In one version of this story Kakashi wakes up with a scream lodged in his throat.

This is not that story.

Instead he bolts upright in bed, a friend's, an almost lover's name on his lips before he can stop it.

"Obito," he says, half raging, half hysterical, "Obito."

Kakashi places a hand on his shoulder, the place where a blade had cut so deep he wouldn't have healed from it and he-

He laughs.

He laughs because of all the stupid things Obito could have done, of all the ways the war could have ended Kakashi never thought of this one expect in daydreams and fantasies.

He laughs because once again Obito had managed to do the impossible.

He laughs because Obito expects him to do the same thing.

He laughs because he wants to, he wants to save Obito from being crushed and he wants to save Rin but he isn't sure he can.

(Kakashi is old and weary and he wants nothing more than to keep his team safe but at this point-

At this point he isn't sure he's able too.)

Kakashi is late that day. Mostly because after he realized that today was the day they were setting out for Kannabi bridge he had a panic attack the likes he hadn't seen since the days after his father's death.

Eventually, when he forces himself to calm down he's fifteen minutes late.

Needless to say he rushes toward the meeting point and is promptly met with the disapproval and concern of his teammates and Minato.

Kakashi has to remind himself to breathe when he catches sight of them not dead, not as reanimated corpses or mud clones, or traitor's but as people, he had known for years. As people he was willing to risk his life for.

He schools his face into a stainless mask. Sharp as steel and pretends nothing is wrong when Minato asks him.

He doesn't respond to Obito's taunts about how Kakashi is the one late for once.

He thanks Rin for the medkit and ignores the concern in her eyes.

If he acknowledges it, if he thinks about them as people again he's going to break down and he can't let that happen. It's bad enough he's there, that he's standing in front of people that should be dead and someone who had betrayed their village. It's bad enough that he can't tell anyone about what is going to happen and it's bad enough that he has no time to prepare for this mission.

So he holds his head high, ignores them, and suggests they head out.

The stop they make at Rin's cousin's house after two days is, unexpected.

What's more unexpected is the chakra signature that leaps out at him, fire and lightning and fury underscored by loss so immense that Kakashi knows who it is it immediately.

Sasuke, he thinks, and remembers the genin with fear and anger in his heart. He remembers the missing nin with hatred and rage so immense that he let it swallow him whole until the world was threatened.

Then he fought, and with no one to tie him down he had been one of the fiercest fighters on the battlefield.

(Kakashi can't quite get the image of Sasuke cutting down Naruto and Sakura's clones as if they were nothing out of his head. Even when Kakashi himself had froze Sasuke had done what was needed to.

The boy is ruthless, and Kakashi wonders what he will do to keep his clan alive.)

Minato feels the chakra too and orders the rest of them to be wary.

What they arrive at Yuna's, Rin's cousin's, home they don't expect a boy who is barely a man to open the door. One black eye lazily serving them, the other eye, purple with the Rinnegan that has a tomoe on each circle follows the other's lead.

Sasuke looks perpetually disinterested in them. Then his eyes land on Kakashi's and he stops.

Kakashi's breath catches, Sasuke knows.

Kakashi isn't sure whether that's a good thing or not. On one hand, it means he could have an ally, on the other hand Sasuke could still want the village to burn for what it's done to his clan.

Kakashi stares back at Sasuke and Sasuke nods slightly.

Minato's eyes narrow and Rin looks as though she wants to launch herself at Sasuke. Before she can Minato opens his mouth.

"Where is Yuna?" Minato asks, and Sasuke smirks a little, infuriating as always.

"She's inside," Sasuke says evenly, meeting Minato's stare with his own unnerving one, "Come in."

Sasuke moves to the side, and Team Minato passes into the house.

The door shuts softly behind them.

Yuna knows something isn't right about the boy the moment he wakes and his Sharingan spins to life.

It's not until he's stayed with her a week that she realizes what it is. Because as old as she is, she was still a healer once upon a time and worked more closely with the Yamanaka's than she would have liked.

She knows the signs of War-Shock when she sees it. War-Shock, a name which she doesn't agree with because it came come from things beside war and even those who haven't experienced it can have it, is when a person has been through such a traumatic event that it never quite leaves them.

They may become paranoid, may have recurring nightmares and strong feelings of distrust toward others. They may react strongly when presented with something that reminds them of the trauma, they may also freeze up when presented with something that reminds them of the trauma they've experienced. They can be irritable and irrational when presented with something that reminds them of the trauma.

There are ways to help them of course, Yuna had helped her fair share of patients with War-Shock throughout the years and many of them had gotten it under control or told her it hadn't bothered them anymore.

Yuna knows she could help Sasuke, and while her family has always put others needs above her own Yuna feels no regret when she tells him what she wants him to do.

She could be sending him into a potentially triggering situation she knows, but she has never been a good Nohara and places her family above the life of a stranger who although she has been kind to, is still just that.

A stranger.

Yuna is arguing something with Minato and Sasuke pretends not to notice. Instead he's focused on Obito, a much younger, more carefree and loud Obito.

An Obito who hasn't helped murder their clan.

Sasuke repeats that to himself as has to remind himself that he can't kill this Obito. This Obito has done nothing wrong.

Yet, and Sasuke wonders if he can change that, can change the fate of their clan, of his mother and father and Itachi.

(He could stop Madara from ever getting his hands on Obito if he slaughter the other Uchiha right here. It would be clean, perfect, Sasuke has enough upper body strength to take a man's head off in move.

He would make an enemy of his village, of his mother and father and brother but if it kept them safe in the end wasn't it worth it?

Sasuke keeps his hands away from the kunai Yuna had given and does his best to ignore Obito.)

Abruptly Yuna turns to Sasuke and gives him a grin so sweet it turns cruel.

"You're going with them," she announces and Sasuke raises a delicate eyebrow.

Minato steps forward, eyes zoning in on Sasuke, studying him like he's a threat.

Which he is, but he doesn't think Minato knows how much of a threat Sasuke could be.

Kakashi does, Sasuke had recognized that world weary look in his eyes, had recognized that Kakashi's chakra signature was far too large for a boy his age.

So Sasuke knows, knows that Kakashi knows who he is, knows that his former sensei could protest whatever decision Minato makes.

But Sasuke merely meets Minato's gaze instead of voicing an opinion on the matter or trying to convince them to let him come.

Minato nods after a minute and gestures toward the door.

"I think we should spar first Yuna," Minato says, "It would be a good judge of his skill."

Well, Sasuke thinks, At least Naruto's father isn't stupid.

Yuna allows it, as long as it's far enough away from her house and gardens that nothing gets damaged.

Team Minato follows them until they are well away from Yuna's house. But once they find a clearing to use Minato's team hesitates to take to the trees to watch.

Kakashi meets Sasuke's eyes and there's caution in them. As though Kakashi is reluctant to let Minato fight him.

Sasuke looks at Kakashi and tries to convey without words that he won't try to hurt Minato.

Kakashi gets it if the following order from his mouth is anything to go by.

"Let's go," Kakashi says, already turning toward the treeline.

Obito complains about leaving their sensei without backup but goes with Kakashi anyway.

Once the others are gone Minato stares at Sasuke.

Sasuke nods and they begin.

Minato is fast and while Sasuke is fast as well he's not fast enough to keep up with Minato when the other is using his full speed without Sasuke using his Sharingan.

So when Minato strikes, full speed and half strength, Sasuke lets the black of his iris bleed red.

He dodges just in time. Minato turns ready to launch himself at Sasuke again but Sasuke is already on him, kunai flashing as it clangs against the one Minato brought up to defend himself.

Sasuke smirks at the shock on Minato's face when he sees the red of Sasuke's Sharingan.

Minato had been expecting several things when he and his team came across an abundance of chakra near Yuna's house. He had expected a fight of some sort, to find Yuna dead.

He hadn't expected a man who looked nearly identical to the Uchiha in the village to answer the door. He hadn't expected said man to have a rather strange looking Rinnegan of all things.

Most importantly, he hadn't expected him to actually be an Uchiha. But the red of the Sharingan doesn't lie and here he is sparring with one of Fugaku's clansmen.

It's all rather odd, and Minato wonder why there's a renegade Uchiha living with a Nohara of all things.

But he doesn't have time to give it much thought as Sasuke strikes again, as swift and as deadly as a cobra. Minato recognizes some of the moves he's using from his spars against Fugaku when they were younger.

If there was any doubt in his mind that Sasuke is an Uchiha it vanishes the moment the other uses moves that only Uchiha should know. They're not as refined as the ones he's seen used in the village by other Uchiha's but there's grace to them and they could be deadly just the same.

Minato has a feeling Sasuke is holding back, but so is he.

The blond calls a halt to the match when the two of them have kunai's at each other's throats.

"You can come with us," Minato says, not quite trusting Sasuke but confident enough in the others skills that he won't be a burden and that Minato could beat him if given the chance, "But we're taking you to Konoha right after the mission."

Sasuke tilts his head to the side, as if he's considering something.

"Why would I came with you to Konoha?" he asks and Minato blinks.

"Because you have a clan there," Minato says, "A family."

"Only cousins," Sasuke muses, "And I lost my immediate family a long time ago."

"You should still come," Minato says, "They'll want to meet you." And we can keep a better eye on you there, he adds mentally. Minato does not want someone like Sasuke falling into Konoha's enemies.

Sasuke seems to understand.

"I'll come with you to Konoha," he agrees, "If only to see how it is."

Danzo is an old man with too much ambition and not enough skill, Orochimaru thinks with distaste as he eyes the man that had come into his home uninvited.

Orochimaru had half a mind to set his snakes on Danzo. No one came into Orochimaru's home unless invited.

No one.

But the old man had been waiting for him when he had come home and while Orochimaru could admire the skill it took to sneak into his house of all places he also wondered what Danzo would look like dead and on an operating table.

Danzo seems to catch those thoughts as he smiles, thick and twisted.

"I have an offer for you," Danzo says, "One that will allow you to work on whatever you want."

Orochimaru narrows his eyes at the old man.

Something in him wakes up, and Orochimaru smiles.

*nervous laughter* it's been a while hasn't it? ahahaha...anyway, this story is still being written its just that i had to figure out some plot things and then my mental health took a downward turn so i didnt update.

whoops. but here it is! an update for war of snakes!

if anyone is interested i have a tumblr at sparklecryptid if you want to send me prompts or whatever. I'm always accepting them, and i love it when people talk to me so dont be a stranger!