Chapter 12. A Child of One's Own

One of the snake's fangs had sunk about three inches into Kakashi's forearm before he finally noticed its presence. When he did, he merely snorted. He pulled the fang out with about as much regard for its potential poisonous nature as he usually showed little old ladies when they spied him reading Icha Icha. Even if there was poison in his bloodstream, Tsunade and Sakura's seal would just neatly filter it out. For once, the whole episode with Fox turned out to be somewhat useful.

Cleaning the wound was a bit harder since he would need the antiseptic for Shikamaru and he didn't want to waste any water, so he did his best with just a few drops and a clean strip of cloth before tying it up.

In death, the snake's corpse was still large enough to reach his hip. It hadn't put up much of a fight after he jammed his knife through its already injured eye, but before that it had twisted and snapped its powerful body in an attempt to get him off its head. It would've worked too, if Kakashi hadn't ruthlessly dug another blade into its skin to give himself a handhold.

Now, he pried the second blade loose and pocketed the dark scales that came off alongside the broken off fang. They would be useful for research purposes, if nothing else. He was pretty sure his earlier estimate was correct, and that the snake creatures were the remnants of some old, mutated type of summons that guarded the old clans living in the desert some hundred years ago. They weren't Orochimaru's type of creature; too old, for one thing, and no sign of chakra usage to be felt. They were safe on that account, if nothing else.

Kakashi turned and squinted up at the sun. Damn. All of this had taken longer than he had expected. Gaara would come looking for him in an hour. Kakashi eyed the corpse one last time and briefly wondered whether it would be worth cutting out its skull for the dramatic effect, but something told him it would not be well received by his allies. Besides, he looked much better in black.

... He really needed water, soon.

He slung Shikamaru's backpack on again, and started the long trek back to his friends. Unfortunately, it hadn't gotten any less hot. His cheekbones burned dully and underneath the mask his face felt uncomfortably hot. The urge was strong to just take it off altogether, but the idea of not wearing it around other people sent an comfortable shiver down his spine. He would have to bear the discomfort.

"That's what you get for not packing sunscreen when you go on an unexpected teleport-assisted trip," he murmured.

On the upside, his chakra system was starting to feel less dead by the hour. Already he could feel his chakra moving through his body, much slower than it usually did, but there. It had to have been the teleport that somehow numbed all feeling… If the teleportation technique Kumogakure used damaged the body, and the version Minato sensei's old bodyguards used required four people to activate it, it stood to reason that any major teleportation seal would have some kind of drawback.

So how on earth had Minato sensei managed Hiraishin?

On the upside, he had memorized Minato's seal design with the Sharingan, back when he'd been a boy and still eager to learn every technique his sensei was capable of using. He had since abandoned the idea for incompatibility with his fighting style and chakra capacity, but he could still remember the sheer intricacy of its design. Except… He didn't understand each of its functions. The technique's inventor, Senju Tobirama, had used his sister-in-law's ancient Uzumaki secrets to design the seal, secrets that had been lost along with Uzugakure.

So the next question was how on earth Orochimaru had managed to get his hands on any kind of teleportation seal blueprint. He obviously didn't have the whole picture or there wouldn't have been such major drawbacks, but how did he think of this at all? Had it been his work or someone else's? Had he stolen something of Konoha's during the war, or before that?

Kakashi bit his lip. The idea of Orochimaru with any kind of technique that resembled Hiraishin was not a great one. Again and again, reasons to try and bring the sannin down appeared before him. Not that he'd had much sympathy for Orochimaru before then, but…

Dammit. Why couldn't Orochimaru have just stayed dead?

You can't just shove these issues off onto Naruto when you retire, another voice whispered, and it sounded suspiciously like Obito. Kakashi scowled. "I probably can't, can I?"

He thought of the dying woman crying for her child. An infant currently in danger, or already dead.

"Yeah, I really can't," he growled, and increased his pace.

Gaara met him about halfway back to the cave, his green eyes narrowed in worry. "Are you all right? You're late."

Kakashi smiled. "My friends would tell you I'm always late. Don't worry, I'm fine. I come bearing gifts. How are Shikamaru and Ebizou?"

Gaara's posture relaxed a little. "Shikamaru needs water, but his wound looks good. Ebizou, on the other hand… He's still coughing, and it's not getting any better."

Their eyes met in mutual understanding. Unless they could get to some form of civilization, Ebizou would likely die out here. He was too old and too sick to thrive.

"What we really need is antibiotics, but I doubt we'll get so lucky. I did find some antiseptics for Shikamaru's wound," Kakashi held up his injured arm. He wouldn't be able to avoid drawing attention to it, anyway, so he might as well get it over with.

Gaara's lips thinned. "What happened?"

"I ran into one of our scaly friends. I should have guessed it was nocturnal and would stick around after its meal, but…" He shrugged. I was willing to risk it, he didn't say. "He won't bother us anymore. If the other one does show up, its eyes are its weakness. A torch or a well-thrown knife might do the trick."

"Good. Just make sure it doesn't get infected. We can't use another injured person on this team."

Kakashi dipped his head in acknowledgment. "I'll do my best to stay in one piece. On the upside, I don't know about you, but I can feel my chakra again," he added, as they started to move in the direction of the cave.

Gaara blinked. "I thought perhaps I had imagined it."

"Nope. Has Shikamaru said anything?"

"No, but his reserves are smaller. He might not feel it as soon as we do."

It was rather delightful to not be counted amongst those with smaller reserves once, and Kakashi resisted the urge to smile. He missed the Sharingan for everything it represented and everything it had allowed him to do, but he really, really didn't miss the 24/7 chakra drain. He also rather enjoyed being able to see the world through two eyes, when it came down to it. The desert could be pretty in its own way, with its dusky orange grounds and the blue, blue sky overhead. The terrain they were entering now was more rocky, with fewer dunes to obscure their view. They could see for miles.

"I won't pretend I fully understand why your ancestors settled in this land, but I have to admit – there's a certain beauty to it," he said softly.

Gaara's lip quirked up. "Personally I don't see the point of trees, but I suppose they can be pretty as well."

Kakashi snorted. "All right, fair enough. I just wasn't sure what to expect." He nodded at the sky."There's so much color. It's amazing."

And there, somewhere in the blue, blue sky, Kakashi saw a small dark dot, circling gracefully. "And I think I just spotted the first sign of non-mutated, family-friendly life," he said brightly.

Gaara followed his gaze. "I'm fairly sure that's a vulture."

"Non-mutated life, then."

"And where there's life, there's water. Would you say that's the East?"

"Northeast, yeah. Not too close to our cave, probably, which is frankly a relief because otherwise this whole trip would have been for nothing," Kakashi said lightly.

Gaara nodded. "Then that's where we'll go after we've treated the others and the sun has gone down. There's no point in sticking around for too long. I don't like leaving Sunagakure on its own for too long."

Kakashi hummed his agreement. He didn't particularly like leaving his team alone either, never mind his village – who knew what was going on on their side right about now? He trusted his people, yes, but if anything came up he'd rather be there to deal with it himself.

Gaara's pace was higher after that, almost angry in its impatience. Neither of them had enough control over their chakra for an assisted run, but fear for their respective charges fueled their limbs. First things first. They would have to take care of Shikamaru and Ebizou, and find an effective way to transport the two of them across the desert.

Better yet, they would need a way to orient themselves. Otherwise, they could be lost in the desert forever.

The afternoon seemed to last forever. Kakashi spent most of it staring at the coordinates of the seal that had brought them to the desert. He had scratched the symbols into the cave's rock wall after they'd returned and taken care of their ill teammates, and now he was turning them over in his head.

At his side, Shikamaru let out a deep sigh. "So you're sure it's one of the two middle symbols you cracked? Because if you're wrong, the variables could be endless," he said, sounding weary. His wound was looking good but the pain wouldn't let him sleep, so he was slowly approaching the point of exhaustion.

Kakashi nodded. "I have a good memory. The problem is that even if we can figure out what I inadvertently changed the symbols into, they're still coded. Unless we know how to read the code, we can't figure out the changed coordinates."

"Why... Did you break those coordinates... Again?" Ebizou rasped from his corner. He wasn't looking good.

"I didn't much feel like enjoying Orochimaru's hospitality," Kakashi said.

"Can we be sure he's behind all of this? We only have the refugees' word for it," Shikamaru asked.

Kakashi sighed. Apparently, it was question hour.

He shrugged. "Fairly sure. The seal used elements of Hiraishin, Yondaime's trademark teleportation technique. He guarded that seal jealously. Whoever designed the seal that brought us here must have at least had a look at Hiraishin. Which leaves you with a very short list of names, most of whom are dead," he said wearily. "Orochimaru, however, was one of them. He wasn't a friend of Minato's before his defection by any means, but he was a friend of Jiraiya's, Minato's teacher. It's not unthinkable. Add to that that he's going after children with bloodline limits and, well…"

"It seems somewhat unbelievable this man was allowed to go free after the war," Gaara said from where he was posted at the cave entrance, not uncritical.

"Hmm. Things were strange after the war. He'd shown himself on his best behavior, and perhaps we were just too tired to go after him… We did post sentries, but that obviously wasn't very effective. It's a lousy excuse for a far too lenient policy that has now cost lives," Kakashi frowned as he said it, wondering who was to blame and coming to the inevitable conclusion that if it wasn't Tsunade, it was he himself. His team had been complacent perhaps, or naïve, but Kakashi really should have known better than to let things slide.

Shikamaru watched him quietly. "It maintained the status quo, I suppose."

Kakashi huffed. "Yes. You'd think I would know to distrust those two words by now. The status quo has never brought us any good. Now I know some things can't remain unchanged if we really want to change this world. That's why I changed the Council. That's why I changed hospital policies, and why I want to change our relationship with the civilian community. But obviously I wasn't doing enough."

Shikamaru snorted. "Some Konoha inhabitants would say you're doing too much," he said, smiling softly. "The old crones and bloodied war hounds, for example."

Kakashi dismissed this with a wave of his hand. "Shortsighted fools. And also besides the point. I messed up."

"We all did. Orochimaru stopped being solely Konoha's problem when he started taking people from different villages," Gaara interrupted. "I think you misinterpreted my comment. I wasn't just blaming Konoha."

"Mahh, Orochimaru was part of Konoha once. If anyone is to blame –"

"It's him," Shikamaru interrupted. "Konoha has its faults, but it didn't turn him into a psychopath. That's on him."

Kakashi sniffed. "Well, some things no one can be blamed for. Unfortunately for us, Konoha doesn't have a particularly good track record when it comes to dealing with mental instability. Which hardly excuses Orochimaru's actions, but I doubt Konoha helped."

After a thoughtful silence, Ebizou croaked out, "You are very critical of your own village, Hokage."

"If not me, who else?" Kakashi replied shortly.

Ebizou chortled. "Your generation…" He said, letting his gaze travel across the room to meet all three of theirs, "You do like your little revolutions, don't you?"

"I think we should take that as a compliment," Gaara said lightly, turning his face away into the sun to smile.

Yamato-taichou's little office was possibly the most organized place in the village, Naruto thought. He'd only visited it once or twice before, but he still remembered the large filing cabinets, meticulously clean desk and auspicious lack of unfinished paperwork. It was in many ways the complete opposite of Kakashi-sensei's office.

And Yamato, currently sitting at the desk, looked as pleased as Naruto had ever seen him. His new position suited him in a way that being team captain had not, lending color to his cheeks and the light of inspiration to his dark eyes. As ANBU commander, Yamato had a great deal of responsibility – and as per usual, he thrived in such an environment.

Yamato smiled when he saw Naruto and Sai. "Oh, do come in. What has brought you two here?"

Unfortunately, Naruto was about to destroy the idyllic little atmosphere Yamato had created for himself. "Yamato-taichou! Oh, I'm glad you're here – I need your help, 'cause Kakashi-sensei is in trouble and possibly Orochimaru is up to something and I would have just run out and done something about it except it doesn't really seem like the mature thing to do, so I thought 'well I know one person who is always mature', and –"

Yamato's face fell from satisfaction to something in between exasperation and despair, an expression Naruto was more familiar with. "Please slow down, I have no idea what you're trying to say here," he protested, holding his hands up before him. "Orochimaru? Are you telling me he's up to something?"

Naruto nodded fervently. "And sensei is in trouble."

Yamato wasn't as impressed with that as Naruto felt he should have been. "He always is, some way or another. So long as he's not poisoned again," Yamato said, raising one eyebrow.

"No, no, nothing like that – he's just vanished."

"V-vanished?!" Yamato cried out. "Oh honestly, senpai! We can't leave him alone for one day, can we? He's hopeless!"

Sai gave a sad nod. "It's honestly quite sad."

Yamato stood up and started to pace through his room. When Naruto looked carefully, he could see the carpet was slightly faded along Yamato's route. Well, that made sense. Pacing the room seemed like a Yamato thing to do.

"And what is this about Orochimaru?" Yamato asked, eyeing him sharply. "What happened?"

So Naruto began to explain what little he knew. Which… Really wasn't an awful lot.

"That's where you should have started," Yamato told him. "Acquiring more information. You got this from Sasuke, who got it from Sakura, correct? Sakura is in Wind Country, but that doesn't mean we can't find a way to contact her. Obviously she's too far away for anything like Ino's communication techniques, but we can use hawks or summoning animals. We might even establish direct contact with Suna. If Kakashi really has vanished while on a diplomatic mission in their village, it's their problem too."

"Figures Kakashi-sensei would find a way to involve even more people than usual in his problems."

Yamato barely heard him. "I've got men stationed around Orochimaru's base. It's been quiet since the war. Even my sensors couldn't pick up on anything remarkable. Orochimaru must have moved and left decoy shinobi to keep us off his scent. You can't change a leopard's spots," he said, almost feverish.

"Like, his own base only has a few useless people inside, but not him?"

"Quite possibly. He's inventive enough to come up with all kinds of disguises. Which leaves us with the question of where he went."

"So how are we going to find out?"

Yamato paused, his movement slowing down. "There's… There's one man who might know. But I don't…" Yamato frowned, swallowed. "Yakushi Kabuto. He might know."

Naruto's excitement faded as well. Suddenly he could see how the color had drained from Yamato's face, how his mind had derailed at the memory of a former foe. No, a former tormentor.

Even Sai seemed aware of the gravity of the situation, judging by his change in posture.

"He… He does know Orochimaru better than anyone else," Naruto ventured. "I'll go alone. You don't have to."

Yamato gave him an almost distracted look. "No, don't be ridiculous – this is my responsibility. If my ANBU didn't realize Orochimaru moved, then it should be my task to find him again."

Yakushi Kabuto had disappeared after the war. He'd been considered dead until he walked through Konoha's gates six months later and surrendered himself without a fight.

Naruto remembered it very well. He'd been one of the party escorting Kabuto below grounds.

During his interrogation, Kabuto claimed he had learned the error of this ways and had come to atone. His initial idea had been to open an orphanage, but upon realizing many of his young charges have been orphaned because of him he'd…

Well, snapped.

There was something dead in Yakushi Kabuto's eyes.

Frankly, Naruto couldn't really bring himself to care.

After all, if not for Kabuto some 40,000 men and women from across the five great shinobi countries would still be alive today.

Tsunade hadn't hesitated, either. It had been one of her last acts as Hokage to sentence him to life in prison and to help forge the seal that would keep him there. Karin, who remembered him from her days under Orochimaru, had further strengthened his prison with her Uzumaki seals.

Not that Kabuto would have left if he could.

Yamato still looked apprehensive, but he straightened his shoulders and called in one of his ANBU. "Thrush, I'm going to leave the office for a moment. You can find me in T&I if you need me."

Naruto couldn't help but worry about Yamato as they followed him through the Hokage tower down to the T&I department, which doubled as the entryway to the prison. Yamato took long, determined strides, but there was an uncertain light in his eyes that hadn't been there before. He'd even put on the long black coat which marked him as ANBU commander, as though he needed to put another layer between himself and the man who had used him to murder thousands of people.

Naruto shuddered. He couldn't really blame Yamato. He wished Kabuto really had been that slightly awkward teenager Naruto once met, the one who so struggled to pass his exams but still made some time to help three little rookies. He'd pretended to be one thing, but in reality he had been something completely different. That was the one ability Naruto feared most in people, more than any bloodline limit or demonic possession ever could.

At the T&I department, Ino seemed a little surprised to see the three of them. "No one's been to see Yakushi-san for quite some time now," she explained as she led them down long, empty hallways towards the prison. "His official sentence was solitary confinement, but many people in the department took their chance at interrogating him. He would usually spill the beans right away, there wasn't any fight left in him, so it was really quite gratifying. We had to keep some people away, though. The ones who couldn't control their anger towards him."

"No kidding," Naruto mumbled.

Much to his surprise, Sai reached out to squeeze Ino's arm. It was only for a moment before he let go, but still. He actually reached out to touch someone. That had to be a once in a lifetime event. "How about you? Didn't he also revive your teacher?" Sai asked.

Huh. Character development strikes again.

Ino flashed him a grateful smile. "I won't pretend to like the guy. He was cruel and inhuman, but now… He's just an empty shell. He knows he's done wrong. That's why I can stand to be in the same room as him."

Yamato ducked his head just for a moment. Naruto probably wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been watching his old team captain so closely. He decided he'd stand next to Yamato when they reached the cell, just for support.

It took them another couple of minutes and one elevator ride to actually reach Kabuto's cell.

"It's the deepest level we've got," Ino explained, "reserved for the most powerful criminals. Although he's actually the only one there at the moment. It's probably for the best."

The jail cells on this level weren't simply barred with chakra barriers, they were locked with massive seal covered doors that could only be opened by the warden. In this case, Uzumaki Karin.

Naruto's distant cousin rolled her eyes when she saw them. "You again? Why do you want to see this guy, anyway?"

"Just open the first door for us, Karin," Ino said, a little exasperated. "Honestly, you Uzumaki's..."

Naruto grinned at Karin. Somehow, she always managed to carry an air of unimpressed stoicism when he saw her, but he knew it was just an act. She rolled her eyes again, but started the work of unfurling the first layer of seals. Once she had the second layer down, they could finally see Kabuto. He lay flat on his back, staring at the light in the ceiling. More seals had been applied to his body to prevent him from taking in nature chakra, but his skin still had that strange scaly look it had had since the war, if scruffier.

Kabuto slowly sat up and blinked at them. "Naruto. Hello," he said, absently. "I would have made some tea if I'd known you were coming."

"You don't have a kettle," Naruto said stupidly. He shook his head. "I didn't come here for tea, or your rambling. I came here for answers."

Kabuto sighed. "They all do."

"We have reason to believe Orochimaru has moved base," Yamato said, and Naruto proudly noted that his voice was strong and authoritative, unshaken.

Kabuto looked up again at the second voice. "I remember you. He has? That's nice." He turned his head to look at the wall again. His voice came slow and even, almost serene.

"Don't play games with us! I bet you know more," Naruto snarled, stepping closer to the seals. To think that this guy, this murderer, could dream of keeping secrets from them…

Ino stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "There's no point in shouting at him. He's disassociated from himself. You'll just make it more difficult for him to remember." She turned to the cell and crouched down. "Yakushi-san, it's me, Ino. Do you remember me?" She asked gently.

Kabuto turned his head. "I do."

"I'm glad to hear it. I'm sorry to disturb you, but any information you could give us would be welcome. Do you know where Orochimaru went after the war?" She asked, turning her head to look at Naruto for confirmation. He nodded.

Kabuto blinked slowly. "Orochimaru. Yes. No. I thought perhaps… That he, like me, had changed. But I don't think he has, at all. He's been this way for too long. There's no going back."

"Do you remember a location?" Ino asked, still patient.

"He didn't say. But he spoke of... Children. A child. The future. He was thinking about the future."

"What kind of child?"

"A child of his own," Kabuto said, and with that chilled them all to the bone.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the delay, guys! Truth is, I've been very distracted by both real life and writing my upcoming AU story. I'm hoping I'll be able to get back on track from now on. Maybe send me some fun suggestions or predictions to spice it up a little!

As you can tell, I went canon-divergent here by putting Kabuto into prison. I mean, letting an actual mass murderer run an orphanage? Kishi why