Chapter 5: Repercussions

"Damn it!" For some inexplicable reason, Hikaru felt his chest tighten, and an ache appeared where his heart was. Gripping his chest, he then repeatedly hit himself until his breathing calmed down and he returned to normal.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨...? Perhaps not willing to acknowledge the reason he felt this way or perhaps truly unable to grasp why, he just shrugged his shoulders and continued walking as a cold wind whipped at his face.

He turned his eyes upwards to the stormy clouds above, feeling the drops of water splash onto his hair and stream down his body. After several seconds he shook his head with a wry smile and continued walking home.

Pleased that he had succeeded, that he managed to manipulate things exactly as he desired. He was almost like a god... 𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘡𝘦𝘵𝘴𝘶 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵?

𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦?

𝘋𝘢𝘮𝘯, 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘥. Pondering on his next set of actions, he clawed out at the furthest depths of his mind for any forgotten knowledge he may have. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘥.

Although he couldn't recall anything, he had come to one conclusion. Hikaru had to write down everything he knew about important events and characters before time warped his memory too much. Thankfully he didn't need to create a special cipher since he already had a language that no one else in this entire world should know.

𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘪 𝘞𝘢𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥. 𝘈𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴… 𝘐𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴' 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘯!

With an extra spring in his step, the young Uchiha continued his walk home. Strangely, his hand kept unconsciously finding itself wrapped around the tilt of his tanto as he walked.

The next day, the death of Konoha's White Fang was announced, and word of it quickly spread throughout the entire village. Many people were unsure of how to feel upon hearing the news. While, on one hand, the White Fang had thoroughly disgraced himself shortly before his death, he had also dedicated his entire life to the village and brought it much fortune.

In the Hokage's office, two men who were deemed complete opposites of one another faced off.

"Sakumo Hatake was a hero. Whatever mistakes he may have made towards the end are irrelevant!" Hiruzen slammed the desk in frustration at his friend's suggestion.

Unflinching in the face of the Hokage's anger, Danzo continued dispassionately. "Whatever he once was doesn't matter. All people see him as is that fool who broke the rules that every shinobi abides by and in doing so cost the village dearly."

"Then we should help the people see that he was more than just his final mistake!"

Sighing as if he was dealing with a petulant child, Danzo responded, "Would you see Konoha crumble for the sake of this sentimentality?"

Hiruzen was taken aback and frowned. "This is not just a matter of sentimentality, Danzo! How could this possibly cause--"

Cutting the Third Hokage off, Danzo spoke once more. "It is just a matter of sentimentality, Hiruzen. How many countless shinobi have dedicated their lives to the village and never once been awarded a state funeral? A shinobi is a tool that works in the shadows; they don't work for recognition or for some fancy funeral. They do what they do because it is their duty."

Puffing on his pipe, Hiruzen inhaled deeply before letting the smoke out as he leaned back into his chest with a grumpy expression. "Bah! You know that's different. Those shinobi work in the shadows; they can't be openly celebrated. Sakumo was a shinobi who worked in the sunshine, and he is famous throughout the great nations."

Danzo just shook his head, "There is no such differentiation, it's just a facade and you know it. As for his fame… That brings us to the other issue. We cannot reward those who betray the village!"

Placing the pipe down, Hiruzen leaned forward once more and bared his teeth "He did not betray the village."

"Did his actions differ from those a traitor might make in any way?"

Hiruzen's face scrunched up, "No, but that's beside the point. He--"

"That is exactly the point. If a child sees other children being rewarded for unruly behavior, wouldn't that child also become unruly?"

Opening his mouth to speak, the Third Hokage promptly shut it again as Danzo waved a hand towards him.

"I know you understand this. We can't promote such behavior, which is what having a large state funeral would be doing. Your sentimental nature just won't let you admit it."

Silence reigned in the office for several seconds as neither man spoke a word.

"It still wouldn't be right." Hiruzen finally said, unsure of what he should do.

Sensing victory within his grasp, Danzo went in for the kill shot, offering the 'compromise' that he had been aiming for the entire meeting. "What if you personally held a small private for the White Fang? Wouldn't that do him honor enough?"

Thinking for a moment, Hiruzen finally nodded in assent.

"Now go. You've already made my mood even worse than it was." Waving his hand, he focused back on the documents in front of him.

"As you say, Lord Hokage." With those deliberate words, Danzo quickly left the room, ready to work on other plans.

The moment his old friend left the room, Hiruzen opened a drawer on his desk and pulled out a crystal ball. After a few seconds of searching, he soon found the boy he was looking for.

With a blank expression on his face and red eyes that betrayed his previous sobbing, the silver-haired boy dispassionately trained as if he were nothing more than a doll going through the motions.

From an outside view, he seemed to be doing just fine, as dedicated to training as he ever was. Yet, as soon as his movements stopped and the training came to an end, all of a sudden, his blank face disappeared, and emotions rushed forth as he fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face, slamming the ground with his fist.

As soon as Hiruzen saw this scene, he disappeared from his office and reappeared in front of the boy, pulling him into an embrace before he could object. Hesitant at first, Kakashi gradually accepted the comfort of the Hokage's arms and sobbed into his chest, clawing at his back.

Hiruzen knew that the boy would never let anyone see this side of him, that he would never willingly let anyone comfort him, so he had to make the first move. Otherwise, Kakashi would anguish all by himself through the entire grieving process; he had no family left and no friends; he was all by himself.

He also knew that there were no words that could get through to him right now, if ever, so he just stood there in silence, letting the boy cry his heart out.

For all his faults, Hiruzen did genuinely see the children of the village as his children, and that went doubly for the children of those who died after spending their lives in service to the village. He couldn't bear to just ignore such a scene and leave Kakashi to suffer the way he was; it would eat away at him.

𝘚𝘢𝘬𝘶𝘮𝘰, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘭. 𝘈𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸… Inwardly sighing, he shook his head and looked down at Kakashi with a soft expression.

Elsewhere, Hikaru sighed in satisfaction as he had finally managed to break the barrier that was 5% chakra overload and safely reach 8% without his chakra going haywire. He wondered for a second if what he was doing was similar in any way to the way the Eight Gates functioned.

Dismissing such idle speculation, he then considered what exactly the cap for him was – At a certain point, he would just end up filling his own body with so much extra chakra that it would explode, right? Yet, what about jinchuriki? Those people weren't naturally able to handle so much chakra… Then again, they released the chakra out of their bodies and created chakra coats out of it, which they could then use in a multitude of ways. Was this a method to prevent the chakra from overwhelming the host body by externalizing the chakra?

𝘏𝘮𝘮, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸.

𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯!

Unfortunately, right now, his chakra reserves were still abysmally small; however, thanks to his continuous efforts at overcharging his chakra, he had become quite adept at chakra control, meaning he could make more use of the amount he had inside his body than he could before.

He didn't understand what was going wrong. His body was as strengthened and refined as possible at the moment, and his spiritual energy should be very strong. Hikaru considered the fact that maybe there was something he was missing, but nothing came to mind.

Finishing his chakra training, Hikaru opened his eyes, stood up and stretched, and then went downstairs. While doing so, he put on a dejected expression and made each step seem as if it lacked any energy whatsoever. This act was surprisingly easier than he thought it would be.

"Hey, buddy." A hand reached out and ruffled his hair, "How ya doing?"

"I'm doing okay, dad," the boy mumbled.

Sora's eyes lingered on his son for a second before he smiled and patted him on the back. "Great, then it's as good a time as any to share a meal together."

Hikaru nodded as he seated himself at the table. Glancing around, he asked the obvious question, "Where's mom?"

"Oh, you know how she is. She's probably still at work. It's how she processes her emotions, by dedicating herself to her work."

Despite having an extremely low opinion of the man, that didn't stop Ahma from feeling a sense of responsibility and thus guilt for Sakumo's suicide. Although it wasn't publicly declared a suicide, in an effort to save some face for the deceased as well as his son, most people knew that it could have only been that.

Moreover, she felt responsible for her son's suffering; because of her, his mentor died. To make matters worse, he even blamed himself as a result. Thus, she was unable to do anything other than work; she had no means of comforting her own son in her current state, so it was better that she stay away from home for some time.

Eating together in silence for a while, Sora finally began to speak. "You know… people's actions are their own. Everyone makes their own choices; that's what makes us human. We aren't responsible for the choices of another person."

Hikaru didn't answer for a few minutes.

"But… what if we cause someone to make certain choices?"

"...There is always more than one choice that someone can make, even if you cause them to lean in one direction over another, it is still their choice to take that next step. Do you think you caused him to make that choice?"

"I…" Hikaru's eyes began to water uncontrollably. "I think so, yes."

Putting his utensils down, Sora hastily stood up, then pulled his son out of his own chair and embraced him. It was the first time that he had seen him cry for as long as he could remember.

"Shh, shh, it's okay. If you really think you did, then wouldn't the best thing to do be honor his memory?" He pulled away slightly to smile down at his son. Unfortunately, he was never very good at this emotional talk stuff; he grew up in a harsh environment much too different from that of his son to really relate to.

Thankfully, his son seemed to receive his words well, as he nodded his head and sniffled.

Sora sighed, thankful that even as inadequate as his parenting was, he could still comfort his son.

While embracing his son, someone suddenly knocked at the door.

Patting Hikaru on the head for the last time, Sora ended the embrace and went to the door to see who might be disturbing them at this late hour.

His voice caught in his throat as he found a young boy with silver hair and a dull look in his eyes waiting outside.

"Is Hikaru home?" Kakashi asked with a neutral tone.

"Uh, yeah. One second, please."

Not long after Sora disappeared, a red-eyed Hikaru came to the door, surprised by Kakashi's visit.

He didn't bother to offer condolences; he knew Kakashi wouldn't care for such words. "Hello, Kakashi."

The boy just stared at the Uchiha for a time before finally opening his mouth to speak and offering a small smile.

"I never did thank you for spending the last few months with my father." He bowed his head in gratitude. "Thank you…" His voice was but a whisper towards the end.

"I…"

"Lord Hokage is hosting a private funeral ceremony for my father. I want you to come."

Choking down his previous words, Hikaru just nodded his acceptance of the invitation. Even he felt like scum at having the son of the man who he had tormented and killed thank him. This feeling didn't last for long; however, as he reasoned that the character who was Sakumo was destined to die anyway, he did nothing wrong. One could argue that changing the timeline itself would be a wrong act. Not that he wouldn't change the timeline, of course.

Thinking this, he felt that his previous feelings of shame were ridiculous. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦.

After informing Hikaru of where and when the ceremony was occurring, Kakashi left without another word.

Merely a day passed before the White Fang's funeral ceremony was held.

Amidst a small downpour of rain, a small group of people gathered, all of them shinobi of Konoha, save for the two academy boys in attendance. Hiruzen stood at the front of the mourners, right beside the grave dedicated to Sakumo Hatake.

It was a simple grave, just like any other in the ceremony. However, at that moment, it held a framed picture of Sakumo atop it and a bouquet of flowers in front of that.

"Today we pay respects to one our village's most venerated heroes. Although he may have erred towards the end of his illustrious life, that does nothing to take away from his many achievements and his great love for Konoha. We stand here today, not in memory of who he became, but who he was as a whole, the good and the bad."

Saying this, Hiruzen let silence reign for several moments as he closed his eyes, and everyone else followed suit.

"With such memory in our hearts, let us learn from both his accomplishments and his failures, so that we may all lead better lives as a result."

He smiled empathetically towards Kakashi as several others gave him pitying looks. The other Academy student simply stared forward, looking straight into the eyes of the Sakumo Hatake represented in his picture.

"Most importantly, let us keep his memory in our hearts so that he may live on in us. So that his Will of Fire does not burn out, so that we may inherit it and continue to serve the village in his stead."

"His service to our great village may be over, but even in death, he will still continue to support the great tree that our forefather Lord Hashirama Senju first nurtured. Like the First Hokage before him, Sakumo has passed his love, his burden, and most importantly, his legacy onto us. All we can do is honor that legacy to the best of our abilities."

It was not lost on those gathered that Hiruzen had specifically compared Sakumo to the First Hokage and founder of the village himself, honoring the deceased man by association.

After finishing his speech, Hiruzen placed his hand on Kakashi's shoulder and offered some words in a low tone before leaving. Several other attendees did the same, while most stayed around for a bit longer before also following suit.

In the end, just two people remained at Sakumo's grave. Neither one said anything to the other for the longest time, even as the rain drenched them and the clouds eventually parted slightly, allowing the sun to shine through.

"Why didn't he just follow the rules…" Kakashi mumbled, seemingly oblivious to Hikaru's presence.

Feeling as if he had overstayed his welcome, that he was intruding on something he shouldn't be, the Uchiha then turned around and began to leave like all the others before him.

"Wait."

Turning back around, Hikaru stared at Kakashi, confused as to what he could want.

"Here. You should have this." The other boy pulled out a sealed scroll from his pouch and handed it to Hikaru.

"This…"

"It's further kenjutsu instruction, as well as some sword techniques that my father wrote down for you. Before he... passed."

A strange knot formed in Hikaru's stomach, twisting and causing him to feel an intense ache. Due to this sudden feeling, he was at a loss of words, unsure of how to respond, but thankfully Kakashi noticed this struggle and simply waved his hand as he turned back towards his father's grave.

Hikaru then left without another word, rushing home as fast as he reasonably could.