Safe. The air was heavy with the smell of rain and rotting leaves, the pungent and familiar odor of Fire Country during monsoon season. Kakashi shifted a little and felt the catch of his armor rub against his skin, mud digging into his sandals. Unbound. Tentatively, he drew within himself and checked his chakra levels: low, but slowly rising. And not as expansive as he could remember. Where previously there had been a deep well, the chakra reserves inside of him more resembled a pool.
The stupid kid really did manage it. He fucking did it.
Kakashi cracked his eye open.
"Captain," Tenzou said, his face near enough that it filled up his vision and far away enough that Kakashi couldn't reach out and strangle him.
Pain lanced in his head, knives of hot steel furiously stabbing at Obito's eye. He ignored it. Pain meant he was alive, meant that this wasn't some fucked up illusion.
"Water," he croaked and struggled to sit up, shooting Tenzou a nasty glare when he moved to support him. "Not dead," Kakashi muttered and settled for propping his back on a thick tree root, oil cloth slipping down. He grabbed at it with clumsy fingers and pulled it back up, making sure his ankle was covered. It was throbbing madly, threatening rain in a few minutes. He sniffed the air. Fifteen minutes, more like.
Kakashi accepted the canteen Tenzou silently handed him with ill grace and swished his mouth. The water was cold and delicious. His first drink of his new life. "Sitrep," he said, forcing his thick tongue to move.
"Secondary targets were eliminated a few minutes after you went down, sir. Tiger sealed their scrolls and Wolf eliminated the witnesses with a poison gas. After the objectives were accomplished, Tiger took temporary command and we returned to our secondary rendezvous point," Tenzou recited, voice muffled by the mask he still wore. The white porcelain was now grimy, splattered with dried blood and mud. "Tiger and Wolf have set up a perimeter and will return within a few minutes."
Shodai's balls, he'd forgotten how young Tenzou was. Kakashi squinted at the small figure kneeling next to him, hands clenched on his thighs. Probably still a rookie, Kakashi mused. Had his voice even broken yet? There was a long pause and he abruptly realized that he was supposed to speak. "Good," he said. "The containment scrolls?"
"In your pack. Wolf also sealed the Kakeru brothers for T&I, sir."
It seemed Kakeru would bring him good fortune even in death. Kakashi smiled grimly and sipped at the canteen, watching how Tenzou discreetly turned away as he did so. Good kid, Kakashi thought fondly. Pack, came the unbidden thought and something in his chest tightened.
"How long was I out?" he asked, trying to shake off the feeling.
"Only about half an hour, sir." Tenzou paused and then added, a little hesitantly, "Wolf isn't very happy about that. Sir."
"I've only dragged his sorry ass around for a hundred times," Genma grumbled, dropping from a branch without a sound.
"Mama Genma was worried sick about you, Captain," Raidou added cheerfully, a large dark shadow winding his way through the tree roots. "Should've seen him fret about you, poor man."
"That was a nasty genjutsu," Genma shrugged. "Knocked you clean of your feet, Captain. I almost thought Kakeru had really got you there but of course, you're too hard-headed for that. Sir."
"It was," Kakashi agreed and privately thought that his Genma, older Genma, was much more reasonable. He set the canteen down with slow, clumsy fingers. "All clear?"
"All clear," Raidou confirmed. "Wires and notes and all the necessary goodies to keep our convalescing Captain safe and happy."
It was startlingly easy to fall back into the old, familiar pattern with them. He'd never really left ANBU -no one did- but it was still good to see them, alive and relatively sane and Raidou's face clear of the ugly scar. Mission, a voice in the back of his mind prodded, sounding suspiciously like the younger version of him.
Kakashi dredged up a little energy to rummage through a hip pouch, fishing out a summoning scroll. He bit down hard on his thumb and swiped it down the unfurling scroll with a clumsy move, blood streaking across the kanji jaggedly. A puff of smoke enveloped his face and a distinctly heavy weight settled on his lap.
"Get off me, Bull," Kakashi croaked and shoved ineffectually at the warm lump. Bull ignored him and gave him a sloppy kiss, snuffling eagerly at his fingers for treats. "Not right now," he said as gently as possible and crooked a finger at Tenzou. "Scrolls."
Tenzou disappeared into the forest and reappeared a moment later, carefully holding Kakashi's pack with two hands. He settled it down by Kakashi's legs and resumed a watchful position at his side. Kid was getting to be just as bad as Pakkun, Kakashi observed, digging through the pack.
Four scrolls stinking of chakra and blood were shoved inelegantly into Bull's drooling mouth. "Send that over to the outpost near Grass's border, strictly for Gekkou's eyes only." Bull nudged Kakashi's hand affectionately and disappeared with a crack of burnt chakra.
"We'll move out in an hour," Kakashi said, slowly rolling up the scroll. "Get some rest while you can."
Genma opened his mouth, his face mutinous, but Raidou's hand stopped him, clamping down hard on his shoulder. "As long as I don't have to carry you again, sir," Genma shrugged nonchalantly but Kakashi could hear the undercurrent of concern.
"Don't worry," Kakashi smiled, enjoying the way Genma and Raidou's faces blanched. "You won't have to again."
Pack.
Uzumaki Naruto.
Haurno Sakura.
Uchiha Sasuke.
Kakashi absently bit down on the end of the pencil, sharp canines worrying the wood. Of the three, Naruto was the easiest and the hardest. The easiest to please, his face an open book; he also, Kakashi noted dryly, had an organization made up of S-Class missing-nin dedicated to finding and killing him.
Sakura was a little harder. A civilian from a decent family. Lonely, even after she'd met Ino. Probably taught that a good civilian girl should be quiet and demure and beautiful. But she was also the smartest of all three of his students and he was reminded of Obito when he saw her, desperate to fit in and gain acceptance. A clever civilian outsider who craved approval.
Sasuke was temperamental, selfish and so very lonely, driven only by his love and hatred of his brother. Kakashi grunted as he bit into his pencil and tasted the lead filling. The Uchiha Massacre did more than ruin Sasuke. It'd ripped his team apart.
Kakashi scowled. Too many variables, too many dangers. But he'd promised himself, promised that he would protect them and he would. No matter what.
Putting the pencil down, he picked up an ink brush at his side and a fresh sheet of rice paper. Hatake Kakashi formally requests an audience with the Sandaime Hokage...
Dressed in a musty old vest he'd dug out from the back of his closet and standard issue navy blue uniform, Kakashi felt much more like himself. He adjusted his mask and patted absently at a pocket- where was Icha Icha when he needed it...
Ah. Of course. He'd only started reading it once he left service and Kakashi- younger Kakashi was still serving as ANBU Hound.
"Hatake-san?"
Kakashi looked up and blinked at the chuunin manning the desk. "You may enter now."
He gave the man a nod and unfolded himself from the shadows, gesturing at the hidden ANBU behind the desk discreetly: safe watch. The doors opened in front of him and Kakashi stepped forward into the office of the most powerful man in the country.
"Hatake-kun," Sandaime-sama said, puffing serenely at his pipe behind his desk. "It's very good to see you." How strange, to see the familiar smoke wreathe the Hokage's hat and pipe at his mouth. Even stranger to think that Tsunade wasn't sitting there, bellowing orders at him and smashing sake bottles.
"Hokage-sama," Kakashi said and dropped into the standard crouch, fist over his heart in the proper salute. "I've come to beg forgiveness for my actions."
"Forgiveness?" He could hear the eyebrow raise in the Sandaime's voice. "What for?"
"I've come to tender my resignation from ANBU, effective immediately," Kakashi said, staring down at an interestingly shaped knot on the floor, ignoring the soft flutters of chakra around him. It looked a little like Pakkun's nose. No doubt word would be out of his resignation before he stepped out of the office. ANBU could be terribly nosy like that. There was a long, long silence and his ankle started muttering protests.
"I see," Sandaime finally said and Kakashi dared a quick glance up. The Hokage's brow sucked contemplatively on his pipe, brow furrowed. "How have you come to this decision, Hatake-kun?"
"I-" Kakashi paused. "I joined when Minato-sensei gave up his life to protect the village," he said quietly. "That was six years ago, Hokage-sama." Kakashi paused again and thankfully, the Hokage remained silent, knowing that Kakashi took the time to collect his thoughts. "I have come to realize that my duty now lies not to the protection of the village in service to the Corps but somewhere else."
"And what might that be?" Hokage-sama asked, tapping ashes out of his pipe. Clink, clink, clink.
"To Sensei's legacy." Kakashi supposed he was laying it on a little too thick, reminding the Hokage that the Yondaime happened to be his teacher, but he would take every card he could get.
"Do you know what you're asking, Hatake-kun?" Sandaime-sama asked gravely, setting down his pipe and steepling his old, wrinkled fingers.
He had never been more sure in his life. "Yes," Kakashi said and dared to look up and straight at the older man's eyes. He saw old, dark black eyes that had seen more than he and his younger self put together. Two wars and the rise of a village, reigning twice, more than any Kage in the history of the Hidden Villages. Solemn, impenetrable eyes that hinted at a strength that could topple mountains and gently guide a young child. He suddenly felt very, very young in the presence of those eyes.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," he repeated.
Sandaime-sama inhaled deeply and something in his eyes changed. "Then that's settled. We'll discuss the matter later in more detail, Kakashi-kun."
Kakashi didn't miss the use of his given name- the Hokage approved! He hid the joy from his face, but his chakra flickered, excited. "I am humbled by your generosity," Kakashi said and meant every word of it.
"I trust you'll stay on until a replacement for your team has been picked?"
"Already taken care of," Kakashi assured him, idly wondering what Genma would think of being promoted and with another infamous genius on his team.
"You're lying," Tenzou said flatly, not even bothering to look up from his whetstone. "Captain would never do that, not without telling us."
"I'm telling you, I heard this straight from the Nara with the grasshopper mask, straight off of guard duty," Genma said, fiddling with the wrappings on his legs.
"Nara Shikato needs to learn to keep his mouth shut," Raidou said easily, lifting his chest-plate with a hand and holding it up to the light. "Cracked, again," he muttered, squinting at the bright fluorescent light.
"If you didn't go about charging at every enemy nin like an idiot, you wouldn't be going through so many," Genma said, ripping off tape with his teeth. "So, what do you think?"
"I think it's a sack of shit," Raidou said, letting his armor drop on the worktable with a thump. "The only person more devoted to the Corps is the Commander and we all know that Captain's next in line for that anyway. ANBU's his life."
"He's our Captain," Tenzou said, as if it explained everything. Genma had to admit, the rumor did sound outlandish and no matter if Nara had sworn up, down and sideways that it was true. This was Hatake Kakashi they were talking about. Only the Commander and a few of the veterans had served longer than him. Captain quitting would be- be- it would be like the sky suddenly turning green or the Uchiha suddenly turning nice. Impossible.
The three were given a quick rap on the door before the topic of their conversation sailed into the room, scroll in hand. "Yo," he said.
"Captain," Tenzou greeted him instantly.
Genma made a face at Raidou. Yo?, he mouthed, senbon almost falling out of his mouth. Raidou shrugged in response, looking just as confused.
"Congratulations, Genma," Hatake Kakashi said. "You've just been promoted to Captain of Delta Squad."
This time the senbon really did fall out of his mouth.
"Dango?" Hatake Kakashi, son of the White Fang, former ANBU Hound, and student of the late Yondaime Hokage offered Uchiha Itachi a skewer.
"Thank you," Itachi said politely and took it with slight, calloused hands.
"So, I've been thinking," Kakashi said vaguely, gesturing at the surroundings with a used skewer. The slight piece of wood looked positively lethal in his hands. "Would you like to join a top secret organization of ninja dedicated to keeping the peace for Konoha and get a cool tattoo?"
Itachi chewed on his sweets, considering the offer. "This is very sudden," he said.
"Yeah," Kakashi agreed, twirling the skewer in his hands. Some of the neighboring shinobi looked at him nervously; Itachi calmly sipped at his tea. "But I figured, you know, you're young, talented and probably dying for a chance to really challenge yourself."
"Not really," Itachi said.
"Would you do it if I asked you to join only because I want to annoy my old teammates?"
Itachi seemed to briefly consider the idea, his brow puckering. "No."
"Refusing my offer as a subtle act of rebellion against your Clan elders isn't very smart," Kakashi said easily, as if they were just discussing the weather. "Tea?" he offered, picking up the smoking teapot to the side.
"I don't understand," Itachi said and he picked up his cup, accepting a refill with lowered eyes. "Why are you doing this, Hatake-san?"
"Did you know your Uncle?" Kakashi asked suddenly, propping his chin on a hand.
"No," Itachi said, seemingly undisturbed by the non-sequitur. "He passed away shortly before my time, during the Third Shinobi War."
"Uchiha Obito," Kakashi said in a quiet voice, putting the skewer down. "Was my teammate. And he asked me to protect the village, to protect the team and to help me, he gave me a gift." He tapped at his forehead protector, slanted to cover his left eye. "I need your help to protect the village, Uchiha-kun."
"But-"
For the first time during their conversation, Kakashi cut Itachi off, his voice impatient. "I know about your damned clan politics, Itachi. And I know that things are damned complicated right now and that they're dragging you into the bloody mess, hoping you'll be able to fix it, one way or another." His voice softened and Kakashi tapped again at his forehead protector, this time on the engraved insignia. "The Clan is the Village and the Village is the Clan. Protect Konoha and protect the Uchiha, even if it means from themselves. Joining the Corps will help you, if you do it on your own terms."
Itachi gave him a long, considering look and Kakashi could almost catch a flicker of red in dark black eyes. "You are very informed," Itachi said.
"It's my job to be," Kakashi said grimly. "Things are coming to a head, Uchiha-kun. The Corps is being poisoned from the inside and there are rumors that the Uchiha are unhappy. Konoha will tear itself apart if everything comes to a head and it's my job to ensure that doesn't happen."
"The Corps?" Itachi asked delicately, sipping at his lukewarm tea.
"It's very much tied with clan politics," Kakashi said. "Other than that, I can't say much." The unsaid but if you join hung heavy in the air.
"My Father would be pleased with my acceptance," Itachi said, tapping idly on his tea cup. I accept, Kakashi heard, the soft clink of nail on porcelain resolving itself into a message.
"I'm sure he would be," Kakashi said, fiercely relieved that the gamble he had made paid. He hid a feral grin under his mask. Danzou had better watch out.
"Captain?"
"Not your Captain anymore," Kakashi corrected Tenzou gently, shifting over on the bed to make room. His kunai were all sealed and packed, armor and ninjato carefully packed into a trunk with Sensei's kunai, Father's tanto and Obito's goggles. He still had to deal with the linen, the wall hangings Kushina-san had given him and...
"Is there something wrong?" Kakashi asked nonchalantly, carefully monitoring Tenzou's chakra.
"Cap- Hatake-" Tenzou made a choked sort of noise. "I don't know what you are anymore," he said, sounding wretched.
"Hatake Kakashi," he said and carefully telegraphed his move, letting Tenzou see the reassuring pat come. "And your friend."
"But you're leaving-"
"No one ever really leaves ANBU," Kakashi said and awkwardly rubbed Tenzou's shoulder. By the Shodai, he'd forgotten how young Tenzou was. Fifteen, sixteen? Uncomfortable in his own skin and wary of the world; he'd forgotten how skittish Tenzou had been when he was younger. How Orochimaru had carved uncertainty and fear into his heart and then abandoned him to an unknown world.
"I'll still be around," he promised, entertaining thoughts of murdering Orochimaru in the back of his head. "I'm just moving down to the apartment complex a few blocks over, you know, in the subsidized housing area in the Bunkyo ward. You're welcome to visit any time you'd like," he said.
"Thank you," Tenzou said awkwardly, shoulders hunched. "Ha- Hatake-san."
"Senpai," Kakashi corrected. "You're still my kouhai, aren't you, rookie?"
"Of course, Kakashi-senpai." Tenzou gave him a watery smile and Kakashi was struck by an idea.
"Tenzou," he said quietly. "Have you noticed them?" The boy's chakra flickered. "So you have, then," Kakashi said, more than a little proud.
"They...they remind me of some of the others...the others that He worked on," Tenzou said in a very quiet voice, face as white as a ghost.
"Yes," Kakashi said grimly. "They do seem strange, don't they? Always conveniently there to replace a fallen member, and each one of them has been nominated by Shimura Danzou for acceptance into the service."
Tenzou's face, if at all possible, whitened even more. "You don't mean-?"
"ANBU is changing," Kakashi said. "And not for the better. Keep an eye out for me, Tenzou."
"Of course, sir," Tenzou said obediently. "Kakashi-senpai," he added a beat later and Kakashi was tempted to ruffle the boy's hair. Pack, the voice in the back of his mind whispered. Protect the pack.
"...ANBU guards will be assigned to watch him during your absences. I trust you've drawn up the appropriate seals for the apartment?"
Kakashi withdrew a packet from his flak vest and handed it over to the Hokage. "It's not the best I can do, but given the time frame and materials, I could only come up with so much," he said apologetically, beating back the urge to kick the floor like some genin. "I'll do much better with more time and a better sense of Uzumaki," he added hastily, watching the Hokage's bushy brows slowly rise towards his receding hairline.
"This is very impressive work," the Sandaime said, fingers tracing the kanji with an expert touch.
"It's adequate," Kakashi shrugged. Now if really had the time and chakra-blood ink and some of Minato-sensei's books, he could do proper justice to those security seals. He had one in mind that would cauterize shut the chakra coils of any intruders and another interesting one that electrocuted at a wrong touch.
"More than adequate," the Hokage said and handed the packet pack to Kakashi. "The funds will be wired to your account on a monthly basis and you are given a two month leave from the active duty roster to adjust to your new role." Kakashi nodded, expecting as much.
"Anything else, Hokage-sama?"
"This is very sudden of you, Kakashi-kun," the Hokage said, folding his hands together and settling them in his lap.
Kakashi blinked. "Sir?"
"You've served me very well as a shinobi, Kakashi-kun, as a jounin of Konoha and as an ANBU operative. But never before now have you showed any interest in Naruto-kun."
Kakashi's chest tightened as he considered his options. Twenty year old Kakashi was perfectly happy to ignore the face of his dead sensei come back to life, throwing himself into every available mission. No wonder that the Hokage thought his actions strange; they were, for his younger self. He could lie, make up a tale about how he'd befriended Naruto; mutter something about forgiveness and remembering the past.
Or he could tell the truth. "Minato-sensei was-" Kakashi began slowly and then stopped, caught by uncertainty. "After- after Father passed, he became..." He searched for the right words to explain how Minato had kept Kakashi alive, had taken him in and gave him a purpose. "Family," he considered, but that wasn't quite right too, it didn't explain how Minato-sensei had taught him how to kill a man in order to protect the village, in order to protect himself. It didn't explain how Minato-sensei had chosen Kakashi and how Kakashi had chosen him.
Sandaime-sama knew where this was heading; Kakashi could smell the grief on him, fresh as it was six years ago in the wake of Kyuubi's attack. "Minato-sensei was gone and that meant everyone was gone." Everyone in his pack, dead and Kakashi had nothing to live, no pack to protect and live for. "I was selfish and I didn't want to think about Naruto, about Sensei's son. I couldn't bear to look at him and see everyone I'd lost," Kakashi said in a low voice, shame trickling through. "I joined ANBU and for six very long years, I did the best I could. To forget. To protect the village, like sensei and Obito wanted me to."
Sandaime-sama nodded. "I understand, Kakashi-kun," he said quietly.
Kakashi shook his head. There was more to tell and it was strangely cathartic to hear it aloud, to have the Hokage listen and understand. "The last mission was...difficult," he said. "I was very tired and emotionally compromised. I should have refused the mission, if only for the safety for my team, but I went and tried to complete it, only to be caught in a genjutsu. It was careless of me." He looked down at his gloved hands, unable to bear looking at the Hokage. "It was a very good one," he said blankly. "The more experienced the shinobi, the better the illusion. It brought all the worst fear and terrors out of the mind and made them real. It was only due to the skill of my team that I woke up with my mind intact."
Kakashi rubbed at the armored plate on his glove absently. "I saw Naruto in there, abandoned and alone. Minato-sensei was pack and Naruto is his son. Naruto's pack," he said. "I have a duty to him."
"He would be very proud of you," the Hokage said quietly.
Kakashi, for all that he was thirty years old and a hardened jounin, clung to words like a child clung to a blanket. "Thank you, sir," he said, voice thickening only slightly.
"You may find it a duty to his father, but my hope is that you will grow to care for him on his own merits," the Hokage continued, dark eyes piercing.
Kakashi smiled for the first time since he entered the sealed room. "Oh, I don't doubt that, Hokage-sama," he assured him and made a note to stop by Ichiraku later tonight.