...That was an evil cliffhanger with which I left you. But here's a nice long chapter that hopefully will be satisfying. And thank you, yure-chan, terracannon876, dk-joy, deerang88, SongoftheDarquePhoenix, Reidluver, chibi heishi, KakashiKrazed, Auphora66, Hiya120, Skater Valentine, Rangerfan58, and Prescripto13 for reviewing! It helped brighten a not-so-good day.

"Of course…Lord Orochimaru!" Kabuto leapt forward as he sneered the last word, and Iruka belatedly realized he'd been discovered after all.

The bespectacled ninja aimed a chakra enhanced blow to Iruka's neck, and the chunin only barely managed to twist his body away. Using the momentum of his dodge, Iruka thrust a hastily withdrawn poison-tipped kunai at his opponent.

Kabuto growled as he caught the chunin's arm and forced him backwards. The Konoha ninja, still disguised as Orochimaru, fell against laboratory equipment. The shattering glass dug into his back. However, Iruka was far more concerned about the noise created by the crash.

The sensei escaped his hold and grabbed Kabuto in a head lock, but his opponent swiftly broke free. The fight quickly degenerated a savage wrestling match as the two shinobi struggled for the upper hand.

Iruka hissed as his head and injured back was slammed against the stone floor, Kabuto pinning him down. His vision swam for a split second before he peripherally spied his dropped kunai on the ground to his left.

He needed a bit more freedom of movement to be able to reach it. With that in mind, he brought his knee up sharply into Kabuto's groin, eliciting a surprised and painful groan from the other man.

Iruka twisted and stretched for the weapon. In Orochimaru's tall and long limbed form, he easily grabbed and turned quickly to make use of it.

Kabuto was faster, jabbing the sensei's chest with a chakra enhanced strike, damaging the muscle fibers without breaking the skin. As the older ninja struggled and gasped for air, Kabuto disarmed and apprehended him.

The poison tipped kunai was now at Iruka's throat. "Who are you?" Kabuto demanded.

"NO! Sensei!" The desperate cry rang out and an orange blur rushed into the lab, ready to fight and defend his precious person.

"Naruto?" Eyes widened in surprise, Kabuto turned his head.

Then his head continued turning, when a long tongue wrapped around his neck, forcing it to snap.

The genin gaped in shock.

Slowly, Iruka unraveled his outrageously long Orochimaru-tongue from around Kabuto's throat. He checked to make sure the man was dead and, with a shuddering gasp, finally released the transformation, reverting back to his normal features.

Stunned by the simple, lackluster end for one of Konoha's most dangerous criminals, even Naruto was temporarily rendered speachless. For a long moment, only the sound of Iruka's ragged panting could be heard.

"You beat Kabuto," Naruto breathed in awe, once he found his voice.

"You'd be surprised... how often powerful ninja are beaten by vastly inferior opponents," Iruka wheezed. "Thank you, for distracting him." He chuckled humorlessly and looked up, "Though generally, a ninja would opt for remaining hidden and attacking from the shadows, as Sakura was preparing to do."

"Are you hurt?" Sakura exclaimed, removing herself from the shadows and running to the sensei's side.

"Nothing serious," he assured them. His breathing was labored, but they had much more pressing issues at hand. "Sakura, look around and seize as many vials and chemicals as you can. Naruto," he hesitated, not wishing to give the boy such an unpleasant task but seeing no way around it, "…hide the body, but don't bother cleaning up the glass. When you're finished, help Sakura. Quickly."

There was no hiding the fact that a fight had taken place, but keeping Kabuto's death a secret could prove useful, Iruka thought. His hands formed familiar seals and in moments the sensei transformed into Kabuto's likeness.

While the kids set to work, the chunin approached the medical table. Kakashi was dressed only in boxers, but somehow it was his maskless face that seemed most vulnerable and naked. Besides the long scar bisecting one eye, Kakashi's face was smooth and boyish, far too young-looking to be that of a famed ninja prodigy.

Iruka quickly examined him. The visible injuries were not life-threatening, and most had already been treated. However, it was clear that besides being dangerously drained of chakra, the copy ninja had also been heavily drugged, probably with multiple substances. Iruka could not risk giving him even a generic antidote. There was no telling what kind of reaction he'd have, and it was highly unlikely that it would be effective in the first place.

The chunin worried his bottom lip with his teeth. The wan and unmoving form before him looked indescribably fragile, and Iruka was almost afraid that merely moving him would cause the jounin to break. This was going to be a risky extraction.

First things first. Kakashi's arms and legs were bound by heavy chains, as well as secured to the table itself with leather straps.

Iruka started by undoing the straps at his arms, a low growl escaping his throat when he noticed they'd been secured so tightly that the chains dug viciously into Kakashi's skin. As though that were even necessary, he mentally raged, with the prisoner in as feeble a condition as Kakashi currently…

His thoughts were cut off, as well as his air, when the "feeble" copy ninja shot forward and wrapped the chains on his wrists around Iruka's neck.

The chunin's eyes widened as he grasped at the cold metal, desperately trying to free himself. As it was, he was fortunate Kakashi didn't have strength enough to snap his neck then and there. But that didn't stop the jounin from attempting to choke the life from him. His smooth, unmasked face was intense with fury and determination.

Iruka dropped the henge, hoping that Kakashi was lucid enough to recognize a fellow Konoha ninja. In the meantime, both Naruto and Sakura rushed to intervene.

"Kakashi-sensei, it's us!" Sakura exclaimed. "We're here to rescue you!"

"Don't kill Iruka-sensei!" Naruto added shrilly.

The copy ninja's hold relaxed, though the chains were still at Iruka's neck. He kept his Sharingan eye closed as the other roved skeptically over the three would-be-rescuers.

Iruka could tell what the man was thinking. He preformed the appropriate hand sign, nearly risking another bout of strangulation, and muttered the word for the release of genjutsu. "Kai." He knew Kakashi would feel the ripples of the jutsu. "See? This isn't an illusion."

Kakashi's frown deepened and he briefly opened his Sharingan eye, quickly snapping it shut as the move drained him of even more precious chakra. The brief look was enough to confirm the chunin's words. This was not an illusion.

Iruka removed his own hitai ate. "Here, Kakashi-sensei." Very carefully, he tied the cloth over the jounin's left eye to protect him from further draining his reserves.

Kakashi stared blankly at the scarred nose chunin. Iruka grew increasingly concerned about his ability to comprehend. "Kakashi-sensei, do you recognize me? What's my name?"

The jounin swallowed thickly, then spoke for the first time. "What…the…hell?! Tsunade sent you to rescue me? Was she drunk?"

Iruka felt a vein throb in his forehead. "Are you really going to complain about who does the rescuing? Because we can just leave you here."

Both genin shot him a horrified look at that suggestion.

"No way!" Naruto fiercely contradicted. "We're saving him whether he wants us to or not!"

Kakashi sighed and offered the teacher a tired, empty half-smile. "Looks like I must resign myself to being rescued then."

"All right, Naruto, Sakura, get back to your tasks," Iruka barked. "We need to collect what substances we can find, for the medics to know how to treat him back in Konoha."

He examined the chains still binding Kakashi's wrists. They were fitted with chakra wards to mute out any attempts at releasing them by means of chakra manipulation. He noted that they also prevented Kakashi from being able to utilize hand seals. The design that had gone into these bonds was quite sophisticated. Breaking the intricate wards would require far more time than he cared to invest.

Iruka retrieved his set of lock picks. He'd do this the old fashioned way.

As the chunin worked the lock with a slender metal pick, Kakashi watched his genin snatch up vial after vial of serum and chemicals.

"At least you had sense enough not to bring Sasuke on a mission like this," the copy ninja noted.

The chunin said nothing as the first lock sprung open. However, a telltale shade of red appeared along his scar as he took to the second, and Kakashi narrowed his eye. "You didn't bring Sasuke…did you?"

"Sasuke? Uh, no he's not here." Iruka's eyes remained fixed on his work. "He's waiting for us back at our camp."

"What?" Kakashi hissed. "Are you crazy? Do you have any idea what Orochimaru would do if he knew that boy was near? Tell me you at least left him with someone capable."

If anything, Iruka's face turned redder as he moved to undo the chains at Kakashi's ankles. "Look," he snapped, "I care about these kids too. The circumstances of this operation are outside of my control. I'm doing the best I can with what I have, and your criticizing isn't going to help."

Kakashi was silent for a moment. Then he nodded, as though ceding the point. "All right then. What's you're exit strategy?"

"Well, I used a henge of Orochimaru to get into this area…but now that I've dispatched Kabuto, using his form would be the most practical. I assume you aren't held in this laboratory continually? They must transport you at some point."

"Yes, they…" the jounin trailed off. "Did you just say you dispatched Kabuto?"

"Please, Kakashi, focus," Iruka chided, "Do they transport you to other areas of this facility?"

The two shinobi were working out the details, when suddenly the copy ninja tensed. "Iruka, someone's coming."

The chunin hadn't sensed it, but he wasn't going to question Kakashi's senses. The genin quickly hid while Iruka shoved his comrade back down on the table and let his fingers fly through the transformation jutsu. He just barely finished in time before the person entered room.

"Kabuto, I was sent to…" the newcomer stopped short and her eyes trailed over the state of the room, lingering over the broken glass and upturned equipment. "What happened here?"

"The subject attempted to escape." Iruka answered tersely, mimicking Kabuto's speech patterns and inflection. "I just brought him back under control."

"Again?" The other ninja sighed and rubbed her eyes in frustration. "I don't relish telling Lord Orochimaru that he damaged even more of our equipment. He wasn't happy last time."

"I'll take care of reporting this incident," Iruka replied curtly. "Now what do you want?"

"Oh, yeah," the Sound kunoichi held out a clear vial of liquid. At first, it seemed like the contents were black, but closer inspection revealed it to be a deep, dark red. "I brought the next batch of serum. Lord Orochimaru wants you to get started on the next session right away if you haven't already."

Iruka grabbed the vial and nodded. "Understood."

The kunoichi inclined her head and turned to leave. But she paused suddenly at the door "Oh, yeah, Lord Orochimaru also said he'll be up shortly."

Of course, the revelation of the imminent approach of the Snake Sannin was enough to send a shot of alarm coursing through his system, but he did not react until after the messenger left.

"We're out of time, let's move out now." Iruka helped the jounin get to his feet. "Naruto, Sakura, remain hidden and follow us."

The chains were still around Kakashi's wrists and ankles, but unlocked and easily removed should the need arose. For now, the hitai-ate around Kakashi's eye was taken away to maintain appearances for anyone they would happen upon.

"Iruka, I need a soldier pill to boost my chakra," the copy ninja insisted before they left. "I won't be any help without it."

"No," the sensei responded decisively. "With all those unidentified drugs in your system, we don't know if your body could handle the strain. Soldier pills can be a hazard even for healthy ninja."

"But…"

"We'll be out of here in minutes, Kakashi-sensei," Iruka cut him off, steering him toward the exit. "Just act natural."

"No one's going to fall for this," Kakashi mumbled.

The moment they stepped into the dark hallway, Iruka's entire demeanor changed. Cold, clinical, and understatedly dangerous- he immersed himself in the role of Kabuto.

They passed checkpoint after checkpoint with no resistance and barely any inquiry. More familiar with the behavior and mannerisms of Kabuto than Orochimaru, he capitalized on this edge and skillfully played his part.

But, of course, things could never just be easy.

Iruka and Kakashi arrived at another guard post when a snake summon appeared at the same time with a message. "Kabuto hasss jussst been found dead. Kakashi isss missssing." The bored looking serpent then slithered away to deliver its message to its next recipients.

The eyes of every guard locked onto the pair in front of them. Caught.

Iruka's eyes narrowed as he slid into combat stance. Beside him, Kakashi did the same. Energy crackled in the air as every ninja prepared for battle.

Iruka moved his arm, and every opponent tensed for an attack. Instead, a small silver ball hit the ground and smoke billowed rapidly into the area. Iruka grabbed a genin in either arm and took off, Kakashi at his side.

The chunin worried for Kakashi's ability to keep up, but thus far he maintained an impressive speed, considering his experiment-ravaged form.

Rather, as Iruka pushed his own body to move faster, his already damaged chest muscles contracted painfully and refused to cooperate with his lungs' desperate attempts to expand and pull in air.

He ignored the pain as only a trained shinobi could, while they attempted to escaped their pursuers. The need for oxygen, however, could not be so easily disregarded. His vision swam and his pace slowed as feelings of lightheadedness increased.

"Iruka? What's wrong?" Kakashi's voice sounded dim behind the roaring in his ears.

Naruto and Sakura cried out in alarm when the chunin crashed onto his knees, doubled over and gasping painfully for breath. One hand clutched at his chest, the other he waved in the air before him, wordlessly signaling the group to go on without him. The enemy ninja were hot on their trail and Kakashi was in no condition to carry another person's weight.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the implied command. Instead he pulled the younger man to his feet and began searching his vest.

"Wha…" Iruka tried to ask, but couldn't force the words out. However, the jounin's intentions became all too clear when he retrieved a small container of soldier pills from the chunin vest.

Before anyone could protest, Kakashi swallowed two of them dry and grabbed a kunai from the other man's pouch. "I don't abandon my comrades," he fiercely declared, just as the pursuing enemy forces caught up.

The chakra enhancing effects of the soldier pill took place immediately. Time seemed to slow as the copy ninja challenged them head on. He rammed the borrowed blade into one man's throat. Kakashi did not bother trying to pull the kunai out, instead stealing a katana from the corpse's pliant fingers to create even more damage.

The copy ninja made no flourishes and wasted no energy. Every attack was designed with one goal in mind: to kill, quickly and efficiently. Iruka repressed a shiver at the brutal display, thankful that they were on the same side.

In minutes Kakashi decimated the group of inferior shinobi. However, they all knew it wouldn't be long before they met with more powerful opponents. And of course, Orochimaru himself was not going to allow his prize to be stolen without a fight.

"Iruka, take Naruto and Sakura and move out," Kakashi ordered.

Having regained his breath in his brief respite, Iruka balked. "You've got to be kidding! After all we went through, we're not going to leave you now."

Instead of responding with anger at his defiance, which was what Iruka partially expected, the jounin closed his eyes and sighed. "Sensei…I understand what you risked to rescue me…and I thank you for it. But right now the three of you are a handicap. I'll fight better if I don't have to worry about protecting you." He paused here to look at his students before fixing his gaze on Iruka. "And I believe I can trust my genin's safety to you."

"Kakashi…"

But before the chunin could muster a response, Kakashi was on his knees violently retching out the contents of his stomach. The effects of the soldier pill wore off as rapidly as it had come, and it was clearly ravaging his system as it reacted with the other substances in his body.

Kakashi's bare skin gleamed with perspiration, and his muscles convulsed involuntarily. An attempt to stand was curtailed by another round of vomiting, this time of bile and blood.

Needing to buy time, Iruka backtracked down the passage and strategically set exploding tags. He recalibrated their strength to ensure the whole structure wouldn't fall down on top of them, then set off the weak explosives. It effectively sealed off the passage and created at least a temporary barrier to Orochimaru's forces.

The entire facility by now had to be aware of Kakashi's escape. A collapsed passage would delay them for minutes at most. Iruka's own abilities were hindered by his injuries and Kakashi was suffering from chemical poisoning. Chances were high that if he did not receive medical attention soon, the jounin would not make it.

Iruka's mind whirled through possibilities and scenarios, and finally he was forced to come to one conclusion. Their mission had failed.

Only three options were left.

Naruto, Sakura, and himself could stay with Kakashi. They could surrender. Or they could fight. If they fought, they would lose.

Then there was the third option- the one Kakashi had proposed. The only way for Sakura and Naruto to survive this would be to forfeit the copy ninja. Leave him to his fate and escape themselves. After all, it was Kakashi that Orochimaru was after. The Sannin did not even know who the intruders were, and chances were he did not particularly care so long as he recovered his prize.

Iruka pressed his canteen to the jounin's lips when the man ceased gagging, hoping to at least keep him hydrated. After managing a few sips, Kakashi stood shakily, heavily dependent on Iruka to support his weight.

The choice tore at him. Abandoning Kakashi was unthinkable. But allowing Naruto and Sakura to fall into the Snake Sanin's grasp, and possibly be killed, was even more unconscionable.

Iruka shuddered miserably. How had he deluded himself enough to even think he could pull this operation off, let alone actually attempt it? Now they would all pay for his error.

Unless…

"Naruto! Sakura!"

Both genin, themselves terrified and desperate for leadership, turned to him immediately. "Yes, Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka shifted so that Kakashi was leaning on Naruto instead. "I'm sending you two ahead with Kakashi-sensei. He needs to get medical attention as soon as possible if he's going to survive."

"You can't fight them alone," Kakashi protested.

"That's why I'm not going to," Iruka stated simply. "I have a plan."

Naruto and Sakura's eyes lit up at that remark.

Iruka quickly shed his chunin vest and weapons pouch, slipping them onto the jounin. "Take my equipment, use whatever you need." With a reproving glare, he added "But take it easy on the pills."

"I don't enjoy making myself sick," Kakashi glibly responded. "I just do what needs to be done."

The chunin nodded. "Fair enough. It's important that you remain unseen as much as possible, and eliminate anyone who does catch sight of you," Iruka continued, as he reached into one of his pockets and retrieved the parchment he used at the very beginning. "Use this as the key for the main entrance."

Kakashi accepted the parchment, and gave him a questioning look. "This is really going to unseal the door?"

"It should," Iruka confirmed. "But if it doesn't, try to exit by the sewer pipes. The genin can show you the way, right guys?"

"You can count on us." Naruto confirmed.

"We won't let you down," Sakura added seriously.

"I know." Iruka smiled fondly at the pair. "Now go ahead, while I take care of things. And return to the village immediately; don't wait for me." He stressed. "Getting Kakashi to medical care quickly is priority number one. Understand? Let me handle my part myself."

"I told you, I don't abandon teammates and…" Kakashi started to protest.

"But you're not my teammate," Iruka pointed out. "You're the objective on this mission, and you're just going to have to trust me and go along with what I say."

"Don't worry, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura assured. "Iruka-sensei knows what he's doing."

"Yeah, didn't you hear him? He said he has a plan," Naruto added, as though that were explanation enough. "Even if it seems crazy or stupid, it'll work out in the end."

"Right," Iruka stated hurriedly, in far too much of a rush to decide whether he was offended or pleased by the statement. "Now get going!"

"Okay, see you later, Iruka-sensei," Naruto exclaimed. "Let's go, Kakashi-sensei!"

Iruka watched them leave with a heavy heart. If his plan succeeded, he would likely never see any of them again.

He once again formed very familiar hand seals. Only this time, Iruka assumed the form of the legendary copy ninja of Konoha, as the Sound ninja had last seen him: clad only in boxers, weakened, sallow-skinned, and body bearing signs of abuse. The chunin even took care to mimic the erratic aura of chakra Kakashi projected since his rescue.

When using a henge-no-jutsu, the key to success was to never stop with mere visual emulation. Rather, Iruka attempted to envelop himself in even the thoughts and emotions he associated with the subject, becoming that person to the greatest degree possible.

But what did that mean in regards to Kakashi?

Famous legend, utter mystery; severe teacher, lazy pervert; acclaimed hero, infuriating scoundrel- Kakashi was a paradigm of contradictions.

Unnerved by the sense of not quite knowing who he is, Iruka finally opted for one of the more recent sides the copy ninja had displayed- the impassive and efficient killer.

He pulled a bloody katana from one of the many corpses littering the floor. Shooting one last look at the passage where the others had disappeared, he ran in the opposite direction, taking no pains to hide his presence.

Whatever it required, Iruka would ensure that those three made it out alive. Even if he had to sacrifice himself to do it.

The next chapter will be the last!