Chapter 6. Footsteps in the Dust

Kakashi took in the scene before him, and gave them his best unimpressed look. "So you guys took over the council in the five minutes we were gone?"

Shikamaru, Temari and Ebizou looked entirely unrepentant.

Temari gave them a particularly challenging look, with her chin in the air and her hands in her sides. "We weren't getting anywhere, so I figured I'd step in for you two were off doing who knows what," she said.

At her side, Shikamaru was still pinching his eyebrows. He looked like he'd been doing it for a while.

"So you used a wind jutsu. Indoors." Gaara said dryly, eyebrows (or lack thereof) raised at the rather disheveled council members. They did rather look like a hurricane had just passed through – that, or they'd all decided to style their hair like Kakashi's. Kakashi had to admit the latter was not particularly likely.

"Well, for all that it was a big hassle, we did actually figure some things out," Shikamaru said, pointing at a map behind him. He'd placed several pins in it, marking three locations throughout the East of Wind Country. One of them the fortress near the border, one of them the nomad settlement, and one the location where the jounin must have been jumped.

Kakashi eyed Shikamaru and wondered how much he'd told them.

Shikamaru didn't flinch under his gaze. "Obviously, there have been enough occurrences to really signify a pattern. We're going to have to collect some more data. All we can be sure of is that all these locations were remote."

Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest and nodded thoughtfully.

Gaara glanced up at him. "Sawada-san, the jounin who was attacked, didn't carry a headband. They might have mistaken him for a rogue," he said quietly.

Remote places; refugees, nomads and rogues, people their attackers must've thought no one would miss. But Gaara had noticed. And so had Kakashi.

"Well, better figure out their next likely target, then," Kakashi said lightly.

Finally, the rowdy councilmember from before, Yamada, spoke up. "Kazekage-sama, surely we can handle this by ourselves."

Gaara leveled him with a stare. "You would tell the Hokage what to do?"

Yamada backpedaled very quickly under that frigid look. "I – no, obviously not –"

"As you question my actions, too," Gaara said unrelentingly. "While I appreciate you thinking for yourself, Yamada-san, it is not actually part of your job. We will handle this as we see fit."

Yamada ducked his head.

"Perhaps we had better take a break from the Council meeting," Ebizou spoke up. All around, people sagged in relief. Gaara nodded his assent.

Slowly, the Council members began to leave the room. Only Yamada hesitated and stopped near Ebizou to whisper something into his ear. Ebizou's face remained unreadable.

Mitarashi Anko had gone on many missions in her life, but there were few she enjoyed as much as the ones where she got to sneak around and do vaguely illegal things. Better yet, this was a mission where she got to sneak around in a former enemy village. First of its kind, which made her a pioneer.

With Konoha at peace it seemed like all the good missions had disappeared. It was all just "kick some bandit ass, escort this old fart somewhere, build a couple of houses" and although kicking bandits around was good fun for a while, a kunoichi in the prime of her life needed a bit more excitement.

She would hardly be killed if anyone caught her, but it would be trouble for the Hokage. Although it would be fun to watch Kakashi sweat a little, it wasn't really the done thing, was it? Anyway, the threat of being caught added a bit of excitement and Anko had always enjoyed a good thrill.

All of this was a good distraction from thinking about her former teacher reentering the stage, too. Last she heard, the old bastard saved Uchiha Sasuke's life and slithered back to his lair. Back then she'd thought, just for a moment, perhaps there's something left of the man I thought I knew.

But he could have saved a dozen lives, and still have destroyed a thousand. There was only so much you could excuse a man for.

She shook her head. Better to stay focused on the mission at hand.

Yamada Isao's house hadn't been very hard to find. In fact, all she'd had to do was find a kid with tattoos like his and follow him home from school. The Yamada clan were a close-knit bunch and all lived together in the same compound. It was a rather cheerful place, filled with children and old women knitting on porches. The houses were decorated with brightly painted window blinds and colorful woven mats that hung from the balconies to dry after a good wash.

There weren't a lot of places to hide, so Anko had to take take things slow. She'd never been ANBU, but she'd learned a thing or two from the old snake. A simple genjutsu would divert attention from her, and so long as she stuck to the shadows and cloaked her chakra, few would notice her. Besides, it was the middle of the day; most of the adults would be away at work, and those who were left behind would hardly be on guard in their own home.

The little bit of Intel she had gathered beforehand told her Yamada Isao was married, with two young children. They were too young to be at the Academy and their mother was working, so they would likely be at some kind of daycare. That would give Anko a moment to slip into their house and do some more research.

She searched out a group of women sitting together in a more secluded part of the compound. Judging by their signatures they were civilians, which meant it was very easy to place them under a simple genjutsu. All it did was nudge their conversation in a slightly different direction as their thoughts began to drift, and suddenly they were telling her all about what pretty purple markings "Isao-san" had recently painted over his door. She was in his house before the illusion even released the two women.

As expected, the house was empty. It was a rather cozy place, with the walls painted a bright and cheerful yellow that contrasted sharply with their owner's gloomy demeanor. Children's toys were scattered across the floor, and she had to avoid a high chair to reach a small cabinet against the wall. She crouched next to it and quickly checked it for chakra markers before she touched the wood. She frowned when she found none, and went to explore the rest of the house. It would have been far too convenient for him to hide any incriminating documents in his living room, anyway.

She searched through every corner of the house and even got a few of her snakes to help her out, their little tongues flicking out in search of interesting scents. They were usually uncommonly good at sniffing out hollow floorboards and hidden compartments, but it seemed Yamada Isao had nothing to hide.

Or… Perhaps he did. As Anko watched, one of her snakes snuck into the small crib stashed in a corner of one of the children's bedrooms. The child seem to have outgrown it, although she obviously still played with it judging by the number of dolls lying in the little bassinet. The snake was more interested in the bottom of the crib, though, hissing at it.

"What's wrong?" Anko strode across the room and grabbed the little crib, turning it over.

"There is chakra inside," the snake hissed.

Anko narrowed her eyes, flipped a long flat blade from her boot, and carefully cut open the bottom of the crib, following the seams so her interference would be less obvious afterwards. What she wouldn't give for Byakugan. When she opened it, she got her answers.

Inside the seam, someone had sown in a rusty old key, shimmering with chakra.

Somewhere downstairs, the door suddenly fell shut.

They had waited until only Gaara, Shikamaru, Temari, Ebizou and Kakashi were left behind. Then, Shikamaru finally spoke up.

"So, where do you think they'll go next? Will they stay in Wind Country?" He asked Gaara.

Gaara's eyes narrowed as he looked at the map. He pointed to a small marker north of Sunagakure. "There's an old watchtower here, dating back to the second great ninja war. My last report says there's a small group of nomads there, also. I've got a few veterans stationed there as well, to keep an eye on things."

His finger moved to the other side of the map, to the southern border. "There are smaller settlements in the South as well. They're not refugees or nomads, but they're poor." His hand moved again. "In the West, we have some farmers and nomads scattered across the land. Not many – most people live near the larger oases up north."

"There's also the fortress near the border, where we went," Kakashi suggested. "The nomads were attacked twice – the refugees at the fortress people might be as well."

"So that leaves us with four potential targets?" Temari asked.

Shikamaru sighed. "Only if you ignore the fact they might also have moved on to another country."

A few years ago, that would have been that. Good riddance to them, let someone else deal with things. It said a lot about the state of the world that no one suggested leaving it be.

"I've got my ANBU and Sakura up in the land of Rivers. Owl is a good tracker, she knows what she's doing. If they're out there, she'll find them," Kakashi offered.

"That just leaves us with the question of who they are," Ebizou said. He made his way over to a nearby chair and sank down, joints creaking.

Kakashi could do with a comfortable chair himself, but no, sitting down in the middle of a dramatic conversation was only socially acceptable for men over fifty. Well, if Icha Icha was to be believed. "I don't suppose we'll find out until we find them," he said.

"This is Fox all over again," Shikamaru muttered, echoing Kakashi's thoughts.

"Fox?" Temari asked.

Shikamaru looked vaguely guilty for bringing it up. "We had a bit of trouble, a couple of months ago. Took us a while to find them," He said carefully.

"So how did you?" She asked.

Shikamaru nodded at Kakashi. "Ask him."

Kakashi waved a hand. "Mahh, I can't give away all our state secrets, but the main reason we were able to catch him is because he made too many mistakes."

"Oh, that's helpful."

"Well, it might be. I mean, what were they trying to do to these nomads? And why did they have to come back? Perhaps it went wrong the first time. Perhaps they had to go back to try again. I'm guessing they didn't mean to let your jounin walk either," Kakashi drawled. "Either way, we know who they prey on and we know that they don't always get it right. It seems to me these guys aren't particularly professional."

He took some satisfaction from Temari's mildly impressed look.

"Which makes Orochimaru a rather less likely target," Gaara said thoughtfully.

Kakashi shrugged. "Let's hope so. In which case, you won't really need me either."

Gaara's face relaxed into a faint smile."Perhaps not. Either way, you might want to stick around until we know for sure."

Kakashi nodded. "What's the plan of attack?"

"I will send patrols to each of the locations we've mentioned, posthaste," Gaara said, opening the door and beckoning a nearby aide. As he did so, he scribbled a few notes on a piece of paper and infused the paper with his chakra. Kakashi had seen the trick before once or twice; the seal was there to ensure the text was only readable to whomever Gaara was addressing. Gaara handed it to the aide. "Take this to the mission desk, as quickly as you can."

The aide nodded and left.

Gaara returned to the room. "I'll get Baki to send out a few additional patrols around the village as well. Hopefully, we'll find something of use."

"KAZEKAGE-SAMA!"

As one, the shinobi turned to the door as they sensed the dangerous, agitated chakra signature of a jounin in his prime. The door slammed open and let in Yamada Isao, dragging Anko by one arm and trailed by a couple of nervous chunin.

"Ouch, jeez, you ass –" Anko was complaining, trying to twist around in his grip. One of her snakes had curled itself around Yamada's arm and bitten down, but it didn't seem to have much of an effect. The Yamada were notorious for creating Suna's infamous puppet poison.

Yamada's face was absolutely furious. "What is this miscreant doing in my house? WELL?"

"Ahh," Kakashi said, as the others turned towards him. This is where things got awkward. "Well, you know, ahh."

Anko finally managed to pull away from Yamada, and shrugged her coat back into place. Her snake released its prey and leapt back to her, curling around her throat and hissing at Yamada. "Sorry, Hokage-sama. I got a bit carried away."

Gaara turned towards him. "She was there on your orders?"

"Mahh, I suppose she was," Kakashi said, "but I assure you no malice was intended."

"It's not exactly polite to go snooping around in your host's home," Temari said, clearly displeased. She glared at Shikamaru, as though he had given the order instead of Kakashi.

Gaara nodded his agreement. "I am curious what you thought to achieve here, by insulting and harassing one of my men," he said, his voice notably colder.

"It's just him being paranoid, ain't it? Anyway, never mind all that," Anko spit out, and drew something from the lining of her pocket. It was an old, rusty key, practically glowing with chakra. She practically pushed it into Yamada's face. "What the hell is this?"

Gaara's expression told Kakashi his interference would definitely be addressed again at some other point, but his pale eyes slid away and locked onto the key. "Well?"

Yamada spluttered. "You can't possibly tell me your siding with them!? Your father would never have stood for this –"

"Answer the question. We'll deal with the rest later," Temari snapped.

Yamada blinked at her, like a dog who'd just gotten a stern talking to from its owner. "I – it's for my house –"

"Like hell it is," Anko said, "there were no seals or anything on your house. You weren't expecting interference. This key is for something else."

Yamada's jaw tightened. "And it's no business of yours, is it, you little bi-"

"I think I might be able to help here," Ebizou interrupted him, just in time to avoid catastrophe. "It's all right, Isao-kun. I know story behind that key. I trust you have told no one?"

Yamada faltered. "Ebizou-sama –"

"I know she had no business searching your house, and I'm sure the Hokage will explain his reasoning," here, Ebizou looked at Kakashi from the corner of his eye, "but in regards to that key, we have a confession of our own to make, don't we?"

"I vowed I wouldn't tell anyone," Yamada tried.

"Not even your Kazekage?" Temari said sharply.

Yamada threw her and her brother such a foul look at it was immediately obvious why he hadn't told them. Even so, he tried, "if your father never trusted you with this information, I don't see why I should."

Temari snorted. "Could it have something to do with the fact that he was murdered seven years ago?" She said. Kakashi could just see Shikamaru laying a hand over her wrist, as if to hold her back.

Yamada met her gaze with an equally cold one. "Fine. Fine. I will tell you, if it means keeping harpies like this one out of my house from now on," he said, nodding at Anko, who mouthed harpies with a scandalized expression on her face.

Kakashi leaned back against the table. He would explain himself in time, there didn't seem to be any particular rush. He wanted to hear this story first.

Ebizou nodded at Yamada, who looked churlish for one more moment before starting to speak.

"About thirty years ago, during the second great ninja war, Sunagakure strengthened its borders by building fortresses and watchtowers in strategic positions. However, we figured out early on keeping prisoners so close to the borders was dangerous. To that end, my father and the third Kazekage built a prison, hidden away in the desert, where only those aware of its existence would be able to find it. My family was ordered to govern it. However, the war ended only a year later and the prison was shut down and forgotten," Yamada told them, speaking reluctantly.

The room was briefly quiet. Keeping such a large facility hidden must have been immensely difficult, but judging from the surprised expressions on the sand siblings' faces they had succeeded.

"An entire prison complex?" Temari asked softly, still stunned. As she continued, her voice slowly rose in volume. "No one thought to tell us? Like that wouldn't have been useful at some point? Where the hell is this place, anyway?"

Gaara turns towards Kakashi with a thoughtful expression. "Why did you choose to search Yamada-san's house? Did you know about this?"

Kakashi pulled a face. "No, we got lucky there. I must apologize, Gaara, for my obvious interference. I meant to report my findings to you, regardless of what they were. As you can see, Anko hasn't made any attempts to hide her actions or my involvement from you," he began. "When you told me about the issues you've had with your council, I felt it would be the best place to start our investigation. Don't you think it's suspicious, that all these attacks should take place in your country, even though it is protected by you and your shinobi?"

Gaara regarded him patiently. As per usual, his face gave away nothing of his true feelings. "What are you implying?"

"That it's an inside job, Kazekage-dono," Kakashi said. Better to get to the point right away.

Yamada gasped, and even the others looked surprised. Only Shikamaru looked like he'd expected that answer. "It would make sense, if you think about it," he drawled. "People don't just go around attacking shinobi countries unless they're absolutely sure they can get away with it. If someone in the Council was covering for them…"

Yamada had turned distinctly red in the face. "Kazekage-sama, I know we have our differences, but I would never betray you or my country. It has housed my family for generations; this is my home!"

Kakashi shrugged. "If it helps, I believe him. I think us finding the key was just a lucky coincidence. That said, I can't help but wonder why there is a key at all, when the prison has been locked down for so long."

At this question, all eyes turned back to Yamada. He glanced nervously from one to the other before finally settling his gaze on Gaara. "I – I hope you can forgive me. I thought I was helping."

"What have you done?" Gaara asked, his voice darkening.

"One of the boys from my clan found them a few weeks ago. They were struggling in the desert. They wanted to come here, but there were so many of them – too many. I found them a different place," Yamada said desperately.

"Who?" Gaara asked, his chakra crackling like thunder.

"Refugees. They said they were from the Sound village," Yamada said. "You know, Orochimaru's village? But everyone knows those people are mad."

"So you locked them away," Ebizou said, more statement than question. "Oh, Isao-kun – that is not what I asked you to do when I gave you the key, all those years ago."

"You found refugees from the sound village, and didn't tell me," Gaara's eyes were starting to look rather dangerous. If he'd still had his bijuu, Gaara's anger would probably have woken it up by now. "Who are these people? What were they running from?"

Yamada had by now clearly realized he was in trouble. "Civilians. Children. A few chunin too," he added, as if that would make a difference.

"Young people, innocents," Gaara said, striding towards Yamada. "And you locked them into some prison because you were scared they would hurt us?"

"My people are taking care of them!" Yamada argued. "We don't want them to die, and we will eventually let them go, when the time is right –"

"And when, exactly, was that going to be?" Gaara asked, circling Yamada like a vulture. He was smaller, younger and lighter than Yamada, but the older man was shaking. For the first time in years, it wasn't hard to imagine why Gaara had once been feared throughout Sunagakure.

"I – I – I don't know. I'm so sorry."

Gaara gave him a furious look. "Get out. I will deal with your insubordination later. Hokage, here you have your motivation. This must be why Orochimaru's people are here. They're looking for these refugees."

Kakashi nodded. He wasn't sure what he'd expected, but it wasn't this. This was worse, by far. "And they've already found most of the other nomad groups in your country. And as it turns out, there's also a bunch of inexperienced Suna shinobi sitting right on that prison, like a beacon to any well-trained sensor."

Gaara nodded. "As soon as Orochimaru's group gets close enough to the prison, that will allow them to find their prey."

In another part of the country, Sakura was thoroughly lost and slowly reaching the point of exhaustion. She eyed her partner uncertainly, afraid to lose face by asking where exactly they were. She wasn't sure Owl knew either; the woman had stopped several times already to retrace her steps or change directions entirely. Owl followed any sign, from broken twigs to footprints in the dirt. The illusionist's chakra signature had disappeared a long time ago.

Still Owl continued, slowing one moment only to suddenly speed up and move at a pace Sakura had a hard time matching. She'd been trained for either short, explosive action, or long, slow struggles, not both at the same time.

"Owl-san, it'll go dark soon. We won't be able to see the tracks," she finally said. That seemed like a more acceptable excuse then saying she was tired.

Owl stopped. She'd pulled up her long hair into a thick ponytail shortly after they left on their search, and strands of her hair now clung to her bare neck. She held a hand up towards the sun. "We've lost them. It seems you weren't the only one that blue-eyed man of yours fooled," she conceded. "Let's make our way back to the fortress, we'll camp there. They'll be happy to have us there after the day they've had."

Sakura nodded. "Is there any chance we'll find them tomorrow?"

"Not unless they come looking for us. How is your arm?"

"It's fine," Sakura said. Enough time had passed that she only felt a faint sting left behind by the memory of torn flesh and muscle. Sometimes, after healing serious injuries, the sensation would linger for hours afterwards, as if her brain hadn't yet realized the wound had been healed.

Owl's stance relaxed. "As expected of Tsunade-sama's prized pupil," she said lightly.

Sakura smiled faintly, but she didn't really feel in the mood for celebration. "We didn't catch them. Sensei will be disappointed." Hell, she was disappointed.

Owl sighed. "It is what it is. They were too clever for us today, but we'll have another shot at them soon, I'm sure." She pulled out a scroll from her pouch and cut open her thumb. She followed it up with a series of hand seals Sakura had often formed herself.

"You have a summoning contract?" Sakura asked.

Owl inclined her head. A small, elegant owl appeared, its claws hooked around her wrist. "This is Fuyumi," Owl said. Fuyumi inclined her pretty little head and showed off her cream and gold feathers. Owl gave Fuyumi instructions, and then the little bird flew off.

"She will see more than we do," Owl said.

"I suppose this explains your codename," Sakura said, as they watched the bird go.

"It's a bit on the nose," Owl admitted. "Although I actually wanted clouded leopards for my summoning contract, but my teacher convinced me owls would be more useful."

" 'Clouded leopard' wouldn't have been a very catchy codename, anyway," Sakura said, trying not to smile. Right now, the only thing that separated this from getting to know a new chunin or jounin colleague was the hard, cold mask hiding Owl's identity and expressions from view.

In the Academy Sakura had been taught ANBU didn't have emotions. Except Owl had been a little girl dreaming of leopards; Sakura could hardly see her as an unfeeling machine. They didn't laugh at silly jokes either, but here Owl was, laughing with a soft, easy chuckle.

Sakura smiled tentatively. "I suppose I would have been 'Slug' if I'd ever joined ANBU."

"Fortunately, ANBU does occasionally stray from naming agents after their pets," Owl said, with a dryness that would have made Kakashi proud.

The rest of the way back passed pretty uneventfully. Sakura tried to interrogate Owl about Kakashi's ANBU codename, of course (because if you did have access to potentially embarrassing blackmail material about someone, you had to at least try), but Owl insisted it had to remain secret. As they continued Sakura threw out a few suggestions of her own, such as 'dog', 'hound', 'wolf', and once her exhaustion began to take over, 'hedgehog' and 'giraffe'. Owl seemed particularly fond of the last one.

"Either way, it's a shame they saw us," Owl said, after they stopped joking around. "Between my mask and your reputation, they now have to know Konoha is involved. Whoever they are. I should've thought of it sooner."

Sakura squirmed. "At least they won't go after the fortress again, right? If they know we're here, they won't risk it."

Owl shrugged. "They might, if they think it's worth it. If they are just ordinary bandits, they'll leave it be. But then ordinary bandits usually can't fool an ANBU and a jounin."

Sakura nodded. An anxious, unsettled feeling came over her like a dark cloud overhead. It didn't leave her for the rest of the evening, even though their reception at the fort was as warm as Owl had predicted. An old woman living with her son and grandchild offered them a straw bed for the night, as well as a bowl of warm stew. The two kunoichi set a clone outside to stand watch.

As Sakura drifted off, the scent of straw mingled with the background noise of crackling embers in the fireplace and villagers talking in the distance. This fortress, she decided, was pretty damn close to what she thought a family home should feel like. Somehow, though, the unsettled feeling from earlier didn't go away.

AN:

Happy holidays!

This chapter was a complete pain in the ass to write, but I think I've salvaged it. Will Kakashi get away with his meddling, though?

I also wrote a one-shot about Sakumo, Minato and Kakashi. It's pretty fluffy and happy, go check it out if you're in the mood! It's called "A Warm Impression".

I'd also like to remind you I am on tumblr as hii-raeth. Give me a follow for cool fanart, headcanons, asks and more!

Also, in case you forgot, Owl is Uzuki Yuugao.