Chapter 4

A/N: Last chapter, and the mood hasn't lightened one bit. Sorry. Oh, and Naruto and all that implies does not belong to me. Sorry about that too.

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Kakashi stared as Kabuto laughed. "You should have seen your face when I killed Naruto. Oh, and kudos to getting Sasuke out of my way."

The copy-nin's eyes narrowed. Kabuto continued, "Now, I don't hope you mind that I kill you."

Kakashi gritted his teeth. "I...do...mind!"

-Flashback-

Sakura traced her father's name. Her breath was visible and tears rolled down her cheeks. The sun wasn't even up and her mood was horrible.

Her father had died the day before. She hadn't felt anything. It hadn't sunk in, hadn't felt right, but now it was pain, it hurt more than anything.

Kakashi walked up and hung his head. He hadn't meant to interrupt. Turning around, he walked away.

Kakashi sat in front of the memorial stone, his head hung. He ran his fingers over the well-worn name, and his eye was downcast when Sakura walked up.

"Go away," he said, none too kindly. Sakura ignored him as he traced the name of his best friend.

She frowned. "Every day you come here and feel sorry for yourself. You blame yourself for everything and you always think you're alone. People have suffered more than you, but you drown in self-pity. Uchiha Obito didn't give up his life so you could sulk."

Kakashi stared at her and his eye went downcast. She was right, although he would never forget it.

Then, two weeks later, death had to strike her, too.

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Kabuto's kunai pierced his stomach, pain searing him back into the present. Kakashi coughed and thrust the sound ninja away.

Kabuto lifted himself from the ground. He laughed. "Have you gone soft, Kakashi? I figured you would have killed me by now, especially after I have fun destroying that annoying brat."

White chakra surrounded Hatake Kakashi, power coursed through his body. The amount of energy he was going to use for his Chidori was going to be tremendous. The side effect, however, was going to kill him.

The sound ninja's eyes narrowed as Kakashi uncovered his eye. He would only have one shot, and he was not going to waste it.

"Die, Kabuto!" Kakashi pushed the Chidori into Kabuto's chest. The sound ninja coughed and hit the ground with a thud. His eyes clouded over and he was dead.

Kakashi fell to his knees. Crawling slowly, the leaf shinobi heaved himself to the memorial stone.

So close to death, he was so close to everyone who cared about him.

The memorial was right in front of him. Wiping his bloody hands across the names, his vision became blurred.

He ran his fingers over the blank space where Sasuke's name used to be. Smiling slightly he remembered Naruto's words when he had been tied to the tree trunk.

"I'm not going to live and die for nothing. I'll be a hero. My name will be on that stone!"

The loudmouth ninja's words echoed in his head.

'Well, you got that wish. I'm sorry your other one didn't come true.'

He traced one last name. Uchiha Obito. 'Sakura was right. You didn't want me to sulk, you wanted me to live, and I ignored your last wish. At least now, I can apologize.'

With that, the pain coursing through Kakashi's body subsided as he went to meet his friends.

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A scream erupted from the woods. Ino covered her mouth to stop from throwing up.

Kabuto's body lay mangled in front of her, blood covering him.

The Yamanaka closed her eyes and ran to a bush. As her lunch was being thrown unceremoniously on the grass, she noticed a trail of red.

Ino followed it to Kakashi's body. She let out a cry, helped in volume by Inner Sakura.

Tsunade and Hinata came sprinting to the girl. Hinata turned away as Tsunade pushed chakra into Hatake's body.

After five minutes, the Hokage gave up. "Damnit!" she shouted. Looking up from the corpse, she noticed the blood coving the empty space where Sasuke's name used to be.

'Your name will grace that spot.' Her eyes flickered to Dan's name and she felt a twinge of guilt. No matter how lucky you are, no matter how much power you have, miracles are still impossible. Tears form in Tsunade's eyes and slowly rolled down her face.

Hinata and Ino cried on each other's shoulders. The pains of watching so many die, the horror of seeing their faces lose their joy. There was too much pain, too little hope.

-Flashback-

Seven years old, Hinata held her younger sister's hand. Swiftly following her father, she looked down at Hanabi. The two year old was sucking her thumb.

The three of them stopped at a gravestone surrounded by trees. Flowers grew on either side. Hinata's pale eyes traced her mother's name and tears well up.

"F-father?" Hinata stuttered.

"What?" the man said.

"W-why do people have to d-die?" she asked. Hiashi stopped. Slowly, he replied.

"Without death there is no life. I suppose death makes life important."

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Five days later

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The enemy ninja were gone. They had scattered when they found Kabuto's body. Kakashi's name had been added to the memorial stone, but still people had lost joy.

So many people died. The memorial stone was losing spaces for names, and more people were visiting.

After Ino had been hospitalized with schizophrenia, only one person never seemed to leave. That was Hinata. She sat tracing the name of the Kyuubi container, Uzumaki Naruto.

"Death makes life important."

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A/N: It's completed. If you want to kill me for killing Kakashi, go right ahead. I smacked myself plenty of times writing it.