Impossible to Forget

I could almost see the fight seep slowly out of Kakashi. His hands dropped to his side, and he eyed Nori warily.

"So I'm guessing that operating table-thing is meant for me. I do know the legends about Raiju, you know. It's a common misconception that I read nothing but Icha Icha. However, if the myths are true to some extent, the only way to wake up Raiju is with a bolt of lightning, and my main chakra nature is lightning."

My respect for Kakashi rose at his deductions. Because I'm commonly the one coming to conclusions like that, I often forget that Kakashi is just as smart, if not smarter, than I am.

"It seems that even without your sharingan, you're still as adept as ever at analysis."

Kakashi's eyebrows pinched together, "But I'm not the only person with lightning natured chakra so there has to be more to it than that."

"Not really. You see, the Hatake Clan has always been known for its powerful lightning chakra. It's just so concentrated. I suppose that the Raikage would work as well, or even Sasuke Uchiha for that matter, but they're too hard to get too. The only person that I could use as leverage over the Raikage would be Killer Bee, but being the Eight-tails' jinchuriki, he's a bit out of my league. Also, listening to him attempt to rap would probably drive me more insane than I already am. With Sasuke Uchiha, he's too much of a wildcard. For being so logical, he commonly defies reason, and I just don't want to have to deal with that."

Everything clicked into place. Dai, my dad, was good friends with Sakumo Hatake, and Nori must have married him to get close to a person who she could potentially use to awaken Raiju. Sasainako was on Sakumo's team, Team Fang, for the same reason because she too wanted to awaken Raiju. Nori got her kicked off of Sakumo's team and replaced her to get the upper hand in their little race for power.

Sasainako then captured Team Fang in an attempt to both get rid of my mother and to capture Sakumo. She failed, and after that mission, Sakumo took his own life, leaving only a seven-year-old Kakashi as the last Hatake.

Nori faked her own death, Sasainako slipped into hiding, and Kanaye retired from the village all to bide their time until Kakashi had the chakra reserves necessary to fulfill their purposes. But Kakashi became a very formidable shinobi, one that they wouldn't be able to take easily. He had detached himself from almost everyone for years following Rin's death, making it practically impossible to get any sort of leverage over him.

Until, of course, he received his genin team. The three of them probably thought that the young ninja could be used as easy bait at the beginning. But Naruto was the Nine-tails' jinchuriki, a sage, and an inheritor of some of the Sage of the Six Paths' powers during the war. Sasuke was the last Uchiha, a master of extremely potent visual prowess, and the other inheritor of the Sage's powers. Sakura was a top notch medical-nin, an insanely strong kunoichi, and a master of the yin seal. There would be no using the students of the Sannin.

But, Sasainako's patience would hold out no longer. She retook the Kisei Genjutsu and attempted to put Kakashi under her control. But she underestimated the two of us and the ninjas of the Leaf. Her plan was half-baked and hasty. And it cost Sasainako her life.

Nori, however, made no such mistakes. She carefully removed all traces of her motives from the village's archives, continued to research into Raiju and ways of awakening and controlling him, and watched and waited for the perfect opportunity. But she needed more data to form a complete plan. That's where Kanaye came in. She convinced him that if he could capture Kakashi for her, she'd share her power with him, her leadership of the world once it had been achieved. She probably also threw her undying love into the deal as well, knowing Kanaye. He had fulfilled his purpose in her plans, had probably already provided her with the necessary knowledge from his experiments, and had given her the table of doom now in front of us. So Nori set him on a path to failure to watch how the Leaf would respond to any of her future plans. And then she killed Kanaye for his troubles, removing him from the equation.

For some reason, she decided that I was the leverage that she'd need over Kakashi, and Anzu and Bijonko were the leverage that she'd need over me.

So here we are, with me held at sword point, chakra repressing handcuffs preventing me from fighting back, and Kakashi with the impossible choice of my life or his.

Insane or not, Nori was the perfect ninja, and now she had us right where she wanted. There was only one thing left that still puzzled me, and that was why Kakashi seemed incapable of leaving me to die like he should. Why was I his leverage?