Hisato closed the door to his apartment with a small sigh, a small headache building behind his brow. Conspiracy against Konoha his ass. Jiraiya just wanted to look at him and then wave him off saying- "Not enough energy in this one." Whatever that meant.

    The brunette made his way to the bathroom, glancing at the still shattered mirror with a frown. He should really get that fixed. Closing the door behind him, Hisato made his way to the shower and turned it on. The shower sputtered to life, raining down cold water until Hisato activated his heating seal, effectively heating the water up. Stripping himself of his clothes, Hisato stepped into the warm water, letting the hot droplets cascade down his toned body. He let out a tired sigh and leaned against the back wall of the shower and just stood, letting the steam fill the room and cloud the air.

    After mindlessly letting his body prune for an hour, Hisato finally finished his shower and made his way to his small, decrepit room. He cringed as the wood creaked as he sat on the thin mattress, shivering as a slight draft of cold air from the window made its way into the room. Hisato laid his head on his somewhat fluffy pillow and pulled the thin blanket over his bare chest, letting his thoughts wander in hopes of getting some sort of sleep. Just as sleep was in his grasp, he was startled awake from his doze by shouting above him.

    The man let out a groan, and made a mental note to make silencing seals for these kinds of situations.

    "This ends now," a woman screamed, adding a stomp for good measure. Hisato watched as the dust from the stomp drifted down from the ceiling, heading towards him.

    "Seriously Naomi? Are we really doing this now?" a man yelled back. Ah, a lover quarrel.

    "This is your fault," she replied.

    "This is your fault," he growled.

    Hisato's headache grew, and he sat up, letting the blanket fall.

    "My fault?" the man questioned hastily. "You're the reason-"

    "You're the reason she's dead," he stated, pointing at the dead body in front of him.

    "No... no, I," Hisato tried to reason, feeling himself being drawn into the memory. The smoke in the air, the smell of blood, her body-

    It was all playing out in front of him like a movie. He could see himself. He could see Sasuke. He could see Saku- her. He could do nothing.

    "You killed her," Naruto gasped out, falling to his knees next to the rosette. "No no no no. Sakura. No, come on Sakura," he cried out.

    Hisato tried to move towards him, and felt his emotions swell. He... he failed her. The brunette looked down at his hands, seeing blood drip down them, similar to how it was Naruto's. He fell to his knees next to the green-eyed beauty, for she was nothing less, and tried to grab her pale hand. His hand went straight through hers, and she began to fade away. No. She was burning.

    Naruto leaped back from the corpse, his eyes wide with horror. "What- what are you doing?" he screamed, watching the black flame consume his dead teammate. The smell of sulfur and burning flesh filled the air, but the smell was overshadowed by a laugh. A pure, maniacal laugh.

Naruto looked up, and Hisato followed, remembering the sight in front of him all too well. Sasuke was laughing. A deranged grin practically filled half of his face, and his eyes were wide with elation. If you looked close enough, you could see the awful pattern of the mangekyou overtaking his eyes and the bloody tears that followed them.

"You think I would let you give her a proper burial?" the 22-year-old questioned,

looking at Naruto as if he was the delusional one. "You should be thanking me! I took this garbage out of this world. After all, you're the one who asked me to," he smiled, walking toward the ashes of his once teammate.

"Not true!" Naruto shouted, voice wavering as he watched the flames die into nothing, only leaving ashes in its wake.

"Not true, not true, not true, not true, not true, not true..." Hisato mumbled, tracing the ashes of his teammate. Funny how he could touch her now.

Sasuke let out a small 'tsk' and shook his head. "Don't you remember when we were 18 and you asked me to take her back?" he questioned, bending down to examine Sakura's ashes.

"What does that have to do with any of this?" Naruto questioned hoarsely, refusing to take his eyes off of the ashes of his once teammate.

Sasuke picked up a bit of Sakura's ashes, causing Naruto's form to go rigid. The Uchiha gave him a deranged smile as he let the black ashes sprinkle out of his hand and blow off in the wind. "Well you see, the Sasuke you know is dead, so it was only fitting that Sakura went off with him."

"No," Naruto gasped.

"No no no no no no nononononononononono," Hisato repeated, bringing his hands up to his ears, not feeling himself fall to the floor.

"You're insane," Naruto finished, conjuring up four shadow clones.

"I prefer visionist," Sasuke finished with a wide smile. "After I finally killed Orochimaru, I've been hearing some... thoughts? Ideas? In my head," he hit himself in the head with a small smile. "This voice, it was as if it was trying to consume me... drive me mad, but I handled it. I made a deal with it. Thus the visions came. Visions of death, destruction, and... power. I will take over Konoha, and once I'm finished... the world."

"You'll have to go through me first," Naruto replied, taking out a Kunai. "Me and the rest of my friends, we won't let you come any further."

"No!" Hisato gasped. "Don't let them fight, turn back, turn back, turn back."

Hisato!

Sasuke's smile grew wider as several of his past 'friends' surrounded him.

"Sorry we're late, Naruto," Shikarmaru apologized.  "Where's Sakura?"

Naruto shook his head and dried his tears with his sleeve. "She's gone."

Shikamaru lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply. "I see. Well, there's no way we can turn back after hearing that."

"No, you can't. Turn back. You need to turn back," Hisato gasped out. He could hardly breathe, his breath coming out in short pants.

You need to calm down. Do you hear me?

Who?..

He was drawn back in by Sasuke's response. "Oh, by all means, stay. It'll make my job a lot easier."

Naruto frowned. "Stand firm."

"Run away, run away I tell you," Hisato panted.

I don't... suddenly collapsed...trouble breathing...assistance...

Hisato dug his fingers into his hands, feeling the blood well up under his fingernails. He felt hot tears run down his face as he helplessly watched the scene in front of him.

"My vision shall be fulfilled," Sasuke shouted, locking eyes with Shikamaru.

"No!" Naruto and Hisato yelled simultaneously.

Hisato felt something cold trickle down his head and was momentarily shocked out of the memory.

"Hisato, can you hear me?" he heard a voice say.

"Whaa?.." the brunette trailed, gasping as the scenery faded away. A face came into focus in front of him, one he immediately remembered as Kakashi's.

"Breathe Hisato. In and out," Kakashi instructed and Hisato followed.

The brunette took in a shaky breath and slowly his senses came back to him. The man's face began to burn with shame as he began to realize what happened.

"I'm so sorry Kakashi," Hisato said shakely. "I don't know what came over me."

Kakashi's brow wrinkled at the apology. "There's no need to apologize," he stated, frown deepening as he took in Hisato's embarrassed figure. "If you don't mind me asking, what brought upon this episode?"

If anything, Hisato looked more embarrassed. "There was an argument going on in the room above me. It brought back some... unpleasant memories."

Shikamaru fell to the ground, his own hands grabbing his throat. Ino ran towards the Nara, but Sasuke stabbed her with his lightning jutsu-

"Hey," Kakashi stated, shaking his shoulders. "Don't think about it, just breathe."

Kakashi frowned as he watched the man in front of him take in deep breaths. His form was still shaking, and his palms were bloodied from clenching his fists. When Yamato came frantically knocking at his door asking for his assistance with Hisato, he wasn't expecting this.

Kakashi was slightly startled by the knock at the door. He glanced at Hisato, but the man didn't seem to notice the sound, too focused on regulating his breathing.

The silver-haired man glanced at the clock which read 2:37 A.M. and wondered who could possibly be at the door at this hour. Getting up from his position in front of Hisato, he went to the front door which was right outside of Hisato's room.

"Hisato-san, is everything alright? I heard a loud bang a while ago and some shouting and I decided to- oh, what are you doing here Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto questioned, hastily cutting off his previous ramble.

"Oh me?" Kakashi questioned nonchalantly. "Hisato and I were just having a chat, so you must've just heard us talking."

Naruto's brow furrowed. "I hate to question you Kakashi-sensei, but that doesn't explain the loud bang I heard earlier and Hisato-san's voice sounded... desperate. Are you sure he's okay?"

"Maa maa, you shouldn't question your sensei, but perhaps you should ask Hisato about it another time," Kakashi stated, dodging the question. "Why don't you go back to bed, we have a full day of missions tomorrow."

Naruto perked up a bit. "Does that mean no more training with Gai-sensei?"

Kakashi ruffled his hair. "We'll try and make it a once a week thing."

Naruto grumbled a bit at the revelation, but ultimately left telling Kakashi to tell Hisato that he'll be back later. Kakashi nodded and closed the door as Naruto entered his own apartment.

The man made his way back towards the brunette, who was sitting on the ground with a dazed expression on his face. "Are you okay to stand Hisato?" Kakashi questioned, ready to lend any assistance needed.

Hisato snapped out of his daze and nodded, shakely making his way to his feet, staggering a bit when he was fully upright. The man's face flushed once more with embarrassment and shame.

Hisato leaned against the wall and let out a breath. "Thank you for the assistance Kakashi, but you can leave. I will be alright from now on."

Kakashi nodded, but not before scrutinizing him with his singular eye. "If you feel something like this coming on again, try doing something familiar to you, or getting in a safer position."

Hisato stared owlishly at Kakashi before nodding. "I'll try that, thank you."

"Maa, no need to thank me. Thank Tora for running all the way to get me," Kakashi stated, glancing towards Tora's position.

Hisato flinched as the man emerged from the shadows (something Kakashi took a mental note of), but overall nodded. "Thank you Tora, and sorry you had to witness that."

Tora frantically shook his head. "No, no. I just wasn't expecting it was all. We'll just have to invest in some silencing seals or..something..." Tora trailed, realizing he was rambling.

Hisato smiled gratefully and nodded. "That we should."

The men stood awkwardly in silence until Kakashi brought out his book and headed for the door. "I'll have the Hokage give you a day to yourself, so don't even think about leaving that bed," Kakashi commanded, not taking his eyes off his book as he left the apartment, leaving no room for argument.

Hisato let out a small huff of laughter as he climbed back in bed. "Feel free to leave or go back to your post Anbu-san." Hisato stated, waving his hand at his designated babysitter.

"I'll be going then. Get a good rest Hisato-san," Tora replied, leaping out the window and closing it behind him.

Hisato clenched his blanket as he laid back down in his bed. How is he supposed

to change anything if he can't handle a single flashback? And Kurama.

"Hey Kurama?" Hisato spoke quietly in hopes of getting the foxs' attention.

Kurama? Hisato tried again. With a frown, the man entered his mindscape. "Kurama this isn't funny-"

The brunette's eyes widened, taking in the sight in front of him.

"What?"

{September 6, 2021}