Small time skip. Enjoy!

Since everyone was at the preliminary fights, I had no choice but to bring Aurora with me. Luckily there was a small room where she could stay and play in while I was on duty.

"Now, if you need anything, just ask the ANBU guard outside ok?" I knew the guard, Tenzo, would be more than happy to play with her.

"Ok, but why do I stay here and you get to go?" She pouted. "I want to watch too!"

"Maa…these fights are a secret. So you have to stay here." I lied. Technically you shouldn't even be here.

"Aww…" She was upset but to cheer her up a bit, I used my summoning jutsu and left Bull and Bisuke to keep an eye on her. Bull was more than happy to watch his favorite small human while Bisuke was a bit peeved he was called for babysitting duty.

It wasn't the first time I had asked my hounds to keep an eye on her, but it was rare. I left with a promise to pay them back and watched Aurora bear hug the big gray dog before I left.

The second part of exams did not go as planned. Somewhere along the way, Orochimaru had attacked my team and left Sasuke with a curse mark. I was glad Aurora was in a different room. She would hate seeing her "brother" in pain. Before his match, I warned him about using the curse mark. He would be disqualified.

After his match, I appeared behind him and kept him from falling back in exhaustion.

"Well, good job." I congratulated and compared his moves to that of Gai.

I heard Naruto yelling about how Sasuke won in a lame way but mostly tuned it out, worrying more about the curse mark.

A medical Nin came up and asked Sasuke to come with him.

"You guys are way out of you territory." I told him. I recognized him as the same one that took Aurora's blood. "I'll take him under my care." I leaned down to Sasuke's level. "I'll take you to the back and seal the curse mark."

"Can it wait till the preliminaries are over? I want to watch and see who passes to the final battle." Sasuke protested.

"If we let things be, the situation might become irrevocable." I told him. "Now come..." I told him and let him lead. I noticed he was holding his shoulder the whole way.

It took a while; each seal had to be written in blood by hand and had to be perfect.

"Ok." I said as I finally finished writing and started making the right hand seals. "Hang in there, it will be over soon." The boy nodded his head in agreement. He wanted this sealed just as much as I did. The pain must have been excruciating; Sasuke screamed in pain as the words swirled and formed a seal around the mark. I told him the seal should stop the mark from taking effect, as long as he didn't push too hard. The effect of sealing eventually made Sasuke pass out.

"Out of character. He must have been tired." I mused.

"To think you've become able to handle sealing jutsu." An eerie voice sounded from the shadows. My visible eye widened in shock. I turned slowly and saw him. "You've grown, eh Kakashi?"

"You..." I felt a cold sweat wash over me.

"Long time no see, Kakashi." Orochimaru purred. It was really him. What in the world was he doing here? How did he get in?

"Sorry but, I have no business with you, Kakashi." He said. Stepping closer. I was now between him and Sasuke. "But I do with the kid behind you."

"Why are you after Sasuke?" I asked the snake of a man.

He admitted he only wanted him for his sharingan. I worried for a moment if he would go after Aurora but quickly squashed that idea and concentrated on the situation at hand. He might not even know of her existence.

He reviled he is the one he was the one who built the sound village and I realized that he had more people working for him then I could have ever imagined.

"What a ridiculous ambition." I growled. He wanted to destroy the leaf village. He would never get that far, not if I had a say. He freely told me he need more pieces in order to do it. One of the pieces was Sasuke.

He took a few more steps towards me, my body tensed up more and I was ready to more at a moment's notice.

"Don't come any closer to Sasuke!" I formed a chidori, which shocked Orochimaru. "Even if you are one of the legendary Sanin, I can kill you as you kill me." I love you, Aurora. I thought to myself, prepared to die to save the village.

To my surprise he started laughing.

"What's so funny?" I demanded.

"What you say and do, are all off." He glared at me. "There's no point in attempting such a seal. There's no stopping what the heart wants, no matter the obstacles. He's an avenger."

"So you took advantage of that?"

"At some point, he will seek me out, in search of power." He said as he turned and walked away. "Oh, and you're going to kill me? Why don't you try if you can?" I froze in fear, the chidori dissipated in my sudden realization. Kill you as you kill me...am I an idiot? I asked myself. There was no way I could have taken him on my own. I gained control of my body and forced myself to stop shaking.

I picked up the passed out boy and quickly got him to the hospital, making sure ANBU were stationed outside of his door.

I appeared behind my other two students, deciding I should be there in case anything else happened. Before that though, I sent a shadow clone to check up on Aurora. Thank kami she was ok. She was playing with Bull, putting a hat on him and playing imaginary tea party. Bisuke was pouting, sitting beside Bull with a scarf around his neck. I'd have to give him something good for putting up with that.

Right as I appeared, Sakura started asking me all about Sasuke. I calmed the pink haired girl down and told her he is resting but left out the fact he was guarded by ANBU. The next match started up right then, directing their attention to the arena.

The matches ended. Sakura did not pass but Naruto won his match. The only one on Gai's team that passed was Neij, and he had to be pulled off of Hinata before he killed her. I worried about that boy. I worried more about Lee though. He had been injured quite badly by the sand village kid named Gaara. That boy had some issues, claiming killing was his purpose in life.

I put these thoughts to the side as I got to Aurora. She had tired herself out and was cuddled against Bull, sleeping on the large dog, head on his side with his big paw around her. Bisuke was guarding the door and growled when I came in.

"Ma, is that any way to greet me?" I chided.

"Never leave me with her again..." He said before he poofed away in a poof of smoke. Bull on the other hand laid there and yawned and me.

"You can go too." Bull gave a sad whine, licked Aurora's face to move her off of him and disappeared. She woke up but when I scooped the sleepy red head, she fell back to sleep on my shoulder. I smiled and held her close as we headed towards the hospital to check on Sasuke.

"Fader?" She asked sleepily along the way. "Where're we?" She rubbed her eyes and looked around. I was going to answer but I sensed something was wrong. Once in the lobby, I re-summoned Bull and put her in front of him.

"Watch her." I ran off, knowing he would guard her with his life. Bull gave a bark of understanding as I left and Aurora called to me but I couldn't turn back.

I caught a man with a knife near Sasuke's throat and quickly disarmed him.

"I have to hand it to you Kakashi," He smirked. "Stopping my attack from your blind spot…But, you'd better ready at least 10 of your men next time."

The ANBU that I left were taken out without difficulty… I worried to myself. "You're not an ordinary Genin are you? You caught a whiff of me and immediately readied your weapon…you're quite impressive."

"No, I'm not that at all." I had him on edge.

"What do you want with Sasuke?" I glared at the possible traitor.

"I wonder if that's possible for the likes of you…" he turned towards me, still smirking. "Are you looking to take me on?" He stepped towards me.

"You are the son of the chief of the Leaf medical crops, aren't you?" I asked him. "You're Kabuto Yakushi? Are you affiliated with Orochimaru?" His smirk gave it away.

"If you arrest me now, you might never be able to prove my connection to Orochimaru." He threatened.

"Shut up and answer to my questions."

"What if I say No?" he challenged.

"I'm the one asking the questions. Now give me some answers."

"You'll find out before long anyway if you let me go, so can you make an exception just this once?" Was he serious?

"You willful little brat…Don't mess around with grown-ups." I drew a kunai, ready to fight.

"Don't be so arrogant." He drew a curved kunai. "The circumstances are in my favor." He switched hands and held the kunai to Sasuke's throat. I watched as sweat ran down Kabuto's cheek. He was nervous about all of this.

I moved quickly, taking him off guard and disarmed him. I was able to easily pin him down but noticed something was wrong. Suddenly one of the ANBU got up and ran off.

I should have known…Thankfully he was unaware it was also a clone I had sent in. My clones and I surrounded him, ready to catch him and take him in. Unfortunately we had the wrong Kabuto and yet another ANBU sat up and jumped out the window. I ran towards the window and watched as the bastard reviled his face as he fell.

"Damn...I've let him escape." I silently cursed. I turned back way from the window, released my clones and went to the fake fallen Kabuto.

"Impressive…" I muttered. As I suspected…This is the Dead Soul Jutsu, I touched the pulse point on the dead man, confirming my suspicions. When one temporarily animates and controls the heart of a dead body and also stopping his heartbeats and eliminating all traces of his body odor…in order to prepare an escape by impersonating a murdered ANBU…He wasn't raised as the adopted son of the chief medical corps for nothing. If someone this good is working for Orochimaru…I can't stay as I am now…

I stood, deciding to report this and leave.

As I was leaving, I heard the yells of Naruto in the lobby.

"Naruto, this is a hospital. Keep it down." I chided. I looked over to see Aurora holding on to Bull, still frightened of how I had left her.

"Kakashi sensei!" Naruto turned and ran towards me before I could go to my daughter. "Say! I've got a favor to ask!"

"You don't need to say it all. I thought it would come to this so…I searched for someone to watch your training." I had already resolved to train Sasuke. Yes, I knew Naruto was just as important but he wasn't being hunted down by a greater evil. Besides, Naruto would be fine with the teacher I found for him.

"Why?! I want you to, Kakashi Sensei!"

"I have some matters to take care of." What I said next may have been too harsh. "I don't have time to trouble myself with you."

"You're going to train Sasuke aren't you!?" Naruto yelled.

"I found a sensei who is more reliable than I am!" I quickly retorted.

"Well…who is it?" Thank whatever gods, he showed up just then.

"It's me!" Naruto turned and cried out at the person who spoke.

"You! Closet Perve!" Naruto cried. Aurora covered her ears at how loud he was and buried her face into Bull's fur. I felt bad for Ebisu, but trusted him to take care of the loud blonde.

Nothing is mine but Aurora! Please R&R!