The ROOT training grounds are strangely sparse the next day when Kakashi comes back from his office in the ANBU headquarters. Kabuto is long gone, having been sent on his first espionage mission several months ago, but usually the other young ROOT trainees would be training hard. Slinging his towel over his shoulder, Kakashi frowns and searches for Kinoe.

At least the boy hasn't disappeared. "Hey," Kakashi calls, making Kinoe jump guiltily and his mokuton twist onto itself. Kakashi eyes the knotted wood curiously. The mokuton user has been treading on eggshells around him ever since the incident involving the Sandaime, even though Kakashi hasn't confronted him about it or treated him any differently.

"Kakashi-senpai..." Kinoe says sheepishly.

"Is there a field trip or something?" Kakashi jokes. "It's rather empty here today."

Kinoe shifts uncomfortably. "Um..."

Kakashi frowns. "Something wrong?"

"It's the exam," Tiger says loudly from the other side of the training grounds. Kakashi looks over his shoulder and raises a questioning eyebrow. Tiger wipes at the sweat on his brow, his posture nonchalant, but Sakumo can see the way he glances at Kakashi from the corner of his eye. "The one modeled after Kiri's Academy graduation exam."

Kakashi's hand spasms around the towel in his hand. "Kiri's?" he echoes, sounding strangled. A similar look of horror dawns on Rin's face. Sakumo grimaces, no longer surprised by the depths to which Danzou has sunken to, but horrified all the same.

"They kill each other too pass," Tiger confirms, crossing his arms over his chest. "I told you, didn't I? There's no room for sentimentality here."

"This isn't sentimentality," Kakashi says growls, his single grey eye sparking with danger. "They are our fellow Konoha-nin. Why should we kill each other?"

By now, the entire training ground's attention is on them. Some are openly staring, while others have slowed the pace of their sparring, exchanging only half-hearted blows as they eavesdrop.

"It is Danzou-sama's will."

"Danzou-sama is ordering innocent Konoha-nin to be slaughtered. And for what?"

"The greater good. We are stronger shinobi for it."

"I do not believe it."

Tiger expression is stony. There is quiet murmuring behind him and a flash of black signalling someone's leave. Rin looks around nervously, aware that someone less amenable to negotiation may be brought to intervene.

"Where are they?" Kakashi demands, clenching his fists.

"Senpai," Kinoe pleads, reaching out hesitantly.

Kakashi brushes aside his hand. The younger boy looks terrified, but Sakumo knows that mulish look on Kakashi's face. "I'm going, Kinoe."

He does not budge an inch under Tiger's piercing gaze. "What are you going to do? Even you cannot convince Danzou-sama to call this off." The ROOT agent bares his teeth. "The previous Hinoto was your kill, wasn't she? It has always been this way."

"They are just children," Kakashi insists. "If we don't help them, then no one will. They don't... they don't deserve this."

After a long moment, Tiger closes his eyes. "It is not as if I can stop you. Go. Reason with Danzou-sama if you wish to. He should be behind the Hokage mountain."

Kakashi disappears in a flash, leaving Kinoe frozen to the spot with his mouth agape.

"Oi!" someone shouts. "Tiger, did you just tell him?"

Tiger turns his heel, already heading back to the barracks without a glance back. "Danzou-sama will make him stand down."

Danzou does not get the chance to make Kakashi stand down. Kakashi sprints straight towards the forests behind the Hokages' carved stone faces, using the spikes of Minato's hair to propel himself over the cliff and onto the other side. Technically, once past that ridge, they are no longer in Konoha territory, a fact that Sakumo is sure that Danzou intends to use.

Halfway down the ridge, the lush undergrowth gives way to a dry, clayish ground. It bears the scars of rounds after rounds of ninjutsu, much like the ruptured land they had seen in Ame. The first body comes not too long after, a young boy sluggishly bleeding out in the arms of a girl. The surviving ROOT member looks up with a feral snarl as Kakashi passes by, the two of them making eye contact briefly before Kakashi dashes on.

It's too late to save them.

Rin slows down as they reach them, but it is obvious from the amount of blood soaking into the girl's lap that the boy is beyond saving. Sakumo tugs her along by the hand as she chokes back her tears. "This can't be happening!"

"I'm so sorry," Sakumo murmurs, feeling devastated himself. He doesn't know how Konoha has come to this.

When they catch up with Kakashi again, he has his tantou drawn and ready by his side, the edge of it glinting in the patchy sunlight as he trembles in rage. There is a man in the jounin uniform before him, his form crouched over another still corpse and his long hair obscuring his face. "Where are they?" Kakashi demands, his face twisting as he watches gloved hands open a corpse-storing scroll. "Are there any still alive?"

Orochimaru fanged smile does not waver even with the sharp edge of Kakashi's tantou in sight. "And why should I tell you?"

Sakumo can almost hear the grind of Kakashi's teeth as he turns away and disappears in a blink, the rustling leaves the only hint of his urgent burst of shunshin. "Hurry!" Rin shouts as she sprints after him, and Sakumo reluctantly tears his eyes away from the small, still corpse at Orochimaru's feet.

'Please,' he prays silently. 'Let them live.'

Kakashi's chakra signature leads them into a valley. A small cabin rests on the gentle slope, innocuous if not for the two familiar boys huddled under its raised veranda. The dark-haired boy holds at his older brother protectively, tears spilling down his cheeks as he spots Kakashi. Sakumo's heart sinks at the sight of blood staining the front of the older boy's shirt. "Please," the dark-haired boy begs, his bloodstained hands cradling his brother's face. "I don't know what's wrong with him. He suddenly collapsed!"

"Leave me," the older boy coughs weakly, his eyelids fluttering. "Tell... Danzou-sama..."

"No!" the younger ROOT agent shouts, his limbs straining as he drags his brother out from their hiding place. "Kakashi-senpai, you have to help him!"

"Of course," Kakashi promises, his eye wide as he kneels to accept the coughing child into his arms. "I'll try my very best, I promise." The silver-haired child clutches at him, mouth moving in an effort to speak, but soon faints away before he manages to make a sound. Kakashi's grip grows white knuckled. "Quick," he tells the other boy, "follow me."

They head straight for the Hatake estate at their fastest shunshin. It is the one safe place with wards under Kakashi's control. While he had still been amongst the living, Sakumo had added his chakra to the wards, and later on, so had Kakashi. It should hold strong. It is also the one place Danzou could not send ROOT into without Kakashi or the Hokage's permission; not without breaking several laws and causing a political furor, at least.

The civilians working on the Hatake lands barely notice as Kakashi and the young ROOT agent flicker past the fields. Sakumo spares a worried thought for them— what will Danzou care about civilian collateral? If the estate becomes a site of conflict, the results could be disastrous.

The dim, cool interior of the family home welcomes them as Kakashi unlocks the front door. He brings them to the living room and lays the unconscious boy on the couch, shaking open a blanket to lay it over the twitching shinobi.

"Has he always been like this?" Kakashi asks, his voice sharp with anxiety as he grabs the dusty, unused phonebook from the shelf and slams it open. "T&I..." he mutters, thumbing through the shinobi section. Bringing them to the shinobi hospital is out of the question, not if they want to hide from Danzou for a little while longer, but maybe they can call for help.

Meanwhile, Rin kneels beside the boy and closes her eyes, the green glow of her iryo-jutsu only visible to Sakumo's concerned gaze.

"Sometimes," the dark-haired boy says, shuffling from foot to foot as his eyes flicker between his brother and Kakashi. "He would cough from time to time. I thought... I thought it was just a small illness."

"It's okay," Kakashi murmurs, shooting the young boy a quick, reassuring smile over his shoulder. "We'll get him fixed up." With one finger pressed hard against a tiny line of text, Kakashi tucks the receiver between his shoulder and ear, and turns the rotary dial.

"Hello? Is Inoichi in? Yes. Yes. Please." Kakashi waits impatiently as the person on the other end of the line puts him on hold. The phone's cord bounces as he taps his foot. "Inoichi-san!" Kakashi lunges forward like he could grab hold of the older shinobi through the line. "I have an injured boy with me who is coughing blood and losing consciousness. Seems to be an ongoing illness. I need a med-nin who doesn't mind going against someone dangerous. Yes... we need to move. Can't help it. You should check the area behind—" Kakashi breaks off into coughs as the silencing seal slams into force. He gasps for a while before going back to the phone, wiping at his watering eye. "Sorry, it choked me off. Yes, the med-nin first. We're at the estate. Thanks." He hangs up with a sigh. Lifting his eyes towards the black-haired boy, he gives him an eye-smile. "The med-nin will be able to help your brother."

The boy bows deeply. "Thank you."

Kakashi straightens, his smile slipping away as his gaze sharpens with determination. "I'm going to lock down the estate's wards. Anyone without my invitation will not be able to pass through, including Danzou."

"You have wards like that, senpai?" The boy's eyes are wide.

A small smile creases Kakashi's mask. "The Hatake wards were supplemented by my sensei's wife, a long, long, time ago. She was a talented seals master, and... well. We needed better wards." Closing his eyes, he forms several hand seals in rapid succession. Sakumo feels the sealing arrays around the estate flare, leaving only an allowance for the civilians to leave.

Kakashi opens his eye. "Will you be alright alone? When the med-nin arrives, I will need to bring them in."

The boy nods rapidly, his eyes wide. Kakashi places his hand on the boy's head for a brief moment, his gaze troubled but soft. "Take care of your brother."

A/N: Sorry for the delay, I've been very tired recently. I binge-read Gangsta too XD Good stuff. It sure has mature themes though, in case any of you are curious.