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Hakujitsumu VI

Konoha was a fucking mess; tremendous branches hung over the village, twisting through the buildings with captured souls hanging from every available space. Other trees and plants had moved in quickly and the previously oft used walkways and paths between the buildings were littered with shrubs and saplings as the surrounding Forest of Fire had encroached as much as it was able. At some point some a fire had broken out and ravaged a good quarter of the village but some fortune or other had put out the blaze before it could burn the entire settlement to the ground. The village looked as if it had been lost for decades. Kakashi spent the first few hours offering up what accommodation was still habitable to all of the allied shinobi not native to Konoha; it was oddly surreal, opening the door to what had been some unsuspecting civilian's house, with beds still made, or crockery set out ready for a meal and offering the shinobi full access… despite the thick layer of dust freezing everything in time. Most of the houses or apartments looked exactly the same, most with at least one smashed in window or door which the tree had broken searching for its victims, allowing dust and debris to blow in. Every one the same eerie picture of a house frozen in time for months, yet looked as if the owner might return at any moment. It was past midnight before he returned to his own apartment, having been empty at the time of the attack, it had remained untouched since the moment he'd last left it; it had been only some seven or eight months in reality, but under the Infinite Tsukikomi, he hadn't lived here in years. The dust wasn't so bad, he'd been away on previous missions for far longer but the small space was not his home. The scent didn't seem so familiar and the coldness to the air made him feel as if he were an ancient prisoner, released from decades of sentence, and thrust back a life he no longer remembered.

He walked through to his small bathroom and turned on the shower, he still had water at least, he turned the knob to hot and gave it a few minutes hoping against hope. He returned to his kitchenette and searched through his cupboards, he slowly recalled that he'd always kept a stash of dried noodles so he could eat at least something when he got home, no matter how long he'd been away. He set them out, filled his kettle and found a bowl and chopsticks; he retuned back to his bathroom and nearly shouted in joy as he found the water was hot, he stripped in seconds and relished the feel of the hot, pounding water. For the first time since he'd been awoken he felt the tension leave his back as he rested his hands on the wall opposite, leaning over slightly; he had no idea how long he stood there for, letting the water droplets beat the fatigue from his muscles. He felt beyond exhausted, his atrophied muscles struggling to recover from his enforced stillness for so long; Kakashi hadn't been so unfit since… well, ever. He resisted the fatigue gnawing at him, despite the sting the lights were starting to bring to his eyes, he reached for his bottle of shampoo and scrubbed his hair, surprised at just how much dirt he washed out and how much longer his hair had gotten.

Kakashi hadn't realised just how sorely he'd needed a wash but when he finally dragged himself out, he felt like a new man. He gratefully stepped into his light kimono — which he usually used for swanning around in lieu of being fully naked off the back of lengthy missions — and set about shaving off his full, bushy beard; he'd tried and failed to find a quiet spot where he could shave during the previous week, but the more shinobi who were revived, the more they all had the same idea about privacy. He stared at himself in the mirror for a few moments, unaccustomed to the sight of himself, especially with the underbrush of wiry, silver hair that stuck out from his chin. If the beard hadn't been enough, for the first time, he was able to look at himself and see two homochromatic eyes looking back, the only thing marring the symmetry of his face was now the deep running scar over his left eyelid and cheek. His life as a ninja had made him an adaptable man, he'd learned to respond to changes quickly and without fuss, but this was one change he hadn't ever really considered might happen: his life was a lie. He had years of memories that never happened, a child who never was, and a face he no longer recognised.

"Okay, so this is where we stand, we currently have around forty shinobi awake and capable of fighting, all of whom are from diverse backgrounds with a good range of jutsu. Haruno Sakura is away learning to master sage arts and Uchiha Sasuke is dying, we are doing his best to save his life but at this point we cannot guarantee anything. Killer Bee and Chouji have not awoken, though are free from the tree's influence and Ino still has not yet been revived from under the genjutsu, she is our link to what's happening inside the Tsukikomi. So far Yamato has not awoken either, but the transformation of his cells into Zetsu's has neither progressed further nor retreated, so far we are at a loss as to how to cure him." Tsuande began, sat behind her old desk, her office full of the ten or so most senior shinobi, briefing them on the state of affairs. Everyone looked a lot better for having had a full night's sleep in a bed,

"Haruno Sakura?" The Raikage boomed, "Who is that?"

"My former apprentice,"

"So why has she been sent?"

"She has a summoning contract with Katsuyu and has exceptional chakra control, I firmly believe she is the best choice." Tsunade answered.

"Hmm," The Raikage didn't sound very impressed,

"Sage arts? How will that help us?" Gaara asked,

"During the rescue mission to retrieve yourself, the Raikage, a handful of others, and yourself Tsunade-sama, we discovered that the tree tried to attack us and recapture everyone, but when Naruto used his sage-mode, the tree seemed unable to pinpoint him, hence the rescue operation was successful." Kakashi answered,

"Seemed unable to pinpoint him? Can you elaborate on that, Kakashi-san?" Ao asked,

"The branches were very accurate at pinpointing us, when we were within a quite specific area, approximately five hundred meters from the central trunk of the tree, it was difficult to fight them off as the tree would recover and regrow any parts that we cut off very quickly."

"But why weren't we being attacked at our camp?" The Raikage asked,

"I cannot answer that, we were surprised by the difference," Kakashi answered with a short shrug, "Sakura and Shizune had been doing a lot of research on the tree and Zetsu's cells, Shizune?"

"You guys really like talking about me, huh?" Zetsu himself merged out of the wooden beams in Tsunade's ceiling, the entire room was in up roar in seconds, most of the allied shinobi readying their chakra or throwing kunai,

"NO! No, wait!" Kakashi hurried, "He's been helping us! He's no threat!"

"What?" The Raikage growled,

"It's true! I was getting bored and lonely, I wanted people to talk to again so I decide to help Sasuke; how is that grumpy bastard?" Zetsu asked, the same silly grin on his face; Kakashi, in spite of the situation wanted to laugh at the Akatsuki's word choice, he wasn't exactly wrong. He stopped himself, however.

"He is still ill and getting worse, has there been any movement from Otsutsuki?" Kakashi asked,

"Nah, the Tree is still, too. I'm not really sure if she suspects anything, but the more people wake up, the more I think she will notice, but its hard to say what she'll do, she might just make the tree more responsive to chakra and make the whole thing to get as crazy as it did by the trunk, wherever you are." Zetsu explained… sort of.

"What the hell are you babbling about?" The Raikage snapped,

"He's saying that the Kaguya might not make any direct move against us herself, but rather she might just reactivate the Tree fully to recapture us in the genjutsu." Kakashi explained, "Zetsu, do you think there is any danger of her recasting the genjutsu? The way she did initially?" Zetsu squinted slightly, as if trying to think of the answer,

"Um… I dunno, I don't think so, it wouldn't really make sense, the Tree is active and it is capable of recapturing everyone's who's escaped," Kakashi doubted anyone in the room wholly believed Zetsu's reasoning,

"Regardless, I think we should act as if Otsutsuki's recasting the genjutsu is a distinct possibility," Tsunade said, "Did we all get caught at the same time?"

"It's hard to say, from what I remember Sasuke protected us using his Susanoo, but whether that actually happened or was a false memory it's difficult to verify," Kakashi answered,

"Maybe Sasuke can help us with this, is he awake?" Tsuande asked Shizune,

"Not at the moment, I gave him something to help him sleep and he was still under when I left to come here," She said,

"Is anyone watching him?"

"Hai, Naruto's clone is keeping an eye on him,"

"I guess I can tell you what I remember." Zetsu offered,

"Out with it, then," Tsunade said,

"Um, well Sasuke did deflect the initial casting of the Tsukikomi with his Susanoo, only Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto were left unaffected, apart from me, Kaguya and Obito, of course."

"Then what happened? How were we captured by the Tree?" Kakashi asked,

"I guess you guys were fighting, you kept on disappearing into her dimensions but when you came back to ours, the Tree was ready and it grabbed you and Sakura very quickly, Sasuke and Naruto avoided it for a while, but Sasuke was able to block it with his Susanoo, Naruto tried to rescue you and Sakura and that was when he was captured."

"You mean, Sasuke let him be captured?" Kakashi asked, Zetsu merely shrugged,

"How did Sasuke then get away from Kaguya?" Tsunade asked, thought Zetsu didn't have an answer, he merely shrugged. The talk of that fight with Kaguya reminded Kakashi of something,

"Naruto, do you still have that mark on your palm? The sealing mark that Hagoromo gave you?"

"Huh?" Naruto lifted his hands, though nothing marred their surface beyond the natural folds of skin, "No. nothing."

"Are you sure you don't feel anything? Any power that might be dormant in you right now?" Kakashi pressed, "Where would the power have gone? Could the tree have absorbed it?"

"I… dunno… but I can't even access Kurama right now." Naruto replied.

"You know, there's something else I've been wondering," Shikamaru said, suddenly, drawing attention to himself at the stall in conversation, "At what point have we woken more people than are useful to us? Is it our present numbers? Should we try and wake up all the shinobi but leave the civilians? Considering the power of the Kaguya, are we, as shinobi, even any use in the fight against her?"

"I was hoping you wouldn't point that out, Shikamaru." Tsuande grumbled under her breath, though still just loudly enough for him to hear it.

"The true balance is not between a pair but a triplet; the three forces of a shinobi act like hinges giving you suppleness and power at the same time. Three hinges, three turns can give you as many four different roads to choose. The true power is getting the exact balance between your chakra, your physical energy and natural energy." Mageruko-sama had been speaking in riddles for days; he was a fairly diminutive slug, compared to Katsuyu at least, and had two tonal swirls of colours that ran in a spiral down the length of his body. If Naruto was here, he's probably say that the old-man slug looked like an ice-cream. Sakura still wasn't sure if she was actually at the centre of the forest, but it was a small clearing, bisected by fast flowing river of boiling water. Here, the leaf litter was deep and soft and the overhanding branches were enough to protect from the daily rains but still allowed in the daylight. It was only at the surface for perhaps a mile until it submerged again; Sakura could only assume that the river ran deep, perhaps close to a thermal vent.

Although Mageruko-sama spoke largely in a round-about way, it did make a sort of sense — things came down to a triad, rather than a binary, there was always more than two choices, more than two ways of looking at things, more than yes or no, more than 'right' or 'wrong'. There was always another way. Just as she'd always been taught that a shinobi had his ninjutsu, his chakra, or his taijutsu to choose from, was not the whole story. Whether her teachers had simply glossed over it or just been entirely ignorant of the fact she wasn't sure, but she had always been conscious of just how many of them, just how many ninja had pushed the idea of the binary, had sold themselves to it… had enslaved others because of it. Weak or Strong. Male or Female. Kekkei-Genkai or Nothing. Clever or Stupid. Shinobi or Civilian. Good or Bad. Sakura had always felt this was wrong in some pervasive, unarticulated way, something inside her had always screamed, why? How can a world as complicated as ours be boiled down to something so insulting simple?

"You are thinking too much, Sakura-chan. When your thoughts are calm, your chakra will be calm and when your chakra is calm, the waters beneath you will calm. Only then can you open yourself to natural energy." Mageruko-sama said. Sakura took a deep breath and tried to force the thoughts out of her head and focus only on her chakra, which was keeping her afloat and still on the surface of the torrenting water, the noise and turbulence of its flow seemed to stir her mind, it seemed to have some uncanny ability to draw out long forgotten memories and half-buried feelings.

Sitting still upon the water wasn't the problem, neither was controlling her chakra, but clearing her mind was immensely difficult and something Sakura had always struggled with; her naturally turbulent and strong emotions had consistently gotten her into trouble in her early days of being a ninja. Even when she was accepted under Tsunade's tutelage, the Sannin being rather hot-headed herself, hadn't helped as much as she'd hoped. During her days with Team 7, Kakashi's cool head had been too focused on Sasuke and Naruto to impart any emotion controlling wisdom upon her. But it was no use thinking of times past now. She opened her eyes to look at the flowing water in front of her and cleared her head. Her skin began to tingle and the water grew calmer.

"When people think of 'balance' they think of a binary, they think of two opposing ends in constant battle, they think of two opposing ends reaching an equality of power but how can anything be in balance without its most important element, the pivot point? It is the pivot point which gives the ability to reach balance. The pivot point give balance, it gives us peace. Chakra exists to fight, to exert violence. Fighting — violence — is a short cut, it removes understanding, communication and empathy from a conflict; violence exists because people do not want to reach an agreement, it is a means for one to exert their own ideals onto another without really changing anything. Prophecy is the violent man's argument when he has run out of energy to fight; to write a prophecy is to enslave all his descendants into dogma. Prophecy is to say 'why even bother fighting this? My ideals are the only true way, my enemies will always lose in the end'.

"Violence persists because people know that it works and they think it is a quick to difficult problems, why talk when you can force? If you force, no one will challenge you again… until the next generation comes along who did not see the fighting but heard of its power and so try it for themselves. I tried to teach this to Hashirama-chan and I think he saw the truth of it, but his life was already too marred by fighting, he wanted it to end it instantly and his creation of the villages was testament to this. I read that old frog's prophecy about the 'boy who would change everything'," Mageruko snorted, "But their prophecy still counted on a violent means of achieving peace, their idea of peace was using force to destroy their enemy, because they could see no other way. They did not, for even an instant, consider that violence might not be the means of creating a balance. If one force is strong enough to defeat another, how then has balance been achieved?

"This idea is everywhere in human culture, you espouse it at every opportunity but none of you live it. You were always the balance between Naruto and Sasuke but were kept away from them because your strength was not like theirs; you did not follow the violence that defined their lives: everyone looked to them as icons and incarnations of the eternal struggle, all the while forgetting that their opposing ideals and strengths were meaningless squabbles without a pivot with which to balance upon.

"It is the natural order of things to achieve balance, everything eventually settles itself into a state of perfect balance; the Tree is an upset to this balance, too much energy in one place goes against the order of things. The Tree will eventually break down and die, the Kaguya cannot hold on to her power forever, it will leave and dissipate and settle into everyone. High concentrations leak and change where low concentrations remain stable. This is the order of things. The violence humans bring constantly upset the natural way of entropy, they move and shift the power. Did you not notice the difference in Hashirama and Madara's powers compared to those of your teachers? Power thinly spread to everyone is the key to peace." Mageruko's voice was soft, almost monotonous as he spoke but in such a way that the sounds and images flowed into Sakura's mind, disturbing neither her concentration nor peace but enough that his words were met with no resistance.

The logic of his words needed no interpretation, no deciphering, the just were. Just as a sudden rain shower at the height of summer, or the pale warmth in the winter sun seemed odd to those unaccustomed, but the moment the pattern was understood it was all perfectly clear. For a moment she felt as if she were floating, with nothing pulling her in any direction nor exerting any force upon her body; she could feel the presence of every living thing near her — their breathing, their heartbeats, she could hear the breathing of the trees as they expelled oxygen from their leaves. She could hear their roots absorbing water. She could feel the pressure of Mageruko-sama's chakra, of Katsuyu's chakra and she could even feel the malevolent, jealous chakra of Otsutsuki. It was powerful and bold… but near it, beside it, just beneath it, was another chakra the chaotic churning of the Tree's chakra. It absorbed the chakra from each person but that same chakra eventually flowed back to them, the tree desired their chakra but it had no means of retaining it. It was a closed loop of a system: the chakra had no where go but to circulate.

Just as soon as she felt it, the spell was broken and Sakura almost fell into the boiling water, she managed, just in time to take the four hurried steps to get to shore before she collapsed, her arms and legs shaking with the exertion,

"Wh… what? Why… am I so tired? Just from meditating?"

"Hmm, hmm, you felt it, didn't you? Just for a moment! But your body isn't strong enough yet… now you know how to access it, it's time to train your body… all three must be in balance. We'll eat something, then we'll train."

"Kakashi, wait a moment," Tsuande said as everyone else was clearing out of her office, "Shizune, close the door behind you, will you?"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama," She bowed slightly and left the two alone in the office. Tsuande leant forwards to rest her elbows on her desk and rest her chin on her clasped hands, she fixed the seemingly relaxed Copy Nin with an even, but compassionate stare,

"It seems that we all dreamed of similar things, under the Infinite Tsukikomi." Tsunade began, Here we go… Kakashi thought, "And I know I distinctly remember my silver haired, green eyed god-daughter."

"H-hai." Kakashi stiffly replied, suddenly finding the join between her desk top and table lets to be unusually interesting.

"I take it you and Sakura dreamed the same?"

"I don't… know, I think so."

"You haven't spoken to her about it?"

"Not… directly. But a lot of others remember Misaki, too." Kakashi answered, finally raising his eyes back up to Tsuande's; she thought for a moment,

"Do you know what you want? It's not like things can go back exactly to how they were but… we dreamed of the things we did because some part of us wanted them that way, right?" She asked carefully, not missing the split-second clench of Kakashi's jaw.

"How can we be certain of that? If we all dreamed the same thing… how could we all, as one collective village have wanted the same events to have occurred? Why did they occur in exactly the way they did? Was one person the dreamer and we just all followed suit?" Kakashi asked, an unusual edge to his voice, as if all he wanted in that moment was for Tsuande to tell him he was either right or wrong. She was surprised at how off guard seeing the hitherto calm and confident man looking so unnerved caught her. She offered a half-shrug,

"I remember watching your relationship develop with Sakura and I remember being surprised at first, I never thought you'd each look at the other that way, but when I saw you together it seemed to make perfect sense to me; it made me happy seeing how happy you made each other… though I still lost the bet between you two, I really thought you'd make the first move!" Tsuande grumbled, "Frankly, I think the Tsukikomi merely set the stage for us and in giving us the ability to each interact with one another inside the genjutsu meant we acted just as we would otherwise have done had we not been under it. Everything was too complex, to convoluted, everyone still had their habits and idiosyncrasies, flaws and trademarks that they've always had… I don't see how it could possibly have been born from one person's imagination. Especially not if that one person had been dead for centuries." Kakashi let out a breath at her answer,

"Ahh," Though apparently it wasn't the crux of the issue for him.

"What? Do you suddenly feel different? About Sakura?"

"I… Sakura now is only eighteen…"

"She still has her memories of the Tsukikomi, I will speak to her when she gets back, but Sakura isn't a child, I don't think anyone views her that way. You shouldn't either and right now, you know her the best of all of us. Besides, she is still an adult by any definition." Kakashi cringed slightly at Tsunade's word choice: as if that made it sound any less inappropriate.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama."

"You need to talk with her, you and Sakura both need to sort things out between you and it isn't anyone else's business. But it's probably going to have to wait until after this threat is over… I know this isn't going to be easy, Kakashi, and I'm sorry things had to happen this way, but I'm going to need you, Sakura and Naruto to work closely when it comes to defeating Kaguya. You three best understand each others styles and capabilities… though it will be a little different if Sakura succeeds in her training."

"I agree, Tsuande-sama,"

"However," She added, her gaze hardening slightly, "If the opportunity presents itself and Sakura tries to talk to you about it, don't run away! The quicker you sort it out, the better." Kakashi stiffly nodded in return. "A shinobi seizes every opportunity."

He resisted the urge to verbalise his impulse response, do I look like I need the fucking rule book quoted?!

"But there is one other thing I wanted to discuss, you know about he situation with Sasuke, don't you?"

"Hai,"

"Shizune isn't expecting him to live much beyond the week." Tsunade said, "Although I am struggling to muster some real sympathy for him, given everything he's done in life, I have to say that his timing is rather poor."

"The lack of a sharingan in the fight against Kaguya will certainly not work in our favour, I'd been thinking the same thing." Kakashi replied, to which Tsunade gave him a pointed look,

"So how would you feel about regaining something else you've lost?"

Sakura had never been so grateful to crawl into the soft pile of leaves and laid down flat; she, Mageruko and various other forest creatures had been far crueller over the past two weeks to her than Kakashi or Tsunade ever had been. She'd never covered so many miles running nor lifted so many tree branches — without the use of her chakra — ever in her life. Everything ached night and morning and was expected to train upon those same aching muscles far before the sun rose than she'd wish on her worst enemy. Mageruko demanded perfection and had not been very impressed by the state of Sakura's physical fitness during their first session, though he begrudgingly accepted the excuse that she'd been sedentary, rendered immobile for the past six months against her will. Still, it felt so good to run again just for the sake of running, her body instantly responded to the physical exertion and she felt the endorphin rush almost immediately and she'd long forgotten the satisfaction she took from exercising her muscles to the point where her skin began to feel too tight. As much as her body protested, she kept on going; Sakura had never been one to shy away from a challenge and when she had a goal she desperately wanted, no amount of pain would stop her.

She rolled onto her back and looked up at the few stars she could make out between the branches above, groaning slightly at her protesting body. The ground was soft, the air was warm and the night still: now was a perfect time to settle her mind and call upon the natural energy. As much as she'd tried to practice in the evenings, she more often than not found herself falling asleep the moment she laid down. But not tonight! She promised herself, and kept her eyes focused on the gleaming stars, controlled her breathing and cleared her mind.

"Eh, Sakura-chan! Wake up already!"

"Huh?" Sakura was dragged from her state of unnaturally comfortable temporary death by Mageruko's harsh voice, "Wh—Fuck!" She swore as she sat up with a start to see the sunlight streaming in through the leaves,

"What's with you? You were like the dead ten seconds ago!"

"No… I just… it's nothing." So much for practice! She thought irritatedly, realising she must have fallen asleep the second she'd shallowed her breathing; she got to her feet and brushed the leaves from her clothes. She joined Itsusaki, in his human form, as he crouched by a small fire. She'd hadn't seen him since her first day in Shikkotsu.

"You were sleeping very deeply…"

"And I still feel tired; how are you, Itsusaki-sama?"

"Ah, good… just been wandering, seein' what's what. That tree always tried to encroach on this forest but it never stands a chance."

"Really? I didn't see any of its limbs when I first arrived," She answered, gratefully accepting the roasted insects from him — although initially balking at the idea, she'd found them to be surprisingly delicious.

"That's because Katsuyu went easy on you and plonked you only a few miles that way," He gestured lazily, "You'd a been easy pickings otherwise, given your state," Sakura could have defended herself, but she was now quite used to the jabs from the slugs; she chose instead to munch on her crickets.

"Ohayogozaimasu, Mageruko-sama," Sakura set aside her breakfast for a few moments as she greeted the elderly slug the moment she saw it,

"Ohayo, Sakura-chan. Sleep well?"

"Hai,"

"Good. The day is for training, the night is for sleeping; it's not good to push yourself too hard. We will work again on the meditations today."

"Hai." Sakura answered, unsure how to feel about just how closely Mageruko had apparently been watching her. "I have been thinking, Mageruko-sama… how exactly does natural energy tie into ninjutsu use, chakra use? I know what you've said about ninjutsu being for offence or defence, but… I am curious if or how it might impact my medical ninjutsu?"

"Medical what?" Mageruko gruffly answered, ravenously munching on his own roasted cricket,

"Bwahahah," Itsusaki laughed heartily, "Natural energy and chakra are two different things… I wouldn't give any thought to it, the natural energy you're learning to sense and control is the opposite to ninjutsu, ninjutsu cannot exist in opposition to this energy." Sakura thought for a moment,

"I don't think I understand…"

"Don't worry about that now. Go back to the water and clear your mind."

..

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