"Why do you need to know this, again?" Shikaku Nara asks, leaning back in his chair and rubbing one hand over his face.
"Like I said before," Kakashi tries to remain patient. "Team Gen is overdue from their mission…"
"...in Cloud country, yes I heard you the first time. They're overdue by two days, Kakashi. It takes two days to even get to Cloud country. You know as well as I do that it'll be another week before anyone even thinks we should go looking for them. So what's really going on?"
Kakashi resumes pacing up and down the wooden floor of the study in the large Nara mansion. It's a good room for pacing in; there's plenty of open space and the large sliding doors on one side provide an excellent view out onto the lake.
"I think they weren't given the correct information."
Shikaku's eyes narrow. He's sitting at a low desk, a tea set laid out in front of him. There's a tea cup on the small table where Kakashi's supposed to be sitting, as well. "You think Anbu sent a team to Cloud country, with whom we have an extremely tenuous relationship, and didn't give them the correct information?"
"...yes."
"Why?"
Kakashi takes a scroll out of his back pocket, and hands it over. Shikaku takes it with a deeply suspicious look, and unrolls it. His eyes skim quickly across the contents, and his eyebrows rise higher with every line.
For a long time afterwards, he's silent. Finally he hands the scroll back to Kakashi.
"I see. But why? What possible motive could Anbu have to sabotage their own team? If they get caught, it could have disastrous consequences."
"If they thought the end could justify the means." Kakashi shrugs. "It's not like we can't deny that the team was official. They don't have any official uniform."
"Deny the team was official," Shikaku immediately picks up on the salient point. "Not deny that they were from the Leaf. Why, who's on that team that makes it so obvious?"
"Surely you've heard," Kakashi begins, but Shikaku figures it out almost immediately.
"Of course. That Uchiha kid. Anbu wants him out, I suppose." He frowns. "How do you know he's on the team?"
"They asked me if I would take him on my team. When I went to agree, they told me he'd been temporarily assigned to Team Gen, under Taro."
Shikaku, who has just taken a sip of tea, almost spits it out and breaks down coughing. Kakashi stops pacing and settles back down with his own cup, feeling more relaxing now that Shikaku is taking him seriously.
"You agreed? Why do you want an Uchiha on your team, Kakashi? With your history?" Kakashi flinches almost imperceptibly, and Shikaku quickly changes tack. "Besides, aren't you already supposed to be looking after that experiment of Danzo's?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Kakashi replies coldly.
"Of course not," Shikaku grumbles. "What do you want from me, then?"
"You knew Taro well. Where would he have gone, in Cloud country?"
#####
After his ordeal with the Hyuga clan, Tenzo does his best to keep his head down and do everything exactly by the book. He can only hope and pray that the story doesn't make its way back to Master Danzo, even if that's probably a foolish hope. Master Danzo knows everything.
Fortunately the world is on his side for once, because for one whole glorious week absolutely nothing goes wrong. Every day is exactly the same as the last, and in the strict routine he is able to relax a little. He finds himself more comfortable with the team: can listen to Haruto's stories, becomes more comfortable with Mai's silence, can even sometimes read Kakashi's mood.
That last one isn't strictly true. But he'd like to pretend it is.
It was too good to last. Early one morning, Tenzo isn't even awake when there's a stern rap at his door. He struggles out of bed and opens it to find Kakashi, whose hair is more all over the place than usual. His one visible eye is drooping and his jacket is inside out.
"Pack a bag. Meet outside. Ten minutes."
Apparently Kakashi is too tired for sentences. That's ok, Tenzo isn't awake enough to understand them anyway. He fishes his pack out of the closet, stuffs it with clothes and weapons on autopilot and only just remembers to finish getting dressed before he staggers out the door.
Outside it's still dark. The sun isn't even thinking about rising - won't be for another few hours by the look of things. It's warm for a spring morning. Summer is on the way and the woods are humming quietly with the sound of small insects. Mai and Kakashi are waiting in the shadow of the barrack wall, propped up against the wood, and they look as sleepy as he feels. Mai barely manages a nod in his direction; Kakashi hands him a bar of some kind of dry rations. Tenzo accepts it gratefully - there's food in his pack - hopefully, did he remember to pack that? - but it's too much effort to pull it out now. He opens the wrapper and bites into it. It's sweet and chewy.
None of them speak, and they stand there waiting for a minute or so before the door creaks open again and Haruto comes through, rubbing at his eyes with one fist. The early start seems to have driven him uncharacteristically silent, and he doesn't say anything beyond a muttered 'good morning'. Kakashi gestures for them to form a close circle around him.
"Maa, I know it's early. You've got a few hours to wake up yet, provided you can sleep while you're running."
Tenzo feels a spark of interest begin to wake his sleep-fuddled mind. If they have to run so long, they must be traveling out of the village. A long way out of the village, in fact. He's never so much as been outside the forest.
"An Anbu team was sent north into Cloud country. They're overdue in returning. We're going to poke our noses over the border and see if they got lost on the way back."
"How far over the border?" Haruto asks.
"Anbu command doesn't want us to get on anyone's bad side," Kakashi replies, and Tenzo can't help noticing that he isn't answering the question at all. "We're just there to find our missing team."
"And how far over did they go?" Mai speaks up.
Kakashi doesn't reply for a moment. Then he says, "Their mission isn't our concern. This is reconnaissance only. If they have failed, we do not take over. We return and report." He looks around them all, one at a time. They meet his eyes unflinchingly, but Tenzo notices the uneasy shift in Haruto's stance, and the way Mai is tapping her fingers against her leg. This is to be reconnaissance, not search and rescue, so Anbu just wants to make sure that their secrets do not fall into enemy hands. In Root, it's standard practice to kill and destroy the body of any comrade who is captured or too badly injured to flee, so that no evidence remains for the enemy to discover. Tenzo's never had to do this himself before. He's not looking forward to it now.
"Move out," Kakashi tells them.
Two days later they reach the border with Cloud country. There's been no sign of the missing team, but then Tenzo hadn't expected to find one, so he's a bit confused when Haruto and Mai look more and more solemn each day. He would much rather find the bodies of the already dead than deal with the alternative.
The border is marked by a stream that's not quite large enough to be called a river, a forest on their side that opens into thick grassland on the other. Kakashi tells them to split up and search along the water's banks. Again they find nothing.
At this point Tenzo expects that they will cross over into enemy territory, since clearly they cannot leave Leaf secrets in the hands of the Cloud nation. But they don't. For almost an entire day they wait on the south bank, occasionally scouting east and west but always returning with not even a sighting of an enemy patrol, let alone the bodies of their own ninja.
When the sun is setting, Kakashi starts building a fire next to the water, under the canopy of the outermost trees. Tenzo watches him, startled, wondering if he might have potentially lost his mind. The forest only protects them from their own side: the light will be a beacon to anyone on the enemy side of the border - is he trying to alert all the Cloud ninja in the vicinity?
The others gather around. It isn't dark yet, but the combination of the light from the fading sun and the leaping flames cast everything into a red glow.
"How long are we going to wait here, captain?" Haruto asks.
Kakashi leans back against a tree trunk and doesn't answer.
"We have to go back soon," Haruto continues doggedly. "If they haven't returned by now..."
"Go back?!" Tenzo exclaims, startled. "But…" He stops abruptly when they all turn to stare at him.
"You said it yourself, captain," Haruto says, when it's clear that Tenzo isn't going to continue. "This is not a search and rescue. We're not supposed to cross into Cloud territory."
Kakashi is still watching Tenzo, his single visible eye lined with enough intensity to make Tenzo stare fixedly at the ground in unconscious imitation of Mai, too embarrassed to make eye contact after his outburst. But after a moment their captain turns back to the stream and the wide open, empty grassland on the other side.
"When it's fully dark, we'll cross over. Get some sleep now, it's going to be a long night."
"But…" Haruto protests.
"We're not leaving them behind. Understood?"
"Yes, captain."
Tenzo doesn't blame Haruto for his reluctance. But it's their duty to keep the village safe, and if that means carrying out some unpleasant tasks, then so be it.
Tenzo is really hoping that the team they're looking for is already dead.
Kakashi stays up to keep watch by the fire while the three of them drop into what Haruto calls the ninja's doze - forcing themselves to fall into a light slumber by force of habit, from which they can be awakened by the smallest disturbance.
Despite only sleeping for a few hours, Tenzo dreams of an underground cave. The passageways are dimly lit by flickering torches, and water covers the ground in rivulets and puddles. It runs down the walls and drips from the roof with a quiet plip, plop, plop.
A figure glides silently, just out of his view. Its shadow is cast by the torchlight just behind him, and he runs, runs to escape its hissing laughter.
Then there's a touch on his shoulder, and he wakes up with a jolt, one hand flying up to cover the back of his neck.
Mai is standing over him, hand still stretched out as she studies him warily for a moment, then her eyes fall away to stare at the ground beside his bedroll. "Get ready. We're about to leave."
Tenzo takes a deep breath to calm his racing heart, and nods in acknowledgement. She moves away and he struggles out of his bedroll and stuffs it back into his pack. It's very dark: the fire is out, the sun set hours ago and although there's a half moon, it's hidden behind a thick wall of cloud.
They jump the stream and set off into the wide grassland. The area is silent: the only thing they can hear is the long blades of grass whispering against their clothing as they pass through.
The moon breaks through the clouds for a moment, sending waves of pale light shimmering over the field and casting their shadows flickering into sharp relief. Then it's hidden again and the light sweeps away into the distance, fading into the horizon where dark, distant mountains rise shadowed and threatening in the far north.
Kakashi leads them north-east so consistently that after a while Tenzo realises he actually knows where they're going, so he must also know what their targets were doing here in Cloud country. At least they aren't moving blind, then.
Hours later, when the sky is beginning to lighten and the first rays have tinged the clouds pink, they reach the edge of a mountain range. Set high above the plain, a large city sprawls out over one of the foothills. A few faint lights are burning in the dawn, signalling either early risers or late sleepers. Before they get close enough to be seen by any guards, Kakashi veers away and leads them towards some steep cliffs on the west side. The sheer side of the cliff is a slate-grey and looms up in front of them as they get nearer, blocking the city from view. Tenzo is expecting to set up camp at the base, where they will be as hidden as they can get without actually leaving the open grassland, but as they reach the cliffs he realizes that there are actually openings in the rock. A series of narrow passageways lead into the mountains themselves, twisting out of view into deep shadow.
"You knew this was here," Mai says softly.
Kakashi glances at her but doesn't reply. Tenzo is too tired to be anything but grateful that they can get out of sight and (hopefully) sleep.
They've been travelling at a consistent run, but when they enter the closest passageway Kakashi slows to a walk, and the others follow suit with relief. The walls are so narrow that they can only walk in single file, and the sharp granite pokes out at odd angles, threatening to trip and bruise the unwary. After only a few minutes the entrance is completely out of sight. Above them the sky is only sometimes visible - there is no roof, but the rock curves and bends to block out the light.
"Where does this lead?" Haruto asks. "We're not going to end up in the city, are we?"
Tenzo hadn't even thought about this, so he's very relieved to hear Kakashi reply, "Not tonight. There's a cave just ahead, we'll set up camp there."
There is indeed a cave. The entrance is hidden by a jutting outcrop of rock and leads into a moderately sized area. The floor is sandy and the ceiling is just low enough that they have to stoop to avoid scraping their heads on it.
They don't bother with a fire. Instead they gnaw sleepily at dry rations before Kakashi orders them all to sleep while he sets up at the entrance to keep watch. Obediently, Tenzo crawls into his sleeping roll and falls asleep as soon as his head touches the ground.
Mai shakes him awake hours later, silent but kind as she hands him a water bottle and collapses back into her own sleeping roll. Tenzo props himself against the wall of the cave entrance and entertains himself by pinpointing all the trees within his range. There aren't many, so that soon gets boring. Instead he turns his attention to the seeds he has in his pocket.
Using chakra to make them grow, he soon has a small cluster of green around him. He focuses on controlling that energy, and finds that he can make them move, make them twine around his arms and climb up his body. The sun is bright outside, but the cave entrance is protected from its gaze. The air is quite cool, even chilly inside the cave, and Tenzo is grateful that it's summer. He doesn't think he'd enjoy Cloud country in winter.
Eventually he gets tired again and pulls back his chakra. He pushes himself to his feet and goes to wake Haruto, before climbing back into his sleeping roll and returning to sleep.
Kakashi wakes him up when the sun is setting, casting an orange glow from the cave entrance and making their long shadows flicker against the rock.
They pack quickly. As Tenzo ties his sleeping gear in a tight roll, Haruto is complaining about the terrain.
"Damn Cloud country, all rocks and sand, not a tree in sight for cover. Either it's freezing cold or burning hot, we're lucky there's been no lightning."
The others don't bother responding, which is pretty typical. In his place, Tenzo would have dropped into silence immediately, but Haruto never lets it bother him.
"And those random plants by the cave entrance, where do those come from? Like they just grow here, without any water? How does that make any sense?"
Tenzo looks over at the entrance in sudden horror; sure enough, there is a collection of small, green vines covering the spot where he was guarding a few hours ago. He must have missed them when he called his chakra back. He glances apprehensively at his captain.
Kakashi follows his gaze curiously, but doesn't comment on the plants. Instead he calls them together, interrupting Haruto's rambling.
"I'm hoping Team Gen will be somewhere in these cliffs. We're going to split up and search for them. We'll meet back here in 5 hours. Mai, Haruto, you'll take the south side. Tenzo, you and I will go west."
They nod. Tenzo realizes with sinking heart that Kakashi has kept them strictly paired together ever since the Hyuuga incident, never leaving him alone with the other team members. It's fair, he thinks, that Kakashi cannot trust him after such a poor mistake.
The moon is out now, reflecting pale light against the grey rock and allowing them to see their way. The four of them split into two groups at the cave entrance, and head into the maze.
The sand crunches underfoot as Tenzo follows dutifully behind his captain, the top crust crumbling into the soft grains beneath. They've been walking in silence for about ten minutes, making their way through a seemingly endless maze of rock passages. Most of Tenzo's energy is focussed on remembering the way back to the cave they started from.
"Enjoying Cloud country?" Kakashi asks suddenly. Tenzo jolts in surprise.
"Uhhh… I suppose so." Are you supposed to enjoy missions into enemy territory? Is this a test? Has he already failed? Was he supposed to say no, because he should be focussed on the job?
"Have you been here before?" Kakashi speaks again, before he can finish having his silent panic attack.
"No, sir."
"Never?" Kakashi asks idly, his mind clearly on other things as he pauses to examine a mark on the wall next to them.
"Yes," Tenzo confirms, wondering what Kakashi is looking at. "I've never left the village before."
Kakashi glances back over his shoulder with a curious smile. "What? You've never left the village? What about Root, don't they send you on training missions or something?"
"They do, but Master Danzo thought it would be safer for me to stay with Root. Because of my ability."
"I've never seen you around the village before.".
"No," Tenzo agrees, "Master Danzo wanted me to stay with Root."
Kakashi frowns, abandoning his task completely. "And by 'stay with Root', you mean - underground? All the time?"
He nods. It isn't very exciting, but it's better than other places. Which he'd prefer not to think about.
Kakashi doesn't reply. He looks like he wants to say something, but in the end he doesn't, just turns around and keeps walking. Tenzo follows obediently.
The air between them suddenly seems strained with tension, and Tenzo tries to think of something to say that will relieve it. But he isn't sure what caused it in the first place, and with his luck he'll just end up making it worse.
They walk in silence for a few minutes, the soft crunch of the sand under their feet unnaturally loud in the sudden quiet. Then up ahead the passage splits into three: two wider corridors that lead left and forward, and a smaller, winding one that goes to the right. As they get closer, Tenzo spots a small symbol scratched into the rock next to the right side passage. The white rock revealed by the mark catches the light of the moon, and he recognizes it as one of the messages the Anbu use, and suddenly the mission takes on a whole new meaning. The symbol looks new, carved in the last day or so - are the members of the missing team still hiding out here? Is this, after all, a search and rescue?
Kakashi, of course, has already seen the mark and Tenzo follows as he moves forward quickly to examine it. But to Tenzo's surprise, instead of proceeding immediately down the right hand passage, his captain begins to examine the wall of the passage in front of them. And he realizes that there is another mark on that wall, though not one that he recognizes this time.
He waits patiently for Kakashi to make a decision, wondering if the second mark is from a Cloud team, and if so, whether they had already caught up with their prey.
Eventually Kakashi turns to face him, forehead creased in a scowl. "We're going to have to split up. I want you to take that way," he points to the right hand path. "If you find anything, report back to the cave. Don't engage any enemy ninja, don't do anything reckless. If you don't find anything in two hours, go back to the cave and wait for me with the others."
"Uhh.. You want to split up?" Tenzo blinks, sudden anxiety clutching at him. The memory of the last time creeps up, fresh in his mind.
"Do you remember the way back?"
"Yes, I think so, but..." The words stick in his throat, and he can't force them out.
"What is it?" Kakashi asks, voice suddenly kind.
"I thought," he swallows, "I thought, I mean, after what happened with the Hyuuga clan…"
Kakashi stares at him for a long moment. "What are you… Oh."
He reaches out to grip Tenzo's shoulder. "Look, kid, things happen. It wasn't your fault. Next time, you'll know better."
Then he shoves Tenzo towards the path. "Now go on, we're losing time."
Tenzo stumbles forward, mentally reeling. Is he really forgiven so easily? "Yes, sir."
He turns to watch as Kakashi vanishes into the rock without a second thought, and closes his own eyes tightly against unexpected tears, biting down hard on his lower lip. Then he shakes this momentary weakness away, because his captain has trusted him with this task, and he sure as hell isn't going to screw it up this time.
#####
Kakashi dives into his passage with the fervor of one trying to escape from a supremely awkward situation before spontaneously combusting. He's pretty sure if he stayed there any longer the poor kid would have started crying.
He is so exactly the wrong person for this. Tenzo needs a mother, or a father, or some loving person qualified to offer guidance and acceptance, not… him. When your own father prefers suicide to the prospect of raising you, well… that tells its own story.
How can Root keep children underground? Train them in darkness, away from the rest of the village? How can the Hokage approve of this?
Kakashi draws in a long breath. There is no point in getting angry about it. There's nothing he can do.
If there's anything he should have learned by now, it's that he has only ever made things worse.
In his hurry to put distance between him and Tenzo, he almost misses the second mark that Shikaku had told him to look for, carved under a small outcrop on his left. He catches it out of the corner of his eye, and has to double back.
The confusing part is that there seems to be no other path to take, no second option. But the mark clearly indicates that he should turn.
He looks around carefully, checking for a genjutsu that would conceal any openings. Nothing. He frowns, turning slowly in a circle. Then he looks up, and grins.
Directly above the mark there is a ledge, about twice his height but still easily reachable. Kakashi runs up the opposite wall and kicks off it, landing gracefully on the ledge. From there he can see the narrow path that winds back down into the rock on the other side.
At least Taro knows how to cover his tracks. He sets off again, hoping that no Cloud ninja have been here before him.
#####
When the moon passes behind the clouds, Tenzo finds the maze much more difficult to navigate. There are no trees here to help him feel the way. He stumbles over the rocks scattered across the path, and grazes his hand against a sharp outcrop on the wall. Hissing in pain, he swipes the blood away against his jacket and tries to ignore the throbbing.
He judges it's been about half an hour since he and Kakashi split up, and he's only about 50% confident that he can find the way back to the cave again. Splits in the path have become less common, but every passage looks the same. He's seen the Anbu mark four times so far, which have kept him fairly certain in which way to choose, but it's been about ten minutes since the last one and there was no marker at the last junction.
Tenzo's deliberating whether or not to turn back, when he rounds a sharp bend in the rock and comes face to face with Shisui Uchiha.
They both freeze in shock. Tenzo notes with relief that Shisui looks perfectly healthy, and not at all in need of mercy killing.
Shisui recovers first. "Tenzo! Fancy seeing you again. It's almost like you're following me."
"Well, yes." Not that he'd known who it was they were following. But technically.
"Really?" Shisui asks in surprise. "Because that's kind of creepy, we're all the way out in Cloud country…"
"My team," Tenzo says quickly, wondering if he should rethink the mercy killing after all, "was assigned to find yours. You were days past your deadline for return."
Shisui looks almost disappointed. "Ohhhhh. Of course. That makes much more sense."
Tenzo looks around: there's sharp rock all around them, but no sign of any other Anbu members.
"Are there any other survivors from your team?"
Shisui gives him a strange glance. "My team has a hiding place not far from here. Where's yours?"
"Looking for you."
"Right." Shisui rolls his eyes. "But do you have a meeting place, or something? We're not all going to wander around in this labyrinth for the entire night, are we?"
"Yes. We do… I mean, we have a meeting place." Tenzo trips over his tongue and grits his teeth in frustration. "My captain told me to report back there if I found anything. So we should go, now."
Shisui shakes his head. "My captain told me to report back if I found anything. Besides, doesn't it make more sense to collect the rest of my team first?"
"My captain's orders were to report back as soon as I found anything," Tenzo says stubbornly, determined not to make any mistakes this time.
"But if we go to your team first, we're just going to have to turn around and come back here to get mine!"
"But they'll still be there."
"Maybe they won't," Shisui retorts. "That isn't the point, anyway, the point is it's stupid to do exactly what you're told when my way is much faster."
"It's our job to follow orders," Tenzo says. "It's the leaders' job to think. If I don't follow orders, then it could ruin the mission or cost the lives of my teammates."
"How is this going to cost anyone's life?" Shisui demands. "What if we hadn't run into each other? You'd still be lost in this giant maze, there's no way your captain is relying on you returning by any given time."
"I am not lost!"
They glare at each other.
"I don't care," Tenzo snaps. "My orders are - "
"Arghhh! Just think about it! It's so much quicker to go this way!"
"- to go this way!"
"..."
It takes them a few seconds to realize that they're both pointing in the same direction.
"How about this," Shisui says. "Let's walk in that direction, and see who we find first."
"...Fine."
#####
Kakashi hears them coming long before he sees them. He's only taking a short break, and maybe he hasn't found Taro's team yet, but there was that whole party of Cloud ninja he ran into a while back. Taking them all on alone probably wasn't the smartest move, but they weren't particularly well organized. And then he'd had to dispose of the bodies. He does feel kinda bad about that.
The voices are loud enough to echo around the rocky passages. They're lucky he knows who they are or he'd probably have killed them already. Kakashi spares a moment to hope that there aren't any Cloud ninja nearby who have basic competency. Seriously, do those two realize how loud they're being?
The answer is probably 'no', given how heated their discussion seems to be. Kakashi leans back against the rocky wall and waits patiently - Shisui seems to know where he's going, so hopefully they won't be long. At least he won't have to decipher any more of those damn symbols.
They come around the corner a few minutes later, still arguing.
"... because it had five legs," Tenzo is saying. "There are no lizards that have five legs."
"My cousin saw one once," Shisui insists, "It ran away, really fast, probably because of the five legs, but he definitely saw it."
"If it ran away really fast, how could he possibly know it had five legs?"
They haven't noticed him yet. Kakashi isn't sure if he should be overjoyed that Tenzo is acting like a normal kid for once, or despair for his team - if Root can't even teach its disciples the basics of stealth then what are they good for?. The boys walking towards him are paying more attention to each other than they are to their surroundings - if they weren't in the middle of enemy country it would almost be cute.
Kakashi clears his throat loudly and watches with malicious satisfaction as they both jump.
"Captain!" Tenzo exclaims, looking very guilty. Then he realizes that he has, at least in part, done what he was supposed to. "I found them! - or one of them."
"So I see," Kakashi says, doing his best to keep his amusement hidden. "And what are you two doing?"
"Uh…" Tenzo freezes.
Shisui has no such hesitation. "Collecting the rest of my team, sir. And then we would have gone to rendezvous with you, but I guess we don't need to do that anymore."
He meets Kakashi's eyes without flinching, that same blank smile on his face as the last time they spoke. Kakashi studies him for a moment, wondering what on earth the boy was thinking when he decided that out of all possible career choices, Anbu was the one for him.
He can tell that Shisui is wary around him, and that's not really a surprise. Who knows what stories he's heard from other members of his clan about Kakashi, friend-killer. He fights down the urge to make sure his sharingan is covered and keeps his hands firmly at his sides.
"Captain...?" Tenzo asks cautiously, and oh he's been staring for too long. Kakashi lifts one hand to his face and tries to rub the tiredness from his eyes. If only there was someone else on the team he could trust to take those critical guard shifts - he's barely gotten any sleep at all in the last week.
"Right, your team," he agrees much too late. "You remember the way, I hope."
"Yes, sir." Shisui replies, only the swift glance he throws at Tenzo indicating he finds anything strange at all.
Kakashi gestures for him to lead the way, and he heads down the same path that Kakashi had been following earlier. Tenzo follows both of them, still looking extremely confused.
"It shouldn't be far from here," Shisui says.
Kakashi nods absent-mindedly, rubbing his elbow with one hand. Quick-thinking, adapts easily, he notes approvingly. But hasn't this whole mess proven that having Shisui on the team would be a really, really bad idea? The Anbu leaders already dislike him. But he's never worried about pleasing them before.
Shisui turns out to be correct: they find Taro and the rest of the team sheltering in another cave not quite a half hour later. Taro himself is injured; there's a gash in his leg clearly made by a kunai and more bandages wrapped around his chest. The other two, a young man and a young woman, seem relatively unharmed. They've evidently been in the cave for a few days. The firepit is ringed with cooking stones and bedrolls are spread around it.
Taro is overwhelmingly glad to see him. Kakashi pulls him aside to exchange stories, but the tale goes almost exactly as he'd imagined. The information from Anbu was out of date; they ran into patrols much more quickly than they'd anticipated, and the extra time needed to shake off pursuit had made them miss the window of opportunity they'd had to get into the city.
"If you hadn't come along, I'm not sure what we would have done," Taro tells him in a quick burst of candor. "The only plan I had was to hole up here until I recovered, or hope that Shikaku would send someone eventually."
"They knew you were here," Kakashi says, "I had to… 'dispose' of a search party on the way here."
Taro nods. "They tracked us almost from the border. We managed to stay ahead for most of it, but after I got injured..."
"Are the others injured as well? Why was Shisui out alone?" The question has been weighing on Kakashi's mind ever since Tenzo had come back with him. Anbu work in pairs. Always.
"No, they're fine. I was hoping… well, I was hoping the Cloud ninja tracking us didn't know how many we were."
Kakashi feels his blood run cold. "You were hoping that they would kill him and think all the intruders were dead."
Taro shrugs, an uncomfortable grimace on his face. "It's not pleasant, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices. For the good of the mission, and the village. You know that as well as I."
Kakashi doesn't say anything. He doesn't have to. It's well understood that in this situation, the person to make the sacrifice should be the team leader. That is the responsibility they carry, the duty to their team.
The silence hangs in the air between them heavily, judgingly. Taro can't meet his eyes. "And he's expendable, that one, the leaders said so themselves. An Uchiha, he stands the best chance alone out of all of us..."
"He's a child," Kakashi hisses angrily.
"Well that's their clan thing, isn't it," Taro says defensively. "They start the kids young, always fighting, it's like they're still at war…"
"Captain?" Another voice interrupts, an unfamiliar one this time, which is lucky because Kakashi is only a second away from doing something pretty stupid. He forces the anger away and turns to the speaker, but she isn't talking to him. It's the young woman from Taro's team, who is holding out her captain's pack, her own already strapped to her back. Taro takes it from her silently.
"We're all ready to leave now," she says uncertainly, glancing back and forth between them. "If you're ready to go..."
"Right," Taro says, strapping on the pack and turning to the cave entrance, where the other ninja are all gathered and ready to leave. "Let's get out of here, then."
#####
The trip into Cloud country was fast and coordinated. The trip back feels like a slow exercise in torture. Clearly there is some kind of conflict between Kakashi and the other team's leader - Taro, his name is. Kakashi maintains a stony silence, and his mood infects the entire team; even Haruto stays quiet.
They leave the stone labyrinth while the moon is still rising, and make it about four hours out of sight of the city before Kakashi calls a halt. The two teams set up camp in an awkward silence. They are still out in the open, so there can be no fire, which is a shame because the air is quite cool. As Tenzo lays out his bedroll, Mai sets up hers beside him.
"Do you know what's going on?" She asks quietly, her eyes focused on the cloth under her fingers as she smooths it down more times than necessary.
"No idea," he replies just as softly. "Have you worked with Captain Taro before?"
"Never. But I don't think we were supposed to come this far north."
Tenzo thinks about this as he pulls a set of rations out of his pack. Another person flops down on his other side, and he looks over to see Shisui grinning at him.
"You have no idea how glad I am to be out of that place," Shisui says, pulling open the strings on his bag and rummaging around in it.
"Hey! Uchiha!" Haruto interrupts, his tone less than friendly. He tosses his own bedroll down at Shisui's feet. "Your team is over there."
He points to the other side of their semi-circle, where Captain Taro and the other two members of the team are setting up their sleeping arrangements. Shisui looks in that direction, and then back to Tenzo, who is frozen in surprise. He doesn't want to spend the evening arguing with Shisui again, but he certainly wasn't expecting Haruto to send him away. But Haruto is a senior member of the team, and maybe it's a rule that teams should not mingle? So he says nothing, and eventually Shisui gets to his feet and moves his pack over to his own team. But Tenzo notices there is a large gap between their bedrolls and his own.
He glances left, but Mai is clearly pretending not to notice. On her other side, Kakashi is watching them with the same hard expression on his face that he's had ever since he spoke to Captain Taro.
Haruto straightens up his sleeping roll with a satisfied huff. Tenzo eyes him warily, and Haruto notices his gaze.
"Uchihas, eh? Gotta watch out for that lot."
That lot? Tenzo had thought Shisui was the only Uchiha around, but maybe the other members of his team are from the same clan? He looks at them carefully, but the girl is blonde and fair while the boy has brown hair and green eyes. They look nothing like Shisui, who really does stand out with his black curls and dark red eyes.
Tenzo and Mai take the first watch, which is pretty uneventful. He can't decide if he's relieved the mission went so smoothly, or disappointed to have gotten all the way through Cloud country without seeing a single enemy ninja. From listening to Shisui's stories, Cloud ninja are proud, rash and quick to rush into battle, so maybe it's a good thing after all. After all, people like that can't be relied on to act rationally.
The time passes quickly. Mai is a good watch partner: she's quiet, but in a calm way, and since Tenzo prefers to stand guard without talking, they spend their assigned hours in relaxed, peaceful silence watching as the sun rises. Tenzo is secretly glad to have the first watch. He loves seeing the sky slowly change from pink and yellow into blue, hearing the birds singing their early morning chorus and smelling the clean scent of dew on the grass.
When it's time to wake up the next pair, Tenzo eyes the sleeping form of Captain Taro with reluctance. So far he's been successful at avoiding any interactions with the other team's leader, unsure what kind of issue Kakashi has with him but certain of where his own loyalty lies. Mai notices his hesitation and smiles, gesturing for him to go to sleep as she goes over to rouse Captain Taro.
Grateful but guilty, Tenzo burrows quickly into his sleeping roll. He hears muffled voices on the other side of the fire, and a moment later Mai's soft footsteps as she settles down next to him. For a long time he lies there, wondering if he should thank her, but when he turns over to see her face she's already asleep.
Drip, drip, drip. A fire glows in the darkness, far away. Splash, splash, splash. Footsteps are coming closer. Snake eyes, glowing green….
Tenzo wakes with a start. At first he thinks it was the dream that woke him, but then he realizes there are voices. Angry voices, hissing at each other, but he can't make out what they are saying. Dazed, he pulls himself up to look around.
Kakashi and Haruto are sitting a little ways from the fire. They seem to be arguing. His movement disturbs them though, because they stop talking and look at him instead. Not wanting to intrude, Tenzo lies back down and turns over, his sleep-fogged mind easily falling back into the endless, dark water.
The next night is even worse than the last. Neither captain will say a word. Haruto is now also refusing to speak to anyone. The tension in the air is so high that everyone jumps at the slightest movement. Mai impales a rabbit with a kunai when it leaps out of a bush in front of her. Shisui is grim-faced and trails behind the group, refusing to look at anyone.
They travel through the night and into the next day without stopping. Tenzo is so tired he can barely stay upright, but the sight of the village gates is the best thing he's seen since the soldiers came to take him away from the nightmare place. Even though he hadn't realised what was happening at the time.
"You're all off duty," Kakashi croaks. Tenzo gets a good look at him for the first time in two days and suffers a shock - their captain's skin is grey and he's swaying with strain, his visible eye drooping. "Report tomorrow. Sleep now."
They are all too tired to think of arguing. They split without a word, desperate to sleep in soft beds after so many nights sleeping on the hard ground - or not sleeping at all.
Tenzo doesn't pay any attention to his teammates as they file into the Anbu barracks, but when he thinks back later this is the last time he sees Haruto for a long time.
They had returned to the Leaf village at about midday, but Tenzo falls into bed and doesn't wake until the next morning, when his stomach rouses him with loud hunger complaints. Fed and rested, he heads out to the training yards.
Mai joins him on the way, whether by coincidence or if she was waiting for him, Tenzo isn't sure. But when they reach the field and see that Kakashi is already waiting for them, he knows something is going to happen.
Their captain beckons them over. Tenzo and Mai glance at each other, but he can't read anything in her face.
"I have news," Kakashi tells them. "Haruto has requested a new assignment."
He pauses, perhaps waiting for them to say something. Tenzo, who hadn't realized that Anbu members could request reassignment, thinks that as captain, waits patiently to hear the next part.
"So today we are getting a replacement," Kakashi continues, when it becomes clear that no one is going to say anything. "So, ahhh.. let's go get him."
They're walking down a corridor inside the Anbu headquarters when Tenzo gets a glimpse of who is waiting for them in the room ahead and suddenly freezes. Mai keeps walking, but Kakashi drops back beside him.
"What's wrong?"
"It's Shisui?" Tenzo hisses frantically. "He's our new team member?"
Kakashi scratches his head with one hand. "Maa, is that a problem? I thought you two were friends."
"Why would you think that?" Tenzo struggles to keep his voice low. "We are not friends. We are the opposite of friends!"
"Well, aside from our team, he's the only person I've seen you speak to of your own accord." Kakashi points out dryly. "Where I come from, that generally makes you friends."
"He hates me!"
"I really doubt that," Kakashi says gently. "Just… give him a chance, ok? He's had some trouble with his last squad."
"Yes, sir." Tenzo drops his eyes to the ground, suddenly ashamed. What was he thinking, speaking out like that? It's not his place to question the decisions of his superiors. He has merely to obey. It's only because Kakashi is Kakashi that he hasn't already been disciplined. He repeats words ingrained in him from Root. "I apologize for speaking out of turn, captain."
Kakashi continues to unconsciously defy everything Tenzo has ever expected from his commanding officers and puts an encouraging hand on his shoulder.
"It'll be alright, you'll see."
Mai is waiting for them at the doorway, the faint tap of her right foot betraying her impatience. Kakashi rejoins her and Tenzo trails behind them, mentally steeling himself for this next encounter.
Inside the room an older man sits behind a desk, his face stern and uncompromising. Kakashi greets him with a nod of the head. "Sir."
Tenzo expects them to kneel, himself poised to follow their example, but both of them just stand there, waiting. To the side is Shisui, also standing, and looking uncharacteristically subdued. His face is blank and his eyes are fixed on the floor in front of him. He's the picture of a proper ninja. It looks wrong, somehow.
"Kakashi." Anbu's head remains seated, his face unreadable behind his white mask. His desk is clean, paper neatly stacked in front of him, not a pen out of place. "I am assigning Uchiha Shisui to your team. Concerns have been expressed. You understand the possible repercussions?"
Keeping his eyes firmly downcast, Tenzo pricks up his ears. What possible repercussions? His captain doesn't blink an eye. "Yes, sir."
Their commander gives them all a sharp, searching glance before waving one hand in dismissal. "Very well, then."
Kakashi leads them out of the room, and Tenzo takes the opportunity to steal a glance at Shisui as he follows him out. Of all things that could have happened, now just when he was getting comfortable with his teammates?
This is the worst thing ever.