Minato stared sadly at his remaining students. They lay sleeping uneasily in his living room, ready to put their plan into action at first light.

It is a good plan.

Earlier that same day

"Okay, so how are we going to get out of the village?" Rin asked curiously. She looked to her sensei questioningly but it was Obito who answered.

"I say we beat up anyone in our way!" he declared loudly. Rin winced.

"Obito-kun, I don't think-"

"C'mon Rin, it'll be fun!"

WHACK!

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"This isn't a game Obito! Kakashi's life is on the line here!"

Obito sobered up immediately.

Minato, who had remained silent throughout the entire argument, gazed thoughtfully at them while he scratched his chin in consideration.

"I don't know Rin-chan, that may just work."

The two chuunin stared at him.

"WHAAT!"

"Think about it. Obviously it's going to need more finesse, but it could work..." He trailed off. Obito's eye twitched.

"Sensei! Spit it out already!"

"Do you two think you can handle the guards stationed at the Main Gate?" Minato asked seriously.

Rin looked uncertain, but Obito stood up and yelled "Hell yeah! No one's standing between me and the bastard who took my friend!"

"Obito," Rin tugged at his sleeve until he looked at her. "The guards will be jounin, even together we're probably no match for them. We'd need..." she trailed off, but what she didn't say echoed loudly in the silent room. "We'd need Kakashi."

"Yeah... guess you're right," Obito muttered. The two looked questioningly at their sensei, since his suggestion obviously wouldn't work.

For a moment, their yellow-haired sensei seemed to be at a loss, then his trademark megawatt grin suddenly reappeared.

"What are you two talking about? Of course you can take 'em!"

"HUH!"

Minato nodded then made hand signs. "Kagebunshin no jutsu!"

Two identical clones of himself appeared, and they too made hand signs. "Henge!"

The clones transformed themselves into Rin and Obito. The real chuunins grinned at their sensei's genius.

"This is perfect sensei!" Obito grinned. They were getting closer. 'We're coming for you Kakashi.'

"Yup," Minato agreed, very pleased with himself. The bunshins disappeared in a poof of smoke. "When the clones take out the guards I can come running after you like I'm trying to stop you from doing something foolish. By the time anyone suspects anything we'll be near Earth's borders."

"Yeah!" Obito pumped his fist into the air and Rin jumped up and down excitedly.

"But first," Minato glanced at the darkening sky outside his window. "We rest. This is going to be difficult. It will be best if we treat it like a mission." He walked over to a closet and pulled out some blankets and a couple pillows. "You two can stay here for the night. We'll leave tomorrow morning right before they change guards, they will be tired and easier to take down, which will make this more believable."

Rin and Obito nodded and curled up on the floor. They layed close together, as if to protect each other from the harm that had befallen their teammate. Minato smiled and went to his room. A minute later he walked out with another pillow and blanket and layed down on the other side of Rin.

Present

'A good plan indeed. Too bad it will never be put into action.'

Minato silently crept over to his door, pausing wearily when Rin moaned slightly and turned in her sleep. His heart ached at the pained expression on her face. He knew the only way to wipe away her pain would be to get Kakashi back alive. Resolve strengthened, he grabbed his pack and silently left the apartment.

Whoever took Kakashi is going to pay dearly,' Minato thought grimly as he ran quietly on top of buildings. The sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon, bathing Konoha in a pale light and creating a serene beauty. Civilians slept peacefully, mercifully oblivious to the outside world around them, tucked safely into the land of their dreams where the horrors of war couldn't reach them.

'If only they knew, but I suppose it's for the best that they don't.'

Minato stopped as he reached the main gates to the village. Because of the war, security was especially tight around the entrances to the village, and it would be near impossible to get through. 'This is where Obito's plan would've been perfect.' He didn't think he would be very successful trying to sneak past the guards. They were especially trained for this sort of thing.

'Hmm what to do. I wonder..." Minato glanced again at the guards and was pleased to see that Jiraiya was among them. Maybe he had hope after all. He grinned as a plan formed in his mind. It would either work brilliantly or it was incredibly stupid and would get him in a mess of trouble, but either way he was about to find out.

Minato left his hiding place and walked towards the gate in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner. Jiraiya was the first to notice him.

"Hey brat! Where do you think your going?"

Minato fished around in his pack and held up a scroll. "Playing messenger boy for the Hokage."

Jiraiya eyed him suspiciously. "Really? I heard the old man's got you restricted to the village after what happened to Kakashi."

Minato's pulse quickened. 'Shit. I was hoping word hadn't spread quite yet. Oh well, time to bullshit.' He gave a pained smile. "Unfortunately, war can't stop just because I've lost one of my students. Sandaime needs me out there, but he's restricted Rin and Obito to the village. Needless to say they're less than pleased, but it makes me feel much better knowing they're safe within the walls of the village."

Jiraiya continued to stare at him, and for a second Minato thought he had seen through him. It definitely wasn't his best lie, but dammit he was stressed out and working under pressure here.

Minato barely held in a sigh of relief as Jiraiya's expression softened. "Knowing you, you probably nagged him until he gave you a mission. I know it's hard Minato, I was rather fond of the Hatake runt myself, but don't run yourself into the ground."

Minato nodded to him and started to head through the gates when the other guard, a hard faced jounin whose name Minato didn't know, held out an arm to stop him, still frowning suspiciously.

"Hold on Jiraiya-sama, how do you know he's telling the truth? I don't recall hearing the Hokage lift his restriction. I say we check the scroll."

Minato was saved from trying (and probably failing) to come up with another excuse when Jiraiya turned and glared at the man. The jounin blanched. Pissing off a Sannin probably wasn't the best idea.

"Are you doubting his integrity? I'll have you know that he happens to be a student of mine, so if you doubt him, then you doubt me!" Jiraiya was now inches from the man's face.

"Never sir! Forgive me. Namikaze-san, you may pass."

Minato grinned brightly and made for the gates, hoping to get out of there before he had anymore holdups. Just as he crossed the threshold, he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. He turned. Jiraiya was staring solemnly at him.

"Bring Kakashi-kun back safely, OK?"

Minato's blue eyes widened. 'He knows? Then why...'

Jiraiya didn't offer any explanation, but simply nodded and headed back to his post. The hard faced jounin was still glaring at him.

Without another word, Minato turned and lept into the trees, relief and gratitude rushing through him. He would have to thank his sensei when he got back to the village. He never would've gotten through the gate without him. 'It's a good thing they didn't check the scroll,' he thought, grinning ruefully. 'I would've been in big trouble when they saw it was blank.'

He jumped to the ground and paused to find his bearings. 'Let's see, I'm about three miles out from the village, I should make it to the border by nightfall.' He was about to leap back into the trees when a voice behind him made him freeze.

"And where do you think you're going?"

Kakashi shifted against the chains holding him and bit his lip as his body screamed in protest. 'Damn, won't get far in this condition. Still, anywhere is better than here.' He had to get out of there fast. He'd overheard a conversation his tormentor had had with the man who seemed to be in charge. They were speaking in code, but he'd understood enough to know that if they couldn't get information out of him soon they were going to kill him. He wasn't called a genius for nothing. But still, he couldn't let them kill him, at least not yet. He had to warn his sensei first. He yanked at his chains with renewed vigor, this time stubbornly ignoring his screaming body. He'd be damned if he showed anymore weakness then he already had. The chains clattered noisily as he shook them. One thing that leaned in his favor, the shackles were slightly large on him, obviously meant for an adult, not a thirteen year old, and Kakashi was already rather skinny for his age. However, they weren't quite large enough for him to slip his hands through, no matter how much he twisted them. He had tried yanking them straight off their rusty bolts but the rust attached it to the wall more tightly than the bolts themselves. Kakashi sighed. He could only think of one more way to get at least one hand out, and he wasn't looking forward to it.

Kakashi let out a shaky breath and tried to steel his resolve. 'Get a grip Hatake! Too much is at stake here for you to wimp out over a little pain! Now's the best time to do it!' It was true. Save for a few chuunin guards left behind, the majority of the Iwa camp he was currently being held in was empty. Supplies were low, but carriers couldn't get through because of Leaf raids on their caravans. Finally desperate, the base commander sent squads out to guard them on their journey to the camp. With one scrawny little Leaf jounin chained to a wall, he didn't think he would be compromised.

'Hmph. Stupid fools, underestimating a shinobi of the Leaf.'

Knowing it was now or never, Kakashi took one last breath and roughly jerked and twisted his left hand, letting out a grunt of pain as he felt the bones snap. Eyes watering, he maneuvered his hand around until the bones compressed enough to allow him to slip it through the shackle. Kakashi bit back a small sob of pain. It wasn't over yet. He placed his hand against the wall and pressed until his bones slid back into place. Reaching up, he grabbed the shackle holding his right hand in place and yanked roughly until it came loose, biting his lip until it bled to keep from screaming.

'Heh, Obito wouldn't have stood a chance. The crybaby.' Thinking about his teammates hurt. He missed them terribly. Obito, with his loud mouth and way he constantly annoyed him, Rin and her gentle smile and soft demeanor, Sensei with his huge grin and perpetual happiness, and the way he without a doubt loved his students.

He missed his family. He forced his abused body to limp to the other side of the room, his broken ribs screaming in protest. In a show of arrogance, the Iwa nin had left all of his supplies laid out on a table in the room, just to taunt him. Kakashi shook his head. Such arrogance was foolish and in this case would seal their doom. He grabbed all of his weapons and strapped his kunai holster to his leg. Once that was taken care of, he grabbed the items that he desperately needed. His supply of food pills. He took one and put the rest in his pocket, letting out a sigh of relief as energy rushed through him. He would be able to ignore most of his wounds now, even his hand. Kakashi looked down in disgust at the useless appendage. He knew it was necessary, but it put him at a huge disadvantage. If he ran into any enemy nin before he made it back to Fire Country, he would only be able to fight with one hand. At least he had had the sense to break his left hand, leaving his dominant hand fully functionable.

Knowing there was no time to lose, Kakashi headed toward the door. As he reached it he hesitated. How the hell was he supposed to get out of there? He had been blindfolded and half-conscious when he'd been brought in, he didn't even know the layout of the camp! Let alone the fact that he didn't know what part of Earth Country he was in, or even is he was in Earth Country. Suddenly he had an idea. He took his right thumb and wiped a wound that was still sluggishly bleeding in his left shoulder, and formed the necessary seals.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

In a poof of smoke the silent room was filled with the barking of Kakashi's ninken. Kakashi winced, if the enemy heard them, they'd come running.

"Oi! Shut it will ya!" a gruff voice shouted.

The barking ceased immediately.

"Thank you, Pakkun." Kakashi said gratefully. He listened for the sound of approaching footsteps. Hearing none he returned his attention to his ninken.

"No problem, brat," Pakkun stated. His eyes roamed over his master's bruised and bloody form. He didn't like what he saw. "What on earth happened to you?"

"I'll explain later, right now I need your help." Kakashi said. "I need you to help me get out of here, as I'm sure you can see I'm not exactly in top condition. Also, I need you to lead me back to Konoha. I think I'm somewhere in Earth Country but I'm not exactly sure where."

The dogs nodded in unison and spread out around their master.

"Thanks guys," Kakashi smiled at them. Looking at the door, Kakashi channeled chakra into his foot and kicked it roughly. The door flew off its hinges and slammed into the adjacent wall. Kakashi winced again. If the Iwa nin didn't think he was escaping before, they sure as hell did now.

"Hey!"

'Figures.'Kakashi turned towards the figure running towards him. The nin was young, maybe a few years older than Kakashi, but not nearly as intelligent. He let out a loud yell and drew a kunai, but failed to notice that two of Kakashi's larger ninken had appeared behind him until they had each latched on to one of his arms. He continued to yell and thrash about until Kakashi silenced him with a kunai through his throat.

Without stopping Kakashi lept over the body as it crumpled to the ground and headed for the entrance to the building, dogs in tow. He stopped as he reached it and cautiously looked out the peep hole. The building that had served as Kakashi's prison was the only sturdy structure in the whole camp. The rest of the camp consisted of ten large tents spread out in a semi-circle around it. A few nin lounged about with nothing to do until their supplies arrived. Kakashi knew even with his dogs he wouldn't be able to fight his way through all of them. Not in his condition. He grinned as a plan began to form and turned to his dogs.

"I want you guys to meet me in the forest, okay?" He ordered. Pakkun stared incredulously at him.

"Are you crazy! There's no way you'll get out of here without us!"

Kakashi merely grinned at them as he formed seals with his hands. "Henge!"

As the resulting poof of smoke cleared, the young Iwa nin they had just killed stood where Kakashi had been moments before. Pakkun grinned at him and the rest of the ninken let out soft howls of approval.

"Not bad, kid." With another poof of smoke he and the other dogs disappeared.

Kakashi took a deep breath and opened the door. A few of the nin glanced at him. "The leaf runt still alive?" One of them shouted.

Kakashi grinned at them. "Yeah, the little punk's still hanging in there."

The man who had asked barked out a laugh. "He's not gonna last much longer when Nato gets back, man he was so pissed when he couldn't break the kid before! He's gonna pull out all the stops this time!" The other nin listening laughed along with the man, so none of them noticed the way Kakashi's eyes clouded and teeth clenched at the mention of his tormentor.

Forcing out another grin, he laughed with them. "Yeah, it's gonna be fun to watch." As they continued to chuckle, he made his way swiftly to the edge of the camp. Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the man shouted again.

"Hey! Where ya going Sano?"

It took all of Kakashi's self control not to flinch and he turned. "Gotta take a leak," he said while rubbing his head sheepishly.

"Again? That's what you get for drinking the last of our water rations punk!" The man smirked at him and turned away.

Kakashi turned and lept into the trees before anyone else called to him. He let out a grunt as the pain from his wounds flared up from the action.

'Gotta keep moving. Soon enough they're going to discover the body and send a search for me.' He released the illusion as he felt it draining his strength.

"Pretty good acting kid, never knew ya had it in you!" Startled, Kakashi whipped his head around, only to relax as he saw his dogs move into formation around him, Pakkun in front of him.

"I learned from the best," he said, smiling ruefully as his sensei's face popped into his mind.

Pakkun glanced back as he sensed the shift in Kakashi's mood, but didn't comment.

"Keep behind me, the border is about 20 miles due south of here, I'll lead you."

"And where do you think you're going?"

Minato whipped around and gasped at the figures before him.

"You! How'd you get past the guards!"

Rin and Obito just smirked at him. "You'd be surprised at how easy it is to slip by when you're distracting the guards sensei. This was even better than our original plan!" Obito said cockily.

"I think Jiraiya-sama winked at us though." Rin stated thoughtfully.

Minato was torn between pride at his student's cunning and annoyance at the fact that they followed him. Pride put up a pretty good fight, but in the end the annoyance won.

"What are you two doing here! This mission is dangerous!" He said sternly.

Rin's and Obito's grins simultaneously turned to looks of outrage. Minato winced.

"Don't even think about leaving us behind!" Obito shouted angrily. "If it wasn't for us, you wouldn't even know Kakashi was alive!"

"We're a family, Sensei," Rin said firmly. "Family looks out for each other, and we're going to be there for Kakashi no matter what."

Minato sighed. "Fine, but stay close to me at all times unless I tell you otherwise. I've already gone through the pain of losing Kakashi, don't make me feel that again." Rin and Obito's defensive expressions softened.

"Don't worry about us Sensei," Rin said softly. "We'll be okay. But remember, we felt that pain too, don't make us feel it for you."

Minato felt his eyes water and pulled the two of them into a hug.

"No matter what happens," he whispered. "I want you to know that I love you, all of you, so much."

His two students hugged him back tightly. "We love you too, Sensei," Obito mumbled against his chest. Rin nodded.

Minato pulled back and wiped his eyes. "Let's go get Kakashi." He said determinedly. There was a hardness in his eyes that Rin and Obito only ever saw when his students were in danger.

"Yes sir!"

Without looking back, the remainder of Team Yellow Flash lept into the trees.