So...it has be a while, sorry. Finally got this chapter out, next one though should be pretty exciting!

Thanks for reading and reviewing! :)

Also thanks for sticking with me, if you're still reading. :)


Shikamaru felt himself moving swiftly through cool, damp air. It smelled of dirt and dust, and he gathered he was underground. From his position on somebody's back, he forced his body to remain lax as he opened his eyes. He was being carried by the same Root nin that had knocked him out outside of the Hokage Tower. The man was running silently and quickly, urgency in his grip on Shikamaru's legs. He was still too tired to put up much of a fight, and despite the fear and worry curling in his stomach, Shikamaru decided to just close his eyes again.

Until the man threw him on the ground against the tunnel wall. Shikamaru jerked back and stared as the Root nin stretched a few hand signs in front of them and wood erupted from the floor to block off the tunnel. It was silent for a minute before a large foot came crashing through the branches, tearing them apart without mercy. A man with an old-fashioned ANBU mask attacked the Root nin, fists and feet and katana flying faster than Shikamaru's eyes could follow. The Root ninja kept summoning more branches and wooden spines, and they tore at the opposing ninja's skin, but still neither relented.

Another traditional ANBU masked nin darted through the hole in the shield of trees blocking the tunnel. It was a woman, no less quick than her companion and carrying a kunai. She dodged and leapt over several wooden tails grabbing for her, shoving the kunai under the Root nin's throat as the man grabbed his arms. Shikamaru could see the red of a sharingan spin his kidnapper into unconsciousness. She then turned to him, and Shikamaru couldn't look away, also falling into sleep once again.

Shikamaru had awakened in a dark room, on a small cot and sat for what felt like hours. He had found a letter pinned to his shirt. An offer of upmost secrecy. Old Konoha had stolen him from Root, locked him up, and given him a mission which he didn't really have a choice to not accept. They wanted him to spy on his sensei, and when he had the chance in his meetings with the Hokage, to spy on him as well. Shikamaru scowled, he had grown to respect Asuma-sensei. Old Konoha was fighting dirty.

The last line of the letter read:

Upon your agreement, the Root ninja found guilty of kidnapping you will be silenced.

If he didn't agree, the Root nin would be allowed to live and run to report Shikamaru to his superiors, and Old Konoha would most likely keep him locked up for his protection much like Sakura had been years ago. Shikamaru couldn't consider that option. As nice as napping in a cell all day sounded, he couldn't leave Chouji and Ino, and Team Eight. He couldn't leave his mother, and the thought of losing the rare visits with his father made panic start to set in. He was already growing to hate this underground cell. Old Konoha knew what they were doing, they were shinobi. They couldn't afford to play nice, and once Shikamaru put on his hitai-ate, he was loyal to Konoha, whether the new regime or the old.

Shinobi were also human though, and for all their training, shinobi were still ruled by love and fear. Danzo knew this, and ruled by love and fear: disobey and die, obey and your family will prosper. Successfully survive the training camps, and lose your humanity.

One reason Shikamaru's Academy class was watched so closely was because they were all children of suspected dissenters. It looked like he was now about to become a full-fledged dissenter. Shikamaru put his face in his hands and tried to reason with himself. It seems like one big decision now, but surely I will make bigger ones later in life. So, it is really not a big decision, not a big deal at all.

Shikamaru sighed. "I agree to your offer, now please let me out."

Around ten minutes later, the door opened and Uchiha Mikoto stepped in, followed by a boy with the pale eyes of the Hyuuga.

Sasuke's mother looked tired and strained, and her dark eyes had an unhappy tension about them. But her mouth was set in a determined line, and her movements were steady as she sat on the tatami mat across from Shikamaru. The Hyuuga followed suit.

"I won't offend you by thanking you for your agreement."

Shikamaru was unable to be mature enough to withhold another annoyed sigh. He was sat cross legged and rested his chin in his right hand. The Hyuuga was giving him a disapproving look.

Mikoto-san continued and nodded toward the pale-eyed boy. "You will report to Hyuuga Neji. Neji-san is in a situation much like yours, he gathers information on the members of his genin team. I think you two will enjoy becoming shogi rivals."

Mikoto-san stood, and gazed at him with her dark eyes before walking toward the door. "Neji-san will lead you out."

Shikamaru decided to straighten his posture before addressing Neji. He shifted to sit on his knees and gave a slight tilt of his head. "Do you spy on your whole team, Neji-san?"

The other boy opened a storage scroll and took out a wooden shogi set. "Yes, my teammates and my sensei."

Neji began setting up the game. Shikamaru watched, wanting to close his eyes and just fall asleep but the anxiety pumping through his veins made him jittery.

Neji gave a small sniff. "My teammates are not disgraceful shinobi, nor are they disloyal to Konoha. Their bravery is different than ours, but not less."

Shikamaru let out another sigh and gestured toward the game board. "We're determining a code?"

A small smile graced Neij's face as he hummed.


The three brats thought Kakashi was Jiraiya. He went along with the idea until they asked him to summon a toad. He waived his hand and said, "Maa, toads are so annoying. I don't feel like summoning one."

They stared at him for a minute before the hope died in their eyes as the ridiculous notion left their tiny heads. Smart kids. But he felt bad for letting them down.

"I do know the guy." He flipped his Icha Icha novel toward them. "See, got his signature right here on the cover! After this wonderful heroic trip to help the people of Wave, I'll give you a hint to his whereabouts."

They stared at him again before grumbling and turning around, leaving him to trudge along next to the alcoholic bridge builder. They were vicious, little things. Naïve and unprepared for a life on the run, but tenacious and untrusting, which could get them far enough until they learned from experience. It was evident they didn't know each other well, at least they didn't know Naruto, and the blond boy danced around the other two with caution and uncertainty. But they stuck together in the face of an enemy. It was good enough for Kakashi; his own little dream team.

It was Sakura who eventually began walking slower so that her steps fell next to his. She twiddled her dirty thumbs and picked at the dried skin around her cuticles before finally speaking.

"Kakashi-san, do you…um…do you think maybe you could teach us something? You seem like a strong ninja."

Oh, they were even eager to learn! How precious. Kakashi hummed. What could he teach twelve-year olds? He painfully thought back to the early lessons Minato-sensei had taught Obito and Rin.

"Do you know how to tree-walk?"

Sakura's pink head nodded up and down. "We covered that in our third year in the Academy."

Ah, of course Danzo would instigate a much more rigorous Academy curriculum. Kakashi felt his lips thin at the thought. Well, they were outside Konoha now and out from under the man's reign. Maybe he could teach them something to protect themselves. He wasn't the worst missing-nin they might encounter.

"Do you know your chakra nature?"

Another nod from the pink head. "I'm earth natured."

Kakashi closed his book and slipped it in his pocket. "Copy these hand signs. I imagine you learned how to trip someone taller than you? It will help if your opponent is on the ground, the jutsu will be easier in the beginning."

Sakura dutifully manipulated her fingers in a perfect copy of his. "What does the jutsu do?"

"Hm, it makes dirt flow up your opponent's nose and into the skull, eroding away at his or her brain."

Little hands froze halfway through changing to the bird sign. Kakashi stopped walking when he realized Sakura had fallen behind. She was standing in the road, looking up at him with watery green eyes and a slightly pale face. Looking at his other companions, he noticed Tazuna-san also staring, and looking a little ill. Sasuke and Naruto had matching wide eyes, before Sasuke's turned into a glare at Kakashi. Realization blanketed Kakashi with a hammering heart and twinge of guilt. Maybe a defensive jutsu would have been better to start with.

Sakura made a noise in the back of her throat. "Thank—uh, I will practice it." She scampered ahead to slide next to Sasuke.

Four hours later found the four of them settling down for the night. Kakashi had thought a lot about how to be a better teacher, and while Tazuna and Sasuke had been cooking squirrels over a small fire, Kakashi had taught the spiraling-wind jutsu to Naruto and the earth-dome jutsu to Sakura. She took to it immediately, after asking forty questions about the theory behind manipulating the chakra and the earth. After dinner, he helped Sasuke practice running an electric current along his arms and hands.

Kakashi felt…proud. Successful. Accomplished. He had helped these three children, and they had performed so well. It gave him a bit of excitement to see their potential, and though he refused to acknowledge it, he felt a small sliver of content. Though he still felt guilty, he grew more respect for the pink-haired girl as she rolled on her sleeping pallet so her back faced her teammates and ran through the signs again for the brain-scraping jutsu.

Two and a half hours since the children and Tazuna were supposed to be asleep; Naruto was still tossing and turning. Kakashi, keeping watch and reading his book sighed loudly, causing the blond boy to jerk up. When blue eyes looked his way, Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow. Naruto huffed and slowly crept out of his pallet. Kakashi just turned the page as Naruto sat by him, staring at the stars between the leaves of the trees.

"Will you teach me the jutsu you taught Sakura? The assassination one?"

Kakashi refused to look up from his book.

Naruto continued in his rough whisper. "Sasuke's killed. I've killed. But, Sakura hasn't yet. I still want to learn that jutsu too though."

"Why, Naruto?"

The blond boy paused for a moment before nodding sagely. "Well, the more jutsus you know the better right? Orochimaru-sensei always said knowledge is power. And…well killing your enemies before they kill you is the first step to survival."

At that Kakashi did look up from his book. He stared straight into the last burning embers of the fire, wondering how to deal with this. Orochimaru-sensei? What the heck.

"Naruto, will you bring your backpack over here?"

The boy gave him a confused glance before tip-toeing back to his sleeping bag and grabbing the blue backpack. Kakashi opened it and started trifling through the boy's things. Well, stolen things. There was a small book on intermediate jutsus with lovingly dog-eared pages, a notebook he assumed was filled with notes about sealing, a familiar stuffed dog that a boy his age would probably teased for if Sasuke and Sakura knew he'd brought it with him, and the old leather straps and harness that held his white tanto. Kakashi idly flicked his thumb at the tag sewn to the inside of the backpack, his eye squinting at the faint henohenomoheji drawn on it.

"Hmm. Does he have a name?" Kakashi held up the old stuffed dog.

A frown formed on Naruto's face. "No…I never really thought about it."

"Normally, children name their toys when they get them."

"Oh. I didn't get it when I was little…I kind of found it? Recently." The blond nodded. "I found it at an old, abandoned safe house."

Kakashi nodded and placed the little dog as well as all of Naruto's new belongings in his lap. "Well it's yours now, so what do you want to name it?"

Naruto looked bewildered. "I'll think about it."

Shooing the boy away, Kakashi opened his book again. "Good. Now, go think about it until you fall asleep. And also think about whether you truly believe a shinobi's job is to kill first and ask questions later."