Ok so my mind decided to do another chapter honestly I don't know why maybe because I read other stories and I get ideas oh well

Well it had been five months since the touchstones and hunters had started to work together and things weren't going too well in fact the hunters thought their captains touchstone was dead and the captain was just as lost since the "death" had occurred in the field looking for their captain and then trying to get him to safety but it ended up with one touchstone dead, three more seriously wounded, four hunters in need of medical attention in a varying degree, six Jounin wounded just as badly as the hunters, three Chunnin burned and injured and twelve Gennin injured on a search and rescue mission in friendly territory turned hostil

"ok we've officially lost a touchstone and our captain has gone into depression what now?"

"we wait and hope that he recovers"

"this could take a while"

well Iruka was at the memorial stone mourning the loss of Kakashi and this time it could go on the stone since it had been a public mission with Kakashi leading those not covered by masks and it had been decided soon after Kakashi and Iruka came back from their supposed deaths that for missions where the touchstone was recovering their hunter they too would wear a mask if it was a normal mission they wouldn't

"oh Kakashi I wish you didn't have to die on the mission"

two ANBU were personally assigned to watch Iruka though they didn't know why but when he started to spend hours on end at the memorial they reported it to the Hokage and all she told them to do was keep observing and so for three years they do so if the ANBU were assigned a different mission than two other ANBU were assigned to watch Iruka but only those four of course after three years of teaching and going to the memorial the ANBU finally had to step in because they finally saw the one sign of a shinobi breaking that they had never seen before due to the fact that Iruka normally did this in his own home, he went overboard in training near the memorial stone so the ANBU all four of them that night since they were all there and had no other assignments had to step in and stop him from hurting himself

"that's enough Iruka Umino, unless you want me to knock you out cold"

"go ahead I would actually prefer it if you would kill me"

"kill you what for?"

"because I failed my touchstone I failed Kakashi, I should've protected him even though I myself was in need of rescue and gravely injured"

he kept muttering to himself but the ANBU quickly realize that they were not to speak of what they were hearing and also that Iruka needed not only physical healing but psychological healing as well basically he needed some major professional help but first they took him to ANBU level in the hospital to take care of his physical injuries

"this man needs medical attention"

"he's a Chunnin he should be in a lower level"

well the ANBU knew all about touchstones and the fact that hunters were required to have one and also that the hunters rank didn't matter at ANBU HQ since it housed both ANBU and hunters but normally the hunters had their masks on for any kind of attention oh well the word of those four ANBU would suffice so two of them steadied Iruka's chakra with their own and the other two teleported them to ANBU HQ and proper medical attention for Iruka plus once he was dropped off one of the ANBU informed the Hokage about what had happened and he was given three months off pending a psychological evaluation to see just how broken Iruka was and it turned out he was quite broken over the loss of Kakashi since they had become good friends talking about team 7, helping each other with their wounds and if they were completely alone in Iruka's home talking about ANBU and hunter missions that they had taken lately or even Jounin to teaching missions and discussing the differences in the two so he was given a full year off or well he would have if not for what happened three months after the evaluation at the main gates

"can I help you?"

"I wish to speak with the Hokage"

"she's busy right now but if you like I can take you to a hotel where you can rest until she can see you"

well the mysterious cloaked person just sighs and says one last thing to the gate guards

"I didn't want to do this but now I have to"

he quickly knocked out the two guards and had ANBU on his tail but they were too slow and the mysterious person went into the Hokage's office via the closed window of course he was a bit slow in getting up so the ANBU chasing him got a chance to tackle him back to the ground

"ANBU what is the meaning of this?"

"apologies Hokage-sama but this intruder knocked out the village gate guards and went straight to your office"

"I see well stranger what do you have to say for yourself?"

"only that I have something to speak with you about immediately"

"and what is so urgent that you decided not to follow procedure and have ANBU chase you through the village?"

"the one known as Kakashi Hatake is still alive though you state that he's dead"

"impossible I was one of the ANBU on the mission and I saw him die, in fact except for those with the most serious of injuries everyone checked for a pulse and for chakra and none was detected"

the cloaked stranger just laughed as if he was amused

"and if you needed to make everyone including those on your team think you were dead for their safety what would you do?"

"I honestly don't know"

"well I do, look if you let go of me I will take my hood off so that you can see me better"

"very well but we'll be watching your every move"

"I would expect nothing less"

and so the person lets down the hood of the cloak and the ANBU actually faint from shock and the Hokage can just stare at the person

"but how?"

"it's a long story Hokage-sama"

"don't you long story me Kakashi, Iruka is on leave for a year and your team has been placed on inactive duty status because of your supposed death now tell me how?"

"it actually is a long story Tsunade-sama but essentially I faked my death on the field all those years ago but the enemy was better and captured me and I only escaped three months ago the full version will have to be in a very long mission report"

"very well but I want details on this report not to mention the fact that you get to explain to Iruka why you faked your death on the field and let him suffer thinking it was his fault even though he was so badly injured there wasn't really anything he could do"

"I will, and actually I want the whole team of that night to be there so that they can hear it from me"

"very well in two days we'll have the meeting right now though you need some hospital time"

by this time the two ANBU had recovered and understood that explanations would just have to wait and eventually everyone did indeed get a full explanation as two what happened all those years ago and after that things went back to normal or well as normal as a hunter's and touchstone's life is anyways