The one week he'd given to Itanaka Madoka was also a week for the Konoha ANBU to find him.

He needed someone on the inside to keep him updated on the status of Konoha. He was hoping for Tenzo or Itachi to find him. Itachi would accept in a heartbeat. Itachi was his best bet by far. He didn't think Itachi would be sent out of Konoha anytime soon. So if it was Tenzo that found him, he hoped that Tenzo would listen to him.

If Hiruzen sent someone after him in the first place.

Just to ensure that news would reach Konoha, he transformed into a civilian and spread the knowledge of his location throughout southern Hi no Kuni. Within a day, everyone in the south knew that Kakashi was near Nami, close to the border. Within two days, all of Hi no Kuni knew his general location. There was no way Konoha didn't also know.

The only thing he didn't know was whether or not Hiruzen wanted to send teams into a clear trap.

So he waited. On the fourth day, he conducted many experiments on his new seal to varying degrees of failure. All of them exploding in some or other fashion.

On the fifth day, he sent a shadow clone to work on the seal while he worked on Denji Myakudo. He'd just barely begun experimenting with the idea a month ago.

When he had used it on Itachi, it had been imperfect and incomplete. Once perfected, it would be able to paralyse everyone it hit. He needed higher penetration of the pulse into the bodies of his enemies.

He had only been able to get Itachi that easily because of Itachi's fatigue and his distraction. If Itachi hadn't been as exhausted, he might have had to use Kamui. That never ended with him awake.

So far, he'd experimented with the amount of chakra he used. But after the attack on Itachi, which was a very chakra-intensive use, he realised that he needed to experiment with other aspects- like frequency and higher voltage.

So now, he was attempting a higher voltage variant.

He needed a test subject. He summoned Pakkun. He told Pakkun to bring a few live wild animals to experiment on.

In ten minutes, Pakkun was back with a few rodents for Kakashi to experiment on.

Over the rest of the day, he made various changes to varying degrees of success. All his test subjects were thrown entirely off balance but not paralysed.

If it worked as he wanted it to, all the nerve signals would stop for a moment. Essentially creating a hard rest on the nervous system, effectively paralysing his enemy.

He called it a day at sundown and headed back to his hideout. It had been four days, and there was no sign of anyone here to hunt him.

On the fifth day of the week, Kakashi went around hunting other missing-nin. It helped him make some quick money and served as a brief warm-up before training.

During these five days, Kakashi had thought about his conversation with Hirzuen on the day of the massacre. Hiruzen had asked him what he wanted to do with his life. Kakashi didn't have an answer then. But now, he was a missing-nin. By sheer coincidence, his first client was the first mission he'd taken in Anbu. It felt like a sign from the universe. He had just been thinking of how he was part of the problem of this world when he found Itanaka. It felt like a way to start correcting things he did while in Anbu. A complete correction would mean that the current Daimyo would have to live. Kakashi could easily ensure that by changing the memories of Itanaka, so he was not worried about that.

Kakashi had a goal. He was previously part of the problem with shinobi. Now he would be part of the solution.

On the sixth day, he sensed Konoha ANBU near the village.

They had finally caught him. He decided to send two shadow clones to scout out the ANBU.

The shadow clones of Kakashi took about five minutes to find the ANBU squad. There was only one person- Tenzo. One of them went to engage while the other simply watched from the shadows, expertly hiding his chakra presence.

The shadow clone said, "Took you long enough to find me. I might think your skills are rusting. All of Hi no Kuni knew I was here 4 days do. All five nations probably knew I was camping here two days ago."

Tenzo replied, "You wanted us to find you. It was obviously a trap. So we took time to lay one of our own."

Tenzo bit his thumb and slammed his fist to the ground revealing a large summoning pattern. Soon, Shadow Clone Kakashi was surrounded by roughly fifteen ANBU shinobi. Of course, these people had no idea he was a shadow clone.

"Surrender peacefully, or we will use lethal force to end you here and now."

Shadow Clone Kakashi chuckled and said, "Finally, I get some... real training. Thank Hiruzen for me when you limp back home."

"Keep Hokage-sama's name out of your mouth, you fucking traitor!" screamed one of the random ANBU.

Shadow Clone Kakashi cracked his knuckles, laughed and said, "Let's dance."

Shadow Clone Kakashi vanished into thin air. He appeared behind one of the Anbu. Before the Anbu could react, Kakashi had rendered him unconscious by a hit to the head. The other Anbu, aware and alert, started engaging with him in high-speed combat. He was putting them down quickly through well-placed hits, diverted weapons sheer speed.

Tenzo attacked Kakashi with [Water Release: Tearing Torrent]. Kakashi barely managed to escape. While he evaded Tenzo's jutsu, one of the Anbu attempted to slash him in half. Kakashi substituted himself with a log survive. Tenzo then used [Wood Release: Four Pillar Prison Technique], creating a Wood Prison around Kakashi. Kakashi used [Fire Release: Great Fireball] to blow open the wood prison. He then used [Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation]. He used the distraction created by the techniques and the raging fire to engage the Anbu in taijutsu and take them down swiftly. Tenzo summoned Anbu once more while Kakashi fought the others. One of them used [Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet]. Another one added fire nature to the Earth Dragon bullets making them searing hot. Kakashi jumped to evade the bullets and used [Lightning Release: Lightning Bolt], sending it towards the earth dragon. The impact destroyed the earth dragon with a blast that also took out the two Anbu running it. While Kakashi was still in the air, a few Anbu used [Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire] at him, launching several fireballs at Kakashi. This time, Kakashi substituted himself with the other clone lying in the shadows. This alerted the real Kakashi, who made his way to the fight.

Meanwhile, Shadow Clone Kakashi engaged the Anbu with taijutsu at close range.

While he was fighting many of these Anbu, 4 of them were Nara who used their Kekkei Genkai to paralyse Kakashi. By the time they paralysed Shadow Clone Kakashi, he was done with all but one of the other Anbu. Out of the fifteen Anbu who had been summoned to capture Kakashi, only 5 were standing.

Tenzo said, "How the mighty have fallen! You would have never allowed yourself to be captured like this before."

"You're right. I wouldn't have. So why aren't you suspicious that I got captured?" said the shadow clone Kakashi.

The Chidori sprung to life in Kakashi's arm.

"What are you going to do with that? You're paralysed." Said one of the 4 Nara.

Shadow Clone Kakashi laughed. He then let out powerful pulses from the Chidori. It didn't paralyse them or even break the jutsu. However, it weakened the Nara Anbu sufficiently for him to escape and take down the remaining Anbu.

As soon as he escaped, Tenzo summoned more ANBU. He said, "I can summon as many Anbu as I need. You will go down here today. I will make sure of it. This time, we won't make the mistake of giving you time to use your new jutsu."

Shadow Clone Kakashi then used Katon: Kaen Senpu [Flame Hurricane], which created a vortex of fire around him.

The fire vortex took out some Anbu, but others got away, preparing to strike Kakashi when the vortex stopped. However, when the vortex cleared, there was nobody. The Anbu looked around in surprise. Then, Kakashi jumped from the right underneath an Anbu and took the shinobi down. Kakashi then launched a scroll in the air. "Manipulated Tools: Thousand Blades Attack." All the Anbu who could use Earth jutsu reacted by putting up an Earth Wall to protect themselves and their comrades. But nothing happened.

When they used Earth Wall jutsu, they stopped their combined attack on Kakashi. They also separated themselves into small groups to gain shelter from the thousand blades. But the scroll was just a decoy, and Kakashi used this separation to take down each group separately.

Once Tenzo realised what was happening, he used Earth ninjutsu to bring down the earth walls. He then summoned one more batch of Anbu. Then he used, "Wood release: Smothering binding technique!"

Many wood branches erupted from Tenzo's arms, attempting to bind Kakashi.

Kakashi used [Fire Style: Fire dragon] wall to halt Tenzo's technique. He then used [Earth style: Earth Flow River] all around him to slow down his Assailants. As soon as the mud wave hit the Anbu, the scroll Kakashi had initially thrown as a decoy lit up with many seals, solidifying the mud into rock and trapping the Anbu. The Anbu were also paralysed by seals. Only Tenzo and three others had managed to escape.

Tenzo used [Wood Released: Tree Bind Flourishing Burial], which bound Kakashi from all sides. The other 3 Anbu instantly sealed Kakashi's chakra.

Tenzo said, "Your biggest mistake was underestimating us. You thought that you could beat us all without your Sharingan. That was your biggest error. You taught your team to never underestimate the enemy. And yet here you are, captured because of your hubris."

Kakashi laughed.

Tenzo roared, "Do you think this is funny?"

Just as Tenzo finished, he heard slow clapping from behind him. As he turned around, he saw Red. He saw Kakashi's Sharingan staring into his soul as everyone else faded away. The sky turned red. The forest faded away into nothingness. 'Shit'. Tenzo had no idea what happened to the other three still standing.

He was alone in the middle of a raging fire. Facing Kakashi Hatake in all his glory.

"I must say, I am truly disappointed in how defenceless you left yourself to me. Don't bother trying to escape. You know you can't. I'm sure you have a few questions for me. Ask freely."

Tenzo asked, "Were we fighting a shadow clone all this while?"

Kakashi chuckled, "Obviously. I would never let myself get into such a situation."

Tenzo sighed, "So we're no match for you, even 50 of us. We weren't even a match for your Shadow clone."

Kakashi replied, "Don't beat yourself up too much. I know Konoha Anbu's tactics. I know how to beat it easily."

Tenzo then said, "We knew this was a clear trap. I guess we never put any thought into what it actually was. I suppose you are going to kill us all now. I have just one question before you kill me. Why did you kill the Uchiha?"

Kakashi chuckled, "Don't worry. I haven't killed anyone from Konoha Anbu. I don't plan on doing that either. Regarding the Uchiha, it's complicated. What do you know about the coup?"

Tenzo looked surprised, "What coup?"

"From what I gathered while guarding the Hokage, the Uchiha were planning a coup against the village. They could no longer bear the mistreatment that they were receiving. Itachi was ordered to kill them all. Even the children. I saw Itachi killing all the Uchiha. I couldn't accept it. The village was at fault, not the Uchiha. I know what the Uchiha were going through. I've been at the receiving end of that. My father took his own life because of the village's treatment. So I saved the children and called you to take them to the hospital.

Obviously, the coup could never become public. A coup from the founding clan would almost certainly incite suspicion and distrust among the other Clans of the village. So Itachi would most likely have ended up a scapegoat. Itachi doesn't deserve that. Also, it wouldn't make as much sense.

On the other hand, I am the perfect scapegoat for the village. I have been called Friend-Killer for many years now. My father was blamed for the third war. Konoha has a legacy of hating my family. They will gladly accept that I did it.

So I talked to Itachi and took the blame. I had to injure him slightly to make it believable, but I doubt Itachi will be hindered by a missing arm."

Tenzo was surprised, to say the least. Tenzo asked, "How can I trust you?"

Kakashi replied, "Itachi will confirm my statement for you.

I also need something from you. I need you to act as my liaison to Konoha."

Tenzo took some time to think. He said, "I cannot trust you until I talk to Itachi. But, if Itachi confirms your story, I will agree to be your liaison to Konoha."

Kakashi eye-smiled and said, "That's great. Also, regardless of whether or not you agree to be my liaison to Konoha, I want you to pass on a message to the Third Hokage. Tell him that I intend to correct all the wrongs I committed in service of Konoha. Tell him that I intend to start with one of the oldest legacies of Konoha. On the day of the massacre, he asked me what I intended to do with my life. I have given it some thought over the last week. Tell him I have an answer. Tell him I intend to break this shinobi system that has led to all this pain and suffering. The system that leads us to do all these heinous things. I will make it my life's mission to end this system."

Tenzo just said, "I will pass on your message to him. But mark my words, if your story turns out to be false, I will never stop hunting you, and I will never underestimate you again."

Kakashi chirped, "That is amazing. Off you go now. Take your Anbu back home safely."

Tenzo was surrounded by a blinding red light. When everything became visible again, Kakashi was nowhere to be seen. The 50 or so Anbu were on the ground, unconscious.

Tenzo summoned another batch of Anbu. Tenzo told them, "Reverse summon yourselves along with the others. Kakashi is too powerful for us. We need to retreat."

The Anbu nodded their heads and reverse-summoned themselves to Konoha. Tenzo did the same.

Kakashi, who had been lying underground, rose back up. Things had gone well. He only hoped that Itachi would confirm his statements.

He heard slow clapping from behind. Kakashi did not foolishly turn around. Instead, he went underground. He came up right behind the new person and went for the head as he did to the first Anbu. The only difference- this time, his hand went straight through. As soon as his hand went straight through, Kakashi leapt back and activated his Mangekyou Sharingan. The stranger turned around. Kakashi saw the Mangekyou in the stranger's eye. The stranger's chakra felt eerily similar.

"Friend-Killer Kakashi. What a beautiful display of power that was! Colour me impressed! I heard your monologue to that friend of yours." Kakashi's eyes widened. That monologue was given only in the genjutsu world. The stranger continued, "I can see through your genjutsu easily. It is a great goal- Peace. I have a proposition for you."

Kakashi asked, "What do you want?"

The stranger said, "You see, I run an organisation dedicated to world peace. Itachi and I had an agreement. I would help Itachi massacre the Uchiha, and he would join my organisation. You ruined that plan. I am pissed that you took credit for my work. Itachi told me to seek you instead. After all, you are also an S-Ranked Shinobi. I nonetheless bemoaned my situation. You are not an easy person to find. I was surprised when you sent out a beacon across the continental nations that you were camping near the border of Hi no Kuni and Nami no Kuni. Everyone knew you were setting a trap. No missing-nin spreads their location without making a trap.

I came nonetheless because my abilities make me invincible to all traps. I was surprised to find that there was no real trap in place. Your 'trap' was to just send out a shadow clone. The fact that it worked speaks volumes of your skill.

Join me and help me bring peace to the world."

Kakashi considered everything. He asked, "Who are you?"

The stranger said, "Others know me as Madara."

Kakashi couldn't help but focus on the eye of the stranger. The chakra from the eye was identical to the chakra emanating from his eye.

Kakashi needed to know, "Where did you get that eye?"

The stranger chuckled, "I was born with it."

Kakashi knew from his fight with Itachi that Mangekyou Sharingan was unique to each person. The fact that this stranger had the same eye as Kakashi meant it must have come from Obito's body. Kakashi concluded- whoever this was, they took Obito's Sharingan from his dead body.

Kakashi was pissed. "You shouldn't have lied to me." A Chidori flared in his arm as he let out an electromagnetic pulse. He attacked this thief right after the pulse hit him. But like the last time, he went right through the stranger.

The stranger said, "I didn't lie." He turned around and removed his mask.