Chapter Text
Shisui released his hold on Danzo’s wrist. His feet were turned, ready to leave the clearing, when an ice-cold chill settled over him. One moment, a dazed Danzo was standing before him, and then in the next, the mirage of him dissipated. A blur of wrinkles and weathered skin filled his peripheral vision, coming at him at an alarming speed. Shisui willed his body to move, but his limbs were locked into place, with the weight of a thousand boulders sitting atop of his shoulders.
Danzo’s hand inched closer, close enough that he could feel the tips of his fingers brush against the skin of his temple–
Move!
It took sheer willpower for Shisui to prevail over the inner fight against the weight on his body to force his body backwards. He stumbled a few steps, legs tangling with each other like an uncoordinated deer. This wasn’t nearly enough, Danzo was still too close, so close–
A blur of white accompanied the sound of a thousand chirping birds. The noise was piercing and jarring; and although it was often associated with imminent death, Shisui found himself letting out a sigh of relief. A wave of dizziness washed over him. Shisui fell backwards, the abrupt and harsh landing only amplifying his nausea.
The world tilted on its axis, twisting and turning at weird angles before everything around him started to spin rapidly. He distinctly heard someone saying his name and felt the presence of someone behind him, arms snaking underneath his backside in an effort to prop him up. His entire body felt like it was simultaneously on fire and doused in ice water at the same time.
Someone repeated his name. Shisui tried to answer but couldn’t find his voice.
Black dots creeped into the edges of his vision. A dull, ringing noise filled his ears, drowning out the noise of the fighting in the distance. A pounding headache equivalent to the force of Itachi’s punches knocked against his skull, each thrum sending a blossom of pain. The tenseness of his muscles loosened, his body sagging against whatever was holding him upright.
His name, repeated again. This time, Shisui couldn’t even muster the energy to part his mouth.
His name, again. This time repeated with much more urgency, and maybe a hint of worry? Shisui didn’t even try to respond – everything hurt like hell. There was an invisible force curled around his neck, like rope twisting and pulling itself taut. Searing pain riveted all through his body, like it was tethered to his blood stream and chakra network before ultimately it made its way to his heart, his chakra core.
A world of blinding white filled his senses before darkness took him under.
The first thing that Shisui noticed when he came to was the looming presence before him. Anbu Captain Kakashi Hatake was dressed in full Anbu uniform, with black shinobi pants and gray armor. Splotches of dried blood – how long had he been unconscious? – stained the front side of the durable fabric. His right arm was completely drenched in blood up to his elbow, the fabric of the arm guards and dark gloves soaking up most of the liquid. His fingers were curled around the hilt of his sword. Back pressed against the crook where the branch connected to the trunk. Eyes closed. Tendrils of silver hair falling across his face. White porcelain mask pushed to the side of his face.
Kakashi was playing the perfect guise of a sleeping shinobi, but Shisui knew better than anyone else exactly how dangerous his former Anbu Captain could be.
Shisui let out a soft groan as he shifted himself into an upright position. Kakashi’s eyes immediately snapped open. The mismatched red and black stared at him with enough intensity to drill a hole through his chest.
Shisui weakly raised an arm. All he could manage was to muster a meek “hi,” before he was overtaken by a coughing fit.
When the coughs subsided, Shisui had a half second warning before a water canteen was hurled in his direction. Shisui caught it, hands fumbling to grab hold of the slippery canteen. From across the trees, Kakashi snorted.
“Your reflexes have declined.”
Shisui shot him the deadliest look he could muster in his weakened state. “I didn’t know you had a habit of picking on your subordinates while they’re down, Taichou.”
Technically since Shisui’s exit from the Anbu and return back into the normal shinobi corps, Kakashi wasn’t his captain anymore. But there had been no one that Shisui respected more than Kakashi during his stint in the Anbu Black Ops.
And now that Kakashi saved his life again, Shisui owed him so much more than just his respect. He told Kakashi so and like he always did, Kakashi just brushed it off as his duty as his team captain.
“How are you feeling?”
Shisui rattled off his symptoms. Still wasn’t feeling great, but at least less awful than what he felt before. Not top condition, but still well enough to fight if it came down to it.
“What happened?”
“You were poisoned. Lethal, fast acting. You had about three minutes to live, but don’t worry, Tenzo took care of it.”
“What happened to Danzo?”
Kakashi shot him a pointed look. “I think you’re the one who owes me an answer.”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Shisui responded. Hesitation laced every word. “I was poisoned, remember? I don’t remember what happened…”
Kakashi raised an unimpressed eyebrow but said nothing.
A few minutes passed. The two of them continued to sit in silence. Shisui tried to look everywhere but directly at Kakashi’s eyes.
It was hard not to. Discomfort began to crawl underneath his skin.
The silence continued.
Shisui’s stomach churned. Bile rose to his throat. He forced it back down.
Still silent.
Thump, thump. His heart pounded rapidly against his ribcage. Blood rushed to his head. Cheeks flushed red. The forest began to spin. Shisui leaned back against the tree. Right hand raised, the back of his hand pressed against his forehead. Gaze tilted upwards, getting a viewful of the drifting clouds in the sky.
Nothing.
“Ack! Fine you win.” Shisui threw his hands up in surrender. Of all of the members of Team Ro, Shisui had always been the first one to lose the game of silence. He couldn’t stand it – there was just something about having his teammates staring so intently at him in deathly silence that always drove him crazy.
“What do you want to know?”
“Why don’t you start with why an elder of Konoha’s Council was attacking you?” Kakashi drawled. Despite the mostly impassive expression on his face, Shisui didn’t miss the slight crinkle in the corner of his visible eye.
Shisui shook his head. “I can’t tell you. That’s classified.”
“I have one of the highest clearances in the shinobi forces. Unclassify it.”
“Yes but you don’t have Kage level clearance,” Shisui retorted. “I was assigned a S-ranked mission directly from Konoha’s council.”
“Then why was Danzo trying to kill you?”
“...I don’t know,” Shisui admitted. Endless possibilities flickered through his mind. Danzo had been there when Shisui proposed his plan to stop the Uchiha coup. He recalled standing before the Hokage and the three council members, pleading his case to extract one last chance to peacefully end the conflict.
Both sides knew what was to come. A civil war was just brewing beyond the horizon. Years and years of resentment simmered. Discontent grew. Restlessness prevailed. Talks of an Uchiha coup had been ongoing for the last few months. Support for the cause was overwhelming.
Shisui should have been loyal to his own clan, but he couldn’t watch Konoha destroy itself again after only a few years of peace. He revealed the Uchiha’s plans to the council along with a solution to stop the coup. He walked out of the meeting with their permission to commence his plan, so why did Danzo attack him?
Why didn’t Danzo trust him?
“What was your mission?”
“That’s classified,” Shisui repeated.
Kakashi shot him an unimpressed look. “I know you and Itachi have been hiding things from me. Your departure from the Anbu and Itachi’s change in position to the Root were not coincidences. What’s going on with the Uchiha clan?”
Shisui inwardly cursed. It seemed that time apart hadn’t changed a single thing – Kakashi was still too sharp for his own good. Guilt already haunted him for involving his younger cousin into this mess, but at least Itachi was an Uchiha. Shisui couldn’t, wouldn’t, involve an outsider.
Even if the outsider had a Sharingan too.
“Taichou.” Shisui’s tone, somber and serious. No traces of his usual light-heartedness were present. “If you still care about me as a former subordinate, please forget everything that you saw today.”
Kakashi’s back straightened. “You’re asking me to not report this incident?”
Shisui nodded. “I’m sorry to ask this of you, but if word breaks out, then my mission will fail.”
“Sorry, I can’t do that.”
Shisui’s head snapped upwards, eyes incredulous at Kakashi’s blunt admission. His words were sharp and cutting, backed with zero hesitation despite Shisui’s attempt to subtly convey the gravity of the situation.
“Taichou, please reconsider–”
“Shisui,” Kakashi interrupted. “If you still consider me your captain, then you need to tell me what is going on. I can’t cover you blindly.”
“You don’t trust me?”
“I do trust you to cover my back on missions,” Kakashi stated. “But I don’t trust you to make rational decisions when your clan is potentially in danger.”
“I’m a jounin! I’m perfectly capable of separating personal emotions from the mission–”
Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah, that’s what I said too on my first mission as a jounin. My teammate died. Don’t make the same mistakes that I did.”
“I–” Shisui didn’t know how to respond to that. The story of how Kakashi obtained his Sharingan served as a cautionary tale to the members of their clan, a warning of sorts to destroy their eyes rather than to give to an outsider. The stories skimmed over the circumstances that led up to the point of his cousin’s death, but the whispers around the Anbu headquarters filled in the gaps.
The whispers hadn’t been kind to Kakashi. They made him out to be a cold-blooded Anbu assassin, one that would sooner put a Chidori through his teammate’s heart rather than to fail the mission. The rumors made all new Anbu recruits, himself and Itachi included, tremble at the fear of getting placed on his team.
After being placed on Team Ro, Shisui found that Kakashi was anything but what they had described. Sure, he was cold and prickly and it wasn’t easy to understand him, but there was something about his determination to never let a comrade die that made Shisui trust him with his life.
The Uchiha clan told him to not trust Kakashi. The Anbu headquarters warned him to not count on Kakashi. Despite all of the voices clamoring in his mind, Shisui ignored them. He trusted him back then, so why was he hesitating now?
The more allies the better.
Kakashi keeping his secret would be an added bonus.
It would take some weight off of their shoulders.
Teams didn’t keep secrets from each other.
Was it too sappy of him to still consider Team Ro his “team” even though he left eight months ago?
So before Shisui could stop himself, the words came tumbling out of his mouth. “Can I trust you?”
Kakashi shrugged. “Ask anyone in the Anbu and they’ll tell you no.”
Laughter escaped from Shisui’s lips. “You know that you’re still bad at cracking jokes, right?”
“Never claimed I was good.”
Just seconds after their brief light-hearted exchange, Shisui decided it was time to drop the bomb on Kakashi. No warning, just straight to the point.
“The Uchiha clan is planning a coup against Konoha.”
Kakashi squeezed his eye shut, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. He took a deep breath before exhaling, his chest rising and falling with the motion. He completed that action a couple more times before Kakashi finally found his voice.
“Well…that’s certainly a problem.”
Yeah, well. It was their problem now.
Kakashi had no qualms in making this everyone’s problem. Tenzo, who had been searching for Itachi the entire time since Danzo’s attack, had returned with his younger cousin in tow, only to be greeted by the news of the Uchiha coup. While Tenzo was still mentally reeling from what he had just learned, Itachi appeared by his side.
“You told him?”
Shisui chuckled weakly. “Blame it on the poison.”
Itachi was never one to verbally express his judgment but skepticism and hesitation was written all over his face. Shisui felt the impulsive need to defend himself.
“Listen, Taichou was going to report Danzo’s attack to the Hokage. If he does that, then that’ll only speed up action from Konoha’s side. I wanted to buy some time until you returned, and well, the more allies, the better right?”
“When you said you were going to look for allies, I did not think you meant outside of the Uchiha clan.”
That wasn’t what Shisui intended either, but since it already happened, they might as well make good use of it. Who knew? Maybe seeking advice from their trauma-ridden captain might yield some fruitful results; after all, Kakashi wouldn’t want another war either, right?
The four of them were crowded in the living room of Kakashi’s small apartment. The space was mostly bare aside from a singular, worn out couch in the middle of the room and a few dying plants on the windowsill. The walls were devoid of any decorations, putting the chipped paint on full display. The hardwood floor was cold and squeaky.
No one commented on the depressing state of his living place. Everyone knew – it was just a place to sleep.
Itachi and Shisui sat on the couch. Tenzo perched on the right arm of the couch, lazily spinning a marker in his hand. Kakashi stood next to the scroll that he taped on his bare wall, scribbling down everything he knew. At certain points, Shisui and Itachi would jump in to fill the gaps. By the time they finished, the entire scroll was filled with a mess of scribbles that only Team Ro could comprehend.
Kakashi joined them on the couch. “So, what do you think?”
Itachi shook his head. “There are no solutions.”
“There are no peaceful solutions,” Tenzo corrected. “I mean, you could just kill off the entire Uchiha clan…”
At this, both Uchihas grimaced. Tenzo’s eyes widened. “Whoa. You actually considered that as an option?”
“...last resort,” Itachi mumbled underneath his breath before quickly moving on. “Any other options that are less…violent?”
“Any chance that we could convince the Konoha council to let the Uchihas move back to the main district?” Tenzo suggested.
Kakashi shook his head. “Even if they agreed, the Uchihas would be too prideful to do it. Or they would think that Konoha is just throwing crumbs to pacify them. They’re already resentful. Unless there was a drastic change, they would never relent. What even is the goal of the Uchiha coup anyways?”
“To put the Uchihas in a position of power,” Shisui answered. “We already have control of Konoha’s Police Force, but they want more to guarantee their presence in the village. Like…”
“Fugaku becoming the Hokage?” Kakashi prompted. Shisui nodded.
Tenzo scoffed. “The Konoha Elders would never agree to that.”
“You can kill the Konoha elders and Lord Hokage to have the Uchiha take over the village, but you won’t earn the loyalty of the other clans. If the Uchiha were to win, the other clans might leave the village and severely weaken the village.”
“Yes, we know,” Itachi admitted. “That is the outcome we fear the most. We’ve barely achieved some semblance of peace after the Third War and now there might be another war. The other villages will take advantage of Konoha’s weakened state to attack us.”
“We tried everything,” Shisui added. “The Uchihas are determined. Using Kotoatamatsuki on the clan was my next plan, but you know how that worked out. “
Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest. “What exactly is the power of the Kotoatamatsuki?”
Itachi and Shisui exchanged knowing glances, silently communicating how many clan secrets they were comfortable with sharing. Shisui already said too much today, so really, what was one more clan secret?
“Taichou, how much do you know about the evolution of the Sharingan?”
A lot. Despite not having any Uchiha friends or any publicly available scrolls or books on the Sharingan, Kakashi gathered bits and pieces of information over the years whether through word of mouth or trial and error with his own.
“The next evolution of the Sharingan is the Mangekyo Sharingan. Each person’s Mangekyo gives them different powers. Mine is called the Kotoatamatsuki, with the ability to cast a genjutsu to manipulate someone into doing my bidding without noticing that they are being influenced.”
Tenzo let out an impressed whistle. “What a broken ability. You were planning on using that to influence the clan to stop the coup.”
“Yes. There’s no guarantee that it’ll work since I can only cast it on one person, but I was hoping that Fugaku-san’s influence over the clan would be enough to convince them to stand down…”
“Danzo wasn’t trying to kill you,” Kakashi stated. “He was trying to steal your eye. He knows about the power behind your Sharingan. With your Sharingan, he can use that power to become the Hokage like he always wanted to.”
“Wait, what?” Shisui’s mind was spinning. Was it the aftereffects of the poison or the information overload?
Kakashi stood up, grabbing another scroll from his weapon’s pouch. He taped it up against the wall next to the first scroll and started to give them a run-down on Danzo’s quest for power, including the planned assassination of the Third Hokage and his multiple attempts to take Kakashi’s Sharingan. From time to time, Tenzo jumped in to fill in some gaps in Kakashi’s explanations.
Itachi’s eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration. He propped an elbow on the armrest of the couch, palm cupping the bottom of his chin as his head dipped up and down in agreement. Alarming concern blossomed in his chest; how the hell did Itachi never tell him about these things? If Shisui had known, he would have never agreed to let his cousin join the Root Anbu by himself!
“Anything you want to add, Itachi?”
“He asked me to keep an eye on the Uchiha clan, but he doesn’t trust me. I feel as if there is always someone watching me.”
Tenzo shook his head. “Danzo doesn’t trust anyone. All Root Foundation shinobis have a seal placed on their tongue to prevent them from leaking secrets. You don’t have one. That means you don’t know any secrets worth keeping.”
Itachi nodded in agreement. “Yes but what does any of this have to do with solving the Uchiha coup?”
“Don’t you see?” Tenzo jumped out of his seat, waving his hands animatedly in the air as he spoke. “Danzo is fueling the flames of the coup! He has the methods and he has the motive. He’s part of Konoha’s council so he can easily influence Lord Hokage’s decisions. Think about it, who would suggest sending the Uchihas to live in the outermost district of Konoha? Who would suggest limiting police force power? Once the Uchihas become a problem, then Konoha will kill them and then Danzo gets access to an unlimited supply of Sharingans.”
Okay…Shisui was starting to see Tenzo’s point, but there was no evidence against the elder. They couldn’t just take action against him – killing a Konoha official was the highest level of treason. But even if they did manage to scrounge up enough evidence to submit a case against him, investigation would take years. The Uchiha clan was growing too restless. There was no time.
There was no time.
“When was the first time that the Uchiha clan started to resent Konoha? Was it after the Kyuubi attack?” Kakashi asked.
“Yes. Tou-san mentioned that the Uchiha power and influence in Konoha has weakened since the Kyuubi attack. They suspect that an Uchiha was the one to control the Kyuubi.”
“The only way to solve this peacefully is to get rid of the problem at the source. Otherwise…” Kakashi shot Itachi an apologetic look. “Sorry. I think it’s a bit too late for peacemaking talks, so…”
So killing the entire Uchiha clan was starting to seem like a very realistic option. Shisui wanted to bang his head against the wall.
“Wait Kakashi senpai, what about that jutsu? The one that lets you rewind time?”
“Are you suggesting time travel?” Shisui’s voice was incredulous. Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Skepticism was written all over Itachi’s face.
Tenzo sighed, running a hand through his hair. “You don’t believe me? Kakashi senpai, you were there on that mission with me. The one where the enemy kept rewinding time to undo his injuries.”
“We’ve only experienced time rewinding for a few hours at most,” Kakashi commented. “In theory, it might be possible to turn back time for more than that, although we don’t know the limitations of that jutsu.”
“At minimum, we would need to travel back to the Kyuubi attack. If the Kyuubi attack never happens, then there’s no suspicion on the Uchiha clan and we won’t be isolated from the village,” Itachi added. Shisui’s eyes widened. Itachi couldn’t be seriously considering the ridiculous idea of time traveling to solve their problems.
Judging from the dead serious expression on his cousin’s face, a sinking feeling appeared in the pit of his stomach.
“Okay hypothetically if time travel was possible, you want us to hunt down the enemy nin and force him to use the jutsu on us?”
How was Shisui the only rational one in the room? Usually Itachi was pretty level-headed, but he could understand Itachi’s willingness to latch onto any bit of hope – the future of the Uchiha clan was bleak. But even if he couldn’t count on Itachi, Kakashi ruled with logic and not feelings. Too many times, their captain had shot down his or Tenzo’s crazy suggestions, probably for the better.
When Kakashi simply pointed to his Sharingan eye, Shisui almost wanted to smack himself in the forehead. Of course. The one time that Shisui needed Kakashi to be the voice of reason, he wasn’t.
Although barely visible, hope shone in Itachi’s eyes. “You copied the jutsu?”
No. No. No. This wasn’t how this was suppose to go. Shisui couldn’t bear to watch Itachi’s hopes get crushed. He needed to stop this now–
“This isn’t a good–”
“Well there’s risks,” Kakashi interrupted. Shisui glared. Kakashi ignored him. “I never tried to use this jutsu before. The further back in time we go, the more that is out of control. There’s also a cool down period; I would guess that the further back you go, the longer it would take before being able to activate the jutsu again. There are a lot of unknowns.”
Okay, maybe Kakashi was still thinking logically.
The corners of Kakashi’s eyes crinkled. “We could be trapped in the past.”
Oh great. Just what they wanted.
“Or die.”
Amazing. Their deaths would solve all of their problems. At least, it wouldn’t be their problem anymore.
“How confident are you?” Itachi asked in a small voice. The bottom of his lip quivered. His hands, far too small for someone belonging in the Anbu, curled up by his side. “I…I can’t watch my clan destroy itself.”
“Not confident.” Shisui watched Itachi’s shoulders sag in disappointment. “I’m not going to lie to you, Itachi. It’s risky. We’re probably not going to make it back alive. If you’re not here to witness the future, then what’s the point?”
“Yeah, but Sasuke will be.”
Always. Kind-hearted Itachi would always look out for everyone else before himself. So selfless that it pained Shisui to see Itachi struggling to accept the fact that they were out of options. It was either the Uchiha clan or Konoha. Blood would be shed. Peace would be broken.
They were child soldiers that witnessed the brutality of war far, far too young. The untold horrors remained lodged in their throats; the scars crossed deep in their hearts. The everlingering trauma lurked in the crevices of their mind, constantly reminding them of the harsh reality of this world.
“Taichou?” Itachi’s voice was soft.
“Hmm?”
“Your sensei was the Fourth Hokage right? If it meant that you had to risk your life, would you go back in time to save him from the Kyuubi attack?”
“Of course.” Kakashi didn’t miss a beat.
“Then you must know how I feel about this. If there’s even the slightest chance, I want to take it. Even if I die, at least I won’t have regrets.”
“Itachi! What about your parents? What about Sasuke? You’re still young, you still have a future ahead of you–”
“Shisui. There’s no future for us if the Uchiha clan goes to war with Konoha.”
Shisui couldn’t refute that. He had suffered too many restless nights, mind plagued with the thoughts of an impending war, to still naively think that everything could be peacefully resolved. But Kami did Shisui try, he tried so hard to remain optimistic, to shield Itachi from the brunt of reality.
Itachi had always been too smart for his own good. He knew as well as Shisui did – there was no hope.
This was their last chance. If they walked out of Kakashi’s apartment today, the next time that they met would be on the battlefield.
But still. This wasn’t Itachi’s burden to carry.
“If we must do it, I’ll go. Leave Itachi out of this.”
“Shisui, I can’t let you do this by yourself!”
“Itachi, one of us must live for this to be worth it. Listen, I’ll be fine.”
Back and forth they went, each of them trying to outdo each other’s argument of why they should be the one to go instead. So many words were said, more than Shisui had heard Itachi say in the past week, yet their conversations went nowhere. They kept going and going, until Kakashi interrupted them.
“We’ll go together.”
Both Itachi and Shisui’s head snapped towards Kakashi, the protest leaving their mouths in unison. “No!”
Kakashi raised his hand in mock surrender. “Maa, maa calm down. Arguing isn’t going to get you two anywhere.”
Itachi and Shisui stayed silent.
“Now as I was saying, we’ll go together.” A protest was already at the tip of Shisui’s tongue, but Kakashi silenced it with a sharp look.
“I’m the jutsu user. I have no choice but to go. And the two of you cannot make up your mind on who is going. And well, Tenzo…”
“I’m coming along too!” Tenzo piped in. “I’m part of the team too.”
“So we might as well all go,” Kakashi concluded. “Whether you like it or not, both of you will always be part of Team Ro. And I’ll never leave a comrade to fend for themselves.”
“Taichou, I…I can’t ask you to do that. It’s our clan’s problem and we…”
“I want a chance to save my sensei too.” A glassy look appeared in Kakashi’s eyes, so brief and fleeting that Shisui almost thought he imagined it. In the next blink of the eye, Kakashi was already taping up a third scroll against the wall. The palm of his hand smoothed out the surface of the scroll.
Kakashi turned. “So here’s the plan…”