Felicity Dream: Yeah, I realized that I was shooting myself in the foot with the pairing thing. I did mention it was a sort-of/pseudo pairing, but I still need time to set things up for it. I was going to have it run for a few more chapters but cut it short to get it worked in. It'll be rough, but oh well.
I'll likely leave the story the way it is, even after I finish. Even if it's really rough and shitty in parts it still shows me what I need to work on in the future. I have a couple ideas that I would like to see turned into stories and might write another or two if I get them fleshed out enough, one of them being a Hyōton Naru/FemHaku pairing. That's the most likely to get written next at this point.
Menma's attachment to Honoka being stronger than others is intentional. It's not romantic in any way(for him at least).
acid: Thanks. I'll keep up my mediocre work, no problem.
bossb85: You mean to the village? The village might find out eventually.
Homarid: Another instance of my twisting canon abilities to fit my needs. Yay for AU abusing. I had plans for making Honoka an important figure way back in like chapter 5 or so. Originally it was going to be Madara but that's just normal and boring.
Chapter 26
(Konoha)
"Please! We have nothing to return to! Iwagakure no Sato... is gone."
Tsunade sighed and turned to the messenger that had brought her to the gate. "Summon all available ANBU."
It didn't take long before ANBU members started showing up. The commander arrived almost immediately so Tsunade turned to him. "We're going to have an influx of refugees. Put them up in one of the abandoned sections of the village. I want two teams to head for Iwa immediately to verify their story. The rest will be watching over the refugees to make sure they don't get into anything they shouldn't."
Tsunade eyed the Iwa ninja. "Make sure the teams sent are cautious. If it's a trap tell them to return immediately. If they were telling the truth, the area is poisonous. Either way it will be dangerous."
"Yes ma'am!" Moments later two teams rushed out the gates for Iwa. The rest of the gathering ANBU were assigned guard shifts and began escorting groups of people to where they would be staying.
Civilians were let in a bit easier, once their names were registered they were allowed in. The Iwa ninja went through a bit more involved process. Name, rank, and skills were recorded, as well as their residence one they decided on a location within the area they were allowed. Most of them chose an abandoned section separate from the section the civilians chose.
Tsunade looked at the Hokage monument as she returned to her office and frowned. Iwa civilians and ninja in Konoha, the home of one of their greatest enemies. She could already feel the paperwork doubling.
'That brat ran Sound for a while. I wonder if he has any tricks for doing paperwork.'
(Hospital)
Tayuya stood blocking Sasuke from entering Menma's room. He had just opened the door and stepped inside when she jumped up and rushed over to block him.
"Why are you here? This is all your fault, you know?! If you hadn't thrown that stupid little toy of yours he would be fine!"
Sasuke looked at the floor guiltily.
"Actually," a voice croaked out from behind Tayuya causing her and Sasuke to jerk towards it. "If we blame anyone, it should be Akatsuki for pulling Kurama out of me."
Tayuya rushed over to his bedside and smacked him upside the head. "Do you have any idea how worried we've been?!"
Menma gave her a flat look. "Not worried enough if you're smacking a man in a hospital bed."
Sasuke walked over to the bed, his face disbelieving. "You're... really ok?"
Menma waited for him to reach his bedside before punching him weakly in the stomach. "Next time you throw a shuriken at me I'm setting you on fire with Amaterasu."
Sasuke struggled to keep a smile on his face. "I... thought I killed you."
Menma waved him off and turned to Tayuya. "Yeah, yeah."
Sasuke grabbed a fist full of his clothing and jerked him back towards him, his Eternal Mangekyō activated. "I'm serious, damn it!"
Menma blinked at seeing the eyes. "You really..." Menma shook his head. "You won't kill me that easily."
Sasuke stared at him for a minute before nodding and walking towards the door. "I guess I should tell everyone you're awake." He paused at the door and looked back at them with a smirk. "I suppose I can wait an hour first though." He walked out and shut the door before they could respond.
As Tayuya flushed and sputtered Menma turned to her with a look of mock horror. "You're not really going to take advantage of a sick person, are you?"
Tayuya slumped into the chair next to his bed. "Ugh, shut up."
"How long have I been out?" Menma asked.
"It's been a little over a week now," Tayuya replied. "Things have been... strange. A huge group of Iwa people arrived in the village."
"A week? That's all? I thought it would have been longer."
Just then the door swung open revealing a masked cyclops and a pink-haired girl. "Yo," Kakashi said lazily.
"So much for an hour," Tayuya muttered.
Menma turned to her with a smirk. "Oh? You were looking forward to that huh? Maybe he was trying to get us caught in an awkward situation."
Kakashi grinned under his mask. "I can come back after you've started if you'd like."
The other three stared at him awkwardly in silence.
"Right, well, how are you feeling?" Kakashi asked in an attempt to change the subject.
"As well as one can after going through two lifetimes of memories," Menma replied with a frown. "Orochimaru's were... unpleasant." The phantom feeling of something wriggling under his skin came back and he scratched at his arms.
Menma looked back at Kakashi. "Ah, that reminds me. I... know something that you probably won't like, Kakashi."
Kakashi just stared at him blankly.
"You heard about how some Uchiha guy got sealed inside of me when Kurama attacked and that's how I got the Sharingan, right?"
"I might have heard about it," Kakashi replied, pulling out a book.
"I know who it was."
"And who might that be?" Kakashi asked as he looked up from his book briefly.
Menma frowned and activated his Mangekyō and stared at Kakashi. Kakashi dropped his book in shock. "That's..."
Menma nodded. "Obito's eye, just like yours. Remembering being smashed under a ton of rock wasn't fun."
"Remembering?" Kakashi asked, bending to retrieve his book from the floor.
"Yeah... I didn't actually live through it, of course, I'm not Obito, but... I have his memories so it's still like 'remembering' it. I didn't live through any of it, but it feels like I did. It's hard to explain."
"Hmm, you're sure it's Obito? Maybe-"
"Tea country, what did 'she' say to call her again? Nanashi?" Menma said with a wicked grin.
Kakashi dropped his book a second time and paled. "You... I... that was supposed to be buried for good when Obito died!"
"All that Sakura-like stuff in your apartment makes sense now. It's all about as far as you can get from 'Nanashi' as possible," Menma said, his grin growing wider.
"Sakura-like stuff in his apartment?" Sakura chose that moment to cut in while glaring at Kakashi suspiciously.
"A..ha..ha... it's nothing. I have to go feed my goldfish." Kakashi grabbed his book and rushed out of the room.
"You don't have goldfish!" Sakura shouted as she chased after him.
Tayuya looked at him curiously after the other two ran out.
"He always tried to act cool but failed pretty miserably when he was younger," he explained. "Some of those memories are very amusing. Also, his apartment is filled with pictures and dolls of flat-chested pink-haired girls."
"Isn't he like twice her age?" Tayuya asked.
"Yep. I don't think he's really all that interested in her. It's just him trying to forget something traumatic," Menma stretched and lay back. "You mind playing something relaxing while we wait? I imagine that old drunk will be along to discharge me eventually."
About an hour later Tsunade had stopped by and released him. She was busy though, and had ordered him to return in the morning for some testing.
The two walked slowly around the village. Menma looked around curiously, it hadn't changed very much since the last time he was here. Physically, it hadn't changed. The 'spirit' if he could call it that, had definitely changed. Rather than people ignoring him like he didn't exist, they approached him. They shook his hand and thanked him for everything he had done. They apologized for the way they had treated him during his earlier years. Old women hugged him while bawling about how sorry they were. Children stared at him with admiration in their eyes. It was all very unsettling for Menma.
His life had been nothing but the majority of people avoiding him. First in Konoha where everyone either blamed him for the death and destruction Kurama had caused, or shunned him to fit in with their peers. Then Sound where he was avoided out of fear, first as Orochimaru's apprentice, then as the man himself.
He frowned and muttered as they finally found a break in the crowds. "What the hell is going on here? I know Itachi and I were pardoned but... this is..."
Tayuya shrugged. "They acted the same way when we arrived with Itachi. Ask duckass, he'll probably know."
Menma gave her a flat look. "Fine, fine! Ask Sasuke."
Eventually they reached a rundown apartment complex. "Wow. I didn't think Konoha even had buildings this bad. Who would live in a dump like this?"
"I did," Menma said as he moved through the doors.
Tayuya stood in shock for a moment. 'He did? Why didn't he live in that fancy Uchiha area?'
When they reached a certain door he stopped and ran his fingers over the nameplate that still had his name on it. He pushed open the door and walked into the apartment.
Tayuya followed in behind him and looked around. Most of the place and the furniture in it was run down. Occasionally she would find something that was in far better shape than normal. "Why is some of your stuff better than the rest?"
Menma smiled. "Honoka-sensei. Any time something of mine would fall apart beyond repair she would suddenly decide that she wanted a new item of the exact same thing that broke. She would then pass her 'old useless junk' on to me."
Tayuya sat down on the bed and frowned. "I thought Kakashi was your teacher."
"Honoka was my teacher long before I met Kakashi. She trained me before I entered the academy," he replied running his hand over an old paralysis seal sitting on a desk. 'Five seconds. I can't believe I was so pleased with that back then.'
"So why live here? Why not with Honoka or in that fancy Uchiha section?"
"I wasn't recognized as Uchiha until Sasuke decided to bring me into the clan shortly before I left for Sound. I don't think the papers ever went through, so I'm probably still technically just 'Menma' as far as the law is concerned."
He paused and frowned. "As for living with Honoka... she never offered and I didn't want to destroy the only connection I had to someone else."
Tayuya looked at him questioningly so he elaborated. "When I lived in the orphanage everyone would act like I didn't exist. When I stole clothes from the other kids to keep myself clothed they acted as if the clothes had just vanished, and replaced them. When I would line up for my food they would just sit there staring ahead until one of the other kids shoved me aside for their food, then they would begin serving again."
He stared out the window blankly. "When Honoka-sensei found me I was having a rough time finding food and had collapsed in the street from starvation. There weren't many people around, and those that did walk past walked around me. She was probably the first person to interact with me."
"I... acted pretty stupid when I first met her, and asked her to train me to be a ninja. After she took me back to the orphanage I was afraid I'd never see her again. That night when I found her waiting just like she said she would... I vowed I would never ask her for anything ever again." He waved a hand at one of the nicer objects Tayuya had asked about earlier without turning away from the window. "That's probably why she acted the way she did with that stuff."
Tayuya remained silently for a while. "It must have been tough, being ignored like that," she said quietly.
"Only at first," Menma replied, surprising her. "Originally I wanted everyone to acknowledge me like she had." He turned around to face Tayuya. "But as I watched Honoka-sensei I began to think differently. What was so different about me? Why did I have to try so hard to be accepted? Why did I have to push myself just to reach the point that everyone else started at?"
He turned back to the window and the setting sun. "Honoka-sensei didn't seem to care about other people. If they didn't acknowledge her, she didn't acknowledge them. I began to think the same way. After that, it wasn't so hard anymore. I had Honoka, who was like a mother to me. She was all I needed."
'I had no idea. I thought people living in Konoha all had it nice and easy.' Tayuya frowned.
'She was all I needed... and now she's trying to destroy everything. How do I react to that?' Menma shook his head before walking over to the desk and sitting down. "You're welcome to stay here tonight."
"What?" Tayuya blinked.
Menma turned and smirked at her. "Well you did seem disappointed about us not having that hour alone." Menma turned back to his desk and prepared some scrolls and ink. "I mean, I don't sleep much anyways, so..."
Tayuya had blushed at first, but smirked once his back was turned. 'Two can play at that game, shithead.' She leaned back on the bed and tried to act nonchalant. "Alright."
"What?" Menma jerked around to look at her.
"I said alright. I'll stay here tonight."
"Uh... ok." He turned back to his scrolls and mentally cursed. 'I had that one coming.'
(Outskirts of Iwa)
The two ANBU teams had scouted Iwa and returned to a single point.
"We couldn't get any closer because of that black... miasma. That must be the poison we were told about," one of the masked individuals reported.
"We were able to find a vantage point that overlooked the village. Or... what was the village. They were right, the terrain has completely changed. It's like the whole village was crushed under the mountains. There's nothing left," another voice added.
The ANBU that was obviously in charge turned to look towards the ruined village. A black fog like substance hung low on the ground, killing everything within it. A few mostly destroyed buildings were visible, but most of it was crushed underneath hundreds of tons of rock and earth.
"It seems they were telling the truth. We need to return and report this to the Hokage," the commander said. The two groups quickly vanished on their way towards Konoha.
The commander looked briefly at the trail of destruction heading east, most likely towards Kumo, just like they had reported.
'Where will it head after it destroys Kumo?' He thought, before following after the others.
End Chapter 26
A/N:
The reason behind Kakashi's shrine revealed! Or something. His first 'adult experience' was with a busty and curvy trap named Nanashi. Poor Kakashi.
Iwa's destruction confirmed and more repeating of Menma's past. I hope I'm explaining his thought process well enough.