Note: Here's chapter nine. Sorry about the long delay. I wound up killing my computer and then lost access to my FFN account. Luckily things are back up again. Updates should be pretty fast over the next few days as I publish the backlog of written chapters.
Kakashi isn't sure what he was expecting when he was called into the Hokage's office. The message was short and rather purposely sparse on details. While Kakashi is probably one of the top three ninja currently in the village, he tends to avoid the Hokage as much as possible. Seeing Shisui with the hat feels… wrong somehow. It isn't that he doesn't like him, or that he doesn't respect him. But after Minato and the third—well, he doubts anyone else could hope to compare. And Shisui, for his part, is content to rely almost exclusively on Itachi, which works out pretty well.
So when he receives a message requiring his immediate presence in the Hokage's office and absolutely no explanation, he finds himself just curious enough to show up more or less on time. Unsurprisingly, the room is mostly empty. Only slightly more surprisingly, Shisui sits behind his desk, a bit tenser than Kakashi has seen him in a while. His frame is all but shaking with suppressed energy. Somewhat more surprisingly, Danzo is in the room as well. He stands just behind the Hokage, his placid calm a foil to Shisui's sharp tension. While it's certainly not Kakashi's place to dictate who Shisui interacts with, and after purposely removing himself as much as possible from the politics of running the village he really doesn't have any right to criticize, he disapproves of how much time Danzo is spending with the new Hokage. From the rumors he's heard, Danzo has been quietly trying to insinuate himself into Shisui's close group of advisors. Even more troubling is that it seems to be working.
It's only after Kakashi scans the room a second time that he realizes the most troubling part of this meeting. Itachi is absent. He, Shisui and Danzo are alone in the room. While Itachi tends to remain unobtrusive, easily melting into the background of almost any environment, he also acts as a moderating and calming force. If he's been sent away, then Danzo must have even more influence on Shisui than Kakashi had realized. That would be rather… unfortunate.
Kakashi finds himself thrown from his thoughts when Danzo shifts and begins to walk forward. However, before he can get in front of the desk, Shisui stops him with a glance. Kakashi doesn't miss the slight hesitation before the older man concedes and steps back. Apparently things between the two of them weren't as friendly as he'd first supposed.
Shisui finishes stacking his papers and then stands up. Grabbing a thin file folder as he walks briskly over towards Kakashi. "There was an attack. Inside the village. About half an hour ago." Kakashi had heard the commotion, but by the time he'd made it to the scene the perpetrator had already been gone. Kakashi had assumed it had just been another civilian-ninja brawl. While Konoha was fairly peaceful for a ninja village, there was still a decent amount of tension between the military and civilian populations. Especially since the change in Hokage had meant a slight dip in mission requests while clients waited to get the measure of the new leader.
Attack sounds a bit more serious though. Attack implies an enemy of some sort, and that one could get inside the village proper is concerning. It should be very difficult for enemies to get inside enough to stage an "attack." Kakashi feels himself tensing up as he remembers the last time something like this happened. It takes great force of will to push back flashbacks from the third ninja war.
"The perpetrator attacked an academy student who was luckily able to signal for help. Preliminary intelligence suggests that the perpetrator had some sort of ability to control people with chakra strings. According to Ibiki, the perpetrator was unlikely to be working alone." Kakashi can feel the blood draining from his face. It's like the war all over again. Except this time, there will be no Minato to save the day. The third is in retirement and out of practice. Tension between the Uchiha, Hyuuga and Hokage will make coordination difficult. This is very bad. Kakashi suppresses a laugh. Very bad? That's probably one the biggest understatement of all time. If Konoha finds herself in the middle of another war, she probably won't survive. She—
"Kakashi?" Kakashi's mind crashes back to the present at the sound of Shisui's voice. The Hokage is looking at him with a strange combination of concern and confusion before his more customary grin masks any true emotion. Shisui nods once then continues, "Anyway, Ibiki managed to get a list of the man's known associates. I want you to go through it and try to find any more spies. We can't afford another attack. For the duration of this assignment, I'm removing you from regular duty." Shisui hands him the file folder. "Here's everything we know right now. If you have any questions, Itachi should be back soon. He'll be your point of contact for this assignment. And I'm sure this goes without saying, but I need your absolute discretion." Kakashi nods. He hasn't officially done any counter-terrorism stuff before, but he knows the general idea.
Even if Konoha didn't need to project the illusion of absolute strength and security to maintain client confidence, the last thing they want to do is tip off any enemy agents.
Shisui nods and says "Right then," as Kakashi leaves the room.
Kakashi waits until he's back in apartment before looking through the folder. It really doesn't have all that much. A picture of the perpetrator, eyewitness accounts from Itachi and two academy students and a brief report from Inoichi. As well as the list of known associates. While Kakashi seriously doubts the list will be very useful, it's somewhere to start. And considering the fact Ibiki and Inoichi managed to get it so quickly, maybe these would be spies are inept. Though if they are, that says very troubling things about the state of Konoha's security.
Deciding not to dwell on the pit of formless anxiety in his stomach at the thought of more spies destroying Konoha from the inside, of the weeks of senseless violence as the third ninja war drew to a close, at the— no, he wasn't going to think about it. Kakashi instead heads off to the central archive to try to track down whatever background information he can on the twenty or so people on his list. Because, true to form, he's only been given a list of names and in some cases not even both family and given name. Kakashi can only hope that Shisui had the forethought to assign a number of people to this task, as he has a feeling it will take quite some time before they even begin to locate any true operatives.