Unwanted Trip
Chapter 10
Naruto frowned when he read the next match up.
He didn't react when Hinata timidly walked down to the arena, her entire body trembling. He remained silent as she slowly walked down the stairs, keeping her eyes down and her hands close to her chest. He remained immobile as the small Hyuuga walked over to her cousin, cheeks reddening and lips trembling. However as the older Hyuuga opened his mouth, "Hey Hinata-chan! You can do this! I believe you can!" Naruto yelled with a happy grin on his face, playing the part he'd played before because really, she needed to hear his words. "People can change. They're never stuck where they are. You just have to take that extra step forward. Don't be afraid to go just that little bit further."
Hinata looked to him with large eyes and Naruto wondered if he would have to say more. But gradually, her eyes softened and she smiled in relief, nodding up at him before turning a focused gaze to her opponent.
"You shouldn't listen to fools like him." Neji began, about to launch into his spiel about fate and all that crap when Hinata, much to Naruto's delight, interrupted him. "If you don't mind, Neji-niisan, I'd like to begin the match now."
Naruto was proud yes, but it was a bittersweet pride. He knew what was about to happen after all. His heart sank even as the grin grew on his face when Hinata placed her hands together and began the sequence of hand signs for her special brand of jutsu. There wasn't anything he could do.
Sasuke, Sakura and he had promised not to interfere in their friends' personal development. And that meant watching them fail, watching them get hurt and watching them pick themselves back up again.
But that didn't mean they weren't going to support their peers, and help them become the Shinobi they had the potential to be.
This time, just before Neji went too far and nearly killed Hinata, an ANBU shunshined into the arena, holding Neji's wrist at a painful angle.
"Sasayaku." Kakashi muttered to himself with a slightly narrowed gaze. "Why?"
With a casual flick of his wrist, Sasayaku sent Neji flying across the room. "Comrades are not to be treated as such, Hyuuga-san." Neji hadn't been hurt. Just surprised.
"You're quick to talk from behind a mask." Neji spat angrily as he got to his feet. Weakness was not something he liked to be reminded of.
"And if I were to reveal my face, would that make a difference to what I said?" Sasayaku asked.
Neji faltered at the words, not sure how to reply.
"If I showed you my face, would that make my feelings upon the matter change . . . or your feelings?" Sasayaku continued. "No. If I were to show you my face, it would not do anything. It would not change my words or my feelings. It wouldn't change yours. Mostly though, Hyuuga-san, it wouldn't change the gap in our power level difference. If that is all, I have a comrade to tend to."
Sasayaku then turned around and gently caught Hinata as she swayed before collapsing to the floor. "That was well fought, Hinata-san." The ANBU stated conversationally as he gently pulled off her jacket revealing a mesh shirt that had done little to protect the genin against Neji's vicious attacks. "But there comes a time where determination becomes foolish." A soft chuckle. "However, I believe that a certain measure of foolish determination is needed to ensure that the impossible becomes very much possible."
The Asahi ANBU reached into his pouch and pulled out a small jar of ointment before carefully applying it to the wounds Hinata had received. The ANBU appeared to be focusing on the areas that Neji had hit the hardest, where the horrific bruises were starting to bloom.
Once satisfied that there had been enough ointment applied, the ANBU placed the container back into his pouch before carefully removing a fingerless glove, and at the same time enlightening those in the room with the experience to look for it, just how young the ANBU really was. Hands that were still to be shaped and scarred. That is what the jonin in the room saw.
The jonin in the room grew sombre and silent, the realisation that there was a need for an ANBU so young tainted by the remembrance of others, others such as Itachi and Kakashi. Kakashi himself was perhaps the most silent and immobile. Even though he knew who Sasayaku really was, it always killed him a little more each day to see the boy in action, to see him achieve things that no child should ever have to do.
Yet, even with all his knowledge, Kakashi was just as confused as everyone else when the ANBU placed his gloveless hand upon Hinata's abdomen and raised his other hand to his chin to focus his chakra. The Jonin in the room all gasped sharply when an intense chakra, potent and powerful, began to build within the ANBU. It was so powerful that the seals that kept his chakra hidden could no longer mask it.
"What are you doing to her?!" Neji demanded, rushing towards the ANBU.
Sasayaku raised his head, the potent chakra pausing for just a moment, sending a glare to the Hyuuga cold enough to freeze him in his tracks. "Your concern is most puzzling, Hyuuga-san. You are, after all, the one that placed her in such a state."
Neji was left to rely on his Byakugan, which he focused on Hinata. His eyes widened as he watched the ANBU pour waves upon waves of chakra into Hinata's body, yet the chakra did not linger. It rotated through her coils before being absorbed by the ANBU once again. What was most astonishing was the fact that the chakra healed as it moved, most of the damage that Neji had dealt to the girl already gone.
"Suiren." Sasayaku called and another ANBU shunshined into the arena.
Sasayaku stopped focusing chakra and lowered his one hand while lifting the other. The chakra he'd focused throughout Hinata's coils wisped feebly before dissolving away, leaving no trace that it had ever been there at all. He moved away to let Suiren press a green chakra encased hand to Hinata's chest, where most of the damage had been delivered.
When Suiren was done she nodded to Sasayaku and shunshined away. The remaining ANBU then bent and carefully lifted Hinata from the floor, moving to the stairs and walking slowly up them. He didn't let the Hyuuga girl go until he was standing right next to her sensei. Kurenai took Hinata from him and he bowed before disappearing in a puff of smoke, having been a clone the entire time.
"Winner, Hyuuga Neji." Hayate announced, having no real idea of what to do next. He'd been about to jump into the fight to stop the Hyuuga boy but the ANBU had beat him to it. From the look of things he'd beaten several jonin to it, including Kakashi.
A moment of stunned silence followed before a slight cough from the Hokage had the Shinobi moving into action once again, the incident placed aside for private inspection some time when each Shinobi was alone.
But a single warning glance from the Hokage to Kakashi was not missed by the Konoha jonin. Kakashi got the message loud and clear. He had to keep his genin in check. They were bordering on revealing too much.
The next match was Gaara vs. Rock Lee and the tension in the room only increased.
They were all impressed with Lee's ability to move past Gaara's sand defence, but three people in the room knew that it wasn't enough.
This time it was Fukushu that interrupted the fight, pulling Lee right out of Gaara's sand mere nano-seconds before it crushed the green clad boy.
"I admire your philosophy, Lee-san, but I think that perhaps, your ninja way would be better projected from the side lines for now." Fukushu murmured quietly.
"But I will never give up." Lee protested.
Fukushu sighed just as quietly as he spoke before pressing a point on Lee's neck, causing the boy to go limp and promptly delivering the boy to his sensei. He didn't waste time with words like Sasayaku might have. He was more of an ANBU of action.
Naruto leaned over to Sasuke and whispered. "I never knew you were so sentimental, Sasuke-kun."
"Hardly, I just remembered how annoying it was to have to listen to that man's wails while I was stuck in the hospital." Sasuke replied, jerking a chin towards Gai.
Naruto had to stifle the laughs because he just knew it would be frowned upon with all the tension in the air. He hardly cared about being a disappointment, but he didn't want his sensei to get crap for it.
"Fight me." Gaara suddenly intoned, looking to Fukushu, who had been about to leave the room.
"You are not worth my time." Fukushu scoffed with a backward glance at the Suna-nin.
Gaara jerked back as though he'd been physically punched and Naruto smacked his forehead. "Great choice of words there teme."
"You will be patient Jinchuriki of the Sand, and we will fight when the time comes. But right now, you are not worth my time."
Then Fukushu was gone.
Gaara was visibly angry but the promise of a fight seemed to be enough to placate the boy because he didn't put up a fuss.
"These Asahi ANBU sure are interesting." Asuma commented drily.
"Indeed." Kakashi drawled tonelessly, lone visible eye sliding over to his three students who were all staring at him questioningly, too questioningly for him to buy the innocence they were trying to project.
"I still want to know why they are needed." Shikamaru suddenly stated. "Because from my observations they are a division with more power than the entirety of Konoha's Shinobi forces. And when a need like that arises it never points to a good thing. Take the Sannin for example." Shikamaru was getting to the point where he was thinking too much about it. That could be a problem.
"Wow." Naruto stated loudly, obnoxiously. His aim was distraction and he was winning. "I've never heard you speak so much Shika-kun."
.0.0.0.
When the preliminaries were over Naruto jumped over the railing and rushed over to the paper he'd written on earlier. "Kaka-sensei, if you'd be so kind." Naruto presented the paper to him with a flourish.
Kakashi took the paper and unfolded it, glancing over the words on the paper, which turned out to be the entire match up list, winners on one side and losers on the other side, paired with the correct partner and everything.
Kakashi shook his head and just threw it to Asuma.
He simply didn't want to know anymore. Those kids were something else. But then, were the match ups rigged? That would be completely unfair. It would be like they were choosing who would become chunin. Yet . . . that wasn't really a bad thing. Just because a genin had the power to be a chunin did not mean they had the mentality and maturity to handle it.
"Kaka-sensei, we need to go out tonight and celebrate." Naruto stated seriously with Sakura and Sasuke nodding their heads next to him in agreement.
"Celebrate what?" Kakashi decided to humour them.
"All three of us made it to the final round." They chorused.
And indeed they had. What had happened to the "We'll just forfeit in round three" part? He wasn't sure but he might actually be ohkay with them becoming chunin. So long as the Sandaime kept his word. He would fight tooth and nail to keep the brats and they didn't have a choice in it either.
While they'd been talking at the back of the gathered group, the Hokage had been talking to the other genin, choosing to ignore the four of them. As it was, the four had been paying only a minor amount of attention to the Hokage's words
Final round in a month, yada yada yada, important clients, yada yada yada, showcase military strength, so on and so such, Okami will be announcing the final round match ups, more boring lecturing, wait . . . WHAT?
Kakashi watched as the Asahi ANBU Captain shunshinned into the room. Sometimes, being a clone sucked. He only got updated information when he dispelled and was created again.
What he wasn't expecting were the three Asahi ANBU that shunshined into the room directly after their captain. Fukushu bowed to Okami before drawling, "Taichou, we wish to suggest our own list for the match ups. And given the circumstances we would also like to request that Rock Lee and Inuzuka Kiba be allowed to participate in the final round."
"Rock Lee I can understand and will allow. However, on what grounds would Inuzuka be allowed a pass?" Sarutobi replied, interrupting Okami's reply before it could begin.
"The grounds would be an unfair match up in the preliminaries." Fukushu explained.
"If you base it on those grounds, then all of Team 7's match partners would be allowed a pass." Sarutobi frowned. "It would go against the spirit of the exams. Besides on what grounds do you base it as an unfair match up?"
The three remained silent knowing that they couldn't answer without giving too much away.
Fukushu replied. "I wish to train the Suna Jinchuriki." His reply was completely out of the park and the silence that reigned was deafening.
"You wish to train the Suna Jinchuriki?" This was from the Oto jonin who was actually Orochimaru.
"Hai. He lacks discipline. Power, is only as great as its wielder." Fukushu tilted his head, sending a wave of pure Killing Intent at the Oto jonin.
"I will have to decline that offer." Baki interrupted.
A long silence followed Baki's abrupt declaration, with Fukushu merely staring at the Suna nin.
"Understood." Fukushu, stated slowly, giving the Suna Jonin a curt nod, but his gaze lingered on the red haired Jinchuriki who was eyeing him just as intently. The Hokage chose not to comment, interested in the exchange but leaving it be. Escalation could lead to unwanted places.
"You three about finished?" The question was rhetorical. "As for the match ups, what did you have in mind?" Okami interrupted.
"Before you make your suggestions, I'm afraid I'm going to have to deny your request to give Inuzuka Kiba a pass. However, Rock Lee may pass to the third round." Sarutobi announced while Kiba's mouth dropped comically. It did seem unfair, but the Hokage had his reasons.
"Aburame Shino vs. Kankuro. Nara Shikamaru vs. Temari. Hyuuga Neji vs. Uzumaki Naruto. Uchiha Sasuke vs. Gaara. Haruno Sakura vs. Rock Lee." Sasayaku replied.
"Why Haruno against Lee?"
"Her aptitude for taijutsu and her small reserves place her as the best possible match up against the taijutsu user." Fukushu explained.
"I don't see anything wrong with this match up." Okami mused.
"But it undermines foreign villages. You've placed genin together to your choosing. You've analysed strengths and weaknesses. How do we know that you haven't placed the Konoha genin most likely to beat our genin together in the match ups?" Baki interrupted and he did have a point because none of the Suna genin would win, not that he knew that.
"It is our prerogative, as the hosting village, to plan the Chunin exams as we see fit, Jonin-san. As it is, Konoha has more genin in the finale round than Suna. Yet it is noted and respected that the only genin team sent from Suna managed to make it through to the finale round." Okami replied before the Hokage could.
"Taichou." Sasayaku stated quietly and the older ANBU stepped back, allowing the smaller ANBU to step forward. "You should have more faith in the ability of your genin. Had you been their true sensei, you'd have known more about their strengths and weaknesses. However, Suna does not operate as Konoha does and it's understandable that you would not know such things." Sasayaku continued. "But that is irrelevant. You raise a good point Jonin-san and if it pleases you, we can leave it up to fate to decide."
"Fate?" Baki sneered questioningly.
"Hai. A random draw of numbers to determine who will fight who. If you agree to this, you cannot complain further about the results." Sasayaku walked over to Iruka-sensei and asked for a piece of paper and a pen. He then proceeded to tear up the paper into the required number of pieces and wrote down numbers on them without waiting for consent from the Suna Jonin.
A blast of wind through the room, chakra generated, carried the pieces of paper over to the assembled genin, who could only watch in stunned silence.
"Do you agree to this method, Jonin-san?" Sasayaku asked.
"Hai. This is as fair as it gets." Baki agreed with a narrowed gaze.
The numbers floated to the floor face down and in a perfect square formation, aside from one lone block.
"Genin will step forward and take one number. Your places cannot be swapped or moved. Your opponent is your opponent." Sasayaku stated and Naruto was the first one to happily bounce over to the numbers. He scooped one up and turned it over, pulling a face when it revealed the number 2.
Neji was next, blinking in surprise when his number was the number 1.
In the end, the match up was exactly as the Asahi ANBU had proposed and Sasayaku turned to Baki. "Some things have been decided by Fate long before we ourselves get there."
Baki couldn't say a word. The match up was eerily familiar to what the Uzumaki brat had done earlier. Did Konoha have ninja that could predict the future? Because if they did then Suna was in for a world of trouble.
As the Asahi shunshined away at the Hokage's order, Sasuke turned to Naruto and smirked, "How long do you think it'll be before they realise they should never trust a ninja and that Sasayaku put seals on all those papers?"
"Meh, never." Naruto grinned. "I'm just that good."
.0.0.0.
"Alright Sensei, do you trust me?" Sakura asked sweetly as she smiled up at the older ninja.
"Whenever a sentence is started like that . . ." Kakashi didn't need to finish, the suspicion was all too clear in his tone. "Especially coming from a ninja, and even more especially coming from one of you three…"
"Noooooo, not a ninja Kaka-Sensei, a teammate." Sakura argued with a slight huff that was bordering on petulant.
"Fine." Kakashi narrowed his visible eye, stuffing his hands into his pockets and shifting his weight to his other foot. None of the genin sitting in front of him had bandanas on so they weren't the clones. As far as the rest of the Konoha Shinobi were concerned, the Asahi ANBU were not on active duty that night. It was also the night after the preliminaries and Kakashi just knew that this had something to do with that celebration Sakura mentioned earlier on.
"See, we were thinking that we go to that popular little restaurant on that one corner. I've noticed a lot of the Shinobi go there." Naruto continued while Sasuke and Sakura smiled at Kakashi.
"It's not a restaurant." Kakashi stated drily. "It's a bar and you all know that."
"Yeah but we figured that they had to serve some food in there and we want to take Zabuza-kun and Haku with us." Sasuke answered, waving a hand dismissively. The Uchiha had taken to calling his house guest Zabuza-kun because it annoyed the jonin to no end. "People haven't really gotten time to acquaint themselves with our two newest additions. They train too much."
"Have you asked them about this 'idea' of yours?" Kakashi asked, and they could hear the sarcasm dripping off of every word. So far he wasn't buying into the idea.
Truthfully, Kakashi knew that as much as Umino Iruka knew Team 7 to be rather strange in the weirdest of ways, the Academy sensei would rip him a new one if he ever learnt that Kakashi had taken his precious Naruto into a bar. After all, Umino Iruka had his favourite and that certainly wasn't the broody Uchiha. Kakashi wasn't quite sure how Naruto had managed to win the Academy Sensei over and he dearly wanted to know but he didn't ask. It wasn't his place to. He knew that Naruto would often go to Ichiraku's with Iruka-sensei and tell the chunin all about the bogus genin missions that the clones engaged in. It was a time Kakashi did not tread upon, rather leaving it as it was.
"Besides, if anyone wants to question our motives we can say we're doing a training exercise. As ninja we could be sent anywhere when it comes to missions." Naruto continued talking as though there hadn't been a slight break in the conversation and ignoring Kakashi's previous question.
After those chunin exams he was sure that everyone was at least somewhat aware that his genin weren't normal. Maybe they'd chalk it up to being Kakashi's students, but they'd still be more curious, more watchful of the trio.
Keeping that in mind, Kakashi couldn't help but wonder if he should tell them to curb it or let them continue with their free reign and see what happened. He was inclined to go for the latter option. Sounded more fun.
Somehow he doubted he was going to get out of this one, no matter what excuse he used. He just had this feeling that they'd always be one step ahead of him.
So he sighed and relaxed his posture. "Yeah, what time am I meeting you there?"
"Yay!" All three grinned largely at him with cheerful eye smiles. Oh, this was going to be a long night.
.0.0.0.
The soft chatter in the dimly lit room stopped abruptly when an enraged yell from just outside the establishment whiplashed through the air with enough force to make most of the room's occupants wince.
"I TOLD YOU TO STOP CALLING ME THAT YOU BLASTED BRAT!"
"Whatever you say, Zabuza-kun." Came the amused reply as Uchiha Sasuke stepped through the doors with a satisfied smirk.
"Now, now Sasuke-kun. Play nice with the other jonin." Kakashi's drawl preceded him into the room, as did his infamous orange Icha Icha novel.
"Awww but Sensei, I was being nice."
"Can it Teme!" The boisterous tone that could only belong to one person came next.
"I'm going to knock all of your heads together if you don't start acting like the gentlemen I whacked into you!"
Team 7 walked into the tiny Shinobi bar, the men looking a little more than somewhat fearful of their female teammate. The new additions of Haku and Zabuza followed close behind them, neither looking as though this little trip had been their idea.
"Kakashi!" Anko yelled from across the room, "Bring those brats over here!"
"Yay! We get the crazy snake lady!" Naruto yelled before taking off in a blur of orange and yellow. Kakashi merely turned a page.
"So what are you four, uh six, doing in a place like this?" Anko purred as she stared suggestively at Zabuza who was doing his level best to look anywhere but at the kunoichi.
"Training." Naruto grinned. "We're learning what the real ninja do since Kaka-sensei says we're not real ninja, not until we're experienced chunin." The blond jumped into a booth and slid to the side so that Sasuke could sit next to him. The blonde had wrinkled his nose at the word experience and Sasuke had rolled his eyes.
"Oh, and how does this help in the chunin exams?" Kurenai asked as she slid in next to Anko.
"It doesn't. We got that all covered." Sakura replied sweetly. "This is for afterwards."
"What's up with those exams anyway? Why's the old man making you guys participate?" Anko asked, before downing a cup of sake.
"He said it was to even out the matchups, that without Team 7 there wouldn't haven't been very many genin in the third round this year." Kakashi answered with a shrug as he slid in next to Kurenai, pulling Zabuza with him and leaving Haku to sit next to Sakura and Sasuke.
"That's hardly a very good reason." Kurenai frowned. "I mean, they're just kids. They shouldn't be forced into a chunin exam just because of that."
"Are you kidding me?" Zabuza demanded. "Firstly, my genin exam was all about killing my opponent and secondly, have you MET these demon spawn from hell?!"
"Awwww Zabuza-kun, I'm sorry I threw that kunai at you but I'm still not used to having someone else staying at my house." Sasuke stated soothingly.
Kurenai blinked at the reputedly broody Uchiha boy, at a loss for what to make of the child.
"Stop calling me that." Zabuza growled.
"Sooooo, Zabuza-san, you never did say why it was that you left Kiri." Kakashi stated loudly, just before turning a page.
"The leadership was crap."
"Hence the attempt to kill the Yondaime Mizukage." Naruto chuckled.
"No ramen for you Naruto." Kakashi stated seriously. "For having homicidal tendencies."
"Don't tell me you didn't want to take a whack at him too." Naruto pouted.
"I know I did." Sakura grinned, making Kurenai pale slightly.
"Hmm, yes. I'm going to have to agree with Sakura-san." Haku stated with a smile and Zabuza's eyebrow twitched. "You've been spending too much time with them Haku." He warned.
"He did order the death of my entire clan." Haku argued with a shrug.
"Point Haku." Sasuke smirked.
"Too much talking, not enough celebrating." Naruto interrupted with a scoff and shoving Sasuke's head down. "Order the sake sensei!"
"Who said anything about sake?" Kakashi raised his one visible brow as he merely turned a page, trying his level best to look as unaffected as possible.
"Me." A Naruto clone smirked as he delivered a full tray. "Thanks for the henge Sensei."
That made the man put his book down. He looked as though he was about to say something before he slammed the book shut and growled under his breath. "I can't even punish the brat because he's displaying good ninja skills."
"I call dibs." Sasuke yelled before snatching up a cup and downing it before Kakashi could stop him. The poor masked jonin was left spluttering in surprise as his three genin took it upon themselves to get absolutely plastered.
"Oh God, Iruka is going to kill me." He squeaked out.
"If I see him, I'll warn you." Anko offered, patting the other jonin on the back without so much as an ounce of sympathy for the man.
"Hey, you two. Didn't I forbid the whole drinking buddies with Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura demanded, giving the two a glare just as they lifted another cup.
They shrugged before offering a cup to her. She gave them a look before sighing and taking the cup just as Kakashi had been about to snatch it away.
"Just give it up. You're losing this one, badly." Zabuza stated as he took a cup himself. "You should try following their example. Looks like you need it more."
"Meh, Sensei, bet I can out last you." Naruto stuck out his tongue at the jonin and got a narrowed eye in response. "I'm not falling for that again." Kakashi hissed.
"Again?" Naruto asked quirking an eyebrow.
"Hai. The last time an Uzumaki said that to me, I lost a whole week of my life."
Zabuza was more than slightly amused when he saw the faint pink tinge that dusted the visible parts of the mighty Sharingan no Kakashi's cheeks when all three of the man's students roared with laughter. It was quite the sight to see just how much three little genin – genin that Zabuza was starting to suspect weren't much of genin at all, but rather something far more – could affect one of the Elemental Nations most feared Shinobi.
"Don't worry Kakashi. I was there for that one. I still have those pictures." Anko clamped a hand on the Jonin's shoulder with a wink, causing the Copy-nin to go an even darker shade of pink.
"Aren't you at all worried that you're being challenged by three twelve year olds? Where's your sense of honour?" Haku asked quietly, with a porcelain smile.
"It's in my honour's best interest to refuse, and to keep refusing no matter how old they get." Kakashi responded with his own porcelain smile.
The only reply the jonin got were three mischievous titters.
"You know Sasuke, I think it's time for one thing and one thing only." Naruto stated with a mock seriousness that belied the blonde's sparkling gaze as he pulled the Uchiha closer all the while smirking wolfishly.
"Ah yes, a task of great difficulty, one that only the bravest of brave attempt." Sasuke replied, his features and tone showing that the genin was as serious as a heart attack, daring anyone to laugh at him.
The two genin nodded to each other earnestly. Abandoning the tray of sake cups that was by now almost empty, the two got up and hopped over the side of the booth.
"I challenge you to a game of Karaoke." Sasuke yelled dramatically as he glared challengingly at the blond in front of him.
"Prepare to weep in defeat teme!" Naruto screamed loudly as he rushed towards the karaoke station, grabbing the remote and turning the stereo on.
A loud screech indicated that the mic was too close to the speakers and Naruto hastily moved it away.
Yet, before Sasuke could reach the stage to join Naruto, a ROOT ANBU shunshined into the room and handed Kakashi a scroll, causing the two genin to pause as they looked to their sensei.
Kakashi frowned as well, wondering what on earth Danzou wanted from him.
Kakashi's quick handling of the scroll showed the three genin exactly how long Kakashi had been in the ANBU before becoming a jonin instructor. After all, ten years was a long time for any Shinobi to be involved in such dark matters.
The scroll was rolled and sealed just as effortlessly and it reminded Sasuke more than anyone else of just how many times Kakashi had been forced to work with Danzou in the past. The Uchiha frowned and looked away, thoughts swirling around Shisui and Itachi.
Kakashi sighed quietly before he shunshined from the room. Sakura looked towards Naruto and Sasuke, all three coming to the same conclusion. The three genin focused their chakra before following their sensei and shunshining out of the bar and straight into Kakashi's apartment, waiting for the jonin to return from his meeting with Danzou.
"Well that would have been a fun evening." Naruto sighed as he flopped on the couch.
"Hmmm, I suppose, but it gives us some time to discuss some important matters." Sakura mused, eyes growing distant.
"Do you think Zabuza and Haku will be alright?" Sasuke muttered as he joined Naruto on the couch.
"It'll be good for them." Sakura shrugged. "More importantly, what are you going to do about Jiraiya, Naruto?"
"I don't know. Maybe I could convince him to let me sign the toad contact again. And we still need to get Tsunade-Baachan back to the village." Naruto replied, eyebrows furrowed together in thought.
"What are you planning to do about Gaara since Baki said no?" Naruto asked, poking the Uchiha's side.
"I didn't think he would say yes, so I'm going to train Gaara in secret. Although none of us followed Kabuto. Do you think he's met up with Baki and Orochimaru yet?" Sasuke replied, tone darkening the slightest amount.
"I'm already on it. Sent a clone out when I sent one to get sake. Hayate is recovering in hospital. I wasn't able to stop all of Baki's attacks. Clones have to be more cautious you know." Naruto huffed, the disappointment in himself all too clear to his teammates. "But he's unconscious and hasn't reported what he heard."
"Were you seen?" Sakura asked with a frown. "Baki must be suspicious. What if he holds off the invasion?"
"Gaara's too high strung. They wouldn't be able to quit now even if he was suspicious. However, I was henged as Hayate so he believes he was fighting the same Shinobi who used a clever jutsu. Baki was forced to retreat when I sent up a flare to alert patrols. I imagine that there will be an attempt on Hayate's life before he wakes. Probably by Kabuto. With that in mind, one of us needs to stand guard." Naruto closed his eyes, exhaustion flickering across his features briefly before he smoothed them again.
"Regular ANBU or Asahi ANBU? Kabuto can outclass regular ANBU so it might trick him into revealing his true colours if he decides to attack." Sakura commented.
"But Kabuto is a difficult decision. As is Orochimaru. Their actions during the war are indicative that they can be converted back to Konoha." Sasuke pointed out.
"Kabuto needs to be reminded of who he is. That he's not some lost useless Shinobi floating around through the underground networks of the Shinobi world. Yet, Orochimaru is not that simple. He will need something out of it. Such as last time it was you." Naruto grumbled. "It's never that easy Sasuke. I think perhaps, we're going to have to kill Orochimaru and Kabuto. We cannot guarantee their loyalty. It's too fickle."
"But Tsunade-shizuo." Sakura began very quietly, looking away sadly. "She misses her teammates. Both Jiraiya and Orochimaru."
Sasuke and Naruto did not reply, frozen by the realisation of Sakura's words. Even Orochimaru, as twisted as he'd become, had once been a part of the Sannin. They'd grown up together, trained together, survived together. For Tsunade, the comparison for Team 7 would be like losing each other. It was like cutting off a limb. Not using their most powerful jutsu in a dire fight.
It was unthinkable.
"Then we will have to see what we can do." Sasuke decided firmly, breaking the silence. "It'll be Naruto's job to get Tsunade back to the village. Jiraiya will stay for Naruto because of the Akatsuki, hopefully. And I will work on Orochimaru. Perhaps Sakura can work on Kabuto."
"I'll go stand guard over Hayate at the hospital." Sakura stated with a grateful glance at the Uchiha. No words of gratitude were said because actions always meant more. "I know the personal and the area better. And who knows, I might be able to get Hayate to wake up faster."
"I'll come by later to inform you about Danzou." Sasuke replied with a nod.
"Be careful. This is Kabuto we're talking about. You can handle him, but he's more than capable of wounding you." Naruto reminded with a worried frown.
"I'll wound him more than he can hurt me, Naruto-kun." Sakura reassured with a soft smile before disappearing in a small swirl of leaves to go to her room where a normal ANBU uniform was kept for just such occasion. Being Asahi ANBU helped, but it was too conspicuous for the really dark missions, the ones that involved spying on their own home.
.0.0.0.
Sakura kept to the shadows as she made her way to the Hospital, the normal ANBU uniform tucked under her arm. She'd put it on closer to the hospital. ANBU attracted attention from other ANBU. Her intentions were to go unnoticed. After all she wasn't an official member of the ANBU rotation. The mask she would wear was a copy of someone else's. She didn't need to be caught by another member who knew the original's owner.
The shift in the shadows in front of her was familiar, one that she'd seen a thousand times before. She didn't slow, the shinobi matching pace with her.
"We need to do it. It's the only way." Sasuke stated tonelessly.
"Are we really sure it's the only way?" Sakura replied, not meeting his gaze.
"The important part is that he'll believe it. Anything else wouldn't work or would take too long." Sasuke answered, his tone distancing. "It'll be hard, but we need to do this."
"Shall I kill Kabuto?" Sakura asked, moving away from the topic.
"No. He'll be useful. Later." And suddenly Sasuke was gone. Shadow clone dissolving without even a wisp.
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Kakashi approached the entrance apprehensively. He hadn't been here since he'd convinced Tenzou to leave ROOT. It hadn't been easy. He'd had to make a lot of deals with Danzou to let Tenzou go but he'd managed it. Merely because Danzou knew that Tenzou would always be in his reach. He'd always be in Konoha.
He walked through the entrance with the same lazy slouch he'd used in public, a silent reminder that he'd take no orders from Danzou. He owed the man nothing. He was only here because ignoring the summons would do more damage later and he really didn't need the man sniffing around.
"Hatake Kakashi." The greeting was cold, almost bordering on anger.
Kakashi didn't respond verbally, choosing instead to incline his head.
"Walk with me, Hatake." Danzou didn't wait for a reply, walking towards his private office automatically. Kakashi followed, curious as to what the geezer wanted. "Do you realise how far this village has come since its creation?" Danzou asked suddenly. "The challenges we've faced and overcome? I'm sure a ninja of your calibre is very much aware of the later. But the former, I cannot be sure."
"What are you getting at?" Kakashi had long since lost the ability to be polite to Danzou.
"I'm talking about you and your Kami forsaken team making a mockery of these exams." Danzou hissed. "We will be hard pressed to recover should these exams end poorly."
What was riding on these exams that was different from any other exam? The silver haired jonin resisted the urge to narrow his gaze, tilting his head to the side instead and stating "I'm not sure what you're getting at."
"You know damn well what your team did was nothing but an embarrassment to Konoha. Had you complied as you were supposed to no one would have known that your team was ordered to be in the exams. You of all people should know what that kind of statement that makes to the other villages. Your team is now under intense scrutiny from every ninja village that participated in the exams. Reports would have been sent out. Those Asahi ANBU didn't help matters by fixing the match up for the third round. Those Genin might have believed the ruse but more experienced ninja will not." Danzou was angry. The fall out was possibly huge. Or it was possibly an over-reaction.
"And why am I here?" Kakashi intoned, guessing that Danzou wanted him to take control of his team, to fix things. How? He wasn't sure.
"Do you really need to ask? You already know. Your arrogance is not without merit." Danzou waved a hand. "More specifically, I want the information that you have."
"Information?" Kakashi raised his visible brow. This was new.
"The first round revealed that your team knew classified information about a traitor in the exams. I want to know how you knew."
Kakashi had underestimated how deep Danzou's information network went. Or perhaps how sharp the old man still was. He relaxed his posture and sighed. "He was obvious. That is all. Why would a genin who'd failed the exams seven times still be trusted by his sensei to take them, and why would he offer to help the others. If he was serious about passing, then he should have kept the information he had to himself. Not to mention the level of information he had wasn't a level he should have had given that he was supposedly a genin who had failed the exams seven times."
"He never mentioned that he had the information. You took it off of him." Danzou smirked.
"He approached. Why would he. He'd had no previous interaction with anyone on my team or otherwise. Putting it simply, he had to have been trying something." Even Kakashi knew that he was getting dangerously close to bullshit. Danzou would have to be slipping if he let that one go.
"There will come a day Hatake, when your particular talents won't be enough to counter your insubordination."
"I'm only seen as insubordinate to you and your way of seeing the Will of Fire, Danzou. To the right people, the people in charge, I'm exactly the kind of Shinobi they need."
"Keep your team in check." The reply was a dismissal. Whether he believed Kakashi's story or not was another matter, but the jonin had touched a nerve.
Kakashi knew that they'd have to be more careful moving forward. Danzou was sniffing around and that never led to anything good. But for now it was a minor problem.
.0.0.0.
Itachi surveyed the village silently, ignoring Kisame's grumbling behind him. It had been a few years yet the village remained the same. Happy, peaceful and blissfully unaware of what lurked in the shadows.
"We'll stay for the chunin exams." Itachi stated quietly. "That way we'll get a better understanding the of the Jinchuriki's current skill."
And he'd be able to get a look at Sasuke's skill as well. He doubted the boy had remained the same. He hadn't had this kind of opportunity since he'd joined Akatsuki. He'd had to be so careful. Appearances were everything. All he'd managed in his time away was to make sure his little brother was still alive.
The puzzle the boy presented him with had yet to be solved. Sadly there were other things that needed his more immediate attention.
.0.0.0.
Kakashi arrived back at his apartment only to be greeted with two sets of worried gazes. Wondering where the third was he moved towards the sofa, pulling Naruto's feet off the arm rest as he passed and sat down in between the two genin.
"Sakura went to make sure Kabuto didn't try anything with Hayate-senpai." Naruto informed the jonin with a soft smile.
"Hayate-senpai?" Kakashi raised his visible brow, waiting for a more detailed explanation.
"He was spying on Kabuto and Baki. They found him. A clone of mine managed to intercept the fight but he still got badly wounded." Naruto explained, looking away while the smile dropped from his features. "He's at the hospital now."
"What did Danzou want?" Sasuke asked, burning to know, not that his features showed it.
"We've apparently been too obvious in the exams. Also he finds our fooling around to be insulting to the village. We're going to need to tone it down for a while. I know it's not easy to take others seriously, especially with regards to your fellow genin, but keep in mind that it's not usually the habits of genin to mess with ANBU and foreign village jonin. It's suspicious for all the wrong reasons." Kakashi sighed. He understood all too well. But when he'd been a genin he hadn't been anywhere near Sasuke and Naruto's current levels. But he'd been ahead of everyone else, catching up to his superiors faster than they could blink. It was hard not to treat it all as one big playground. Itachi had been the same. In the brief time he'd known the boy in ANBU, he'd seen the way the boy had been toying with his ANBU teammates during spars, the mocking way he'd fought with his enemies.
When you were so many steps ahead of them all, it was hard to take them all seriously. Yet, Kakashi felt that things were going to get serious far too quickly in the near future.
"Hai, sensei." The two chorused, giving him serious nods. "So what are you teaching us for the final round?" Naruto added with a wide grin. "And it better be something cool."
"Well, I'm not sure what I could teach you two that you don't already know." Kakashi admitted.
"Chidori." Sasuke stated with a wicked grin.
"Rasengan." Naruto rubbed his hands together gleefully.
"And Sakura?" Kakashi rose his visible brow, impressed by the simple requests he'd been given.
"Well, you could teach her an earth based jutsu. Maybe something to fix all the holes she makes." Naruto suggested innocently. But he was just tired of fixing them himself.
"Oh and who is going to fix the holes you two make with your Chidori and Rasengan training?" Kakashi cringed at the thought, wondering if this was considered low profile. His thoughts turned to another topic and he wondered at the logic in giving in. Ultimately it wasn't his choice to make.
"Naruto, you know that Jiraiya of the Sannin is in the village right?" Kakashi broached the topic carefully, wondering how he felt about it but deciding to leave that for later.
"Yeah. He's pretty obvious. Why?" Naruto huffed at the thought of the sannin crouching in a bush trying to get a peek at things he shouldn't.
"Well he is one of the leading Sealing experts in Konoha and he does know the Rasengan. I'm sure you could convince him to train you." Kakashi stated quietly. There were just some things he couldn't teach the boy. He knew that. "I'll take Sasuke into the training outlands and teach him the Chidori. Sakura, I'll ask Kuranei to teach some genjutsu. Her control is at a level that I feel she'd possibly give the kunoichi a run for her money." The split would help in forcing the three to behave. Together they were impossible.
Sasuke and Naruto couldn't help the look that passed between them. Things were becoming eerily like the first time around and that was not an inviting thought.
"Sounds good. I'll be sure to get the Ero-sennin to teach me something awesome other than the Rasengan." Naruto grinned, "And I'll use them to beat Sasuke in the final round."
"You only have a month Naruto." Kakashi sighed. Inwardly he was gleeful about the nickname. He was glad his was only Kaka.
"Oh please, you couldn't beat me even if I was sleeping with my hands and feet tied." Sasuke scoffed.
"Bring it on teme!" Naruto screeched, eyes flaming with determination.
"Dobe, I'll plant your face in the dirt so hard, you–" Sasuke was calm and unblinking as he replied to Naruto's challenge. His reply was cut off as Kakashi pulled both of them closer together, too close, and stated with a large smile "Now now, is that anyway to talk to your teammates?" while the two genin struggled vainly to free themselves for the jonin's iron grip.
.0.0.0.
Kisame frowned at the smaller shinobi he was following. Said Shinobi was quiet. Too quiet.
Well more quiet than usual. A kind of quiet that made the shark like ninja feel that the Uchiha was lost in thought and that meant his guard was down. That never happened.
"Itachi!" The sharp call had been surprising. Sasuke was never so formally impolite. It was enough to stop Itachi from leaving as he had intended. Sasuke suddenly jumped up and latched onto Itachi's chest, arms locking around the older shinobi's neck.
It had been a couple days since the nightmare.
Sasuke squeezed, hard, his breathing slightly elevated. Itachi stood in shock for a moment before slowly relaxing and closing his arms around the small Uchiha and holding him close.
"Nii-san. Don't go." Sasuke whispered, his tone sounding choked.
Itachi was more than confused but he smiled warmly and rubbed Sasuke's back in slow soothing circles. "I'm just going to see Shisui. I'll be back before dinner."
Sasuke pulled his head back to stare at the older Uchiha. His bottom lip trembled but he smiled, the sparkling in his eyes threatening to spill over, before stating cheerfully, "tell him I say hi!"
Kisame said nothing as he walked behind the Uchiha. Their target was the Kyuubi. He'd need Itachi for that, so for now, he'd leave the man to his thoughts. Konoha was not all that far away. They weren't in any sort of rush.
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