Desolation

Chapter 2 : the boy's mask breaks into two

Basking in the sunlight as the sun dawns, Kakashi puts on his Anbu mask as he jumps over rooftops, running towards the Root headquarters. He turns slightly to Yuugao, "I'm going with you".

Yuugao nods, not giving her one cent worth about the fact he's just back from a mission and probably in need of medical attention. The Hokage's letter sits neatly inside her breast pocket, waiting to be addressed to one Shimura Danzo, who Kakashi suspected is withholding Tenzo and probably updating his brainwashing to tear down Kakashi's efforts of freeing him from Danzo's teaching.

Kakashi remembers Obito's words and ingrain it in his skull to never abandon his comrades. He remembers Rin's bright smile and wishes for a peaceful world. Minato-sensei and Kushina-san's sacrifice to save the future of Konoha.

He remembers the child both of them loved even before coming to the world, the child who he also failed to protect.

He swears to never let it happen again.

They arrive inside the headquarters in minutes, but two Root ninja block their entrance. Yuugao pulls out the Hokage letter but neither guards relented from blocking their pathway. Kakashi realizes that Danzo is not letting anyone in and tells Yuugao to inform the Hokage immediately.

As soon as he's alone, he pushes his Konoha headband upwards, revealing the Sharingan to put the two guards under genjutsus and ordering them to tell him where Tenzo is located. Kakashi rushes into an underground facility, finding Tenzo locked on a medical bed with unfocused eyes and limp body. Kakashi uses his sharingan to break the genjutsu and Tenzo jolts awake.

"Hurry, we have to exit the building before Danzo catches up."

Evading the Root ninjas proved to be a challenge on it's on with their silent movements and ruthless attacks. Kakashi finds himself struggling trying not to hurt them when they're dead set on bringing him down and taking away Tenzo.

Tenzo weaves through signs and activates his jutsu, blocking shurikens with wooden poles coming towards Kakashi. Kakashi nods to him in appreciation when he is attacked again, this time with a kunai to his face.

It was a boy, much smaller than even Tenzo is and Kakashi bristles at the thought of Danzo indoctrinating kids to become his personal tools.

Kakashi parries the kunai with his own and pushes to disorient the boy. His eyes widens as the boy doesn't as much, moves and Kakashi belatedly realizes the boy is slowly pushing back.

The boy pulls out another kunai this time to his abdomen and Kakashi twists his body so that the attack misses and kicks the boy's chest harsh enough to knock out a chunin.

The boy doesn't go down, much to Kakashi's frustration. He produces ten clones of himself, which manages to surprise him as well as occupies Kakashi's vision and slams him to the ground.

Kakashi activated Chidori and sent a shockwave of lightning over the pile of bodies on top of him, each disappearing with a puff of smoke.

But one shouts in pain as the shockwave hits him and the boy's mask breaks into two.

He never thought he'd meet those cerulean blue eyes and shockingly bright yellow hair ever again. He's drowning, chest heaving and pulling as he locks eyes with that face again. He's dumped with the dreaded memories and the world is spinning around him.

"Minato-sensei?" His voice quiet and hopeful and extremely vulnerable, Kakashi hates how he couldn't let go of something that happened already six years ago.

His vision wavers as he finds himself harder to breathe. He pales as Obito's bloody hand clutches his only sharingan eye left before passing it to him. Rin's shaky mutters of his name while a hole on her abdomen and his hand through it. Minato-sensei's cold body and Kushina-san's dried tears as well as baby Naruto's lifeless eyes.

Tenzo is instantly there and he's holding him. Calling him and reminding him of the mission. The one he started and brought upon to the Hokage. The one he's supposed to save Tenzo and not the other way around. Kakashi exhales, with it the bout of regrets and guilts blooming inside him.

He's used to pushing it to the edge of his mind, he can do it now.

Kakashi's eyes sweep through the place in search of the boy before dodging when a giant shuriken flies directly to him. The giant shuriken passes above him and another ninja sends him a bunch of poisoned senbons. He doesn't realize the boy is behind him, hand gripping the giant shuriken until Tenzo's anxious shout and a sudden burst of chakra directly behind him.

Tenzo quickly signs Rat-Dog-Tiger before a dome out of wood bursts from the ground. The giant shuriken lands into the dome, it's edges stop inches away from Tenzo's eyes.

How much power does the kid have?

"Stop." Danzo's commands just as he arrives at the scene. Root ninjas ceases their attacks and bows deeply to the man.

Kakashi draws away his kunais and stands stoically in front of Tenzo as Danzo condemns him of his irrational acts that is unbecoming of a Konoha ANBU ninja when the Hokage arrives with Anbu ninjas right behind him.

Kakashi listens to Sandaime's argument while simultaneously skimming through the area for the previous boy. He can't use the Sharingan right now or Danzo will see it as offensive when he needs to keep at least the rest of this meeting civil.

He keeps his expression blank even though his mind is running a mile a minute. Playing and replaying moments and that face, wondering if it were even real. Was it his own twisted perception just as the girl, Yukimi, had looked like Rin when he almost put a Chidori through her.

He finds the boy at the edge of his eyesight, behind a window half closed and tucks in a plain black t-shirt, brown shorts and a black regular shinobi shoes. He still had that blonde hair and blue eyes like Minato-sensei with the addition of whiskers (seriously, whiskers?) on his cheek.

It was just for a second, Kakashi could tell the boy was looking directly at him. A frown creases on his face and brows pinched as he dissects him before he is pushed behind a Root member, away from Kakashi's sight.

It irks him the fact that they're hiding the boy from the Hokage.

He tunes back into Sandaime and Danzo's political dodgeball until Danzo is cornered to a wall and forced to dismiss Tenzo off the Root members.

Kakashi pats Tenzo on his shoulder as support before Tenzo bows to the man and thanks him for his guidance that the old fool definitely didn't deserve.

If Danzo would hide a wood-user only predessant by the First Hokage he doesn't want to think about the abilities the boy had for Danzo to cherish him so much.

Kakashi realizes he couldn't do anything about Tenzo 2.0 right now especially with Danzo already giving out his narrowed-death glares towards him for taking his dear asset from him. Whoever the boy is, it's obviously important enough that they're hiding him from the Hokage. Kakashi couldn't even detect the boy's chakra signature anymore.

He can't help but flinch at the image of the mini Minato-sensei.

He doesn't like the speculations running through his head right now.

It would just ruin the Hokage's efforts to get Tenzo out of this hole without bloodbath from any party. Besides, he's here to free Tenzo, not the boy. Even if he brings up a new human-experimentation-to-be-like-previous-hokages issue, it will likely be counter-effective since Danzo holds all the cards right now. They have no idea about the boy.

The Hokage dismisses the Anbu ninjas and Kakashi and Tenzo follows him out of the Foundation office. Kakashi gave a final glance towards the window the boy was hidden in. He is half-disappointed that the boy isn't there even though he expects him not to be.