Author's note: Parts of this and the next two chapters are inspired by the book Lioness Rampant, by Tamora Pierce. Specifically, this concerns the parts that concern Kakashi and Okami Mountain. I will not mark it as a crossover, as I'm simply drawing inspiration from a specific part of the story and not using any of the characters or the universe, but those who've read the book will probably recognise the premise. For those who haven't read the book or the series it belongs to, I highly recommend it!
They camp on the edge of Okami Island that evening, deciding not to brave the mountain and risk getting caught without protection in the evening. Sakura is grateful for the addition of eight warm bodies surrounding her when she sleeps, for once almost making her feel warm.
In the morning Kakashi-sensei is restless, yet he doesn't move to hurry them along. Instead he sends the dogs out, asking them to see if they can find the shrine they are looking for. With snow as deep as it is, it will most likely be at least partially buried.
As the dogs set out to search the island Kakashi turns to her and she swallows nervously, sensing a change of focus.
"Ma, Sakura-chan, I think it is time I taught you an actual jutsu, don't you think?"
Having half expected to be set on another ridiculously hard training exercise, she is weary at first.
"Didn't you say before that I don't have the chakra reserves to learn flashy new jutsu?"
"Well, they have improved a bit since then. Besides, what I plan on teaching you isn't exactly flashy."
Standing straighter she feels a warmth bloom within her, not from any jutsu but from pure joy. Kakashi-sensei is teaching her an actual jutsu! Not just pushing her to do ridiculous running exercises or sparring or even meditation, but an actual jutsu!
"Now, this is a D-rank and very akin to something I have already seen you do. Do you remember that evening when I came to the Genin Corps, when you fought on the water?"
Sakura nods, recalling the evening. She'd fought both Tanigawa and Hajime, not realising that Kakashi-sensei was there. That he was watching her. Frustratingly, she'd lost against Tanigawa, but at least she'd won against Hajime. They'd sparred on the surface of the river, and when she had been too slow to dodge an incoming attack she had allowed herself to sink into the water instead. The look on Hajime's face had been surprised, which had only grown better when she used her position in the water to pull him down as well a moment later.
"I remember."
"This technique basically allows you to swim through water more easily than you ordinarily might. These are the hand signs."
He shows her the signs and she memorises the order, swiftly repeating them to herself a few times until they flow easily after one another. It seems easy enough, she thinks. Even so, there is a knot of worry in her stomach.
"I'm not going swimming, am I?"
"Not in water, no. But this technique can be used on water in all forms, including snow. Try it out."
With a relieved sigh she kneels on the snow, running through the hand signs again and this time allowing her chakra to flow in accordance with them. At the end there is a slight tug on her reserves, similar to when she uses the body replacement technique or any other jutsu.
Curiously, she presses down with her hand, seeing it sink into the hard pressed snow much easier than it naturally would. Moving it around is different too; the snow isn't so much getting moved by her hand as simply shifting around it, returning to its original position as soon as she has passed. It doesn't disturb the surface either, even though her hand isn't that deep.
"Try diving in," Kakashi suggests.
Hesitant, because she would ordinarily take more time to accommodate herself with a new jutsu, she allows herself to fall forward. The snow parts around her and keeps parting, shifting beneath her and coming together above her. The lack of daylight startles her, though she ought to have expected it. As her whole body is submerged in snow there is nothing but darkness and gentle cold surrounding her, somewhat like swimming yet entirely different.
The second thing she becomes aware of is that there really isn't any oxygen in the snow either. She definitely should have taken a deeper breath.
Sensing firm ground beneath her at last she turns, kicking off towards the surface again. Her head emerges through the snow a moment later and she takes a deep breath.
"Excellent," Kakashi-sensei says, crouching beside her head. "Not everyone can get back up on their first try."
"Did you let me dive in without knowing whether I'd get back up again?!" she exclaims, horrified at the thought of being buried alive in the cold snow.
"I would have fished you up."
His voice is mock-hurt and she gives him a matching glare.
"You don't actually have to keep treading water, you know," he points out a moment later. "The snow should adjust around you according to your will anyway. Try going down again."
"Well, treading helps!" she points out before taking a deep breath and diving again.
Submerged again she finds that he is correct, but that moving as if she's swimming still helps. With some practice she could probably become proficient at moving without movement, but as it is, instincts honed from swimming are still strong.
When she needs to breathe again she returns to the surface, forcing herself not to keep treading as she remains mostly submerged. Kakashi-sensei is further away this time, or maybe it is she that has just moved that far, but he strolls over to her when he notices her head above the snow.
"Seems like you're catching on quickly. Try another dive, and then come back up. And this time, try creating a little more room around yourself. It helps to have some air in case you can't come up for air freely."
Taking a few deep breaths she plays around with the jutsu, feeling how the snow shifts around her to allow more room within her little space. Once she is reasonably sure that there is at least some air there she dives again, unable to quite suppress the instinct to take a deep breath first.
Hesitantly - every instinct she has telling her that she cannot breathe as long as she is submerged - she releases her breath and breathes in shallowly. When there is no snow penetrating her nose she takes another breath. It is claustrophobic, being submerged in the snow in her own little space with only a limited amount of air, but it works.
It is with relief that she returns to the surface again, happily breathing in the fresh air.
"Did it work?" Kakashi asks with a tone as if he already knows the answer.
"Yeah. I wouldn't want to stay down too long though."
"Wise of you," he says, helping her up. "If nothing else, you'll actually run out of oxygen after a while."
Moving above the snow again feels strange, even after she has ended the jutsu. Like walking on wobbly legs after she has been swimming, getting used to gravity again takes a few moments.
The dogs return a while later, reporting that they have not found any scents suggesting there is a shrine anywhere. Kakashi-sensei doesn't look particularly surprised, and suddenly she understands why he decided to teach her that particular jutsu.
"We'll split up then," he says. "Pakkun, Bull, Urushi, Guruko, you're with Sakura. You'll search the south and western parts of the mountain base, while I and the others take the north and eastern parts."
They nod their understanding and Sakura hefts her backpack up on her back, unwilling to leave it behind. Pakkun and the others have already split into their own little group, waiting for her.
"And Sakura?"
She pauses, looking back at Kakashi.
"Pakkun's in charge. You'll do the searching, but refer to him if you find something. Understood?"
"Yes sensei." A warm blush creeps up her face. Being put under the command of a pug is a new low, even for her shinobi career. Even if it is a talking pug.
"Good. If neither of us find anything we'll meet back here."
And so they split up, Kakashi and four of the dogs quickly disappearing in the distance. Sakura makes slower progress across the snow. Pakkun is now riding on Bull and the dogs lead her towards what they have deemed a suitable starting point for their search.
Like the body replacement technique and the other Academy techniques, this new jutsu doesn't actually require that much chakra. Even so, as the day goes on and the hours pass by, there is a significant decrease in her reserves.
By the time Akino arrives to tell her that Kakashi has found the shrine she is grateful not to have to dive anymore.
Akino leads her and the others to a clearing in the forest, just at the base of the mountain. A frozen solid waterfall indicates that there might be a river running through it in the summer and Sakura has a hard time tearing her gaze away from the solid wall of ice before her.
"What do we do now?" she asks distractedly.
She barely catches the snow shovel he throws at her, almost getting hit in the head with the shaft.
"Now we shovel snow."
In Konoha, the very few snowfalls the village sees are light and easily swept aside. Usually the snow will disappear the same day it falls, so Sakura really has very little experience with snow before this trip. She quickly learns, however, that snow shovelling is one of her least favourite activities. Dull, repetitive and heavy, it is everything she dislikes, and she soon finds that she might just prefer her jogs along the village wall if she were to get a choice.
They work throughout the whole afternoon, Kakashi, her and even the dogs. By the time the sun starts to set they have created a wide tunnel for themselves, reaching into the main hall of the shrine. Because of the roof and the walls, the shrine itself actually has very little snow in it, though smaller snow banks have amassed where holes in the walls have let it in.
Though obviously old, the shrine is actually in surprisingly good condition, Sakura reflects as they explore the building. The walls and ceiling are made out of wood, with stone floors and pillars supporting everything. The wide opening of the tunnel allows some of the remaining daylight to reach all the way into the shrine, but Kakashi and her both reach for their flashlights anyway, as the deeper parts of the shrine are still cast in shadows.
There is a purification through at the entrance to the main hall, the water in it long frozen solid. Instead, Sakura splashes some of her drinking water over her hands, hoping that the deity inside will forgive her considering their circumstances.
Kakashi-sensei doesn't bother purifying himself, and when he steps further into the shrine it is with the posture of a soldier expecting an ambush.
"It wouldn't surprise me if my ancestors had rigged some sort of trap," he explains, shooting her a look.
Lingering by the entrance, she allows Kakashi-sensei to secure the room before following him further into the shrine, towards the offering hall, which is just as empty and seemingly void of dangers as the rest of the shrine.
The part of her that has been raised to be polite and respect the rules winces as Kakashi steps over the shimenawa separating the innermost chamber from the rest of the temple. To her relief he is back soon again, shaking his head.
"All clear," he announces.
Sakura breathes a sigh of relief, and takes the time to study the room more closely. There are two statues; one of a life-size woman, and one of a large wolf standing by her side. Both are carved with great detail, to the point where every strand of hair on the wolf seems real. Each of them has a small altar before them, with offerings of food, dried flowers, incense and even a couple of coins of various currencies.
Everything is covered in a fine layer of dust, suggesting that it's been a while since anyone was here to offer these deities any offerings. Sakura offers them both a brief bow out of respect, before continuing her study of the room.
Unlike the more plain main hall, this room has paintings covering both the walls and the ceiling. The pillars are red, but the painting on the wall depicts forested scenes with a large mountain in the background, as well as various forest animals. The largest of the depicted animals is a bear, which to Sakura's surprise also has a small offering before it, despite the lack of an altar. Curious, she steps closer, wincing a little once she realises that the offering is the remains of some sort of small animal, like a rabbit.
"Like I said, my ancestors weren't the nicest of people," Kakashi-sensei mutters quietly, almost making Sakura jump in surprise.
For a moment, she'd almost forgotten he was there.
That evening, they cut thin branches of spruce and spread it across the stone floor of the temple's main hall, before spreading their bedrolls there. Kakashi-sensei cooks dinner over the portable gas stove, and then he orders her to get some sleep.
Later that night, when she has taken over the watch from Kakashi and sits with Pakkun in her lap, she hears wolves howling in the distance. Given what Kakashi has told her about his clan and the suspicion he has displayed in the shrine, it doesn't sit well with her, and a shiver runs down her spine.
"Don't worry," Pakkun tells her. "They're far away."
"Well, if they're half as fast as you guys that's no real comfort."
Pakkun does what she assumes is the pug equivalent of scoffing at her.
"They're probably faster than us. Don't worry though, we'll be able to smell them if they decide to approach."
The howling increases in volume, more voices joining in, and she shudders.
"I hope they don't know we're here."
"Oh they know," Pakkun says. "Wolves can smell prey from several kilometres away. More, if the wind is blowing in the right direction, and we had tailwinds for some of the time when we crossed the ice."
"That's not really comforting, you know!" she tells him, hugging him closer to her chest.
He doesn't object to the closeness, even nuzzling her chin a little.
"I'll let you touch my paw if it makes you feel better."
In the morning Sakura and Pakkun tell Kakashi about the wolves. He frowns and spends the whole morning constructing traps around the entrance to the shrine. By the time he's done it's almost lunchtime and the dogs have brought her a hare that she has skinned and started cooking.
"Remind me to show you how to cook better in field conditions," Kakashi says with a grimace when they have sat down and started eating.
"At least I didn't set anything on fire."
Kakashi-sensei gestures with his chopsticks, wordlessly giving her that point.
"I don't think it'd be possible to set anything around here on fire even if you tried, kiddo," Pakkun grumbles.
Which, to be fair, is probably true. And honestly, being able to produce perfectly bland and boring food is probably not that much of an achievement anyway.
After the meal, Kakashi-sensei faces the offering hall with the posture of someone going off to war. Or at least, what Sakura imagines as such. At any rate, he looks far from happy.
"I'm going to go in there and meditate," he tells her quietly. "I'm not sure how long it'll take. Please don't disturb me unless it's important. Pakkun is in charge. And don't go outside the traps."
This time she doesn't follow him into the offering hall.
The day drags on, hour upon hour slowly passing by. After a week of travelling and a month of intense training before that, inactivity feels strange and the walls of the shrine almost claustrophobic. Especially knowing that there is so much snow above her head, just weighing down on the innocent looking roof above her head. She tries to ignore the uncomfortable feeling, but without anything to do it isn't easy.
Eventually she settles down against a wall, sharpening her weapons and mending a small hole in her new fur-lined clothes. Occasionally she gets up to peek into the offering hall. Kakashi-sensei sits with his back against her, facing the imposing wolf statue and the goddess, and he doesn't make a sound.
With nothing more to busy her hands with she takes to pacing the main hall, eventually switching to practising katas. Luckily there is enough room to move around in the main hall. The dogs watch her curiously, Pakkun eventually deciding that he needs to correct her whenever she's slightly out of form.
Bored with katas she then switches to sit ups, push ups and squats, gratified to notice that she is indeed stronger than she was just a month ago. The dogs urge her on, which helps make it a decent work out. She finishes with meditation, practising circulating her chakra. To her surprise she does not only sense the dogs and Kakashi-sensei in the offering hall, but there is also an answering thrum all around her. Deeper, heavier yet less intrusive than even a mouse. The snow, she realises, longing to explore what this new connection to her chakra nature might do to her meditation. Only the memory of Kakashi-sensei's strict warnings of not experimenting on her own keeps her from exploring.
Dinner time comes and goes. Sakura waits for Kakashi to emerge from the offering hall but eventually her growling stomach forces her to get cooking herself. She settles for heating up the leftovers of the hare and rice they had for lunch. Even with the scent of food cooking filling the shrine, Kakashi doesn't emerge.
"You go to bed," Pakkun tells her later in the evening when she has been trying to suppress her yawns for a while. "We'll keep watch."
Gratefully accepting the offer, she crawls into her bedroll, casting a worried look towards the offering hall. Kakashi still hasn't emerged.
Used as she is to only sleeping half nights for the last week, it is still early by the time she wakes up. Clumsy in the darkness she lights a lantern, only to see that Kakashi still hasn't emerged from the offering hall.
She's melting snow for water when Kakashi emerges at last, looking tired and annoyed.
"We're leaving in a couple of hours," he tells her, accepting the water she offers him. "I just need to sleep for a few hours first."
"Ok. Do you want to eat? I saved you some from dinner."
"Later," he waves her off.
Both she and the dogs spend the morning attempting to be quiet, mostly meditating and, in Sakura's case, attempting to get some more sleep in. She waits for the sun to rise, but as the hours pass by it never really seems to do so. Though some daylight emerges the sky remains bleak, darkening even more as snow begins to fall.
"Looks like we're not going anywhere," Kakashi sighs once he wakes up. "Blizzards are no joke."
The wind picks up more and more, making it hard to breathe from the force of them whenever they dare stick their heads out of the snow. Resignedly Sakura settles in for another day spent within the walls of the shrine.
Kakashi and her do more sit ups, push ups and squats; Kakashi even takes the opportunity to show her some more exercises that will exercise other muscles and help her balance and agility. Afterwards, when they settle down for some relaxing meditation, she mentions the thrumming of the snow she had noticed the day before.
"I'm not entirely surprised," he tells her. "With practice, you'll probably be able to learn better control of your element by meditating with it. Though now is not the right time to practise. It's probably best to save that until we're in a wide, open space somewhere where we don't risk being buried alive if you make a mistake."
The evening comes and the blizzard still hasn't calmed down, the winds screaming angrily outside. Occasionally Kakashi-sensei will check the opening to the tunnel, ensuring that there remains enough of an opening to let air in. With the entirety of the temple, they've got a decent air pocket, but there's no reason yet to test how long the air within will last the both of them and the dogs without a steady supply of fresh air.
With no fresh meat remaining, they cook rice to get something warm to fill their stomachs and compliment it with a protein bar. As far as dinners go, she's had better. Then again, it's far better than no dinner.
The dream is unnaturally clear; more vivid than even the worst of his nightmares have the right to be. He's standing outside, the blizzard roaring around him as he faces the mountain looming high above him. From the snowy cliffs a dark figure looks down upon him, eyes gleaming in the darkness like hot coals.
"I'm waiting," the creature speaks, with a voice so strong and untamed that it seems to echo in his very bones. "How long do you intend to keep me waiting?"
Shadows, smaller than the first figure but with the same, gleaming eyes, appear upon the cliffs above him. They snarl at him, showcasing razor sharp teeth and strong jaws. Kakashi takes a step backwards, instinctively knowing that whatever this is he does not want to face it.
"You can't hide from your destiny forever," the voice continues. "One way or another, I'll get to you."
The shadows start growling, hunching as if preparing to leap. Kakashi doesn't wait to see if they'll actually leap. In a moment he has turned his back on them, running for all that he is worth through the forest even as branches slap across his face and body, tugging at him like the hands of numerous enemies. Behind him the shadows howl, and then they're running, snarling in excitement as they slowly catch up with him.
"You've come this far. It is too late for you to turn back now."
He's stumbling through snow, jaws snapping after his feet with every step and then his feet catch on something and he's falling, falling into the cold snow and still he's falling …
His eyes fly open and he sits straight up in his bedroll, gasping for breath and for a moment struggling to orient himself. It is late. Beneath the snow, there is very little daylight to begin with and this late into the night it is pitch dark. His hands tremble as he reaches for the lantern, lightening it in a moment.
Sakura is there, asleep in her bedroll. Bull, Shiba and Bisuke are keeping watch over by the entrance, giving him quiet but curious glances. A cold nose nudges his hand and when he looks down he meets Pakkun's worried eyes.
"Boss?"
Pakkun's voice is quiet but tense. Kakashi takes a deep breath, forcing himself to relax as he breathes out.
"Just a nightmare," he says, petting the pug. "Sorry I startled you."
The last part is aimed at all of the dogs, as they're all watching him worriedly. Even Urushi, Akino, Uhei and Guruko, though they don't move from where they are protectively curled around Sakura.
"Sorry to break it to you Boss, but that was no dream," Pakkun says.
"Yeah, that was something else entirely," Shiba agrees, a shiver running through him.
Kakashi wants to groan because he believes them. He's been meditating for hours and hours in this damn temple, and the whole time the feeling that he's not there yet has plagued him, only growing stronger as he has tried to ignore it. Some primal instinct, or more likely whatever demon or deity that rules this place, urging him to continue to move on, to brave the mountain. It's madness, but he can't shake it.
"I'm not trying to climb that mountain in the middle of a blizzard!" he says, his voice quiet but firm.
"I'm not sure that's going to matter, Boss," Pakkun says with a shudder. "Whatever it is, it seems determined to not let us escape without confrontation."
Before Kakashi can figure out an answer to that, the howls of wolves reach his ears. He sits straighter as he looks towards the entrance and the dogs there.
"They're getting closer," Shiba confirms, his tone grim.
"How far away are they?"
Shiba shakes his head.
"Still some bit away. But they've placed themselves between us and the ocean. If we want to escape we'll have to get past them."
"Somehow I don't think they'll let us pass without a fight," Pakkun comments.
Cold dread spreads in his belly and Kakashi gets up, walking over to the entrance to listen more carefully himself. A sniff in the wind reveals that Shiba is right.
"Seems like we're caught in a trap," he states.
"Any ideas on how we get out of it, Boss?" Pakkun asks.
Glancing back towards the offering chamber and the statues there, Kakashi hesitates. He knows what he's supposed to do, even if every fibre of his being insists that it's a bad idea.
"For now, we'll wait," he states. "Keep an eye out on them and the storm. Perhaps we'll get a chance to sneak by."
He doesn't sleep any more that night, and by the time the first rays of daylight make their way down the tunnel it becomes clear that the blizzard isn't going anywhere.
The day passes in agonising slowness. He tries to rid himself of the nervous energy through training, but the limited space of the shrine isn't exactly ideal for such exercises. So he exercises and paces and grows more and more short tempered as the feeling of helplessness grows.
Whether she senses the tension of the situation or is just picking up on his mood, Sakura grows tense too. He watches her sharpening her weapons with a grim expression on her face. Neither him nor the dogs have told her about the wolves coming closer yet, so he's not sure what she expects to fight. Maybe she just needs to keep herself busy. Kakashi himself is close to climbing the walls already.
Her sleep is worried, he notices that night when she has crawled into her bedroll. Worried is still better than his own sleep, which is nonexistent. He continues to pace the room, occasionally wandering back into the offering chamber to glare at the statues there.
He thinks about heading out there himself and just fight the wolves. Over the years he has faced far worse obstacles than wolves or a blizzard, so in theory it should be relatively simple. However, something inside him baulks at the idea. Maybe if it was only him, he thinks, he could unsummon the dogs and face whatever is waiting outside.
But he's not alone.
He looks down on Sakura, twisting and turning in her sleep.
It's almost ironic. On that first supposed C-rank with team 7, when he'd been in Wave with Naruto and Sasuke, the situation was much the same. Facing Zabuza and Haku on his own he might have been able to go all out against them, but because Naruto and Sasuke had been there he'd also had to focus on protecting them. He'd ended up straining himself too far, even ending up unconscious and helpless for a dangerous chunk of time.
Both Naruto and Sasuke had come dangerously close to dying, surviving mostly on sheer luck and the mercy of their opponent.
He cannot afford to make that mistake again.
Whatever awaits him outside, it won't show the same hesitance to kill that Haku did.
And Sakura … Sakura only has him. She doesn't have another teammate to rely on.
Damnit, he should have left her behind in that inn! Or somehow convinced Tsunade to let him leave her in Konoha after all, or …
Well, it's too late now.
Far, far too late.
"Pakkun," he says grimly towards the wee hours of the night.
"Yeah, Boss?"
"You and the others stay here with Sakura. If the wolves come closer, do whatever necessary to protect her."
"Are you sure?"
He knows Pakkun isn't referring to his request for them to protect Sakura. Decisively he stands, reaching for his backpack and unpacking everything that isn't strictly necessary.
"This is madness," he says as he works, "but I am sure. Whatever is waiting outside, it won't let us leave before I've faced it."
"We'll protect the pup," Pakkun promises, nuzzling Kakashi's side. "Just be careful Boss."
Only keeping his bedroll and some of the ration bars in his backpack he straps it closed and throws it over his shoulders. A quick check reveals that everything else - his weapon's pouch and kunai holster - are still in place and contain all of his usual equipment.
"If I'm not back in four days, take her back to Konoha," he instructs the dogs.
They whine worriedly but he knows that they'll obey his orders. He has trained them himself.
With a final round of pats to their heads, he heads out into the storm.
The tunnel is relatively protected from the wind so he braces himself for the first unrestricted blast of the storm as he exits it. Even so it almost knocks him over, forcing him to slant his body into the wind and use chakra to keep his footing on the porous snow.
The wind is sharp, icy daggers digging into him despite the multiple layers of clothing he's wearing as he slowly turns towards the mountain. In the blizzard he can't actually see it, but he has the area memorised well enough to know the general direction he has to go in.
Forcing himself to put one foot in front of the other he starts to count his steps, simply to have some way of measuring his progress. He can barely see anything at all before him. Trees seem to appear out of nothing and he wonders how he'll be able to find his way wherever it is he has to go, when he can barely avoid the trees.
Somehow it seems he's moving directly into the wind. Given his dream and the Something challenging him through the storm - You can't hide from your destiny forever. One way or another, I'll get to you - it doesn't seem like a coincidence.
Very soon he realises that the clothes he's wearing are not nearly enough to keep him warm and he's forced to circulate his chakra through his body, mindful of the same warning he had given Sakura just days earlier. With every breath painfully cold and his limbs stinging from the sharp winds it is tempting to raise his own temperature just a little, but he knows that he doesn't have the control to keep himself within healthy parameters. She might, given some time and training, but he doesn't.
Beneath his feet the ground is rising steadily. Between that and the never ending wind he's leaning far forward into the wind.
His progress is slow. From his earlier explorations of the area he can estimate roughly where he is. On a day without a storm it might have taken him minutes to get as far as he has. He's not sure how long he's been fighting the winds and the cold. An hour, his inner clock suggests, maybe more. Though it is not easy to know for sure under these circumstances.
A sudden gust has him on his knees, fighting not to topple over. He grits his teeth, getting up and stumbling forward. Straight into a tree. Stumbling backwards he is just barely able to prevent himself from falling on his behind like a child. That would be just perfect, he thinks angrily to himself. Falling on his ass and then being unable to get up, ending up buried in the snow and slowly freezing to death.
There have been a number of times when he has been close to death, but he has never imagined himself dying like this.
Trying to distract himself from the cold and the winds he recites the shinobi rules to himself. First in the correct order, then backwards, then ordering them alphabetically. When he runs out of shinobi rules he names the rulers of the various hidden villages. Starting with Konoha, that's easy; Senju Hashirama, the God of Shinobi. Senju Tobirama, the brother of the first Hokage. Sarutobi Hiruzen, also known as the God of Shinobi and the teacher of the Legendary Sannin. Namikaze Minato, the Yellow Flash. Kakashi's heart clenches at the thought, memories of the man himself flashing before his eyes. He pushes them aside again, forcing himself to focus on the tasks at hand. One foot in front of the other, and the current Hokage Senju Tsunade, hailed as the world's strongest kunoichi and the greatest medical nin.
He moves on to the other kage, or those that he knows at least.
According to his internal clock it is still a good while until dawn. There's no guarantee that dawn will bring any rest for him, but he clings to that hope regardless.
Between the darkness and the blizzard he's just about blind, and he's lost all sense of direction. The snow beneath his feet still seems to be leading uphill, but that's about it. He reaches out with his chakra, trying to orient himself, and stumbles. His chakra reserves have grown dangerously low without him noticing. Keeping himself warm like this shouldn't require this much chakra but evidently this storm is unlike anything he has ever faced before.
Cursing himself and his sharingan, which is always eating up most of his chakra at any given time, he stops the circulation and focuses instead on keeping himself walking on top of the snow. If he had been able to prepare more he might have thought to bring snowshoes, saving himself some more chakra. As it is, he doesn't have much of a choice but to continue, and hope that his chakra will last until he reaches wherever it is that he's going.
Grimly he continues to press forward, ignoring the increasing bite of the cold. Slowly his feet start to grow numb, and afraid of causing permanent damage to himself he decides to risk using some chakra to keep them warm. They sting as the blood in them slowly starts flowing again, but he knows that it is a good kind of sting. The kind of sting that tells him that he's still alive.
In this weather numbness equals death.
Pain equals life.
It takes him a couple of minutes to realise that the wind is dropping. Halting, he eventually looks up, seeing that gently drifting snowflakes is all that remains of the blizzard. Wearily turning around, taking stock of his surroundings, he spots his own tracks in the snow. They form an eerily straight line back the way he came, as far as he can see. He's far beyond the base of the mountain now, so the shrine is no longer visible. The trees look more like a lawn than a forest far below him.
A cold shiver runs up his spine. Given the circumstances - the wind and the snow and his exhaustion - his tracks should be swinging back and forth all over the place. Yet he doesn't think he could have managed a more straight line if he had tried.
Something else is definitely at play here, he thinks with unease.
Above him the clouds are breaking, revealing the full moon above, even though his internal clock suggests it should be daytime by now. Its silvery light casts long shadows as he continues to move, knowing that at this point stopping will mean death. The night is eerily silent, not even the wolves howling in the distance. The only sound is that of the snow shifting beneath his feet.
Suddenly there is a voice, not echoing over the snow but one he hears in his mind, that brings him to his knees with its terrible power. It is filled with the overwhelming noise of nature; boulders tumbling over the rocks, rushing streams and waterfalls and above it all a song, a howl of multiple voices far, far older than him. Bringing his hands to his ears does him no good, and he winces as it forms words.
"So you have decided to face me at last, pup."
Kakashi cannot reply, hands pressed tightly against his ears in a fruitless attempt to make the voice hurt less.
"Look to your right."
Obeying, if only because the pain is too intense to do anything else, he sees a line of light. The light from the full moon above him makes the snow glister but this is something else, the snow glistening like diamonds in sunlight and forming a path before him over rocks and snow, going around the mountain.
"I'm waiting for you."
Before Kakashi can gather enough wits or energy to retort, the voice is gone. Apprehensively Kakashi listens for a few moments, but the night is once again silent.
With the cold slowly creeping into his body he forces himself to move, forces himself to stand on legs that are stiff and cold and trembling. Taking a breath he glances backwards, back the way he came, and then faces the glistening path before him.
He didn't come here to find some demonic god, or whatever awaits him. He came to avoid a fight with his own blood relatives.
At this point, he's pretty sure that simply killing his aunt would have been preferable. How bad can a couple of years in prison be?
But it's not like that's an option anymore. For better or worse he's here, and whatever deity that rules this mountain - and Kakashi is pretty convinced it's a deity, because there is absolutely nothing human about it so far - is clearly intent on a confrontation.
Is this what his father had to go through? Kakashi starts walking again, mulling that question over. Is this where Sakumo found Kakashi's mother? It has been so many years since he heard the story, and he suddenly wishes that he could sit by the fire with his father again, hearing him tell it.
His chakra is running more than dangerously low now. Despite the cold he is forced to only use it to keep going, to keep himself somewhat on top of the snow. Between the exhaustion and the cold his control is far from good and he finds himself slipping, sinking through the snow until he's knee-deep and has to pause to dig the snow out of his boots before he continues.
Every step is a fight, his chakra control shifting and making the stability of the snow unpredictable. Sometimes he's knee-deep, sometimes he just sinks down to his ankles. Either way, regardless of how much he tries to focus it seems he can't gather enough control to keep himself from sinking down and he grits his teeth in frustration. He's been able to walk on water and snow and whatever surface he likes since he was a child, damnit!
He wants to scream but the fear of starting an avalanche keeps him quiet. With his luck it might not only bury him but also move on to bury the shrine, and Sakura and the dogs with it. So he clenches his jaws tightly around his anger and uses the anger to fuel his movement forward.
Logically he knows that weariness, lack of sleep and agitated nerves is interfering with his judgement. To continue under these circumstances is foolish and something he would scold anyone else for. As it is, he sends another angry curse towards whatever power is forcing him through this, convinced that even a short break will lead to repercussions.
Quietly, his voice hoarse and barely audible even to his own ears, he starts to recite the verses of a particularly lewd song sometimes sung among the ANBU. It's about an agent returning from a violent mission only to find his wife in bed with another man, and though it comes in many versions the ANBU-agents favours one that is particularly full of gore and coarse language. He can't imagine anyone actually enjoying it, much less a deity.
His chakra flickers and withdraws itself to his core and he sinks down to his hip in snow. A curse escapes him and he glances backwards again. Going back will be very interesting with chakra exhaustion, if he survives whatever lies before him.
Looking around again he realises that he is almost at the end of the glistening path. No more than twenty metres or so, which is easier said than traversed without chakra to help him. Silently praying that there are no unexpected hindrances hidden beneath the snow he starts to dig his way over. He winds up doing something akin to a crawl, shivering as snow makes its way past the lining of his clothes in the process.
Panting he is at last able to enter the cave, which is mercifully spared of snow. Small at the entrance, it grows bigger on the inside, forming a large chamber with a tunnel on the other side. Moss grows on the walls, strangely bright and reflecting what little moonlight manages to make its way past the entrance, casting the cave into a silvery dusk.
"I'm here," he breathes, shaking to rid himself of the worst of the snow. "Show yourself!"
"Then prepare for battle," the same terrifying voice from before replies.
By force of will Kakashi remains standing, eyeing the cave in anticipation. When no threat emerges immediately he pulls off the outer layers of his clothes. The air of the cave is cool but not cold and he has some idea that he'll need whatever agility he'll be able to muster. He's out of chakra, which means that he won't be able to use any of the numerous jutsu he knows, nor the Sharingan.
This will be a physical fight.
More Gai's style than his, he thinks ruefully.
Something is padding towards him through the tunnel. Several somethings, in fact. Moving to the centre of the cave he pulls out two kunai, preparing himself to fight.
When the deity appears at last it does so in the shape of a wolf, far larger than any natural wolf and with perfectly white fur. Another wolf appears behind it, just slightly smaller and dark enough that at first it seems more like a shadow than another wolf. They pause just before the entrance of the tunnel, more forms appearing to form a half-circle around him.
Kakashi swallows, hands clenching around his kunai. The white wolf male before him is tall enough to reach his shoulder easily, the black female by his side just a little bit smaller. The others, six of them in total, are just slightly smaller than the female still and in various shades of greys and browns. If he doubted their otherworldly origins, the shining silver claws and teeth clearly tells him that these are no ordinary wolves.
His eyes lock with the yellow eyes of the male, strangely intelligent for a wolf.
As if on an unspoken signal the smaller ones snarl and attack, forcing Kakashi to retreat to avoid simply being buried under them. Teeth snap at his arms and legs and he lashes out with his kunai, cutting and kicking to keep them at bay. His movements are wary at first, muscles sluggish and tired. The pack dances around him, jumping in and out of reach for his knives, forcing him to back away until he finds himself with the cave wall against his back.
"I didn't really come here to fight!" he growls, casting a glance towards the couple still remaining by the entrance to the tunnel.
The male growls back, showing his teeth. When he speaks it once again does not come from his mouth, but rather directly into Kakashi's mind.
"Your reasons for coming don't matter. You've come into my territory like so many before you, and like them you will either fight or perish!"
The flood of adrenaline washes away the earlier exhaustion, making his arms and legs less unsteady as he kicks and blocks and cuts. He dips and swerves and twists, thankful for all the training he has had with Gai. Inching along the cave wall he manages to keep the wolves at bay, leaving furs dotted with blood in the wake of his knives.
He's not uninjured either; teeth skid over his arms and legs, impossibly sharp claws scraping through his clothes even as he manages to block the jaws. In the midst of the fighting one manages to slink low under his guard, jaws closing over his calf. His other knee buckles as the wolf pulls, shaking his leg like a rag in its mouth.
Something between a growl and a cry escapes him and another wolf is over him in moments. Kakashi doesn't have time to think and just drives both kunai with all his might into its body. They skid between the ribs, penetrating muscle and flesh and organs and the wolf yelps, then grow relaxed over him.
The other wolf is still tugging at his leg so he doesn't have time to celebrate his small victory, no time for recovery. Instead he sends one of his kunai flying with deadly accuracy, gratified when it hits true. The wolf cries out in pain and flies backwards, kunai still sticking out of its eye.
The other wolves have backed away, somewhat weary now that one of them is dead and another one so gravely injured. They circle him and Kakashi draws closer to the cave wall again, using it to pull himself upright again. Once he's standing again, supporting all of his weight on his uninjured leg, he pulls out another kunai, peering at the wolves.
"My children won't give up that easily."
He can't allow himself to react to the voice, not unless he wants to give the wolves an opening while he covers his ears. Distantly he wonders what kind of creature is willing to sacrifice his own children in fight against him for some sort of unclear purpose, but he doesn't have the time to dwell on that.
There isn't enough time for him to figure out much of a plan, to analyse his surroundings or his opponents in the way he would ordinarily want to approach a battle. Instead he sends his both kunai flying, following them up with a barricade of shuriken and then he's moving in his best imitation of Gai's super speed. Kicking, cutting, stabbing, dodging, ducking, blocking in a frenzy that even he is barely able to keep up with. The wolves snarl and growl and bite and whine. Ruthlessly he exposes whatever openings he gets, stabbing another wolf in the stomach, one in the thigh, cutting a throat.
Five remaining turns into four, then three, then two. The one with a kunai in it's eye and one with numerous cuts but no other serious injuries remain, and they're doing their best to encircle him. Now caught further away from the wall, Kakashi struggles to keep his back free, turning his head back and forth to keep them both in sight.
"Whatever you think, I'm not here to fight," Kakashi reiterates, panting heavily. "Take your remaining children and leave me alone."
The younger wolves growl in response, crouching and preparing to leap. A chuckle interrupts them and Kakashi casts another look towards the male and female. They still haven't moved from the tunnel opening but now the male takes a step forward, giving Kakashi a piercing look.
"You are one to talk about children, considering that you've left your own pup exposed."
He inclines his head and the younger wolves immediately lose all interest in Kakashi, running instead for the cave opening. Kakashi's stomach plummets and he moves faster than he knew he could, given his battered condition.
"You're not going after her!" he snarls, placing himself between the wolves and the cave opening.
The younger ones stop, glancing hesitantly between Kakashi and the parents behind them. The white wolf takes another step forward.
"You knew it was foolish to bring her here in the first place but you chose to do so anyway. She came with you, she meditated in my temple and like you, she will be tested."
"No!" Kakashi snarls, desperation hardening to steel within his chest. "I came here to protect her! You are not getting to her!"
Desperation urging his actions, he uses the one weapon he hasn't dared to use yet, and when he sends another barricade of kunai towards both the younger ones and the parents they carry scraps of inked paper with them. His hand forms the hand sign for snake and with a last effort he flares his chakra enough to detonate the explosive tags.
"You would sacrifice yourself to protect a pup that is not even your own?"
The voice sounds almost amused, and this time it doesn't hurt as badly in his mind. That doesn't matter however as the cave is now coming down all around him.
At least the damn wolves die with him, is his last thought before the world grows black and cold around him.