A/N: Well aren't you guys lucky. Its like Christmas... if Christmas was in February that is. Two chapters within weeks of each other. Haven't done that in a long time but muse is a funny thing.

Murphy's Law Part-I

The prisoner was beginning to stir and groan. It will be another few minutes before he recovered enough to carry a conversation.

A few more minutes of peace... of blessed silence.

There was a time when he had more of those. But he just had to take up the Hokage's proposal. He could have taken a nice relaxing A-ranked mission maybe an S-ranked one, slit the throat of a warlord after going through his guards and catch up on his reading.

But keeping two of his more volatile subordinates from killing each other was turning out to be a full-time job. Sasuke alone was bad enough but with Naruto goading him he was ten times worse. The genin definitely didn't try to make things easier for him.

With the level of their skills and experience it was at times hard to forget that they were barely more than kids. Sasuke never strayed far from the edge, always on the precipice, maybe half a step away from going over and doing an Itachi.

In a life filled with more regrets than triumphs, Uchiha Itachi just might have been his greatest failure. He missed all the signs of what the job was doing to the prodigy, or maybe there were none. It was his responsibility. Everything that Itachi did could be laid at his feet. The boy was good at his job. Maybe a little too good and that right there should have been the first sign. No thirteen year old should be okay with murder and Itachi took to the job like a fish did to water.

Kakashi saw a lot of himself in Itachi and during those days he felt it would be enough to make sure Itachi didn't make his mistakes.

But Itachi was not him and his vanity didn't allow him to see anything more than his own reflection in the boy. For months after the massacre he told himself that he had tried to help. But on introspection he realized that he tried to help Itachi with his own problems and not his.

Eventually the inevitable happened. The job finally pushed him over the edge.

When his little brother who also happened to be the only survivor of the massacre was recommended to the ANBU programme, Kakashi did his best to make sure it didn't happen and when his attempts to do so failed, he took him under his wing.

Kakashi wanted to ensure there weren't any mistakes this time.

He shouldn't have worried. The boy wasn't meant to be ANBU that was obvious from the very beginning. He was unable to remove his emotions from anything he did and his fixation with his brother didn't help his case. Kakashi's relief was palpable. He had never been so glad to have reason to drop a recruit.

The boy deserved some semblance of normality as much as could be granted, something he wouldn't get if he was a part of the volatile life that the ANBU promised.

No, the last Uchiha wouldn't be an ANBU, but with proper guidance he could be an excellent shinobi. The boy was skilled and motivated to be the best he could be, if only to be able to kill his brother.

Kakashi had decided to be the one to provide him that guidance even if he had to leave the ANBU to do it.

And then to his shock, he found that his recommendations had been overlooked and Sasuke had been inducted into ANBU and already sent on his graduation assignment.

Kakashi remembered storming into the Director's office who was admittedly shocked at his outburst. He got no explanation as to why his report was ignored and his best efforts couldn't pry out what Sasuke's assignment was.

And just like that Sasuke Uchiha became another person he failed.

That list just kept getting longer.

"Is that Icha-Icha: Red Winds?"

Kakashi was brought out of his musings to see his prisoner looking surprisingly alert for someone who had come off worse off in a fight, spent the next few minutes puking before spending another hour unconscious.

"You're a fan I presume," Kakashi said, pleased to have found a kindred spirit, even if these were far from ideal circumstances.

"I am," the man groaned as he shifted on his chair, "haven't read that one though. It was limited edition wasn't it? How'd you get it?"

"I had an in with the publisher," Kakashi said, "cost me an arm and leg, this one."

"You paid less than its worth then," he remarked, earning a chuckle from Kakashi.

"I gotta apologize for... " Kakashi gestured towards his face indicating the bruises on the Kusa shinobi's face, "you know."

"Don't worry about it," he said waving Kakashi's apologies away, "I got in a couple of good hits myself."

"So..." Arakida said after a couple of minutes of awkward silence, "what happens now?"

"That..." Kakashi said, "depends on you, but in the interest of cooperation and goodwill would you mind answering a few questions?"

"Shoot."

"Why were you stalking my subordinate?"

"What's your subordinate doing in my home?" he countered.

Kakashi was expecting that, "We can do this all day long," he sighed, "and get nowhere."

"You're the ones spying here," he said, "so why don't you go first?"

"Don't test me Arakida-san," Kakashi warned, "you're my prisoner and so are your subordinates and while I would prefer to do this clean without any complications... but that can change."

The Kusa jounin glared at him before sighing in resignation, "A few weeks ago I captured a Konoha chunin near the border aparently on an escort mission. She's rescued by her Jounin commander before we process her."

"A couple of days later I'm investigating something straight out of a sick horror movie complete with bodies of civilians who from the looks of it were experimented on and a large influx of patients in local hospitals in similar condition."

Kakashi listened intently and the man didn't disappoint as he laid out his story.

"I'm told to drop my investigations, may be someone at the top didn't want something getting out," he gave a wry smile, "you want to get the sick fucks responsible, but you find you've been emasculated by the only rules you swore to ever follow."

"Then I find that the chunin I'd apprehended not long ago in disguise working in a civilian hospital... a civilian hospital which has an exchange programme with Konoha... well, let's just say I got curious."

"You got curious?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Wouldn't you be?"

"I suppose so," Kakashi conceded, "you're a sensor."

Kakashi noticed with satisfaction the reaction of the shinobi being caught off guard, to Arakida's credit though he recovered admirably, "Guess there's no hiding it," he sighed resignedly.

"Only way you could've zeroed in on her as fast as you did," Kakashi said, "she's a little raw when it comes to this undercover thing, but I knew even she couldn't have blown it that quick. I'm guessing you familiarized yourself with her chakra signature when she was your prisoner."

"It seems you've got it all figured out," his captive said in mock appreciation.

"I usually do," of course Kakashi was sure there was a lot more to his ability than that and he had played up his own arrogance without revealing everything he had gleaned about his abilities. If an adversary thought he was overconfident in his abilities that certainly wasn't a bad thing.

"Well," Arakida said, "guess its your turn now."

"Is it?"

"Damn right it is!"

"Why'd you think so?"

"The fact that I'm not dead yet means you have plans," he said, "plans for which you need me alive and for some reason you believe I'll comply... I'll admit I'm curious as to what makes you so confident about my decision."

Kakashi had to admit the man was sharp but he had yet to be involved in an engagement where he didn't come out on top, "You made your decision the moment you decided not to report a spy in your country to your superiors Arakida-san. Not to mention you involved your subordinates as well, jeopardizing their lives in the process."

The glare that was directed his way confirmed what Kakashi needed to know. He had his suspicions that the jounin was running a rogue operation but hadn't been sure until this moment. In that glare he could see the defiance of a man who believed in his cause even when that meant going against his organization.

"And pray what makes you say that I haven't done that?"

"Because, if you had," Kakashi said, "our positions would be reversed."

XxX

Naruto heated the needle to sterilize it. Those shuriken did a number on him. Fortunately they were only flesh wounds for the most part.

"You don't have to do that."

"Hey Sakura-chan!" he said brightly as she took away the needle and sealed the wound on his torso with her glowing palm, "that tickles."

"Did you lose a fight with a porcupine?" she said as she continued working on him.

"Your boyfriend actually... yeow!" he yelped earning a non-commital apology from his healer, "and I'll have you know I won."

"If this is what you look like after a victory." she remarked dryly, "Can't wait to see what defeat does to you," she patted his naked back to signal she was done healing him.

"Defeat would mean death or capture," he said slipping into a t-shirt while doing so, "I doubt you'd want to see that... So, did you debrief Kakashi?"

"No," she shook her head, "he told me that you needed medical attention."

"Nothing I can't handle."

"So it would seem," she muttered under her breath.

"You did a good job," he complimented her, "that information will be priceless in figuring out what Oto is upto."

"You must think I'm a piece of bread," she retorted, "that needs constant buttering."

"I'm sorry?" Naruto said nonplussed.

"Everything I've done so far from going undercover as a medic to talking to a couple of civilians running a charitable organization," she said, "they were well within my skill set and I screwed up the first since a shinobi saw through my cover the second he met me, probably earlier."

"Umm..." Naruto found himself at a complete loss. In his defence he didn't do well when he was at the receiving end of a dressing down from an angry woman.

"I'm not a genin and you're not my jounin sensei," she said finally putting things in perspective, "so stop acting like it."

"I really don't know what you want me to do here," Naruto said honestly.

"I want you," her nostrils flared as if trying hard to control her temper and Naruto began looking around the room to see if there was anything he could place between himself and her, "to give me some professional courtesy."

"You feel I haven't been doing that?"

Sakura glared at him with a raised eyebrow which made him feel stupid for asking that question and he knew he had to work fast to avoid a possible physical retaliation, "How about you just tell me what you need me to do?" he said hurriedly.

Seeing the anger fade away from her eyes Naruto allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. But whatever she had to say would have to wait because they had an extremely unwelcome interruption in the form of Sasuke Uchiha who chose the moment to show up with his ugly mug.

"If you're done chewing out the idiot," he said holding the door partially open, "Kakashi wants that debriefing."

"Fine," she said, "I was done here anyway."

XxX

"... so basically in the last twenty years over five hundred kids would benefit from the programme and go on to make an impact in their fields including but not limited to agriculture, medicine and engineering."

"Fascinating stuff!" Sasuke said sarcastically, "that was a very nice presentation indeed. You definitely have a future in marketing."

"You don't get it do you?" Sakura said directing a withering look at her former crush.

"Enlighten me."

Sakura looked around the room, hoping someone would come to her defence. But Kakashi merely looked indifferent and Naruto's eyes had glazed over.

Now she knew how Iruka-sensei felt. Except she didn't even have the luxury to admonish the students.

She was on her own.

"After Sunshine was founded immediately after the second shinobi war," she said patiently, "it did have a youth development programme, but it was limited to opening new schools or organizing other community projects.

But after the Third war, the programme underwent a radical change."

"How so?" Naruto asked with the air of someone who had been paying attention all along.

She shot him an annoyed glare and he looked appropriately chargined, "The programme became a lot more selective. Instead of funding schools, they began funding students who showed... promise."

"I'm guessing our psychotic doctor was one of the beneficiaries," Kakashi concluded.

"Are you telling me," Sasuke said, "a shinobi village created by one of Konoha's greatest traitors is secretly into philanthropy?"

"Its the perfect cover if you think about it," Naruto said, "no one looks closely at a charity organization doing legitimate work, its likely even the people associated with the organization are unaware of the programme's true purpose."

"It's a long shot," Sasuke said.

"An extremely long one," Kakashi agreed, "but its worth looking into."

"We should get this to Shikamaru," Naruto said, "if anyone can dig something of use out of this mess it'd be him."

"What about Kohaku-san?" Sakura enquired.

"I let him go," Kakashi said, "it wasn't doing much good keeping him here."

"I still think we should've..." Sasuke began.

"Here we go again," Naruto muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear causing Sasuke to direct his scowl in the blonde's direction.

"You've made your concerns clear on more than one occasion Sasuke," Kakashi defused what seemed like to be another brewing conflict, "and believe me I've taken them into account."

"And the the reason he wouldn't be running to his superiors the first chance he gets is?"

"He doesn't trust them," Kakashi said shortly, "Please continue Sakura."

"Even if he doesn't," Sasuke said refusing to be deterred, "what makes you think his subordinates wouldn't?"

Sakura looked at Kakashi uncertainly, not sure if she should continue or wait for him to answer Sasuke.

Kakashi sighed, "Those subordinates of his have worked under him since the war," he said, "if they report this, that would be the same as betraying him. They won't do that."

"And you're sure of that," Sasuke said skeptically.

"Never underestimate the bonds forged in war," Kakashi said solemnly, "Sakura?" he prompted her to continue thereby closing that argument.

"If... if we're right," Sakura stammered struggling to find her rhythm after that brief interruption, "that means that while we may have stumbled upon from where Oto's getting its civilian... " Sakura struggled to come up with a term.

"Posse´?" Naruto offered helpfully.

"Recruits," she decided, "we still don't know how they're chosen."

A pregnant silence followed that statement and everyone in the room exchanged glances.

"Soo..." Naruto said, "Shikamaru?"

"Shikamaru," Kakashi agreed.

XxX

Sakura's good mood lasted the five minutes it took to walk from her dorm room to the hospital. The mission was concluded satisfactorily, for the most part and they wouldn't be going back empty-handed.

Even her cover as a civilian medic was productive. It did give her a glimpse of the civilian life she chose to walk away from. It wasn't hard to imagine herself living a relatively normal life, holding a regular job, helping people without the having to deal with the complications that came with life-threatening missions or having teammates that drove her up the wall.

It was... tempting.

She mentally admonished herself for that line of thought. She made her choice a long time despite being pressured to do otherwise and it was too late for regrets.

At least she would be back home soon enough. Just a few more days till her 'internship' ended concluding her first undercover mission.

The first thing she noticed once she entered the hospital was how frantic it was.

"Hey! Watch it!"She barely dodged a nurse pushing through a gurney who directed a quick apology to her as he rushed by.

This happened three more times before she made it to the reception.

"Why does this place look like a warzone?" Sakura asked the nurse on duty.

"We just received an influx of two hundred patients," the harried and disgruntled woman said, "ranging from mild to critical."

"Why?" Sakura asked.

"Dunno," came the testy reply, "the administration is being very vague about it," she handed Sakura a bunch of files, "and since you've got the time to stand around chatting why don't you go and make yourself useful?"

Sakura scowled as she accepted the files without another word. The nurses took a lot of flak from the doctors and they in turn took it out on the interns who were near the bottom of the totem pole of the hospital hierarchy.

Sakura shook her head as she made her way to her assigned chamber when she caught something out of the corner of her eye.

Apprehension and curiosity led her feet towards the gurney that was being led to the elevator. Sakura entered just as the doors were closing and one look at the patient confirmed her worst fears. She snatched the clipboard at the foot of the gurney and checked the patient's case history.

"How many of these patients have come in with similar symptoms today?" Sakura demanded.

"What?" The nurse asked taken aback by Sakura's behaviour, but she didn't have the time to play nice. A lot was at stake here.

"How many?" she said more forcefully.

"I don't know," he said uncertainly, "dozens... maybe a hundred?"

Sakura cursed under her breath. She had to contact her team.

The only problem was she didn't know how because for some reason best known to Kami they hadn't left any means for her to contact them.

Damn Kakashi!

Damn Sasuke!

Damn Naruto!

"Shit!" she banged her fist on the wall, when she realized that she was scaring the nurse.

"Just take him," Sakura told him awkwardly trying to put him at ease but the way he was vigorously nodding she probably wasn't doing a very good job.

What should she do?

A crazy idea borne of desperation erupted in her head.

She barely waited for the elevator doors to open before rushing out.

XxX

Her cover as a medic forced her to rely on civilian means of transport wasting precious time.

She could barely believe what she was doing. But since her team seemed to be unavailable she was forced to... improvise. Now that she thought about it, that's how Naruto justified most of his craziness.

Before she could change her mind she pushed her way into the Kusagakure mission centre. The first thing she noticed was its similarity to Konoha's own. It was to be expected considering the influence Konoha has... or rather had at one point.

"Can I help you?" the chunin manning the mission desk asked her.

Sakura flashed him what she hoped was a coy smile, "I'm hoping you can, I'm looking for someone."

The chunin threw a bunch of forms her way, "Fill these up," he said, "once they're processed you'll be notified within twenty-four hours with the mission classification and the payment expected."

"This is embarrassing," Sakura said, "I'm actually looking for a shinobi."

"Third floor," the man said.

"He's a Kusa shinobi."

"You'd need to contact the bounty department, fifth floor."

Sakura was on the verge of losing her temper, "I'm looking for jounin Kohaku Arakida," she said struggling to keep her smile.

"And pray what's your business with him?" he enquired.

"It's a personal matter," Sakura said but the man's expression didn't change as if waiting for her to elaborate, "we went out on a date and he never called me."

As soon as she said that she knew she blundered. The man was looking at her like she had grown an extra head and three limbs. He reached for the intercom mike, probably calling security and have her thrown out.

"Jounin Kohaku Arakida," the chunin's voice rang through the building, "please report to the mission desk."

XxX

"What are you doing here?" he demanded as soon as he saw her.

Without a word Sakura grabbed the jounin by the arm and led him out of the building.

He pried his arm out of her grasp, "What the hell is going on?"

"I really don't have time to explain..." Sakura said.

"The last time I was alone with who I assumed was you," he said, "I wound up doped and trussed like a chicken."

Sakura wanted to say that that was exactly the fate he had in mind for her if her team hadn't turned the tables on him. "Look," Sakura said taking a deep breath to calm herself, "this is a matter of life and death."

"All the more reason to explain," the man folded his arms as he stared down at her.

"Fine," Sakura conceded, "but we talk while we walk... what's the fastest way back to the hospital that doesn't require blowing my cover."

Without another word the jounin swept her off her feet carrying her bridal style and took to the roof. Sakura fought her instinct to fight back as she put her arms around his neck trying not to think about what this must look like.

"During our last mission we infiltrated an Oto base which was being used to experiment on civilians to turn them into some sort of anti-shinobi undead force," she said as her helper jumped from roof to roof, " run by a man named Shiba Murusame who went by the alias..."

"The Doctor," the jounin said, "I've heard of him."

"Long story short," Sakura said, "that base was guarded by an army of those things and there were many more he was in the process of turning and we rescued them all and took steps to ensure that they were all were admitted in different medical centres spread across the country so that they couldn't be traced back to that place," Sakura took a moment to catch her breath, "imagine my surprise when today... I saw all of them admitted at the hospital."

"You're telling me that you and your team infiltrated my home, took out a secret base of a shinobi organization that is believed to have collapsed, by taking out an army of anti-ninja zombies and rescued others from the same fate," he said summing it up, "is that right?"

"... Yes."

"Just one question," he said, "why'd you come to me and not your team?"

"My team can't operate in a foreign land without authorization," she said feeling rather pleased with herself having come up with that on the fly, "you don't have the same problem."

He shot her a skeptical look, "You have no idea where they are do you?"

Sakura's felt her face heat up with anger and embarrassment, "Are you going to help me or not?"

"I don't know," he stopped landing on the asphalt and putting Sakura back on her feet much to Sakura's relief, they were just a few yards from the hospital entrance, "this might just be a coincidence and I still don't know what you..."

BOOM!

Sakura felt the explosion before she heard it. The shockwave lifting her off her feet.

This must be what flying feels like, was her last conscious thought just before her body hit the ground.

XxX

Guren watched with satisfaction at the scenes of chaos playing out in front of her. When this ended they would have tied up the one loose end that remained after the fiasco last month. But at least now it would be over.

"Was there really no other way?"

Guren rolled her eyes. Her companion really was a bleeding heart his prowess in battle notwithstanding.

"These were Orochimaru-sama's orders," she said, "are you questioning them?"

"My body, mind and soul are dedicated to the sole purpose of serving Orochimaru-sama," he said darkly, "you'd do well to remember that before you even think about questioning my loyalty."

Guren smirked. She liked getting a rise out of the usually stoic had been slow lately and a girl needed her fun. Her companion was a top-tier enforcer for her master, just like her and if she was being honest having the two of them to oversee the operation was overkill.

A part of her was curious as to which one of them would prevail in a fight over the other. Unfortunately short of a direct order from Orochimaru the only way to goad him into a fight would be insulting Orochimaru.

"It doesn't seem like we'll be needed," she said changing the subject.

"You sound disappointed," he observed.

"And you don't," she countered, "what's even the point of having skills if you don't get to use them?"

"Violence just for the sake of violence has neither meaning nor purpose."

"Yeah," she rolled her eyes, "whatever... I just hope we get some action, its been a while and mama needs her fix."

Bet you aren't so happy now are you? The Cliffhanger wasn't a part of the plan initially, but a good story needs one every once in a while and this seemed like the perfect place for it. Thanks a lot for the reviews, one of the reasons for this rapid update(hint:hint). The guest reviews raised some points regarding Naruto's genin status and I'll once again assure you guys that its all a part of the bigger plot and there is a very valid reason for that.

Now to build up the next chapter. Expect lots of action and a couple of explosive revelations which I doubt anyone has seen coming. Hope you guys are excited. Anyway pump out those reviews and I'll do the same for the chapter.

Until next time.