Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

The happiness drained away as Raidou sat slumped at a table in the busy ANBU cafeteria. Alone again, he tried not to think of what Naruto was doing right now. Probably eating with that woman and whatever family she had. From a few seats down, someone barked out a harsh laugh. Raidou glanced over. One of the two ninja sitting across from each other at the speckled plastic tabletop was telling some sort of story or joke. "...so he caught the bastard in the gut with six shuriken. And the best part is that..." Raidou stopped listening. Naruto was probably talking about some prank or what Kiba had done that day. A bitter smile twisted his lips. Maybe the Hokage was right.

Suddenly he wasn't hungry anymore. Lifting his tray, he pushed his chair out and moved to deposit his plate and utensils at the counter. As he turned away, his eyes brushed over the entrance, where two ninja had just arrived. Kinjo's sleek black hair shone damply from a recent shower; beside him, Matsuda's face was still pink from hard scrubbing. They moved slowly, standing a little closer together than their indifferent acquaintance would normally merit. When Kinjo stumbled for seemingly no reason, Matsuda caught his elbow and steadied him. Raidou watched them approach the food counter and pick up trays. The taller man leaned against it, and he saw Matsuda's eyes close briefly, his face slipping from its forced half-smile into a slack, exhausted expression. He rubbed his hands over his face, then straightened again with poker face back in place as Kinjo stepped ahead of him in line to get his food. Raidou, frozen against the perpendicular wall, moved again.

He slipped out of the cafeteria with a new burden heavy on his mind. He hadn't even known Kinjo had been out on a mission, but from their bearings, he knew it must have been bad. A hundred, a thousand ways it might have left them like that. The best Raidou could hope for was running a little too fast for a little too long. Probably, Kinjo would be alright by tomorrow. A little sleep, a little food, a little alcohol if it came down to it. Probably, he didn't even want Raidou to stick his nose in. Kinjo would be fine. He'd check on him tomorrow. Screw Matsuda. But even that insensitive, morally corrupt son-of-a-bitch looked like the mission had affected him. Raidou sighed aloud as he climbed the stairs to his floor. He couldn't face dealing with Kinjo's problems now.

In his room, stripping off his borrowed clothes and getting into bed, he couldn't escape the thoughts. Naruto out there in the village with that stranger-woman. His friend facing a bad post-mission. His team still in the hospital. His village on the brink of war. And always, back to Naruto. Guilt squirmed its insidious way into his gut. Was it wrong to focus so much on Naruto? He wasn't Naruto's family, he wasn't what was best for him, and right now he had other responsibilities. So why did couldn't he shake the feeling that the room across the hall shouldn't be empty? Why did Naruto take a higher priority than Kinjo, when he'd only known Naruto for a few months, and Kinjo for years? What was wrong with him, that he worried more about Momotami not knowing that Naruto didn't sleep well if the door was left open than that his whole village might tomorrow be plunged into that special hell called war?

At midnight he was still awake, staring at the dark ceiling. At one in the morning, he went down to the deserted fields near the complex and kicked trees until dawn.

Raidou sneaked over the next afternoon to meet Naruto at the training grounds. He dragged Kakashi with him as well, literally grabbing the boy's arm and pulling him away from the memorial to go train with Naruto. Most of Kakashi's day had been spent answering questions in council sessions, questions that had already been asked and answered dozens of times. Kakashi came reluctantly, but he was unwilling to use force against his teammate, even to escape. It was a nice side effect of the memorial that Kakashi rarely argued with his teammates after being there. The agreeable personality usually lasted for only five minutes or so, but that was enough for Raidou to get him to the right training ground.

"So, Naruto, what did you learn in school today?" Raidou asked when they arrived.

"We're learning Konoha's history," he said. Naruto sat on the thick grass, legs splayed out in front of him, where he had fallen down after the ninjas' abrupt appearance. They had startled him out of a spar with the air, Naruto jabbing punches at an imaginary opponent and dodging fake counterattacks. "Teacher talked about the First Hokage today. Hokages are cool," he added thoughtfully. "But they were cutting the grass on the training fields, so teacher made us practice cleaning shuriken again."

"No." Kakashi lifted his head from his book. "I am not helping him practice clean shuriken."

Raidou huffed a small laugh. "Have you got that technique down yet?" he asked Naruto. "The one from yesterday?"

Naruto grinned and grabbed six shuriken from his hip pouch. "Watch me!" He positioned his feet carefully, and threw the shuriken. "I practiced at lunch," he said proudly. Five of the six were embedded firmly in a line. Sadly, the sixth was spinning to a halt on Kakashi's index finger.

"You nearly hit my book," Kakashi said blankly. "My book..." He seemed almost in shock. "My poor book..."

"Ne, what's so great about your book?" Naruto demanded, stalking over to retrieve his shuriken. He was greatly annoyed that Kakashi hadn't even looked at his technique, and expressed it with his best glower.

"It's great literature!" Kakashi told him, oblivious. "See, it's about this girl who—"

"Not one more word, Kakashi," Raidou cut in. "He's five years old. You are not going to tell him about your porn."

"It's not porn!" Kakashi protested.

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi snorted a laugh, dropping his outrage in exchange for tormenting Raidou. "Yes, Raidou, what's that?"

The older man's face flamed red, an odd effect with the scarred side remaining stubbornly pale. "Something very bad, that Kakashi shouldn't be reading," he said firmly. "And you shouldn't read, either, Naruto."

"That's okay," the boy said brightly. "I can't read anyways."

Kakashi frowned. "Is that normal?" he asked Raidou.

"How should I know?" Raidou responded. "When did you learn?"

"When I was three. But I'm a genius," Kakashi reminded him.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Raidou said dryly. "So you rot your brain with garbage like that so you don't get too much smarter than the rest of us?"

"When did you learn?" Kakashi demanded. He pointedly ignored the jibe about his reading material.

Raidou scowled. "Not your business."

"We need to know to figure out if you need to teach Naruto to read," Kakashi reminded him righteously.

"When I was twelve," Raidou muttered.

"Twelve?" Kakashi was incredulous. "Twelve?"

"I was too busy training," he indignantly tried to justify himself. "It's not like it was important if I could read back then. I got a break from missions when I was twelve, so I decided to learn."

Naruto decided to input his two cents, finally having retrieved all his shuriken from the tree and Kakashi. "I'd rather learn more shuriken."

"Not a choice," Raidou snapped, glaring at Kakashi. "I'm going to teach you to read. If Kakashi could do it, you can."

"Good," Kakashi smirked. "We don't want him ending up like you, after all."

The insults turned into a quite impressive sparring match, which in turn, developed into a taijutsu lesson for Naruto. The two shinobi finally left when Raidou realized Naruto had to get back to that woman's home soon. He really wished Naruto could just come back and live with them again.

"We should fortify the border."

"No. That would antagonize them."

"We have to protect the western villages."

Kakashi slouched against the wall, his mask and armor clean and ghostly white. He didn't understand why the Hokage insisted he be here for these council meetings. The old men were just bickering among themselves, and getting absolutely nothing done.

"Send ANBU squads," someone suggested.

"We've already got four squads patrolling over there."

"Any news from Suna yet?"

"No," the Hokage answered. "I am expecting a response from the Kazekage by tomorrow, however."

"The Fourth worked so hard for peace," someone sighed. "To think that we'd be back at war so soon..." The council fell silent for a moment, as each absorbed that statement and responded with internal regret or resentment.

"To think that history should repeat itself," a soft voice added. "Once again, the Hatake line has brought us war." Kakashi stiffened. "Perhaps we should send Kusa a gesture of apology. Take responsibility for the damage."

The complete stillness was tense. The other village leaders stared with bated breath at the Uchiha clan head. "Uchiha-san," the Hokage began. "Hatake-san completed his mission successfully. He did nothing wrong."

"We face a war because of his incompetence," Fugaku said coldly. "He has dishonored himself and his village."

"He has done no such thing," the Hokage said sharply.

Fugaku turned to the rest of the council. "One sacrifice could avert the war. We did it two years ago, with Lightning." A few people flinched, and Hyuuga Hiashi glared furiously at the other clan head.

"That was unavoidable, Uchiha," Hiashi said frostily. "You do not even know if Kusa will accept such a reparation."

"That is beside the point," Fugaku replied, smiling back politely. "Hatake Kakashi's dishonor still stains the village."

"You're suggesting suicide?" Hiashi locked gazes with the Uchiha. "Please keep your personal vendettas out of this council, Uchiha. The council is not concerned with his eye, or your bruised pride."

"The council should be concerned with the safety of the village," Fugaku responded frostily. "Hatake has compromised that."

As Hiashi drew breath to attack his rival again, Sarutobi fluidly inserted himself into the quickly degenerating exchange. "Kakashi, perhaps you should leave now," he suggested.

The shinobi bowed stiffly. "Yes, Hokage-sama," he said tightly. There was no flicker of killing intent, no flare of chakra. Rather, the absence was intimidating in itself. To the assembled ninja, such absolute control spoke more of danger than even killing intent could have. As the door clicked behind Kakashi, the Hokage signaled one of his ANBU guards. A few whispered words, and the man followed the Hatake out.

Kakashi pushed into Genma's room with barely a knock on the door. "Genma." The man propped up on a stack of pillows looked up at him. Kakashi's voice was flat.

"Hey, captain." He put the stack of papers and his pen to the side, gesturing Kakashi into the room.

The uniformed ANBU went straight to the issue. "The council wants me to kill myself."

Genma's mouth flapped for a moment. "What?" he finally squeaked. "Are you kidding me?"

Kakashi pushed his snarling mask off, and his tired grey eye brushed across Genma's gaze, before falling to the bedcovers. "War's my fault," he muttered. "It's just like my father."

Genma struggled to sit up straighter in the bed. "Bullshit, Kakashi. There's no war yet, and that wasn't our fucking mission. Anyways, if you have to commit suicide for it, so do I. And it hurts too much to try again."

Dismay sparked in Kakashi's eye as he remembered that Genma had tried suicide before. The same way his father had done. "I was captain," he insisted. "My responsibility."

"Like hell," Genma shot back. "It's just as much my responsibility as it is yours, and Raidou's, and Hayate's, and Tenzou's. You want us all to die? And leave that little blond brat alone?" Like you, was left unsaid, but Kakashi heard it. The tension bled out of him.

"Sorry," Kakashi murmured, suddenly sounding much younger. "I'm being stupid again, aren't I?"

"Yeah," Genma told him bluntly. "You are. Who fucking suggested this idiocy?" Anger swelled in his whole body, fury at the person who could say something like that, especially to Kakashi. Twist duty to the village into something so wrong.

"Uchiha Fugaku." Kakashi carefully kept the hatred from seeping into his voice.

"Figures." Genma curled his lip in disgust. "You ought to know better than to listen to a word that comes out of that man's mouth."

Kakashi finally sat down on the padded chair by Genma's bed. "I know. Just...he was kind of right..."

"No." Genma rolled his eyes. "The last time that Uchiha was right about anything was when he said it would be good for the village if he cut off his own head."

"That's not what he said," Kakashi, always a stickler for truth, finally corrected his subordinate after a long, blinking pause. "He said it would be more beneficial than letting you into ANBU."

Genma just grinned, teeth a vicious wall behind his senbon.

"Are you feeling okay?" Kakashi asked carefully. Genma wasn't seeing things, he didn't think, because he wasn't trying to kill people, but that expression was certainly not comforting. Kakashi stealthily withdrew his orange book, propping it up on his knees as a barrier against Genma's sudden burst of oddness.

"Still want to kill yourself?" Genma asked him.

"No," the silver-haired ninja responded, mostly to placate the maniacal grin.

"Good. It's a shitty way to die."

"You never died," Kakashi pointed out. "There are shittier ways."

"Didn't say there weren't," Genma answered placidly. The spark of whatever maniacal emotion that had been faded.

"All things considered, I'd rather stick a knife in my belly than be glomped to death by Gai."

"That is seriously disturbing, Kakashi, and let's please get off the subject. We're both pretty fucking messed up, but bringing Gai into it is a whole new level."

"Thought you knew you were screwy already," came a third voice. Raidou leaned casually against the doorway, Naruto held back with a hand on his shoulder. The little boy finally squirmed away and ran towards the two ninja. First, he glomped Kakashi. The shinobi stiffened, but put his arms stiffly around Naruto in an approximation of a hug. Then Naruto turned his attentions to Genma, who had prepared himself for the assault and barely flinched as the weight slammed down across his chest and arms wound around his neck.

"I see you found the kid," Genma commented to his scarred friend. He patted Naruto's bright hair, then pushed the boy off of him. Much as he appreciated the hug, that much physical contact was still unsettling.

Raidou's face clouded. He hadn't had a chance to speak with Genma since he'd woken up in the hospital. But today Naruto had convinced Raidou to let Kiba and Shikamaru cover for him against Momotami so he could come see the rest of his friends. "The Hokage isn't letting him stay with us anymore," Raidou informed Genma.

"What?" Genma exclaimed, shocked. "He can't do that!"

"Yes, he can," Raidou corrected his friend wearily.

"It might be for the best," Kakashi said quietly. "ANBU breaks people."

"ANBU saved you, Kakashi," Genma shot back fiercely. "You don't think I remember how you were before?"

"Don't act so damn special, Genma," he snapped. "Anyway, not everyone is screwed up enough that ANBU is a nurturing environment for them."

They had almost forgotten about Naruto sitting on the floor with his back against Genma's bed. "I like ANBU," he piped up.

Kakashi glared at the air and Genma smirked. "Told you so."

"Oh, Kakashi, before I forget, Miyagi is waiting outside to make sure you don't kill yourself. What's that about?"

"Dealt with," Genma said carelessly, slipping easily away from his previous intensity. "Praise to the Great Genma."

Raidou shot him a look. "Who spiked his medicines?" he muttered to Kakashi.

The young captain jerked an arm in a dismissive gesture. "Apparently talking about insanity exacerbates the condition."

Now Raidou was looking at Kakashi suspiciously as well. "I'm going to need explanations later. But for now, I assume you know about the MP, too?"

Kakashi made a face, visible only as a twitch of fabric and a rolling eye. "He's been following me since yesterday. Completely obviously, of course."

Naruto bounced off the floor. "Boring! I want ramen."

"I thought you wanted to see Hayate as well?" Raidou reminded him, before he cast another hard look at his teammates. "I'll talk to you two later."

Hayate was glad to see them when Raidou and Naruto arrived. Tenzou was asleep, drooling on his pillow. Hayate was looking significantly better than when Raidou had last seen him, unconscious, pale white and bleeding. Naruto, however, didn't think so. "You look dead," he said brightly, hopping up next to Hayate on his bed. The teenager grinned, before coughing into his fist.

"I thought death didn't hurt," he complained, ruffling Naruto's hair.

"Hey, hey," Naruto whined, ducking out of the way. "Play a game with me, Hayate-san," he demanded.

"What game?" he asked in confusion.

Naruto shrugged, settling back into the squishy mattress. "Any game!"

Hayate thought for a moment. "Stick out your hands, palm down. This is a reflex game, okay?" He slid his open palms under Naruto's small hands. "I'm going to try to slap the top of your hands, and you have to try and pull away before I can." Hayate hadn't played this game since he was really little, partially because once he became a ninja there hadn't been time for games like this, partially because once he became a ninja his reflexes had been honed to the level that this game was rather pointless. No (good) ninja could lose this game from the palm-down position, as long as chakra enhancements weren't allowed.

Raidou was watching them play, with much giggling and screeching from Naruto as his hands got repeatedly slapped, until Hayate finally allowed himself to lose so that Naruto could take his turn slapping. Then from the door, a quiet voice caught his attention. "Namiashi-san." It was a masked ANBU that Raidou didn't recognize.

"Yes?" he walked over to ask.

"Hokage requests your presence. Immediately."

Raidou turned back into the hospital room. "Keep an eye on Naruto for me, eh, Hayate?" The younger nin nodded, a question in his eyes. Raidou shook his head almost imperceptibly. "Naruto, make sure you're home before Momotami-san notices."

"Okay, Raidou-nii. Got you Hayate!" The slap of flesh on flesh resounded in the room, and Raidou ducked out the door.

In the Hokage's office, the ANBU escort faded against to the wall, seeming to disappear into the background. The Hokage sat behind his desk, his face grim. Uchiha Fugaku sat in a chair just in front of the desk, but he had angled the chair so he could observe the door, and Raidou, as well.

"Namiashi-san," the Hokage began.

"Hokage-sama," Raidou interrupted. "About Naruto, why can't he return to ANBU? He was so much happier there. Civilians just aren't the same as shinobi."

The Hokage cut him off with a look from under the shadow of his conical hat. "Namiashi-san," he repeated. "It has been brought to my attention that you broke into sealed records yesterday, and forged the chakra locks on classified documents." Raidou schooled his face into an impassive mask, and said nothing. "Care to explain yourself?"

"Fulfilling my duty to protect Uzumaki-kun, Hokage-sama," he said formally, back ramrod straight and eyes boring a hole in the wall across from him.

"That mission ended a week ago, Namiashi," the Uchiha interjected. "What you did is highly illegal."

"What is the Military Police doing involved?" Raidou asked, careful to maintain the same perfectly respectful tone. "ANBU does not fall under your jurisdiction."

Uchiha Fugaku's eyes glinted dangerously. "ANBU falls under the Hokage's jurisdiction. And seeing as you, Namiashi, have been involved in breaking into classified files and starting a political fiasco with Grass country, not to mention your...history...I suggest we obtain a full confession," Fugaku said smoothly.

Raidou stiffened. The Hokage looked about to protest, then his wrinkled eyes narrowed. Fugaku wouldn't demand something like that unless he had something to gain, and knew he could get it. With the way Sarutobi had blocked any attacks on Kakashi, he couldn't afford another conflict with the council. He had Hiashi's support, if only because the Hyuuga head would oppose the Uchiha on anything after that veiled dig about his brother. But Fugaku had enough support, enough influence, and enough favors he could call in that Sarutobi had no choice now. Not if he wanted to be able to unite the council against Grass. His eyes searched out Raidou's, and there was apology floating there. "That would be acceptable," he said heavily.

Only training and years of suppressing reactions kept Raidou's face impassive. But his gaze was accusing as he locked eyes with the Hokage. Fugaku bowed, a half-smile twitching his lips as he paid his respects to the Hokage. "I will instruct Morino, then." He pulled a folded document out from his vest, and offered it to the Hokage. "If you would validate the order?"

Sarutobi opened the paper, and read it through. "Surely this is a little harsh?" he tried. "Full procedures?"

Fugaku shook his head, pursing his lips in disapproval at altering protocol. "It is standard."

"For missing-nin and enemies."

"It is best to be thorough," Fugaku insisted. Raidou refused to shudder. He'd lived through worse before, he told himself. But he was hard pressed to think of an example. The Hokage pressed his seal to the paper, and handed it back. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi's regal posture slumped as two ANBU marched Raidou out of his office, followed by Fugaku's dark bearing. He'd just sent one of his best shinobi off to be tortured by his own people. All because some asshole of an Uchiha had a vendetta, and even the Hokage wasn't immune to politics. He looked out the window at his village spread out below the tower. He did it for them, Sarutobi reminded himself. To save the village, the Fourth had sacrificed his life. His own life, something whispered in his head. Not a young man with a promising future and a younger brother who needs him. The Sandaime stamped down on the little voice. Some things could not be avoided. And he would take the consequences as a shinobi.