Chapter 19

Plans Made

Iruka wondered, for the hundredth time since this insane adventure began, whether he'd ever get to see Konoha again. When he had agreed to be Kakashi's Advocate, he'd figured he would be standing on his feet for a couple of hours, detailing the jonin's actions, and presenting a plausible reason to explain it all away. Hell, he'd even stayed up most of the previous night drafting thirteen copies of the speech he had intended to deliver in the Copy-nin's defense. What a waste of time that had ended up being.

Instead, he was holed up in a cold, damp cave with that very jonin, and the head of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Unit, waiting for someone in the Akatsuki to come in and notice that the shackles which had once held him and Ibiki docile were no longer around their wrists or ankles. Iruka tried not to be startled by every shadow or noise that he hadn't expected, but, dammit, he was overtired and more than a bit out of his element.

"Iruka, do you agree with what Kakashi just said, or not?" Ibiki's gruff voice made Iruka aware that he'd tuned the two jonin out again.

He felt his cheeks flush a bit, and then scratched at the back of his head. "I'm sorry, Kakashi. I missed some of that. Could you say it again?"

He saw a frown settle on Kakashi's unmasked lips. "Iruka-sensei, you need to pay attention."

Iruka narrowed his eyes and placed his fists firmly on his hips. "Well excuse me for not hanging on your every word, Kakashi."

Kakashi growled. "I don't expect you to hang on my every word, Sensei. But I do expect you to at least listen."

Ibiki chuckled at them. "You two sound like an old married couple. Would you like a moment by yourselves?"

Both he and Kakashi glared at Ibiki and snapped out their replies in unison. "No!"

The awkward silence that followed was broken by a low chuckle from Ibiki. After a moment more, Kakashi joined in, and soon, even Iruka could see the humor in the situation. He placed a smile on his lips and sat down next to where Kakashi was leaning against the stone wall.

"Sorry. I guess I'm just a bit on edge. Now, what were you saying?"

Kakashi chuckled once more and nodded his head in silent acceptance. "I mentioned that the best plan we have for escape right now is to sneak out after the next check-up on me. Meanwhile, to keep ROOT off our tail, Ibiki needs to reset his blocking seal on the ANBU tracking jutsu. I wanted to know your thoughts on that."

"You did? Oh...I mean...are you even in any shape to handle having the seal reset, Kakashi?"

The jonin sighed. "That's what I wanted to know from you, Iruka."

"Right! Okay, hold still for a second and let me check you out."

A slow smile pulled at Kakashi's lips and Iruka groaned when he realized what he just said. He glared at Kakashi as he placed his hands over the jonin's body. "I swear, Kakashi, sometimes you can be more juvenile than even Naruto!"

The jonin chuckled. "You're the one who started it, Sensei."

Iruka rolled his eyes. "Just shut up and sit still, already."

Thankfully, Kakashi did just that, and Iruka was able to concentrate on his assigned task. Although not as skilled at this as someone like Shizune or Sakura, Iruka could actually do a fairly decent chakra scan...if he was allowed to concentrate on it. He closed his eyes and spread his own chakra through Kakashi's body in a net, being careful to steer clear of Ibiki's complex chakra seals, until he could get an accurate reading on just how damaged Kakashi's body still was. And it was definitely still damaged.

Iruka took the opportunity to try and undo a bit more of the internal injuries which Lady Tsunade had been forced to leave untouched because of Kakashi's status as a prisoner of Konoha. It took a bit longer than he'd expected, but once he was finished, he pulled his chakra back out again and let loose a sigh before he opened his eyes.

Kakashi was staring straight at him with such an intense look that it caused Iruka's breath to catch in his chest. When the jonin spoke, the intensity in his eyes seemed to grow. "Unless you think Ibiki's seal will kill me outright, Iruka, we have to do this now."

Iruka frowned at the bluntness of Kakashi's statement. Would the seal hurt the jonin more than his body could handle right now? Probably. But would it kill him? Probably not. Damn, he hated this!

Ibiki moved closer and placed a hand on Iruka's shoulder. "What's the verdict, Umino?"

"He won't be worth much once you're done, but it shouldn't kill him. I mended what I could for him on the inside, but I'm no Shizune."

Kakashi snorted. "No, you're not at that."

Iruka turned a scathing glare at the man. "Thanks so much for the vote of confidence, Kakashi."

"Don't be that way, Iruka. I just meant that Shizune would have simply done a scan, like we asked for, without bothering to heal me in the process."

"Oh...well...umm...okay then." Iruka rubbed at the back of his neck self-consciously as he moved to let Ibiki get closer to Kakashi.

Ibiki didn't waste any time. "On your stomach, Hatake."

Iruka saw Kakashi's lips quirk up into a sadistic smile as he rolled himself into the requested position. "You could at least buy me dinner first, Ibiki."

"Maybe after we get out of this hell, Kakashi."

"I'll hold you to that, Old Man."

Iruka shook his head at how these two jonin could be so ridiculous at a time like this. But before he could manage to scold them, Ibiki's hands flew through a series of hand signs and the scarred man slammed the palm of his right hand onto the small of Kakashi's back. Iruka watched Kakashi's back arch while the chakra-flow from Ibiki's fingers wove itself into the complicated seals scrawled across the Copy-nin's back. He also saw the look of excruciating pain on Kakashi's face as the process was completed. Iruka wasn't sure how the jonin kept from screaming out, considering his system was not in the best of shape, but Kakashi held back any sounds. Once Ibiki removed his hand and stood up, Iruka moved back to Kakashi's side to check him once more.

As he had expected, the jonin's system was under a tremendous amount of stress, but it looked like no additional permanent damage was done. Iruka let out a sigh of relief before tipping his head toward where Ibiki stood watching them.

"Looks like he'll live after all, Ibiki."

A slight groan drew Iruka's attention back over to Kakashi. "You must be losing your touch, Ibiki." The jonin slowly rolled himself back over and grimaced a bit as he tried to sit up.

Iruka quickly slid his arm behind Kakashi's shoulders to help the man up, and to his surprise, the jonin actually let him. Once he was sure Kakashi wouldn't fall over without his support, Iruka sat back and placed his hands on his knees.

"So, what now?"

Ibiki settled next to Iruka and held up one of the sets of discarded manacles. "Now we put these back on and wait."

Iruka looked at the iron cuffs and wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Is that really necessary?"

"Do you think you can provide a plausible reason why they're off to the next Akatsuki member that walks through that entrance, Iruka-sensei?" Kakashi's tired voice reminded Iruka they were far from safe at this point.

Iruka narrowed his eyes and turned to face Kakashi. "You do still have the key, right Kakashi?"

"Of course I do, Sensei. Don't you trust me?"

Iruka crossed his arms in front of him and raised his eyebrows. "Do you really want to know the answer to that one?"

Kakashi smirked at him. "Mah...probably not, Iruka."

Ibiki tossed the manacles at Iruka and he caught them without much trouble. Iruka sighed and watched the scarred jonin walk back over to where he'd woken earlier and place the ghastly metal cuffs back on his ankles and wrists. He frowned and looked back at where Kakashi was trying to get comfortable, and obviously failing.

"Are you sure there isn't any other way, Kakashi?"

The Copy-nin met his eyes. "No way that doesn't include far more pain than any of us can withstand right about now." The jonin smirked. "Besides Sensei...I think you look good in chains."

Iruka rolled his eyes and moved back to sit on the ground next to Ibiki. Once there, he grudgingly placed the cold metal cuffs around his ankles and snapped them closed. Logically, he knew Kakashi held the key to release them once the Akatsuki checked on them, but somehow...having those cuffs pressing against his ankles once more...he felt a bit of despair creep back into his heart.

Ibiki pushed his shoulder into Iruka's to gain his attention. "Get some rest while we can, Sensei. Once this starts, we likely won't be able to stop for quite some time."

Iruka nodded his understanding and settled back against the cold stone wall. He closed his eyes and tried to still his mind enough to at least meditate a bit. He knew they were all still pretty wound up, so he doubted highly that any of them would actually get any sleep.

The soft sound of snoring came from where Kakashi was laying, and as Iruka turned his head to joke with Ibiki about it, he was surprised to see the scarred man seemed to be asleep as well. Damn jonin...only they would find this situation relaxing. Iruka closed his eyes once more, and he ran the many ways he'd get even with these two jonin once they were back in Konoha as a way to lull himself into a restive state.

-xx-

Genma pushed the body of the final ROOT member off of him as he searched the immediate area for any sign of Ibiki, Iruka or Kakashi. There was no indication of them, or most of the Akatsuki members, but over in the far corner he saw Danzo's still form. The man was wrapped head to foot in the chains of the Akatsuki member who lay dead beside him, and Genma wanted nothing more than to slide his kunai into the council member's neck and rid the world of such an evil once and for all.

He walked over to where Danzo lay and knelt next to him. One glance around him showed Genma that no one was watching him at the moment, and he slowly eased one of his kunai from his pouch. He glanced at the blade and then back down at the man who'd caused so much pain to the closest thing Genma had to a brother in this world. Would anyone even care if the elder no longer walked the Earth? Genma doubted it highly. Hell, he'd probably be promoted for having the balls to do it in the first place.

Just as Genma had finished convincing himself of what to do, Danzo's thick voice made his blade pause. "You do understand, Shiranui, that I am the only one who can lead you to that brat now?"

Genma narrowed his eyes and pulled his lips back in a snarl. It was just like this bastard to say the only thing that would ever make him stop his kunai's descent. "Why should I believe you?"

A low chuckle came from Danzo's lips. "Because I know you are fully aware of that fact that I do not let what I want go so easily. And I also know that you have noticed the ANBU tracking seal has been rendered useless once more."

Genma frowned. One half of his mind wanted to ignore this bastard completely and finish what he'd planned to do. Unfortunately, the other half refused to ignore the fact that Danzo was just devious enough to have another method of tracking Kakashi down. Dammit! He hated having to make these choices...particularly when it was Kakashi's life that hung in the balance.

Genma put the kunai away and glared down into the man's face. "So help me, Danzo...if I find out that you are lying..."

"Stop being so melodramatic about this, boy. Now get these chains off of me so we can track the Target down."

Genma growled, even as he bent to the task of loosening the bastard's bindings. "He's got a name, you know."

An unsettling grin spread across Danzo's lips. "That he does...and that name is Hatake...which is part of the reason that it's so important to reclaim him."

Genma narrowed his gaze at the man. "Only part of the reason? What is the rest of the reason?"

"Nothing that one such as you need to concern themselves with. Time is wasting, Shiranui. We must hurry in order to use my means of tracking the Copy-nin."

Even as Genma moved to get the remainder of the ANBU together to follow where Danzo would lead them, he frowned at the thought that perhaps Kakashi might actually be better off in the Akatsuki's hand after all. He only hoped Kakashi would forgive him for working with this vile man in the end.

-xx-

Orochimaru sat back in his chair and glared at the two boys standing before him. One had his hands clutched around the edges of his clipboard with an almost smug look on his face, while the other one stood in a relaxed position that reminded Orochimaru of that boy's original sensei...Kakashi Hatake. And that, in turn, reminded him of their failure to keep that man firmly in his grasp. A failure which could not go unpunished.

But that punishment would need to wait a while longer. His first order of business needed to be the reacquisition of the Copy-nin. Only then would he be able to truly test young Sasuke's true loyalties. And if those loyalties proved to be to anyone other than himself, then at least he would have Kakashi Hatake on hand to ensure he had an acceptable vessel on hand for when his current body inevitably wore out.

Orochimaru smirked at that thought and was pleased to see that both of the boys standing in front of him seemed to become on edge at that simple expression. Orochimaru leaned forward until his elbows could lean comfortably on his knees.

"Once we have ascertained the new location of Kakashi Hatake, you two will obtain him for me once more."

Both boys bowed their heads in silent agreement before he continued speaking. "You are to take measures to ensure that he will not be tracked down so easily this time. Am I clear?"

Kabuto's hands clenched tighter on his clipboard, while Sasuke clenched his fists. Orochimaru smiled at these unspoken signs of their understanding. He pushed himself to standing and walked to where the door leading to his personal chambers was. He paused at the entry and turned a cold stare toward the two young men.

"What are you waiting for?"

Both boys bowed...one lower than the other...before turning and walking out of the room. Orochimaru chuckled, and moved into his rooms where he could plan his next encounter with the Copy-nin in peace. By this time next week, he should know exactly where Sasuke's loyalties lay...all thanks to Kakashi Hatake.