TrashHybrid13: Haha, thanks. There's a time skip in this chapter, too, and it addresses Inu in some sort of way. We also get a glimpse of the other side of the other side…um, well, if that makes sense. You'll find out. :3

Due to some minor malfunctions, I have seemed to of forgotten about . Thanks, Assassins Creed.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I'm going through some fucking stupid ASF social drama that I don't even know why I'm involved, so UPDATES may be SLOW.

Original chapter word count: 6.6k~

Recommended songs: Anguish of heartache by NKHOA and Seven Nations Army by The White Stripes (The Glitch Mob remix preferred).

Enjoy! :3

Chapter 5: Xenophobia

Kakashi didn't open his eyes again until he heard people arguing. He could recognize the voices, though he couldn't put his finger as to who they belonged to exactly. But they were drowned out, so he couldn't tell what they were saying. Eventually, though, he just barely opened his eyes, and he could see the white ceiling of a hospital.

That was alarming. Didn't he get out of that hospital in Iwa?

"…that came from the Uchiha," a female voice spoke, "and I've heard stories of it—and I know for sure that your son has the Susano'o."

"But he's not an Uchiha. As far as I'm concerned the Susano'o came from the dōjutsu itself."

"No, I saw it myself. He clearly had the Mangekyō Sharingan."

Silence.

"Either someone transplanted Sharingan eyes into Kakashi without consent or knowledge, or it's something else," the woman continued in a hushed voice. "But the former is impossible, because if that actually happened then it would stay in a constant state of activation. The only other answer to this that I can think of is that your wife was an Uchiha no matter how much of a full-blooded Uzu—"

"Okay, Tsunade, that's enough."

"Uzumaki…? What is she talking about dattebane?"

Kakashi closed his eyes, though it wasn't like they were totally open in the first place.

"Sakumo, you seem to have some explaining to do."

"Okay—fine." Sakumo sighed stressfully. "Kakashi's mother was an Uzumaki."

"Wha—how? I thought I was the only Uzumaki in Konoha after Mito-baa's death dattebane! Who was it?"

"Uzumaki Kikku," Sakumo replied. "She was exiled from the clan because she created a jutsu that required the sacrifice of the users soul. She was excepted into Konoha as an official shinobi of the village rather than her clan but it was kept hushed by everyone involved."

Now that was interesting. In this dimension, he was half Uzumaki.

Well.

"What's her relation to me?"

"Aunt," Tsunade said. "She was the youngest, though, so if she was still around today she would be just as old as myself. Matter of fact, Kakashi's mother was Sakumo's teammate for a time being."

The air was heavy, and there was no sound. He took the chance to open his eyes again, when the tension was easier to break. His eyelids were heavy, and when he moved to turn his head, he felt irritably stiff.

Kakashi looked to his right. Tsunade was standing next to Sakumo, who was sunk in a seat close to Kakashi. However, Tsunade's left arm was in a cast. That was confusing. He looked to his left, where Minato was looming over the bed a little. Kushina was standing behind him, her eyes staring into the distance with thoughts that knew no box to stay in. But what caught his attention was the fact that her left arm was in a sling as well.

"Kakashi…" Sakumo said quietly.

The child turned his head, his true grey eyes landing on the face of his father. "Yeah?"

Sakumo smiled, the corners of his smile stretching up to his ears with uncontainable happiness. His eyes became glassy with happiness, which was another thing that confused Kakashi. (He seemed to have missed some details).

Sakumo leaned forward a little. "How are you feeling?"

Kakashi blinked. "Fine…" he replied suspiciously. He sat up, his face twisting into a frown. "Why do you look like you're about to cry, tou-chan?"

The eld Hatake blinked multiple times before shaking his head. "Oh, it's…it's just that you've been asleep for a while," he stated. He smiled, his eyes curving up happily. "You made us worry a lot."

Tsunade grunted with a huff of air and crossed her arms, her foot tapping. "You've been asleep for three weeks," she said bluntly. "Do you know what comatose is?"

Kakashi did, but he was five. "I've…seen mentions of it in books," he said.

"It's basically long periods of deep unconsciousness," she explained. "We had no idea what wounds caused you to fall into a coma, though. All you physically suffered from was mild hypothermia—oh, do you know what that is, too?"

Kakashi gave her a deadpan.

Tsunade glared childishly.

Sakumo laughed a little. "He's got some knowledge of the medical field…" he said.

"What, an iryō-nin Hatake?" she teased.

"Wouldn't that be interesting," Sakumo mused. He stared at Kakashi.

The child gave a look. "What?"

Minato chuckled. "That would be something to see," he chimed. He looked at the blonde woman with a sly smile. "Perhaps Tsunade-hime can teach him?"

"No way in hell!" the Senju shouted.

"Actually, that sounds cool," Kakashi said. "To be able to knock someone out with the flick of your finger, I mean."

Tsunade blinked in surprise. "What—you actually want to learn my medical ninjutsu?"

It would assuredly change a lot. Besides, within the Tsukuyomi, he did learn quite a few medical things from Obito, Naruto, Sakura and Tsunade. Sakura also demonstrated a few of the jutsu's the Akatsuki of that illusion created. He memorized it with his Sharingan, too, and…well, it's power. He needed power. So he shrugged. "Why not?"

"Alright! It's official!" Minato exclaimed. "Tsunade-hime—train him!"

"I didn't agree to this, you sissy!" she snapped.

"Wha—you too?!"

"Keep your voice down!"

"You're one to talk!"

"Shut up!"

"Okay, okay…"

"How about we get some lunch?" Kushina suddenly suggested with a strained smile that seemed genuine enough to pull but fake enough to be forced. Kakashi looked at her, and she was quick to bunch up under his stare in sadness. "I'm sure everyone's hungry after all this talking."

Tsunade sighed. "Fine. When I come back I'm doing a full checkup on the puppy," she said briskly.

The trio were quick to leave. Sakumo waved silently, smiling his farewell after them. Kakashi watched them leave too, finding it rather irritating that Kushina was the very first to exit the room.

"Tou-chan, why is Kushina so…" Kakashi frowned. He couldn't find the words to explain it. She seemed…tense, but at the exact same time he could see that she was genuinely feeling intimacy and sadness.

Sakumo smiled again. "Don't worry about her," he assured. "She's just glad that you're awake again. Three weeks is a long time, you know. It's been…it's been lonely at home."

The young Hatake turned his head away, his eyes staring out through the window. The late midday sunlight was shining overhead, borderline evening, and Kakashi could easily tell that it was in between four and four-thirty. It was rather clear for a late autumn day, though there were thin clouds scattered across the sky.

But then again, it was Hi no Kuni. One either gets a sunny day or hundred of feet of snow, rain or leaves.

He couldn't help but think back to the last thing he remembered—the last thought he thought before blacking out.

'We can't be let free', he recalled. A sad smile carved at his lips. Why couldn't he…

…

…Oh. Yes.

He impaled Sakumo.

He impaled his own father.

He didn't remember anything before that, really. He remembered escaping the hospital—another memory gap—waking up in a small rectangle room with three corpses; a Kama and kunai were in hand, too—memory gap. And then he remembered pulling that same Kama out of his father's stomach.

'We can't be let free', hm…?

Kakashi rubbed his left eye, suddenly feeling irritation in it.

"Who's 'we'?" Sakumo suddenly asked.

Kakashi looked at his father with a frown, pulling his hand away from his face. "What?"

Sakumo chuckled. "You were talking out loud," he said. "Can you tell me who 'we' is?"

The young Hatake wasn't entirely sure himself. But he knew that Inu existed now as a separate person within him. Inu was far too different from Kakashi to be Kakashi—and yet that other person was within him, and he didn't like it.

And if Inu was a reflection of the time he spent in ANBU…well, then the other personality is very quiet, very violent, very cold, very calculating, very detached on both a physical and emotional level and overall just a very dark persona.

Torture during missions was something that Kakashi was told he experienced—but he never remembered it, and the same went for the severe abuse he went through when he was sent on a long-term mission for the liberation of a gender and age mixed whorehouse. It was possible that Inu was created to cope with it, since MPD originated from severe sexual abuse and, really, just extremely long-term stressful abusive situations.

He was told he experienced these many things, most on minor scales because he was just that stupid. He never remembered it, though.

Another thing about Inu was that he didn't give a damn about comrades, though he kept them alive because of reputation.

Inu doesn't have a reputation here.

"Kakashi?"

He blinked at the sound of his name. "Hm?"

"Do you know who 'we' is?" Sakumo repeated.

"No," he replied. He frowned. "I don't know where that thought came from." And it was true, too. He didn't really feel like that thought came from him.

The eld Hatake blinked, obviously thinking because his face was blank. Kakashi frowned a little more. That was an abnormal look on his father, too—or at least for Kakashi to see it happen so suddenly. He didn't know why Sakumo was so troubled about a random thought.

"How many other random thoughts have you been hearing?" Sakumo inquired.

"Um…that was the only one that I remember."

Liar. I've spoken so many times.

Kakashi frowned again. "…Well…" he drawled, "…there might've been more…but…I can't remember…"

Sakumo blinked again, his blank face staying blank until it lit up with a smile. "You don't have to remember," he said. "But, anyways, graduation is coming up. Do you want to—"

"Yes!" Kakashi exclaimed. He almost completely jumped out of bed, his hands resting on his father's knees as he shoved his face into Sakumo's. "I do! I really, really do! When is it?!"

Sakumo laughed. "Don't worry. You got plenty of time to recover."

Kakashi sighed in relief, sitting back down. "'Kay, good…"

He couldn't miss his graduation. That would create too much of an unknown factor—and the unknown is very dangerous when it comes to changing things and keeping them in line.

Wouldn't want violence…haha.

When Tsunade got back, she did a very thorough checkup and went the extra mile for diagnosis. She found nothing wrong with his body, mind or really his physical condition as a whole. Trauma was predicted, though no signs of it showed—and the blonde Sannin decided to spend the rest of her time researching the why and how that was.

Kakashi knew, though. But he didn't want to speak up, since best case scenario was all eyes on him. Worst case scenario would an asylum—but that was unlikely.

…Or he hoped so…

The nurses and doctors checked him up to see for theirselves, and when they, too, found no alarming signs of mental trauma, they decided to discharge him the day after he woke up.

He slept through the night peacefully, and when the morning came around, he woke up with a heavy body. Doctors came in again, checked him—and he was heading home with his father.

After that event, time kinda passed in a blur.

Kakashi focused on his physical ability, building up endurance and speed over that passing time. General jutsu training came into play when he officially graduated a few weeks after his birthday.

Unexpectedly, a third war started.

Iwa wasn't too damaged in terms of their military arms, matter of fact. They were just really scared of Konoha. But they still had the balls to fight them. Only this time, Kumo and Kiri were their friends. And it turns out that the alliance they formed had the same objective: Revenge.

Because in the first war, Kiri was demolished by Senju Tobirama. Because in the first war, the Shodai Raikage was killed by the Shodai Hokage. Because in the second war, Iwa was partially destroyed and permanently scarred by Hatake Kakashi.

So Kakashi trained harder. He developed Raikiri at the age of seven, used it in battle, saved an alarming amount of people, and gained jōnin promotion. He was called "the youngest jōnin ever produced". That was probably true, too. But he also gained chūnin promotion fresh out of his academy graduation.

He was doing better than Itachi, who got his promotion at the age of…ten?

Kakashi couldn't remember.

But as the months continued, and as he repeatedly leaped into the battlefield with Minato, Kushina, Tsunade and many others, he felt like more and more people watched him with sharp, suspicious eyes.

It actually kind of scared him.

He really couldn't take much of the paranoia anymore. To handle it, he bought battle-sturdy cloth and printed fūinjutsu on the inside, crafting it into a white open-front apron at the age of eight. The ink was made so that it disappeared, and the chakra could only be seen with dōjutsu like the Byakugan and the Sharingan, if the users were advanced enough. It could be seen upon activation, though, along with the ink.

Really, all the seals did was preserve mass chakra reserves and jutsu's. Every single kanji held one jutsu he copied, and since he copied well over a thousand jutsu with his Sharingan, he could create a thousand kanji that would individually hold one jutsu. He stored countless weapons stolen from shops and enemies nation and worldwide, some being custom made in a black market deal. Poisons, antidotes, medical material—the list could go on.

The chakra mass fūin needed five kanji per preservation, and a sixth or seventh for long-term reserving.

Since the kanji were small he could make ten in all and still have enough room for a few hundred more fūinjutsu.

As the months continued to drag on, and on, and on, and as he was taught by Tsunade, he almost felt unbeatable. That was Inu thinking, though. He wasn't unbeatable. Living therein was a weakness, for if a vital spot was hit, he'd die—and depending on the severity, it would either be a swift death or a slow death.

That's where Tsunade's teachings came in. The diamond on his forehead was red like Hashimoto's was once upon a time, and it was covered up by his bangs and Konoha headband. It was the evolved version of Tsunade's, and that made it better.

So it required no long-term chakra charging.

He grinned a little at the thought of it. Okay, maybe he was near-unbeatable.

"Kakashi."

The eight year old Hatake turned his head over his shoulder towards his door. "Yeah?" he replied.

Sakumo slid open the dojo entrance and smiled at the messy workspace the child jōnin made. "I see you're at it again with the mess," he said.

Kakashi gave a sheepish look. "Sorry?"

Sakumo chuckled, walking up to his son and crouching down next to him. "What are you working on?"

"I bought one of those basic storage scrolls from the store," Kakashi replied. "I wanted to alter it and make it strong enough to hold a Bushin."

Sakumo smiled brightly. "That's advanced," he said pridefully. "I don't think anybody has made it happen just yet."

Kakashi nodded his agreement and grinned brightly. "It'll work," he said.

"You sound awfully sure."

"Well…it's theoretical…but I think it's possible. Mito could create elemental seals and seal jutsu away—or, at least, teleport it or redirect it," Kakashi mumbled.

Sakumo chuckled. "Will you be doing that, too?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I dunno." Honestly, he found himself fascinated in fūinjutsu. Prior he just used it briefly. But now? He was all over it.

"Kushina's here, by the way," Sakumo stated. "So is Minato. They've got some news."

"What's it about?" Kakashi asked.

"That's a surprise," Sakumo said, waving his hands like he was telling a cheesy ghost story.

Kakashi rolled his eyes and put the fūinjutsu stuff away as quickly as he could, following his father into the kitchen where both sixteen year old Kushina and Minato were waiting.

Kushina instantly brightened up and gave an open-mouthed smile. "I'm a jōnin-sensei!" she blurted.

Instantly, Kakashi blanched. His eyes widened a little. "What?"

That wasn't right.

Minato smiled in amusement from where he sat in a dining chair. "Yeah, she's a jōnin-sensei," he rephrased. "Originally you were gonna be in that same cell but then you got promoted to jōnin."

Kakashi's mouth went dry. It was true that he rushed his promotion to avoid getting involved with Obito—since, well, the Uchiha died because of him—and Rin, who died because of him just like Obito had. "Oh. So then what are you gonna do about it?" he asked.

"We were thinking about letting you join the team as a co-jōnin-sensei," Sakumo explained, putting his hand on Kakashi's shoulder with a bright smile. "You are flexible enough to work with a lot of people. I've seen it multiple times. Kushina's team could use the help, right?"

Kakashi looked up at his father and frowned a little.

"What's wrong?" Minato asked.

"Isn't kind of strange to have two jōnin and two genin on one team?" he questioned. Really, it wasn't that. It was more like involvement and paralyzing fear of loss.

"No, it's happened before," Minato pointed out. "Just not at such a young age. You don't have to worry about them neglecting you because you're significantly stronger. It'll be more like the opposite; they'll look up to you more than anything."

Kakashi's frown deepened, but when he felt the presence of Obito, he felt some reassurance. "Well…okay."

Sakumo grinned. "It won't be that bad," he said. "You'll have fun!"

Kakashi hoped that that would be true, but deep down, he knew that it wouldn't be that way. He was gonna be busy.

Two years of playing bystander was over. He was the MVP now, and he had to work as quietly as possible under the burning stares of his peers and comrades.

Kushina had given him the details of the team meet up. It was set for tomorrow, and the meeting was set at ten in the morning. They had already passed the bell test a day prior, and graduated about two or so days before with flying colors.

So Kakashi, to pass the time, worked on his seals. He, with Kushina's permission, was granted access to the Uzumaki fūinjutsu scrolls that were salvaged from the dead, great Uzushio. Minato and Tsunade had access as well, along with less than five other people that included Jiraiya. The Hokage didn't need access permission, nor do relatives to the Uzumaki.

But, while Kakashi was indeed an Uzumaki, it seemed to be held under the table with the preciseness of a wise man. Exposed but never directly exposed—and when exposed it was denied.

He was borrowing some information on storage fūinjutsu.

Apparently, storage fūinjutsu was a dimension jutsu.

He was so happy that Obito was around.

"Help me," Kakashi demanded.

"Fine," Obito grumbled. He examined the beaten up Uzumaki scroll, his eyes dragging up and down as he read it. "…Oh, that's simple enough. Really all you need to do is make chakra bags."

"Um…"

"That's simple, too," Obito stated. "The chakra bags are to engulf the Bushin within the storage seal to prevent distortion and keep it functional."

Kakashi frowned and put his thumb to his lips.

"What the Bushin is being put into is a pocket of empty space," Obito explained. "There is no way of survival. So by putting them in the chakra bags, gases are kept in. It takes chakra control. But it's possible and you've got brilliant chakra control here."

Kakashi blinked and nodded a little. He would've responded, but Kushina was right outside the door, lifting her hand to knock. She was hesitant and quiet, and considering her chakra signature was hidden, she didn't want to be noticed. He was about to reach out and start figuring out how to make this "chakra bag" that Obito spoke of, but Kushina knocked. "Come in," he said.

The sixteen year old slid the door open, closing it behind her heels and giving a warm smile. "Hi," she greeted.

Kakashi glanced at her over his shoulder and blinked. "I thought you left with Minato."

She walked up to him and sat down. "I decided to stay behind and talk to you for a moment. You seemed really anxious to be working with kids your age."

Kakashi blinked again and turned his head back to the blank rolled out scroll in front of him. That wasn't entirely true. He was fine with whoever it was that he was assigned to as a teammate, but when it came to Obito and Rin…it was honestly scary. But keeping his distance and refusing to meet them would create so many unknown factors; like, their deaths, for example…

That was what scared him. The unknown. It made him anxious. He was a jōnin this time around, he's got authority and respect in spite of his age. Kushina was the new sensei of the seventh ward.

Changed factor after another.

"Kakashi?"

"Hm?"

"Will you tell me why you're so anxious?" Kushina inquired.

Kakashi blinked for a third time. "…I…feel judged by a lot of people," he replied almost hesitantly—primarily because it was a partial lie, and he's never actually lied to Kushina before. "I feel a lot of people staring at me…and it's very irritating as well as stressful. It feels like they're expecting me to pull a shuriken out of the socket of my eye and use it to kill a Kage."

Kushina looked down. "Yeah. I had high expectations, too," she mumbled. "It was a lot of pressure to work under. If you need to talk about it, you can with me."

He looked the the Uzumaki briefly before giving a small smile. "…Yeah…sure," he agreed quietly. "…Anything else…?"

The woman was quiet for a second before she smiled. "Nah, I just wanted to see if you were okay or not," she replied. "Make sure to show up without a stick up your ass dattebane."

Kakashi rolled his eyes, and waved his farewell as Kushina took her leave. She slid the door closed, and walked away on light feet.

"Really? You're lying?" Obito murmured.

"Shut up, you hypocrite," Kakashi shot back quietly under his breath, and he went to work.

Eventually, dinner drove around the corner and arrived. It was eaten up, and Kakashi decided to go to sleep, even though it was only about nine at night. He went to sleep not even thirty minutes later—

And he woke up in a brightly lit meadow. Obito was sitting behind him a little ways away, a vast field of a green sea stretching out into the far horizon. Behind the Uchiha was a forest with towering oak trees. The sky was a clear blue, and the sun was shining brilliantly. The air was relatively warm thanks to it, but it was also comfortably cold.

Kakashi lifted his arms, closing his eyes and breathing in the beautifully clean air of nature. "Where is this?" he asked.

"The Pure Land," Obito responded. "The Pure Land of our original dimension. Something isn't right. We got dragged back here because someone needs to be sent back—"

"Kaka-sensei? Obito?"

Both of the men froze and and turned their heads towards the horizon.

Uzumaki Naruto stood there, hair pulled back into a loose French braid and one Byakugan eye staring at them.

Kakashi was quick to look away, his arms dropping to his sides. "What happened?" he asked.

Naruto blinked and looked at him. "I should be asking the same question dattebayo," he grumbled.

Obito stood up. "How'd you die?" he snapped. Kakashi gave him a pointed stare.

Naruto looked down. "The after effects of bijū extraction got to me," he said. "It was an instant death because all of my chakra backlashed on me due to not having the bijū power to support it."

Kakashi tucked his hands in his pockets. "You can't be here," he said.

The blonde looked at the Hatake. "Obviously—"

"I don't care. You've changed too many people to just die like that," Kakashi snapped. He looked at Naruto with dangerously narrowed eyes. "Now, I said you can't be here."

The younger man blinked in surprise, his jaw somewhat slacking as if he was gonna talk. But no words came out, so he just clamped his mouth shut.

"You were expecting death, weren't you?" Obito asked.

Naruto glanced at the Uchiha and smiled a little bit. "Yeah…the only thing that was keeping me alive was my Rikudō chakra, but I guess even that couldn't grant me a longer life span."

Kakashi sighed. "I'm assuming no one knew this."

"Only Kurama."

"Of course…" the Hatake mumbled.

"…Sensei…"

"Hmm? What is it?"

Naruto frowned. He looked at the dead Hatake, and instantly his frown deepened. "How'd you die?"

"Seizure, remember?" Obito grumbled. "And chakra exhaustion."

"Yeah, but I know for sure that Kaka-sensei wasn't epileptic. And his reserves were large enough, so he wouldn't have died fighting an A-ranked ninja," Naruto pointed out. He looked between the two, his eyes widening. "…Unless…unless it was suicide."

Kakashi blinked and turned his entire body towards the Uzumaki. He walked up to the Nanadaime and sighed, putting his own gloved hands on his students shoulders. "Yes, okay. You caught me," he said, deciding to go along with it. He patted his students cheek, offering a smile way too bright for the subject. "I had no place there, Naruto. I've honestly watched too many people leave in my time, whether it be a comrade or an enemy. I've went through six teams while in ANBU, whereas the average ANBU doesn't even go through one team.

"They all died. My teammates died. My family died. You almost died. Sasuke almost died. Sakura almost died…Obito died, too, and I watched it happen twice, and I've seen his corpse thrie. Can you imagine that trauma? And not mention, I've watched Minato die twice…twice. I've killed my comrades. I've put them into lethal situations as their leader…well, you probably already hold some of that weight…but that's what being a leader of a shinobi village is all about."

Naruto looked down sadly, having no words to speak because, really, what Kakashi said was true. The man was, once upon a time, nothing but a living relic of death.

"You've got a family," he continued. "A place that doesn't insure death. Now get your ass back home."

"Naruto," Obito said. It caught the blonde's full attention as he turned his head towards the older man. "Appreciate the fact that he's dead. He needs the rest."

Naruto blinked in surprise again. His eye became glassy with unshed tears, looking down again. A white vortex appeared behind him, and Kakashi pushed him into it.

The blonde disappeared in the swirl.

"We should see how it went before we wake up in the other dimension," Obito said.

Kakashi nodded his agreement, and as Obito's hand clamped his shoulder, he felt his body get stretched and squished before his line of vision flashed white.

"His tenkutsu failed to support him."

Kakashi looked at the person who had said it. Of course, it was Sakura. He blinked down at her. She was on her knees next to Naruto's collapsed form, her hands looming over his chest and glowing a pretty mint green. Some shinobi were keeping the crowd controlled, and Boruto was standing behind the arm of a chūnin, his younger sister clinging to him. The people were pushed further and further back until they were out of complete ear shot.

But, Boruto being Boruto, he broke through and ran towards his father, eyes wide with worry. His sister, Himawari, joined the charge. However, Shikamaru stepped in their way.

Hinata was already with Sakura, scanning her husband with her Byakugan.

Obito sighed. "Obviously, Naruto wasn't smart."

"I hadn't noticed," Kakashi shot back. It wasn't very smart to keep the fact that one is dying slowly a secret. For someone dear to drop dead and not even tell others why prior is just stupid and selfish. "Shouldn't he be waking up?"

"Just watch."

Hinata pointed to his missing eye. "There," she murmured.

Sakura nodded and instantly moved her hands to cover his eye. She pumped chakra into the tenkutsu, and very soon Naruto's chakra sparked and started flowing again.

The Nanadaime himself shot up, sucking in a deep breath of air with one wide eye.

"Naruto!" Hinata instantly started crying and hugged the blonde's neck, drying into his shoulder. Himawari latched onto her father, crying loudly, and so did Boruto.

Kakashi smiled happily and chuckled. "Told him so."

"You sound so cocky," Obito grumbled as he crossed his arms.

"Shut up."

Obito looked like he was about to cry, his face pathetically crafted to make it so. "Why would you say such a thing, you know I'm butt hurt."

Kakashi punched the Uchiha's arm. "I said shut up," he snapped.

"Okay, now that is abuse. I'll have to report you."

"We're dead."

"I'm sure there's a place where your ass can leave sore and hurting."

"That sounds awkward and almost gay. Are you perhaps implying something?"

Obito instantly became flustered, his face going beet red. He stuttered and stumbled over words, his arms moving as if he was reciting a strange dance before he just decided to punch Kakashi's arm. "You need to eat some soap!"

"I did that once. I had to go to the hospital because I ate the entire thing."

"…Why?!"

"Okay, to be fair, I was high on prescription medicine. A side effect was hallucination and I honestly thought that the soap was dango."

"You're a fucking moron," Obito grumbled. "Why would dango be in the bathroom?"

"I thought that the bathroom was the kitchen, too."

The Uchiha laughed.

Kakashi rolled his eyes and looked at Naruto—who was looking straight at them with a wide but amused eye. "Can he see us?"

"Probably, probably not," Obito replied. "I'm guessing he can. That's a side effect of waking up from death."

"I've woken up from death before, and lemme tell ya, that's not how it works," Kakashi grumbled.

"To be fair, we pushed him back to the living," the Uchiha pointed out. "Actually, I take back my statement from before…I believe he should be able to."

Naruto blinked and smiled, wrapping his arms around the three people that latched onto him like leeches. "Did I worry you?" he asked.

Sakura huffed, glaring and cracking her finger joints. "You are really dumb!" she snarled. "You have explaining to do, Hokage-sama."

Naruto's smile became strained and nervous. "Later?"

Sakura stared skeptically before huffing again, he eyebrows still creasing in a dangerous way. "…Okay—okay, fine. Later. But any later than later and you won't be seeing the outside world for a real long time."

Hinata raised her head and laughed a little.

Kakashi glanced at Obito. "How long do we have?"

"We have an eternity," he replied. "Realistically speaking, I'm the motor for it to work. As we speak, it's on-hold."

Kakashi's eyes widened a little. "Seriously? I thought there was no 'motor'."

Obito shook his head. "No…the motor for here is the same, too. But I don't know who it is. It's gotta be a dead person, though."

The Hatake nodded in understanding. He'd…like to stay, if only for a little while. Two years of nothing but training and standing on the sidelines reminded him of the old times he had here—in this place. A little vacation before the disaster would be nice.

He smiled and crossed his arms. He's got the time of the world.

Sakura crossed her arms, jutting her hip out and narrowing her eyes. "Okay. So. Explain."

Naruto smiled sheepishly, though it was strained and filled with nerves. He was sitting on his favorite Hokage desk chair, his elbows on the armrests and his fingers intertwined. Hinata and Sasuke were in the room; Sasuke was just coming back as a visit after a frog summon was sent after him not even an hour ago. The children were with Ino, and the ANBU were sent away. "Um."

"Is it seriously that hard to explain, dobe?" Sasuke grumbled.

"It's just a bit much to soak in," he pointed out. "Can't the pieces be put together?"

Sakura glared. "I would, but I don't understand tenkutsu as well as you do apparently."

Naruto chuckled nervously, briefly glancing at his wife before sighing. "It's bijū extraction," he started.

Kakashi crossed his arms, which drew some attention from the Nanadaime, but it was ignored. (Sasuke did glance out of the corner of his uncovered eye, though).

"I don't get it," Hinata said. "I thought the bijū extraction's after effects didn't last for more than a decade."

Naruto's smile returned, only this time it was…sad. "That's only applied when, A, if you survive, and B, if only one bijū was extracted," he explained. "I had eight bijū extracted from me all at once. The pressure of their chakra was lifted instantly and my tenkutsu are used to the pressure. And we all know that tenkutsu can't adjust or recover from chakra pressures."

"By all means, you should be long dead if that were the case," Sasuke stated.

"I should," Naruto agreed.

The two women blanched and looked rather startled. The Uchiha, on the other hand, looking uneasy.

"Kurama hasn't slept since the extraction," Naruto continued. "I, myself, have barely slept. I have to stay in a near-constant state of alert or else my chakra will backlash on me like earlier."

"Oh, boy, you've gotten your panties in quite a twist, haven't ya?" Obito inquired rhetorically as he circled around Naruto's desk. He stopped, though, right behind the blonde. "Chakra pressure, ya say? Pathetic excuse. Kakashi, do you agree?"

Kakashi blinked and looked at the dead Uchiha. "…Hm? What? Obito, did you say something?"

"I'll kick your ass."

"I obviously missed something."

Obito glared, his arm whipping out as he pointed an accusing finger at his best friend. "Chakra pressure!"

"Oh. What about it?"

"Does it exist?!"

"…Um?"

Obito crossed his arms and nodded. "Thought so. So it's something else."

"I mean…it's a tenkutsu disease symptom. It's not something that just spontaneously happens on its own," Kakashi continued. He stared at Naruto pointedly. "And the disease is incurable."

Naruto leaned forward. "There's really nothing you guys can do about it," he said. "I've looked into it. Damaged tenkutsu has no cure, and not even Kurama can heal it. Not without putting me in an unrecoverable coma, unrecoverable death state or coffin. It's…fatal, too, and it showed today."

Hesitant glances of sadness were exchanged.

Kakashi sighed. He could never escape drama, could he?

"If that's the case…" Hinata murmured, "…then do—do you know how l-long you have…?"

Naruto smiled sadly. "Not very long, I'm guessing," he said. "Less than a decade is the max…but I could die tomorrow for all we know."

The trio went deathly silent, skin palling and movement stilling to mere shallow breaths.

Kakashi hummed. "That's gonna stress them so much," he murmured.

"You could've at least lied a little," Obito told the blonde. He sighed and put his palm on his forehead. "Stupid…"

Naruto looked down, sighing as well and standing up. He looked back up at them and smiled brightly. "I'll tell you guys when I won't feel right," he said. "And…please be careful with who you tell 'ttebayo."

The two women nodded, but Sasuke narrowed his dark eye. He turned and walked away, opening and closing the door with an upset air encasing his presence. Sakura glanced at the two and chased after her husband, Hinata deciding to leave. She hugged and kissed her husband farewell, and left somberly.

Naruto glanced at Kakashi. "You two weren't making that easy," he said irritably.

Kakashi smiled and leaned against the wall behind him. "You deserve it for not telling us anything," he shot back.

"Listen, we can't stay here for much longer," Obito spoke up, appearing in front of the desk with his dark eyes staring up at the blonde, who was a full six inches taller. His palms pressed against the desktop as he leaned forward, a frown furrowing his face and creasing his facial scars. "We won't be there to save your ass and send you back…but then again even if you did drop in again I doubt we'd be able to revive you…again."

Naruto frowned. "I thought Sakura and Hinata did the saving."

"Chakra, tenkutsu and spirits go hand-in-hand. If one isn't present then the other two fail. Why do you think a human could never survive a tenkutsu or chakra disease, hm?" Obito shot back. He almost glared. "Step down as Hokage ASAP."

Naruto blinked, giving a questioning look. "Why should I?"

"It consumes too much of your time," the Uchiha pointed out. "I know you can see that. Now, stop being so stubborn and start searching for a predecessor."

The Uzumaki snorted and sat down. "If Kakashi was still around, then it would've been convenient to the extreme and it wouldn't take time."

Kakashi blinked and turned his head away.

Obito did glare this time, the angry red eyes of the Sharingan staring deep into Naruto's unfazed, lone Byakugan. "You have too many damned options. So I would get to it if I were you," he hissed through clenched teeth. "Death rests on your shoulders, Naruto. Take it from me; dying slowly doesn't just physically effect you. You'll get emotionally riled up. Really."

"What the hell would you know?" Naruto growled.

"That damned Tsukuyomi did more to me than you think!" Obito shouted, a fist slamming down on the table. Shockingly, the wood cracked loudly. He sneered. "I died three fucking times in that place! Three! I can't believe you would have the fucking nerve to ask me that! What would I know?! I would know more than you! My life experiences are worse than yours—so listen!"

Kakashi looked at the Uchiha with a pointed glare. "Obito," he warned, his voice tense and loud. "Back. Off. Now."

Obito growled almost anomalistically, disappearing without any trace of his visitation.

The Hatake sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "He…um…well, for a full seven years within the Tsukuyomi…his chakra reserves were slowly being eaten up, so he was dying slowly like you were…and he didn't say anything to me…or you, or Kushina—nobody, as far as I'm concerned."

Naruto blinked in surprise, though the hurt in his eye still remained from Obito's rant. "Isn't the Tsukuyomi supposed to be a pleasant dream?"

Kakashi smiled sadly. "No…" he replied hoarsely. "No, no. I—I don't know why, but really it just…it seemed like an altered version of this world…no relief of pain. In fact, there was more pain in it than here. It was scary, Naruto…so, can—can you please just take what he said into account? He's just scared. And…well, fear…fear can drive you to insanity."

Naruto looked down, but a smile grew. "Yeah…sure." He chuckled, his voice just a whisper as he closed his eyes and folded his hands. "Konohamaru could be good. Don't you agree, Kaka-sensei?"

"Hokage-sama…who're talking to?"

The Nanadaime looked up, where an ANBU stood. He saw that Kakashi was no longer there, which saddened him a little because he would've liked to talk to the Hatake a little bit longer about the man's apparent suicide.

He looked at the ANBU and flashed a toothy grin, blinking away unshed tears that burned his eye. "Just talking to thin air. Don't worry about it, dattebayo."

"Kikku": "Chrysanthemum"