A/N: Last chapter was "I granted requests for Obito to show up and for Sakura to reveal her eyes, but kind of in like a Monkey's Paw way."
This chapter is "I granted requests for the time-travel reveal and explanations, but kind of in like a Monkey's Paw way."
Seriously. Way too much exposition.
WARNINGS: Extended dissociation, discussions of canon bad mental health (namely Sasuke and Obito), near-death experiences, way more exposition than is healthy
Kakashi lets Rin handle the whole 'keeping Obito under control' angle, and focuses in on the fuuinjutsu. The back of his mind categorizes things as he runs through the countersealing process almost mechanically. There's a lot of screaming. He does his best to ignore it.
"Where the hell did she get those eyes?" Obito demands, and the mix of feelings in his voice isn't exactly comforting. Mostly, there's anger. Less so, there's fear.
Doesn't matter.
"No idea," Kakashi says. "Stop talking."
The scream cuts off, but Kakashi doesn't look back. There isn't time. He has a job. Kanna can take care of it.
"She's having a seizure," Rin whispers, and Kakashi doesn't flinch. He can't afford to.
"Kanna has it covered," he says instead.
Obito hisses at him, catlike, and Kakashi has to put a hand on his shoulder and push him down.
"Sensei would be disappointed," Rin murmurs, and her voice is so low that Kakashi is sure she didn't mean for either of them to hear.
Obito flinches anyway.
Behind them, something changes, and Kanna screams. It's just one word.
"SAKURA!"
Kanna's voice is—
It's excruciating.
It's panic and pain and horror and desperation.
It's everything Kakashi can't take a moment to indulge in.
Kakashi finishes the counterseal, and he knows it took twice as long as it would have taken a master like Jiraiya or Kanna, but he finishes. He stays just long enough for Obito to screech and roll over and start swearing up a storm. Kakashi stands and turns away, because if Obito is swearing, then he's going to live, and he's not Kakashi's problem anymore.
(Part of him balks at that, but of all the teammates he has in this room, current and former, only one seems to be at risk of dying at the moment.)
(Priorities.)
Sakura's still jerking in place—not good—and Kakashi doesn't think putting anything in her mouth would normally be a good thing. But Kanna isn't normal. She knows human bodies better than Kakashi does, and…
Well, biting has a special place in Kanna's arsenal, so Sakura's mouth being forcibly closed over Kanna's collarbone is uncomfortable but not particularly startling.
He can see the chakra drain from Uzumaki to wife even without the Sharingan.
Kanna sobs, eyes wide and terrified.
"She's dying?" Kanna manages, confused and tremulous. In denial, almost. "She—she can't, she's all—she can't, I can't just—"
Her eyes drop to her free arm and the seal inked onto it just this morning, and Kakashi immediately knows what she's going to do.
He gets to his feet, already running for her, wondering if it's too late, if she's going to summon herself and Sakura and just come back for him later, because they both know the list of priorities going on here, and Kanna would probably kill Kakashi herself if it was the only way to save Sakura. Leaving him behind is easy, with as many allies as there are.
Something catches him by the arm, fast and dark, and he collides with Kanna before he can blink.
Fwoosh.
In a tangle of limbs, the team shows up on the emergency reverse-summoning seal.
They're in the Hokage's office. Jiraiya's right there.
Too many people came. He tries to count. He can't. His own eye blurs as he tries to figure out who came and who didn't.
Obito's eye burns, and Kakashi's balance struggles to make itself known. He feels like vomiting. The smell of chakra smoke hits him like a sledgehammer and then fills his head like cotton.
"Hospital," Kanna orders, and Kakashi looks up to find her staring at Jiraiya. "We—we need the hospital, we need Tsunade or—"
Jiraiya rolls up his sleeves, ignoring the mess that is Kakashi and—there are too many limbs here, who the hell—he picks up Sakura with ease and not a single bawdy joke. "What else?"
"Anko—get Anko," Kanna says, and she clambers to her feet in a manner that's more ungainly than it should be. Even she shouldn't be this thrown off, despite the chaos of a seemingly botched reverse summoning. She turns to look at Kakashi. Her eyes are wild. Her demeanor is worse. "The cells, for Sakura, tell her to get the cells."
Kakashi has no idea what she's talking about, but Anko probably will.
"Do you know where she is?" Kakashi asks, and pushes the nausea down as he stands. He ignores the Hokage, because right now is a situation where it is better to ask forgiveness than permission, because the emergency means everything is in the status to be dealt with later. He ignores the Hokage, he ignores the dead, and he ignores everything except What Needs Doing.
"Tenzō's."
Kakashi nods and disappears.
#
Kakashi bursts into Tenzō's apartment and ignores the screech of someone offended by him walking in on them mid-coitus.
"What the hell—"
"Emergency," Kakashi says, voice clipped. "Anko. Cells for Sakura. Kanna sent me."
Anko only hesitates long enough to process the words, and then grabs her underwear. "What's the situation?"
"Seizure. Something about her eyes. The Shinigami showed up. I have no idea what's going on, but I'm assuming you do."
Anko finishes pulling on enough of her clothes to not get arrested or cut open her foot on a roof tile. "R&D, let's go."
Kakashi notes absently that Tenzō is also getting dressed, if not quite as quickly as Anko. "We'll be at the hospital. Don't tell the kids."
It's the only time Kakashi can spare before he follows Anko, and by the time he catches up to her, she's already yanking open the door to Kanna's private lab and ignoring everyone who tries to stop her.
"Kanna's orders," Kakashi snaps, and the lab techs flinch back. "Hokage-approved."
They can't argue with that, and if they try, he'll remind everyone of just how dangerous he is.
"Let's go," Anko barks, and there's a handful of vials in a plastic back, still steaming wisps of cold air from the temperature-controlled storage.
Kakashi follows her, and they get directed without hesitation to the right room.
Tenzō's already waiting outside the door.
Anko slams to door open, gets to Kanna, and shoves the bag in her face.
"Wait!" Tenzō yells. "Those are—"
"I know!" Kanna yells, and she's already pulling a syringe and transferring whatever is going on. "Get out!"
There are too many people in this room.
Jiraiya, the Uzumaki, Anko and Tenzō, the dead—
There's too much going on, and Kakashi doesn't have enough pieces.
Anko's breathing is shallow and angry and contained, and Tenzō looks to be on the edge of a panic of his own.
"What are they?" Kakashi asks, the dread already pooling.
Kanna plunges a syringe into Sakura's heart.
"Hashirama cells," Anko says.
Shit.
Shit.
Sakura screams again. Her back arches, and the wave of chakra that somehow leaves her body is enough to rattle the windows.
The lights flicker.
For a single moment, everything is still.
Sakura falls back to the bed, boneless.
Kanna breathes heavily, the loudest sound left in the room, and then throws herself across Sakura's chest.
Jiraiya steps forward. "Is she—"
"For now," Kanna hiccups. "But we're going to need Tsunade, I think."
Tsunade wouldn't come back to the village for anything, Kakashi thinks, except this is her apprentice that's dying.
It might be enough.
"I'll send a toad," Jiraiya says, and steps to the door. "Unless you need…"
"No. Yes. I mean," Kanna trails off, and then hesitantly says, "I think… I think we abandoned some people on the way back."
"I'll check on the detection seals," Jiraiya promises, and slips out.
Kakashi stays where he is.
The emergency is—it's not over.
But it's on hold, maybe.
There's nothing else he can contribute.
"Anyone feel like explaining?" Anko demands, quiet and controlled and very much keeping her eyes on the Uzumaki.
"I'm lost," Kakashi admits.
"Yeah, uh-huh, mind explaining why I'm seeing two dead people," Anko asks, eyes sliding over to him. "Perfectly healthy, living dead people?"
Kakashi cringes.
"I'd like to know the same thing."
Ah. The Sandaime.
Right in the doorway.
Probably just arrived.
Shit.
Kakashi turns and bows. "Hokage-sama."
"I'm not leaving her," Kanna says, voice rough, and shoots a glare over her shoulder. "I'm not—you can't make me."
'Feral,' Kakashi had joked.
'A rescue,' Sakura had corrected.
He's not sure which is right, anymore.
"A shadow clone, perhaps?" Hiruzen suggests, and Kanna hesitates.
"No," she finally says. "But Kurama knows everything I do."
A twist of chakra later, and the Kyuubi stands before them, looking as almost human as Kakashi's gotten used to.
His eyes skip to Rin, then land on Shisui. "Keep your eyes in check and I won't eat you."
Shisui blanches. "I haven't even done anything!"
Kurama bares his teeth in a parody of a grin. "Yeah, well, I'm not a fan of your pinwheel."
Shisui tries to hide behind Rin.
He's almost forty centimeters taller than her, so it… does not work. It would be funny, except nothing is, right now.
Kurama rolls his eyes. "Alright, everybody out. I'll handle… exposition, I guess."
A thought occurs.
"Can you leave?" Kakashi asks, sidling over just enough to ask.
Kurama blinks at him, then goes over to Kanna and reaches into one of her pockets.
He comes back to Kakashi and presses a scroll into his hands. "I can now."
Right.
Okay.
Cool.
Kakashi glances at the Hokage, just enough to get approval, and then the entire menagerie troops out.
He startles when a small form comes to his side and takes his hand.
He looks down.
Rin smile back up at him.
His hand spasms.
"I really am sorry," she says, and squeezes his hand. She drops her head enough to keep an eye on where they're going, and clings to him like a genin.
The walk to the Hokage's office isn't as quick as it could be, because Kurama can't shunshin. Shisui ends up weaving a genjutsu around himself and Rin so nobody starts asking uncomfortable questions, and by the time they get to the office, Jiraiya is waiting for them.
"A few hours," Jiraiya says. "Nobody expected Sakura to get hurt in a way she couldn't heal herself, so we didn't anticipate needing Tsunade-hime as more than backup on a longer surgery."
Because if anyone else had been hurt, Sakura would have been about as good as Tsunade. Better, even, because Tsunade still flinches at blood, and Sakura doesn't.
The privacy seals activate, and the Hokage takes a seat.
He eyes them all for a moment, and then gestures. "Kakashi, take a seat."
Kakashi blinks at him. He points at his own face.
"Yes, you look like you're about to keel over," the Hokage says.
Kakashi lets Rin guide him to a chair.
Jiraiya takes the other.
Hiruzen eyes them all, and then sets his eyes on Kakashi again. "Report."
Kakashi stares at him. He looks at Tenzō, and Anko, and then back at Hiruzen. "Even the S-rank secrets?"
"Elude what you can," Hiruzen says, with half a nod at Shisui in particular.
Okay.
Kakashi can do that.
So… he does that. He's pretty sure he dissociates for most of it, because his voice stays even and he's only vaguely aware of how Rin won't leave his side, and how Tenzō gravitates over to the other, but he can report.
Giving the Hokage a sitrep is easy, until he gets to the Rinnegan.
He pauses, and looks at Jiraiya, and then… explains.
The whole thing with the… proper resurrection.
The Shinigami.
Everything that went suddenly, impossibly wrong.
Hiruzen keeps cool through the whole thing.
He nods when Kakashi finishes, and then turns. "Jiraiya?"
"Yeah, Sensei?"
"I believe you were checking on what happened to Itachi and Obito."
Jiraiya shakes his head. "Gone by the time I checked. I think the reverse summoning being as different from intended ended up breaking the barriers."
Hiruzen nods. Anko's next. "The Hashirama cells?"
Anko grimaces. "I reported that last year, Hokage-sama."
"I wasn't aware you knew where to find them."
She shrugs. "All I knew was that you approved it and that Kanna kept saying it wasn't undergoing human testing at any point, and that it was intended for Sakura."
"But you knew they were cloned cells of Hashirama's."
Anko nods. "I… offered some thoughts on telomere maintenance and the like. Things I remembered from…"
She purses her lips, but nobody has to guess what she meant.
"The reports," she finally says, shooting a look towards Tenzō.
Hiruzen nods, unreadable.
"Kurama," he says. "I believe you are the best suited to explain the… circumstances."
"Wasn't planning on telling any of these people," Kurama says gruffly. "Hatake, soon, but not the rest."
"We, um, kind of know?" Shisui offers.
He tries to hide behind Tenzō this time, which works marginally better than hiding behind Rin.
Kurama blinks at him. "Oh shit."
"Only those who died before the reset point," Rin says quietly. "Not everyone, and not everything, but I'd kept an eye on Obito, and Shisui still had active eyes out in the world, so…"
With a groan, Kurama leans back against the wall and runs a hand down his face. "Fuck."
Kakashi's brain refuses to put the pieces together. He can see how they're supposed to go, but he's dealt with so much bullshit today that he just wants to cling to his denial a little longer.
"So if someone decides to bring back Madara—"
"Aa, he'd remember."
"Shit," Kurama repeats, and Kakashi sees the sentiment echoed on Jiraiya's rapidly-paling face. "Shit."
"So I suppose that leaves Mitarashi-san and Tenzō-san," Hiruzen says, rather than letting them keep on the path of 'oh hey, Madara's going to get resurrected too, and not by us.'
Kakashi wants to sleep for a week.
"Okay," Kurama says, rubbing at his forehead with the heel of his palm, like it's going to help somehow. "Give me—give me a minute. I need to check with the head bitch in charge."
He closes his eyes, and Kakashi doesn't even pretend to have any answers for Tenzō's searching look.
"Should we call Inoichi?" Jiraiya asks.
"I already sent for him and Shikaku," Hiruzen dismisses. "They're already on their way."
"Ah, yeah, for the intel, but…" Jiraiya trails off, and Kakashi feels eyes on him.
It's not surprising.
"A few minutes, then," Hiruzen says, and then when Kurama opens his eyes and confirms he's got permission, Hiruzen raises a hand and asks him to wait.
Kakashi doesn't react when Inoichi and Shikaku do finally arrive, nor when the Hokage gives them an abridged summary of what happened in the thrice-damned cave.
Shikaku sighs. "Right then. So this is going to bring the number from seven to, what, twelve?"
"Big jump," Inoichi says.
"I told Itachi," Shisui mutters, and is immediately pinned with a glare from half the room.
He cringes again.
"I'm assuming you had a reason?" Shikaku says.
Shisui nods rapidly.
"Thirteen, then," Inoichi says. "I'd ask why you need us here, since we've already heard it, but with the new leaks, I can imagine that you'll need some adjustment to the plans."
Anko shifts her weight next to Kakashi, and he dimly catches a whiff of tension, a mix of stress and coiled rage and fear.
Hiruzen nods. "Kurama, if you will."
The bijuu huffs. "Right. Okay. First thing's first, I'm the Kyuubi."
Silence.
"Half of you already knew this," he continues. "I don't know about you dead kids. I don't particularly care. Mitarashi, tree boy, you probably guessed."
Neither of them meet his eyes.
"Right," Kurama says. "So, I'm the half that sealed into Kanna, externalized with a bunch of sealing nonsense that nobody except Jiraiya actually cares about. Got that out of the way? Great."'
He takes a breath.
"Kanna and Sakura are time-travelers."
Kakashi hates that his stomach twists and turns but not in surprise.
He's been putting it together for the past, what, hour? Maybe?
It makes sense.
He doesn't want it to.
"Who all knows?" Tenzō asks.
Jiraiya takes up the answer. "Myself, Tsunade-hime, Shizune-chan, sensei, the Intel boys over here, and Karin. Technically all of the bijuu, but only because they actually remember the future, being… not exactly physical creatures."
"You entrusted a ten-year-old with that information?" Tenzō demands.
"She's eleven, and it's hard to not tell a chakra sensor that the person claiming to be her older sister is actually her," Kurama parries.
And yeah.
That makes sense.
Of course they're the same fucking person.
"Karin only knows because we literally couldn't hide it from her," Kurama explains. "They grabbed her before they grabbed me, which means Kanna's chakra was… well, different with age, but not enough for Karin to not put the pieces together."
Right.
Kakashi feels like there's a tremor in his cheekbone right now.
Is that normal?
"So… Sakura…" Anko trails off. "She's Haruno?"
Kurama shrugs. He nods.
"And the eyes are Sasuke's," Shisui says.
Kurama curls a lip in distaste, but nods again.
Kakashi tries to picture shy little Haruno becoming the woman that can punch mountains down.
Does anyone that age really resemble what they'll become?
He doesn't know.
He did. Gai did.
Obito didn't.
Rin never even got a chance to grow up.
"Perhaps it would be best to explain the original timeline," Hiruzen suggests, and it's that exact kind, grandfatherly tone that grates.
Kakashi almost wakes up from the dissociation hell.
Kurama does explain. It's a story told in broad strokes, starting when the girls were originally in their late teens. The Fourth War, Madara, Obito, Zetsu, Kaguya. A seeming win, followed by the return of the crazy grandma a few months later, leading to a war that suddenly turned into one of attrition.
Hundreds of thousands dead.
Turns out Sasuke was the third in that polyamorous triad, dead on a mission that took him too far for Sakura or Kanna to reach in time to save, for all their prowess as healers.
And Sakura…
"Her chakra control is perfect," Kurama says. "Her medical techniques are flawless. It's terrifying and, you need to understand, literally nobody would be able to do what she did without being an Uchiha."
Because Sasuke had made them promise to take his eyes, a weapon far too powerful against one like Kaguya, and give them to someone who could control them without, well, dying. Or going blind.
Sakura was one of the only people who could handle the chakra strain.
She was the only one who could take the eyes into her body and then shut them off.
Perfect chakra control, Kurama insisted.
To a terrifying degree.
"The Hashirama cells were a long-term ploy," Kurama says. "A backup plan. They can mitigate the damage of the Mangekyo, but it's a dangerous game, and while Sakura was getting migraines from having those things in her head, it wasn't anything she couldn't handle."
Of course not.
Until the Shinigami happened.
"Anyway," Kurama says, oddly slow. "Time travel eventually came up. Mostly Naruto and Kanna. Picking the people to go back wasn't simple, but… anyway. I wasn't involved in the process. I just know the basic rationale."
Hiruzen gestures for him to share with the class.
"Optimal would have been Naruto and Sasuke because of the whole… transmigration thing, but that wasn't an option, because one was dead and the other was the main battery. Barring that, one Senju and one Uchiha, direct lines from Indra and Ashura," Kurama says.
"But there weren't any Uchiha left, except then-Obito," he explains, "and we needed him loaning Kamui for the fuuinjutsu, so he had to help fuel it. So the next best option was someone with a fraction of Uchiha blood, which at that point meant eyes, so it was either Kakashi or Sakura. The Senju line was down to either Tsunade or an Uzumaki, which meant Kanna, since Naruto wasn't an option. Tenzō would have worked, but, uh, sorry. You were dead by then. They weighed the pros and cons, decided that Kanna and Sakura were the best option, and sent them off."
All makes sense.
Technically.
"They picked up Karin first thing, because Kusa was…" he trails off, snarls, and shakes his head. "Bad for her. They grabbed her first, then went to Tsunade. I wasn't there, so I don't know how exactly it went down, but they shared the truth and some proof, and Tsunade and Shizune agreed to provide a cover story when it was needed. They made contact through Tsunade to Jiraiya, used him to get into the village, got cleared with T&I, and went and… retrieved me from the Shinigami's stomach."
There's a whole story there.
Kakashi… wants to say that he doesn't want to hear it.
But he does.
He's tired of not knowing.
It can wait, though.
"Everything from there is… what you already know," Kurama says. "They adopted the kids, worked on fixing some issues, like Shukaku's seal, the whole Danzō thing… and eventually Obito, but that plan's gone more 'round the bend than he has, so."
Kakashi stares at the floor, and concentrates on his breathing.
"Kanna worked for Orochimaru, didn't she."
Anko is… not asking.
"For a time," Kurama allows. "She couldn't say that here, where he'd never met her, but everything she told you about the 'someone similar' was pretty true to life."
Anko's probably grimacing. Kakashi doesn't look.
"So… what happened back in the cave?" Shisui asks.
Kurama shrugs. "Best guess, Sasuke left a chakra imprint in the eyes that didn't activate until literally then, in order to bring you back to life. Probably for Itachi's sake."
Hm.
Concerning.
"That was… sweet of him?" Shisui hesitantly offers. "Um. Did he… know that Sakura would react like that?"
"Fuck no," Kurama says, and rather emphatically at that. "Not a single part of that was planned, and I've never heard of Hamura-ji showing up to fuck over a Rinne Tensei caster after the fact. It might've been because her body couldn't handle the strain, or some kind of metaphysical backlash, or Hamura getting revenge for the whole… stomach thing. Might've been the anti-Sharingan barriers having a delayed reaction. We don't know."
"Hamura?" Tenzō asks.
"Er… twin brother to the Sage of the Six Paths," Kurama says. He doesn't meet anyone's eyes. "Since the Sage was my father, that means Hamura is my uncle, and since he eventually took the role of the Shinigami…"
The bijuu trails off.
Kakashi stares at him.
(When had he stopped looking at the ground?)
"Your family tree is bullshit," Anko says.
"Yeah, and?" Kurama demands. "The fuck do you want me to do about it?"
Anko makes a noise that does not in any way mean a thing other than 'I have no answer so I'm going to be immature about it,' and Kakashi… almost laughs?
"Why did you come back when you did?" Tenzō asks. Kakashi tilts his head, just a tiny bit, because it's a good question. "I mean, um, the stuff you said earlier… only people who died before the 'reset point' would remember, so that means you showed up after Shisui died, at least, but you joined the village only a few months after the Massacre, so… why not backdate a bit further? If Sakura and Kanna cared so much for the Sasuke of the timeline you come from, then why not try to stop that from happening?"
Kakashi is not the only one to note that Tenzō avoids so much as mentioning Itachi.
He's guessed, then. The ambiguity from earlier must have suggested something hinky.
"They tried," Kurama admits. "Best we can tell, they hit a metaphorical wall in the space-time continuum and landed at the exact moment Sasuke's Sharingan woke up, right at the tail end of the massacre. Probably something to do with Sakura having his eyes, but… no way to confirm one way or the other."
That's concerningly ambiguous, but if the literal chakra being, a person who's older than everyone else in the room put together and then some, says that they can't be sure, then… they can't be sure.
"Any other questions?" the Sandaime requests, and… well, there are probably people shaking their heads. Kakashi's not really feeling it.
"What happens now?" Tenzō asks. "With, um…"
"The dead people," Anko clarifies.
"Yes, that," Hiruzen says. He's silent for a moment, and then, "Kakashi?"
Hokage's saying his name.
Hm.
Kakashi raises his head and looks into Hiruzen's eyes. Kakashi is incredibly tired right now. "Yes, sir?"
Hiruzen looks at him, and then shakes his head. "Never mind. Everyone take a few minutes. Rin and Shisui, do not leave the room, everyone else just please stay in the building and come back in fifteen minutes. Inoichi, could you take a moment and help Kakashi?"
"Aa," Inoichi agrees. "I imagine it's been… a rough day."
No shit.
"There's a miniature conference room a few doors over," Inoichi suggests, and he takes Kakashi by the elbow. "Unless—Kakashi, would you feel better if Rin was there?"
Kakashi's head snaps up and over and Rin Rin Rin—
"I'll take that as a yes," Inoichi mutters, and Rin lunges to take Kakashi's arm and peer up at him. "Hokage-sama, maybe your adjunct office instead?"
Hiruzen nods, and Inoichi leads the other two into the tiny, tiny office that opens directly to the Hokage's.
"Do you want your dogs?" Inoichi asks. "It might help."
Kakashi stands for a moment, hands at his sides, and feels… empty.
Help with what, even?
"Summon a dog, Kakashi-kun," Rin urges, voice soft, and he does.
Pakkun poofs into existence, and blanches at the sight of Rin. "Wh…"
"An unfortunate confluence of events with a fortunate outcome," Inoichi says. "She's here to stay, as far as any of us can tell."
Pakkun hesitates, and turns to Kakashi. "Boss?"
Kakashi blinks at him.
He tries to think.
"I don't…" he pauses. "I don't feel like a person right now."
Inoichi is too professional to wince, but Rin isn't, and Pakkun just launches himself into Kakashi's arms and clings. Kakashi's reaction, reaching up to hold Pakkun there in a tiny hug, is automatic.
Kakashi belatedly notices someone invading his space. Slim arms come around his waist, and a head presses against his ribcage.
Rin is so small.
"Okay," Inoichi says. "Take a seat. You haven't really had time to process any of this, and it's all hitting you… rather a lot more personally than anyone else in that room."
Kakashi takes a seat in a plush armchair, and there's enough room on the cushion that Rin squirms in next to him.
Pakkun cuddles closer.
"Walk me through it," Inoichi says. "Do you mind if I talk the way I normally would, or do you prefer I censor since Rin is here?"
Kakashi stares at him.
"We know you dissociate when things go wrong," Inoichi continues. "The danger is over, so right now, your mind is struggling to catch up. Let's categorize the good things. Rin is alive again, that's a good thing. Say it."
Kakashi takes two tries before he can say, "Rin is alive again, and that's a good thing."
"Great," Inoichi says encouragingly. "Shisui is alive. He was a friend, too, so that's a good thing."
Kakashi repeats it dutifully.
"The Slave Seal on Obito," Inoichi presses, "You managed to neutralize it when the first point of contact failed. That's a good thing, and you should be proud."
This one takes three tries, and Rin squeezes his hand.
Kakashi closes his eyes.
Rin is alive. Shisui is alive. Obito's free of Zetsu's most direct manipulation. These are good things.
His fingers play with the wrinkles at Pakkun's scruff. Good things. They're good things.
"Kakashi," Inoichi calls.
Kakashi looks up. "Yes?"
"What's the biggest roadblock right now?"
Everything.
"I don't know."
"Okay," Inoichi says. "Let's break down what we can, then. Tsunade is on her way to help with Sakura's condition, and Kanna is accomplished in her own right. If you're worried about Sakura, does Tsunade's coming here help mitigate that?"
A little.
Kakashi nods, just a bit.
"Those girls have been through a lot," Inoichi says. "I've been told that Kanna would have still been flipping tables if Sakura was in immediate danger, so she's stable. We can put that to the side, because you can trust that she's going to get the best care, right?"
Maybe.
"For now?" Kakashi tries.
Inoichi nods. "We can work with that. Not everything can be processed immediately. We just want you to get to a point where you can process instead of being numb."
That makes sense.
Kakashi nods.
"So that's a few new and scary things that we can classify as good, and one bad thing that we can trust someone else is handling well," Inoichi says. "Which leaves…"
Kakashi's mouth unsticks. "The time-travel."
Inoichi nods.
He doesn't ask 'and how does that make you feel?' because nobody's that cliché in a shinobi village, but the vibe is there.
"They were my friends," Kakashi says. "Close friends. Possibly with other feelings? And now it turns out they have—they have an entire history with me, a version of me that doesn't exist anymore, and I can't…"
His gaze drops to the floor. "Finding out something shocking about their past was inevitable, but the fact that the something shocking involves me feels like… betrayal? Which is dumb. I mean, a bunch of people knew, but each person had a reason, right?"
"Two of the Sannin, and the Hokage, that's obvious. Jounin commander and head of intel, also obvious. Karin couldn't be avoided. Shizune, they needed for the backstory to work, and they could have just had Tsunade convince her to lie, but I'm guessing it probably was more convenient to just tell her the truth, or—well, probably they knew that it would work better to just tell her, especially since she's Tsunade's assistant. Apprentice. And anyway, they met Tsunade and Shizune before they met Hokage, here, so they could say whatever they wanted."
He looks at his hands. Flexes his fingers. Tries to focus on the feeling of the leather coating his palms or the sight of ink under his fingernails.
"I wasn't enough," he says. "And I understand that there was a logic to who they picked, but it hurts to know that they didn't trust me, or couldn't trust me, and the reason it hurts is because I trusted them. And it's terrifying to know that I'll never find out what that other Kakashi said and did with them, how he treated them and what those relationships were like, what secrets he told them, what experiences they shared, or…"
He slouches a bit, and Pakkun attempts to wriggle impossibly closer. "I don't know how to feel, and I can't even talk to them about it or feel angry, because Sakura's dying, and I think Kanna might break as badly as Obito did if Sakura actually dies."
Rin's breath hitches, and Kakashi's brain twists because she's not dead, she's not, but Sakura might be and—
"Do you feel guilty?" Inoichi asks.
"Should I?" Kakashi asks. He mostly still feels empty. A bit angry and hurt and he feels guilty about that, but he doesn't think that's what Inoichi is asking.
"No," Inoichi says. "All of your emotions right now are entirely valid, but I don't think the guilt would be earned or deserved. The situation is exceedingly complex, and just knowing that it was declared an S-rank secret before they met you doesn't actually make it any easier to work through feeling like they befriended you on false pretenses."
Kakashi takes a moment, and then nods.
"I would go talk to them," Inoichi says, "once it's an option. I'm sure they'll want to talk to you."
Inoichi's probably been their therapist for S-rank stuff too, which is definitely a conflict of interest, but…
Well, Kakashi's already declared that 'not his problem' before.
"Sounds like a plan," Kakashi says.
Rin squeezes his wrist, and that's still so strange to think. "You should eat something."
He looks down at her. "What?"
"You should eat something. And drink. While we still have time."
Right. Tiny medic.
"I think a few calories will do you some good," Inoichi agrees. He stands up. "The time that Hokage-sama gave us is almost over, at any rate. We can come back to this on Tuesday."
Yeah.
Kakashi's not skipping therapy.
Not after one friend got brought back from the dead, permanently, in a way that might kill another friend, who's been lying to him for two years, and that's before he hits on the mess with Obito again.
"Tuesday," Kakashi confirms. He lets Rin lead him back into the Hokage's office, but she stays behind with Shisui as Inoichi grabs Kakashi in pursuit of a vending machine.
"Pick something," Inoichi urges, and Kakashi just looks at the machine until he sees something that doesn't make his stomach turn. It's a basic bag of trail mix, but it's got enough sugars and proteins and salt to be a decent pick-me-up.
"Good choice," Inoichi says, and Kakashi almost wants to protest being mother-henned like this, except he was just dissociating to hell and back, and Kakashi sure as hell wouldn't have left one of his ANBU alone if they had an episode like his. Inoichi points at the other machine. "Pick a drink. Sugar good, caffeine bad."
Kakashi doesn't actually like sugar very much.
Juice should be fine, though.
He picks mango-berry.
Inoichi seems to approve, and then shoos him back to the Hokage's office.
Rin immediately latches on to him again, and gets him back to the earlier chair. She sets Pakkun on his lap.
This is good.
Inoichi says something to Anko about joint sessions.
Kakashi wonders if she's feeling as weird about the Uzumaki time travel nonsense as he is.
It would make sense.
Especially with the Orochimaru angle.
"Alright," the Hokage says, once the privacy seals are back in place. "Kakashi, are you feeling better?"
"Yes, sir," Kakashi says, and tries not to cringe at the fact that the question even needs to be asked.
Inoichi squeezes his shoulder, and then steps away.
Right. No blaming himself for reacting like a human being instead of a machine.
Hiruzen nods. "Good, because this is important."
He sets forward a paper. "Nohara Rin has been legally dead for ten years. Her family home was destroyed in the Kyuubi attack. Her mother died on a mission just a few months later, and with no direct heirs, all sentimental assets were distributed to her genin teammates, and financial assets folded into village coffers. As such, Nohara Rin has no finances available, and the paperwork to get her turned back into a living citizen of the village will take some weeks. Less than it may have, once, but we've had practice after Root. We will try to recover what we can of the Nohara savings, but that will also take time to process. As she's currently not a living citizen, her status is effectively that of an undocumented minor, which means all legal decisions will be handled by next of kin or the state. As the sole legal surviving member of her genin team, you are her next of kin, and hold the power of attorney until such a time as her citizenship and legal adulthood are reinstated."
Kakashi doesn't think he should be anyone's power of attorney, but sure.
"Okay," he says. "So… she stays with me?"
"I'd like that," Rin says, and smiles at him. "If you're okay with it."
"If you agree to it, then yes," Hiruzen confirms. "If not, we likely have room in the ANBU barracks."
"No, no, I'll do it," Kakashi immediately stutters. "I have a spare futon. And an air mattress. Whichever works better. What are we telling people? All of our generation is going to recognize her."
"In a moment," Hiruzen says, and shuffles through some papers. "Shisui is… also going to take some time to reinstate as a citizen, but his savings were folded into clan coffers instead of the village, so access will likely just be asking Uchiha Sasuke to sign a piece of paper and talking to a bank."
Oh shit, Sasuke.
Kakashi takes a moment to process, and then decides it really must be said aloud. "Oh shit, Sasuke."
Shisui cringes.
The Sandaime nods. "Agreed. As much as I wish that we could simply say they are shinobi returning from long-term missions abroad, both are very recognizable, and I fear that Sasuke's mental state is…"
He trails off.
"Fragile," Inoichi says flatly. "Very, very fragile, and lying to him about a family member coming back somehow, either by hiding said family as a non-Uchiha or by claiming he was just on a long-term infiltration, will be very bad, and I'm sure Kurama can confirm that."
"Does Sasuke do something questionable in the future?" Tenzō asks.
Kurama growls, but it's Shisui's full-body flinch that catches Kakashi's attention.
"That bad?" He asks.
"Nobody was doing him any favors," Kurama says flatly. "And pretty much every few months after he turned twelve, some new S-rank criminal showed up to fuck with his head. It's a miracle Naruto dragged him back from it, eventually, and that took intervention from the Sage of the Six Paths."
Literally none of that is comforting.
"I hate everything about what you just told me," Kakashi says.
"Get fucked," Kurama snips back.
Well, at least that's normal.
"So, yeah, I'm going to move in with Sasuke if we can get away with it," Shisui says brightly. "And nobody is going to stop me."
"Which means we are going to be telling a variation on the truth," the Sandaime says. "Which is that, in the process of attempting to neutralize a hostile S-rank, an irreplicable series of events led to the return of two of our shinobi from the dead. No details will be shared."
Right. Nobody wants to bring up the idea that the dead can be safely brought back. With Sasuke alone, that would cause mental illness flare-ups out the wazoo.
"What are you going to do when Orochimaru comes sniffing around?" Anko asks. It's a good question.
"Point him to Ame and tell him he missed his chance," Jiraiya says drily. "He already knows Edo Tensei. He knows the Rinnegan is rumored to bring back the dead. If he hears about us bringing back the dead at all, he'll put two and two together. We don't need to worry about him, because he's more interested in immortality than revivification."
"And if that doesn't work?" Anko demands.
"Then we sic Kanna on 'em," Kurama says, and he smirks when they look over at him. "What? She's got ten years of Orochimaru's tricks up her sleeves. They're not likely to pull anything she's not expecting, and if they do…"
He grins, fangs ever sharp. "We can handle it."
Anko narrows her eyes at him.
Hiruzen shakes his head. "Right. Kakashi, take Rin to your apartment. Kurama, Shikaku, Inoichi, and Jiraiya, you all stay here. Anko and Tenzō, I would dismiss you, but I need someone to fetch Sasuke for meeting with Shisui, and someone else to wait for Tsunade at the gates."
The two look at each other. A quick game of jan-ken-pon later, Anko's calling dibs on grabbing Sasuke.
"This does mean you'll also be responsible for collecting the rest of the Uzumaki children," Hiruzen says. "And letting them know one of their guardians is in the hospital until further notice. The Academy doesn't let out for another hour."
"I can handle it," Anko says.
Kakashi hesitates at the door.
"Is," he says, and coughs on thin air. He tries again. "Is there any chance I could wait at the hospital?"
He doesn't, usually. Even when other friends have been grievously injured, he's usually gone out to find weird gifts to cheer them up or tried to distract himself training.
He doesn't do bedside vigils.
Unfortunately, this week has been anything but usual.
"I'd allow it," Inoichi says, and Kakashi belatedly realizes that his thoughts have caused him to miss that the Hokage was looking Inoichi to provide the approval of a Psych nin. "So long as he keeps Pakkun and Rin with him."
Rin clings to Kakashi as if he's going to run away if she doesn't hold on to him.
Pakkun isn't even in question.
Hiruzen nods. "But do get some sleep tonight."
Kakashi pulls Rin and Pakkun close, enters a shunshin, and gets out of there.
A/N: Some terms in Konoha's world might not function quite the same as they do in ours, like the connotations for 'undocumented minor' and the like. (I do have opinions on that realm of politics but nobody wants to hear me yelling about taking down ICE.)