The Agent and His Catch:

Kakashi wondered for the first time how the hell he ended up working for Minato, and why he kept doing it.

Then again working for him meant his life was never boring.

According to the file he was given, the man he was rescuing was being held captive inside one of Orochimaru's secure underground labs. The man was known in the underground world as being a complete lunatic and anyone of his special projects was often found worse than dead.

There had been little information about the man's background, which had surprised the agent. Kakashi and his team were to rescue a mysterious man that had seemed to pop out of nowhere about a year ago. They basically only knew two solid facts: his name was Iruka Umino and he was very important to Naruto, Minato's son.

Apparently the man he was to rescue had done an act of heroism himself. There had recently been an attack on Naruto's life, and his personal tutor who had only been hired two months prior had risked his life to save his new student. Umino had been kidnapped from his room in the hospital and had been missing for two months.

Kakashi had been away on another mission for Minato and was not there at the time. Normally he wouldn't get involved with a case so personally but Kakashi was curious and it took a lot for him to be curious.

"I got the camera for the east entry on loop Hound. Just tell me when you're ready and I'll open the door. Cat is watching the main entrance and Turtle has the van already when you need it. Raccoon is in there if the need for a medical arises."

"Copy that Eagle. I'll send out the signal when I've acquired the target. Wish me luck." Kakashi heard a laugh on the other line and smiled as he entered through the door. Obito was a computer genius and his agent codename was perfect for his 'eye in the sky' work.

The lab was underground and the owner was currently directly above it at a charity event being held by Minato himself, it provided the perfect distraction for the rescue. After disposing of the one guard he came up to Kakashi made his way through the underground maze. Obito was giving him directions through the radio and so far everything was going fine.

"Stop. According to the files the target should be in the room directly in front of you. I've already disabled the alarm, and the door should open without trouble." Kakashi tapped the receiver twice to let his fellow agent know that the door opened without fault.

Once inside the room the lights went on and for the first time in his whole life the great Hound was left speechless. Most of the room was taken up by a very large clear tank and inside that tank chained to the wall was what looked to be a merman. The merman was indeed Iruka Umino; the description was almost exact, except for the whole tail thing of course.

The man was still inside the tank and he eyed Kakashi suspiciously. The agent took note of the various cuts all over the merman's body. He had obviously been experimented on in some way. He was bleeding slightly near the gills on his sides but that was only a small problem.

"How the hell am I supposed to get you out of here?" Kakashi wasn't expecting an answer but the merman raised a webbed hand up to beacon the confused agent over. He pointed to a small intercom looking item near the edge of the tank.

"If I get completely dry, I can just walk out with you. I'll walk you step by step. I'm guessing by the ANBU uniform you work for Minato." Kakashi could only nod his head in response; apparently the merman wasn't as freaked out as he was about the whole being a merman thing.

"If you look to your right you'll see a control panel. The first lever nearest the meter will drain the water completely." Kakashi pulled the lever and almost instantly the water began to rapidly drain from the large tank. It took seconds and soon Iruka was sprawled against the ground his tail shimmering from the drops of water still on it. "Next I need you to pull the next lever down. That will make the tank dry so I can get my legs back." Kakashi once again did as he was told and watched in fascination as the long shimmering tail became a pair of strong looking tan legs. Iruka had an impressive human anatomy, and the pervert inside Kakashi couldn't help but stare at the large...

"ANBU!" Kakashi immediately snapped his head up to the man's slightly blushing yet irritated looking face.

"Hound We Are Waiting For Your Most Youthful Status Report!" Kakashi cringed at the loudness of the radio.

"Damn it Turtle! Don't yell into the radio. I'm good in here and the status of the target is rescued but his condition is... is unknown." Kakashi looked around the room and thankfully found a pair of hospital pants that he threw inside the tank. There was an airtight door to the side that had opened when the tank was dry.

"I um... I have a slight problem." Kakashi turned around to see Iruka was still on the ground. He was struggling on the ground to rise from shaking legs.

"You can't walk." Kakashi couldn't help the exasperated tone in his voice. Minato owed him big on this.

"You try not walking for two months and see if you can walk!" Kakashi couldn't help but smirk at the comment. He was expecting a quiet mannered teacher not one with an explosive personality. It certainly made both the mission and the target more interesting.

He went over to the frustrated man and the picked him up bridal style. He was hoping that the tutor would be small but he seemed to be only slightly smaller. They went through the familiar corridors and towards the east exit. Kakashi looked down at the man he was carrying in his arms and sash surprised to see tears.

"Are you okay?" The man quickly buried his head into his carriers shoulder. Kakashi had seen victims of Orochimaru's experiments before and one that was crying was way better than the usual alternative. He wasn't usually good at these types of situations so he started whispering words of comfort into the man's ears. It seemed to work because soon the man stopped shaking and had fallen asleep.

Once he got into the van he held onto Iruka carefully while Rin looked him over. The van was unusually quiet considering Guy was driving, but he must have gotten the hint to be quiet. Kakashi had no idea what happened to the man sleeping in his arms, but he obviously hasn't slept much in the past two months.

Yamato watched his captain with a curious eye. He had never seen Kakashi like this with another person. The tan man must be very interesting. He had a feeling that this was just the beginning of a grander story.