Disclaimer: I own nothing but the general plot and OCs
This chapter was an absolute fucking nightmare to get written. As you may have been able to tell from long gap I took. I'm resigned to the fact that it's not very interesting as a chapter despite how long it took to write.
For all of those asking for an insight into Kakashi's actions during this turbulent time for them both. Here's this chapter. And probably next chapter too. Maybe even the chapter after that if I'm feeling generous (more like if I go off tangent like I almost always do).
So for your consideration: here's the guys' actions while they're internally going "fuck everyone else. Everything we knew was a lie. The world might fucking end within my lifetime. Kakashi what do we do?" But acting very cool about it.
No editing done and no beta, so apologies for mistakes
Thank you so much for awesome reviews, as well as favs and follows! Let me know what works, or what doesn't work for you, as well as any prompts for scenes you'd like to see.
Chapter 47 - Building From The Ground Up
The air was grim in Gai's flat, as Tenzō slipped silently into the room - the last to arrive. He took a seat without speaking, and Kakashi confirmed with a brief sweep of his eyes that everyone's gaze held the same banked fire as his own.
The room was thick with restrained violence, stoked into a heated blaze by their common purpose. He clamped a hand harshly onto the table edge as he leaned with false nonchalance against it, easily betrayed by the tense, aggressive set of his shoulders and the taut muscles in his neck.
Everyone in the room was the dangerously relaxed of a still surface, with deadly waters underneath. Kakashi's turbulent thoughts and emotions were a potent cocktail of fear and rage and regret. He bitterly wondered if Subaru would still be here had he removed his head from the sand earlier and met up with everyone like promised, following the revelations of Subaru's disturbing knowledge. Maybe nothing would have changed at all.
But maybe it would have.
He pressed his lips together harshly, his busted bottom lip splitting open slightly with a strong stinging sensation, the pain clearing his thoughts. He was still bruised and scraped badly from his fight with Gai the day before. He couldn't even call it a spar, what with the animalistic ferocity they had both displayed.
"So," Genma started, his usual charming grin replaced by an unamused baring of clenched teeth that clacked around his senbon, "what's the plan." He slouched back in his chair, his hand casually twirling another senbon between his fingers and raised an expectant brow at Kakashi.
Everyone turned to Kakashi for direction, and he was once again Taichou, leader of some of the best operatives Konoha had to offer. His team might have changed slightly, but the mantle was no less comfortable than when he'd last truly donned it.
"The Hokage has given me permission to lead an off the record investigation into Su-chan's disappearance. I requested your assistance, with Gai and Tenzō on call as needed. There are suspicions about a leak of classified information, which is potentially the cause of her kidnapping.
According to the Anbu patrolling yesterday, they were looking into a false rumour about shinobi bearing non leaf headbands stirring up trouble when she was taken - what is now believed to have been a diversion. I want to know the truth about what distracted Washi and Yamori yesterday. I want to know the root of the foreign-nin rumour."
He hesitated for a moment - only allowing himself the visible tell because he knew he was among friends - before soldiering on with determination, "I know we haven't had a chance to talk about anything since we all had our seals placed. I'm aware that there are questions unanswered, worries and fears unspoken, plans not discussed, uncovered history not come to terms with yet.
"If the information shared becomes relevant to finding Su-chan, we'll have to deal with it as we go. If not, these issues will have to be put to the side until she's back. If you have a problem with this, that will get in the way of your performance in the search, then you need to say now- I'm well aware than none of us are uncompromised emotionally, myself more than anyone, and I can't promise I won't react with extreme prejudice if I find one of you has hindered the investigation because you didn't speak up here."
He paused for a moment, before quietly adding, "The things we know now, about Konoha and the Elemental Nations... no one else knows. Things have changed for each of us, our understanding of everything we thought we knew has changed. I don't know what conclusions you've each come to. I don't know what perspective shifts have occurred in this room, but before you all agree to follow my command again you need to know that my loyalty belongs to my family before my country and before my Hokage.
"If this means doing what is best for my family calls for actions that are breaking the letter of Konoha law or disobeying my superiors, I won't hesitate."
Any average Jōnin who knew the men would guess that the shinobi most likely to walk away after that statement was Tenzō. In his living memory he had never not been a shinobi, and had been submerged in the darker aspects of Konoha for his whole life. Most Jōnin weren't aware that the person Tenzō was loyal to above anyone was Kakashi, due to their history. If Kakashi ever decided for whatever reason that the Hokage was disloyal to the spirit of Konoha and planned to assassinate him and all his advisors, Tenzō would be the one he would turn to for help.
It was Gai and Genma he was less sure about.
"As Su-Hime says, my Eternal Rival, we are family," Gai solemnly replied.
"Like the brother I never ever ever wanted," Genma added, a wry twist to his lips.
"We're with you Kakashi-senpai."
He released a silent breath, relief mixing with the almost nauseating jumble of emotions in his stomach, "good. In that case, I'll be taking Gai with me as official Jōnin, while you two find out what you can under the guise of civilians. Focus on who and where the the centre of the rumour started from, and when exactly this took place yesterday. If you can, get a description of the hostiles - whether that's the people who disseminated false information or the people who the rumours were about."
With confirmation from everyone, they left as untraceably as they arrived - until it was proven unnecessary, they didn't want to risk anyone inside Konoha getting suspicious at all four of them meeting regularly in private. Paranoia was the new normal for the time being.
Investigative missions could range from simple information gathering that took no more than an afternoon, or months - years sometimes - where there was cover up after cover up and secret after secret to find, another layer of the mystery to unravel and another piece of the puzzle. They unanimously agreed to treat Subaru's kidnapping as the latter case from the start - with the high levels of caution and suspiciousness - until shown to be otherwise.
With the specific street that the Anbu were directed to unknown until the duo submitted their reports, Kakashi decided it would serve them better to follow the rumours back to their source, rather than make an educated guess- it would ensure that they didn't miss anything. Kakashi, Genma and Tenzō all created a number of kagebunshin and strategically placed them around the area hidden out of sight, before Genma and Tenzō went in disguised as civilians to get people talking about the day before and disseminate the rumour that shinobi were coming to ask questions.
The kagebunshin watched carefully for any suspicious reactions to the news that shinobi were going to be by soon to investigate, and then Gai and Kakashi arrived in an official capacity. Once they left the area, Genma, Tenzō and the kagebunshin kept an eye and ear out for a while longer, before moving on along the trail.
Slowly but steadily throughout the day, they traced the source of information back, and while they certainly discovered a good handful of juicy gossip that many civilians and a few shinobi would be mortified that they knew - due to looking into a select few people's shifty attitude - there was nothing of worth to be found in relation to Subaru.
In direct contrast to beginning of the investigation, as they got closer and closer to the area that the Anbu duo had been diverted to the day before, it became more difficult to track the spread of the foreign-nin sighting. Everybody knew somebody who knew somebody who'd seen the cause of the fuss, but it was like chasing a ghost.
It took hours of going in tighter and tighter circles before they narrowed down the origin point to one street. The problem was that it was a street with mostly commercial buildings and a lot foot traffic - as such, it was incredibly difficult to pinpoint who had been around the day before to have seen anything concrete.
Genma hauled the heavy crate in his arms from the merchant cart to the back of the shop, he wheezed as he placed it carefully stacked on top of another, and straightened to crack his his spine and wipe the sweat off his brow. As he flexed his reddened fingers with a mild grimace, Kobayashi walked past him and slapped his shoulder, "the owner's wife is a right fat pig, my friend, don't let her catch you taking a break unless you have a cigarette between your lips or you're flushing the tank."
Genma groaned, "the guy is doing well for himself, what's the point in having wealth if you can't trade in the old wife for a new model once she starts looking like that."
Kobayashi barked with laughter, "exactly. If I had as much money as this guy I wouldn't even need mine to look after the kid. I'd hire a nanny and become Madame Koi's newest benefactor."
"You'd have to pay for the girls' training before you got round to them then, not everyone is as good as your wife at pretending your face isn't the ugliest thing she's ever seen," Hattori ribbed as he walked by, to the raucous approval of the rest of the men.
Kobayashi scowled at him, "yeah? What do you know, your breath is so bad you can't even land a woman."
Hattori turned with a leer, "I know enough to recognise what your wife sounds like when she's having a really good time," the group brayed with laughter, a loud discordant sound, "besides, what's bad breath gotta do with a quick fuck? Just don't kiss em and take her from behind."
A harsh voice cut through the resulting noise, as the shop owner's wife stuck her head through the window from the floor above, a severe expression on her round face, "Get back to work! I can hear you laughing from up here, and you won't be paid for the time you use slacking off!"
The men said nothing, casting dark looks in her direction and slunk back to work. Half an hour later, most of them were leaning against the building or the cart taking a smoke break while the rest merely pretended to smoke.
"So what's your deal, Mihara-san, got a woman at home? Kids?" Genma asked Tenzō
"I've got a little one, but he lives with my parents. The wife died a while ago," Tenzō shrugged, balancing discomfort and nonchalance as he turned his head away.
"Yeah? I'm sorry to hear that, my friend," Kobayashi responded, receiving a half smile and a small nod in return.
"Was it in childbirth, if you don't mind me asking, or something else?" Genma enquired.
Tenzō's expression twisted slightly, "she was visiting her sister and cousins in one of the villages nearby. Cut down by foreign shinobi because they thought she was someone else."
There was a moment of solemn quiet, and then Genma shook his head commiseratively, "fucking foreign nin."
"People here had their own foreign nin scare yesterday, didn't they?" Okimoto added, shifting topics to a more light hearted subject.
"That's right," Genma added, "didn't see anything myself, I was unloading goods in another district, but I heard a fair bit about it once I got here."
"What foreign nin scare?" Tenzō asked, a mild furrow in his brow.
"Oh, you haven't heard about that yet? It's all anyone can talk about right now," Genma commented, receiving a confused half shrug and shake of the head in response.
"Tch, a couple of no good stupid idiots putting on a fake nin headband to scare someone into giving up their money. Thought they'd get away with it if everyone was too busy looking for shinobi while they made their escape," Okimoto added scornfully.
"Well it worked didn't it? While Anbu was off looking for an enemy, they got away. Haven't heard of any arrests being made either," Hattori shrugged, and a few of the men nodded in agreement.
"Was anyone hurt?" Tenzō asked curiously.
"Nah, just some people spooked," Okimoto added.
"How come you know it was petty thieves in disguise? No one I've heard talking about it said that," Genma raised a half fascinated, half challenging brow.
"Old Eguchi who manages The Hidden Hawk on the corner was the one who was threatened by them. Me and the guys go round there for a few drinks after work most nights, he'll tell you about it if you ask," Okimoto looked to Hattori who was nodding.
"It's true. Kobayashi, Okimoto and me are going round there this evening after we've finished here. Why don't you come along?" He offered.
"That the mixed one?" Genma asked.
"Yeah, but don't worry - it's the only mixed pub in this part of town so we only ever get a handful of Bloodstained bastards at one time. It's mostly civilians so the few Bloodstained that do show up keep to themselves and don't make any trouble," Okimoto assured, distaste in his tone for shinobi as he used the terms anti-shinobi civilians spat in reference to them.
It wasn't as common inside Konoha as it was in the more rural areas, but the civilian districts were more likely to have people who referred to shinobi as 'Bloodstained' than anywhere else in the village.
Genma grinned charmingly, "well in that case, sure, I could do with a few drinks after this."
"Any of you guys coming?" Kobayashi raised his voice and asked the rest of the men who had been half listening in while they had their own conversations, "what about you, Mihara-san?"
The rest of the men gave their reasons for not going, while Tenzō tilted his head considering, before shrugging, "Sounds good."
"Excellent, first round's on Kobayashi," Hattori flicked his cigarette butt to the floor and clapped his hands together to the amusement of the others, while Kobayashi spluttered and then gave up in irritated defeat.
The men drifted back to work as they finished their cigarettes and their conversations, stretching the kinks out their shoulders and backs, eyeing the heavy crates they were shifting and ignoring the suspicious gaze of the owner's wife beyond some discontented mutters.
Genma and Tenzō sat next to each other, across from Kobayashi, Okimoto and Hattori, while Tenzō and Genma's eyes roved the Hidden Hawk curiously. There were a trio of career Chunin in the corner quietly talking and drinking, their posture relaxed in an authentic manner and the frequency with which they scanned their surroundings showed them to be comfortable and feeling relatively safe from being bothered.
Everyone else in the building was a civilian, some rowdier and more drunk than others, but the atmosphere was a relaxed one. The woman serving drinks was clearly familiar to any regular if the way they greeted her was an indication. They joked and talked with the other three, as the blood alcohol levels went up, and the words flowed with greater ease and less thought.
They'd been there for close to an hour when Okimoto spoke up, "Hey there he is. Old Eguchi, the one we were talking about earlier. Great man, great man, he is."
"Yeah, he's great. Kindest man I ever met," Hattori agreed, more drunk than tipsy, "Eguchi-san!" Hattori waved over the greying man walking past who had just finished a friendly conversation with another group who were clearly also regulars.
He turned toward them, and smiled when he saw who was calling his name, "Hattori-san! Good seeing you. Kobayashi-san, Okimoto-san, make sure he doesn't drink too much, don't want a repeat of last time," he laughed alongside the other three and then looked with genial curiosity at Tenzō and Genma, "don't believe I've met you gentlemen before. Nice to meet you, I'm Eguchi."
"My name is Fujimoto Tomomi and this is Mihara Naoki. I have to say you've got a really nice pub here."
"Never mind that, tell him about the fake nin the other day! Fujimoto here didn't believe me when I told him the true story," Okimoto butted in, made boisterous with alcohol.
Eguchi smiled with a hint of self deprecation and modesty, but settled down on a spare seat in order to regale them with the tale.
"It was mid to late afternoon, and I'd just finished overseeing the delivery of more sake cups," he began, eyes peering off into the distance slightly, "I paid the young lads and locked up round back, turned around and all of a sudden there's a kunai at my gut and two mean looking fellas demanding I hand over all my cash, open up the pub and give them all the money inside.
"Well I was rightly terrified. I didn't have my glasses on, see, so I could only spot a headband on each of their foreheads, and that it didn't have a slash through it, as well as the shine of a weapon in the other's hand. Didn't know what two ninja would want to be robbing me for, but they certainly weren't Konoha shinobi, I thought.
"Still, I handed over what little I had left after paying the delivery lads, and I played up my shaking hands - and mind you they were shaking a fair amount, but not as much as I made it seem - in order to delay unlocking the doors. I hoped to delay long enough that someone would come by to call for help or scare them off.
"They were getting pretty impatient with me, and I was half scared they would stab me and take the keys themselves, but it seemed that they didn't really have the stomach for killing because they just snapped at me and hurried me along. I'd almost given up on the delay tactic and considered making a run for it when a small group of kids - no older than nine I'd say - came whooping and hollering round the corner caught up in some game of theirs.
"Now it was a serious situation, make no mistake, but the frozen seconds where the two thieves and the group of kids stopped and stared at each other in complete surprise almost made laugh - likely with some hysteria it would have been, though. Anyway, there's a good five seconds where everyone just stared at each other in blind panic and then the kids turned tail and went screaming the other direction from where they came about foreign ninja robbing and killing people.
"So the two fellas in the middle of robbing started cursing and arguing as they flailed about, one telling the other they ought to scarper, and the other saying they're going to get thrown into T&I and never see the light of day again. In the middle of their panicking and tussling about - me almost entirely forgotten by them here - one of their headband came off and fell at my feet, clearly badly tied. I look down where the metal of the headband is facing up at me, and what do I see?" He shook his head, a wry smile stretching across his face, "The bloody hitai ate is made of painted foil, and it's all crumpled on the ground.
"The one who was convinced they'd be going to T&I paused once he realised his friend was missing a head band, looked down and saw it looking like decorated tissue on the floor, clearly mortified and scared witless, he grabbed the headband and ran off. It took a good few seconds for his friend to notice he was alone with me, at which point he ran after him.
"And there I was, still standing there holding my keys and wondering what in Kami's name had just happened," he finished with a light huff of laughter, and the rest of the table chortled along with him.
"Alright," Genma conceded, "I believe it now. That's some tale you have, Eguchi-san."
"Well it's certainly entertained the regulars, that's for sure. Now you boys have fun this evening, but not too much fun you hear?" He warmly smiled at them as he moved to stand up, to the largely unintelligible complaints of the rest, "no no, I have things to do. I can't spend all night talking to you gentlemen, as much as I would like to."
Waving off their drunken well wishes with a fond shake of his head, Old Eguchi left the table and went to speak with the waitress.
There was a short moment of silence, before Tenzō shook his head in awe, "I can't believe they got away with that. That's crazy."
"Well you probably heard that Anbu came round questioning the locals a couple hours later, but apparently they left once they got the idea of what happened," Okimoto half slurred.
"And no one's investigating?" Tenzō asked.
"Not that anyone's heard of, my friend," Kobayashi shrugged.
"I dunno, I heard there's been a couple of Jōnin asking questions in the area. Apparently it's somehow connected to another case," Genma added.
The other men perked up in interest at the newest addition to the whole juicy story.
"What case? Mugging?" Kobayashi leaned forward.
There was a short pause, during which Genma sensed the lightest set of short chakra pulses - unnoticeable to any non-sensor who hadn't been looking for it.
"No, I don't know what, but I heard that it was something pretty serious. Not sure anyone knows more than that."
The rest of the men shared intrigued glances, with the exception of one.
Okimoto snorted contemptuously, swirling his drink with a bitter twist to his mouth, "if it's serious enough to warrant a couple Bloodstained investigating, you can bet it's got fuck all to do with civilians. They don't care about us. Not about a simple false impersonation of foreign nin and mugging one old man."
"Really not a fan of them, are you," Genma commented, a lightly amused cast to his expression.
"Old Eguchi is one of the nicest people I know, let me tell you, but if there's one mistake he made it was making this pub mixed for civilians and shinobi. This is a civilian district, you know, and even though it's right at the edge it's still a Kami damned place for civilians. Not Bloodstained bastards. We can't get away from the fuckers in the rest of the village, but this bit should just be for us," Okimoto kept his voice low, but Genma and Tenzō could have told him that any shinobi with decent experience would be able to hear him across the room.
"Hey, calm down, Okimoto. It's a business choice, one of them can drink tw-twice what I can - and that-that's saying something," Hattori added, his volume control slowly slipping.
Okimoto looked like he was a second away from spitting in disgust, "fuck them. I'd bet money that those Bloodstained investigating don't give a damn about what happened to Old Eguchi. They don't care about anyone in the civilian districts. The only time they care about a civilian is when one of our kids has shinobi potential. Even then... they don't matter until the headband is on and they're not one of ours anymore."
Kobayashi raised a drink, "I hear you, my friend. Can't say I hate them like you do, but they sure don't care about our problems. Can't get a single fucking one of them to look into the crimes that don't affect them."
"There are a lot of crimes going unlooked into?" Tenzō asked, his voice low with concern.
With the exception of Genma, the others shared glances across the table and even Hattori looked like he sobered up slightly.
"Mostly just the lighter stuff, you know? Theft, some property damage, fighting that doesn't end in permanent harm. But... it's the kids that get to me. The fact that they can't be fucking bothered to care about our kids - Konoha's kids, civilian or not - it makes me real mad."
"What about the kids?" Genma slowly enquired, foreboding and anticipation building in his spine.
"Well," Kobayashi looked slightly uncomfortable, and lowered his voice even more, "they go missing. No one likes to talk about it, but by now most of us are aware of it, and know about someone who's had a child vanish at some point. Kids from the poorer civilian areas of Konoha, they go missing and they have done for years."
It was only because they were both already aware of him, that Tenzō and Genma detected the light fluttering of distress in Kakashi's chakra, before he clamped down on it once more.
"It's true. Families from there might not have the best rep-reputation, but we keep an eye on our kids. Everyone keeps an- keeps an eye on everyone's kid now, and it's plenty obvious that something happens to-to some of them. No one knows what," Hattori grimaced slightly and downed the rest of his drink.
"Countless parents have reported it, but who the fuck cares what happens to poor civilians, right? Probably hundreds of missing children since I was a kid myself, and you know how many Bloodstained have been sent to look into it? Not a single one. I fucking hate them," Okimoto scowled and slumped into his seat.
"His brother's eldest son was taken when the boy was five. Never heard of a sign of the kid since," Hattori murmured to Genma.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Okimoto-san," Genma murmured, only to be waved off by the now solemn man.
It was plainly obvious soon after that they wouldn't be able to get anything more out of the men along that line of conversation, and so Genma did what he did best - charmed the table into lively conversation again.
It took a while to get the atmosphere light hearted and jovial once more, but with the drinks flowing the mood was more fluid and manipulatable than it would otherwise be. Once he had the men garrulous once more, he left them drunkenly talking to the other patrons of the bar - whilst ensuring the tale of the soon to be arriving Jōnin was spread throughout the establishment - and made their leave.
They dropped their henges, hid away as they covered all exits from the building, and had their clones stealthily re enter the place in order to watch for any suspicious activity or conversation while Kakashi and Gai slipped away. When both 'Eternal Rivals' publicly approached and went inside in order to ask questions of Old Eguchi and the patrons, Genma and Tenzō took on the role of watching for suspicious activity or conversation that the other two might miss.
Unfortunately, beyond what had already been told, there was very little information the two could glean from the building's occupants.
It was late at night by the time they all made their way back to Gai's home, taking different and circular routes. Tenzō slipped through the window last, and he had barely sat down before he turned to Kakashi.
"We know Subaru's kidnapping was something someone very familiar with Konoha planned, at least." Kakashi nodded his agreement, a troubled expression on his face.
"How did you get that from today?" Genma asked, finally placing his senbon back in his mouth and twirling it around.
"We know the kidnapping was carefully planned, so there was no chance that the two thieves weren't somehow an arranged distraction. But for it all to be timed so meticulously that the rumours would naturally travel from one end of the district to another, so as to drag Anbu away from a specific area they were patrolling in order to expose Su-chan to her kidnappers - that shows an intimate familiarity with the inner workings of Konoha that no foreign person could have. There was at least one Konoha shinobi involved in this."
There was a thoughtful and heavy pause as this information was considered by the other, before Tenzō opened his mouth.
"You know what those missing children sounded like, Kakashi-senpai," he frowned, the barely audible tapping of his finger against his kunai the only sign of his tense emotions.
"Who?" Gai frowned in confusion.
"Danzō," was Kakashi's impassive reply, "he means Danzō."
"It might not be," Genma rebutted, "it could be one of Orochimaru's allies. After all, those children were all from poorer backgrounds. Regardless of whether they believed Mini Bastard to be a civilian or not at the time that they took her, she was obviously from a wealthy family and she was in an entirely different part of the district."
"Danzō takes people of all backgrounds for Root. It would make sense that he wouldn't bother to create a false death for poorer civilians who he sees potential in. He'd be able to bury any investigation before the paperwork was even sorted."
"Except Sona's family would kick up a loud enough fuss, and if he knew she's a Hatake he would know Kakashi wouldn't do nothing. It doesn't fit his profile for wealthy children."
"It may be someone else entirely," Gai grimly reminded them.
"It doesn't matter," Kakashi cut in, "who has been taking those children - not yet. What matters is that they've been doing it for a long time and they're getting away with it. That means they're smart, careful and almost definitely powerful. Maybe they have Subaru as well. Maybe they don't. We can't miss the chance to follow this lead, regardless."
"If they're that smart and careful, they're going to know we're looking into this sooner or later. We're going to piss off someone powerful. That's a dangerous position to be in," Genma warned.
"If it's Danzō or Orichimaru we'd be in the position eventually, anyway," Tenzō pointed out.
"And if Mini Bastard hasn't got anything to do with these missing kids?"
"We won't be looking into this to the exclusion of all else. In the mean time I want to ensure that the Fukuda clan - specifically the Matriarch - is cleared of suspicion, along with those she's connected to. Su-chan had the most exposure to them outside of us and Fukuda Norita has always been a bit too interested in her from the start," Kakashi looked at Tenzō, and although it wouldn't have been obvious to the casual observer, he could spot the younger man's disquiet, "Tenzō? Is there something bothering you?"
The young man uncharacteristically hesitated, before shaking his head, "nothing that I can put into words, senpai. I just feel like I missed something that was staring me in the face today, while we were gathering information."
He observed the mokuton wielder a moment longer, "let me know when it comes to you. I need you to keep your ear to the ground in Anbu, keep an eye out for anything that looks remotely connected to Danzō."
"Yes, Taichou."
"My most Youthful Rival, what do suggest we do if Head Councilman Danzō is the instigator behind this?"
"Unfortunately he isn't someone we can just carelessly kill. He has his influence in a lot of dark shadows of Konoha, many of which were necessary- and still are necessary at this time. To successfully get rid of Danzō, we'd need the Hokage on side. To do that, we'd need overwhelming, incontestable evidence of unforgivable treason."
"Knowing what I know now from Subaru, I don't doubt that the evidence exists," Tenzō commented darkly. He had always had a distrustful if complacent attitude to Danzō's dealings ever since he left Root, but now he knew that what he had experienced from the Councilman was probably just the tip of the iceberg of the man's actions.
"Getting Sarutobi-sama's support to be rid of Danzō entirely will be very unlikely, there's a greater chance he'd choose to give him a slap on the wrist - even if the old war hawk has taken Mini Bastard."
"I know, but we'll deal with that when we come to it; the internal politics of Konoha might have changed by the time action is needed. I want you to look into the missing children, Genma. Gai, you look into the Fukuda clan, Tenzō and I will split our time between the two of you depending on his availability outside of Anbu missions."
Kakashi, despite his burning desire to get Subaru back as quickly as possible, was weary. He had known that it was very unlikely they'd find her in the space of a day, but he was running two days on no sleep, little food and with the added stress of his missing kid. The potential future threats whirled in his mind while he tried to mentally navigate them as if they were traps he didn't want to set off
All this alongside the ache deep in his stomach and the heavy weight in his lungs that he was steadfastly ignoring, but came hand in hand with the noise in the back of his mind suspiciously like the once annoying sound of Obito's excuses - what had become a form of comfort was now tarnished with the ugly truth. But Kakashi was, above all, weary. So he ignored the pain and grief and stress and fear, and he focused on his most immediate problem.
"Food. Food and then I'm taking the couch. There's nothing more to be done tonight," he resisted the urge to rub a hand down his face and expose just how tired he really felt, and walked toward the kitchen to help himself to the fridge.
He was thankful that no one made a comment on his plans to sleep on Gai's couch. He couldn't and wouldn't sleep at home knowing Su-chan was gone and he wasn't sure if he'd be changing his mind about that any time soon.
"We'll find her, Kakashi," Genma's sure voice reached just before the Tokubetsu Jōnin left.
He turned back to see Tenzō nod toward him, his support for Kakashi never more obvious in his usually bland expression, before he too left.
"Genma is right, Kakashi. You will be reunited with the Beautiful Blossom, no matter how Hard we have to Work to find her, we will meet the challenge with everything we have," Gai grinned at him, and Kakashi found it within himself to give Gai an eye smile.
It was the difference between the three, he supposed, on the promises they made - Gai had not added a challenge in the case of failure, like he usually did, because he refused to make plans for failure, firmly believing they would see Subaru alive again. Genma had sworn they would find her; dead or alive, they wouldn't stop looking until there was some form of closure. Tenzō was not the type to make promises he wasn't sure would be seen to fruition, and so would only give his unwavering loyalty.
He found a measure of appreciation for all of them, and silently added his own: He would not stop looking until he found Su-chan, and then he was going to tear the story she knew apart until it lay in tatters, so their family could make something better.
Do you think Danzō is involved in the poorer children's disappearances? Do you think it's connected to Subaru's kidnapping? Or are they coincidences? What about Fukuda Norita? Or do you think it's Orochimaru's allies within Konoha who kidnapped her for them?
What canon divergences you want to see thanks to these guys and/or Subaru? - big and small.