Chapter 15 Butterfly

Shikaku had just finished tidying the papers in the Hokage's office. He sat down on the opposite side of the desk from where the Hokage normally sat. Shikaku was sharing a small smile to himself. He hoped that his talk with the Yondaime would help him make up with his wife.

Right before he put pen to paper, he stretched his back and arms while looking out the windows of the Hokage Tower. Konoha laid before him. It was bustling, the repairs required following the Kyuubi's destruction had the city alive with laborers, civilians, and shinobi alike. The will of fire dwelt within this village, and the village would always rebuild.

Shikaku smiled one more time and put his head down to the paperwork, but out of the corner of his eye, a flare lit up the sky. Even though it was daytime, the flare shone like a second sun. It would be impossible to miss.

Shikaku quickly stood up and looked out the window. The flare was in the direction of the Uchiha clan grounds.

Fuck...

Uchiha Fugaku was panicking, or as close as one could get to it following a life of war, conflict, and sudden shifts in fortune.

Many people had many claims about the Uchiha. They called him traitor, tyrant, and despot. The Uchiha Military Police did not receive much love with the citizens of Konoha. It was hard to enforce the laws and maintain goodwill.

That being said, not once had anyone claimed him to be a man of inaction.

Fugaku was administering first aid within seconds to the Yondaime as he cursed under his breath.

You commit suicide in front of my house you bastard?! Don't you realize what a fucking problem this is going to turn into?

Son of a bitch, why are you stupidly lethal? You aimed for your spleen you goddamn idiot!

Fuck you Minato, I don't care what your fucking excuse is this time around, this is the last the thing the Uchiha need you fucking idiot.

Stupid fucking idiot, stabbing yourself like a dumbass, ever heard of therapy you dumbfuck?

Try as he might, Fugaku was having trouble stopping the bleeding. Whether the Yondaime had consciously or unconsciously aimed for it, his knife had plunged into his spleen and severed one of the larger arteries there.

It was a fatal wound by most standards, and if the Hokage had injured himself in a hospital, it would still be hard to treat.

Fugaku evaluated all his options. Solution after solution were thrown out in quick succession.

Medic Nin are too late at his point. If i can't stabilize him now, he dies.

I don't have any advanced medical ninjutsu copied.

Think, Fugaku, Think!

That time when you were a chuunin? Would that work?

Fuck, this is gonna turn really bad if this doesn't work.

Shit, he's not breathing anymore, FUCK heart is going too!

If he dies here...

OK, I'M ALL IN!

Uchiha Fugaku paused for a split second to focus his mind and chakra. He activated his sharingan for the first time in over 5 years. He hated the memories that came with them, but he would need the abilities and vision for the next course of action.

He clasped his hand together, forming the Tora seal before sticking two of his fingers into the wound on the fourth Hokage.

He molded fire chakra and released it as carefully as he could. The only hope for the Hokage at this point was to cauterize the wound. There was no other way to stop the bleeding.

Small flames flickered from the wound, and Fugaku ceased his chakra.

The wound was charred black, but had stopped bleeding for now.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Fugaku had more problems to deal with right now.

Minato's heart was losing its rhythm.

Fugaku made the Mi seal and focused his chakra once more.

Fugaku placed two of his fingers over the Hokage's heart and started firing small bursts of lightning chakra.

He kept track of the time, his entire being focused on that alone.

One, two, one, two, one, two, one, two...

He was trying to keep the Hokage alive for just one more second.

When the Hokage's ANBU guards made it to Uchiha grounds, Fugaku did not even look up nor notice. He sat there, hands covered in the Fourth's blood, shocking his heart over and over again.

Kakashi was racing in the direction of the emergency flare. Uchiha Fugaku was about the only person high enough rank in the Uchiha clan to own the All Hands flare. It was him or someone else with that authority visiting him.

The list of people with access to that flare was extremely small.

Minato Namikaze

Sarutobi Hiruzen

Danzo Shimura

Nara Shikaku

Uchiha Fugaku

Those flares are triply sealed; there's now way this was accidentally launched, but the question is why?

What could be going on?

Kakashi continued to race through the village towards the flare, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. He actually passed quite a few ninja who were also running with all they had towards the signal.

He had never run so fast so hard before, even in his races with Gai. He legs were like lead, and his breath was unsteady. He would be able to fight if need be, but he was nowhere near his peak condition.

Within 5 minutes, he was at the Uchiha clan grounds. He jumped over the wall surrounding the compound and took in the situation.

Minato-sensei was on the ground, surrounded in a pool of blood, being attended to by a medic-nin with an ANBU mask.

Three other ANBU held Uchiha Fugaku at swordpoint. Fugaku had obviously surrendered; his hands were above his head

His hands were stained in blood!

Kakashi froze in place on the top of the wall surrounding the Uchiha clan grounds. He didn't hear the ANBU order him to stand down.

He pulled the Konoha headband up to reveal his Sharingan, the only thing he has left to remember Obito by.

He quickly made the seals for Chidori, and charged at Uchiha Fugaku, the man who wad just, judging by the blood pool, fatally injured Minato-sensei.

His vision was completely focused on Fugaku right now. So when a staff heavily slammed on his back, driving him into the ground, he was caught unaware and suffered the full damage.

His body made a small crater in the ground, and as his consciousness faded, he looked up and saw the Third Hokage.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was holding Monkey King Enma in one hand and glared down at the young ninja he had just subdued.

"They said to stand down, Kakashi."

Later that day, at the Hokage Tower, in one of the council rooms. Many people sat around a round table. Some had neutral faces while most were actively frowning, and the atmosphere was dour, like a heavy weight rested on the shoulders of everyone in the room.

The Konoha council and representatives of the major Ninja clans of Konoha had come together to discuss the situation and plan a route forward

The room was silent, one could hear a pin drop. Shikaku had the unfortunate duty of breaking the awkward silence.

He cleared his voice before speaking.

"Ahem, I'm sure that most of you are aware of the situation, but I will brief the room anyways.

This morning I had a discussion with Hokage-sama concerning his recent fights with his wife over his son.

During the discussion, I pointed out to him the fact that he was unilaterally making decisions without regards to his wife over his son.

He seemed to come to a realization about the topic and left towards the Uchiha clan grounds at full speed, with his guards chasing him,

Kushina Uzumaki is good friends with Mikoto Uchiha and had been staying there for several days, which is why the Hokage was headed there.

At approximately 0900, an Emergency Flare was fired from the Uchiha clan grounds.

The Hokage's ANBU guards were the first to arrive.

They arrived to a scene of Hokage-sama already being grievously injured.

Fugaku Uchiha was on the scene, crouched over the Hokage, who was incapacitated on the ground."

Danzo chose the moment to interrupt.

"Why are we conducting this farce?! Its obvious that the Uchiha were rebelling and got caught in the act!

Fugaku was literally caught red-handed! Yondaime's blood was quite literally on his hands!

The room erupted into murmurs and quiet whispers between the attendees.

Sandaime Hiruzen Sarutobi interrupted Danzo's outburst.

"Let the young man finish, Danzo."

Shikaku brought back order to the room.

"We have two eyewitnesses to the scene.

Fugaku Uchiha claims that the Yondaime tried to commit suicide in front of Kushina to atone for mistreating their son, and Kushina seconds this story.

We have the full cooperation of Fugaku, who has also submitted to a memory scan, which corroborates his story.

Kushina did not have her memory searched, as she is still somewhat unstable from the days events.

The Yondaime's body contains a single wound, a stab wound that is completely burnt over directly into his spleen.

Fugaku states that this is because he was forced to cauterize the wound.

Preliminary medical examination corroborates the story, though we are waiting for further analysis.

Furthermore, traces of small burns from lightning were found on Yondaime's chest which is consistent with Fugaku's claim that he used lightning to keep the Fourth's heart beating.

The Fourth Hokage remains in a coma, and we are unsure as to when and if he will recover.

As of now, our prevailing theory is that Namikaze Minato, the fourth Hokage, attempted suicide and was saved by Fugaku Uchiha.

Thus, today's order of business is to decide who will take over his position in the interim."

All the eyes in the room turned to the Sandaime, who let out a heavy sigh and looked up at the ceiling.

Danzo however disagreed.

"How can we be sure of today's events. The Uchiha have always wished to usurp the village!

What's to say that this story is true?"

Shikaku turned to Danzo.

"Do you have an alternate proposal as to what occurred?"

Danzo smiled smugly and spoke with assured confidence.

"Yes I do, and I can present evidence.

What really occurred is this:

Fugaku cast a genjutsu on Kushina Uzumaki in order to make her leave her husband and come to the Uchiha grounds.

Once she was there, Fugaku used her as leverage against the Hokage and forced him to commit suicide or watch his wife and son die in front of him."

"What evidence do you proffer to the council, Danzo-sama?"

"I have a member of the Uchiha clan ready to testify that this was the opening gambit in a revolt against the Hidden Leaf."

The room once again broke out into hushed whispers. Shikaku rebutted.

"Then why did Fugaku save the Hokage?"

"Whether the Hokage is dead or in a coma makes no difference, he is incapacitated either way.

This acts to throw the trail off and allow them enough time to attack.

Thus, we need to subjugate the entire Uchiha clan without delay!"

Danzo slammed his hand on the table as he spoke, emphasizing his point.

"I submit the motion that I be authorized to subjugate the Uchiha immediately to prevent the rebellion from occurring.

All in favor, say aye!"

The third Hokage however objected just as vehemently as Danzo had made his accusations.

"Belay that! You forget your place, Danzo! This council is only delegated with the power to appoint and interim Hokage.

It cannot authorize you in your 40 year crusade, and It definitely cannot do that before you even present your so called 'evidence'."

"You old fool, Sarutobi, the writing is on the wall and you refuse to read it!

The Uchiha smell blood in the waters and they will not wait!

Now is not the time for bureaucratic nonsense. Its the time for action!

I would expect a veteran of three Great Wars to know at least that much."

"And I would expect you of all people to understand the consequences of hasty action!"

Danzo immediately fell into a silent rage. His former friend bringing up the fact that he was crippled in action had stirred a deep anger that usually roiled below the surface.

Danzo was still an eminent shinobi, and would never let his emotion get the best of him in front of his enemies.

"Then, I have nothing to discuss with this council."

and he stormed out of the room.

Hiruzen cursed under his breath before speaking.

"The interim position should fall to me. Does anyone object?"

The room was silent, Hiruzen continued.

"If that is the case, I accept the position. Here are my first orders.

I want the entire Uchiha clan under house arrest and guard.

I do not know what Danzo is planning, but they are in his line of fire.

If we give him the opportunity, he may do something that we can only regret.

Next, I am issuing a recall for Tsunade, she is on priority 0 orders to come back and treat Minato.

Next, we are to continued the investigation into Minato's injury.

Lastly, the village is now in lockdown. I want no one other than ANBU coming or going.

Shikaku, you have command of 4 ANBU teams to find Tsunade. Put that brain of yours to work.

The Hyuuga, Aburame, and Akimichi are to mobilize in full force and lockdown the village as well as guard the Uchiha. I delegate full battlefield authority to Hyuuga Hiashi.

Yamanaka, Kurama, and Inuzuka clans, you are in charge of continuing the investigation. I want answers fast.

Does everyone understand their assignments?"

""""""""HAI, HOKAGE-SAMA!"""""""""

"Then you are dismissed!"

Everyone except Hiruzen, Homura, and Koharu left immediately to perform their assigned tasks.

Hiruzen pulled a pipe from somewhere and lit it up.

"And I just retired, too. sigh"

Kakashi woke up in the hospital, the last memory he had was being attacked by the Sandaime who said something that he couldn't hear.

He sat up quickly, and looked around the room.

It was like a normal hospital room, sterile, white, a couple chairs around. His bed was normal, too. He felt around his face, and noticed that his mask was still on, even though his headband was on the table next to him.

The only abnormal part about the room was the ANBU member at the foot of his bed.

Kakashi eyed the masked ninja warily. The ANBU spoke first.

"The Hokage was injured, but he is still alive. You tried to injure or kill a prime witness, normally a heavily punished crime.

However, we are still in a manning shortage. You are to remain on your current mission and face the repercussions at a later date.

Furthermore, all Uchiha and their relatives are to be placed under house arrest at the Uchiha clan grounds, to include the man you know as Shijin."

Do you have any questions?"

"None."

The ANBU disappeared in a flurry of leaves, leaving Kakashi alone in the hospital room. Kakashi gave his body a quick once-over. he was still sore from the Sandaime's blow and may have a broken rib or two, but nothing that would impede him in his current mission.

Yama was a former shinobi, but crippled, so he was essentially a civilian. Kakashi was unsure as to why he was still on this mission in a staffing shortage, but he didn't question his orders, and it was surely something above his pay grade.

He was happy to hear that Minato-sensei still lived, he had assumed the worst when he had seen the huge pool of blood.

Kakashi got up from the bed with a groan and stretched out some of his muscles that had knotted themselves together while he was unconscious. Pakkun should have kept Yama and Shijin under lock and key. He wouldn't need to worry about anything there.

He could take his time getting back. Besides, following the near loss of his sensei, their was someone he needed to talk to.

Kakashi left the hospital fairly soon and started making his way to the memorial stone.

The sun was setting by the time he got there. Kakashi was a loss for words as usual.

He stared at the rock and read Obito's name on it over and over again. Rin's name was also there. Kakashi cursed at himself as a tear rolled down his face.

I can't protect jack fucking shit right now.

I promise you two, I will never let something like this happen again.

I've been in a bit of a funk recently, but I'm not just gonna waste away and watch the people I have left die.

I won't have enough time to visit you guys as much in the future, but I know you'll forgive me.

Besides, I'm still a shinobi, it won't take a long time for us to meet.

Kakashi stood at the monument for a bit longer, and watched the sun slip over the horizon. Right before it dipped under, it released a warm red light.

The stone shone brightly in the dying light of the sun; it looked like it was aflame. The will of fire still lived on.

Kakashi took a deep breath, looked at the stone one last time, and started making his way back to the Hatake family grounds. He did not look back.