Chapter 13: A Bridge

Noon, 1 August 54, Uchiha Training Grounds

Cold mud slapped Katya's calf as she ran across the field. Thunder clapped in the background, and lightning split the sky for a brief second before pitching the afternoon into darkness. She rested her back against a tree trunk as her chest heaved. Her eyes darted around and chakra was scattered in all directions. A loose strand of hair stuck to her forehead, and she breathed deeply for the momentary respite.

There! At the edge of the field was the barest hint of cinnamon drowned out by the raging storm. To her left beat the steady coolness of spearmint. Katya tried to dim her own chakra signature as she felt them head her way. Back towards Konoha, on the edge of the Uchiha compound was the distinct mesquite smoke entangled with the lilt of a fox. Katya began to run again toward them.

Her shoes smacked along the clay tiles of the roof. Her feet slipped only for a second as the water streamed towards the gutter. Safe! She landed on the steps of the engawa and grinned to herself.

Her scream momentarily rent the air the moment she turned to walk. A three-year-old smirked at her as soon as he appeared like a ghost in thin air. The very same toddler that Shisui was theoretically tutoring in tracking skills.

The post on the engawa creaked slightly as Shisui leaned against it and wiped his sopping hair with a towel. "That makes 3 for us and 2 for you?"

Katya huffed in reply. "Itachi's more of a prodigy than you ever were, Shisui. It's like having to find another genin."

The two women in the open tea room shook their heads and promptly went back to their gossip.

"Did you see what Otaka-san did the other day?" Mikoto whispered over a raised cup.

"Yes! It's not even like they're trying to hide it! I think it's somewhat romantic. Imagine! Finding love at their age!" Kushina grinned widely and her red hair shook around her. Hands pressed against her heart. Katya sat across the engawa and smiled. Her mom was surely the most beautiful and kindest woman in the world.

"Finding love at their age to be sure is a fine thing. Displaying it so vividly is quite another."

"Now, now, Mikoto-chan, love is love! There should be more love in the world than anything else!"

Mikoto rolled her eyes in response to the proclamation and poured more tea.

Katya put a small hand on Kushina's shoulder before interrupting. "Kaa-chan, that was five rounds. You said after five we'd go get mochi."

"Oh, was that five? If I recall correctly, you still have one more teammate to find before it's a game."

"He's studying for the chuunin exams, kaa-chan. You said we could sub in Itachi-chan. That's not fair! We can't interrupt him."

"Uzumaki-san, Sensei would kill us, then bring us back just to kill us again and feed us to Kuromaru if we interrupted him."

Kushina's face lit up as she grinned mischievously at Mikoto. "Really? Not dear old Tsume-chan?"

"No. Absolutely not, Kushina. We're adults now, not children. We can't," Mikoto protested.

Kushina shrugged her shoulders and stretched. "Well, maybe you can't. But…" In a flash, Kushina had vanished, tea cup neatly on its saucer.

"KUSHINA!" Mikoto yelled from the engawa, fist raised. "Watch Itachi, Shisui-chan," she said, leaping towards the roof.

Katya leaned down and coaxed the toddler onto her back.

"Come on Shisui!" she yelled, already racing down the road to the center of Konoha.

"We are going to die. Horribly. Gruesomely," Shisui moaned and shot down the road after the pair.

Isamu's ears perked up as he heard the loud slap of sandals on the roof of his apartment. His teammates' weight had made the leak in the kitchen ceiling worse. The water now poured steadily from the spot rather than the slow drip that it had been all day. He opened a window and untied the shinobi trip wire from its hiding place.

"We're here!" Katya yelled, jumping inside and putting her arms wide. There was a small thump behind her, and she quickly scooped up the small bundle. "Oops, sorry, Itachi-chan."

"I'm studying," Isamu said blankly at his drenched teammates who were currently adding to the puddles on the floor.

"Kaa-chan said we couldn't go out for mochi until we had all of our teammates in one place. I think she went to find sensei too, so really time is of the essence."

Isamu slapped a hand on his forehead. "And you?" he asked Shisui pointedly.

"Along for the ride, I guess. I was promised free mochi, after all. How do I say no to that?"

"Oh no," Katya suddenly whispered as she began to put out the lights. "Sensei is on her way. She's mad. Mad mad. Our legs are going to fall off tomorrow mad."

"Come on!" Shisui pulled Katya's arm, Itachi now on his back as Katya grabbed Isamu.

Katya pulled to the front of the awkward caravan as they ran along the rooftop of Isamu's apartment. "I know just the place to hide! She'll never find us."

Isamu shot her a skeptical look. There wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that the sensei of the tracking team would NOT find her genin team, especially with the extra toddler. It really was a wasted effort, and he could see now that leaving his dank apartment would only result in having his behind handed to him tomorrow. Still, the idea was intriguing, and he had been at it for hours already.

They jumped from roof to roof, running along the highway of clay tiles back towards the edge of Konoha and into the forest. Left. Right. Left. Tree after tree passed until Katya jumped towards the ground. A small building stood in a clearing alongside the stream. Protective statues stood watch around the hut, which looked as if it had grown out of the forest. Katya placed her hand on the door, which opened with a burst of blue chakra.

"She'll never find us in here," the blonde said confidently.

Isamu smiled to himself. It had taken over a year for her to warm up to him. Thousands of hours of team practice, hundreds of D and C-ranked missions. She was a far cry from the shy girl that ducked his gaze.

Though Isamu had absolutely zero interest in his seven-year-old teammate, sometimes he liked to rile up his other teammate. Throwing an arm around Katya's shoulder, he started pointing to random statues and asking about them. Shisui's glare was hard to hide, though his chakra was as cool as ever. Someday he'd admit to himself that he had more than friendly feelings towards his childhood best friend. Isamu hoped to help him see it through.

"It's the Uzumaki shrine," Katya said. She threw her sandals in the entryway. The tatami mats were coarse underneath her damp feet as she walked further into the building. "What'd you think, Itachi?"

Itachi looked around with wide eyes and instinctively backed away from the far wall. He pointed to the masks as Katya plopped down with her back towards the wall. "It is…interesting…What are they all for?"

"Clan secret, can't tell you that," she said sagely, moving aside from the center of the room so Shisui could start a small fire in the irori. "Thanks, Sui."

A small teapot was pulled from a storage scroll in the corner along with jasmine tea and a canteen. "Sit down, make yourselves comfortable. The spirits don't mind." Katya smiled wickedly at the boys and made shadow puppets appear on the wall.

"There's no spirits here, Itachi. Katya is just seeing if she can ruffle your feathers," Shisui assured the small boy as Itachi shuddered in apprehension.

The shadow of a crow appeared on the wall, and Katya moved her hands rhythmically in a well-practiced dance of storytelling. She and Shisui took turns telling stories by the firelight as the storm raged outside the walls of the aging building. The rafters creaked under the weight of the onslaught, but the fire burned brightly. The kettle whistled, and the tea was added to the boiling water.

Small chipped cups were produced from the storage scroll with small roses painted on the outside of the porcelain. Katya hesitated before drinking her own tea and stared at the small cup in her hand.

"You know Itachi, I think I was about your age the last time I used these. My uncle got them for me."

Itachi nodded for her to continue.

"He was great. Sakumo-oji. We had this nanny dog who would follow me around everywhere, and of course, she was more useful than my actual nanny…" Katya grew quiet and stared intensely at the flames.

"Was?" Itachi led.

"Was…I pray for him here. Like all the others…" The boys turned towards the masked wall. On the altar stood four well cared for portraits, standing alone in the dusty room. Katya pointed to the first on the far right, "Sakumo-oji," pointing to the next, "Kagami-sama."

Shisui swallowed heavily and looked toward his feet.

"Great-grandfather," she pointed to a wooden statue of Hashirama. Her hand faltered slightly as she moved to the last. "My father…Dan Kato…"

Katya cleared her throat before continuing, "Itachi, we're shinobi. Our families are shinobi. Our clans, This village is dedicated to the shinobi way of life. Do you understand what that means?"

The little boy shook his head. Katya smiled softly, "In the village of Konoha, we live and die by the Will of Fire. 'We should always love, cherish and protect our village as others have before us.'"

"What does that mean?" Itachi asked head cocked to one side.

"It means that we are one giant team, one big family. We protect everyone in the village, we protect the future of our village, and we protect the shinobi sitting next to us," Shisui answered.

Isamu poured another cup of tea and looked towards the paintings on the altar. Something to think about as he pondered the next chuunin exams. He would pass this time for sure. His record was now spotless, his last write-up for insubordination had been expunged. This was his team, and as much as he didn't want to leave it, he knew that the time was drawing near. Soon he wouldn't have a choice. He'd have to join a new squad as a chuunin and take on A and B-ranked missions. Maybe even join an elite squad requiring a traps specialist. The possibilities were endless when the war effort needed shinobi like him.

1 p.m., 25 August 54 (21 days later), Konoha Grocery

The war raged outside and within Konoha. Kakashi stared at the rows of empty shelves of the grocery store before shaking his head and walking to the checkout. Canned salmon tonight, canned salmon tomorrow, and a fortunate find of whole canned chicken the day after. The only thing Konoha had plenty of was grain. The rice fields in the far south of the Land of Fire were the first thing to be entrusted to the barrier team before the war had even started. They had been monitored by squads of genin ever since. The people in the Land of Fire would therefore not starve, but it certainly left a lack of options when all other food sources were sourced for the military or sabotaged.

'Delicious…' he thought sarcastically when he put the canned goods in his tote bag. As he walked through Konoha, the scarred shells of recently bombed buildings made him shudder. His own apartment had been subject to the small attack and forced him to relocate to Minato's apartment, again. It had only been his own for six months before he lost it. Though it did mean he could stay close to his sister and her eternal optimism. As annoying as it was, he relied on it in a way. Especially after a particularly gory mission.

The seal on the front door of the apartment flashed twice when he put his hand on it. The doorknob turned slowly, hinges creaking as the door opened. He absent-mindedly thought about getting some spare oil and taking the whole thing apart during his furlough. Minato had been far too busy preparing for the chuunin exams, creating the test traps, and running his own A and S-ranked missions to take care of a simple door.

Kushina and Minato's relationship was funny in a way, the dependency it created for both of them. The dependency isn't something Kakashi would have normally noticed without their increasing absences. Normally, Kushina wouldn't have thought to oil the door because Minato would have done it. Similarly, Minato wouldn't have thought to redraw the protective seals on the windows and doors because Kushina took care of that. But Minato was never home, and Kushina was locked away in the seals department when she wasn't running barrier missions.

Kakashi put away the canned goods and refilled the rice dispenser on the counter, tucking it neatly in the corner.

"Taaaaaadaaaaimaaa!" Rang out from the front door. Shoes noisily hit the back of their cabinet as they were put away, and kunai jangled when their leather pouch was thrown into the back of the weapons cabinet. "Nii-chan, I got you a present!"

His hands instinctively went to protect his ears against her racket. "Shh! No need to be so loud, I can hear you just fine."

Katya shrugged and then pushed a small packet into Kakashi's hands. "I got it from Obito's grandma. I was helping her with the plants in the greenhouse and mentioned that you loved eggplant, so she gave me these seeds to plant in our little garden box. You know, where mama's dead plants are?"

"Thank you…that was very thoughtful. Don't these take at least 3 months to grow, though? The war might be over by then."

"Even if the war ends tomorrow, we're still facing scarcities. That's what Orochimaru-oji is saying. He's working on synthesizing chakra-supported fertilizers to help increase harvest yields. Or at least one of his underlings is. It was pretty cool to see in the lab."

Kakashi shook his head. There was more than one reason why Orochimaru would have shown her that experiment. As a mokuton user, all plants that Katya created were infused with enough chakra to be inedible to the general populace with a few exceptions. The rest would get chakra poisoning from an overload. No doubt Orochimaru wanted to see if a sensor could feel any trace of chakra in the plants after being grown in such a fertilizer.

"I'm on furlough until after the chuunin exams. Do you still feel up to training with your big bro? Or do you not feel capable of the challenge?" Kakashi teased.

"Oh, I'd love to train with you, but I have other obligations with my team unfortunately…" Katya tapped a toe behind her.

"That's right, your senpai is testing for chuunin, isn't he?"

"Yup! Shisui and I are going to help him train and cheer him on from the sidelines. The test starts tomorrow. We have signs!"

"I see," Kakashi said slowly. He raised an eyebrow when Katya shuffled out of the kitchen towards her bedroom without another word. There was a book in his bag that was calling his name. All too eager to answer the call, he went to the living room and plopped down lazily on the sofa. Only three chapters in, Katya reappeared and sat down next to him. He passed over the left side of the cover so they could share the book. The pair enjoyed the silent moment together.

The clock chimed the hour. Katya dug into a pocket and pulled out a small piece of cloth. Small arms wrapped their way around him and held on tightly. "I…was going to save this for your next A-rank, but I wanted to give it to you now. There's no chakra, I found it under the floorboards of the Senju dojo. It's ancient, I think, it's from my clan anyway. I had Haruto date some of the threads in the lab. He says that it's over 100 years old, so it predates Konoha. Like I said…it doesn't have any chakra…but someone in the clan put it on for good luck during a war, I imagine, and made it home…I hoped the same for you. If it was lucky for them, may it bear you the same fortune."

Katya was silent for a moment before continuing, "…I don't want another picture on the temple altar." Katya laid her head on Kakashi's shoulder. "I just want my brother, alive, whole. And I love you. So much. For now and forever. Just always come home to me, please."

Kakashi didn't know what to say. The small talisman in his hand was worn with age, the silk threads thinned over the bulk of the embroidered brocade. For a moment, he worried that the frayed fabric would break as he attached it to the inside of his hitai-ate.

He slipped his arms around the seven-year-old's shoulders and squeezed before relaxing and returning to his book. His cheek rested on the top of her head, and he began to read aloud when he noticed that she was following along. Katya closed her eyes and let his words wash over her as they lulled her into sleep.

"...Love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. To have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever…" Kakashi trailed off when the weight on his chest increased, and Katya's breaths evened out. He wrapped a crocheted throw blanket around her and fixed the throw cushion carefully beneath her head before excising himself off the couch.

The front door opened and Minato nodded to Kakashi. Kakashi placed a finger against his lips and gestured to the girl on the couch. In a silent move, Minato walked to the back porch, and Kakashi followed him.

"Your furlough has been suspended. There's been a development at the front. Intel has told us that Iwagakure is crossing a bridge into Kusagakure for relief. Our mission is an A-rank. Details are in that scroll. This will be your first mission as a jounin, Kakashi—your first mission as a solo leader. I've kept the training wheels on for too long…they want you to lead."

"Understood, Sensei. When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow at dawn."

25 August 54 3 p.m.

The training field grass had gotten much too long, Obito thought as he laid back, hands beneath his head. His cousin would catch him, eventually. Shisui, of course, thought that they were racing to the Hokage mountain and back. It was a page out of Kakashi's book that Obito was more than happy to borrow. He closed his eyes against the hot sun and relaxed on the warm ground. His entire team was on furlough for the next month until the chuunin exams were over. There was nothing to do except daydream about Rin and all the ways he could get her to fall in love with him.

A shadow loomed over him and blocked the sun from view. He squinted to find the spiked frame of his sensei looming over him.

"I'm not staying on vacation, am I?"

"No. We have a mission. We're heading to Kusagakure. 6 a.m. tomorrow morning."

"Hai, Sensei." Obito closed his eyes once more before sighing and getting up to leave.

The air in Konoha was hotter than the training ground. Steam was practically coming off the cobblestones.

"Ha! Got you!" Shisui yelled, jumping onto the thirteen-year-old's back. Obito rolled his eyes and easily accepted Shisui's weight.

"Alright, you got me. What'd you want as your prize?"

"A spar," Shisui said as though Obito were an idiot. "You said that you would teach me that thing yesterday."

"Ya know Shisui, I'm not as great as you think I am."

"Of course you are! You just have to believe it, and believe in yourself!"

Obito stopped in his tracks and put Shisui down. He pulled him into a bear hug before they continued on. Maybe it was time to start believing in himself.

AN: I'm backkkk. It's been an extremely busy year IRL, but I'm hoping to get caught up as best I can on this and the other stories. I hope you all's year has been going well. Let me know what you think of this latest chapter or any predictions that you have ;)

The book quote is from 'The Sorcerer's Stone,' J.K. Rowling Chapter 17.

Beta'ed by: CherryBerry 12 who is incredible! Check out her profile on Ao3!