The silence was deafening. Team Kakashi stood in a large hall decorated with gold markings on the walls and floors. In front of them stood a large throne with two smaller thrones beside it. In those thrones sat the three leaders of Arashikagure. The largest throne held the Wolf Daimyo himself, Hideo Sarutobi. The other two held Honoka Uchiha and Kazuma Senju, who had joined the two once they arrived.

Beside those thrones stood the other two spearmen of the personal guard, Otegine of the lightning spear with silver and gold colors around his spear, and Nihongo of the fire spear with a dark red and gold around his spear.

Each spear represented the founding clans, created by each of the founding members.

"Kakashi-san" Hideo nodded in greeting.

Kakashi bowed before the Daimyo lord, throwing a glaring glance at his group before they followed the action.

As they straightened, Kakashi noticed Honoka eyeing the two Uchiha with skepticism.

"What brings you here?" Hideo questioned.

"We seek refuge, Daimyo-sama" Kakashi requested.

A moment of silence passed as Hideo thought about his request.

"I'm disappointed in you, Kakashi." Honoka Uchiha took this moment to speak up. It was clear she was an Uchiha with the steel glare constantly set in her features "I personally trained you, did I not? To have you come back with your tail between your legs-"

"It's nothing like that, Honoka-sensei" Kakashi interrupted with a confident stance "Our village thinks we betrayed them. Amongst that, a war is coming. We seed refuge in order to plan and train so that we can protect the village...even if they don't want us to" Kakashi stated, whispering the last part to himself.

Honoka eyed the male with narrowed eyes "Did you betray them?"

Kakashi tensed before sighing "In a way, yes. Just not in the way they think. We assassinated one of the elders. There is substantial proof of corruption within Konoha, most of which linked back to the elder. We also linked his involvement to the Uchiha Massacre and the Snake Sannin, Orochimaru. They were allies" Kakashi explained.

The three leaders before them sat in tense silence as they processed the information so suddenly handed to them.

"This elder, what involvement did he have with the massacre?" Honoka questioned.

Kakashi glanced at Itachi, silently signaling him to step forward.

The older Uchiha stepped forward as eyes shifted to him "It was under Danzo Himura's order that the Uchiha clan be massacred...or the leaf would do it themselves with no survivors. This was an order given to me and one I completed." Itachi's eyes darkened.

The leaders frowned at the information before glancing at Sasuke. They quickly pieced together the two were brothers. Furthermore, Sasuke was only alive because of Itachi's sacrifice.

"Interesting." Hideo muttered as he glanced at Honoka, who glared into the distance.

Hideo then glanced at Kazuma only to see him smiling calmly causing a sweatdrop on Hideo's forehead. The Senju was far too carefree at times.

"Why?" Honoka muttered in question, her eyes downward.

Itachi frowned, bringing eyes to the ground in shame "The Uchiha were planning a coup. We couldn't stop it"

"We?" Honoka lifted her eyes to Itachi only for the Uchiha to further shy away from her gaze.

"Shisui Uchiha and I. He killed himself after Danzo took one of his eyes and placed a target on him" Itachi muttered.

Sasuke eyed his brother with guilt in his eyes. All those years the young Uchiha had spent hating him when Itachi had sacrificed everything for him.

A moment of silence passed as Honoka processed the information. They had known about the coup but never had anyone confirm the information until now. Hideo eyed her before clearing his throat, bringing the attention back to him.

"Very well, your team will be welcome here. Honoka" Hideo addressed the oldest Uchiha "Will you train the Uchiha?"

Honoka shifted her eyes to the Uchiha with a thoughtful expression "Have you unlocked your Mangekyou Sharingan?" She questioned.

Sasuke and Itachi nodded.

"Very well. I will train you. Kakashi-"

"I'll take over his training, Honoka. I doubt there's much else left to teach him" Hideo interrupted.

Honoka pursed her lips, mildly upset at losing her student but otherwise nodded.

"Going to miss me, Honoka-sensei?" Kakashi teased.

Honoka quickly glared at the male "I'm more relieved I won't have to deal with your witty remarks, baka"

Kakashi smiled innocently with a tilt of his head.

Kazuma chuckled before looking over Naruto "I'll take the blonde kid."

Hideo glanced at Kazuma with a deadpanned expression "How kind of you. As I said, I'll train Kakashi and the pink-haired woman"

Sakura perked up with a light blush at being called a woman for once.

Hideo sighed "For now, Kakashi will lead you to the training ground cabins. Rest up. Your stay won't be a vacation. If what you say is true and a war is coming, then we won't have long to prepare for it" Hideo finished as he dismissed the group.

The spearmen beside their leaders stood stoically with glares on their features. As the group left, they glanced at each other, skeptical of the new arrivals.

___

Naruto deadpanned at the sight before him. He'd lived in the slums before but the so-called cabin that they would be residing in was a step down from that.

"Eh...sensei" Naruto muttered as he scratched his head.

Kakashi looked to his student to see the skeptical expression on his face.

"You lived here for three years?" The blonde questioned.

Kakashi smirked "Trust me, Naruto. You'll be thankful to sleep on the ground after the leaders' training. Besides, you'll hardly be here most of the time" He chuckled before making his way in.

Sakura sighed. All she wanted at that moment was to relax at some hot springs. She hesitantly followed after her sensei along with Naruto while the Uchiha brothers had no qualms about the place.

Kakashi was right, after all. They didn't expect to spend much time in the cabin, they wanted the harsh training awaiting them.

Itachi moved to follow before Sasuke grabbed his shoulder, stopping him.

The oldest Uchiha glanced back at his younger brother with confusion.

Sasuke glanced down before eying Itachi with skepticism "Before the battle with Pain...I remember you coughing and growing weaker during our time together. I know you had a disease, Itachi" Sasuke stated with confidence, keeping his emotions at bay.

Itachi's breath hitched. He didn't expect his brother to find out, let alone by himself.

"You say it in past tense" Itachi muttered, eyeing Sasuke carefully.

Sasuke frowned "Haven't you noticed? You haven't coughed or stumbled since you woke up from the battle. It's gone"

Itachi took a step back as his eyes dropped to the ground in disbelief. How could he not have noticed? Did the disease disappear when he came back to life? Was this a sign of the Uchiha curse lifted from him?

Itachi closed his eyes and breathed deeply. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed before but his brother was right he could breathe easily now.

"Because of Pein...He took away the disease" Itachi muttered sadly. It wasn't because he was forgiven. His curse still hangs over him, only without the side effects now.

Sasuke eyed him "I only bring it up now to make sure you don't hold back anymore. I need to reach my full potential and you will help me do that"

Itachi almost sweatdropped at the 'request' for assistance. His younger brother was never the best when it came to wordplay.

Itachi simply nodded "Let's join the others."

Sasuke and Itachi moved to enter before both felt the chakra signature approaching the cabin. They turned to see Honoka standing before them once again.

"Itachi. Sasuke. Come along, the cabin can wait until later." Honoka ordered.

Sasuke glanced back at the cabin to see Kakashi nodding for him to go.

The two followed after her to train until they achieved greater strength.

Kakashi watched them go, silently debating what the war would bring.

"Neh, Sensei?" Sakura called as she stepped up beside him.

"Hm?" Kakashi smiled as he diverted his attention to her.

"Do you think we'll be allowed back in the village after the war?" The pinkette questioned.

Kakashi sighed as he looked down at the ground "Who knows... don't think too much about it now. Whether they want us back or not, the village is still our home and we must protect it".

Sakura smiled as she nodded in agreement.

"I don't think this place has a bathroom!" Naruto yelled from inside the cabin.

Kakashi and Sakura chuckled at the blonde before entering the cabin themselves.

___

While team Kakashi trained in faraway lands, Konoha found themselves dealing with an uproar of civilian and shinobi alike. Jiraiya wasn't lying when he said the team was the pride of the village, especially after the battle with Pein.

Tsunade and Jiraiya stood in the Hokage office with grimaced expressions as they watched the growing crowd below arguing amongst themselves. One side demanded the team be pardoned, the other demanded retribution for the treason they've caused.

Neither of which would satisfy the crowd as the team had left Konoha.

"We don't have time for this" Jiraiya muttered. His mind wandered back to the letter Kakashi had given him to hand to Tsunade. He had read the letter and found out about the upcoming war.

Once Tsunade found out, she sent envoys to all the other villages, confirming their support under the guise that Kakashi would still be the leader of the Allied force.

All they needed to do now was form their shinobi together and train but before that, the matter below needed attention.

Tsunade said nothing as she stepped away from the window and sighed.

"Danzo was a manipalative bastard." Tsunade muttered "but the way they dealt with him was wrong" Tsunade finished.

Jiraiya stayed silent as he glanced at her before looking back down at the crowds "He's gone and still causing this much chaos" Jiraiya chuckled with humor.
He turned to her "If we have any hope of winning this war, we need team 7 back in Konoha"

Tsunade sighed again "and what would you have me do? Pardon them? What would you do in this situation?"

"I won't lie, it's an impossible situation..." Jiraiya trailed off before laughing with a wide smirk "but that's why you're the Hokage and I'm not!"

Tsunade stared at him, taken aback, before clicking her tongue and smirking "You're right. We probably wouldn't have gotten this far with you as Hokage. Now, I think I have a plan-"

As Tsunade continued explaining her plan, Jiraiya stood with a sweatdrop at the harsh as ever insult. Inwardly, he was glad. She was back to her old self and ever since he awoke from his injury-infused coma, she'd been friendlier to him. Almost in a flirting manner. He wouldn't read too much into it, he'd been rejected so many times by Tsunade, he'd lost count around a thousand.

Suddenly, a sharp pain rippled throughout his spine as Tsunade smacked his head "Are you listening?!"

Jiraiya cried out "Y-Yes! Dammit! Of course, I'm listening, this is a serious situation." Jiraiya stoically glared.

Tsunade stared at him for a moment "Then what did I say?"

Jiraiya closed his eyes as took her question seriously before smirking "I have absolutely no idea".

A moment later and the man leaned against the wall with multiple bumps on his head.

"As I was saying" Tsunade brushed the dirt off her hands "We need to make contact with the team".

___

"Again!" Hideo snapped as he instructed Sakura to perform jutsu after jutsu, the condition being each jutsu had to be more powerful than the last to fully gain an understanding of her ability. Not only that, Hideo would occasionally launch a jutsu at her out of the blue to either dodge or think quick and use the jutsu she'd prepared to counter it.

Kakashi stood to the side with a sweatdrop. He had meant to mention Hideo-sama's similar personality change when it came to training but it slipped his mind. Luckily, his team was beyond familiar with the change of personalities when it came to training.

"Again!" Hideo yelled at the pinkette. The kind, level-headed man that they'd met in the throne room had disappeared.

'He's almost as bad as Kashi-sensei!' Sakura yelled internally as she performed an earth base jutsu creating spikes rising from the ground which luckily canceled out Hideo's lightning strike that would've hit her square in the face.

Hideo paused for a moment before glancing at Kakashi which in turn caused the silver-haired male to straighten up.

"Kakashi-san, you're a lightning user. Therefore, you should work on your understanding of lightning" Hideo stated with a calm tone. From behind him, Sakura twisted her face in disbelief "EHH?!"

Hideo turned back to Sakura with a glare "Next jutsu!"

Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle but stopped short as he wondered what Hideo meant. His understanding of lightning? Scientifically, lightning is an electrical discharge caused by imbalances between storm clouds and the ground, or within the clouds themselves. Perhaps Hideo meant symbolically? what did lightning mean to him? His own lightning jutsu helped his career when he was young. It also caused more harm than good when it came to his teammates.

So what was his understanding of lightning? It was powerful. Dangerous. Beautiful.

Kakashi hummed to himself as he found a boulder and took a seat before closing his eyes and focusing his chakra, experimenting with his lightning element.

___

"Naaaaaruto-San, please try to focus. You're much worse than I originally thought you'd be" Kazuma smiled kindly as he spoke words etched with harsh meaning.

Naruto grunted as he glared at the Senju. His eyes flashed red "If you'd tell me what to do, I might get better!" He snapped.

Kazuma sighed wistfully "Maa, is that how you youngsters address your elders these days?" He smiled before suddenly appearing behind the blonde and smacking him over his head. The force was too much for the blonde to withhold as he hit the ground hard, a small crater appearing underneath.

Kazuma sighed before gently smiling and bending down to Naruto's level as he struggled to push himself out of the ground "Look kid, you've got a lot of potential but you're holding yourself back. I can feel the second chakra within you and I know Konoha held the Nine-Tailed Beast which must mean you're its Jinchuuriki." He paused, enough to see Naruto's bewildered expression.

Kazuma straightened up as he offered a hand to Naruto "Your flashing eyes mean you've made contact with the beast and perhaps formed a bond already. My training will be for both of you. Together, you and the beast will know how to truly work together"

Naruto stared at the strange man before him with his mouth agape. How did he get all that from just watching him? Was Naruto that obvious?

Either way, the blonde stood up and grinned brightly at the Sarutobi "Now that sounds more like it!" He fist-pumped his hand with determination.

Kazumi smiled, knowing how much Naruto would regret those words later when he began his training.

"Let's begin"