WARNINGS: TRIGGER WARNING, Colorblind!TB!Kakashi, depressed!Pseudobulbar-Affect(PBA)!Obito, time travel, dark themes, suicidal thoughts, character death, violence, blood and dark themes. Did I mention dark themes? Please understand that this is a vent story. If anything is triggering, don't read.

Original title: Shu

Rated: MA (M)

Original summary: He was pretty sure he was a deadman. But that kid with the blinding red scarf made him not-dead, and Scarf Kid reminded him vaguely of Kakashi. Who is supposed to be dead.

Four main genres: Supernatural, Action, Angst, & Hurt/Comfort.

Pairings: MinaKushi & offscreen!ObiRin (later).

Recommended songs: Breathe Me by Sia (Butch Clancy remix), Little Talks, Dirty Paws by Of Monsters and Men & Icarus by Pompeii.

I don't really have anything to say. But I'll just say something anyway.

That awkward moment when you find a dead raccoon in your car after you leave the windows open for a full week… (this really happened to me. I told my teacher that excuse when I was late that Friday, and she said that it was "the most wildest excuse I've ever heard". Wait until I pull a Hatake on her.)

The banner above is just something new I'm trying. Sigh, it's a slight pain, but it may or may not stay.

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Maybe.

Original chapter word count: 3.9k~

Enjoy my I-guess-you-could-call-it-downcast chapter :,p

Chapter 1: Silver Coin

It was a rare moment for Namikaze Minato. He was a ninja—a dignified one; though he wasn't too dignified. Just enough to remain human. He was starting to create a reputation of his own, and, slowly, he was becoming feared. He didn't really think much of it, the occasional wave from people was becoming a daily occurrence when he took a walk or went out with his three man team.

(Kakashi had died barely a week ago in a mission saving Rin and Obito; he died with a hole in his chest in a collapsing cave, and while it was a painful death, it was dignified the way he left. The rest of Team Minato were slowly rebuilding themselves, and as expected, it was slow. But then again, they were just starting.)

He was terrified when his student died, albeit mainly because he wasn't fast enough. The other reason was because of how easily things went downhill. True, he was stubborn, but never had a mission gone that far downhill under his command. It was actually the very first time someone under his command died; he was very careful when leading.

But now…now he was just fucking scared shitless. Maybe it was because half of his squad was either dead or dying. It could've been because of how badly injured he was. Possibly how close to death he feels. Or how much it hurt to be held up by the throat. The Iwa-nin doing said action had a triumphed smirk. An ugly, nasty, blood-covered one at that. Flesh was stuck in between his teeth, a crazy look flashing in his pale blue eyes.

The Iwa-nin chuckled evilly—insanely. "Fucking pathetic!" he laughed. "You Konoha-nin are so easy to kill! Hah!"

He squeezed harder, making Minato's grip on the mans wrist tighten. He was slowly losing consciousness and blood loss, and for a moment he thought about letting go. But it was quickly dismissed; he had a pretty fiancé waiting at home, and two broken students to fix. Not to mention, he had a war to win.

In a ditch for last effort, he yanked out a kunai, sloppily slashing across the mans wrist. And while the insane ninja winced, he made no movement of letting go. But he glared—and the glare promised lots of pain.

Pain Minato did receive, as the man lifted him higher, and slamming the blonde down onto the rocky ground, creating a crater and making Minato cry out in pain. He heard a crack, and the world around him became distant in sight and sound. He coughed, choking for air as the mans grip tightened.

"Aw, c'mon!" the man chaffed—taunted, jeered, ridiculed, derided. "Where's the pathetic plead to live, hmm?!" Minato simply glared. "Ha, you're stubborn! I like you. The stubborn types always take the nastiest ways out. Heh."

His grin widened, squeezing harder and harder until Minato's hands finally decided to stop clawing at the mans arms. They fell to the side, and he nearly blacked out; the man had let go at the last second, and allowed him to breathe fully. He took the chance, and sucked in a deep breath of air, coughing and rubbing his throbbing neck (a bruise was bound to form sooner or later, and it is gonna hurt).

Minato was too busy finally being able to find the ability to consume oxygen to notice the man pulling out a kunai, raising his arm. He brought said arm down, the blonde finally taking notice as the action was pulled. His brilliant cerulean eyes widened in shock. He scrambled up, the kunai only hitting his thigh as he got out of the crater. A killer headache followed him, and he fell to a knee, holding the back of his head and growling in pain.

The Iwa-nin laughed loudly. He dashed forward, his large hand reaching out for the blonde. But the man was blocked by another person (much more smaller; a young teen, possibly?) with lightning sparkling in his hand. The larger mans eyes widened, but he was already too close to dodge: The lightning dug through his flesh, hitting his heart, and killing him instantaneously.

The man—how old is he? Minato wondered absently—raised his other arm, pushing the corpse off of his arm and onto the ground, whipping his hand to get loose blood off. He wore a black Konoha shinobi outfit—minus the Uzumaki swirl—with zori. Makimono's were sewed to his upper arms, and he had a really bright red scarf that could make even a colorblind man cringe. Probably not. But emphasizing can be exaggerated.

The man had black messy hair that shagged down underneath his scarf, and metal plated gloves with blood soaked in them. The boy turned, and looked at Minato with lazy and dull eyes. Half of his face was covered by said bright red scarf, and quite frankly, it was annoying. He gave Minato an odd look, his eyes curving up in a smile. "You can rest now," he assured. "There are no more threats."

The Namikaze narrowed his eyes, ignoring the dizziness and need for rest. "And how do I know you aren't going to kill me?" he questioned.

"If I were to wish for your death, you would've been dead long before this bastard even thought about charging you with that kunai," the boy stated apathetically. "And what kind of assassin wears bright red?"

The blonde paused at that. The kid had a point, but he used chakra like a ninja, and ninjas deceive as well as cheat. The brat was heading on to the road of deception. Is on the road of deception. The blonde shakily stood, making said boy sigh.

"I don't mean any harm. Really," he stated. "So can't we all just go home and sleep? I'm tired. And I wanna read my book…"

Minato stared at the teen, who he decided to be around fourteen or fifteen. He narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out said teen, and failing miserably. He ignored his wounds, his dizziness, and rushed forward, pulling a kunai out of his pouch and aiming for his throat. The teen squeaked in alarm, ducking and covering his head with his hands in a non-shinobi manner. Minato's foot was only inches from the boys shins, and he made no sudden movement—aside from his panting and slight swaying.

"Ow…" the boy whispered.

The blonde looked down, and saw that said boy was holding his chest in pain. His eyes were squeezed shut, and he was silently muttering curses. Minato blinked. "You're…injured. What happened?"

The teenager grunted weakly, pain lacing in his voice as he spoke, "You obviously don't trust me…"

Minato sighed, getting out of his stance. He was this close to the potential enemy; if he wasn't attacking, he wasn't here to kill him. Slowly, he sat down in front of the boy, sighing heavily and tiredly. "True…I don't trust you," Minato said, making the kid flinch and making him silently question that. "But I just met you. I don't even know your name, let alone why you saved me. Or why you're wearing Konoha ninja wear."

The boy winced again, groaning and hiding his head in his knees. "My name is Ginka," he mumbled, "and is it wrong to save…c-comrades…?"

"Comrades?" Minato questioned, quirking a brow. "Kid, I haven't seen you around the village, let alone do I see you wearing a Konoha headband."

Ginka grunted weakly, wincing from the pain it caused. He slowly lifted his eyes, orbs glazed over with memories. "Hmm," he murmured tiredly. "My parents were Konoha shinobi. But…they died…I just left because…of reminders. Y'know?"

Minato blinked, slowly nodding with a sympathetic and understanding expression. He was going through the same exact thing as well. Everywhere he looked, he painfully remembered Kakashi. The many moments they got into verbal arguments, the many moments he trained and helped them through their difficulties as a team…the many moments they wouldn't have in the future. It hurt to be reminded of his failure and not being able to save Kakashi in time.

But it was still suspicious.

And speaking of hurt… he thought bitterly. "Do you have any medical supplies, by any chance?" I can't believe I'm asking this.

Ginka slowly nodded. "I know Shōsen Jutsu," he murmured, "but I can't keep it up for longer than five minutes. You'll still have to go to a hospital…"

"That's fine," he replied sheepishly. "Better than dying here…" …and possibly to your hands…

Ginka simply nodded, getting out of his crouched position. He tipped his head as he made his way to Minato's side. "Lay down," he said, narrowing his eyes. "It'll make it easier for you to heal."

Minato simply nodded, lying down. He felt the familiar ticklish feeling of Shōsen Jutsu as Ginka instantly started performing the jutsu, helping his gut wound first. It stayed like that for a good three minutes in comfortable silence, before Ginka moved his hands to the throbbing bruise on his neck. Once again, the world was still as he healed that specific part of his injuries for thirty seconds before stopping the jutsu all together.

"I would highly recommend getting a days rest before you leave," Ginka said wisely. "Your gut would isn't fatal; the bruise on your neck isn't worrying, either, but I would highly recommend giving it support while it heals. Your concussion, from what I can see, is only mild. I would recommend healing that up ASAP, but I'm not really all that good with heads and stuff, so…" He shrugged, "Unless you want me to close the wound."

Minato nodded. "That would be great," he stated half to himself. He slowly sat up, ignoring the wooziness. He felt Shōsen Jutsu once more, relief settling in as the wound slowly closed up enough to not shed anymore blood.

By the time he was finished up, Ginka looked like he was ready to collapse. He looked at Minato, and gave the man an eye smile. "Anyways…" he drawled, "I need to go. Bye."

The blonde blinked dumbly, watching as the dark haired teen stood up, turned away, and promptly took his leave. "Uh…bye…?" he mumbled. "Thank you, by the way."

"Mm-hmm." A lazy wave later, and Ginka was gone.

Hatake Kakashi was a survivor, in all honesty. He never truly lived; he was either killing, reading or sleeping off painkillers after being injured during a mission. And then when he became a sensei, he was either teaching, killing, reading or sleeping after dealing with a bunch of stress the once-brats caused.

The Fourth War came around, and he had a foreboding feeling that they were going to lose. Miserably. True, they seemed to have the upper hand (keyword: Seemed) the first fight, but then Madara retreated, went into hiding, and left the alliance much more crumbled than expected. Recuperation was ridiculous. Obito, Sasuke and Orochimaru had a harsh time (Orochimaru gains no sympathy).

During that recuperation, Madara attacked, killing off another chunk of the weaker part of the alliance; that included Tsunade, who was—at the time—in a coma. So they hid in another place, another area to be stained with blood.

And it was more like soaked with blood after the last attack.

After that happened, the only Kage's that remained were A and Gaara. Bee, Darui, Gai, Konoha 12, Tenten, Lee, Obito, and himself were the other remaining survivors, which was…sad.

Hope plummeted when they lost Gaara, Darui, and Bee in the fourth battle all at once. Gai protected Naruto, died in the process—Lee followed after protecting Kakashi from a Gudōdama aimed for his heart.

Tenten died in that same battle, too. She died to protect a wounded Sasuke, though she admitted she wanted to die before leaving after she watched the last remains of her team die.

Not too much later, most of Konoha 12 bit the dust after Madara released a portion of his Jūbi power as an explosion in hopes of killing the rest of his opponents off. A fell into a coma, and never woke up after that same battle. All that remained after that was Team Seven, Orochimaru and Obito. Orochimaru hid, and the five remaining ninja went into deeper hiding.

They managed to save their skins and hide for about five years before Kakashi himself bit the dust. He remembered it quite clearly, too. It was painful—bloody, but worth it, because he had died a hero's death…well, in his opinion at least. He saved Obito.

That was enough.

"Hn. You think you can beat me?" Madara asked Naruto smugly. He grinned, his dōjutsu fluctuating with power as he used Rinbo: Hengoku to manifest a clone.

Naruto, from where he was pinned down with a strong tendril of Mokuton, stared with eyes wide with horror and dismay as his head whipped towards Obito and Sasuke, who were both badly injured and being healed by Sakura simultaneously. "Shit. Obito! Watch out!" he screamed.

For a second, the world seemed to slow down. Kakashi was standing not too far from them, stuck in between Naruto and Obito. He narrowed his eyes, gritted his teeth, clenched his jaw, sucked up all doubts and jumped in front of the Uchiha. Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto stared in shock as the Hengoku clone's invisible arm punched its way through Kakashi's chest, blood spilling and pain shooting through the silver haired jōnin's entire body.

He gagged on blood, said blood staining his mask as the arm was pulled out, Madara scoffing and panting. (They had been fighting for many hours straight, using chakra-expending jutsu. And while Madara had a helluva lot of chakra, some of the jutsu used too much mental strength, which he didn't exactly have.)

The omnipotent Uchiha growled something out, and took his leave in a bout of speed. But the opposing shinobi didn't bother. Naruto broke out of the wood piece, the Kyūbi's chakra rushing through his coils as he rushed to catch his sensei.

The Hatake was too numb with pain to notice, though. Sounds around him were practically gone, and his world was slowly turning black. He felt the familiar tickle of Shōsen Jutsu against his skin, but it was vague, distant and almost nonexistent. He couldn't breathe; he was loosing blood at an alarmingly fast rate, and everything was just pain. Pain pain pain pain pain. He was numb with pain. He was dying with pain. He was in this predicament because of pain. He was causing pain to others by closing his eyes…

He felt cold hands on his masked cheeks, a familiar muffled and blocked voice calling out to him. Slowly, he opened his eye, keeping his Sharingan eye closed. The world around him was darkened and blurry, being clouded with pain. He saw Obito's face, tears falling onto his mask.

"Why'd you do that?" he asked. And while Kakashi didn't exactly hear the words he spoke, he could read his friends lips.

To return the favor, he wanted to say, but the words never came properly. They just came out as a bloody, gurgled choke. So instead, he offered a weak eye smile.

He breathed out, ignoring the strain and all of the pain one breath caused. He turned his head towards Naruto, giving an apologetic look to the twenty-two year old. The Uzumaki look dumbfounded, his face mixing with confusion and grief. His lips pressed together in a tight line, tears streaming down his face. "Why are you looking at me like that? I should be sorry…"

Kakashi felt bitter amusement rise, giving his student one last eye smile before he just stopped breathing all together, his senses dulling and leaving him along with his thoughts.

He frowned at the memory, plopping onto the tree branch that hung over a tall cliff over a forest. He had dropped his Henge a little while ago; this place was a place nobody knew of. Well, not yet anyway. During the war, they used it as a hideout. But Madara promptly destroyed it.

Nobody died here, though, so he felt no need to not be here. And besides, it was a good hiding spot. Civilians and bandits avoided it like the plague because it held lots of Orochimaru's failed experiments. Shinobi avoided it, too, because they were either too scared, too paranoid, too injured or too close to death coming back from a mission.

And speaking of too close to death… he thought bitterly as he rubbed his sore and aching chest. Piece of crap still hasn't healed…

He had woken up to being healed by Rin in the middle of a forest with both of them being pretty beat up after he died in the Fourth War. Obito had joined a little bit later, Rin patching him up as well. Then they reviewed their mission—their first assassination mission.

("What the fuck?" was the very first thing Kakashi grumbled when the mission was briefed over.)

It was low ranked, because it was a lowly bunch of bandits they had kill, but there had been an A-ranked ninja at their disposal; they had sent said A-ranked on the team of four, and had managed to split Minato from the three chūnin. The B-rank turned into an A-on-the-verge-of-S-ranked mission.

The three had been backed into a cave barely a day after their recuperation finished—which was nearly three days long—and got locked into a battle with the A-ranked shinobi and bandits. The bandits were the easy kill, but the ninja was…troublesome—credit goes to the Nara Clan.

He struck Kakashi down with a pretty damn strong punch to the temple, and left the Kage-level-turned-chūnin-brat with a severe concussion. But honestly, he had gained worse, if being punched through the chest said anything. The Iwa-nin with crazy strength aimed for a kunai to the gut with Obito, but Kakashi had gotten off his ass and got in the way quickly enough to block the attack with his body.

Once again, he had saved Obito.

The kunai had gone through and through, created a gaping hole in the center of his chest. Obito had went on a rampage, both him and Minato easily cutting down the shinobi while also making the cave collapse (Kamui is still pretty damn ruthless). The rest of the team left, and he was left behind as a "corpse". Of course, Obito wanted to bring said corpse with them, but couldn't, because boulders were already crashing down.

And by some miracle, he survived.

He didn't how, or why it happened, but he pulled Shōsen Jutsu out of his ass, healed the hole in his chest, and sewed up the other gaping flesh wounds. The hole in his chest he let heal naturally, and it was still closing. Any sudden movement really hurt, and labored breathing hurt anymore.

He looked out to the grey world descending before him. He didn't know why he couldn't see any colors, or why it happened, it just did. The only color that popped up—and popped up like black against white—was red. Any shade of red, he discovered. He was walking through a town, and he saw a female toddler in a pink attire walking down the street. The rest of her had been grey.

He sighed, only taking in a shallow breath to savor pain for another time. The world was seen in grey—red was the only true thing he saw.

…Yeah, pretty deep.

Minato sighed heavily, flopping onto his bed and groaning in exhaustion and pain at the pillow. The three full days he spent in the hospital was so boring. And while he never really came to hate hospitals to the consent Kushina did (and still does), he doesn't enjoy his stays. Rin and his fiancé had hovered over him and Obito sulked because he "missed out on all of the action." And while it was said in a depressing mood, the old Obito was still in there.

The Uchiha had changed in more ways than one; and not just because of Kakashi's death. Said boy had become more paranoid, and looked at everybody like they were about to spirited away the moment he turned his eyes to something else—both physically and metaphorically. He also had a certain grief and despair that could be seen in his eyes. It was much more worse than what any normal death could cause, no matter what.

Minato has seen it in Konoha shinobi; the eyes of the person who has lost everything. Family (if they had any in the first place), friends, physical and mental capabilities, happiness, life…themselves…

Rin was recovering, thankfully. She smiled, but it wasn't bright. When Obito smiled, it was bitter and etched with depression, albeit he had smiled genuinely ever now and then over the ten days. Surprisingly quick recover, if he could say so himself.

Kushina flopped onto the bed next to him, only she was on her back. "I know that groan," she said teasingly. "What's bothering you, my dear over-dramatic lovely?"

Minato groaned again, turning his head so then he was looking at Kushina. He had a slight pout, and an irked expression. "Everything's wrong," he grumbled. "Kakashi's dead, Obito's getting autism and may need anti-depressants pretty damn soon, and then the world in general is just being…the bitch of attention." And then there is Scarf Kid.

She blinked, giving him a dead panned look. "…I know Obito's depressed and all, but seriously, you're just overreacting…" she grumbled. "He'll survive. He won't go ahead and try to commit suicide or anything."

His mouth twisted in a frown. "I don't know," he grumbled. "I've been watching those two very closely, and Obito isn't doing too well."

"I hear a rant coming."

"It's like he isn't even trying to collect himself. Have you seen the look in his eyes when he looks at us? We aren't ghosts…we're living. And have you seen how paranoid he is? And-and then he's lacking normal reaction to certain things…fuck. Do you think he's tipping? I hope not…I mean, Rin is healing perfectly fine, and it's slow as expected, but Obito isn't even trying! He's also getting thinner. Is he becoming anorexic, too? He better not…I'll kick his scrawny ass…" He buried his face into the covers again, "And then I'm gonna revive Kakashi and kick his scrawny, cocky lil' pale ass…"

Kushina sighed, rubbing his back. Mirth sparkled in her eyes, but there was still a level of seriousness as she soaked in his words. "…This calls for a party. With lots of ramen. And cake. And sake. Let's go shopping, dattebane!"

Minato's groaning didn't stop the entire way.

When they finished their shopping spree for the little four-man party Kushina was planning, Minato was just about done. He flopped face first onto the couch, groaning again. Kushina simply laughed at his misery, unpacking the groceries and putting them all in their spots. She smiled. "Go to bed."

"If I do, you may or may not do something stupid and burn the house down in the process," Minato grumbled.

"Ow. My pride," she said in mock. She sighed, obviously amused as she rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine. We can do the party tomorrow night. Besides, the cake will be done by then dattebane…"

"You were serious about that?" he groaned out.

"Yes. Now, shoo. Bed. I don't want an over-exhausted Blondie dragging his feet around the house complaining about the sun and thanking the clouds for shutting it out," Kushina snapped.

Minato groaned again, rolling off of the couch and onto the ground with a thud. He slowly sat up, mumbling curses before disappearing down the hall to their shared bedroom. The Uzumaki smiled, and started humming as she started pulling out ingredients for salt-broiled saury.

"Shu": "Vermillion"

"Ginka": "Silver coin"

"Shōsen Jutsu": "Mystical Palm Technique"

Sigh. Shit day. Power went out three times, my phone got ran over by a car on that stupid highway, and my aunts mother died crossing yet again another highway. VERY shitty day, indeed. I hate funerals, ya know? Too depressing.

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And yet, here I am, making an erratic amount of angst fanfictions. I never write this shit this often.

…But my cousin was born today…

…What a conflicting date this is.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to cry in a corner because of this reality check.

Peace! :3