*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*

Eyes Wide Shut

Chapter 4 - Behold a Pale Horse

"Naruto, Nagato gave you the Rinnegan."

Silence. A heartbeat passed. The birds in the trees held their breath; even the leaves seemed to freeze mid-rustle in hushed anticipation. Kakashi wouldn't admit it, but he knew the ringing in his ears and the tense knot in his gut wasn't from shellshock.

He watched Naruto's expression, waiting for something. Another beat, another held breath.

Nothing came.

"I know."

Naruto's voice, raw and sharp and crisp in the silence, shattered through the air.

Kakashi blinked. "You what?"

"I had a guess," Naruto said. His gaze was loose and unfocused and bore a hole into the ground beneath Kakashi's feet. "It makes sense, doesn't it? That he gave me his eyes?"

Kakashi was silent.

Naruto chuckled; his breath came out in one sharp, quiet huff. It was hollow and stilted, and altogether not the Naruto Kakashi knew. "Is that why Sakura was acting so weird? Why everyone's been keeping their distance?"

"If they have been," Kakashi said, "it's not because they know." He turned and looked up at the horizon towards the village, as if checking for some unseen message. "Although Sakura does, yes."

Naruto nodded, running his hands through the loose dirt at his sides, carding his fingers along the thin roots of late summer grass. His eyes kept staring at nothing, but even though they weren't focused on him, Kakashi felt as though they may as well have been.

"That meeting really did change you, didn't it?" he murmured.

Naruto smiled; this time, it was far more genuine.

"We'll need to start you up on some sort of training regimen," Kakashi said, meandering around a mountain of lumber in the city square. He squinted over the pages of his book at Naruto, and hummed when he verified that his student was taking care to stay in step behind him. The sun had long since set, but the village was just as bustling and lively as it had been the moment Kakashi had left it. "It's just your luck that the only jounin-sensei in the Leaf Village with a transplanted eye happens to be the one stuck with you."

Naruto pouted. His eyes were covered with gauze again – a necessary precaution – and the stretched fabric shifted over his cheekbones when he frowned. "Why do you have to be so mean to me, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Because I read it in a book once," he said. "Makes stronger students."

Naruto grumbled to himself.

Kakashi took a turn down a developing side street and stepped out from the sea of civilians. The village was coming along faster than he anticipated; every time he stopped to rest or take a short nap, it seemed like two new streets were cordoned off and three existing ones were twisted around each other like the loose ends of a frayed knot.

Kakashi stopped to take a mental note of the new street layout when Naruto moved forward, lips a fine line.

"Someone's coming," he murmured, looking past an unfinished apartment building. Kakashi couldn't see, but he knew Naruto's eyes were orange. "They're running towards us."

"Enemies?" Kakashi asked, hand in pocket. He started walking again.

"I don't think so," Naruto said. His face scrunched up. "They don't feel like they're armed or anything. And they're walking weird."

Kakashi hummed. "Interesting. I suppose we'll be finding out what they want sooner rather than later."

"Yeah," Naruto said. "They're almost… here."

Three white-cloaked figures dropped down into the empty street from the rooftops. Kakashi stopped, and when it was obvious Naruto wasn't planning to as well, he stuck out his arm and let the boy crash into it.

One of the cloaked shinobi coughed and lowered his hood, letting it bunch around his shoulders. A faded brown ox mask covered his face. "Kakashi Hatake."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "That's what they call me, yes." He looked the man up, then down. "So you're ANBU, then?"

"Hokage's Guard," the ninja confirmed. "I'm here to escort you to Lady Hokage's quarters. It's urgent, sir."

Naruto bristled at his side.

"I suppose I don't have much of a choice in the matter," Kakashi said. "But that's assuming I'm not worried about Lady Tsunade, which I certainly am."

The man straightened. "Sir, it would be best if we continued this conversation in private."

Kakashi let out a breath through his nose. "Alright," he said. He turned, looked down at Naruto's bandaged face. It was twisted in a knot; he was trying hard not to speak out of turn.

"Is it okay if my charming student comes along, too?" Kakashi asked, nudging his head in Naruto's direction.

Naruto perked up, as if struck by a bolt of lightning. "Sensei?"

"I don't see why not," the ANBU answered. "Please, just come quickly. We may not have much time."

When Naruto's hand reached out and gripped daggers into his forearm, Kakashi didn't mind.

"So I don't have to worry about running into stuff," Naruto said. His forced smile, hidden under gauze and doubt and a sea of cloudy, murky feelings, said something else.

"Where are you taking us?" Naruto asked, twisting his head from side to side, running a calloused hand over the rough edges of the stone tunnel. Their ANBU escort held a torch out, lighting the staircase underneath them as they sank further and further into the mountainside below the Hokage Monument.

Kakashi hummed, reading his novel by the torch's glow. "Somewhere special, I'm assuming."

"Correct," the ANBU said. "Lady Hokage was transferred here when it was determined her condition was stable."

Naruto perked up. "Stable?" he asked, voice hopeful.

Kakashi stayed silent.

The stairwell ended, and the cave opened up into a large tunnel, large enough across for Kakashi to stretch out across three times over. The roof was lined with electrical tubing, and gloomy yellow lamps hung on thin metal wires every five to six feet.

The tunnel shook, and the lights flickered. Loose dust drifted down on their heads from the roof.

"What was that?" Kakashi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Controlled detonation," the ANBU said. "The civilian contractors were authorized to use mining explosives to clear debris and dig foundations. It helps speed up the rebuilding process."

Naruto frowned. "Why can't ninja do it? With, like, Earth Style or something?"

"It will be explained shortly," the ANBU said, and fell quiet again.

"We're short-staffed, aren't we?" Kakashi said, more as a statement than a question, and the ANBU's continued silence was all the answer he needed.

"Where are we?" Naruto muttered. "It's cold."

"Underground," Kakashi said. They turned a corner; more lights came on in front of them. He steered Naruto around the bend in the rock, and the blond took a few moments to grapple at the walls to reorient himself. "Probably outside the inner walls by now."

They kept walking. The tunnel widened. Large concrete pillars began to sprout up along the walls, holding the heavy weight of the ceiling in place. The marred stone tunnel made way for smooth, synthetic walls; doors, solid metal and locked up tight, split them down the middle every fifteen meters.

"I've never seen this place before," Kakashi said. "Who built it?"

"The missing-nin Orochimaru," the ANBU relied, and Kakashi mentally kicked himself for not realizing it sooner. "Although now it's used for state affairs." The tunnel stretched off into the distance, but he stopped between two reinforced doorways.

"Sir," he said to Kakashi, gesturing at the entrance. "They're waiting for you."

"They?" Kakashi asked, and opened the door.

Konan gasped a hasty breath, bent over her knee, kneeling in the ankle-high water outside the north end of the Hidden Rain. She pushed herself up again, turned, and flicked a kunai into her wrist.

The water behind her exploded.

She turned, twisting on her feet, and pointed the kunai towards the cloud of steam and vapor.

"Clever," a voice called. "Lining the surface of the water with mines. I can't materialize without setting them off."

Konan stayed silent. The sky, brown and grey and twisting over itself like the current of an ocean, finally broke above them. The rain hissed against the surface of the water, wisping up and into the air in waves of mist.

"You know," Madara continued, "I've always wondered how your paper stayed dry in all this rain." A pause. "It seems so counterintuitive. Water and origami don't match."

She took a hesitant step forward, arm outstretched, and looked over her shoulder.

"I have to admit that it's rather metaphorical, though. Of all the places for a shinobi with talents such as yourself to end up, and you land here." Madara tutted. "A shame."

"I make due," Konan said. Her voice cut the air thinner than the blade she carried ever could.

"I see that," Madara said. "But why bother staying here? Everything you cared about is gone. This place is nothing but an open grave."

"Why do you care?" Konan said.

Another explosion erupted to her right.

"Why shouldn't I care?" Madara said. "I like to think of myself as a nice person. Nice people care about their friends."

"We're not friends." The rain came down harder. Konan let the water drip down her hair and past her face, unmoved.

"Hmm," Madara said. "Perhaps not. Acquaintances, for sure. Coworkers. People with the same goals and aspirations in mind."

"What makes you so sure?"

Another explosion; this time, far closer. It rattled the earth and shook the sky. The cloud of smoke, dizzying and bright in the darkness, reflected the red-orange neon glow from the city behind them. It was silent.

Konan took the moment to wipe a strand of soaked hair from her eye.

"All you have to do is give me what I want," Madara said. His voice came from everywhere and nowhere. "And then I'll leave you be. You'll be a free agent."

He was lying. They both knew it.

Konan twisted again. Her Akatsuki robes pulled at her skin as she turned. They were still burned and marred from the battle of the Leaf Village; she felt the rainwater seep through the gashes in the fabric and soak her skin.

"An enticing offer," she said. Lightning struck half a mile away.

They moved at the same moment. Konan flashed a hand seal by the light of the sky, and the ground rumbled alongside the thunder. Madara streaked an inferno across the water's surface, lighting paper bomb after paper bomb with each near-transparent footstep.

His hand reached out towards Konan's throat, fingers long and narrow and whiter than clouded ice. She saw the reflection of her fingers in the polish of his ring.

He leaped forward, red eye blazing, and the earth opened up beneath him.

Konan smirked.

"Boom," she said.

Even though he couldn't see anymore, there was still something telltale about a hospital room that Naruto could sniff out a mile away, even halfway through a mountain.

And, like all hospital rooms he found himself in, Sakura was there too.

"Naruto." A sigh. "There you are."

At least this time he knew she wasn't there for him.

"Sakura," Kakashi said. Naruto could sense the warning tone in his voice.

"It's okay, Kakashi-sensei," he murmured. The stiff leather seat underneath him felt like stone. Despite the circumstances, it was he who felt guilty.

Naruto looked up towards Sakura's voice. "I'm sorry for scaring you," he offered.

The next thing he knew, the air in his lungs was being shoved up his windpipe like toothpaste from the bottom of an unruly tube.

"You idiot," Sakura muttered into his hair, and pulled back. She didn't have to say anything else.

They sat in silence for what felt like three lifetimes, Kakashi flipping through the pages in his book like a cattle herder cracking a whip, and Sakura fiddling with the dials on the beeping machines at the far wall, and Naruto boring a blank hole into the carpet at his feet. At least, he thought it was carpet. He was reaching down to feel it with his fingertips when the metal latch on the door swung open.

The pressure in the room changed. Naruto swore he could feel the heat and energy rush out into the hallway, and when the door slammed shut behind whoever entered, he knew it wouldn't be coming back in.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to get the paperwork squared away as quickly as possible," came a weathered voice from above firm footsteps. "There's very little time, so we must act quickly. Who knows what the other villages have in store for us if we aren't back on our feet sooner rather than later."

The clamor of wooden sandals stopped like a pair of small explosions in front of them. "What are these two doing here?"

Kakashi sighed. "Lady Koharu. You can't fault the apprentice of the Fifth Hokage for wanting to be at her master's side in a time like this."

"Fair enough," the consul hummed. Naruto felt the finger jabbed in his direction, even if it wasn't really there. "And him?"

"He's here with me as a show of solidarity for our precious teammate," Kakashi said. "Also, he saved the village. So there's that."

Koharu sniffed. Naruto had a hard time remembering what the woman looked like, but her general attitude was doing a decent job filling in the blanks. "That's true," she said after a moment. At least she had the nerve to sound thankful. "I just wish that everyone could have been so lucky."

Naruto's gut curdled.

"We all do," Kakashi said.

Koharu turned in place and took careful steps across the room. "How is she?" she asked, voice quiet.

"Well…" Sakura took a breath. "I can't say for sure. Shizune is still tending to the wounded on the surface, and she'll have a better idea than I will."

"Sakura," Kakashi said. "Don't doubt yourself."

A pause. "Yes, sensei," she said. She cleared her throat. "Well, Lady Koharu, all things considered, she's lucky to be alive. Chakra exhaustion is not something most people can make it through."

"Hmm, well," Koharu said, "the Fifth Hokage has proven time and time again that she's not like most people."

Naruto couldn't be sure, but he felt like she may have been smiling.

"She's comatose right now," Sakura said. "There's not much we can do but keep her comfortable and give her time."

Koharu hummed. "I agree. Unfortunately, in the wide world of intervillage politics, time isn't something to be taken for granted." She clicked her tongue. "And that's why we need to sort things out now, Kakashi. I can't leave this village leaderless for much longer before the power structure starts to fall apart."

"It's not quite that dire," Kakashi said. "The village can be without a Hokage for a few weeks."

Sakura's silence was telling enough.

"I have a feeling it might be longer than that," Koharu confirmed, taking a deep breath. "Besides, it's already been approved. The Daimyo seemed more than happy with our choice."

"Did he, now," Kakashi said, voice sweet. "Well, tell him that I'm flattered. But as long as Lady Hokage has a chance, I'll leave my faith and trust in the rest of the village to think for itself." He flipped a page in his book. "That is, after all, why we have a chain of command."

"You can't outrun the Hokage hat forever, boy," Koharu said with a snort.

Naruto lurched in his seat. "Sensei?" he blurted out.

"Naruto?" Kakashi said.

"You're… Hokage? What?"

He sniffed. "Not if I can help it."

Naruto smirked.

"Well, in case you change your mind, I'll be down the hall," Koharu said. "I can't force anything, but just know there are other more… willing candidates that are more than eager to take your place."

"I'll keep that under consideration," Kakashi said.

A beat. "Of course you will," Koharu said, and Naruto could hear her rolling her eyes. "Well, I'm off. I have a feeling a lot more is going to need to be done than just putting up a few roofs."

"Thank you, Lady Koharu," Sakura said.

"Thank you, child." The door swung open. "Without you, this conversation would have been a lot more one-sided."

"Before you even say anything," Sakura said as they made their way back up through the labyrinthian maze of tunnels and staircases towards the surface, "don't blame yourself. It's not your fault."

Naruto blanched. "I wasn't gonna say it!"

"You were thinking it! I could tell just by looking at you!"

"Children," Kakashi yawned.

"I'm serious," Sakura said, jabbing a finger into Naruto's shoulder. "I hear one word about how you didn't do enough this week and you won't need to worry about finding a new apartment for a while." A pause. "Because you'll be in the medic tent for a long time," she clarified, once it was clear Naruto wasn't connecting the dots.

She turned and kept walking, judging from the sound of the footsteps, and Naruto kept pace behind her. The rumble of construction sounds whispered into existence in front of them, and before long, the cool embrace of an early Fire Country fall welcomed them back to the surface.

"I have some reading to catch up on," Kakashi said. "I trust you two can make it back to the hospital tent yourselves?"

"Of course, sensei," Sakura said.

Naruto grinned. "With my eyes closed."

"I can't tell if that was a bad joke or if you're really that oblivious sometimes," Sakura said, but Kakashi was already gone.

They walked through the village streets, Sakura fussing over every footstep Naruto took. "Watch out," she said, taking great care to tug him around an active construction site by the collar. "Don't wander off."

"Sakura," Naruto whined. "I'm not a baby. I've been getting around fine with Kakashi since…"

His mouth dried up.

Sakura sighed, stopping mid step in the middle of the dusty road. "Hey," she said. "Don't talk about it. We're almost back to the tent anyways; then you can get some rest. You've had a long day."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah," he said. "We all have."

"Naruto!"

Shizune's voice was, much to Naruto's own surprise, a welcome presence after such an emotional day. He let her pull him into a tight hug, let her whisper unnecessary apologies into his ear, let her dote over him like an academy child during his yearly physical.

Deep down, he knew she was doing it to distract herself. He knew this because he was letting her do it, unchallenged, for the same reason.

"Shizune," Sakura said, after the woman insisted on pulling out a stethoscope 'just to be sure'. "He's fine. He just needs rest."

A sigh. Shizune sank onto the cot next to him. "I know."

Sakura clicked her tongue. "So do you, ma'am."

Shizune huffed a breathless laugh. "It's funny, hearing those words come out of your mouth. You really are coming into your own; you know that, right?"

She reached over and patted Naruto's knee. "You too. I've never been so proud of you before in my life. As far as I'm concerned, you're already this village's Hokage. Or, to be honest, something even better."

Naruto's heart twisted over itself. "Thanks," he said, and meant it.

"That reminds me," Sakura sighed, pulling a chair across the grassy earth floor of the medic tent and propping it up in front of them. "They're started trying to strong-arm Kakashi-sensei."

Shizune was silent for a moment. "It was only a matter of time," she hummed, taking care with each word. "I'm not surprised, but I can't help but be a bit disappointed in Koharu and the others."

"They don't have much of a choice," Sakura said. "It's either this, or weakness in the eyes of the other villages."

"Why?"

Naruto felt Shizune turn on the cot and look at him. "Naruto?"

"Why should the other villages care?" he repeated, frowning. "The same thing is gonna happen to them, too. At some point." He scowled. "Isn't that the point of the Akatsuki?"

"I thought the point of the Akatsuki was to collect all the tailed beasts," Sakura said.

"No, no," Shizune said. Naruto could tell she was frowning. "He's right."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, think about it," Shizune said. "Why else would they be hunting down all the jinchuuriki? They have something planned for the tailed beasts, and it can't possibly be good."

"They're going to destroy the villages," Naruto said, huffing. "Well, the rest of the villages."

"Naruto," Shizune said. She patted his shoulder. "The Leaf Village isn't destroyed. A community is built by its people, not by its surroundings. We'll survive. We are surviving."

"Not all of us," Naruto said. He sank off the cot and onto his feet. "I'm going for a walk."

"Naruto, you need rest," Sakura said. She reached out and grabbed him by the upper arm before he could make his way towards the tent's entrance. "Please. Go get some sleep."

"Trust me, Sakura," he said, shaking his head. He was so tired. "This'll help."

The cot jostled, and Shizune was making her way across the tent towards the other side. "I'm going to try and work on a few small things," she said. "I'm sorry for being a bother."

"Wait, Shizune," Naruto said, turning and taking a step towards her. "Um… thank you. For everything. I mean it."

"You're welcome, Naruto," she said, and folded herself through the flap in the tent opposite.

"Come on," Sakura said. Fabric rustled, and Naruto felt the cool night air on his skin. "We're going for a walk, aren't we?"

"I know what she's doing," Sakura said, as they lapped the village for a third time. "This is how she copes." She took a breath. "She knows she can't do anything about Lady Tsunade, so she tries to micromanage something that she can do something about."

"She's a great friend," Naruto agreed, smiling. He had a sneaking suspicion that Sakura wasn't only talking about Shizune.

"I just… worry, is all," Sakura continued. The quiet, crisp crunch of gravel under their sandals made way for the soft whisper of wet fall leaves.

A feeling of anxiety bubbled up in Naruto's gut. "Yeah," he said. "Me too."

Silence. "You're awfully quiet tonight," Sakura finally said.

"I'm just thinking."

Sakura snorted. "Well that's a terrifying thought."

Naruto grinned. "Heh, yeah. A lot's gone on the past few days. I think I'm just… slowly trying to process it all, y'know?"

"Naruto," Sakura said, stopping, "these past few days have been some of the hardest this village has ever had to deal with. On top of all of that, there's the matter of Tsunade, and what's left of the Akatsuki, and…"

Jiraiya. The words were on her tongue, but Sakura managed to reign them in before they slipped out.

"Sakura, you don't have to baby me," Naruto repeated. He turned towards her and opened his eyes.

She heaved a sharp breath and took a step back. "God," she muttered. "Sorry. I just… forget that your eyes are… well…"

Naruto nodded, frowning. The feeling in his gut grew. "Yeah," he said, and closed his eyes again. "Me too."

The world was an orchestra of fire, and Konan was its conductor.

She had timed it down to the last millisecond. Each bomb blast, each careful placement, crafted by clones over the course of a year.

The sky burned. The sea bubbled. The air, thick with smoke and hazy from the heat, twisted between them.

"You can't keep this up forever!" Madara roared.

Konan stood like a marbled statue, eyes narrowed. Ten minutes. Six hundred billion tags. One two microsecond-long burst per bomb; an overlap ratio of one point four. The math was done. Everything was in place. All that was left was to wait, and Konan was far too good at that.

The clock in her head tick, tick, ticked down. The sky was orange and marbled with smoky clouds. The earth shook; behind her, she felt the rumble and shake of the Hidden Rain moaning under the strain.

"I'm going to find them!" Madara screamed from the blast. "And I will use them to burn you alive!"

The eyes. Two of them. Silver-purple. Doujutsu; first class.

She bit her lip. 'Focus.'

How many rings did the Rinnegan have?

Was it four? Five?

'Six hundred billion paper bombs. Ten minutes. One second equals half a billion tags, plus spares in case of misfire.'

She remembered Nagato's face like nothing else; beautiful yet frail, like lilies on the surface of a pond. She remembered Nagato and Yahiko and herself, sitting around a kitchen table with glasses of warm tea in their hands, smiles on their faces and eyes full of hope.

But she couldn't remember Nagato's eyes; what they looked like.

'Five minutes minimum. Ten minutes for maximum certainty of elimination. No room for error.'

Her control slipped; she felt it like a droplet of water. A rift in her timing formed, and the blasts desynchronized. The orchestra crumbled.

Madara materialized, but it was only for a moment. She felt it in the air; a disturbance of chakra so faint that had she not been rooted in one place for so long, she would have missed it entirely. But there he was, eye wide and victorious.

Konan snarled.

To hell with timing. To hell with the math. To hell with numbers and calculations and careful planning. Konan had nothing left to lose.

She directed them all to him at once - one last hurrah. A single explosion, unfocused and deadly in its inaccuracy. Madara reared forward. A blade slipped from the sleeve in his coat.

Konan snapped her fingers, and the world went white.

Half a country away, Naruto and Sakura froze mid-step.

"Did you feel that?" Naruto asked.

"Unfortunately," Sakura muttered. "What could it have been?"

White faded to black, and black faded to grey.

She saw her hand, raised it above her face, and marveled at the way her skin collected the rain and held it there.

Her vision swam with strange shapes and muted colors, and before she fell unconscious, blood running down her chin, she saw Nagato's eyes again, framed by whiskers and just as hopeful.

Author's Note(s): I live!

I was going to apologize for the lack of updates, but considering the ridiculous whirlwind my life has been the past six months or so, I'm honestly surprised I managed to get this done at all. Also, it's really tacky when authors swear up and down to be better about their schedules and then just, like, never do. My motto with this fic is that it will update when it updates. I really can't promise more than that.

The Blonding rewrite is coming along - but considering that's completely a labor of love, I haven't given myself a time limit and don't anticipate finishing anytime soon. Don't worry, though; as I get further along, there'll be far less complete rewriting and more simple editing. Soon(ish)!

Oh, also - look for this fic on my AO3 account soon! I honestly exist primarily over there nowadays, so if you want to read more of what I've been writing (which are mostly oneshots, to be fair), that's where to find me. Same username and all that jazz.

Thanks for reading, guys. I appreciate your patience.
-Endo

Uploaded on: 5 Nov 2017
Official betas for this chapter: N/a
Final word count: 4780 words