Finally, I am back with an update! I had originally planned for something light and fluffy between this arc and the chapter 5, but apparently I'm incapable of writing fluff right now, so have some serious angst instead!

Here, Tenzou is 17 y/o.

WARNING: this chapter is definitely more brutal and gory than the others, so if you're bothered by mentions of blood, torture, and attempted suicide, turn back now.

Tenzou is the Leaf's last line of defense. Sometimes this means defending the Village even from himself.

The sharp sounds of metal against metal rang through the clearing, accompanied by shouts of pain and anger. Kakashi fought ferociously, Hound mask pushed to the side of his face as he used his Sharingan against anyone within range. He could feel Genma and Raido's presence close behind him; the two friends had somehow managed to stay fairly close together and were still fighting as one deadly unit. Genma also had his Anbu mask slung to the side, spitting senbon at the enemy with deadly accuracy.

Tenzou was just across the clearing, his arm erupting in several sharp wooden spikes that he used to keep his enemy at bay. That's when Kakashi noticed just how far he was from his kohai, and how the enemy shinobi kept keeping him from advancing toward the Mokuton user. He'd been so focused on simply defeating their attackers that he hadn't noticed how far he was getting pushed from Tenzou.

Pulling his katana roughly out of his current opponent's body, Kakashi called to his teammates. "Hawk, Scar, get closer to Shodai! Something's not right."

There were two dull thuds behind him as two more of the unmarked shinobi fell to the ground, one pierced through the throat with one thick needle and the other falling to Raido's deadly blade. Glancing briefly at each other, all three Anbu fell into a loose formation and charged toward their youngest member.

Tenzou was holding his own, but he didn't understand where all these shinobi kept coming from. He didn't sense anyone hiding in the trees around the clearing, but every time he cut one down, another seemed to take their place. Ducking out of the range of a shuriken attack, Tenzou was breathing hard and was beginning to feel the strain of using his Mokuton. His lower abdomen throbbed painfully where he'd taken a shallow stab from his opponent's katana in the initial ambush. His team had been traveling at a fast pace for nearly a week, hurrying to return to Konoha with fresh intel on the situation on the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Mist. They were already worn from the fast pace and more than a week of sleeping on the ground and eating ration pills when they had been attacked.

Concentration slipping, Tenzou took a cracking blow to the back of the head, sending him staggering to his knees with a surprised grunt. He saw the glint of a blade above his head and rolled, quickly forming a broad wooden shield on one arm to fend off the blow. But he wasn't expecting the blow to be so hard that his shield simply shattered and was still stunned when he felt the sharp blade pierce right through his thigh muscle, pinning him to the ground. Sprawled on the ground on his stomach, Tenzou struggled against the pain, a strangled scream leaving his lips.

Then somebody was on top of him, grasping his throat tightly with fingers tipped with cool metal claws. The fingers squeezed and Tenzou cried out again, feeling the sharp claws piercing the skin of his neck through his shirt. He blearily realized he was grateful for his Anbu mask, as it was currently the only thing preventing his face from being ground harshly into the dirt.

"Shodai!"

Suddenly the body on top of him went hurtling to the side, two shuriken in its chest and a senbon needle sticking out of one eye. Tenzou's teammates surrounded him in a defensive formation and looking up, he could see the remaining unmarked shinobi take a slight step back to regroup. Kakashi glanced down at Tenzou worriedly. "Are you alright, Shodai?"

Tenzou wanted to laugh at the ridiculous question. Surely his captain could see that he was pinned to the ground with a freaking sword through his leg; no he was not alright. But he knew what Kakashi really wanted to know and he grunted in acknowledgement. "I'm alive."

Kakashi nodded, the Hound mask swinging precariously on the side of his head. "Good, let's keep it that way. Hawk, Scar-"

But the silver-haired shinobi didn't even get a chance to finish his sentence before something exploded and the whole team was enveloped in a thick, noxious smoke. Still unable to move, Tenzou coughed harshly, eyes blurred and tearing. He strained his ears, hoping to hear something, anything to predict where the next attack would come from. Something rustled in the trees. Above him?

Twisting awkwardly, Tenzou somehow managed to pull the sword from his leg, blood spraying everywhere as he did so. Ignoring the pain best he could, Tenzou forced himself into a sloppy army crawl in the direction of the treeline. Reaching the first possible tree, he forcefully merged himself with it before popping out the other side and slumping against the trunk weakly. Forcing his shaking hands into one of his supply packs, he retrieved a thick roll of bandages which he wrapped hurriedly around his leg, trying to stem the bleeding. Out of immediate danger, Tenzou stretched out his senses, searching for his team's chakra signatures.

Nothing, he felt absolutely nothing. Heart lurching painfully, Tenzou peered around the side of the tree and saw the bodies of his teammates laying unmoving among the corpses of their enemies. He suddenly felt light headed, and it wasn't from the blood loss. No, it couldn't be…

"Where'd the Mokuton user go?" A raspy voice spoke, as three of the unmarked shinobi jumped back down into the clearing from the trees, looking completely unscathed. Tenzou froze completely, willing his breathing to slow and quiet as he strained to listen.

"He's not here," a female voice responded.

"Then get looking for him," the raspy voice ordered. "We can't possibly return without his body. It's out of the question."

This time a third voice answered, and his words made Tenzou run cold. "It can't be too hard to find him, not when I can smell his blood."

Pressing back against the tree, Tenzou shuddered in fear. This was all about… him? Did they want his Mokuton? He thought back to the last meeting he'd had with the Third Hokage, directly before coming on this mission. They had actually be discussing a situation exactly like this, in which Tenzou was targeted for his unique abilities. He was well aware of how formidable and dangerous a weapon the Mokuton would be in the wrong hands, and they had agreed on the necessity of placing a sealing jutsu on Tenzou that would seal away the Mokuton in the event of his death or capture. It would need to be a jutsu that would destroy his body completely and it was taking the Third longer than expected to find a seal that would destroy Tenzou's body as instantaneously and painlessly as possible.

Now Tenzou wished they hadn't held off, that they had placed any kind of destructive seal on him because now he had to figure out what to do himself. Could he simply merge into the tree and hide until they gave up? Measuring his chakra reserves, Tenzou realized the idea was futile. He didn't have enough chakra to maintain the merge for long enough and the ground was already saturated in his blood, which was going to draw the right to him. Feeling himself begin to hyperventilate, Tenzou quickly ran through a mental list of his supplies. He'd lost his katana sometime during the fight and had used up all his shuriken. He was sure he still had a few kunai and his whole stash of paper bombs…

That's it. Swallowing hard against the bile rising in his throat at the thought of what he was about to do, Tenzou pulled out the stack of manual-trigger paper bombs he always kept in his weapons pouch. All he had to do was place a few of these on his body, wait until they got close enough, and he could take them all out at once while sealing away the secret of the Mokuton forever. Thinking rapidly, Tenzou frowned. No good; the enemy clearly wasn't stupid. They'd either be able to recognize the paper bombs from far enough away or would simply restrain him and remove them. Tenzou needed a way to ensure that they could not stop him from detonating the paper bombs.

A sudden idea came to Tenzou's mind. It was so horrifyingly brilliant that he actually gagged and turned hurriedly to the side, losing the few meager contents of his stomach on the forest floor. Then, struggling for some semblance of control, Tenzou straightened up gasping for breath and reached for a kunai.

Kakashi cursed under his breath for what felt like the millionth time as he and his teammates crawled through the tight ventilation shaft. He could feel Tenzou's chakra signature up ahead and although it was faint, it was still there.

Back in the clearing, Kakashi, Raido, and Genma had just reached their fallen teammate when something exploded at their feet, throwing them into the air and away from each other. Quite frankly, none of the three were exactly sure what had happened. All they could remember was slamming into the ground in a cloud of acrid smoke and then waking up to find the clearing covered in blood and Tenzou nowhere in sight.

Amazingly, none of the them had been seriously hurt which, coupled with Tenzou's apparent capture, lead them to believe that this had been a direct attack on the Mokuton user. Luckily, with Kakashi's nose and their combined tracking skills, it hadn't taken them too long to find the unmarked shinobi's trail and they had followed it to a large compound of metal buildings. That was where the trouble came in. There were guards everywhere and it had taken nearly two days of careful observation and investigation before they had formulated a plan that was likely enough to succeed.

The first step had involved causing an explosion at the electrical plant on the edge of the compound. With a little help from an extra large chidori strike, the plant had not only shorted out, but burst into flames. As expected, the guards were immediately called to the emergency site and the remaining members of Team Hound had managed to slip quietly over to the large building in the center of the compound where they had determined Tenzou must have been held. They entered through an air vent on the roof, and had been systematically searching the building for Tenzou's familiar chakra signature.

Kakashi was pulled out of his thoughts by a sudden spike in chakra just below him and an accompanying chill down his spine. Closing his eyes, he sensed again and… "We found him."

The three shinobi made short work of the air duct panel and after assuring themselves that there was no one else in the room, jumped down onto the cool metal floor. The entire room was frigid, their breath visible in short puffs of vapor right before their eyes. Not that the Anbu noticed, their attention focused solely on their young teammate who was suspended in the middle of the room by chains around his arms.

Tenzou's head hung limply, his shoulders straining awkwardly to hold his body weight as his toes just barely grazed the floor. His face was bruised and swollen, as were his fingers, no doubt as an attempt to stop him from making hand signs. Not that he would have been able to anyways, his wrists completely immobilized by the chain cuffs. Kakashi could barely hear Tenzou's shallow breathing over the sickening sound of blood slowly dripping from his saturated pant leg and uniform shirt into the already red puddle on the floor.

Beside him, Kakashi felt Genma's whole body tense. "What the hell?"

The most shocking thing about Tenzou's state was the numerous sharp wooden stakes that were sticking out of both his chest and back. The teammates had all seen this before, had all been pushed back by a surprise wooden stake springing from Tenzou's chest in sparring matches. But now it seemed almost like a last defense, as if Tenzou wanted to prevent anyone from getting any closer to him and his Mokuton had simply exploded.

Then the injured shinobi coughed, breaking the spell and urging his teammates into action. Kakashi immediately took charge, pushing his emotions aside for the time being. What was most important was getting his injured kohai down and back to Konoha for medical treatment. "Scar, watch the door. I don't know how much longer the guards will be distracted. Hawk, get over here and help me with these cuffs."

Kakashi supported Tenzou's limp body the best he could as Genma used his senbon to make short work of the cuff locks before pulling the restraints as gently off his teammate's already abused hands as he could. Once both wrists were free, Tenzou slumped down, his body dead weight and if Genma hadn't rushed to help, Kakashi probably would have dropped him. Draping one of his arms over each of their shoulders, Kakashi slapped Tenzou's face gently.

"Shodai. Hey, open your eyes." Kakashi hated his harsh tone, hated ordering his obviously dangerously weak kohai around, but then Tenzou's glassy brown eyes slid open a fraction and it was all worth it.

"-empai?" Tenzou ground out, his voice barely a whisper.

"We've got you, kohai," Kakashi nodded in response. "We're going to get you out of here, but we need you to retract the stakes so we can tend to your injuries."

Tenzou's head drooped again and for a second Kakashi thought he had passed out. Then the young man gave a soft whimper of effort and the wooden stakes protruding from his back and chest began to withdraw back into his body. The whole process took longer than it normally did and by the end of it Tenzou's body was shaking and his breath was coming in harsh gasps. Moving hurriedly, Genma and Kakashi laid him back on the floor, surveying for the worst injuries, worried by his unresponsiveness.

Kakashi felt bile rising in his throat as he surveyed the damage to his kohai. There was so much blood. There were cuts on his neck that looked irritated and raw, clearly growing infected. His uniform was covered in rips from his own wooden stakes and his right pant leg completely saturated in dark red blood. Kakashi removed what looked like an old, completely soiled bandaged from Tenzou's thigh and hurriedly pressed down a with thick wad of gauze when even more blood pooled at the surface of the wound. Genma moved quickly and skillfully beside him, wrapping a series of bandages tightly around the leg to stem the bleeding. Moving on, he doused the cuts on Tenzou's neck in a generous amount of disinfectant before taping bandages in place to cover them.

Finally, Kakashi turned his attention to the the deep gash that ran horizontally across Tenzou's stomach, just under his navel. Blood leaked out lazily, staining the Mokuton user's pale skin. Kakashi ripped open another packet of gauze with his teeth and, steeling himself, moved to pack the material carefully into the wound. But something caught his eye as he leaned in closer that caused him to stop short in horror.

"Oh, kami…" Kakashi carefully reached into the deep wound and grabbed at what looked like a piece of paper. Tenzou cried out against the intrusion, arching his back in pain as Genma struggled to hold him down. Kakashi knew what the paper was before he even finished smoothing it out.

"Is that a paper bomb?" Raido's horrified voice asked from over his shoulder.

It wasn't just one paper bomb, but ten of them, crumpled and tucked inside Tenzou's abdomen. Thankfully, they all seemed to need manual detonation, and Kakashi managed to get them all out without any incident, his heart beating rapidly at each new find. What the hell was going on? Kakashi tried to stay focused, replacing the crumpled bombs with pieces of gauze tucked as gently as possible inside Tenzou's wound.

Regardless of his sempai's care, Tenzou was beside himself with pain by this point, crying out and begging Kakashi to stop and it was all the silver-haired captain could do to ignore him and continue his ministrations. Raido had to abandon his post by the door and help Genma hold the young shinobi down, one hand pressed firmly over Tenzou's mouth to muffle his cries. Kakashi worked quickly, packing the wound with gauze before wrapping the young man's whole abdomen tightly with bandages. He tied the end off and signalled his teammates to ease off Tenzou, who was now quiet and still in their hold, barely conscious.

Kakashi waved one of the bloody paper bombs in front of Tenzou's heavy-lidded eyes. He knew they needed to get out of the compound and get Tenzou to real medical treatment, but first he wanted answers. Something was not right. "Shodai, why were these bombs inside you?"

The Mokuton user blinked blankly at his captain. Kakashi tried again. "Why did you have Leaf Village issued paper bombs inside of you?!"

Tenzou swallowed thickly and managed to force out a few words. "w'nt'd Mokuton… couldn't… n-needed to...d'stroy b-body."

The older shinobi all started in panic. Tenzou had done this to himself? All to protect the Mokuton? Kakashi felt his blood boil and decided there were a few choice words he wanted to have with the Hokage when they returned to the village. But Tenzou finally succumbed to unconsciousness, going completely slack in his teammate's grips. Kakashi leaned forward hurriedly, pressing an ear against his chest to gage his vitals. Tenzou's breathing was sharp and shallow, his heart beating fast as it tried to circulate what blood he had left throughout his body. This was not good.

Even with his mask still on, Raido looked completely shaken. "Did he… Is he saying that he…"

"He's losing too much blood," Kakashi cut off his teammate, unable to continue thinking about it any longer without going mad. "We need to get him back to the village now."

Kakashi was sure that the journey back to the Leaf Village took a few years off his life. Regardless of how fast they moved, they were still almost a week's journey out from the village and their own minor injuries required them to stop occasionally and rest. Tenzou didn't stir once over the the course of the journey, though they managed to force some water into him at every stop. Because they were forced to carry him on their backs in order to keep moving, they couldn't seem to get Tenzou's wounds to stop bleeding long enough to finish clotting and by the time they reached the Leaf, Kakashi, Genma, and Raido were covered in Tenzou's blood.

When they were still a little less than a day out from the Leaf Village, Kakashi suddenly realized he could not longer feel Tenzou's heart beating rapidly against his back. Jumping down onto the ground, he skidded to a halt. "Scar! Hawk!"

"Captain!" Both shinobi dropped down beside him, watching tensely as Kakashi lowered Tenzou's body off his back and onto the ground. "What happened?"

Kakashi paused, fingers pressed under Tenzou's chin against his jugular. "He's got no pulse. Help me with him."

"Right." The shinobi lowered Tenzou until he was flat on the ground, Raido moving to check his bandages and Genma holding a hand in front of the younger man's mouth. "He's not breathing either."

"Damn it!" Kakashi growled, roughly pulling off his mask with enough force to shock both his conscious teammates. "Hawk, I'm going to need you to pump his chest for me while I breathe. Scar, see if we have anything left to replace those bandages."

Later, both Kakashi and his teammates would describe the four minutes before they finally felt Tenzou's pulse responding and his breathing normalize as the longest four minutes of their lives.