Are Goodbyes Always This Hard?

Kakuzu awoke from his sleep crying slightly. He hadn't been worrying about anything the night before when he went to bed in the hospital except for the fact that he had spent too much time on work an not enough on his comrades. However, this morning as he laid in the bed, he had a fair bit to think about. He was also still crushed by the death of his surrogate father.

He decided he would go see the friends he hadn't seen in years as soon as he could safely walk. For now, he was stuck mourning and thinking alone beneath the sheets. 'This is getting me nowhere. I need to go back to the chief and finish the discussion that way I can catch up on the past few years and make a game plan, then I'll go hang out with the boys.'

Therefore, with a light flip and kick, the wounded boy jumped up onto the ground in a handstand and began walking on his hands back up to the chief. 'This is fun. I should do it more often.'

While walking, quite a few weird looks were sent his way, but he continued nevertheless and soon ended up in the chief's head office. Sun Staff was completely ignored him, but after a minute, he looked up at the Kawakami prodigy and facepalmed.

"I can tell from here that you landed poorly yesterday and burned your legs to pieces even without the hospital report. Lay back down; we'll talk later, you workaholic." After saying that, Ryeta looked back to his papers. Despite this, Kakuzu didn't move.

"At this time, it might be bad for me to be alone. At least tell me where Hideyoshi and Moriko are. Otherwise, I'll keep bothering you to finish the talk." Ryeta cocked his head, but didn't stand up.

"You've changed. You used to be very lax, but never particularly disrespectful." He flared his chakra. "Have you forgotten your place?"

The truth was, Kakuzu and Sun Staff had a good relationship, but the latter couldn't afford such disrespect from a subordinate when other ninja were around, and there were two in the room. The atmosphere became tense as Kakuzu refused to move. "Don't take this as me being disrespectful. I'm simply...recommending a different choice than the one you offered, not disobeying."

Both of the monsters of the Takira clan had their pressure activated. The newfound serenity with tones of despair hidden deep within emanated from Kakuzu as he stood resolutely, fighting against the bright, dominating pride of the new clan head, who let a smile creep onto his face, against ihs best wishes. "You actually grew so strong from your sleep? I knew the Sharingan was a cheat, especially the special kind you have, but with its power amplified by the Jiongu, you're in the top ten of the village."

Kakuzu shook his head. He knew the power of everyone, and considered himself to be one of the greatest in the village. "No. I will be in third from what I remember, in two to three weeks and after I get used to all the power I gained from Jiongu and Sharingan. Now, more importantly, where are my friends. Also is the body of my master? You haven't burned him yet, have you? I have yet to finish mourning."

Ryeta's eyes softened considerably. 'He is still very young and his master just died. I just didn't understand what was wrong.' "His body is being stored inside a metal container in HS-3. There are two guards, but they will let you through, as I gave you clearance. Your friends are both on missions right now. Try making some new ones. I know a lot of people still dislike you even if they respect your power, as can be seen from the two assassins in your room."

Kakuzu, remembering the two, groaned, realizing that he forgot to take their hearts before they ran out of chakra, and lost them. Despite the fact that he was going to focus less on his ninja career at least a little, that didn't mean he could quit, nor did he particularly mind killing. After all, he had already done so enough that the value of life had deteriorated quite a bit. Not that it was very high in his eyes originally, considering the trials he went through in his past life.

Ryeta cocked his head even further, all the more confused as to why Kakuzu was groaning, but the boy answered that unspoken question with a request. "I need a mission to kill four powerful, renowned shinobi, or multiple ones concerning that. I don't care as long as they add up to five, all of which have different known chakra natures. After that, I'll be taking a break from missions for a week, he get back to it. I know it's been three years since I was awake, but I need some time, both for myself and to mourn.

Smirking, Ryeta stood up, then walked to Kakuzu. "Sure, you can have everything you asked for. I don't know why you want any of that, but it'll be hell for you after your rest to make up for your coma. Make sure your chakra burns heal quickly."

Then, spinning quickly, he dug his ankle into Kakuzu, who was sent flying out of the office. "Now stay out, you hear me?"

And with that, The clan head just sat back down, yawned, and went back to work. Kakuzu, on the other hands, was forced to catch himself with his feet. The pain he felt was nothing compared to gaining the EMS, so he just ignored it and flipped back to his hands while groaning. "Fine, be that way, prick."

Despite his words and tone, a hint of a smile could be found on his face.

Standing up, he slowly began handstand walking to HS-3, a hidden sector of the compound in which he most important items were stored. It was actually past a false wall in a different room entirely from the massive tree. He had to shunshin with his arms to disappear from the sight of the rank 3 and below ninja, as the hidden sector was hidden to all those who didn't have the clearance to enter it. Rank A jutsu of the clan were stored there, three copies of each one just in case. The Noibaro jutsu were also there, now to be monopolized by the Senju and Takira clans.

It was an odd sensation to shunshin with a different part of the body than the legs, but it was possible, and Kakuzu did so on the third try, despite nearly breaking his arms once and smashing his face into the cave wall the other time. Entering the fake wall, the sentries crossed their tantos across his neck, and were surprised to find their swords in front of the supposed attacker's legs instead of his throat.

Kakuzu kicked away the swords, jumping to his feet. "I heal quickly. Must be the Jiongu. Not finished yet, but this is pretty fast nonetheless."

The duo, seeing the outsider himself, bowed in apology, then stood to the side, never considering it could be a transformation. Luckily for them, it wasn't, and Kakuzu walked up to the casket of his friend, comrade, father, and joy, bowing to it and touching his head to the side. He sent the sentries away, letting the sadness he had been suppressing since waking up wash over him, Tears poured down his face as he slammed his fists into the ground over and over again. "I tried to keep it suppressed, but you're just too great of a man for me to hold back. I'm sorry I was too slow to save you, but I won't let it happen again. I won't hide my emotions any more, especially when it comes to you."

Kakuzu stayed there for two and a half hours before finally standing up, and nodded. He turned around, beginning to walk away to the jutsus with a light smile on his face, but felt a heavy hand fall on his shoulder. He didn't turn back, just raised his gaze, widened his smile, and whispered.

"Thanks, dad."