Chapter 20: :Kimyou
***
Anger if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.
Seneca
***
Night of the Nine-Tails Attack
: :Konohagakure: :
Iruka doesn't remember every second of that night despite awakening and using the Sharingan for most of it. It's a haze of tears and a throat sore from screaming. Of a thousand little cuts and burns and exhaustion so powerful he still feels it on rainy days.
He does remember following his parents, Ikkaku and Kohari, because they will always be his parents, to the front line. Seeing the destruction and the spreading fire from an unleashed and vengeful Kurama.
Remembers wondering why someone was stupid enough to lock him up, to begin with.
He remembers trying to fight and finding that not even Fugaku's teaching was enough to make him useful. Even waking his Sharingan wasn't enough. More ANBU, Jōnin, and Tokubetsu Jōnin fell in battle against Kurama that night than in any other period of Konohagakure's history.
There'd been mass promotions in the weeks that followed to make up their numbers.
And not a damn one had done anything to stop him.
Not even Ikkaku and Kohari, who'd turned to ash in Kurama's fire as Iruka watched.
To this day, he's not sure who pulled him away when he reached for them. A part of him even still hates them. The same part that still pines to reunite with his parents.
He's grown up enough to realize he owes them a thank you…
But he knows himself well enough to know he's still to spiteful to ever say it. Its why he's never bothered to look to hard to find out who it was.
They hadn't stayed long. Just left him with a group outside of the cordoned-off destruction zone and returned to the fight. Iruka had continued on his own, head pounding as the Mangekon worked its way to the surface.
Once it had, it had pulled Iruka through a panicking city to the safehouse just outside the village where Mikoto was craddling the body of Kushina and Fugaku was attempting to heal a heavily injured Minato. The rest of Fugaku's team was sorting through bodies, trying to find survivors.
"Iruka!" Fukgau had not been pleased to see him there, but his expression had changed when he'd seen the Mangekon Sharingan in his eyes. "Iruka….Ikkaku and Kohari?"
Minato had started coughing up blood before Fugaku could try and comfort him, and Mikoto was lost in her grief.
Uchiha Taiza, who would die by Itachi's hand later, had interrupted before Iruka could get anything out.
"Lord Fukgau, the child is gone!"
"You're certain?" Fugaku's demand had drowned out Minato's pained whimper.
The Fourth Hokage had spoken through a mouthful of blood. "Fi-find him. You have to find him Fu."
"He's not here," Tazia had been sure, and right, "And the demon fox is making his way into the heart of the village."
And the rest of their clan was confined to the compound, with only Itachi to protect them and the newborn Sasuke from Root. They were spread too thin to do anything, or Fugaku would never have sent Iruka on his own.
"Iruka, come here."
Iruka had collapsed in his teacher's arms and Minato's. "They're gone!"
"I know. I'm sorry," Iruka had been too everything then to pay attention to how Fugaku sounded and later, as an adult, he avoided thinking about it, old enough now to recognize exactly what is was, "I need you to go, Iruka."
It had been the last thing Iruka had wanted or needed to hear, had crushed his heart until Fukgau continued.
"I need you to find the child, Iruka."
Iruka hadn't understood at first, too emotional. "No! I want to stay with you. I don't want to go."
"Iruka, I know. I'm sorry. But the child is innocent. Do you understand that, Iruka?"
Through his tears, Iruka had nodded and managed to get out around his sobs. "Parents protect their children."
"That's right. But Minato can't-" Said man was still coughing up blood. "And Kushina is gone-" Mikoto's wails rent the air. "Minato and I have to stop the fox. Iruka, you have to find the child."
It was the first and last time Iruka had clung to him. "But I want to come with you!"
"You can, I promise, but first, you have to find the child. Find the infant and keep him safe, Iruka."
Ironically, giving Iruka a mission, something to do, was the best thing he could have done at that moment.
Parents protect their children.
The child is innocent.
Protect the child.
Three things that would go on to define Iruka's entire life.
"Where should I look?" Even with the Mangekon pulsing in his eyes, Iruka was still untrained, his head so full he could barely make sense of his own thoughts.
Fugaku's spun to life, "Take the Western Road."
So Iruka, ten years old and newly orphaned, had left them behind and headed out along the Western Road.
It wasn't as big or as frequently travelled as the name would suggest, it was actually the smallest of the three roads that left from Konohagakure proper. It headed west, hence the name, but a hundred and fifty miles from Konohagakure it split and joined with the Northern and Southern Roads right before crossing the border. Which was why it had never been as developed as the other two.
Iruka, driven by adrenalin, terror, and pride, made it thirty miles before he finally had to slow down and actually look.
Fugaku hadn't told him who'd taken the child, but Iruka could pick out the chakra signatures of the Root operatives scouring the area. They wouldn't be this spread out if they already had the child, so whoever had him was still free.
But if it wasn't Danzo, who was it?
Fugaku and the rest of the Uchiha were out.
Hiruzen and what was left of his most loyal people were trying to contain the fox.
Root was split between looking for the child and attacking the Uchiha Compound, though Iruka hadn't know that at the time.
Every other conceivable force in the village was facing the fox or attempting to evacuate the fallen.
Iruka couldn't figure out how to turn off the Mangekon, and he had to stop to catch his breath and try to sort out the overabundance of feedback it was giving him. It kept turning towards the west, to a dark horizon and a border Iruka had never crossed before.
He had realized what, or rather who, he was sensing at first, not until his heart had started hammering in his chest, and he'd launched himself recklessly forward another ten miles before sliding to a stop in front of a hooded figure sporting a ridiculous mask.
It bursts out of Iruka before he can stop himself. "What the fuck are you wearing?"
Behind the mask, Obito scowled. "Shut up, it's a disguise."
"You lost your fashion sense along with your mind?"
"I haven't lost anything!"
"You're kidnapping a baby!"
"It's not about the baby. It's about the fox! Tobi needs it."
"Who the fuck is Tobi? Is he why you won't come home?"
"Konoha's not my home anymore, Iruka."
"The fuck it's not!" Iruka hadn't been any more willing to hear otherwise than Obito had been to hear it. "Why can't you just come home? My parents…"
"Oh god, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Obito had cried so hard at the news that his mask had sipped, and Iruka had cried even harder seeing the wrinkled, scarred skin that now covered half his brother's face.
"You have to give me the child, Obito."
"It's too late to stop the fox, Iruka."
"The kid's innocent. The fox isn't even in him anymore."
Obito had tried to go around him then, but Iruka had been faster.
"Give me the baby!"
"No!"
"Father will come if you don't!" And it wasn't that Obito was scared of Fugaku, he knew their father would never actually hurt them, but he was scared of fighting him, because Fugaku was strong enough to be Hokage and neither of them was strong enough to challenge him yet.
Iruka's Mangekon pulsed.
"Iruka, you-"
Obito's responded.
"When did you-"
"Wow."
"Wow."
They froze and stared at one another in shock.
And then Iruka realized the bundle in Obito's arms was quiet. "What's wrong with it?"
"What? Nothing? It's fine," Obito had looked down at the bundle in his arms for what was probably the first time. "Oh shit."
Iruka had dashed over. Obito had never been interested in the younger children, always too focused on beating his peers or surpassing the older kids. Even his interest in Itachi had been minimal until he was able to walk. Iruka, on the other hand, had been ecstatic at the idea of a little brother, constantly asking Mikoto for updates and doing the lion's share of the babysitting once he'd grown enough to be away from Mikoto for a few hours. "What's wrong?"
Iruka's gotten pretty good at taking care of babies, so he knew immediately that the infant in Obito's arms was dead. "What did you do to it?" Iruka shrieked.
"Nothing! I just grabbed it and ran," Obito shrieked back. He frantically shoved the infant Naruto at Iruka, "Oh fuck, do something! Do something!"
"What? What am I supposed to do?"
"Don't you know CPR? Do chest compressions or something?"
"You don't do chest compressions on an infant, moron!" Iruka had snatched Naruto, and the two of them bent over him frantically, trying to revive him. "Was he dead the whole time?"
"No! He was definitely crying when he came out. What's that stuff on him? Poison?"
"That's normal, idiot, it's from the womb."
"Ew!"
"You're such a girl!"
"Even a girl would think that's gross!"
"No, she wouldn't! She'd be the one it came from!"
"Do something, Ruka! He can't die."
He was already dead though, Iruka thought desperately. Only a few hours old and so still and pale. His lips and eyelids were blue.
"What the hell are they going to do about the fox then?" Obito hissed.
"How should I know? Isn't this all part of your plan?"
"It's not my plan. It's Tobi's plan!"
"You are Tobi!" Iruka had howled at him.
And then something deep in the recess of his mind had pulsed.
This poor baby. He'd lost his life to a stupid power struggle that had started long before his parents had even been born.
The Mangekon had started spinning wildly. So wildly Iruka had lost all control and his chakra had started spilling out of him like water through a sieve.
He was so small.
"Iruka, what are you doing? Stop before you lose all your chakra!" Obito had frantically started pushing his own chakra into Iruka to try and offset the loss, but it had just kept pouring out.
Iruka hadn't even noticed, too enraptured with the small figure in his arms.
The force of their chakra exploded outward as the Rinnegan ripped itself from the ether and swirled to life in Iruka's eyes.
An explosion of chakra tore open a doorway to a world of darkness neither of them recognized. Like a mirror, it showed a reflection of the world, of them, but it was…wrong.
It was dead, Iruka realized. The trees and grass dead. No moon. Floating lights…
Souls.
It was the Pure Land, he realized with a jolt, clutching the baby to his chest.
And there, at the edge, a small form resting just on the other side, nestled in a bed of dead grass.
Newly crossed over, Iruka realized as more figures suddenly appeared, entering through Iruka's door and moving steadily deeper into the Pure Land until they were no longer visible.
Some of them wore hiates with the symbol of Konoha.
Victims of the fox, he realized and then the baby's spirit moved further into the Pure Land, away from the edge and Iruka moved without thinking.
Lunging forward, he reached through the door and grabbed the tiny figure, but as soon as he'd touched it, a powerful wind began sucking everything into the Pure Land.
"Whoa!" Obito managed to dig his feet in, pushing chakra down to hold them in place, and grabbed Iruka before he was sucked completely inside.
The vortex grew stronger, sucking in everything,
"Iruka, let go!" Obito's grip was so tight he'd likely break Iruka's ribs if he had to hold on much longer, but Iruka couldn't bring himself to release the small form on the other side.
There had already been so much loss this night.
Iruka's parents.
Kushina and all those who'd died protecting her during childbirth.
All those dead from the fox's rampage. Putting that thing in a cage was the stupidest thing anyone had ever done, Iruka thought. What beast took well to a cage?
More and more figures appeared as they crossed to the Pure Land. Iruka recognized a few of those bearing Konoha hiates.
And the battle still raged. The light of the fox's fire was still visible about the trees despite being over thirty miles from the village.
This poor child wouldn't even be the youngest victim of the night, would he? The hospital had been in the first part of the city the fox had reached, and the battle had not yet let up enough to search the rubble by the time Iruka's parents had arrived.
A few of those figures that had entered the Pure Land had looked distinctly…crushed.
So much death in a single night.
And this innocent child in the middle of it.
Iruka cannot let go.
He couldn't save his parents. He couldn't save Obito. He couldn't protect Itachi who was now protecting his entire family by himeslf.
So even if the Pure Land decided to suck in everything living thing in the Land of Fire, it wasn't going to get this child.
It wasn't going to get Naruto.
He couldn't hear Obito over the wind of the vortex, so much of his chakra drenched the area it was impossible to detect anything but.
Iruka would exhaust his chakra soon and then he die alongside Naruto. So would Obito, because his brother would not let him go.
Itachi and newborn Sasuke would be all that was left…if they survived the night.
That thought drives him.
He has lost his parents and an untold number of friends, he will not loose anymore.
He pulls. It takes such great effort it feels like his arm is being ripped from his body. He can feel the muscle separating from the bone, the bone pulling away from the socket.
But he can't let go.
The small figure in his arm is so still, so cold, so Iruka pushes through the pain and pulls. Obito's grip tightens, fractures something, but it just fades into all the other pain he feels, and his brother doesn't let go.
And then Iruka succeeds. He pulls so hard he manages to drag the tiny figure back through the doorway to the Pure Land.
And just like that, it falls silent.
The doorway disappears, the vortex fades away, and the little figure under his hand disappears in a cloud of chakra.
And in his arms, Naruto cries for the first time.
***
Present Day
: :Root Base, Forest of Death, Konohagakure: :
Sometime After Midnight Oct 8th
Danzo hadn't believed his agents when they'd reported Iruka's Rinnegan the first time.
The last recorded sighting of that evolution of the Sharingan had been the Sage of the Six Paths himself, though Danzo had always suspected that Madara had achieved it and that the Senju brothers, Hashirama and Tobirama, had helped hide it.
Two great men who had been brainwashed by the Uchiha.
He'd been in the midst of leading the attack against the Uchiha compound while Hiruzen was distracted by the fox when the first report had reached him. He'd been enraged at the interruption because he hadn't realized Itachi had been left to protect the compound and, along with Uchiha Mai and Uchiha Ran, two of the strongest Sharingan users, was steadily cutting down every Root soldier Danzo had brought with him.
None of his people had gotten close enough to grab the infant Sasuke, and at the rate this was going, he wasn't going to have time to summon more before Minato got the fox under control and Hiruzen noticed what was happening.
At least Minato was guaranteed to die sealing the fox and Danzo would not have to deal with him anymore. Uchiha Mikoto was guaranteed to be too distraught over Kushina to be any threat anymore. And Fugaku was guarenteed to be spread to thin to do anything with his wife and all his sons out of comission.
It stilled galled Danzo now, after a lifetime, a death, and a ressurection, that he'd underestimated them so badly.
It turned out that instead of grief leaving them debilitated, turned them into greater pains than they had ever been before. He had miscalculated. Grief was often uncontrollable like that.
Look at Koharu. Still grieving her father and her pride and so easily manipulated because of it. Danzo had long ago discovered the truth about her father, but he knew Koharu would never believe it. She'd built her father into some great hero in her mind, the same way she'd built Madara into a terror after one run-in as a child. She would never accept the truth, nor would she accept the fact that their beloved teacher had a direct role in his demise.
She was still such a child in some ways. Still stuck in that day where Madara had looked scary, and Hashirama had been kind. If she wasn't his beloved teammate, he'd have set her aside long ago.
Grief had made Fugaku and his family even more dangerous and even bigger pains in the ass.
And now he finally had the biggest one in his grip, and he couldn't help but remember that night.
When the weakest of the Uchiha had become the most valuable.
***
Night of the Nine-Tails Attack
: :Konohagakure: :
It had been the third operative that reported the same thing that had finally made Danzo pay attention and forget his fury at Itachi, who was somehow leading the remains of his clan to hold off a full-on assault from Root's best.
The third one to report seeing Iruka open a door to the Pure Land and pull something, someone out.
And then the babe had cried, Neko had reported.
The babe that had come out of Uzumaki Kushina dead.
Danzo had abandoned the attack on the Uchiha compound to sprint to the sight with what was left of his forces.
But he'd been too late.
Hiruzen had arrived first.
Still covered in Biwako and Minato's blood and flanked by what remained of his ANBU. Danzo had no choice but to order his operatives to stay back as he watched the confrontation between Iruka and Hiruzen.
Fugaku's chakra was fast approaching, and another chakra signature was fleeing rapidly to the west, but it was already too far ahead to catch up with.
The infant was screaming in Iruka's arms despite the boy's attempts to comfort it.
"Iruka, you must give me the child." Hiruzen sounded tired. As he often did in the years since they'd lost Kagami.
"Where's Minato?"
Hiruzen had already looked his years, but tonight seemed to have aged him another few decades. "He is gone, Iruka."
If anything, that made the boy clutch the child closer. "Doesn't that mean Mikoto gets him?"
Hah, Danzo had spent countless hours trying to find a way around Kushina's will and Hiruzen had ended up doing it for him.
The Balance of Power. A simplistic, short-term plan inspired by Senju Hashirama. It had been easy enough to encourage it when Hiruzen had first started talking about it. Hiruzen was as foolishly opptimitistic about it as Hashirama had been.
And both of them had been incapable of seeing how it failed long term. It worked best, and only, as a bandaid and it could only be extended by absolute control over that power.
There was time to gain control over the Jinchūriki so long as Hiruzen stuck to his plan.
And if he could train the Jinchūriki to tap into the demon's chakra the boy could be strong enough to face the Mangekon Sharingan and whatever Iruka had managed to do with that purple eye.
It was fading even as he argued with Hiruzen.
"You just want to leave him in an orphanage?"
Of course, the brat would be angry about that. He was headed to one now, too, because Danzo would make sure that Hiruzen and Fugaku stuck to their deal concerning Iruka now that Obito was taken care of.
He didn't imagine a child as uncontrollable or emotional as Iruka would last long on his own.
"The balance must be maintained, Iruka." Hiruzen was lowering himself to plead with the brat. Would the man ever stop being such a softhearted fool? "It may be difficult to understand now, but in time you will learn. The village will only survive if the power between the clans is balanced."
Iruka snarled arms curled protectively around Naruto. "Why do the clans have any power? Isn't the point of the village that we're all one clan?"
Such an idealistic fool. How was he Fugaku's blood? As much as Danzo hated the Uchiha Clan Leader, the man knew the truth of things better than anyone else.
Except Danzo himself, of course.
It was what made him such a troublesome enemy. Fugaku saw the truth of the world and the motivations of others that allowed him to manipulate them, but he limited himself because of his morals.
Danzo had no such limitations. One could not when one was putting the village before all else.
It was why Danzo would win in the end. Fugaku could cling and claw and hang on until he had nothing left, but Danzo would always be the last one standing.
"It is not that simple, Iruka. If you would let me teach you-"
"No! You keep saying you want to teach me. You want to raise me, show me everything, but all it means is you want to take me away."
"Iruka, you don't understand-"
"Then just tell me! Everything you offer comes with conditions, old man. You never just tell me anything."
Hiruzen's face fell. "Perhaps I was Hokage too long. I-…I have forgotten life outside of these dreadful politics."
"That's not an excuse." Iruka snarled, because the boy could never just accept anything. "The Hokage is supposed to be the one above all that, right? You're the one that's supposed to protect the village from people like that."
Danzo considered stepping into view. Hiruzen was always so weak when it came to his grandsons, but the sudden flare of Fugaku's chakra at the end of his senses kept him still.
He did not have the strength to face the Uchiha Clan Leader alone and his none of the opperatives with him were enough when he knew Hiruzen would interveen.
Their twisted relationship gave him a headache.
Fugaku arrived a moment later, covered in ash and blood.
The last Namikaze was dead then. Fugaku would not have left him in his dying moments.
"Sensei!"
Hiruzen's face darkened as Iruka rushed to his father, presenting the infant clutching at his shirt.
"I saved him!"
Fugaku crushed them btoh to his chest. Always so controled in public, and so out of control in private, Danzo mused and watched the envy creep into Hiruzen. Despite his surviving sons and the grandchildren they would no doubt one day give him, he still longed desperately for the affection of Mari's children and he interupted their reunion out of sheer jealousy.
"Give me the child, Iruka."
And a little bit more of Hiruzen crumbles when Iruka looks to Fugaku first.
God, they're all so pathetic, Danzo thinks. None of them are fit to lead this village.
"Hiruzen-"
"No. You know the balance must be maintained, Fugaku."
"But Kushina wanted-"
"Kushina would understand."
Even though Danzo can feel the spike of anger in Fugaku's chakra, nothing shows on the man's face. He is a skilled actor, a shinobi of immaculate control. It is these moments that always make Danzo mourn his inability to turn him as a boy.
"Would she?" Fugaku asks. "What will she say to you when you meet her again?"
Hiruzen's flinch is minute.
"What will Minato say?"
"They will understand," Hiruzen states, resolute.
For a second, Danzo hopes they fight. Hopes Fugaku throws his control aside, hopes Hiruzen finally gives into the jealous rage.
But they do not. Disappointing as always.
The baby screams when it's removed from Iruka's arms by an ANBU, who immediately disappears in a swirl of smoke and leaves.
Iruka looks mutinous, which seems to be his default most of the time.
Is this the final break, Danzo wonders- hopes?
"Come with me, Iruka. You can stay with me until your home is rebuilt." Hiruzen offers.
Iruka is well aware he cannot stay with the Uchiha. It was Fugaku himself who told him of the agreement that decided Obito and Iruka must remain orphans in the eyes of the world.
Fugaku cannot take in his own son, but there is nothing barring Hiruzen from taking in an orphan.
Except Iruka has always been surprisingly defiant. Willing to accept the hardroad in lieu of caving to outside pressure. The boy is adept at making himself find a home amid suffering.
Danzo is more than willing to admit he admires that strength, even while he finds it frustrating.
Iruka refuses, clinging to Fugaku's vest, and Danzo watches Hiruzen harden.
"There is no telling how long it will take to rebuild. Iruka, you cannot live alone on the streets."
"But Naruto can?" Perhaps Iruka gets his ability to hurt from Hiruzen himself.
"Talk some sense into your son, Fugaku." Hiruzen sighs.
"Iruka is old enough to make his own decision," Fugaku replies.
Danzo can smell blood in the air. The scent rising when Iruka ignores Hiruzen's outstretched hand.
His last tie to his beloved daughter turning away from him yet again.
In favor of the Uchiha.
It makes Danzo smile.
***
Present Day
: :Root Base, Forest of Death, Konohagakure: :
Sometime Before Dawn Oct 8th
"Hiruzen never forgave you for turning away from him that night," Danzo musses, using a handful of bloody hair to tilt Iruka's slumped head back. The blood replenishment pills he forces down Umino's throat will keep him from bleeding out for another twelve hours. "Those silly games you two used to play only made it worse. Did you do that on purpose? Rub his face in the fact that you choose the Uchiha over him."
Iruka choked on a mouthful of blood, trying to respond, but Danzo knew him well enough by now to know that it would only have been another sarcastic remark.
Iruka will spill every drop of his own blood before he gives up his brothers.
And with his father and the rest newly released from their coffins -and Danzo will find out how they did that, even if he has to kill them all, all over again- Danzo is unfortunately under a time crunch.
Tsunade's silly little attempt at curbing his influence is too little too late, but it can't be ignored completely.
Besides, it was impolite to ignore when one's enemy gave you such a beautiful opening. Every clan leader and important figure in Konohagakure's government was required to be present for Tsunade's mediocre show of force. It would give Danzo an excellent opportunity to reinforce his hold, as well as announce his return.
Tsunade was expecting to reinforce her own position, but the only one who would come away stronger was Danzo.
Iruka gurgled, the needles Danzo had inserted into his lungs were slowly filling them with blood. He was still hanging on. He had three more hours according to Danzo's calculations, but Iruka always loved to prove him wrong, so Danzo actually expected him to last past morning light.
He hadn't decided yet if he was going to let anyone discover his body.
With the seal in the blindfold blocking the Sharingan, twenty years of work and blood, and the fact that whatever it was that Iruka's Rinnegan did, whether it was opening the door to the Pure Land or resurrecting a fallen soul itself, it destroyed the chakra Iruka used to do it entirely, his chakra was so little that even the best sensor would have a difficult time finding him through the seals on the Root base.
"I know you don't care, but Hiruzen always considered you his first grandchild." Danzo hummed as he inserted another needle. "I'm not sure why he never liked the other one, but he only ever spoke of you when we talked. He forbid me from speaking about your eyes, you know. He hated any acknowledgment of your Uchiha blood." Danzo scoffed, the memory of a bright-eyed, happy teammate long gone surfacing. "I don't understand this obsession people have with you Uchiha. You're barely human. Animals. Beasts driven by instinct. And yet, Hiruzen, Tobirama-sensei, they both chose one of you over me."
Kagami had already been a teenager by the time he'd joined their team, though he'd been learning from Tobirama for several years before then.
It had shown when he'd wiped the floor with the three of them during their first training session.
And yet, as much as he'd been Tobirama's student, his favorite student Danzo now knew and a member of their team, he'd never been a teammate.
He'd simply shown up one day and taken the majority of Tobirama-sensei's attention and then all of Hiruzen's.
And he hadn't even returned it. He'd had a wife from his own clan he was devoted to. It had taken years before he'd even realized the depths of Hiruzen's attentions. Danzo had lost track of how many pep talks he'd given Hiruzen before the future Hokage had finally grown a spine. Koharu and Homura had given up after the first few.
And Hiruzen had gone ahead and married Biwako anyway. Never stopping to consider that Danzo, who'd introduced them, had actually been interested in her for himself.
Of course, he hadn't. Hiruzen was many things, and among them was a tendency to be terribly selfish.
Danzo had gotten over it, of course. Had even comforted Hiruzen after Kagami had professed nothing more than friendship for him.
Biwako had ended up only being a passing interest anyway. However, it had been amusing when she'd ended up jealous of her daughter.
Mari is the only one he actually regrets losing. She was his equal in a way no one else has ever been, despite her young age. Danzo had truly hated Hiruzen for a moment after he'd killed her. But everyone was replaceable, and another had taken her place quickly enough that Danzo had decided to forgive Hiruzen for her loss.
"You look nothing like your mother," Danzo tells Iruka and feels nothing at the gurgle and mouthful of blood that he knows was meant to be a curse.
Iruka has never had any attachment or curiosity towards his biological mother. Even after Kohari's death when Danzo had offered to tell him about Mari because Hiruzen still found it too painful.
Iruka was remarkably resilient emotionally.
It was terribly annoying.
Danzo glanced at the clock.
It was almost five in the morning. The sun would begin to rise in another hour. Tsunade's meeting would take place in seven hours.
His operatives were ready and waiting, but there was no sign of any attack. ANBU still hadn't discovered the majority of their bases in the forest.
He had plenty of time to wrap this up and get ready for the show.
***
Present Day
: :Memorial Stone, Konohagakure: :
0613 Oct 8th
Yamaki Yajirobi is used to it by now. He's been getting the "Are you related to the Hatake? You look just like-" His entire life.
The only person who has met him and not commented on it is Maito Gai. They don't work together often, unfortunately, because Yajirobi wouldn't mind more time to admire those shapely legs.
He's never actually spoken to Hatake Kakashi and he's only just realizing it as he approaches both of them at the Memorial Stone.
Gai brightened at the sight of him, and Yajirobi felt himself offer a small smile back. It's actually been a year or two since they last spoke. A short mission before they knew the war was coming, and then they'd both been so busy that they hadn't crossed paths until it was over.
Yajirobi is Fukurou the wise even after shattering his mask and his oath. It is his advice Iruka and Kotetsu depend on most and he is careful when he offers it.
Maito Gai is a man of unquechable spirit and unquestionable moral standing. Despite his success as a shinobi, there is no one in the village who would call him cruel, or a monster, or even scary. Unlike most of them, he has found a way to maintain who he is amidst the blood and gore of their field.
And he smiles like the sun. So bright and beautiful that it makes even the stoniest of them smile back. In another world, Yajirobi would have asked him to dinner long before now, but thats been off the table for so long now.
He was thinking about it years ago. Before the chunnin exam where his apprentice decided to try out his own path in such spectacular fashion. Yajirobi doesn't begrudge him that, Kabuto had needed it to get to where he is now and Yajirobi will never regret anything that brought his student happiness.
That was all Nana had ever wanted for him.
Ah, that's who Gai has always reminded him of.
Nana.
It's the kind heart through all adversity and the blinding enthusiasm.
Yajirobi's been nursing a small crush on him for a few years now, but dragging Gai into the war with Danzo wasn't something any of the Hanta were willing to do.
So Yajirobi had stayed away. Watched over him from a distance when he had the time.
Which was how he knew something was wrong with Gai that he hadn't shared with anyone else.
He was, to Yajirobi's calibrated eye, just a hair slower, a hair weaker than he used to be. There was something wrong with his chakra system, but he hadn't seen anyone for it yet.
Gai beamed at him. "Good Morning Jounin Yamaki!"
"Good Morning Jouinin Maito." Yajironi would never be able to muster the sheer amount of cheer Gai did, but he did meet him halfway and shake his hand.
…And kept shaking his hand as they smiled at one another.
"Ahem." They jerked apart when Kakashi cleared his throat, looking amused.
Gai flushed, but Yajirobi just glared at Kakashi with enough strength that the other jounin threw up his hands in amused surrender.
Yajirobi knew Iruka loved him, but he wasn't completely sold on Hatake Kakashi.
But on that thought, that was why Yajirobi had sought them out this morning. "Have you seen Iruka?"
***
Present Day
: :Umino Iruka's Apartment, Konohagakure: :
0634 Oct 8th
"I still don't get why you won't just talk to him."
"I said no."
"But if you would just-"
"Seriously, dobe? Let it go."
"But why, Sasuke?" The blond whined. "Why are you trying so hard not to be happy?"
"I'm not trying not to be happy, Naruto." The raven-haired Uchiha snarled. "I'm trying not to be unhappy, and everything about him makes me unhappy."
"But why?" Naruto's whine grew more pronounced, even as his thrusts grew more forceful.
Sasuke's eyes rolled back as Naruto's cock went deeper, budging past his prostate and sending shocks of pleasure along Sasuke's spine. He dug his nails into Naruto's back in response, but the freak liked that and purred, nuzzling at Sasuke's neck as he picked up the pace.
Sasuke's stamina was above average, he could go for three or four rounds before he couldn't get it up again, but Naruto's was inhuman, still tied to the damn fox. Sasuke would fuck him a few times and then let Naruto work off the rest of his energy giving Sasuke a few more orgasms he didn't have to work for.
"Sasuke." It was breathy, breathless, and filled with so much want that it made Sasuke's heart clench.
There was one person in this world who wanted Sasuke.
Who'd probably always wanted him, even when he was being too stupid to notice.
When both of them were too stupid to notice.
Sasuke buried his face in the curve of Naruto's neck, where it meets his shoulder, and smelled the sweat, his and Naruto's mixed, and underneath the scent of sunshine that is unique to Naruto.
It soaks into Sasuke like his chakra, and his cock twitches where it's trapped between their stomachs.
Naruto is a brand of heat inside him, taking up space Sasuke didn't realize was just for him and making sure it's impossible for Sasuke to forget that he was there.
Sasuke is a weak, pathetic man. He can give up a lot, can leave anyone behind to assuage his ego, his pride, his sense of justice…
… Everyone except Naruto.
Naruto who chased him across the world, through worlds. Who refused to let go of worthless, angry, so easily abandoned Sasuke.
Who everyone else had abandoned.
Everyone except Naruto.
And Sasuke knows, he does, that not everyone who left him behind had a choice in it.
His parents, who chose to die because they thought it would give Sasuke a better chance.
Iruka, he know nows was between so many hard places and still managed to be there in the shadows.
Itachi, who had seen the only real way to protect the village and Sasuke.
Sakura, who had better survival instincts than anyone else and better than the rest of them, knows the value of living to fight another day.
Kakashi, who'd never wanted Sasuke anyway, not even when they were the only two people in the world with the Sharingan, but he'd tried anyway.
Until he hadn't.
That's what Sasuke can't get past.
There was a period, albeit a short one, where they were the only two people in Konohagakure in the world, carrying the weight of the Sharingan.
Hell, Kakashi hadn't known anything about the Sharingan, but he'd known more than Sasuke, and he still hadn't wanted him.
Sasuke was fine(ish) being back. Naruto and Ino's propaganda campaign had turned his entire family into folk heroes, and suddenly Sasuke wasn't the enemy; he was the poor little brother left behind. The tortured son of a noble family.
It was disgusting, and he was still so angry, so furious there were moments where he still wanted to burn it all down.
He wouldn't, because Naruto, obviously, but he does think about it.
A lot.
Naruto's cock shoved back in, rubbing over his prostate, "Oh fuck!" and sending a shock of pleasure up his spine. Naruto groaned as Sasuke's legs tightened around his hips.
For some reason, he loved when Sasuke clung to him.
***
Sakura eyed the door. She could already feel the headache forming. At her shoulder, Ino crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.
"They might still be asleep."
Hinata fiddled with the sleeves of her new robes, having to get an entirely new wardrobe as the clan leader had left her feeling slightly uncomfortable in her new skin. "Maybe we should let them sleep for a little longer?"
"Please, you know those two are fucking." Ino snorted.
"Of course they are," Sakura rolled her eyes and kicked the door open. "Oi, idiots!"
Naruto screamed and flailed. Sasuke looked more annoyed than surprised, chucking a pillow at Sakura that she easily knocked away. "Put your dicks away, boys. Iruka-sensei is missing."
***
"Why do we call all our generous ideas illusions and the mean ones truths?"
Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth
***