Kakashi Hatake had mistakenly taken the position that the children could manage going holiday shopping on their own.
It wasn't often that Kakashi made mistakes. He was far too careful for simple ones and so far he had been lucky enough to survive all of the big ones. He wasn't sure yet where this one fell.
The first warning wasn't the flare of Naruto's distinctive chakra. It wasn't a shadow clone from one of his other precious students. It was the sickly look on his contact's face. The way the man tried to hide it even as he turned to the Headmaster.
Something had happened. Odds were it was one of the children in Kakashi's care.
The others may have continued with their lunch, calm and confident that all of these small vulnerable individuals in their care were exactly where they should be. Kakashi knew better. Nin students might be more prone to life-threatening situations, but he had known as soon as they had scooped up one twitchy little rag muffin that he was going to be no end of trouble. So when Professor Snape thought he was being clever by making a show of closing his book and excusing himself from the table – as if he wasn't barely restraining himself from frantically hurry after the Headmaster – Kakashi-sensei calmly and without a word to the person talking at him, stood up and walked out.
He didn't have to go far.
The Headmaster and his spy had only stepped aside into the meager privacy of an alcove. Snape looked physically unwell and far more concerned than Kakashi would have expected out of the other man. In their few little 'talks' since Kakashi had found him lurking around outside of the village after the Uchiha compound was attacked, Snape had been almost virulent in his distaste for one Harry Potter. But maybe he gave a damn about one or two of the others.
"What has happened?" Kakashi demanded. He didn't bother to hide his presence or give them any warning before joining their little war huddle.
To give Snape credit, he only twitched a little this time. Kakashi had been rather enjoying sneaking up on the man for the last few months. It was excellent extra practice at dealing with a pissed off wizard. It was going to be a shame to lose the free training.
The Headmaster went as far as to draw his wand, but subsided when he recognized him. Here was the battle tactician at last. Kakashi had wondered when he would finally get a chance to meet this side of the man. They had been carefully avoiding each other up until then, two foxes in the hen house carefully ignoring one another. That time had passed, however.
"This doesn't involve you!" Professor Snape hissed. He was more than happy to transfer his pain into lashing out at Kakashi with as much vitriol as a civilian could manage. It was, perhaps, well-earned ire. But Kakashi was of the opinion that if you couldn't keep up then you should be there to begin with.
"So you don't know,' Kakashi surmised. He caught the Headmaster's eye only briefly, keeping his face as bland and unimpressed as possible, before turning away and starting for the door. If something was happening, standing about yapping about it was not going to be the quickest way of taking back control of the situation. Thankfully, the wizards weren't completely incompetent at this kind of thing and they got the hint. The Headmaster's long strides caught up with Kakashi easily as Snape struggled through the pain to keep up. Whatever was happening was impairing the other man's ability and fine motor control and that was going to make him less useful in a fight. Useful, maybe, as a limited source of information but terribly impractical in all other regards. Pity. The man did have a decently vicious streak for a wizard and Kakashi had a feeling they might need that.
A little viciousness could go a long way, after all.
"Where are your students?" the Headmaster asked.
"Where they should be. Why isn't your spy?" Kakashi shot back. He did not appreciate the implication that his team was doing anything other than what they should be. Learning magic and playing nice and all of these smaller personal dramas were all just detritus. Protect Potter was a very straight forward goal.
But other players in this game had their own wheels within wheels. The Headmaster might be marching on alongside him towards battle, but he still had his secrets. "Spy?" he asked, and really it was a miracle everyone didn't know this man was a lying liar who lied. "I don't know what you mean."
Kakashi snorted and jerked one thumb over his shoulder at the man trailing along in their wake. "He does." Kakashi did have to give the man some credit. He had both arms wrapped around his torso as if something was badly damaged but he was still keeping up. Spite, probably. Kakashi could work with that. And the man had been useful so far, even if only under extreme objection.
But apparently the spy wasn't used to telling his other masters important little details. It was probably what had kept him alive this long. So the Headmaster seemed genuinely surprised at this development. He actually slowed to a stop, allowing the Professor to draw up alongside him and asked in a very convincingly hurt tone of voice, "Severus?", as if the very notion that the man might be playing one side against another against the another hard to imagine. And therein was the difference between a spy and a turncoat. You might have concerns about a spy's dedication to the job, but you would never be able to trust a turncoat.
Snape scowled back. Even when Kakashi had had the man at knife point, he had hissed and spat and fought back. That held true again. "I was doing what you wanted me to do – trying to find the blasted Potter boy. I was lucky not to get caught as it was!"
"Ah, but you did get caught!" Kakashi pointed out helpfully.
Snape was as grateful for his input as ever. But at least he got the three of them moving again as he shoved passed them and stalked down the path leading away from the castle. Kakashi could have covered the distance much more quickly on his own. Much more quickly. But he needed information. And as he had just tried to make very clear, he trusted his students to do whatever was necessary to see the mission through. None of them would accept anything less than that.
"Voldemort included you in the planning to attack Konoha," Kakashi pointed out. "And yet he failed to include you in whatever is happening now?"
"I can't know everything!" Snape snapped back, allowing himself to be nettled by the implication that he had personally failed.
"Not a very good spy then."
"Gentlemen, please focus," the Headmaster huffed. As if he didn't want to wring the information out of their one source just as much as Kakashi did.
"He's always wanted into Hogwarts," Snape finally said. They were coming up on the border of the school grounds and soon the village would be in sight. "I told him it wasn't possible."
"And it never occurred to any of you that Hogsmeade was?" Kakashi complained.
"We couldn't prevent the students from going," the Headmaster explained.
Kakashi breathed in slowly. Fates save him from politicians. "Oh, my mistake," he drawled. "I thought you were the ones in charge around here. Who's with them?"
"Other than your students?" the Headmaster pointed out.
"My students are excellent," and Kakashi would dare anyone to find better. "But their focus is Potter. By my estimate there's at least another hundred children running around down there. Please tell me you sent them with some form of protection." Kakashi might have grown up in war and learned the value (or lack thereof) of a single life, but that didn't mean he very much liked the idea of a bunch of bleeding or dead children. Team 7 would have to focus on Potter, and likely Potter was in the epicenter of whatever this mess was. But that left a significant amount of room for collateral danger.
And yes, maybe the two teachers did understand that, as much as they were easily distracted arguing over who's spy was who and the quality of their information. They both managed to quicken their pace, even if they were huffing and struggling. "Professor Northstein and Professor Flitwick are on escorting duty this weekend," the Headmaster replied.
It was something. Nowhere near enough, but something. Northstein was an asshole, but he too was a useable asshole. Kakashi had taunted him and egged him on enough to know the man was at least capable of some decent combat. Pretending to be the man's punching bag for the last few months had shown Kakashi exactly how the man liked to attack someone. It would help. Flitwick might be a civilian, but he was a civilian used to dealing with people bigger and meaner than he was. As far as options went, it could be worse.
But only two teachers – to cover at least a hundred untrained children. The Hokage would have had heads rolling if someone had taken the pre-genin out with such little protection.
They were coming up to the gate now. In the distance, there was a faint rumble. Possibly an explosion. More likely a vibration from a very strong impact. Kakashi smiled. That was his kids. There might only be three of them, but they were worth far more than they appeared. "I'll meet you there, bring more back up," Kakashi told them before darting off. Wizards might be able to cheat at covering distances, but nin knew how to take advantage of the land. Kakashi was able to clear the school boundary in seconds instead of minutes. And he would be nearly to the edge of the village before the wizards managed to get themselves sorted out enough to transport there. The advantage Kakashi would have, however, was that while the wizards would drop in in the middle of whatever was happening, they couldn't know for sure if they were where they needed to be most.
Kakashi, however, had plenty of experience finding his precocious students in the middle of chaos.
What was surprising, was to find Sasuke alone. Or rather, mostly alone. He had one man pinned to the far wall by a well placed kunai. It was lodged in a bit of anatomy that wouldn't kill the man but that was keeping him firmly in place until Sasuke was ready to deal with him. Since Sasuke seemed to have his hands full already with the man beneath him. He had the robed figure immobilized with a knee firmly planted across the man's chest and one arm held down. The unfortunate man's other arm was broken badly enough not to be a problem. Sasuke seemed to be having a rather intense talk with this man. Kakashi recognized that body language. The set of the shoulders. The white knuckled grip. The snarling face more suited to an animal about to tear into something than a person.
What Kakashi did not see was any sign of Potter. It was possible that Sasuke's missing teammates were taking care of that responsibility but Kakashi doubted it. In part because Sasuke would never allow anyone else to take care of something so important with things so uncertain. But mostly because Kakashi did recognize that look.
Something had gone horribly wrong.
"Report!" Kakashi barked as he slid to a stop precisely next to Sasuke's head.
And while Sasuke might be an excellent nin, he was at times, a terrible soldier. Too much time spent wandering off on his own. Kakashi's own fault, to be sure, but still infuriating at times.
Sasuke didn't answer. He didn't even pause in menacing the blubbering man beneath him.
Kakashi let him for a moment. In part because he needed to know what the hell Sasuke thought was more important than answering his commanding officer.
"You knew he would be here. Where did he go?" Sasuke hissed. He slapped the man lightly across the face. It looked like that hadn't been the first time he had. It also looked like the man didn't agree that it was a light slap.
The answer was mostly a string of expletives, a few pleas and not much of any substance. Other than enough to know the man likely didn't even know who the hell Sasuke was talking about. It wasn't likely that Sasuke was interrogating their enemies if it was Potter who had gone somewhere willingly. And he wouldn't have asked where someone else had taken Harry if he'd been kidnapped by the same men Sasuke was interrogating. Which meant yet another player was involved. The field might be getting crowded, but despite all of the many possible people who might threaten a Uchiha wizard, there were only a few likely suspects.
Kakashi was too much of a professional to feel dread. "Itachi?" he asked quietly.
Sasuke's only reply was to shake the man beneath him hard enough to bounce his head off the cobblestones. It wasn't going to do much to improve the man's coherency but Kakashi supposed that wasn't the point.
"How long?"
It was a practical question and that seemed to make its way through the fog clouding Sasuke's higher brain processes. "Fifteen minutes."
That was a very long time from a nin point of view. "And nothing since?" It was a cold question to have to ask but it needed to be asked. If Itachi was only going to kill Potter, there were easier and even more dramatic ways of doing it than taking the boy somewhere else. Given Itachi's previous MOs, he was far more likely to brutally gut the boy in front of Sasuke. Taunting him like this either meant Itachi had something more drawn out planned (which meant Potter might still be alive) or he had other additional motives. Nin so rarely did anything for only one reason.
"The others?" Kakashi asked because just because they weren't Sasuke top priority at this moment did not mean they weren't also in danger. Sakura and Naruto were trained soldiers while Potter was not. If they were also in danger, Sasuke and Kakashi would – to a certain extent – have to count on them to get themselves out of it. The priority right now had to be Potter.
But that didn't mean he didn't still need to know. Or want to know.
"Northstein was dying," Sasuke answered. "They stayed with him."
Unfortunate, but not unexpected. Two teachers against a concentrated attack were not going to hold the line. And Kakashi doubted any of these wizards were up to taking on Itachi alone. Most nin weren't. Kakashi wasn't sure if he was. That was why a good nin made sure to stack the deck in their favor. Better to never have to find out which one of you was better in a one on one fight. Much more economical to avoid it if you could.
Less collateral damage too.
"The Headmaster has a source of information. Let's see what he can mine for us."
Sasuke dropped the man beneath him, who curled up pathetically as if that could retroactively protect him now from a seriously pissed off nin. "That snake has always had more information than he wants to share," Sasuke complained.
"Imagine that," Kakashi drawled. "Someone in power not wanting to share. Get over it. We need what we can get." Kakashi greatly valued his precious students, but he was looking forward to the day they stopped being children and thinking the world ought to be fair or just.
The two of them moved quickly back to join the others. The streets were piled with more rubble than should have physically been possible and further clogged by crying students and villagers who were just now starting to make their way out from whatever holes they'd hidden in. But the roofs seemed stable, though Kakashi didn't miss the way Sasuke hesitated when they first took to them. It was subtle, but there had been a slight flinch as if Sasuke was bracing himself for an attack that never came. It barely slowed him down but it told Kakashi all he needed to know.
Naruto met them halfway. He came bounding over the edge with enough force that he almost bowled them over. He was streaked with dirt and blood but at least none of the latter seemed to be his this time. He was also nearly vibrating with pent up energy. Early on, something like that from a jinchuriki might have worried Kakashi. In someone else he would have found it annoyingly unprofessional. In Naruto he took it for what it was – the prelude to battle.
"Hermione thinks she can narrow down where the bastard might've taken Harry based on things I don't understand but she seems convinced and at least it's a plan so we're going to try doin' it and they sent me to come get ya so you could help and hi sensei! Great you could make it. Let's go kill the bastard, ne?"
Neither of them bothered replying to this stream of words, but really, what else needed to be said? There was still a chance to save Potter. And nin never stopped fighting if there was a chance.