***
Sometimes love does not have the most honorable beginnings, and the endings, the endings will tear you in half. It's everything in between we live for.
Ann Patchett
***
Present Day
: :Itawa Hospital, Konohagakure: :
2136 Oct 7th
The hospital had filled almost all its beds with the Hyuga affected by the breaking of the seal. Only the healthiest of the young adults were strong enough not to require treatment.
All of the Elders over seventy years of age had died from the overload of chakra.
As well as a six-month-old who had only received the seal the day before and hadn't yet been able to recover from that.
Anyone under the age of ten and over the age of fifty, or anyone with general ill health, would be in the care of the healers for some time as they attempted to discover the side effects of Hinata's choice.
Meanwhile, Hinata had been officially recognized while they were still evacuating her clansmen to the hospital, and Hiashi had only been saved by a six-hour surgery that stopped the internal bleeding and saved his small intestine.
Tsunade had been furious but unable to condemn either of them since the laws concerning challenges, while antiquated, were still in effect.
Hinata had not apologized or offered any justification for her actions, though the Senior Council and other village leaders had called an emergency meeting to discuss them. She hadn't even shown up, just sent a note explaining that due to the current situation she was not available to appear.
If Tsunade hadn't been the one left to calm everyone down, she'd have toasted the young woman's guts.
Unfortunately, she had to spend three hours calming all of them down before she could finally escape. People are going to start owing her bottles of sake, good bottles, if they keep this up.
She hadn't even bothered going home to sleep, to angry and to wound up to sleep or deal with Jiraiya fussing, he'd finished his latest novel and had nothing better to do, and she was going to strangle him if he kept it up.
She went to the gambling all instead. A few hours of peace and endless drinks were worth the lecture she'd get the next morning.
Unfortunately, she'd only been two hours and a few thousand yen down, when she'd caught sight of the glowing yellow eye in the glass.
Of all the creatures she didn't want to see right now.
Kakashi folded himself into the seat next to her.
"What are you doing here, brat?"
"Keeping an eye out," he winked slowly, and she knew he was sporting one of those stupid grins under his mask. One that said he was being funny to hide that he was being scary.
Thirty years and he was still an idiot.
"It's fine, I'll deal with him when I'm ready." She polished off the bottle and tossed the last of her coins down.
Kakashi slouched down next her, somehow giving the impression he was watching the entire room with one eye covered and one of Jiraiya's stupid books in front of his face.
She played for another hour before the yellow eye blinked and a particularly ominous aura descended over the gambling den. It seemed even friendly gods didn't have pleasant chakras.
"Come on, brat. Let's get this over with."
Kakashi ambled after her, hardly the image of the deadly shinobi that had become a living legend before he was even a teenager.
Kuromaru had slipped out to wait for them at the road, looking like the normal nin-kin they'd all thought he was until recently. Gaku was nearby, one of Tsume's most trusted clan members, and a reliable shinobi neither of them had paid much attention to before. He offered a warm smile, even as Kuromaru turned his back on them and started walking.
No one bothered speak on the short walk to the Inuzuka Compound. It was late enough that the streets were mostly empty and by the time they reach the residential area where the clan compounds existed, they were the only ones out.
The gates to the compound were open and they swung closed as Tsunade and Kakashi stepped inside.
"Not ominous at all," Kakashi murmured.
Tsunade snorted, far past being scared by something so theatrical.
The Inuzuka Compound fit its clan, like the Sarutobi Compound that was filled with libraries and illustrious halls. The Shimura displayed their weathered in ostentatious displays. The Fuma had sharp edges and shuriken mounted everywhere. The Akimichi had kitchens around every corner. You couldn't take a step in any direction in the Yamanaka Compound without running into a flower of some kind. The Nara's compound was simple, wide open and easy to maintain but maze-like when you actually entered the buildings. The Hyuga's looked like something from the court in the capitol.
The Aburame's was hard to find, nestled deep in the forest all of their structures were designed to support. The Uchiha's was a tribute to their nomadic period prior to the Clan Wars. The buildings mismatched and simple but filled with extensive gardens that hosted plants from all over the world.
The Inuzuka Compound was loud, even at night, toys and training equipment stacked haphazardly through the yards. The buildings were small except for the veterinary hospital and the meeting hall, a long lodge-like structure with multiple skylights to expel the smoke from the fires within.
Kuromaru disappeared inside, but Tsunade and Kakashi paused at the door.
"Have you ever been inside before?"
Kakashi's drawl was distinctly unamused. "Nope."
Gaku practically radiated amusement, "It's alright. She just wants to talk."
"Tsume's version of talking seems to be a lot more violent than most people's."
He outright laughed at that. "Fair. Shouldn't be that bad tonight. She's in a good mood."
"Still not comforting." Tsunade snapped, but they followed him in anyway.
Hearth fires along the walls illuminated and warmed the long hall. Tapestries depicting the history of the Inuzuka hung above them. Kuromaru and Tsume seemed to feature more often than not.
There were a few Uchiha and Aburame at important points. Even Kaguya, who Tsunade mostly recognized from the moon depicted under her.
The active shinobi of the clans were gathered around a great firepit in the center. Tsume sprawled on what could only be called a throne behind it but actually looked like a giant pile of pillows. Hana and Shisui flanked her to the right, Kiba and Shino to the left.
Two large scrolls sat at her feet and Tsunade recognized the ancient genealogical records the older clans kept. There was a Senju one stored somewhere in the village archives, Tsunade had left most of the clans records there when she'd left because there was nowhere else to put them.
That memory makes her realize…she should probably check on those at some point. Make sure no one, i.e. Danzo, did something with them.
There was an unoccupied table set across the fire from Tsume, set with several bottles of sake and two cups.
Going to be one of those conversations, was it? Kakashi frowned. That's a lot of sake.
"Sit down, sit down, have a drink," Tsume took a long pull from a pipe, expelled a perfect circle of smoke.
Kakashi recognized the smell of a brand of tobacco his father had favored. He'd had to order it from the Land of Tea, but maybe it had become more wildly available in the years since he'd died.
Though Tsume clearly wasn't hurting for money.
Tsunade examined the sake bottle and raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised you were able to get more than one bottle. The brewer is famous for limiting how much a single party can buy."
Tsume grinned, "His family owes me from back in the day."
Tsunade and Kakashi shared a brief look. How far back in the day was Tsume talking? There were enough questions, enough discrepancies that pretty much anything was possible.
They were both equally certain that Tsume wasn't human. Or at least, not human the way they were.
"What do you want, Tsume?" Tsunade, tired and still annoyed from the earlier meeting.
"Eh, why the snippy tone, Princess. I just want to talk. Have a drink." The unsaid 'you'll need it' echoed around the room.
"I've had a long day, Inuzuka. I want to rest, so spit out whatever you want or I'm leaving."
Kakashi glanced between the two of them. Tsunade's patience had been running thin lately, understandable given everything that had happened.
Tsume, who'd been volatile before, had only gotten worse since this whole thing started. Kakashi had had a few opponents in his life that liked to pick fights like Tsume. Generally, they fell quickly, more ego than skill, but for all that Tsume had poked and prodded, she hadn't actually started the fight itself.
Kakashi couldn't figure out why.
A quick sweep of the room revealed that Sakumo wasn't present, although he knew his father was staying in the Inuzuka Compound. That kiss he'd shared with Tsume after the battle against Shinmoro's yokai had already made the rounds in the village gossip and now there were stories of a secret love affair, young lovers torn apart by their families, and it was all very dramatic and romantic and Kakashi had no idea if any of it was true.
Sakumo had only tried to approach him once, but Kakashi hadn't been, and still wasn't, in any mood to talk. It was bad enough he'd been plagued by nightmares of killing the man for years and now to find out there'd been a whole lot he'd never told Kakashi…
Kakashi didn't have the energy for it.
Although Obito was being less accepting of Kakashi desire for solitude. After the third time Kakashi had shut the door in his face, he'd given his old teammate a week before he was breaking the door down.
Kakashi had three days left.
And maybe he'd set a few extra traps on the door.
See how Obito liked bright pink hair and bunny ears.
It would serve the nosy asshole right.
Tsume stood suddenly and Kakashi tensed, but Hana reached out before anyone else could speak.
"Mother," she sounded like a commander ordering a soldier down, which was amusing. Kakashi had never worked with her much, but she had a rock-solid reputation.
And apparently, her mother listened to her, because all Tsume did was roll her eyes and collapse back onto her seat.
"Fine, fine."
Hana offered them a gentle smile as she stepped forward, sending two Inuzuka shinobi hurrying over to collect the genealogy scrolls with a single gesture. "We do appreciate you coming, Lord Hokage, Commander. Mother wanted to share some information with you."
"She could have come to the tower," Kakashi pointed out. Since that was the actual, acceptable behavior given Tsunade's rank.
Hana winced, "Yes, well, this information…is rather sensitive. You know as well as I do that being in that tower, doesn't automatically make you trustworthy."
Gentle smile aside, Hana was her mother's daughter. Those Inuzuka fangs were beginning to show.
"And you will want a drink after this." She smirked, flashing her canines.
Definitely her mother's daughter.
The two shinobi brought the scrolls to Kakashi and Tsunade. Kakashi recognized the Inuzuka Clan symbol on one, the symbolic red fangs members of the clan had born since their inception all those generations ago.
But the other…
"How did you get this?" Tsunade snarled, snatching the Senju genealogy scroll. Grey vajras lined the edges of the scroll.
"Look again," Tsume commanded.
They peered closer and…
"What?"
Blue Uchiha uchiwas were interspersed with the grey vajra.
"This is a Uchiha genealogy scroll? Open it," Tsunade commanded.
"You're a Senju, your blood will do," Hana explained.
Tsunade bit her thumb and pressed it to the central seal. The typical flash and smoke faded quickly as the scroll began to un-roll.
"You'll want to look towards the end," Tsume busied herself with her pipe. Tapping out the ash, holding it out as another clan member refilled the tobacco. A spark and the sweet smell filled the air again.
The scroll was ridiculously long, which made sense given the long history of both clans. The Inuzuka shinobi helped Tsunade un-roll it until she could see the more recent generations.
"Alright, what am I-"
Kakashi stiffened when Tsunade's face turned ashen.
"Tsu-"
Her hand up cut him off. Her chakra was boiling as she met Tsume's eyes. "Is this real?"
"That scroll has better protection than you do. For obvious reasons."
"Mother was asked to protect it," Hana stepped in, trying to pacify all parties. "Uncle Fu wanted to be doubly sure it never came out, and he couldn't be sure that Iruka wouldn't destroy it or use it if the situation became desperate enough."
"Never come out, huh," Tsunade fingers danced over the aged ink.
Senju Hashirama and Uzumaki Mito begot Senju Akari.
Senju Akari and Senju Reichi begot Senju Tsunade.
Senju Tobirama and Uchiha Kikyo begot Uchiha Isamu.
Uchiha Isamu and Uchiha Naori begot Uchiha Asa, Uchiha Botan, Uchiha Izuna…and Uchiha Fugaku.
And then Uchiha Kagami and Uchiha Kikyo begot Uchiha Kenji, and two generations later…begot Uchiha Shisui.
"Pour the sake," Tsunade growled while Kakashi stared dumbly at the scroll.
Hana, looking suspiciously sympathetic, quickly did, and it was delicious. Soft and warm and tasting of plums.
Was this why the Senior Council hated the Uchiha so much? Because Kagami had clearly won the war for Tobirama's favoritism? Why else would Uchiha Kikyo have had children with both of them, barely a year apart? The First Uchiha was calculating, strategic, and obsessed with ensuring the survival of the Uchiha. Tobirama had adored Kagami and would have wanted to teach his child the way he'd taught his father. Aside from Hiruzen-sensei, none of the other members of that team had had children worthy of the Nidaime's tutelage.
And it meant Kagami and Tobirama were linked by blood.
That would have driven Danzo mad.
The political implications of the Senju and Uchiha blood mixing, of the Nidaime and a member of the Uchiha's foremost family, were staggering. There was a reason there had never been a political marriage arranged during the founding era of the village. Both sides were too afraid of what could result from mixing two such powerful bloodlines.
And they'd been right, hadn't they? Uchiha Fugaku stood unmatched in strategy, they were still falling into his traps long after he'd died. He'd managed to conceal his mastery of Mangekon until long after his death and father four children who'd all achieved it as well.
Obito, had nearly conquered the world. Sasuke, had nearly destroyed it. Itachi, had apparently been ten steps ahead of everyone else and saved it.
Iruka….
Iruka was annoying. And he was opinionated and, on her better, quieter days, never wrong, but he did lack the raw power his brothers had.
Thankfully.
This made them her cousins.
Her little baby cousins…with anger management problems and impulse control issues and a disturbing tendency to pick fights and do the exact opposite of whatever someone said was best.
She tossed back the sake and held out the empty cup. "Keep pouring."
"What's the other scroll?" Kakashi asked.
A splash of sake hit the table as Hana flinched.
"Oh fuck, what's in that one?" Tsunade groaned.
"Ah, actually-"
"That one's for Hatake," Tsume broke in.
Kakashi snatched the scroll and broke the seal.
"Kakashi, wait-" Hana set the sake down with a thud as the scroll unrolled.
It was right at the bottom.
Hatake Sakumo and Inuzuka Tsume begot Inuzuka child and Inuzuka Hana.
Hatake Sakumo and Hatake Ai begot Hatake Kakashi.
Inuzuka Ichiro and Inuzuka Tsume begot Inuzuka Kiba.
Tsunade looked between them with wide eyes and Kakashi offered a harsh laugh. "Claiming kin now?"
"Nobody's claiming anything, Kakashi." Hana voice was gentle, like the one she used to calm skittish dogs. "We just thought you should know given everything."
Everything being that Sakumo hadn't returned to the Hatake Estate and instead had taken up residence among the Inuzuka.
"What was my mother then?"
Before Hana could respond, Tsume blurred, appearing right in front of Kakashi with such speed that he fell back. "Your mother was beloved. By both Sakumo and myself." She expelled a long stream of smoke, "You grandfather didn't like me much," and she had a decidedly vicious smile as she said it. "Refused to acknowledge that Hana was Sakumo's daughter. Little Bird, Ai, was the only Hatake female that wasn't directly related to your father, the last of the lines and you grandfather was obsessed with having them marry. But your mother was frail, physically, not of the mind or the heart. The medi-nins didn't think she could survive a pregnancy so she and Sakumo never took your grandfather to heart. They figured he'd listen to the experts." She took another long pull. "He didn't obviously."
"Obviously," Kakashi parroted, because his mother had died delivering Kakashi.
"Little Bird and Sakumo married to shut him up. Because Little Bird could barely tolerate sex at all, she figured she was safer married to Sakumo, who was in love with me and who she also considered a good friend, than she would be married to anyone else." Tsume's smile was softer now, "We used to bring her on date nights, or they brought me? Or Ai and I brought your father? Whatever, it was the three of us and then I got pregnant with Hana and your grandfather found out."
There was something ominous about the way she said that and Kakashi tried to remember how his grandfather died.
"Little Bird found out that your grandfather tried to abort my pregnancy. He slipped a woman's tears, an old midwives' poison that induces a miscarriage, into sake he gave me as a peace offering."
"A woman's tears is extremely potent," Tsunade mused, "But it's also incredibly hard to source. The plant its derived from only grows in the Land of Tea and it's not common."
That sounded like his grandfather.
"I'd never seen Little Bird so angry. She went at your grandfather so violently that we ended up having to check her into the hospital. Your grandfather refused to apologize or stop, said he wouldn't allow bastard Hatakes. Like my daughter wouldn't be the next Inuzuka Clan Leader. I don't know where he got off being so high and mighty, since the Hatake line started from an Inuzuka who left the clan."
"Father never talked about him." Kakashi admitted, interested despite himself. It had been a forbidden topic when he was growing up.
"Not surprising," Tsume took a seat on the sake table, only shifting over when Tsunade poked her to get at the sake. "Sakumo never spoke to him again after that. It was Little Bird that refused to let it continue. Let me tell you, if there was anyone ever that should have been a shinobi that wasn't, it was her. Your mother had a stronger spine than anyone else I've ever met."
Something warm blossomed in Kakashi's chest. Aside from a few old pictures, no one had ever really talked about his mother when he was a child.
"She made a deal with your grandfather that she'd give him the Hatake grandchild he wanted so badly, so long as he left Sakumo and I alone. She convinced us to let her get pregnant. We only gave in because we thought there was enough power between us to keep her safe."
Hana handed her a photo that made Tsume's smile soften and for a brief moment, Kakashi could see the beauty underneath the harshness.
"Obviously, we were wrong."
She handed him the photo. Tsume herself hugely pregnant, Kakashi's mother just barely showing, but they were both grinning, arms around one another.
"The pregnancy took more out of her than any of us suspected. When I had Hana, she was the first to hold her. Even named her. Your grandfather actually had the nerve to be angry that Hana was an Inuzuka, not an Hatake. Delusional old fool thought he outranked me in the scheme of things."
To the side, Tsunade rolled her eyes and Hana hid a grin.
"Anyway, your mother started struggling halfway through the pregnancy, so we moved her in here. The Blood Wards can help stabilize chakra and increase healing. It was the only reason she was able to carry you to term. I doubt you remember, but I delivered you. Sakumo was on a mission, the rest of the Hatakes, which was basically just your grandfather at that point, were banned from the compound and I was still recovering from having Hana so I was here with her. You were born at one in the fucking morning, and you came out screaming."
Tsunade laughed and Kiba, who'd slowly inched closer, grinned as a blush stole across Kakashi's cheeks.
"Little Bird lived for three months after giving birth to you. She held you and nursed you until her strength gave out and the wards couldn't sustain her anymore. She's buried next to our first child."
Kakashi stared at the picture. His mother looked so young, she couldn't have been more than twenty and she was pretty in a frail, gentle way. With long white hair and bright blue eyes that stood out even against Tsume's blood red. "She looks like an ancestor of yours, Gin. They called him Shiroyasha."
Kakashi had heard the name. An old family myth that had been recorded in a collection of short stories about the Hatake. He'd died long before they'd become a shinobi clan in the Land of Fire and been more well known for his skill with a katana than anything else. Until this moment, Kakashi hadn't believed he was real.
"Why weren't there pictures of her when I was growing up?"
"Because they were here. I realize you're only just beginning to understand the depth of what's happened in this village, but when you were born there were a lot of plans to raise you alongside Hana. To have you become one of the Hanta."
"That didn't happen," Kakashi growled.
"No shit, punk." Tsume blew out a cloud of smoke, stole a shot of sake from Tsunade.
"Mother," Hana's voice carried a note of warning.
Tsume sighed, "Not long after you were born, your grandfather showed up at the compound demanding you be turned over to him for raising. Sakumo and I refused, obviously, but your father wouldn't let me kill him. He went to Danzo, made some kind of deal that brought you to Danzo's attention and he got the Council and others involved. There was so much pressure that eventually Sakumo decided not to bring you in, to place you with Minato instead. Things were ramping up against the Uchiha and Sakumo had decided to go down with them, loyal fool, and he wanted to make sure you survived. He thought Minato was out of Danzo's reach."
"Why would he do that?" Kakashi demanded.
Tsume snorted, "Do you know who was on his genin team? It was Sakumo, Fugaku and Maito Dai. The three of them were practically inseparable under their jonin sensei, Aburame Sumi. Minato spent more time with them than his own team and Mikoto and Kushina were on a genin team with Shiba. We were all terribly close. Still are. Danzo is obsessed with destroying the Uchiha because he could never control them. He's always wanted the Sharingan, even wanted to marry into the clan so his children would have it, but Uchiha only love once and none of them ever loved him. Spoiled little prick."
Shisui snorted, sprawled out in Tsume's old seat. The cloth over his eyes did nothing to lessen the intensity of his gaze.
"His poison had sunk deep into the village, Sakumo was working on tracking down everyone loyal to Danzo when he…" Tsume looked away then, but her grief looked remarkably like anger. "He changed after the Uchiha were gone; we all did. Your grandfather was one of Danzo's most trusted shinobi, the first few years of your life he dragged Sakumo to court over and over to get custody of you, but Little Bird had left extensive testimony behind about his behavior and even Danzo's reach couldn't get him custody. The day he died, I threw a party. You probably don't remember, but that was the last time you and Hana played together."
Kakashi glanced at her, at the woman that was apparently his half-sister. She gave him a small smile. She'd clearly known all of this her entire life, all the times they'd run into one another, been in the same room, and she'd never let a single thing slip.
It was…impressive.
Annoying, but impressive.
Tsume continued, "Everything snowballed pretty quickly after that. You know most of it now."
It was still shocking to realize his father had been involved in all of it. Kakashi had never heard a word of it as a child, not even in the years immediately following his father's death.
The Sharingan pulsed, a gentle reminder. It hadn't bothered him once since he'd gotten the new hiate from Itachi, but it didn't let him forget it was there either.
Kakashi still wasn't comfortable with it, especially now that he'd realized the depths of its power, but it had taken to warning him whenever another Uchiha was approaching.
Well, it probably didn't intend to warn him so he could avoid them, but that was how it was working out and Kakashi was okay with that.
The ability to know where every Sharingan in the village was, was nice and it certainly went a long way to assuaging his general paranoia.
It also meant he'd never be free of a bunch of unhinged warrior-lunatics who'd dedicated their entire existence, and by extension the existence of the rest of the shinobi world, to a never-ending holy fight against an immortal goddess.
Kakashi had been looking forward to dying out on a mission in service to his village and his people, doing his duty until the end and then not having to worry about anything else ever again.
At this rate, he was going to have decades more worry in his future.
Decades more happiness too, but he didn't understand it well enough to even guess what that would look like. He thinks it might look like Iruka, happy and relaxed and content in a way Kakashi knows he's never been, can't even imagine really. Infuriating as the man was, as impossible to know and predict, lately he's the only person that inspires something tumultuous in Kakashi's chest that is rage or hurt.
Or painful regret, clawing sadness or blank acceptance that comes with others. Something new that's top of the list of things Kakashi's not ready to deal with.
All of these things coming out about his father and the Uchiha and Danzo don't help, obviously. It's just more and more information that makes Kakashi feel like a fool for not seeing it and useless, a pawn in the games of so many others.
Actually, that one pissed him off.
Who the fuck had the balls to make Friend-Killer Kakashi a pawn?!?
Danzo.
Uchiha Fugkau.
Umino Iruka.
Uchiha Itachi.
The Senior Council.
Uchiha Itachi.
Even Tsunade.
THE ENTIRE FUCKING UCHIHA CLAN.
Tsume.
His father.
"How did your grandfather die?" Tsunade muttered, polishing off her second bottle of sake.
Tsume snorted, "Don't be stupid. I did that."
"Shocking," Kakashi and Tsunade drawled in unison.
Hana sighed.
"So, let me get this straight," Tsunade failed to open the third bottle and scowled at it until a wide eyed Kiba inched forward and opened it for her, "I'm not the last Senju and the brat's not the last Hatake? That's what you called us here to tell us?"
Tsume nodded, looking amused.
"That's it?" Tsunade took a swig and slammed down the bottle.
"Was there something else you were hoping for?" Tsume murmured, she shared a sly look with Hana, who looked distinctly unimpressed with her mother.
Kakashi's gaze swung back and forth between them, unsure where Tsunade was going or why Tsume looked so pleased she was going there.
Tsunade leapt to her feet, swayed and stuck her finger in Tsume's face, "You! Not that I'm not happy to not be alone, but that's not what I wanted to know, and you know it!"
Tsume admired her oddly sharp nails. "I don't know what you're talking about Princess."
Tsunade snarled and lunged, grabbing a handful of Tsume's hair and yanking. Kakashi watched in stunned disbelief as the Hokage of Konohagakure and the leader of Inuzuka Clan devolved into a pair of immature teenage girls.
None of the Inuzuka looked particularly surprised. Hana just rolled her eyes so hard Kakashi was surprised she didn't hurt herself and Kiba wandered back to the Aburame boy and collapsed dramatically in his lap.
Seemed it ran in the family.
It was Uchiha Shisui that broke them up, taking them both by the neck and hauling them apart. "Don't fight unless you're going to fight for real."
The words seemed to startle Tsunade. "You think I wouldn't win, Uchiha?"
"You're drunk." Shisui returned blandly, "And no, you wouldn't win."
Tsunade snarled and suddenly, Kakashi, and the rest of the room, seemed to remember that Tsunade was a Sanin, a Kage in her own right, but it only made Tsume laugh.
"You want to know what I am so badly, Senju?" She shoved Tsunade back to her seat and slammed a bottle of sake down in front of her. "I was born from suffering. I crawled out of the misery and miasma of a battlefield called Sekigahara thousands of years ago. Thousands and thousands of bodies left to rot in the summer sun. Mothers searched for days to find the corpses of their children."
Sekigahara had been centuries ago, Kakashi only knew of it from an undercover mission in the Land of Iron when he was a teenager. The shinobi had forgotten it, but the samurai in the Land of Iron still taught it, claimed it as their origin in fact.
"I clawed my way into the world to fetid air and carrion birds circling. Kikyo was there to kill me, the Uchiha were mostly yokai hunters back then. It couldn't have been more than a decade after Indra himself passed, but time gets fuzzy after a while."
Tsunade's "Understandable," was clearly sarcastic.
"Even Kaguya fears me," and Tsume looked terribly smug about that, "Want to know why?"
Tsunade snarled, "Obviously." There might as well be flames coming off her with the way her chakra was blazing.
"All the failures of your parents and grandparents and all those ancestors you celebrate. I am the failure of your enemies and their ancestors. And I am Kaguya's failure too. There is no one that is not responsible for at least a little bit of me. I am the worry of every mother who sent her child off to war never to see them again. I am desperation of every mother searching through corpses littering the battlefield hoping not to find her child but still searching. I am the sadness of every mother who can only speak of her child, never again to them. All of you have made me so powerful that even Kaguya fears me. I am the mu-onna. Do you know enough about yokai to know what that is?"
Tsunade shrank a bit and so did Kakashi.
"I was born of the suffering of mothers who lost their children on battlefields. The grief, the loneliness, the powerlessness. I grow stronger every time another child dies in battle. Doesn't matter how big the battlefield is, doesn't matter how old someone's child is, it all makes me stronger, Princess. I am justice for all those leaders who thought they could send the futures of their lands to their deaths with no consequence. I am vengeance for all those children that didn't get to live long enough to have their own. And every death in battle, only makes me stronger."
Kakashi stared.
Tsunade blinked. "I can see why Kaguya is scared of you."
Something painful twisted in Kakashi's stomach.
"There's no one more terrifying on this earth than me," Tsume purred.
Kakashi agreed with her. She was the living breathing embodiment of all their failures. All their successes, every enemy killed, every comrade lost.
Every innocent they'd failed to save.
Kuromaru huffed, "Stop scaring them."
"My existence scares everyone." Tsume snorted and she wasn't wrong.
Kakashi's hand started to shake. Something must have shown on his face or through his chakra because Hana reached out and put a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Just breath, Kakashi."
Oh, his vision was going spotty at the edges. "I'm fine. I'm-" He glanced at Tsunade just in time to see her take another drink, "I'm going for air."
She'd be fine.
Kakashi needed… Kakashi needed space. Room to breathe.
He teleported as he stepped out the door.
***
Present Day
: :Umino Iruka's Apartment, Konohagakure: :
2314 Oct 7th
Naruto glanced at the clock over Sasuke's shoulder. "They're late."
Sakura, who's lap they were both sprawled over, balanced her book on their backs. "I'm sure it's fine. Shino said it might take a while."
Ino, fussing with the flowers she'd brought, "I wonder what the big secret is."
"I don't want to know," Shikamaru groaned, despondent on the ground next to her. Choji nodded around his popsicle.
Tenten turned to Hinata, "Do you know?"
But Hinata just shook her head. "No, Lady Tsume said it was safer if I didn't. I don't think Kiba or Shino know either. They always tried to keep us out of it."
"How bad could it be?" Lee wondered, doing his squats in a corner. The kyuubi perched on his head to add weight.
"Kurama knows," Sasuke muttered, giving to fox the stink eye.
Kurama gave it right back, "I like my skin attached to my body, Uchiha. I ain't saying shit."
The door swung open with a bang, making everyone jump as Kiba, with a much calmer Shino on his heels, burst in with a scream, "GUYS! You'll never believe what we found out!"
***
Present Day
: :Konohagakure: :
2314 Oct 7th
Kakashi changed direction half-way to Iruka's apartment. The Sharingan had woken in his mind, a bright flash of awareness alerting him to the other Sharingan already waiting in Iruka's apartment.
Sasuke. Which also meant Naruto and probably Sakura. And all the others based on how quickly Kiba and Shino had lit out after Kakashi left.
Only one Sharingan meant Iruka wasn't there anyway.
He stopped on a rooftop, why did he want to see Iruka anyway?
That way lay madness.
And all those things he didn't want to deal with.
But Iruka would also have answers and Kakashi was more comfortable demanding answers from him than Tsume. Shisui certainly hadn't seemed open to conversation given that the only time he'd said anything was to pull Tsume and Tsunade apart. The rest of the time he'd been content to sit back and watch, though he'd really only watched Hana.
Who was Kakashi's sister.
Half-sister.
And the brat was his half-brother? Was that how that math worked? Kakashi had so little experience with families he honestly wasn't sure.
Suddenly he wanted to talk to Sakumo. Demand the answers he needed from the person who should have told him in the first place.
Where was Sakumo?
The Sharingan pulsed, pulling his attention towards the Uchiha Compound and the gathering of bright chakra sparks gathered there.
Oh.
His father's lightning was in the gardens.
He flickered.
***
Present Day
: :Main House, Uchiha Compound, Konohagakure: :
2334 Oct 7th
Sakumo had been pacing the entire night. Fugaku and Minato had been manfully ignoring him, focused on the go board between them to give him some semblance of privacy without actually leaving him alone.
Shibi was helping Mikoto in the kitchen. He'd become surprisingly domestic after the loss of his wife, a far cry from the zealous warrior he'd been when they were the kid's age.
He hadn't really agreed with Tsume's little plan for the evening, but he hadn't disagreed enough to stop her either. It was information that had to come out eventually and since it was primarily about Tsume, they'd agreed it was her right to tell.
Knowing her, she'd slip in more than they needed to know, but it was Tsume and there was only so much arguing someone could do with a being that had clawed itself into existence from the darkness human misery.
Fugaku expected at least one visitor, depending on how well Tsume and Tsunade were getting along. Sakumo had been afraid to face his son in the family home and having a fight anywhere near the Inuzuka was always an invitation for the Inuzuka to join said fight. The Uchiha Compound wards were strong enough to give the illusion of privacy and the Aburame didn't allow physical conflict inside their compound anyway, it disturbed the bees.
Granted, they were all preparing to run away as soon as Kakashi showed up. They loved and supported Sakumo enough to know that he needed the support before the fight and privacy during it.
And Minato knew Kakashi well enough to know he'd hate having any kind of discussion with his father in front of anyone else.
Speak of the devil. A jolt of chakra approached, Kakashi appearing in a puff of smoke and leaves.
Sakumo froze, eyes wide behind his glasses. He used to look the same way as a kid whenever he was surprised by something their sensei showed them.
Or when Ai had told him she was pregnant.
And when Tsume had told him she was pregnant.
Sakumo was a brilliant shinobi and a good man…but at times he was a bit of an idiot.
As he packed up the go board, leaving the bowls to Minato, Fugaku idly wondered if Kakashi took after his father that way.
Iruka would certainly have his hands full if that was the case.
His Sharingan spun idly, reaching out, but neither Iruka nor Itachi's responded. Sasuke hadn't learned how to silence his and Obito knew but never cared enough too. Iruka and Itachi however, guarded their privacy, and their schemes, ferociously. It wasn't odd to reach for them once or twice before they responded.
He and Minato carried their game into the kitchen, taking over the small breakfast nook Mikoto had insisted on building when they'd married.
They're still not far away enough to not overhear what goes from a stiff greeting to yelling just shy of screaming. Kakashi hadn't struck him as the type to express that much emotion in public, but he supposes that even the strongest would be somewhat off balance after everything that's happened.
Mikoto, bless her heart, looks like she wants to go out there a few times and just barely restrains herself.
Whatever Sakumo and Kakashi have to say to one another is for one another only.
Whatever Tsume is saying to Tsunade is likely to be far more dangerous.
***
Present Day
: :Kiba no aru Hōru, Inuzuka Compound, Konohagakure: :
2334 Oct 7th
"It's called the Law of Non-Interference. It applies to anything that is not human, that won't live a single life and then pass on to the Pure Land."
Tsunade rubs her temples, willing away the headache from the sake and the meeting with the Council. "And who made it?"
"Moro and the King of the Forest. As the two oldest of the old gods, their word stands above all else. Kikyo supports it, and I agreed to it when it became clear no shinobi was ever going to be strong enough to kill me."
There's a hint of smirk as she says the last part and Tsunade would roll her eyes if they weren't throbbing.
"And what are the limits of this law? Because it seems to me, if you two are capable of handling Kaguya without a devastating loss of life, that would be the smarter way to go."
Tsume snorts, "You're still such an infant. Why should we do all the work? Its you're fucking world; we just happen to take up a small corner of it."
"But you could win!"
"Most likely. But if we do all the fighting, all the hard work and suffering, what exactly are you lot gonna do?"
"Live in peace and sake," Tsunade moaned, slumping over the table.
"You'd be fat, lazy and entitled and not at all worth saving. The old gods created the law because they did not believe that anyone who wouldn't fight for themselves was worthy of their aid. No one's going to fight for you if you won't fight for yourself first, Princess."
"I get it, I get it. Lead a horse to water, teach a man to fish," Tsunade muttered.
"Believe it or not, you kids haven't lost yet."
It's meant to be comforting, but all it does is drive home every worry, every weakness that's been dwelling in Tsunade's heart since she started to reluctantly believe everything that's been coming out. "Were the odds ever this against us before?"
Tsume laughs at her and if Tsunade wasn't already drunk, exhausted, and stressed she'd be game for another fight.
But she is, so she isn't and all she does is glare as powerfully as she can while the she-wolf howls.
"Princess, the odds have been a lot worse before and a lot better at other times. If you spend too much time focusing on that, you're going to lose before it even starts. This generation has some standouts for sure, but it's nothing special in the big scheme of things. Life will continue long after you're gone."
"How motivating," Tsunade drawled, angry and relieved in parts.
It was nice to know she wasn't the one that would see the end of all things.
***
Present Day
: :Root Base, Forest of Death, Konohagakure: :
2334 Oct 7th
Iruka is the weakest of his brothers. Physically. By measure of chakra and talent.
Emotionally.
He has never been able to forgive and forget and move on like Sasuke will do. Has never been able to push everything aside in the name of one thing like Obito.
He cannot see the good in the world through the darkness and the evil like Itachi.
He cannot find hope in nothing like Fugaku and the rest of the Uchiha.
He's only one of them by default, but it is enough.
He only awoke the Sharingan because he lost his parents. Kohari and Ikakku had vanished into the demon fox's flames and Iruka's eyes had spun to life bathed in their ashes.
He rarely uses it, for so long he couldn't risk it, couldn't risk revealing what it meant.
For most of his life, it's been nothing more than a link to his brothers to let him know they're still alive.
But Danzo's always been obsessed with it. Moreso than he is with Obito, Itachi, or Sasuke's.
Danzo hadn't even known Fugaku had achieved the Mangekon.
The fool.
But for some reason he latched onto Iruka's Sharingan early with a terrifying tenacity and had never let it go.
Each Rinnegan had an ability unique to its bearer. They still weren't sure if that was the original form of the Rinnegan or if it was simply a lack of ability or strength that came with a thinning bloodline. Their memory did not reach far enough back to tell if Hagoromo or Kaguya herself had the same ability as one of them or all of them at once.
Iruka had always believed it was just the bloodline weakening over time, with none of them developing the chakra or a Sharingan of necessary strength. Even Kikyo's Rinnegan was limited, though she'd never really admitted to its true strength.
There had always been rumors about Madara's Rinnegan and its ability to manipulate time. And Sasuke's could open doors to other dimensions. Obito's could see through anything, could see as far as he wanted whenever he wanted.
Itachi had never admitted to what his could do and his Sharingan had carefully hidden any memory of the knowledge. Iruka had a vague guess as to what it was, but it wasn't something he was even comfortable thinking about, let alone saying it out loud.
It was the kind of power no one, individual or clan or village, should ever have and he would never be the person that put that possibility out in the world.
Iruka's Rinnegan….
Well, again, it was the weakest of the bunch. Iruka could only use its ability a few times before it would kill him. He had maybe one left? If his chakra held out.
Was that what Danzo wanted so badly?
But there was no way he knew how limited the ability was. He would have written it off by now if that was the case.
He wouldn't be waving a glowing knife in Iruka face, threatening to push it through Iruka's skin every time he refused to answer a question, if he knew.
Iruka thinks about it, he does, about giving in and telling Danzo there's only one left. That's it not worth all this trouble.
But that would also be confirming everything Danzo only thought he knew at this point.
And Iruka was apparently a spiteful bastard, because the idea of taking that to his grave just to piss off Danzo was exhilarating.
So all he does, is give the withered old fool a bloody smile.
***
The night Iruka discovered the special ability of his Rinnegan was also the night he gained his Sharingan, achieved the Mangekon, and awoke the Rinnegan.
It was also the night Naruto died.
***
I am prepared to meet my maker, whether my maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
Winston Churchill
***
~ tbc