Warnings: attempted justification of murder/assisted suicide by character.
"Hear me out," Snake whispers, and Kakashi, that incurably soft-hearted boy, bows his head in reluctant acceptance.
A sad smile flits across her lips as she lifts two fingers. "Two things. Firstly, without support from someone outside, it's extremely difficult if not near impossible for anyone to break free of brainwashing. It would be easier, of course, if you gain their trust as a member of ROOT before trying to provide an alternative, non-Danzou perspective. Of course, this will be extremely difficult to pull off without Danzou kicking you out completely. Secondly, I'm a nobody, but you're a clan head, Kakashi. You have a right to sit in the Council of Clans and speak on equal footing with Danzou. The more clan heads you can convince that Danzou is a threat, the more likely the Council of Clans will pass a resolution to restrain and investigate him."
Kakashi scowls. "But a resolution from the Council of Clans isn't enough. Clan heads, elders and the Hokage have legal immunity from prosecution, and Danzou is both the Head of the Shimura clan and an elder. We'll need two out of three votes in order to push for an official investigation. Can you imagine Utatane or Mitokado voting against Danzou? No. Neither will the Hokage."
Even though Konoha is represented by the Hokage alone, its governing system actually consisted of three "branches"*: the Hokage himself, the Council of Elders, and the Council of Clans. After all, Konoha was founded as an alliance of clans, not via conquest.
"The Council of Elders and the Hokage will of course be a problem," Snake admits, "but if there is enough evidence and testimony, the Hokage won't go against the Council of Clans blindly. If he does—"
"—he will lose their support," Kakashi finishes with a grimace. "Even if that's possible, how do I even convince all those ROOT agents and clan heads to listen to me? I haven't claimed the Hatake seat ever since my father died. How am I supposed to rally all of them against someone so established? What more, why would the ROOT agents loyal to Danzou even consider what I'm saying? I'm not popular. I'm not Minato-sensei."
"You're not," Snake agrees, her voice low as she leans forward. "But you have your own charisma. Give yourself some credit. Your team loved you despite your brattiness." A helpless, disbelieving "hah" escapes Kakashi, but Sakumo is glad that he doesn't deny it. "Your Eternal Rival stalks you everywhere. There are ANBU who are your fans after seeing your restraint during that big welcome fight we organised. The civilians whom you have given your land call you 'Hatake-sama'. And me... you've made me trust you."
Hanging his head, Kakashi hides his eyes behind the spiky fall of his hair. His hands curl tightly into the loose fabric of his trousers.
Sakumo fixes a hard gaze on Snake. This entire conversation doesn't sit right with him. There are too many unknowns and too much risk. Everything hinges on Kakashi alone and Snake... She already knows how abusive ROOT's environment is and yet, she is encouraging Kakashi to step right into the lion's den. Sakumo doesn't know if he should be accusing her of manipulation as well.
"I can teach you how to recognise his tactics," Snake continues quietly. "You're already trained in infiltration. Even if he suspects anything, he's practically bending over backwards to recruit you. That gives you some leverage even if it's small. As much as Danzou would be using you, you can use him back as well—"
"I don't want to do this."
Her jaw snaps shut.
"I don't want to lose you," he chokes out, his eyes squeezed shut and his brow furrowed deeply. "You're the only one who makes me look forward to the next day anymore."
"I'm sorry, Kakashi," Snake murmurs, but the dispassionate argument that she puts forth next makes Sakumo and Rin flinch. "But if you think about it, there's no difference between this and the people we were prepared to kill back in Ame in order to maintain our cover. It's just another mission."
"Just another mission?" Kakashi barks, his eyes blazing as he lifts his head. "That's ROOT speaking! Your life is not just another mission! Why aren't you considering other options? There are corpse dolls—"
"But he has my DNA—"
"Or we could run away—"
"They'll hunt us down—"
"Or let's just let Danzou do his best to ruin me, then!" Kakashi yells, his voice echoing in the silence. Chin held high in challenge even as his chest heaves with emotion, Kakashi turns his heel and begins walking away. "I'm not doing this," he declares.
The former ROOT agent leaps out of her chair and grabs his arm. "Listen, Kakashi—"
"Get off me," Kakashi growls through bared teeth, snapping his arm to the side. "If you've ever cared for me at all, you wouldn't make me do this." He jerks his arm near violently again, unwilling to throw a punch but too angry to stop struggling. She reaches out in an attempt to anchor him down, but he slaps her hand away. A wounded sound bubbles from his throat. "But that's all I am aren't I? Just blood to spill so you can take a chance at bringing him down."
She lets him go as if she had been burnt, face ashen. "That's not true."
His glare crumples into something raw and vulnerable the moment before he turns his back again, hunching into himself. "I need some time alone."
He disappears in a shunshin, leaving Snake to stare at the empty dining room.
After an afternoon spent busy with his tenant-farmers, Gakuto, and Masae, who Kakashi assigned as Gakuto's assistant, Kakashi visits the orphanage.
Situated on the outskirts of the village, the Konoha Orphanage is an economical wooden structure with a large common area for eating, playing and learning. Around the common area, the majority of the space is divided up into bedrooms and a few nurseries. Each bedroom is shared by about four children of a mix of ages such that the older ones can help take care of the younger. Given the recent war and the Kyuubi attack, the orphanage is rather packed despite its considerable size and short-staffed too. The wardens are mostly civilian women, though there are a few retired shinobi here and there.
For now, it's dark and quiet. It's way past bedtime and the children have all been sent off to bed.
Kakashi strolls along the building, peering through windows before zeroing in on the chakra signatures of the ANBU guarding Naruto. Giving their hiding place a nod, he scales the wall and tries the tiny window beneath the eaves. It's locked. The evening chill of the deepening autumn would have been too much for the delicate babes, even with the soft blankets tucked cozily around each of them.
Breath misting the glass as he sighs, Kakashi leaps back onto the ground and heads for the slightly ajar window several rooms down. Rin and Sakumo go inside first, phasing through the wall with ease like they have on previous visits, and Kakashi comes slipping through the door within moments. The heater's warmth wraps around them like cloud and Rin sighs soundlessly in relief.
There are about fifteen babies sleeping in two rows of cots, all of them under one year old. Kakashi wanders down the rows with silent footsteps, consternation written in the line of his brow as he peers at each tiny bundle of blankets. "Hey, Naruto," Kakashi whispers softly when he finally finds the tiny, whiskered child, and the ghosts crowd around too. He reaches out a finger and brushes it through downy blonde fluff, jerking back slightly when Naruto snuffles in his sleep. "How are y—"
The snap of a lock bolting in place has Kakashi spinning, a kunai whistling through the air as he places himself protectively before Naruto. Even so, foreign chakra washes over the room, parting around Kakashi but sending the rest of the room's occupants into a light sleep.
The kunai had embedded itself into the soft wood of the door with a 'thunk', scant centimeters away from the neck of the ANBU member who had tilted his head away. Greyish-brown strands of hair from his short pony tail tumbles from the edge of the kunai onto his shoulder, but he seems completely unperturbed. Kakashi doesn't move an inch from his position as the man reaches over his shoulder and plucks out the kunai, his sleeveless uniform only emphasising his thickly muscled arms.
The mask covering his face is... disturbing, especially in the dark. Curling green lines border a set of large painted eyes with bottomless eyeholes and dark green irises. It isn't a design or style that Sakumo has seen amongst the ANBU. "ROOT, then?"
"Why do you visit when he won't remember you?" the man asks in a rumbling voice.
Kakashi immediately bristles. "Is that a threat?"
The man pauses. "No." It's a statement, flat and unnuanced. "My apologies," he adds like an afterthought. He holds out the kunai as an offering, hilt first.
Suspicion not abating one bit, Kakashi steps forward to take the weapon before moving back to shield Naruto again. Kakashi gives the intruder his full attention, but not before sparing a quick glance at the baby and laying a hand against his chest to make sure he was still breathing.
"Danzou-sama would like an update on your progress."
The young jounin's expression falls blank. None of this morning's turmoil shows. "My captain returned just today."
"Danzou-sama knows. But since you brought her to the Hatake estate, some progress must have been made."
The kunai glints in the thin stream of moonlight as Kakashi tucks it back into his thigh holster, buying time to phrase his answer. "It is too risky to complete my mission inside the village. I will have to find an official mission, for the two of us only, as a cover before I can do anything. This will take some time. Please send my apologies to Danzou-sama."
The ROOT agent nods. "Understood. ROOT will aid you in finding a suitable mission. Are you facing any other difficulties?"
"No," Kakashi replies shortly. "Though I would appreciate it if you do not approach me or Naruto in this manner again."
"...I apologise. I will restrain my curiousity in the future." With a shallow bow, the man unlocks the door, dispels the jutsu, and disappears down the hallway. Kakashi stares after him in discomfited incredulity.
Kakashi hadn't been complaining about curiosity.
"I thought all ROOT agents would be like Snake or Otsu, but he really doesn't have social skills, does he?" Rin observes. The idea that ROOT agents have anything close to a social life seems laughable to Sakumo. Not when there are things to kill and people to stalk. Vaguely, he wonders if he should be more sympathetic.
Saving ROOT agents is a pretty, pretty dream, but things are never so simple.
Shaking his head, Kakashi turns back to Naruto. His face lights up in a relieved smile when he finds his sensei's only child blinking up at him with sleepy blue eyes. "Don't worry Naruto," he whispers, "Nii-san's here to protect you."
As soon as the words leave his mouth, Kakashi freezes, conflict raging back to life in his eyes.
"If he goes up against Danzou, he'll probably never see Naruto again," Sakumo thinks. He tries to imagine, instead, Kakashi and Snake on the run with Naruto passed between them and the ANBU on their heels. It's simply not feasible. They'd have a better chance of surviving if they hid behind the Hatake wards and never left its boundaries.
Naruto gurgles in a subdued manner and kicks his feet, watery eyes fixed on Kakashi but not understanding the young shinobi's struggle.
"I can't run away from this, can I?" Kakashi says on a rattling sigh. "I have to succeed. Otherwise I'll never be able to protect you." A silver droplet falls on the sheets beside Naruto's hand and the baby boy scrunches his face up, tears welling in his eyes too. "Oh, don't cry, Naruto, don't cry," Kakashi shushes him, forcing a smile. "Nii-san's alright."
Convinced, Naruto's expression clears and he snuffles again, wrinkling his nose and waving his hands.
Kakashi caresses his cheek with a thumb and lets Naruto grab at his hand. His smile softens into something more genuine as he bends down to brush a kiss over Naruto's forehead. "Goodnight."
*Ah, the good ol' separation of powers. Heavily bastardised, of course.
A/N: Kakashi killing Snake is really quite messed up. I don't really think it's (morally) justified, even though how Snake would die was one of the first things I decided when I introduced her T^T
Naruto is a premature baby so his eyes still aren't that developed + the room is dark, so he didn't really notice Sakumo and Rin :)