Chapter 24
Shisui couldn’t speak for everyone, however for him, time stopped. No, not stopped, he realised, it had slowed down.
Naruto had been pierced and was most likely dead because he hadn’t moved. It was his fault.
Before he knew what was happening he was next to her, clutching her to him before he moved again. Shisui didn’t recall moving his legs though, so he wasn’t sure how he was moving, but he knew he wasn’t in the same place.
His eyes were wide as he tried looking for her pulse, from her neck to her wrist to placing his ear to her chest- he couldn’t find one.
Shisui felt red hot anger and guilt both crush his body, a stone forming his in stomach as he felt the need to vomit however his anger won out at the moment.
Without knowing how, or where, a green figure cocooned around him and Naruto. The figure looked skeletal yet it managed to close its fist around Samehada’s wielder- Fuguki- and crushed him in its hold. Shisui rejoiced in his cries of anguish as it slammed the man into the masked man wielding Nuibari who had no time to dodge the attack.
Before the green skeletal figure could attack again, another member of the swordsmen arrived, the one wielding Kiba and he used a water shunshin to take them all away, even the dead as he was helped by the remaining swordsman.
Shisui felt a stabbing pain in his eyes as the green figure vanished into him, leaving his feeling heavily drained before he turned to look at Naruto who lying next to Iruka.
She didn’t look dead, if anything she looked like she was asleep. Shisui had seen her asleep enough times to know what she looked like and he knew the sight before him was going to haunt him forever.
Iruka held her hand with wide, teary eyes as he tried to also feel for a pulse. Shisui squinted his eyes when he noticed something, whilst her heart was not beating his sharingan could still detect her chakra moving inside of her.
It wasn’t possible. When people died their chakra died with them and entered into the earth as nature took the chakra it had given to a soul.
Shisui fell next to her, hands in position as he pressed into her chest in hopes of getting her to breathe. 30 compressions, 5 resuscitations, 30 compressions, 5 resuscitations. He didn’t stop, not even when Mei Aburame began to heal her.
He had only stopped when he was pulled off his teammate and crushed to Kushina sensei’s abdomen, the woman’s tears falling onto his hair as he struggled against her.
He didn’t hear the words she said to him, he couldn’t hear anything and that scared him- he couldn’t hear Naruto breathing.
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Kakashi, Rin, Obito and Raido rudged their way through the forest as Minato went the opposite direction. Raido had been made team captain as the only other jonin available capable of handling the teams internal bickering.
Minus a short argument at the beginning of the mission, everything was going smoothly. They had infiltrated the enemy lines into Grass and had yet to be detected. They had changed their clothes and wore Grass headbands to blend in in hopes of not being found out at all.
But there was something wrong. They had yet to see any shinobi. Nor could Kakashi or his hounds smell any enemy. It was the exact opposite of what they had been expecting.
Even if Kusa wasn’t there, there should have been Iwa shinobi however there weren’t any there. They had barely seen any civilian either.
It made no sense. The village hadn’t been evacuated however there was no one there suggesting that it had. Yet, had there been an official evacuation Konoha would have noticed.
They were back in a forest-like area, about to take a break when a loud bang emanated in the large area, echoing against the trees. The team stood back-to-back a moment later, kunai in hand as they looked in all directions, trying to find where the sound had come from.
Just as Obito thought he knew where the sound came from, another bang came from the direction Rin was facing and then again another where Kakashi was facing and the same with Raido.
“The enemy’s toying with us. They don’t know who Konoha sent so they’re trying to confuse us as they try to figure out who we are and it won’t take them long, especially since you guys are all Namikaze-san’s students.” Explained Raido as he unsheathed his blade- Kokuto.
Fog suddenly appeared to limit their field of vision, although they had given their position away by coming closer to them without covering their scent.
A kick came Rin’s way which Kakashi managed to block with crossed arms, forcing the enemy backwards. He took a glance at the man’s headband- Iwa. Kakashi’s smirk was hidden behind his mask as he unsheathed his katana- a gift from Lord Jiraiya and Naruto, and charged his chidori through it.
The blade lit up as the sound of birds screeching rang through the forest, a sound Team Minato and Raido were used to hearing the sound so it did nothing to their ears, but Iwa shinobi were no so they paused during their second attack.
It was an opening Team Raido took full advantage of as they lashed out at their enemy, knocking out some and killing the others. Hopefully they would be able to get answers out of the ones they had left alive and tied up but Raido reminded himself not to have much hope.
Iwa were as stubborn as a boulder.
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Mei Aburame was not old nor was she young. She was no expert on the fields of war however she had fought in this war. She was not as skilled as Lady Tsunade when it came to iryo ninjutsu however she had done her research. She knew it was not possible for someone’s chakra to flow as usual when a person was killed.
Yet here she was proven wrong. Naruto Namikaze’s chakra swirled inside her as it always did, as if her body refused to allow her to die.
Mei had done what she could, however she could not reboot the girl’s heart. She did not have a lightening affinity, nor did those who had accompanied her, but even if they did, rebooting her heart with their unrefined control.
She had been further baffled when the girl’s summons had arrived, Lord Fukasaku of Mount Myoboku who had explained that Mei would have to keep healing the girl as her body tried to repair the internal and external damage dealt by Samehada and Nuibari.
Mei had gone straight back to action, healing the girl in small parts every three hours and injecting a liquid the toads had given her which she had not questioned. He was over 9 centuries old after all and would know more about healing than the medic Aburame.
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A week. Rin Nohara had been missing for a whole week and they had yet to find her. Raido knew they had a mission to complete however the needed the girl there as she was the only medic on the team. Raido knew the basic but he wouldn’t be able to heal wounds as well as she would be able to.
Which was why the team had taken to tracking the enemy via Kakashi’s hounds as the team carried on with the destruction of Kannabi Bridge.
They had been knocked out and injured during their last battle, Iwa shinobi not thinking much of them which was why they had been left alive which he was thankful for.
Minato was at the opposite side of them, fighting the enemy and waiting for them to blow the whole thing up in hopes of ending this perilous war. There was no guarantee Iwa would stop, however it would at least deter them for some time.
Kakashi had at first been apprehensive about leaving the girl behind but knew that duty came first, especially after the fiasco of The White Fang all those years ago. He would not choose the girl over the mission.
Obito was a different case. Raido had had to raise his voice to get his point across and threaten to poison him and when that hadn’t worked he knocked the boy unconscious as he and Kakashi carried the Uchiha to their destination.
Raido understood the boy’s feelings having seen first-hand the crush he held for the girl, nonetheless, Rin did not feel the same way about Obito- yet. Raido held no doubt in his mind that if Kakashi clearly stated to his teammate that he didn’t see her in that light then she would realise the feelings she held for the Uchiha. And according to Genma, the Hatake was infatuated with the Minato Namikaze’s sister.
However, he doubted that was the case. Kakashi, in his opinion, was cold and aloof at best and at worst, emotionally stunted. Not allowing himself to feel after what had happened with his father- not that Raido blamed him. He had seen how Kakashi loved Sakumo Hatake as a childand there was no doubt in anyone’s mind- who knew Kakashi and Sakumo when the former was younger- that his suicide had sent his son into the dark recess of the shinobi world.
‘Kakashi would make a great ANBU.’ Thought Raido grudgingly as Kakashi prepared them some scentless food that the enemy wouldn’t be able to track them from.
Obito was a stark contrast to the Hatake. He preferred to be flashy and known, a quality which was dangerous if you didn’t have the skill to deal with being noticed at all times. They had been found more than once on this mission because someone had noticed the Uchiha’s orange eyesore of an outift which in his professional opinion as a jonin should be made illegal to wear.
It was nine days after Rin had been kidnapped that they managed to place all the tags and bombs where they were needed which was also when Kakashi’s pack returned with Rin’s location.
Obito hadn’t even listened to Pakkun as he demanded to know where the team medic was. Said ninken, of course, ignored the boy who wasn’t his pack leader and reported to Kakashi who looked to Raido. Raido in turn gave a barely there nod, once which Kakashi returned and led them to Rin’s destination.
They had barely been travelling for five minutes when he began to fall, how was unknown to him as he fell into unconsciousness.
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Iruka frowned as he watched his teammate who was in turn watching their comatose teammate, a frown marring both males faces although Shisui’s frown was significantly deeper than his own.
The three of them had known each other since they were five or six and now they were eight or nine, whilst it didn’t seem like a lot of time, just a few years, and some friendships didn’t last quiet as long.
But they were more than friends, they were teammates and practically family. Which made this whole situation worse. Iruka loved Naruto as a sister, however Shisui had always been closer to her, the best of friends ever since their second term in the academy together.
It wasn’t to say Iruka didn’t get along with them because that would be a lie, he got along with them just fine but they were on a different level when it came to everything no matter how hard he tried.
He wasn’t jealous, he knew that. He just wished he was able to stand by their side and help them, not being useless or a deadweight to them that could endanger them rather than being useful.
Nonetheless, he didn’t like how Shisui was worrying himself to an early grave. Naruto was in a half dead half alive stasis which no one seemed to be able to take her out of which worrying certainly didn’t work. If it did, she would be back with them already.
Another thing he didn’t like was that Shisui was looking at her with his sharingan activated, and on occasion the pattern would change but he never got a good look at it to be able to describe what it looked like.
In general, the sharingan had always freaked him out a little and this new pattern didn’t make him feel any better. He also didn’t like when Shisui first used it, he cried tears of blood.
There was no way that was healthy or good for him.
Shisui lurched forward a moment later, charging his chakra into Naruto again in hopes of restarting her heart and Iruka let out a sigh. Whilst he didn’t want to give up on his blonde teammate, he wished Shisui would take a break and rest.
Just as Iruka moved to get up, Shisui’s sharingan began to spin unnaturally, unlike all the other times he had used it, and then he froze in place, as if he someone was forcing him to do so.
A beat later Shisui began to move again and lurched backwards, breathing heavily as his sharingan went to its usual pattern, still spinning as it recorded what happened next.
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“Kakashi.” Croaked out Obito as a crying Rin clutched his hand like a lifeline.
Kakashi couldn’t wrap his head around what was happening. Everything had gone so wrong so quickly that he had doubted he was even awake, praying it was all a nightmare.
First Rin had been kidnapped then they carried on the mission. Once doing their part they went on their way to save Rin only for Raido to get kidnapped. Kakashi and Obito went on, assuming the enemy was going to take the jonin to where their medic was being held hostage.
They had been right.
And things only got worse. Kakashi and Obtio were forced to fight on enemy territory whilst being outnumbered. Things had gone surprisingly well till the enemy used the transparency technique which he had only ever seen one person use, Hayate Gekko, a boy he had only met a handful of times however those handful of times he had seen and sparred with the boy had taught him how to fight this technique.
Using his nose he managed to fight as best he could and Obito had actually awakened his sharingan and from what he recalled of a previous conversation with Naruto, it was stage one of the eyes with a single tomoe in each eye.
The two of them had managed to perform some two-man techniques they hadn’t managed to do on the field before and everything was going so well.
They’d gotten cocky, and when in the heat of battle, should one get cocky they had a tendency to die.
Kakashi hadn’t smelt the man, hadn’t seen him and apparently neither had Obito as the man had cut across Kakashi’s left eye, the blood oozing from it making it impossible to see.
His untamed chidori had managed to take down the remaining enemies and Obito had ran to help Rin who could help Kakashi.
As always, Rin fussed as she tried to heal what she could of his eye but Kakashi knew his eye would be of no use anymore. Even if the eye itself remained in-tact there was no way he would be able to see from it again. If he wished to have a left eye he would have to undergo surgery for a new one to be implanted into it.
Once he was as healed as he could be, Raido was healed next and then Obito. Healing all three of them had left the girl tiered so the three of them had taken turn to carry her as they made their way to the rendezvous and along the way, things had taken a turn for the worst again.
One of the traps they had left behind on the mountain-way had been set off intentionally by the enemy causing an avalanche of rocks and boulders to fall on top of them.
They had managed to dodge most of them, however Obito was carrying Rin, unable to see the large rock coming their way so hastily he pushed them out of the way, quickly substituting himself with another boulder.
Kakashi hadn’t turned around in time to act as another rock fell towards them, Obito falling causing Rin to toll forwards in his attempt to keep her from being crushed.
Obito was on his stomach, his lower legs crushed by the boulder which had fallen on him which they couldn’t move. Kakashi had tried to use his chidori again however he had no chakra to do so. He barely had enough to use a simple lightening technique never mind one as chakra draining as his own technique.
He let out an anguished cry as he punched the boulder with his frustrations, but they did not leave as his tears fell, listening as the boy had confessed his feelings to their crying teammate.
“Kakashi. Promise me… promise you’ll keep her safe.” Kakashi looked down to where his teammate was and held back a cringe as he fell to his knees, head bowed as he promised the Uchiha to protect the love of his life with his own.
“Raido.” Obito coughed out, forcing the jonin to join them, “I know Kakashi won’t agree so I want you to order him something for me. Nothing illegal.” He tried to crack a smile however given the amount of pain the boy was in, it came out as more of a snarl. “I want you to make sure he implants my left eye into his.”
There were words of protests coming from both Rin and Kakashi but absolute silence from Raido who simply stared dumbfounded.
“I may have just unlocked it… but I’m dying and the dead have no use for kekkei-genkai.” Obito looked to Rin and they seemed to have a silent conversation as the girl nodded and managed to remove his eye without hurting him.
Well, he doubted it didn’t hurt, more so Obito was in too much pain to realise the new pain.
A loud bang and the sound of chatter could be heard and Obito coughed out more blood, a bloodied smile on his face, “Go. Before they get you all.”
Kakashi and Rin stayed in place, Obito’s eye sealed in a jar, as Raido tried to force them to come with him and after some force, they went.
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Shisui had never been more frightened in his entire life. Granted, he wasn’t very old, nonetheless he was a shinobi who had taken part in this war. He had many things that scarred the mind and this went to the top.
Never in his life head he thought he would be face-to-face with the Kyuubi no Kitsune who was protectively holding his blonde teammate within his tails.
Kyuubi was big, for a lack of better word. Far more than the statues at the Valley of End, which were very high indeed.
Kyuubi wasn’t even alone, around him were all nine of the tailed beasts, each one with eyes closed as if concentrating hard on something. He didn’t recall Naruto ever saying anything about being the host to all nine which Shisui was certain was impossible.
Shisui’s sharingan caught sight of something behind Kyuubi. A waterfall which seemed to project images. A very much older looking Naruto was… crying over Lord Jiraiya, weeping into the man chest as someone tried to remove her from him.
Shisui furrowed his brows when Kyuubi wacked his tail through the waterfall, cutting the projection off before he could make sense of it.
Even after giving it a moment’s thought, it didn’t make sense. Naruto was eight, there was no way she could have been as old as the person in the waterfall nor could she have been weeping into a dead Lord Jiraiya’s chest as the man was still very much alive.
‘What do you want, Uchiha?’ spoke the deep voiced Kyuubi, his words coming out raspy as if he had breathing difficulty.
Shisui gulped ans was certain if this was happening in the real world he would have pissed himself, ‘I’m… not sure.’ He shook his head, ‘I want Naruto back.’
Kyuubi began to chuckle, ‘You say that as if I have taken her.’ he gave the Uchiha a small smirk.
‘If you’ve not taken her, what’s going on with her?’
Kyuubi raised a brow, at least he thought he did. We was all hair after-all. ‘For all intents and purposes, Naruto should have died when she took your place and she would have had it not been for the Uzumaki blood in her veins and my healing her. Along with the help of my siblings of course. Whilst I heal her, they feed her their chakra.’ He explained in a bored tone, as if he were having a dry conversation.
Shisui’s heartbeat picked up when he registered what Kyuubi had said. Naruto had basically killed herself in favour of saving him.
He felt sick at the thought.
Hachibi opened its eyes, ‘And who is this, kyuubi?’
‘The Uchiha brat on Naruto’s team.’
Hachibi came closer down to inspect Shisui, who was sweating in gallons at this point, ‘It’s hard to imagine he is the one Mother speaks so fondly about.’ He said, his face trying and failing to look innocent.
Mother? Who was hachibi going on about? He thought to himself.
‘Naruto of course.’ The eight tails replied and Shisui’s eyes widened, assuming he had spoken aloud rather than thought his sentence.
Shisui shook his head and looked back at Kyuubi. It was hard to imagine Naruto having managed to stay sane with all nine tailed beasts inside her like this. Especially considering she was so kind, gentle and warm hearted.
‘How can I help Naruto?’ he asked, not wanting to see his teammate in this state any longer, it was slowly driving him to insanity watching her lay there entirely motionless as her body didn’t breathe nor have any of her blood circulate. Her usually hot skin was as cold as the atmosphere in Shimogakure.
Kyuubi and Hachibi looked at each other before Hachibi closed its eyes again. The fox looked into Shisui’s eyes and growled. ‘You’ve been feeding her your chakra and haven’t taken over her body…’ Shisui didn’t get what the hell Kyuubi was going on about till he recalled a conversation he had had with Naruto years ago, about the sharingan having power over the nine tails.
Kyuubi lashed out one of its tails, wrapping it around the Uchiha and bought him next to Naruto who was resting on the tailed beast’s tail, looking very warm.
‘Bring her out by feeding her your chakra and using your mangekyou sharingan.’
Shisui furrowed his brows, ‘Mangekyou sharingan?’
‘The new patterned sharingan that caused you to tears of blood during your last fight.’
Shisui wondered how Kyuubi new that considering Naruto had been unconscious slash ‘dead’ at the time yet he didn’t question it, trying to bring forth the new sharingan he had gotten. He’d ask Naruto about it later.
Slowly, he raised his hand to hover over her heart then looked to Kyuubi, ‘Channel the chakra into the Gate of Opening and the Gate of Life.’ Shisui nodded and did as he was told, after-all, one would have to be suicidal to refuse what Kyuubi asked of them.
With his mangekyou activated he opened her eyes, not stopping the flow of chakra as he tried to order her to come out. Shisui didn’t know where it came from but he just knew he could do it ‘Kotoamatsukami.’
A moment later Shisui was thrown out by a violent shrill of chakra, forcing his real body to fall backwards.
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Kakashi, Rin, and Raido watched at the furious Yellow Flash, for a lack of better words, flashed around the battle field with his hiraishin, killing all in his path. The battalion Minato had been with stared in wonderment, curious to know what had caused the man to suddenly flip.
When they arrived they hadn’t spoken a word. All it took was one look at the eye Rin had managed to transplant into Kakashi’s socket- Obito’s sharingan- and the man had turned into Kushina Uzumaki with his fury.
In fact, Kakashi doubted he had even seen Kushina-nee like this which made him wonder how the woman would react to the news. The two didn’t get along very well but he could see the fondness in her eyes whenever she saw Obito.
Distantly, Kakashi heard the explosives go off on Kannabi Bridge which they had placed but couldn’t find it in him to care. The enemy had taken to retreating on said Bridge which had killed them once a certain amount of weight had been added to the bridge.
Kakashi felt a shiver up his arms which was when he noticed it was raining, the rain covering the salty tears falling down Rin’s face as she cried, healing the wounded at the same time.
The battle- no, the one sided massacre lasted till dawn, a total of four hours. Minato Namikaze massacred a thousand Iwa shinobi in four hours. Kakashi doubted the Tsuchikage could afford another incident like this again and would most likely withdraw from the war, leaving Kumo the only one left to fight Konoha. However, from recent rumours, Kumo was slowly bringing their troops back to the land and had been sending messages to the sandaime a lot lately however they were only rumours which had yet to be stated true or false.
Kakashi withheld a grimace as Minato sensei came in front of them. The man’s cerulean eyes were still ablaze like the blue flames of the Hitodama Clan as his clothes and arms were dripping with blood, there was even splashes of it on his face which the man clearly didn’t pay any heed to.
“I’m sorry, sensei.” Kakashi finally spoke as he lowered his head. A head which received a pat from his sensei, of course that was after the man had wiped the blood off it.
There was a sad look on the man’s face, “There’s nothing to be sorry for. I’m sure… he died like a shinobi, with pride of having done good. Don’t tarnish his name and memory by wishing for other things, Obito wouldn’t want to see you moping around all depressing, now would he?” there was a small smile on the man’s face as they both thought about what Obito would possibly do if he had heard of Kakashi being more emo than usual.
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