Chapter 7.

The next morning, Kakashi woke up earlier than he'd planned. He groaned and pressed his face into the pillow. He hadn't slept much, caught between thoughts of the secret prison and his father's scroll. He turned to look at the annoying little thing. The fabric of his pillow was soft against his bare face and if not for his curiosity, he would have turned around to sleep for a few more minutes. According to the alarm clock, it was only 5 AM. They would leave around 6. Plenty of time to lie in.

But then there was that damn scroll.

Kakashi reached out one arm from his bed. He couldn't quite reach, so he had to stretch until his fingertips touched the paper. He almost pushed the scroll of the bedside table altogether and lunged out of bed to catch it in time. Perhaps that would teach him to stop instinctively keeping his left eye closed after waking up.

He turned the scroll over in his hands a few times as he slowly returned to a more comfortable position. Chakra still lingered inside the scroll. Not so much that he thought it might be dangerous, or even a trap – he was pretty sure all the chakra he felt was part of the seal keeping the scroll close. He turned on the lamp on the bedside table, and studied the seals covering the scroll's cover again. After years of researching sealing techniques, he knew of the existence of just about every sealing technique there was (which wasn't exactly the same thing as being able to use them, unfortunately), but this one eluded him. He recognized symbols, but…

If anything, it was more like a cipher than a classic seal. He tried pushing his own chakra in without any results, and letting a drop of blood for onto the paper hadn't worked either. The outer layer of the scroll was covered in seals, but… There were enough empty spots for a few more characters to be added.

Except if he added them in ink and got it wrong, he wouldn't be able to try again. He didn't think it was unlikely the scroll would destroy its own contents if he thought it wrong. Clearly the people from Sand who had tried to open it had thought so as well, because there were no visible signs of interference on the outer shell. Or… Had they tried at all?

He'd thought of a few options he might try to fill in. His own name, for example, or his mother's – except he had no idea when his father had been imprisoned. For all Kakashi knew, Sakumo had been there long before his birth. Perhaps even before he'd met Kakashi's mother.

In a flash of annoyance, Kakashi tossed the scroll across the room and into his backpack. He probably wouldn't be able to sleep anymore, anyway. He got up out of bed and dressed.

Their initial idea had been to go to the prison as quickly as possible, but Gaara had calmly pointed out his position forbade him from leaving whenever he liked. To further complicate matters, it would be a strange world where the Kazekage sent out the Hokage to do his job for him, going deep into Wind Country's territory. The last thoroughly aggravating problem was that Gaara couldn't leave while Kakashi was still in Wind Country; too many shinobi would protest at the presence of such a powerful former enemy in the heart of their country without their own Kage to protect them. In short, the politics of the whole thing were incredibly outdated and annoying. The only solution had been to send out both Kages, and given the circumstances they had decided to both go to the secret prison.

Kakashi couldn't help but feel for Gaara, though. He himself was quite used to not just being able to leave the village whenever he liked from when he'd been a jounin, but it was unthinkable anyone would try to stop him or delay him now that he was Hokage (well, Yamato might try). The amount of red tape bureaucracy Gaara had to deal with was staggering. With the councilmembers and main families so restless, though, this was not the time or place to test Gaara's limits. So they had to wait, much to everyone's consternation.

Kakashi exited his room. Anko, who'd been acting as his bodyguard in Yuugao's absence, sat up immediately, eyes alert. "You're early," she said.

"The early bird gets the worm," Kakashi said, in a mood to annoy people after his own failure with the scroll. "Any word from Naruto?"

She nodded and handed him a small scroll. "He sent this by way of frog."

Kakashi wanted to ask her why she hadn't told him, but the answer came when he saw the scroll had already been opened. He raised an eyebrow at her.

She shrugged and gave him a look reminiscent of a cat who'd just caught a bird but was trying to convince its owner otherwise. "Sakura said to let you sleep," she said.

"Sakura isn't here –" oh – oh wait – "she told you before we left Konoha, didn't she?" He corrected himself.

She grimaced. "It has only been a few months since Fox. Your kids worry."

Kakashi snorted, caught somewhere in between exasperation and affection. He opened Naruto's scroll. It read, "Made it home. No sign of trouble. Brought Killer Bee along, hope you don't mind."

Kakashi sighed, tried to picture Yamato meeting Killer Bee, and immediately felt a little bit better. He hoped Bee would team up with Gai, Yamato would hate that. "Thanks," he told Anko, and burned up the scroll with a simple fire jutsu.

He would have to talk to Sakura, though.

Which reminded him. "I didn't know you took orders from Sakura," he said.

"Well, she does technically outrank me. Anyway, once you're aware someone could break your entire body with a single punch, it doesn't really seem to matter that they were twelve, pink and cutesie only yesterday," Anko said, following him.

"Fair enough."

"Speaking of Pinky," Anko said cheerfully, "is she coming after us? Her and her lovely feathery escort, of course."

"Once they're done, yes."

"You're as talkative as ever, I see," Anko said.

"You know, Anko, I have complained of your being too formal in the past, but there is also such a thing as being too friendly with your Hokage."

"You just don't want to answer me."

The only way to escape Anko and her annoyingly accurate remarks was to walk a little bit faster and pretty much ignore all subsequent questions until they reached their meeting point at the edge of the village. He was pleased to see that the guards on duty on the wall noticed them this time, so he gave them a jaunty little wave.

It wasn't until he'd settled down with his back to the wall that Kakashi realized he wasn't just on time, he was early.

He was still a little shocked and trying to puzzle out that particular little mystery by the time Temari and Shikamaru arrived, conveniently together and at the same time. Anko's grin was at least 50% suggestive. Shikamaru ignored her with a firm blush.

"It's unlike you to be early," he told Kakashi instead, which was also annoying because no one else had noticed yet, and now they were all staring at him. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?" Shikamaru finished.

Kakashi sighed.

It was between jokes about how the world had to be ending and how Kakashi had probably finally run out of porn to read, that Gaara and his escort finally arrived. He had brought his brother, of course, who was looking fierce in his all-black clothes and face paint, as well as Yamada, who had the bearing of a beaten dog. And then, all the way at the end, old Ebizou stood, his usually simple robes exchanged for complicated tangles of fabric and armor in dusty colors. His clothes looked more appropriate for someone fighting in the warring clans era, but it was a good reminder the old man had once been a fierce warrior.

"I know that prison well – I am coming along to see what this fool did with the trust I gave him," Ebizou said harshly, pointing at Yamada. "He will carry me when the going gets tough, so I will not hold you back."

Gaara looked at their group and nodded. "Let us go, then. I expect your people will catch up?" He added to Kakashi.

Kakashi nodded. Anko had already sent them a snake to let Sakura and Yuugao know of the change in plans. "The dog I sent to Sasuke will help them track me."

Gaara paused. "Are you going to involve Sasuke in this as well?"

"If he's in the mood. He knows Orochimaru better than anyone else, but you know what Sasuke is like; he does what he wants."

With that, they started to move. Yamada took the lead, Ebizou strapped to his back like an overgrown limpet. Gaara and his siblings followed immediately after, and then the Konoha shinobi followed right after them. Running through the sand was tiresome, and according to Ebizou it would take them almost two days to reach the prison. Wind Country was vast and largely uninhabited, so it would be a rough journey. The only consolation was that it would be harder still on the Sound shinobi, who did not know the land and had to make do without the benefit of a Suna escort. It would be rough on Yuugao and Sakura as well, but with luck they would be able to catch up before Kakashi's group reached the prison.

He wasn't surprised when Shikamaru came to run beside him, wearing a concerned expression. "Hokage-sama, are you sure you didn't take too large a risk earlier, with Anko?" the young man said between strides.

Kakashi smiled. "It does seem a bit silly of me, doesn't it?"

Shikamaru frowned, suspicion creeping into his eyes. "What do you mean?"

Kakashi decided to humor him. Shikamaru was undoubtedly one of the best strategists of his age, it wouldn't hurt him to learn a thing or two about subterfuge as well. He'd need it someday, with Naruto as his Hokage.

"Imagined you're Hokage, and you learn one of your closest advisers, a man who happens to have a clan for of warriors at his back, both dislikes and distrust you. You also know there's something weird going on in your country. What do you do?" Kakashi asked.

Shikamaru tilted his head in thought. "I'd… I'd have him investigated, I guess."

"What do you think Yamada would have done if he'd found out the Kazekage he already dislikes ordered someone to spy on him, or investigate his own house?" Kakashi asked, keeping an eye on the man in question to make sure he didn't overhear.

Shikamaru blinked. "He would resent Gaara even more. He could even play up being a victim to other Council members."

"Quite. It wouldn't look very good for Gaara. So I made Gaara a proposal."

Shikamaru leveled him with another look, somewhere in between exasperation and respect. "Gaara already knew Anko was searching Yamada's house, because you'd asked him for permission upfront. He pretended to be surprised and offended so Yamada wouldn't suspect his involvement, all to save face. You helped Gaara strengthen his position in the Council by losing face yourself."

Kakashi smile widened. As expected, Shikamaru hadn't needed a lot of information to get to the truth. "Mahh, it's not particularly important what one Sunagakure Councilman thinks of me. I'm not his leader. Anyway, since he can't blame Gaara and it won't do him any good to blame me, I doubt he'll tell anyone about what happened anyway; it does look a bit embarrassing, doesn't it, that a single shinobi could have infiltrated his house and uncovered his greatest secret with very little effort? And a Konoha shinobi at that. So much for all those rumors they have going around about us being incompetent."

Shikamaru snorted, but he was grinning. "I can't tell if you're evil or a genius," he said, "but it does seem a little convoluted. Why let Anko let herself get caught in the first place? And why work with the assumption Gaara's hypothetical spy would get caught?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Living in a clan compound with dozens of relatives makes it rather easy for someone to notice interlopers. Anyway, she didn't let herself get caught on purpose, it was just dumb luck. Although of course if she'd really tried to get away, she'd have had to kill Yamada. Now that would have been awkward."

Shikamaru shook his head in amusement. "I can't believe you got Gaara to participate in something this underhanded."

"Oh, you'd be surprised – he enjoys a bit of fun as much as anyone else, especially when it concerns tricking someone he dislikes."

Shikamaru's expression darkened a little. "I'd better keep on his good side."

"Mahh, Temari looked plenty cheerful this morning to me," Kakashi said, and thoroughly enjoyed Shikamaru's scandalized expression.

There wasn't much to do or say for the rest of the journey. They ran. It was hot. Kakashi regretted his fashion choices numerous times throughout. He still hated the little scroll burning in his pocket. Ebizou made killer lunchboxes. The desert was a boring landscape to look at for so many hours. Etcetera.

They slowed down around four, and Gaara explained it got dark early in the desert. It wasn't exactly impossible to navigate at night, what with the stars being so visible, but they needed a few hours rest if they were facing a fight at the end of their trip. It also meant Sakura and Yuugao would be able to catch up; one of Yuugao's owls had found them a few hours into the morning, and had flown back and forth afterwards to lead the two women in the right direction. Sakura probably wasn't enjoying herself much, but she would get used to it. What the group lost in time, it would make up for in strength.

Or so Gaara said, anyway.

Gaara built them a temporary shelter with a twist of his hands, forming a dark cocoon of sand they could all fit into without being seen. They each took turns eating, sleeping, and standing guard. Yuugao and Sakura found them a few hours in, panting and covered in sweat from their run. They bunked down gratefully and quickly fell asleep – which was a good thing, because it meant they didn't notice when Kakashi snuck out of the cocoon to escape the sudden and overwhelming smell of sweat.

Shikamaru was standing guard, his shadow flickering on the ground. Ebizou had also escaped the cocoon at some point, and now sat curled up in a blanket against the outer wall of the cocoon. After a moment of hesitation, Kakashi went to sit next to him.

"Hope you don't mind," he said.

Ebizou shook his head, and for a few minutes they just sat there in silence. It was surprisingly cold.

After a moment, Ebizou cleared his throat. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but did you figure out how to open the scroll yet?"

Kakashi repressed another sigh. "Trying to wheedle state secrets out of me, are you?"

Ebizou chuckled. "I doubt that scroll is that important, or we would have noticed."

"Then why the personal interest?"

"Oh, it's just that I always did wonder what he was like, as a person," Ebizou said. "Your father, I mean."

"Silly, for the most part," Kakashi said, because that was a lot easier than saying 'sad'. " But clever. Cleverest man I've known."

He could feel Shikamaru's eyes on him.

Ebizou hummed thoughtfully. "It's hard to imagine the White Fang being silly."

"Mahh, then try harder."

Ebizou snorted. "Fair enough. I shouldn't pry. You'll have to forgive an old man's curiosity."

Kakashi huffed. "Your sister never asked anything, but I'm sure she wanted to."

"Well, he did kill her child," Ebizou said dryly.

"So I'm told."

"My nephew," Ebizou continued.

Kakashi looked at him from the corner of his eye. "Yes, your nephew." Was he expecting Kakashi to say something or apologize for a murder committed decades ago, by his father, in the middle of a war?

"So that's a no on opening the scroll?" The old man said suddenly.

Shikamaru glanced over his shoulder long enough that Kakashi could catch the curious look in his eyes.

Kakashi didn't respond.

Ebizou sighed. "My nephew was a good man, you know."

So was my father, Kakashi thought. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Ebizou nodded. "You'll have to forgive me if I can't quite bring myself to tell you the same thing."

Kakashi snorted. "Understandable," he said, half amused.

The old man was looking at him again, from underneath those thick eyebrows. "You know, we never did find out what happened to White fang," he said, and oh, now he was really prying. "It must've been a mighty shinobi, the one who took him down."

Kakashi gave the old man half a nod and a hum. Keep on wondering. You have no idea how right you are.

Evidently some of his mood could be read from his face, because Ebizou stopped prying. He just nodded to himself, and went blessedly quiet. The air around them is completely void of sound – not even birds flying overhead, or the chirping of cicadas. The only sounds were the crackling torch and his team's quiet breathing.

Kakashi stood up and joined Shikamaru at the edge of the light cast by the torch.

"It's so quiet out there," Shikamaru said, reading his mind. "Doesn't seem natural."

"Too quiet, you think?" Kakashi asked.

"No," the younger man shook his head, "no just… Dead. I'm too used to the forest."

Kakashi nodded in agreement. "Can't smell much either. Any life out there is probably small. Rodents and lizards, I'm guessing. "

"So long as there aren't any snakes," Shikamaru said meaningfully.

"Hmm, snakes get around, you know."

"I thought you might say that." Shikamaru rummaged around in his pouch and pulled out a cigarette. The flick and swish of lighter drew Kakashi's eyes.

The tip of the cigarette cast dark shadows across Shikamaru's face, making him look older than he actually was. "So what's this about a scroll?"

Kakashi gave him an amused look. "Something personal, actually. Nothing to worry about."

Shikamaru smiled back, but there was something of disbelief in his eyes. "Sure."

"Surely I would never lie to one of my old friend's cute little students?"

"Since you also lie to your own cute little students, I'm going to have to say you would."

"Oh, ye of little faith."

"I'm just saying you seem to attract a disproportionate amount of trouble, Hokage-sama," Shikamaru drawled.

Well. That was. Well, uncomfortably true, really. Kakashi shifted and put his hands in his pockets. "That's hardly my fault," he moped.

Shikamaru grinned.

They stayed for about another hour before Gaara dissolved the cocoon and erased all traces of their presence. They moved on quickly, eager to make use of the cool air and cover of darkness. The lighter it became, the dryer the air felt in Kakashi's lungs. He had to actively focus on not coughing, but he still somehow drew Sakura's worried attention. He shrugged her concern off and distracted her by asking for her mission report.

The new information didn't come as a shock, and Gaara wasn't surprised either when he shared it. "At least we know a few of them were still near the border two days ago. It's unlikely they would have made it this far without a guide," he said.

They went on and paused only briefly during the heat of the day, when they had to find shelter and have a water break to prevent overheating (again, Kakashi had to concede masks were not particularly fitting desert wear). Sakura, of course, snuck up on him while he was having a sip to check out his lungs, and gave him a disapproving smack over the head when he tried to get away.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. The closer they got to the prison, the quieter the group became. Gaara cast a jutsu that made the sand around them fly into the air and obscure them from view. Yamada was carrying Ebizou permanently by now, and Sakura had to keep a close eye on him. She didn't seem particularly pleased they'd brought an old, recently sick, man with them, which, well, Kakashi couldn't really blame her for. But then you can't teach an old shinobi sense, as the saying went.

Ebizou stopped them shortly before dusk and pointed at a particularly tall sand dune up ahead. "You can probably sense it by now," he said.

Genjutsu. And a big one, too. Kakashi wished he still had his Sharingan to see how it was woven into the fabric of the desert. But he could feel it, shivering at the edges of his awareness. He could smell it, too: the human smell of sweat and dirt and stress where there should only be sand. "The dune is an illusion," he said.

Sakura, who had come to stand next him, cursed." Missed it again," she said.

He gave her a belligerent pat on the head. "You'll get there."

"But if this place is inhabited by civilian refugees, how is the genjutsu still there?" Shikamaru asked.

"It must have been left here a long time ago," Kakashi said. "A genjutsu can be rooted in place, if you know how – there used to be something like it in the old ANBU HQ."

"I remember," owl said. "It was smaller than this, though. Whoever made this must've been powerful."

"I should think so – it was the third Kazekage," Ebizou said. "He was the one who ordered this place to be built in the first place."

Ebizou climbed off of Yamada's back, and together the two of them walked closer to the dune. They stopped near a small rock outcropping and climbed on top of it. Together they raced through a series of hand seals, and then the dune began to shiver and fade.

Finally, the prison loomed ahead. It wasn't an elegant building by any means, more like a stack of cardboard boxes haphazardly placed together and linked by a tall, half broken stone wall. It clearly hadn't been maintained for decades, a skeleton of a building.

The group huddled together at a safe distance from the prison, surrounding the two Kages and awaiting orders.

"That didn't take as long as usual," Yamada said. "It should have taken longer to drop the illusion."

"The illusion might be fading with age. It's been there for almost half a century, " Ebizou said.

"Might?" Gaara said. His chakra seemed to come alive somehow, crackling at the edges but still repressed.

Kakashi sharpened his own senses and extended them. "There are people there – at least twenty."

"I don't sense any large chakra signatures, but they could be repressing them," Owl said.

"What, you think these Sound guys got here before us?" Kankuro said. "There's no way a bunch of forest fairies like them would be able to navigate the desert as well as we can – no offense."

"Forest fairies?" Anko echoed.

Gaara ignored her. "There's no harm in being on guard."

"What, seriously?" Anko said, looking at Kakashi for confirmation. He nodded. She grumbled something under her breath.

"Let's split up into groups of three and approach from three angles. Ebizou-san, perhaps you'd better stay here until we figure out who's in there. They're probably already aware of our presence," Kakashi suggested, improvising. He glanced at Gaara, who nodded his assent.

"I know the prison better than anyone else. I will go with you, if you do not mind," Ebizou countered. His voice did not leave much room for argument.

"You can come with me," Gaara said. "Kakashi-san, Yamada can come with you and show you the way. The rest of you, pair up."

Kakashi nodded. After a quick calculation, he nodded at Owl. "You're with me and Yamada-san." That way, the other Konoha team would have both a strategist and a powerhouse on their side, in the forms of Shikamaru and Sakura respectively. It would also keep Anko well away from Yamada.

Unsurprisingly, Gaara's siblings ended up going with him. They went for an Eastern approach while Shikamaru, Sakura and Anko would go for the West. As Kakashi had the fastest team, he and his team would go around and approach from the North.

A quick conversation had revealed that Yamada was a puppeteer like Kankuro; he had fewer puppets, but they were quick and lethal. Kakashi wasn't particularly pleased to have a virtual stranger at his back, but Yuugao would keep an eye out as well. From the look of her she was already on edge, teeth undoubtedly gritting behind her mask, just like the good old days when they'd been teammates. He resisted the urge to tease her. Potentially dangerous prison infiltration first, teasing friends later.

On Gaara's signal, they all set out. Yamada was quick, as promised, and although he didn't have Yuugao's lethal grace or Kakashi's speed he could keep up well enough. Still, Kakashi would have given a lot to have his dogs at his side. His pack wasn't ready yet; they would need time to recover.

Most of the other dogs he had were either too old or too young, and he would prefer to use them in a less dangerous situation.

He did have one more promising young dog, though… A few hand seals later, the young spotted Dalmatian he had been training up for the last two years appeared by his side. "Boss?" The young dog tilted his head.

Kakashi put his finger on the dogs nose to silence him and pointed at the prison. "Hi, Botan. Follow. Let me know many people you sense," he whispered.

"Yes boss," Botan said and crawled after him as they made their approach.

As they came closer, it became obvious there wasn't much of a point to hiding their presence: there was no one in sight. They kept to the shadows nonetheless, hiding their chakra signatures as much as they could and using a simple illusion to reflect the light around them and make them harder to see.

The scent of human fear got stronger the further they snuck in. Botan flattened his ears in his neck and brushed against Kakashi's leg. Kakashi snapped his fingers to remind him of his training, and Botan moved further out. It would be pretty hard to defend against a sudden attack if he also simultaneously tripped over a dog.

Once they were through the wall, they entered a large courtyard framed by the strange, blocky bulk of the prison. The courtyard itself was empty, but there were blankets in one of the corners and Botan's hackles were rising; someone had recently been there.

Yamada pointed at one of the larger buildings to their right and led them inside through an old, rusty metal door after marking it so the other teams would be able to find it. "There used to be seals here," he said. "This was one of the central stations. If we go down, we'll get to the basement – that's where I left the refugees. But... One of my boys should be watching this door."

"When you say your boys, you mean shinobi from your clan?" Yuugao asked.

Yamada nodded, clearly anxious.

"If it helps, I'm not smelling any blood," Kakashi said dryly. It probably didn't. From the corner of his eye, he could see Yuugao flinch at his lack of tact, but he didn't particularly care. He drew a finger across the wall and watched as it came away dirty. "Which part of this prison gave you the idea it would be a good refugee center?" He added quietly.

Yuugao snorted behind her mask.

Yamada's cheeks turned red. "I hardly think this is the time to discuss that." He beckoned them towards another metal door, which led to a set of decrepit stairs.

These guys need to hire a janitor, Kakashi thought. Then he thought it was a good joke, and he would have to remember it and tell Sakura and Yuugao. After that it occurred to him this was probably not an appropriate train of thought for his current circumstances, and he forcefully refocused his attention.

It was hard to take rusty old prisons seriously once you'd been dead and fought a goddess in an alternate dimension.

"What the hell is that smell?" Yuugao asked as they went further down.

"Trapped people," Kakashi answered. "How long have you been keeping them here anyway?"

Yamada looked away. "Two and a half weeks. But how about we focus on what matters? My boys would never slack off – something must've happened. Maybe there was a riot –"

"Doesn't look like it," Yuugao whispered back, looking around. They had come down another floor and could see the prison block properly now. Most of the cells were pretty basic and much like the ones Konoha had, all placed around an open space that went down several more floors, if the dark shadow where the floor should be was anything to go by.

It was hard to smell anything specific due to the overwhelming fog of sweat and stress that hung in the room, but fortunately Botan's nose could distinguish more smells. "There are people further down," Botan said, confirming Kakashi's own suspicions.

Kakashi directed Yuugao to take a right turn while he went left. Yamada trailed after him uncertainly, as if he wasn't sure whether to follow Yuugao, in her faceless, foreboding uniform, or Kakashi, a foreign Kage. Without their own voices to fill the silence, it was eerily quiet. The only thing Kakashi could hear was Yamada's rasping breath, annoyingly close to his neck. The clan leader probably hadn't had any kind of secret ops training. Even his chakra wavered uncertainly as if he wasn't quite sure how to hide it properly.

Or maybe he wasn't really trying at all. If he was loud enough, he could probably forewarn his clanmembers of their presence, so that they could… What, exactly? Hide what they had been up to? Or was that all just rampant speculation on Kakashi's part?

They walked on. The cells were all empty, some of them with the doors still hanging open as if they'd only just been opened, instead of decades ago. Kakashi idly wondered what Suna had done with the prisoners still been there when the prison was shut down, and then decided he would rather not know.

They reached another set of stairs and went further down. From what Kakashi could see, there were at least two more floors." I think the people may have moved," Botan said quietly.

Kakashi nodded. Better to keep going. The floor underneath the first one was equally empty, and when they met Yuugao halfway through she confirmed the other side had been empty as well. They went down to the final floor together and looked around.

There were a few torches scattered across the floor, some of them still burning. Kakashi took one and lit it, and went around the room to look into the cells. It had clearly been recently inhabited: there were blankets and some of them, and Botan's clever nose found some food remnants. It was otherwise empty.

"This is where the refugees should be," Yamada said. He sounded lost. "I guess – there's one more place they could be." He seemed to hesitate, but one strict look from Kakashi was enough to get him to move. He moved towards a small chamber to the right, which from the look of things had once housed the guards. Old, cracked seals were painted around the doorpost to keep chakra users out. Yamada pushed some of the furniture around until he could clear one of the walls. He pressed both hands onto the dusty surface and pushed chakra in.

The wall cracked down the middle and opened. Behind it was another room that had clearly seen better days. It looked as though someone or something had burst through the wall, although it was impossible to tell whether it had happened recently for many years ago. There was a set of shackles attached to the wall of the cell, and the floor was covered in seals.

Yamada stepped through the ruined wall into another room. As Kakashi followed, he saw the ruined wall had been several feet thick and covered in even more seals. Beyond it, they could see through into another row of cells, each of the walls busted down as though whatever had broken out of this cell had gone through all the others to get out.

Yuugao whistled softly behind her mask. "What were you guys keeping here, a bijuu?"

Yamada shook his head. "Hardly. This is where we kept the White Fang."

He said it rather casually, as though it wasn't much of a big deal. And it probably wasn't to him, Kakashi thought, even as he tried to calm his thundering heart. He doubted anyone in Suna knew his father's real name, and thereby his connection to Kakashi, aside perhaps from Ebizou and Gaara. Kakashi realized he had frozen in his tracks, still halfway in his father's old cell. Yuugao's stare was drilling a hole through the back of his head.

"Ahh. Did you keep him here for long?" Kakashi asked, trying to keep his voice relaxed.

"No, not for very long. My father used to speak of it often, though. Called it the best few weeks of his life," Yamada grinned.

The urge to smash Yamada's head through the nearest wall was getting harder and harder to ignore.

Yuugao stepped up to his side and they watched as Yamada walked through the strange corridor of broken prison cells Kakashi's father had likely created during his escape. Her arm brushed against his briefly. "I'm sorry," she said softly, and went after Yamada.

Kakashi cast one look over his shoulder at the shackles, and then forced himself to move on.

He barely had time to take another step before the walls were rocked by a massive explosion.

AN:

I would apologize but you already know I love cliffhangers.

Don't forget to leave a comment, comments are love!

I had too much fun writing the first half of this chapter. Let me know if you like it, and what you think is going on in the prison... How on earth did Sakumo let himself be captured?