feet up to the chair, really getting comfortable while talking with him. He hadn't seen her do that since they first became a team and were having a team meeting in one of Azuchi's many sitting rooms. "I'd decided I'd tell you the next time you came by Azuchi. You know, get it over with."

But Kakashi never went up the mountain after his sensei died. He couldn't bear to. His entire team had died on him, up to and including the leader that was supposed to be, and had been more powerful than Kakashi himself was.

It had destroyed him.

"When Anko-chan told me what you were up to, I was worried at first." Rin continued, "Then I started checking with our ANBU guards, and they told me the same thing."

Now her gaze was cold, and he could've sworn her eyes flashed purple for a moment there.

"You shut yourself off, Kakashi-kun. You were drowning."

"What did you expect me to do?"

"Something." The woman snapped. "You closed yourself from everyone, and buried yourself in work, in guilt, in grief."

"I was alone. I had no one."

"So was I."

"You had Sensei, you had the corporation."

"I lost Sensei, too, you know. Lost Kushiha-san, too. They were family to me. I never had that before, Kakashi. I was an orphan." She frowned into her cup, her face pinching. "But I reached out to the others after that. To Saiki-sama, to Jiraiya, to everyone else in the corporation that I worked with.

"Are you telling me you had no friends, Kakashi-kun? No one that was willing to help you? I find that very hard to believe."

Kakashi's thoughts flashed to an image of Gai. The man had been insufferably pushy about being in Kakashi's life for as long as he could remember.

"Getting ourselves out of that pit has to start from us. People can't help us if we won't let them." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before finishing the remainder of her drink. Setting down her cup, she stood and gave Kakashi a bow.

"I'm sorry for what I ended up doing to you, Kakashi-kun. It was very cruel of me, and even more cruel to ask that Minato-sensei keep the truth from you."

Kakashi tried to wave her off, though she wasn't looking at him, so he decided to add, "Please, Rin-chan. You did what you had to, and like you said, you didn't have much reason to come back."

And he did mean that. It hurt to think that she disregarded him like that, and he'd have liked to think he'd have been okay with knowing she was alive even though she didn't really plan to be part of Konoha anymore. But that time had passed now and they'd never really know.

It was understandable, if not excusable.

He could live with that.

Rin sat back down and looked at him intently. "Take care of yourself, Kakashi. You deserve better than what you've let yourself have."

After that, they talked about what life was like on the mountain after she moved back in, and through her stories, Hatake Kakashi got to see what his sensei's son had been up to the past few years.

She told him of the stories of sleepovers with the kids, dinners in the moonlight with their parents, befriending his ANBU and members of Root, and entertaining young bakers that made deliveries.

One of his oldest friends proved to him that you could move past the grief, the guilt.

It didn't sound easy by any means, and it looked like it took Rin years to do it, but it was possible. It just took determination and some teamwork.

He was good at that, wasn't he?

Maybe he'd check-in with Gai after this.

~TtT~

Uchiha Sasuke ran.

Uchiha Izumi looked over her shoulder to give him a reassuring smile. Sasuke returned it, but he was aware enough to see the older girl swaying from left to right as she tried to maintain the pace.

"It'll be alright, Sasuke." The girl huffed between each word, struggling. She didn't call him Sasu-chan. She only called him by his first name when she was worried.

He held on to her hand tighter, but still he ran. They had to. He wouldn't lose her. Not again.

From behind them, he heard the footsteps. Sasuke could hear the shouts and the rasp of blades being drawn. Ahead of them, shadows started to dance in the light of their torches. They were getting close.

But they still ran. Izumi was determined and Sasuke was desperate. Not again. Please, not again.

Somehow, they managed to get away from the dancing shadows. He wasn't sure if they just weren't noticed, or their pursuers had been looking the wrong way, but they had managed to get back into the cover of night with only the moon and stars to keep them company.

And even that was smothered when they found themselves beneath a great black tree. The thing reached up into the sky and seemed to grasp towards the moon above with leafless branches. It's great roots were gnarled and rose from the ground to reach out to the earth.

"Sasuke, here." Izumi whispered as she pulled him to her. "There's a gap in the roots and the earth. We can hide here."

He looked up to meet the eyes of her Sharingan, the red orbs glowing in the night.

Izumi would not have hesitation. "Go!"

Her hands pushed him down, guiding his legs as he crawled into the little cave-thing feet first.

Footsteps, swung swords, and screams.

They were getting closer.

How? They had gotten away! They were almost safe!

"Quickly, Sasuke!" She whispered, now crouching as he managed to squeeze himself beneath the roots. "Good, good."

Sasuke pulled her in.

Izumi would not fit.

Again he pulled, and Izumi put one of her hands on the roots around her waist to try and fit, he thought he even heard her kick against the earth around the tree.

Still, the roots would not give. They would not bend to allow Izumi entry.

"Izumi!" He tried to shout, but his voice had cracked. "Please! Come inside!"

The girl tried, and tried, and tried. Sasuke did as well, but it was to no avail.

He heard the footsteps getting louder now, the screams had gone quiet. Sasuke thought he saw light seeping through the gap. They were almost here.

Sasuke felt tears running down his face, his vision blurred.

Despite it, Izumi's Sharingan was somehow clear, so very clear as they filled with a warmth that Sasuke did not feel.

"I can't fit, Sasuke. I'm sorry." The eyes before him squinted before he felt himself getting pulled forward.

Izumi gave him a kiss on his forehead.

"Stay safe, Sasuke. Promise me, you'll stay safe." She begged.

Sasuke didn't have it in him to answer, and Izumi didn't give him a chance to, anyway. In moments, she'd pulled herself from the gap in the roots and the earth and stood to meet the mob on the road. He didn't know where she hid her tanto, but she had both of them out while her Sharingan grew incandescent in the night.

It wasn't enough. It was never enough. No matter how well Izumi fought, there were always just too many, or they were too powerful.

But he didn't look away. He never looked away. Sasuke rubbed the tears from his eyes so he could see clearly, and he stayed in his hiding spot and watched as Uchiha Izumi made her last stand.

She was always so beautiful when she fought here. Fighting to protect him while he hid and was too weak to do anything. He saw the grace in her every strike or parry, felling her enemies even as they surrounded her, even as the torchlight showed Sasuke the blood from her injuries.

It wouldn't last, though. It never did. Eventually she dropped to her knees as spears and swords and kunai pierced her everywhere.

All but her face. Her face was always perfect when he'd see her as she went down fighting.

Her Sharingan looked to him, the tomoe spinning hypnotically as she gave him one last smile, as though to reassure him. After that, she went quiet.

Red was all he'd see after that, but he'd never be able to do anything about it.

"This is why I killed the clan, Sasuke."

The tree was gone, the street was gone, the mob was gone.

Izumi was gone.

Before Sasuke stood his brother, looking down on him with his own Sharingan. He could feel the difference, though, in the way they looked at him. Izumi's had warmth and promise, while from Itachi he only saw judgement.

"They were too weak to protect what mattered most to them."

In a rush of wind, Sasuke could see Izumi's body behind that of his brother's. She was still slumped with only the spears that pierced her chest supporting her. The girl's head was bowed and her hair covered her face. Sasuke wanted to run to her, but he couldn't move.

"Do you want this to happen, Sasuke?" His brother asked, though the younger boy didn't look up. All he'd had eyes for was Izumi. "Do you want to let this happen?"

Finally, he met the Sharingan of his brother. "No!" This time his voice did not crack. "Never!"

"But it will happen. It will happen again and again."

Red faded to black, and this time he and Izumi were on a ship. Pirates had struck in the dead of night, and she'd woken him up to take him to the lifeboats, only to find they had already been smashed against the waves.

Still, the older girl tried to find a way off the doomed ship. Already, he could smell burning wood and oil from the fire that the pirates had started.

Eventually, she'd thrown him overboard to land near half a lifeboat.

When Sasuke looked back to see if she'd followed, he'd already seen her impaled upon a sword.

Again, the world turned red, and again he was met by Itachi.

"She's all you have now, Sasuke. The clan is gone. You two are its future now."

Izumi was once again behind Itachi, but this time she was standing and supported by the blade that had pierced her from behind. Her Sharingan had been looking to him, and her smile was still there.

"Do you want this to happen to her, Sasuke?"

"No." His voice held steel now, but still he wouldn't look away from her. He could not.

"Then you must get stronger. For she will always try to protect you, and if you wish to protect her, you will need the strength to do so."

Sasuke knew that. Sasuke knew he'd need to become stronger. He'd seen Izumi die countless times now. He'd seen her burned, seen her drowned, seen her torn apart. All of this done while saving him. The boy she'd been keeping an eye on for the past few weeks.

And Izumi had done it all with a smile on her face.

"I spare you and her now because you are not worth killing." Itachi, for the first time since this all started, crouched to be at eye level with Sasuke. This time, Sasuke looked away from the girl that saved him to look at the boy that was no longer his brother. "But I will return one day, and if you are not strong enough to protect her, you both will die, and the future of the clan will die with you."

"You won't."

Sasuke thought he saw Itachi smile.

"We shall see."

And then he awoke.

Onyx eyes opened to a room filled with light from the midmorning sun. The boy simply stared ahead and blinked several times.

Was this… the hospital? He felt a frown come to him as he fisted the sheets. The world was not bathed in red, and he did not see the man that used to be his brother.

"Sasu-chan?"

Turning to his right, he met the chocolate eyes of Izumi. It almost felt like an eternity since he'd seen her eyes with her Sharingan deactivated. Her hair was down and thrown over the shoulder of her hospital-issued robes.

Sasuke felt his throat grow dry. He tried to speak, but nothing would come.

"Sasuke?"

Before he knew it, she was up from the bed and standing before him. He had his arms wrapped around her before she could do anything else, and quietly wept. Izumi noticed.

"Sasuke!?" Her arms wrapped around his shaking shoulders.

Izumi was here. She was real, and it was daytime, and the moon wasn't full, and the sky wasn't red, and his not-brother wasn't here, and she was alive.

"I-" he choked, "I thought I lost you, Izumi-nee."

"Oh Sasuke." She held him tighter.

"I saw you die." a gasp. "I saw you die so many times."

He felt her stiffen. "Genjutsu?" she whispered, almost too softly for him to hear, but he was paying so much attention to her. Everything about her that he could memorize, he did. He would commit all of it to memory. Sight, smell, touch.

Just in case this was the last time.

"I'm here, Sasuke." She adjusted to allow herself to sit beside him. Izumi pulled him back into the hug as he buried himself into the robes that hid his tears. "I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm with you, and I'm not going anywhere."

And she didn't. Izumi held him until he calmed down, whispering soothing words into his ear while she rubbed circles into his back.

When he was done, she'd laid next to him and had his head on the crook of her neck.

"He's gone now." Izumi told him as they both looked up to the painted murals on the ceilings of dragons dancing in the sky. "Jiraiya-sama got to us shortly after I got knocked out, and chased him away. I've been told that they have ANBU in pursuit."

"Will that be enough?"

She sighed. "Well, he's not coming back for us yet. Rin-san is in the other room keeping watch. Jiraiya-sama is keeping an eye on the kids since they're still in Azuchi." He felt her eyes on him and turned to her, brown meeting black. "I've already informed Shimura-sama of what he told us when he came by to check on us earlier this morning."

Sasuke caught her wince, felt it more than anything else, really.

"There's also something you need to know, Sasuke."

Izumi sat up, moving away from him and placing both her hands on his shoulders. He saw her jaw tighten and her lips purse before she spoke.

"The Uchiha Compound is gone. Remember the fire from last night? It burned everything away. There's nothing left."

~TtT~

"You're really determined to graduate early, aren't you?" Sanshou Hanzo gave his grandson a bemused look.

Here he was, more or less the lord of the Land of Rain and leader of the shinobi village it housed, and he was having an argument with his grandson to try and convince him he shouldn't graduate early.

"I'm bored out of my mind, Jiji." Kotarou said with an exaggerated shrug. The boy's sandy blond hair fell in loose waves and framed his face, almost brushing the respirator around his mouth, the same one that Hanzo now wore. "I've been ahead of classes for over a year now, and there isn't much to do. Even my classmates are boring me."

Which, Hanzo supposed, wasn't all that unexpected. Both he and his son had taken interest in Kotarou very early in the boy's development. The fact that he'd started to exhibit evolutions of their rather young bloodline limit had encouraged both of the Sanshou men to see what the boy could do with it.

Of course, this meant that the boy got training early, and was being trained by both his father and grandfather, neither of which were middling ninja by any means. Besides, it had helped keep Hanzo, himself, sharp. His son and grandson were constant reminders of who he had to be strong for, if he wanted his dream of a safe and prosperous country to continue.

Still, the boy could stay in his year and make friends. For all intents and purposes, his classes in the academy were more rest time than the work he had to put in before and after. But perhaps, the kid just wanted it over with. He could make up for the free time between missions, after all.

And that was exactly what the boy had told him when he'd tried to argue with it. Bah, too clever, his grandson, and he knew just how clever he was without overestimating himself.

Hanzo was proud of the brat.

"Fine, fine." He waved off in defeat. "Okay. But you're not rushing into Chuunin, understand? It's peacetime right now, anyway."

The boy rolled his eyes. "Yes, Jiji. I'm not in that much of a hurry. I just don't want to be in the academy anymore. At least after I'm a genin, I have free time when I'm not training or on missions." Hanzo could feel the smirk on Kotarou's face, respirator or no. "Besides, it's always peacetime in the Land of Rain."

The old man actually chuckled.

Yes, because after he'd managed to put his country back together after that debacle that was the Second Great Shinobi War, Amegakure adopted the policy of aggressive neutrality. Enough blood had been shed by the people of the Land of Rain in wars other nations started, and they would no longer be the continent's favorite battleground.

By the time he was done, and the Third Great Shinobi War rolled around, anyone that dared to enter his country as a hostile force was in for a nasty, nasty surprise, and a rather quick death.

And Hanzo would be damned if he let that change.

It's why his people had started to say that it was always peacetime in their country, because while the rest of the continent had bloodied itself in wasteful conflicts, Ame would enrich itself on their foolishness.

Having the Namikaze Corporation's headquarters based there only helped matters. The Inn also helped boost tourism immensely, granted Hanzo couldn't really plan for that. The Inn was older than he was, after all.

"Taro-nii!" Nightingale floorboards sang as a blue streak burst through the observatory's entrance and struck his son in the stomach. Despite being trained to be a ninja, and the boy being bright enough to be able to graduate early, Sanshou Kotarou let out a startled gasp and was knocked down.

Spirits, that girl loved to make an entrance.

"Sayo-chan." His grandson held the girl that was now laying atop him on the loveseat, his brown eyes blinking up at her. "How are you?"

"Bored." The blue-haired, purple-eyed girl said with a wide grin. "Are you busy right now, Taro-nii?"

The boy turned to his grandfather in question. Hanzo chuckled, shook his head, and waved him off. "I think we're done here, Sayoko-chan. Kotarou-kun is all yours."

Sayoko cheered, hopping in excitement and, unfortunately, landing on his grandons belly. He let out another groan.

Hanzo laughed.

"Play with me!"

Kotarou just nodded, but even from where he sat, Hanzo could see the boy was smiling. Minutes later, the two were out of the room, and a few more minutes after that, Hanzo could see them playing in the courtyard below when he walked up to the observatory window. The two paid the rain no mind.

This. This was what he fought for. That his grandson didn't need to scrape a living or fear the larger countries that surrounded them made it all worth it.

Behind him, the floorboards sang again.

"Now where the hell did that granddaughter of mine get to?"

Namikaze Saiki walked through the door and looked about, checking beneath the little table in the back of the room that sat below the mirror before giving Hanzo a look. Over the years, the woman had taken to wearing greying her hair in a low bun. And while she now dressed in a less formal manner than Hanzo remembered in their youth, she still wore the haori that every Namikaze he'd met seemed to favor. Today, it was red and marked with the black slashes that represented the clan.

"Saiki-dono."

"Hanzo-sama." She returned with a grin. "You wouldn't happen to have seen Sayoko-chan come by here, did you? Her mother is looking for her."

The man gave her an apologetic look. "Unfortunately, she got her hands on Kotarou and they're down there playing now." He turned to look out the observatory window and down at the two who were now in a fountain.

He wondered if he should be glad that his prodigious grandson still knew how to act his age.

"Sayoko-chan has him wrapped around her little finger."

Saiki giggled as she walked up to lean against one of the pillars that lined the floor-to-ceiling windows. "It's cute, isn't it? The prodigy and the heiress."

"Sounds like one of Jiraiya-chan's novels."

"Hah. Maybe you should suggest it to him next time he's in town. Maybe he'd even dedicate the book to you."

"I'm sure that would raise a lot of eyebrows. 'The latest in the Icha-icha series dedicated to Sanshou Hanzo.'" He shook his head as he laughed at the absurdity of the idea.

After the laughter died down, Saiki stepped towards one of the loveseats. Taking out a stack of letters from her haori's inner pocket, she began to read.

Hanzo turned away from the kids and turned instead towards the horizon. Tengoku-zan afforded a commanding view of the central river-valley that comprised most of the Land of Rain's territory. He couldn't quite see it right now though, not with the darkening skies and the mists, but he could still imagine in his mind. Hanzo has stood from this observatory window and looked out to survey the land he was the protector of enough times over the years that the image was burned into his mind.

The Tenryu-gawa would be visible from here during a good day, usually glittering in the light of the sun despite the distance from the mountain. The great river collected the waters from the almost endless rain that his country was known for and flowed south towards the Land of Rivers before going to the sea. Roads cut through either side of the river, and granted easy access to each of the three Great Nations that stood on the Land of Rain's borders.

It also was large enough to permit boats to travel down it, though the river terminated at the base of Tetsuichi-zan, the mountain where the village was located.

At one time, that same valley had been where the Amegakure had been situated, and it was where many of the battles of the first two Great Shinobi Wars were fought.

It's why one of the first things Hanzo had done after he'd assumed leadership of the country was to move the village to the mountain. It made access more difficult to attackers while still being relatively easy to get to for trade with the roads and rivers. Also, it was out of the way enough that should the other nations decide to fight in the Land of Rain again, they would not have to stomp all over his people to do so.

Well, the cities, at least. The smaller settlements that were built around the roads or around the smaller ports along the river were another matter, but those were easier to evacuate thanks to easy access to that same river, and the fact that they could evacuate to Tengoku-zan if that was closer.

The Grand Hinata Inn had served as refugee camps and hospitals for those injured during previous wars, and would treat anyone regardless of affiliation. It's even where he'd encountered the Densetsu no Sannin after the battle where he named them.

He could still remember the looks on their faces when he'd come to the inn to check on their supplies.

Sanshou Hanzo was too dignified a figure to laugh at them.

Well, openly at least. He'd shared a laugh with Namikaze Fundo, Saiki's husband, over drinks later that night when he relayed the story. Good times.

Behind him, he heard Saiki hum to herself.

"Interesting news, Saiki-dono?"

He could practically hear the smirk in her reply. "Yes, actually." There was a shuffle of papers. "Rin says that the Uchiha Clan's been decimated. There are two of them left, children."

At this, his eyebrows rose. The Uchiha were arguably Konoha's most powerful clan, militarily. The Senju were all but extinct as a bloodline now, and the Hyuuga, while numerous, didn't have the power to really contest them.

Looking at her, Hanzo realized the woman looked pensive. "I thought you'd be happier. Weren't they enemies of yours?"

The Namikaze elder flinched. "Enemy is stretching it, I think. I don't hate them." She looked up from her work, amethyst meeting light brown. "We disagree with their beliefs, and it's not really all that relevant anymore. The Uchiha haven't really tried to shape the world since the villages were founded. Gone are the days of Uchiha Madara."

Yes, because the Uchiha and the Senju had become too focused on preserving their little pocket of the Shinobi world to bother concerning themselves with how the rest of it was being run. Not since the time of Senju Hashirama did they really make efforts to change it.

"You still sound rather pleased, though. From what you've said, I doubt it's because you just like to see them die out."

Now she was grinning. "Of course not. I'd like to think that I'm not a monster, Hanzo-sama." Then she lifted another stack of papers, a catalog. "What I'm really pleased about is this: assets!"

Ah.

"Look at these, Hanzo!" The woman looked almost feral. Her eyes were wide and her grin manic. "Hideout, supplies, contacts. This is a treasure trove, and it's all here for the taking."

"Wouldn't the last two members of the clan realize those records are missing?"

"Not when the whole district was burned down in an effort to deny the world of hundreds of harvestable Sharingan eyes." Saiki laughed. "No, unless Fugaku-chan bothered to tell his younger son about where he kept all of this, it's unlikely the last two Uchiha in Konoha know anything at all about these."

A windfall for the Namikaze Corporation, then.

She continued, "It's not liquid, certainly, but it will still be useful. If nothing else, we can use some of these as storehouses. We need to be diverting resources to the Land of Waves and the Land of Tea soon, anyway."

"Finally got the Daimyo of the Land of Tea to agree on that canal idea?"

"On condition he can tax the profits from the toll, yes." The woman waved it off. "Which is fine. The canal should shave an entire month of travel around the country. We'll save on time and fuel for our motor ships. Besides, it will make the port we want to build in the Land of Wave all the more profitable."

Hanzo nodded as he finally stepped away from the window to return to his seat on the lounge chair.

"It'll be positioned as an excellent stop to resupply before the long trip to the rest of the western countries."

"Exactly."

And so the grip over the continent tightened just a little bit more.

Finally, Kakashi and Rin reunite. It only took a decade and some change.

I hope this and the chapter previous has been a satisfying payoff for you guys. This concludes the pre-genin arc, which is really all just about establishing the baseline changes caused by Namikaze's interference with Konoha.

What did you guys think? I'd love to hear from you.