Hello again. I had really, really wanted to get this chapter out much sooner but real life went from irritatingly busy to crazy manic. A huge thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story as well as all those who have faved/alerted it. Here's another chapter, usual disclaimers apply.


Chapter 8 - Fly To Others That We Know Not Of

Suppressing his chakra to virtually nothing and standing beside the unconscious Mogera inside the Iwa office room, Iruka listened intently as his clone, bearing a random scroll he'd picked up from the desk and enveloped in the Konoha scroll's distinctive paper wrapper, was frogmarched down the corridor by Kemono.

He had to wait. He knew all too well that Kemono would be suspicious of the clone but had fortunately been distracted by the fake scroll. Iruka knew that the Iwa leader's chakra perception was unrivalled and so he had allocated as much of his own chakra to the clone as he could afford to spare in order to achieve the deception. It meant that he was already feeling the effects of depleted chakra but it was better to use a clone to get Kemono out of the way. He was, quite literally, Iruka's biggest threat. If it came to a fight the Leaf chuunin's taijutsu was good enough that he could take on pretty much any of the Iwa weasels. They weren't that skilled and they had a tendency to rely on Kemono's astonishing power before leaping in and torturing or killing defenceless opponents. They were pretty cowardly if they had to actually engage in combat with a shinobi of any competence at all.

The wait was agonisingly slow, but he had to be patient. He was also concerned that Mogera might wake up at any time. The codebreaker was a bureaucrat and wouldn't present a challenge if they had to fight, but the cipher expert could shout and raise the alarm if Iruka didn't keep a close eye on him. He didn't present a particular threat but the chuunin decided to tie him up and gag him anyway.

Then Iruka examined the real Konoha scroll. He needed to return it to the Hokage and knew that he couldn't simply destroy it, otherwise there would always be suspicion hanging over him and no possible way to clear his name, but was now very aware that Iwa did indeed have cipher experts – and not just Mogera - who could make a reasonable attempt at translating it. He decided to modify it. That way, even if it fell into anyone else's hands and they figured out the key, the contents would be far more difficult to decipher. Iruka and Iruka alone would be able to provide the critical information.

First of all he unrolled it fully, then deliberately creased the scroll in several places. The delicate parchment crinkled as he did so. This immediately rendered some the characters far more difficult to read. Then he scratched at the paper randomly, but very gently. His plan was to make the scroll appear worn and aged. To add ambiguity to the plethora of characters printed across the document. Finally he decided that he needed to modify some of the kanji. He scratched away at some characters, shortening some lines here, deleting a few strokes there, smudging others, all with the aim of altering the meaning of just a few arbitrary words. He was very careful to memorise his modifications. Now he felt more confident that even if he couldn't get the scroll out, it would be significantly more difficult to translate with any degree of accuracy. It could buy him some time…

As the gloomy afternoon turned into dusk and dusk into darkness, Iruka peered out into the corridor. He felt reasonably certain that no one had passed by the office. The building was deserted now. He snuck out of the room as stealthily as possible and assessed the best escape route. He would be better off trying to find a back door and escaping into an alley rather than to emerge into the main street below.

As he tiptoed down the stairs, a strange feeling of déjà vu suddenly washed over him. He felt slightly nauseous.

Suddenly his consciousness was engulfed by what seemed to be a hallucination. He was being marched down one of the Iwa town's filthy streets, pushed around by a bunch of loud and raucous brutes, shoving him forwards. With each step increasing numbers of people – shinobi and civilians - surrounded him. It felt crowded, claustrophobic, distorted, disorienting and dangerous.

His vision appeared to be twisted and warped, blurring in and out of focus, as he recognised various Iwa shinobi moving in and out of his line of sight. Each of them had mean expressions and they were all shouting angry insults at him.

He recognised Okojo approaching him quickly and looking particularly malicious. He was clearly angry at having fallen for the Leaf ninja's deception so fully. He punched at Iruka, his solid fist making firm contact with the chuunin's jaw. That punch was to be his undoing.

The last thing Iruka saw in this vision was a look of astonishment and then understanding on Kemono's face as a clarity of detection passed across his countenance, like a veil of deceit being pulled away.

Iruka shook his head and blinked twice. He realised immediately what had happened. The Iwa had discovered that they had captured his clone. Okojo had inadvertently dispersed it by hitting it hard. The chuunin shivered as the clone's memories transferred into his consciousness.

He had to move fast now. They had cottoned on to his plan. It was clear that a great number of Iwa ninja were now fully aware that he had hoodwinked them. Kemono, in particular, was likely to be thoroughly pissed. Not only was he a wanted man, he was about to be hunted by pretty much everyone in that village. They would show him absolutely no mercy at all if they caught him.


Sarutobi was troubled. He had sent Kakashi off on a simple assassination mission several days ago and the ANBU had not yet returned.

It wasn't unreasonable that his Black Ops shinobi was not home. It was a long journey and the Third Hokage was fully aware that many ninja had encountered significant troubles when carrying out missions in that part of the world recently, so it was perfectly possible that his ANBU may have come across difficulties.

But it was unlike Kakashi to be anything other than meticulous when it came to carrying out his assignments. At his slowest pace, the journey would have been three days there, one day to locate and terminate the target, then three days back.

So maybe this length of time wasn't long enough. But the Third knew that Kakashi usually exceeded expectations and was capable of making the journey at a much, much quicker pace.

The Hokage was having one of his fretting days. He hated days like this. No one in Konoha, let alone the wider shinobi world, knew that he had these, not even the council, but he was feeling truly awful and was worrying about everything.

As he looked over his village from his office window he observed the panorama of Konoha – the hidden leaf village he had sworn to lead and to protect – before him.

Sarutobi had a secret ritual that he engaged in while he was contemplating. It helped him work through the issues that were troubling him. He carefully pulled back a rug that covered the flooring in front of the large glass window, rolling it up neatly and placing it to one side. The carpet beneath was so worn it was virtually threadbare and the rug had been strategically positioned to conceal the dilapidated fabric. It was that particular patch of the flooring that the Third used to pace up and down, walking backwards and forwards across that carpet, watching over his village, as he considered recent events and decided upon the best way to deal with them. It was his way of handling the responsibility of his position. On a really bad day he had been known to walk for miles.

He had just lost Rin, one of his finest kunoichi who also ranked amongst Konoha's top medics since Tsunade had left the village. She had been an asset to Konoha and would be greatly missed. He felt deeply for Kakashi, her best friend and comrade, on losing her. He knew very well how close they had been and that the ANBU was now the sole survivor from Team Minato. That made the Hokage very sad. He was proud of Kakashi, proud of his ability to stick to the Shinobi Code and to remain stoic despite his undoubted inner grief.

Sarutobi was also feeling terribly upset about Iruka. It was a fundamental part of his job to have to make the most awful decisions but the Shinobi Code had been drawn up for a reason. Each and every ninja who signed up to serve Konoha knew the rules. They were very simple and very clear: if you defected, you would die.

But the Third had truly liked Iruka. He had had so many plans for the chuunin. For a young man to have apparently turned his life around so well and then disgraced himself, was almost too much for the Hokage to bear. Iruka really had endured. The childhood depression he had suffered after losing his parents in the Nine Tails' attack had transformed him into the most irritating kid in Konoha. But despite all the exasperating pranks – and there were many, many pranks which were very, very exasperating – the Hokage had been convinced that, deep down, Iruka had had a good heart. He had seen both courage and determination in the young ninja's approach to his missions. He was never going to be the greatest shinobi in the village, but the Hokage had considered him to be loyal and dedicated. And he had had such a good idea about where his true talents might lie.

Which was why he was so disappointed with the turn of events and how badly the chuunin's first mission as leader had gone.

And so Sarutobi had had to assign an ANBU to kill him. Those were the rules. They were enshrined within the Shinobi Code.

But it didn't make the Hokage feel any better.

Sarutobi needed Kakashi to return and to have completed his assignment with ease. He could mourn the death of a young ninja who he cared for deeply and who he felt had had so much potential. And then he could move on.

He lit his pipe and puffed thoughtfully as he gazed over Konoha from his office and walked up and down that worn out old piece of carpet.

The Uchiha situation was coming to a head as well. He had another council meeting coming up soon with Homura, Koharu and Danzou all vying for action. The Hokage was desperately hoping that diplomacy would win the day. Still, he was due to visit the pre-genin at the Academy later that afternoon. That always cheered him up. Minato's son had started his training proper and the Hokage was keen to find out how he was getting on. He was very aware that the young kid was likely to be ostracised but trusted that, if he was anything at all like his father, he'd have more than enough spirit to get through it.

That the Hokage could give as much contemplation time to individual shinobi as well as wider political matters was testament to his worthiness of the title. He was a good man and he cared deeply for his village and all those who served it.

But Sarutobi just couldn't get shed his worries about Earth country from his mind. He wondered whether he should perhaps send more shinobi into Iwa to check the situation there.


Kakashi was bored. He'd finished the chapter of Icha Icha Paradise, been for a run, found some more food and, and… just didn't have anything else to do.

He knew that he was recovering from his chakra drain and poisoning by resting, but he hated waiting. Really hated waiting.

He was also feeling uneasy. He was very worried about Iruka. He didn't trust the Iwa ninja at all. He was pretty impressed that the chuunin had managed to deceive them for as long as he had, but he was sure that they would see through the façade before long.

He had no reason to doubt his comrade's abilities, but was worried that his judgement had been naive. But he felt that it was only fair to give Iruka a chance to resolve matters his own way.

Then Kakashi had a thought. Why should the chuunin have to return to meet him at the beach? Why couldn't the ANBU locate Iruka at the Iwa village and meet up with him after he'd retrieved the scroll? Then they could both return to Konoha together. He could go to the village slightly earlier and pick up a few supplies – maybe some food, meds, general supplies – for the journey home?

And while he was there, he could just check in to see how Iruka was doing. He didn't want to interfere – at this stage – but surely it wouldn't do any harm to be around.

Just in case…

And so Kakashi packed up their belongings, cleaned up inside the cave – leaving any food in storage, just in case they needed to return there if, say, Iruka had been injured - and started to walk to the Iwa village. No point in running, if Iruka believed he could sort out the situation without intervention, Kakashi had no reason to doubt him. He needed to get to Iruka only if the chuunin was in trouble. But the ANBU was worried about the younger man. He feared that his inexperience might lead him into trouble.

Then he decided that it would be just as easy to run to the village, he could view it as a training exercise. It would take him no more than a couple of hours to get there. An hour and a half tops, if he really pushed himself.

Was he worrying about Iruka too much?

Or was he feeling anxious to see him again? The thought of reuniting with the chuunin was a very pleasant one. He really liked Iruka, liked his company, liked his smile, liked everything about him.

He arrived at the village and immediately headed to the lower class district, in the underbelly of the town, dark, dank and dangerous. But his first thought was that of practicality.

If Iruka had managed to retrieve the scroll they would probably have a three or four day journey to get back to Konoha. They had been surviving on foraged food, which was nutritious enough, but provisions to give them energy and stamina would be useful, especially if Iruka had been wounded in any way. As was standard Konoha practice, Kakashi had been given a small sum of Iwa currency by the Hokage when he embarked upon the mission. His first task was to stock up on food. He visited a grocery store and picked up iron rations - instant noodles, dried meats, sugar, salt and fruit. And a treat. Or two.

Energy. That was what they both needed.

Kakashi then made a point of visiting a general store that was able to sell him a couple of sleeping mats. Both he and Iruka had lost their standard issue bedding during their escape from the village a few days ago and the rocks they had been sleeping on in the cave were hard and unyielding and did not make for a very pleasant night's rest. Similarly, the journey home was likely to be rocky and rough. Kakashi also thought that candles might be a good idea and, even though enough of his chakra had returned so that he could start fires again, matches would always be useful. Finally he purchased some medical supplies to replenish the med-kit Rin had given him. Just simple dressings and bandages.

That had taken no time at all. Now all he had to do was find his comrade.


A siren rang out for ten seconds, echoing around the streets of the village, the piercing ear-splitting sound bouncing off the tall, tall buildings. At that cue the village fell practically silent. It was obviously a planned drill and one that all Iwa shinobi and civilians obeyed without question. Kemono and his gang clearly had a huge influence on the running of this village and a tremendous amount of power.

The atmosphere suddenly felt odd. As though the town was naked and laid bare. As though there was virtually no chakra left in the town.

There wasn't.

Surrounded by an apparent air of nothingness, the first thing Iruka did was to mask his own chakra as well. It made sense as the obvious thing to do to avoid detection. He hadn't realised how accustomed he was to sensing other shinobi around him. It was almost an subconscious thing – he was aware of the presence of chakra whenever he was in a shinobi town – it was impossible to distinguish individual ninja unless you were in close proximity, but it pervaded the area and was omnipresent.

Kemono guessed, correctly, that the real Iruka would have decided to wait in the office until nightfall, so he headed back in that general direction. He was impressed that the Konoha ninja had managed to deceive him. There weren't many shinobi who got the better of the most powerful ninja in Iwa, even temporarily. Kemono realised that he had been so focussed on the scroll that he had not noticed the clone's depleted chakra. But Kemono was confident that he would capture the rogue soon. And then he would torture him and kill him.

The Leaf chuunin had managed to find a back door to the office building and had broken its lock in order to get through it and make his escape. But an unfamiliar town cloaked in darkness was confusing and disorienting. The alleyways were a criss-cross of winding, twisting passages and the buildings that surrounded them towered above him so high that it was almost impossible to get his bearings, despite his generally good sense of direction.

If he had escaped during the day he would at least have had the sun to help him determine his position and the best exit route. But the daylight would have exposed him to the entire village.

And now the collaborative silence of the Iwa darkness was going to be his downfall.

Not only was Kemono skilled at draining chakra, he was also an expert in chakra detection. He had another ocular technique that he could employ on such occasions. Instead of sparkling, the normally obsidian eyes would radiate a flickering silvery-grey mist.

The mist could detect specific chakra signatures from enemies. It helped if the local shinobi were able to mask their own energies so that the search process was unobstructed, but it didn't really matter. Kemono had known Iruka long enough to have identified and recorded his unique chakra signature and had already stored it within his memory.

The mist wafted through the town, its insidious tendrils seeking its Konoha target, leading Kemono and his gang to Iruka's location. The chuunin was doomed, he really didn't have a chance.

The Iwa ninja strode towards the office building as a pack, with individual shinobi breaking off at Kemono's command to block all the alleyways surrounding the area as he closed in upon his target.

They were getting close.

"Come out, come out, little Leaf chuunin," Kemono hissed, his sinister voice breaking the silence. "I know where you are now. I'm coming to get you."

Iruka had to run. But the town was dark and he was unfamiliar with the district where he had been taken. Kemono could sense him, despite his best efforts to hide his presence.

Every alleyway he turned down he encountered Iwa shinobi and had to turn back.

The net was closing in. He was trapped. There was no escape.


Having made his essential purchases Kakashi headed towards the bar where he had first found Iruka. He was determined not to interfere unless absolutely necessary, but was increasingly worried about the chuunin's safety. He had noticed that the atmosphere in the village had changed, which only added to his concerns. There seemed to be an unusually low level of chakra presence. For a shinobi town, it was most odd. The ANBU immediately masked his own chakra.

When he arrived at the bar, he didn't enter the room, but positioned himself underneath the bay window where the Iwa gang had been sitting with Iruka when he had first encountered them. The window was open slightly and, if he strained his ears, he could hear the muffled murmurings of their inane conversation.

He sat outside, underneath the window, tuning in to their chattering. It all seemed innocuous enough. Kakashi desperately wanted revenge for what had happened to Rin. He would quite happily have walked into the bar and assassinated them all. He would have slit each of their throats. Or locked the door of the bar and set the whole place on fire. He could have done it too.

But he restrained himself. He wasn't sure about how Iruka was faring and he needed to know that he was safe. As much as Kakashi wanted to avenge the death of his best friend, he needed to be calm, be professional and, above all, he had to ensure that the same fate didn't befall his new comrade.

As he sat beneath the window, he noticed that suddenly the pervading background chakra presence within the town had returned. Some Iwa shinobi hurtled down the road towards the bar. Kakashi immediately cast a genjutsu to hide his presence from them and pricked up his ears to listen in on what was going on.

"Oi, you lot. Kemono's found the real Iruka and busted him. Says he's a spy and we can't trust him. Kemono's going to kill him. D'ya wanna come along?"

Kakashi's heart sank. As he had feared, the worst had happened. He was impressed at how long Iruka had managed to deceive the gang but was now extremely concerned for his safety. That Kemono character was so powerful – everyone knew the old cliché about 'if looks could kill...' - but the Iwa brute really could kill anyone with those deadly sparkling eyes.

If only the chuunin had discussed his plans with the ANBU. They could have come up with something together, worked as a team. Kakashi would have felt completely comfortable working with Iruka, he was clearly competent and trustworthy. But he was trying to take on one of the most powerful ninja in the shinobi world. Alone.

Now Kakashi had to think. As the Iwa gang charged out of the pub, whooping and yelling, the ANBU, clad in his skintight shinobi standard issue gear trailed them silently. Like a cat, sleek and silent, the perfect predator, stalking its prey. They were completely unaware of his presence.

Kakashi realised that the ninja were about to enter an old building in the centre of the town. Rather than follow them in, he decided to scale the outside wall of the structure, using his amazing chakra control to allow his hands and feet to grip to the surface. His hearing was excellent and he was able to follow the sounds of the Earth shinobi as they climbed the stairs towards an attic room in search of the Konoha chuunin they intended to kill. Kakashi noticed that the tiny windows were in typical Iwa style –, too small for a human to enter through – and dusty.

Kakashi climbed the external wall silently until he reached one of the highest floors of the building. He could hear raucous noises coming from the attic room within. When he reached the window he peered inside, trying to detect what was happening. He had to brush away some of the dust from the pane as discreetly as he could, in order to get a glimpse of what was going on inside.

Having climbed the wall using chakra he instantly masked his energy and perched on a ledge beside the window because he needed to remain inconspicuous and had no idea quite how proficient the leader's chakra perception was.

Kakashi's heart sank as he saw the slumped figure of Iruka drooping against the far wall. The chuunin was clearly exhausted and had had his chakra partially drained by Kemono. He wasn't tied up or bound in any way. He was conscious and appeared defiant, although Kakashi could tell by his demeanour that he was probably very scared.

On the other side of the room the gang were laughing and joking together. Each were in the process of selecting weapons. Kemono stood apart from his team, holding what appeared to be a bunch of discs in his hand, looking on as they picked up a selection of kunai and shuriken. He then beckoned them all over and each drew a numbered disc from his hand. They were clearly determining the order in which they were to attempt to kill Iruka.

This was potentially going to be torture. Long, protracted and incredibly painful.

Eventually the louts had determined the order of play. They lined up behind a mark scratched onto the floor. It was clear to Kakashi that each of the ninja would throw a weapon at their Konoha target. Iruka was obviously alert enough to try and avoid the missiles but, with his chakra depleted, his movements were likely to be slow. If he wasn't hit with a lethal blow, he might well be injured and the next ninja would be able to take their chances at killing their enemy. This could take some time.

The first Iwa ninja to take aim was Kudagitsune. He was one of the ninja Iruka had taken out before he was captured by the team. As the other shinobi jeered and goaded Iruka, he stepped up to his mark and took aim. He hurled a kunai straight at the chuunin's head. Iruka's movements were sluggish, but he managed to duck and avoid the knife making contact with him. It hit the wall behind him and clattered to the floor, landing with a metallic thud.

The other ninja punched Kudagitsune and laughed at him, berating him for missing what appeared to be an easy target.

Another shinobi stepped up to the mark. It was Okojo. He has a nasty sneer on his face.

Shoom! Another kunai was thrown. Iruka threw himself to the floor with all his might, landing with a crash and narrowly avoiding getting hit once again. One of the Iwa shinobi walked to him and picked him up roughly so that he was back on his knees and awaiting the next attempt on his life.

Kakashi observed events through the dusty window. He needed to find a way to rescue the chuunin. But the windows were far too small to climb through and there was no way he could enter the building without attracting attention, immediately putting himself into grave danger as soon as Kemono detected his presence. Kemono was a slow mover, but he had never needed to learn rapid techniques – he had a powerful bloodline limit and could disable or even kill his enemies from long range. A formidable foe.

Kakashi assessed the situation. Iruka was doing really well, but was very obviously exhausted. His movements were sluggish and reflected his desperation to avoid being killed by the plethora of objects being hurled at him. He was looking dishevelled and desperate. His hair had come loose from his ponytail. Kakashi was fairly sure that he wasn't going be able to avoid the missiles for much longer.

Another couple of Iwa shinobi took aim at Iruka. He avoided their shuriken – just. At the rate they were going, unless any of them could strike a killer blow, his death would be protracted and painful. The Iwa ninja were sadists, it was as though they were enjoying a protracted torture process.

The ANBU looked around the room through the dirty window. Then he noticed a skylight on the roof. It would be just big enough for him to get through. If he was quick, he might be able to avoid Kemono's deadly eyes. If only he had more chakra reserves, this rescue would be so much easier.

As Nezu stepped up to the mark, wielding a kunai, Kakashi climbed silently to the roof of the building and peered through the skylight.

As the kunai was thrown, Kakashi could tell that Iruka wasn't going to be able to avoid this one. He was doing his best but was just too tired by now. The ANBU had to act immediately.

He smashed through the glass of the skylight in the ceiling, then teleported immediately to Iruka's location, materialising directly in front of the chuunin.

As he appeared in front of Iruka, Nezu's kunai hit his shoulder blade and he winced with the pain. The ANBU had taken another knife in the back for his comrade.

Kakashi reached around and removed the kunai as quickly as he could, hoping amongst hope that it wasn't poisoned. Then he turned swiftly to assess how Kemono, looking on from the sidelines, was reacting.

The Iwa leader's eyes were already sparkling and Kakashi could feel that his precious chakra was beginning to drain away…