11th of January, 63 f.K.
As night fell in the capitol city of the Land of Fire, shops along the streets closed their doors and turned out their lights. The shopkeepers ascended to their homes above their stores or walked leisurely down the street to the residential districts, passing the familiar faces of their peers doing the same. Far from these reputable people and their shiny businesses, other kinds of business started opening up.
The red lanterns strung over the streets declared this the 'seedy' part of town. They cast a hellish glow on the people walking the packed dirt and gravel road with their heads down, gave the deep shadows fuzzy edges. It was the sort of place where a person could be robbed without anyone else even turning an eye; where you didn't walk alone unless you had a very good reason.
One shadowy figure, underneath an overhanging canopy, saw a man coming down the street seemingly alone. The figure nudged the man next to him, pointing the guy out - he was getting closer. He was walking tall and unconcerned, as though he had no idea that he wasn't in the part of town where the police bothered to go.
The two men detached from the wall they'd been leaning against, spreading out as they approached. At the last second, mere feet from him, the lone man seemed to notice them.
His lazy half-lidded eyes opened fully, revealing one that was bright red and spinning. The man smiled invitingly to show a mouth full of sharp inhuman teeth. The two men tripped and stumbled in their haste to get away from the demon who had come down to walk Sweet Flower Street.
Kakashi watched them go and sighed as he dropped the illusion. It had probably been a mistake to scare them so badly, but it would have been a greater mistake to allow them to engage in combat with him. And anyway, he had a meeting to get to.
Not that his target knew there was a meeting.
He scanned the buildings as he passed them. Most were dilapidated, in need of paint or more serious repairs. Some residences, some places of business for fences or smugglers, and here and there a whorehouse lit up with bright lighting - advertising massages, baths, and anything except for the service they actually provided.
Finally he found the right one. He checked his disguise - an average-looking man in a working-class job, unmarried and not looking to be - and pulled the door open.
There was a small barroom on the other side, just big enough to hold patrons while they drank and chose their girls. To the left a wide staircase with a sturdy rail against the wall, bar straight ahead, couch and chair seating arranged around low tables to the right. Not the worst place Kakashi had ever been in.
His target was sitting on one of the couches to the right, a young woman on either side. All three looked to be well into their cups and getting worse, judging by the half-full drinks in each one's hand. The man gestured wildly as Kakashi watched, saying something loud and slurred. The women laughed, a pitched tittering sound that they could keep up all night.
Kakashi dragged the least-stained armchair over directly in front of the couch and sat down. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and waited.
The man took a few seconds to notice. "Hey, this is a private party! You should leave."
Kakashi made a show of looking around the public barroom and then pointedly back at his target. "This isn't exactly private."
This appeared to confuse him for a moment. Then he waved one hand drunkenly, sloshing all three drinks. "Y'know what I mean. Don't want you watchin' me ya little... creep. Get yer rocks off somewhere else."
Kakashi sighed. "Knock it off, Jiraiya. You know who I am."
The tension came to a head, poised to fall either way. For that long moment Jiraiya simply looked at him - trying to judge whether he should continue the charade or drop it in favor of more candid conversation.
Finally he murmured, "Ladies, I'm afraid we'll have to continue this another time."
The women exchanged a look between themselves and left without another word. Likely they knew, or at least suspected, that this situation had a good chance of getting violent.
Jiraiya leaned forward, mimicking Kakashi's position. "So, what does the latest traitor to Konoha want with me?"
Kakashi's eye twitched. "I want to clarify some things for you. This isn't the place. Upstairs?"
Jiraiya nodded and stood. At the stairs he produced a fold of money and handed it over to the man standing guard there. "A little extra - don't let us be disturbed."
As a mark of the place's dedication to discretion, the guard didn't even look funny at Kakashi following Jiraiya up to an unoccupied room in the hall above the bar.
They rearranged themselves at the little table in the room, which was set up like a motel - shower, large bed, table and chairs, and a few strategically placed mirrors. Kakashi sat and noticed that Jiraiya was in the same position as himself again. He suppressed a sigh.
"Stop that. I'm not crazy; you don't need to make me believe you're on my side."
Jiraiya raised a brow but didn't otherwise move. "You left Konoha. I'd like to know why before I drag you back there. And I'd like to know what you did with your students, too."
"I left because I knew that Danzo Shimura killed the Third, and that I had no way to prove it. I left because I knew that the last barrier stopping that man from having complete control in the village had been removed. I left because my genin needed the kind of protection that only distance and desperation can provide." Kakashi was nearly snarling by the end of it - not helpful to proving that he wasn't crazy, but he had been pushing down on this frustration for a long time. "Mostly, I left because there were no allies left in Konoha who could have helped me. Believe me when I say I'd die before I would be a traitor to the Leaf."
Jiraiya sat impassive and expressionless through Kakashi's tirade. "Are you done?" Kakashi nodded. "Tell me everything."
Kakashi did. He told Jiraiya about Danzo and Root infiltrating ANBU, about the ANBU who had been on duty, about the 'interim Hokage' who would never step down. He told Jiraiya that he had been recruited into Root once, that there had already been at least one failed assassination attempt, that Kakashi had no real concrete proof except for the bone-deep knowledge that Danzo was capable and willing.
He finished with, "Even if the Hokage's death was truly an accident of nature, I know that what Danzo wants to do to Konoha is not right. He will warp everything the Leaf stands for; he must be stopped. That is why we left."
Jiraiya looked distinctly unimpressed. "So? What gives you the right to decide whether Danzo's leading Konoha right or not? It's a ninja village, a dictatorship. Whoever is in charge makes the rules; it doesn't matter if they're different rules from the last guy who was in charge. Sounds to me like you are a traitor; you just don't want to admit it." Jiraiya leaned back and spread his hands. "This is how every ninja village works. Do you think ninja in Mist like the way that place is run? How about Rain? Yet somehow they manage to still be loyal. Face it, Hatake, you're a rogue-nin."
Kakashi gritted his teeth and stamped down on the fury in his stomach. "I am not! We will be coming back. And when we do, we're going to set things right."
Jiraiya's entire demeanor changed in an instant. He went from belligerent and dismissive to quietly interested. "So that's it. You want to kill the Hokage."
Kakashi shut his eyes and breathed deeply. He'd slipped up, he'd forgotten how good at this Jiraiya was. The man had gone straight for Kakashi's weakest point and poked at it until Kakashi blurted secrets mindlessly. He muttered, "Yeah, that's the plan."
"I can work with that. I assume you've been teaching those little brats all this time? I'd like to meet them soon, especially my student's son. Need to take a look at his seal. I guess I can help with their training a bit, but I'll be a bit busy setting things up back in the village - "
"Wait, what? Not three minutes ago you were talking about how it doesn't matter because Danzo is in the right as the Hokage of Konoha."
Jiraiya looked up pensively, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, yeah, that's true. But I've been to Mist and Rain and they're horrible places. I'm not gonna let that happen to Konoha. That's my home." His head dropped back down; he pierced Kakashi with a cold and savage gaze. "I said what I did because I want to know that you understand what's happening. What we are going to be doing is exercising that old adage that might makes right. We're going to kill the Hokage because my conscience demands nothing less and I think your reasons are the same. But to someone else - we're just traitors, killing our leader so that we may rise to power instead. Remember that, Hatake. Plenty of people out there aren't going to understand."
After a few long moments' thought, Kakashi nodded.
Jiraiya smiled wryly. "Got it? Good. Because depending on how this goes, you might never be allowed back into the village you're trying so hard to save. They might never forgive you. You could be killed for your crimes, or worse - spend the rest of your life as an exile. Are those acceptable outcomes." Kakashi nodded without a moment's hesitation. "Alright then. Meet me here tomorrow morning - I want to see the brats and we need to go over plans." Jiraiya waved a hand at the door. "Now get out. You interrupted my relaxation time and I'd like to get back to it."
Kakashi fled.
12th of January, 63 f.K.
In the morning, Kakashi met Jiraiya outside the brothel on Sweet Flower Street. They kept a fast pace out of the city, and once in the forest took to the tree branches. Kakashi led the way to a dense copse of trees and underbrush, ten minute's run from the city limits, and once there made a bird-call.
"This is him?" Sasuke asked from behind the two of them. Both whirled, taken by surprise, as Sasuke dropped from the crook of a branch. Wrapped in a mottled brown, black, and green cloak, he'd been as good as invisible and suppressing his chakra.
At Jiraiya's considering look, Kakashi shrugged. "I've been understandably focused on hiding techniques. Sasuke is very good at them, but the other two aren't far behind. Naruto, I swear to the dark god, if that paint touches me I will pull out three of your teeth." He said this without turning around or changing his conversational tone.
Naruto, about to throw a paint-bomb from his position hanging upside down on a branch, pouted and dropped the pink ball. He asked, "This is the great Sage Jiraiya?"
"Yes. Where's Sakura?" Kakashi looked around.
There was no warning: The earth beneath Kakashi's feet erupted into a pair of hands which grabbed his ankles and pulled him into the ground up to his waist. Once he stopped moving, the man sighed and put one hand on his forehead. "This is not the kind of first impression I wanted to make."
Sakura pulled herself out of the ground in front of Kakashi, grinning happily. "Sorry, sensei - but look how good I am at that Earth technique now! I solved the problem with the ground vibrating when I use it." She turned to the side and bowed. "Hello, Jiraiya-sama. I'm Sakura Haruno, that's Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki. We are honored to meet you."
Jiraiya waved off the introductions. "Looks like you kids are pretty good; Hatake's been training you well. I'm going to fill in any gaps."
"Can you really teach Naruto to use the Nine-tails' chakra?" Sasuke demanded as he came around to stand next to Sakura. Naruto swung down from the tree and joined them.
Jiraiya shot a look at Kakashi. "So, I guess that fox is out of the bag."
Kakashi didn't look at all contrite. "They deserved to know. They're a team." He decided it was time to get out of the hole. His neck was starting to get a crick from looking up at people.
"Well, can ya?" Naruto demanded.
Jiraiya grunted noncommittally. "Probably."
"Excuse me," Sakura stepped forward, sending one glance at Kakashi and then turning back to Jiraiya. "Kakashi-sensei wouldn't give us a straight answer before. He's spent almost a year keeping us away from all other ninja; why did he bring you in on this? What are you going to do that he can't?"
Jiraiya laughed loudly, causing all four to flinch and check the perimeter. Even when agitated, none of them had spoken above a normal tone in some time. "I can do a lot that your teacher can't, kid. I have access to people and resources that he doesn't. We haven't discussed it in words, but I expect he wants me to start infiltrating the village to set things up so that you can return and kill the Hokage as efficiently as possible, and perhaps even limit the chance that you'll be executed for it."
Jiraiya looked back to confirm it; Kakashi nodded.
"So then, I'll need to know a bit about you all to start the planning. Something like this isn't going to come together in a few months, you know."
13th of January, 63 f.K.
Naruto sat with his back against a tree, knees pulled halfway up and his hands between them holding a balloon. He frowned in concentration. The balloon trembled a little but otherwise didn't move.
Jiraiya left him there and looked around the dense foliage for Kakashi. Sounds of thrashing to the left indicated that Sasuke and Sakura were still sparring; Jiraiya found their teacher not far from there, watching them fight.
"He's started learning the Rasengan?" Kakashi asked.
Jiraiya nodded. "Yeah, although he's not happy about how long it's gonna take. Says he'll do it faster." Jiraiya chuckled. "Maybe he can, too. He's not like his father. Minato was a genius, but he knew how to take it slow."
Kakashi hummed in agreement, not taking his eye of his students. He'd changed from civilian clothes back into ninja armor like his students wore: chest plate, loose pants, sandals, and weapons pouches.
"I want to take Naruto on as an apprentice. Teach him things I taught his father, how to control the Nine-tails, toad-summoning; that sort of thing. I'll take him away for a year and bring him back when he's done."
Kakashi's eye slid lazily to the side to look at Jiraiya. He pretended to consider the proposal. "No."
"Do you have a reason why not?"
Kakashi shrugged carelessly. Jiraiya still noticed the new tension in the air; the younger man was preparing for a physical fight. "They are my team. They stick together and they stick with me. Taking Naruto away at this point would irreparably damage the dynamics they've already established. Also, I just don't want you to."
Jiraiya thought about this for a few long moments. Finally he offered: "I could just take him."
"Probably," Kakashi shrugged again. "But you'd have to fight me. And keep him from finding out that I didn't let him go willingly. I won't tell you any of our code phrases; in fact the first time you use hand-signs and don't know his name-sign he'll know something is wrong."
Jiraiya laughed, and the tension broke with a nearly audible snap. "That's true, it's way too much trouble. I wonder if you hate yourself enough to give him Minato's old name-sign!"
Kakashi's mouth twisted into a wry smile, unseen. "Yes, I do. But not enough to give Sakura and Sasuke my teammates' name-signs, so perhaps there's hope for me yet."
"Well, since I can't take him I'll be hanging around until he's got the concepts of the Rasengan down. I can help with the brats' training for that long."
"I'm glad you said that." Kakashi turned to smile meanly at him. "I want you to take Sakura on as an apprentice instead. I don't mean for you to take her on a training trip - just teach her when you're around. She has the aptitude to be an excellent spymaster."
"The girl? What are you up to Kakashi?"
Kakashi tilted his head back toward where Naruto was sitting with his balloon. "Naruto looks a lot like his father, doesn't he?"
Jiraiya was visibly confused for a moment, which transitioned into stunned enlightenment and then to admiration. "Oh, that's shameless. You conniving little shit. Was this the plan from the beginning?"
"Hm. Somewhat. It occurred to me before we even left the village, but it wasn't until only a few months ago, when Naruto started maturing a little, that I thought it would be at all possible."
Jiraiya laughed incredulously. "You want to kill the Hokage and set up your student to take his place! That's ballsy even for you, Copycat. You're so luck you have me to help. On that note, I've already sent a clone off to set some things in motion in Konoha. Do you have any names?"
"Tenzo, almost anyone from the Nara clan, and Kahori Takimoto to start. Tenzo is in ANBU and Kahori runs a surprising amount of the administration in the Hokage building. The Nara clan are analytical." Kakashi frowned in thought. "Also Iruka Umino, Naruto's old Academy teacher. I don't know how much use that position will be, but according to Naruto he's trustworthy; I'm inclined to believe it."
"Alright - " There was a small explosion from Naruto's vicinity, followed by a shout. Jiraiya sighed. "I'll go check on him."
10th of April, 64 f.K.
" - another new person. I just got used to that pervert Jiraiya! Although he does know some pretty cool ninjutsu." Naruto admitted grudgingly. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei, how much farther to Sendai? Are we gonna get to walk around like last time? Sasuke's almost out of ninja wire and I need new sandals."
Kakashi turned his gaze to the heavens and begged, but no salvation came. "Naruto, I need you to shut up."
That brought the boy up short. He stopped walking and glanced around. "Enemies?" he murmured.
"No - " Kakashi stopped, head tilted. "Yes? Sasuke."
Sasuke's eyes flickered red and he scanned the forest around them. He started signing: Six enemy ninja, three left three right, moving away from us.
Kakashi's brow furrowed. Moving away? Then, he heard a familiar voice around a bend in the dirt road and coming closer.
They'd been hoping to ambush their target outside Sendai as she moved on from the city, so they were walking a leisurely pace along the road, in disguise as a country family again.
Forward, quickly. Kakashi signed, and they went on the move again. Naruto started yammering, keeping up his disguise as a chatty wife, and Sakura managed a few tense responses to him. They rounded the bend and found their target and her apprentice surrounded by four of the ninja Sasuke had warned them about. One of them was speaking to their target, too low to be heard.
Kakashi flung out his arms to protect his 'family', muttering for them to stay back. One of the enemy ninja flicked a glance at their group. "Move along; this isn't your business." He growled.
Kakashi nodded and made his voice shaky as he said: "You're blocking the road."
"Find another path," The same ninja growled. Kakashi saw their target make a rude gesture and turn away from the ninja she'd been talking to.
"Yeah, I don't think so." Kakashi said as the target punched the ninja who had tried to attack her from behind. For a moment the man who had been speaking to them was distracted between his teammates and Kakashi's uncharacteristic words, and the confusion cost him. Kakashi attacked.
"Keep the others off the girl!" Kakashi ordered his team as he closed with the other ninja, gesturing at their target's apprentice. Immediately he knew the man was jounin level, although his scratched Stone headband made him a rogue-nin.
Sakura and Naruto double-teamed another of the four visible ninja, with Naruto diving in for a fistfight while Sakura kept back. The jounin they faced focused on Sakura and tried to overpower Naruto long enough to get to her; he underestimated what a hassle Naruto would be. The boy summoned five clones and distracted the man long enough that Sakura could throw a kunai right through a shadow clone and into their enemy's shoulder.
The kunai landed in the trapezius muscle; a debilitating strike. The man grunted and fell to his knees, one hand coming up to the wound to put pressure. Naruto knocked him out and looked around.
Sasuke had split from them to take care of the two ninja hiding in the trees. He had flushed both out, but was now barely surviving the battle against both at the same time. Naruto's piercing whistle was all the warning Sasuke had, but it was all he needed; the boy tucked and rolled forward, coming up right in front of one of his opponents and leaving his back open to the other, face-to-face and with the Sharingan spinning wildly.
He went for the woman's legs with a sweep of his foot, but she jumped that and threw her own strike; Sasuke leaned back to avoid it. He gathered a small amount of chakra in his palms and struck them off each other in a motion reminiscent of dusting them off. Sparks flew from between his hands straight into the woman's eyes.
She flinched away violently, putting even more distance between them. Sasuke sped through the seals and released a fireball, which she just barely managed to dodge. He pulled out kunai and started throwing. She was fast enough to dodge all but one, but she was squarely on the defensive. Sasuke leaped forward to make it a taijutsu fight that he could end easily.
Naruto had engaged with the other ninja Sasuke had been facing, again teaming up with Sakura. Their opponent had a katana and wasn't shy of using it on the first wave of clones Naruto sent at him.
Naruto glanced at Sakura. "Keep him busy," he ordered as he summoned even more clones, which went at the man in waves. One stayed beside Naruto, whose hand was held down in a distinctive way.
She nodded grimly and jumped into the fray. She Henge'd into Naruto's visage and weaved around the enemy's katana, making close strikes with the two kunai in her hands. The man didn't seem to take notice of her as different from the dozen other Narutos he was facing at any given time.
Not long after, Naruto's clones cleared out of the way like the sea parting, allowing the real one to come sprinting right up to their enemy. His eyes went wide and then dull; Naruto had ducked under his wild swing of the blade and thrust the Rasengan through the man's heart.
Kakashi's opponent was unfortunately smart enough to dispel Kakashi's Henge at the first chance he got. The man took one look - mask, headband, silver hair - and tried to run. Kakashi yanked on the ninja wire he'd lassoed around the rogue-nin's ankle a few moments ago and brought him crashing down.
He rolled immediately and tried to regain his feet, but Kakashi's Chidori to his chest stopped that nonsense right away. Kakashi looked up to see his three genin handling the last two ninja efficiently, and then looked for the target: Princess Tsunade of Konoha.
She was tending to an unconscious ninja with a kunai sticking out of the back of his shoulder. She pulled out the kunai and looked up to throw it at Kakashi, slow enough for him to snatch it out of the air. "Your kids aren't very careful with their enemies." she commented.
"I didn't tell them not to kill." Kakashi shrugged, ambling closer to her.
"And I didn't say I needed Copycat Kakashi's help. What do you want?"
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura joined them then, skirting Tsunade and her apprentice nervously to stand next to Kakashi. Their teacher put his hands in his pockets and ventured, "We were hoping to enlist your help in killing Danzo Shimura."
30th of May, 64 f.K.
"You ever think you're not doing the right thing by them?"
Kakashi glanced up as he brushed his hands together and threw off a shower of sparks onto the tinder in front of him. The fire caught. As he fed it larger pieces, he asked, "What do you mean?"
Tsunade sighed and folded her arms, looking down at him from across the fire pit. Her head tilted. "You know what I mean. You say you took them out of Konoha because Danzo would take them and manipulate them to his own ends - so how is what you're doing any different?"
The new flames died out in front of Kakashi, that was how long he stared distantly at the ground in front of Tsunade's feet; thinking. The thoughts came to him slowly but clearly, ringing like bells right down to his core.
What she said was utterly true, but he wanted to deny it.
"I..." his voice faltered even at the beginning, as he followed the words and found they led to lies. Kakashi wasn't in the habit of telling himself lies. "It's..."
Tsunade snorted; she had been watching him, her derision growing. "You've never thought about it before? Shinobi, know thyself."
Kakashi bared his teeth in a snarl. Contempt, at least, he knew how to deal with. And Kakashi was in the habit of being cruel to himself. "It's not different in the way you want, I suppose." He shot a poisonous look up at the woman standing over him, and he stood too. "If you want to believe that I'm doing essentially the same thing as Danzo Shimura, then you may. But I think we both know this is different."
Tsunade nodded, a little thoughtful. Still she challenged, "How?"
I'm not changing them, Kakashi almost blurted. It would have been a lie. He had changed all his genin irrevocably. Naruto was calmer and more assured; Sasuke less unstable; Sakura more outspoken and definitely more powerful. And while Kakashi might call these changes for the better, someone somewhere would surely disagree.
I'm not hurting them, came next; but Kakashi had assuredly hurt his genin. He had to. They were soldiers first and foremost. Even early on, learning hand-signs in silence, he had silenced them violently. That was pain for the purpose of learning and manipulation, same as any Danzo might have inflicted.
I'm doing this for the village.
But then, that was the same reason the traitor in the Hokage's hat would give.
"It's not different." Kakashi said again. "Except where I feel it is. If that's not enough, if you can't feel the difference too, then leave. Now. And when we retake Konoha, don't ever come back. Clearly you won't belong there anyway."
Tsunade huffed and rolled her eyes; she backed down. "I just wanted to know if you'd realized, Hatake. You might have done them a favor taking them out of that village, but you didn't save them. They're still shinobi, and shinobi always die."
Kakashi opened his mouth to answer her, but crashing in the branches to his left drew his attention that way. Naruto came rocketing out of the foliage, breathing heavily as though he had sprinted all the way from where he was traing with Jiraiya while Sasuke and Sakura had medic lessons with Shizune.
"Jiraiya... says... hunters... close on us... Leave now." Naruto panted, already moving around camp gathering their packs together. "He'll slow them down as much as he can without blowing cover."
Kakashi shot one last vicious glance at Tsunade and gave a piercingly loud bird-call: the hunting screech of a falcon. A little out of place in the forest, but it would get Sasuke and Sakura back to camp quickly.
"Did Jiraiya have any other information?" Kakashi demanded. He was nearly done destroying the fire pit.
Naruto answered, "He just said 'Go North'."
9th of June, 64 f.K.
North they had gone, fleeing with the sort of hard-won speed that had always kept them ahead of pursuers before. It was shinobi traveling at its pinnacle, covering distances that war strategists would salivate over. They disrupted normal sleep schedules in favor of stopping for half-hour naps every few hours. This made the days blur together endlessly, distorting all impression of time.
It felt as though it had been both two days and twenty when they stopped ten days later to restock. Kakashi looked at his students; all three were breathing deeply but not exhausted just yet. He looked back out over the barren land between the end of the Land of Lightning and the beginning of the Land of Snow, water lapping at the shore to his left.
With Lightning on the right side and the Land of Earth on the left, Dawn Lake was a massive body of water. Kakashi's team had skirted its edges on their flight. Dawn Lake's Northern bank belonged to the Land of Snow, a beautiful but mountainous region rather separated from the rest of the world. Lightning's famous mountain ridge continued out of its top border and grew both up and out into Snow.
It was perfect for hiding because no one in their right mind would attempt to survive in such a place.
They had stopped at the foot of the mountains, far from the rocky beach of the lake.
"We'll camp here for the night and then head into the Land of Snow." Kakashi stated as he dropped the pack off his back. He felt oddly light without it.
Sakura nodded once and collapsed to the ground. Naruto flicked his hand in a sign to request chakra usage; Kakashi nodded, so the boy made two clones who set about gathering flammable materials for a fire. Then Naruto clomped off himself to go hunting, feet heavy with weariness.
Sasuke watched him go. Normally the boy would push himself to keep up with his teammate's nearly endless energy, but he'd stopped doing it as much after finding out about the Nine-tails. Sasuke took his eyes off Naruto and carefully crouched down next to Sakura.
"Come on," he urged softly. "You know we have to stretch. We have to be able to move tomorrow."
The girl sighed and twisted her shoulders out of the pack straps. Sasuke dumped his as well; they went through the stretches together.
Kakashi went out to set up the perimeter traps and scout the area. He came back to the camp to find a small smokeless fire and a skinned animal already roasting over it. One creature that size didn't meet even two shinobi's dietary requirements, let alone four; but in this rather barren part of the world Kakashi couldn't hope for much better.
Kakashi took the second watch as usual; when Sasuke woke him, he stood to get his blood flowing again and nodded at the boy. Sasuke crawled into Kakashi's still-warm bedroll and was asleep within seconds.
The jounin stepped silently out of camp and found a secluded niche in the rock-face to watch from with his back protected.
The night was calm and nearly silent, but Kakashi didn't feel sleepy. Partly his training, and partly something nagging on the edge of his senses. It wasn't enough to wake his genin over.
The wind picked up, audible across the plain land as it pushed tiny pebbles and dust around. The wind, something about the wind...
Kakashi could hear it blowing, but he felt none of it touching himself.
"I do so love the wind now," the air spoke to him in a soft voice from his past.
Pale pink smoke swirled and gathered in front of Kakashi, who held himself very still. The smoke condensed into the form of a young woman in form-fitting white clothing, with flyaway brown hair and dark brown eyes underscored by those freckles he remembered so well.
"Yukimi," Kakashi breathed. Distantly he considered whistling to wake his genin, if only to have them make sure he wasn't hallucinating.
"Hello, Kakashi." She grinned so widely, so happily, and rushed forward to hug him. Kakashi held himself absolutely still until she let go. Finally she pulled back and regarded him with a more appraising eye. "I have news for you."
"Man, I wish Yukimi would have come with us." Naruto complained.
Danzo's agents may have been hot on their tail, but they would soon be looking in the exact wrong place. Kakashi's team wasn't heading for the Land of Snow; they were going to slide East along the Lightning-Snow border and eventually come down the opposite side of Lightning.
The problem was that it wasn't only Danzo hunting them.
"I hear things on the wind," Yukimi had explained. "When the winds blow right I can hear you - and I can hear those following you. There's two sets of them, Kakashi. What have you gotten yourself into now?"
Yukimi had loved his kids of course, and taken to Naruto straight away. But it had only been a few hours' meeting before they had to go: The team to run again, and Yukimi to return to her business in the Land of Snow.
Kakashi summoned Pakkun and explained the situation, ending with orders to track down Jiraiya and report this new information; if the man didn't already know, he would soon.
And then he could tell Kakashi just who else wanted his genin.
21st of June, 64 f.K.
Pakkun found them again at midday twelve days later, camping in a tiny valley in the Land of Lightning. It was an easy find near the end; Naruto and Sasuke were involved in one of their few no-holds-barred sparring sessions, and there was copious amounts of smoke, lightning, screaming, and explosions.
Kakashi still sort of regretted teaching Naruto how to make his clones explode.
When Pakkun showed up, Kakashi called an end to the bout and knelt down on one knee to receive the message; Pakkun relayed it word-for-word, as he'd been taught. The rest of Team Seven gathered around.
"Thanks for the tip-off, Hatake, this makes sense out of a lot of little things. I've been able to track down your second set; they're ninja from Hidden Sound, tasked by the Master of Sound to capture the last Uchiha and bring him back for human experimentation. The Master is, of course, our old friend Orochimaru."
Kakashi swore violently; this was all he needed. More pieces of his past coming back. At least, with Yukimi, not all of them were bad.
Pakkun's voice dropped his 'Jiraiya' inflection. "He gave me another message, but he said to give it to you in private." Pakkun's head tilted pointedly. "Without the genin."
Kakashi's eye flicked around to all three of them who had been watching Pakkun but were now looking at him. If he told them to, they would go.
"Just tell us." Kakashi ordered, fixing his eye back on the dog. Pakkun nodded.
"There's more, I don't think it would be beneficial for the kids to be worrying about it. Orochimaru is chasing Sasuke, but there's someone else hunting down the Jinchuuriki. They call themselves Akatsuki and they are all S-class ninja. I don't know what they want with the Tailed Beasts yet but it can't be good. Keep Naruto safe and run from anyone in a black cloak with red clouds.
"One last thing: I have an unconfirmed report that Itachi Uchiha is a member of Akatsuki."
Kakashi's head shot up; Sasuke's eyes were a murderous red.
15th of May, 65 f.K.
The village of Upriver was a new offshoot of the village called Downriver; they were separated by about twelve miles of hills and a river. The people of Upriver were made up of four extended families who had been feuding with the four families left in Downriver for the last hundred years.
The first thing Upriver had done upon establishment was build a dam for fishing, which was the first strike against Downriver. The second was the decreased flow of water making irrigation of crops even more difficult.
The third was that the dam was poorly made, and broke during the second spring's hard rains.
Downriver was devastated by the sudden flood and receiving no help from Upriver, who had replied by telling them they had a dam to repair. The Lord of the area, a distant and taxing figure, denied them aid. He cited bad yields and poor coffers, but in truth Downriver didn't produce enough for him to tax and so he didn't care about them.
Four days after that flood, two strangers came into town. They walked carefully around the half-ruined foundations of houses, picked their way through rubble and smashed wood, and finally stopped at the village leader's tent.
This was overheard: "When are you coming back?" the younger one asked. He had yellow hair, bright blue eyes, and whisker-marks on his cheeks.
The older man shrugged. "About a month. Stop worrying. Jiraiya can take care of Sakura and Tsunade can teach Sasuke more about debilitating the body than anyone."
"Yeah, but I don't understand why I'm here."
The man, who had strange silver hair that half-hid an eyepatch, reached out and ruffled the boy's hair. "Because I want you out of my way while I investigate some things. Besides, these people could use some help. You love helping people."
The boy ducked away from the hand in his hair. "Yeah, alright," he muttered.
"One more thing, kid," the man reached out and ruffled the other's blond hair, then yanked on it briefly as he pulled away. "Stop cutting this for a little while. I'll tell you later."
The younger man frowned in obvious confusion, but nodded. "Okay I guess. Get going, sensei. And don't be late!"
16th of June, 65 f.K.
Kakashi returned to Downriver a month later, more or less. If one were to ask Naruto, he would say 'more'.
"You're late!" He shouted at the figure walking down the newly cobbled main road of the village.
Kakashi just waved in lieu of answering, as though Naruto had shouted a greeting instead.
When Naruto's sensei got to the beginning of the cobbled road, he looked down in mock surprise and then back up at Naruto, raising the eyebrow not hidden by the black eyepatch.
Naruto grinned. "Did I do good, sensei?"
Kakashi looked around the village. There were freshly-built stone and wooden houses, most of them with two levels, a three-level inn, what appeared to be a public park, decorative stones lining the main road, and - most importantly - protections against another flood from the river.
Kakashi's head tilted to the side, almost an approving nod. "Well enough."
An older man in his forties approached Naruto from the doorway of the inn. He put one hand almost possessively on Naruto's shoulder and leaned in. "This is your teacher, Naruto?" he asked.
Naruto nodded, still smiling like an idiot. Kakashi approved!
Kakashi rocked forward and back on his feet, as though impatient. "I've come to collect him. We have work to do."
"Can I say goodbye to everyone first? It'll only take a second! We were all having a going-away breakfast feast." Naruto jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at the inn, where indeed many curious faces were poking out of the open-air windows and the doorway.
Kakashi nodded, and Naruto took off.
"He's a very special boy, that one." The village leader commented. The man was sizing Kakashi up.
"You are the village leader, correct?" Kakashi asked.
"Tadashi." The man stuck out his hand. "I was before and will be again, when this one leaves."
Naruto grinned, showing a lot of sharp canines. "Don't act like I didn't have to fight you tooth and nail for it."
Kakashi reassessed. There was an undercurrent of tension in Tadashi: a conflict that had been resolved but not forgotten. Perhaps Naruto's progress here hadn't been as easy as it seemed.
Naruto came out of the inn amongst calls to return someday. He rejoined Kakashi and they made a Western heading, although not for long. Out of sight, their direction changed.
Kakashi asked, "So how was it?"
Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Eh. I just showed up and started working. Made a bunch of clones every day - that really helped out, let me tell you. We must have deforested half the land to build that place up again. And the forest is gonna be cropland now. Dug them some better irrigation. Best thing I did was make them a better flood wall."
"And Tadashi?"
Naruto shrugged. "He didn't like that people started coming to me instead of him. We had some words about it - just words, they all knew that violence wouldn't get them anywhere. We made peace. How was your errand?"
Black cloaks with red cloud patterns had been spotted near all three of the villages that were now missing jinchuuriki.
"It was informative, but not fruitful. Pakkun is on his way to Jiraiya, Sakura, and Sasuke with the report."
Naruto jumped a little. "We're going to join them now, right?"
Kakashi nodded. "Oh, yes. I think it's time Team Seven got back together."
19th of November, 65 f.K.
The noon sun was fiercely hot when Kakashi signed for a lunch break at a traveler's rest spot in the Land of Earth. The rest station was little more than a lean-to maintained by forward-thinking travelers as they passed through, set back a little ways from a fork in the road.
They relaxed and ate in the shade, more comfortable here farther away from home and the hunters. Naruto, finishing first, took to idly poking Sasuke, who tried to outlast the annoyance but eventually gave in and started a kick-fight.
Kakashi cleared his throat pointedly only a few moments after Sakura was dragged into it. Their sensei was standing up, arms folded against his chest, one eyebrow raised judgmentally.
Sakura flushed, Sasuke pretended he didn't want to do the same, and Naruto just grinned and hopped to his feet. "Let's go!" he exclaimed, ready to get moving again.
"Come back here, Naruto. We're not leaving just yet."
Naruto heard something in Kakashi's voice; he quieted and came back to stand next to his teammates.
Kakashi took a deep breath and felt something in his chest flutter. He was used to being perfectly in control of himself, but this kind of elation would not be suppressed; he didn't want it to be.
"It's almost time to go home." Kakashi said. He took pleasure in the raw excitement he saw in his team's eyes. "I have to split from you here - you'll make your own way home. I won't tell you how. I trust that you can do this on your own. There are only a few more things to set up for our return, which Jiraiya and I will be taking care of. Your only instruction is to reach Konoha on the first day of the new year."
The goodbye wasn't tearful or heartbreaking; Kakashi purposefully hadn't cultivated that kind of relationship with his team. Naruto beamed and said, "See you later, then!" and Sasuke and Sakura both nodded. From the look in her eye, Kakashi estimated that Sakura was the only one who fully understood what was to come.
As their paths diverged and Kakashi walked away, he examined the structure of his team in his mind. It had been a long, hard road to bring them here. It was for the best that Sakura be the one to understand; she had the training from Jiraiya, the side-ways thought patterns and readiness for cunning, which could have been taught to Naruto and Sasuke as well. But Naruto couldn't know it because to do so would ruin part of what made him a great leader: that untouchable core of righteousness. And Sasuke couldn't know it, could never know it, because Kakashi feared that it would awaken things in him and open his eyes to shadows that weren't there.
Sasuke was the most fragile of them. Tied to his teammates with the strongest bonds Kakashi could find, and still the jounin saw futures where he cut ties and left. He was much less worried about this outcome knowing what he did of Naruto's character.
Naruto's possessiveness of people could very well have been a manifestation of the fox inside him; Jiraiya had told Kakashi of old legends about the Tailed Beasts who had once been Lords of the land. Regardless of the source, it made him a fierce and charismatic leader; people saw in Naruto a person who was worth following.
Yes, Kakashi's team had done well. Now it was up to Kakashi to bring them home safely - with or without him.
28th of December, 65 f.K.
"Hey, jerk," Naruto called as he tried his level best to drive a Rasengan through all three of Sasuke's Shadow Clones. "What do you think sensei has planned for the new year?"
"Shut up, retard!"
Sasuke jumped out of the ground behind Naruto, but didn't get his debilitating strike for two reasons: that Naruto was in fact a clone, and Sakura had just thrown a massive jet of boiling water at the both of them. Naruto burst; Sasuke swore loudly and switched himself out for a rock half his size.
Sakura tried to get out too, but more of Naruto swarmed her before she could move. They dog-piled and rolled her away from the ground, knowing that she had complete mastery of the jutsu that allowed her to move through the earth.
Sakura shrieked her outrage and flexed chakra off of her skin in all directions, breaking the chakra-sticky hold Naruto always used. She kicked away from the fray of him and sank into the welcoming earth. In the ground her senses were limited, but opened up a way of seeing with the vibrations of the earth. She knew it when Sasuke charged Naruto again, and poked her head up to see.
Naruto was throwing off chakra in waves as he sent wind blade after wind blade at Sasuke. Sasuke dodged all but two, and these left bleeding gashes on his forearms put up to protect his core. Naruto had his hands in a sign right before Sasuke punched him.
He dropped to one knee clutching his head, eyes rolling wildly. A fully powered punch to the head could crush a human's skull, but all three knew that such a blow only rattled Naruto for a few moments. Sasuke had banked on only needing those few moments.
He had been wrong.
Naruto's last skill went off as he went down, and the ground around himself and Sasuke burst into mist. Sasuke readied himself for Shadow Clones, perhaps even explosive ones - but that wasn't what he got. As he stared, dumbfounded, a small part of his brain muttered 'some things never change'.
"Oh, Saaaasukeeee," one of the nearly-naked women sighed, draping herself over him. Sasuke turned and looked her in the eye.
"You know, sometimes it worries me how often you do this to me." Sasuke informed him, and then flicked the clone into smoke. He had a half-second to watch the chakra combust, during which the small muttering part of his mind screamed 'exploding harem!' in a tone that was actually a little excited.
When one went, so did they all, filling the valley with smoke and small craters. Sasuke got low and curled up for cover; when the explosions finally abated, he opened his eyes and found himself face-to-face with Sakura's head coming out of the ground. She smiled grimly at him and pulled him by the hair, head-first into the ground with her.
Sasuke freed himself quickly and found Naruto and Sakura locked in a strange staring match. Naruto was aware that Sakura was trying to out-think him; Sakura was aware that it would take a much more twisted mind than hers to out-think Naruto Uzumaki.
Sasuke growled and whipped a blunted kunai at each of them, knocking them out of their heads and back into the fight. He leapt forward, sweeping one foot at Sakura's legs and not waiting around in range to fight her. He dove straight for Naruto instead.
For three solid minutes there were no jutsu flying, no weapons in play. It was pure taijutsu, a beautiful dance that could have been choreographed for how smoothly it happened.
Naruto caught Sasuke's wrist and twisted with it; Sakura capitalized on their tangle and struck at Naruto's throat. He leaned out of the way, pulling Sasuke with him. Sasuke's weight went entirely on one foot and he used the freed one to kick at Sakura's stomach. She dropped backwards onto her hands to avoid it, and kicked out with both feet at each of her teammates' knees. The whole knot of them collapsed into a wrestling match which tore up the grass and rapidly got all three covered in slippery mud.
The match wound down when Sakura fell off to the side nursing a cut where she'd taken a knee to the eyebrow. Sasuke, on top of Naruto, found himself kicked off over the blond's head. He would have gone sailing were it not for the death-grip he had on a fistful of filthy blond hair. He laid where he landed, winded, with one hand still stretched above his head to hold on to Naruto.
"Ow, you bastard, I thought we said hair was off-limits." Naruto complained good-naturedly, swatting at Sasuke's hand.
Sasuke got his breathing under control enough to say, "Fuck you, Sakura did it first." He let go, but put his other hand up to stretch out.
"Sakura! I expected better from you."
Sakura laid down as well, creating a three-point star between them with their heads at the center. "Well, you should know better. I take what advantage I can."
Naruto sighed happily and then asked, "So... the new year."
That was what they were calling their return on January first: the new year. It was a new beginning in many ways. Kakashi had muttered about symbolism, and Sakura had nodded wisely. Naruto had decided that as long as Sakura knew, he didn't have to understand as well.
"Sensei has it handled. He wouldn't bring us back before everything was ready." Sakura stated firmly. Her voice softened. "I do wish I knew what he was going to do, though."
Sasuke snorted. "We know what he's going to do."
Naruto groaned and flailed his hand above his head until it slapped against Sasuke. "Not this again."
"Yes, this," Sasuke insisted, throwing a shower of sparks off his hands and into where he estimated Naruto's face was. "He won't tell us because he knows we won't like it, and that we will dislike it so much we try to stop it. The only thing that fits is that he's going to sacrifice himself."
Sakura murmured, "He's going to take the blame. He's going to try to make them think he tricked us."
"It won't work!" Naruto exclaimed. "First, they aren't that stupid - they won't believe him! And even if they do - I'll - I'll say he's lying!"
Both Sasuke and Sakura hit him at the same time. Sasuke growled, "You utter idiot, that just gets us all killed."
Naruto muttered sullenly, "Well, 'm not just gonna let him die alone."
They were silent for a little while, watching the last rays of the sun vanish from the sky. When the moon was bright and the stars just starting to show through the dark blue, Sakura spoke.
"If we take what we know is true, and add it up, we can find out the unknowns. That's what sensei says."
"Kakashi wants to go back to Konoha just as badly as we do." Naruto volunteered immediately.
"He wants us to live." Sasuke added.
"He doesn't want to die." Sakura sighed, "Pretty sure, anyway."
"Nah. Sensei's been clinging to life too long to think about letting go." Naruto assured, in a tone of experience. Neither of the other two asked him how he could know it.
"So, I think..." Sakura trailed off, thinking of the words. "No matter what his plan is, it's going to be the best thing for everyone. We just have to trust that, whatever it looks like, sensei will succeed. We've seen him go up against impossible odds before."
Naruto flashed back to when they'd been beset in the middle of their day-sleeping by twelve ninja from two different villages, and Kakashi had seemed to be everywhere at once keeping his genin safe. Sasuke remembered the mission Jiraiya had given them, to break into the house of a minor Fire Country noble and steal some documents. Kakashi had told them to make their way to the office, and not to worry about the twenty-man night guard. The three of them hadn't encountered a single guard, nor heard a sound from them.
But Sakura was looking at the two of them, lost in their memories, and she was thinking of how such a volatile team had come together perfectly.
"Probably has something to do with that cool coat he put at the bottom of my pack." Naruto commented. He dragged his hands through his hair, which was much longer than he preferred to keep it. "Don't know how, though. Just had a note telling me to wear it to the new year. Hey, maybe it's a special coat! Like armor!"
Sakura sighed, but it was Sasuke who replied, "That's not what it's for, dumbass." and proceeded to remind Naruto what they had decided the coat was for. Naruto still thought their idea was dumber, and much less awesome, than his own.