The Road Of Life Is Potmarked

I wrote this at the start of the year after a long time in writer’s block. I posted it, but only 30 people looked at it. So I pulled it down thinking never to put it up again, I wanted to give up, but I couldn’t and it kept reaching for me, and the makings of part 2 started swirling around in my head. I am not much of one for writing non sex stories anyway, there is a part two in the planning stages, so I thought I’d put this up again with its new name and the tbc, because I cannot leave a story unfinished, but I’m going to work on “Turning away” first before I get down with part two. So I hope you like this reposting and I hope you’ll want the rest of it. My heart is in Japan right now and I wish I could do more for those wonderful people who gave me Anime and Manga to love.

TITLE: The Road of Life is Potmarked
AUTHOR: Fyrbyrd
CATEGORIES: Drama, Hurt/Comfort
RATING: M
WARNINGS: off screen Non con. Whipping. Violence.
SPOILERS: Yeah there are some.
PAIRINGS: see part 2
SUMMARY: Tetsuo and His Sensei seem to cross paths with the same prisoner.
DISCLAIMER: I don’t own them, they own me. Masashi Kishimoto owns them.

Part 1: Tetsuo, His Sensei and the Prisoner
By Fyrbyrd

There were bodies strewn all over the place, the smell of death invading the area. And in the centre sat one man cradling another, he lifted his head to the sky and cried out in anguish, before lowering his had to rest near the other’s, his bloodied hand gently surrounding his head he said, ”Forget.”

Sandaled feet came to a halt in front of him, “Don’t move or you will be killed. Surrender him to us, you are under arrest.”

When he did not move they forced the unconscious body away from him and tossed him to the ground, holding him down forcibly, binding him and sealing his chakra. The other was carried away gently, but that was the last he saw as the hood enclosed his head and he was dragged away.


A little boy skittered out of the broken road and into his Sensei’s arms, getting out of the way of the men passing.

“Sensei, who are those strange people,” he asked.

“They are men from the prison Tetsuo; they have been drafted into helping to repair the village. We need all the help we can get. And with the prison damaged as well, they must be kept under watch.”

The boy eyed the bedraggled group who all had leg chains dragging behind them connected to their ankles. “Are they dangerous, Sensei?”

“Not with those chains on, they cannot run and if they were shinobi, they cannot use their chakra. Now come Tetsuo, there are things for others of us to do as well.”

It would not be the last time Tetsuo and his Sensei saw the prisoners. With the village in ruins from the attack on it, the children were assigned to help in the distribution of food and other supplies. Their Sensei’s were in charge of them, and did the heavier work of pulling the carts they used to carry things around. It was when they were assigned to carry food to where the prisoners were working, that Tetsuo next saw them.

His Sensei brought the cart to a stop and got the children organized; having the smaller children ready the bowls while the older children filled the bowls from the large pots they were carrying in the cart. The guards set up a table and they were served first, before they brought groups of prisoners over to take bowls from the table. Tetsuo was ordered to stay near the cart with the other children, they had been warned never to go near these men, only their Sensei’s approached the guards, and even they were not allowed near the prisoners. He watched the prisoners coming and going from the table as his Sensei covered up the pots and waited for the bowls to be returned, before they would move on to their next station.

As Tetsuo watched, a prisoner that had most of his head covered, was starting away from the table when another of the prisoners deliberately put his foot on the other’s chains, making him trip and fall heavily to the ground spilling his bowl of food into the dirt, as it was a broth, there was nothing left as it sank into the parched earth. Everyone seemed to laugh as the man rolled over and started to rise in anger. The guards were upon him in moments, holding him back from going after his tormentor.

“Move away Minoru,” the guards warned the tripper.

“Oh how the mighty have fallen,” he quipped as he slinked away pleased with his actions.

The other pulled at the two guards that held him, but when the head guard stood in front of him with a whip in his hand did the man stop pulling. “There are children present, I would rather they not see me have to mete out punishment in front of them. It is enough that you have lost your ration, or do you want more.”

The man directed a single wide eye directly at Tetsuo, before he fell limp in the guards’ arms and was freed and allowed to return to his place.

The lead guard moved over to the head Sensei. “I’m sorry Sensei; I hope this little scuffle has not scared the children.”

He looked around at the boys and girls, all of them curious about the prisoners, but none was affected by what they had seen. “No, they are fine.”

“Good. These men squabble amongst themselves, keeping their pecking order intact, though some are more despised than the others. I’ll have the bowls collected so you can move along.”

Tetsuo looked at the one eyed man as he sat apart from the others, missing out on a meal. The one that had tripped him on the other hand had other prisoners around him, patting him on the back and agreeing with what he did.

Later as they left the site, Tetsuo turned to his Sensei, “Does despised mean being different from the others.”

“Oh you heard that… Well no, not really, it usually means someone that is not liked by others.”

“So that man that fell, he is not liked by the others?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Well, I’m not sure in this case. There are a lot of ways someone can despise another. Those men are criminals; they have all done bad things to have wound up in prison for. I had a friend once that betrayed the village and he went to prison.”

“Did you despise him?”

“Ah, no, I felt sorry for him,”

“Is he one of those prisoners?”

“No, he died…a few years back.”

Tetsuo asked no more questions.


Tetsuo and his Sensei had been collecting water from the river to be taken back to the kitchens to be boiled when they had their next encounter with the prisoners.

While the Sensei’s did the heavy work of loading and filling, the children were given some time to actually play beside the river. Tetsuo was running along the edge with some friends, not really watching where he was going, when he slipped and fell into the fast moving water. Swimming was not a skill that Tetsuo had achieved yet; he flailed and cried out as he was swept downstream. He could hear shouts of people wanting someone to save him, and soon found himself in the strong arms of someone. But that someone seemed to be having difficulty of his own trying to keep himself and the boy upright. And the cries on the banks seemed to turn to cries of alarm and concern.

He went under a few times with the man as he struggled to get them to shore, but then he found his hands wrapped around a piece of rope, before he was hauled to the waiting arms of others. He coughed up water and wondered at the screams and anger around him. Had he done something so wrong by falling in the water?

“Tetsuo, are you all right?” asked his worried Sensei as he was turned onto his back after being coaxed to abort all the water he had swallowed.

He nodded and tried to look around to see what all the fuss was about. He had sworn he had heard angry people telling someone to ‘get their hands off the child.’

It was then that he saw the prison guards standing over the flattened body of the one eyed man who was drenched and gasping.

“What happened?” asked Tetsuo.

“You fell in the river.”

“I know that, I mean with him, did he save me?”

“Well, I’m not sure, when I got here there were people screaming at him and making sure he did not move.”

The head guard hurried over to them. ”Is the boy okay, Sensei, he didn’t hurt him did he?”

“No, didn’t he save him?”

“I don’t know, but my men were worried he might hurt the boy.”

“Why?”

“I, ah, can’t say in front of the boy, Sensei.”

But in the background they heard others speaking of a child killer. Tetsuo watched as the one eyed man was dragged up, his arms held tightly against his back, a rope around his neck being held tightly. The covering from his head had fallen away, revealing silvery hair, and there were strange black markings around the closed eye that had been previously covered by the wrapping still over his lower face. For a moment Tetsuo felt his Sensei tense as he pulled the boy into his arms.

“We were bathing the prisoners in the river with ropes about their necks, the men panicked when they found he had a boy in his arms.”

The Sensei held the boy close to him, “I think he saved him.”

“That may or may not be, but that one must not be near children.”

“What is his crime?”

“He murdered children, Sensei. I have to go and deal with this, let me know if there is anything you need.”

The Sensei nodded then lifted Tetsuo up, “How are you? We’d better find some dry clothes for you, don’t you think?”

“Sure Sensei, I’m sorry I wasn’t watching what I was doing. Will they hurt him for helping me?”

“I don’t know Tetsuo, are you sure he didn’t do anything to you?”

“No, he tried to keep me above the water, I know he did, but he kept going under himself. He has a scar and strange black markings around his left eye, they were scary.”

“Probably clan markings, that’s why he keeps them covered up.”

“Why?”

His Sensei chuckled over the boy’s persistent questioning of things. “Because some clans become despised.”

“Oh,” said Tetsuo as he followed his Sensei to get dry clothes. “Why?”

“Hey Tetsuo, you gotta come see this,” one of his friends said as he dragged the boy through the rubble.

“What Saito, what is it?”

“Shh, look down there.”

Even before he got to the edge he could hear the sound of slapping. And when he peered over the edge of the rubble below he could see the area where the prisoners were currently working. There stretched to a pole was the one eyed man, his back covered in bloodied welts as he was whipped by the head guard. When it finally ended the man was slumped against the pole on his knees.

“Any further fighting and this will be the result,” said the head guard to the other prisoners.

The boys edged away and found a place to sit down. Tetsuo felt sick by what he had seen, but some of the others seemed very excited by it all.

“So much blood, I never seen so much blood like that and just from a whipping,” said one.

“It was horrible,” said Tetsuo.

“He never cried out, not once,” said another.

“I reckon he can’t speak,” another added, “Even that day he saved Tetsuo, he never said a word, even when they beat him up later.”

“They beat him up later?” asked Tetsuo. “How do you know?”

“When Sensei took you away, they dragged him off and kicked him around. He’s a child killer I heard; they thought he was going to kill you.”

“He didn’t do anything to me, he just caught me and made sure I held onto the rope.”

“Boys. Where are you,” called their Sensei.

They hurried off.

“Are you all right Tetsuo?” asked his Sensei.

“I’m fine. Sensei, did that man that saved my life really kill children?”

His Sensei gasped, “Where did you hear that?”

“One of the other kids told me.”

“Oh. I believe I heard the same thing.”

“Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know the story, Tetsuo. I don’t know…anything…about it,” his Sensei said put a hand to his head as if he had a headache.

“Are you okay Sensei?”

“Oh, yeah, just a little tired I guess. Come we have work to do.”


There were alarms going off when Tetsuo awoke. He saw his Sensei throwing on clothes and moved to get up as well.

“What’s wrong, Sensei?”

“There’s been an accident; some people clearing up had other rubble fall on them. I’m going to help out.”

“I’m coming.”

“No Tetsuo, you don’t have to, leave it to the rest of us.”

“No, I want to come.”

“All right, but you stay where I tell you to, okay?”

Tetsuo nodded and quickly followed his Sensei as he ran off.

When they reached the site, there were others working frantically to clear away the fallen rubble. It was said there were seven people trapped underneath, and they had to work fast if they were going to save them.

Tetsuo sat at a safe distance and watched the men working, eventually he saw that he could help with the bucket brigade and moved into the line to help pass rubble filled buckets away from the fall site.

They had been at it for some time when the line of prisoners suddenly appeared with their guards and they were quickly put to work relieving the others who had worked tirelessly. Already two men had been pulled out alive, another was not so lucky. So there were only four unaccounted for.

Tetsuo was worn to the bone when he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up into the face of his filthy Sensei. “Hey kiddo, it’s time to eat.”

He got to his feet and followed his Sensei over to a line. Tetsuo got his bowl and held it out to be filled, and looked up to see that he was being served by the one eyed man. “Thank you,” he said as he moved on, looking back at his Sensei behind him. His Sensei and the one eyed man made eye contact, and both seemed to stare for a long moment before his Sensei moved on and they both found a place to sit down.

Tetsuo kept watching the serving table as he ate, his Sensei very quiet beside him. The whole area was quiet, there was still one more person to find in the rubble, none of the others had been alive when found, but there was always hope. The prisoner finished serving the food and was helping to clean up, he moved slowly and stiffly as if he were in pain. The cloth he wore over his face and eye also covered his hair like it had the first time he had seen the man. He was set to washing the returned bowls and seemed grateful to be off his feet for a time. As Tetsuo watched he saw the man stretch his back a number of times and remembered the whipping he had seen the man receive.

Finally the last body was recovered from the rubble, unfortunately he was dead, but everyone seemed pleased to have at least tried. With so much death and destruction, it was easy to accept the loss of yet another, but there was always a hope that maybe they could have saved him.

Tetsuo sat on a rock so tired as he waited for his Sensei to come and they would go home. He looked up in time to see the line of prisoners pass him, all shuffling in their chains, as tired as the rest of them. Right at the rear was the one eyed man; he shuffled slower than the others, making the guards impatient that they nudged him to move. He almost fell, but kept on moving as if the weight of the world were on his thin shoulders. Tetsuo felt a hand on his own shoulder and met the eyes of his Sensei, before getting to his feet to go back to their own tent home.


Things changed not long after that. It was said a war was going on far from the village, but their people were involved. Those that had destroyed their village were also involved. And for Tetsuo that meant a change as his Sensei was reassigned to help in the medical corp., as he had some skill with healing. His Sensei thought it was time for Tetsuo to learn healing as well, warning him that he might see some horrible sights. Tetsuo wanted to be useful, so he was pleased to learn from his Sensei. Most of those they did see that had come from the front were very badly injured, but had been able to return to the village.

“Sensei, it’s been a long time,” Tetsuo heard a pink haired woman say as he helped his Sensei treat a soldier.

His Sensei rose smiling widely,”It has, you are looking well.”

“I’ve been at the front mostly.”

“How is it?”

“It’s terrible, the things I’ve seen…” she looked at Tetsuo deciding not to describe any of them. “He your new assistant?”

“Oh, this is Tetsuo, he’s an orphan. He lives with me. His parents were killed in the first attack.”

She smiled again, “Then I’m sure he will turn out just as good and kind as you are.”

There was a ruckus behind them as someone was brought in, she turned, “I have to go, Sensei.”

He nodded and smiled as she rushed off to help with the injuries.

“She was a student of yours, Sensei?”

“A long time ago, Tetsuo, a very long time ago,” he answered almost sadly.


Tetsuo half awoke as his Sensei moved from the bunk beside him, they slept at one of the makeshift hospitals now.

“Sensei?” he asked as he sat up groggily.

“You stay there, Tetsuo. This is something…I have to deal with something, you can get your rest.”

“Okay Sensei,” Tetsuo lay down and went back to sleep. When he next awoke his Sensei was back on his bunk softly snoring. Tetsuo got up and moved out to see what he could do while his Sensei slept. He must have had a bad night to be still sleeping.

He soon found himself taking food to the patients. He served the ward before sitting down to help those that could not feed themselves. Right at the end of the ward was a curtained bed where he was told he was not allowed to go. But as he sat closely to it he heard a couple of orderlies talking.

“Why do they even bother with a prisoner, especially him, he’s scum.”

“Yeah, thirteen children he slaughtered.”

“They say he was insane, and he was an elite.”

“That’s why they let him live. He should have been put to death, I say.”

“He’s suffering now though. Lost a lot of blood—“

“Hey stop the gossiping and get back to work,” Tetsuo heard his Sensei say. “There you are.”

“Sensei, what happened last night?”

“I had to help attend…someone.” He looked towards the curtained area.

“Was there another accident?”

“No. No, it wasn’t an accident.”

“Oh,” he went to open his mouth to ask more questions, but his Sensei stopped him.

“Don’t worry about it, Tetsuo, okay?”

“Yes Sensei.”


A few weeks later as Tetsuo helped scrub the floor of the building they had just moved into, he looked up to see the head guard of the prisoners come in the door. His Sensei hurried over to him.

“I’ve come for the prisoner, is he ready to go?”

“Yes sir, follow me.”

He watched them go to the curtained bed, and saw underneath the curtains as the man got to his feet, he saw a set of chains being placed around the man’s legs before his sandals were put on, then he was led out. Tetsuo was surprised to see that the prisoner was actually the one eyed man. He heard the guard and his Sensei speaking as the prisoner was led by an extra chain on his wrists.

“I cannot guarantee anything,” the guard said.
“If they attack him again…like that…he could die, he almost did.”

“What do you care, he deserves everything he gets, you of all people should understand that.”

His Sensei came to a dead stop a hand going up to clutch his head in pain.

“Sensei, are you all right?” Tetsuo was immediately at his side.

“I’m fine, it’s just a headache.”

“I didn’t know it was him. What happened to him?” said Tetsuo watching as the head guard continued on with the prisoner.

“Nothing that should concern you, Tetsuo. Come we have much to do, we have a bed free that needs to be made ready.”

Tetsuo watched after the prisoner a little longer before he joined his Sensei clearing up the bed he had just vacated.

Later that night Tetsuo pondered the one eyed prisoner, turning over the words the head guard had said, ‘You of all people should understand that.’ He wondered what that meant and why it had caused his Sensei to have another of those weird headaches he sometimes got. They looked painful to his Sensei, so he really didn’t want to ask him about them, his Sensei had always just said they were headaches and that was that. But what the guard had said meant that his Sensei and that prisoner were connected in some way. But how? He lined up the facts as he knew them. The man was a child killer, had slaughtered thirteen children according to what the orderlies had said. He had been an Elite that had gone insane they said, his Sensei was not an Elite, so the connection wasn’t there. The pink haired healer had said he was her Sensei too, so he had taught her, what was it? ‘a long time ago.’ He had to admit that he knew very little of his own Sensei before he had been assigned to him and the man had become his guardian. Now he wanted to know about his Sensei and the prisoner.


But Tetsuo was frustrated in any attempts to learn more about his Sensei. They were often too busy to do anything but work, and he never saw the prisoners again.

Then one night he was awoken by a disturbance outside his tent.

“Long time no see,” he heard a voice say.

“Mizuki…I thought you were dead,” his Sensei answered.

“Oh I would have been only you distracted that bastard and that saved me. He was ready to run me through when he heard you cry out and ran to you. I have to thank you for that.”

Tetsuo remained still and listening, wondering what was happening. Then he heard loud voices and running feet. He finally got enough courage to get up and go and look outside the tent. He saw his Sensei on his knees clutching his head as if he were in agony.

“Sensei!” he ran to him kneeling down in front of him wondering what he could do to help the man.

His Sensei let go of his head and clutched the boy’s wrist hard, “Tetsuo, the Hokage, I need to see her, it’s urgent.”

Tetsuo was frightened, his Sensei had unintentionally hurt him the way he grabbed him, but he could see the urgency in his anguished face.

“Sure Sensei, I’ll try,” he got to his feet and ran, not exactly sure just how he was going to do this, or knowing what was really happening.

He had no idea how he had done it, but he had found his way to the Hokage’s tent, but that was as far as he got, two men held him back.

“Please my Sensei said to get the Hokage that it was urgent,” he tried to tell the men that held him.

“Who, you’re not making much sense boy.”

“My Sensei.”

“What’s his name, boy, explain yourself.”

“My Sensei, Iruka Umino.”

Shizune overheard the name and moved them, “Let me speak to him,” she said.

The men let go of him and allowed her to take over.

“Hello, what is your name?”

“I’m Tetsuo.

“So Tetsuo, tell me what is wrong.”

“My Sensei sent me, a man named Mizuki attacked him, he said to get the Hokage, he was hurting,” Tetsuo thundered out. He saw her face turn surprised to hear about Mizuki.

“Wait here, I’ll be right back.”

A few minutes later and she returned with a big busted woman. The one called Shizune put a hand around his shoulder, and led him along after the woman and the guards that came with her.

“Send men out to find Mizuki, he is very dangerous.”

“Wasn’t he marked as dead?” one of the ANBU asked.

“He was, but we had no proof of it.”

Tetsuo was worried that he wasn’t actually leading them, but the woman seemed to know where she was going.

Finally they arrived at his tent, but his Sensei was not where he had left him. The woman however, went inside their tent, he and Shizune followed. There he found his Sensei, curled up on the floor clutching his head in pain.

“Sensei,” he cried trying to get to him, but Shizune held him back.

“Wait. Let her help him.”

Tetsuo was so worried but he watched her as she sat down and gently used her healing energy to help his Sensei. After a little while the pain seemed to pass and his Sensei was able to sit up.

“I remember now, I remember now,” he said as she helped him up and onto one of the bunks.

“What do you remember, Iruka?”

“The children, he killed them all, he made me watch as he killed them all.”

“We know that Iruka, he was imprisoned because of that.”

“No, not him. Mizuki, he wanted revenge on me, he did it. Not…not Kakashi he saved me. I thought he killed Mizuki. Please, please, he didn’t do it, he made me forget… forget what I had seen.”

“Rest. Things will be made right, Iruka. Then I’ll kill that brat for his stupidity.”

The Hokage got up and left asking for an update on the chase for Mizuki and sending others to bring a certain prisoner to her.

Tetsuo crept over to where his Sensei was laying.”Are you going to be okay?”

“Yes Tetsuo. I’ll be fine. I just relived some very horrible memories, that’s all.”

“That man didn’t hurt you?”

“No, not in the way you think. He hurt me a long time ago; hurt me and someone else very badly.”

“Does this have something to do with the one eyed prisoner?”

“Yes Tetsuo… Let me tell you a story… Many years ago I was a teacher at the Academy. The man Mizuki betrayed the village trying to use a student of mine, a student that actually defeated and captured him and he was imprisoned. Later Mizuki escaped and he came after me in revenge. At the time he caught up to me, I was out with a group of students on a field trip. Mizuki trapped us and then proceeded to kill the students one by one, making me watch helplessly. There was nothing I could do to free myself, and the kids were terrified as they awaited their turn to be killed. It was the most horrible, horrible thing I had ever seen, worst than when my parents died. I was screaming I couldn’t stop screaming, he purposely made sure that I saw that he was enjoying what he was doing, saying he was going to do it to others. He dropped their blood all over me and laughed at me. I couldn’t stop screaming, I just wanted it to end…” Iruka was acting as if he were reliving what had happened, but then he stopped and calmed himself, reminding himself that there was no blood on him. “I must have passed out, when I came to Mizuki wasn’t there, but I could hear him fighting, then I heard this sound like birds chirping. I saw the blood and all the bodies of the children he had tortured in front of me and I lost it yet again, screaming and screaming, until I felt some arms around me. He was able to calm me, and stop my screams, but he could see that what had happened had hurt me deeply. I think I heard him cry out and then…then I didn’t remember anything about what had happened until today.”

“And the one eyed man?”

“Oh, he was the one that saved me. He took on Mizuki, but apparently they believed he had killed the children, not Mizuki. I suppose they found him with me and all those bodies. They must have taken him. I need to find out what happened for him to be the one in prison and not Mizuki.” He moved to get up and Tetsuo helped him. “I need to find out if he’s okay.”

He and Tetsuo made their way back to the Hokage’s tent. This time there was no one blocking their path, in fact they were ushered inside. There Tetsuo saw the one eyed prisoner seated before the Hokage as she was healing him.

“I want to know why you did nothing to defend yourself back then, why didn’t you just say that Mizuki had killed all those kids?” she was saying. “Well, answer me.”

“My lady,” Tetsuo saw the head prison guard standing in the tent, he assumed he had brought the man there. “He has not spoken a word since he was imprisoned.”

“How did he get in such condition?” she said.

“My lady, he was a despised prisoner. The other inmates did not like him because he never said anything. They enjoyed tormenting him, getting him into trouble. They loved to see him fall so low and knew that they had him at their mercy. No one really stopped them wanting to hurt such a horrible murderer of children.”

“But he didn’t, he didn’t do that, Mizuki did,” his Sensei put in, all eyes falling on him. “He made me forget. I think he did it to save me, my sanity at least.” His eyes were on the one eyed man’s and Tetsuo saw the man nod in answer. “But that meant there was no one there to prove that you had not done the crime. They believed you had gone insane and killed the kids.” His Sensei began to move over to where the man sat. “Why? Why didn’t you defend yourself? Why did you let them do this to you?”

“They…” the one eyed man started to say in a hoarse voice, he coughed, trying to clear a throat that had not been used in some time, “They thought I was going to kill you,” he virtually whispered.

Iruka knelt before him,”But you saved me. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You…you’re wrong? I failed. I always get there too late.”

“Oh by the Gods!” the Hokage said.”You have got to be the biggest idiot in the world.” She moved away. “All right, I want Mizuki found. You guard, get back to your charges, this imbecile has been pardoned and I’ll be punishing him from now on.”

Tetsuo watched the people around him jump at her words, the guard hurriedly left. He watched as his Sensei knelt before the one eyed man, a hand resting on the man’s knee.

“Iruka, I’m leaving you in charge of this fool, take him with you. I’ll send someone to unbind his chakra, he might be able to protect you and the boy, otherwise I want you to make him rest, and I think you had better too.”

His Sensei got up and helped the other man up. Tetsuo could see that the chains he wore were gone. “Come Kakashi. I need to hear your side of this story.” As he moved past Tetsuo, he put his hand out to the boy who took it and followed behind the two men.

Not much was said on the walk back to the tent. Some people turned to stare when they watched a man in prison clothing passing them, but the fact that he was not wearing chains seemed to make them believe that he was not so dangerous. And he was in company with a man they all knew worked tirelessly to help out the village.

Once at their tent Iruka sent Tetsuo to get some of his clothes for Kakashi. The boy was still trying to get used to that name. He’d only ever known the man as a prisoner and the one eyed man. “Here put these on, you’re not a prisoner anymore. They’ll probably be too big for you…”

Tetsuo gasped along with his Sensei and they watched the man take of the shirt. The man was so thin and his back still showed the marks from the whipping Tetsuo had witnessed. Iruka moved, “Sit down, I need to heal your back, it’s a mess. Didn’t they do anything about this when they brought you in when you were ra—hurt last month? You are definitely a first rate masochist, I swear.” Kakashi was pushed down when he didn’t move and Iruka began to heal his back. “Tetsuo go and find some food for him, can you?”

“Yes Sensei.” He scampered off, wanting desperately to get back so he could hear the story that bound these two men.

He returned with a bowl of hot broth, glad to see that Iruka seemed to be concentrating on his healing. He couldn’t work like the Hokage could, he wasn’t a healer. He just had the skill because he was a teacher, even if that was what he had been doing mostly at the hospital they were working at. He pulled away tired, “That’s the best I can do for now. I’ll have to see if I can find Sakura and she can heal you enough to get rid of some of this damage.”

“No, please, don’t bother her;” Kakashi rasped.

“She was your student Kakashi.”

“I failed her. I failed Naruto, I failed Sasuke.”

Tetsuo was even more intrigued, he had heard those last two names. One was a hero, the other an enemy of the village.

“They are all still alive.”

Tetsuo saw the silver haired man stiffen with those words.

“Why did you make me forget even about you? I can understand about what happened to the kids, but why did take my memory of you saving me as well? Every time I saw you I got the worst headaches.”

“I didn’t mean to and I think the sight of what happened got to me too. I could have saved you all if I had gotten there sooner.”

“Did you know Mizuki was hunting me?”

“No.”

“Then when did you arrive? Was it that you heard my screaming?” Kakashi nodded. ”So how could you have gotten there sooner? Look eat, we’ll take some more afterwards.”

Iruka got up and let Tetsuo give the man the bowl of food which he seemed reluctant to eat.

“Tetsuo, let’s leave him to eat in peace.”

They went outside the tent. “Will he be all right, Sensei?”

“He didn’t want to eat in front of us.”

“Why?”

“The mask he wears or the cloth covering his face, he has worn it since he was a child.”

“Why?”

“That I don’t know.”

While they were waiting another bunk was delivered. Iruka carefully looked through the flap to see that Kakashi was finished and had taken the time to get dressed in the clothes Iruka had provided. Tetsuo helped his Sensei set up the other bunk.

“Tetsuo, why don’t you go and play, I want to talk to Kakashi about a few things.”

Tetsuo went to object, but realized that he would not get anywhere. So he reluctantly went outside, but not seeing any other children he decided that maybe a little eavesdropping might answer some of his own questions.

“Why would you condemn yourself to this? Years in prison, the abuse. When you were brought here last month, you could have died from the blood loss. How could you of all people allow yourself to be raped like that? I know you are strong even without your chakra.”

“Perhaps I did fall into insanity. After seeing that I had failed my students and to come across you and those children…”

“It wasn’t worth the price you have paid. If Mizuki had not returned you would have died at their hands, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“You saved Tetsuo in the river and they beat you for that. Every time they pushed you, you wanted to fight back and they took advantage of that to get you into more trouble…” Iruka could see he was right on all counts. “Why didn’t you kill Mizuki? I know you were fighting him, I heard you.”

“You screamed.”

“I saw all the bodies again, I remembered what he did. You should have killed him and then you would have been free.”

“True I should have killed him, but I couldn’t bear to hear your screams. I knew how much what you had seen would hurt you, I have seen it happen before.”

“You could have told them the circumstances. You didn’t have to go through all this just because you had taken my memory from me.”

“When the others showed up you were covered in blood and it must have looked to them that I was about to murder you. I’ve done things in my past to make them believe that I was capable of it. I kill people, you do not.”

“Why didn’t they put you to death?”

Kakashi laughed at that, a short single laugh, “I guess some people hoped that I should recover from my insanity and be useful again.”

“And have you? Recovered?”

“I will find and kill Mizuki as soon as my chakra is restored.”

“Don’t be an idiot, your body has grown weak from all the punishment it has taken, and you need to rest.”

“I will not have him kill any more children or come after you… Would you have rather I had not removed your memory back then? What would have happened to you?”

Tetsuo didn’t hear a reply; a man was standing over him.

“I’m looking for Iruka Umino’s quarters. I am a seal master.”

“Oh yes, come with me,” Tetsuo got up and led him to the door flap. “Sensei, there’s someone here to see you.”

“Bring them in Tetsuo.”

“I am Shima, the seal master; I am here to unbind Kakashi Hatake.”

“That would be me,” Kakashi said and Shima came over to him.

“Lift up your shirt,” Shima said, and Kakashi did as he was told. Tetsuo could see nothing, and then a circular marking appeared over his heart. Shima did some hand signs before placing his hand over the markings and making them disappear.

Kakashi seemed to shake and then he closed his eye as if he were suddenly overcome by something. Tetsuo was only learning to use his chakra, and had no idea of what it would be like to have it taken away from him.

“Now the eye,” said Shima and he waited for Kakashi to unwind the head covering until his lower face was the only thing hidden.

Tetsuo now realized that the markings he had seen before around Kakashi’s eye were actually a seal. But why would they seal only one of his eyes?

Iruka saw the boy’s confusion. “Kakashi has a kekkai genkai in his left eye only; it had to be sealed on its own.”

Tetsuo watched as Shima did more hand signs and put his hand over the eye to remove the seal. When he moved his hand away the seal was gone, leaving only the horizontal scar over the eye, and then he saw the man open that eye, a red eye with three tomoe in it. It scared him.

Iruka could see that his charge was scared and put a hand on his shoulder, “It’s all right, Tetsuo. There is nothing to be frightened of.”

Kakashi recovered his eye to keep the newly activated chakra from being drained from him and to stop it from scaring the child. Shima nodded to him and took his leave. Kakashi stood there, as if trying to decide what to do.

“You have to rest Kakashi. You want to go after Mizuki, I know, but you need to get your strength back. So why don’t you lie down and rest?”

Kakashi sighed heavily and sat down on his bunk. The other two stood watching him; eventually he lay down if only to satisfy his watchers.

“Come on Tetsuo; let’s get something to eat while he rests.”

“Yes Sensei.”

Tetsuo followed him out and they moved to the mess to get something to eat, they sat there.

“Okay Tetsuo, I know there are questions you are just dying to ask.”

“Was that man… I mean Kakashi an Elite shinobi?”

“Yes. He was once the top ninja in the village, he graduated the academy at five was a Chunin at six, and a Jounin at thirteen.”

Tetsuo was gob smacked; he was eleven and was not officially in the academy yet.

“He saved you from Mizuki after your students were killed?”

“Yes. But to help me, he took the memory of what I saw Mizuki do to the children. I must have been unconscious when they came from the village. They arrested Kakashi thinking that he had killed the children and I was next to be killed.”

“But why, he doesn’t seem like a…a…”

“Monster? No, he isn’t. But he’s seen a lot of terrible things and he was in the ANBU. Some of those have been known to go insane. I always heard stories that Kakashi was a bit unbalanced. He always seemed to keep to himself.”

“You didn’t know him well?”

“I don’t think anyone know him very well.”

Tetsuo fell quiet after that.

A few days later, Tetsuo awoke during the night and through the gloom could see Kakashi standing beside his Sensei’s bunk. He was dressed in a proper uniform with a hitai-ite on his forehead and slouched over his left eye. His single grey eye though, looked sad and he saw the man move out a hand as if to touch his Sensei’s sleeping face. But he stopped and turned to see that Tetsuo was awake.

“Tell him, thank you… and goodbye.”

Tetsuo nodded, and watched as the man slipped away into the night. He sat there for some time. It seemed to him that Kakashi was reluctant to leave his Sensei. Perhaps that was why he had saved him all those years ago. Perhaps he cared for him. Tetsuo lay back down and wondered if he would ever know for sure. He knew for one thing, his Sensei had no idea about it.

Tbc