Jakane Goodwin, was surprised to see his star pupil walk into his construction firm’s office, it had been a long time since he he had been a teacher. It did make sense though, lots of smoke coming from the Uchiha compound, the whole area blocked off by Anbu, and his star pupil coming to the construction company he owned a stake in. 

The room was lined with the best veneer on the market, First Hokage wood release heart wood. Barely anyone who came into the room knew what it was, but that was fine with him. His pupil barely gave it a glance.

That didn't make sense upon first glance, but the more he observed the more sense it made. He was covered in ash, and his eyes were bloodshot, that was hard to tell on account of his eyes having a natural red hue. Jakane had taught enough Uchiha to know when they were burning the candle at both ends. The police chief looked haggard. 

“You look like you've been through it, what's going on, how can I help?” he asked.

“You remember when I helped you fake your death, and restart your life?” he responded, getting right into the heavy topics.

“Of course, hard day to forget, did something come up, do I need to ‘disappear for awhile’?” Jakane asked.

“I said, if I died and the Uchiha needed help, you would help them, I told you I had a specific event in mind, that you'd know it when it happened. Well it happened and I’m not dead.”

Jakane got up, and walked to the cabinet on the wall, opening it up. It was full of alcohol. He pulled out a full jug with a sticker on it reading ‘Silent backer, mead, don’t drink casually’.

“I gave that to you, it was a gift, keep it.”

Jakane ignored him, and poured both of them full glasses. He handed it to Kaze, looking him in his bloodshot three ringed, nine tomoe eyes. 

“Drink.” he commanded him, in the voice he perfected teaching young stuck up ninja wannabe children for fifteen years.

Kaze chugged it, and with a smile Jakane poured him another cup. 

“So how can I help you?” he asked, taking a small sip from his own cup.

He could feel the relaxation settling in. It truly was divine mead. He almost regretted not opening it sooner.

“I need a house built, the sooner the better, I have the plans drawn up for it.”

“How soon do you need it?”

“By tonight would be best.”

“Let me see the plans and then I can give you an estimate.”

Kaze handed over a large scroll, which was odd, Kaze had disliked scrolls even back in his first year of the academy. He opened it. This was not a one day rush job, with enough ninja they could build most houses in a day, this would take time. It was a massive square house with a quartyard in the middle that doubled as a training ground. The walls were three feet thick on the outside. Made of stone, metal, and lined internally with wood. The interior walls were eight inches thick. It called for special triple pane windows three thick. The more he read the more he understood this was someone's dream house, not a real idea. It screamed modern.

Indoor plumbing, optional heating for the floors in the winter. This was something the Daimyo would be envious of. Internal vents, the walls made in such a way to be soundproof inside the rooms but not the hallways. Half the techniques to build it he’d never seen before,  it reminded him of some of the buildings in the Land of Frost and the Land of Snow.

Everything to build the place, clear up to the furniture for the same day move in ready was on the scroll. This took someone a very long time to make. It was all hand done. 

“Money is no concern, and I will personally help build it.”

“This is going to cost a lot in just materials, even if I just charge you the cost, it's still gonna be outrageously expensive, where are you even going to find a lot that big in the village?”

He knew he messed up, “Half the Uchiha compound burnt down. You’re probably not going to hear about it for a while still but, the village had a” he made finger quotes “‘traitor’ who massacred the Uchiha. In truth the higher ups ordered it done, better to scorch the earth than to risk a coup.”

“So they’re dead, all of them?”

“Inside the village I have confirmed that only four of us survived, technically only two of us, the other two were resuscitated.”

Jakane took a gulp of the mead, wondering if the bottle was going to be enough to get him through the day.

“I’ll call in all the favors, get ninja on it, I can’t make it in a night but I can do it in a week.”

“You can scavenge supplies from the other remaining houses,” he pulled out his cheque book and wrote out a very large cheque, over a billion ryo, if you need more, just ask. I trust you.”

Jakane took it with shaking hands, “Do you have a place set or should I get out there and survey it?”

“Survey it, I plan to build a bunker under it later, so try and keep it away from escape tunnels and what not, I want room to expand downwards.”

“Scavenging supplies will help with the cost, and the time table, but are you sure you want us to do that?”

“They need a place to sleep, where they’ll be safe, that looks and feels different from the Uchiha compound of old. I don’t need them looking out a window and being brought back to last night because they recognized the building outside.”

“Are you going to be ok?” He asked.

“No, not in the slightest, the whole way I lived my life was wrong. My entire family is dead, I’ve had my world view destroyed, I’m not going to make it through this in one piece.”

“You do plan to make it through this right?”

“Someone's gotta rebalance the scales, Karma sure as hell ain't gonna do it. They crossed a line, and on the other side of that line is death, I'll make sure of that.”

Jakane spoke more to himself than anyone, “They had to have known you’d kill them for this, what in the world were they thinking?”

“Everyone's the hero in their story, and given the desire they can convince themselves of that no matter what they do.”

With that Jakane ran off escorted by Kaze. There was Anbu at every entrance to the Uchiha compound. Just the day before one, would have seen children playing and civilians going about their day. Seen police coming and going. Now the streets reeks of blood, shit, and piss. There was a layer of ash on everything. 

There was no honor here. Like Kaze had said, right before Jakane quit teaching, the village had no Honor. He looked at Kaze.

“Stand in the ashes of your world no matter how small, and ask the ghosts what honor means.” Kase whispered, “I finally understand.”

Jakane looked at him, with a raised eyebrow, “Care to share with the class Mr. Police Chief?”

It got a chuckle out of Kaze, “It doesn't matter if you take the High road or the Low road when both are heading to hell.”

“Ignoble deeds care not for the intent which they are committed?” Jakane quoted Kaze back to himself.

“I have come to realize there is a point where the ends justify the means, that survival comes before anything else. My favorite quote sums it up nicely, ‘What is shame, can I eat it?’” he responded, he was in a chakra and drug induced calm.

Jakane quickly started using his tremor and earth sensing abilities to survey where best to put the new house. He regretted it, so many buried bodies, not a wound on them.

“I think we better dig up the buried first. Give them a proper resting site.” he told Kaze.

It was a long day. They ended up spending it all just digging up bodies hidden away, and scrolls people planned to go back for later. Jakane didn't comment on Kaze pocketing any scrolls that held still warm corpses.