Bonds Through Time
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Obito's heart
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Sakura
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They'd had rabbit stew. Kisame had foraged for roots and vegetables to add to the mix and Sakura had been the one to skin and dice the rabbit before tossing it into the boiling water. She may have been a prisoner, but she wasn't about to not pull her weight at a camp out. She'd even asked Kisame for a couple of herbs to add seasoning to the stew and they'd all three eaten in silence.
Full bellies made for better attitudes.
"You know, boss, you might try recruiting her," Kisame said quietly. He gestured towards Sakura. "She strikes me as the kind of rule breaker that rejects corrupt authority. And she's got good chakra control. She'd be an asset at extraction. And she's a medic— that can be useful."
Obito had taken off his mask to eat. Apparently, Kisame had always been aware of his identity. Did that mean that Itachi knew? In the original timeline? There was no way to know now. "Why would I recruit her?" He cast his single dark eye upon her. His left eye sock covered by an eyepatch — the eye he'd given to Kakashi.
"It's a lot easier to travel with a companion than a prisoner," Kisame pointed out. He shrugged. "Besides, I like her." He flashed Sakura a toothy smile.
Sakura arched her eyebrow at Kisame. He'd made it very clear that he wasn't looking out for her earlier, yet here he was trying to convince Obito she was worth letting live. "Is this a job interview now?"
"Origami girl would like her," Kisame added. "She's always complaining there aren't any other women in the group."
Obito flickered and was no longer on the opposite side of the camp fire, but was now directly beside Sakura, sharing the log she'd claimed. His knee brushed against hers as he removed the black cloth covering his left eye.
The right side of his face twisted into scars, while the left side of his face was flawless Uchiha perfection. She couldn't help but stare. She'd met most of the clan now and knew they didn't all look as handsome as Sasuke, Itachi, and Shisui. It seemed only the really strong Uchiha tended to be devilishly handsome — Madara had also been gorgeous.
Surprisingly, Obito had two dark eyes. "So you think you know me," Obito said softly. "You certainly seem to know Kakashi."
"I know he hates himself for what happened to both you and Rin," Sakura explained. She could feel the menace waifing from Obito. He'd truly succumbed to the curse of hatred. This was definitely a man that had no qualms about killing children. She was grateful that Kisame had done what he could to prevent her death earlier.
"Good. He should," Obito scoffed.
"No," Sakura protested, her voice earnest. She needed to convince this man. "Children shouldn't be fighting the wars of old men. None of you should have been put in such dangerous situations. Your words the day when you were injured in the cave changed his life. It's his motto. You echoed the morals of his late father. He visits your memorial every day. And Rin wasn't his fault. She was captured and her body wasn't equipped to host a tailed beast. She was going to die and chose to die at Kakashi's hand to prevent harming others. That devastated him. He'll never get over that. But you cannot ignore how brave and heroic Rin was for that choice."
Obito touched under his right eye. "It awakened our Mangekyo Sharingan — killing your closest friend."
"Kakashi the friend killer is an unfortunate name he has learned to endure. Don't you find it odd that somehow you were there to see it happen— to see Rin die at Kakashi's hand. Doesn't that strike you as convenient timing on Madara's part? As if he planned it?" Sakura pressed. Her focus kept drifting to his left eye — it wasn't the Rinnegan was it?
Obito smiled, a cruel lift of his lips. He tapped under his enigmatic left eye. "Danzo wasn't the one plucking lost Sharingan from the battlefield," he explained. "That was me."
"Impossible. You've only been a missing nin for eight years," Sakura protested.
"Madara is not just one person. The Madara before me started the collection," Obito confessed. "And you're right. Children shouldn't be fighting the wars of old, greedy men. That's why I'm doing this. The Infinite Tsukiyomi is the answer."
"No, it's not. It's a way to pacify victims while draining them of their chakra and killing them," Sakura said. "By your logic, the only peace to be found is in death."
He reached for her then, his grip bruising on her upper arms, but she didn't resist. "Let me show you your precious Hatake, the friend killer. Look into my eyes. You'll see him for what he truly is."
It was never wise to stare into the Sharingan, but Sakura had done it before — with Shisui, Itachi, and many times Sasuke. She'd seen Obito's left eye countless times in the face of her precious Kakashi, so she allowed herself to be pulled into whatever genjutsu Obito wanted her to see. It was hard knowing it was an illusion, but she stubbornly allowed herself to be enveloped in the man's memory.
However, Obito's power wasn't the Tsukiyomi or the Amaterasu. His was Kamui and she knew his power was shifting between dimensions. She and Naruto had spent three days in an alternate dimension years ago. And during the war, she'd given him her chakra to scour the dimensions to save Sasuke and defeat Kaguya. Where would he take her now? Could she even resist? She and Kisame were already in an alternate dimension with him.
"Why?" Sakura asked. "I know you're not above killing people. So I want to know why you're entertaining me."
"Because Kakashi has dealt with death countless times. It would be better if you rejected him because he doesn't deserve to be loved, especially since you are carrying his spawn. He didn't deserve Rin. If you saw how pure she was, you would understand," Obito continued. His eyes shown with a bright gleam. "Imagine, if you chose to join me!" He giggled, the familiar cackle that haunted her dreams as a teenager.
"Hey, boss, are you going to be gone long? We don't want to show up too late for our other recruit," Kisame reminded him.
"Zetsu has requested more time," Obito answered. "We just need be there by four days time."
"Okay, sounds good. I'm going to catch up on my beauty sleep then." Kisame stretched his arms above his head and yawned. "You want me to give her back her chakra?"
"That won't be necessary. She has enough for what I have in mind," Obito answered, his grip on her upper arms never lessened. His eyes searched Sakura's face, looking for clues underneath the underneath. The crimson of his Sharigan began to fill her field of vision.
Sakura had listened to the man wax and wane poetic. It was clear his mind had been warped, blaming all his misfortune onto his equally misfortunate friend— Kakashi. Kakashi had already been through too many terrible things in his childhood and this man blamed a twelve year old for all his pain. She could still remember how broken Kakashi was during the final battle against Kaguya. She'd never seen him more disheartened. He'd been clinically depressed for most of his life, only at the end of the Fourth War did he finally seem to be recovered mentally.
She'd done what she could to help Sasuke. If she was stuck here and involved with Obito and Kisame— the Akatsuki— she might as well do what she could to protect Kakashi and maybe even keep Sasori from being completely corrupted. She had a certain fondness for the man whom she considered her mortal enemy— whom had respected her as a kunoichi. And quite frankly, Sasori was the man that let her win when he could have ended her life at just fifteen years old. If Kakashi had found her dead after that battle, when he and Naruto had split off to fight off Deidara, she knew it would have just added to his list of unforgivable regrets. And she didn't even want to think what her death at that time would have done to Naruto.
"Very well. Show me," Sakura said, staring into the red and black kaleidoscope of the Sharingan. She felt herself and Obito pulled into a swirling mass for a moment before materializing upon the familiar landscape of Konoha.
Obito still held her upper arms as he stood in front of her, but he looked different — he was no more than twelve years old, dark unruly hair, orange goggles over his eyes, and absolutely adorable. He worse the standard navy clothing most Uchiha wore with the clan ensign embroidered on it.
He released her arms and she looked down at herself, seeing the scrawny body she'd had as a twelve years old and the old familiar red dress she wore as a child.
"Pink? Your hair is pink?" Obito's young prepubescent voice was pitched higher in his surprise.
Sakura glanced around. "We're back in the village. Is this a genjutsu or are we really here?"
"We're really here. I found a way to return to this one particular day," Obito explained. "Nothing changes. But it's a decent day. Maybe you'll understand just how precious Rin was."
Sakura understood. She would do almost anything for her precious people. The only line she drew was harming innocents in order to help them. Obito had lost sight of that.
"Oh, here comes Shisui and his cat," Obito said, stepping further away and waving as a ten-year old Shisui with a mop of curly hair chased after a gray cat. "Oye! Shisui! That cat escaped you again?"
Shisui stopped chasing the cat and straightened, his gaze drifted between Obito and Sakura, a confident smile settled upon his friendly features as he focused on Sakura. "Hey! I'm Shisui." He extended his hand towards her and Sakura accepted it in a friendly shake, amused by this younger version of her new friend. He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed the back of her knuckles. "You want to be my girlfriend?"
Sakura giggled and then wanted to punch herself. She sounded and was starting to feel like her twelve-year old boy crazy self. "Maybe one day. Do you need help catching your cat?"
"Oh, it's not my cat." Shisui released her hand, a big grin plastered on his face by her response. She hadn't told him no. "It's a ninja cat. One of my friends has a summons contract with ninja hounds so I thought I could maybe convince a ninja cat to agree to a contract with me."
"You'd be better off working with birds than trying to convince a cat to work with you," Sakura said, thinking back to her adventure with young Sasuke and Naruto to gather ninja cat paw prints. "And if you're trying to catch a ninja cat, you should be wearing the cat ear headband."
Shisui's dark eyes widened. "You know about the headbands?"
"I'll help you later, Shisui. My friend and I need to go," Obito interrupted. He reached for Sakura's wrist and pulled her after him.
"I never got your name!" Shisui called out after them.
"Forget about her!" Obito called back over his shoulder.
Sakura smiled apologetically back at Shisui and pulled her arm out of Obito's grip. They were about the same size in their twelve year old bodies. "Do you ever help him catch the cat?"
"Sometimes. But it's a waste of time. As you already know, he choses birds for his summons." Obito stuck his hands into his pocket and sniffed loudly. "Today is the day Minato sensei makes us take the bell test."
"Are you a newly minted team?" Sakura asked. Her team did that on their first training day and then again after they'd reunited.
"No, our cell was formed three months ago, but we haven't passed the test yet. Minato wanted to give us another shot," Obito explained.
"Oh. So is today the day you pass it?" Sakura asked.
"No. We pass it three months from today," Obito explained. "It's just a training exercise. It's not that important."
Sakura wanted to protest. It was Kakashi's most important test. Naruto's father learned it from when Jiraiya was his teacher and Jiraiya had learned it from Lord Third, whom learned it from Lord Second…she just assumed it was an incredibly important tradition.
"We're late, we need to hurry," Obito said and then took off running towards the training field.
Sakura followed after him and they arrived to find Minato wearing the standard jonin green flak jacket and blue fatigues waiting patiently, toying with a kunai. He looked so much like Naruto that Sakura's heart physically ached. For a moment, Minato met Sakura's gaze with his crystal blue eyes. He looked between her and Obito in askance.
"You're late," tween Kakashi stated bluntly, his annoyance clear in his young voice. It was deeper than Obito's but not nearly the baritone Sakura was used to hearing. Her gaze swept from Minato to the love of her life.
Sakura's heart stuttered in her chest at the sight of the adorable, petulant, silver-haired boy. He looked precious in his black and gray uniform— the monochromatic color scheme suiting him better than the green and blue jonin uniform. It was the same color scheme he often wore under his Hokage robes. If twelve year old Sakura had been stuck on a team with him, she'd have been even more distracted than she'd been with Sasuke.
Her gaze shifted next to Rin — that poor girl! Her worried expression reminded Sakura of Hinata a bit. She was pretty in a plain way, but the way her brown eyes focused on Obito with such concern — she could see why a lonely boy would fall in love with such a kind, compassionate girl. What stood out most to Sakura was the painted tattoos on her face — much like Kankuro or…Sukea? The mysterious jonin that showed up when she and Team Seven spent a whole day trying to figure out Kakashi's face behind his mask. It had been Kakashi the whole time?
Sakura focused her attention back on Kakashi. He was staring back at her, annoyance coupled with suspicion clear in his visible dark eyes. His arms were folded over his chest. There was no scar on the left side of his face, his hair was still unruly, part of it falling over his forehead and most of it sticking up around him. He really was the cutest thing she'd ever seen!
Then young Kakashi dragged his eyes away from her and focused his ire on Obito. "What's your excuse this time?" Kakashi glowered. "Helping an old lady cross the street? Had to pick up some tomatoes from the market? A fish was drowning in the river? You found a lost fairy and decided to introduce her to us?"
"I had to help a kid catch his cat," Obito answered, sheepish. "I lost track of time." He gestured towards Sakura. "She's not a fairy, but a friend visiting the family. I thought she could join us today."
"We've wasted the better part of the morning waiting for you," Kakashi pointed out. He gestured towards Sakura and then at Minato. "Did you even clear her with Minato-sensei beforehand? Has she been vetted?"
Sakura wasn't sure, but she thought she could see a faint pink blush across the visible part of Kakashi's pale upper cheeks. Did he think she was cute? Or was it red from anger?
"I wouldn't say it was a waste of time," Minato protested, his voice calm and a soft smile on his face. "It's always a good time to practice patience. Surveillance is a common order for shinobi, hours spent observing and simply waiting." He turned back towards Sakura. "I wasn't aware we would have a guest."
Sakura bowed at her waist towards Minato. "I'm Sakura."
Minato's eyes narrowed slightly. "May I?" He held his hand over her head and when she nodded, did a scan of her chakra, while he glowed a brilliant yellow — the sage mode she'd seen Naruto utilize. He chuckled and pulled his hand back. "I didn't expect to see someone from my clan here."
"She's just here visiting," Obito explained. "She's a shinobi — a genin. Is it okay if she joins us today?"
"Lives are in danger the longer we linger here," Kakashi argued. "We need to learn to function as a unit, not babysit visiting genin."
"We have plenty of time," Minato said softly, reaching over and ruffling Kakashi's hair. Which led to the silver-haired tween ducking away from his jonin sensei. "However, Obito, this has become a habit for you. You really must try to respect your teammates by making more of an effort and please, run your guests by me first in the future." He offered a friendly smile at Sakura. "You can stay, Sakura-chan."
"Obito-kun is always late," Rin said with a soft smile, speaking for the first time and tucking her light brown hair behind her ear. "But he's always there at the right time when he's needed." She laid her hand gently on Kakashi's stiff shoulder, but he shrugged her off. A slight flash of hurt crossed her features before she turned her beaming smile back on Obito.
"So, it looks like we'll be having an extra student for today's training," Minato stated. "This might be a good thing. Because the three of you seem to need a lot of help lately."
Kakashi's dark appraising gaze raked over her—unimpressed. "Do you have any useful skills, Sakura?"
Sakura felt her temper sparking at the casual dismissal, but at least he remembered her name. There was no inner Sakura in this version of herself. Her hands fisted at her side and she resisted the urge to punch this cock-sure twelve year old version of Kakashi. Would she still have any of her usual skills? Her chakra had been depleted, but it was still a greater reserve than what she'd had as a twelve year old.
"You'll find I have my merits," Sakura answered cooly.
There was a brief flash of surprise across Kakashi's eyes, but he schooled his features and turned towards Minato instead. "How about you brief us, Minato-sensei?" He gestured towards Sakura. "Unless there are other surprises."
"This is our mission for today," Minato explained. "I will observe how the three of you incorporate an ally with unknown strengths and weaknesses. How you react to someone you cannot plan and prepare for and how calculating you can be on your feet."
Sakura had always been good at analyzing a situation. Her mind was sharp and her intelligence was never in question. It was her ability to use ninjutsu that was always her struggle. It still was to be honest, but she'd compensated using her strengths.
She followed Team Minato to the training grounds. Naruto's father pulled out a pair of familiar silver bells. "You have all afternoon to get these from me. Don't hold back."
"There's only three hours until sunset!" Obito cried out.
"It would have been longer, but you were late, Obito." Minato frowned slightly. "And my girlfriend will be upset with me if I'm late for dinner." Then in a flash of yellow, Minato was gone, having teleported who knows where.
"That was impressive," Sakura murmured, staring at the spot where the Fourth Hokage used to be standing. It reminded her of when Shisui and Kakashi flash-stepped. But the ability to do that involved lightning to the feet and Minato's technique was different. Shisui had tried to teach Sakura how to flash-step, since he was the most talented at the body-flicker technique. But, Sakura didn't have lightning chakra, she could do a substitution for similar effect though. Or catch a ride with a friend that used lightning.
"More like annoying," Kakashi grouched. "Rin, with me," he ordered, leaving Sakura and Obito behind.
"What is it you wanted to show me?" Sakura asked when she and young Obito were alone.
"A glimpse of Rin's purity and of Kakashi's true nature of darkness." Obito's voice has shifted to that of his older counterpart, not the prepubescent tween standing in front of her.
"You mean a boy forced to become active duty in a war at the ripe old age of six? A boy whom was thrown into battle a year after discovering his father's dead body that bled out on the floor of the family home after being shunned by the village for having morals?" Sakura could defend Kakashi's behavior knowing the turmoil he'd gone through. And she would defend him, even if it got her killed. Like Naruto, Sakura had a hard time keeping her mouth shut when her friends were being treated unfairly.
Honestly, by the time Kakashi had become their jonin instructor he'd been so broken mentally and had slacked off on training, losing himself to his fantasy-romance books, it was a wonder she and the boys had survived. He trained them to a minimum and threw them into the Chunin Exams grossly unprepared. "Does Minato-sensei train you or just give you assignments?" Maybe Kakashi was only mimicking what he learned.
"Most shinobi are trained by their clans. Their jonin instructors teach them team work and strategy," Obito explained. He frowned at her. "What clan are you from? Are you really a Namikaze?"
Sakura didn't answer. She scanned the training field and found no sign of Kakashi, Rin, or Minato. "I am from a civilian family. I ended up learning from my friends and taking an apprenticeship. It is short-sighted of the village to send in such poorly trained children. No wonder the mortality rate is so great."
"What do you know of war, sweetheart?" Obito mocked.
Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. "I've survived my own war, thank you very much. I've lost a teammate to darkness and brought him back to the light with unwavering love and friendship."
Obito snorted. "Fool."
Of the two of them, she felt that she was not the fool, but he was. Though since he was her ride home, it was best not to share her opinion on the matter. Sakura cracked her knuckles against the palm of her hand. "Shall we go get those bells?"
"Why? This isn't real?" Obito reminded her. "It doesn't matter what we do in this little snapshot of the past. Nothing changes."
"Maybe, but it can be fun. I've done the bell test twice myself," Sakura explained.
"Successfully?" Obito asked arching his dark eyebrows.
Sakura nodded.
"But you're not that fast," Obito protested.
"It's not about speed. It's about teamwork," Sakura explained.
"In that case, I'll go find my preferred partner." Obito vanished, leaving Sakura behind.
Sakura shook her head and then walked towards the edge of the bordering forest, leaving the field behind. She leaned against a tree and allowed her senses to wander, mapping the area around her. She could sense Minato high in a tree a half mile away. He wasn't cloaking his chakra at all. Was he trying to make it easy on the kids? Obito and Rin were near the lake and Kakashi was…
She opened her eyes. Kakashi was standing right in front of her. "You've beaten this test before," he said quietly, his hands tucked into the front pocket of his pants and a familiar slouch in his back.
Sakura nodded. He heard her? "I thought you were working with Rin."
"She was worried about Obito," Kakashi said, his dark gaze shifted past her and upwards towards the trees.
"Minato is a half mile away, hidden in the upper boughs of the trees," Sakura explained. "It's a fool's errand to chase him down, he'll just teleport away. That's why he isn't cloaking his chakra. He wants us to waste time chasing him. We have to stop him from teleporting. You know his technique. How do we do that? Force him to come to us?"
Kakashi smiled faintly under his mask. "If we gather his tagged kunai when he teleports he'll end up within range for an ambush." He cocked his head to the side and stared at her a moment longer. "You seem familiar."
Sakura reached for his face and he was too stunned to move away— or maybe he forced himself to stand still desperate for a gesture of affection. She ran her thumb over the cloth covering his chin, his spine straightened and he then froze under her touch. "One day, Kakashi, we'll be family. Today, let's be friends."
He scowled, clearly not understanding her words. After regaining his senses, he knocked her hand away. She didn't quite understand the words either, but he was her family. Even before there was even a spark of romance between them, Kakashi Hatake was one of Sakura's precious people. And dammit, she was one of his too!
"Let's gather those tags," Sakura said, stepping back, working hard to mask her own tumultuous emotions.
"It's hard to believe someone so pretty can be so smart," Kakashi said casually. Sakura felt her cheeks heat. He was blushing earlier! He picked up one of the kunai from behind a nearby bush. "He'll have at least two more of theses around here somewhere."
Ah, so perhaps Kakashi hadn't sought her out. She'd just been near one of the tagged kunai and he already planned to gather them up. Or had she been drawn to the tagged kunai and the idea to gather them was new? "You're also pretty and smart, the two aren't mutually exclusive," Sakura pointed out. She gestured towards the lake. "I see one glinting in the sun. It's like it's advertising to be found."
"I am not pretty," Kakashi hissed.
"Yes, you are," Sakura argued. She turned back towards him again and laid her hand over his heart. "You are the most beautiful person I have ever known because of your heart."
"Shinobis do not feel," Kakashi argued, laying his hand on top of hers.
"We feel everything. That's why you wear that mask." Sakura smiled at him sadly. "Let's get those kunai. There's only a little time left. Then you and I can hold Minato-sensei in place and allow Rin and Obito to get the bells. That's how you complete this task."
"But then we won't have any bells," Kakashi pointed out.
She smiled at him again. "That's not the point of the test. Putting your teammates' wellbeing over your own, is the point."
"You already have a team, don't you?" Kakashi asked. "A team whom you have a strong bond with?"
Sakura nodded. "Though, sometimes we get separated. We always find our ways back to each other. Our bonds are timeless."
Kakashi nodded. "Alright, let's do this."
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Itachi
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He'd been given a month of leave. The Third Hokage had wanted to spend the next four weeks focusing on restructuring Anbu under the new leadership of Taki Uchiha, integrating the Police Force into Anbu, and tearing down some of the barriers that separated the Uchiha clan from the rest of the village.
Itachi hadn't had this much free time on his hands since before he started the Academy. Unfortunately, Shisui was incredibly busy — as was Kakashi — working on the internal affairs of Anbu.
After Itachi had given Lord Sarutobi his complete report, including everything he knew about the man in the orange mask, he'd been forbidden from leaving the village. He suspected that the man in the orange mask wouldn't be so easily dissuaded from trying to recruit Itachi into the budding terrorist group and now there was no need for him to act as a double agent. He better served the Leaf right here in Konoha, serving as a bridge between the Uchiha and the rest of the villagers.
He sat on the dock of the big lake in the Uchiha district. Sasuke and Naruto were training with throwing shuriken. It had only been a couple of days since that life-altering night, their family had grown by one, and there had been very few casualties.
He'd given Naruto his old bed - the two young boys shared one room while Itachi had taken over his father's study. Years ago, it had been a guest room and rather than Itachi looking for his own place — as most jonin had their own apartments, Mikoto Uchiha had demanded that Fugaku and Itachi clear out all police related bits from that room and convert it back into a nice bedroom.
While cleaning up the room, his father had talked to him about the fact that he was a young man and would start to feel certain urges. It was an incredibly awkward talk and Itachi really hoped he wouldn't be seeing Izumi anytime soon now that his father put those kinds of thoughts into his head.
Unfortunately, his mother had already invited his friend to dinner for the following night. He was curious about his brother's little pink-haired girl friend as well. Shisui had brought her over for breakfast the other day and he wondered if she would become a staple to their family as well. He certainly hoped so.
In unison, Sasuke and Naruto both turned towards Itachi and then were suddenly standing in front of him— one dark shadows and the other brilliant light— they complimented one another. "Can we go fishing?" Sasuke asked.
Itachi stared at him for a moment speechless. While Itachi was a better hunter, Sasuke was by far a better fisherman. He nodded. "Sure. Let's go get the rods and bait."
"I'm so excited! I've never had fresh fish before!" Naruto smiled from ear to ear. "Do you eat it right out of the lake? Or do you put it in a noodle dish?"
"You catch it, clean it, cut it, then cook it," Sasuke explained, rolling his eyes. "You can't just order a fish at the lake and eat it a few minutes later like at the ramen shop."
"That sounds like a lot of work," Naruto whined.
"It's not so bad when you've got good company," Sasuke answered with a grin.
Itachi sat near the boys as they fished, meditating and focusing his chakra into healing the ache in his lungs and his eyes. He didn't worry about the lines on his face. He suspected they might fade naturally as his stress levels evened out to ones he might more easily cope with.
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Kakashi
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Two days. It had been two days since most of the future shinobi returned to their time and Sakura and Naruto had been stuck in this time. Lord Third had sent a hawk from Konoha to Jiraiya in hopes of getting him back in the village, but Sarutobi warned it could take a few days or a few weeks to hear back from the traveling Sannin.
He could only hope that Naruto had better luck finding Sakura and Jiraiya.
What he couldn't wrap his mind around was the fact that Obito was still alive! And he'd taken Sakura! It was obviously Kakashi's fault. Maybe it was fate's way of reminding him that he wasn't meant to have nice things in his own life. His hands were too sodden with blood and death to deserve a happy ending. He was already going to have to wait years to be with her again, but he'd come to peace with that. This however, having her stolen away by a dead man that hated him, was another nightmare of epic Hatake quality.
"Hey." Shisui sat next to him on the roof of the Anbu headquarters building. "You, me and Tenzo, we can head out in two days. Father is giving us permission to head towards Mist. We'll meet up with Naruto in the mountains. It's likely he'll have found her by then with his ability."
"Okay." Kakashi didn't know what else to say. Two more days of waiting uselessly as she was taken further and further away. Would she still be alive? "You know, I had the strangest dream last night."
"Dream? Not another nightmare?" Shisui asked quietly. "I had a strange one myself actually."
"I dreamed that Sakura — an adolescent tiny version wearing a ridiculous red dress showed up to a Team Minato training back when I was twelve." Kakashi turned to face Shisui, only to notice the curly haired man was staring off into the distance also lost in thought. "We did the bell test with Minato-sensei. It was just such a vivid dream. I'd never had it before. What was your dream?"
"I dreamed I was ten, chasing after one of those ninja cats hoping to make a summoning contract like you have with your ninja hounds," Shisui explained. "Obito and a girl that looked like a fairy with pink hair and jewel-green eyes were nearby. She suggested I wear cat ear headbands or look into bird summons."
"Cat ear headbands?" Kakashi repeated. His mouth felt dry. They had both dreamed of a young Sakura. "Do you think it was a memory?"
"More time travel?" Shisui asked. "I feel it was something else. But it did feel more like a memory than a dream."
"We have to find her, Shisui. I cannot lose her. I cannot lose anyone else," Kakashi whispered.
"We'll find her. I can bury your memories now though," Shisui suggested. "If it's too much. You'll have access to them again later, but it might help you compartmentalize."
"I'll think about it," Kakashi said. "But right now, I need them."
"So, they found a bunch kids in Root," Shisui added conversationally. "The Yamanaka clan offered to take some of them in — hoping they'd be able to help them acclimate mentally after what Danzo put them through."
"Did they find Sai?" Kakashi asked.
Shisui nodded. "Yeah, he's around nine years old. And his brother, Shin, is about eleven. They were the first two the Yamanaka clan leader adopted himself."
Kakashi drummed his fingers over his knee idly. None of this would have happened if Minato had been the Hokage. The Uchiha wouldn't have been ostracized. Danzo wouldn't have been able to get away with all the terrible things he'd done with both Anbu and Root. Kakashi himself wouldn't have experienced so many bad things.
Though, the realization that Obito was alive and that he was the one that released the Nine-tails nearly seven years ago, that was why Minato had died. Obito had been the one to besmirch the Uchiha name and triggered the event that killed so many.
And if Kakashi wanted to dwell even further back, if his own father hadn't killed himself — Sakumo Hatake likely would have been the Hokage. He valued the lives of his shinobi. If his father hadn't given up, a lot of the corruption of the Leaf would have been cleaned up long ago.
"You're having a lot of deep thoughts," Shisui observed.
"I don't want to wait two more days. I'll wait until the morning. Then I'm heading out with or without permission," Kakashi vowed.
"Jeez, don't be so dramatic." Shisui rolled his eyes. "I'll convince father. Lord Third is so head over heels for his grandson, he'll probably agree if we ask just right."
"We don't tell Itachi. He should get a chance to be a kid with his family," Kakashi added.
Shisui nodded. "Alright. At least one us deserves to have some carefree childhood moments. It might only last a few weeks before the village demands otherwise, but we let Itachi be a genius kid for now, enjoying his forced month of leave from active duty. But if it gets dicey, we let him know."
Kakashi nodded. "Agreed."
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A/N: I have been wanting to write tween Kakashi and tween Sakura forever! We should be working on recruiting Sasori before too long. Can Obito return to the light or is he too far gone? Will Naruto be able to lead our trio of OG Anbu to their damsel in distress? Or will Sakura save herself?