28 Information
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything I make references to. This is a work of fanfiction that I make no money from.
Anyway here's the chapter.
'In our bones, we knew the war was almost over. The Elemental Nations held their breath, waiting to see which side made the final, daring move. As fortune would have it, Iwa and Kumo moved first. After the Tsuchikage informed Kumo that Hatake Sakumo and his forces were attempting to regroup in the North Eastern section of Hi no Kuni, the Nidaime Raikage gathered a coalition army large enough to invade Konoha itself. When the orders reached the 3rd regiment, our moral soared. For better or worse, this would be the beginning of the end.
Exerpt from journal of Ozawa Daisuke, Jonin of Iwagakure, 3rd regiment, Second Shinobi War, Battle of Taishaku Valley.'
////////////
Ino POV:
The trip to Tazuna's home was a quiet one. None of them were in the mood to speak. The ambush had frightened her, Shikamaru, and Choji. But what was worse was Naruto.
She felt his chakra spike, the bloodlust that was burning her senses as he charged straight at the enemy nin and tore them to pieces.
She had to stop trying to sense chakra when he fought Zabuza with Asuma, his chakra shining like an inferno.
But what happened with the Iwa nin was worse. Far worse.
She didn't know what happened. She didn't know if Naruto was poisoned or something from Zabuza's sword, but his chakra felt like it was spasming and his eyes looked out of focus when she saw them.
Her father had spoken of how Naruto had gotten lost in his own mind, how he'd lose focus and not think straight.
And she was aware of what probably caused Naruto's reaction.
The Iwa nin had stabbed at something that caused nothing but terror in Naruto. She felt his emotions bleed through his chakra and it felt the same as when she got trapped in one of his memories.
Specifically the Genjutsu of Rin.
The terrible things that the nin had said disgusted her. She couldn't imagine how Naruto felt.
He'd not looked at any of them the entire way to their destination.
Team 7 had met up with them later and the group of them made their way to Tazuna's, also hardly speaking.
She saw Kakashi give Hinata a look of concern, while looking at Naruto closely, probably noticing his silence and being a few feet away from the rest.
They got to Tazuna's home under the cover of night, trying to be covert.
They got settled and she noticed how Kakashi stepped away from the table with Asuma after Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, had fixed some food for a few of them. Naruto had declined, saying he wasn't hungry.
The two teams made some small talk about a few things, but not much else.
Rin had said something to Sasuke about something that she didn't quite catch, when she heard a kid's voice.
"It's no point. Gato's gonna kill you if you fight him."
A boy who looked to be about eight years old with dark hair glared at them.
"Inari," Tsunami scolded him, looking embarrassed by what he said in the presence of guests, "Don't say that."
"It's true," The boy, Inari, said, "Nobody can beat Gato."
She felt Naruto beside her twitch, but he seemed to sit still, his hand tightening slightly.
"You're not heroes," Inari said, his eyes started to glisten slightly, "Heroes always die."
Rin stood up and walked towards the kid with a glare boring into him.
"Listen, kid," She said, hand on hip, "I didn't fight all the way here to listen to you whine about whatever," She still kept her glare up, "It wasn't fun helping your grandpa out."
"You don't know what it's like to hurt." Inari shouted.
Ino could feel more than one person turn to look at the kid when he said that.
Rin looked almost surprised at the level of stupidity in the sentence, Sasuke shot an 'are you kidding' look, while Naruto actually got up from the table and walked towards the kid.
Ino glanced at Shikamaru, who looked at Naruto like there was going to be a little kid about to be bawling his eyes out in a moment by whatever Naruto was going to say.
She'd been almost brought to tears when he had insulted her in the Academy, and he did it helpfully. He wasn't going to be even remotely civil this time. He was already pissed at just about anything.
Naruto got to within about 5 feet of the boy, then pulled the string on his jacket to reveal his armour.
Rin gasped at what was underneath, having not seen the state her brother had been in.
There was a half a foot gash in the armour that had blood stained all over it, not including dents and damage done from the ice.
"I got this today," He gestured towards his bloodstained armour, "From this," He gestured towards Kubikiribocho, which was strapped to his back.
Team 7 probably thought that Naruto was elected to carry it by Asuma, but it was because he didn't want to let it go. They all had varying looks of surprise.
Inari, and Tsunami as well, looked horrorstruck by the sight.
"I killed 7 people today to protect your grandfather," He said without emotion, "And it wasn't pretty."
Rin looked at her brother with sadness, her stance betraying what she felt.
"You have a mother and grandfather that love you and will tell you everything will be fine, even if it won't."
Ino saw Sasuke twitch at that.
"My parents are dead and most of my family is dead," He said with a small amount of anger in his voice, "You know nothing of hardship, child," he spat, "Your grandfather is a hero. He left his home to try and save you all. This sword," he pulled the blade off his shoulder, "Has killed hundreds of people. The man I took it from would have rather died than give it up." He said, taking a deep breath.
"That is what your grandfather is fighting against because he loves you." Naruto continued, "Gato is a weak and scared man that fears your grandfather because he brings hope to Wave. He," he turned and looked at a shocked Tazuna, "Is stronger than nearly everyone in your village. He risked getting killed by Momochi Zabuza for you. Zabuza already was a killer when he was your age. Your grandfather defied monsters."
Inari looked at his grandfather with tears in his eyes.
"Your grandfather didn't listen to that sweet voice in his ear that told him to give up, to bow, to roll over and be a good little dog. You aren't better or strong because you give in to it. You think you're not strong enough to fight it, Inari?"
Inari didn't answer.
"You already gave up," Naruto said flatly, "You don't know how powerful Gato is, and it's because you gave up in an instant. Your grandfather is a good man, because he is unconquered."
The last part was nearly a whisper.
Naruto just turned and walked to leave the room, sparing a glance towards them.
"I don't want to talk," He said without emotion, "Tell Kakashi and Asuma I'll be in the woods."
With that, Naruto left the room and house, Kubikiribocho in tow.
/////////
Kakashi POV:
"What was it you didn't put in the message?" Kakashi asked Asuma.
The two Jonin had left the house to have a private conversation away from the Genin about Naruto.
Kakashi had received a second message, saying that Naruto had a repeat of an incident, no details given.
Asuma sighed and dragged a hand through his hair, shaking his head slightly.
"The 4 Iwa nin were there." He said.
'Well, damn.' Kakashi thought.
"Were they who we suspected?" He asked.
Asuma nodded.
The 4 Iwa nin were a group that were listed as B-rank threats, with a low A-rank bounty put on one of them for the crime he was caught committing.
Suzuki Hiro was wanted for the killing of blonde haired Konoha kunoichi during peacetime. The Tsuchikage personally signed off on the kill on sight order for him. "Violating the peace treaty" were the exact words put by the Tsuchikage. The other three nin were comrades of his that attempted to help him escape, but were caught and had to fight their way out of an ambush by bounty hunters and Iwa nin sent to kill them.
"What happened with your ambush?" Kakashi asked, having already explained what happened with the team sent after him.
It was laughably easy killing the group sent after them. Several of them recognized him and tried to run, but were cut down by multiple wind jutsu from Rin.
Each of his Genin got their first kills today, each one reacting in varying degrees. Sasuke seemed the most adjusted, getting a little more quiet than normal afterwards, Rin, being much more expressive than Sasuke, was also quiet afterwards.
But Hinata reacted very badly, but not the worst he'd seen. A quick juken strike to a man's heart at point blank caused him to cough blood all over her and into her hair.
She had kept grabbing at her hair to try and get the blood out, but only made an even greater mess.
He had needed to open up a canteen and wash her hair out, talking to her softly, letting her know everything was fine.
It took some time, but she had calmed down and they were able to move forward.
Kakashi blinked for a moment and looked at Asuma, who was beginning to explain his side.
He explained how the ambush started. Naruto had been tense and seemed to be jumping at shadows, before flinging a kunai and hitting a rabbit.
Zabuza had engaged him and obscured everything with mist, making him miss what Naruto did.
He only saw the aftermath of the Jutsu Naruto used.
Kakashi thought it sounded similar to what Naruto had worked on for an area effect Jutsu that didn't need hand seals.
If what Asuma said about the blast radius and what it did was true, It was easily an A-rank Jutsu.
Naruto's clones had fought off a team of Shinobi long enough to stop them from acting as reinforcements.
But it was the final part that gave Kakashi pause.
Suzuki had known of the ambush planned on Team 7. He had genuinely believed Rin was Minato's daughter, not that he wasn't wrong, and was stupid enough to bring it up right in front of Naruto.
Kakashi would have probably killed the man himself for what he said, but for Naruto to almost become incoherent afterwards was very concerning.
"Kakashi," Asuma said slowly, "If you don't want to answer, I won't press. But is there any truth to what Suzuki thinks?"
Kakashi remained silent, not electing to answer.
"Okay," Asuma said, "I'll drop it. Anything else?"
"Describe exactly how Naruto acted when he fell to the ground." Kakashi requested.
"Almost exactly what happened when Ino used her clan Jutsu on him," Asuma answered, "Even his eyes shifted colour."
'Blue and red equals purple.' He thought. 'But Rin never had chakra flare ups when she was angered or became enraged at something, at least not to the level that Naruto did.'
It didn't make sense. His seal was tighter, yet complications seemed to occur with him instead of Rin.
"Do you think it has been doing something?" Asuma asked somberly.
Kakashi breathed heavily, before exhaling.
"I honestly don't know," He shook his head, "The seal is tighter because of issues like this were seen as possible, but I still don't know."
"What if it is what we think it could be?" Asuma asked, "What'll stop him from lashing out when he can't control it?"
Kakashi just pulled out a tag from his jacket to show it to Asuma.
"Chakra suppressant," He clarified, "Specifically for Jinchuriki. Naruto made this one in mind for himself. Not as good as Jiraiya's, but it still works."
The fact that a thirteen year old could make a complicated suppressant tag that worked, even if partially, went by without surprise, the fact that two Genin could do it went unsaid.
"I'll talk with him," Kakashi promised, seeing the concern on Asuma's face, "No offense, but he'll open up more to me than anyone else when he's worried about something, even Rin."
Asuma nodded at that, having already known how close Naruto was to Kakashi.
"How are you feeling," Kakashi asked, changing the subject.
"I'd be worse off if it wasn't for Naruto," Asuma said, grimacing as he stretched his arms some, "Catching a large blade like Kubikiribocho gets difficult after so long. Zabuza was much tougher than I thought." he finished.
"How'd Naruto even get it out of Zabuza's grip?" Kakashi asked.
None of the 7 Swordsman of Kiri take kindly to losing their sword.
"He takes wearing armour seriously," Asuma said with a knowing look, "I don't know how he could afford the armour he has. It's not just some cheap knockoff ANBU lookalike, it's armour that gets worn during war. It took a hit from Zabuza and the blade got lodged in the plate."
Kakashi hummed to himself at that. Naruto made a decent level of money making and selling explosive tags to the village, along with an assortment of other ones. It's no surprise that he got the best quality armour available instead of a cheaper kind. The armour he probably got cost close to an A-rank bounty, something out of reach for any genin or Chunin. But tags are expensive, even when at a discounted price.
But at least the armour was genuine. There were some armours that did much less, but still looked the same. The armour could take hits from kunai and shuriken at best, but not much else. Deception worked wonders. No Shinobi wants to waste a perfectly good tool if armour will stop it no problem, nor will they try and slash at your chest if they think the armour will hold. The cheap armour was a bluff that worked more than once, but Kakashi knew first hand how much Naruto disliked leaving things up to chance.
"He held onto the blade," Asuma continued, "And I almost killed Zabuza then and there."
"Has he stopped holding back?" Kakashi asked.
Asuma nodded.
"Yes, but there's problems. Two Iwa nin escaped, along with a Yuki who probably didn't kill Zabuza."
Kakashi just put his fingers to his brow, groaning under his breath.
"We got our work cut out for us."
The Yuki were supposedly dead. If one survived, it could complicate things. There was nothing but water where the bridge was at, and it was child's play to make water into ice.
Zabuza would take time to be combat ready, and he didn't have his sword. He'd probably have a backup, but it still wouldn't compare.
"I'll need to scout out the area," Kakashi said, "You need to rest and recover, I can see you swaying a bit."
Asuma looked ready to protest, but stopped and nodded reluctantly.
"Take the night to rest, we'll be here for a while. I'll try to narrow down where Gato is. Kill him and his hired thugs, and the problem's solved."
Asuma nodded and prepared to head back to the house.
"I'll talk with Naruto first," Kakashi said as the taller man left, "Then I'll go hunting." he whispered to himself.
//////////////
"Who needs to talk with Naruto?" Ino asked Hinata, the Hyuga heiress looking extremely worried.
The two girls were outside the front door and Ino had just explained to her what happened at the ambush.
"He won't talk to Rin," Hinata said quietly, the moonlight reflecting off her eyes, "He would avoid her."
Hinata knew how Naruto could get sometimes, but this was something completely different.
He was always somewhat impulsive and vicious when somebody insulted Rin, but this wasn't an insult. It was evil.
If Hanabi were threatened, Hinata would never rest until she was safe.
"The two of us need to." Hinata said firmly, "He would ignore it if it was only one of us."
The blonde Yamanaka sighed at and nodded her agreement.
"I just hope he'll listen."
////////////
Naruto POV:
'The kid needed a damn wake-up call.' I growled to myself, cutting down a smaller tree with the obscenely large sword in my hands.
I wasn't in the mood to talk with anyone else at that point anyway. Rin was worried, but I didn't want to look at her. Her face kept reminding me of that same damned Genjutsu.
'I hate you, Fox.' I didn't even use Kurama's name, I was so pissed.
Zabuza survived, along with Haku and worse still, two Iwa nin.
Zabuza knew how dangerous I was in Kenjutsu and Ninjutsu now, while the Iwa nin had more than likely realized that I had immense chakra from the number of clones that were flinging water jutsu and explosives at them.
'When you think of a redhead with tons of chakra, skill in Kenjutsu, and a water affinity, who the hell do you think of?'
All the crap I went through dealing with Kakashi or Hiruzen on my case about me holding back and being secretive may be for nothing. The Chunin exams were going to happen. Someone was bound to make an off hand comment about how there's this Uzumaki kid with red hair that uses water jutsu and has large chakra reserves.
I didn't want to think that things would be revealed this early, but honestly, what the hell did I expect?
Stabbing the sword into the ground, I made a shadow clone to talk with.
The clone looked straight at me.
"What language?" He asked in English.
"German." I shrugged, not wanting the conversation to be understood.
Paranoid I may be, but I wasn't risking a single thing. And Rin only knew English.
The clone shrugged and Henged as a familiar looking old man.
I raised a brow at what the clone did.
"Really?" I asked sarcastically.
"You must do what you feel is right, of course." My clone grinned.
Sighing irritably, I started the conversation I needed.
"I need a devil's advocate," I grumbled, "Am I screwed from them escaping?"
"Probably." The clone admitted.
"Do I need to hold back anymore?" I asked, "Everything comes to a head when the Forest of Death occurs. At this point, it's probably useless to be covert now. I'll be fighting to kill him."
"You won't be able to kill him on your own yet." The clone pointed out.
"You might be me," I ground out, "But you underestimate my power." I then flinched at what I knew my damn clone would say.
"Don't try it." He said with a shit eating grin.
I'm an insufferable bastard.
Using Ninjutsu with my taijutsu, I could kill Jonin. Kakashi and the others weren't regular Jonin, nor was Zabuza a regular missing nin.
I already showed myself what I could do if I said 'screw it' and kill anything in my way. I killed the weaker Shinobi in seconds, while my clones held back a team of capable Shinobi. I needed to stop second guessing whether I could actually win or not.
That pissed me off. My own doubts on whether I could do it. The other Genin measured themselves by what their Jonin instructors could do.
But I was measuring for higher.
You had to be an S-rank to join the Akatsuki. Every single member, aside from Itachi, wouldn't hesitate to kill everyone I cared about to draw me or Rin out to kill.
It takes S-ranks to kill other S-ranks.
My clone began to speak.
"The exams happen in a couple months or so I think," My clone started, "that amount of preparation will be invaluable. But to the other question..." The clone paused.
"No subtlety."
"Kill the bastards and show no mercy," the clone said simply, "No point in holding back when Rin is already ahead on several things compared to the other Genin."
That is what decided it for me. I had to be seen as more dangerous than Rin. I'd rather have a larger target on my back compared to her. She wasn't as adept as me at concealing things, and I seemed to be doing it too well.
If she was seen as more dangerous, they'd latch on to how she looked, blonde hair and skilled with seals.
They'd possibly overlook that if I was the one that looked dangerous, which I was. I'd be seen as an obvious Uzumaki, which was probably a little safer than being seen as a Namikaze at this point.
"Any more words of wisdom, oh you who are so wise in the ways of science?" I asked with a soft smile.
My clone grinned and Henged as 'Naruko'.
"I want to have babies." The clone giggled.
'Smartass.' I laughed.
"Where's it going to gestate, in a box?"
I couldn't hold it in and started laughing, feeling like everything was lighter at the reminder of a nostalgic time.
The clone grinned and popped.
I just took a deep breath and listened to the sound of the wind moving through the trees, the rustle of the leaves.
But I thought of something I wanted to know. I grabbed ahold of Kubikiribocho and started looking at the blade more closely, as well as the hilt.
A blade that was capable of fixing itself by using the iron in blood intrigued the studious part of myself. Science of my old life couldn't comprehend chakra in any manner at all. It was one part physical and one part spiritual. There wasn't anything that pointed to some kind of 'life force', 'animal magnetism', or other such nonsense existing as a means for people to shape the world where I was from. Most religions didn't think of it as a tangible thing that mortals could harness. Power to shape the world was seen as the realm of God or gods.
But a world where chakra exists clashes with that notion somewhat.
I sat down on the ground with the blade in my lap horizontally.
I pushed out my sensing very carefully, my head was still aching from earlier today.
My ribs were still sensitive and my gut was still itching where the seal was, but at a much lower level.
Kurama was not going to like it when I get the chance to talk with him. I'm pissed at what he did. He tried to kill us when we were just born. I know he's been through some rough times, but I'm still going to let my displeasure known before I try and be friends.
Shaking aside those thoughts, I ran the edge of my finger along the edge of the blade, opening up a cut on my finger.
I let the blood drip on the blade while trying to sense what was happening. A Byakugan would have been priceless to have right now.
I could sense how my chakra moved, but Hinata could actually see it. I'd wondered how she saw the world. Her eyes, even when they weren't active, still saw better than everyone else that wasn't a Hyuga.
"The answer will come to him who tries," I sang softly to myself, "To look at his life through Heaven's eyes."
The people in this life were different to my previous life. No one had natural pink or dark blue hair, yet this world did.
Looking in a mirror wasn't as much of a shock, even when I first 'woke up'.
Red hair, with streaks of blond that slowly faded into red as I got older, wasn't uncommon for me. Family of mine had red hair, while my eyes had been blue before, albeit with a more greyish tint than now.
But certain things seemed exotic, yet beautiful. Rin's eyes were violet, not bright periwinkle blue, but genuinely violet. Hinata, and the other Hyuga, had eyes that looked like the moon. The milky colour of the blind wasn't even close to how the Hyuga looked, it was like comparing a marble to a pearl, extremely tiny, but still noticable swirls of colour bleeding into the white.
Inoichi and Ino had turquoise eyes, almost the exact shade of the precious stone, and Kakashi's hair was something you don't see with men in their twenties.
The whole world here seemed brighter than my first one, the people and the environment seemed... more. I could never explain to my past self what it's like to feel someone else's chakra, the very footprint your soul and body leaves on the world. Each had a different feel, and they all were bright.
Had I not died violently, I would have had no regrets about being here having a second life. I'd made peace with it, knowing the world would keep turning with me gone, even if the circumstances of my death would be terrible on my family.
But this world needed me. Without me, so much would be worse. Whether it be divine intervention or blind luck where my soul got wrenched into another universe, I was here.
And I could leave this world a better one than the what it was when I entered it.
I sat there and tested how the blade felt when it absorbed blood, along with trying to find if there were seals doing it.
Most of the seals that did esoteric things, such as barriers and things that 'caught' and redirected Jutsu, were called 'Seals' even if they didn't exactly seal something in them.
Hand seals for Ninjutsu helped to mold and twist the chakra into a certain jutsu, much like how certain nerve impulses cause a fist to clench.
The kanji and formation of matrixes in Fuinjutsu worked in a similar way, but were different in a very complex way.
Fuinjutsu, to those uneducated in its peculiarities in this particular universe, was as crazy as some languages were to a non-native speaker, certain Kanji changing what they do based on the preceding or next symbol when used in a seal structure.
It's easy to teach someone the meaning of 'Motherfucker' and to teach them to say it, but writing it down has more steps. English alone is a nightmare of a language to teach, with others having their own eccentricities. 12 letters to form the word, 4 syllables, and a certain pronunciation required to make it coherent.
And that includes the conundrum of the stuff involving words that sound the same or are spelled the same.
'Aisle. I'll. Isle. Sound the same. And read and read mean different things, as do lead and lead. Read and lead rhyme, but not read and lead or read and lead.'
Sounding out the words or giving context to it mattered. The 'Isle' portion in the "Isle of Wright" in Britain would never be mistaken for "I'll kick your ass", or "The juice is in aisle 7". Context and sentence structure mattered so you don't make a faulty seal at best, and an explosion at worse.
Seals had the craziness of that kind of stuff times 10.
But nearly all seals had a similar structure, just as how people, no matter how different, had a similar anatomical structure.
A chakra storage portion was needed.
Each seal needed fuel, just like a jutsu needs chakra to work. The storage part feeds into the outer sections to get a desired effect, with storage scrolls and exploding tags being the least refined.
Calling those two things Fuinjutsu in the same sentence as something like a Jinchuriki seal was like comparing a human brain's complexity to an Amoeba.
I could probably teach Sasuke to make a cheap explosive tag in under an hour, just don't trust the longevity.
The most common seal formation used in explosive tags involved the stored chakra getting bounced around extremely quickly along the ink tracks to break the seal and violently blast out in the form of an explosion. More sophisticated ones could have solid shrapnel and sometimes poison gas added as a synchronized explosion if meshed properly.
But any cheap tag Sasuke or even Hinata made wouldn't last more than a day or two before it destabilized and either fizzled out or exploded.
But the greatest hurdle towards me stringing together esoteric seals was also what made me able to prepare for the future.
Experience.
It's easier to teach a young child a new language instead of an adult. Fuinjutsu is the same. Kanji was difficult to write in and decipher, especially since English was very different in how a sentence structure worked.
"Kill you, I shall." "Up your ass, I see." "Wipe, you did not." Each of them were technically correct in English, but also not. English structuring was different to Kanji, and the letters were different from symbols. I hadn't attempted to see what would happen if I plugged in English or Latin words into a sealing array. I predicted explosive results.
Rin was a blank slate when learning how to write, and I wasn't. Any misstep I made using incorrect Kanji and patterns was made worse with more complex seals. A defective blood cell won't kill the body, same as how a slight issue with an explosive tag won't cause too much issue in the short term, but a defective organ would kill the entire body.
A better analogy would be measurement and length. My body won't fall apart if my left leg had 1mm added to it. But if I add 1mm to the Planck length, reality itself falls apart. Complex seals had more that could go wrong with them.
My thoughts were pulled away by what my sensory pick up.
'There.' I thought, feeling the blood separate and dissolve into the steel.
I looked specifically at where the blade and hilt met.
The area had some chakra radiating from it. Very minute, but there.
I cut my hand again and dripped blood directly on it.
The blood seeped into the hilt and I felt the slight chakra glow shift with new iron added to it.
It disappeared into the handle, giving me an idea how the seal might work.
The seal could be coded to absorb specifically the iron element, but the details are still beyond me.
I hid my reaction when I felt something flying in the air. Something that didn't belong.
Birds don't usually have that much Yin chakra in them.
'Ino.' I thought coldly.
She probably wanted to check and see where I was, probably at Kakashi or Asuma's request.
Not wanting to be lectured about today, I decided to have a little fun.
I set Kubikiribocho aside and made a hand seal to make a shadow clone, the clone having my exact thoughts at the moment it appeared. The clone grinned and Henged as Ino.
"Naruto-kun." 'Ino' giggled, playing with a lock of her hair.
"Ino-chan." I said the name affectionately, a wide grin on my face.
'Don't laugh. Don't laugh.' I felt the bird shift and the chakra leave it.
I shook slightly from not trying to laugh.
Ino obviously wasn't trying to conceal her chakra as I could feel her coming closer. But I felt a second one.
Hinata.
'This'll be even better.' I snickered.
I made another clone and had it Henge as Hinata.
"You know what to do." I squeaked out, trying to not give it away by laughing.
"N-naruto-kun," 'Hinata' said, shy smile on her face, "Do you think I'm pretty?"
"Do you think I'm pretty, Naruto-kun?" 'Ino' asked as well, shooting a glare at 'Hinata', who glared back.
I felt both Ino and Hinata's chakra fluctuate at that.
'They're either embarrassed or pissed.' I snickered.
"Ino-chan, Hinata-chan," I said, putting up my hands to stop them," Please, don't fight over me. There's plenty to share." I said with a charitable smile.
It's a good thing my back was turned. I had the biggest grin on my face.
'Hinata' still glared at 'Ino'.
"He's mine," She glared at 'Ino', "I saw him first."
"I've been in his mind," 'Ino' shot back, "I know him better than you."
My clones would tend to think of stuff I wouldn't expect, and this time wasn't different.
"I know what he looks like naked." 'Hinata' declared.
I heard an 'eep' behind me, causing the clones to turn and spot the two girls behind the tree. I started laughing my ass off at the two of them, both their faces beet red in embarrassment.
The two clones popped and I was still laughing.
"Like the show?" I asked with a grin.
"You knew we were here," Hinata said with an accusatorial tone.
I just grinned and nodded, before asking a question.
"Why are you two here?" I asked, my tone now flat and holding no amusement.
Both of them tensed at my tone.
"We wanted to check on you," Ino said matter of factly, "I wanted to, and Hinata argued with me about who should go, so we both did." The last part was said by Hinata and her at the same time.
I just blinked at that for a moment.
'They both came? To check on me?'
"Did Kakashi or Asuma order you to?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
Both completely shocked me when they shook their heads.
I didn't know what to think of that. I assumed Ino would wait a little bit after she saw me turn a man's chest cavity into a smoothie while releasing ungodly levels of Killing Intent.
Hinata had killed someone today and was more withdrawn. I didn't feel capable of helping her through it when I was initially struggling with dealing with my own problems, so I didn't talk to her, staying withdrawn for a while.
But the both of them still came.
"Why though?" I asked quietly, wanting to know.
Hinata walked to me first, her face colouring slightly when she put her hand on my shoulder.
"What was it you said to me," She whispered, "You're a mess? You feel weak at times? You see yourself when you look at me?"
I remembered that day. She needed those words to be said.
"You weren't there," I said hoarsely, feeling Ino approach as well, "You didn't see what I did."
"Ino told me," Hinata said softly, looking towards the blonde girl, "That man threatened Rin."
"He was defenseless and I enjoyed killing him." I said, my voice shaking slightly.
The other deaths didn't weigh heavy on me. They were necessary. Unavoidable casualties. But the last one wasn't. Cutting his head off or driving a kunai through his head would have been justice. He tried to kill us and failed. If he wasn't lying about what he did to a different blonde Yamanaka, he would have deserved death.
But justice was the last thing on my mind at that moment. I felt more animal than human when I let my anger guide my actions.
They were quiet for a moment, having not known that.
"I'm glad you killed him," Ino said firmly, "What he did was terrible."
Before I could speak, she spoke again.
"He killed another girl," She said angrily, tears in her eyes, "A Yamanaka like me."
I didn't really think how that would make Ino feel, a relative of hers, probably a distant cousin, getting killed.
"You protected us and Asuma-sensei," She said, "You're not a demon."
I flinched at the last word.
"How do yo-" I started.
"We've seen how the villagers look at you sometimes, Naruto," Hinata said softly, still holding onto my shoulder, "They've said terrible things. Both of our clans have cruel people in them." she gestured to Ino, "That say things about you and Rin."
"That man was wrong when he called you a demon," Ino said firmly, "He is the demon. You protected us while he did things," She shivered, "To a girl. My family." She sniffled.
"Would a demon who enjoys killing help a little girl in the snow?" Hinata asked quietly, her own eyes shining from unshed tears.
"I-," l started, but stopped. I couldn't think of what to say.
Rin would never see me as a bad person, even if she saw me kill hundreds of people. Kakashi and Anko would say that war and protecting your friends changed things, and Hiruzen would embrace me, telling me how I shouldn't let certain actions made in the heat of the moment change how I felt about myself.
But they didn't realize how much I enjoyed it. I enjoyed how someone who thought himself powerful when killing girls was reduced to a crying whimpering mess just from a jutsu.
But neither of them cared about that. They still chose to believe that I was a good person. Neither of them were connected to me like Rin, Kakashi, or Hiruzen were.
And they still cared.
The first day I truly felt Rin's chakra when my sensing was first developed, the night I came home from the hospital, I thought it was the most beautiful thing I ever felt. My sensing was far better than when I was born, giving me an unmatched feel of my little sister's chakra.
I felt like I was surrounded in warmth when I had her right next to me, back when we shared the same bed, back when I'd shiver from the memories of dying and my fear of losing everything again. The feeling of the Shinigami's void and Kurama's fury that was still fresh in my mind made for sleepless nights, but the light that was Rin helped drive that back.
And right now felt almost as warm as that.
I didn't see Hinata or Ino's faces. I saw them.
Stripped of flesh, blood, and bone, I saw their chakra, the light that symbolized their very essence. I felt no fear or disgust from them, only understanding.
I looked straight into Hinata's eyes, seeing how much she wanted to help me, just as I helped her.
I took a shuddering breath and pulled her into a hug, feeling a couple tears fall.
Ino leaned in and hugged me as well, surrounding me with both of their presences.
I felt warmth sink into my bones, the ache in my ribs and the headache seeming to vanish from my perception.
I don't how long we were there, but I eventually heard a noise behind us.
"Ahem," I heard someone cough.
I tensed and let go of Hinata, Ino letting go of me and staring at who was near us.
Kakashi stood not far from us, an eye smile visible on his face.
"Am I interrupting something?" He asked.
I felt Hinata and Ino jump away from me, both of them blushing at the implication Kakashi made.
"It's not that," I scowled, "They talked to me."
Kakashi still gave me that annoying eye smile of his.
"Asuma and I went back to Tazuna's," He said, almost like he were commenting about the weather, "And we discovered that 3 little Genin are nowhere to be found. But low and behold, I find all three snuggled together."
Ino and Hinata were embarrassed, while I shot Kakashi a deadpan look.
"Har har," I said, adopting a grin that Kakashi didn't seem to like. " I thought you'd be proud of me, Sensei. I'm just like you, minus a snake in the butt."
Kakashi visibly shuddered at what I said.
Hinata and Ino were completely confused by what I just said.
"I needed to be talked to," I explained to Kakashi, "They helped." I glanced towards them, giving them a thankful nod.
"Rin and Shikamaru said something along that line," Kakashi nodded, "Would you two give us some privacy?" He asked the girls politely.
The two seemed to not want to, but turned to leave when I gave a look.
"I'm fine," I promised, "Thanks for talking to me."
The two girls smiled and nodded, walking away to let Kakashi speak with me.
I pushed out my sensing to feel for them, not finding them.
Sighing, I looked at Kakashi.
"You talk with Asuma?" I asked.
Kakashi nodded.
"What happened?" He asked gently, "He said you were out of it."
I was silent for a moment, trying to think of how I was going to explain what I thought happened.
"I killed several people," I started, "And I enjoyed killing one specifically."
"The Iwa nin." Kakashi said quietly, "Asuma told me what he said."
"Then you know why I reacted badly."
"Asuma also said you charged in and nearly killed them all. I know how you fight. If you had kept your cool, they would have been killed instead of getting away."
I was quiet at that. I knew he was on point.
"Why did you channel that much of the Kyuubis' chakra?" He asked, "You've never used enough to make a temporary chakra cloak. I didn't know you even could with the tightenings on." He continued, sounding like he was trying to work a problem out.
"I took this," I pointed towards Kubikiribocho, "Straight to my ribs. The armour stopped it from screwing with my lung, but it still broke some ribs. I needed to heal fast enough to help Asuma."
Kakashi seemed to understand, but I continued further.
"I stopped channeling it," I said, "Until what was said." I added quietly.
"What did you see?" He asked, walking closer to me, "Asuma said it was like what happened when Ino used her clan jutsu."
I twitched at that, not liking the reminder.
"The Genjutsu." I said.
Kakashi tilted his head slightly at my answer.
"From that night?"
I nodded.
"And it was worse." I looked down.
Kakashi was silent, but looked expectant.
"I was covered in blood," I explained, my voice steady, "I could smell it even more so because of this," I gestured towards my gut, "And I drove a Rasengan through his heart."
Kakashi gestured for me to continue.
"I didn't see his face," I said, trying to not show how much it got to me, "I saw Rin's."
Kakashi tensed and looked at me with understanding.
"I'm..." Kakashi said, but stopping for a moment, "Not sure what to say."
"What can be said?" I asked rhetorically, "I got to watch as my worst nightmare happened in front me, and I was the one that did it."
Kakashi went to speak, but I continued.
"The Kyuubi, or its chakra, is behind it," I said firmly, "This didn't happen years back when you started training me."
Kakashi looked visibly uncomfortable at the reminder.
"Its not just what I saw that's messing with me, Kakashi," I said, "It's that its chakra screws with me that easily." I spat out the last part.
"I hate being controlled, and this damn thing," I growled, pointing at my gut, "Acts like a drug whenever I get pissed."
Kakashi stepped closer and put his hand on my shoulder.
"You know it won't be like that forever," He said, "You've gotten through worse."
I sighed and nodded. He was right.
I had to deal with a screwed up mind before, I could muscle through the stupidity Kurama would pull, even if it would be difficult.
"It still doesn't make sense," I stated, "My seal is tighter, but I deal with this when Rin doesn't."
"I'm not sure if I could give any theories on why." Kakashi admitted.
"Maybe because I have the Yin half and my Chakra alignment is more Yin tilted than normal," I voiced aloud, "Yin is the mental part and I'm not exactly like Rin."
Uzumaki normally didn't have that strong of an amount of yin chakra, but I did. The extra yin from Kurama combined with mine could cause his chakra to be more readily drawn upon than what Rin could manage. She wasn't able to pull it up like I could.
'Food for thought.' I snorted.
Kakashi stepped away some, but still looked me in the eye.
"How are you though?" he asked, "First mission out of the village turns into an A-rank and this happens." He gestured between the two of us.
"I hate that I lost my cool," I said honestly, "I was already stressed about what might happen, probably why the Kyuubis' chakra responded easier, now that I think of it."
At Kakashi's look, I rolled my eyes.
"I'm fine, Kakashi," I said truthfully, "How would you react if you saw yourself tearing someone you care about's heart out?"
'Oh crap.' Was my thoughts as I said that.
Kakashi visibly flinched at that.
"I do," He said quietly, "And her name was Rin too."
Kakashi then told me what happened in detail. I'd already been told that Nohara Rin had been killed on a mission, but not how she died. I avoided the topic to not give Kakashi any reminders, but he seemed willing to share now.
Possibly because I experienced the next worst thing.
Kakashi wasn't in a Genjutsu. He couldn't snap out of what happened like I did when I saw the Genjutsu painted on to what happened hours ago, but it still was torturous for me.
After Kakashi finished explaining what happened, I gave him a look of sympathy.
"Your eye?" I asked.
Kakashi simply nodded, not wanting to voice it out loud.
I just took a deep breath and exhaled, not knowing what else to say.
Kakashi was quiet for a minute as well, until he glanced towards Kubikiribocho.
"Checking the blade?" He asked.
I nodded.
"There's a seal cluster built into the hilt," I explained, "It somehow filters the iron in blood to repair the blade. Beats the hell out of me trying to understand how."
We were both quiet again. I decided to break the awkward silence.
"Thanks for talking with me, Kakashi," I said, genuinely grateful, "I came out here to work through it, and you helped me out."
"And Ino and Hinata?" He asked.
I nodded at that. "I thought you sent them here to talk to me initially," I admitted, "Kinda pissed me off at first."
"Rin said they argued over who needed to talk with you." He added.
I smiled softly and nodded.
"They said as much."
Kakashi gave me a slight grin.
"You don't know how lucky you are."
At my confusion, he grinned even wider.
"You have two girls that like you very much."
I scowled at him.
"I'm not interested right now," I said, a light hearted glare aimed at the silver haired man, "I don't want a girlfriend now."
Kakashi gave me a sarcastic 'really' look.
"I see you look at them sometimes," He pointed out, "I know you like girls."
Puberty in this life seemed even worse. I hated that Anko was right about the whole 'unlimited stamina' crap. Every. Single. Morning. was awful. Sparring with Anko and Kurenai was getting worse. I did not need to get teased relentlessly by Anko if she felt anything.
"And I hate it," I said irritably, "You try dealing with having trouble with thinking of that every hour of the day."
"You're not an idiot," Kakashi chuckled, "Every guy knows how to fix it." he laughed at the look on my face.
'That doesn't help.' I thought irritably.
"You don't have a sister that can hear through walls and smell better than normal people."
Kakashi had a look of revulsion on his face.
"I didn't think of that."
"Yeah," I said sarcastically, "Your advice is useless, and I'm not going out to the woods to escape Rin and 'Relieve myself'." I used air quotes on the last part.
Kakashi looked a bit uncomfortable now.
"I need to scout the area," he said shortly, "You'll be fine, right?"
"I'll probably head back soon," I answered, "It's peaceful out here and I'm calm now."
Kakashi nodded and prepared to leave.
"You can always talk with me and the Hokage about things," He said sincerely, pulling up his Hitai-ate, "Don't forget that."
I smiled and nodded, knowing I had more than one person to talk me through shit if I worked myself up from thinking too much.
Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving me alone.
I sighed and dragged a hand through my hair, now reaching past my chin.
I'd decided to grow my hair out, wanting to learn the hair jutsu Jiraiya used. My hair wasn't as spiky as my father or Rin's, but it still spiked out at the ends of it. I still thought it was hilarious how pissed Rin would get when she'd roll over in her sleep and tangle her hair, making it an absolute mess.
I sat back down to study Kubikiribocho some more, seals and listening to the quiet sounds of the forest being a welcome reprieve from people.
I'd get through what happened today, the image I saw specifically. Most of my anger and frustration stemmed from how much my mind and fury would fly out of my control, practically enslaving me to my more primal instincts.
"Don't disparage behavior that we happen to share with the beasts," I muttered in English, "They have their purpose. They just need to be put in their place."
Puberty making me want to screw everything was bad enough, and it wasn't even in full swing, only about six months of it had happened. My inability to curb my violent impulses when using Kurama's chakra was much worse.
If I killed the Iwa nin with a clear head, I wouldn't have felt bad. But the nin angered me enough to make me practically helpless afterwards when Kurama's chakra made me see the same damn image again. What if his allies came back? Who'd help Asuma shield the three and Tazuna?
An obligation to myself, I may have. But I also have an obligation to protect those when I can. I had the power to eventually be an army killer, that was power that few others, and even fewer 'good' people had. I had to have something that separated me from Madara, Obito, and the other bastards that I wished I could kill right now. Madara had a younger sibling he loved dearly, Obito dealt with a war, Nagato had his parents and best friend taken from him.
'What's that saying about absolute power again?' I thought sardonically.
I hated them for what they did. Get yourself killed for your BS moral crusade is fine, but don't take me and thousands of innocent people down to hell with you.
I ended up lying to Kakashi and stayed there for over an hour, looking over the blade for study.
I eventually learned about as much as I was going to without having Hinata use her eyes to look underneath the surface, not like she would understand the damn seal anyway.
I strapped the blade to my back and prepared to leave, but then remembered something important.
'Should I do it tonight?' I thought to myself.
'Screw it. I will.'
I pulled out all the storage scrolls I had in my pockets, opened them up and let the food I purchased in Konoha spill out.
I then pulled out my main seal brush and the three cheap ones I kept on me.
I made a hand seal to make a clone, a couple clones appearing.
"Divide up the food into certain portions," I ordered, "Scout out the village and see who lives where. Each household gets food based on how many live there. We'll be making a ton more seals."
Thank God I had the forethought to buy some baby food and formula.
"You sure you can do that? You're not at top strength," One of the clones pointed out, "You'll be dead on your feet making enough clones and seals. Not including feedback."
I hadn't eaten anything and I'd probably end up passing out from the feedback of hundreds of clones, mainly because my head was still hurting from earlier.
"I don't care," I waved off my concern, "Strap me to a tree branch and I'll sleep here."
The clones followed my orders and started dividing up the food.
I tossed most of my seal paper into a pile, making several more clones and I personally made two seals to stick me to a tree afterwhile.
Once the first and second batch of clones began making the smaller storage seals, I tensed my brow and made close to two hundred clones, feeling a sizable portion of the chakra I had left diminish noticably.
"Scout out the village and the homes," I instructed, "And for the love of God, use disguises."
The clones nodded and took off.
You know what, I thought to myself, it's better for me to already be asleep or passed out when I get the feedback.
"þu most hafian losod þin witt, Uzumaki." I muttered, making a hand seal to make as many clones as I could.
Tajuu Kage bunshin no Jutsu.
I managed to count in the hundreds before I keeled over from exhaustion.
//////////////
Kakashi POV:
'Why does this keep happening to him?' Kakashi's thoughts were of a cynical kind as he leaned from tree to tree, sometimes dropping to the ground.
He was on route to scouting out potential hideouts for Gato and his hired nin, especially Zabuza.
But scout missions were pretty much 1 percent geniune 'Spy stuff' as civilians saw it in shows and novels, 90 percent mindnumbing boredom, and 9 percent mixed between the two.
He was currently in the second.
Passing the time between scoping out a location mostly involved thinking things through, his previous conversation with Naruto giving him a more than adequate well of things to think about.
Naruto's reaction was understandable, though still concerning. Naruto always responded viciously towards anyone who threatened his sister. To see himself killing her, with blood soaking his arm and the feeling of flesh parting was a sensation that Kakashi knew all too well how terrible it was.
Thinking of that moment, his Rin's determined expression, the sound and feeling of bones breaking and flesh parting under his hand, the chirping of his Chidori, never failed to make bile rise up in his throat and remind him of the horrible sound of her choking out his name.
Naruto's expression when talking about the Kyuubi was telling. Naruto hated being weak, and anything that would have you at its mercy, even your own emotions, would be hated.
Asuma, himself, and Gai physically hurt Naruto more so than Kurenai when sparring, but Naruto hated Kurenai the most.
Not surprising though, Naruto experienced one of the worst nightmares a six year old could experience because of a Genjutsu.
Kakashi had cleared through the most likely hideout locations, finding nothing. After close to an hour or two, a thought crossed his mind.
'Do Rin and Naruto have a connection from the Kyuubi?' He thought.
After the ambush, Rin had staggered for a moment and looked straight at him, telling him she thought something was wrong. He got Asuma's message just minutes later.
She looked nearly ill, he thought, could she have seen it?
She'd been quiet and not spoken to Naruto on the way to Tazuna's, which confused him at first.
If she did see it, he'd need to speak with her, or possibly have Anko talk with her.
Having someone become manic and scream about how he hoped you'd get brutalized in such a terrible way would be awful on a young girl, even more so when your brother was the one that heard it.
Kakashi prayed she didn't see anything.
But his thoughts went back to Naruto.
'It's better to realize this now instead of if he was on a solo mission or against someone far stronger.'
He'd need to talk with the Hokage about any theories. Jiraiya wasn't in the village yet and the Hokage was the next best seal expert in the village. The theory Naruto had about the yin half of the Kyuubi not meshing well or being more accessible because of his own chakra saturated with yin chakra made the most sense though. Rin never showed issues with the Kyuubis' chakra sneaking up on her when she was angry, while Naruto was able to use small amounts in sparring without detriment.
He'd finished up scouting out certain areas, narrowing down possible locations, but he needed to return now. Asuma needed some rest and he needed to be sharp enough to keep watch. A few hours had already passed and he had made good progress. It could wait til tomorrow night.
Kakashi went through the village path to get back to Tazuna's, it being the quickest route.
Kakashi sped through the trees, thinking of another thing.
'Ino and Hinata obviously like him. He's aware of it, and he's uncomfortable with it.'
Kakashi needed something more light-hearted to end the conversation, for both their sakes. Talking about his Rin wasn't pleasant, but Naruto needed to know that there were those who understand him, who he can talk to about his fears.
Bringing up the topic of girls helped deflect some of the deep emotional stuff.
Kakashi was fairly certain Naruto was like him at that age, uninterested in having a relationship. Most prodigious Shinobi didn't care for that stuff until a few years later, but it was still fun to make him squirm when he started avoiding looking at Anko or some of the other kunoichi.
'I think I know what kind of girls he likes.' Kakashi grinned. 'He's not that different from Sasuke.'
Naruto would probably try to punch him if he heard Kakashi compare him to the raven haired Uchiha in liking strong girls.
But Kakashi never thought about how bad it would be for Naruto to be living with his sister just a few yards away. He'd already felt sympathy for Naruto with the whole blood incident several months back, and this made it even worse.
If Naruto could smell Anko on him, Rin would as well.
The Uzumaki had immense stamina and energy, Kakashi couldn't imagine how bad it would be for a boy going through puberty. It was bad enough for him at that age, but Naruto probably had it much worse.
'I don't think he'll appreciate it if I joke about whether he can smell if girls like him.' He snickered, clearing a creak with a jump.
The Inuzuka could smell pheromones if they were extremely close in proximity to someone. He wasn't sure if Naruto and Rin's sense of smell was as developed, but it would be amusing to mess with the red haired genin.
Kakashi slowed down as he passed the village, seeing how terrible the state of it was.
There were a few people roaming about, mostly women who needed money for food. But he did notice there was an obscene amount of rats in the street.
Kakashi shook his head. Gato needed to be killed, but his death wouldn't magically fix the problems overnight. The people needed food now.
He had a storage scroll with an emergency stash of food. He went over to the village, trying to be discreet, Henged as a random disguise, and approached a girl with light blue hair who looked only a few years older than Rin and looked emaciated.
He approached her and her eyes went to his.
"Please," She begged, trying and failing to make a sultry pose, "I can do anything you want, sweety."
He could see how much she was shaking.
"I don't want anything-" He started, before the girl broke down into tears.
"Please," She begged, "I have a family," She started crying harder, falling to her knees, "my baby brother is starving. My mother and father were killed and I need food."
Kakashi twitched at this girl, almost a child, offering herself to him.
"I don't need you to give me anything," He said softly, walking to her and pulling out his rations from the scroll, "I want to help."
The girl's head jerked up and her eyes had a look of suspicion in them.
She looked at the food in his hands, then to his face.
"I don't believe you," She said weakly, "There aren't good people here."
"I'm not from here." He responded kindly, reaching out further to hand her the bag, "There's a few days worth of food and water, plenty of calories in it."
She looked at it, then back to him, before snatching it, pulled out a bag of crackers, and tearing the bag open to wolf some down.
He stayed there for several minutes, watching her eat what she could.
"It doesn't help my brother though," she whispered, "He needs formula and other food."
Kakashi didn't have things like that, he only had food for adults. There was never a need for baby food.
He heard somebody approach and tensed, ready to pounce if it was an enemy.
"Kimiko," A young woman with dark hair ran towards the blue haired girl, "thank Kami I found you. There's a man offering free food. He has formula and baby food." She said excitedly.
She then turned to Kakashi.
"Screw off," she said irritably, "Find someone else."
The blue haired girl, now known as Kimiko, tried to calm her friend.
"He offered me food for free," she told her friend, "He helped."
The dark haired girl turned to him.
"Are you with the other man?" She asked.
Kakashi wanted to know who this mysterious man was and nodded.
"Yes," he lied easily, "I am."
The dark haired girls posture relaxed and turned to her friend.
"Follow me." she grabbed her friend's hand, pulling her along.
Kakashi followed them from a distance, discreetly making a kage bunshin and Henging it as his current disguise. He then dropped his own Henge and pulled up his Hitai-ate, wanting to remember the man's face.
Tazuna made no mention about someone helping get food into Nami, nor did any of Konoha's agents make mention of potential smugglers entering the region.
He reached the area that the dark haired woman dragged her friend to, seeing a man gesturing for the two to enter the building he was outside of, an Inn by the looks of it.
His thoughts ground to a halt when he saw the man. He recognized him.
Kakashi had seen him in Konoha.
Kakashi had his Sharingan uncovered as he was walking through Konoha, sometimes doing so periodically to make sure he was accustomed to the feedback outside of combat. It did no good to not be prepared for the sharpness of the images if he wasn't in a death fight every single day.
He'd seen the man walking through the street after purchasing a sizable portion of food. The situation when they left the village was strange. A large portion of food was bought up, not exactly completely strange, the Akamichi sometimes would bulk purchase food leading up to a celebration, but this man wasn't an Akamichi, and the clan didn't have any celebrations planned.
He needed to be careful. He positioned himself to get into the inn through the alley that it was by, making a quick bunshin and promptly dispelling it to order his Henged one to enter the Inn.
He was able to get in through the window of one of the rooms by walking up the wall. What he found in the room caught him off guard.
Several men were tied up with the word 'scum' seemingly branded on their chests.
They saw him and started trying to pull away and speak through their gags.
Kakashi assumed that the men were Gato's and had likely deserved this, assuming the man that was giving out food tied them up.
He ignored them and opened the door and went down the stairs to try and hear what was going on.
He could hear a man talking to several people, mostly about which of them had infants.
He made another bunshin and dispelled it to give a message to his Henged one, telling it to exit and dispel to give him an image of what the talking man looked like.
He then turned back to exit the way he entered, ignoring the muffled requests for him to set the tied up men free.
He leapt down to the ground without a sound, moving to the neighboring building to act as overwatch for when the two men would leave.
After around 30 minutes, several people, mostly women, exited the building with several containers of food for infants.
Kakashi felt the bunshin pop and received the memories.
The man speaking was old. He looked around the same age as the Hokage, but he couldn't get an up close view of him. His face had been turned partly and obscured the bunshin's view.
He eventually saw the old man exit the building and say something to the man he spotted in Konoha, only for him to be shocked when the younger of the two dispelled.
He watched as the older one walked through the street, turning into a back alley that led towards the edge of the village.
Kakashi jumped down and prepared to follow the man. As he got closer, he could hear the man singing softly to himself, but couldn't understand what he was saying.
He was able to follow the man for a time, before he felt something bite at his sandal.
He looked down and saw a rat.
Kakashi frowned and quietly stomped on it.
He realized the mistake he made when the rat dispelled into smoke.
The man turned around sharply and adopted a combat stance similar to what Naruto made, a golden blade of chakra in his right hand, left hand pointed outwards with his sword arm pulled back slightly and held horizontal.
It was an opening stance for the main Uzumaki kenjutsu form.
The man looked completely shocked by Kakashi's presence, obviously recognizing him.
The two stood there, just outside of the outskirts of the buildings for a few minutes, neither making a move.
'This has to be 'Hurin'.' Kakashi thought.
The man had violet eyes that looked similar to Rin's, but not the same. His hair was mostly white, with a slight hint of red still in it. A well trimmed beard covered the lower part of his face.
The man he believed to be 'Hurin' relaxed his posture and let his blade fade away.
"Hatake." He said simply.
"You have me at a disadvantage." Kakashi responded, his body still ready to charge the man.
"Use your eyes, Hatake." The man said, glancing at his left one specifically, "Try and have a guess."
Kakashi looked at the man with his Sharingan, remembering every single little detail.
Above average height. Formally red hair turned white. Trained in Uzumaki kenjutsu. Can use the same bloodline ability as Naruto.
"Hurin, I assume." Kakashi stated.
Hurin nodded.
"Bright, like your father." He congratulated him.
Kakashi's face twitched at the casual mentioning of his father.
"The last time you showed yourself," Kakashi started, "You stabbed and tortured my student, and threatened to kill the clan of another student of mine."
"If I wanted them dead," Hurin said simply, "They'd be dead. Bluffing and deception is the name of the game."
Kakashi still gave the man a slight glare.
"Why are you here?"
Hurin shrugged. "People were in need of help, so I offered."
"You knew things about our mission that only a few knew about," Kakashi said irritably, "You bought enough food in Konoha to feed hundreds."
"Guilty as charged, Inu." Hurin shrugged.
Kakashi twitched again at what the man was doing. He was intentionally letting slip small tidbits of information to let it be known that he knew many big and little things.
"You're an Uzumaki." Kakashi said matter of factly.
Hurin didn't respond.
"Why here of all places?" Kakashi asked, "There's other areas that could be helped aside from Nami."
Kakashi tensed right as the last word left his lips. He thought he realized why.
"Where's Naruto?" He demanded, a small amount of static dancing around his fingers.
Naruto got stabbed and tied to a tree last time this old man was near him.
"Tied to a tree." Hurin answered simply.
Kakashi's Killing Intent started leaking out. The last thing Naruto needed was to be attacked again, especially with the whole business with his worry about controlling his anger.
"Don't be like that, boy," Hurin said with annoyance, "He went to sleep doing seal work. I just put him somewhere that wasn't the ground."
"Tying him to a tree?" He growled.
"He'd roll over and land on his head," Hurin shrugged, "Not like that would keep him down."
Kakashi reined in his Killing Intent and continued to stare at the man opposite him.
"What is your interest in Naruto?" He asked, "How do you know what you know? Why are you helping Konoha?"
Hurin seemed to lean onto his left leg and put a hand to his chin, a look of deep thought on his face.
"Tell me what you and Hiruzen think," He said, "And I'll tell you how close you are."
Kakashi hated this little game, but he'd play along to get answers.
"We think you're an Uzumaki who survived the Fall of Uzu," He started, not seeing a reaction from the old man, "The stance and chakra blade points to that being true. You're a seal master. We think you're interested in Naruto because he has red hair and a water affinity, unlike Rin. How am I so far?"
Hurin chuckled lightly, stroking his beard.
"Well thought out," Hurin clapped his hands, "Keep going."
"You somehow know about this," he gestured to his eye, "The Hokage told me about the Mangekyo Sharingan, or at least what he knew about it."
Hurin nodded, gesturing for him to continue.
"You know about their parents," he whispered, "You know who unleashed the Kyuubi."
"Yes."
"Who?" Kakashi asked.
Hurin remained silent.
"How do I know this isn't a ruse?" Kakashi asked, "Mixing in things you do know to make it seem like you're being helpful and not an enemy agent?"
Kakashi was certain that the man was an ally, or at least an enemy of an enemy, but he wanted to see the reaction.
Hurin chuckled.
"I warned of Orochimaru's attack. Do you take me for a liar?" he asked amusedly.
Kakashi waited for him to continue.
"The Akatsuki consists of ten members," Hurin chuckled, "Orochimaru was a member, but is now wanted dead because he tried to kill Itachi."
'What? One of the letters spoke of Orochimaru wanting a Sharingan, but what are the details?' Kakashi thought.
At Kakashi's flash of confusion, Hurin chuckled again.
"I guess Jiraiya hasn't informed you, perhaps he himself doesn't know. Orochimaru has perfected the means to jump into new bodies."
"Why would he want Ita-" Kakashi's eye widened, looking straight at Hurin.
"Understand?" Hurin asked.
"He wants the Sharingan," Kakashi said softly, "Without the chakra drain of having an implant."
Orochimaru would be far more dangerous with a fully matured Sharingan. He was already one of the most dangerous Shinobi Konoha produced.
"But that is not all," Hurin added, "You aren't the only one with a Mangekyo Sharingan."
Kakashi quirked a brow.
"What do you know of it?" Kakashi asked, not knowing much of the details of it.
Hiruzen had explained what he knew. The Mangekyo Sharingan was an evolved version of the Sharingan that gave the wielder abilities that were considered esoteric, even by the standards of seal masters.
The aged Hokage had gotten much of his information from personal stories from Senju Tobirama, warning of how the most well intentioned Uchiha could be driven insane by their eyes.
The part where the Nidaime explained how to most effectively kill Uchiha went unsaid.
"The Mangekyo Sharingan is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be... unnatural." Hurin started, a slight grin on his face, "Just as near death experiences and trauma mature the tomoe in a Sharingan, a truly traumatic event, mostly something involving guilt, awakens the Mangekyo. Can you guess what awakened yours?"
Kakashi felt a phantom pain in his left eye socket, his fingers rubbing together to assure himself that there wasn't blood on them.
Hurin looked at him with sympathy.
"You're the first non-Uchiha to manage that."
"What are the abilities?" He asked, not wanting to think of the memory.
"Each eye has different abilities," He explained, "I can only theorize that it is tied to genetic, personality, or both. Itachi has two abilities, Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi. The first casts black flames at the line of sight, being unable to be put out for days, while the second is a Genjutsu that is manipulated by the caster to suit their needs. You could dilate the time where they can be tortured for up to three days in an illusion."
"Sasuke." Kakashi whispered.
"We'll get to him in a moment."
Kakashi looked at the man's face carefully. He could see anger in his posture, his chakra spiking minutely, before steadying.
"Your ability feels like some form of space/time ability. I can't be certain."
"Feel?" Kakashi asked.
"A skilled sensor Uzumaki Naruto may be, but I'm better. I can somewhat feel what the eye is capable of."
Naruto had been able to feel that his eye was an Uchiha's when he was six.
"How do you know so much about the Uchiha?" Kakashi asked, "This is information that I wouldn't think they would have shared."
"Know thy enemy," Hurin said simply, "The Uchiha were the greatest threat to the Senju and the Uzumaki."
Kakashi was now starting to think Hurin had another motive to speak with him. He obviously didn't like the Uchiha and was angered by Sasuke's name being mentioned.
"Why give all this information?" Kakashi asked, "We're not exactly in the most secure area." he pointed out.
If it were in Konoha, it would make sense. But they were out of the village in territory that would be considered hostile.
Hurin just chuckled.
"That rat wasn't the only one."
Kakashi remembered that the entire street was teeming with rats.
"How many did you make?" He asked incredulously.
Hurin grinned.
"Naruto and Rin aren't the only chakra beasts. We're as secure as possible. Nobody is here. You won't have to worry about feeding anyone either", he continued, "I already handled it, even if it's not winter and I'm lacking in a red coat and a fat belly." He chuckled.
Kakashi ignored the last part and focused on the new information.
He had immense chakra reserves, and he wasn't shy about using it. If he looked to be the Hokage's age, while being an Uzumaki, he would be very old in a conventional measurement.
"As for the reason I'm sharing," Hurin continued, "This is more secure than letters."
"We have message scrolls that can be linked by blood," Kakashi offered, "Tell me where, and I'll drop one off for you to send a bunshin to retrieve."
"Those scrolls require both users blood to link together," Hurin raised a brow, "I'm not charitable with my blood."
'Damnit.' Kakashi thought. A blood sample could tell him how closely related Hurin was to Naruto and Rin.
Hurin tensed like he received memories from a bunshin, a faint amount of chakra leaking around his frame that Kakashi saw with his Sharingan.
"I'll need to go," He said shortly, "This is information that is of paramount importance," he then walked straight to Kakashi, stopping just inches away from him, "You lose your eyesight when you use the Mangekyo constantly."
Kakashi nodded, but saw Hurin speak again.
"The only treatment is to get another pair from an Uchiha. Madara nearly went blind and took his brother's eyes."
Kakashi jerked like he'd been struck.
"Sasuke." he whispered.
'That's why Itachi let him live.' Kakashi thought. 'He wants another backup set of eyes.'
"Does Orochimaru know this?" He asked desperately, "Is that why he wants Sasuke?"
Hurin shook his head.
"No, he doesn't. He's not strong enough to kill Itachi, but he still wants an Uchiha host"
Kakashi relaxed at that.
"But Sasuke must not awaken the Mangekyo. Kami knows what Itachi would say or do to have another set." Hurin stated, looking straight into Kakashi's eye.
Kakashi went to argue that Sasuke would never intentionally kill a friend, but he realized something.
Sasuke had hesitated, at least until Naruto had beat it into him what thinking like that makes him be like.
'Did Itachi say something?' He thought.
Kakashi evidently got his from accidentally killing Rin, Itachi probably got his from killing Shisui. The closest people to Sasuke wer-.
'No.' Kakashi snarled to himself. 'I won't let it happen.'
Itachi may very well try and kill Rin, Hinata, or Naruto to break Sasuke further, telling him it's his fault, maturing Sasuke's eyes.
"Good that you understand now," Hurin whispered, "I'll send a letter or speak when I have the chance." He then turned to leave, but Kakashi grabbed ahold of his arm.
"Really, Hatake?" Hurin asked amusedly, "You thought I'd be here in the flesh?"
"I know you're a bunshin, but I must know," Kakashi said, his voice a whisper, "Hurin isn't your real name. Who are you?"
Hurin seemed to stiffen.
"One who should have died long ago."
He then dispelled in a puff of smoke.
"Damnit." Kakashi muttered under his breath, before turning to leave.
He heard faint popping sounds coming from the village, probably the hundreds of bunshin dispelling.
The Hokage would need to know what transpired, including the part about Itachi and Sasuke.
If Hurin thought that Sasuke was a lost cause, or that it was too great a risk that Itachi would steal his eyes, he would have simply killed him instead of warning about Itachi's plan to get his eyes.
Sasuke hadn't awakened his Sharingan yet, which had begun to aggravate the boy, but he definitely wasn't going to do the Genjutsu Henge trick he thought of, now that he knew the depth of what Itachi wanted to do.
Kakashi made his way back towards Tazuna's, making a kage bunshin to go to where Naruto was and take him down from the tree.
'Not even thirty and I feel too old for this.' He thought sardonically, 'Can't imagine how the Hokage feels.'
//////////////
'With the defeat of Hatake Sakumo's forces at the hands of the Raikage's coalition, the Taishaku raid had broken the back of Konoha's forces in the North. Under normal circumstances, it would have been a time for celebration. But our next orders put pain to those thoughts.
Exerpt from journal of Ozawa Daisuke, Jonin of Iwagakure, Second Shinobi War, Battle of Taishaku Valley.'
//////////////
The part with Ino and Hinata doesn't mean they'll both be the pairing. Whichever one would have gone to talk with him would have probably been the one he'd confide in more, making them the more likely one he'd be with post Shippuden timeskip. Having the both of them go makes the three different routes still viable.
Kakashi gets an info dump from 'Hurin' concerning the Uchiha and what Itachi has planned for Sasuke.
The chapter after the next, or the beginning of the one after, will be the battle at the bridge.
Here's a new chapter and have a wonderful day.
Raging.
