Asuma tensed when he saw the three people on the path. "Kakashi, it's them." He whispered.
"Who are you?" one of the men, a blue haired shinobi who yielded a large sword, said.
"Us? Well we are just traveling home from a mission. Me and uh…Obito here." Kakashi lied, making up a name for Asuma.
The red haired girl with glasses stepped forward."You, with the mask, you look familiar. What is your name? "
"My name is Kakashi Hatake." He answered calmly.
She stepped back. "No wonder I recognized you. You're the legendary copy ninja."
"Yep, that's me. Now will you let me and my friend pass by? We shouldn't be late." He smiled at the girl.
Asuma almost smiled. Was Kakashi really saying that they shouldn't be late?
The two other shinobi stepped up to the red haired girl, who smiled back. "I don't think so."
Someone came crashing out of the trees above. The light brown haired ninja, who just a moment before had been standing right in front of Kakashi, now came crashing out of the tree holding Haru, Yuki, and Sasuke. He dropped Sasuke and Yuki to the floor with a thud, but held on to a struggling Haru.
"Look at what I found!" the man said.
"Sensei, I'm sorry, he was just so quick!" Haru yelled, struggling against the man.
"Haru, calm down. It's alright. Stop wasting your energy." Kakashi said calmly, to which she stopped, putting her head down.
"Sasuke!!" the red head yelled, running over to him. The shinobi with the sword rolled his eyes and walked over to the man holding Haru.
"Well, I see that the ladies still love him." Kakashi commented to himself.
"This girl; she must be the little girl Sasuke was talking about. There's no mistaking it." The man with the sword said, examining Haru.
"Don't touch me!" she screamed, biting and kicking at him.
"Suigetsu, I think you're right." The red haired girl said, getting up from Sasuke, while Suigetsu walked over and kicked Yuki over. Kakashi, Asuma, and Haru flinched.
"They are hurt. Sasuke must have made it hard for them to capture him. Actually, I'm surprised they did; aren't you," he examined Yuki more closely. "Karin, look at this! This blonde kid is one of those brats that killed the rest of our group." He looked at Asuma, still disguised as his namesake. "You, Obito, do you know where the other boy is? Is he dead?"
Asuma stared at the man. "Why did have to ask me that! This jutsu's not going to hold for much longer anyway… what a drag". Then he put his head down and transformed back into himself.
"Asuma! What the hell!?" Haru yelled.
"If I would have kept that up any longer I probably would have passed out!" he yelled back, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Hmph. I knew it." Karin muttered as Suigetsu glared.
"You know what I think? Instead of killing all of them right now we should kill the brats and take this one with us." Suigetsu said, referring to Kakashi, who balled his hands into fists. "I'm sure he knows some valuable secrets about the leaf village."
"Over my dead body! I won't let you hurt them!" Kakashi yelled, lunging at the man with a knife.
The man ran up and kneed Kakashi right where he had gotten stabbed earlier. The masked ninja dropped to his knees, coughing up blood. Asuma ran over to Yuki, kneeling by him.
"Kill the brats Juugo!" Suigetsu yelled.
"Wait!" Kakashi yelled; his voice hoarse. "Don't kill them. Let them be free and I will, without a fight, go with you. Our mission had failed already. I cannot let my comrades be killed."
"Sensei, what are you thinking! We-"Haru yelled, only to be cut off.
"Shit, Haru, don't make this harder than this already is." His dark eyes bore into hers. They looked so defeated that a stray tear fell down her cheek.
"Kakashi sensei…" Asuma and Haru whispered to themselves.
"Haru, Asuma, now listen to me. Get back to the village as quickly as you can. Tell the Hokage everything that has happened and get yourselves checked out at the hospital. Do NOT follow us or we all may be killed. Got it?" the two nodded.
The man let Haru go and she stood for a minute, her eyes locked with Kakashi's. "Haru, come on!" Asuma yelled, picking Yuki up.
"I promise we will get you back sensei." Haru said under her breath as her and Asuma jumped out of sight.