Hey, Sorry for a long wait. Had tons of other stuff to do and don't have internet. But here's the new chapter, hope you like it.

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Genma carried Naruto into his apartment. His first day of looking after the kid hadn't started of well, Iruka had dropped him off with him in the mission room before heading out for his mission and not long after that Genma had lost Naruto. He'd had to leave the mission room for a few minutes at the end of his shift to hand in some documents in a nearby office but when he came back Naruto was gone and of course the ninja working the shift with him said he didn't know anything about where he went. Genma had been running around frantically looking for the boy when he'd found him sitting at the bottom of one of the stairs nursing some bruises and a badly scraped leg. Naruto had told him he'd wanted to follow him, gotten lost and then tripped in the stairs but Genma wasn't buying it. Falling down stairs didn't give you a hand shaped bruise on your arm, like someone had been gripping it tightly, and since Naruto had pretty much lived in the Hokage tower until recently the chances of him getting lost between the mission room and the office were extremely low.

Genma was cursing himself for being so careless and leaving the kid all alone in the mission office with no one there he trusted to look after him. Five minutes and someone had managed to hurt him again. He took Naruto straight to his bathroom to find his first aid bag, setting him down on the counter while he rummaged in the shelves.

When Genma finally found everything and turned to Naruto to bandage him up he noticed that the kids injuries had already started to heal. He must have spaced out a bit because he was snapped back to the present when Naruto spoke.

"Genma, is everything alright? Does it look bad, it should be alright soon. It doesn't hurt much anymore."

"Naruto.. your wounds. Do they normally heal this quickly?"

Naruto looked a bit thoughtful. "Kyuu always heals my wounds for me, he.." Naruto trailed off.

"Kyuu?"

"Uhm.. he says I shouldn't be telling people this, and I know I shouldn't but Jijii said that if I really trusted people it would be my secret to share with who I wanted. And I trust Genma and I never want to lie to my friends so it's ok if you know. Kyuubi looks after me a lot.. he's my friend you see.. so he heals me when I get hurt and we talk sometime. I know he did something really bad and that's why people don't like me but he's really not so bad." Naruto was looking at the ground like it was the most interesting thing in the world. He really wanted to tell Genma the truth because the guy had been really nice to him since they met and after Kakashi and Iruka he was the person he felt he could talk to about anything. He just wasn't sure how he would react to what he just said. The Hokage had never really reacted to it and Kakashi had looked sad but told him in a quiet, solemn voice that he was glad Naruto hadn't been alone. Iruka on the other hand had freaked out and treated Naruto like he had the plague for about a week before their relationship had gone back to the strained condition it was in at that time.

"Naruto." Naruto reluctantly looked up from the floor and into Genma's calm eyes. "do you want to hear another one of my nindos?"

The little boy nodded his head."

"Never live in the past, never try to change what you can't change and accept the fact that things don't stay the same." He ruffled the kids hair affectionately. "I don't know much about the Kyuubi attack, I wasn't fighting in it. I don't know why it happened or what happened after it but I do know you, and if you say that Kyuubi is your friend and that he's not so bad then that's how it is and who would I be to judge something I don't know anything about." Genma sat down on the bathtub opposite the counter Naruto was sitting on and started looking for a band aid in his first aid kit. "You should know this better than anyone Naruto but you should never judge someone or something without knowing all the facts."

Genma looked long and hard at the kid sitting in front of him. He didn't know much about his situation and to his credit he wasn't going to pester the boy to tell him something he had no right to be butting into but something had to be done. After observing the kid closely he had begun noticing that the kid really wasn't at all like other kids, and that had nothing to do with the fact that unlike other kids this one had a huge demon sealed in him. Naruto often behaved and spoke too maturely for his age and Genma was sure that as soon as people stopped glaring at the kid and really took the time to look at him they might notice it as well.

"Hey kid." Genma leaned closer to Naruto and looked him straight in the eyes. "I know you have secrets." Naruto's face started to look panicked. "No don't worry, let me finish. I know you have secrets and I have no intention of asking you about them and I honestly don't want you to tell me because I have a feeling it's not just your secret and therefore not yours alone to tell, but despite all that I am going to do one thing. I'm going to help you. I know you are way smarter than any regular five year old and if anyone ever did pay attention to you they would notice it too, so what we are going to do this week that I'm taking care of you is work on hiding that, that is part of your secret am I right?" Genma finally found the right size of band aid for Naruto's wound and started putting it on.

Naruto nodded his head. "Yeah... Genma?"

"Yes Naru-chan?" Genma finished his bandaging and looked at the kid again.

"Is hiding something the same as lying?"

Genma was quiet for a while, thinking for the best way to answer that question. "Well since we are talking about lies I won't lie to you and say that it's not. Intentionally not telling someone something or pretending to be someone other than you are is called deceiving and it's a form of lie. But there are two kinds of lies, one is a lie you tell to hurt others or gain something selfishly for yourself and another one is a lie you tell to protect something. It's true that it's bad to lie and you shouldn't make it a habit but the second type of lies are often not so bad and in some cases even necessary, especially if you are a ninja. With me so far?"

"Yeah"

"So even though you don't want to lie to people and you might feel like you are lying you should look at the positive side of it. By doing this you will be protecting Iruka as well as yourself, and I have a feeling you'll be protecting Kakashi as well." Genma reached over and held Naruto's shoulder. "If it was me I would do the same thing you know."

That earned him a half hearted smile from the boy. Genma really wished he would one day be able to see the child smile from the heart. If a half hearted smile could look so sweet then a pure smile from the child should really be bright enough to melt even the hearts of the council members.

"Alright, now the first thing we are going to do is get you some new clothes."

"Clothes?"

"Yep, clothes. It's all about image kid. What we have to do is make you look stupider than you actually are."

"Oh, kind of like you huh?"

Genma looked down on the kid he'd just picked up. "On second though let's just seal your voice away or something. I'm sure that if you stop making those smart ass comments people will think your stupid. Che.. anyway first clothes and then we're going to go visit a friend of mine who just got home from the hospital today. Something tells me you might actually be able to help cheer him up."

Genma might not look it but he was an incredibly good judge of character and could read people phenomenally well. His hunch that Naruto would be able to help Raidou had about a 99 percent chance of being true.

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Naruto was pulling on the jacket of his new jumpsuit nervously, he didn't want to admit it but he actually really liked it. It was bright orange and green matched with green shorts and Genma had given him a white t-shirt with red swirls on it as well for when it was too hot to wear the jacket. Naruto had been a bit reluctant to get it at first because he didn't really want to attract too much attention, which was the reason he had mostly worn black and dark colors up until now, but Genma had managed to convince him. It wasn't like the villagers didn't already notice him everywhere he went anyway so it really didn't make that much of a difference.

They had just gotten to an apartment complex where Genma said they would be visiting a friend of his. Genma had wanted Naruto to try his new goofy behavior out on the guy because he hadn't met Naruto yet and would therefore be less likely to notice if Naruto was behaving differently than usual. Genma had also asked Naruto to try to cheer the guy up since he'd been hurt recently and wasn't feeling well.

He was a bit nervous about meeting someone new but Genma trusted him so he couldn't be a bad person, and Genma was with him so it would be alright.

The first thing Naruto noticed about the guy was the huge scar running from the top of his nose, down his neck and under his shirt. It looked a bit raw, like it was still healing. He also noticed that the first thing the guy did when he let them in was to try to cover his scar with his hand. Naruto looked at Genma who was trying not to look at the scar, you definitely didn't have to be a genius child to see that Genma felt guilty, it was written all over his face. Well Naruto had just been given his very first mission. Mission cheer up Genma's friend so Naruto decided to act like any other five year old would do. That is, be so painstakingly honest that your parents or guardians wished that you had indeed been borne a mute.

"Wow you've got a HUGE scar!" Genma actually snapped around and looked at Naruto like he'd not only sprouted an extra head but was actually shouting crude things at old ladies with them. Raidou immediately tried covering it up again.

"That's so COOL, did you get it in a fight? How many bad guys were there? I bet you beat them all even though you got injured. Are you a great ninja? Ne, ne how did you get such a cool scar? Iruka-sensei has a scar on his face too but his is boooring, Kakashi has a cool one though it's right over his eye and his eye has turned all red. He said he got it while fighting the bad guys, did you get yours fighting the bad guys as well?" Naruto was jumping up and down while almost shouting his questions one after another.

Naruto really didn't know what he was doing but somehow this felt right. In his first week with Kakashi and Iruka, Kakashi had noticed that when ever he was helping him take a bath he would subconsciously scrub extra hard on his whisker marks. Naruto always did that because even though he knew that they'd never come off he still somehow hoped they would. Kakashi had made him feel better about them by telling him how cool they were and that he should be proud of his face just the way it was. So maybe if he showed an interest in the scar and convinced Genma's friend that it looked cool he would stop worrying about it.

"When I become a great ninja I'm gonna have tons of cool scars to prove it! All the best ninjas have cool scars. Ne, Genma do you have a scar?"

Genma just looked on in amazement as his friend actually stopped rubbing his scar self consciously and grinned at the small boy.

"Actually" Raidou said. "Genma only has one cool scar on his arm but he got it when he fell out of a tree on one of our missions."

"Eh, that's a lame way to get a scar! I bet you got yours in a much cooler way"

When Genma and Naruto finally headed home the special-Jounin had to carry the boy, who was half asleep the whole way mumbling something about how all this excitement was actually worse than training. Once Genma had gotten Naruto into bed and was about to go sprawl out on his couch Naruto said something very interesting.

"Genma."

"Hmm?"

"Can you sleep with me tonight? Kakashi always sleeps with me and I don't like sleeping alone." Genma looked into those sad little blue eyes and immediately melted.

"Sure kid, just move over a little bit then.. and don't drool on my shirt or anything you hear?"

Long after Naruto had fallen asleep next to him Genma was still lying there looking up at the ceiling deep in thought. 'Kakashi huh? Funny, I thought you lived with Iruka.' Genma wasn't one to pry into things that didn't concern him but he really wanted to help this kid. He also really wanted to get closer to Iruka and as it was he felt that accomplishing that would be about as likely as finding a specific grain of sand in the Suna desert. He thought he knew Iruka pretty well but recently he wasn't so sure. One of the greatest flaws with being able to read people as well as Genma was that very few details could ever escape him. He'd realized a long time ago that there was more than met the eye regarding Kakashi's and Iruka's relationship and since Naruto came into the picture inconsistencies and strange details just kept on assaulting Genma's senses. He had decided long ago that he would refrain from meddling in other peoples business as much as he could, unless it was for a mission or because it posed as a threat to the village, but this case was getting to the point where it was becoming nearly impossible to overlook. He'd really have to talk to the Hokage or Iruka himself soon.

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Kakashi was driving Iruka crazy and he knew it, he couldn't help it though he just could not stop worrying about Naruto. Unlike Iruka Kakashi had never really made any other friends, besides Iruka himself, since his old team had died. He knew a lot of people and was actually believed to be quite popular but up until two months ago the only friend he'd had was his partner. It had come as a bit of a shock for Iruka and had taken him some time after they started Anbu to get used to Kakashi's insistent tendency to check him over after a hard mission to see if he was ok. Sometimes, if the mission had been especially bad Kakashi would literally strip him on the spot, using his sharingan to look for injuries. Although it had annoyed him at first Iruka soon stopped complaining about it. It wasn't that Kakashi didn't believe in his abilities like he had thought at first, it was just that Kakashi had lost pretty much everyone he ever cared about and therefore made sure that his best friend was ok. He looked after his other mission partners as well even though he didn't go that far with them.

Naruto had changed Kakashi's life drastically. A whole week had gone by before he realize that he hadn't even thought about going to the memorial stone, where he had spent every single morning of his life after Obito died if he wasn't on missions and even then he thought about it. He still went there when he had free time but the visits had become fewer and the topic had changed from regretful contemplations to stories about the little boy who now occupied most of his mind and heart.

"Do you think.."

"Kakashi! For the LAST TIME! I'm sure he is perfectly safe with Genma, who I might ad is a special Jounin and a quite capable fighter. I would also like to point out that Naruto is very, very capable of taking care of himself. You even suggested we enter him into the Chuunin exams! If you don't think he'll be ok staying one week with Genma doing NOTHING how on earth are you going to cope with him taking the exams!? Honestly you're acting like a hysterical mother leaving her new born child for the first time!!

Kakashi did have the decency to look slightly guilty after Iruka's speech. Iruka was just glad that they could continue on in peace for once. At the moment he honestly didn't know why Genma thought of him as the mothering one of Naruto's new guardians. 'If he only knew'. Iruka's mission planning was interrupted again only a few minutes later.

"But what if.."

"Ryouken! FOCUS."

Iruka hated to have to do this. Most times on their way to and from a mission they would try to stay out of the single mindedness that often came with Anbu missions. Where nothing existed besides you, the enemy and the completion of the mission. Spend too much time thinking like that and you become unable to distinguish between friend and foe. Some would even get stuck in that mindset. There was a common saying among ninjas that if you weren't good enough the fastest way out of Anbu was by death. Only Anbu members knew the truth. If you couldn't handle it the fastest way out of the division wasn't by losing your life. It was by losing your mind.

By emphasizing Kakashi's Akutenshi name Iruka was forcibly trying to push him closer to that mindset in order for him to focus on the mission at hand, even tough Iruka and Kakashi usually managed to stay out of it they weren't completely immune to it. Iruka couldn't see the look on Kakashi's face since they both had their Anbu masks on, not that you could ever really see Kakashi's face to begin with, but his posture got more serious and his steps got more determined.

Kakashi was in mission mode, all worries over Naruto would have to be pushed aside until this mission was over. He could do nothing for the new important person in his life but he could make sure that his best friend didn't die because he was being an ass on a mission. Kami knew he'd made that mistake before and he sure as hell wasn't going to let it happen again.

They were making their way towards the hidden Mist village where they would have to retrieve a very important scroll. The scroll had originally been from Konoha and had supposedly been destroyed in a fire when a section of the library burned down but rumors had started circulating that the scroll was very much intact and had been recently sold to some important people in Mist. Considering the importance of the scroll, which contained some high level jutsus among other things, it would either be heavily guarded or thoroughly locked inside somewhere.

"So, what do you think is the best way to deal with this?" Kakashi asked Iruka.

"At this point I'm not sure. My guess is it would be best to use stealth since the place where they are keeping the scroll will most likely be well guarded."

"Mmm I agree, trying to get in by disguise would be too hard. You'd either have to henge into someone who has clear access to the scroll or use a henge to get a job there, both of which take too much time and time is of the essence here. We have to get the scroll before they can decipher it."

"Exactly, I've got some good ideas about what we should do but I want you to scout the area first before we decide anything."

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It took Kakashi and Iruka three days to reach the hidden Mist village (1), their journey had been uneventful so they made good time. After entering the village they slowly made their way to a run down inn at the edge of the town. They had henged (2) into old men and dressed like beggars a few miles back, Iruka now had white hair and was hunched over a cane and Kakashi, who didn't really have to change the color of his hair, had lengthened it a bit, tied a dirty cloth over both his eyes and held Iruka's shoulder for guidance. Making it look like he was blind. People paid them little to no attention at all when they walked down the street, even ninjas weren't able to see through their disguise.

After renting a room they went over some ideas for their mission and got their equipment ready. When the sun finally set Kakashi went out to scout the area where the scroll was kept while Iruka hung out at the inn's tavern fishing for gossip and information, they had often gotten valuable information before by just sitting in foreign bars or other shady places.

Nothing interesting seemed to be going on that night though and when Kakashi came back around 3 am he found Iruka slumped down on a table thoroughly bored and a bit tipsy after all the alcohol he'd had to drink to gather the rumors. Kakashi slowly made his way to his partner, he was using one of his nin dogs as a seeing eye dog so his cover wouldn't be blown, and hoisted him out of the chair.

"Well old pal, I think it's best we retire for the night."

"Ah. How was your night walk" Iruka asked more for appearances than anything else, he certainly didn't expect Kakashi to spill out the results of his spying to a room full of shady people.

"Very refreshing, you should come with me more often."

"Yeah right, I'd only slow you down with my impairment."

Kakashi didn't quite know if Iruka was referring to the cane he now traveled with or his stealth abilities.

Once they got to their room Kakashi and Iruka discussed what he had found out in greater detail. They were sitting opposite each other on the cots in their small room using sign language to communicate. They could never be too careful on missions, especially ones were they had to stay inside towns, and would therefore discuss important mission details in a special sigh language they had made up exclusively for Akutenshi.

"So what did you find out?" Iruka asked eager to begin.

"Although there are fewer guards than we thought there would be the compound is hard to get into and is guarded rather well. The room with the scroll is guarded mainly from the outside but the guards patrol it every hour on the hour so if I get in there and steal the scroll right after that we have an hour before they should notice it's gone." Kakashi signed back.

"Alright, how do you want to do this?"

"Stealth is the only option in this case, the guards who go into the room are checked before and after they come out so even if you would be able to get in with a disguise they'd get you on the way out. I suggest we do it the old fashioned way. I got the place pretty well mapped out and while I'm inside you'll back me up on the radio, let me know the position of guards and the usual, their not ninjas so I won't be able to sense them well enough." Iruka always found it funny how you could almost hear the lazy tone in Kakashi's signing.

"Ok, sounds good. We'll get some rest now, head out at 6 am, get the scroll and go home."

Unlike what most ninjas believed the best time to break in was in fact not in the cover of darkness in the middle of the night. Everyone knew that if there would be a break in it would be in the middle of the night, therefore guards would always be most alert at that time. Kakashi and Iruka had found out that the best time to break in was in fact early in the morning before the shift change. At that time the night guards, thinking no one would be breaking in, let their guard down and became tired after staying alert for the whole night.

"Great, I can't wait to hear what Naruto's been up to."

"Yeah. I do miss the annoying little bugger, although I'm more anxious to know what my class has been up to, Mizuki doesn't handle them well on his own. He's still just a substitute teacher."

"Mahh I'm sure they'll be fine... well I'm at least sure they'll be glad to get you back."

"Yeah, they always are." Iruka smiled.

Kakashi smiled as well. Becoming a teacher was one of the best things that had happened to Iruka in Kakashi's opinion. He was great with children and they brought him an endless amount of happiness, which was especially good after they'd had a bad mission. Iruka's uneasiness and post mission traumas had all but disappeared after he started teaching. Kakashi was beginning to understand the healing power of children himself. When he woke up in the middle of the night from his old nightmares, something that was happening less and less these days, he'd only have to look at the little bundle in his arms to be reminded that maybe life wouldn't be so bad after all. There was hope in the future.

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Kakashi was making his way down another long hallway. These hallways were the worst thing for stealth missions. It was long, narrow and had very few places to hide if anyone were to walk down them. On one side there were a few doors that led to who knew where and on the other side were big windows that let the moonlight in. The only good thing about it was that the ceiling was rather high so Kakashi was using chakra focused in his feet and hands to crawl along the shadows on it, but even then he had a high risk of being caught if he wasn't careful.

"Alright" Iruka's voice came through the radio. "The next hallway is clear as well but I can't see farther than that so your on your own from then on."

"Ok. Just keep me updated on anyone who comes or goes inside once I get further in"

"Will do." Iruka's voice replied a bit too cheerily.

Kakashi smiled to himself. He knew that while he was in here having "fun" Iruka was sitting outside somewhere most likely bored to tears. It was a thing they had in common because even though their missions were often hard both physically and mentally the adrenalin kick they got out of it was often thrilling and exciting.

Kakashi made it up to the room without trouble. The time was 7:34 when he got there, not what he had been hoping for but he'd have to make do. Waiting for half an hour would severely increase the chances of being caught. It didn't matter so much anyway, the most important thing was to get in and get the scroll without being discovered, that way he would already have the scroll and could fight his way outside with it if he had to.

He slowly made his way nearer to the two guards who were guarding the door and, once he got close enough, let himself drop down behind one of them. He quickly took the guy out by snapping his neck, the other one had just enough time to turn around to see what was going on before he fell down dead with a kunai through the eye. Kakashi waisted no time and burst into the room, grabbed the scroll and was out again and back to the ceiling, except this time he was running crouched down instead of crawling.

Kakashi froze 3 hallways down when a door near him opened, he crouched lower on the ceiling and scooted deeper into the shadows. A guard had just come out of one of the rooms and was thankfully making his way away from the room where the scroll was kept and were the two dead guards were now lying.

"Fucking hell!"

Kakashi was making sure that the pocket with the scroll was securely fastened when Iruka's voice came booming over the radio, making him jump so badly that he accidentally snapped the clip on his pocket open and the scroll fell out just as the guard was passing by below. Kakashi barely managed to catch it before it fell on his head but that left him standing straight down from the ceiling, arm outstretched for the scroll, which was hanging mere centimeters above the guards head. For a few agonizing seconds, that felt like decades to Kakashi, the guard stopped and looked behind him. Seeing nothing there he shrugged it off and continued on his way. Kakashi slowly crouched down again, secured the scroll and, having made sure the guard was out of hearing range, answered his partner frantically.

"What? What's going on?"

"I just realized we don't have a Sensei for the exams" Iruka's voice sounded annoyed.

"We... What?"

"For the Chuunin exams, if you and me go as Naruto's team we don't have anyone to be Sensei for us."

Kakashi could have laughed.. or cried.. He really did feel like doing both but now was not the time or the place to lose his composure.

"Let me get this straight. I'm in here, risking my life. Trying not to be caught. Trying to concentrate completely on the mission. And you nearly give me a heart attack, not to mention almost getting me caught, because you figured that out!"

"Relax the guards are all heading outside now, I guess the shift change is taking place or something. Just get out of there as soon as you can and we can head back."

"What! Their going outside? Iruka the shift change isn't until after an hour."

"I wonder what they're... Oh I see." Iruka's thoughts were interrupted by a spear poking his back.

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.x. 3 days later .x.

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Genma was walking home with Naruto, he'd had to go see the Hokage about an assignment and since he didn't have anyone to look after the kid he decided to take him with him even though it was rather late in the evening. Naruto always liked visiting his grandfather figure anyway. Genma was slowly making his way down a side street, enjoying the cool night breeze and the sight of Naruto running a few steps ahead, when it happened. Naruto suddenly stopped and turned to Genma with an anxious look on his face, it was then that Genma realized what the prickling feeling in the back of his head had been. Some people had been following them for quite some time now and they were quickly coming closer, and by the look of it Naruto had realized it as well.

Genma had just reached Naruto's side when they showed up. It was the same burly ninja that had assaulted Iruka in the mission office along with two other ninjas, most likely his teammates. The stupid oaf, as Genma liked to call him, was blocking their way out of the street and his teammates were standing behind Genma and Naruto, blocking off that way as well.

"Oho, would you look at that." The guy sneered. "Not only do we get the guy who attacked me but we get the little demon as a bonus"

'Shit.' Genma thought. 'They were after me and now I've dragged Naruto into this.'

Genma had to think fast. He knew he couldn't take them on all at once, especially since he was still getting over a back and leg injury he'd gotten on his last mission, and if he didn't keep them all occupied one or two of them could get to Naruto while he was fighting. Genma did the only thing that came to mind and picked Naruto up, he wouldn't have enough time now to teleport out of there but maybe if he could create an opening he could get them, or at least Naruto, out of there.

"Alright Naruto." Genma whispered to the kid. "Do as I say exactly how I tell you and when I tell you to do it, think of this as a mission game ok? Now I want you to wrap your arms and legs around me as tight as you can." Genma waited for the boy to comply, he could feel him shaking a little with fear. "That's good, now no matter what happens I want you to hold on tight and don't let go, ok? No matter what happens... I'll make sure they won't hurt you."

"Aaaww how sweet, another demon lover thinking he can protect the little monster. I must admit I was just following you because I wanted to pay you back for the other day but I've got a score to settle with the kid as well, you see I was really close to cutting the monsters head of a few months ago but that stupid ghost bloke had to stop me, and since it doesn't seem like you'll hand the bastard over willingly I guess we'll have to use a bit more force on you than I had intended."

Genma glared daggers at the guy. He knew Naruto wasn't well liked but this was the first time he was really seeing how much hatred the kid had had to live with in his life. He didn't have a long time for regrets though because the stupid oaf's cronies came at him, probably aiming to capture him and hold him while their leader either beat him up or got to Naruto. Genma let go of his hold on Naruto, got himself a kunai in each hand and readied himself for the attacks.

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Naruto was scared, not only for himself but for Genma as well. He was also angry and upset. Angry because these guys were planning to hurt his friend and upset because, since he had been with him, the guys were going to hurt him even more. Naruto wanted to tell Genma to let him go and just let them have him. He didn't want his friend to be hurt because of him, but he knew that Genma would never do that and arguing with him about it at this point would only make the situation harder for them. So he did just as Genma had told him to and clung to him with all his strength. The guys behind them made the first move, as they came diving towards them Genma sprung into action. He dodged the first one and managed to trip the second one with a low round kick in one movement. Naruto dug his little fingers deeper into Genma's vest and willed himself to hold on. It was hard to keep the grip with his legs when Genma moved and he could feel in his movements thatt he was hindering him in the fight.

Genma wasn't as lucky in the next attack, he managed to dodge and kick the first guy in the back but took a high kick to the shoulder from the second one. The kick had been aimed at Naruto but Genma managed to turn enough for it to miss it's original target.

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His shoulder was burning and he could feel the stiffness in his back and leg getting worse with each move but Genma ignored the pain. The guys obviously didn't care who they would hit and were aiming both at him and Naruto. He knew he wouldn't be able to dodge all their attacks but the least he could do was make sure that none of the hits meant for Naruto would succeed. The stupid oaf had thankfully decided to stay out of the fight for what ever stupid reasons he could have, Genma personally thought he was waiting for the other guys to beat him up enough for him to not be able to fight back. It would be just the sort of thing a coward like that guy would do. Talking and acting all tough and then having other people do most of the work.

The second guy came at him again with more force, Genma blocked the first punch and countered the kick but took the second punch to the head almost at the same time as the first guy kicked him in his bad leg making him keel over. He got up quickly but couldn't put much weight o the leg. 'Shit, shit, shit.' Genma looked around for a way out again but saw none. He tried to form seals for the teleport jutsu but was interrupted by the two idiots each time. Their options were few and were running out fast.

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Kakashi leaned a bit more on Iruka, just enough to be severely annoying but not enough to hinder or strain the other person to much.

"Kakashi I thought you said you were alright, are you feeling worse?"

"Nope." Kakashi replied matter of factly.

"Then why are you leaning more heavily on me all of a sudden?"

"Because I'm tired... and I felt like it."

"You felt like... You stupid ass! If you didn't have that big gash in your side I'd leave you here you do know that right? I think I'll carry you home, get you patched up and then kick your ass again you annoying fuck!"

"Jeez do you use that language at school sensei? And for your information I wouldn't have this big gash in my side if it wasn't for you. Now what was it that you were telling me on our way to the mission, I can't quite remember but I think it was something about focus... focus on the mission or something like that? Ring any bells?"

"Alright I guess I deserve that but could you just please not make a big deal out of it ok? I made a mistake but I was taking pretty good care of it before you came along."

"You know as smart as you are you sure are stupid sometimes."

Kakashi was still getting over the shock of what had happened. Iruka's radio had suddenly gone dead and knowing that they were already discovered and that most of the guards were already outside Kakashi decided to throw caution to the wind and jumped through one of the big windows, which explained why he was covered in scratches and his clothes were ripped. He arrived by Iruka's side just in time. Iruka had been holding up pretty well against the guards but they were closing in on him and it was clear to Kakashi that he wouldn't be able to hold them off much longer. He rushed in there to help his friend and Iruka used the opportunity while Kakashi was beating the guys up close to fall back and launch a series of long range attacks.

"I mean seriously, the guy's weren't ninjas so they couldn't have found you by your chakra so what on earth were you doing? Waving a sign over your head saying Here I am."

"No! For your information I was trying to make sure the guards wouldn't find you. But to be honest with you I have no idea how on earth they found me. I was a bit distracted yeah but I was very well hidden and masking my presence the best I could. Ninjas should have a really hard time finding us but these guys didn't just find me they even managed to sneak up on me without me noticing it."

"Yeah, that is a mystery." Kakashi didn't like it. There was just no explanation for why the guards had been able to find Iruka, let alone get up to him without him noticing. Ninjas who'd reached Anbu could sense danger so well that they were sometimes thought to be extremely paranoid because they were pausing or looking into every little thing.

"Well no use trying to find out now. Anyway we're home, let's get the scroll to the Hokage and make the report. We'll have him call the medic nin in while we're at it. It's pretty late but I'm sure I could go and get Naruto afterwards."

Kakashi and Iruka made their way through an underground tunnel that would get them inside the village. Supposedly the tunnels ran under the whole town, built by the first Hokage as a final escape route if the village was under attack, but most of them had crumbled from disuse a long time ago. The tunnel they were going through would only take them under the village wall, which was very convenient for them, it allowed them to get in and out of Konoha unnoticed by the guards.

Once inside Iruka was tempted to walk the streets to the Hokage tower since Kakashi was leaning so heavily on him but then decided against it, going over the rooftops would be much quicker and safer.

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Genma knew he was failing. He could barely stand and had only managed to beat one of the guys by paralyzing him with a senbon. He staggered up against the wall and used the last of his kunais and shurikens to buy himself a little time. To hopefully buy Naruto enough time to escape.

"Naruto. Listen to me, I'm going to distract them and while I do I want you to run back to the Hokage as fast as you can."

"No." Naruto protested. "I'm not leaving you here. I can fight too, I've been training"

"Naruto! I need you to do this for me. No arguments, no objections. I want you to run when I say so. Please, do this for me. Go get help." Genma knew Naruto would never be able to get help fast enough for him but hopefully the kid could get himself to safety, it was all he cared about at the moment.

Genma put Naruto down next to him. The leader was still standing at one end of the street and the other one on the opposite end. Before either of them could make a move Genma pushed himself away from the wall and nudge Naruto towards the second ninja.

"Naruto, RUN!"

As soon as Naruto was moving Genma sent the last of his senbons flying and, having caught the ninja by surprise, managed to hit some good points. They wouldn't immobilize him but they would slow him down.

Genma was getting ready to take on the big ninja, who was running towards him, when he saw to his horror that Naruto had stopped running.

The last thing he saw before blacking out for a few minutes was Naruto reaching his hands up and screaming "Doggie!"

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(1) I have no idea how long it takes so I just used the same time as it takes to go to Suna.

(2) No clue how to use this word in the past tense.. they didn't exactly teach that in English class at school.