A/N: Updates on Friday or Saturday

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Tagline: (Timeskip) As war between the Leaf and the Rock looms over the horizon, Hatake Kakashi is going to have to learn that, in a world where words and titles mean everything, one must put-up or shut-up in the face of the impossible.

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Harmlessly passing your time in the grassland away
Only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air
You better watch out
There may be dogs about
I've looked over Jordan and I have seen
Things are not what they seem.

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Splitting the Lightning

a Naruto fanfiction

by Pridefall

Disclaimer: I own nothing except what is mine.

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Chapter 01
"Sheep"
Or
In Which We Learn that Everything Has Gone To Hell.

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Everything has gone wrong when it shouldn't have.

The mission was simple: join the delegation of Fire Daimyo sent towards the small piece of contested land that lay between the Waterfall and the Rain as protection for them. And while the politicians try to work everything out between themselves, set up a small forward command base near the Rock and gather information on their newest "weapon."

It was simple.

It should have been simple.

Get in.

Find what they were looking for.

Get out.

Simple.

…But, then again, what involving politics ever was?

Their true purpose was betrayed. Or they just acted too careless.

(Kakashi believes it is the latter.)

The pretense for the enemies attack was that Kakashi's forces set up their base too close to a plateau owned by one of the Daimyo of the Rock and the offended noble had hired "specialists" to negotiate. Violently, if necessary, but they had assured Kakashi it wouldn't come to that in their missive.

Bastards.

It was a lie, of course, and the violence was more of a promise than a threat, but what did a lie matter in politics?

Everyone just wanted blood, and blood they were getting.

The ANBU came at dawn, hard and fast and merciless. What was left of Kakashi's original command post lay in ruins, and what was left of any coherency between commander and troop has been tossed out the window in the face of overwhelming chaos.

Kakashi had no idea of how to come out on top of this.

Has no idea if he can.

They're outnumbered.

Outgunned.

His troops are boxed in by mountains on all sides.

What is left of his army – his comrades, his friends, his allies, his family, he would hope they saw themselves as -- are all fighting tooth and nail and steel and blood around him for an idealistic mission they do not believe in.

Screaming.

Crying.

Fighting.

Denying.

Dying.

Reinforcements are days away.

The enemy will not stop advancing.

Kakashi looks at his hands. At the slowly darkening horizon and at the cliff-face looming behind him.

The sky is on fire.

Somewhere in the distance, black, angry storm clouds gather and coalesce like a slowly spilling blot of ink thrown across the sky.

Somewhere off in the distance, thunder violently crashes and rumbles without a flash of light to accompany it.

Somewhere closer – far too close, Kakashi thinks --- hundreds of bolts of lightning the size of small katana arc through the sky and strike the side of the cliff-face behind him in a soundless, incandescent rain.

Light without sound.

Sound without light.

He blinks.

The fact of how hopeless that situation is; at how utterly screwed they are, finally registers in the forefront of his mind.

The impossible made real.

He blinks, again.

Well, shit.

The enemy brought a Jinchuuriki…

Six Tails.

Kakashi, why won't you take me with you?

Because I need soldiers, Naruto. Not children.

…and he left his at home.

He was unprepared to handle this.

(Unprepared to handle everything about being a commander, he thinks)

…And now everyone was paying for it.

It was a stupid mistake, and he should have caught it. The Lightning had a Jinchuuriki, the Sand had one, the Leaf had one, and the Grass had two; so what was stopping the Rock from having a few to throw around too?

Here is Hatake Kakashi, failing.

A part of his mind is whispering: This is the end

A part of his mind is registering: SNAP OUT OF IT

And yet Hatake Kakashi is oblivious.

Totally.

And completely.

Oblivious.

They call it shell-shock

S-H-E-L-L-S-H-O-C-K

Or Post-traumatic-stress-disorder

He knows what it really is.

Fear.

Fear of flying.

Fear of falling.

Fear of failing

He tries to suppress it.

Finds that he can't.

He won't.

Fear is the mind killer.

He has no time for it.

He has no stomach for it.

Kakashi is better than that.

Kakashi has killed that part of himself.

He is a shinobi and shinobi do not fear.

…And yet…

He cannot move.

…And yet…

He cannot breathe.

Kakashi is paralyzed.

He can only stand, his eyes transfixed, as a bright cobalt-blue flash illuminates the cliff overlooking their camp, outlines the shape of two figures – one falling, one standing -- and then, finally, dissipates into the sky.

Here is the thunder he has been waiting for.

Here is the sound of a thousand battle drums.

Here is his protégée risking everything he has – life, limb, sense, word, pride -- to prove he is right. To prove Kakashi is wrong.

The light dissipates.

The thunder echoes.

And now, here is Uchiha Sasuke, falling.

Falling.

And falling.

And falling.

When his body strikes the ground – hitting so hard that it bounces -- and then lies still, his clothing smoking and neon-blue arcs of electricity racing across his skin, Kakashi only blinks, and smiles, and laughs.

(Post-Traumatic-Stress)

Someone lays their hand on his shoulder and whispers Ill get to him first. Then, they are gone.

Kakashi is so far away it never registers.

Will, perhaps, never register.

Kakashi is thinking on the past.

Thinking of choices.

Thinking of the choice he is about to make.

(Fight or flight.)

Thinking of the men who made this choice before him.

(Fight or sacrifice.)

Once, Hatake Kakashi had a father.

His name was Sakumo. He was an honorable man who taught his son the meaning of the word "Greatness."

Once, Hatake Kakashi had a teacher.

His name was Arashi. He was the Yondaime Hokage, and taught his students how to distinguish man from monster.

Now, Hatake Kakashi is watching.

The Sharingan records his life in fractions, a maddening red spiral that imprints memories but does not censor them for safety.

Watching his father spiral into alcoholism.

Down, and down, and down, a man so stubbornly thirsty that he'd drink down an entire ocean of salt just to spite his thirst

Watching his entire world shatter.

The Yondaime stands tall, fire and shadow stripping away his immortality and rendering every aspect of him – teacher, father, legend – as naked and mortal as the child in his arms.

Watching.

…As Haruno Sakura grows up faster than any woman should.

Watching.

…As Uzumaki Naruto struggles for the recognition of a Village that had damned him.

Watching.

…As Uchiha Sasuke throws his life away for a dream that was never his.

Once, Hatake Kakashi knew what it was like to be proud of these things.

An Uchiha and the Demon on the same team; the son of his bloodline and the son of his teacher, both orphans seeking guidance. A teacher's dream.

Once, Hatake Kakashi knew what it was like to be proud of himself.

Knew how to stand tall; how to walk, and talk, and act as human as he wanted to be.

Now, all he knows is regret.

And like any cancer, it grows, and grows, and grows.

He has his father's sword in his hand.

It was bloodstained when they gave it to him, dried blood crusted on its edge

He uses it, every now and then, to prove a point to himself.

He cannot let go; will not let go of the past, and the sword is testament to this.

It is an illness.

His father's face looking down on him, so stern and regal, like an Alpha wolf looking down at its cub after an unsuccessful hunt.

Hatake Kakashi wants to be cured of his illness.

For the sake of everyone else, he needs to be cured

Hatake Kakashi will be cured of his illness.

He is not his father.

The tide of battle shifts all around him, and he is an island.

A statue.

An eye.

A center.

A port.

The decision to change, to accept responsibility for one's actions is never easy to make.

Kakashi takes a breath.

Holds it.

It's never easy to make.

He is their Commander.

He is responsible for their lives.

He needs to take control, now.

"SQUADS, FORM UP ON ME!"

They do as they are told, quickly and efficiently.

"WHEN I GIVE THE SIGNAL, MOVE!"

They're running faster than the enemy can keep up, blazing a path to freedom with tooth and nail and blade.

"GAI, GET THESE IDIOTS OUT OF THE WAY!"

The ground heaves, an emerald blur moving between rising and falling stones.

Bodies part like grass before a scythe.

The way is clear.

"MOVE!"

They run like a pack of scared wolves, snapping and biting at whatever enemy nears them, moving as one unit, as one entity; fear and adrenalin propelling them through the opening of the basin as if the very hounds of hell were at their heels.

"MOVE!"

The mountain walls rise on either side of them, giant, jagged teeth yawning open into the coming dawn, and then…

Kakashi stops, letting his pack clear the opening in front of him, and then, screams: "DOTON: Iwa Yado Kuzushi!"

The walls crumble inwards, rock and earth toppling in slow, languorous waves that kill those too close for comfort and buy Kakashi's forces enough time to get away.

Kakashi stares at the destruction he caused.

Calculates his chances of buying them enough time and surviving to rejoin them.

Sighs.

'I think I finally get it, Obito.'

What's done is done.

He'll stay.

A little bit more running, and they'll be in the clear.

He looks over his shoulder, towards the cliff.

Sighs.

He told the Uchiha it would never work.

Told him over, and over, and over again.

Sasuke never listened.

Would never learn how.

Raikiri.

Lightning edge.

Cutting a lightning bolt.

Pffft.

You just can't bend physics that way, no matter how hard you try.

Kakashi told Sasuke this.

Pleaded with him.

Sasuke never, ever, ever listened.

And now, he was paying for it.

Kakashi cannot stop laughing.

How could one believe they could cut the sky?

It was impossible.

Kakashi knew this.

…And yet…

As his mad laughter subsides and he looks up to the cloud line…

As his eyes begin to narrow and his fists begin to clench…

As the lightning flashes and he can see a figure with six tails and an impossibly large shadow smile the shit-eatingest smile this side of someone who is not Uzumaki Naruto…

…Kakashi can only think:

I've always been so sure of myself…Always thought that the path I walked was the only one that mattered…And now…What?

I…I tried to give Sasuke another chance…Tried to make things right again…And He just throws it away for a dream?

For nothing?

Was I ever that idealistic?

Will I ever be that idealistic?

And then it hits him.

…It…

It can't end like this.

I won't let it.

The scarecrow sighs.

No…not like this.

Looks at his hands.

Frowns.

Looks at the sky.

Smiles.

Kakashi makes the familiar hand-signs knowing what he must do; fearing what he must do, his hands trembling and his stomach tied in knots.

Ox

Rabbit

Monkey

He smells ozone, he feels the heat, and then, with a whispered prayer ushered beneath a gently falling tumult of leaves, Hatake Kakashi is gone.

Put up or shut up time.

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TBC

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What do you get for pretending the danger's not real
Meek and obedient you follow the leader
Down well trodden corridors into the valley of steel
What a surprise!
A look of terminal shock in your eyes
Now things are really what they seem
No, this is no bad dream.
- "Sheep", by Pink Floyd