Lady Tsunade was sitting next to Kakashi's bed with her head in her hands, a deep frown set on the lower portion of her face. When she'd found Kakashi in Shizune's room, collapsed on the ground in Gai's lap, she had quickly gone into survival mode, completely focused on stabilizing him.

The hokage had moved him back to his room and immediately ran bloodwork to test for his kidney function, having found that his GFR was alarmingly low, and that there were high levels of creatinin and albumin in his urine. In lay terms, his kidneys had suddenly started failing, and she had no choice but to put him on a hemodialysis machine, in order to keep him alive.

He'd been somewhat lucid after she'd found him with Dr. Suzuki, occasionally asking how Shizune was, or why she wasn't waking up, completely ignoring the strain of his own painful ailments. Eventually though, he'd deteriorated to the point of being deeply unconscious and unresponsive-It had been a few days since he'd started dialysis, and he still showed no signs of waking up.

Finding that he wasn't gaining consciousness, Tsunade had run a battery of tests, including an EEG to check for his brain health, as she'd been highly concerned about the stress that the delicate organ had undertaken since the operation. The results had shown that he had significantly reduced brain activity, which meant that it was likely he would never wake up.

It felt as if she had to bear the burden alone, because Shizune was also in a coma, and had yet to wake up. The stress of Kakashi's deteriorating condition, and her apprentice's failure to improve, weighed on the hokage heavily, to the point where she wondered if she had high blood pressure.

Tsunade rubbed her tired eyes and looked up, removing her hands from her face. As she gazed at Kakashi's sleeping face, and all of the machines attached to his body, she felt herself losing control of her tightly wound emotions. Her bottom lip quivered, eyes spontaneously beginning to water with salty tears as she came to terms with the fact that she had lost him. Kakashi wasn't going to make it.

A big part of her couldn't help but blame herself; perhaps if she had done something differently, this wouldn't have happened.

She would have to live with losing Kakashi, and with how she'd chosen to ignore his final wishes to just go home, and stop everything. Tsunade would be constantly forced to remember how much pain she'd put him through at the end of his life.

Now that she'd done everything she could, and her time to save him was resoundingly over, she had to sit with deep, almost unbearable guilt.

"Kakashi..." she began softly with a scratchy voice, tenderly grasping one of his hands, "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..."

With drawn eyebrows that openly displayed her emotional torment, Tsunade clasped his limp hand in both of her own and brought it to her mouth, kissing it lightly and closing her eyes. She released a shaky breath, a tear slipping down her cheek.

This is my fault.

At that moment, Jiraiya opened the door and entered the room, a sympathetic expression painting itself onto his face as he noticed his old friend's depressed mood. Catching sight of the liquid glistening underneath her shut eyes, he padded closer to her side, placing a hand on her shoulder to let her know that he was there.

"Tsunade," Jiraiya started somberly, already aware of the Hatake's irreparable state, as he'd been the first one that the hokage had told,"You should get some rest. God knows you need it."

Sniffling, she shook her head, gently setting Kakashi's cold hand back onto the mattress, and quickly wiping her eyes of any signs of crying.

"No," she told him hastily, standing up and brushing his palm off of her shoulder, "I have work to do. Shizune...h-hasn't been there to help me, so I have piles of work waiting for me in my office."

Jiraiya's eyes softened when he heard the slight quiver in her voice upon uttering Shizune's name. He was also aware of how the young kunoichi had put her life on the line to use a jutsu on Kakashi, and had been admitted to the hospital ever since.

"Tsunade," he said seriously, grasping her wrist when she began to walk towards the door, pulling her body towards himself, "Just give yourself a minute, please...Let yourself process all of this."

He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look him in the eyes, his brows furrowing sadly upon observing the deep anguish in her downcast gaze.

"None of any of this is your fault...You know that, right?"

At this, a deep frown tugged down on her lips, as he'd hit a soft spot with his words. She shook her head sadly, clutching the front of her shirt with trembling fingers, and looking down at her feet with burning, watery eyes.

"It is my fault..." she whispered shakily, her breath catching on her words as she tentatively looked back at him, "My fault...I put Kakashi through this..."

Feeling a painful lump in her throat, she gulped and leaned her head onto Jiraiya's chest, her shoulders beginning to shake with silent sobs. He quickly closed the distance between them and wrapped strong arms around her, silently encouraging her to feel her suppressed grief. With the simple hug, she began to cry audibly, feeling uncontrollable, heaving wails slip past her lips.

The hokage didn't even know she could cry that hard, but now that she was, it was the only thing that felt right.

"You didn't do this to him, Tsunade," Jiraiya reassured her with a gentle tone, stroking her tangled, blonde hair, "You did everything you could to save Kakashi's life. And this? This was out of your hands, okay? You need to remember that."

Kakashi looked around himself and saw nothing but white, noticing fluffy clouds above him, and sparkling glimmers floating in the air. He waved his hand through the seemingly endless, uniform space around him, parting the glittering orbs.

Looking down at his body, he found that he was much younger, wearing clothes he'd worn when he was on Team Minato. There was no pain, and moving felt much easier than he ever could've imagined.

"Kakashi? What are you doing here?" he heard a familiar voice say, immediately turning around with wide eyes that glinted with recognition.

To his great surprise, Obito was standing right in front of him.

"I don't know…what are you doing here?" Kakashi responded with genuine confusion, wondering if this meant he was dead. His voice was somewhat high-pitched, lacking the depth and baritone that he'd possessed as an adult.

"Well, after I found out about your current situation, and the cancer and all, they sent me to get you," Obito said with a smirk, adjusting his orange goggles, "I'm sorry you got sick, Kakashi…we all wanted you to live longer..."

"Who's they? Who sent you?" Kakashi asked curiously, his eyes narrowing as he tried to make sense of his current reality, "Am I dead?"

"Rin and sensei, of course. And no, you're not dead yet. Just in a coma. But you're at a point where you could choose to cross over—that's why you're able to see me."

"But…But this doesn't exist…There is no crossing over. People just die. I'm dying right now, aren't I? And these are just chemical surges that are making me see dead people…"

Obito reached out his hand, giving Kakashi a warm, encouraging smile.

"It's up to you," he told him, "Are you ready? Or do you want to stay? You have to decide, before it's too late for you…You can still go back."

Kakashi gazed at his open palm thoughtfully, doubtful of what the right choice was, or if there even was one. Slowly, he reached out his hand, the tips of his fingers brushing against Obito's. Deep down, he knew what he wanted.

"Let's go. Rin's been asking about you a lot."

Maybe he could finally be at peace.

Before he could fully grasp onto death, he felt a strong force pulling him away, causing him to let go of his friend's hand, and get sucked backwards into a void.

"O-Obito!" he gasped in surprise, struggling to maintain his balance against the seemingly magnetic force. He caught sight of how his friend didn't look concerned in the slightest, given that he was making no move to grab his arm to prevent him from falling.

As he fell downward, he relaxed his rigid limbs and looked above himself with blank eyes that held no fear, his gaze fixed on Obito's smile, and his outstretched hand.

When he came to, he realized that he was in a different setting. Looking around, he recognized a room in his childhood home, but found that he was lying in a hospital bed, and had his adult body back.

Glancing to his side, he saw his father sitting next to him, noticing that his face was drawn with worry.

"…Dad?" he said tentatively, sitting up quickly.

"Kakashi, you're awake," the man responded with a tired, weary smile, placing a hand on his son's head and tenderly brushing his hair back, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine…In fact, I don't feel a thing."

"That's good then, son. I…heard you got the same illness as your mother," Sakumo said quietly, "You shouldn't have had to bear this pain alone. I should've been there..."

Kakashi shook his head, not ready to hear his father feel guilty about dying. "No, Dad. I wasn't alone. My friends were there."

He thought of his comrades, remembering all of the times that they had shown up for him when he hadn't even asked them to. It had annoyed him relentlessly, but he knew that in the end, he'd been lucky.

"Why am I in a hospital bed?" he asked with a hint of humor in his voice, his brows raised at the strange occurrence.

"You tell me, Kakashi. This is your brain."

"I don't know…you'll have to tell me."

Sakumo sighed, making eye contact with his son.

"A part of you is still attached to life, and doesn't want to let go…You could've chosen to die, but you didn't."

Kakashi didn't know what to do with that information, having thought that he didn't want to live for the longest time. Perhaps a human part of him still hadn't come to terms with the idea of dying. He realized that even those that claimed they didn't fear passing away, spent their last moments looking for proof that they'd lived– everybody was scared of dying, and that was just science.

But an intrinsic fear of dying didn't necessarily mean that one didn't want to die, right?

His Dad placed a firm hand on his shoulder, shaking him out of his stupor.

"You have to decide, Kakashi. You're running out of time, and you need to make a decision soon," the older man emphasized, "It's not your time yet. You have to live, son, for your Mother. For me."

"But…you guys are dead," Kakashi thought out loud, not understanding why he should live for someone who wasn't alive, "Why didn't you tell me…about Mom?"

Sakumo's gaze fell at the sudden question, his eyes downcast and filled with sorrow and regret. He looked back up at Kakashi with a sad smile, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.

"I…I'm sorry. I should've told you," he brought out with difficulty, trying to find the right words to say, "The trauma of losing her changed me…and I couldn't even bring myself to talk about it with my closest friends. But you have to know that I was also trying to shield you from that pain.

Kakashi blinked as he processed the genuine explanation, nodding slightly in understanding, and acceptance.

"I know, Dad…" he started softly, "It's okay."

Sakumo smiled, his eyes glossing over.

"And now…the same thing is happening to you," the older man said solemnly, his voice breaking slightly, "Kakashi…you can't die from this too..."

"You have to live. It's what your mother would've wanted."