Running up That Hill
Chapter 10: Running up That Hill
The look of seriousness Fugaku faced him with made Kakashi pull Naruto closer to himself, securing the infant as he considered standing up and leaving. There was a heaviness in the air akin to a battlefield and it made Kakashi’s skin crawl. He was regretting once more bringing Naruto to Fugaku for help with the look the man was giving him.
“Calm yourself, I mean no harm to him or you. I witnessed something inside of Naruto’s mind-scape as I attempted to calm the beast.”
Still slightly trembling hands were placed atop the man’s knees, his back straightening once more to how it had been before his encounter with the nine-tails.
“There was a specter sealed within a cage, in a darkened dungeon with water covering the floor.”
Kakashi nodded. Letting some of the tension in his shoulders loosen with the possibility that Fugaku had simply been spooked by the nine-tails after all.
“Yes, I recall Kushina mentioning such a place. It is where the bijū are housed within the jinchūriki, she had been told similar things from Lady Mito.”
It was a simple white lie. Kakashi knew of the place only because of Naruto.
The young teen had been shocked and frightened the first time he had encountered that cell within his mind-scape during the chunin exams with Jiraiya. In the aftermath of the Third’s death, and Gaara of Sunagakure’s own display of fearsome jinchūriki ability Naruto had talked to Kakashi about his own fears in causing such destruction.
There was also another night, eating ramen at Ichiraku’s after Sai joined Team Kakashi, and Sasuke was seen for the first time since joining Orochimaru. Sakura, Sai and Tenzo had already left and the stand was empty except for Teuchi and his daughter Ayame cleaning up for the night.
“I didn’t know he could do that Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke had used his Sharingan on me dozens of times while we trained, but this was the first time it happened. He had to have been trying to do it this time, right?!”
Kakashi hummed in thought for a moment before answering his student.
“There was a reason they placed you and Sasuke as my students back in your Academy days. Only a Sharingan user, or mokuton user like Tenzo can control a bijū that we know of.”
Naruto dropped his chopsticks with noodles halfway to his mouth back into his bowl as he turned large blue eyes to Kakashi.
“Iruka-sensei said it was because Sasuke was the smartest and I was the dumbest. He told us it would balance our team out!”
Kakashi laughed as he ruffled Naruto’s spiky hair.
“I don’t think the Village would have admitted to allowing you to be a Shinobi had there not been precautions set up in place.”
Naruto leaned into his hand a little before going back to eating his ramen as Kakashi pulled away.
“What precautions? It’s not like I was going to burn the Village down or anything. Hell back then I didn’t even know what chakra really was.”
The teen pouted slurping up noodles loudly.
“My own Sharingan was enough of a reassurance to them that I could control you if need be. That and they wanted me to teach Sasuke, the only other known Sharingan wielder loyal to the Village at the time how to do so too.”
Naruto snorted as he finished eating.
“Yeah that worked out perfectly for them. Sasuke could have made me and the guy inside do anything if he wanted to with that power. Knowing him right now he would have made me go after his brother, and then the Village.”
As Kakashi hummed in agreement they fell into silence for a short time, they went back to talking about miscellaneous things for a short time before calling it a night and heading their separate ways.
That memory actually hurt Kakashi now to think about, he had avoided directly thinking about his time spent with an older Naruto as his student. He had forgotten how deep his sorrow went when reminded they would never be able to be exactly as they were in his time now. He absentmindedly ran his hand through the baby soft hair on Naruto’s head.
Fugaku sat across from him and shook his head before meeting the teen’s eyes again.
“Yes the beast was there but also a man.”
Kakashi’s hand halted making the infant grumble in his sleep.
“A man?”
Questions with blank answers ran through his mind faster than he could properly form them. In none of the times he spoke to Naruto about it did his student ever mention someone aside from the nine-tails inside the cage.
“An Uchiha.”
Years of Shinobi training, meeting dead men, and even time travelling now could not have prepared Kakashi for what Fugaku had just told him. An Uchiha sealed inside of the same seal that housed the nine-tails inside of Naruto. The information didn’t add up, he couldn’t begin to think it even possible.
But a small part of his mind told him it was exactly as he was thinking.
“Did he say anything? Did you recognize him by any chance?”
Kakashi felt his stomach grow cold with his suspicions. Fugaku’s eyebrows slanted closer together as his hands tightened their hold on his knees.
“He only introduced himself as the Crow Sage, claimed to be there to watch the nine-tails and he wanted me to deliver a message to you Kakashi. I could not place him as anyone I have met before, he possessed black hair, fair skin, with facial features like my clan, and his eyes were red with an advanced form of the Sharingan.”
Crow Sage?
Kakashi wanted to laugh, not because this seemed funny to him, no it was anything but that. He wanted to laugh at how insane his life had gotten. Kakashi assumed time travelling would be the weirdest thing to happen in his life.
It appeared he was about to be proven wrong.
“And the message was?”
Fugaku looked away from Kakashi to the small window, the night sky only illuminated by the waning moon and stars outside. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment and then turned to meet the teen’s eyes once more.
“His message was a mission sequence I did not recognize but I assume might mean something to you ‘Team Ro: Mission Eliminate Hostiles, priority endings be Damned’.”
There was no helping the laugh that escaped Kakashi at that time. Team Ro was the only time he and Itachi worked together and Mission Eliminate Hostiles was the one missions they worked as a pair without the others. The only thing wrong with that mission report was the priority, he assumed that was Itachi’s improved piece of information for Fugaku to deliver.
“Kakashi?”
It took what felt like several minutes for Kakashi to completely calm down and face Fugaku once again without laughing hysterically.
“I apologize Uchiha-san. I do recognize that mission sequence, but only because I tend to read my reports out loud to Naruto to get him to sleep. Perhaps the nine-tails intercepted it, and it is trying to use the information to manipulate us.”
The look of confusion remained on the older man’s face and Kakashi cleared his throat as he stood up.
“The jinchūriki must be able to manipulate that part of Naruto’s mind-scape, it was under the control of your ancestor Madara for a long time. That he would use some of those Uchiha features to confuse you and I isn’t that far-fetched since we plan to reinforce the seal containing the beast.”
The clan head didn’t look convinced but he also didn’t point out Kakashi’s reach for reason where there was none. Instead the man stood as well.
“Well then, shall I accompany you to the Hokage?”
Naruto was sound asleep, the hostile chakra leak was more than likely caused by Itachi who was somehow sealed within the same seal as the nine-tails. The only thing Kakashi wanted to do now was sleep, and from the looks of the slightly exhausted Uchiha in front of him Fugaku shared his sentiments.
“No, thank you but I think I will call it a night. As long as Naruto doesn’t show signs of chakra leaks like just now I will wait until the morning to take him to the hospital to get checked.”
Kakashi bowed deeply making Naruto who had been sleeping start to cry again.
“Thank you again for all of your help tonight. We can show ourselves out, goodnight Uchiha-san.”
With that he flash stepped away, leaving a confused clan head.
Kakashi never did take Naruto to the hospital, or report anything of the incident to Sarutobi. He made scrolls of notes to himself instead, piecing together the information he had obtained, along with anything he changed since coming back in time. It was nearly a month later with missions, daily life, and training till he was willing to try talking to Itachi himself. He knew his Sharingan acted and functioned mostly like any other of the Uchiha’s, his only fear was injuring Naruto by preforming the jutsu wrong. Kakashi didn’t want to ask Fugaku or Mikoto, who had no doubt been told what happened that night, for training so he could access the beast cell within Naruto’s mind-scape. Risking outing himself and Itachi like that could be dangerous to the future. If Fugaku found out what Kakashi knew would happen to his clan by taking a dive into his mind there would be no knowing how he would react.
“Okay Naruto I think we are ready to try this.”
The baby leaned propped up by pillows and blankets on Kakashi’s bed, while the teen sat cross legged in front of him.
“Boss I don’t think the little guy can understand you.”
Pakkun pressed his paw to Kakashi’s thigh, giving him a look of exasperation.
“Well he might.”
Kakashi argued slightly for a moment. He was too nervous to really put any bite into the remark so Pakkun simply rolled his eyes and moved back to his assigned position next to the infant. Naruto laughed, making baby cooing noises at the pug as he reached his small hands out to him. Pakkun placed one paw in the baby’s hand and Naruto instantly took hold. Now that he was completely distracted Kakashi knew there was no better time to set his plan into motion.
He had summoned his ninken just encase anything went wrong while he attempted to speak to the nine-tails or Itachi inside of Naruto. They were to, based on what happened get one of three people to deal with the situation. Guy, if Kakashi passed out from chakra exhaustion, Sarutobi if neither of them came out of the jutsu within a reasonable amount of time, or Fugaku if the nine-tails truly had been playing them and escaped because he did this. The eight ninken were scattered about the apartment, all just as nervous as Kakashi when he told them what he was attempting to do. Pakkun had actually tried to talk him out of it, but Kakashi’s mind was made up. This was the best course of action he could come up with, and he had tried for the last month to come up with a better option.
“Good luck Boss, if all goes well I’ll let you touch my paw.”
Kakashi smiled at his companion’s familiar reward offer.
“Sounds like a plan, they are really soft after all.”
The only sign he had pleased the ninken with his statement was his small tail wagging in answer.
Kakashi took a moment, he closed his eyes and called his chakra to activate his Sharingan. With a deep breath in he cleared his mind of everything but what he wanted to do when he opened his eyes again. Kakashi wanted to enter Naruto’s mind-scape, without breaking the seal housing the nine-tails, without mentally injuring Naruto or himself.
That was all he wanted.
If he achieved nothing else than that this first try he would chalk it up to a success.
One full breath out to empty his lungs and doubts from his mind, and he opened his eyes.
Seconds after he made eye contact with Naruto’s familiar blue eyes Kakashi felt the Kekkei Genkai doing as he wished. In less time then it took him to draw another breath of air Kakashi was inside Naruto’s mind-scape. At first he could only register darkness and the sound of dripping water. A slow and steady drip of one drop at a time to meet a watery surface. It took him a moment to realize his eyes were closed and he gathered his courage to open them.
“This kid is much more popular with you red eyed bastards than Kushina ever was.”
The nine-tails stayed in the shadows of his cell, eyes large and red with a flash of teeth the only thing Kakashi could make out in the darkness.
“We’d leave you alone if you didn’t endanger him so much.”
Kakashi snapped back at the bijū, forgetting himself for a moment with his need to protect Naruto. The second of bravado flew away from Kakashi leaving him feeling nothing but dread at how the beast might react to his harsh words. He wasn’t expecting the raucous laughter from the nine-tails, it was almost enough to make him want to back out of the mind-scape.
“I think you’ve messed with him enough Kurama.”
It had been months, nearly a year now but Kakashi still recognized the Uchiha’s voice. Still half monotonous half amused at it had been during their final meeting when Kakashi was sent back in time. The dead man walked out of the shadows of the cell into the light. He wore issued ANBU gear, and no hitaiate, his hair long as usual pulled back in the low ponytail style he favored while alive.
“Tell me you’re not an illusion conjured by that creature behind you.”
Itachi shrugged and motioned for Kakashi to sit as he himself sat cross legged on the floor of the cell in front of Kakashi. The silver haired teen did as he was silently asked without much thought. He was too stunned to form complete thoughts let alone ask the dozens of questions he had prepped.
“Perhaps I am but an image created by Kurama here, but you and I both know the Sage has immeasurable abilities. He sent your consciousness through time to your younger self to help remedy the damage that Obito causes. Is it really that far a stretch to believe he found a way to send me here as your confidant?”
A nervous laugh broke from Kakashi, not as intense as when he spoke to Fugaku but Itachi gave him the same look. Confused concern and that was when Kakashi knew it must be true.
“You look more like your father than I think I originally gave you credit for kid.”
Itachi smirked, the closest thing Kakashi ever really saw to a smile on the other’s face.
“Ah sempai I think you are forgetting who is the child in this room right now. Even sitting you have to look up to meet my eyes.”
The reminder made him itch for a kunai to throw at Itachi. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t finish growing until he was closer to twenty, and the Uchiha across from him had always been a head shorter than Kakashi at least.
“If I recall correctly it won’t be long now till I am much taller than you again.”
Itachi said nothing as he inspected his own hand splayed out on in front of his face.
“Let’s say I believe you are Itachi Uchiha from my timeline, why did you call me here?”
The hand was dropped to rest in Itachi’s lap and dual Sharingan spun lazily to meet Kakashi’s eyes.
“I am simply here as a guide of sorts for you Kakashi. I cannot leave this seal anymore than Kurama can, and even if I did there is no telling what could happen to me or our world.”
He sighed his shoulders deflating slightly for a second before straightening once more.
“There is much we have to discuss and plan to make sure the balance of our world is kept while the outcome of the war changes.”
Kakashi nodded in agreement, it is what he had been doing since he woke up in this time and he said as much to the Uchiha.
“Yes I am aware. But as we had discussed before I sent you back there are some things that must come to fruition to keep the balance.”
Now Kakashi knew why Itachi was sent to this place, why the dead man wasn’t allowed to rest in peace knowing he would fix everything. One of the main points Kakashi was planning on fixing involved the Uchiha directly.
The massacre of his clan.