*Kakashi's POV*
"You....y-you monster." the waitress sobbed.
He looked at her for a few minutes before turning around.
"I hate you!" she sobbed as she clutched the dead man's body.
"Join the club sweetheart." he spat before walking towards the men he travels with.
"Wait." Gaara yelled.
"You chose your side. Farewell Gaara." he whispered causing his eyes to widen.
"But....Wait, you know this village is important to me. You can't really expect me to let you kill people here. That's not fair and you know it." he frowned.
"Life isn't fair Gaara." he shrugged before waving and walking towards the village exit with the men.
"What does this mean? I don't want to be an enemy." he frowned.
"I won't be back unless you call for my help but even then, you will pay me for my services." he yelled back before they exited the village.
"Dammit." Gaara whispered in irritation as he kicked the side of a building.
Temari bent down by the sobbing woman and started to comfort her but stopped when Gaara hovered above her.
"Why did you poison his drink?" he asked narrowing his eyes at her.
"I-I....I umm...I needed the money....That sannin was offering a lot of money for him...but...We should have listened...." she sobbed.
"What're you talking about?" he asked.
"That sannin, Orochimaru and his follower Kabuto, they warned us. They said not to take on this job unless we were at least anbu level. We thought we could handle it, it was one man. I never thought they'd be killed so easily." she sobbed.
"I'm sorry for your loss but you brought this on yourself." Gaara glared as he stood up and started to walk away.
"Wait." she cried.
"What?" he sighed.
"I needed the money. I'm sorry I made an enemy for Sunagakure, please don't punish me." she cried.
"That's not my decision to make." Gaara shrugged before continuing. "But if it was, I'd kill you. The only reason you're still alive is because I can't allow someone that isn't a part of this village to kill you, it would make other civilians feel unsafe and it would cause an uproar. I do however think you deserve it. If you want my opinion, you should pack your stuff and leave." he spat before walking back towards his house.
The woman sobbed and begged for forgiveness all the way back to his house. He told the anbu not to let her in as we all followed him inside. He walked to their dining room and sat down at the table, putting his folded hands under his chin and glaring at the table.
"Gaara, was he really that important to you?" Temari frowned as we all hesitated to sit down around him.
"It doesn't really matter now, does it?" he sighed.
"How does he know Yoshiro?" Naruto asked.
"How do you think he knows him." Gaara sighed.
"Maybe because of Orochimaru....." Naruto shrugged.
"They were both experiments." he nodded before continuing. "Listen, the Yoshiro you guys knew is gone. It'd be better for everyone if you just left him alone and...." he started.
"You can't be serious Gaara." Naruto yelled slamming his hands on his table. "I'm not giving up on him. Yoshiro is coming home whether he likes it or not. I'll drag him back to the village if I have to." he yelled causing Gaara's eyes to widen.
"If you can't handle the Phantom Dragon, what makes you think you can handle Yoshiro?" Gaara frowned.
"He's nothing like that guy." Naruto argued.
"You're wrong about that. Listen Naruto, I know you miss him and you want him to come back to the leaf....but...he won't go back. He hates it there. He told me he's never going back to Konoha....If you actually care about him as much as you say you do, leave him alone." Gaara frowned causing Naruto's eyes to widen.
"What do you mean if we care about him as much as we say we do? Are you implying that we don't care about him? If that's the case, why would we go through all this trouble?" Sasuke asked.
"I....umm..." his eyes widened.
"There's something you're not telling us isn't there?" I asked causing his eyes to widen more.
"Please leave." he frowned.
"Gaara, wait, why won't you tell us?" Naruto frowned.
"Anbu, escort our guests out." he ordered before walking up the stairs, towards the bedrooms.
"I'm sorry, I'll come visit." Temari smiled at Shikamaru before running after Kankuro as he ran after Gaara.
"This is troublesome." Shikamaru sighed as we were escorted out of their house.
"What do you think he was so upset about?" Naruto frowned.
"It's probably nothing. Yoshiro hated the village, he's probably just thinking about how Yoshiro would feel." Jiraiya shrugged.
"We should keep tabs on that Phantom Dragon guy, if we follow him, we're bound to run into Yoshiro eventually." Sasuke nodded.
"M-Maybe we sh-should listen to G-Gaara." Hinata stuttered.
"I agree with Hinata, we should respect Yoshiro's decisions. As his friends, we owe him that much." Shino added.
"I agree, don't you Akamaru?" Kiba nodded causing Akamaru to bark in agreement.
"Kurenai, what's gotten into your team?" Asuma asked causing her to pale.
"Umm...We just.....we want him to be happy." she smiled nervously causing me to narrow my eyes at them.
"We're bringing him back." I growled causing everyone to look at me.
"Kakashi, maybe we should let him go. Think about what your brother wants." Konan frowned causing me to glare at her.
"Hatake, stop acting like a child. Your brother is practically an adult, he can take care of himself and he can make his own decisions." Itachi said as he stepped in front of Konan and activated his sharingan.
"Enough you two. You're not solving anything." Asuma scolded while blowing out smoke.
"We should head home, it's a long journey back to the leaf." Kurenai nodded.
We walked in silence for a while until Naruto walked up to me.
"Umm, Kakashi Sensei? How do you know the Phantom Dragon?" he asked
"He's the one that stabbed me and put me in the hospital during the war. He almost killed all of us. If we were to fight him, we'd have to have flawless teamwork and we'd have to fight him before he gets any stronger, that's how strong he is. Someone that strong shouldn't exist. He needs to be eliminated. It's unnerving to hear my brother is associating with him. He's not a good person, you can tell by the way he carries himself." I explained.
"Well, if he let you live, that counts for something right?" Kiba laughed awkwardly as everyone else glared at him for saying something so idiotic.
"That's it. I need to train. I need to get stronger so I can bring Yoshiro back. His home is Konoha." Naruto declared causing me to smile as we finally got out of the sand.
"Naruto, we should leave him alone." Kiba frowned.
"If I can't even bring home a friend, how am I going to become Hokage?" Naruto frowned causing everyone's eyes to widen.
"Naruto..." Jiraiya started.
"No matter how you look at it, it's our fault he's gone. We all left him there, he hated it there and everyone there, with the exception of Anko, hated him. We gave them the opportunity to get rid of him and they did. It's our fault he's alone." Naruto frowned before continuing. "If I can't fix this, I don't deserve to be Hokage." he whispered.
"Naruto..." Kiba frowned.
He walked up to Ino, who was crying by Sakura and Tenten and put his hand on her head.
"Don't worry Ino, I'll bring him back." he smiled causing all of us to smile.
We knew that somehow, our number one loudest, unpredictable, hyperactive, knuckleheaded ninja would find a way to bring him back into our lives.
"Thank you Naruto." she cried hugging him as the people that were with the Phantom Dragon jumped down in front of us.
"Well, so much for reaching our destination unseen." the one with glowing yellow eyes and yellow horns with long black hair sighed.
"Shut up Leviathan." a short blue haired man that also had horns growled.
"Leviathan, Raiden, stop." a large man with Red hair demanded.
"Sorry Astarot." they apologized.
"It's Ancalagon the Black to you." a shorter man with pointy ears growled as blue surrounded his hand.
"Ragoth, it's not a big deal." a green haired man with two different colored eyes laughed.
"It is to him Attor, he actually respects King Astarot." a woman shrugged.
"You shouldn't even be talking, you're the reason we're lost Nuntius." a blue haired man growled with a scalpel in his mouth.
"Frostilicus, you're not helping the situation." a man with white hair and a bunch of swords sighed.
"Shut up Fizza, or I'll shut you up." Frostilicus growled.
"Why don't you all take a deep breath and just enjoy the beautiful scenery." the brown haired one smiled.
"Shut up Majeir, stay out of it." they both yelled.
"Silence." Astarot roared causing all of them to stop talking. "Enough with the bickering. We are to go to the spot to meet up with Yoshiro and Ikkan and you will shut up and follow quietly. Am I understood?" he growled dangerously causing all of our eyes to widen.
'This guy's powerful.' I thought as I looked over to Jiraiya to see him gripping a kunai. 'He must think the same thing.' I thought as they snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Yes Astarot/my King/ Ancalagon the Black." they all replied in their own way.
"Good, lets go." he nodded.
"Wait." Naruto yelled causing our eyes to widen.
Most of them pulled out their weapons as they turned to face us.
"Where's Yoshiro?" Naruto asked.
"Leave that boy alone. You've caused enough damage." Astarot growled before turning around.
"You tell him that I'm coming for him, we all are." Naruto yelled in determination.
"Oh, he knows. Let's just hope you're strong enough when you find him again." Attor laughed causing our eyes to widen.
'That idiot made it seem like we're going to attack him.' I thought as all of the people's eyes narrowed at us.
"Seems his suspicions were true. That's all I needed to know, he was right. What great actors." Nuntius growled as she looked at us in disgust and hatred.
"What's going on?" Naruto whispered as they all glared at us except for the pointy eared man
"Did I miss something?" he asked.
"We'll explain later." Astarot sighed before turning to face us. "If you follow us, I'll slaughter you all." he smirked causing all of us to freeze.
He waited a few minutes before nodding and walking away causing the others to follow him.
"What the hell was that?" Choza asked with wide eyes.
"You felt that too?" Jiraiya whispered.
"What?" Naruto frowned.
"All of those guys were radiating power....enough to give Orochimaru a run for his money." Shikaku explained
"I guess that means that Yoshiro's in good hands for the time being." Guy shrugged.
"That's one way to look at it, but if he hates us as much as them, this could be troublesome for Konoha." Shikamaru frowned with Shikaku nodding in agreement.
"What're we supposed to do then?" Ino frowned.
"Our best option would be to find Yoshiro before he's corrupted by those guys." Jiraiya frowned.
"But the way Gaara talked about him, it may already be too late." Inoichi sighed.
"That is a possibility." Shikaku nodded.
"Let's just head home and fill the Hokage in. Maybe he'll have a solution for us." Ino frowned as she wiped her tears away and started heading in the direction of the village.
"If we run nonstop, we can get there by morning." Shikaku informed.
"Alright, next stop, Konoha." I nodded as we all took off running towards the village.
We ran for hours, not stopping until we reached the village. When we arrived we were greeted by the villagers with smiles and 'welcome backs'. I know they seem happier now that Yoshiro's gone, but the village is suffering. Yoshiro helped a lot with missions, now that he's gone, we're barely able to finish them and get rest. We knocked on the Hokage's door and waited for him to call us in. We waited for a while but it was quiet, there was no sound from inside his office. Naruto was the first one to lose his patience.
"This is ridiculous." Naruto growled slamming the door open to see the Hokage buried in paperwork.
He jumped and looked at us in confusion.
"You're back already? Are the Akatsuki really that weak?" he frowned.
"Yoshiro's alive, he killed them and rescued Gaara before we even left Suna." Naruto yelled causing the Hokage's eyes to widen.
"He's alive?" he whispered in disbelief.
"Yeah, I'm going to bring him back." he nodded causing the Hokage to smile.
"Do you know of a mercenary that goes by the name Phantom Dragon?" he asked causing my eyes to narrow.
"Yes." Shikaku nodded before continuing. "He's the ninja that fought against us in the war and put Kakashi in the hospital." he explained.
"I see. Well I requested his help with some missions, I'd like for him to join the village, but if he won't he still might be staying until he gets the missions done." he informed.
"Why him?" I asked.
"We're short on ninja at the moment. Believe it or not, Yoshiro did a lot of secret missions for me, he always got them done quickly and no one ever knew he was there. Without him, we're falling behind on our missions. We don't have capable ninja to do them." he smiled sadly.
"Well cheer up Gramps, I'm bringing him back." Naruto smiled.
"Lord Hokage, the Phantom Dragon refused our request." an anbu frowned walking into the room.
"He what?" he asked in disbelief.
"Here's the letter Lord Hokage." he frowned handing him a letter.
"Hokage,
I understand your ninja are useless and incompetent and can't complete their missions successfully, but I am currently unable and unwilling to assist you in any way. I don't need, nor do I want your money, I have not fallen so drastically to have to depend on Konoha for survival. I have other urgent business that takes precedence over Konoha's problems. Deal with them yourself and if you are ever in need of assistance in the future, please refrain from contacting me.
-Phantom Dragon." he read before sighing and putting the letter down.
He sat there for a while rereading the letter before looking at us completely calm.
"Is there a reason he doesn't like us?" the Hokage asked.
"Umm...well...yes." Jiraiya laughed awkwardly causing him to raise an eyebrow.
"Explain." he demanded.
"Well we kinda sorta saw him in Suna, apparently Yoshiro's friends with him...and...well. He hates Konoha, even before we were rude to him, he gave off that 'I don't like Konoha ninja' kind of vibe." Jiraiya explained.
"Maybe it has to do with Yoshiro." he sighed as Danzo walked in.
"What has to do with Yoshiro?" Danzo asked uneasily causing my eyes to narrow.
'Something's not right. He knows something.' I looked at Jiraiya and he looked at me and Shikaku and nodded, probably thinking the same thing.
"Yoshiro's alive." Shikaku informed.
"Are you sure?" he asked seeming unsurprised.
"Yeah, we saw him in Suna." he nodded causing Danzo to gulp.
"Oh...Did he say anything? How is he?" he asked with regret in his eyes.
"He left before we could talk to him. He refused to talk to us." he explained causing Danzo to relax slightly.
"Oh, well what's related to him?" he asked.
"The Phantom Dragon hating Konoha." I said causing him to tense.
I narrowed my eyes at him and he shifted uncomfortably.
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you Danzo?" I asked causing his eyes to widen.
"Of course not, I've only ever seen the guy once and that was at the Kage meeting in Kumo." he defended.
"Just making sure, you seemed a little uneasy." I glared.
"What to do..." the Hokage mumbled.
"You could request his help when he's done with whatever he's doing now." Jiraiya shrugged.
"But if we make him mad, he might come here and wipe out the village." Asuma frowned.
"Not to mention Orochimaru's after him." Guy nodded causing the Hokage's eyes to widen.
"Orochimaru you say?" he asked.
"Yeah, he was an experiment too. That's how Yoshiro knows him." Naruto nodded.
"Interesting, and you say they're with each other?" he asked.
"Yes, they travel with a group of people, there are 10 counting the Phantom Dragon, but they also mentioned someone named Ikkan that is already with Yoshiro. Those 9 maybe 10 guys could kill all of us with the snap of a finger. It's not wise to make them mad. The Phantom Dragon was strong but those guys made him look like a child in comparison." Shikaku explained.
"I see, maybe it's best to leave him be for now. I wouldn't like to create more problems." the Hokage sighed.
"Can I have a mission to go after Yoshiro?" Naruto asked.
"If those people are as strong as Shikaku says they are, you are nowhere near strong enough to bring him home." he frowned.
"Please Gramps? Yoshiro's like a brother to me, please let me search for him. I can convince him to come home." he frowned.
"I'm sorry Naruto, there are far too many missions we're behind on. I can't send you on one like that yet, not to mention you're barely a chunin." he sighed.
"That's besides the point Gramps. I have to bring him back, please give me a mission?" he yelled.
"I can't Naruto. I need you here, there are other missions that have to be done." he frowned.
"But Gramps...." he argued.
"Naruto, enough. When there is room for another mission, I will make one and send you to retrieve him. But before then, you have to train to get stronger." he sighed.
"Fine." he pouted.
"Good, now how was Gaara?" he asked.
"He kicked us out of his house." Naruto sighed causing his eyes to widen.
"He what? Why? What did you guys do?" he asked.
"We were asking questions about Yoshiro and talking about bringing him back and he said he disagrees and we should just let him go. When we didn't listen he made the anbu escort us out." Naruto shrugged.
"Why can't you complete a mission without bad news being a result. Leave so I can think of a letter to send as an apology." he sighed causing all of us to nod and leave.
I walked out of the village and sat by Yoshiro's grave. I leaned up against a tree and closed my eyes, enjoying the breeze as it started to get a little lighter out.
"Kakashi?" I heard someone whisper so I snapped my eyes open.
I looked around the area to see a little boy with white hair staring up at me, smiling.
"Do I know you? You should get home, it's kinda late for you to be outside of the village. Where are your parents?" I asked looking around the area.
"Kashi Onii-san, you's home!" he cheered jumping on me and giving me a hug.
"Yoshiro?" I whispered.
"Duh, who ewse." he giggled causing me to smile slightly.
I looked around to see I was still sitting by his grave.
'I'm just dreaming....either that or I'm delusional.' I thought as I looked down but Yoshiro wasn't there anymore.
"Yoshiro?" I called into the fog that started to roll in from the forest.
I heard Yoshiro screaming deep in the woods so I ran after him.
"Yoshiro?" I yelled as I came into a clearing. I saw Orochimaru's neck elongated and biting into an older Yoshiro.
"Yoshiro." I yelled running over to Orochimaru only for both of them to disappear before I could reach them.
"We've been waiting for you Kakashi." someone said from behind me.
I turned around and was stabbed through the chest with Yoshiro's sword. I looked up and my eyes widened as Yoshiro smiled at me, pushing the sword in deeper.
"I'll kill you all." he laughed as the Phantom Dragon and the people in their group came out from the shadows.
"Yoshiro..." I whispered in shock as tears filled my eyes.
"Don't cry Kashi Onii-san, this is what I've always wanted." he laughed as I saw smoke in the distance.
"Yoshiro, what did you do?" I frowned as I heard everyone screaming from the village.
"I chose their punishment." he smirked sadistically before ripping the sword out of my chest.
Blood filled my mouth and I fell onto the ground gasping for air.
"Y-Yoshiro, why?" I choked.
"I'll send you all to hell." he growled slamming his sword down on my head causing me to shoot up off of the ground.
"Kakashi, are you okay?" Shikaku asked from beside me with Inoichi, Choza, Guy, Asuma, and Jiraiya.
"I-I....no....I need to find him." I whispered clenching my fists and closing my eyes to keep myself from crying.
"We'll help you." Tsunade smiled walking into the clearing with Rin, Anko, Itachi, Konan, Kisame, and Zabuza.
"Thank you guys." I smiled pushing the tears away.