CHAPTER 2

SHUNSHIN NO SHISUI

The man in front of him was the one who sent his father on a suicide mission. He was the one who let Danzo operate underhanded missions in foreign lands. The leader strong enough to quell infighting and end two wars before they could cripple all sides. The man who'd mentored the greatest Hokage ever, then took up the hat again when that one had died, and no one else was willing to pull long hours with little thanks. Kakashi had once hated this man, but that had worn away under the weight of his respect. Sarutobi Hiruzen, the kami no Shinobi, who still looked hard and ready to slit someone's throat if they be foolish enough to attack the village.

When he kneeled in the man's office and Sarutobi informed, "I'm going to train you to take the hat."

Kakashi opened his mouth, closed it, then tried again, "Hokage-sama?"

"Hokage, you will be trained."

"Why?"

Kakashi couldn't fathom it. It shocked him into speaking out of turn, quite rudely too. Yet the kami among men sat behind the desk and simply looked back mockingly amused. 忍の神, the third to be given the title kami, Kakashi often wondered if it was something about this seat and the types of people it drew to it. He'd loved Minato like an older brother, but the man was diabolical. He'd envisioned a tool to kill thousands in an afternoon, he'd constructed it, then he'd killed thousands and thousands until they started running at the sight of him.

Kakashi had always wanted to be good, he'd always wanted to protect people who couldn't protect themselves, but he couldn't imagine wanting that. He refused to do sage training with Jiraiya for this very reason. He didn't want to be a kami among men. He wouldn't be, not unless they forced him.

"I will train three others alongside yourself. In several years the Council of Elders will decide."

"If it is what you wish, Hokage-sama."

The corner of the old man's mouth tilted.

"Funny, that's exactly what Maito Taichou said."

Kakashi's stomach twisted. The reality of their predicament fell heavy in him. He suddenly felt nauseous. The two of them, Gai and himself, had been training together for years. The sort of training you didn't bring your team to as it involved beating the shit out of each other. They weren't friendly, so much as companionably competitive. Kakashi thought maybe they shouldn't have pushed themselves so hard. Maybe then they wouldn't have been noticed. He didn't want this fate for his training partner anymore than himself.

"I'm assuming you have tasks for us."

"Yes, you're both prominent and have enough attention on you from the bingo books. I'll need you to seem close to retirement. You will need to be less obviously significant. To appear like a lackadaisical jōnin who rarely takes missions."

When the ANBU Captain heard this he just stared at the man. Sarutobi puffed from his pipe and stared back.

When he failed to respond the old man assured, "Inu you're not being taken off the roster. Your current and old team Ro are still assigned to Uchiha surveillance. It's just your public appearance which needs to dip. Aim to be less noticeable, less threatening."

"Hokage-sama please explain what you expect. I'm not sure I understand."

"A low level genjutsu to appear slouched and less fit. Show up late to meetings. Maybe pick a book and get caught sleeping in public. That sort of thing. It'll be circulated you're thinking of retiring early, but your team Ro will be scheduled as always. Just tell them not to loosely spread it around. Inu and Sharingan no Kakashi are still two separate people and I'd like to keep it that way."

So he needed an Obito appearance, well what Obito might have become if he'd lived past the age of 11. Instead the boy had given his life for Kakashi, the friend who'd never valued him enough in life. The Hokage just wanted an elaborate illusion.

"As you wish Hokage-Sama."

Leaving the office he'd picked up the first obnoxious book series he'd seen in the store and made a point to read it as he walked through the market. Perhaps Sarutobi hadn't thought him audacious enough to select porn, but Kakashi had given his entire life to the village and he wasn't going to willingly make himself into a perfect candidate. It was backhanded, it was just twisted enough to make his decisions seem questionable without being something they could reprimand him for.

When he found Gai, he was wearing something in an eye watering shade of green. They locked gazes and for the first time in a long while he knew someone else was completely and utterly on his level. Gai didn't want this either and they'd chosen a similar route to get themselves out of it.

The first time Maito Gai, fellow Elite ANBU captain, had suggested they go clothing shopping Kakashi convinced himself the man must be joking. At least he thought so until they'd ended up in a workout store on the civilian end of the village, because no self-respecting ninja family would purchase something in such eye catching hues. Yet the man was one of the best and Kakashi had to give it to him.

If he hadn't known Gai so well he wouldn't have thought it anything more than an eccentric personality getting less controllable with age. If he hadn't known how utterly driven the man was to stay free and unburdened he'd never have suspected ulterior motives. He doubted the Council would catch on either. The power hungry cronies from a team trained by the controlling Second Hokage, no those elders wouldn't suspect someone so talented would sabotage their career. If anything they'd peg Maito Gai as socially inept.

Which of course is exactly the line they were both aiming for. It wasn't even exactly untrue, which is why no one could blame them if they took their orders just this far. Sarutobi, for all the man liked to play affable estranged relative to himself and the other talented orphans, didn't talk to him like a human, didn't have a grasp of his true personality, and frankly gave much too vague of orders. He respected the man, but he wasn't going to blindly follow instructions which would give his life or the life of his colleagues. Kakashi had always had a flare for completing a task to his own standards. It's frankly how he'd survived the death of everyone he cared about. A body had to reconcile that if it was going to move on.

Kakashi appreciated Gai's creativity. Appreciated how whacked and believable the unfolding personality was becoming. Enjoyed it enough he didn't even begrudge him when the man occasionally ditched their early morning spars to buy replacement green workout suits. How he began running around the village on his hands. In part because he could. It was a flex on all the other jōnin who didn't train as long, as hard, or as early as he and Kakashi did. Kakashi knew the man truly appreciated the creative workouts. Loved meticulously putting together the area genjutsus to back his more outrageous quotes on hard work. There was one to make his teeth shine bright and give him a bowl haircut. It was eye watering.

It was one of the first days after Gai bought his new, skimpy jumpsuit, before he'd tailored his new persona, when Kakashi still felt it safe to drag his training partner into the library. There he'd seen the girl with pink hair. A little sensor testing genjutsu of her own to connive her way past the desk chūnin and into the off limits books for ranked shinobi. He'd been so amused by her first genjutsu sloshing a feeling of happiness onto the chūnin guarding the doors, Kakashi then followed to watch what she'd do.

He'd even delayed the outgoing alert to ANBU that someone was sneaking information. It was just a kid who smelled strongly of the desk polish they used on the academy tables. She was just a student, a kid wanting to read. Not even read anything bad. As if tree climbing were a Konoha secret. He snorted. Oh and it was worth it. The little monkey in the making couldn't be more than 7 and she'd told him off for his choice of pre-mission research. She couldn't have known he knew Mamiucho is a fraud who'd been stealing from one of Iwa's Lords and ANBU had been hired to deal with it without anyone knowing Konoha had taken an interest in their affairs. She might not be very sneaky yet, but if she kept nurturing that talent for genjutsu she'd give a Uchiha a run for their money. She was certainly smart enough for it, and had the sensor skills to back it up, untrained as she was.

Weeks passed and she could now jump from branches stretching the distance between her apartment building and the Naka River. The Naka no Kawa was huge and raging during the rainy season. All the trees around it towered high, strong, and thick amidst the watery air. Their branches sturdy and solid as Sakura learned to jump through the river's mist, toes pressing just right off one branch and launching herself to the next. It was hard muscle building work. So hard she found herself eating twice as much as usual if she didn't want to tire out after only a few jumps. Traveling between trees was a whole new level of exercise her puny limbs had never dreamed of accomplishing, but when she followed the books' instructions the color surged through her and she felt alive.

Each session still left her out of breath and limbs shaking, but she'd realized the flickering chakra always present in her limbs, if she focused hard on the idea of grabbing and guiding it, then she could make it flow and help her muscles till they got stronger on their own. Even once she got scratched up with leaves and twigs the scratches went away faster if she concentrated chakra on the area. Sometimes, if she focused it on her hand and held it to a scratch it'd flicker green for the briefest moment. Those were the times the scratches went away quickest.

That green glow fascinated her, made her wonder under what circumstances it would work. Once she'd seen it and figured out how to mold her chakra for that sort of purpose, she'd admit to being a bit reckless just to test its limits. So far she'd healed a long gash on her arm, a particularly ill-thought out idea as then she had to tell her mom she didn't want to wear the short sleeved battle-style qipao, but wanted a long sleeved dress instead.

Her mom looked like she'd grown a second head, but two days later she woke up to find her mom had attempted to make her a new dress in her favorite color. She'd smiled so wide. Her mom's thoughtfulness touching her deeper than normal, soothing her after the chaos which had become her past few weeks in the top academy class. Training advanced her quickly, but upended her life in ways she'd never expected. If she'd known doing this well too quickly would have gotten this amount of attention, she probably would have taken Shikamaru's strategy and hid her ability. Only she hadn't known what kind of attention doing well would get her. How could she?

After only a few days sitting in class with the clan heirs it soon became apparent Sakura's extra studying and training had placed her ahead of her peers. At first it'd been met with shock and bewilderment, but when she kept out scoring them in unofficial progress reports the feelings had turned less friendly.

Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if she'd been in the class from the start. Only she and Shikamaru had shown up late. In only a short time the two of them blew past most of the other students in tests as easily as they'd done with their previous class. While everyone expected it of a Nara he still came in second to her on tests and practicals largely because he wasn't even trying. Then didn't it cause a stir when she outscored the Uchiha boy, the sulking one whose brother was some prodigy. Kids asked their parents and came to class the next day to share the information they'd gathered.

Their new star pupil came from a family of first generation nin. Neither of whom attempted for Jōnin status. Her parents retired early, they whispered, both of them from foreign civilian merchant clans. The whispers about her parents grew harsher. Drop outs. Practically civilian themselves now. Who was this girl from a civilian family? Who cares if her cousins are merchants? What use is somebody pushing a fruit cart?

Sakura's cheeks flamed red at that. She kept her face tilted down, her eyes trained on the worksheet the veteran Chūnin Sensei had handed out. The figures swam in front of her and she clenched her pencil tight. Her parents had rented a cart from their Suna cousins, who were fruit merchants, to get their luggage home in time for the academy. They both came from merchant families, but what did that matter? Her mom was strong and brilliant with taijutsu. Her dad was one of the best sensors who used to get requested on scouting missions during the war. No kekkei genkai. Civilian family. The whispers swirled around her and she focused more and more on her work. Spent almost every evening after the library closed going to the forest to practice, as she couldn't let her mom or dad see her bothered.

It was after four weeks of academy classes when it got bad. A girl named Ami screeched, audibly upset when she beat everyone in the leaf challenge, outpacing the next highest kid by ten leaves rotating around her arms. Ami became even more indignant when their test scores posted Sakura's name at the top of the class list. Even the nice girl Ino had made a face at that. Under the pressure of their glares and after Ami and Fuki sneered out derogatory snippets about her looks, Sakura had hidden away in the trees during lunch. It was up there, hiding in her tree when she saw Shikamaru and Choji sitting below.

Sakura nearly jumped down to ask for a game of shogi. Games which she'd missed ever since they arrived in this new, competitive class and Shikamaru seemed content to let his clan's allies be a social buffer and sleep the lunch away. Right then she would have happily fed Choji all her food just to get his company. The two boys hadn't changed their attitude towards her, even if she hadn't been dragged off for anymore shogi. Even if Choji now brought his own large bento and extra chip bags. She had almost decided to jump down and offer him food, just to have Choji's kind smile. Then she saw the blonde girl storming over with her face contorted into something unpleasant. Sakura clung to her branch, frozen.

It was the lunch after their test scores had been released and Ino stomped over complaining, "Big foreheads know everything don't they?"

Sakura sat in the leaves, hidden from view above their heads and her eyes got so watery and squished she couldn't see. The wet coated her face and she had to use the long sleeves of the red dress her mom had sewn to stop it from dripping. Her mom, who had gotten bored after a month of being home and had started three sewing projects which turned out horribly before the woman began musing about starting a bakery to stem the boredom. Sakura clutched the uneven hem with its knotted thread and sideways stitches. She clutched it like her mom's gift might make it all better.

Sakura wished she'd worn the battle-style qipao her mom bought at the wind festival. She wished they'd never left Suna. That she could still talk to the lonely boy with equally bright hair as hers, with eyes soft green, and sand he was always willing to let her chase. The boy in the Suna park never thought her too smart. He never questioned the legitimacy or lineage of her parents.

After all this time Shikamaru still called her Haruno-San. Now, after everything, she realized the distance was likely intentional. She wasn't an ally or a friend, just another person in class. She cried harder. The dress pressed to her face muffled the sound.

That afternoon she didn't move when the other kids went back inside. She sat on her tree branch and didn't want anyone to see her. Sakura thought of the peace near the Naka River and with a sputtering burst of chakra to her legs she jumped to the tree far across the academy yard. As she leapt from it she had color pooled in her fist and when she smacked the bark it exploded beneath her.

Sakura ran faster, jumped farther, till she felt she was just a streak of red dress and pink hair sparking between trees. It was easier now after weeks of practice. In her anger it was easier to make the chakra flow at a greater rate. She let it build, pooling down her arms till it fortified her wrists and fingers. If she didn't have such great control she wouldn't have been able to sense this or guide it, but she did and she could. It was empowering. She felt so strong and she wanted to hold onto that.

The colors swirled along her muscles and hardened along the knuckles of her hands. She didn't have a large chakra reserve, hardly more than the wildlife itself, but she was near perfect in controlling it. A moderate force shoved behind a tiny concentrated point, like the surface at the very tip of her knuckle, that was powerful enough to punch holes in trees.

Part of her thought she should contain herself. That she'd be better off pretending. To act like a proper little girl who'd wear her mother's hand made dresses and not get them dirty, but she was so hurt and angry she didn't want to do what the other girls in class did. Not when they got upset with her high scores. Not when they were so obsessed with looks and broody boys. Not when they cared more about flower arranging than the poisons a wise kunoichi could dose tea leaves with. She didn't want to do anything like them. If they kept making fun of her big head because she scored higher than them, well that was their problem.

Sakura smacked another tree. Her fist splintered bark and she had to close her eyes to avoid the flying debris. If only her forms were better she'd be able to land punches in class spars without hurting anyone. It's a trick she'd yet to figure out. Each time she punched an object it was too hard. She didn't dare punch a person like this.

Sakura came to a particularly large tree overlooking a canyon of reddish rock. It was a good view. The tears streaming down her face slowed and her hiccupping sobs quieted. Sakura didn't need friends, but she wanted them, she wanted them desperately. She'd been so focused on tuning the flow of colors within her, she hadn't realized by making herself stick out she was just putting a target on her back. The other kids didn't like it when someone stuck out, especially some nobody girl with civilians for family. The name Haruno didn't bring respect like the bigger clans, it was notable for how many trade routes her cousins completed, but this was all they were known for. Her okaasan was the friendly woman who traveled a lot and talked about volunteering for the Allied Mother's League. Her otousan was often away buying jewelry and trying exotic hair oils he'd found visiting other cities. Sakura's chakra dimmed with her emotions, calming down and slowing with her breath to a flicker. Right now she didn't feel bright, but hollow as if the colors were hidden away inside her like the crags of this red rock valley hid light.

Her academy student level chakra flickered till it looked no larger than the squirrels settling in the tree above her. She let the silence settle around her and her tears from earlier dried. Her new red dress had a few torn hems and some threads hanging loose. She'd have to ask her okaasan how to fix it.

She saw Uchiha Shisui walking below, stopping under the lowest branch of the tree she'd landed on. The teenager looked lost in thought, completely unaware he wasn't alone but with a slip of an academy student sitting above him. She only recognized him because the Uchiha in her class always spoke of his aniki and his cousin. Had been showing off pictures last week and while Uchiha Itachi had long sleek hair, Uchiha Shisui had hair which stuck up like ruffled feathers.

Just like the teenager walking below her tree. The book she'd read in the library noted the shunshin as something all leaf genin should learn. It was simple, but could save lives. It stated with this simple tool Shunshin no Shisui became perhaps the most famous Uchiha after Madara himself. A technique when paired with his "visual prowess" made him influential during the third war and in the rebuild after. The library book was vague on what that meant, but looking at him now she could see Shisui was perhaps 17 years old. He'd fought a war at her age. He was a hero.

When another man appeared below Sakura tensed. For an old man he was huge. His broad shoulders and face half wrapped in bandages. The sight was foreboding. Instinctively, she pulled her colors deeper into herself as if it could hide her from view. She didn't want that man's attention on her. She didn't like how he looked at Shisui, how his colors changed with his focus and proximity to the Uchiha hero.

The man felt wrong. His colors were distorted around the bandages. As if the colors were in flux and fighting against themselves, as if some pieces were invading. Everything about his chakra was unsettling. Sakura stiffened the closer he got and the more he spoke. The way he looked at Shunshin no Shisui held malicious hunger.

"Shisui, I hear what you and your cousin are saying. I think we can find a solution for you, outside your Clan, outside ANBU, free from their influence. You could work as much or as little as you like. If you come back with us I'll show you what we have setup."

"Back where?"

"To one of our root homes."

She saw Shisui look from left to right. He seemed to notice the swarm of chakra presses which had shown up. The boy began to back up.

"Danzo-sama?" He questioned, suddenly uncertain.

"Come back with us Shisui. We'll take care of you."

"No, I'm not interested in that. I need to help my father."

"We can do that. My people are the best, nearly as well trained as Tsunade herself."

Shisui, distracted by the offer, didn't expect the chakra coiling in the man's body. Yet Sakura did. She saw it building up in his arm, the same way Iruka Sensei did when he wanted to strike exceptionally fast. Oh no. She felt her heart was in her throat. Not this. Then it happened, but so much worse than she'd predicted. When the man punched Shisui, she didn't even think, she let go of the tiniest flickering chakra holding her to her perch.