Flames danced along the wall as their only source of light, makeshift bars cast eerie shadows in the firelight, there was some sort of water source dripping in the distance. That coupled with the low sounds of distress from the children set his teeth on edge.

Kakashi grit his teeth behind his mask, trying to calm himself. This was supposed to be a relaxing trip away from the mainland. A small wooded island not tied to any shinobi nation with a smattering of tiny villages and hot springs. A place where even a slashed hitai-ate was met with awed looks and children running up to ask questions: 'are you a real shinobi?'.

Tenzo thought it was cute, Kakashi put up with it to humor the younger nin. The dogs were kami knows where enjoying the peace the island offered. Uhei had wanted to chase seagulls on the shore, and Guruko had been chattering about the interesting smells and how he so wanted to track this thing down. Honestly it was like he'd never been in a forest before. Kakashi had given into their whines, and allowed them (with Pakkun to supervise) to have the run about of the island for a few days.

It had been going well, it was nice to finally relax after so long on the run.

How naïve of him to think it would last.

Tenzo, the somehow more socially adept of the two, had been talking to other children in the village they were currently staying in. and had learned that children from the village and those neighboring had been going missing. Which explained why Kakashi had been getting such suspicious looks, no one had said anything probably because Tenzo was with him.

Of course, when Tenzo had learned of this he turned his eyes pleadingly on the Kumo nukenin. And damn it he couldn't say no to the brat. Sometimes he wished Tenzo was still that silent spy, Kakashi didn't get stuck doing these types of things then.

Though he'd probably have stuck his nose in at some point anyway.

As it was he ended up trudging his way to the village elder slash leader, whatever they wanted to be called. The man was surprisingly overjoyed to see him.

"Oh! I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow at the earliest, shinobi-san!" the man had enthusiastically greeted.

What the hell did he mean by 'expecting him'? Eh, Kakashi decided just to roll with it, there'd be less explaining this way.

"Is it only you, shinobi-san? I was under the impression that they were sending a team."

"My partner is canvassing the area," Kakashi responded quickly, as Tenzo was still gathering info for the other children while he talked to the elder and hopefully started tracking these individuals down.

Kakashi was quickly briefed by the man as to the situation. Apparently, children had been disappearing of the past few weeks, none had turned up, and there were no leads as to who was taking them. Asking the man to show him the location of the most recent disappearance Kakashi set to work.

It'd be easier with his dogs but he was hesitant to drag them over here if it was something he could handle himself. Armed with the little girl's shirt, his nose, and the knowledge that he was going to kill whoever these bastards were, he quickly picked up the scent. This would be over before the day's out.

At least that's what the plan was, now his ass was in a cell surrounded by scared children, hands bound and a seal suppressing his chakra. He could hear his father's endless lectures about not underestimating your opponent.

He'd never hear the end of this if didn't get free on his own.

He'd gone in expecting bandits, what he got was a group of missing-nin, one with a powerful chakra draining kekkei genkai. He'd blacked out and woke up in this damned cage! Such an amateur mistake, he cursed himself, but at least he found the missing children who were surprisingly alive.

Why were they still alive? On that note, why was he still alive? It was a risk to keep him and these children alive and in a centralized location. There was no commonality with the stolen children they were all from different social classes and different villages. The only thing they had in common was that none were above the age of sixteen, and that they weren't infants. Though, Kakashi supposed, it'd be hard to steal an infant then keep them in a cave for weeks on end without them dying.

He didn't like where the lines of evidence were drawing him, this was obviously planned, these were mid to high ranking shinobi (missing-nin he assumed as there were no hitai-ate in sight) that were wasting their time kidnapping children. Shinobi rarely did anything this elaborate or time consuming for fun, unless it was to screw with someone. So, they were hired to capture these kids and keep them alive. But to what end?

He didn't know how long he'd been here, only that he woke up several hours ago and that the enemy nin had switched out the guards a few times. Currently he had no plan for getting out of this mess, the guard schedule seemed to be unpredictable, and the children were kept separate from him in separate cages.

Sighing heavily, he settled in the furthest, darkest corner of his cell waiting for a mistake to be made for a chance at freedom.

He'd get out of this.

Somehow.

He always did.

He blinked in surprise as two of the nin came in with a body slung between their shoulders. The man's face was obscured by a curtain of brown hair that had escaped his bandana-like hitai-ate, but his build suggested he was a teenager like himself, likely a few years older.

And, Kakashi noted with distaste, he wore the standard chuunin uniform for Konoha shinobi. Even away from the mainland these bastards were following him.

One of their captors made eye contact before motioning him to the back of his cell, he scowled, briefly considering not cooperating. The other nin seemed to recognize this and his gaze hardened.

"Don't be stupid, kid, it won't end well for you."

Gritting his teeth, he backed away from the cell bars until his bound hands brushed rough stone. He needed to be at full strength if he wanted to escape with the children, and he reluctantly admitted to himself, watching the two nin unceremoniously drop the leaf nin and bind his hands in the same manor of his own, the help of said chuunin.

Kakashi didn't take his eyes off the nin until they disappeared down the tunnel he assumed led to the surface. Then he turned his attention back to his new cellmate, who was as he had assumed a teenager likely around Obito and Rin's age. His bandana was backwards so the plate was on the back of his head, and didn't protect him from the obvious blow to the temple which was already a brilliant shade of purple. The bastard better not have a concussion, that would make this a hell of a lot more difficult.

With a heavy sigh, he slumped against the opposite side of the cell to glare at the chuunin while he waited for the other man to wake.

Hopefully it wouldn't take too long, his arms were very much cramping stuck in the position that they were.

As it was he was left running through every scrap of information that he had on the situation. Even though it was pathetically little. He'd seen ten missing-nin thus far, the rotating guards and those that had attacked him. he didn't know where on the island he was nor how far down this cave was, though he was praying to Kami that it was a straight run and he wouldn't have to deal with trying to herd these kids through a labyrinth. He didn't know how long he'd been here, how long he was unconscious after being captured and the guard rotation and meals that the kids had received didn't seem to have a set pattern. And to top it all off, in the dim light cast by the torches he couldn't get an accurate count on the amount of kids that were here nor what their physical status was.

He sighed leaning his head back to stare at the ceiling, how was he going to pull this off? Even if the Konoha nin was in a good enough state to fight, they'd still have to get themselves and the children out of these cages, past the guards, out of the cave, and then fight against the rest of the nukenin waiting at the entrance. Including that chakra draining bastard.

He was abruptly drawn out of his depressing thoughts as the chuunin regained consciousness. Kakashi had to admit, he was good, if he hadn't been sitting in such close proximity and watching him he wouldn't have even noticed. The only difference was a slight change in the man's breathing and tension in his shoulders.

He snorted, noticing the slight twitch of the man's brow at the sound, as amusing as this was Kakashi didn't have time to wait for the man to slowly get his bearings and 'awaken'. He shifted and, maybe a little rougher than necessary, kicked the man's foot.

He was rewarded by a set of angry brown eyes glaring at him, but thankfully he didn't seem concussed.

"So, what are you in for?" Kakashi asked, trying to be at least a little friendly, he needed them to work together after all.

The other man just set his jaw and raised his chin defiantly.

Kakashi sighed, shifting his foot back to what was apparently now his side of the cell, then met the other man's angry gaze with a cool one of his own. Obviously, the man's situational awareness needed some work, or his manners. Tenzo would probably die if he heard that thought cross Kakashi mind, either from laughter or electrocution Kakashi wasn't sure which would come first.

After a several minute stare down in which neither man wanted to lose, Kakashi finally realized that the man wasn't going to break first and if he wanted them to get anywhere before his pack of misfits found him he need to be the one to break.

"Look, Konoha, I'm just trying to make the best of this situation."

"I'm not going to tell you anything," the man spat, clearly also uncomfortable with the previous tense silence.

Kakashi's brows raised in shock. Did… did he really think Kakashi was there to interrogate him?

"I'm not your interrogator, Konoha, if you'd kindly look around and notice I'm in the same situation as you."

Konoha scoffed, shaking his head slightly and glanced away from him to look at the children huddled in the surrounding cages.

"I'm here for them, just like you I'm assuming."

Slowly Konoha's eyes turned back to him, the time more suspicious than outright hostile.

"How do I know you're not lying? That this isn't some sort of elaborate plan to get my guard down and reveal sensitive information."

"One you're giving this lot more credit than they deserve. Two, what information could you possibly have that I don't already know? You're only a chuunin, so not likely you know anything too sensitive about your village. And anything you know about this lot, they likely know you know and don't care. So why don't you stop being paranoid and help me get us and the children out of here."

He snorted, settling back against the bars of their cell as comfortably as he could, eyes slowly assessing him.

"You're Kakashi aren't you?"

That was not at all what Kakashi had expected to come out of his mouth, it felt like a bucket of water was upturned over his head. He wasn't used to being recognized by nin outside of Kumo. Kushina was an exception as she apparently knew the Yellow Flash personally and was a jounin. She likely knew his father and enough about him from Namikaze to identify him, a no name chuunin shouldn't be able to do that.

Apparently Kakashi's shocked silence was enough of a confirmation for the other nin, as a sharp smile crossed his face.

"Genma," he said, which Kakashi was assuming was his own name, "I know Obito, and he doesn't shut up about you."

"Uchiha…" Kakashi growled in exasperation.

Genma snorted.

"Yeah, I know that feeling. So, what's your plan?"

Kakashi frowned, glancing toward the floor, yeah the plan. He hadn't exactly figured that one out yet had he.

"Haven't got one?" Genma asked, a frown briefly crossing his face.

"There's too many unknown variables at the moment," he finally admitted.

"Is your chakra also suppressed?"

"Yeah there's a seal on the back of my neck, if we untie each other's hands we could remove them. but getting free was never the real problem."

Genma raised a brow in confusion, but before either of them could speak footsteps accompanied by a rattling chain could be heard approaching. Kakashi quickly found himself shoulder to shoulder with the brown hair nin, as they stood. Waiting to see what was going to be their next problem.

One of the regular guards stepped into the cavern, holding the end of a heavy chain, his eyes immediately sought out Kakashi and Genma. A grin split his face as he noticed them both awake and standing.

"Well, well, Konoha, hope you don't mind sharing a living quarters for the foreseeable future. We're a little tight on space at the moment, if you couldn't tell. We just need to find out if the boss wants you or not, if not well… we couldn't find you in any bingo book, unlike your friend there, so…" the man trailed off with a grin, shrugging his shoulders.

As he grew closer, Kakashi's attention was drawn to the other end other chain. Where a medium sized grey and white dog padded dutifully along, tail and head hung low, with drawn back ears and a tense posture. He wanted nothing more than to cuddle the clearly scared dog and reassure him that everything was ok.

"I see you've noticed my friend," the man said, jerking the chain harshly.

Kakashi had to steel himself from reacting as the pup was jerked forward, but mentally he was planned several ways of killing the man before him. The dogs chain was tied to the front of their cell, and they looked at the two shinobi in the cell before baring its fangs in a snarl.

"Now you see, he's here to keep you two from conspiring to escape, he'll attack anyone but me, and will alert me if you two get up to anything you shouldn't," the man said, straightening, "Now don't go putting your fingers through the bars."

The guard laughed as he waked away and exited the cave. The children were throwing scared glances toward the dog, as they huddled to the back of their cells. Genma had a frown on his face, clear assessing this new problem, and Kakashi knew exactly where his thought process was going and decided to stop that right away.

"We're not killing the dog."

"What?! What do you mean?"

"We're not killing the dog."

"Be reasonable."

"No."

"…Fine it's your problem then."

"Back to our biggest problem," Kakashi started, wanting to change the subject, "Did you encounter the chakra drainer?"

"No, but that does sound like a problem."

They feel into an uneasy silence as both of them tried to figure out the best way to go about this. Of course Kakashi's gaze was drawn back to the dog that was pacing at the end of his chain.

He couldn't help but notice how skinny he was, at the state of his coat, matted and filthy. His nails were overgrown, and Kakashi could spy several scars and scabbed over wounds. The dog's head suddenly whipped around to meet his gaze, his hackles rose, legs stiffened, and lips pulled back to reveal yellow stained teeth. It was fear Kakashi realized, the dog wasn't truly aggressive but absolutely terrified.

Kakashi lowered his gaze and moved closer to the cell door so he was just out of reach of the dogs jaws. Genma watched, looking like he though Kakashi was insane. Which to be fair, was kind of accurate.

The dog was snarling, and had retreated as far as its chain would allow. Kakashi had to bite back a chuckle as he noticed that the dog a tuff of darker fur on his his head and while he was all bristly it kind of looked like a mini mohawk.

"It's all right pup, I'm not going to hurt you," Kakashi soothed, hoping to reach the intelligent being that was hidden behind the anger and fear.

He spent far too long whispering soothing words and reassurances to the dog, long enough for Genma to fall asleep. But slowly the dog's fur flattened, he stopped straining to get away, and inch by inch, step by step he was eventually a nose length away from the cage bars. There was still suspicion behind his eyes, but Kakashi wasn't upset it took a long time to move fast a lifetime of abuse and mistreatment. He was mainly grateful for the spark of intelligence those eyes held, most ninken had to be chosen early in life to develop their comprehension and chakra skills beyond that of a normal dog. But while this pup may not be able to speak he certainly understood Kakashi's words.

"Trust. Why?"

The low growl startled him, as did the broken sentence, he hadn't expected the dog to be able to speak it typically took a lot of time and training. And to not only speak, but to string words together to get their meaning across.

"You have no reason to trust me, but I promise you, if you help me I'll get you out of here and help you go wherever you want."

The dog's eyes narrowed, flicking between Kakashi and the entrance, finally their ears flattened and the the stared at Kakashi with determination.

"Help. Me. Friend. You. Pups."

Kakashi's eye crinkled, while he wasn't entirely sure what exactly the dog had meant he got the basic idea, if they helped him escape he'd help them get the kids out.

"Thank you, I'm Kakashi, what can I call you?"

The dog's head lowered, and he shifted side to side in clear discomfort unsure whether or not to trust Kakashi with his name. But Kakashi was patient and slowly the dog replied.

"Shiba."

"Genma, I'd like you to meet Shiba."

"Great you've named it."

"Shiba will be helping us escape."

"Right…"

"So when Shiba gives the all clear he'll chew through our bindings and we can remove the chakra suppression seals and get out of this cell. From there, we'll free the children and Shiba will guard them while we clear the camp, then it should be home free."

"What about the chakra drainer? And the fact we have no weapons? I'm a poison specialist, ninjutsu isn't my strong point."

"We'll have to be quick, I'll cover you until you can arm yourself, and we'll focus the chakra drainer. Hopefully we'll catch them off guard."

"This is a horrible plan."

They didn't know how long they sat in the back of their cell after that, watching as guards came and went, paying the two shinobi no mind besides the occasional sneer or comment. Kakashi could tell Genma was stressed, he kept worrying his lip like he was expecting something to be there, but at least he was more aware of his surroundings than when he'd first woken up.

"Should we expect any outside help?" Kakashi asked softly, ignoring how the other shinobi jolted slightly at the unexpected sound.

Genma seemed to consider this for several seconds, which confirmed that he wasn't on this mission alone at least.

"No," he finally said, "My team will hold their position until they have all the information the can get as to not risk themselves, the mission, or me. Besides I'm the team's tracker, they're more likely to accidentally stumble upon this place than anything else."

"Hmm, my pack will be looking for me, if they come across your team then they could potentially show up."

"I don't know if that'd be a good thing or not."

Kakashi opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by Shiba standing and looking towards them.

"Now."

Genma squeaked in surprise.

"It can talk?"

"Nows not the time, come on."

Shiba quickly chewed through the ropes binding Kakashi's hands, and after a moment of hesitation Genma offered up his own hands and was free. Pulling off the suppression seals was an unpleasent experience, like when your foot falls asleep and you try using it. Pins and needles quickly turning into a burning sensation, Genma's face showed his experience was equally unpleasant, but after a moment he looked up and met Kakashi gaze with a sharp nod.

Using a small Doton jutsu to warp the cell bars enough to squeeze themselves through, standing Kakashi brushed himself off and stretched out sore muscles. Genma moved past him to start speaking lowly to the children, reassuring them that they were here to help and that they'd be going home. Kakashi was suddenly very glad the chuunin was there because he was horrible with kids and probably would've only ended up scaring them more.

Turning from where Genma was opening cells and herding the kids into groups, he approached Shiba who was wary at his approach.

"May I?" he asked, gesturing towards the chain wrapped around the dogs neck.

Shiba's jaw parted in shock, and he slowly stepped forward turning to allow Kakashi better access. The Kumo nuke-nin was angry when he realized just how heavy the chain was, he would've loved to throw it and hear the satisfying clang as it hit the floor, but this was a stealth mission so he'd have to resign himself to getting the satisfaction from the look of relief in Shiba's posture as he shook his coat out, tail wagging a little.

"Thank."

"It was my pleasure, Shiba."

"Ok, the older kids are handling the younger, keeping them quiet but we need to be quick," Genma said, coming up beside the two.

Kakashi cast a glance towards the kids, some were crying softly while others had a look of determination on they faces. He could work with that.

"Shiba, it's a straight run from this tunnel right? So you stay here and guard the kids, I'll warn you if things start to go south and try to cause a big enough distraction so you can get them and yourself out. But lets hope it doesn't come to that. Genma are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be," he grunted.

"Help! Bull!" Shiba yipped, bouncing back forth, "Bull! Bull help!"

"Bull?" Genma asked.

"I have no idea, what's bull, Shiba?"

"Help! Bull help!"

"Ok, bull will help us?"

"Yes!"

With that Shiba trotted over to the children, staying out of reach of them. Genma looked towards Kakashi for clarification, but he honestly had no idea what Shiba had been talking about. Hopefully it wouldn't come back to bite them. The slowly start towards the entrance of the cave, foot steps light as the climbed the tunnel, listening for any sounds of movement.

It was dark outside, clouds hiding the stars, it was like the world was holding its breath, waiting to see how this battle would turn out. Thankfully it seemed that this group had been drinking prior to going to sleep and their biggest threat was passed out against a crate. Kakashi swiftly broke the chakra drainer's neck, while Genma searched for weapons. He returned with a grin and a senbon hanging from the side of his mouth, he silently tossed Kakashi's tanto to him along with a pouch of kunai.

"They didn't do a great job securing our stuff," he whispered, as he joined Kakashi by the crate. "How do you want to do this? We could potentially sneak all the kids out of here, without their notice."

Kakashi was only listening with half an ear, the hair on his neck was standing up and he had pitt in his stomach that said something was watching them. He raised a fist, hoping that the sign for stop was universal among villages, he was proven right as Genma froze, eyes darting around looking for the threat.

Kakashi saw it first, the large dark shape rose in the shadows, dark eyes glinted, and large canines flatheads a deep growl that Kakashi could feel in his chest filled the clearing. The large mastiff lunged to the end of their chain barking and snarling at them.

"Son of a-" Genma cursed, as the camp suddenly came to life, shinobi waking to investigate the disturbance.

The resulting battle wasn't Kakashi's finest, it was dirty and desperate, and even with the chakra drainer dead, they had several underestimated the number of skilled shinobi here. On top of that neither he or Genma were in top shape. The battle turned when he stumbled back into the range of the mastiff, the dog's teeth sank into his leg and pulled him down. He cursed kicking them off and turning his tanto trying to fend them off, then Shiba's words came back to him.

"Damn it, Bull, sit!"

He was shocked when the dog's large blocky head tilted, and he slowly sat, ear perked in confusion.

"Shiba's helping us, he said you would too."

The mastiff huffed, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth, tail thumping on the ground.

"If I unchain you, will you help us and not bite me?"

Bull woofed softly, or at least as soft as a mastiff could, stepped towards Kakashi tail wagging and drool dripping to the ground. And yeah this was probably the stupidest idea he'd had in awhile, if Tenzo where here he'd just straight up murder him himself and Kakashi would absolutely deserve it. But as it were Tenzo wasn't here to be the brains of this operation so Kakashi unclasped the chain letting it fall to the ground. He froze as a large tongue was dragged over his face, before Bull looped away raising his head with an eerie howl.

Even with the oversized dog on their side, and Genma was far from impressed with that one, the battle wore on longer than they would've liked. It got to the point where he had to use what apparently was becoming his signature move according to the bingo books. Coating his tanto in lightening chakra, he tore through the remaining shinobi, and finally the last nin fell with a senbon in his neck.

Genma was panting, blood ran from his forehead and he was awkwardly holding his arm, and his sendoff was missing. His eyes fell on Kakashi's bland which was starting to dim as he stopped feeding it chakra, then the slid up to meet Kakashi's lone eye, brow raised.

"You couldn't have used that a tad bit sooner?" he groused.

Kakashi stubbornly ignored the haziness at the edge of his vision and how his limbs felt weak, meeting the chuunin's gaze evenly.

"It has its draw backs, I don't like using it unless I have no other choice."

The other shinobi didn't push the issue, instead looked towards the tunnel entrance, Kakashi followed his gaze and felt a small smile made its way onto his face as he watched Shiba and Bull reunite. The children followed slowly, clearly cautious, and Kakashi suddenly realized that they were currently standing on a very gruesome battlefield and those were civilian children. Genma seemed to realize the same and they both approached the group and started diverting them away.

It was time to face the consequences of his actions.

Tenzo was so unimpressed it looked like it hurt. Actually, Kakashi realized, he had a twin, one of Genma's teammates (who Kakashi had dubbed Glasses as he figured Tenzo would kick him for Stick Up his Ass) looked like he had swallowed something sour. The green one was bawling into Genma's vest while the vest's owner awkwardly patted him on the back.

"So, would you like to explain how you managed to get yourself captured?" Tenzo asked dryly. Pakkun sat at his feet looking more grumpy than usual, the traitor.

Narrowing his eye, the silver-haired nin glanced at the two dogs at his side, his blood-soaked clothes, the hastily applied bandages, the crowd of scared children huddling behind him, and toward his accomplice who looked resigned to being a tissue for the foreseeable future.

"No."

"Ex- excuse me?!" Tenzo yelped, frantically scrambling to keep up as Kakashi brushed past him.

"No I will not explain how I was captured as I wasn't," he huffed ignoring the skeptical looks from his pack and shadow. "I was exactly where I wanted to be."

"But… no that's not…" Tenzo stumbled over his words.

Kakashi was glad his smirk was hidden beneath his mask, it wouldn't do for his sweet little shadow to get any ideas about him. He had an image to maintain after all.

"So hip, so cool!"

Exactly strange whisper… wait what?

He turned to look at the source of the words only to find green one staring at him with stars in his eyes. It was kinda creepy, no his grin was growing and was blinding, it was very creepy.

Snapping his head back around he decided to ignore the strange chuunin and continue leading the kidnapped children home. Studiously tuning out Tenzo's pissed grumbling.

Genma frowned at Gai's star struck look, that was something he and Ebisu would have to nip in the bud quickly before Gai got hurt. This was something they were familiar with, they knew how others tended to view their eccentric teammate.

Genma didn't think he'd ever been so happy to be back in the village, the small town that had hired them had thankfully allowed them and the missing-nin to stay and heal from their injures. Though during that time Gai had become enamored with Hatake, he and Ebisu had been worried in the beginning as most people couldn't tolerate Gai and it tended to end badly for their teammate.

They shouldn't have been worried (at least not for Gai) Hatake didn't seem bothered by Gai at all, beyond a bit of confusion at first. By the end Hatake had even begun take Gai up on his challenges, and Genma should've know to stop it then and there. But he didn't, he'd been happy that Gai had made a friend outside of their classmates, and now Konoha's Green Beast had declared Hatake to be his eternal rival. There had been so many tears when they had to part ways, and Gai hadn't stopped talking about Hatake since, and that was a week ago.

But know his team split and he was off to report to the Hokage, in blissful silence. Until Obito and Kushina started a shouting match a few streets over. Picking up the pace, he found himself knocking on the office door in probably record time, he really did just want to sleep.

"Come in," the Yondaime called, a smile appearing on his face when he saw Genma, "Ah Genma, welcome back, we were starting to get worried when you mission wasn't completed in the expected time."

"My apologies, Hokage-sama, there were unforeseen complications."

"I expected as much, and had faith in your teams abilities, now what did you find?"

"It was another of Danzo's child hunting squads like we expected, though much larger than any previous squad we've encountered. I can't confirm if they were ROOT or shinobi he had hired, but they were all killed and I have a scroll of all the information we gathered."

"I see," the Yondaime sighed, entwining his fingers in thought, "And the complications?"

"I was captured while trying to gather information, as my team didn't know the full scope of the mission they didn't know where I was or where to look for me. However I wasn't the first shinobi they had captured and found myself sharing a cell with Hatake Kakashi."

The Hokage's eyes sharpened at that.

"Together we managed to escape, kill our captors, and free the children. That said, as Hatake was instrumental to getting the children to safety I gave him a portion of the mission payment. If you protest this I ask that you take it from my pay and not my team's as it was my choice."

The Hokage waved his concerns away, eyes distant and deep in thought.

"Was he alone?"

"When I met him he was, however after we escaped we met up with a pack of dogs and a boy that I didn't recognize."

"I see. Thank you, Genma, you're dismissed."

Genma gave a short bow before exiting the room, confused as to the expression on the Hokage's face. What was so special about Tenzo? He seemed rather normal to him, besides the freaky cat that followed him around. It didn't matter if Genma had anything to say about it they'd never cross paths again, even if it'd break Gai heart.

Chapter Notes:

So... yeah it's been four years already, time really does fly even when you're not having fun. Anyway I hope this was worth the wait, when will the next chapter be out, no idea hopefully it wont take four years though. I will say I'll probably not be posting any new works over here (and i do have a few in the works) as I find AO3 to be a much more user friendly site and just nicer, I will keep updating any works that are currently up over here like this one and maybe LoTWW if i ever actually finish the rewrite (don't hold your breath.)

But anyway thank you some much for reading!