***

Chapter 10: :Nise Kaze

A False Wind

***

As it turns out, we don't "all" have to pay our debts. Only some of us do.

David Graeber

***

Present Day

: :Hatake Kakashi's Apartment, Konohagakure: :

What is it?

What is it?

What? Is? It?

WHAT? IS? IT?

Iruka and Itachi paid for his protection.

But Asuma won't say with what.

Or to whom they made the payment.

Iruka and Itachi are unavailable, understandably, still locked away in the Inuzuka Compound with a bloodthirsty guard while Tsunade decides how she wants to proceed.

And most likely unwilling to answer questions anyway.

Tsume.

Tsume knows something. She would never have been so bold if she didn't think she had the ammunition needed to get away with it. She was too much of a veteran for that.

But Tsume hadn't looked like a friend, hadn't acted like an ally despite the fact that they both wore the same symbol.

Kakashi is well aware that Sasuke already considers him an enemy. Iruka might be lenient. Itachi might be kind.

He doesn't think Tsume will be any of that.

She'd ripped that Root operative apart without effort, and none of her clan had been surprised or even disturbed.

Like they'd seen her do something like that before.

How had he missed that?

And she didn't seem any more willing to answer questions than he figured Iruka and Itachi would be.

So Kakashi can't do anything but lay here and stare at the water-stained ceiling above the bed he rarely spends a full night in.

He couldn't move even if he wanted to at this point anyway. The paralysis had settled in as soon as he'd laid down, wrenching him from the closest he'd gotten to sleep in a week.

Focusing on this invisible debt had helped him ignore the blood running down the walls and his father's crying ghost in the window, and the dozens of beady red eyes in the trees beyond him.

***

Present Day

: :Inuzuka Compound, Konohagakure: :

Pakkun has been around for a long time.

A long time.

Like, sometimes, too long.

Time passes differently in the Valley of Dogs, and the older he gets, the harder it is to keep time straight.

Pakkun's been alive for a long time.

Since the beginning of Kakashi's line, actually.

Way back when, before the Hidden Villages, in that weird time between the Waring Clans Era and the Land of Ancestors, they tell stories about.

He still remembers the Old Gods. The ones Kaguya and her ilk would have faced when she'd come to plant the God Tree.

He'd always wondered what had happened then. She'd obviously succeeded, but there were still some of the Old Gods left, so she didn't win completely.

He's been very careful to give the one residing in Konohagakure a wide birth.

As well as the one whose scent he catches on the wind sometimes but who's never stayed in the village long enough for him to track down and get eyes on.

The scent usually ends at the Uchiha Compound, which is a whole mess of complicated things that Pakkun is too old to willingly deal with.

He has no intention of picking a fight with a wolf who's got fangs ten times the size of Bull and who cut those teeth when the world was born.

Pakkun was just a pup when the first blood mixed that resulted in Kakashi's family. Only humans care about bloodlines, but Pakkun's learned through unwilling osmosis in the decades since the contract with the second Hatake was signed.

He still doesn't get it, but he's learned that humans are crazy and a little bit stupid, even the good ones.

Kakashi is the best so far, his father a close but eternal second because of all the things he made Pakkun swear never to tell Kakashi.

Pakkun doesn't like keeping secrets.

Especially from Kakashi. Pakkun's never had pups of his own. Kakashi's the closest he's got. Been by the brat's side since his dam pushed him into this world. He's more Pakkun's than Sakumo's at this point because Pakkun's the one who's been there every year, every birthday, every funeral, every triumph, and every failure.

The contract had resided with Kakashi's grandfather until his death, only months before Kakashi's birth, and the pack's time with Sakumo had been severely limited. Pakkun doesn't know the extent of the secrets Konoha's White Fang was keeping, but he knows enough to know that they severely affected Kakashi's safety in his own village.

But he needs to know more before he advises the brat; he doesn't want to send him on the wrong path at such a critical time.

And it is critical, more so than any other time in Kakashi's life. There's something dark lurking around Kakashi, around the entire village, really, but Pakkun has priorities. It's dark and evil and eating away at Kakashi, and it's centered around that damn borrowed eye.

That's the only reason he's braving an ancient, most likely pissed-off, god.

***

Valkyrie patted Fletcher's arm. "Don't worry," she said. "If the bad man comes, I'll protect you."

"If the bad man comes," Fletcher responded, "I'll bravely give out a high-pitched scream to distract him. I may even bravely faint to give him a false sense of security. That will be your signal to strike."

"We make a great team."

"Just don't forget to stand in front of me the whole time," he said.

Derek Landy

***

Kuromaru isn't hard to find.

He's never hidden what he is, which makes the fact that no one outside the clan he's chosen to guard has figured out what or who he is all the more ridiculous.

Gods do not feel the same as summons...or yokai.

That insane chakra Tsume unleashed at the training field the day before was proof of that.

Pakkun's still not sure what she is exactly, but he sure as hell isn't going to ask her. He's going to ask Gamabunta for an audience. Hopefully, the Great Toad Sage has been paying more attention than the rest of them.

But first....

Kuromaru.

The Great Black Bite waits patiently at the edge of the Inuzuka Compound, tail lazily sending clouds of dust into the air as his yellow eye watches for Pakkun's approach, probably for longer than Pakkun's decided to come, and he peers out from behind the huge tree root as his doubts stall him.

He can hear Kakashi's brats further in the compound. Their whole class is one of the loudest things Pakkun's ever encountered. He still can't believe any of them are capable of sneaking up on anything.

"Good evening, Pakkun."

Well...might as well get this over with.

A call goes out through the compound for dinner as Pakkun warily steps out of his hiding place.

"They ain't gonna miss you?"

Kuromaru's lip curled, "Hardly. They're enamored with the new pups."

Kakashi's brats. At least they're being taken care of. That'll make Kakashi feel better.

"Why are you here, Pakkun? You have never approached me before."

He doesn't sound entirely pleased with that. He is responsible for their creation, so it wouldn't be out of the realm of reason that he'd expect some kind of supplication.

"Ur, sorry about that."

Kuromaru's laugh is oddly similar to distant, rolling thunder. "No need, pup. I would have found you long before now if I wished to make a point."

Well, that's something, at least. And it makes it easier to inch closer, but still out of bite range, and ask.

"What do you know of the Sharingan?"

Those yellow eyes that have watched the ages go by don't blink. "You've noticed, then."

"It ain't normal. It wasn't there before."

"Wasn't it?"

"I watched. It wasn't-"

"There were protections in place. Before."

"Is there a way to put them back?"

"You need a Uchiha."

"Another eye?"

"No. An Uchiha. It is their blood that contains the Sharingan, Pakkun. Their chakra that binds it. Your pup lost his hiate, didn't he?"

And that makes Pakkun pause. "He's lost a few over the years. That ain't weird."

"And when did the infection begin?"

Motherfucker.

"Why didn't you say something?"

"He is not my responsibility. You should have come sooner."

It takes a few seconds to push down the anger. Pakkun is a soldier as much as his charge, but he's not fool enough to pick a fight he won't win. "Can it be healed?"

"Yes."

"But?"

"But?"

"Will it come back?"

"Yes."

"Unless?" Stupid gods that never offer anything unless asked directly.

"You replace the hiate."

"I have to find the one he lost? What if it's been destroyed?"

A heavy sigh, annoyance as Kuromaru rests his head on his paws. "Stupid pup, make a new one."

"But I don't know what was special about the original!"

Pakkun's confusion must have been grating on him because the next sigh sounded more like a growl.

"I already told you the answer."

Pakkun scowled. Already told him-oh. "I need a Uchiha."

Great. He had three to pick from. One who hated Kakashi outright. One who was indifferent at best, depending on his loyalty to his younger brother. And one who'd slipped everyone's notice until now and most definitely had a grudge against the village and a habit of screaming at Kakashi.

"What if they won't help?"

"Your pup will die. Soon."

"How soon?"

Kuromaru's eyes narrowed.

"Please."

"Within the month."

That...was so much worse than he'd been expecting. "It hasn't been growing that fast."

"You don't even know what it is."

Which, point.

"Is there no other way?"

"Why do you assume they will not help him?"

"You've lived in this village. You know why."

"You assume the weakness of one is the weakness of another, Pakkun. Ask yourself this, people in the village murdered their family, if they truly wished it destroyed, how is it still standing?"

Pakkun fell silent. The ways of the Uchiha were not his to know, and humans were irrational as often as they made sense.

"I will ask them."

"Good."

"What is it?"

Kuromaru took a deep breath and seemed to grow two sizes. "Your pup knows little about the eye he borrowed."

"It was a gift."

"The Uchiha call it a curse."

"What?"

"Perhaps you should ask them why their father took it upon himself to protect Kakashi. It is rare that a Clan Head would be responsible for such a task."

And then he laid his head on his paws and closed his eyes, effectively dismissing Pakkun.

It was rare, Pakkun thought as he made his way back, that a Clan Head, especially one of a clan as large and influential as the Uchiha, would have dealt with an outsider. Fugaku would have made the ruling, of course, but someone else would have carried it out.

And most clans would not have protected Kakashi in that situation. At the very least, they would have demanded the return of the eye, regardless of the shape it left Kakashi in.

Kakashi was not close enough to any Uchiha to warrant that kind of attention.

He landed on the roof of Kakashi's apartment building. Kakashi was below, sleeping based on the staticy nature of his chakra, and not well.

That miasma was heavy over the apartment, and it sent a chill through Pakkun.

What had Fugaku done that had kept that at bay for so long after his death?

And....

Was that why Iruka and Itachi had been willing to protect him against the Council? Even though there had been no personal connection between them then?

He felt a tremor through Kakashi's chakra. A nightmare. The urge to go down and comfort him was strong, but that was nothing but a bandaid.

Pakkun needed the cure, which meant he needed one of the Uchiha.

Which meant he needed to make sure Tsunade didn't do anything that would jeopardize their presence in the village.

***

Present Day

: :Hokage's Residence, Konohagakure: :

Jiraiya's appearance was almost not even a surprise at this point.

Tsunade is two bottles in when he crashes through the wall of the sitting room, and she's so angry, and he's just a puppet and not the real Jiraiya that it's not even a real fight.

She spends an hour just beating the shit out of him before she bothers cutting the red string and yells herself horse for another hour while she heals all the damage she did. Then she yells at ANBU and Ibiki when they respond to the disturbance and try to take him into custody.

Jiraiya just sits there in a daze and takes it, at least, until she's finally convinced Ibiki and Taka to leave him alone for the night in exchange for extra guards outside.

She activates the silencing wards before she speaks to him again.

She takes a seat across from him, and before she can even open her mouth, she sees it in his eyes.

Oh.

Somehow, she hadn't remembered that he had loved her.

Was in love with her when he died.

***

She'd actually been his last thought, though he doesn't tell her that until after she's handed off the mantle of Hokage and they've both retired.

Which is a good thing because the binge and the guilt that follow take a few weeks to short out.

And the Rokudaime Hokage is not pleased with the costs to repair the damage.

***

It's so clear in his eyes now because he'd forgotten he needed to hide it, that it drives her to her feet and back to the alcohol cabinet before she can get a word out.

And he might be back from the dead and just freed from being a puppet, but he's still Jiraiya, and as much of a fool as he is sometimes, he's still a fellow Sanin.

They grew up together and have shared their most important life events, triumphs, and failures.

He knows her.

And by the time she turns around with a new bottle, there's no sign of it.

It leaves her oddly bereft in a way it never has before.

Oh god.

More sake.

There have been enough revelations for one day, she doesn't need anymore. Especially since she now has to tell Jiraiya about Hiruzen and the Uchiha and all the secrets their teacher didn't bother to share with them.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Jiraiya doesn't take it any better than she expected. Quick to argue and defend their teacher, who'd always been a father to him.

And she's always trusted his judgment.

So which one of them is wrong?

***

People can have their opinions about everything in the world, but people's opinions end where the tip of my nose begins. Your opinions of others can only go so far as to where their own shoreline is. The world is for your taking, but other people are not. One is only allowed to have an opinion of me if that person is done educating him/herself on everything about me. Before people educate themselves on everything about you, they're not allowed to open their venomous mouths and have an opinion about you.

C. JoyBell C.

***

Present Day

: :Inuzuka Compound, Konohagakure: :

He's never noticed before. Briefly, he wonders if it's something that only comes with age but just as quickly discounts it.

Age is as weak a justification for wisdom as it is as an excuse for stupidity.

Naruto has learned that lesson well already.

His mind spins as he watches Iruka. His happiness with Itachi. His regret with Sasuke, though the teme is still out cold.

As soon as they'd reached the Inuzuka Compound, Sasuke had turned on him again, and, attempting to avoid a physical fight, Iruka had offered his memories.

Apparently, one Sharingan could share memories with another.

Weird.

That whole dojutsu is just weird.

But Sasuke had agreed, demanded, and Iruka had done it, and Sasuke had been unconscious since.

His mind protecting him as the memories settled, Itachi explained.

They'd all taken turns watching over him, but Naruto knew he was safe. Kiba's mother was terrifying and her clan was loyal, and even Naruto wasn't that stupid. She'd picked a fight in front of Tsunade, which was practically a declaration of intent.

Some part of Naruto knew the death of the Uchiha Clan was important when Itachi had told him about it, but it had fallen to the wayside in lieu of greater things.

Well, now those greater things were finished, and it was coming back.

And proving to be the greatest of them all.

So Naruto watched, or he tried to. He still wasn't very patient, still wasn't very good at working things out silently in his head. It was so much easier to talk about it with someone, to find the weaknesses and strengths and how they worked together.

And Iruka has always been the best person to talk to about anything.

But he's faded now.

Naruto looks, for the first time, at his chakra and sees it stretch out beyond his range of vision. It's filled with hundreds of holes, all fraying at the edges like an old blanket that's slowly coming apart thread by thread.

And when he looks back at Iruka, he can see the weariness, the stoop to his shoulders and the bend in his back, and the way his hands, that were always so busy and fast before, hang limp as he sits on Tsume's engawa and looks out at the forest.

During the summer breaks at the Academy, Iruka used to take him out to the great trees, so many different kinds, and they'd play hide and seek for hours.

Until even Naruto was tired.

They'd even slept under them more than a few times. Two orphans the village hadn't noticed were missing.

The warmth of Iruka's arms has always felt more like home than any other place Naruto has ever known.

So he has no hesitation now. Walking over and wrapping himself in those arms, settling a bit as Iruka's grip tightens.

"What's wrong, Naruto?"

"You're fading."

He can feel Iruka stiffen and then relax again. "I'm very, very tired, Naruto. I've been fighting for a long time."

"I'll help you. I'm back now. I won't leave again until it's finished."

"You don't even know what it is."

"So?"

"It's not your fight, Naruto."

"You're fight is my fight, nii-san."

Iruka's grip tightened for a moment. "You've had to fight enough already."

"You're never going to stop fighting." Because he won't. He was fighting the first day Naruto met him, and he hasn't missed a day since.

"No," Iruka murmured, "Probably not. Are you tired?"

"Sometimes? Sometimes, I can't tell if it's my body or my soul."

"It can be hard to tell," Iruka agreed, gaze focused somewhere beyond the walls of the compound. "Some wounds don't leave marks."

"If it's a wound, it can be healed. Right?"

"Maybe. Some you have to cauterize immediately, some you have to bleed."

He laughed at the expression of disgust that crossed Naruto's face.

"What were they like? Sasuke's-your family?"

Iruka looked surprised by the question, but Naruto had never been old enough to know to ask it before.

"They were...passionate. Arrogant. Reckless." He looked angry. Then, it faded to hurt. "Devoted. In all things, we are strong. In all things, we love. In all things, we are devoted until death."

"That sounds like the teme," Naruto added darkly.

Iruka laughed. "It does, doesn't it? We-they put the family before the individual, but the clan before the family, and the village before the clan, and yet you were only ever Uchiha."

"That sounds complicated."

"I think they liked it that way."

"Definitely. Drama queens," Naruto grins, and it makes Iruka laugh.

"Absolutely."

He looks across the training field to where Itachi and Shisui are working with Hinata, Shino, and Choji. He doesn't know what Hinata's planning, but she's been quieter than usual, pensive and thoughtful.

Whatever it is, has led to Iruka, Itachi, and Shisui giving her quick but in-depth taijutsu and genjutsu lessons.

"Is Hinata going to be okay?"

"She'll be fine. She's stronger than everyone realizes."

"Maybe we should tell Kakashi-sensei what's going on. He might be able to convince baa-chan."

"Maybe. Kakashi doesn't have the best memories of the Uchiha, though. I don't know if he'd agree."

And he doesn't want to worry about putting Kakashi and Sasuke across from one another on a battlefield. Naruto can understand that.

"Do you think Kakashi-sensei liked teaching us?" He hadn't wanted to in the beginning, Naruto remembers, always so focused on the mission and his duty to the village. Even when they were younger, all three of them recognized that he struggled with teaching, but it had gotten better.

And then Sasuke had been gone, and they'd all stopped paying attention to Kakashi's ability to teach and instead paid attention to his ability to lead.

Iruka looked like he was carefully choosing his words.

"I think Kakashi loves you three, but everyone teaches differently, and everyone learns differently, and sometimes no amount of effort will make it work."

"He doesn't love Sasuke," Naruto muttered because he'd been coming for them at the training area. Only Asuma had stopped him.

"I think he does." Iruka argued gently, "I think he loves him, and he's hurt because you weren't the only one Sasuke left, and I think Kakashi has always dealt with his hurt the way he deals with his enemies."

"Maybe." Naruto does love Kakashi, but he's not yet ready to forgive his readiness to hurt Sasuke.

"Kakashi is...a complicated man." Iruka settles on, watching Itachi demonstrate a difficult kata. "He puts duty to the village above everything because that's what he's always done, and it's kept him going through all the loss and pain. Sometimes people cling to their coping methods, and it blinds them to other ways."

The Uchiha were like that. Stubborn and unwilling to let go until the end. And when they were finally forced to, they reversed course so dramatically and violently that it caused its own damage.

"The village is nothing without the people in it," Naruto insists because Iruka was the one who taught him that.

"It's not. Just a bunch of empty rooms." Iruka agrees, thinking of the houses Fugaku had once described. "Kakashi protects the physical, but I think he values the intangible."

"...the what?"

"Memory. Honor. Duty. Loyalty. Sacrifice. Just because they aren't palpable doesn't mean they're less important. Nothing is important simply because it exists. It's important because its loss does damage to what's left behind."

And Naruto can understand that. The hatred of the village when he was young is still far more painful than any physical wound he's ever received. The people he's lost hurt more than the enemies he has now, but not all of them were that important before they were gone. It wasn't until their death that they became something Naruto felt too strongly to ignore.

"Does that make us bad people, then? That we feel more about our ghosts than we did when they were people?"

"No. It just makes us human." Iruka murmurs, his own ghosts lining up in front of him. "We buy flowers for the dead instead of the living because we fear regret more than gratitude."[1]

"That's not right," Naruto mutters. It's disappointing sometimes to think too long on the nature of humans. No wonder Sasuke, who's always thinking, and Kakashi, who's so smart, are always so angry and sad.

Iruka just hums.

"I was supposed to be making you feel better, and now we're both sad," Naruto sulks, sprawling dramatically across Iruka's lap and making him laugh.

"You make me happy, Naruto; don't ever doubt that. And I'm definitely happier now than I was a year ago."

And that's enough to make Naruto smile. To lighten his heart just a bit. There's still so much work to be done, but there's hope too.

***

The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.

Maya Angelou

***

Present Day

: :Hatake Kakashi's Apartment, Konohagakure: :

Iruka and Naruto are sitting together on the engawa when Kakashi finds them. Haloed by the setting sun, they glance back at him with soft eyes and welcoming smiles, burnished gold beckoning Kakashi's battered, dulled steel into the comfortable warmth of the setting sun.

Beyond them, Sasuke and Sakura stand next to the koi pond his father had devotedly nurtured after his mother's death. The koi fat and fast now, glittering in the light as Sasuke and Sakura tossed food into the water, a snow-white wolf lying beside them.

They must have been cleaning while he was gone because the Main House of the Hatake Compound hasn't looked this good in years.

Iruka stands to greet him, and it's just as easy as it was before to sink into his embrace. The warmth that follows chases away the last of Kakashi's ghosts, buying him a moment of peace, and he buries his face in Iruka's neck and just inhales the smell of him. Parchment and ink and faintly of blood because children and sharp objects.

"I'm going to check on dinner." Iruka murmurs and then breaks away, sending Kakashi to the koi pond as a grinning Naruto follows him into the kitchen, claiming to help but no doubt planning on sabotaging the vegetables again.

Sakura beams and tugs him over, excited to show him the patterns Sasuke managed to train the fish to swim in using their food.

It's silly and childish for Shinobi their age, but Sasuke never got to be that age, so Kakashi just smiles indulgently.

The wolf ignores them, watching the fish in that intent way all predators watch their prey before the attack. Lost even to Sasuke's hand rubbing his ears.

Birds chirp as the wind shifts the trees.

Chidori comes to his hand so easily as Sakura laughs and says something that makes Sasuke blush faintly.

She doesn't even have time to step back as Kakashi shoves it through her chest.

Her blood dripping into the pond scatters the koi from their intricate pattern as Sasuke goes for his sword, fast enough to put it through Kakashi's shoulder before he gets Chidori close enough to kill the boy.

Naruto bursts outside as Sasuke falls, but he's unprepared. Kakashi is one of the best, and Naruto falls almost before he realizes what's happening.

His Chidori sputters and dies out, and chakra exhaustion settles over him.

The wolf hasn't moved, still watching the fish in the slowly darkening water.

Should he kill him before he goes inside?

The moment of hesitation is broken by the sound of footsteps, Iruka, coming closer, and Kakashi launches himself inside before Iruka can see the yard.

"Kakashi?" He looks confused, registering the blood splattered across Kakashi's vest and face, and before a couple of weeks ago, Kakashi would have thought Iruka would run when faced with him.

But this Iruka doesn't.

This one gets angry, his chakra rises, and Kakashi desperately reaches for Chidori again as they meet in the hallway in a rush of rage and metal and chakra.

Iruka knows their students are dead, even if he missed their chakra fading, the smell of blood is growing, and no one else came through the wards.

This Iruka is much more capable of meeting Kakashi head-on, knows the layout of Kakashi's childhood home from all their nights together, and they take down several walls and heirlooms as Kakashi tries to complete his mission and Iruka tries to survive.

Still, Kakashi's reputation is not unearned, and he wears Iruka down.

The sensei missteps, goes down, and Kakashi is already moving to finish him off when sharp teeth clamp around his calf and pull.

The wolf.

Kakashi turns to finish it off and finds it has Sharingan eyes.

Tsunade crashes through a wall. "Finish your mission, brat."

Kakashi kicks the wolf away and turns to Iruka.

"Why are you doing this, Kakashi? They were our students!"

"They're a danger to the village, Kakashi. You took an oath," Tsunade reminds him. "The life of a shinobi is not kind, but it is clear. Any threat to the village must be eliminated."

"They weren't a threat!" Iruka argues.

"But the Uchiha are." Tsunade is almost gentle, though she doesn't move to comfort Iruka as he bleeds out.

And Naruto and Sakura would have defended Sasuke until death.

It was a mercy to make it quick and painless.

Tsunade looks sad as she stands resolute. "It is the Shinobi Way."

Birds chirp as Chidori comes back to Kakashi's hand, and he leaps-

The wolf lunges closes its jaws around Tsunade's throat and bites down.

Kakashi can hear the bones break as she goes down.

Kakashi changes direction, but the wolf leaps away before he can get it with Chidori, and Tsunade gurgles at his feet, throat a bloody, mangled mess.

"Brat, pro- protect the vi-village. Ho-, ho-, -age."

Kakashi stumbles away from her as Obito comes through the roof, demanding vengeance for his brothers with a rage that Kakashi recognizes from the few times he saw him honestly angry.

But like always, Obito is too angry to think, and Kakashi always thought circles around him anyway, and he goes down under Kakashi's hand, too.

His broken body sprawled at Iruka's feet as the sensei turned heartbroken eyes on Kakashi.

He doesn't have the chakra for another Chidori so he picks up Obito's sword, ignoring the cruelty of killing Iruka with his brother's blade-

His breath leaves him in a rush as Iruka's hand, glowing with chakra, shoves through his vest and into Kakashi's chest, his eyes slowly bleeding from brown to red.

The sword clatters to the floor as pain blossoms, bright and burning and spreading out from Kakashi's chest.

Iruka looks so, so sad as Kakashi reaches for him. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Kakashi. I love you."

And Kakashi can't even respond, blood welling in his throat and mouth.

Iruka blurs at the edges, tears in his eyes, and then Kakashi is staring into the eyes of Uchiha Fugaku, a man he's only ever seen from a distance. Never even spoken to.

Fugaku's Mangekyo Sharingan spins slowly as he catches Kakashi before he collapses.

"Kakashi."

Everything's fading at the edges now. Even the pain.

"Kakashi, pay attention."

The order makes him snap to, sluggishly, as much as he can as his life's blood spills out.

"Look at me, Kakashi."

And he tries, manages to raise his eyes to meet those of the father of so many people important to Kakashi.

"The Sharingan sees through all obscuration, Kakashi. All lies."

And then he cups Kakashi's face gently.

"Look."

He forces the last of his chakra at his Sharingan, and slowly, slowly, it spins to life.

"Look, Kakashi." Fugaku urges, hands gentle. "See through it all."

And then Kakashi is staring at the charred wall of his apartment.

The smell of blood is gone. Nothing but the scent of ozone remains. There is no blood. No bodies. Kakashi's hand and chest ache, his chakra almost completely depleted.

Fugaku smiles, a small, kind thing before he fades with the turning of the Sharingan.

His touch lingers, warming Kakashi's cheeks as he slumps, paralyzed, in the midst of his destroyed apartment.

***

Present Day

: :Residential Neighborhood, Konohagakure: :

There are ten facts that Hitsugaya Toshiro knows for sure.

One. He is only six, in his first year at the Academy.

Two. He has a father, a Jōnin more concerned with his rank and his reputation, and his drink than anything else.

Three. He has a grandmother who is too old for the work she still does but is too stubborn to stop. She comes from Mist, from that time when those with blessed blood had to flee for their lives, and she tells stories about angels with blood-red eyes and flight under moonlight across fields of termination dust when she's feeling melancholy.

Four. He has a good teacher who cares more than his father and doesn't mind feeding Toshiro when his grandmother can't and lets him hang around after school so he doesn't have to go home.

Five. He is a genius. He's already memorized and mastered the Academy curriculum. Has started picking his teacher's brain about the basics of seals and wards and fuinjutsu. There's ice in his heart and in his veins, and he's very close to being able to call it out.

Six. His father knows he is a genius. Wants to put him right into active duty, wants to brag about his son being the youngest Jōnin because Toshiro could pass the tests now if he wanted to.

Seven. His grandmother knows.

Eight. His teacher knows.

Nine. Fortunately, his teacher and his grandmother are in agreement and provide a barrier his father cannot break through. Toshiro will not be graduating anytime soon.

Ten. The two Chūnin sent to look after him while his teacher's accusations against his father are investigated are not allies.

They'd ushered him into a bedroom and closed the door.

A door that locks from the outside is always a prison, his sensei said.

But if he focuses on the right corner of the room, he can hear their conversation through the wall.

"Don't let him out of your sight."

"He's just a kid. What possible use is he?"

"He's close to Umino."

"Umino's an emotional wreck. He's close to anyone and everyone."

"This is different. Umino and the boy's father had it out in front of the Hokage."

"You think he has the same relationship with the boy as he does with the jinchuriki?"

"Maybe. Question the boy while he's here, but be careful. He's a genius."

"Should we start preparing him for Root?"

"Go ahead, but don't do anything that might reveal who you are. We can't afford any distractions right now. They just put the next piece in play."

He needs to find Iruka and warn him.

***

The best lightning rod for your protection is your own spine.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

***

Present Day

: :Hokage's Office, Hokage Tower, Konohagakure: :

The flare of Kakashi's chakra is enough to make her look up, but it fades into a steady hum quickly.

"How's the brat doing?" Jiraiya hasn't seen anyone else yet, just Ibiki and Taka and their personnel, and she knows it's taking a great deal of restraint on his part to stay away from Kakashi and Naruto.

"Not good," she admits quietly. He hasn't come to her yet, so she can only guess that it's a combination of grief and survivor's guilt that's wearing Kakashi down now.

A part of her is selfishly glad he hasn't. She doesn't think she could say anything that would help him, and facing the fact that Kakashi, stalwart and steady and strong Kakashi, is fading is...

She's not ready to confront that on top of everything else.

"There's no one else," Jiraiya mutters, bent over the reports of everything that's happened since the war ended, and Tsunade nods absently.

Naruto isn't ready yet. Kakashi is the only viable option for Rokudaime. If something happens to him, Konohagakure itself will be in danger, but she suspects Kakashi is closer to what's happening than even he realizes.

Shizune slips inside, careful to close the door before anyone can see Jiraiya. "Hokage-sama, there's someone here to see you."

"Not now, Shizune."

Her assistant hesitates, which is rare enough that Tsunade pays attention. "I think you should take this meeting, Tsunade-sama." It's rare for Shizune to push. Rare enough to take note.

"Fine." She sets aside the paperwork returning Jiraiya to life and duty, ignoring the frowns from Ibiki and Taka.

Well, she assumes Taka is frowning. He's still never taken that mask off in front of her.

Shizune leaves and returns with an old woman. Older even than Tsunade and clearly a civilian and she shoots Shizune a questioning look. She does not have time for complaints about her shinobi trampling gardens and making noise in the middle of the night.

Shizune looks firm, though, and helps the old woman take a seat in front of Tsunade's desk.

"Good morning, Lord Hokage." A proper shinobi greeting from a civilian was always a bit strange, but she seemed friendly enough. "Thank you for seeing me."

"I hope there's a good reason." Tsunade's not entirely in the mood to be diplomatic and ignores that chastising look from her chief assistant and the amusement echoing through Jiraiya's chakra.

"I believe so. My name is Adachi Yumi. I live in the civilian quarter near the Eastern Wall. Have for most of my life. Raised my children and grandchildren in that house, too."

Adachi. Tsunade dwells on that name and thinks she might have a shinobi that shares it.

"One of my grandchildren is a ninja." And Yumi smiles proudly. "Sayuri. She just made Chūnin. She's good with traps, not much of a knack for genjutsu though."

"I'm sure she's an excellent addition to our ranks. Did you come to speak about her?"

"No, no. I came to tell you a story. About the house across the street from mine."

There's a ripple of impatience from Jiraiya, a match for Tsunade's own. "Is there something that concerns you about it?"

"Perhaps. I am not a shinobi, Lord Hokage. I have no training in statecraft or spycraft or anything like that. I am simply a mother. I have raised my children well. They are good people. Useful to the village and happy."

She must be able to tell Tsunade's patience is thinning as Shizune pours tea because she smiles. "Indulge me, please. I raised my children in the same house I grew up in. My older brother died before he had any need of it, so my parents left it to me. It's a good house, with a yard that you can watch the wall and the forest from. And it sits across from this house. It's nothing special. Not very well cared for, really. Not really safe for children, but I suppose that's acceptable because I've never seen any children there. It's a bland house. Simple. Boring. Forgettable. In fact," she pauses and sips her tea as Tsunade's patience frayed further, "It's so forgettable that when my friends visit me, they can never remember that it's there."

Tsunade freezes as Jiraiya's head snaps up from his scrolls.

"They can never describe it, can't remember what color it is or what's growing in the garden out front."

"You said you lived in the eastern civilian quarter?" Tsunade questioned. There were several civilian quarters in the village where shinobi were forbidden from living in order to protect the civilians with limited to no relation to the shinobi currently serving.

There was no reason for a house with wards to be there, and there was no other reason why people would have a hard time remembering it existed when they saw it regularly.

Yumi smiles and nods, "Right next to the wall. Even my children have a hard time remembering this house is there."

"Does the house change?" Jiraiya asked, forgetting about his scrolls.

"No. It never changes, though my friends remember it differently each time."

A powerful set of wards then and Tsunade shared a concerned look with Jiraiya and Ibiki.

"It's an interesting house, Lord Hokage. In a neighborhood meant for families raising children, it has none. Yet there is always a young couple living there. Several over the many years I have lived in my home. They always tell me they are preparing to start a family, but none of them ever do. They simply have friends over. Quite regularly. Visitors from all directions at all hours. It's a bit of a concern, you see. There are still young children in my neighborhood, including my own grandchildren. And yet the people that come to this house, they do so at all hours, in all manners of dress."

Shinobi, Tsunade thinks. Regularly visiting a home in a neighborhood they were forbidden from living in.

"I didn't pay much attention when I was young. It wasn't until I'd had my first. He's dead now, died a shinobi long before the war."

"Konohagakure thanks you for your sacrifice," Tsunade says automatically.

"Thank you. It wasn't until he was a few years into the academy that I started paying attention. You see, my son used to be a troublemaker. Too creative for his own good, you know the type. Always causing mischief."

"But this house-" Jiraiya tried to turn the conversation back, but Yumi waved him silent.

"He used to get in fights at school, and one day, it was quite a bad one. The other student's teacher brought him by my house to apologize. They were both troublemakers, though my boy wasn't nearly as bad as the other. It's quite funny that he ended up becoming a teacher himself."

There's only one shinobi that comes to mind.

Iruka.

"Anyway, we made those boys apologize, let them fight it out in my backyard, and didn't that take months to repair, and he said to me, how brave of you to raise your children here. In this neighborhood, not meant for children."

She paused to sip her tea, and Tsunade fought down the urge to snap at her to continue.

"He was a father, you see. He paid attention to things like that. Like all parents do. But it was odd. When I asked him why he called himself his son's teacher instead of his father, he said he could not acknowledge the boy as his son on the street where people could hear. It was too dangerous for his child, and he would not endanger him. Now, I am not much. I am just a mother and a wife. I have no training in anything. But that was quite concerning to me because he kept looking at this house that no one could remember while he said this. This house that is right across the street from where I raised my own children."

Yumi smiled and thanked Shizune politely as she refilled her tea. "Now, I understand you do not have children of your own, Lord Hokage, but I am certain you understand the desire to protect."

"Of course."

"I asked the boy's father what I could do to protect our children and was greatly disappointed when he said there was nothing to be done. Then. Sometimes you must have patience, he said. Perhaps in the future, I will no longer have to deny my child in public."

Tsunade carefully folded her hands on her desk.

"I love my children. I have raised them well. I cannot describe the anger I would feel should someone tell me I must deny them in public. Nor can I imagine the cruelty someone must have to do that to a child. How his boy must have felt every time they left their home and his father could no longer acknowledge him. My children still call my husband dad, and they have babes of their own. How hard it must have been to learn to call his dad something else while others were listening. It keeps me up at night, wondering if he remembered to call him father in private or if it was all ruined by this house. A child with no parents is a horrible thing, Lord Hokage. It is not natural. We adults have a responsibility to children to protect them, do we not?"

"Of course." Is the only answer Tsunade can give her.

"So I watched this house. Have since they left. I have watched everyone who visited, who lived there. I have watched the clocks in my house and the wall surrounding our village. In all the years since that visit."

Yumi removed a scroll from her sleeve. "I could not ignore it. I'm sure you understand. My own children were not the only ones at risk. So I watched."

She set the scroll on Tsunade's desk.

"I'm quite the gifted artist, Lord Hokage. I sell my sketches at the markets each week for a little bit of extra money."

Tsunade carefully picked up the scroll and released it.

As it unrolled, it revealed a perfect sketch of a Root ANBU mask. Below that, dates and times and numbers and descriptions, and even more sketches of masks and faces. Jiraiya's breath caught when he looked over her shoulder.

Twenty years of evidence of Root acting without legal order inside the village.

Enough information, she realized faintly, to prosecute.

Tsunade looked back at the old woman sipping her tea, and Yumi looked placidly back.

"I am not trained in anything, Lord Hokage, but I take the safety of children seriously."

"Why now?"

"That boy that used to fight with mine, he's a teacher now. I see him with his students when I walk to and from the market and sometimes out in the forest, and just last night, one of his students ended up in my garden. The one with white hair. He crawled out of that house, you see, crawled through my garden to get out without being seen."

The Hitsugaya boy. Root must have grabbed him, she realized with a twinge of terror.

He's only six.

"Where is he now?"

"With his teacher, Lord Hokage." And she set her cup on Tsunade's desk and stood, bowed. "Thank you for your time, Lord Hokage.

Tsunade watched her leave, mind racing.

Shizune's words brought her back. "Who was it?"

"Didn't Umino's father die during the Nine-Tails attacked?" Jiraiya.

Ibiki nodded. "Umino Ikkaku and his wife died that night."

"It could have been Fugaku." Taka pointed out. "Not able to acknowledge his son in public."

"It doesn't matter which one it was," Tsunade realized, remembering Iruka's personnel file as scattered pieces started to come together. "Ikakku worked for the Konoha Military Police. He took orders from Fugaku."

Twenty years ago, Uchiha Fugaku had put in place an unbiased, unquestionable witness to Root's crimes.

"My god," Ibiki breathed, "This is enough to bring them down."

***

At the end of the game, the king and the pawn go back into the same box.

Unknown

***

*[1]: This is a bastardization of a quote by Anne Frank: Dead people receive more flowers than the living ones because regret is stronger than gratitude

***

~tbc~