Kakashi was returning home from the Senju compound that had seemed a lot more busy that day. Katsuro was even too busy to teach him today, so he trained by himself, distracting his mind. Unfortunately for him Shizune was not even there either…
Before even stepping into the home, Kakashi had noticed an overwhelming, ominous atmosphere. As he swung open the door, he stopped in his steps.
The sight before him paralysed his entire body.
A limp, pale figure of his father was slumped on his floor. A deathly sharp sword laid still in his stomach. A pool of deep scarlet red blood oozed out of his body creating a small, shallow puddle around him and the other man who kneeled over him.
Katsuro.
The Senju Patriarch held a solemn, expressionless face, and saw his eyes were blank. One of Katsuro's hands clutched and stabilised Sakumo's body, while he held the other hand around the weapon lodged in his father's stomach, emitting a soft green glow from it, which seemed to create a warm, fuzzy halo around the wound, slowing down the bleeding.
Kakashi didn't know what to do or think. He wanted to believe that this was just a dream. A nightmare. That he would wake up after slapping his face. But no matter how many times he blinked or dug his fingernails into his palms, the sight in front of him didn't change.
Katsuro looked up briefly to see Kakashi but made no attempt to speak, silently focussing on the task.
Finally, after a moment Kakashi was able to escape his state of shock and utter a single word, as tears streamed down his face.
"Dad??"
Katsuro looked up now, at Kakashi's face, before giving him an extremely worried and anxious look, before grimly telling him, "Hospital." And with that, his father's and Katsuro's bodies flickered away. Kakashi was left alone, in the darkened silent home. The silence roared in his ears. Blinking once more, he wiped away his tears, before dashing out through the door and bound to the hospital.
—
Katsuro had used Mystical Palm Jutsu to bring Sakumo to a more stable condition. He had been lucky enough to reach Sakumo in time before the condition got beyond his capabilities.
I should have known. No, I did know, or at least I had a feeling. I should've been here and taken care of him. Nevermind, I have to concentrate. After I bring him to a better condition, I'll get more help.
Right as the thought ended, Katsuro sensed the presence of Kakashi approaching, sensing that the son of the White Fang hesitated before entering. Without looking up, he continued his treatment on his Sensei even as he realised that Kakashi had now entered, speechless and unable to say or do anything. If he let up now, his previous efforts to somewhat stabilise Sakumo would be in vain. Still…
Kakashi, I'm so sorry. Poor kid. I expected that Sensei's mental health might deteriorate, but not to this extent. It's affected Kakashi as well. Now he has to witness this.
Realising he had done as much as he could, with his Iryo ninjutsu skillset alone, Katsuro looked up at Kakashi.
I've done as much as I can. Past this point, I need more help. I need Tsunade.
"Hospital," he told Kakashi, telling the boy where to go to find them, and swiftly used Flying Raijin to teleport himself and his Sensei to the hospital.
Katsuro, covered in blood and carefully carrying Sakumo in his arms, teleported to the reception of Konoha's hospital. His sudden appearance caused a stir among the people waiting there and it was only amplified by him immediately shouting for Tsunade, subtly enhancing his voice with chakra. Unfortunately for those close to him, the noise forced them to cover their ears, and as a medical shinobi himself Katsuro knew that causing such a disturbance in the hospital was bad, but his desperation won out. Soon Tsuande came running towards him, and when she saw him carrying Sakumo her eyes widened understanding the seriousness of the situation. Luckily, she was not busy or in any type of surgery but she soon began prepping for ones. Immediately she began ordering people, and soon a room was prepared which Katsuro carried Sakumo into.
Tsunade and Katsuro stood over Sakumo on the hospital bed, looking at each other and nodding. Katsuro had managed to stabilise the bleeding while the sword was still in Sakumo's stomach but he had already lost a lot of blood. With a deep breath, he swiftly removed the sword, taking care to not cause any more damage. But immediately blood gushed out in droves.
"He's losing too much blood! Prepare a transfusion, stat!" She shouted to a nurse as she ran off. Luckily, as a key figure, Sakumo's blood type was known.
Katsuro and Tsunade both focussed their Mystical Palms on his wound, carefully repairing each layer moving their way upwards. Tsunade would suture the particularly grievous areas to enable for easier healing, while Katsuro would remove the excess blood away from the wound ,to avoid blocking her vision with careful use of Water and Wind chakra.
After a long couple of hours of pouring their chakra into the Mystical Palms to force Sakumo's body to accelerate the healing process, they had finally patched him up enough that he wouldn't die of blood loss. The blood transfusion was timely, allowing Sakumo to survive long enough for Tsunade and Katsuro to save him. The White Fang was still in a coma, but had stabilised somewhat. At this point it was up to his body to handle the rest.
The couple breathed sighs of relief still covered in blood, finally taking a step back. After a moment to collect their bearings, they stepped out to inform Kakshi who had been waiting nervously outside all this time.
"He's okay for now. He'll pull through." Katsuro said, patting the boy on the shoulder. Seeing the state his father was in and not knowing if he was going to live or die? Katsuro sympathised with him, and out of everyone Kakashi had suffered the most from this ordeal.
_____________
I… I'm awake? Everything's dark. Is this the afterlife? No, wait-
Sakumo, with great effort, slowly managed to open his eyes. I- I'm alive?
He slowly craned his head downwards to his stomach, where he had stabbed himself. Where the wound should have been, there were now bandages wrapped all across it, and the man could feel that the wound, although not fully healed, was no longer a threat to his life. Shame flooded into the man once heralded in the Hidden Leaf as the White Fang.
I couldn't even kill myself properly.
Just as he turned his body to look at his surroundings, however, a loud crash rang out, swiftly followed by a body rushing into him. Sakumo's instinct as a Shinobi was immediately alerted at the speed of the 'attack', but he couldn't react, still weak from his injuries. But it wasn't any danger - no, quite the opposite.
Shame flooded into the White Fang for a second time as he looked down, but this time for a different reason. A boy, normally stoic, calm and unbothered, with the same white hair as his own, was sobbing into his side, his arms hugging tightly around his father's body.
What was I thinking? He's already lost his mother, and now his father too? I can't believe I was really planning to offload him to Katsuro, just to run away from my own problems. What kind of a father am I?
Sakumo's regret was heavy in the air.
"I'm sorry, Kakashi," he whispered. The boy's sobbing only worsened, and his arms grew tighter, and seeing his normally unaffected, calm son's breakdown, Sakumo couldn't hold back his own tears from falling
"You're lucky you're injured, y'know." Sakumo's head turned to the familiar voice. Sitting down in a chair to his right was his student, friend and someone he considered another son. The Senju Patriarch's expression was a mixture of anger, relief and grief, and yet another blade of grief stabbed through Sakumo's heart.
"I know," he whispered.
"Just what the hell were you thinking, huh? Did you forget you had a son? Did you forget you still had a student? Friends? Comrades?"
The room was silent now, but Kakashi still held on fiercely to his father, as if scared he would suddenly disappear, but Katsuro continued.
"Did you think killing yourself would absolve your failure of the mission? Huh? Or did you just want an easy way out? The coward's way out?"
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