Approximately seventeen years ago...
Smoke drifted up from the ashes. It created a haze over the portion of the village that now lay in ruins. There was a mournful silence that filled the air. Even the chatter of birds was missing. Shinobi were beginning to organize into teams to find the missing, the injured and the deceased from the battle that had happened over night.
Hatake Kakashi let out a heavy sigh as he glanced around the wreckage.
He had just started to allow himself to feel hope for the future when it all came crumbling down in one night. Watching Kushina over the last several months had brought a strange sense of peace. The war had ended and while it came with many sacrifices, there was a chance that this next generation would grow up in peace. It felt like they had achieved something with their blood and and sweat and tears. He had seen Minato and Kushina prepare for their little one's arrival and Kakashi vowed that nothing would ever hurt their child. That they would get to grow up with two loving parents and experience a normal childhood.
Life had a funny way of proving him wrong over and over again. Why did he bother?
Konoha was in ruins. Hundreds were dead. Many more were gravely injured or missing. Naruto was now orphaned. Kushina was dead. Minato was dead. What was the point of being a shinobi if he couldn't stop terrible things from happening to those he cared about?
Minato had been the one stable presence in his life since he had been a child. He had been there for the deaths of his father, Obito and Rin. He had stood next to Kakashi at every funeral, a heavy hand on his shoulder. Minato was an anchor keeping him from drifting out into the vast ocean of rage and despair that threatened to drown him. Kakashi never imagined a scenario in which he would lose Minato. He was too strong a shinobi, too good a person. He never imagined it would be Minato's grave he'd be visiting next.
It was supposed to be me.
He had been ready to go down fighting for his village. He had been ready to die to protect them. Only for the village elders to round up all the shinobi under sixteen and keep them out of the fighting.
Kakashi and Gai made their way through what was once the Sorano compound. They were a minor clan with a hawk summoning contract and a strong affinity for wind style jutsu. The Sorano clan lands were near the forest where the nine-tailed fox had first appeared. They had no time, no warning and no way to escape. They were completely slaughtered as they rushed into battle to buy time for the rest of the village. The Sorano had valiantly tried to hold off the demon and sounded the alarm while Konoha rushed into action; evacuating civilians, children and the elderly while organizing their shinobi defences. The streets in this district were littered with the bodies of the Sorano. An entire clan had been wiped out in a single night.
Kakashi had accepted this task knowing there was no hope for survivors. Gai had insisted they be paired together out of some misplaced sense of friendship? Loyalty? Duty? Kakashi had no idea. All he knew was that he couldn't shake him, Gai seemed glued to his side. His usually boisterous personality was subdued and that seemed to add to the absolute wrongness of everything.
At each home, they located any bodies and stored them in storage scrolls to take back to the morgue for identification. Kakashi shoved his hands into his pockets as they moved on to the next building, his sharingan scanning the area for chakra that would indicate someone was alive. So far, nothing. One of the Sorano's giant ninja hawks was wrapped protectively around the body of a young shinobi. They looked like they had plummeted from the sky. The hawk's feathers were singed black and covered in blood. The shinobi's head had a deep gasp that had covered him in blood as well.
"I knew him," Gai said. His bushy eyebrows furrowed together as if he was trying to place him.
"Sorano Hibari," Kakashi distantly said. "He was in our class at the academy."
He could faintly remember Hibari from a time when the world wasn't shit; playing shinobi before they were sent onto the frontlines of a war as the real thing. The memories were hazy and felt like they had happened to someone else. Their fathers had known each other and with sons close in age it was natural to introduce them. Hayato had been Hibari's older brother who would organize games for them. Often times he and Hibari teamed up against Hayato, who pretended to be a rogue ninja who had stolen the Daimyo's daughter. Their baby sister would toddle after them, sometimes helping and other times hindering, as he and Hibari attempted to rescue her. Kakashi supposed he would find their bodies in the wreckage too. He wondered just how many people he once knew he would see dead before he joined them. Too many.
Kakashi and Gai made quick work of sealing Hibari's body and that of his ninja hawk into a scroll. At least they were able to properly identify him. A great number of bodies had been destroyed beyond recognition. The morgue had their work count out for them in the coming days.
"Is there anybody out there?" Gai hopefully called out. Kakashi knew better than to hope in such destruction. Still, it was their duty to find any survivors first.
They continued moving debris and searching for bodies, occasionally running into other groups on the intersecting streets. Kakashi heard chirping before he saw the little songbird. Through his sharingan the bird glowed bright with chakra, like a little ball of light.
Chika dee dee dee
It flew into his hair, pulling at it with its beck and flapping its wings urgently. Irritably, he waved it out of his hair. Only for it to dart straight at his forehead. Kakashi bent himself backwards at the waist to duck and avoid the bird as it flew over his head.
Chika dee dee dee
"It's a chakra bird," Kakashi realized out loud. An unrecognized feeling bubbled inside his chest. "The Sorano clan's secret technique. Someone must still be alive. Is anyone out there?"
He and Gai spun around, scanning the area for where someone may be. The bird continued chirping at him as it flew through the streets. They chased after it as it darted beneath a collapsed wall.
"Someone - help me - " a voice weakly called out from beneath the rubble. It was hoarse. "Please."
Kakashi lowered himself to the ground and peered under the wreckage. A girl was trapped. She was wearing the Konoha forehead protector so was probably a genin based on her age. There hadn't been any unusually young chunin since the war ended. There was a pool of blood underneath her while a large piece from the wall had fallen on her back, pinning her down. They could easily move it, but Kakashi didn't want to risk further aggravating any spinal injuries or causing her to bleed out from an unknown wound. It seemed unwise to remove it without the advice of a medical ninja.
"Gai, you're faster than I am, go get one of the medics!" He felt this desperate need to save her. The need to do something right for once. He couldn't let her just bleed out in front of them after she had survived throughout the night.
"On it!" Gai said, giving a salut before he rushed away in a green blur.
"You're going to be fine," Kakashi lied. She was losing a lot of blood and her eyes were swimming in and out of focus. Kakashi lifted his forehead protector again. Her chakra was very low; it had probably been trying to heal her for hours. "You need to focus on staying awake. What's your name?"
"Kotori," she said. "Where's my mom? Where's Hibari and Hayato?"
"You're Hibari's sister?"
"You know my brother? Did you see him?" There was hope in her voice and Kakashi immediately felt like an ass. The scroll containing her brother's body sat heavy in his chest pocket. It felt wrong to break such news when she was fighting for her life. Grief could come later. Assuming there even was a later. Don't think like that.
"We went to school together, but I haven't seen him," he lied.
"Oh."
She went quiet as Kakashi awkwardly wondered what to say to her.Sorry your whole family is probably dead, what's your favourite jutsu? He knew it was important to keep her awake, but had never been good at small talk. Rin had been the medic and a natural at keeping the conversation flowing as she patched him and Obito up.
"Come on Kotori, stay with me," he said. "Gai will be back soon."
"Am I dying?" she softly asked. Her green eyes slowly lifted to meet his. There was no fear in them, just acceptance. Shinobi don't fear death. "I can't feel anything, but I know I'm hurt."
"No," he vehemently insisted. "I never let my comrades die."
"I'm not - I don't even know you." Her eyes closed in a slow blink.
"Wake. Up." He gritted through his teeth. "You're a genin, aren't you? You're a part of Konoha. That makes you my comrade. I'm not going to let you die. We're going to get you out, we're just waiting for a medic. Stay with me."
Her eyes fluttered open and focussed on his forehead protector as if it was a lifeline. "What's your name?"
"Kakashi," he said.
"You're the copy ninja!"
"I suppose I am," he said, half paying attention. His sharingan noticed that Gai was rapidly approaching with someone. The medic was a broader shinobi with a strong jawline and black hair in an undercut. He looked to be several years older than them.
"Satoshi," the ninja introduced himself. "I'm not a medical ninja, but I know enough. What's going on?"
Kakashi moved out of the way so that Satoshi could kneel down and see. Satoshi spoke reassuringly to the girl and even Kakashi was fooled into believing everything was going to be okay. Until he stood up and Kakashi could see the worry on his face.
"We need to work quickly to get her out. She's lost a lot of blood, but the wall is keeping everything in place for now. She may start to bleed out as we lift it."
Satoshi pulled out a storage scroll that opened to reveal a stretcher. "On the count of three, I need you two to lift the wall, I'm going to stabilize her. Then we'll move her to the stretcher."
Kakashi and Gai got in place as Satoshi counted down. All three of them moved in unison and the moment the wall was raised, Satoshi slide underneath to immediately begin treatment. Kakashi and Gai were easily able to toss the wall out of the way and then slide the stretcher underneath Kotori. Satoshi hovered over her, his hands glowing with green medical ninjutsu.
"I need you to carry the stretcher as quickly, but smoothly, as you can. I'm going to climb on top."
It was a tedious journey to the hospital. Kotori seemed to have passed out as she was no longer responding to Satoshi's words. That was probably for the best, at least she was no longer in pain. Satoshi carefully straddled her, showing surprising grace as he maintained balance on the stretcher. One hand was used to apply pressure to staunch the bleeding wound while the other flashed through one-handed seals.
Kakashi tried not to pay attention to the trail of blood left in their wake. It seemed impossible for a girl of that size to have so much.
When they arrived at the hospital, they were greeted with a sight that would only add to Kakashi's nightmares for years to come. Gurneys lined the hallways with the injured as field medics attempted to heal minor to moderate injuries. It was clear that the hospital was overcapacity. A lone nurse rushed out to greet them.
"Where's the doctor?" Kakashi asked, already knowing the answer.
"We have so many injured - I'm it for now," she apologetically explained as she rushed alongside the stretcher. "This way, I was able to get a room."
Kakashi and Gai held the stretcher in place as the nurse and Satoshi gently moved Kotori onto the bed. The room was an examination room that had been converted into a makeshift emergency room. Gai clapped a hand on his shoulder as he headed out of the cramped room to give everyone more space.
Kakashi awkwardly lingered in the doorframe. His hand shifted to his hair. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
He wasn't trained as a medic aside from some basic first aid, but with his sharingan he could observe and pick things up quickly enough.
"What's your blood type?" The nurse asked, not even glancing up as she and Satoshi continued to work.
"O negative."
"Perfect. In the cupboard, you should be able to find needles and tubing for a blood transfusion. She's going to need it, can you handle that?"
He had watched Rin do it a few times in the field. His blood type was the universal donor and she used him whenever the other person's blood type was unknown. Kakashi gathered an empty IV bag along with the tubing and needles. He took the plastic chair in the corner as he ripped open the packaging. He clumsily jabbed the needle into his left arm. It took a few tries, but eventually blood started to collect in the bag.
It was filled within several minutes and he handed it off to the nurse. She then hand waved him over to a portable set of machines and gave verbal instructions on how to read the vital signs. She never once looked up from her patient.
"Let us know if any of those start dropping," the nurse said. "You wouldn't happen to know where her parents are?"
"Dead, more than likely," Kakashi said. "She's from the Sorano clan."
"Oh," the nurse quietly said. "Does she have a jonin sensei?"
"I'm not sure, I just found her." He could check in at the jonin lounge later and find out who her sensei was. Without parents, they had the ability to temporarily act as her guardian. It would also be better for her to have a familiar face when she woke up.
A doctor joined them not long after they were able to stabilize her and made quick work of using medical ninjutsu to repair the damage. All that was left was some scarring on her back.
The nurse gave him a tired smile once she stepped away. "You saved her life, getting her here when you did. I'll be sure to tell her."
Kakashi awkwardly shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. Anyone would have done the same. It was their duty as shinobi. "No need for that, you did more than I did."
"Well, thank you for your service," the nurse said. "I have to make my rounds if you would like to stay here."
The girl seemed somehow smaller hooked up to the machines. A glance at the monitors told him that she was still stable. He lifted his forehead protector just to be sure. Her chakra seemed to be little stronger than before.
"I told you I wouldn't let a comrade die," he muttered.
With that, he shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked out of the room. He headed towards the Hokage Tower to check the jonin standby station and see if anyone could let Kotori's sensei know that she was in the hospital. After that, he was going to rejoin the search and rescue teams and see what else he could do. Smoke still billowed in the distance. Teams were still out working to clear the debris. A lone bird chirped in the trees above him. He glanced towards the sky as he thought, Rin, I was finally able to save someone today.