Okay! So this story has life again! Thanks to everyone on Tumblr who helped me decide what to do with the plot I have in my mind - I'm not entirely sure you're going to like it, but it does have purposes! :D

Hope you enjoy... and maybe muster some patience for a certain two? They're having a hard time! T.T

Hakujitsumu II

Everything was fucked. As in, royally, ungodly, unbelievably fucked. Kakashi had almost mindlessly worked for the better part of a day; he must have awoken hundreds shinobi from their waking dream whilst he was still in a complete daze. His mind caught in a twisted loop of replaying the memories of his past life and of the day that he'd been awoken and forced to face that some of his happiest memories were all false.

On that god forsaken day, he'd woken shinobi, uttered the words "It was all a dream, you were under the Infinite Tukikomi," before he'd moved on to the next. His brain was still firmly fixed on flawlessly memorising the dream of he and Sakura and Misaki; he knew it would destroy him to fully accept the fact it had never been.

"Hgn…Ka-Kakashi-sensei?" The groggy voice of Naruto reached his ears and he came back to himself,

"Naruto, wake up,"

"Whaa? What's going on? Where Hinata? Where's Misa…" His voice trailed off as he sat up and looked around, "Whoa! Where's Konoha?"

"You were under the Infinite Tsukikomi," He blandly answered before it suddenly clicked in his brain, "Wait, what were you saying? What about 'Where's Misa…-?"

"Huh? What? I dunno… I can't remember… I was in Konoha last, as Hokage… Hinata was my wife…" He answered as he rose to a kneeling position, staring at Kakashi with a concerned expression, "What were you dreaming of?"

"…"

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"…" Kakashi let out, to his own ears, a shaky breath, "You're free now, Naruto, many will look to you as leader of the current shinobi forces, though I will help you until things are settled, they will need a strong leadership after they've all awoken from perfection," Kakashi rose to his feet and stepped away to the next body wrapped in the flesh of Zetsu as it stemmed from the great Chakra Tree,

"Kakashi…" Naruto whispered to himself, innately sensing how hard Kakashi's own awakening must have been on him; he looked around, tearing his eyes from his former sensei to see both Sasuke and Sakura not too away from him. He leapt up and rushed over to them.

Kakashi heard his departure, but he couldn't bring himself to look over his shoulder, his mind was far to wrapped up memorising how Misaki had looked whenever she had stared up at him, silently asked to be picked up; how Sakura had looked at him whenever they had a free few hours alone. He couldn't bare to look at her now and see her face bearing only professional familiarity for him.

"Kakashi," A familiar voice called to him, he didn't look over but offered only a slight half-turn of his head and a,

"Hmm?"

"Kakashi, we need to start setting up a command centre and organise all of the shinobi already awoken," It was a disgruntled looked Shikamaru, "It will take months to wake up everyone and we need a plan for how we're going to tackle The Mother and black Zetsu when they find out we're free," He was right of course,

"Okay, I think we should get away from here and set up a secure post as quickly as possible; gather all the shinobi and have them ready to move in half an hour," Kakashi switched straight into Taichou-mode, despite what he'd said to Naruto, playing the commander's role at least gave him something different to focus on.

"Hinata!" Naruto's sudden yell reached their ears, "You're awake, how are you? What were you dreaming about?" The kuniochi took a moment to gather her wits as she looked around before her eyes found Naruto's and she blushed slightly, "I was dreaming about you, Hinata! We were so happy," He couched down to her and still looked a little uncertain before Naruto pulled her into a hug. If Kakashi had been as brash as Naruto, could he have rescued the dream and have Sakura fall in love with him for real? Unbidden, his eyes flicked to the pink haired kuniochi who was staring sombrely at the scene of the two nin in front of her; her head turned suddenly and her eyes found his, they were trapped by each other: her face suddenly seemed almost expressionless but her eyes were searching for something. Kakashi hadn't a clue what expression to show back, it had been too long and now he couldn't bring himself to reveal anything which might suggest his turmoil.

"Naruto, now's not the time for that," Sasuke again cut across, "We need to move, where a good place for us to set up HQ?"

"There's a wood a few kilometres from here, we should go there for cover first of all," Shikamaru seemed the most together of all, perhaps his dreams had not been so fantastical, as logical a boy as he was, perhaps his deep desires were indeed to be found in the physical realm. The group of fifteen or so shinobi lethargically gathered themselves into formation and darted away to the chosen ridge well within the tree line; Kakashi took charge swiftly, fearing that if he didn't, he wouldn't be capable of doing anything.

"Firstly, we need a means of figuring out who is who under all of those wrappings, Sasuke how did you find me?"

"I had to search through almost everyone individually, it took me months,"

"Well do you remember where some people are? Tsunade-sama? Most of the Leaf nin? Gaara?" Kakashi pushed, though Sasuke just stared at him blankly,

"I wasn't even sure you could be awoken if I found you, so making off where everyone was seemed a bit pointless," The Uchiha shrugged as Kakashi sighed in aggravation,

"Alright, the first thing we can do is wake up as many shinobi as possible, we were all allied during the war and it seems that we still all have a common enemy so there shouldn't be too much to worry about from other ninja. Sasuke, please detail exactly how you awoke me, or how you would have done it without the use of your sharingan, for the benefit of everyone,"

"Well, although it is of a very high-class, it is still a genjutsu and disrupting the chakra of the victim should be enough to free them, though without the sharingan it will probably take an enormous amount since they're all being by the chakra tre-" Sasuke's words were bitted off as he began to cough, violently, he hunched over as his hand clamped to his mouth, beginning to sound as if was on the verge of vomiting. Sakura was quick to his side as she placed a hand on his forehead; Kakashi could feel his lip curling beneath his mask of its own accord, Sasuke did not deserve any touch from Sakura. His Sakura. His dream Sakura. His visible eyebrow, also snapped down so low it was beginning to interfere with his vision as he turned his attention to the rest of the group, thankfully most staring at Sasuke, save for Naruto, whose curious expression was fixed squarely on Kakashi.

Sasuke's coughing suddenly got a lot worse as the gaps between his fingers suddenly oozed with blood and Sakura's hands, glowing green with medicinal chakra, were pressed against his chest.

"Sasuke, what have you been doing? You're very ill," She spoke gently, but not without an undertone of scolding all medics seemed to possess, he ignored her as he slowly began to regain control over his breathing,

"What's wrong with him?" Kakashi asked, still not looking at her,

"He has some sort of disease, but with medical instruments I can't be too certain exactly what it is… I need to find Shizune and get the medical tents we set up for this war should still be in tact, or at least salvageable, that will be our primary target. Others might come out of the genjutsu injured or sick as well," She explained swiftly, in his peripheral vision, he could see that she too did not turn her head toward him or take her eyes off her impromptu patient.

"Hai, whatever medics are awoken will be sent to you, how far are the tents?"

"About ten or so kilometres from here, I would assume most of the medics will still be there, wrapped by the plant,"

"Likely," Kakashi nodded, "If Sasuke is not in immediate danger, go there and do what you can, Naruto, create as many clones as you can and have one go with her and begin to revive as many as it can from that end,"

"Hai!" Naruto responded as his hands already flicking through the seals as he created twenty or so clones, all immediately darting off to go and locate the other victims. Sakura too was on her feet and darting away, her pink hair quickly disappearing through the stand of trees and Kakashi felt as if he had let out the breath he'd been holding since awakening.

...

The last of the day had long faded and Kakashi supposed that it must have been almost two in the morning; they'd managed to awaked the better part of fifty shinobi between them, a varying mix of Konoha, Kaze and Kaminari shinobi, all of whom had been equally confused and then dismayed at finding their dreamworld utterly crushed as they were forced back to reality.

Apparently Otsutsuki had not been cruel in allowing her victims to linger in happiness in their dreams… or perhaps it was a cruelty beyond measure for when they awoke, they were returned to purgatory, locked out from regaining their dreams.

Kakashi knew he should check in with Sakura to get a full update on the medics, but Naruto had not long ago informed him that although they had not yet found Shizune, they had revived plenty of medics and they were helping to restore order to the tents and equipment. Kakashi, as deeply as he missed her, could not bring himself to face her, to see everything that he had lost.

"Kakashi?" Naruto's voice drew his attention as the boy appeared by his side,

"Hmm?"

"What were you dreaming about?"

"What?" Kakashi snapped his head around to face him,

"It's just… I can't really remember my dreams well, but I know it was about Hinata, but I feel like you were there, too, and Sakura…"

"How? In what way?" Kakashi asked, perhaps a bit too quickly,

"I dunno… I just feel like you guys were always together, like when I try to remember Sakura, you were nearby too," Naruto scrunched up in face as he tried to recall the rapidly fading dream, "But maybe it's just because we were still hanging out as Team 7 again,"

"Did you dream of Sasuke?"

"N… No, I didn't," The Uzumaki spoke in slow realisation,

"Me neither," Kakashi sighed, unsure what to do with the information, "Do you remember anything else?"

"Nah… not really, its all so fuzzy,"

"Okay, how's your chakra?"

"Okay, I can't get Kurama to wake up right now, but I'll try if you like,"

"No, we're under no immediate threat, its better that you get some rest at the moment; tell everyone else to get some rest, I'll keep watch,"

"Hai," Naruto quickly agreed and disappeared in a poof of smoke; Kakashi rose from his crouch to wander back over to the make shift camp, the night was dark, though lightened by the thousands of stars and big, bright full moon. As he stood on the prow of the small knoll, under the trees, his mind couldn't help but wonder at what a long path was ahead of him now. It had taken him months let go of the lingering anxiety and irascible emotions the war had brought out in him and that had been within the safety of Konoha. Much of that recovery still lingered within his mind, yet all of the support and familiarity that had been essential to his mental health was ripped away from him.

And the only person he wanted to talk to was far, far away from him - it was possible she had not dreamed of him at all, that all he was to her now, her once-sensei, was just an older man who'd always maintained his distance from her. Save those few hours at the climax of the war… unless he'd dreamed all of that as well.

Kakashi pushed up his headband to rub his hand over his eyes — momentarily noticing that he didn't have his sharingan — he sighed as he recalled an important fact he'd forgotten to establish earlier: exactly how much of their memories from the climax of the war were false.

Before Kakashi had realised it, nearly two weeks had passed, there were now a good number of shinobi revived, most of whom had been picked for their strength. Naruto and Kakashi had taken on various reconnaissance mission to find those they wanted most and discover exactly what else had happened in the world, apparently even civilians had been captured by the chakra plant, the lack of husbandry had meant that the towns and villages they passed had already been mostly reclaimed by nature. Now, though, they were having to being thinking about how to deal with Otsutsuki and other potential enemies who could well have already been alerted to the people already awakened. Kakashi had called a meeting between them all - he was pleased that the Sand three, various Kaminari shinobi and some of the best from Rock, Grass and even Rain.

Each of them as ready to fight as they had been at the start of the war.

He, Naruto and Sasuke had taken on the task of planning for a counter attack on Otsutsuki, Sakura busied herself between trying to figure out Sasuke's illness and analysing the branches of the chakra tree. He tried to stay away from her as much as possible, but he always seemed to find himself walking towards her more often than not. He ducked under the entry way into the tent, finding her almost buried beneath notes and equipment,

"Sakura?"

"Hmm? Kakashi?" She looked up with only the briefest movement of her head before her eyes swiftly returned to the desk in front of her, "We've had some luck, Shizune has been helping to catalogue all of the medical equipment and return it to a useable state and with her help in dealing with everyone else I think I'm making some headway in analysing this tree, it's really something," Kakashi couldn't help but smile as she rose from her bench and grabbed some papers; something in her movements was stilted, as if she was nervous. The Copy Nin couldn't shake the feeling that the reasons for their laboured communication wasn't entirely on Kakashi's end.

"What have you discovered?" This seemed to bring her back as she flashed him a smile he knew well and held up the papers so that he could see them as she stood next to him, as she hurriedly explained, her excitement palpable.

"The plant actually is a plant, but in the xylem and phloem chakra runs, sometimes infused in the water that also goes to nourish the tree, incredible, isn't it?" She offered, turning her head to meet his eyes as the excitement lit up her own, she carried on before he could have added anything (not that he tried, he'd always preferred to listen whenever Sakura was on a roll with her research or patients) "The people wrapped up in what look like bandages, are being nourished by the bandages, they're wet to keep the skin moist and allow enough to be ingest to prevent dehydration, the water is also full of glucose - I suppose it's just enough to keep the necessary cells working to keep the paiten- the person, rather, alive. Chakra is also infused within the bandages, but I don't quite understand how that all fits in or how it might help keep the person alive,"

"Why keep the person alive at all?" Kakashi asked as he looked over the notes in Sakura's hasty scrawl,

"What?"

"Why even bother to keep the people alive at all? Why not just kill them so the tree wouldn't have to nourish them and itself?" It had only really occurred to him now, though it seemed like a big thing for Sakura to miss, he eyed her crooked eyebrow,

"I'm… not sure… I haven't thought about it," She offered, her voice lilting as it often was whenever she was learning some new snippet of information or other.

Kakashi found himself frowning, irrationally offended at her apparent ignorance, it wasn't like at all,

"You can't afford to miss things like this, Sakura, they're too important and we're at a critical stage!" He didn't shout, but the aggression in his voice was unmistakable;

"Why are you getting angry with me? I've been doing as much as I can with what I've got available in a very short period of time!" She snapped back, "I can't just go and make wild accusations about what the tree is or what it 'wants' unless I gather all of the important information first, I thought you'd have understood that!" She was really angry now, she stomped away from him and threw the papers back down onto the bench, "I was only giving you an update, for Kami-sama's sake," She ran a hand through her hair as she turned her back to him for a moment. Kakashi breathed through his teeth and was gone, he teleported himself away to a nearby tree, his fist striking the bark before he could control himself. He split the bark and cursed himself.

Why was it all so difficult? Why couldn't they just talk as easily as they had done before? Couldn't the just pretend they were just teacher and student again? Eighteen and thirty-two? Of course not, that would be far too easy.

His attention was drawn by Naruto's shout,

"Hey! Hey! Sakura!" Kakashi moved enough to see what the fuss was about when he saw the Uzumaki carrying what looked to be like a limp Uchiha slung across his shoulders. This was certainly new. He continued to watch as Sakura appeared from beneath the tent entryway, an irritated frown still pinching her eyebrows though it quickly dissipated as soon as she saw her two old-current teammates. How was it now, that every time Kakashi showed up, he made her miserable and just as soon, Sasuke would be there to take her mind off of it. What a twisted parody of all those years ago when Kakashi had to do the cheering for the messes Sasuke created.

Kakashi hesitated for a few moments as the three disappeared into the tent, he didn't really want to go back in there now, but he really had no option.

"Naruto? What was that shouting about?" Kakashi asked as he stepped over the threshold, seeing Sasuke laid out on a cot with Sakura looming over him. Shizune nearly crashed into Kakashi as she hurried past him,

"Sorry, Kakashi-sampai, Sakura, what's happening? Is he any worse?"

"Yes, but I haven't had much luck in understanding exactly what is wrong with him, let along creating a cure," He heard Sakura explain to Shizune and he left the medics to do the work.

"Naruto, what happened?"

"I dunno, I was talking with Gaara and he just collapsed, he's been really grouchy lately… though with Sasuke it's hard to tell, but he hasn't eaten anything for a day or two,"

"What?" Sakura snapped, apparently having heard, "Naruto I told you to watch him, to make sure he ate, idiot!"

Naruto scratched his head and grinned remorsefully, "Sorry, Sakura," It occurred to Kakashi how Naruto didn't bother with honourifics with her anymore, as he had always dutifully done; had his dreamworld taken him so much further in time than that which passed in the real world, too?

"Shizune, do we have any IVs intact?"

"Yes, I'm still going through everything that's been salvaged, but I think we can sort something out, I'll have some of the other medics prepare one and bring it here, I'll also get back to your earlier notes and start working on some analysis, please draw a blood sample for me,"

"Hai," Sakura stood up and rushed over to a nearby make-shift bookcase, "If you two don't mind I have a patient to treat; he's stable for now and I'll let you know when I find out more," She shot at them, as she pulled out a small syringe. Kakashi and Naruto shared a glance and left the tent, the younger was quick to leave, though Kakashi lingered for just a moment more, hearing Sakura sigh before apparently muttering to herself,

"Why is it you always have to show up and force yourself into the middle of everything, just so you can ruin things for everyone, Sasuke?"

..

.

Edit: Sakura is 18 here, though I know it she's supposed to be 16-ish during the war, but I'm not cool with writing the dynamic (after what's happened in the Infinite Tsukikomi) to write this kind of relationship between Kaka and an underage Saku, even if I did, the story would still have to wait until Saku was a little older anyway, so I'm just kind of cutting off the corner here. Just and FYI ~