AN: Chapter title: Old Enough.
With the Daimyo retiring to his residence in the village for the night, the duty of guarding him officially shifted over to the host of samurai he had brought with him and the handful of ANBU Black Ops agents the Hokage had assigned to perform the duty covertly. On the rooftop he had picked to spend this latest waste of his time on, he let himself fall onto his back.
He wasn't exhausted physically, could barely call any of this even basic exercise.
He was simply incredibly bored. Unable to do anything but watch the man.
"Finally. At least this part of my day is over."
Red and black eyes were focused on the night sky, the moon hanging high above.
'This is such a waste of my time.' In the five days since Caesar had left the village with the Toad Sage, he had been stuck watching the Daimyo as the man meandered about the village. Luckily, he had avoided being forced to listen to the man as he took the perimeter guard detail. While still vexing, mainly because the man broke from the daily agendas laid out by his aides on a whim, he could at least complete some of his work with the aid of runners to and from the tower.
Today, he had managed to catch up on Caesar's messages once the latest runner from the First Cohort had returned. While he wasn't able to send his own messages, mainly because he had no idea where he and the Toad Sage were traveling, Caesar could send information back.
And orders.
One of those new orders involved finding the location of Tsunade of the Sannin, the woman Caesar and the Toad Sage were after, and informing him as soon as possible.
'That is going to be a headache but a manageable one.' He already had a rough idea on how to accomplish such a thing. 'I'll have to be discreet about this. And somehow convince the Sixth not to be so obvious when I send them out to look for information on her.' He had considered the First, perhaps even call on the Fifth for such a duty, but had decided against it.
A fair amount of his time today had been spent thinking over exactly why he could only send out the Sixth.
The First was already tasked with watching the border of the Land of Fire and bolstering the guard around the village itself, their focus was set preventing any infiltrations. As it was, he would need to spend the night going over the locations some of the Centurions had sent to him in their messages, possible infiltrators that hadn't already been seized by the ANBU Black Ops he knew had begun cooperating with the Legion.
The Fifth would be too direct, too aggressive, if he handed the task off to them. The Fifth's Primus Pilus was still carrying shame from his "failure" during the attempted invasion by the Sound and Sand, would no doubt push to bring Tsunade either to Caesar or to the village personally. With such a mindset, it would lead to him inevitably engaging the legendary Kunoichi in combat directly. While he had no idea of her abilities, only stories and rumors, the fact that she was an equal to Jiraiya and Orochimaru proved such a plan would end in nothing but a bloodbath for the Legion.
It would need to be the Caesar's Sixth Cohort. Even if the other two were true options, the Sixth was in the best position to accomplish such a task ahey were already occupied moving supplies and personnel across the Land of Fire. It would be easy to draft new orders either tonight or tomorrow, for the Primus Pilus to divert Legionnaires to investigate whatever gambling holes they would come across.
The only problem would be ensuring the Sixth didn't become too aggressive, too obvious with what they were after.
In their pursuit of serving Caesar, he would need to make sure they didn't step too far too soon.
"I'm going to have to think of something tonight." The Uchiha let out a sigh, one hand rose up to cover his eyes for a moment before it fell down to his Flak Jacket. "More work. Just great." He would at least have something else to think on tomorrow if he couldn't come up with a plan tonight. "Maybe I should just leave it to the Centurions?"
He hadn't worked with many of them directly, had only issued orders to them during the invasion and its immediate aftermath. Since the attack, he had become occupied with keeping his eyes on the Fifth, had become occupied with Caesar and his own plans.
The Hyuga: A future foe to be destroyed.
Hinata Hyuga: The girl Caesar had chosen to truly break down his foe, her own family.
The Land of Whirlpools: Reconstruction continued but had reached a delay, would perhaps require Caesar himself to intervene.
The Land of Waves: The growth of the Third was well underway in addition to Caesar's fleet. The only true setback had been the foolish actions of the Daimyo, his capture by Momoichi and Haku, and the fact that the two of them would need to discuss a fitting punishment for the attempted rebellion when Caesar returned.
Karin: The girl was still in all but a daze, still seemed to find it difficult that she was truly safe from the Hidden Grass, that she would no longer be used by the dogs Caesar had shown such a heavy hand towards.
And the Tribunes. A new role in the Legion of his own creation.
'At least that's going well. Maybe.' He didn't even know if this was a worthwhile idea anymore, if it wouldn't have been preferable to simply raze the Hidden Grass to the ground, to truly eliminate the origin of Karin's suffering instead of going through the mess he was in now. He hadn't expected to have to enlist Haruno as well, that Yamanaka had convinced the whole group to refuse if he hadn't acquiesced to her demands.
'I wish my human shields didn't talk. This would be so much easier if they would just shut up and stand around her. And I'm still not sure how long I can keep them in the tower or what I'm going to do if Karin decides she wants to leave.' He closed his eyes, breathed out. 'No, that's tomorrow's problem. I have enough to deal with tonight.'
He set up on the rooftop with a groan.
'One thing at a time.'
Across the street, on another rooftop, Silver Fang waved at him.
The Uchiha found it in him to give a halfhearted wave back to the Jonin.
He had not meant it as an invitation to the mask wearing Shinobi to join him on the rooftop, had thought their unspoken agreement was clear:
He would stay on one side of most streets, command the few Praetorians he involved in this waste of time that had annoyed him in the past. Kakashi would stay on the other side of most streets, issue orders to the Shinobi who suffered through this guard duty with the Jonin.
"What do you want Silver Fang?" He kept distance between the two of them, something Kakashi noticed.
"I can't check up on one of my students? Promotion to Chunin or not, you're still part of Team 7 until either I or the Hokage disbands the unit." Kakashi spared a glance to the side, to where both could hear the clatter of the samurai moving around in their heavy armor, the general commotion the Daimyo's small army of attendants brought along with them whenever they were fulfilling their duties or following one of his whims.
"You've checked up on me. Satisfied?" Sasuke seemed set to simply leave.
"Not quite." Kakashi didn't take his hands out his pockets as he spoke, was rather relaxed despite the relationship he had with two members of his team. Admittedly, the issues with Sasuke were of his own doing. "I think we could use the night to talk, maybe I could pass on some advice to my student. Typical sensei stuff."
'Typical sensei stuff? What does that even mean? Think Kakashi, think. What did Minato teach you when he wasn't fighting armies? Come on…' Not a sliver of his growing panic showed on his face. 'This is so much easier with Sakura. I just tell her things and she already knows what to do. She basically trains herself now. Why didn't I think about this before I came over here?'
"'Typical sensei stuff'?" The Uchiha couldn't keep the disbelief out of his voice as he repeated Kakashi's own words back at him.
'That's it then. Go all in.' The Jonin mentally nodded. "Yeah. Typical sensei stuff." He nodded his head. "What's the harm?"
The Uchiha looked at him with distrust that couldn't be more clear while he reached up to the earpiece he wore at nearly all times.
"Legate." Kakashi could very dimly hear the voice of one of Naruto's clones coming over the end.
"I'm going to be occupied for most of tonight. Have the Praefectus Castrorum dismiss the Tribunes if I don't return." Red and black eyes focused on Kakashi as he didn't draw his hand down but withdrew the earpiece, made a show of tucking it into the collar of his Flak Jacket. "Well Silver Fang, go ahead with this 'typical sensei stuff'."
If Kakashi didn't know any better, he would begin to think that Sasuke knew he was bluffing.
'What game are you planning?' Neither knew they were thinking much along the same lines.
"Let's go. Follow me." He had an idea to go on at least.
The two moved through the village, Kakashi in the lead and the Uchiha following after him. It didn't take much for the Jonin to know they were being watched, that Naruto's bodyguards were keeping an eye on them.
'They're keeping to a circle at least, around Sasuke instead of me.' He could count maybe twenty around them, likely being guided from elsewhere with how silent they were. 'I should've expected this.' He had known Sasuke had Naruto's bodyguards with him while he guarded the Daimyo but didn't think they would stay with him afterwards. 'It doesn't change anything.'
The place he had chosen wasn't one he visited often. It had been a bit over a week since the last time he had been here with Guy. Already, he was visiting the bar more regularly than he ever had before.
He spotted a flash of purple hair as its owner stepped through the door and, despite himself, the sight gave him pause.
'I didn't know she was still in the village.' While he had gotten Yugao taken off active duty for the ANBU Black Ops after the invasion, he hadn't expected her to stay for so long. He had thought the Hokage would've sent her off on a mission by now if she asked enough times, something of a time waster to get her out of the village. 'I know Hayate's still on medical leave for…the next few days? Maybe those two are just celebrating their last night together for a while.' He didn't show whatever apprehension he was feeling as Sasuke appeared next to him, the Uchiha struggling not to show that he was more than a little out of breath.
It wasn't unexpected at the pace he had set. While he wasn't concerned with being followed that didn't mean he liked it. He had tried to break through the circle more than once, had gradually sped up to do each time. Those attempts had shown him that there were more than twenty of Naruto's bodyguards following them, was closer to fifty with the second circle he had found they were inside of. That one had been more of a pain to break through, simply the distance he had to cross in a short amount of time.
He gave the Chunin his moment to gather himself, worked out a plan in his head.
The Uchiha finally turned to him, a question in his red and black eyes. "Is this more of your 'typical sensei stuff'?"
The silver haired Jonin shrugged. "Maybe." He nodded down towards the building. "Trust me enough to head inside our do you want to have your bodyguards sweep the place?"
The Chunin was silent for a moment. He didn't do a good job of hiding his frustration at the words of the Jonin. "I should've expected as much from you Silver Fang." Sasuke lifted a hand, three fingers raised before curling back down into his hand. "Praetorians, you're dismissed."
'Hand signals are new. Wonder when he came up with that.' Kakashi didn't need to be a sensor to know the group was leaving, could hear the clatter of their feet as they did so.
The Uchiha didn't seem happy when he turned his red and black gaze back to Kakashi. He swept his arm out at his side, a plastic expression on his face.
"Lead the way."
Kakashi smiled through his mask.
"Gladly."
Once the two were through the doors, Kakashi cast his eyes around the room.
'Looks like no one else is here.' He hadn't expected any of the others to be here but it helped to doublecheck rather than simply assuming such a thing. Asuma and Kurenai would be busy debriefing their teams for the next hour or two over what they had seen today, Guy was busy on a mission that would have him returning near dawn if not later. 'Minus Yuago.' He spotted her, was lucky that her back was to the room at large.
He was also unlucky that Hayate was looking directly at him, had been in the midst of returning to Yugao with a pair of drinks in hand.
His eye locked with the swordsman, he shook his head.
He earned a somewhat shaky nod back, the always baggy eyes of the Shinobi flickering away from the Jonin and to the Chunin who had walked in with him.
'I almost forgot. Sasuke's part of the reason he's still alive.' He had gone over the reports in his abundance of free time the past five or so days, knew more about how Hayate had ended up at the hospital than most Shinobi, had read the reports coming from the interrogation of the Jonin from the Hidden Sand that had tried to silence him.
He spared a glance to the Uchiha as his step halted for a moment.
'There's something I didn't know.' He hadn't expected the Uchiha to freeze up like that.
Kakashi guided Sasuke away from the main room, moved the two into a side room he had already paid for.
"Here we are." Kakashi chose the far seat at the table. "Pick any chair you want." There weren't many options, a square table with three empty chairs at the moment. One would put the Uchiha with his back to the door, the other two would put one of the walls at his back.
The Uchiha chose the one in front of the door, directly across from the masked Jonin.
Kakashi chose not to comment on it. Trust in him or not, arrogance in his abilities or not, he had chosen to sit down at least. If the Jonin was being honest with himself, he hadn't expected to get this far, had thought he would lose the Uchiha when they had arrived at the bar.
He was rather lucky so far. 'Time to see just how far this can go.' He reached to one of the bottles he had requested when he had reserved the room, poured himself a drink. He offered it to the Uchiha across the table from him.
The look the Chunin gave him, gave the bottle in his hand, almost made him want to laugh as he set it down.
"Not much of a drinker I see." The Jonin settled back in his seat, his one-eyed gaze meeting the Uchiha's own. "If you think you'll get in trouble for your age, don't worry. Most Shinobi agree: Once you take on a few missions, experience this life, you're free to drink as much as you want."
His own cup went untouched.
"What is this about Silver Fang?"
For a moment, Kakashi considered lying to the Chunin, considered continuing the welcoming act, before he decided against it. As irritating as it must've been for the Uchiha, it was the same for him. "Straight to the point then?" He collected his drink, took a moment to lower his mask before downing it.
He didn't bother raising it back up.
A point could be made for dropping his masks in front of his students.
Sakura had seen his face plenty of times and her teammates should be no different.
"If you want to get straight to it: I'm concerned for both you and Naruto. The two of you are my students no matter what I or the two of you feel about it. As much as it hasn't seemed to be the case for the past month, I'm still your leader. The three of you are all still my responsibility until Team 7 is dissolved."
"And I live by a creed, a very simple one: Those who break the rules are trash but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash. I made the mistake of abandoning my comrade once, decades ago, and it still follows me as a regret to this day. Since then, I've refused to abandon my comrades again. As irritating as you two are, as much as I disagree with you two and your actions, you're both still my students. I want this to work Sasuke. But, on the path you and Naruto seem so intent to walk, I'll have no choice but to see you not as a comrade but as an enemy."
His hand didn't rise to where his Forehead Protector concealed the Sharingan he had been gifted, the Sharingan that had made him infamous even in this time of peace.
It would be pointless to do such a thing.
He wouldn't need it.
"And I destroy my enemies, Sasuke."
He couldn't make the threat clearer if he tried.
"I don't want to have to do that. But I'm a Shinobi. There's plenty of things I've done that I didn't like. Don't become one of them."
He set about pouring himself another drink.
Sasuke pushed his own cup forward.
He filled it.
For a moment, the Uchiha only stared at the cup in his hand before he glanced to Kakashi once again.
"You seem to misunderstand what Caesar truly desires Silver Fang. If you believe he plans to attack in the dead of night, attack like a craven, you truly don't know Naruto. Neither he nor I would ever order such a thing. If we are to face an enemy, if we aim to crush them, we will do so when they are at their best. Only with such a battle will the superiority of Caesar's glorious Orange Legion be shown for all to see, for future enemies to cower and for allies to be comforted by. If we were to destroy you with any less…"
Sasuke stopped speaking.
He seemed at an utter lost for words once.
Despite the lives Kakashi knew for sure the Chunin had taken by this point, that he had claimed a number of lives in the Land of Waves alone, the look on his face reminded him of a lost child.
He seemed to be earnestly confused by the very idea of a surprise attack on an enemy, of not letting his and Naruto's foe know that a battle laid in the future.
If it wasn't a discussion about future enemies, about battlefields of the future, Kakashi would almost call it something approaching the normal for Shinobi.
The Uchiha finally seemed to snap back to himself, raise the drink in his hand.
"Well, I don't know anyone Caesar despises to such a degree as to not grant them such an honor." He hesitated for only a moment longer before taking a sip of the drink.
He promptly grimaced at the taste.
"This…isn't that great."
Kakashi laughed.
He didn't know if it was at his reaction, the all but confirmation that Naruto and him would be two of his enemies in the future, the overall stress of his life for the past few months, but something in there was funny.
Something about all of this was hilarious.
He hoped he could find out what it was one of these days.
Until then, he would only laugh.
Drink and laugh with the enemy who sat in front of him.
The boy he didn't know was old enough to be his enemy until now.
AN: My time was off for this chapter. I think. Going to aim for 1-2 weeks for the next one.
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Peace.