"So…this is our elite shinobi leader? He looks completely worthless."
~ Uchiha Sasuke

Kakashi despised paperwork. Yet here he was, shifting through mission reports, formal complaints, medical documents, and more. When his thumb slid along the edge of an assessment form, leaving a stinging, bloodless cut behind, he tried to remember why he was even doing this in the first place.

Oh yes.

Because Pakkun likes Iruka. He couldn't let his nindog down. That, and Tsunade had agreed to excuse him from helping in the Academy in order to give him time to research and organize a defense.

Speaking of Pakkun…

Kakashi bit his thumb hard over the irritating paper cut and used the blood to summoned his nindog. "Make yourself useful and read some of this for me." The copy nin drawled, pushing forward a pile of folders.

The pug made a face at the mounds of paperwork scattered over the kitchen table. "I'm not your secretary."

"But this is important," Kakashi said, jabbing his finger toward the dog for emphasis. "They're going to execute Iruka if we don't find something useful in very little time."

Pakkun sat down on his hind legs, grumbling to himself. "Iruka…Iruka…You mean the guy that smells like chalk and parchment?"

"With just a hint of tea leaves," Kakashi agreed.

"Oh." The dog frowned. "Well, I guess we can't let him die." He approached the closest stack of papers. "So what am I looking for, exactly?"

"I'm not sure," Kakashi shrugged. "But if you find something interesting, let me know."

"Iruka's doomed." Pakkun groaned.

"Kakashi's your defense attorney now?"

Anko burst out laughing, clinging to the bars of Iruka's cell to prevent her from falling to the floor. "You are so screwed!"

Iruka felt the muscle by his eye twitch and instantly regretted opening his mouth at all when the kunoichi wheedled him for information. Visitors were very restricted now that the trial was underway. This had not deterred Anko, who was part of the Torture and Interrogation staff, and managed to secure a position guarding him. Anko thought must think that guarding included tacit permission to endlessly pester said prisoner.

"Why in the world would Kakashi agree to that?" Anko chuckled gleefully, unperturbed by the chunin's growing irritation.

"Give me a second while I perform my mind-reading-jutsu." Iruka snapped. The question was one the sensei had been wondering himself. He'd failed rather spectacularly in his defense, too tied up in his own emotions and grief to prevent Kanaria from dominating the situation, and there was no question in his mind that he'd been on the path to execution. It surprised him that Kakashi cared enough to try to do something about it.

"Do you at least have your will up-to-date?" the chatty kunoichi asked, all practicality.

"As a matter of fact, I do," Iruka replied. "And no, you're not getting anything."

"Iruuukaaa," Anko whined. "Why not? You know I've had my eyes on that engraved kunai set! And I wouldn't mind having your china either. Mine are all chipped and I'll have to replace them soon."

The chunin couldn't help but smile grudgingly. Anko was only trying to cheer him up, in her morbid, sociopathic sort of way. "I don't understand why you're so sure of my destruction, Anko. They don't call Kakashi a genius for nothing."

The second part of the trial was underway, and the atmosphere was tense in the restricted access courtroom. All eyes were on the Copy Nin, once Tsunade gave him leave to speak.

Kakashi rose languidly and arranged several forms into separate stacks, categorized in a yet unknown way.

Finally, he turned and gravely faced the Sand-Leaf Council, who were now waiting with bated breath for his introduction. Still, the jounin took his time, letting his half lidded yet intense eye roam over each Councilor in turn.

He drew in a breath.

"After painstaking research, and numerous papercuts," Kakashi began, waving a bandaged hand over to the table "I was able to compile every complaint form that was ever filed against Umino Iruka. It became undeniably obvious that Umino was, indeed, a loudmouth demon-brat of a genin."

Everyone blinked in surprise, shooting puzzled glances at one another.

"I don't see how this helps me, Kakashi." Iruka hissed under his breath.

"But," Kakashi continued, ignoring the sensei's comment. "He did not, as Kanaria claimed, discriminate against Sand. These forms are separated by country of origin for the source of the complaint." Kakashi ticked off the country names one by one as he pointed to each stack. "Fire, River, Tea, Grass, Wind…He was obnoxious to all his clients, every one, whether from Konoha or abroad. So any argument based on discrimination is clearly false."

Kanaria was unruffled. "Perhaps, but you've just proved my point about Umino's unquenchable thirst for deviant and malicious behaviour."

"I know it's difficult, but please wait your turn, Kanaria. Then you might be able to keep from sticking your foot in your mouth." Kakashi responded without missing a beat. "I'd like to point out a rather interesting fact about every complaint ever made based on Umino's immature behavior. They begin at age eleven, when he first became a genin, and continue until well into his thirteenth year."

Kakashi pulling out a few sheets of old mission reports, "A month before his fourteenth birthday, Umino lost his entire genin squad, included his jounin sensei, whose body had to be brought back to Konoha in a bucket. Reports from the other teams on this joint mission are all clear that these losses were in no way Iruka's fault. After this incident, for the remainder of his shinobi career, there is never again a complaint based on rudeness to a client or immature behavior. Unless Kanaria would like to prove me wrong."

He looked over at red haired kunoichi, his visible eye curved to suggest he was smiling. She did not comment.

"And thus ended Iruka's…what did you call it?... 'unquenchable thirst for deviant behavior.' More commonly known as childhood."

You could see the effect among those in the room, as Kanaria's misrepresentation of the facts became apparent. It was a good opening, Iruka considered, since the revelation of one deceitful argument made all her other statements suspect as well.

The Copy Nin crossed his arms, and seemed to be deep in thought while he recalled what other points had been made last hearing. "Kanaria also spent a fair amount of time trying to convince us that Umino is willing to indiscriminately kill both allies and innocents in order to secure a successful mission."

Iruka cringed inwardly, sensing that a painful delving into the mission where he killed his partner would be next on the jounin's list. Kakashi however, had no such intention. Proving that Iruka had not acted criminally in one particular mission did not do enough to answer the broad charge Kanaria had laid.

Instead, he pulled out a large scroll, "To answer that claim, I'd like to bring out Umino's personal evaluation and observation of his students, which I stole from his apartment last night."

The chunin made a mental note to update his traps, even while he recognized with some satisfaction that the bandages on the jounin's hand and wrists were caused by his home security, rather than actual paper cuts.

"For those who may not know, Umino is an Academy instructor. He regularly evaluates his students. Here are some particularly interesting notations:

"One student 'is too eager to resort to combat. He reflexively leans towards violence when other means are available.' Another 'has a blatant disregard for the value of life.' Yet another 'is so obsessed with how many ways a person can be killed she is in danger of never becoming a balanced ninja.'

Kakashi paused to allow the comments to sink in before retrieving another folder. "Here, in Iruka's teaching notes…" (Iruka remembered with a sigh that he kept those notes in an elaborately sealed secret compartment in his desk. Just how far did Kakashi go in the investigation of his apartment?) "…we find lessons aims such as 'Encourage students to think creatively and weigh their options in various scenarios. Remind them that every enemy is also a person, so be wary about choosing to take a life.'"

The jounin looked up at the Council, "I dare say if any of his superiors, myself included, read his personal notes, they'd denounce his views as soft-hearted and weak. Some would even go so far as to say it's treasonous to think of the enemy as a person having value. This type of outlook is radically different from what Kanaria claims him to be."

Iruka felt both grateful and dreadfully irritated at Kakashi's assessment. Soft-hearted? Weak? Treasonous? Was this a defense or an attempt to make sure he never taught the Academy children again, whatever the outcome of the trial?

"That proves nothing," Kanaria argued, ready to take control of the situation. "Anyone can come up with whatever philosophy they want in a classroom. All the better to disguise his psychotic tendencies. It's the perfect cover for a criminal."

"I thought you would say that," Kakashi acknowledged, withdrawing yet another document-laden folder. "That's why I also brought some assessment reports written by Umino's squad mates for various missions during his teen years.

"One jounin writes 'I am concerned about Iruka's behavior this past mission. He is too ready to extend mercy to the enemy.'

"A chunin reports that 'Iruka prevented me from killing the guard as we left, knocking her unconscious instead. When I asked him about it later, his response was to ask 'Why does her life have any less value than yours?' I reminded him that she is an enemy, to which Iruka responded, 'In her eyes, we are the enemy.'

"Another chunin recounts how Umino suggested burying the bodies of recently defeated opponents, because it would 'prevent the animals from eating the corpses before their families find them and give them proper burial.'"

Kakashi stopped reading. "These reports, and others like them, resulted in a meeting with our Third Hokage to discuss whether Umino was too unorthodox in his philosophy for him to continue as an active duty shinobi. However, his unwavering loyalty and excellent mission success record allowed for a compromise. He moved from assistant teacher to full-time instructor, going on occasional missions only as needed.

"Currently, Iruka is a devoted Academy teacher. He is also well-known in the civilian sector, for his volunteer work in tutoring troubled youth.

"So you can see, Adachi's account and Kanaria's depiction of the chunin's behavior is grossly inconsistent with the character of compassion he's displayed his entire lifetime," the Copy Nin surmised.

Tsunade looked impressed with Kakashi's effective, albeit unconventional, defense. "Are you finished presenting your case?" She questioned, noting that he was putting all the paperwork away.

"No, Lady Hokage. There is one last thing," Kakashi said. "I'd like to call both Adachi and Umino to the front."

Toric seemed wary as he stepped forward with Iruka, and understandably so. This Leaf jounin was obviously clever, and the medic resolved not to allow him to twist his testimony around in Iruka's favor. It didn't matter what Kakashi had claimed earlier. Toric knew what he had seen, and he knew Iruka was a murderer.

The silver haired jounin asked them to describe in detail the battlefield in which Kento died. Both men, having experienced their share personal trauma from the incident, had the scene indelibly etched in their mind. Thus there was no trouble reconstructing the scene from memory in very little time.

After listening carefully to the description, Kakashi performed a series of hand signs. Every ninja in the room tensed instinctively, but he merely cast a mild genjutsu that caused the room to take the basic appearance of the scene just described. A few minor corrections from the two witnesses, and they had a generic replica of the place in which Kento died.

"Show me where you two fought." Kakashi ordered. The two men took their places.

"I was here," Iruka demonstrated, his back to the rocks, "Until I cast the body replacement jutsu. Toric slashed the dummy's neck right around…"

"Here." Toric asserted, taking his spot.

"Meanwhile, I had already teleported to this area." Iruka leapt to a higher elevation in the in the rocky canyon wall. "I jumped and threw four kunai simultaneously while Toric's back was still turned. One was aimed at his right shoulder, since he is a right handed senbon user. Another was aimed at his left knee, to hinder his mobility, and one was thrown to either side of him, in case he dodged in either direction."

Toric glared and was about to argue, but Kakashi cut him off. "Where was Kento hiding?"

The medic froze briefly, but quickly composed himself and walked to a niche in the rocks. "He was hidden here. I…hadn't realized."

Kakashi tilted his head ponderously, "Is it possible that Iruka also didn't realize he was hidden there?"

The medic tensed. "That strike was perfect. It hit Kento's heart dead center. He must have been targeted."

"That's not my question, Adachi," Kakashi corrected. He proceeded slowly and pointedly, "I'm asking: if you, an experienced forty-year-old ninja, did not notice that your own son, whom you've raised since birth, was hiding nearby; is it possible that a sixteen-year-old, recently promoted chunin did not notice either?"

"It's…possible." Toric admitted reluctantly.

"Tell me what happened after you slashed Umino's decoy." Kakashi requested.

"I wasn't sure where he had gone, but I heard the slight whistle of kunai being thrown, so I turned around…"

"Wait," the Copy Nin held up a hand. "Where was Kento when you turned around?"

"He must have been hiding still. I had not seen him yet."

"You turned after you heard kunai being thrown?"

"Yes."

"Yet, at the time you turned, Kento was still in hiding." Kakashi tilted his head as he considered this piece of information. "Meaning that your son did not leave his hiding spot until after Umino threw the weapons."

Kakashi looked up at Iruka's position, then down to where the boy was said to be hidden. "From Umino's vantage point, the child is entirely hidden by rocks," he pointed out. "Tell me…how could Umino aim for something that isn't even there?"

Toric was silent.

"He couldn't." Kakashi answered for him. "Iruka-sensei had never intended to strike the boy."

The jounin's eye curved merrily, "And with that, I rest my case."

Closing remarks were made, and the hearing was adjourned while the Sand-Leaf Council deliberated their verdict. The next assembly time would be announced once a decision was reached.

Before he was escorted back to his cell, Iruka laid both his shackled hands on one of Kakashi's shoulders. "Thank you, Kakashi."

"Mah," the jounin shirked back casually. "You shouldn't thank me yet. We don't even know if I've accomplished anything."

Iruka waved a hand in the air, metaphorically brushing the protest aside. "Either way, you helped me when I needed it most. It was something I hadn't asked for, or expected. I'll never forget this, Kakashi."

"Eh." Kakashi shrugged. "It wasn't all that noble. It got me out of teaching."

"Right," Iruka grinned knowingly, "And I suppose hours of mind-numbing research into the life of a boring chunin sensei was much more preferable."

"Anything's better than pre-genins. And you're not all that boring, Iruka-sensei." Kakashi stuck his hands into his pockets nonchalantly. "Pakkun did most of the work anyway."

"Your nindog?" Iruka blinked.

"Yeah. I guess he likes you or something," the jounin remarked flippantly. "He wouldn't want anything to happen to you if he could help it."

"Yes, well, please tell…Pakkun," Iruka emphasized significantly, "that I appreciate his concern, and am grateful for his friendship."

"It was Pakkun," Kakashi insisted, annoyed.

"Of course." Iruka smiled agreeably, then let himself be led away by the guards.