A/N: The joys of acid reflux. In case you thought this story was dead, no worries, it isn't. Neither am I!

Don't own Naruto, blah blah blah.

Kazuku never liked Ame. The city was an anomaly, with working artifacts that few understood, and yet they never attempted to monetize or profit from them, instead concealing them from all outsiders. The accursed rain was almost ever present, another drawback. Rain washed out tracks, provided cover and concealment to targets, and generally interfered in his chosen profession.

But he really hated Ame because they disdained bounties and independent contracts. In his mind, the only good thing about the shinobi system as it stood was its merit utility in that only the best rose to the top, and bounty work was his chosen expression of such. To see it ignored by an entire land was... irritating.

The plans of Pein and the Dawn were perhaps understandable and valuable in the abstract – war was just as much a downer on his preferred method of business as anything else, given the chaos it involved – but in the day to day his use of Ame's shinobi to regulate and police the Land of Rain was directly counter to what Kazuku believed in.

Which was, bluntly put, money.

Money was the equalizer of the world, the divider of those who had power and those who utilized power. Strip away the fancy words and shit concepts like 'honor' and ninja were just mercenary killers. Those who tried to claim they were anything else were usually naive or delusional - or so powerful that money wasn't a concern, like the First Kage's of the villages.

Greed was what defined life, from greed for food and reproduction to greed for status and fame to greed for - obviously - more money, power, and influence. Those who claimed to be above it were lying, either to everyone else or themselves. Kazuku saw money as his god, his focus and his measuring stick. The Taki Elders had suffocated any lingering thoughts he had towards being something other than mercenary when they sold him out so long ago.

Fitting, in his mind, that money would ultimately be their downfall as well.

The massive ninja walked slowly toward the Tower of Revelation, his dark black cloak festooned with the dull gray clouds and mountain logo on the back soaked through with the constant rainfall. His towering stature – he stood well over two meters tall – put him several heads above the average civilians who gave him both a wide berth and expressions of respect.

His dark green eyes took in the last bit of the path ahead, terminating in the concrete and steel entryway to the highest tower in Ame. The door was guarded by a quad of Yoake-nin, the Breaking Dawn's shock troops – culled from both the best of the Ame ninja corps as well as missing-nin who swore loyalty to Pein and Yoake both.

The ninja tapped a button by the door and the heavy brass portal opened ponderously, with Kazuku never even bothering to break stride as he entered. The room beyond was titanically large, at least two hundred meters to the vaulted ceiling, and dominated entirely by a twisted, gnarled treelike object.

Embedded in the base of the object was a black metallic framework, long rods of more black metal running from the tree to the emaciated figure in the middle of the device. Long, lank scarlet hair hung down past gaunt features, the gaze of purple-ringed eyes arresting enough to detract from the man's otherwise almost cadaverous appearance.

Kazuku came to a neat halt almost a dozen meters away, muttering a katon jutsu to dry himself before raising his voice. "Yagura is dead. Kiri is in shambles, the fool tried to release the bijuu to kill me and Hidan, and the beast was destructive as it fought us. Useless. We captured it as requested...and the new Mizukage was agreeable to letting us take it."

The voice of the man on the framework was deep and resonant, its strength shocking given his frail appearance. "As expected. Where is Hidan?"

The ancient nin shrugged. "Handling the bounties – " He broke off as the doors opened again, the sound of rain nearly obscuring the soft footfalls of his partner.

Silver hair, slicked back and glistening with rain, framed an unlined, hard featured face. His robes were different than Kazuku's, cut across the chest diagonally to show both his hard musculature and the heavy iron pendant of Jashin on his chest. His scythe rested across his back, the heavy leather strap that secured it in one hand, while the figure tossed a bag to Kazuku with the other.

His voice was grim and cold. "Sixteen million."

Kazuku nodded, catching the sack easily. "Good. Your god must have been pleased with the death toll, Hidan."

The other nin shrugged, his eyes fixed on the giant tree and the figure at its base. "Jashin is always pleased at death, but death has to have a meaning to have a value. Most of that mess was meaningless, but I am hardly a stupid fanatic. Profit and piety together are better than separate."

The purple-eyed man connected to the tree raised a thin, scarred hand. "Enough banter. You have the device?"

Hidan stepped forward, past Kazuku, and pulled a heavy black metallic rod from his belt, the ends tipped in silvery-glowing crystals. The other took it, slotting it into a place on his framework, and the tree shuddered.

Hidan arched an eyebrow. "...that's it, Pein? How fucking lame."

Pein gave a shallow slash of a smile, as a moment later the tree made a groaning noise, and fiery runnels of fuinjutsu symbols raced up and down its bulk, culminating in a glowing circle that slowly erupted into a single glaring eye, blue in color and with three glowing tomoe in the pupil.

The Jashinist grinned. "That's more like it. The first of many. Why start with the Three-Tails, though?"

Pein exhaled. "The lore of the bijuu is mostly lost. When Whirlpool fell, the librams were flooded and destroyed. What little I remember says that the lower beasts of the Nine were less intelligent and powerful. The most powerful of the beasts could assume human shapes and had powers beyond the ken of mortals."

The two ninja exchanged confused glances, then looked back at Pein as he continued. "Given that we can't afford a failure, we must start with the lower beasts first. The order of sealing does not matter, but the last thing we need is the villages to realize the issue before we can strike."

Kazuku gave a slow nod at that. "And so..."

Pein's voice was dry. "And so, caution. The One-Tail is tightly guarded in Suna, and the Two-Tails is constantly beside the Eight-Tails in Kumo. The Three-Tails, on the other hand, was alone - and the rebels were more than willing to pay us to rid them of both Yagura and the beast, given he was the fifth jinchuriki who went insane after taking in in."

Kazuku nodded. "The civil war was useful for us to get in... but I had not considered the village to be the client in that fashion. I was wondering why they'd pay us for taking him out, on top of the other bounties." He smiled underneath his face covering. "They were displeased by the destruction to the village, but not stupid enough to press the point or withhold my money."

Hidan rolled his eyes. "Now what?"

Pein's eyes glowed faintly. "The Four-Tails has left Iwa – they have declared him a missing-nin. The Five-Tails has been sent to track him. Deidara and Sasori have been sent to secure the Four-Tails, but they may be overwhelmed if facing Iwa teams backed up with yet another jinchuriki. Go to Sedla and meet up with them as soon as possible. Once we have two, we can begin the sealing proper."

Kazuku only grunted, turning on a heel, while Hidan followed a moment later. After they exited, Hidan shook his head. "Fucking lunatic. Mark my words, if this blows up into another war because we're kidnapping crazy ass demon kids, the death toll will be unimaginable."

Kazuku gave him a sidelong glance. "This, coming from you of all people..."

Hidan gave a bland laugh. "Ha fucking ha, asshole. If it wasn't for the commands of Jashin..."

Kazuku didn't respond to that, his own thoughts turning. Pein's group – the Yoake, the Breaking Dawn – had to be one of the most powerful gatherings of shinobi in the entire Elemental Nations. A dozen S-ranked ninja, over six hundred jonin – combined with the spy network of Sasori, the flying surveillance of Deidara, Kazuku's own network, and the other resources brought to bear by members – meant they could probably crush any of the major ninja villages with ease.

Yet despite their power, Pein moved only very slowly, focused on staying under the radar and going so far as to somehow puppet the corpse of the once feared Hanzo the Salamander and pretend Ame was as it always was.

The Big Five never paid much attention to the lesser villages, and as long as Hanzo was isolationist and quiet they would never bother to. It was impossible to infiltrate Ame anyway, so it wasn't like they'd be discovered, but Pein had been very careful in saying they had to be cautious.

That the soon-to-be kage of Kiri had agreed to giving up the power of the Three-Tails was the first major risk Yoake had taken. And neither Kazuku nor any of his various spies could figure out why. The plan as laid out to him was simple – gather power and resources, develop a superweapon to decimate the Big Five, and destroy the Feudal balance of powers that held the land in war for centuries.

As the two ninja walked towards the edge of the village, he glanced at his partner again. "Jashin does not want the deaths from war?"

Hidan sighed. "Only a death that has meaning has value. Randomly killing stupid fuckheads who can barely hold a shitty sword has no real power. Sure, I suppose Jashin can gain from it, and I can redirect that chakra at the moment of death, but its a trickle compared to a death with meaning. And a war fought over villages freaking the fuck out when they get bijuu-napped is the very meaning of pointless."

Kazuku suppressed a snort. "Your god is full of inconsistencies, you know."

Hidan gave a shrug, his mouth twisting into a sneer. "Life is full of inconsistencies. Death is the only certainty you can cling to." He glanced aside. "The fuck are you asking me weird ass shit for anyway?"

Kazuku was silent for several seconds before speaking softly. "Pein's motives do not strike me as... telling us the complete story. There is something off – with him, that tree, and his power. His methods - his goal - does not line up with what we have been told and I find it incredibly suspicious that he actually expects Kiri to keep quiet about the Three Tails."

Hidan's features took on a thoughtful cast. "...true. On the other hand, Jashin has already told me the tree is 'power'. And whatever he's up to, Jashin approves."

Kazuku gave him a narrowed glare. "Yes, because the god of death saying 'neat idea' about a job isn't sketchy as fuck."

Hidan gave another shrug, glaring skyward at the rain as he did so. "You kill people and steal their hearts to live longer. I drain life force from victims, Sasori is a fucking living puppet, Deidara looks like a bitch and has mouths in his hands and chest, and the less we talk about the pedo-fucker, the plant guy or Jashin help me that freaky ass Uchiha, the better. Every one of us is sketchy as fuck and hiding shit, so what is so shocking about ol' freaky-eyes doing the same?"

Kazuku exhaled. "I dislike acting in the dark. We just captured a bijuu like stuffing canned fish, and there was no reason for Kiri to go along with it. Even if the bijuu does drive their containers to insanity, giving up power of that magnitude - and then paying to get rid of it - just boggles the mind." He paused. "Did you ever fight Uchiha when you were with Hot Springs?"

Hidan grinned. "Fight, no. Fucked one a few times, but never fought 'em. You know Hot Springs."

Kazuku gave a sardonic smile at that, given how Hidan had massacred the entire hidden village. "The way the rebels were acting was like some things I saw the Uchiha able to do. And despite being powerful we never ever hear what Itachi is doing, only the rest of the group."

Hidan said nothing for almost a minute, then spat. "Yagura was saying something about being controlled before he cut his belly open. You think that has something to do with it? Pein is using Itachi to set shit up?"

Kazuku merely spoke quietly. "I trust nothing but money, Hidan. But I dislike the idea that he's manipulating entire villages that way, because if he can do it to them he can do it to us."

Hidan's grip on his scythe tightened. "...shit." He looked up at the bigger nin. "So now what?"

Kazuku's gaze was set on the horizon. "Let us just be … careful … when we meet up with the clown and the puppet-freak."

O-DANZOSAMA-O

Sakura was not quite sure what to think of her ninja career.

The Academy had been focused on producing what the sensei's coldly described as a 'useful baseline' – people who could use their chakra – as well as 'making use of what is left' – with programs like the militia and the Silent. Most of their teaching was a mix of physical and practical, with some elements like medical jutsu, navigation and survival tossed in.

Non-elite ninjas would spend two more years in the Academy focusing on specialist skills, while elites were trained almost solely by their sensei Or in the case of Team Seven, senseis, she supposed. But what had ever possessed whoever put together teams to stick her with the likes of Naruto Hyuuga and Sasuke Uchiha?

She sat waiting one of the small logs at their assigned training ground, watching the two boys. Naruto was focused on reading a scroll, while the Uchiha was merely staring off into the distance. With a grunt he shook his head, and turned toward Naruto.

"Oy, Hyuuga. You see our teachers yet, or are they going to be late again?"

Naruto closed the scroll with quick movements, stowing it in the pocket of his haori that he'd shown up with. Sakura didn't know where he'd gotten it, but it was very high quality and despite the uniform regulations didn't seem to draw any comments from those who'd seen him wear it. A moment later the boy muttered something and blood vessels near his eyes expanded – he was using the Byakugan.

"...they're still by the Memorial Stone."

Sasuke made a tching noise, and Sakura stood up, dusting her pants off and frowning as well. "I wonder if that is to do with what they told us...the last meeting."

She swallowed, remembering the smell of blood and urine and death and the stickiness of the liquid that had splashed her, but blew out a breath. Sasuke didn't bother responding, but Naruto merely tapped his temples, wincing.

A moment later he spoke. "Probably. Still, it's been almost fifteen minutes. Maybe we should just do something on our own."

Sasuke arched an eyebrow. "What, spar?"

Naruto shook his head. "Not very useful. I mean, you and I are basically evenly matched, and Sakura wouldn't last a second against either of us – no offense."

She shook her head as well. "None taken, Hyuuga-san. I know my taijutsu is weak at best."

Sasuke looked at her askance. "So you focus on... mednin stuff and genjutsu?"

She gave him a thin smile. "And poisons with senbon, or poison clouds. I mean, only a little, the academy sensei always said our future teachers would give us the bulk of our training..."

As she finished her sentence a gust of wind blew by, and with a rustle of leaves, Kakashi and Obito stood before them.

"Sorry we're late. We found a paralyzed ibex and had to help it back to the nature preserve." Obito managed to somehow say this with a straight face, and the three genin just stared at him and Kakashi for a long moment before responding in unison.

"LIAR!"

Kakashi laughed, while Obito pouted, his left hand moving around subtly to guide his puppeteer limbs as he stood behind his friend. Kakashi's voice was calm and amused. "So, you all came back. Good. I'd apologize for putting you through what we did yesterday... but I did it for the best of reasons. Not only does it serve the village to know who can – and cannot – kill, but it lets you get used to the idea."

Obito nodded sourly. "...those who don't usually freeze up when they make their first kill. Kami only knows how many genin of Konoha have died over the decades to that." He paused. "Besides...doing it here, you can recover. Go home to your families. Out there..." He trailed off, and the only sound for several seconds was the wind.

The three children were quiet, and Kakashi gave an eye-smile. "But I promise we don't have to do anything like that again any time soon. Now we do a mixed schedule of d-rank missions, training, and planning your future specialties."

He gestured to the logs, and for them to sit. Sakura did so, watching Obito unseal something from a complex looking tattoo on his wrist to reveal his wheelchair, which he sat in a moment later.

Sasuke gave his cousin a sour look. "Bito-nii, you said that was a tattoo you got when you were drunk!"

Obito's ravaged face quirked into a half smile. "I was drunk!"

Kakashi sighed as he sat. "Alright, my little nin-chans." He seemed gleefully amused as the three leaked faint killing intent and him and spread his hands. "First, our schedule. Weekends are free, at least for now. By 'free' I expect you not to be doing any heavy training on the weekends – and if Hiashi or Kagami have a problem with that, tell them to talk to me."

He glanced around for acknowledgment, then continued. "Monday, Wednesday and Fridays are training days. Half the day we will do taijutsu instruction and sparring, conditioning, map tracking exercises and the like. After lunch, we'll do study of jutsu and your specific focus areas."

Naruto's expression flattened. "What is a focus area, sensei?"

Obito's voice was calmly amused. "Basically what you're good at. You – you have a lot of chakra, the Gentle Fist fighting, x-ray eyes and all that. So we have a pair of jutsu that will build on all of that and make you even more lethal – the Shadow Clone and the Mole in Earth technique. Combined with your use of the Gentle Fist, you can create multiple absolutely lethal attackers, long range scouts that can't be fooled, and distractions. You'll also learn a few more defensive earth jutsu once we get you going and the focus will be on increasing your speed and coordination with the Shadow Clones."

Obito then glanced at Sasuke. "As for you, Tomato-chan, we're going to show you how to use your Sharingan as a tool instead of a crutch, and you'll be the primary ninjutsu component. Naruto has more chakra, but it's best if we focus him on the physical aspect, so you will instead be doing lots of chakra control and chakra building exercises, plus learning some lightning jutsu. Shisui-baka already taught you enough fire jutsu to set things on fire with, so we plan to combine that with the use of tools – ninja wire, kunai, windmill shuriken. Naruto will corall enemies for you to decimate or you will pin enemies down for him to make a killing strike."

Kakashi spoke up. "Sakura, you have limited chakra and not a lot of strength or speed. There are ways to improve that and we will, but your chakra control is outstanding and your lightning affinity can be used in various ways. You will also be the team medic and support genjutsu member, so evasion training and mastering the shunshin will be important."

The three youngsters only glanced at one another as Kakashi continued. "Tuesday and Thursday we do d-ranks. You guys are lucky, when I was coming up d-ranks were the e-rank jobs academy students do."

The three grimaced – none of them had fond memories of Tora – and Obito chuckled. "D-ranks now are mostly things to do with the village infrastructure and to introduce you to departments. They can be anything from escorting prisoners to T&I to running secure orders to outlying outposts or even aiding in teaching at the Academy, but they can also be boring like working the Archives, Mission Desk, or helping do demolitions work. The idea is to expose you to all the various jobs ninja have to undertake and handle as well as so that you can get to know those you will need to interact with."

Naruto was the first to speak. "...okay. So, how do we get started?"

Kakashi tilted his head. "We're going to focus. Obito will be training Sasuke, while my Shadow Clone will be overseeing Sakura. You, Naruto, get to learn the same jutsu, the Shadow Clone."

Kakashi stood and make a simple hand-sign, and an exact copy of him popped into existence. Sakura frowned. "Sensei, it's just a bunshin..."

The clone bowed. "Not quite, Sakura. The shadow clone is a copy of the real person – including skills and memories. I can even use techniques, although my chakra is sharply limited."

The real Kakashi spoke in a more serious tone. "I'll warn all three of you now that this is usually a jonin level skill. Each clone halves your chakra reserves. You make too many, and you can run into chakra exhaustion rapidly. Do not try it without supervision - or make more than one clone." He gestured to the clone, and it gave an eye-smile of it's own. "Come along, Sakura."

Sakura nodded, and followed the clone as it lead her to the south side of the training area, where a tall pole and a small pond were situated. "Sakura, your files say you have already mastered both tree-walking and water-walking, is that correct?"

She nodded. "Yes, Kakashi-sensei."

"Good. Stand on the water – for this entire lesson you'll have to maintain your water-walking. This will slowly help build your chakra capacity and keep you... focused."

She swallowed and stepped out onto the pond, noting with dismay the bottom was slimy and muddy. She looked up as her teacher unsealed several scrolls, revealing several small books and some kind of pouch.

"As the medic of the team, you are never to get into direct front line combat unless both your team-mates are downed or are in danger of being downed. Naruto can't do medic jutsus for shit and Sasuke isn't much better, so if you are taken out there is no one to heal you – or them. For that reason, the bulk of what I teach you will be survival, evasion, and avoidance."

He spent nearly an hour going over a trio of jutsu – a lightning technique to create stunning 'caltrops' in a circle around her, another lightning technique to superheat a thrown kunai and make it explode into shrapnel, and the steps to the shunshin.

At the end of it, Sakura felt herself nearly wobbling on her legs, and Kakashi gently gestured for her to step off the water. She did so gratefully, sinking to her knees as she stepped on dry land, and wiped sweat from her forehead.

"Kakashi-sensei... I have a question."

"Mm?" The silver-haired man was sealing the booklets and training information into a new scroll, which he handed to her a moment later. "About the jutsu or..."

She shook her head. "I.. I never really expected to make a top placement in the Academy. I never maxed out the physical training segments, even if my scores on everything else were high." She swallowed. "I watched ninja practice and asked questions but... I always figured I'd be in the reserves, like my father was."

She looked up, her face drawn with the effort of standing on the water so long and self-doubt. "Why pick me for this team instead of someone... else?"

Kakashi said nothing for a moment, then sat down on the grass next to her. His voice was softer than she'd ever heard it before, and it held a note of pain and guilt. "... when I was in the Academy, it was a different time and place. My father was one of the strongest jonin in the village, I was trained to be a ninja from the moment I could walk. I was a genin at five, a chunin at six."

Sakura's eyes widened – she couldn't even imagine the sheer skill that must have taken – but he continued. "And yet I was a broody idiot back then. I never had a childhood, really. I never had a comparison point to 'normal people'. I didn't...understand... what my sensei wanted me to. What my father wanted me to. I was convinced I knew the Answers."

He looked up, his visible eye blank and cold. "Because of my arrogance, my best friend is a cripple, and our team-mate is dead. Sasuke and Naruto – for very different reasons – are in danger of being like I was. Sasuke's entire clan was shattered by the actions of his brother, and there is immense pressure being put on him, on top of his own fears and guilt. Naruto is... for reasons I can't really explain right now, even worse off. The Hyuuga aren't exactly the warmest people and emotion is seen as weakness in most cases."

He met her gaze. "I recruited you because you had drive, Sakura. With none of the advantages of ninja children you beat them. Your chakra control and intelligence are just as much as weapon and a power as flashy taijutsu or ninjutsu. You don't need to be a combat monster to matter."

"But more than that... you are never going to be the kind of person who forget that at the end of the day you are normal. Sasuke and Naruto...and in a way, Obito and I – we're all freaks. Shattered by our pasts, and secrets, and things we don't get. Naruto and Sasuke need that connection to someone who isn't like them to find a way past the trauma Obito and I never figured out how to … get behind us."

She was silent several seconds. "...I just feel I'm so far behind and below them. I can't even stand on water an hour without being exhausted!"

Kakashi-sensei nodded. "You are behind in some ways, true. But my own sensei taught me a long time ago you don't focus on your weakness. You play to your strengths, you use what you are good at so well that your weaknesses are minimal, and you depend on your team-mates to cover you. I am primarily known nowadays for my ninjutsu." He tapped his covered eye. "But the Hatake clan was never a family with large chakra reserves. After four or five big techniques I'm done, and if I use this eye its a constant heavy drain. My real best skills are at kenjutsu, tracking, and evasion."

He smiled behind the mask. "Our job is to train you to find your strength, Sakura." He stood up, and helped her up as well a moment later. "And the Hokage is a man who can't even spell nostalgia or sympathy, much less feel it. He put you in this lineup, so trust me – you have the potential. It's just going to take a lot of hard work."

"Oi! Kashi-teme! We're done, stop reading Icha Icha and get over here!" The sing-song voice of Obito rang out, and Kakashi rolled his good eye.

"Let's go see how the boys did, Sakura." She nodded, following him back to the main area of the training ground, only to grind to a halt as she took in the image before her.

Sasuke was laying on the ground, groaning, holding a hand over his eyes and covered in bruises, while Naruto was slumped into a sweaty pile next to him. Obito was sitting in his wheelchair, a slanted grin on his face, while the real Kakashi was reading his little orange book which he snapped shut a moment later.

The clone next to Sakura dispelled, and Kakashi nodded a second later. "Well...for our first day of training, it seems like the only one who is up to snuff is Sakura-chan here. Sasuke fell out after his chakra ran out, and Naruto...well, that was a pitiful showing. Dead-last performance."

Sasuke gave a huffing snicker. "...ha...dobe..."

Naruto's voice was strained. "Shut it, teme." He glanced over to Sakura. "...what he have you do?"

She shrugged. "Water walking a straight hour while learning three jutsus."

The two boys stared at her for a long second, then at Obito. "An hour?"

Obito's grin only widened. "Yes, Sasu-chan. And she's still on her feet, unlike you two." He turned his gaze to Sakura. "Good job, Sakura-chan!"

She blinked, then turned to Kakashi-sensei. "What..?"

He'd reopened his book. "Oh, well. I was expecting you to give out after five or ten minutes. Your chakra control is just that good, I guess." He nodded at Obito. "Alright, be here at nine in the morning, ready for a long day of training, and missions the day after." He watched Obito stand up and re-seal his wheelchair, and then the two vanished in a shunshin, leaving only leaves in their wake.

Naruto rolled over and got up slowly. "Kage Bushin is the most exhausting thing ever. You okay, Sasuke?"

The dark haired boy slowly got to his feet, still eyeing Sakura. "Yeah. Need to get home...mother will throw a fit when she sees me."

Sakura smiled. "Then I'll see you boys tomorrow." Even though her chakra was low, she focused carefully and did her own shunshin, coming out on the far side of the treeline and out of sight.

The two stared at the handful of leaves she left behind, then at each other.

"...teme, we just got owned by a civilian girl."

"...shut up, dobe. I can do that too. I'm just...tired."

"Suure."