Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters therein. Demondreams and I only own the plotbunnies of doom.

Chapter One: Accusations

Iruka stood before Tsunade's desk, feeling weighted down by far more than the heavy chakra cuffs on his wrists.

"Do you understand the accusations that have been leveled against you, Umino-san?" Shizune asked, her voice trembling with barely suppressed nervousness. Her dark eyes darted from Iruka to Tsunade and back again.

"I understand." He replied quietly, resisting the urge to give her a comforting smile. Now wasn't the time, not with the entire Daimyo's entourage crowded into Tsunade's public office.

"And how do you plead?" Tsunade asked, her hazel eyes hooded and dark.

"Not guilty, Hokage-sama."

"Lies! You were seen threatening Makimura-sama!" Accused one of the Daimyo's advisors, his sallow face flushed red with rage. "You threatened his life in public!"

Iruka kept his face straight as Tsunade sent a quelling glare at the man. "I'll only ask you once, Hanishi-sama, to keep your dogs on a leash. This is my village and my shinobi, and I'll thank you to let me deal with him."

The Daimyo silenced his man with a wave, but his gaze was hard and angry as he turned his attention back to Tsunade. "But you are still expected to provide the murderer of my son, Hokage-sama. I have heard from several witnesses that this man did indeed threaten Makimura in public."

Iruka kept his teeth shut on a venomous reply, knowing he wouldn't help his case by letting out his anger at the dead man.

"Proof is circumstantial, and at best, tainted, by the number of people at the crime scene before it was secured by Ibiki and the medical corps." Shizune said, her fingers tightening around the papers she was holding. Iruka could see the strain in her features. "Until everything is taken into account, Umino-san remains innocent until his guilt can be proven to the Hokage's satisfaction."

"Be that as it may, Shizune," Tsunade said quietly, her solemn eyes fixed on Iruka's. "He must be kept under house arrest until this matter is resolved. He will be guarded by my best, Hanishi-sama, until such time as his innocence or guilt can be proven." There was no mistaking the warning in her voice. That means no attempts to kill Iruka-sensei before this mess is sorted out. Iruka flinched at her tone, even though her anger wasn't directed at him.

He stood stock-still as Shizune managed to herd the Daimyo's party out of the office and into the public room beyond, his heart a lump of lead in his throat. When the door closed behind them, Tsunade nodded at the ANBU, waiting in the shadows behind the door. "Get those cuffs off of him."

Iruka shivered as the serpent-masked ANBU unlocked the cuffs and removed them. His skin tingled as his chakra resumed its normal flow. "Hokage-sama?"

She waved him to a seat. "You say you didn't kill him, and I believe you. However, Hanishi is not likely to do the same. You realize that I must enforce the house arrest?" Her voice had gone hard, and it was clear to see she was less than happy about things.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama."

Her eyes were kind as she turned to a second ANBU who had hidden his presence so well Iruka hadn't even known he was there until the man moved. His crimson on white mask nodded as he stepped out of the shadows. "You're not officially recalled to service, but I need you to play the part for the moment. I have to put Iruka-sensei someplace where he won't be found by anyone wishing him harm."

"Understood, Hokage-sama." Iruka thought the rich voice that sounded behind the mask was familiar. But with the black hood and emotionless mask, he had no way to identify who it might be.

"Are you willing to do this then?"

The masked head nodded and the ANBU knelt to Tsunade. "As my Hokage commands."

Tsunade smiled and turned her attention back to Iruka. "I can't leave you someplace as undefended as your apartment. Therefore you will be removed to the Hatake estate in the Northern sector. Until this is resolved, you will not leave the estate unless I call for you. You may have visitors." A small smile graced her lips. "I doubt if I could keep your students from coming to visit you. You will be escorted to your apartment to pack up what you need, but I can allow you no weapons."

Iruka just bowed his head, numb. When he had seen the ANBU in his room, he'd known that nothing would ever be the same again.

He held out his wrists for the ANBU to replace the cuffs, dully certain of the outcome.

As Iruka was led out of the office, Tsunade frowned after him. It wasn't like Sandaime's favorite to be so docile. "Keep an eye on him."

"I thought you believed in his innocence, Hokage-sama." The masked man said neutrally.

"I do." Tsunade turned her frown on him. "But I don't like the look in his eye. It's too fatalistic." She picked up a folded paper and passed it to him. "I'm assigning this as your mission, so for the time being, you're just as confined as he is. You don't leave his side until this whole mess is under control. Understood?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade tipped her head as they both heard raised voices outside of her office. Tsunade rose and threw open the door to the reception room. Iruka had his back pressed to the wall, his brown eyes wide and bound hands held defensively in front of his chest. Shizune and the ANBU were holding back a small group of the Daimyo's entourage by sheer force of will alone.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Tsunade's roar silenced them. "What in the hell is going on out here?"

One of the advisors, a thin man with graying hair and a paunch that would do the pregnant Kurenai proud, pointed at Iruka with a quavering hand. "The murderer was trying to escape!"

Tsunade's eyes turned as hard as chips of flint. "Really? I don't see him going anywhere. He's still standing here, wearing chakra cuffs and trying not to get mauled by idiots. Yeah, really looks like an escape attempt to me." Disdain and annoyance practically dripped off the words.

Her sarcasm cut through the ruckus and Shizune and the serpent-masked ANBU both relaxed as the group of advisors stopped their efforts to reach the chuunin.

Tsunade cast a haughty glare at the small cluster. "Be assured, that until this whole mess is sorted out, Umino Iruka will be safely imprisoned. Now, get the hell out of my office!"

Shizune chivvied the now-cowed entourage out the door and into the hall, while Tsunade nodded at the serpent-masked ANBU. "Get Iruka-sensei some tea and then take him to his apartment to pack his things. Take Monkey with you, just to be on the safe side."

A silent Iruka was escorted out the door. Tsunade watched him go before she felt the whisper of movement at her shoulder. "You do know what that was, correct, Hokage-sama?"

She nodded tightly and resolved that she was going to drink her weight in sake when this was all over. She couldn't afford to now, not when she needed all of her wits about her. "All too well." She somberly told the masked ANBU. "This mess is getting nastier by the minute."

"After all, if he died in an escape attempt, who could prove that he wasn't the one who killed Makimura?" The voice at her shoulder was a low growl.

"So how many weapons did you count?"

"Seventeen."

"I must be getting old. I only counted sixteen."

"Those hairsticks Lady Rikasu was sporting. The wood is from Wave country and poisonous. Those were coated with wax to make them usable, but scratch the wax coating…" He snorted behind his mask. "It's a very nasty way to die."

Tsunade sighed and picked up a piece of paper, scrawling something on it in an untidy hand. A whistle summoned one of her messenger hawks. "Take this to the hospital for Sakura." She told the bird in a low tone, delicately scratching its raised crest.

She went to the window and tossed the bird into the air. "I'm having Sakura make up a kit of as many antidotes as she can, including a few that I don't even let the ANBU have unless it's dire. She'll bring them to you later." She sighed. "Just in case."

"Understood."

"Don't leave his side under any circumstances. Even if it's a visitor you trust. The unwitting have been used as assassination tools before." Tsunade turned to regard him with sober eyes. "Keep him alive until we have this sorted out."

"As my Hokage commands." He inclined his head.

A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "If I didn't fear for your sanity and the safety of those around you, I'd call you back to active service permanently. At least this way I get some respect out of you."

"Mah, it's all just another mask, Tsunade-baa-san."

Chuckling, she swatted at where he had been. "Don't I know it."

But he was already gone. Tsunade closed the window and retreated to her office. "Keep him safe," She whispered to the uncaring air. She pulled out her chair and began to dig through a pile of records one of her spies had just left on her desk. She would find out who had killed Makimura.

Iruka sighed as the transportation jutsu let him and his two silent guardians down in front of his apartment door. Snake nodded at his companion and unlocked the cuffs from Iruka's wrists. He rubbed at the chafed skin as he regarded the two silent men. "What now?"

Monkey tipped his head. "First you open those clever traps you have on your door, then you pack up what you think you'll need. Pack well, because you might be a while."

Iruka nodded dully, sure that he might break apart any minute. He stretched out his recovered chakra and disabled the layers of traps and wards he had on his door. None of them were lethal and all of them were designed to hold a person immobile until they could be dealt with. He had chosen non-lethal traps after the first time Naruto had nearly taken a kunai in the chest.

He opened the door and regarded his two escorts with a jaded eye. "Why did you let me activate my traps before you took me to see the Hokage?"

A swirl of leaves announced the arrival of the third ANBU. "So no one could plant evidence." He said calmly.

Or disturb it, thought Iruka with just a touch of bitterness, but he kept that thought firmly to himself. The three ANBU remained in the living room of his small apartment, making the space feel even smaller, as Iruka drug a pack out from under boxes of teaching supplies and winter clothes. He packed swiftly, rolling clothes into the smallest possible space and stuffing them into the worn canvas pack. He left his vests and their assortment of weapons undisturbed. After stuffing the last of his underwear in the now bulging pack, he zipped it and pulled a large, flat case from behind the boxes. Opening it, he went to his desk and began sorting papers with a swift hand and a practiced eye. One stack he handed to the monkey-masked ANBU. "Make sure these go to the substitute for my class. It's the quizzes we had on Friday."

The ANBU nodded and, rolling the papers into a tight tube, stowed them inside his armor. Iruka turned his attention back to his papers, packing half-finished lesson plans and other projects in the case. As a final touch, he added a couple of blank lesson planners to the stack and a flat case of pens. He kept from thinking about why he might need them by making sure that anything the substitute might need was rolled into a scroll case and handed off to the ANBU. Finally, he was done.

He wandered into the kitchen and stole a glance into the fridge. He hadn't done his shopping yet and there was only the last dregs of milk and a few eggs. The eggs would keep and… He glanced over his shoulder at the ANBU and shrugged before drinking the last of the milk straight from the carton. Let them think what they would.

He heard something that might have been a stifled chuckle, but when he looked back, none of the ANBU were even looking in his direction. The one in the snake mask had already shouldered his canvas pack, and since the monkey-masked ANBU was already loaded down with papers for his substitute teacher, the third ANBU effortlessly hoisted the flat case of paperwork. They led him outside and Snake nodded. "Lock it up, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka obligingly locked the door, but didn't move to re-arm the traps until the other man nudged him with the corner of his case. "Don't forget the traps."

The chuunin blinked disbelievingly at him. He didn't move until he was nudged again, harder than the first time. Only then did he place a palm against the door and use his chakra to activate his traps. Still moving in a numb haze, he let himself be cuffed again and was swept up in the disorienting feel of someone else's transportation jutsu.

When he blinked to clear his eyes, he was in the middle of a small courtyard. It was beautiful, if a little overgrown, with a small koi pond under a massive cherry tree. On the flagstones beside the pond there was a disturbing stain that even years of weathering couldn't disguise the origins of. Sometime in the past, a lot of blood had been spilled there. He turned and recognized the elaborate crest carved on the lintel of the sliding doors, though he had only ever seen it in records. It was the crest of the Hatake family, a swirl of stylized clouds with a lightning bolt splitting them in half.

He knew of the old estate, of course, though it had been sitting empty longer than the Uchiha compound. Hatake Kakashi, the last of what had once been a prominent family, lived in the plain bachelor apartments, much the same as he himself did. Snake set down his bag and with a nod, removed his cuffs. He tucked them into his belt and disappeared, followed by Monkey. When he turned his gaze back to the last remaining ANBU, he saw the man tugging off his hood to reveal a cloud of silver-white hair. Lowering the stylized dog mask that had hidden his features, Hatake Kakashi blinked lazily at him.