Chapter 3: Measuring Your Worth

This genin team really wasn't any smarter than he'd originally expected, regardless of whether they'd passed his test or not. A bit more willing to question authority, perhaps. A bit more stubborn, without a doubt. But smarter, they were not. And they definitely weren't any more observant than he'd ever given them credit for.

Naruto, his bright jumpsuit as off putting as ever, was angrily pacing the length of the bridge he'd told them they'd meet at while Sakura anxiously looked between her two teammates. Only Sasuke appeared unaffected at first glance as he looked out at the small stream. Neither of the others had seemingly picked up on the way their teammate's shoulders were awkwardly hunched over. Even though it was only their fourth day as a team, Kakashi had no doubt of the unified wrath he'd face once he finally joined them.

They were going to be a strong team one day, once he finally got them to pull it together. The task of training the jinchuuriki, the last Uchiha, and a fangirl wasn't going to be an easy one though and it could be years before they learned to properly work together.

Sakura's gaze flickered somewhere else for a brief moment, not quite at him but not too far away either. There was clear hesitance in her body language but whatever she said next gained the attention of both Naruto and Sasuke. Kakashi didn't bother to hope they weren't all plotting against him.

Yes, they were going to be a great team.

There was a brief flicker of chakra as a figure in black settled on the branch beside him, making no comment on either Kakashi's team or the book in his hand. He almost missed the days where people would question his odd behaviour. Which was alright because now he had a new genin team to needlessly question him at every turn, not guessing there was something underneath his aura of carelessness. At least not yet.

They sat there in silence for a little while longer, neither one of them acknowledging the other. The air around them was oddly tense. Kakashi didn't care enough to appear anything other than delightfully absorbed in Icha Icha Violence.

"Ibiki needs you down in Interrogation, on the Hokage's orders. No delaying," the ANBU finally spoke up.

Kakashi hummed. The main character was just heading off to rescue a girl from a group of pirates. He already knew that when they'd get there, there wouldn't be as much of a fight as expected due to the heroine who was fighting her way out from the inside. And then they'd have kinky sex on the enemy's ship.

"You know I can't tell you anything more than that, Kakashi-san," the ANBU commented.

"Only because you don't know anything more than that," he countered, a grin growing underneath his mask. He could wax poetic about the intensity of this scene, the emotions lingering just below the surface.

The ANBU paused, seemingly thinking something over. "Apparently someone was brought in this morning. No one knows why."

The smile slid off of Kakashi's face and he slid Icha Icha Violence into his back pocket for the time being. He'd come back to it later and let himself be immersed in the tale once more. "Any defining features?" he asked. His features appeared just as bored as they normally did but that didn't account for the whirlwind of emotions running through his body at that very moment.

"Red hair. A medic was accompanying them as well. Those who saw any details aren't talking."

"Strange."

"Very much so."

And then the tense silence was back again, though the ANBU made no motion to leave. Kakashi watched his new, cute genin team. Naruto and Sasuke were arguing again, so whatever Sakura had suggested seemingly wasn't going as she'd hoped.

"Are you going to tell them their training is postponed today?"

They'd been waiting there for just over an hour now.

"No."

"So, do you know him?"

The medic eyed him suspiciously but Kakashi could hardly blame the man when he'd come through the window of a seemingly non-descript room without so much as a noise. He hadn't even spoken a word so far, not even as he took a seat in the chair beside the bed.

Kakashi wasn't certain what he'd been expecting but it definitely wasn't this. A man was laying in the bed, bright red strands of hair surrounding his head like a halo. Uzumakis were the only ones who had hair that bright but Kushina had been certain she was the only one left after the fall of Uzushio. Yet, the evidence to the contrary was somehow right in front of him. Not only that but as there was no way this man, seemingly about the same age as he was, could have been alive before the fall of Uzushio. Kushina had been wrong.

Scars littered the length of the mysterious Uzumaki's torso, some light and faded while others were still dark and angry-looking. There were tendrils of ink curling around the man's hip, hinting at something more. An arrogant move for a shinobi, especially one seemingly unaffiliated with a village. And this man was definitely a shinobi. Kakashi could see no other reason for the strong muscles of his shoulders paired with those scars that came from both weapons and ninjutsu.

A strangled breath could be heard and Kakashi's gaze travelled back up to the man's face. His features were twisted in discomfort but whether that look came from nightmares or pain, he couldn't tell. The bandage taped to just above his eyebrow looked out of place.

The medic was still staring at him, waiting for an answer he'd forgotten to give. But there was no name he could attach to this person and he couldn't understand why they'd thought he'd recognize this man in the first place.

"Never seen him before in my life," Kakashi admitted.

"Well, he certainly knows you, Hatake-san. Referred to you by first name and everything, at least according to what the guards said as he passed out in front of their station," the medic revealed, crossing his arms.

"Interesting."

There was an exasperated sigh from the side of the room that the medic was standing on but Kakashi chose to ignore it. That may have explained his presence here but it didn't explain what was going on and the only person who could do that was laying unconscious in a bed.

He resisted the urge to pull Icha Icha Violence from his back pocket once more, keeping his gaze on the stranger with his Uzumaki-red hair. Would his eyes be violet, just as Kushina's had been? Whatever colour they were, they moved underneath the man's pale eyelids and he knew he wouldn't have to wait here in silence for much longer. But the excitement that was to come surely wasn't going to be worth the effort.

Just as expected, the man's eyes flew open a few minutes later and the medic rushed forward with green chakra gathered at his fingertips. To check for damage from being involuntarily unconscious, Kakashi's mind supplied helpfully. The way the man resisted the sudden appearance of the medic, flinching away, was expected. So was the confusion he easily recognized in the man's eyes - a brilliant-looking blue, even brighter than the sky itself - at waking up in a place he'd never been before. What was unexpected was that the man seemed to calm at the sight of him sitting beside the bed as if his mere presence made everything better.

(It didn't. If anything, his being places only ever made them worse and that wasn't an emotional, irrational statement. Unless he managed to work himself into a state where he didn't feel anything at all, his presence almost always made the situation worse.)

"Kakashi," the man said, eerily focused for having just gained consciousness. The panic quickly came back as the medic backed away and the man found himself incapable of moving up from the bed. But the panicked looks were ignored by the medic as he left the room, only stopping momentarily to nod at Kakashi.

"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, shinobi-san," Kakashi admitted as the medic closed the door behind him, "You know my name but I don't know yours."

The man's face turned blank, all traces of panic gone. "Nah, I think that makes us about equal at the moment, Kakashi. I'm the one paralyzed here while you're just curious about who I am."

"Then it may come as a surprise that the only reason why you're not down in a cell is because you're obviously a Uzumaki. I hope you didn't think getting into Konoha would be as easy as falling unconscious at the front gate. Referring to me by my first name didn't do you any favours either."

"I hadn't thought it would."

The corner of the strange Uzumaki's lip twitched, a movement so subtle most wouldn't have noticed it. Kakashi leaned forward, resting his elbow on his knee as he continued to examine this strange man who was almost even more interesting while he was awake than he was sleeping.

Blue met black with an intensity that hadn't been there before. Electricity seemed to spark in the air around them as they both sized each other up, silently measuring the other's strengths and weaknesses. That they were in a small room in Interrogation didn't seem to matter and neither did the fact that the man was completely paralyzed for the time being. Kakashi was suddenly very certain he'd find a way to work around it, given enough time.

Then Kakashi leaned back again, the intensity vanishing just as quickly as it had appeared.

"Good."

"Is that all you have to say about this?" Uzumaki asked, seemingly amused with the idea.

He shrugged, grabbing Icha Icha Violence from his back pocket once more. That only caused the redhead to shake his head instead of looking shocked at the suggestive cover of his favourite novel. Interesting. Maybe they should keep this strange man around after all, so long as everything checked out and no one was killed over the next few hours. But Uzumaki didn't seem to be any more of a threat than his genin team was, waiting anxiously back at the bridge.

The minutes ticked by and he flipped through the pages, only half paying attention as he split his attention between the book and Uzumaki. Unexpectedly, Uzumaki didn't try to break free from the paralysis, appearing content to watch him read Icha Icha Violence.

"Ibiki-san will be here within the hour," he mentioned conversationally, "Your grace period will be over then."

"Ibiki? That's the big guy with the scars, right? Heh, you guys are really going all out for me."

If Kakashi didn't know any better, he would have thought Uzumaki looked excited to see Ibiki. He flipped the page. The redhead could be tortured within an inch of his life all he wanted, so long as they got the information they wanted from him.

"Come on, you gotta tell me what's going on at least! How am I supposed to answer any of your questions if you don't ask me anything?" Uzumaki insisted.

"I did ask you a question, shinobi-san."

"What did you- oh." The redhead fell silent and Kakashi was content to wait. "Uzumaki Rin," he finally said, a few moments later.

Kakashi frowned down at Icha Icha Violence. He'd sworn the main character had reacted a bit more passionately when the captain of the pirate ship walked in on the him in the captain's room the last time he'd read through it. Disappointing. "And why did you come to Konoha, Rin-san?" he casually asked.

At least his voice didn't waver at the man's name. There was a time and a place, and he was certain this wasn't either of those.

Maybe later, when there was nothing around him but the darkness of night and the warmth of his own bed, he would try and figure out the cosmic joke of Uzumaki Rin. A man who'd come to Konoha with Kakashi's name on his lips and bearing the name of not one, but two people Kakashi had lost. A recipe for disaster was what this man was, so long as Kakashi was concerned.

A flicker of annoyance swept over Rin's features as his eyes flickered over his un-moving limbs. "My mother used to tell me that the Uzumaki would always be accepted here despite the fall of Uzushio. And I just recently heard Konoha's jinchuuriki is a Uzumaki."

"Uzumaki-san has been Konoha's jinchuuriki for the last twelve years," Kakashi fired back, careful not to look up from his book lest his worry be revealed.

"Don't you dare try to imply I should have come earlier. Do you think a thirteen year old would have been able to take care of a newborn and his ailing mother as well?" The vehemence in Rin's voice was strong. Kakashi flipped the page. "Or how about an irresponsible twenty year old who spent most of his time in clubs and bars, running from any sense of responsibility?"

Kakashi did look up then, unsurprised but interested in the anger and pain that resided in this Uzumaki. Something had happened then, likely when Rin had been twenty, given the particular attachment to that age over all others.

"It was difficult to come here even now," Rin said.

"Why did you?"

The look Rin gave him was indiscernible but Kakashi had already turned the majority of his attention back to Icha Icha Violence. He was barely even absorbing the words at this point, just the familiarity of the book allowing him to tune out everything that wasn't necessary.

With any hope, Ibiki would allow him to leave after just a quick debriefing. The time to relieve his cute genin team from their wait was quickly approaching, though at least one of them was likely to be late tomorrow morning. He would have to be on time then tomorrow. None of them had yet dealt with the consequences of being late and that would be an interesting lesson, if nothing else.

Rin started to splutter something out, the words lost in translation. Realizing he wouldn't get anything else read like this, Kakashi put Icha Icha Violence back into his pouch with an audible sigh. Except the Uzumaki's gaze didn't seem to be focused on where he'd just put his book.

"What was that, Rin-san? I didn't quite hear you," Kakashi asked, dryly.

"Because he's the only biological family I have left! Is that not enough for you? I want to help him grow up and support him." There was a brief pause as Rin seemed to lose his gusto and if he wasn't currently paralyzed, he'd have likely been squirming in the bed. "And I want to teach him the techniques of the Uzumaki that were passed onto me when I was his age."

"Uzumaki-san recently became a genin and so he's an adult by law in Konoha. There's nothing obliging you to do anything."

"There's nothing stopping me from wanting to be family to him either, Kakashi."

An image of Naruto arose in Kakashi's mind. He'd only known his genin team for a few days but that had been more than enough to get a read on their personalities. A blind man could see that behind all of Naruto's bravado and determination, he wanted a family. Kakashi was hoping their team would be just that for all of them, that they would bond their mutual need for companionship.

If Rin was being serious then the transition from the awkward dissonance they had now to something smoother and stronger might be a bit less painful. Kakashi was perceptive but he'd been struggling to form the same bonds he talked of for much longer than he cared to admit.

But Naruto was a package deal and the whole of Konoha knew it. A lack of knowledge among the younger generation didn't stop the whispers and hate of the rest of the town and it didn't make the beast inside of Naruto any less real. He still hadn't seen the danger the beast held but he'd been there when Konoha was torn apart in the span of a few hours. Naruto was not the beast but he doubted they could be separated so easily. And at the end of the day, the beast had killed his sensei, the beloved Yondaime.

Rin was still staring at him, silently daring him to say something, anything at all. One couldn't miss that he was an Uzumaki, no matter how hard they tried.

"More than you might think, Rin-san," he said, just as he felt someone's chakra approach the door.

The knock on the door came a few seconds later as Kakashi determinedly looked anywhere except at Rin's face. The person who came in through the door at his call wasn't Ibiki like expected but some chuunin. Inexperienced, or at least appearing to be so, almost tripping over her feet as she entered the room.

The Torture and Interrogation Unit was definitely stranger than most. But this time Kakashi could recognize something in the girl's eyes. It was a type of careful calculation, the same sweeping look around the room he'd seen earlier that day except with a bit more knowledge and practice. One similar to something he'd seen not just from those in Interrogation but from Intelligence in general. Interesting. Maybe he would have to speak to Ibiki sometime in the near future after all.

"Sorry, Hatake-san but Ibiki-san got caught up in something urgent and sent me along instead." The chuunin bowed as she spoke, her attention firmly focused on Kakashi.

More inexperienced than he thought then.

"Wouldn't want to pull Ibiki away from anything, if we can help it," Kakashi agreed with a careless wave of his hand.

Her features twitched but she didn't call him out on anything. "Ibiki-san said your advice should be taken on what to do with the Uzumaki. I've been the one chosen to enact that advice in his place."

Kakashi hummed his acknowledgement. The conversation he'd had with Rin came into careful consideration as he gauged the things that had been said on both ends. It would have been nice to have more time to consider things but none of the Interrogation Unit was particularly known for being patient with decision-making. Including this small, inexperienced girl if what he remembered from the last Chuunin Exams was correct.

"Hatake-san?"

"He was lying earlier. It could have been about any number of things but tensions have been high enough lately that we can't afford to take the risk. Keep him interned for at least two weeks but don't bother getting more information out of him. His feeling are genuine, even if his facts aren't," Kakashi decided.

The chuunin didn't even blink. "Spy or refugee?"

"Who knows?"

She tried to protest as he stood up, intent on getting him to give her the rest of his report. Kakashi didn't care. He didn't say another word as he bee-lined towards the window and he certainly didn't look at Rin either. Landing on the roof of the building across the street was second nature to him now, built up from years and years of shinobi training. Training that didn't let him know what to think in a situation like this one.

Regardless, he had his genin team to get back to. Given they hadn't already left for the day, fueled on by the frustration they'd obviously be feeling about him being so late. Would he use the excuse of getting lost in some woman's garden or the one where he saved the city from a flock of angry pigeons?

Maybe he'd use the one where he'd somehow gotten sucked into an alternate universe and just then found himself back where he was supposed to be.

For the time being, he tried to forget about Rin.

Both of them.