EDIT: Since some of you are a little lost, this chapter take place about a week after the last one. All the events that happened in here happened in chronological order, and during the past week if you are confused. This chapter is in the correct spot. Enjoy!
This world really was a funny place.
That was the thought echoing through Haruhi's mind as she watched Kakashi train and read the Konoha newspaper on her lap. She remembered when she first appeared here, no taller than a teacup, and on the hokage's desk. She recalled being worried over communication barriers, and thinking she wouldn't be able to speak.
Looking down at the newspaper, she was relieved that was not the case.
This world was a collection of cultures and influences. Many of its cultural traits were east Asia inspired, but Haruhi could see western influence everywhere too.
Tomatoes and Potatoes were originally things cultivated in the Americas by Native Americans, the Aztec's and Incas. They weren't introduced into Japan until the 1500's. That fact that Konoha had potato chips and sold tomatoes indicated this world was not like Japan on Earth.
There was also the fact that people here spoke English as well as Japanese. From what she could tell, English overtook Japanese roughly 200 years ago, and was now mostly used in older publications, Shinobi business, and by nobles.
The newspaper she was reading was mainly in English, with the Kanji under the text. It was the same for Icha Icha, and other publications in Konoha.
So many of the clothes were also western inspired, along with some of the more advanced technology. Haruhi was thinking of using VHS tapes in order to film literacy classes people could watch at home.
And the matter of the printing presses. Some of them operated with what looked like late 1980's early 1990's computers. Haruhi had sneaked a copy of "The tale of the Utterly Gusty Shinobi" From Kakashi's bookshelf, the one she used to sleep in, and copied it. Kakashi knew, but he let her anyway.
The book was banned during the third war due to it being "unwarranted" or something. It contained anti-shinobi themes in it, and a critical analysis of the hidden villages. Haruhi didn't like Jiriaya, but he certainly saw some of the flaws of the village. In fact, had he not been the Third's students, he probably would have been disappeared along with his books.
Anyway. Haruhi took the book, spent her own money to make 500 copies of it, and handed it out to members of the various clubs she was a part of, as well as leaving copies of it in public places.
Kakashi had been amused.
Speaking of which...
"You know, you keep that up and they're gonna make you hokage."
Kakashi feigned a gasp and clutches at his heart, making Haruhi laugh.
"Don't say things like that, you're scaring me!"
"It's true though!"
Since Tsunade had operated on Kakashi, he had improved in leaps and bounds. Rin had done a good job, but it was field work. Tsunade had aligned the eye properly, and had included seals on the side of the eye so it wouldn't drain nearly as much chakra while at rest. Instead of consuming around 40% of Kakashi's reserves, it now only took up around 8%. A Gigantic improvement. He was so energetic now.
In fact, Kakashi, with his chakra control, could meditate and even store up chakra in the seal that he could then use during battle.
And now that he wasn't so exhausted all the time, his stamina improved to S-rank level, and he could finally use some of the thousands of jutsu he copied now that his reserves weren't being sucked away. Since he was helping Tenten with her Funjutsu, he was also on his way to becoming a master in the art.
In a couple years, Tsunade seriously might make him Hokage.
They continued their walk, and Haruhi recognized the path they were taking.
It was a graveyard. The one his father was buried in. Sakumo was never added to the memorial stone.
They had been coming here recently, ever since Obito had his talk down to Kakashi, and Tsunade had made the comment about Sakumo.
Kakashi had been doing a lot of self-reflection lately.
They fell into their routine, and cleaned the small gravestone, clearing away leaves and replacing the wilted flowers Ino had sold to them with a discount.
Kakashi traced the name engraved there, and sighed.
"I still feel like it's my fault."
Haruhi hummed, and slowed down her cleaning, lowering the rag.
"You know it's not."
"But if I had just accepted him…"
Haruhi grit her teeth, feeling angry. At Konoha, for ostracizing one of their only good shinobi, for Sakumo, for daring to leave Kakashi alone in a village full of vultures, and at Kakashi, for feeling like he had to blame himself for everything. He fell into these moods often, like when Sasuke and her had been kidnapped by Orochimaru. Not everything was his fault. It was almost grating how he made it about himself. Sometimes shit happened outside of your control, and that's just life, baby.
Haruhi snapped at him.
"You know what Kakashi, I think you find fault in yourself, lay the blame at your own feet because if something was your fault, then that means there could have been something you could have done to prevent it. Meaning you had some control over the situation even though you really didn't."
Kakashi whips his head around towards her, eye wide in shock, and hand hovering over his heart. Her tone was sharp and annoyed.
"But you know what else, huh?"
He shook his head, still shocked. She rarely snapped at him.
"I think you blame yourself because not blaming yourself means something much scarier- that it wasn't your fault. Meaning it was outside of your control. That you were powerless in that situation. That you had NO control over the situation. And that's much scarier, isn't it."
He trembled.
"Because despite your training, you really had no control over the situation. You couldn't stop the villagers from spiteing your father. You couldn't stop the war, and you couldn't stop the Nine-tails."
She sighed.
"So stop it with the self flagellation. Punishing yourself won't make any of this better. What you can do is try to heal and move on."
She took his hand in hers, and rubbed her thumb over the back of it, and leaned over to kiss his cheek. She smiled softly at him.
"Okay?"
He blinked and nodded, face warm with a blush.
The rest of the way home, they walked arm in arm, and Haruhi pretended not to notice the looks he was sending her way. Thoughtful and caring.
They reached their front porch, and Kakashi turned, heading to a training ground where he was supposed to meet up with Sasuke to train.
She hoped he was doing well. She had been so busy these past couple of weeks that she hadn't seen him.
Sasuke had been eating a Tomato like an apple and steeping his green tea when something triggered the traps in his apartment.
He casually put down his tomato, and made it look like he was checking his tea, when he was in actuality, going for the weapons he had stashed around the apartment.
Even though the Uchiha district was now a flourishing cultural center, Sasuke still couldn't bring himself to move back into the only empty house in the compound-the main house. It stood empty in memory of what had happened there, seals by Tenten and Kakashi making sure the building would stand for centuries to come.
He had finally been able to arrange a training session with Kakashi later today. If Kakashi noticed him missing, he would report it.
Nobody else would notice for a couple days, though. Naruto, Sakura, Karin, Haku, and Haruhi-sensei were all busy lately.
Sasuke ignored how much that hurt.
He grabbed the kunai, just as a figure burst from the window.
A boy his age, with two heads, and gray blue hair. Sasuke ducked under his blow, and swiped his kunai across the intruder's face, only to get punched by a third arm that appeared from his torso.
He was thrown back, and another boy with six arms clamped them around Sasuke like an Iron Maiden.
"Don't make this difficult." The boy murmured.
Sasuke flared his chakra, forming the fire hand seal and burned the arms entrapping him. He kicked off the boy, and planted the sole of his foot into the face of a chubby one that tried to grab him.
A flute sounded, and Sasuke recognized the genjutsu from his training with Kurenai.
He broke it, and hit the red-headed girl so hard she threw up blood.
Sasuke made a break for the window, his speed cracking the floorboards as he ducked under grasping hands and jumped.
The girl activated her seal in a fit of rage, and slammed him so hard his cup of tea shattered off the counter and he got the air knocked out of him.
He jumped back just in time to activate a barrier seal from Tenten, stopping the four cold.
Stalemate. Judging by the area wide genjutsu, no one would hear his call for help. And going off of their style, and their cursed seal, these were Orochimaru's lackeys.
"What do you want." Sasuke said, already knowing the answer.
The fat one ate Sasuke's tomato, and the girl snarled.
"Why don't you quit hiding and find out!"
The other two relaxed and Sasuke grit his teeth in anger. They were all too fast and powerful for Sasuke to plow through, and that was without activating the curse seal. He needed to stall.
Sasuke paused. He then observed the girl more closely, and realized she fit a description he heard before. Sasuke had wanted to know as much as possible about Orochimaru, and had taken up some training sessions with Anko and Kin.
"Tayuya, no need for games. Just tell me."
They were no longer relaxed.
"How do you know her name?" The six armed boy said.
Sasuke smirked.
"You first."
The fat one stood up, and Sasuke noticed how they all deferred to him.
"We come from Orochimaru, with a proposition."
Sasuke raised his eyebrows. This ought to be good.
"We know Konoha is stifling you, and ignoring your full potential. The elders ignore you, when they're not mocking your name and your clan. Orochimaru is… concerned for you. He also understands what it is like to be under their scrutiny. And he also knows secrets about them. Crime they committed. Against your family."
Sasuke was no longer smirking.
"You don't strike me as stupid, Sasuke. You know the circumstances behind the massacre are...suspect. At best."
"What the Hell does Orochimaru know about the massacre? He had left the village by then!"
The six armed boy chuckled with the two-headed one.
"That is true. But Orochimaru is not without his sources of information. And besides, I'm referring to an incident that took place before the massacre."
Sasuke's mind scrambled. What incident? Nothing happened except-
-Shisui.
Almost a second older brother to Sasuke. Had understood him in a way not even Itachi could. Filled with kindness, and smiles, and let Sasuke eat his tomatoes from his salad.
They had searched for his body for weeks, up until Itachi slaughtered them all. They had never figured out what had happened, but if Orochimaru knew what had happened to him…
"Join us. Join Orochimaru. And you'll have your answers. And then you'll have the power to do something with those answers afterwards."
Sasuke's hands quaked.
"We'll be back in three months time. Think about it."
They left. Sasuke held the barrier seals for five more minutes before dispelling it. He didn't know what to do. He and Haruhi-sensei had already given information to Tsunade about the missing children likely taken by Danzo, but they hadn't told her yet about the orders behind the massacre. They still weren't sure they could trust her 100% yet.
And could he tell Haruhi-sensei? She was so focused on building up The Commons and other social programs, she might not want to rock the boat.
Exactly how did the four Orochimaru henchmen get into Konoha in the first place? This was a glaring security error! What happened to the guards? To the sealing array along the wall? Sasuke's apartment was located in a block with a mostly ninja population, how could they have snuck past them?
Sasuke had never felt safe in Konoha. Even before the massacre, he had felt the hostility directed at the Uchiha clan, and murmurer from his parents of children going missing. Now, what little faith he didn't even know he had was gone.
What was to stop Orochimaru from infiltrating the village again? Unless Sasuke was kept under lock and key like some prized hound, a trophy, he would be taken.
The thought terrified Sasuke.
Both Konoha and Orochimaru were despicable, but at least Orochimaru didn't bother to hide it. Child soldiers, kidnapping, experimentation, genocide. Sasuke recognized a few bloodlines in that group, and it was almost guaranteed that Orochimaru took them for himself, and wiped out any of the bloodline clans who opposed him.
An Idea, fast at lighting shot through Sasuke's brain. One so crazy and insane he had to balance himself against the wall.
What if instead of hiding, he went to Orochimaru instead? It wouldn't be hard to play up his hatred of Konoha, and trick Orochimaru into thinking Sasuke was on his team. Besides, it would be no use trying to hide with Konoha's security in shambles.
He could leave in three months time with the Four sound shinobi, and then send a letter back to Konoha, to Tsunade, explaining he had no choice, and offering to be a double agent to her. He could send back information to her, enough to make her think Sasuke was still loyal to Konoha, and trying to assassinate Orochimaru, all the while he gathered intel against the village.
Haruhi-sensei was well connected now. But she didn't know the people living in the Uchiha district like Sasuke did. Mostly immigrants, the poor, and genin and civilian-born chunin, who had a part in every aspect of Konoha. They were grateful to Sasuke for housing them. They also loved the Uchiha clan back in the day. Nothing illegal happened without the Uchiha knowing, and his father let them get away with stealing food that would have otherwise gotten thrown out, and was very lenient with the poorer citizen, not fineing them for things they couldn't help.
Sasuke could use them to gather more intel.
Then when he was with Orochimaru, he could use the information he had gathered in Konoha against the elders and the village and what he gathered from Orochimaru, and release it to the public. Destroying Konoha's once shining reputation. Then, once he had amassed the power, he could kill Orochimaru and free those trapped by him.
It was perfect.
Two birds with one stone.
He needed to know more about Orochimaru first. He got dressed, hands shaking with excitement as he put on his training gear for his training with Kakashi. He could ask Kakashi about Orochimaru during his training session.
But Itachi...
Sasuke didn't know what to think of him now. It was still unforgivable, what he had done. He had cut open children, men, women, and civilians. Sasuke didn't care if he was ordered to do it. Itachi had a brain, supposedly. He could have said no.
He threw open the door. The Sound Four wouldn't kill anyone if they could help it, they couldn't afford to attract attention, especially if Sasuke told on them. Konoha's citizens were safe.
He sprinted towards the field, making sure all evidence of his fight with the Sound four was erased. As he ran, his mind churned over how to start this conversation with Kakashi. Maybe talk about how he was kidnapped by Orochimaru and it was giving him nightmares? It would be a good lead in.
He jumps into the clearing, and paused to catch his breath. He has a few minutes until Kakashi appears to catch his breath and think.
His hands on his knees, he looks up. His breath catches in his throat.
It's the training ground from the bell test. The three poles are right there. The area they sat at when Haruhi-sensei was first revealed to them, as tiny as a mouse in Kakashi-sensei's hand. This was the place Sasuke had trained with his team, and his fellow genin.
His heart clenched.
They were good. They didn't murder his family. Most of them were stuck here too. What would they think of Sasuke if he left for Orochimaru? Would they know it wasn't their fault?
"Why the long face, Sasuke?"
Sasuke jumped, and spun around to see Kakashi-sensei behind.
The man glowed with new vitality, Tsunade's surgery and the Texts Sasuke had found on managing the Sharingan making it so Kakashi's gift was much more manageable to him. This had a cascade effect. Now that he wasn't so lethargic, his stamina and endurance, his formerly biggest weakness, was covered. He could also now use his wide range of Jutsu he copied that were too chakra intensive before.
He had also done other growth as well. He was no longer running from his heritage, and was now utilizing the Hatake White Chakra, the famous trait of the Hatake clan.
Sasuke shrugged, wanting to draw it out for a bit. Definitely not because he was mad at Kakashi-sensei or anything.
"Okay Sasuke, I'll show you my improved Chidori. I was able to use the Hatake white Chakra to extend the range. Which, when you consider that it's close range was it's greatest weakness...I want you to turn on your sharingan and watch."
Sasuke obliged, and felt the hiccough in his chakra as the three tomoe swirled to life. His Mangekyou was another thing to be worried about-he had read it caused blindness in some of his family's sealed scrolls.
Kakashi worked through the seals, and Sasuke saw and felt as the S-rank technique sparked and crackled to life, with his hair standing on end and chest humming with the reverberations.
Kakashi then did something Sasuke hadn't seen before. Tendrils of white chakra seemed to stream from his hand and almost charge the Chidori, coating it in a protective layer to keep the energy from fizzling out into the atmosphere.
He then slammed the technique through the trees, and Sasuke paid careful attention as to how the White Chakra protected the lightning until it fizzled out well past it's usual range.
Impressive. Incredibly impressive. Kakashi wouldn't have been able to do that before the surgery, even if he had started to use his White chakra then.
Sasuke wondered if he could replicate it somehow, and extend the range of it without white chakra. Would that be enough to kill Orochimaru?
"Really, Sasuke! That was super cool! What's gotten into you?"
Kakashi-sensei sounded so concerned under his thin guise of teasing, and Sasuke almost winced. What would he think of Sasuke if he left?
"I keep having nightmares about Orochimaru." He whispered.
The humor fled from Kakashi's face, and the raw care, the searching look burned Sasuke. Why was he feeling ashamed? Konoha had betrayed him first when they made him go back to that empty house every night up until he graduated! The stained wooden floors, the rotting food in fridges, the empty spaces where his family used to be, it wasn't fair!
"I need to know what he did." Sasuke whispered, his voice rough with unshed tears.
Kakashi pulled him into a hug, and the shape of his flak jacket, and the masculine scent mixed with pine cologne that wafted off of him reminded Sasuke of his own father, unlocking memories he had thought buried. Memories of Sasuke being cradled in strong arms, a low deep voice singing hushed lullabies, of chocolate brown hair down to his father's ears that he tugged at with chubby fingers.
Orochimaru wasn't safe. But neither was Konoha. Orochimaru at least never pretended to be anything else other than a snake.
Sasuke knew that Haruhi and Kakashi-sensei were on his side, He knew they were aware of the circumstances behind the massacre but they were both indebted and dependent on Konoha.
"Okay Sasuke. Okay. Follow me."
Sasuke sniffled, and wiped at his face before jumping after Kakashi and into the treetops. They were heading away from the heart of Konoha, towards the fringes of the village and to where the trees were nearly as dense as they were in the forest of death, where people rarely frequented.
They stopped next to a pile of boulders, probably moved here when Konoha was first being constructed.
Kakashi muttered a few words, drew a seal into the rocks. He carefully activated his sharingan, capturing the lightning quick motions he otherwise would have missed, and committed the seat, and the flick of Kakashi's chakra, to memory. to Sasuke's surprise, they shifted out of the way to reveal a tunnel.
Huh. So the rumors of Konoha having an underground network of tunnels was true. Sasuke turned off his Sharingan before Kakashi could see.
"Did Orochimaru use these?"
"Yes. He did."
Sasuke shivered at the implications. These tunnels would mean he had room to do whatever he wanted, and had free movement over much of Konoha.
"Don't worry about Orochimaru getting in through these. We keyed it so only specific people who knew could get in."
Sasuke nodded relieved, and they stepped down into the darkness.
Kakashi-sensei lit up his hand to act as a torch carefully with a D-rank fire jutsu, and Sasuke followed suit. He was greeted to what looked like marks in the floor and walls where someone had sunken in their nails and had been dragged down the tunnel. Judging by the faded brown, their nails had ripped off at some point.
Something crunched under foot, and Sasuke lifted his sandal to see what looked like a bone piece, a metacarpal, if Sakura's textbooks were anything to go by.
His face paled. Lost all color.
Kakashi-sensei held Sasuke's other hand in his, and they marched on after a minute of calming down.
"This was one of Orochimaru's laboratories. He kidnapped countless babies and citizens from elsewhere, and experimented, tortured, and killed them. His body count is unknown."
They stopped abruptly. A thick, heavy, metal door was in their way.
Kakashi-sensei went through the motions of Chidori, and cracked the door like an egg. It swung open to a cavernous room, the sound of it slamming against the wall echoing into his very bones. How many people had that door trapped? Kakashi-sensei then took his chidori and charged the electricity in the room, the ancient looking light bulbs flickering on.
His mind stuttered to a halt.
Cots. Baby sized cots. With dead trees in them where the babies should be.
Trance-like, Sasuke walked among them.
"Were...were these babies?" He choked out, horrified.
"Yes."
"Did Yamato…"
"Yes. He was the only survivor of this set of experimentation-the attempted revival of the First Hokage's mokuton. I chose this room because I knew you had personal ties to Yamato, and would better understand how horrific these experiments were. The Chakra in this area of Konoha is muted, and so Orochimaru was better able to control the experiments. It led to him reviving the Mokuton in Yamato. All his notes were confiscated. We left the remains here."
"Why! Why not give them back to their families!?"
"We had nothing to identify them with at that point. And… the Third Hokage decreed they be left here. Frozen as a reminder of what had happened." Or as a way to prevent evidence from reaching the public.
"So even their remains can't be free?" Sasuke cries, trembling.
"I don't agree with it either, Sasuke." Kakashi's voice is deeper than normal, and Sasuke realizes he is holding back tears too.
"Listen, Sasuke. Orochimaru is evil. He took people apart like dolls, and tossed away lives
He wipes at his face, and stares at the ground. Then freezes.
"Kakashi-sensei?"
"Yes?"
"You've said no one's been in here for years."
"That's true."
"Then who disturbed the dust in front of that door over there?"
His larger frame was suddenly in front of Sasuke, kunai out. They heard two people fleeing behind the door before Kakashi busted it open.
Two people covered in black, one trying to unhook a little girl from a tangle of medical machines, the other standing guard. Kakashi moved so quickly he was a blur, but the two figures had the advantage of position, and they disappeared into the tunnels behind them, collapsing the dirt, and throwing the girl at Kakashi-sensei to block his way.
They checked her over. She was pale, face twisted in pain, and shivering, with orange hair plastered to her head. Sasuke shrugged off his light jacket and carefully put it on her while Kakashi-sensei removed the wires.
He gasped.
"Kakashi-sensei, this is Moegi! Konohamaru's friend!"
"Let's go Sasuke. Hospital, now!"
They ran. Faster than he had ever gone in his life, as Kakashi sent him ahead to warn the hospital, as he needed to go slow when carrying Moegi.
Tsunade's face paled, features twisted in recognition when he told her.
"She was reported missing by her mothers not long ago. Bring her to me!"
They set Moegi down, and Sakura ran to get her mothers.
Sasuke stood by Kakashi-sensei.
"Kakashi-sensei? You said only a few people knew the seal to get in. Who else could have gotten in?"
He said nothing, his visible eye only narrowing, and that was the last straw. How long, how much would Konoha fail it's citizens?
And so Sasuke, right here, right now, decides to leave Konoha in three months time.
It's the first decision truly his own, and he can't bring himself to regret it.
So...a lot happened this chapter...Thoughts?
How are y'all doing during quarantine? I felt really sad writing the baby tree scene.
Isn't that cool, readers? They found moegi because Danzo took her to that laboratory because it was where the mokuton first resurfaced! He wanted to see if there was any correlation, because the muted chakra would better allow for him to study here, and because it was sealed and far away! I feel really damn clever when I write stuff like this!
Question of the chapter: What scene stuck out to you in this chapter?