Something was pecking at my window. I glanced up to see a messenger hawk on the window sill. I promptly got up, putting my kunai and whetstone aside. I opened the window and removed the scroll from the hawk's leg. On reading its contents, my eyebrows rose. I was being allowed tomorrow's and the rest of today's afternoon off. I had been expecting to have to use my wood jutsu to help with repairs for at least another three days before being sent on back-to-back A and S-rank missions. Clearly something was up.

Just as I was about to sit down again I felt something brush the edge of my senses. It was a familiar chakra signature. Kakashi was briskly walking up the stairs to my apartment. I reached out more deliberately this time to get a feel on his chakra. In contrast to the usual tightly controlled feeling of his chakra, it prickled erratically in a tight ball, giving off a feeling of anger, frustration and self-loathing. I had hoped for something different but wasn't surprised. My shoulders slumped and I gave a weary exhale.

I wasn't looking forward to this conversation. Though Kami knows Kakashi needed to talk to somebody. It had been so warming to see the positive change in Kakashi's demeanour after he had taken on students. They had given him something, some sense of peace, that despite the strength of our relationship, I had never been able to. I prayed the Sasuke debacle did not leave him worse off than before he ever took the team on.

I opened the door before Kakashi could knock. "Want to come in?"

With a quick nod Kakashi walked in, he paced back and forth and then finally, firmly seated himself in a worn armchair.

I poured us both a glass of water to give him some time to compose himself and sat on the sofa next to him. I watched him and took a sip of my drink. He seemed haggard and I didn't like the look of his eye. I hoped he would be the first to speak.

Finally, he looked me in the eye. "Yamato, I assume you've heard about Sasuke."

I nodded. "Yugao filled me in."

"Danzo and the Elders have arranged an investigation and trial into my conduct as Team 7's sensei," he said tightly.

I frowned. This was really the last thing Kakashi needed. Kakshi was more than capable of blaming and then punishing himself without anyone's intervention. "I don't like the sound of them dragging you into their schemes, but surely there couldn't be too much to worry about. You were an excellent leader of Team Ro, I know you were."

Kakashi gave a mirthless smile. It disappeared quickly. "Perhaps, but there is a big difference between leading an ANBU squad and leading a genin team. Perhaps I was not up to the difference."

I pondered that for a moment. "They certainly seemed to put up a respectable performance at the Chuunin exams."

"And yet despite me spending a whole month working one-on-one with Sasuke between the second and third portion of the exam, he still left, and worse I never really saw it coming. I knew Sasuke was frustrated, was impatient, I knew Orochimaru made him promises and yet I never truly believed he would leave." Kakashi shook his head, marvelling.

Kakashi leaned back and ran a hand through his hair. "In truth," he spoke more softly. "It feels like Itachi all over again. Sasuke turned traitor and tried to kill his best friend, just like Itachi. To make it worse he did it with the chidori. He went right through Naruto and if it weren't for the Kyuubi he would be dead." He looked at me with pain in his eyes. "He took the jutsu meant to protect friends, that Obito helps me use, and ran Nartuo right through just like I did Rin, except with Sasuke… Sasuke did it on purpose."

Hi head was down, cradled in his hands. "He was so like me. I thought I could steer him on a different path, a better path, but now he's done something more monstrous than I ever did."

"Not everything is lost. As far as we know all three of your students are still alive. Yes Sasuke has left the village, but that doesn't mean he's beyond redemption. He's a genin under the influence of a curse seal and the last of the Uchiha. Were he to be captured and stand trial that would be taken into account."

Kakashi looked up at me. "If he gets captured."

I pondered on all the possible means of his statement and decided not to comment on it.

"How long do you have before the trial?" I asked.

"Two days."

Well that explained the Hokage's message. "They move fast. They've probably been preparing for a while. Any idea what their line of attack will be and what their end goal is?"

"At a guess I'd say they want to declare Sasuke as a missing nin. At this stage, hunter-nin will be ordered to capture rather than kill him, for his eyes if nothing else." Kakashi paused and frowned in thought. He was developing fine lines on his forehead.

"As for Naruto, there was already talk of him leaving the village with Jiriaya for several years, even before the Akatsuki came to visit. Given how badly I lost to our former teammate, Itachi, those in charge no longer have faith in my ability to protect Naruto on my own. So the timetable for the plan to have Naruto leave with Jiriaya has likely been moved forward."

"Danzo however, will likely be a vocal opponent to those plans as he has never liked the idea of our village's jinchuriki leaving for missions. This is mostly for Danzo's own ends I suspect. It wouldn't be as beneficial to Naruto's growth, but I would enjoy Danzo forcing Naruto to hang around on the condition that Jiriaya would as well," Kakashi admitted.

"Is that likely to happen?" I asked. It would certainly be good for Kakashi-taichou.

"I'd gamble Jiriaya would try and find a way out of it, just as he weaselled his way out of being even temporary Hokage," Kakashi guessed. "Jiriaya has spent very little time in the village over the past twelve years and he will likely try and convince the others that his skills are needed more as a spy master outside the village."

I pondered that for a while. "I doubt Jiriaya can do much spying on the Akatsuki with Naruto in tow though. In fact most of what he's told us could have been found out simply by hiring its members for cut-price missions. Jiriaya's position as spymaster has always been more self-proclaimed than anything else." I waved my hand as a gesture of dismissal. "He left to chase after Orochimaru and hasn't managed to come close to killing him. For all the spying he's claimed he's done, he didn't know Orochimaru had started his own village, nor did he give us a head's up on Sasuke or the invasion. The village would have benefitted a lot more from Jiriaya being in the village than wondering around writing porn all these years."

I sighed, suddenly feeling very weary. "Maybe I'm just trying to pass the buck." It was such a shame he and I hadn't been able to kill Orochimaru the first time we were sent after him.

Kakashi nodded. "It's hard to disagree with anything you've just said. Whether anyone will voice those disagreements is another matter all together. The Elders in particular, would rather have Naruto out in the field so that the village doesn't become a target of the Akatsuki. Unfortunately the Elders would also likely insist that Jiriaya take a pair of ANBU with him as well. This wouldn't bother me except I'm sure Danzo would manage to ensure at least one of them was one of his lackeys."

We sat in silence for a while, lost in our own thoughts. "What about your actions as team leader being put on trial?" I asked. "What do they gain from that?"

Kakashi leaned back in his chair looking fairly at ease. This was clearly the lesser of the problems to Kakashi. "That's harder to discern. Neither the Elders, nor Danzo are fond of me. I suspect they'll likely bring up the calls I made during the mission to Wave and the way I handled Sasuke. Beyond that I don't know."

My glass spun in my hands. I hesitated, unsure whether I should broach the topic of one of their possible reasons. I decided to go ahead, if for no other reason than the idea leading to another. "Could it be part of a smear campaign to prevent you getting elected as Hokage?"

Kakashi gave me the look. "We just elected a new Hokage. I doubt she's going anywhere soon."

He was being evasive. Typical, I thought. I wasn't going to let the subject drop so soon. "And after Tsunade, who will they elect then?" When Kakashi remained silent I ploughed on. "You know Danzo's always hungered for the position. Time has not dulled his ambition." I gave Kakashi a meaningful look. We of all people should have a good grasp as to the lengths Danzo was willing to go to become Hokage.

"Danzo's old," Kakashi countered.

"So's Tsunade. If not you then who?" I reiterated.

"There are plenty of strong ninja in ANBU and I'm certainly not at the level I was when I was a member."

I resisted throwing my cushion at him. "You know that after the Second every subsequent Hokage has been either a student of the Hokage or their student's student. You were the Fourth's student. Who do you think they'll choose? They don't trust Anko or her genin teammates and Shizune doesn't have the combat power." I didn't mention the dead. That would have been cruel.

"It's a tradition, nothing more."

"Maybe. Maybe if someone like Kato Dan was still alive but we lost too many good fighters during the war and the Kyuubi attack." I ran my hand down my face. "You don't think it's a tradition that has to be followed, fine. I'll give you that point. But then give me names of specific people, Kakashi,"

"You."

I was flabbergasted.

Kakashi shrugged. "Don't look so surprised. You're no pushover and you have the best service record of any ANBU who served under the Third."

Kami Kakashi actually looked serious. Then I shook my head. "I've spent my entire career in ANBU, I'm not well known and have no political connections. They'll ask you and you know it." Kakashi may not like having to be responsible but responsibility wasn't something that he was going to be able to avoid in his career. "I feel like we're getting off topic."

Kakashi nodded. "We'll just have to focus on getting the best outcome possible for Naruto and Sasuke."

"I'll help you prepare," I offered. "I have afternoons off until the trial."

Beneath his mask, I could tell Kakashi smiled. It was like the sun coming out from behind dark clouds. I'd help Kakashi prepare for the trial and whatever Danzo and the Elders plans were, we would stop them.