A Little Wake-up Call

by depressedchildren

After waking up from a horrible dream Sakura's life takes a turn for the...well something? She only hopes it will be good and will end better than her dream suggests her life will. The secret family trade is hers to learn, and in the process she will become a stronger kunoichi. Sometimes all it takes is a little wake up call. Warning: strong language, no pairings decided or planned

37. Chapter 37: Wave pt 4-2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it belongs to its writers, animators, and producers. I gain nothing but writing and editing experience from writing this.

Summary: After waking up from a horrible dream Sakura's life takes a turn for the...well something? She only hopes it will be good and will end better than her dream suggests her life will. The secret family trade is hers to learn, and in the process she will become a stronger kunoichi. Sometimes all it takes is a little wake up call.

A/N: This chapter was hard to write, but on the bright-side, the end of the Wave arc is here, and it's an exceptionally long chapter (50 pages in a Word doc. single space). Also, I have taken liberties with certain things that were never truly marked out in the series, to my knowledge (they aren't plot-essential at all but, well, you'll realize what I mean half-way through the chapter; I justify my choices at the end of the chapter). Thank to those who have continued to read this fic, and to those who review, favorite, or put this on alert ~ much love, depressedchildren Edited 12/20/2015 & 5/24/2016

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Chapter 37: Bearing the Consequences pt 2

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Week Nineteen cont.

Kakashi's limbs still burned from the chakra exhaustion, and his transplant eye felt strained. He imagined the optical nerves had spams every few seconds, which likely contributed to his current dull, pulsating headache that was agitated by light. Tenzo strode across the thinning forest as smoothly as he could with Kakashi still in recovery position on his back.

They hid their presence as they approached the shore-line of Hi no Kuni in line with Nami no Kuni. Tenzo was panting from physical fatigue, and his paler than normal complexion suggested he was nearing charka exhaustion too. The cache they hid their normal supplies in was on Nami no Kuni's north-eastern shore, so they had not only this waterway but also an island to cross before they could be with the genin again.

Tenzo set Kakashi to the side and fell back against a tree. "I…" he began breathily, "I can't Senpai."

The drawbacks of solider pill overuse were hitting Tenzo now; he'd pass out soon. Kakashi himself could barely stand, and his legs buckled under him until he leaned back against a tree to take some of his weight off his legs. He was so close to his genin…so close, but he had to change his gear first before he could see them.

That body of water in front of him was his biggest obstacle at the moment. If he could just push his body a little more…

"Give me the last solider pill," Kakashi ordered; his gaze was focused forward, and he could only think of his genin.

"And if they are in danger?" Tenzo shot back. "You'll be no use. It'll wear off even before you get to them." He could also die from the side-effects, but Tenzo left that hanging in the air unsaid.

Kakashi curled his hand into a fist and closed his eye heavily. He knew that…but… "I can't fail them…" Kakashi let is body fall to the ground. The jarring sensation when his knees hit the ground made his vision swim for a moment.

"I only need a few hours, Senpai," Tenzo breathed weakly. A few hours wouldn't be enough to get Tenzo functioning properly, and if the operative pushed himself he'd end up in a coma by the end of the day.

Kakashi clenched his fists more tightly. If he was stronger, or at least had more charka…this wouldn't be happening; he could be with his cute, little genin again and Saru wouldn't have died.

…

Three days, it had been three days since the…massacre. Sakura stared numbly ahead of her at the "town-line"—what a euphemism! There were more scattered bodies several meters out from the curve of stakes. Gato was testing their defenses again, and who knew when he would launch another assault?

Sakura turned away at last. The stench of the decomposing bodies was terrible, but no one was complaining yet. The dilapidated fishermen's shacks stood tall and weather-beaten in the face of it all, just like their inhabitants.

Her teammates, her brothers, were finished checking traps; she was almost hyper-aware of their locations. Sakura felt like they were all being held together by a tenuous thread. Who knew what would happen to make it snap? Then what would happen? Sakura shuddered to think of the possibilities.

One thing was certain though…Gato would keep attacking; he was never going to let go of this village. They might be contracted to protect Tazuna, but eventually they would leave when the bridge was completed. A few explosives and Team 7's…deeds…would be in vain. All that killing…

The shift of dirt drifted to her ears, and Sakura could practically feel her teammates beside her. She looked over her shoulder at them. They were both grim-faced, and there was a dullness to their eyes. "Gato won't stop," she murmured. Naruto paled and swallowed thickly, and Sasuke looked away but nodded.

"W-we don't have to k—" Naruto choked on the word, and there was panic in his eyes. His jaw was trembling, "We c-can't, dattebayo!"

Sakura and Sasuke both looked at the blonde, and the boy shook his head violently. "S-seals!" Naruto shouted. "An illusion like around the house," he suggested desperately.

"And when Gato realizes the village is doing better?" Sakura asked quietly.

Naruto opened and closed his mouth. His expression was so pained and desperate. She didn't want to kill either, but what could they do to protect this village and ensure it wasn't all in vain?

"They can't live behind these traps forever, Otoutou," Sasuke murmured. "Civilians can't maintain these." His hand gestured out toward the macabre field of hidden traps and seals behind them.

Naruto dropped his head forward, and Sakura knew he was crying. She and Sasuke both moved, but Sasuke stopped short and looked away from the blonde while Sakura set her hand on his shoulder. "We have to think of the villagers."

Naruto shook his head slowly. "M-maybe he'll leave when he sees they aren't scared of him anymore?" he asked with a barely hidden desperation.

"Is that a chance you're willing to take?" She wanted to believe Gato would leave, but…but there was no guarantee.

Naruto's hands balled into fists as if to deny it one more time, but then he nodded slowly. "C-can we still do the seal illusion?"

"If you have enough paper," Sasuke replied quietly.

Naruto sighed slightly and nodded his head. "We should go relieve the clones, 'tebayo." Naruto forced himself to sound more cheerful than he was, but he was becoming more resolved in their decision.

Sakura nodded, and they began to make their way toward the bridge. They were all a little leery of the clones being out and doing too much for too long. They could make guesses about why Naruto had frozen in battle from the mass dispersal, but the fact remained that they didn't know the limitations of the jutsu, and a mission was not the time to figure those limitations out—perhaps that was why Sensei had wanted them to fight without relying on them?

Once they made it to the bridge, the clones dispersed and Team 7 sat themselves up on a crane in a triangle. This would give them a decent vantage point, plus the workers weren't using the machine at the moment.

"We'll need to scope out his facility," Sakura started the conversation. Sasuke immediately looked to Naruto who nodded grimly; although the blonde didn't move to make any clones.

"The more intel you get on them," Sasuke added, "the less guards we'll have to…kill."

They were all silent for a moment before Sakura pushed on, "Exactly. You'll have to have clones disguise as animals or something and infiltrate the building."

Naruto nodded slightly but furrowed his brow for a moment. "What if I just…did it with my clones?" he asked quietly. "Since they'll already be in there," he rushed on.

Sakura glanced over at Sasuke who seemed to be thinking it over. "What if they're found out and get dispersed before…completing the mission?" Sasuke voiced Sakura's concern, and they both turned to Naruto.

"I could send in a dozen?"

"And if they got found out," Sakura argued. "Gato and his men will be on higher alert." The clones would be good to use for this sort of mission, but if they were found out…one hit and the clone was gone. In retaliation, Gato might send a full-out assault on the village and Tazuna. If they made a move on Gato, it might be better to have someone who wouldn't disperse with a touch.

"I don't like this…" Naruto murmured.

"Neither do I," Sakura voiced, and the blonde sighed.

Naruto put his hands together in that familiar sign and a dozen clones came into existence. They all began to lower their chakra output before racing off toward the general direction of Gato's hideout—if Sakura remembered correctly from when they were running away from the Jounin battle.

The boys sighed, and it was understood that they were going to begin their training again. However, Sakura felt the back of her neck prickle as if she were being watched. Frowning, she closed her eyes and tried to sense for something, but nothing stood out to her novice sensory skills. However, something in her gut told her to look toward the tree-line, and her head felt suddenly light.

When she turned, Sakura couldn't see anything out of the norm, but she just knew someone or something was watching her.

"Nee-chan?" Naruto whispered quizzically, "your nose is bleeding again." Sakura's eyes widened as she brought her hand up to nose. When her hand came away, there was blood on it. …Akatsuki…? But…why weren't they attacking Naruto if they were watching them?

Naruto's concerned look fell for a moment, and a sly grin took its place. "Are you thinking something pervy, Nee-chan?" he teased.

Sakura whirled around with an affronted look on her face, and thoughts of Akatsuki were pushed to the side. "Not a chance!" she cried indignantly before she shoved him slightly. She didn't mean it as a mean gesture, but he was annoying her. The blonde just snickered and went with the shove. A glance at Sasuke said he was smirking too.

She wiped angrily under her nose and stomped off toward the side of the bridge. "Are you two just going to stand there and be lazy?" she snapped.

Naruto chuckled but approached her, and Sasuke just shook his head as if he found them begrudgingly endearing.

…

Clone 3's mouth fell open as he stared up at the wooden fortress, well, small-scale fortress. There were four watch towers at the corners of a spiked wooden wall—no wonder there were tree stumps for a hundred meters around it. Like his brother clones, 3 hugged the trees on the outside of this 100 meter parameter. He was in shadow and a line of trees back. Still, he could see part of the lay-out clearly.

Inside of the wall was a two-story wooden structure with small windows, likely for archers. 3 would need to get a better vantage point if he wanted to find points of access.

Lowering his output further, 3 began walking up the tree. Once at the narrowest part that could stand his weight, 3 peeked out between the pine needles. He was even further away than before and so could not make out guard movement, but 3 could get an idea of the layout.

3 squinted his eyes and thought he saw another clone. He pulled out a kunai and flashed it briefly against the sun. Three more lights flashed at him from the canopies. There was no noise from the fortress, so he hoped that meant they hadn't been found out. 3 flashed his kunai two more times before he dropped down to a lower branch and then moved further into the forest before dispersing. Hopefully his brothers dispersed themselves in a similar fashion.

…

Naruto cried out in surprise when he received his clones' memories because he lost his concentration and fell into the water. Spluttering once he broke the surface of the channel, he began to tread water. Then, Naruto slowly went about getting back onto the surface of the water. His siblings looked down at him with varying looks of curiosity. They probably knew some of his clones had dispersed because of his loss in concentration

The clones within that batch would also receive their brothers' memories, so they too would be able to piece together the layout of the compound/fortress. "We have a layout," he told the genin in front of him.

His teammates nodded and they began to make their way toward one of the cement supports. They soon arrived at the top of the bridge, and Nee-chan left them to ask for some paper from Tazuna.

Once they had the necessary materials, they sat down together, and Naruto began to draw out the general layout. First he drew a rough aerial view of the fortress before he did a side view his four clones got. Likely the remaining clones would scale up the walls disguised as squirrels or something. Or perhaps they would be smarter about it and meet to discuss strategies?

"The clones will probably survey the guard rotation from the walls, 'tebayo…" Naruto frowned and thought about how he would plan for a prank that involved breaking and entering. He usually staked out the place for at least a few hours or even days.

"In a few hours they'll have the cover of darkness," Teme-Nii pointed out, but he was looking at Naruto a little warily.

"Will that be too long?" Nee-chan asked, and the blonde winced; he hadn't thought about that. Maybe his clones would arrange a rotation? Or…something.

"I should have given them more instruction." He could disperse them and create some more clones, but he didn't know where his clones were, and so that could just alert the thugs something was up.

Naruto chewed on his lip in deliberation but, like his team, tensed when he received a vague impression of a chakra source or two coming toward them. The two older genin closed their eyes for a moment to focus on their chakra and consequently the incoming chakra. Nee-chan gasped, and Teme-Nii's eyes snapped open with his sharingan whirling.

Naruto immediately began to prepare his paper shuriken, but he froze when he recognized one of the chakra sources…Kaka-sensei?

The moment weird-eye guy touched down on the bridge with Sensei leaning on him, Teme-Nii retrieved some of his senbon and threw them at both Jounin. Naruto felt…he didn't know what he felt, but the paper poised in his hands flew away on the next breeze and fell into the water off to their side.

The Jounin pushed each other apart to dodge the senbon, but Sensei staggered to the ground. The Uchiha charged Sensei with a kunai, and Naruto knew he couldn't stay here any longer. He felt like he was suffocating.

"No!" he heard Sakura cry as Naruto ran past them all. He had to get away. Sensei was alive. He had been alive this whole time! H-he wouldn't have had to kill if Sensei had just been here. If Sensei hadn't abandoned them. And Nee-chan…she almost died…

Naruto rushed to the nearest tree-line. He couldn't be around Sensei….it hurt so much and he was confused.

Sakura managed to catch Sasuke's arm before the boy attacked their sensei. It was clear the man was just barely recovering from chakra exhaustion, and might not be able to get out of Sasuke's attack in time.

"You bastard!" Sasuke screamed and fought against her hold. She could feel him breaking out of her grasp, so she slid her foot into the back of his foot and put more force behind her arms to push him backwards.

Sasuke started to tip backwards but he broke out of her hold and flipped instead of landing on his back. Sakura froze at the sight of his spinning red eyes glaring at her. She could almost hear the sound of birds chirping as a lightning covered fist approached her, but she blinked and the image was gone.

"Sasuke!" she shouted at the enraged Uchiha. He had the kunai poised to throw it, but it would have to go through her.

"Get out of the way," he growled out. His arms were shaking in his rage, and perhaps something else.

"He's our sensei." And this was all her fault, but the words stuck in her throat.

"He abandoned us!" Sasuke's voice cracked, and his face contorted in pain. He closed his eyes tightly as his arm dropped to the side, but the kunai still shook in his hand threateningly. "He's a thief and a hypocrite," Sasuke's voice shook but grew louder. His eyes snapped open and he was glaring past Sakura at Sensei, "You almost died because of his stupid tests!"

Sakura opened her mouth to say something, but she had nothing to say. It was her fault. Sensei wouldn't have gone on that mission if she hadn't…if she wasn't…

Sasuke scowled in Sensei's direction. "What?" he spat. "Don't have anything say?!"

Sakura looked over her shoulder at their sensei. The Jounin was paler than normal from chakra exhaustion, but his one eye was wide and so open for a change. He was stunned, ashamed, horrified…so many things. Sensei closed his eye after a moment, and when he opened it again, his gaze was cold and shut off.

Sasuke saw the look and unconsciously took a step back. Sensei unsteadily pushed himself to his feet. He was shaking, but he managed to stay upright. "Put the kunai away," he ordered. Sakura tensed at the authority in the man's voice, and even Sasuke looked taken aback for a moment.

However, Sasuke regained his resolve and scowled once more at Sensei. He threw the kunai and Sakura cried out, but Sensei caught it before it hit him and he narrowed his gaze at Sasuke. The Uchiha met and held the Jounin's gaze for a long moment before looking away. His fists were shaking at his sides, but he didn't reach for any more weapons.

The atmosphere was tense still, but something broke in it, and workers on the bridge resumed their work. Sakura hadn't realized the heavy silence and stillness until now, and so looked around her briefly. In her scan, she caught Yamato-san putting away a kunai; clearly, he had been prepared to take out Sasuke, and she was sure the workers had noticed that even if she and Sasuke hadn't—where had all their training with Anko-san gone; they should have known better than to let such things escape their awareness?

Tazuna was shifting around awkwardly for a long moment and the tense air between the ninja felt like it was pressing down on Sakura. "Perhaps we should head back?" the older man suggested in an uneasy tone as he eyed the jounin tensely.

"Yes," Kakashi-sensei responded tersely.

"Uchiha," the Jounin snapped, and Sasuke looked up at him with a glare, "aid Yamato-kohai and take Tazuna back to his house. You will remain there to guard the client." Sensei then turned to Sakura, "Haruno, we are going to find Uzumaki." It went unsaid that she was supposed to help him.

Sakura watched as Sasuke moved over to where Yamato-san was leaning heavily against the bridge—after the Uchiha had collected his senbon of course. The Jounin set a hand on Sasuke's shoulder in case Yamato's knees buckled under his own weight. Tazuna picked up their layout of Gato's facility before he trailed after them as they shuffled along.

Sakura turned slowly toward Kakashi-sensei, and he took up a similar stance with her, but she could feel him setting quite a bit of his weight on her. She was prepared to move to be better support, but he squeezed her shoulder to indicate she should stay where she was.

They began to slowly move in the direction Naruto had gone. The workers hurried past them since the day was now obviously over. Sasuke, Tazuna, and Yamato-san were ahead of them, but they were moving faster than she and Kakashi-sensei were.

Sakura glanced back at her sensei who stared stonily ahead of him. "Sensei," Sakura began. He didn't acknowledge her, but he was clenching his jaw tightly in, what she knew was, anger at himself. "This is all my—"

"No," he cut her off in a cold voice, but she could hear the pain beneath the surface. "It was my decision to proceed with the mission."

"It was a suicide mission," Sakura whispered. It was a miracle Yamato-san or Kakashi-sensei lived.

She could almost feel his surprise; had he thought she would not know why he had left them to return in such poor condition? "Perhaps," he responded instead.

Sakura closed her eyes for a moment. This mess…it never would have happened if she hadn't had that premonition. … But then…without the premonition, where would she be? Would she have trained so much? Would she have realized how good of a person Naruto was, or how damaged Sasuke was? Probably not…she'd probably still be a useless fangirl who belittled and hurt Naruto. She didn't want to be weak or useless, but was this the price?

...

Clone 8 nodded to his brothers. They were hidden farther back in the woods surrounding the fortress. 8 began scaling the nearest tree while three of his brothers broke off to move through the wood to end up the other sides of the wall. Once clone 8 got up to the top of the tree, he transformed into a bird and began to hop to the other narrow treetops. It was hard to imitate the bird in his illusion, but 8 thought he looked sufficiently like a bird. The shadows cast by the setting sun worked in his favor because 8 wasn't sure if he would cast a human like shadow or not.

He was nearing the edge of the forest, and so paused in his tree hopping. He shifted his angle slightly and knew he would land on the watch tower if he timed this correctly. 8 backed up slightly and began to pick up speed. With a chakra boosted jump, he soared through the air toward the watch tower.

8 fell short. He recovered and froze on the ground within the shadow of the wall. He looked around in the fidgeting manner of birds as he took in the environment around him. To 8's relief, the guards were not alerted, and continued to look out at the woods around them in boredom.

8 prepared for another chakra boosted jump, and hoped the illusion would look like a bird soaring up to roost on their tower. He tried to lighten his landing, but the thud of his body landing on the top of the tower echoed loudly in his own head. 8 froze for a long moment and did not breathe, but the guards below him did not seem to acknowledge him, perhaps the landing hadn't been as loud as he thought?

Swallowing, 8 shifted in his crouch to get comfortable as he looked down at the grounds inside the wall.

There was a shelter of sorts that looked like a blacksmith lodge to the right. On his left there was another shelter, perhaps the guardhouse? 8's gaze moved toward the tall building in front of him. The narrow windows were definitely for archers, and 8 could see the occasional guard pass by in boredom or look out of the window without really looking. 8 shook his head slightly. Civilians, they were all just civilians and the boss had killed quite a few of them.

8 shook his head. Those civilians had still got plenty of hits 8's predecessors. If Gato's men had gotten lucky, if Team 7 wasn't careful, those civilian thugs could have killed them from their sheer numbers.

8 stared ahead of him and tried to take in as much as he could. His job, along with three of his brothers, was to try to find a pattern in guard rotation and possible points of entry into the building. The last four clones would then search the building once 8 and his brothers got back to the forest and dispersed. They didn't want to overload the boss or themselves again, and 8 was afraid they would be pushing it with this task. It was hours of knowledge passing onto the boss in a matter of seconds.

Regardless, 8 hunkered down as the sun went lower and lower in the sky. The boss and 8's brothers would know what to do with the information.

…

Kakashi-sensei knew where Naruto was, and so he was essentially guiding Sakura while relying on her to help him stand upright—they'd need to get him a crutch.

"They need to know," Sakura murmured. The silence was getting to be too much. "Know about the mis—"

"You figured out what mission it was," he stated coldly. "Do you really think that's possible?" Sakura swallowed at the hidden chastisement. No… she answered in her mind. ANBU missions were classified, right? So why would…why would sensei tell them?

"They still need to know," she whispered in a small voice. She didn't want her team to fall apart. They couldn't fall apart now that they were finally all back together!

Kakashi-sensei sighed heavily. "Sakura-chan, you will learn some things cannot be forgiven so easily," he sounded so resigned.

Sakura swallowed again, but the knot in her throat prevented the movement. Sensei was their guide; he'd keep them on the right path and he would pass on his wisdom. More than that, he had promised to protect them to his dying breath!

"I need to tell them," she choked out. She tried to look back at her sensei, but she couldn't get a good angle.

"Tell them what?" the man asked in a barely audible voice.

Vision, she signed.

Sensei stopped moving and Sakura was jerked back because of the hold on her shoulder. She turned around to look at Kakashi-sensei's cold expression. He shook his head once. "What do you think Sasuke will do when he learns what you've seen of him?"

Sakura opened her mouth to protest. Sasuke might not even become that man any more, but Sensei shook his head and broke her stuttering response off. "Your father stressed the fragility of…this," Sensei whispered. "Your teammates may not understand that, and may think this is all definitive. Can you imagine the damage that will do to them?"

Sakura closed her eyes heavily and nodded weakly. Sasuke said it the other day: they were monsters. If she told him he tried to kill her because he was maddened with hate and revenge…it could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. And Naruto… he was so insecure even if he tried to hide it. If it was revealed she only gave him a chance because he might become a hero…would she lose her younger brothers?

"Will I ever get to tell them?" Sakura whispered after a long moment.

"The longer a lie lasts…the harder it is to break and the more betrayed the others feel." So either she told them now and suffer the possible consequences; or she kept silent and each passing day the omission remained, the stronger the betrayal would become.

"Yes, Kakashi-Sensei." Sakura opened her eyes again and looked forward.

The Jounin squeezed her shoulder and they began moving again.

…

Sasuke glared at the panting Mukuton user. They were at the edge of the barrier. The man staggered away from Sasuke and undid the seal. They moved through and then the Jounin reapplied the seal.

They continued to move, and Sasuke felt annoyed that he was reduced to a walking stick, but they finally made to Tazuna's house. Tsunami's greeting stuck in her throat when she saw the Jounin accompanying Sasuke and her father.

Once they entered the house, the atmosphere was tense worse than when they had been walking in stilted silence. Sasuke gritted his teeth as he hurried toward the stairs with his burden.

Inari came bounding into the room just as Sasuke reached the foot of the stairs. "Who's that?!" he shouted, and Sasuke ground his teeth together more.

The anger he felt for his sensei and this stupid man he was helping was still there, but he wouldn't let it control him again. He had nearly attacked the bookworm, and had left himself open for an attack from the Mukuton user. Sasuke's anger made him reckless, and he would be dead in a matter of moments in any other situation. Where did that snake woman's training go? It was unacceptable, and Sasuke knew that man would use Sasuke's own anger against him, and Sasuke knew now that could get him killed.

If he had followed what his anger and…insecurities wanted him to do on the bridge…well… Killing a loyal Konoha ninja, especially an elite, would lead to indefinite suspension (at the very least), or something much worse. So, Sasuke breathed in and out to try and keep those overwhelming feelings at bay, if only barely.

The Cyclops was a sick bastard. He was a thief, a hypocrite, and a liar. He tested them as if…as if he could never trust them as a team! That Jounin never once opened up to them except in joke or as an excuse, and that thief abandoned them on all their missions. The D-ranks were one thing, but-but this!

At least that snake woman was upfront about everything. Perhaps they didn't know much about her besides her being a pupil of Orchimaru, but she also wasn't their sensei so they didn't have the same expectations of her. Sasuke barely knew anything about the Thief except that he had killed his teamma—Sasuke's blood froze as the pieces fell together.

The Thief said he had killed his teammates. The Cycloptic Thief had the sharingan. He must have killed his teammate to get the eye.

Sasuke slammed open the guest room door and quickly deposited the Jounin. Yamato glared at him, and the world felt like it was in slow motion again.

"I will restrain you if I have to," Yamato threatened in a low voice with an intense look in his wide eyes while his hands came up to form a hand sign.

Sasuke blinked and suddenly become conscious of the slight burning in his eyes. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. In his anger he had activated his sharingan again.

There was a rustle and Sasuke snapped his eyes open again to find the ANBU medic hovering over Yamato.

"How many solider pills did you take?" the operative asked as she pulled back one of Yamato's eyelids to look more fully into his eyes, as if checking for a concussion or something.

Yamato's gaze flickered over to Sasuke but then he just sighed, "Too many."

"I'm amazed you haven't gone into a coma," the operative remarked. "Sleep," she ordered before turning to face Sasuke. He got the message and left the room.

Sasuke sat down with Inari, Tazuna, and Tsunami. It was silent and very awkward. No one spoke though; they probably knew better than to try having a conversation with him. So Sasuke sat stiffly in place and focused on his breathing to keep calm.

…

Kakashi had hoped…so foolishly hoped…. He came back too late, and he could see in his genin's haggard expressions and distanced gazes that they had killed. More than that, he had seen the macabre evidence of a…a massacre. When they were traveling back from the cache, he could smell the decaying bodies well before he ever saw them. His cute, little genin had killed because he wasn't there. He was supposed to wean them into the thought of killing, the necessity to kill. They were practically unprepared for the consequences, and they had not established coping strategies for the stress of being a ninja.

Now the damage of his actions may be irreparable. He wouldn't be surprised if his genin asked for a new Jounin instructor. He had lost the boys' trust in him, and only Sakura still stood by him, but she blamed herself for all of this. Kakashi buried the shame and guilt so that he could focus on his genin. When they got back to Konoha, he would finally stop moving forward and truly let himself feel. Feel the loss of his comrade and the consequences of his actions.

Kakashi's muscles strained, and he knew that if he had actually had time to rest well, he would be in comparatively better condition than now. Still, he pressed on with Sakura as his support; the girl never complained and perhaps felt guilty for his condition.

They wound their way past several more tree trunks before Kakashi stopped moving. He looked up and saw Naruto sitting on a tree limb with his back against the trunk. Likely he'd have sap all over him. The blonde stared ahead of him, not really seeing. Such an empty expression did not suit him, and Kakashi tried to push back the stab of shame and guilt.

I'll go get him, Sakura signed, and Kakashi nodded numbly. He slumped against a tree and watched the young girl start for the tree and calmly walk up it.

Naruto glanced over at her and scooted away from the trunk so she could join him on the tree branch. From his new position, the blonde was able to look right down at Kakashi, but he quickly looked away. Shit. Kakashi closed his eye and cursed himself again. He shouldn't have taken the mission. Kakashi shouldn't have proceeded with it when he had learned of Tazuna's deception.

"Please give him a chance, Otoutou," Sakura's whisper barely reached him, and Kakashi imagined he had missed some of their interchange while he had been cursing himself. Bracing himself, Kakashi opened his eye again and looked up at his students.

"He abandoned us," Naruto said this numbly and in a normal voice. Perhaps the boy wanted Kakashi to hear, or perhaps it was a result of his emotions; regardless, Kakashi still heard the boy as if he were shouting. How many times could he fail Naruto? Fail his sensei and Kushina-san? It seemed unending.

An "I'm sorry" felt so insufficient, but when Sakura managed to coax the reluctant blonde down, that was all Kakashi could say. The blonde looked away from him. Perhaps part of him believed Kakashi, but too much had happened for the boy to accept the apology.

"We should head back," Sakura murmured, and she resumed her position from earlier. Naruto shuffled along beside her with his head bowed.

It would be a long, slow, quiet walk back to Tazuna's, but there was nothing he could really say. Perhaps it would be best to...but ANBU missions were not to be disclosed.

…

Clone 8 felt more confident now about the guard rotation schedule. Since Gato's men were essentially civilians, they did not try to deceive him with their rotation times. There was a guard at each archery window for two hours, and a guard went between each window every thirty-minutes. The guards in the towers switched out every two hours and below 8 guards made patrols every thirty minutes.

The next change would happen in fifteen minutes, and for at least a few minutes the highest most window would be left unguarded. 8 jumped down into a night shadow on the other side of the wall and then jumped once more to reach the closest tree. He tree hopped until he was a ways into the forest. He knew his brothers had seen enough too, and so he had no reservations when he dispersed himself.

Terumi Mei cocked her head to the side when she saw bunshin smoke drifting through the trees in front of her. She had finally reached Nami no Kuni after crossing the ocean channel separating her country from this one. She was tired and felt more than a little windswept and salty, so Mei was more than displeased to find that there were ninja so close to Gato's compound.

She supposed she could ask Gato if he had hired any ninja. Still…it was always better to be overcautious than dead. She tried to mask her presence more than she had been and moved up into the trees. She was not as efficient at tree hopping as a Konoha native might be, but she wasn't bad, so she quickly moved around the surrounding trees.

She felt four charka signatures at the edge of her senses jump out to her, but it felt like little more than a nest of mice. Frowning, she slowly ventured toward the chakra. It could very well be a group of forest critters, but something about the chakra felt off. If these four chakra outputs were ninja, they weren't trained assassins because nothing would stand out if that were the case. But even if these potential ninja weren't trained hunters or black ops operatives, they were trained well enough to hide themselves like this.

Mei proceeded with caution and stopped short of the clearing the chakra was in. She could hear vague conversation taking place. So it was ninja.

Mei carefully moved forward and managed to catch a glimpse of the clearing through tree trunks. Clones? Four of them, and solid. They were some blonde kid's clones. She caught the flash of the child's forehead protector and shook her head: Konoha.

Hmm… What was this little genin and his clones doing out here? Or were they all solid clones? She couldn't tell what kind of clones they were, but anything short of Kage Bunshin would be doable for genin with chuunin level reserves. Likely this was one of Hatake's genin, which still made it impressive.

Mei smiled a little broader. Now why would Hatake send his little genin out here without backup? Something must be up, or perhaps this kid was acting on his own? Hmm…that was possible, especially if Hatake had abandoned them to attack Yondaime-sama.

Well, if anything else, she could at least catch a glimpse at the kid's abilities and what Hatake must have been teaching him. One thing was for sure though: Hatake was not following the peace-time genin skills program like he was supposed—not if this kid could suppress his output so well.

It wasn't all that unusual, but definitely a surprise from someone like Hatake. Kiri didn't really bother following such restrictive measures, but Konoha was the poster-child for proper peace-time practices. If Konoha was going to break their own stringent rules, they were going to keep as much of it hidden as possible, so this was a once in a life time opportunity. But at the same time, this could spell something much more nefarious. Was Konoha preparing for war if a genin was trained in such a way?

Mei left the clones and genin none the wiser and easily made it to Gato's hold conflicted as to what this implied. It was clear the blonde was going to snoop around Gato's place, so she may as well see how well the kid did to gauge how her own people should begin training their genin. Maybe the kid would even try to assassinate the civilian businessman. Now that would interesting—and the other nations thought Kirigakure was the place to hire assassins, ha!

…

Naruto froze in their walk. They were nearly to Tazuna's and the blonde just stood still for a long moment. "Did either of you grab the plans?" he asked Sakura hurriedly after the pause.

"Tazuna-san did." Naruto nodded at her response and raced the rest of the way to Tazuna's. Now it was just her and sensei, and Sakura could practically feel Kakashi-sensei's question.

"Gato's going to keep attacking the village even after the bridge is complete," Sakura whispered. She didn't want them to do this, but what choice did they really have if they wanted their sacrifices to not be in vain?

"So he has clones learning the environment and guard rotations of Gato's hideout" Kakashi-sensei replied numbly.

She tried to glance back at him, but she couldn't get a good read off of him. He urged her forward as he spoke, "We weren't contracted for that."

"But he's a danger to the client, and he'll hire more ninja and thugs to go after Tazuna-san," Sakura reasoned.

Sensei hummed in thought, but Sakura knew it was for show. "Gato hasn't physically moved against our client. As ninja, we cannot go around taking out businessmen or politicians who may become a danger to our client." The man sighed heavily, "Many a client have tried to skew things that way to get an assassination for half the price, but the fact of the matter is that we were not contracted for an assassination; we were contracted for an escort and protection mission."

Sakura felt a pressure building up inside of her. "Then it would all be a waste," she choked out. All that blood, and the bones snapping beneath her fists. Sure, Nami no Kuni could get the bridge built, but they wouldn't hold it for long.

"The people could take it into their own hands," the Jounin murmured as they neared the door. Sakura looked at him aghast as they passed the threshold. Kidnapping does not cost near as much as an assassination, he signed, and Sakura swallowed thickly. That was so cold…

"Hmm? Naruto-nii, something wrong?" Inari's question broke Sakura's horrified stupor, and she looked at her honorary brothers. They were both staring at Kakashi-sensei, and Sakura knew they had heard what their teacher had said and had read his signed message.

Naruto swallowed thickly but resumed scribbling down details onto the map they had made. Sasuke looked away from Kakashi-sensei and seemed to be Lamaze breathing. The air was charged like the calm before the storm, and she could not shake the feeling of foreboding she had.

"Mah," Kakashi-sensei pulled away from Sakura and began to use the wall for support. He turned to look at Tsunami and her son. "Hatake Kakashi, Team 7's Jounin instructor."

"But—" Inari began, even as Tsunami shushed him. Sasuke stopped his deep breathing and glared ahead of him, and Naruto stilled in his writing.

There was an awkward beat of pause before Kakashi-sensei spoke again. "Have you finished writing down what your clones found out, Uzumaki?" he asked in an authoritative voice.

"A-almost done," Naruto stared at his paper as he responded.

"Good. We need to debrief." Sensei then gave Tsunami a pointed look, and the woman blurted out that they could meet in the other guest room. Kakashi-sensei then looked to Sakura who prepared to act as a crutch again to lead the man to the correct room. However, Sensei just gestured for her to move forward, and indicated he'd use the wall for support. Nodding, Sakura led the way.

Once they were up in the room, Kakashi-sensei pulled out a storage scroll and tossed it to her. "Barrier and silencing seals, put them up on the four walls, the ceiling, and the floor."

Sakura's brow furrowed as she looked down at the storage scroll; what was her sensei planning? He wasn't going to talk about his ANBU mission, or had he changed his mind? Regardless, Sakura opened the storage scroll and began to secure the seals to the required surfaces like Naruto had shown her and Sasuke. They would have to be activated but, in a sense, they were now primed and would not fall off the walls.

By the time she was done, Sakura could hear her teammates coming up the stairs. They were purposefully loud as if to make sure Kakashi-sensei could hear their reluctance. Once the boys were inside, Naruto's eyes went wide and he raced over to nearest seal.

"Silencing?" he asked himself as his fingers traced over the intricate design.

"Yes," Kakashi-sensei responded to the not quite question. "Uchiha, close the door," he ordered before he looked over at Naruto. "Uzumaki," he called, and the blonde snapped to attention with a closed off expression, "I'll need you to activate the seals."

Naruto nodded minutely, and Kakashi-sensei began to instruct him. "Repeat the hand seals as you see me do them. Increase the chakra in your hands slowly like you do when going from a bug to a squirrel in chakra output." Naruto swallowed slightly in nervousness, but he began to perform the signs as Sensei did them, and the seals around them glowed blue with growing intensity. "Hold that amount of chakra," Sensei ordered as he showed the blonde the last few hand signs.

Sakura watched the seals pulse with chakra for one last moment as Naruto placed his hand against the nearest seal. The seals dulled in color, but she imagined there was a sheen of chakra incasing the room. "Good," Kakashi-sensei replied as he inspected the end product and saw or sensed something none of them could.

The Jounin then gestured in front of him, "Sit." They quickly moved into position and sat with their legs folded under their bodies and their hands in their laps. Sasuke was looking away from them and Sakura could practically feel his anger. Naruto was staring down at the ground with his body tensed to flee. Sakura was the only one who would look up at their sensei as he leaned heavily against the wall with his hands shoved in his pockets.

"Debrief," he ordered, and Sakura wondered if this distanced behavior was just some sort of coping strategy for him.

The boys remained silent, so Sakura spoke up. "After you told us to take Tazuna-san and run, Naruto-san made decoy teams and scattered them around the forest. Sasuke-san covered our tracks with illusions, and Naruto-san also covered the tracks physically should Momochi Zabuza break through the illusions." Sensei nodded, but his expression was too closed off to know whether he was proud of them or not.

"The decoy clones reported that no one was chasing us, and so we began to head here with the client. We waited until dusk before searching for you and Yamato-san. The client remained secured at the house." Sakura swallowed thickly as her shaking hands curled into her skirt. "We presumed you two had died," her voice was shaking now and her throat felt tight, "and we had failed protocol."

"We thought we failed you!" Naruto suddenly shouted.

Sakura turned to look at her teammate, but looking into his wide, hurt eyes made Sakura's own eyes begin to sting. She had to look away as soon as possible.

"We thought…" Naruto shook his head violently and rubbed at his eyes with the sleeve of his coat. "How could you do that to us!? Why couldn't you tell us it was all a test!?"

Sakura watched Kakashi-sensei's eye grow wide and his visible skin go paler than it already was. "You thought this was a test?" his voice was faint and horrified. Sasuke had said the same earlier, but perhaps hearing it from Naruto affected him more?

"You said this was a test!" Sasuke snapped, and Sensei actually flinched. "This whole stupid mission was a test for the chuunin exams, and we had to take it no matter the danger," he snarled, but he managed to stay seated where he was.

"Did you always plan on abandoning us as the test?" Naruto asked in a trembling voice; he seemed caught between anger and sadness.

"Sensei," Sakura started weakly as she looked at him pointedly, but he shook his head.

"Why should we even believe you?" Sasuke shot back, perhaps taking Sensei's movement to be a response to Naruto's question. These questions seemed to have an effect like a sucker punch, and Sensei started sliding down the wall as he gave up all attempts to appear authoritative.

This was getting out of control; her teammates needed to know! "You left the medic with us because the mission was more dangerous than it had seemed, so who—"

"Haruno!" Kakashi-sensei's voice regained its authoritative power for that one moment, but it was strained too. He was shaken by what the boys had assumed, and he sat in front of them numbly.

"No, Sensei, they need to know!"

"Know what?" Sasuke asked, and it took a moment for Sakura to realize the betrayed tone was directed at her instead of the Jounin. She slowly looked over at her teammate and brother. "Did you know he was going to…" Sasuke trailed off and started to move away from her.

Fortunately, Kakashi-sensei sat up straighter and spoke before she blurted out something stupid. "She made a correct assumption based off of what all of you should know about me by now."

Sasuke shot a glare over at the Jounin. "Really?! What do we know about you?!" he hissed. Sakura knew it took all of Sasuke's self-control to keep from standing up and assaulting their sensei or storming out the room.

"Nothing! We know nothing about you. You won't tell us anything. How can we trust you? When the hell were you going to tell me about that eye!?" It seemed like all of Sasuke's anger and every question he had for Sensei burst out in that moment. He then scowled, and Sakura knew he was going in for the metaphorical kill. "Was your Uchiha teammate the one you killed? Did you kill him so you could have that eye?" he practically hissed.

Sakura gasped in horror at what the boy had said, but Sensei responded immediately. "No," he rasped out. He stared at the floor between them, his eye unfocused and lost in the past. "I've never deserved this eye, but he insisted I live and see the future for him...protect Konoha for him." Kakashi closed his eye as if in pain, "Obito should have lived instead of me…he would have—" Sakura saw something pass over Kakashi's face like a horrific realization but he quickly clamped down on the emotion in an almost desperately self-defensive way.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked lowly, almost warily. Sakura hadn't heard any lie in her sensei's voice, and she knew her teammates could sense that too.

Sensei breathed and moved to sit in a meditative like position. He breathed calmly for several more seconds before he opened his eye and faced them. There was regret and shame in his eye, along with so much pain. "During the Third Shinobi War I was placed on genin team even though I was a chuunin. Minato-sensei…he thought it would be good for me to train with children my own age, or close to."

Sasuke actually managed to remain silent, and Naruto looked amazed. Sakura could only wonder if they were pushing their sensei too far by asking him to talk like this; it was obvious to her he wasn't ready to divulge such information to them, yet none of them would stop him either. This was their one chance to learn more about the man who had driven them together.

"Uchiha Obito and Nohara Rin were my teammates. Near the end of the war, I was promoted to Jounin and ordered to lead them on a mission while Sensei acted as a decoy. We were to destroy Kanabi Bridge, the main supply line in and out of Iwa." Sakura remembered him saying something like this sometime ago, and her eyes widened in recognition.

Sensei's hands fisted the loose material of his pants and he glared down at the ground. "I was a foolish, selfish child. I believed solely in the shinobi code, and I resented my teammates," his voice shook as he spoke, but he kept it together. "So… when the enemy kidnapped Rin…" He swallowed but didn't go on.

There was a beat of silence as Team 7 held their breath for the answer.

"You weren't going to go back for her," Naruto finally murmured with his eyes widening in realization. Sensei nodded slightly, but he didn't not look at them; perhaps too ashamed to face them. "But that Obito-guy, he convinced you to, dattebayo! Right, right?!" Naruto asked as he leaned forward.

"Yes. He said…" sensei's eye softened and she imagined he was smiling beneath his mask, "'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.'" Sakura mouthed the words she knew half way through and, out of the corner of her eye, she saw her teammates do so too. Sensei had rephrased and made those words his motto for life. Sakura couldn't describe the feeling she felt at hearing this story but it was almost overwhelming.

"Did the enemy kill him?" Sasuke asked quietly.

Sensei nodded slowly. "Obito was never very good at stealth, and so he almost got killed on his way to rescue Rin, but I stopped the attack. I lost my eye…" his hand drifted up to the covered eye almost absentmindedly, "and Obito finally unlocked his sharingan." He paused briefly before continuing to speak in his oddly quiet tone. "We found Rin, and injured the bastard holding her captive, but he got away and brought the cave down on us… Obito pushed me out of the way." Sensei closed his eye heavily again.

"He got caught under it," Sakura breathed out in realization, which alarmed her teammates too in varying degrees.

"Half of him," Sensei murmured.

In her mind's eye, Sakura saw that deformed man with the sharingan and that other odd eye. Literally half of his body was scared and odd-looking, but the odd sharingan was in his right eye surrounded by those scars.

"The right half?" Sakura asked faintly, and Sensei nodded numbly. No… that meant… No, that would destroy Sensei! But what were the chances of Obito and the scared man being one and the same?!

"So he gave you his left eye?" Sasuke asked slowly as Sakura pushed down her panic.

"I didn't deserve it, and I didn't deserve to be team leader anymore, but…" Sensei exhaled slightly in amusement. "Obito was always a stubborn idiot, and…" the Jounin's tone became more somber, "it was his dying wish."

It was silent for a long moment as they each processed the story. "He was the one…" Sasuke trialed off and swallowed before he tried to look at sensei in the eye, "So Rin, you…" he trailed off again and looked away.

Sensei swallowed thickly. "Yes, but that's a story for another day," his voice was pained and breathy. This was clearly a conversation going on between Sasuke and Kakashi that she and Naruto were not privy to.

However, that did not stop the more inquisitive of them from pressing on. "Wh-what happened?" Naruto stuttered out, but Sakura set her hand against his knee when Kakashi-sensei flinched, so the blonde pulled back slightly.

It was quiet for a very long, tense moment. Kakashi-sensei turned away from them. "I…can't," his voice cracked slightly, "Not now." Silence settled between them and it all felt so awkward.

At last Sasuke spoke, but he was looking away from them and his voice was more shaky than angry, "But how do you expect us to trust you when you killed your own teammate, and have abandoned us on this mission?"

Kakashi-sensei flinched again, and Naruto sputtered in surprise. Sakura had to believe Sasuke had said the wrong thing, but the shame and regret in Sensei's lone eye said all she needed to know.

"You're right, how could you trust me?" Sensei whispered.

"No! Y-you couldn't have k—" Sakura's voice caught in her throat. But she could imagine it: Sensei killed the Rin girl like Sasuke was going to kill her in that vision; after all, it would seem Sasuke was so much like how Kakashi-sensei had been.

Sensei bowed his head and his eye was closed tightly. It was clear this was too much for him. They were pushing him too far, and Sensei was trying to block them out.

But again, Naruto did not take this as the warning it was. Instead, the blonde leaned forward with his gaze intent and a little scared, "No! You have to tell us, 'tebayo. W-why would you kill her?!" So he had figured out what had been implied.

"It had to be an accident," Sakura reasoned quickly and tried to pull Naruto back, but both boys were almost cruelly intent on learning the story…no matter how painful it was for sensei.

"Show us we can trust you," Sasuke insisted, and Sakura gasped in shock at how far her teammate would go.

"Stop it Sasuke!" she dropped the honorific in her shock.

He glared at her in response, "No, we can't trust him!" Sasuke was vehement. "He abandoned us and won't tell us why. He's also killed a teammate; what would stop that from happening to us?"

"Never." Sakura and Sasuke turned to the quiet, choked word. Sensei was staring at them with a fierce look in his eye. "Never again will I let a teammate die on my watch." He then flinched and looked to the side.

"Sensei," Sakura called gently. "Did…" her mind was piecing things together faster than she could recognize the thoughts, "someone die on the mission?"

Sensei didn't respond but kept staring off to the side.

"Mission?" Sasuke breathed in confusion.

Naruto pieced it together then, "You abandoned us for a mission." He said this slowly as if he couldn't believe it. "But-but—" Naruto shook his head and moved away from all of them. After what Kakashi-sensei had told them about Obito, this would certainly seem inconceivable, and completely out of character.

"How did you know that?" Sasuke accused Sakura, and the girl opened and closed her mouth as she tried to think how to respond.

But Kakashi-sensei shook his head, and the movement drew their attention. "I told you all before," he murmured, "Sakura inferred I was on a mission from what she knew about me."

"But" Naruto began angrily and betrayed, "you said to never put the mission before your comrades!"

Sakura was quick to retort. "Didn't either of you notice how conflicted sensei was from the beginning," she snapped at the boys. "Kakashi-sensei didn't want to go on the mission but he had to."

"Sakura," Sensei began warningly but she shook her head stubbornly.

"They need to know! Word is going to get to us anyways about the assassination." Sensei glared up at her, and even if he was angry at her for exposing his mission, he hadn't tried to physically stop her when he could have.

"Assassination?" the boys murmured with different tones. Sasuke offended and angered but Naruto was confused and alarmed.

"Sensei, just tell them."

"Sakura," he shook his head again, "I cannot talk about ANBU missions with you. All I can do is corroborate our stories for debriefing."

"Why would Hokage-sama give you an ANBU mission while you had a genin team?" Sasuke asked, but Naruto was silent with an almost pensive look on his face.

Kakashi-sensei glared at her again, as if to tell her to keep quiet. For once she did as he asked and kept her tongue in check. But it was Naruto who spoke with dawning realization, "Sharingan. They needed the sharingan." Sasuke gritted his teeth, perhaps annoyed that that had slipped his mind, although Sakura suspected it was still hard for him to believe someone else had a sharingan.

Kakashi-sensei closed his eye painfully, and the admission was obvious to each of them. It was silent then, and remained silent for minutes. The boys were processing the new information, and Sakura was trying to think how she could salvage their team's relationship. Sensei just looked…defeated in a way. Had he given up on reuniting them? She glanced to her honorary brothers and wondered if they would want to her be their Nee-chan anymore after all of this.

…

Clone 10 had infiltrated the base easily, and was presently disguised as a mouse in case someone saw 10 skirting around the shadows. It had been smooth sailing for a half hour, and 10 had built a pretty good picture of his section of the fortress. He had even found Gato's sleeping quarters and office.

10 was still cataloguing points of access in the office when the doors opened. He froze in the shadowed corner as Gato, six armed guards, and a tall red haired lady came into the room. The lady was kind of pretty and wore a nice kimono, but then 10 saw the symbol for Kirigakure on her person.

10 managed to refrain from swallowing or making any other signs of his nervousness—just like the crazy snake lady taught him—but inwardly 10 was freaking out. There was another ninja, and if she was out of uniform and that old, she had to be high ranking. 10 kept tight control on his chakra because crazy snake lady told him it would fluctuate when he was upset, and that could be a dead giveaway to any trained ninja "worth their salt"—her words not his.

The lady was smiling slyly as she scanned the room. Her eyes landed on 10 and paused for the briefest of moments before her eyes fixed on Gato. Shit, shit, shit! She knew he was there! It was like crazy lady said: the real dangerous ninja would let him know he or she knew where he was but go on acting like nothing was amiss; it basically said the ninja knew he or she could take him out or expose him easily, but he wasn't worth it. Shit.

"I apologize again if my men were insensitive, Terumi-san" Gato nervously stated as he rubbed his hands anxiously. So even the scumbag was afraid of her, was Terumi worse than Momochi Zabuza? And why did her name sound so familiar to him?

"It was a bit unnecessary" Terumi began as she brushed some of her hair over her shoulder, "for me to have to lay out all my equipment, and to be poked," she then looked pointedly at a few of the uneasily shifting guards. Terumi then fixed her gaze back on Gato, "You did get our message that someone would be coming here, no?" she asked with a smile that made 10 think of the way the boss' sensei used to give that fake eye-smile to the boss and his teammates. 10 supposed the boss wouldn't get to see that smile anymore…

"Ah, I…" Gato trailed off, more nervous than before.

"Hadn't been expecting me?" Terumi asked with a broad grin as she winked. Gato swallowed thickly and nodded slightly.

"Well," the woman drawled with a more subdued smile, "you did say you knew who made an attempt on Yondaime-sama." What?! The Mizukage?! Someone tried to kill him? This is the kind of information crazy lady said people would kill or at least torture to know, and the lady was just spouting it out there so casually when she knew there was hidden ninja in the room? Was this Terumi lady crazy?! Or did she have an ulterior motive.

Gato nodded slowly and moved to sit behind his desk. He gestured to a chair a guard pulled up to the desk, but the woman ignored him. Gato coughed uneasily as the woman turned and moved to examine some artwork he had in his office while she had her hands crossed casually under her bust.

"So…" the woman spoke again, her head titled to one side as Terumi pretended to look at the painting, but 10 knew she was tilting her head to look at him in the shadow. She never stopped smiling and it was really starting to freak 10 out.

"Well," Gato began again, "I had hired Momochi and his apprentice to take care of a nuisance, but somehow he ended up in your country trying to finish his coup."

Terumi hummed and nodded before turning around and walking back toward the desk. "But who were his accomplices?" she asked once she stopped walking.

Gato shifted again, as if suddenly unsure of himself. "Ah well, you see, Terumi-san," he coughed and straightened in his chair, "my nuisance hired some Konoha ninja for protection. Whoever he hired had to have convinced Momochi to abandon his contract and go after your kage with themselves in tow"

"And?" Terumi asked as if bored, but 10's heart pounded in his chest as the implications sank in.

"Ah…well my scouts have never seen any ninja there. I-it's possible that um, after they took care of my men three days ago that they placed traps around the village and left to take out your kage."

"Hmm," the woman toyed with the thought before shaking her head. "Impossible. The ninja who did this hit knew where my kage was and knew how to get there the most efficient way possible. Even if they had Momochi with them, such planning would take at least a few days." She shook her head and smiled sweetly at him, "So that would mean the team split up, but a cell of chuunin would be too low of rank for this assassination, and I doubt your nuisance could afford a team of Jounin." She said nuisance as if she was mocking him. "Or…" she began with an almost maliciously amused smile, "do think one Jounin did this while his genin protected their client?"

Gato winced and spluttered a few times, and Terumi hummed in question. Gato looked away and mumbled, "My men could never get close enough to tell who was guarding the village" Gato said this like it pained him, and 10 felt a little bloom of pride for his boss's traps.

"Oh?" Terumi asked with her smile still in place but an eyebrow raised.

"Yes," Gato looked away a little annoyed. "No one survived the attempt on the village, and traps are laid far out from the village."

"Hmm…" Terumi turned around and began to move toward 10's hiding place, although she made it seem like she was focused on the plant beside 10's location. "Why would a team hired to protect one person place protection around a whole village, or had I assumed wrong?" she looked at Gato over her shoulder as she asked the question before looking back at the plant in boredom. "I presumed your nuisance was a person not a village."

Gato made an annoyed noise but gritted out an affirmative.

Terumi laughed slightly, "Then what reason would a Konoha team have had to lay traps around an entire village." She then pretended that she noticed 10, who immediately began to scramble away, but Terumi crouched down in front of 10 and picked him up. The woman's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, but then she got up and brought 10 over toward Gato. 10 didn't have to fake acting like a panicked animal; he was barely keeping it together.

"Cute mouse you have here," she commented as she tried to pet 10. Gato made a disgusted expression and pulled back from the amused woman. If it wouldn't have made too much smoke, 10 would have dispersed long before now.

"I-is there anything else I can assist you with Terumi-san?" Gato asked with forced sincerity and continued nervousness.

Terumi sighed but continued smiling, "I'm afraid not. Your information was entirely useless. The only way it could help is if the ninja here were in chakra exhaustion or severely injured." She sighed again and shook her head, "What a waste of time." Although she said this, 10 had a gut feeling she had lied.

Terumi began moving for the office door and Gato hastily stood up, but Terumi shoot him a look over her shoulder. "If you think this extends our trade agreements or entitles you to a free hit, you are sadly mistaken," she stated coldly and without a smile for once.

She paused at the door and then smiled a little maliciously at the short man, "Frankly, your services are becoming rather obsolete to Kirigakure; especially with the regime change on the way." That was when 10's world narrowed down into a tunnel as Terumi used a shunsin and left the fortress.

She ended up in the forest and tossed 10 into the air before bringing her hands together and disrupting his henge, all the while she ordered: "Don't dispel, or I'll assume Hatake has been missing and its war." 10 had been prepared to disperse as she was releasing his henge, but the threat made him catch himself in the air and land in a crouch.

10 assumed a fighting stance, and purposely played up his nervousness. The more nervous he appeared, the more difficult it would be to know when he's lying. "L-look, I don't know what's going on, 'tebayo! What the hell are you talking about?"

"I think you heard it all pretty clearly. Momochi Zabuza made an attempt on my Kage's life and he had accomplices." Terumi moved a little closer to him and smiled a little broader, "And your sensei could be one of them; after all, Team 7 was hired to protect a bridge builder named Tazuna, no?"

10 managed not to show his confusion or alarm; Gato had never said that in the meeting, but then…that meant she had heard that from somewhere else—perhaps spies?! 10 shook his head. "That's impossible!" Either the jounin was dead or he had…had played the boss. 10 gritted his teeth and stepped back a little ways from the woman.

"Oh?" she asked with an almost fake smile in place, "but then why are you out here scoping out Gato's place, hmm? Or are you denying Hatake Kakashi is your sensei?" 10 just glared back at her even as she pressed on with a shake of her head and sardonic smile. "Regardless, why would a jounin risk his cute genin on such a dangerous infiltration mission?" The woman then smirked, "Or was this supposed to be an assassination?"

10 glared at her, although he continued to show his fear and nervousness with the situation. "It's none of your business!" he nearly shouted with a false sort of bravado. It was never good to fold so easily; it usually increased suspicion amongst ninja.

"Oh?" Terumi asked as she straightened. "So I should go find Hatake, or whoever your sensei is, and get this war going then?" she was humoring him when she said "whoever your sensei is" and it kind of pissed 10 off.

10 glared up at her defiantly. "How he trains the boss is none of your business," if he could get her to dispel him, then the boss would know about the danger, "you ugly, old hag!" he cried the last bit loudly and with as much venom as he could muster.

The woman's smile became strained and her eye twitched slightly. "What did you call me?" she asked mildly.

To make sure she didn't catch onto his plan, 10 kept up the nervous act but still rose up to the challenge, albeit a little hesitantly. "A-a ugly, old hag." 10 nodded and acted like he had gained more courage while Terumi looked angrier. "I bet, since you're so ugly, you aren't even married and are too old to get—"

Mei stared down at her hand in the middle of the bunshin smoke. What the hell?! That was a solid clone and it dispelled with a simple slap, and dispelled into smoke. Was that a kage bunshin? But that is impossible from a child.

Mei focused on the other slightly refined mouse-like chakra signatures in the Gato's compound and found that they had all disappeared. Kage bunshin. The kid played her! Oh…she had some words for Hatake when she found him, some of which included teaching genin high-rank, dangerous skills during peace-time!

…

The silence between them had gone on for what felt like ten minutes before Sakura finally broke it. "Sensei," she began quietly. "We-I," she amended as she glanced at the still hurt boys beside her, "know you couldn't tell us about the mission, but…" she furrowed her brow in confusion. She wanted so badly for the team to come together again. "We needed some way to contact you or-or anyone." Sakura choked on her words as she recalled the helplessness they had all felt when they realized there were no bodies to retrieve and no way to contact Konoha.

The man looked at her with an almost thoughtful look. "Trust and communication," he murmured before nodding to himself as if resolved. He shifted and pulled out a rather large scroll from within another storage scroll. He unraveled it, and Naruto was instantly drawn to the seals; however, they all could read the scroll just fine.

"You have a summoning contract," Sasuke said lowly in an annoyed tone. Sakura could imagine what he was thinking: if sensei could summon animals, then why the hell didn't he leave any to help protect them or tell them he was alive? Wait…her eyes widened, and she saw Sasuke's annoyed look was also directed at himself. How could she forget training with Kakashi-sensei's dogs or how he had sent one back with the initial change in their mission?! Her annoyance was beginning to turn into anger like Sasuke because why didn't he tell them what was happening; why did he let them think he was dead?

"I'm the only one with this contract; it's a family contract of sorts, actually." Kakashi-sensei's voice was so quiet, especially since he looked away from them now.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"He means the summons pledged loyalty to his family," Sasuke answered in a huff, still fuming over the circumstances.

Kakashi-sensei shook his head. "Normally, yes, but that was not my family's case. Hatake are the only ones who have the actual contract, and not many choose dogs or are approved by the alpha."

Sakura stared down at the scroll along with the boys. She knew what the man was offering and her teammates did too. What greater trust could he show them—besides explaining why he killed Rin? He was not only showing he trusted them, but in a way, he was opening up a part of his life to them. Now they only had to accept it.

It was quiet and tense for a long moment as they all stared at the summoning contract. Sakura would only do it if her brothers did, but she wasn't so sure the boys would accept the offer after everything that had happened.

Naruto stared at the seal matrix at the bottom of the scroll. His stomach felt like it was flipping around, and his chest felt tight. His throat was burning too, and his eyes were stinging. He felt like a mess with this hot anxious tension in the pit of his stomach. Sensei…he was basically opening up his family to them, to Team 7. Part of Naruto was so thrilled by this that he thought he might explode or cry, but another part of him wondered if this was just another hollow gesture like all the times the man had comforted him in the past—for surely someone who did such kind actions would not have abandoned him like this on the mission. As Naruto contemplated this, he received memories from one of his clones and one stood out over the others.

"You tried to kill the Mizukage!?" Naruto screamed even as he continued processing what had happened. Somehow, in his panic, he was able to push back the other clones' memories as he stared at the Jounin in disbelief. "And you took that Momochi guy with you!?"

"How did you…" Nee-chan asked numbly while teme-nii looked confused, and the Jounin looked horrified.

Regardless of his teammate's actions, Naruto was on a roll. "Now some lady named Terumi is here to start a war because you-you—gah!" Naruto flailed his arms around in panic, and the Jounin's face grew ashen.

"Did she have reddish-brown hair put up ornately, and was she always smiling?" the man asked urgently, and Naruto nodded. "Damn it." His eye frantically moved around the room before it settled on the scroll and then gazed back up at Naruto.

"You need to impersonate me," the man's eye was so hard and serious in that moment that Naruto froze and his chest felt constricted. Kakashi-sensei was relying on him… Then reality came crashing back down.

"What?!" Naruto began shaking his head vehemently, he couldn't do this. "I-I don't even know what I could say, a-and how could I prove I was you?" A thought came to Naruto and he had to articulate it even as if it was still forming. "Besides, she's seen my clones and henge, so she'd be looking for me disguised as you!"

"Then how do we explain my chakra exhaustion?" sensei shot back before his eye widened as he looked back down at the scroll. Sensei turned back to Naruto, his expression deadly serious again, "You need to summon the alpha."

Naruto swallowed thickly; he wasn't getting a choice in the matter like his teammates any more, and now this was all out of necessity. Sensei made a frustrated noise, "The alpha needs to accept you anyways; this isn't final." Naruto blinked in surprise, had sensei known what Naruto was thinking?

Sensei's eyes widened, "She's at the town-line." Naruto frowned at what that implied. The Terumi lady wasn't hiding her chakra output if sensei could feel it from here. "Your traps are only going to slow her for so long!"

Naruto nodded again, they had no time for him to be wishy-washy like this. He knew in theory how summoning worked, "How much chakra?"

"Everything you have," then sensei gave him a meaningful look down toward Naruto's stomach and the blonde swallowed thickly again.

He grabbed the contract and could feel his teammate's stares on him; neither of them seemed to know what to think or do.

As Naruto was reaching one of the seals in the room to deactivate it, he turned his head and looked at sensei. He needed to know otherwise he wouldn't be able to face Terumi, "Why would you try to assassinate the Mizukage?"

Sensei's eye was hard, but he met Naruto's gaze without any hesitation, "We were not trying to assassinate him, but it had to look like an attempt."

"Why?" teme-nii asked immediately after the answer, "and why did that need a sharingan."

"He was being controlled," Nee-chan murmured. And Naruto had to fully turn around to face her in disbelief along with teme-nii. Sensei's expression was hard to read, but then Nee-chan continued speaking. "At least, that's the rumor I heard; was it true?" she asked as she looked over at Sensei.

"Yes, but by another sharingan user. Now you all know everything and you must never speak of it to anyone." Sensei then looked over at Naruto, "We don't have much time."

Naruto's heart was pounding in his chest. So much rode on him; even if Sensei wouldn't tell him what his plan was, Naruto knew his part to it was crucial. He deactivated the seals before jumping out the window and starting to work on the summoning. With all the adrenaline coursing through him and his fear of an impending war if he messed this up, he was able to summon up more chakra than he had ever tried to before.

His efforts resulted in a poof of smoke. Nee-chan led Sensei out through the window, while teme-nii told Tazuna and his family to stay inside and quiet. Naruto tried again, his panic rising with each fruitless attempt he made.

"You can do it, Naruto-kun," Sensei encouraged and Naruto almost felt like crying now that the Jounin was calling him by his name again.

"Yeah, Otoutou, you can," Nee-chan agreed and teme-nii sent him small smile and a determined nod.

As Naruto was preparing again, he felt a foreign and impressive chakra at the edge of his senses. Oh shit! If he could feel her then she would be there in a matter of moments. The panic, adrenaline, and fear broke that dam again. He felt the chakra burning in his veins and pouring into his hands. He summoned it all into his hands, used the blood on his hands, and then slammed them down on the sealing array.

Naruto was barely able to keep in his surprise as he felt something big, furry, and warm under his legs.

"Who," a booming voice began but Sensei was in front of the giant dog.

"I ask the Great Alpha to aid me in defending my pups." Naruto felt a tightness in his chest again, although he still noted that Sensei was signing something to the boss summon.

The dog attempted to look back at him. "Get off," it whispered, although it sounded like it was talking at a normal volume. Naruto didn't need to be told twice, and quickly joined his team while Sensei stood uneasily in front of the boss summon. Naruto and his team got into anxious ready positions, each knowing to play up their fear and nervousness for when Terumi arrived.

Then the Terumi lady was there, and she wasn't smiling anymore.

Kakashi made his heart slow down. Normally he could have taken on Terumi Mei and come out on top, albeit with quite a lot of collateral damage that would have made their fight a very bad idea. Terumi was looking up at the boss summon with her mouth open and one eyebrow raised in disbelief. She then turned to Kakashi, and he saw understanding flash over her eyes followed by suspicion as her gaze flickered over to Naruto.

"What do you want Jounin Terumi?" He called out to get her attention and keep it off his genin. The boss summon growled threateningly as well and lowered his head—Kakashi could feel his hot breath on his back and it nearly blew him over. "You are quite a ways from home."

Terumi looked him up and down and smiled, although she did not come closer to any of them, "Hiding behind a boss summon you've never summoned in battle before," she shook her head and then gestured back to the line of traps, "and traps. Not really your style if you ask me."

"I was teaching my genin defensive tactics—" Kakashi began. He knew how bad it looked, but he had to play off his chakra exhaustion as a result of summoning a boss and doing a large amount of fuinjutsu.

"To what? Stop a siege?" Terumi laughed, and Kakashi noted the boys bristled slightly at that, and Terumi caught it. "What? Did you help?" she asked almost mockingly.

Naruto glared defiantly, and Kakashi nearly panicked—what were they going to do? "Yeah we helped some! Sensei was teaching us super awesome traps and did super awesome fuinjutsu, dattebayo!"

"So don't mock us, hag," Sasuke snarled, and Kakashi's eye widened while the woman's smile became a little more forced. Then Sakura slapped both of them upside the head.

"Be nice to the foreign Jounin!" she chastised. The boys looked away with petulant pouts. Kakashi managed to subdue his smile now that he realized what his genin were doing. They were lessening Terumi's expectation of them and trying to express how "dysfunctional" they were so that it was clear Kakashi had to do all the work here.

Terumi still had a suspecting look to her eyes, but she shifted her focus back over at the Kakashi. "If that is the case, I must say I was… surprised," she pursed her lips at that word as if she wished to find a different word, "at the 'town-line' you created." She was not smiling again, "I would not have suspected a Konoha elite or his genin capable of such…cruelty or morbidity."

Kakashi glared back at her and his genin managed not to look guilty at the accusation. "Gato sent all those men to rape and pillage the village until we gave up our client. My genin decided we could not stand for that," he looked over at them pointedly, "which meant I had to take care of all of them while they got the villagers out of there." He deduced as much happened from the battle scars and whispers from the village people; he had yet to confirm with his genin, but this would be good enough.

The Jounin lazily slid his gaze back over to Terumi while his genin flinched appropriately and expressed shame and guilt at their actions. "We were rounding up the bodies to burn when the enraged villagers took matters…into their own hands," he looked at Terumi pointedly as he said his euphemism slowly and with a measured level of disgust.

Terumi kept her reaction close to her chest, but he saw her unease still. "Well," was all she managed to say..

"They wanted to give Gato a warning," Sakura murmured in a shaky, disturbed voice.

"If he ever tried to attack them again," Sasuke continued, even shuddering for show.

"The villagers wouldn't stand for it," Naruto finished with a dark look coming over his face.

"So what?" Terumi began after a pause. "Did they also hire Konoha to assassinate him? I'm assuming the kid's" she gestured to Naruto, "kage bunshin informed you I found him." She then fixed Kakashi with a hard look, "Why the hell does a genin know that jutsu, are you insane?!"

"Hey! I learned that jutsu all by myself!" Naruto shouted prideful and affronted while Sasuke and Sakura stared at him in disbelief. Kakashi himself wanted to smack the boy upside the head for divulging one of their greatest security failures to a foreigner.

"Excuse me?" Terumi asked dumbfounded as she blinked back at the boy.

"What? I can't accidently make up a jutsu because I used my chakra in a different way while making a clone?! Huh?!" Naruto challenged and even started to approach the Jounin, but Sakura quickly pulled him back. "I'm not an idiot, datteabyo!"

"Yes you are," Sasuke drawled. "You could have killed yourself; did you ever think of that, dobe!" Sasuke shot back, and the boys began glaring at each other with their faces inches apart.

Kakashi feigned an annoyed inhale and exhale before glaring over at the two who Sakura was trying in vain to pull apart. Kakashi was about to order them to stand down when the boss growled out, "Am I even needed?"

Everyone froze and turned to look back at the snarling giant dog. Kakashi immediately fixed his gaze back on Terumi, "Depends," he said lowly, "do we have a problem?"

"Depends on if you tried to take my Kage's life three nights ago."

Kakashi laughed dryly. "I was counselling these three after their first kills that night; I hardly had time to make an attempt on the Mizukage."

"I thought they were just rescuing the villagers," Terumi was trying to catch him in a lie, and he wouldn't let that happen.

"There were eighty of them and I can only make two effective solid clones." Terumi got his implication and narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"I see." She sighed and then smiled again, "Then I suppose I have nothing else here to say." Terumi turned around but then did a shunshin. Kakashi had a kunai out and held it to her throat as she appeared in front of him. The boss summon was growling lowly again, and Terumi just smiled with both her hands up in an I-mean-no-harm fashion. Kakashi remained composed and had motioned his genin to keep from attacking until he gave the say so.

"Listen Hatake, the fact remains that Momochi Zabuza had a job here at the same time you did, but then he tried to make an attempt on my commander. His own supposed teammate made all but his arm disappear, and the rest of the team blew up the fake-hunter in his party. Only Momochi and the fake-hunter killed anyone." Terumi paused in her speech to smile almost sarcastically, "Now that doesn't sound like a declaration of war or an honest attempt being made on my kage's life."

Kakashi stared at the woman's eyes with the hard edge of a war veteran who would give nothing away. She smiled a little broader and moved her face closer to his ear despite the kunai pressing and actually cutting into her neck.

"Now, if Konoha tries to clean up our problems again," she whispered, "we will take offense, but for now," she paused, "we'll take this as the potential gesture it was." She pressed closer, and other than the kunai, Kakashi did not have the strength to push her away. The boss summon growled more but Terumi paid him no mind. "But we have one question, and if you don't want war, you'll answer honestly," she paused again, and Kakashi somehow managed to remain calm, "how did you know when we could only speculate."

The game appeared to be more than up. She had already suspected and despite their efforts they had not dissuaded her. Kakashi sighed slightly before he spoke; after all, it seemed the Mizukage saw through their ruse and found it to be a kind gesture between allies.

"A spy of ours had…heard something about the Mizukage and the plans his…organization had for him. It pivoted on keeping control over your Yondaime," Kakashi whispered this slowly and tried to put in as much sincerity as he could.

Terumi pulled back with her brow furrowed, "Was this confirmed or had your mission confirmed what your spy might have heard?"

Kakashi nodded marginally, "The mission confirmed it."

Terumi stepped back slightly and looked off to the side with her brow furrowed in thought. "Ally to ally, what organization was this and what did they want?" She looked at him in the eye, and Kakashi nodded slowly.

This worked perfectly with the Hokage's future goals. They had to get the nations rallied against Akatsuki, and the sooner they can form alliances the better. Kakashi holstered his kunai and motioned her closer.

She was right beside him again and he whispered as lowly as he could, "Let's just say, all but Kumo have used their services." She gasped and probably would have turned to look at him in disbelief, but couldn't due to their proximity.

"And their plans?" she whispered back almost breathlessly.

"What gives your kage his power?" He could feel her confusion. "Kumo and Iwa have two of them," he added, and she inhaled sharply again.

Terumi stepped away from him and nodded. Her back was straight and there was a fearful yet guarded look that said she feared for her kage and needed to be at his side immediately. "Thank you for your cooperation; I must inform Yondaime-sama of what you say, and get our network to confirm it." She nodded to them all and began to leave again. However, she turned around and gave them all a lopsided smile. "I'll also tell Gato what the villagers did to his men in death; I'm sure he'll go packing after that." She winked and used a shunshin to leave.

Kakashi sighed and fell to the ground as he stared back up at the boss. "Thank you," he breathed out before adding on, "I apologize if that felt unnecessary."

The boss growled again and shook his head, before turning to stare at the three genin. "So they want to summon one of my kin?"

Kakashi glanced over at his genin and tried to keep the hope off of his face, but he still felt it building there.

The three genin looked between each other. Naruto looked a little more positive, but Sasuke still seemed uneasy. Naruto turned to Kakashi with a slightly teary look in his eyes and just as much hope as Kakashi was feeling. "D-did you really mean it when you said we were your…your pups?" the boy asked like he was afraid to know the truth and be disappointed. Kakashi felt his face burn a little as he looked away self-consciously. Kakashi had said that to the boss, hadn't he, even as he signed the circumstances of the boss' presence?

"W-well, you are my genin," he coughed slightly to get rid of the tightness in his throat, and Sakura outright laughed at him before tackling him in a hug. Naruto gave a cry and also launched himself at Kakashi who could not support either of them and ended up on his back while being crushed by his genin.

Kakashi heard Sasuke come closer before stopping just at his head. "You need to teach me everything you know about the sharingan, and you still have to tell us why you killed your teammate, and what that Jounin meant about reporting to her kage."

Kakashi felt cold but he nodded. He had planned to coach Sasuke about the sharingan once he had activated it, but talking about Rin… He knew he would have to tell them eventually anyways, but he wasn't ready at the moment. Regardless, the reminder of Rin's death made Sakura and Naruto get off of him with varying forlorn looks, which told him he should tell them sooner than later.

"Hmm, well that's good and all for you whelps, but you have to prove you can handle my family," the boss growled out above them, and the genin turned to attention with serious expressions.

The boss summon continued speaking, "A new litter was born two months ago, they are able to see now and their mother is more willing to let them leave her sight."

Kakashi frowned, that was far too early. The litter was usually at least six months old before they could even be considered ninken for anyone, and even then there were chances that the dogs would not survive. On top of that, the ninken choose whether they want to be summoned by a specific ninja, which takes long hours of training and building trust which newborn pups did not have the attention span for. To give them such young pups… the genin wouldn't even be able to let the ninken go back to the pack for healing or anything for at least a month. This was more than any of the past tests; Kakashi knew this.

Kakashi looked up at the boss quizzically and saw a calculating edge to his eyes. Then Kakashi glanced back over at his genin and realized they were too stiff and formal before the boss. It clicked then. The Alpha was trying to help him heal his genin.

"Shall they begin the test now or tomorrow?"

The boss hummed before speaking with a pointed look directed at Kakashi, "I think you need to talk to them about a few more things."

Kakashi nodded, then the boss summon sent himself back to his pack while Kakashi gestured for one of his genin to help him. Once they were back in the room, he ordered Naruto to activate the seals with his supervision. With everything in place, Kakashi sighed heavily. Where to start?

"Have any of you heard of Akatsuki?" he looked to Sakura and hoped his look conveyed that she should stay quiet.

Naruto looked over at Sakura quizzically, but eventually Kakashi received negative responses all around. "They are a criminal organization of S-ranked rogue ninja. Every hidden nation, excluding Kumo, have bought their services at one point or another." His genin stared at him in shock mixed with horror at varying levels. Sakura was the most nervous at this point. "An informant learned that Akatsuki somehow had control over the Mizukage and planned to release his bijuu, for what end we are not sure yet." He again looked quickly at Sakura and hoped the girl knew not to speak up about it.

"Wait, the Mizukage is a jinchuuriki?" Naruto breathed in awe, "Really?!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Yes you have a kage role model now," he commented dryly before looking at Kakashi with a serious look. "Why did they need a sharingan for this mission? Couldn't a Yamanka have done well enough?"

Kakashi pushed aside the fact that apparently Sasuke knew about Naruto's jinchuuriki status, for they would explain that to him when they finished debriefing, and instead debated what he should tell Sasuke. Part of him felt cold, sick, and numb as he remembered that achingly familiar chakra. He shook his head and swallowed thickly, "There is a technique within the advanced forms of the sharingan that can control another's mind."

Sasuke immediately began to snarl and tense up, and Kakashi almost wished he could blame Itachi for this, but it wasn't him. "When I combatted the mind control over the Mizukage, I recognized the eye," his throat was becoming tighter and he felt more than uneasy. However, his words had riled up Sasuke more, so Kakashi lifted up his forehead protector and thought about the pain and shame of Rin's death. The eye changed for a brief moment before he covered the eye again and leaned back heavily because of the chakra it took to simply activate the higher level. "The bastard had Obito's other eye," and chakra—no! He pushed the thought down deeper because it couldn't be, it couldn't be!

Sakura was trembling as if she wanted to say something but was terrified of the consequences. Sasuke looked enraged and horrified at the same time, while Naruto looked quietly thoughtful.

It was silent for a very long moment before Naruto spoke up with an annoyed look, "Wait, so everything we did out there was useless? Terumi knew already, right?"

Kakashi laughed slightly at the response even as Sasuke sent him an equally annoyed look as the other genin. "It still served its purpose." He eye-smiled at the genin, "She underestimates you three and your skills are still relatively unknown." Kakashi then shrugged, "we also have a more believable debriefing story."

"But what about Momochi?" the blonde asked.

"Who?" Kakashi feigned ignorance. "There were never anymore rogue ninja beyond the demon brothers. Momochi was busy in Kirigakure planning his coup with the money Gato paid him in advance."

Kakashi then clapped his hands together. "Now, I need you three to finish debriefing and then we need to talk about coping strategies," he announced.

His genin looked at him uneasily but they each nodded slightly, and Sakura resumed speaking. Things were still strained between them, and Sasuke would never fully trust him again, but at least he was willing to work with him, especially if Kakashi agreed to teach him the secrets of the sharingan. Naruto was wary of him too, as if expecting betrayal, but he was open and welcoming again. Perhaps his relationship with the boys would never be the same, and it could take years he didn't have to get them to fully trust him again, but this was a start. He was sure they would resent him for a long time yet.

…

It was much worse than he had thought, and even in the light of day, Kakashi wasn't sure if his genin would ever fully recover from his betrayal or the death they had dealt in his absence. But he tried his best.

Now was not the time to get his genin to find coping strategies, but he had them talk about what they had done, how they felt in the moment, and how they felt after. He was glad they felt remorse and made sure they understood that was what made them human and healthy. It had been long and emotional, but it was a start. They would talk about the incident again tomorrow and then once more when they got back to Konoha. Normally a Yamanka would do the counseling, but for obvious alibi related reasons, they could not. Although the Mizukage knew he was behind the "attempt," the other nations did not need to know or there could very well be a war on their hands because Konoha had made a move against an ally.

Now Kakashi instructed Naruto's clones to spy on Gato and kidnap him if he remained a threat after Terumi had spoken with him. Kakashi suspected it may become the case, and he already had a draft made for the kidnapping mission, but they would wait until they knew for sure whether it must be carried through or not.

In the meantime though, another six Naruto clones watched over Tazuna as his men continued working on the bridge. The rest of Team 7 were on the bridge as well, but they were now trying to summon the pups at a place far enough away from the equipment to not endanger the summons, but still close enough to protect Tazuna if need be.

He looked at each of them again, but they met his gaze head on. They likely saw the value in having summons, but Kakashi would give them all the chances they wished for to back out. "When you summon the pups it is not guaranteed they will be your ninken, even with the Alpha's permission. First the summon must choose you. Since the pups are exceptionally young at this point, they will not know right away. Also, you each have to watch them carefully and ensure their health for they will not be able to go back to the pack unless an older summon takes them back, which also means the older summon may deem you irresponsible or incompatible with that pup, and thus take it back to the pack."

They each nodded, and Kakashi took a deep breath. Because he had gotten a fair amount of sleep the night before, he was able to summon Pakkun to supervise how his genin worked with the young summons. The genin had to do the summoning in unison to bring up the whole litter, especially since they did not know which summon would be most compatible with them.

Five tries later, and Sakura ready to faint, there was a large puff of smoke as six small pups appeared. They were each the size of Pakkun and they whimpered as the smoke cleared. They were all different breeds, as was common amongst the summons, but Kakashi noted they were mostly sleek dogs with either short or wired hair and brown, black, red, or a mix of two color coats.

Sakura was the first to embrace them and exclaim how cute they looked. Naruto followed next and was soon on his back with the pups climbing over him. Finally, Sasuke moved toward a pup who was by itself whining for attention. He crouched down and let the short-haired red coat pup sniff his hand before he began petting it gently.

Kakashi watched as Naruto began playing with several of the pups, most of which were attracted to his high energy and had equally high energy as he ran them in circles. Sakura tried to teach a few of the pups to sit and stay, and Sasuke just sat with the same pup and continued to pet it. A look over at Pakkun said Sasuke had probably found his summon, but they had several more days of training and nurturing before there could be any decisions.

…

Clones 1 through 5 had successfully infiltrated Gato's office and they had an escape prepared. That Uchiha had given them a paralyzing poison, and they had several senbon primed for the target and his guards. Clones 6 through 9 were outside the building and in the courtyard. The Uchiha had also helped the boss create several seals with illusions built in. That would at least slow down pursuit for a little while.

The five clones had watched as Gato gave angry orders for his men to take up arms. They were going to storm the village again, and this time behead anyone who got in the way. His hired thugs were certainly uneasy and several had defected, but Gato then began adding steep monetary incentives and over a hundred of his men stayed ready to fight.

So now the clones were prepared to follow through with their plans and kidnap Gato for the villagers to do with him as they please. In addition, the clones were supposed to crack open his safe with some explosives before leaving, thus allowing his men to take his money and run while also burning or melting quite a bit of it. That took away the biggest part of Gato's power and influence, and although the clones thought it would be better to steal the money for the village, they were advised against such actions.

It was an hour into the present guards' shift, and the civilian thugs were beginning to slouch off. Even Gato had relaxed slightly and was now fanning himself because of the summer heat in his office. Disguised as mice, the clones moved into position. Two beside each guard and the last one behind Gato. With a flair of chakra they dropped their henge and stabbed their targets with the senbon before at least one clone covered each target's mouth.

Clone 4 had the privilege to dose Gato, and 4 cringed as he kept a firm grip on Gato's mouth as the man tried to scream and cry out in fear. This was good, actually; the more panicked Gato was, the faster his blood pumped, and the sooner the poison made him as limp as a noodle. The clones covering the guards' mouths also began cutting off their air supply so they would pass out.

Clones 5 and 1 were preparing seals now that the guards were taken care of. 5 had found Gato's safe and primed several timed explosive notes around it. Clone 1 began placing the illusion seals at the back window (one of two full-sized windows in the fortress) to make it look as if it had not been broke after their escape, plus it would also hide their escape. Lastly, the illusion would disorient anyone approaching the window so that the person would turn around instead of looking out the window.

4 felt Gato becoming slack and he quickly tied a gag over his mouth and threw a sack over his ugly mug. 4 then bound the man's hands and feet, while the other clones let the thugs fall slack to the ground. It was time.

4 hoisted Gato over his shoulder and gritted at the weight of the fat, short man. 3 opened the window in the office and they proceeded to file out of the building. There were four thugs below them who noticed their exit, but clones 6, 7, 8, and 9 quickly silenced them with poison and choke holds. The rest of the clones and Gato quickly fled through the courtyard and over the wall. There were surprised shouts that were short lived as clones 1, 2, 3 and 5 threw paper shuriken at the guard towers. The guards could not block all the attacks and the clones had been aiming for lethal blows.

4 kept moving even as his team dealt with the few witness left. Those who survived would catch up with 4, but 4 had a mission to complete before the target the poison wore off.

…

Naruto froze in his play with the puppies. He turned to Kakashi-sensei. "You need to get the contract signed." Naruto looked down at the ground with a cold feeling in his stomach. His clones had killed four more people…

"Naruto!" Nee-chan cried in alarm as she raced past him. Teme-nii was a blur right after her, and Naruto quickly looked at where they were running. The Puppies! Oh shit! A shunshin later and Naruto managed to catch one of the four puppies before they got in the way of a worker moving a steel beam. Teme-nii caught one as it was about to tumble off the end of the bridge, and Sakura stopped one from jumping at a saw. Fortunately, Naruto made a clone to catch the fourth puppy before it was trampled by a surprised worker. Of course, the puppy then bit the clone, so Naruto used the shunshin again to reach the puppy and pick it up. Then the other two puppies began running towards them.

This was way more work than he thought it would be and it was only the first day!

"Hey, no! Back that way," Naruto ordered, but the puppies kept running toward them, although they occasionally stumbled over their own feet.

The red haired dog Teme-nii had been petting was yipping in distress and trying to race over to the Uchiha. The dark haired boy quickly stepped in front of the yipping puppy, which immediately stopped running to stare up at him and lean against his leg. They stared at each other for a long moment before the boy picked it up by the scruff of its neck.

Sakura stopped the other puppy, which had been napping prior to this excursion, and lightly nudged the dog with her foot in the right direction, "Back," she ordered as she gestured with her arm back the way they came. They all had struggling, yipping, biting puppies in their arms but they were trying to get them to go back into a safer area of the bridge.

…

Clones 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 went through the trap defense around the village and quickly arrived at the town center with their target in tow. Clones 2 and 9 dispersed to alert the boss while they began tying up the limp Gato to a pole familiar from Tazuna's story their second night here.

Many villagers began circling around them a little alarmed but also viciously hopeful. The clones stood guard over Gato until the boss and his team arrived with the complete contract. It all made them uneasy, but orders were orders.

…

Naruto turned back to his sensei when the memories came back to him, "Do we have to go there?"

Sensei raised an eyebrow quizzically, "Did the clones complete the mission?"

Naruto nodded numbly and he saw his teammates freeze. Sensei looked at Naruto and then his teammates with a very serious eye before he glanced back over at Tazuna and his workers, all of whom pitched in to pay for the contract. "My team has completed the mission. They will stay here and watch over the bridge while I go with you to oversee the finalization of our contract."

The men on the bridge looked at Sensei in disbelief before what he said registered and several of them began to cheer while others just nodded grimly. Naruto glanced back over at his teammates and saw Nee-chan burrowing her face in the fur of one puppy, as if to hide, and Teme-nii was absentmindedly petting that one dog as he stared at the bridge beneath him. Naruto swallowed and half-heartedly tried to play with the three puppies in front of him. The last puppy was lying beside Nee-chan and taking a nap again.

Naruto really didn't want to know what the villagers decided to do with Gato because…because then… These were good people, but what if they did something bad and unforgiveable like Team 7 had done? They were good people and if they chose to kill Gato… It made Naruto feel sick just thinking about the possibility.

…

Kakashi arrived with Tazuna and the workers after a rather painfully long walk. His muscles were still stiff and his body ached as it recovered from chakra exhaustion, but he was able to move around sufficiently enough with the help of a crutch.

Now that he was in the village centre, he noted the three clones guarding Gato and quickly motioned for them to remain where they were. Tazuna and the other men who contracted the kidnapping signed their agreement of the mission's completion. Only then did Kakashi sign for the clones to disperse. The rest of the villagers scrounged together the money for the transaction and Gato was now in their hands.

One villager went up to the tied up tyrant and pulled off the bag over his head. Gato's eyes were half-lidded from the poison, but immediately after the bag was off and the person had moved, someone within the crowd threw a stone at the short man while screaming a profanity. A few more people began throwing stones, which roused Gato's senses, but he was unable to do anything about it. Kakashi could see Gato's growing panic and pain as welts formed across his skin.

This would be a mob soon, and the man would be torn apart. Kakashi wasn't sure how he felt about that. It was not his place to judge or stop them, after all. There would be chaos, and he did not want his genin to see that after what they had done for the village.

However, Tazuna came forward before the mob truly grew into a hateful frenzy. "Stop!" he cried and received several negative reactions, but Tazuna pressed on. "Are we really no better than him?!" he cried. "He has tied up our families and beat them like we are now. Are we going to act like him now that he has no power?"

Kakashi saw that quite a few within the crowd didn't care, while others were swayed by the bridge builder's words. The man realized this and quickly pressed on, "If we torture and kill him like we might wish, can we really face our children and teach them to be good, honest people?" It was a low, emotionally coercive blow, but it did make more people within the crowd pause in disbelief with their mouths open.

The stones lowered and people shuffled around unsure of themselves.

"So what do you propose we do?" one person asked almost sarcastically. "Hold him prisoner?" they asked with a scoff.

"Perhaps, or perhaps we can think of something better as a collective besides torturing and killing him?"

Kakashi nodded to himself and remained where he was as the villagers began to civilly discuss what to do with their captive; this was better than chaos. However, Kakashi saw the hate and anger in some of the villagers' eyes, and he knew that those were the people who would find Gato at night and slit his throat. Even if the village would not decide to kill Gato, there were angry, hurt men and women within their numbers who would readily kill him given the chance, but it wasn't Kakashi's place to judge or stop them.

…

It was a little awkward that night at dinner, but eventually Inari broke the silence by asking what had happened in the village that day. The genin held their breaths and listened intently for what Tzuna said, although they did not look at him. They did this while they fought the pups trying to wriggle free from their laps to eat all their food. Kakashi noted that Naruto was distracted enough that one of the pups managed to paw the blonde's rice bowl to the edge of the table without Naruto's knowledge.

Inari looked at Naruto oddly, but did not comment, especially as a mischievous look came over the little boy's face—as if he was looking forward to when the steaming rice would land in the blonde's pup filled lap. Tazuna realized the genin were waiting for what he had to say, so he quickly assuaged their fears. "We have collectively decided to keep Gato prisoner. Since he no longer has power or influence here thanks to you," he looked each of Team 7 in the eye as he said the last part. "We may put him to work on different projects with supervision."

"Rehabilitating him?" Sakura asked with some hope in her voice. Tazuna nodded though his expression showed he was not sure how successful Gato would be at rehabilitation.

Regardless, the tension in the air broke, and Naruto managed to stop his rice bowl from falling on top of the pups. He also managed to chastise the young summons, although they mostly just ignored him and looked pleadingly up at the food on the table.

Tsunami had been mildly offended at the prospect of the summons joining them for dinner, but Kakashi had calmly explained that in order to form a bond with the potential summons, they had to be with them at all times, and the pups were still quite helpless at this point in their development. She was ready to have them all eat and spend the night outside, but then she saw Kakashi's genin smiling a little at the pups and acting more like children.

Tsunami and Tazuna both saw the benefit of his genin taking care of the pups. After all, the genin were doing something productive and taking care of a life. It was just a small part in coping, and Kakashi hoped it would be enough until they made it home. Thus the two had no qualms with the genin focusing more on the pups than on Tazuna's protection.

…

Progress on the bridge had slowed due to multiple things, but mostly from workers taking shifts to guard Gato. The villagers had just planned to keep the corrupt man tied up in a makeshift prison, but there had already been one attempt made on the man: a fire in the middle of the night. Fortunately, other than Gato, no one was harmed. Several houses and the makeshift prison had to be rebuilt that day, which had taken away more workers from the bridge, and tomorrow there would be a supply run, so progress would slow to a trickle.

Kakashi was half tempted to get Naruto's clones to do some of the construction work, but then that was crossing the line and would become another fee heaped upon the small village. Kakashi supposed that with Gato no longer a threat, their mission could be considered complete, and Tazuna might even dismiss them, but a look at Kakashi's genin made him hesitate to go back to the village so soon.

The genin were still raw from their experiences, and part of Kakashi wanted to shelter them here for a little longer. In Konoha the other ninja would know what the genin had done here, and even their inexperienced classmates would realize something had fundamentally changed within Team 7. The other genin would know his genin were no longer the same people that had left over a week ago.

In addition, if they returned now, the fact that his students may have ninken would become public knowledge. It would be better for the ninken to remain a secret as long as possible to give his genin a trump card. Of course, since the pups were still so young and his genin had to bond with them, the pups could not return to the pack for a month yet, which made traveling on the road at the moment quite dangerous for the pups. However, his genin could train their ninken sufficiently in a few weeks so that they could travel safely and also keep their existence secret amongst other genin, which would aid them in the international chuunin exams (pending how successful the genin were at training the pups).

Besides his genin's emotional states and the complications with the ninken, waiting may be beneficial in case Gato's thugs pursue a violent recourse against the villagers—if not for Gato, then for their fallen comrades. There was also the possibility that the thugs, or even other ninja, may try to spring Gato; if a foreign element did do so then Team 7 could do nothing to stop it, but the thugs would be a different story. Perhaps they should just see the bridge's construction through to the end before they left?

"Sensei?" Sakura called out from where she knelt beside the pup that had been napping the day before. There was a short haired, black and brown pup beside her who was sniffing the other pup and making a keening noise. Sasuke was petting and staring down at the pup he had begun to bond with yesterday, before he turned to look over at Sakura and the other pup.

At the whine from the pup, Naruto also stalled while managing the three pups in front of him. The blonde looked over at the pup laying down with concern written on his face. One of the pups, a wiry-haired brown and black pup, paused and tilted its head up at Naruto before looking over at the downed pup before it then the pup moved toward it and nudged the downed pup with its nose. The other two pups began racing away from Naruto, but clones caught them before they could do any damage (to themselves or the construction).

"Sensei," Sakura repeated with a worried look on her face, "her heart beat is really slow and she's barely breathing," she stated with a frown on her face.

Pakkun immediately came over to the pup along with Kakashi. This pup was definitely the smallest of the litter. Pakkun shook his head. "It cannot be helped," he sighed. "She's the runt, and will likely die in a few more days." Pakkun stepped forward and laid a paw on the runt.

However the pup standing watch over the runt began to raise its hackles at Pakkun—Kakashi absentmindedly noted this was the short-haired pup Sakura had tried to train the day before. In return, Pakkun growled at the pup to exert his authority, and the pup dropped its head and tail in submission. Pakkun then left for the pack with the runt in tow.

Kakashi gave his ninken a few minutes before he went about summoning Pakkun again. He was a little stronger than the day before, but Kakashi was certainly in no condition to fight any Jounin, or even any chuunin. Yamato was still asleep too, and likely would be unconscious for another day, but he would not be battle ready for at least three or four more days after he woke up. Admittedly, that was another reason to wait for the bridge to be completed; it would ensure all members of his team would be in top condition when it was time to leave.

When Pakkun moved out of the summoning smoke, the genin looked away from him with slightly down-cast expressions. Pakkun shook his head again and repeated, "It could not be helped." The genin nodded, and refocused their attention on the nearest pup to them.

Sasuke got up and the red haired pup followed suit. Sasuke then jerked his head to one side and began jogging; the dog followed closely at his heels. Sakura shook her head and got up as well, she motioned for the short haired, black and brown pup to come toward her and sit. Once it was sitting she began running with him. As for Naruto, he whistled for the wiry-haired pup's attention while the clones brought the other two summons back toward him. They were all staring up at the blonde eagerly and he began racing around with them again.

…

Week Twenty

Tenzo could not believe Senpai. He stared out from the guest room window onto a sight he had never imagined ever seeing. Senpai let someone else sign his summoning contract, and he had let genin sign it. Senpai let genin do that… Tenzo shook his head in disbelief. Had they coerced him? How much had he missed in his unconscious state? Had senpai gone insane; didn't he realize how much paperwork that would give him?

A glance over at the medic of their ANBU team gave him nothing. He signed for her to debrief him, but she shook her head and melded back into the shadows after learning what he wanted of her. Tenzo refrained from sighing and looked down at the genin outside his window.

There was some reddish, short haired puppy following at Sasuke's heels. The boy suddenly substituted himself with a log and hid from the summon just within the tree line. The little summon whined and keened in displeasure before the wind shifted. The summon paused in its ruckus and then began yipping excitedly as it raced toward Sasuke's hiding place. Tenzo was somewhat alarmed when he saw the solemn Uchiha actually crack a smile when the puppy found him.

Fortunately, the smile was short lived and the Uchiha began running the summon around the perimeter of the house. It seemed the boy was focusing on tracking and agility skills at the moment. Most of the genin were doing this in their own way, but it was curious how attached Sasuke was to that one pup, whereas his teammates had two pups with them.

Although… Tenzo amended, Sakura seemed to focus more of her attention on a short-haired black and brown summon. There was a solid black coated puppy also spending time with her, but she seemed frustrated when it would not follow her attempts to train it. The short-haired summon seemed to hear her authority, although it also disobeyed her on occasion, but Sakura seemed more comfortable bodily moving that summon to sit or stay when it did so. She also worked on agility with both puppies, but she gave them more orders, either verbally or through hand signs.

Naruto had the high energy summons around him, even the black haired puppy would occasionally wander over to him to play or romp in the grass. Naruto seemed to let the puppies walk all over him, and that concerned Tenzo. The boy was a little careless with them, but the wiry-haired summon would watch him and often do the opposite of what Naruto intended, but it often turned out for the best. Of course, at other times it seemed the summon would completely disappear from Naruto's sight along with the other summon.

One such incident was happening now. Naruto scratched his head as he looked around for the other puppy. The wiry-haired one was looking at him almost anxiously before it perked its head up and began racing toward the tree line. Naruto cried out in surprise, but seconds later there was a loud distraught whine coming from deeper in the tree line.

Naruto instantly picked up the wiry-haired puppy before racing further into the trees. There were yelps and whimpers. The black haired puppy Sakura was trying to train nearly ran into the woods but she caught it by the back of the neck while the short haired summon began growling and assuming a defensive stance in front of Sakura.

Pakkun appeared around the corner of the house and he did not look pleased whatsoever. Naruto returned then with the two puppies in his arms. One was bleeding rather badly and the wiry-haired one began to whine at its sibling's pain. Pakkun shook his head and glared at Naruto. The blonde gently set the injured, keening summon down and Pakkun quickly took it back to wherever Senpai's summons came from.

Senpai was now in Tenzo's view and he was displeased. Naruto bowed his head in shame and held the wiry haired puppy up to his chest as he tried to soothe the summon. Kakashi eventually relented and sighed before kneeling beside the blonde. Tenzo didn't bother straining to hear what was said; after all, he imagined it was some cautionary yet comforting speech about summoner responsibility. It would probably be nightfall before Senpai spoke with him, and Tenzo could only assume there were no immediate dangers if Senpai had not addressed him as soon as he sensed Tenzo was awake.

Tenzo supposed he could begin his physical therapy while he waited to be debriefed by Senpai.

…

Sasuke stared down at the puppy in front of him. It had only been a week, but the summon had grown a few inches and was more skillful at running. He supposed the summons grew larger and faster than normal dogs, but what did he know?

The summon was sleek and had an intelligent look in its eyes. Sasuke was a little annoyed that it was constantly following him and that it would lay or rest close to him, but at the same time, it was comforting to feel the puppy's weight and heat against his legs. It was kind of grounding.

The summon was also getting physically faster, and it seemed to have an excellent sense of smell. He found that it would often sniff out a rabbit on their morning runs, and based on how the summon moved, Sasuke knew where to strike if he so wished. The puppy was not very bold at striking an opponent, but Sasuke found out that when he threw weapons at a target, the summon would charge the target too. His mind already formulated several flanking tactics with the summon, but he was hesitant to train the summon in them. What if he failed the boss summon's test? What if the puppy would be taken away from him like so much else in his life? Could it suddenly get ill and die like the runt had?

Sasuke turned around at the loud yipping and raised an eyebrow. The summon was sitting instead of following him. What did it want now? That was another thing that slightly annoyed Sasuke, the puppy was so needy at times. If Sasuke wasn't in the same room as it, the summon would either seek him out or whine until he came over to it. The puppy whined again, and Sasuke sighed but approached it none the less.

Once he crouched down and picked up the summon, it began to lick him on the cheek and then nuzzled against his neck. Sasuke froze for a moment, and felt his mouth twitch up at the corner. He stroked the summon's back and was comforted by its warmth and presence. Did it know what he had been thinking perhaps?

Sasuke continued to walk with the puppy in his arms and soon came up next to his siblings and that…Jounin. Sasuke felt more than a little conflicted with the Jounin. He was supposed to be their sensei, and he had taught them, but he had also abandoned them. Sure, the man had a mission of high importance, but…but…no matter how detrimental it could have been to his mission, Sasuke would have liked to know what was happening. He would have liked to know he hadn't been abandoned again…

The summon in his arms nudged Sasuke again, and the boy looked down at it slightly. He set the dog down but it rested against his legs, like a comforting warmth again. Sasuke looked over at his teammates and saw Yamato was up limping about now without a crutch.

The man had woken up three days ago, but he had been in no condition to move around. Two days ago, Gato had been "mysteriously" killed. It was obvious one of the villagers had done it, but no one came forward and any witnesses were keeping quiet. Sensei said it wasn't their place to pass judgement or interfere, but it still made Sasuke feel sick, and it certainly pissed the dobe off.

Sasuke glanced over at his honorary sister and saw that she was coaching a short-haired puppy to heel. It was a sleek summon with a narrow muzzle. It was probably stockier than Sasuke's shadow, but that was probably good since it seemed to have a propensity toward guarding. The Bookworm rewarded the summon by scratching behind its ear when it stayed behind her instead of racing off ahead as it was sometimes prone to do.

The black, long haired summon was rolling around in the grass in front of Naruto who was trying to get the wiry-haired summon to pass along a scroll from him to a clone. The puppy instead ran into the Jounin who gave that stupid eye-smile of his.

Sasuke narrowed his gaze slightly at the man. How could they really trust him? Sure, the summons were a pretty grand gesture, but was it a forced gesture? Did the man have some ulterior motive? It seemed his type of thing. Could he be manipulating them?

Sasuke analyzed the steel behind that lazy gray eye, and wondered what was true about the man. When was he genuine and when was he not? That snake woman's training suggested there were times when he was…soft with them and perhaps actually smiling, but the man was seldom open for them to read, and it certainly didn't help that he always wore a mask. Like the snake woman said, it was cheating and cheap; although, Sasuke supposed that summed up Hatake Kakashi, a cheater and cheapskate.

The man had killed his teammate, that Rin girl, but he wouldn't tell them why or even how. And the mask…why didn't he let them know what he looked like; that information could be used against them by an infiltrator!

The Jounin caught Sasuke's gaze and raised an eyebrow calmly as he pulled out that perverted book of his. He remembered the man implied it was a coping strategy along with visiting the memorial stone for long hours when he had other engagements, but it all sounded like excuses for unprofessional behavior to Sasuke. But then… without coping strategies…couldn't he snap like that man? Is that what happened to his family? Perhaps that man hadn't been testing himself; perhaps that man had snapped after killing so many people and just happened to turn on his family?

Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets as he stared at his teammates and waited for their orders. Likely the Jounin would have a training regimen for them.

Pakkun walked out from behind the Jounin—Sasuke had to admit that it was a little comical how small the summon was—and approached the black, long haired summon. "I'll be taking him home now; he's hasn't bonded with any of you and he may not be ready to bond." The small pug then vanished in smoke.

Sasuke's brow furrowed slightly in confusion even as his heartbeat picked up pace and his breath caught in his throat…did this mean what he thought it might? The dobe looked the most confused, and the Bookworm looked the most hopeful of them all. The Jounin eye-smiled again and nodded, as if to answer their unspoken questions.

"It would appear you have bonded with these ninken respectfully." The dobe's eyes widened in surprise before he began jumping up and down and exclaiming his excitement. The wiry-haired summon raced back over to the dobe and began wagging his long tail back and forth.

However, the jounin held up his hand before the dobe could get too excited. "However, they are far from being ready to go in the field. You three will need to continue working closely with them and training them because they are not ready to go back to the pack either. So for the next three weeks you need to train and work with them. Also incorporate them into your team strategies."

They each nodded, but the bookworm voiced the question Sasuke had been wondering: "Sensei, when will they be ready for the field?" The bookworm looked down at her summon with a worried, anxious look. Was she afraid of having it in the field?

Sasuke looked down at his own summon and frowned slightly; he supposed he was worried about it going into the field too. It was so young and small, how could it possibly compete with the threats out there in the world?

"Three or four months," the cycloptic Jounin replied. What?! Team 7 could be dead before then! However, Sasuke didn't really want his summon to be out there physically unprepared for the field. "For now I would focus on training them and preparing for them to join your team when they are physically capable," the jounin paused to let that sink in.

"You will not always need them; in fact, often you will only need them when on a tracking mission or need to communicate with others. For the most part, you will want them to be your trump card, something you reserve for when you need an extra hand or a keen nose." The Jounin finished his speech with a sad attempt at a joke that made the bookworm smile and the dobe chuckle. Sasuke rolled his eyes, but still crouched down beside his summon and scratched it behind its ear.

Sasuke thought over the man's lecture and his eyes widened at a sudden thought. If his eyesight was ever impaired, which was likely now that he had activated his sharingan and if his enemy was smart, then he needed another way of finding the target. His summon had a very keen sense of smell and often pointed out where animals were; the same could be done with enemies. Smirking, Sasuke had a new training plan for him and the summon, although it might require a few of the dobe's clones and a blindfold.

The Jounin began speaking again. "When you are in Konoha, try to keep the knowledge of their existence to as few people as possible."

The bookworm began to chuckle, "Really, Sensei, we know not to reveal our skills to others."

"Yeah," the dobe crowed, "we keep everyone underestimating us, 'tebayo, so we can be even more super awesome!"

The Jounin eye-smiled, perhaps actually pleased with them, "Good, then you three should start teaching them stealth before we go back to Konoha, and in the process work on your own stealth."

But that Yamato guy was already walking around again, how little time was he giving them? Sasuke's honorary siblings shared his uncertain look. The Jounin raised an eyebrow at them in question before stating, "You have a week before we leave so you best hurry; Kohai and I will cover Tazuna for the day."

The Jounin turned to leave before he looked over his shoulder, "Oh, and Naruto-kun, send some clones to see what Gato's former employees are up to."

The dobe looked at the man quizzically, but he still made a dozen clones. Once they left, the man eye-smiled again, and spoke almost flippantly over his shoulder as he left: "Good, perhaps now we can take care of the corpses lining the town and recycle the traps." Oh…oh….

Sasuke's mouth went dry and his stomach flipped in unease. A glance at his teammates showed they felt the same. Then Sasuke's summon shifted and leaned more heavily against his leg. He breathed then and realized he hadn't been breathing for a while there. Sasuke glanced over at his teammates and honorary siblings and saw both of them had their summons rousing them in different ways.

Sasuke glanced in the direction the two Jounin had gone and wondered: was this that cycloptic jounin's ulterior motive by having them sign his summoning contract? Sasuke shook the thought away and smirked over at his teammates.

"Do you think we could borrow the village's wind chimes and bells?"

The dobe looked confused but the bookworm's eyes lit up in excitement, "Stealth training, of course!"

"Huh?" the dobe scratched his head before his eyes widened in realization, "Hey, I could use my clones and make them into bells too, ya know."

They both looked at the blonde for a moment uncertain. Kakashi hadn't really brought up the kage bunshin limits yet, but with how exuberant the young summons were, Sasuke doubted the dobe's clones would have to be in existence for too long. The bookworm seemed to know what he was thinking and in unison they nodded slowly, albeit a little nervously.

Sasuke felt something cold and damp hit him in the arm, he looked down and saw a clump of dirt, and then found more clumps of dirt hitting him. Team 7 glanced over to the side and saw Naruto's summon digging into the ground and they each shared a look after a moment. "Maybe we should run them around a bit, neh?" the dobe laughed, and Sasuke had to agree. Besides, they could use the cardio too.

…

Sakura stared in front of her at the large pyre. Some of Gato's thugs had organized but most of them had killed each other in a fight over Gato's money. Those who organized had survived the ensuing bloodbath after Gato's death, and they were now leaving Nami no Kuni due to what that Terumi lady said to them about the villagers. Now they could finally let down the defenses they had built up around the village and Tazuna's home.

Kakashi-sensei, Yamato-san, and some of the villagers had volunteered to help them in certain parts of the dismantling, but it seemed…wrong. Team 7 had done this… They had desecrated those men's bodies, and they should be the ones to dispose of them. A mass grave seemed…something. Sakura couldn't find the right word, but it felt impersonal and like an attempt to cover up what had happened; like shoving one's mess under a carpet or bed to hide it and pretend it isn't there. But Team 7 did not have the stomach to burry each man individually, and they did not have the time or space for it—unless they dragged each slimy, decayed body to Gato's former hideout or fortress. So instead, they decided to burn the remains. Although it felt equally impersonal as a mass grave, she thought of the fire with warmth and respect—likely because fire was familiar to her as part of Konoha.

Yamato stayed back at the house with the summons, who whined and keened loudly at their leaving. Kakashi-sensei offered to help them, but they refused, so instead he watched over them. Naruto never created clones and so it took nearly the whole day to drag the decayed remains to a place downwind and a good ways off from the village. They had each collected what fallen wood they could find, and had to ask Kakashi-sensei to get Yamato-san. Then Kakashi-sensei stayed with the summons while Yamato made the pyre before they switched again, and Kakashi oversaw them once more.

Now Team 7 stood back, stinking of decay and their own bile. They each stared at the flickering flames before them as the fire ate at the men they had killed and desecrated. She could feel the intense heat of the fire even from meters away, but she couldn't move now that it was done. Her legs felt like lead and they crumpled beneath her weight.

The wind shifted slightly. It would not go in the direction of the village, but it was now heading in Team 7's direction. The flames leaped higher, and the heat grew more intense, but with the wind shift came the smell. The decaying bodies had smelled awful, felt awful, looked awful, but now it was on fire. Sakura's stomach lurched.

Sasuke staggered to his knees, only now moving after completing his grand fireball jutsu to light the structure on fire. Was it the smell that made him fall? Or had it sunk in now what they had completed? Yet…even Sakura did not really feel anything beyond a physical sickness. Emotionally, she felt…she didn't know what, perhaps numb or nothing. She wondered if Sasuke felt the same… Even Naruto seemed…something; he looked ahead of him with a vacant look on his face.

Sakura heard the ground shift behind her as Kakashi-sensei moved to stand behind them. "I'll make sure the fire doesn't go out of control," he murmured, "you three should get cleaned up." A storage scroll dropped to ground in front of them. None of them moved to pick it up.

Kakashi-sensei exhaled, but not in disappointment or exasperation. No…it seemed he knew what they were thinking and perhaps feeling or not feeling. He spoke quietly, his voice was barely audible over the roar of the fire: "In some ways this completes it, doesn't it? They have passed on, but now their bodies are taken care of. It can bring a sense of closure to not just families and loved ones, but to…us as well." Sakura's eyes were stinging, perhaps from the heat or the stench. Her honorary siblings seemed to be in similar states with tears shining at the corners of their eyes.

Kakashi-sensei continued speaking in his quiet, even tone. "Some find it a relief to see that their enemy is good and truly dead; as if it was not real until the services are done. Others find relief in seeing the body taken care of in some way, perhaps to assuage vengeful spirits left to rot on the battle field. Yet others find relief in knowing that they had done something to respect the ones whom they have killed; no matter how fowl the person was, they deserve respect in death still, and what minimal services we can offer are a relief." Kakashi-sensei paused, "But in every case, it finalizes what was done and makes it more real. Sometimes that is all one feels from it."

The tears slipped down Sakura's face and then she began choking on the putrid smell of burning flesh, or at least she thought that was what she had been doing until Kakashi-sensei ran a hand down her back in a soothing fashion. Her choking gasps were not from the smell but because she was sobbing uncontrollably.

What had they done? And the smell, the smell lingered on her skin. The death and decay. The rot…

Through her blurry tears, she saw Naruto had his knees drawn up to his chest and had wrapped his arms around his legs while he hid his face. His shoulders were shaking, and she could hear his sobs over the roar of the pyre. Sasuke had his eyes closed tightly, but in the fire light she saw tear tracks on his skin.

"Go," Kakashi-sensei urged gently, "get cleaned up."

Sasuke was the first to respond. He stood up and grabbed the scroll. He then offered out his hand to her. Still crying, Sakura accepted it before she looked over at Naruto and they both helped him up. His face was blotchy and his eyes red from tears and the smoke. They then made their way to a pond on their way back to Tazuna's. Once there, they opened the scroll and found their last spare set of clothes and bathing things.

Sakura couldn't bring herself to feel embarrassed bathing in front of the boys, even though they all still had her undergarments on. Not even the fleeting part of her that had had a crush on Sasuke was embarrassed. All Sakura or her brothers wanted was to get the stench off of them. They were all silent as they passed around the soaps and shampoo. They even began washing their clothes in the pond, despite the murkiness of the water. They had to get the smell out, they had to.

By the time they were dried and clothed, the moon was high in its progression across the sky. Team 7 then began to trudge the rest of the way to Tazuna's home with the faint light of the pyre ever behind them.

There was barking and yipping when they got within ten meters of the house, and then Yamato was at the door trying to keep three puppies from running out of the house. However, the sight of her summon made Sakura feel something again, and she ran for the little thing. Her teammates were fast behind her, but as soon as she felt the summon in her arms, she felt relieved. It nosed her worriedly and acted as if it was looking for injuries. She buried her face in its short fur and soaked up its warmth and presence.

She had her siblings and her summon, and despite how awful she had felt earlier, Sakura felt a little better now.

…

Week Twenty-two

Three and a half weeks away from Konoha; three and a half weeks away from ramen! Naruto couldn't believe it. Now that he was standing on the completed bridge, he really and truly could not believe it. The time had flown by and had left him feeling more than a little…turned around. But he had his teammates, his…siblings at his side, and he had a summons all of his own. Sensei had even given them a few extra days to work with the puppies than the initial week.

Naruto wondered if people would recognize him when he returned. And then a thought struck him cold. What if Sasuke went back to being just a teme and not his nii-san? Worse, what if people knew what he had done to that rouge nin? Naruto swallowed thickly and pushed back his fear and bile at the memory.

Suddenly, he felt his summon brush against his leg. The little guy—and he was a guy, Sensei had checked for him—had grown a few more inches in height and length over the past week. Naruto supposed since he was a summon he'd grow faster and stuff.

Naruto smiled down at the little guy and picked him up. The whole village was in front of him and his team. They were here to see them off and everyone was smiling at them. There was no scorn or hate for him, and although he was still unsettled by the fact that one of those smiling faces had murdered Gato, a powerless prisoner, he still welcomed the feelings.

Inari ran up to Naruto and hugged him, and Naruto managed to return a one armed hug briefly before his summon started to wriggle out of his grip. Laughing, he set the puppy down and then ruffled Inari's hair. Inari beamed up at Naruto before he turned to Sakura and Sasuke and bowed to each of them. Sensei stood back with his hands shoved in his pockets, and the weird-eye guy was several meters away from them, as if to disassociate himself.

"We cannot thank you enough, Team 7," Tazuna stated as he addressed Naruto and his teammates; Naruto briefly wondered what Sensei would think of that. "You went above and beyond what was asked of you, and I know I will be forever in your country's debt. If Konoha ever needs construction work, I offer my services free of labor charges." Sensei probably got that in writing already, but it was still good hearing that they'd done something good for Konoha too.

The head merchant came forward and bowed to them. "I have begun examining Gato's former holdings, and we may be able to take over some of his shipping and import business, and we would gladly offer any imports we receive through that avenue to Konoha. We will send word once we know more about it," he bowed again and fell back in line with the other villagers who had not interacted very closely with Team 7.

Tsunami came up to Nee-chan along with a few elders and they were giving her herbs and different medical advice. Nee-chan absorbed it all with wide-eyes and excitement. A few more of the workers bowed to Naruto and Sasuke as they gave them shows of appreciation for their help in repairing the damaged homes. Then more people thanked Nee-chan when she was free for helping to heal them.

Naruto felt so happy to have helped so many people and for them to show such appreciation that for a moment he was afraid to go back to Konoha. There would be few smiling faces in Konoha and even fewer people thanking him for what he does.

Nee-chan brushed against his shoulder, and Sensei set a hand on his shoulder—as if both of them could read him. Sasuke even glanced over at him a little concerned, but Naruto felt a smile split across his face. At least he had his siblings, and maybe Sensei too. Yeah, Sasuke was still a Teme, but he'd still be Naruto's nii-san after today too.

Tazuna was now beside a rope covering the name of the bridge. As he grasped the rope he looked over at Team 7 sheepishly, "I had thought of naming this the Great 7 Bridge, but that could be confused for an allusion to the 7 Swordsmen."

Sensei still said nothing about his exclusion, for Naruto knew that Team 7 could also be referred to as Team Kakashi, especially in later years. Instead, Sensei just nodded sagely while Naruto and his teammates shifted uneasily at how badly that implication could have gone.

Tazuna laughed a little louder before he continued speaking. "Then I thought of combing all of your names but that was nonsensical." Teme-nii actually paled and had a horrified expression on his face at the thought of doing such a thing. Naruto started to snicker along with Nee-chan, but then Tazuna smiled at them again. "I decided on this; I think it fits you all."

As the cover fell away, Naruto looked up at the sign and his words died in his throat. It was…perfect. Naruto felt Sakura's fingers curl around his and a glance to the side showed she had done the same to Teme-nii. Naruto glanced back up at the sign and his eyes began to blur, but he shook his head and looked over at Sensei nervously, but the man's eye was soft, as if he was genuinely smiling.

Tazuna had given them a name, a name Naruto wondered if they'd be called by someday. Maybe Nee-chan was right? Maybe they'd surpass the Sannin, and this was just their first step.

---

TBC

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A/N: So…I know a lot of people hoped Team 7 would forgive Kakashi, but some people didn't think that was possible after what happened. So I tried to bridge the hope that they would reconcile with Kakashi and being semi-realistic about the effects of such a betrayal—it was never gonna be nice and neat. Also, I initially left the name of the bridge out because I hate coming up with names, and this also builds up the, uh…suspense (? If that is an applicable descriptor)?

As for concerns about them having these summons, remember that Sasuke had two summoning contracts with the only real limitation being able to use one type at a time. I know frog summons are the only ones who can reverse summon, but all summons go back to their lands either when they are too injured or when their summoner tells them to. Maybe Kakashi's ninken don't have a Mount Myouboku, but I'm taking some liberties and saying they do have a place where they congregate and breed and stuff—hence the Pack stuff. As for what dogs ended up with the genin? Well, I researched what kinds of dogs would work in what kind of position. Below are the types and to who, feel free to research them and give pointers if you have one:

Sakura: German Pinscher [m] (guard/tracking/assault)

Sasuke: Vizsla [f] (assault/tracking/retrieving)

Naruto: Airdale [m] (messenger/assault/tracking)