Disclaimer – If I owned Naruto, taijutsu would be done shirtless -- often

Spoilers – This contains spoilers for the anime and manga. Spoilers up to MANGA chapter 177(final spoiler warning will be for chapter 228 aka time skip)

This has been a broadcast of the scribbles alert system, we now return you to your regularly scheduled reading

Character list for this chapter to help keep track of them and their aliases-

Umino Iruka – Alias "Yukio" – One of our favorite MABU members

Minamino Natsumi -- alias "Ami" – ANBU woman, black hair, green eyes, age twenty one. Assigned as backup on the mission.

Kuroda Takumi – Often referred to as 'the mark' Drug dealer in high end merchandise who has had some recent activity in difficult to obtain medical supplies

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Water Runs Red – Chapter 27

Just then, voices could be heard over the transceiver. Both shinobi instantly shut up to listen to the whispered conversation.

In a hushed voice Takumi whispered, "I think I have a line on a bunch of the items Doctor Inokuma needs, but there might be a problem."

A second voice answered, "A problem? What kind of problem?"

"One of my normal sources showed up in town today, but he had way more information than he should have had, someone in the chain is talking."

"But the doctor only has three people tracking down supplies for him and he reports directly to Mr. K. There is no possibility of a leak from there up."

"Hey, I don't know, maybe one of the other two trusted some people that shouldn't have been trusted. This guy knew I was looking for certain hard to find medical drugs"

"Takumi-san, we'll need to be more careful, do you think this source knows more than he's letting on?"

"I don't think so. He seemed same as always, except he had some new girl he was fucking with him."

"New girl?"

"Yeah, Yukio is a bit of a playboy, always has someone with him and if not, never leaves the bar without someone."

Natsumi turned to Iruka and raiser her eyebrow at that. Iruka ignored her and kept listening to the conversation.

"Now you are sure this guy can supply us with some of what we need? I am running under a serious deadline here."

"Yeah, I gave him a list of what I need and he's going to meet me back at the bar tomorrow night and we'll work out payment arrangements. He has some wickedly pure chakra powder with him and says he has a lot of other stuff as well."

"OK, I'll trust you on this." There was some rustling heard over the speaker, "You know which items are priorities, get as much as you can with this. I'll meet you back here after the deal."

Then as suddenly as it started the conversation was over and their mark could be heard leaving.

Iruka smiled, "Perfect."

Natsumi's eyes were wide as she looked at Iruka, obviously surprised they had learned as much as they did.

"OK, the new plan. I will meet with him alone tomorrow night. I'll say you're sick or something if he asks. You'll take one of the receivers, follow Takumi, and contact me when he leads you to his contact. We'll scope out the area, and then get the information out of that man. It sounds like he knows things pretty far up the food chain and I don't think we'll catch any bigger fish in this village. Sound good?"

She nodded, "Yeah. Sorry about earlier. Your plan seems to be working perfectly."

He shrugged, "It's OK. Look, I know you can kick my ass in combat, I don't have jônin level battle skills, but I do have this covert thing figured out."

"I shouldn't have come down on you so hard; I think we're all just being overworked." She smiled, "At least it looks like you had a little personal time between missions, though."

"Yeah, it could have been a lot worse." He rolled his head around cracking his neck, "Could have been a lot better, but could have been a lot worse too."

"I hope this doesn't mean that you guys are going to stop throwing your party every year."

He smirked as he stretched out on the couch, "As long as the Hokage doesn't put a stop to it, I don't think it'll end. We might have to hand over control to younger people though; I think next year is the first year former students of mine will be old enough to show up."

"It still seems weird that an academy teacher is one of the people throwing the biggest party in Konoha."

He shook his head, "Yeah yeah, I know. It's a long standing tradition from back before I was a wonderful upstanding academy teacher."

"Back when you were blowing up things at the academy?"

He smirked, "How many years behind my class were you?"

"Three."

He thought, "I don't think we ever did anything too horrible to your class."

"No, normally it was the class above us that got it. Never did understand why you didn't go for the class right behind yours and instead skipped over them."

Iruka chuckled, "That's an easy question to answer. One of my teammates had the absolute worst crush on a blonde girl in that class, named Kaori, I don't know if you know her, she dropped out after making genin and went into medicine."

Natsumi nodded, "Yeah, I think I've been stitched up by her a few times. She does nice work."

"Ask Izumo some time about that girl's hands and you won't be able to shut him up. I do have to admit she is good with the stitches." Iruka tapped the receiver, "Hmmm, sounds like it's loosing signal. I doubt we're going to hear anything else tonight, so we should both probably get some sleep while we can."

She nodded, "Yeah. I'll grab a shower, if you don't mind." Since he didn't indicate it was a problem, she went off to take her shower.

Iruka sighed as he looked around the room. Still listening to the receiver her let his mind drift back to wondering how Kakashi was. He was worried. Sure, the man was a very strong jônin who had been sent on probably hundreds of missions in worse shape than he was in when Iruka last saw him, but he was still worried.

Iruka stared up at the ceiling, part of him wondered if this was smart – falling in love with Kakashi. Part of him knew it was too late to not fall in love and that the heart wants what the heart wants. He thought back to how it felt to be with him. It had been a long time since he had felt like that, and damn it, he wasn't going to let it slip away.

When she walked out of the bathroom, he grabbed his pack and walked in to the small room, leaving the receiver under her observation. He let the hot water beat down on him, noticing the water made his hair smell like Kakashi's shampoo again. He wondered how he was ever going to keep the relationship secret in a village of ninja. There were ninja who could track down a trail that was days old. How were they going to hide the fact they smelt of each other. How could it be hidden? Damn it.

He sat down on the floor of the shower letting the hot water hit his head. Damn it, the real question was why did it have to be hidden? What was so horrible about it? He had faithfully served Konoha for all of his life. His parents had died defending the village. His mother's service to the MABU ranks had almost destroyed everything she cared about, but still she served as fully as she was able. His father had been injured countless times in his work as an ANBU. He had taken a near fatal wound putting his body between that of the Fourth's and an Assailant. Was any of that good enough that the village should accept their son how he was?

He tried to clear his head. He was exhausted. He should have gotten more sleep, if he wasn't so tired these thoughts wouldn't be occurring to him. He didn't mind going on difficult, dangerous, or long lasting missions. He would do whatever it took to keep the village safe. He was no different than countless other Konoha ninja all willing to put down their lives to protect the village. There was supposed to be something in return for that. The hidden village was supposed to be home.

He was supposed to be putting his life in danger to protect his home, not a village where his empty apartment happened to be located. Every day Konoha ninja put their lives on the line to keep the village safe, but somehow it wasn't enough. Why couldn't they be people too? What difference would it make if the infamous copy nin was dating him, why should that make the man of legends any less able to defend his village.

Then it occurred to Iruka, maybe the 'school teacher' part wasn't the problem. Maybe the fact he was a man wasn't the problem. Maybe it was that he was MABU. He still remembered how the other kids looked at him when they found out his mother was MABU when people started talking about her after her jounin promotion. Not that any of them really knew what MABU was. He grew up with a good idea; his father had served as backup for his mother for a good deal of her career. The Uchiha had always looked down on the MABU ranks and used every opportunity they had in council meetings to undermine it. They didn't think anything but ANBU was needed.

A couple of other older clans had been the same way. The Kamizuki used to be one of them as well. That was until the heir to the Kamizuki clan had fallen head over heels in love for a member of MABU. It was a good thing Izumo ended up being the spitting image of his father though, if he had resembled his mother more the marriage might have been more opposed than it was. He sighed and turned off the water, his mind was wandering too much. That all was past, the Uchiha were all dead except for two. The Kamizuki were nearly wiped out as well. Many of the older houses were decimated by the war and the fox attack. That was all in the past, all he could do now was concentrate on the present and the future.

He dried off and looked at his reflection in the mirror. He knew he looked good, he didn't normally stop and think about it beyond how he could use it to accomplish a mission. He had his mother's dark eyes, hair, and her features. He sighed as he mussed up his hair. He wished Kakashi hadn't been sent off on a mission right away. Iruka had told him he was falling in love with him, but he didn't know if the man realized how serious he was about it. He also didn't know if Kakashi felt the same way, or might someday feel the same way.

He pulled on a pair of sweatpants and then stopped. He started to laugh. He heard a voice from outside the bathroom, "Are you all right in there?"

He straightened up and gathered up his stuff, "Yeah, fine." He walked out smiling as he made his way over to the couch in the sweatpants that were a little too long for him and a tiny bit too tight. They still smelt like their owner. She was looking at him oddly. He smirked, "It's nothing. Did you hear anything over the transmitter?"

She shook her head, "No, the signal seems to be getting fainter."

"Why don't you get some sleep, I'll go to sleep as soon as it completely dies, it shouldn't be long now."

"Sure. What was so funny earlier?"

He shrugged and decided to half lie, "I was giving someone a hard time yesterday for borrowing my clothes and I realized I accidentally did the same thing. So just laughing at a little laundry mix-up."

She gave him an odd look, "Ohh kay. Doesn't seem that funny to me, but whatever." She smiled then, "I'll see you in the morning." With that, she went to bed leaving him on the couch to listen to the dying transmitter and think about the owner of the sweatpants that he was wearing.

Kakashi back in Konoha

Kakashi went straight to the Hokage's office as soon as he returned from Sand to drop off the scroll from the Sand council and to report about how suitably intimidated the people he had encountered in Sand had been. As expected, that had been her hope. She quickly read the scroll that Kakashi had brought back and filed it. "Good job Hatake. I hate to do this to you, but I have another mission." She handed over a scroll, ignoring the look of displeasure he was giving her. "I'm sorry about this. I know you need to rest."

He sighed as he looked at the scroll, "So I have to leave right away?"

She nodded, "The Umino kid is gone on a mission anyways." He looked straight at her, his visible eye almost peering through her, "I don't honestly know when he'll be back."

"You didn't send him out alone, did you?"

She shook her head, "No, I sent him with an ANBU backup."

He sighed, "Is the Uchiha still in the hospital?"

She nodded, "He should be out soon. He's almost fully recovered. I want to talk to you and make sure you're on your best behavior."

He raised his visible eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"Look, the council is against the covert unit under Ibiki. MABU has always been looked down on." Kakashi's eyes widened for a second at mention of the organizations actual name. He knew that's what it was, but he hadn't heard anyone refer to it as such and he had been avoiding saying the name. "While the Third was in his second term, it got worse and I need to slowly bring people around to accepting it again. What I can't have during that time is rumors of one of my best shinobi being in a relationship with one of the operatives."

He frowned under the mask, "I am not going to let the opinions of the council influence my personal life, and you know that."

She frowned, "I wouldn't ask you to do anything that didn't need to be done." She stood up and walked over to him, "I know these next few weeks are going to be hard on everyone as we get things figured out. I'll try to give the two of you some matching time off, but I have to ask for some discretion in return."

He nodded, "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Oh, don't give me that attitude, brat. It figures it would be an Umino making life difficult."

"You knew his mother."

She nodded, "Yeah. Helped his mother get her jônin title."

"Do you think Iruka is as skilled?"

She paused and thought, "I think there is every possibility. However, if his skills really are similar this mother's, then they are not exactly the type of skills that are easy to showcase for jônin testing."

"What were his mother's skills?"

She frowned at him, "You don't know what his abilities are, do you?"

He shook his head, "I know he has near perfect chakra control. His Taijutsu is pretty good from what I've seen. Aside from when he is teaching at the academy, I have never seen him do any hand seals except for one small fire jutsu. I know he can do things, but I have never seen it. Other than that, all I've seen him do is excellent under cover work using deception. He's smart, I do know that."

She nodded, "His mother didn't do a lot of flashy stuff either. She had the same type of chakra control; it's a family trait of theirs. Low chakra levels, but excellent control. I tried every stamina exercise I knew of, and nothing increased his mother's levels. I was hoping he'd get some of the chakra reserve his father had. Now that man was flashy. His family was from wave and he had learned all kinds of water jutsu. I wouldn't be surprised if Iruka had learned some."

"So, his abilities aren't detailed in his file?"

She smiled, "No. Maybe when things calm down, I'll push him a bit and see what he's capable of. You're his … lover?" When he didn't object to the title she continued, "You could just ask him what his abilities are."

He scratched the back of his head, "Well if he was around, I could just ask him." He shrugged, "Maaa, this is so annoying. Figuring out things with all these missions going on and having to leave as soon as I get back. I should go check on the Uchiha. If he gets back from his mission, you'll tell him I'm I'll be back soon?"

She smiled, "Yes, I'll tell the little Iruka-chan that you're looking for him."

He shook his head, "I wouldn't let him hear you call him that."

She laughed, "Hah. He can't do anything to me; I have more incriminating stories about him than almost any other shinobi in the village. I think I have a picture some place of when he got stuck on the ceiling."

"Do I want to know?"

She smirked, "bring back a nice bottle of the local sake from your mission and I might share some stories, until then, get out of here brat."

With a wave of his hand and a muttering of, "Whatever." He left the Hokage's office to go to the hospital and see Sasuke.

(A/N – The following events are from chapter 176 and taken near directly from the manga, they effect what goes on in the next few chapters so they need to be included.)

As he approached the hospital, he suddenly felt chakra, and a lot of it. As he looked up at the roof, he recognized it as Naruto, and then he heard an all too familiar sound. With a burst of Chakra, he was up on the roof, just barely in time to grab each boy by the wrist and stop their potentially lethal blows. Without a word, he threw each boy into a water storage tank on the roof. One Chidori wielding Sasuke went one direction and a Rasengan wielding Naruto went another.

"Hey! You Two!" He couldn't believe what he had interrupted. The boys were no longer sparring, that had been a real fight, "What are you doing on the roof of the hospital? If you're fighting, you're getting too heated … BOTH of you." He looked over to where the bows were trying to get their attack arms off of the water tanks. He couldn't believe that Naruto was using an attack that only Kakashi's sensei had been able to use. Who the hell was stupid enough to teach that to that little headstrong brat?

Speaking of brats, the one he had taught the chidori to hadn't been pulling any punches either. He teleported to the top of the water tank that Sasuke had destroyed, "Why are you so obsessed with your superiority complex, Sasuke?"

The boy had no answer and just glared up at him.

"That level of Chidori just now is not an appropriate technique to be used here against your own comrade." He almost feared the answer to his next questions. "Were you trying to kill Naruto?" When he said kill, there was a gasp from Sakura but no response from Sasuke, not even a flinch, "Where did such immature behavior come from." He said nothing as Sasuke left in a huff. The boy didn't even spare a glance to his other two teammates.

Kakashi watched him go. He sighed as he saw Sakura start to cry, how had he failed his team this badly? He felt a familiar presence behind him. Without turning to face the Sennin behind him he simply asked, "Were you the one that taught Naruto that jutsu? I feel that Naruto is still too young to be able to control that level of a jutsu. In the worst-case scenario, it could have killed Sasuke. Even if it was for his own protection against the Akatsuki, teaching that jutsu to Naruto was still—"

Jiraiya cut him off, "Let's be fair. That chidori is too much for Sasuke too. I never thought that Naruto was the type to use that jutsu on his teammates. Perhaps there is something going on between those two?"

Kakashi frowned, "Ah, there is somewhat."

"Somewhat?"

"Simply put, it's similar to the relationship Orochimaru had with you in the past."

Jiraiya frowned. "Kah"

Kakashi's shoulder's slumped, "From Naruto's perspective, Sasuke is not only his teammate, but also his rival. He really wants to be on equal standing with Sasuke. Perhaps he got tired of Sasuke's goading taunts. Starting in those days in the academy, he's been chasing after Sasuke, chasing him to this day. Right now, what Naruto wants isn't your approval, nor mine. Nor our recognition. All he wants is Sasuke's recognition." He glanced down at the tired looking blond haired boy, "On one hand, Naruto's rapid development has caught Sasuke's attention. And Sasuke's beginning to feel threatened by his growth. Sasuke feels like he isn't progressing fast enough, because Naruto has become stronger."

Jiraiya frowned, "For revenge?"

Kakashi nodded, "Itachi has caused Sasuke to lead a dark life, because of this Sasuke doesn't acknowledge Naruto. If he does, then he will deny his reason for living until now. It complicates things, this type of competition."

Jiraiya stood up, "This sort of situation isn't that bad, just a few choice words will do."

Kakashi didn't share Jiraiya's opinion, but he needed to chase after Sasuke and get on with his mission. "Please, I'll leave Naruto to you, not only do I still have a mission, but also the problem with the chidori."

He leapt off the water tank and walked over to Sakura, wishing he had Iruka's ability to calm crying children. Leaning over so he was more on eye level with her, he smiled, "It's all right. Soon things will go back to the way they used to be." She stopped crying and for a moment had her normal Sakura hopeful look back in her eyes. With barely a hint of his departure, he was off to find Sasuke. This was a longer delay than he wanted before his mission, but it was unavoidable.

He found the boy sitting on a tree limb. With a quick flick of the wrist he sent out a shuriken with ninja wire attached and within seconds had the boy firmly attached to the tree.

Sasuke knew it was useless to resist the wires but it didn't keep him from glaring at his teacher, "What's the meaning of this?"

Kakashi looked down at the boy; it was so obvious he was carrying a huge chip on his shoulder. Briefly, Kakashi wondered why Sasuke thought he had the monopoly on angst. "If I didn't do this you'd run away. You aren't the type to listen quietly while I lecture."

The boy just grunted. "Sasuke, quit seeking revenge." He ignored the glare the teenager was giving him, "In this line of work, I've seen just how bad guys like you can get. In the end, those who tasted revenge were not satisfied … it ended in tragedy. You'll only hurt and suffer more. Even if you are successful in your revenge, all you'll be left with is emptiness."

Something inside the boy snapped, "What the hell do you know! Don't talk to me like you understand."

Kakashi sighed; yep the boy thought he had the pain monopoly, "Hey calm down."

Sasuke's voice dropped to a thick whisper, "What if I were to kill the one you love most?" How far would you stray from what you just said? I can make you feel true pain."

Briefly, Kakashi wondered if Sasuke meant Iruka, but he quickly decided it was a general threat. "That would work, however, unfortunately, for me, no such person exists. Those people have already been killed." He watched Sasuke's expression turn from his little self-centered angst ridden no one under stands me look to one of shock.

Kakashi continued now that the boy was shocked into listening, "I've also lived in a long, hard era. I understand how terrible and true pain and loss are. Well, we aren't the lucky ones, that's for sure. But we aren't the worst off. Both you and I have found precious companions." He saw Sasuke starting to think about his words, he could only hope it would be enough, "You should know from your loss, chidori is a power given to you because you found things important to you. That power is not something to be used against your friends or for revenge. You yourself should know what that power should be used for. This hard on whether you can or cannot hold true to what I've said."

(A/N – end the Naruto Manga scene)

With that Kakashi was off to take care of hiss mission he was already an hour late for starting. He could only hope the kids would be all right with him gone. Naruto he was worried about, but not as much as he was worried for Sasuke. He didn't want to loose the boy to the emptiness of revenge. As he dashed through the trees trying to get to the village Tsunade had sent him to, he thought about the times he could have directed the children better. The number of missed opportunities was immense, but hopefully he had done enough and if not, perhaps Iruka had instilled the inner strength into them before graduation to carry them through these next few days.

------------------- Notes ---------------

Really am trying to keep the OC's to a minimum, in that spirit Kaori is NOT an OC, I just decided her age was not what would make sense and knocked her from down to be about 28, but she is one of the dark blonde, brunette in a dark light, nurses that is in ep 55 or ch 93

Please review, I would love to know what people are thinking of this. The story is now in its final third.