Fresh blood and morning mist
Uchiha Itachi was a broken child. Kakashi hadn’t known him well, but he knew broken children, and anyone who looked could see that Itachi was one. He’d been broken a long time, Kakashi thought, long before he’d killed his clan. Kakashi hadn’t known him well but he knew enough, had seen the boy’s eyes when he thought no-one was looking. He’d seen that look in the mirror often enough growing up.
Uchiha Itachi was a broken child and Kakashi knew what that meant far too well to think that made him anything but lethal. So when he appeared in the heart of Konoha Kakashi didn’t hesitate, didn’t stop to speak or ask questions, or taunt. He called up the mist with a handsign and a twist of chakra that came as easily as breathing, pumped enough chakra into it to render the sharingan useless, to leave them all equally blind in the haze. Kakashi took the moment’s respite the mist granted him to tilt his headband downwards until it covered both his eyes. Kiri had fought a war with Konoha, they’d learned the hard way not to risk making eye contact with the sharingan, and Kakashi wasn’t about to bet on his single borrowed eye, against the real thing.
Blind he listened, let all his senses except for sight stretch out, for the slightest echo of movement, the smallest shift in air pressure, or the direction of the scents. When a sword suddenly flashed out in his direction he dodged without a thought. It wasn’t just a sword of course, he knew that blade, the hungry malevolent aura of it.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it Kisame.” He said, softly, conversationally. He really was running into a lot of old comrades of late. First Zabuza, now Kisame, who was next. Itachi wasn’t moving, content to let Kisame take the lead for the moment. Kakashi kept part of his attention on what Itachi was doing as he focused on Kisame. It wouldn’t do to let Itachi get the drop on him because he was distracted by his other opponent.
“Kakashi the traitor.” Kakashi could hear the grin in his voice, could just picture the edged shark teeth, and the gleam in his eyes.
“Coming from you, I’m not sure how much that means. Your headband is as marked as mine.” He replied with just a hint of irony.
“Ha, fair point. Still, you joined Konoha. Signed on with the enemy. I guess that makes you special.” Ah but there was something so comforting about bantering with a fellow Kiri nin, every word sharp enough to cut, every sentence a point scored. This was a dance he knew.
“And you joined the Akatsuki. I wonder which one of us our old village hates more right now?” Kisame’s only response was a flurry of sword blows Kakashi was hard pressed to dodge. He drew his own sword and struck back, careful not to let his blade clash with Kisame’s. His sword was after all only steel, set against Samehada it would shatter in his hand.
They traded blows back and forth through the choking mist, tracking each other by the sounds of their footsteps and the rustling of their clothes. Kakashi could feel Itachi’s presence lurking in the background and knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to intervene if it looked like Kisame was about to lose. He didn’t like it. One of them alone he might be able to beat. They were both dangerous ninja, but he was pretty dangerous himself, dangerous enough to fight one of them on even ground. Two of them though, was a problem. He couldn’t take them both.
But then again maybe he didn’t need to. He heard the familiar sound of Gai’s footsteps as his rival charged into the fray. Gai was not subtle, but when it came down to fighting strength there was no-one Kakashi would rather have fighting beside him. Gai was strong, and he knew how Kakashi fought, knew how to best work with him. Classic Konoha teamwork at its finest, for all that Kakashi wasn’t really Konoha.
Gai wasn’t even slowed by the blinding mist, targeting his entrance to position him against Itachi, and Kakashi was forcibly reminded that Gai was a sensor. And then there was no more time to think as the fighting intensified, as Itachi and Kisame realised they no longer had the advantage of numbers. Both Kakashi and Kisame were bleeding, the scent of blood heavy on the air when they heard a sickening crack off to their left. One of Gai’s strikes had hit home, and Kakashi remembered belatedly that Gai had trained specifically to counter Uchiha. Looked like the training had paid off.
It seemed like Kisame was more attatched to his partner than Kakashi had expected because the dry humour was missing from his tone when he told Itachi to switch with him. He wanted to protect him. It was odd, but maybe not as odd as it should have been. Kisame had graduated after Zabuza made his bloody point, and so he’d never been as broken as Kakashi, or Zabuza, or any of the other older Kiri nin. When he looked at Itachi and saw he was broken, his first thought wasn’t how lethal those broken edges could be. Oh he knew Itachi was dangerous. Everyone knew that. But he saw that lethality, and the brokenness and thought they were separate things, when Kakashi knew that they were not. And so Kisame saw what anyone who cared to look could see, that Itachi was a broken child caught up in adult games, and he felt sympathy, rather than fear.
Kakashi knew better.
He faced off against Itachi and he knew just how the broken edges of him turned outwards to cut any who got too close. Kakashi released a couple of suiton jutsu’s just to mark Itachi’s reactions. Itachi responded with katon, predictable. Too predictable, Kakashi caught the genjutsu and dispelled it just in time, Itachi was good. And that in itself, revealed Itachi’s weakness. Genjutsu expert, and if there was one thing all genjutsu experts had in common it was that they had to be in control, always. It was a necessary element in controlling other people’s perceptions.
And Itachi wasn’t in control, not really. He was a broken child caught up in the games of old and cunning men, and chesspieces are never in control. But he was a genjutsu expert, a good one, and that meant he thought he was in control, at least a little. Break that illusion, and he might just crumble. Kakashi grinned, wolfish under his mask.
The truth shall set you free.
Before Kakashi could test his theory though, the Anbu showed up, drawn by the fighting, and Itachi and Kisame had retreated, unwilling to play those odds. Kakashi filed the realisation away in his head though. He had a feeling this would not be the last time he had to face Itachi.
…
The mark crawled under Sasuke’s skin and he didn’t like that he didn’t know what it did. It whispered to him without words, about power, and revenge, and others holding him back, it was seductive enough to make him uncomfortable.
Because Orochimaru offered him power. Power enough to kill his brother, and avenge his family and get everything he’d thought he wanted for the last five years. But Kakashi sensei had taught him to be wary when people offered him things he wanted too much. That the more he wanted something the less likely he was to see the strings, and the price would always be higher than he was willing to pay. He wanted revenge very much.
So Sasuke went looking for strings. The thing on his shoulder was a seal, and Konoha had the biggest collection of sealing texts on the continent, since Uzushio was razed to the ground. He went to the library.
Eight hours buried in scrolls and old manuscripts and Sasuke found what he was looking for. He didn’t understand all of it, but he’d managed to figure out enough to know there were control aspects to it, bits designed to influence his emotional state, to make him feel drawn to the sealmaker. Kakashi sensei had been right, there were always strings attatched.
He sat and thought for a moment. Thought about the nature of power, about pawns and chessboards, he thought about the other lessons Kakashi sensei had taught them, the secret ones. He was the last Uchiha, and almost anyone would teach him high level techniques if he asked for them. The village loved him, he knew that, and if he wanted to he could take advantage of that. But he didn’t think anyone but Kakashi would take the time and the risk to teach him to be something other than a pawn in someone else’s chessgame.
Both Kakashi and Orochimaru offered power, he supposed, Orochimaru offered physical power, the power to strike down his enemies, straightforward. What Kakashi offered was nothing so simple. He offered the power to choose who his enemies were, and why, to make his own decisions about when to strike.
He remembered Sakura in the forest of death, covered in the blood of three ninja stronger than her, three ninja that Orochimaru had made stronger than her with training, and experimentation, and secret techniques. He remembered what she’d told him afterwards. That she’d made a choice that they would die, and the rest was all just details. Choice was a powerful thing. It had let Kakashi’s student kill three of Orochimaru’s students.
He made a choice. He painted the containment seal he’d found at the back of a dusty, half buried fuinjutsu book, around the cursed seal. Removing it would take more research, but the containment at least helped him clear his thoughts, and for better or worse, he’d chosen to think about his actions. He’d chosen that the moment he forfeited his match with Gaara. Anything that threatened that, was not a power he wanted to rely on.
…
Tsunade arrived in Konoha in a haze of stale alcohol and fury. She didn’t want to be back in Konoha, that much was brutally obvious, she definitely didn’t want to be Hokage. It was all over the village by sundown. She was only back because Jiraiya had made a bet, and she’d lost, and then he’d drugged her alcohol to keep her from backing out at the last minute. It was not, the most auspicious of beginnings to a Hokage’s reign. Kakashi wasn’t impressed.
But it was Tsunade, or one of the council elders, and at least Tsunade didn’t actively want him dead, so he put his support behind her. And his support didn’t mean nothing. He might not be well liked in the village, might not be trusted, but he was strong, and strength mattered. He was strong enough that if he’d been born a Konoha nin he might well have been in the running for Hokage himself, and so when he supported Tsunade people noticed. And with his support came Gai’s support because Gai trusted his judgement when it came to politics, and Gai was well liked, was trusted. No-one doubted Gai’s sincerity. It was enough. Enough to make Tsunade Hokage, and clearly she was a smart woman despite the booze, because the first thing she did as Hokage was call Kakashi into her office.
“What do you want brat?” She asked impatiently. Kakashi just played innocent.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean Hokage sama.” He was a picture of wounded integrity.
“I’m not in the mood for games. You swung the jounin’s opinion in my favour, and I’m not enough of an idiot to think you don’t want something in return.” She was a bitter old lady but she was sharp. Looked like she hadn’t been such a bad choice after all. Still no need to make things too easy on her.
“I thought you didn’t want to be Kage? Why should I ask for a reward for making you do something you don’t want?” She just levelled him with an unimpressed stare.
“I just thought it would be nice to be on good terms with the new Hokage is all.” She nodded to herself.
“So that’s how it is. It wasn’t about me at all. You just didn’t like the other options.” She snorted. “Well I can’t say I liked them much either. That’s why I played along with Jiraiya’s little games. I assume you want a certain amount of influence.”
“I just want to be left to train my students in peace.” He smiled. Understanding flickered over Tsunade’s face.
“Don’t worry. I won’t break up your team. I suppose I owe you that much. But try and stay out of trouble.”
“I’ll do my best.” He gave her a jaunty half salute as he left through the window. It wasn’t like he wouldn’t try to keep out of trouble. He just doubted it would work.