The mountain shrine gleamed with silver frost in the moonlight. Sarutobi Hiruzen stood in silence, hoping he wasn't going to be asked to give what he knew he'd never choose to give.

"There are other ways to heal," he said quietly.

The man shook his head. "It's too strong."

Hiruzen stifled a sigh. "I understand." The decision had been made. His chakra was strong enough for the task, but he wished it had never come to this. "The seal will last until the means exist to help you to conquer it."

"Promise me one thing."

"Perhaps."

"If you die before the seal breaks, don't tell anyone."

"You may sleep forever, if that happens."

He shrugged. "Better sleeping than being what I am now. I'm ready when you are."

Hiruzen nodded and began to chant, his hands moving through the long series of signs needed for the sealing. The rope on the ground in front of him started to glow, the characters on the prayer tags sparking like lightning; the man's naked body burned with white flame. There was a rumble as the mountain heaved, a gasp, and a bright flash of light.

When Hiruzen's eyes recovered from the flash, a huge boulder stood behind the small wayfarer's shrine, draped with seals and ropes, tendrils of lightning still crackling across the stone's surface.

"May you find respite from your pain," he whispered. Then he turned and began the long hike back home.

ovVvo

Umino Iruka squinted into the driving rain, clutching the inadequate hood of his hiking poncho around his face. The forecast had called for clouds and a few sprinkles, the furthest edge of Typhoon Hokage supposedly passing far to the south of the wooded mountains where Iruka currently struggled against its winds. The rain was coming down sideways, with such force that his face felt raw and blasted, even with his head lowered.

He cursed again and continued to struggle along the slick, mud-logged mountain trail. The first full day of his summer holiday was turning out to be about as nasty as it got. He hoped it didn't forebode worse for the rest of his what-should-have-been-leisurely two-week hiking trek through the Kiso Valley.

Going back was as suicidal as going forward at this point: he'd been well along the trail when the storm hit. He reckoned his best course was to find some kind of shelter, somewhere far enough up the mountain not to be buried if there should be a mudslide, but not so far as to be caught by the full blast of the weakened typhoon.

He stumbled over a rock and half-sprawled in the mud. Rising to his hands and knees, his heart quickened when he saw that the stone was too rectangular to be natural. It appeared to be part of a stairway. He peered into the rain to see where it led, leaning on the tree nearest him for support as he rose to his feet. The tree was curiously bare, and it took him a moment to realize it was a leg of a torii gate.

He smiled in relief. Where there was a torii gate, there'd be a shrine. If he was lucky, the shrine would be big enough to provide at least partial shelter from the elements. There might even be a travelers hut next to it. Sending a fervent prayer to whatever kami resided on the mountain, he pressed forward.

After several minutes of hard climbing, the trail flattened. Iruka risked a quick glance, and, through the rain and his wind-stung tears, saw what looked like a small structure huddled in the lee of a large boulder hung with layers of prayer tags. He lowered his head and took a step forward.

The world exploded around him.

Logically, Iruka's mind processed that a bolt of lightning had struck something just ahead of him, but the roar of the instantaneous thunder and the flash of light deafened and blinded him. He fell again to his hands and knees, the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck standing on end from the residual electricity. The sharp stench of decayed leaves and ozone was thick in the air and he saw a flicker of what looked like a second bolt of lightning illuminate the boulder and dance like foxfire over the top of the little shrine next to it.

Then the ground fell from under him, and he was caught in a wave of mud and uprooted trees.

He scrabbled for a foot- or hand-hold, but his head slammed against something hard at the same instant that something else crashed into him. There was a snap accompanied by a sudden harsh pain deep in his chest, while his leg felt like it was being torn off.

Dazed, he went limp and was immediately dragged under. Fear spurred him through the pain, and he struggled to reach the surface, but the earth was moving so fast and spinning him so relentlessly that he was no longer sure which way was up. He was getting dizzy from the lack of oxygen and the overwhelming pain, and struggled to hold his breath just a bit longer...

There was a sickening lurch in his stomach, almost as if he'd been lifted out of the debris and was flying; the pull of the mud ceased. He sucked in a desperate breath and got air, choking and coughing, but at least he was able to breathe. An instant later, he felt as if he were being simultaneously crumpled into a tiny ball and pulled through a keyhole.

Iruka's world turned inside-out, the cold and pain and fear inside him exploding outward.

I'm going to die, he realized.

His last thought was to hope that Naruto wouldn't grieve for too long.

ovVvo

Iruka woke to a raging headache, astonished to find himself alive. He was desperately thirsty. If he could crawl a little way, at least, he'd be sure to find a puddle to drink from, and then he could assess the damage he was pretty sure he'd taken in the mudslide.

It took him a moment to realize something strange: he wasn't lying somewhere on the side of the mountain, he was lying on a futon, covered by a blanket weighed down by something incredibly heavy and warm.

He turned his head, and a red face with an abnormally long nose loomed over him. He gasped and struggled to push the weight off.

"Maa, maa. No need to panic." The voice sounded lazy and somewhat amused. "It's just a tengu mask. He's not going to eat you. Not right away, at least."

Iruka stopped struggling and tried to glare defiantly. "Is that supposed to reassure me?" His voice sounded raw and weak, even to his own ears.

"Not entirely, no. But I'd hate to have one of the dogs bite you."

Iruka's heart started pounding. What was going on? "Stop joking around, please."

He heard a sigh. "You're no fun. Bull, let the man sit up."

The weight along one side of the blanket shifted.

"Give him some room. All of you."

Iruka felt the blanket move again and glanced around to see shadows moving in the darkness. Dogs. The man hadn't been joking before, had he? Eyes reflected red at him, but the dogs seemed well-behaved, so he forced himself not to react. Instead, he sat up, pushing his hair out of his eyes to put a hand to his head. "Thank you. May I have some water? And a painkiller of some kind would be helpful, too."

"Hmm." Iruka could hear the sounds of someone moving in the dark. "Here."

A soft white glow filled the air. Iruka couldn't see a lamp, though he assumed that the man had lit one. Still, it almost seemed as if the hand offering a cup to him was glowing.

"Thank you." He eagerly drank, then spat the liquid out. "Aagh! What is this-?"

"Drink it all. It has an analgesic quality. Here's some water to sip after."

Iruka weighed his options. For all of the outrageous things the man had said, his actions seemed to be helpful and non-threatening. Making a face, Iruka choked down the rest of the bitter fluid, then more carefully took the new cup extended to him. This one proved to be water. He drank it and handed the cup back for more.

When he'd finished the second cup, he smiled sheepishly and gave a polite obeisance, his free hand in the air as he bobbed his head. "Thanks. I was really thirsty."

"You're welcome." The man took the cup from him.

"Where am I?"

"In my home."

"Did you find me in the forest?"

"You could say that." Again, the man sounded both relaxed and amused. "Like a bolt from the heavens."

"Thank you for saving me." Iruka studied the man, what he could see of him in the shadows and the strangely localized light that seemed to surround them.

He looked relatively young, probably around Iruka's age, with a shock of silver hair that spiked wildly and obscured his left eye. He was tall and slim, wearing hakama over a short yukata as if they were his normal dress, but as he took the cup back from Iruka and moved to fill it again, he moved with a grace and precision that spoke of modern discipline at odds with his traditional look.

He turned back to Iruka. "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine," Iruka said automatically.

The man smiled and tilted his head, his visible eye arced in what Iruka suspected was feigned amusement. "I see. Even though your first request was for a painkiller?"

"My second request," Iruka corrected. "My first was for water. My name is Umino Iruka."

"That's nice."

"What's yours?"

"I forget."

Iruka glared as best he could. "It sounds like I owe you my life. I'll keep your name to myself, if you'd like."

"I'm sure my secrets are safe. Especially since I have no intention of sharing them with you, Iruka-san."

Iruka's jaw dropped. Sure, he'd been a bit rude, but the other man was worse. "Please call me Umino-san."

"Why so formal? I've already seen all you have to offer. You're quite fit, by the way."

Iruka pulled the blanket closer, suddenly realizing he was naked under it. The man must have bathed him, even his hair. He could feel his face heat. "You're pretty outspoken."

The man shrugged. "Communication is much easier when you say what you're thinking."

Iruka struggled to keep his temper. After all, the man was his savior, it seemed. But damn, he was annoying. "I prefer the social niceties. Communication is worthless if all you do is make people angry."

"Mmm." The man's tone was non-committal. "Do you feel any pain now?"

Iruka paused. There was a deep ache in his left leg, but the rest of his pains had faded. "Just my leg."

"You twisted your ankle."

"But—" it's not my ankle that hurts. He was too tired to feel like contradicting the man. "Thank you for helping me," he said instead. "But please, may I know your name?"

"Why? You're not likely to be talking to anyone else, are you?"

"Are you saying we're alone?"

"I wouldn't say 'alone.' There's just no one else to talk to."

Much too tired. "You really like to talk in riddles, don't you?"

"And you really like to gather facts, don't you?"

And really annoying. "Facts are helpful." Iruka glanced at the red face with the long nose that hovered close by. Now he could see that it was just a mask hanging on the wall, although light and shadow continued to slide across its surface as if it were alive.

"It depends on the fact." The man pulled a book from his pocket and began to read.

"How can you read without light?"

"Light and dark aren't facts, they're relativities. I tend to ignore them."

Iruka realized that, whatever the light source was, the book was perfectly illuminated. "How do you do that?"

The man sighed, but didn't look up from his book. "I'm a god."

"No. Really."

"I'm a figment of your imagination. You're really dead."

"I don't think I'd have much imagination if I was dead." Iruka couldn't help grinning. The guy was an ass, but he seemed to have a dry sense of humor that Iruka reluctantly admitted to himself he found attractive. "Can't you come up with something better than that?"

"I'm a phantasm on your road of life. Shut up and go to sleep. You're bothering me."

Iruka lay back down, still smiling. He really was exhausted. "I doubt you're a phantasm, either. Good night."

The man waved vaguely without lifting his gaze from the pages in front of him.

Iruka felt the dogs settle back into place around him, and fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes.