Zabuza's sword is named Kubikiribōchō. As for the spelling of it…I'm just copy-pasting. I don't even know how to do those little accents above the O's.

Chapter 2

Clang

The kunai that had been flying toward Zabuza flew to the ground as he charged past them, closing the distance between himself and his attacker. Zabuza skidded to a halt and brought his sword around in an upward slash, cleaving through jacket and shirt and sending blood flying, but the cut wasn't deep enough to kill. He ducked underneath a stab from behind, turning to kick his second assailant back while the flat of his blade caught the ankle of his first attacker, sweeping him off his feet and up into the air. He continued his turn, straightening back up as he swept the blade around him, forcing the man behind him to step back, lest he end up cut himself. At the end of his spin he brought the blade down in a brutal straight cut, all but dividing the first assailant in half horizontally as blood flew everywhere. He jerked his sword upward, freeing it from the carcass. Without even looking, he stepped backwards and smashed the pommel into the second attacker. Between the crack of bone-breaking and the gurgle of a cut-off cry of pain, he knew he had hit jaw, which would stun even an experienced fighter.

He turned and brought his sword down in a diagonal slash, sending blood flying as the man crumpled to the ground, his life draining onto the ground. Zabuza stood still for a moment, panting. Blood stained his clothes, but the blood on his sword was rapidly fading. Kubikiribōchō was a messy killer, but at least it was self-cleaning. His clothes, however, were a different story.

Zabuza watched his sword as he walked through the trees to a nearby stream. Kakashi's lightning attack hadn't done any significant damage to the blade-a few scuffs, and cuts really- but he'd made sure none of the Konoha Shinobi had seen it anyway. The markings bothered him, maybe more than it would bother the others, because Kakashi's attack had barely touched it. Saying the attack 'skimmed' it was even a bit strong. Kubikiribōchō was iron; it wasn't made of the strongest materials, and could be broken, relatively easily when compared to the 6 other swords of Kirigakure. Its regenerative properties meant that damage didn't have to matter, so long as the wielder possessed any skill. Still, no normal Jutsu, especially one not even directed at the blade, should have been able to damage it like that.

What the hell kind of technique had Kakashi been using?

Obito jumped when Zabuza trudged back into their camp, causing the taller man to scoff.

"Some lookout, getting spooked by the first person to show up," He said, casting his gaze over the sleeping forms of Kakashi and Rin.

"It's not like I wasn't ready to react," Obito said defensively, keeping his voice down to as not to wake the other two.

"If I'd been here to kill you, you'd be dead," Maybe it was the matter of fact tone, but that one seemed to get Obito more than the others.

"Well…we didn't know whether you were coming back or not."

"Shouldn't that mean you'd need to be more on guard? Instead of…whatever this is?"

Obito transfixed Zabuza with a pained glare. "You're worse than Kakashi."

"Better believe it."

It wasn't until Zabuza put them down that Obito noticed the bags he'd been carrying.

"Is that what took you so long?" He asked, walking over to examine the bag and its contents, ignoring Zabuza's eye roll at leaving his post.

"Sending the letter off, getting this stuff, asking around about seals and dealing with some idiots who thought I'd give them the time of the day."

"Is that what they asked for?" Obito was skeptical, and Zabuza snorted.

"They asked for all my possessions. I gave them my sword."

Obito pointed at the weapon still clearly set against Zabuza's back. "You still have it."

"They didn't keep it for very long."

"Nothing?"

"Not a sign of them. The good news is that there's no evidence that Kirigakure recaptured them. The bad news is that there's no evidence they got away, either. It would be unreasonable to assume our spies in Kiri would know for certain if they were killed or locked back up."

"But they definitely got out at least once?"

"The battlefield is unmistakable. The torn-up ground matches your descriptions of that lightning technique of Hatake's. They clearly made it all the way out to that field before being forced to engage. But the rain certainly didn't help our trackers. We've no way of knowing the end result of the fight."

"I see…we just have to hope they got away."

"The best-case scenario is they disengaged, escaped the trackers, and are currently lying low in the countryside, looking for a chance to get across the border."

"And we all know what the worst case scenario is…well, I trust your judgement in this. My own is certainly clouded when it comes to these two."

"There's one last thing, sir."

"What is it?"

"There were two downed Kiri ANBU-both killed by a sword."

"Why is that odd? Kakashi carries a short sword."

"The cuts were much deeper and longer than we think that kind of sword is capable of. Either Hatake has a new technique, or…"

"Or they found an ally."

Kakashi awoke to the smell of cooking meat, and his stomach instantly responded. He sat up, eye locking on the roasting meat, barely aware of rising to his feet to move closer, until he was brought back to his senses by laughter.

"Well, he's up!" Obito exclaimed, turning to Rin, who nodded, still laughing.

"I haven't eaten in days," Kakashi defended.

Rin, however, shook her head. "We made sure you got some food yesterday. Not a whole lot, and you were unconscious, but you were actually the first one out of all of us to eat."

"And you don't see us acting like a dog who just smelled his favorite treat," Obito added cheekily.

Kakashi looked back and forth between the two of them, trying to think of an appropriate response, before giving up. "Is it at least ready to eat?"

At his question, a plate seemed to appear in front of him, and he jumped in surprise. His body still weak from Chakra exhaustion, his feet slipped, and he began to fall, only to be stopped short by a powerful grip on his arm.

"Really?" Zabuza asked, mild disappointment mingling with the amusement in his voice. He pulled Kakashi back up, and didn't release him until he was steady on his feet. Kakashi mutely accepted the plate from Zabuza, who walked over to the meat on the fire, withdrawing a kunai from his weapons pouch.

"I didn't know you were back."

"Didn't exactly look, did you?" Zabuza held the kunai above the fire for a moment, before turning back to Kakashi. "Well?"

"O-oh, sorry," He walked over to stand by Zabuza, holding his plate out as the taller man dug the kunai near the top of the roast, before sliding it all the way through in one smooth movement, so that one long, unbroken strip of meat landed on Kakashi's plate.

"The beauty of a kunai," Zabuza grunted, walking away from the fire and sitting on one of the overturned logs, grabbing a towel and wiping the weapon off.

"Here, Kakashi," He turned to see Rin holding out a normal knife and fork to him, which he accepted, sitting on another makeshift chair and pulling his mask down, too hungry to care about going out of sight to eat.

It wasn't until he got more than halfway through his meal that he took the time to look up and examine the campsite. Rin and Obito were sharing a log, talking quietly while they ate. Kakashi noted that Zabuza's face was also uncovered, though he seemed to have finished eating. He looked relaxed, running a whetstone over the kunai he had used to cut the meat. Casting his gaze over the campsite, he spotted what looked like an empty bag, probably what the meat-the taste indicated it was lamb-sitting next to a few other bags, only one of which was open.

"Where did you get lamb, Zabuza?"

Both Zabuza and Kakashi looked over at Obito's question, and Zabuza just shrugged.

"This close to the Land of Fire there's plenty of open grasslands. It's gets rocky and mountainous pretty quickly if you move further in, but a few stones aren't gonna bother sheep out here."

Obito drew breath to speak again, but Zabuza cut him off irritably. "There isn't a lot of game out here. This close to the village, a lot of ninja pass through on their way in or out. The herders give discounts to Shinobi who help them out, and the help they most often need is with predators."

Obito thought for a moment, nodded, and then it was Kakashi's turn to cut him off.

"Shut up, Obito."

The young Uchiha deflated and crossed his arms, looking dangerously close to pouting. Rin patted his shoulder and looked across the dying fire to Zabuza.

"Thank you for all this, Zabuza. You didn't have to."

Zabuza shifted, with the faintest hint of discomfort, before answering. "It's a loan. With interest, I might add."

"Of course," Rin said, smiling at the Kiri Shinobi. It wasn't necessarily the answer Kakashi would have given, but he supposed Zabuza had the right to ask for something after helping them so much.

"Were you able to get any idea of where to go next?" Kakashi wasn't trying to be pushy, but he didn't want to be away from the village longer than possible.

"The general consensus was that the best known seal-workers are in the Land of Fire. It's not really a specialty of Kirigakure." Kakashi sighed. Of course the easiest solution was the one they couldn't take. Why would it be anything else?

"Are you sure we can't still go? I mean, the tag is supposed to release the seal at the village, not the border," Obito asked, but all three of them shook their heads.

"I doubt it would activate right on the border, since that could endanger Kiri if the beast just turned around, but without any knowledge of where the beast would release in proximity to the village, it's too dangerous," Rin said quietly.

"For all we know, it the seal could just set a timer once she crosses the border, counting down to release," Kakashi added.

"I've never heard of a seal working like that," Obito said skeptically.

"And none of us have heard a rule saying they can't work like that," Kakashi snapped. "Look, let's say we take the best-case scenario that the tag will only activate if she walks into the village borders. The only people who could do that kind of complex seal work would be in the village itself, so we'd-meaning I-would have to sneak in and leave Rin a safe distance from the gates. That means I'd have to sneak past ANBU and normal Jounin alike. The only Shinobi that would trust me enough to leave the village to help would be Sensei and Kushina, and there's no way she would be able to without being followed, considering what she is. Rin's reasoning isn't flawed. Everyone would insist on bringing her back to the village first, and the chance that we'd get to fully explain ourselves is simply too unlikely."

"Even if you did, there's a fair chance someone would just decide to kill her or extract and re-seal the beast." Zabuza's tone was cold, but he was right. Someone like Danzo would definitely have that kind of solution. Obito rubbed at his eyes vigorously, thinking.

"So…you really don't think there's anything we can do?"

"Not in the Land of Fire. We'll just have to hope we can find someone else."

"I wouldn't bet on it," They all looked over at Zabuza. He was still sharpening his kunai, and continued speaking without looking up. "The only people out there likely to have the kind of seal knowledge you need are the same ones who probably sealed away all the other Bijuu. People loyal to their respective villages."

"People who would just kill us all anyway," Kakashi finished quietly. Zabuza looked up, pausing in his sharpening, and met Kakashi's gaze. His eyes were hard, and his message was clear. Slowly, Kakashi looked over at Rin and Obito, who were watching the two of them cautiously.

There was only one solution.

"His sword? In-"

"In a Kiri ANBU, a tracker by all appearances. His body was concealed next to two others, both felled by a third party."

"The swordsman?"

"Possibly, but they were assassinated, not cut down. Kiri's silent killing technique, we're fairly certain."

"What!? So there's a Kiri shinobi helping them?"

"Or two. There were 4 sets of footprints."

"4 distinctive sets?"

"If the 4th set was falsified, it took time we doubt they had. 3 sets were wearing shoes, the 4th was bare."

"There's too much going on that we don't know about."

"Agreed. As someone in the business of knowing things, I'm heartily uncomfortable with it all. The good news is that the dead trackers indicate that whatever else happened, they escaped Kiri's net. So no matter who helped them-even if they were just captured by a different party-is not working with Kirigakure. I've got people watching the other borders, in case they simply get taken to a different village, but we might miss them."

"I suppose we'll just have to trust Kakashi and Rin to take care of themselves. We can't risk dipping too far into Kiri. Let me know if you get anything."

"Yes, sir. Though I won't pretend I like it."

"This is a terrible plan."

"Tough shit, Obito."

"Kakashi, you're starting to sound like Zabuza."

"Thanks, Rin. That really changes things. Now would you two please hurry up?"

It was hard to decide who was in more danger with this plan. Zabuza had gotten them a few Kiri outfits-Obito's complete with shoes, which he'd put on gratefully-and Kakashi insisted they not only get used to them, but that they should transform their features as well.

"I'm not a good actor," Obito insisted. "We'll get caught."

"Ideally, it won't take all that long. You guys can stay away from cities, but you need to be able to pass yourself off as campers."

"Then why do I have to have Zabuza's headband?"

"I'm not too eager to loan it to you either, shrimp. But a skilled observer will be able to tell you're a ninja. You need to be able to pretend you're undercover. Say you're observing somebody in a nearby village. Suspect them to be a foreign ANBU."

"Not that short…"

"Obito, we've been over this," Kakashi said, sighing.

"You really can't think of a different plan?" Obito was desperate, completely lacking confidence in his ability to go undercover.

"We have been over this!" Kakashi repeated. "We need to go to Konoha to get help. Rin can't so much as enter the Land of Fire. We can't leave her alone, and I'll need Zabuza's help to sneak into the village. You two stay on the move so you don't get caught, and if all goes well, we return with either help or a destination."

"Nothing always goes well! When has anything ever actually all worked out?"

"…Shut up, Obito."

"You're just saying that because you don't have an answer!"

"Obito!" Rin pleaded, silencing him. "What choice do we have?"

Obito looked at her, frustration warring with concern on his face. "I just…"

"I'm sure you'll be able to defend me if you need to," She said sweetly. "And I'm not helpless either."

Obito turned red, stuttered out a few incoherent words, and then closed his mouth, nodding.

Zabuza leaned over to Kakashi and muttered, "Is he always that easy to manipulate?"

"If it's Rin? Yes." Zabuza snorted, but looked away when Obito turned a suspicious gaze on them.

"We should get going," Kakashi said, cutting off any further conversation. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we get back."

"Be careful." Rin was clearly anxious about the idea of sneaking into Konoha. "Even you, Kakashi…"

"We'll be fine." Kakashi reassured her. "This isn't running some op against the village. It's just asking Sensei for advice. I'm more worried about you two, to be honest."

Obito grunted in agreement, but Rin just smiled. "All we have to do is look harmless. Piece of cake."

"Wonderful, but can we get going already? This sob fest is going to make me throw up."

"That's nice," Obito said sourly, glaring at Zabuza.

"He's right, even if he's tactless," Kakashi said. "We could stand here saying goodbye for hours." Zabuza didn't waste breath on another word, turning on his heel and jumping into the trees, out of sight in seconds. Kakashi turned to follow him, but looked back, and nodded to his teammates. "Be safe."

And he was gone.

Minato sighed and slumped into a nearby chair, staring out at the oppressive fog pressing against the windows. He'd been alternating between sitting and pacing, as if the answer he was looking for would materialize if he was frustrated enough. None of it made sense. The early ANBU reports had been confused and had given them nothing but a dead end. The best sense Ibiki had been able to make of it was that someone had intervened while Kakashi and Rin were fending off some Kiri ANBU, then they had joined up with a 4th member and escaped the trackers. After that, they had promptly dropped off the face of the earth. It made no sense to them. Who had intervened? Why? Where were they now? They didn't even know why Rin had been taken in the first place-

"Sensei!" The voice was quiet, and from a safe distance away, but he reacted quite violently nonetheless, turning around sharply, sending the chair flying while a kunai seemed to appear in his hand, ready to defend himself.

"Shh!"

"Kakashi?"

"Minato? What's going on!?" Kushina had hurried into the room, stopping short when she saw Kakashi climbing in through the window.

"Would both of you keep it down?" Kakashi hissed. "I think I might've already tipped a guard off. If I get caught-"

"You snuck in!?"

"Minato," Kushina touched his shoulder, pressing a finger to her lips. She waved Kakashi over, and led them back into the bedroom, where she closed the door behind them. Turning to examine the door, she made a few basic hand signs, then pressed her palm to the wood. A seal appeared, as if written in black ink. She walked over to the window, and after a moment, repeated the process.

"Nobody should notice the seal in this fog." She said, her voice returning to normal volume.

"That was the idea," Kakashi said wearily. "But maintaining the fog is tiring, so I don't have forever."

"Who's maintaining the fog?" Minato asked, frowning. But before Kakashi could answer, he held up a hand to forestall him. "Wait, no. Start from the beginning. We know you and Rin got out of Kiri and met up with someone else, but that's about it. If you're here, where is she?"

"Rin and Obito are safe, in the Land of-"

"Obito!?" He and Kushina exclaimed together.

"You really do have some explaining to do." Kushina said, eyes wide. Kakashi nodded.

"Obito, I want to try something."

There was a loud snap as the small hatchet Obito was using cleaved another log. He stood up, leaving the hatchet embedded in the stump he'd been using as he turned to look at Rin.

"What?" He asked, wiping a hand across his sweating brow. Rin beckoned him over.

"You said you can't remember anything, right?" Obito frowned as he closed the distance between them.

"Uh…yeah. Why?"

"Well, there is a medical technique that might help with that." She gestured for him to sit, and he complied, curious. "It's not perfect, and it depends on how the memories were lost, but I thought it might be worth a try."

"Sounds like it," Obito said cheerfully, sitting with his back to her. "Why didn't we try this before?"

"Because…um…well, you see-I wasn't sure…how…to…"

"Uhhh-"

"It should be safe even if I do it wrong!" Rin hurriedly assured him, red-faced and embarrassed. "It just-it wasn't something I really had time to study, you know, with everything else going on. It was kind of…low-priority."

"Oh…well, if it can't hurt, right?"

"Um…yeah!"

"Rin?"

"Nothing! Just be quiet and face forward, ok?"

"O…k…"

Rin took a deep breath and released it quietly. It shouldn't be harmful, whether it worked or not, but it had been so long since she'd read the material on it. They'd been on their own for two weeks' now, and while they enjoyed each other's company-especially since Obito had been so miraculously returned to them-and they had the freedom to move around, they were both getting a little bit of cabin fever. They wanted to stay in the same general area while they waited, both because any tracker would expect to move farther away, and also so Kakashi and Zabuza wouldn't have to go on a huge manhunt to find them when they came back.

She rubbed her hands together. She wasn't sure what was making her so apprehensive. At first, she simply hadn't been sure how to do the procedure, but now that she was about to…maybe, it was that this was the first time she was doing something new with her Chakra since she'd gotten the Bijuu sealed inside her. After all, she hadn't really been thinking about it when she was running, or tree-climbing, or even the basic Chakra healing she'd done for Kakashi. That had all been routine, requiring no thought, but nothing bad had happened.

I'm probably just psyching myself out.

She made the few basic hand-signs, and then her hands were alight with Chakra. The sensation-or lack thereof-still astonished her. She might not have been a combat Shinobi, but she'd always had high levels of Chakra. It was important for a medical-nin, especially if they wanted to be a field-medic, to be able to heal for hours at a time, if necessary. But that didn't compare to how she felt now. The Bijuu was dangerous, but it was a source of raw Chakra, one she had access to. It was a heady feeling, as though she'd never run out of Chakra again. Was this how Kushina felt all the time?

She pressed her hands against the back of Obito's head, and focused. There was no noise except their own breathing, and the soft hum of Rin's Chakra and she slowly pushed her Chakra forward, searching-for what she did not know. Several seconds passed in silence.

And then everything happened at once.

She felt a flash of foreign Chakra, one not belonging to her or Obito, an indescribable noise that seemed to shake her whole being-a roar from the beast within her-and then-eyes. Something from within her seemed to jerk, and she was thrown back from Obito with a flash of light and a shriek of terror. Obito was thrown forward, almost landing on the lowly crackling fire, and immediately attempted to scramble back to his feet, though his balance had clearly been thrown off.

"Rin!? RIN!?"

Everything felt like it was on fire, as though her whole body was shaking, and both her and the Bijuu were in agony. She was dimly aware of the fact that she was screaming, and that hands were shaking her. She thought she could hear Obito's voice, and then became aware that she couldn't see.

It was all rather terrifying.

"I'm glad Obito's alive, but...poor Rin..." Kushina muttered, pressing a hand to her stomach. Kakashi guessed that was where her seal was.

"So Obito...what? Just...plopped out of nowhere?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Your guess is as good as ours. Maybe better. I could confirm he was the real deal, but no idea why he's alive or where he's been."

"I don't even know how we'd take a name off the memorial..." Kushina muttered, before straightening and addressing Kakashi properly. "I'd love to help-you know I would, but..."

"But you can't leave the village, let alone the Land."

Kushina nodded glumly. "For what it's worth, I'd guess that the seal is bound specifically to the village, not the entire Land." Kakashi absorbed that information, turning to Minato, a pleading look in his eye.

"There...might be one thing..." He seemed to be talking more to himself than to them.

"Sensei?" Kakashi was anxious in spite of himself.

"Actually finding him is a bit of a stretch…but…" He turned, suddenly, and skinned his thumb with the tip of his kunai. The other two let out a little cry of surprise as Minato made a series of hand signs, before placing his hand flat against the wooden floor. "Kuchiyose!"

There was a large cloud of smoke, and when it cleared, there sat-

A toad?

"Well, it's been awhile since I've been called by you, eh, Minato?"

"Nice to see you, Kousuke." The toad, evidently named Kousuke, was red and blue, with a pair of goggles hanging around his neck. It looked around the room, waving at Kakashi and Kushina.

"Wow, did I get invited to some kind of secret meeting?"

"Sort of," Minato said. "I don't suppose you'd happen to know if Jiraiya is around?"

"Uh…no. I don't."

Minato sighed. "Can you, or any of the others find out?"

Kousuke shrugged. "Well I can't. And I've never heard of anyone that can. He either summons us or has us reverse summon him. Can't do it without his call."

Minato ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated. "Well-gah! He's really useless in situations like this!"

"Minato," Kushina's tone was one of disapproval. "I'm not disagreeing with you, but this one isn't really his fault."

"If he would only stay in the village we'd just be able to go talk to him about it!" Minato was pacing again, only this time in a much smaller space. "Look, Kousuke-does someone have to have a pact with the toads to go to Mount Myoboku?"

Kousuke seemed to balk at the very idea. "What!? Why would you want someone on there who doesn't have a pact?"

"Because if Jiraiya's not available, Fukusaku and Shima are the only ones I can think that might be able to help. This is serious, Kousuke. Like, natural-disaster-level serious."

The toad frowned-as much as a toad could frown, anyway-and slowly nodded. "I suppose…send me back an' I'll ask. Don't blame me if they say no though!"

"Thank you," Minato said simply, before making a hand sign, which made Kousuke disappear in another cloud of smoke.

"Sensei, who are Fukusaku and Shima?"

Minato flopped down on the bed and looked at Kakashi over his shoulder. "Sages. Seals aren't their first area of expertise, but I'd bet they aren't ignorant on the subject either. They should at least be able to make a good attempt, or figure out what's wrong."

"But…if they can't…"

"If they can't, I'll have them reverse summon Kushina and I. Problem is still solved, even if we get yelled at later."

Kakashi's shoulders sagged with relief. "Oh…good…" They were quiet for a moment, waiting for the toad to return.

"It's quite a load off our shoulders, knowing you're all safe," Kushina said, placing a hand on Kakashi's shoulder. Minato nodded, standing back up and stretching.

"We've been trying to puzzle out what happened to you two-well, four, I suppose-for a month now. You did an excellent job at evading everybody."

"We had to. Being taken back here would've been almost as bad as being taken to Kiri," Kakashi shuddered. "If not worse."

"You made the right decision. The village elders have never been all that clear-headed when it came to dealing with the Bijuu," Kushina assured him. "Did you or Rin ever happen to find out which beast it was?"

Before Kakashi could answer, Minato abruptly threw his hands together in a sign, and Kousuke reappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Well," he said, waiting to make sure he had everyone's attention before continuing. "They said yes." Kakashi sank onto the bed, feeling some of the stress of the past few weeks fall away. They weren't out of the woods yet-but they at least knew what direction to go.

"But only," Kousuke continued, "If they take the official paths. No summoning shortcuts."

"I suppose that's fair," Minato said, crossing his arms. "We don't have everyone here right now anyway. But they will need a guide."

"I know. I got assigned, since I'm the one you called."

"Oh, uh-sorry."

Kousuke waved a hand. "Nah, it's not a problem. We don't get out of Myoboku much anyway."

"Thanks Kousuke," He turned to Kakashi. "It'll probably take upwards of 4 months, all told. Considering you'll have to go all the way back to pick up the others. And there's only a few paths possible to take to Myoboku. That actually reminds me, Kousuke-it's important to keep them as far away from the village as possible."

Kousuke, evidently out of complaints, just nodded. "It'll take even longer then."

"That's fine," Kakashi said. "All that matters is that we all make it safely."

"That'll be up to you," Kousuke said, matter-of-factly. "I am not a combat toad."

"Well," Kushina said. "I suppose we shouldn't keep you."

"Thank you both, so much," Kakashi said, standing up and looking back and forth between them, at a loss for what else he could say.

"We're not doing much," Kushina said, hugging him. "And we're more than happy to do this little. Give the others our love-and hug Obito for me?"

"No. You'll have to wait to do that yourself," Kakashi said bluntly.

Minato clapped a hand on Kakashi's shoulder as Kushina walked over to the window, releasing her seal. "I wouldn't get into the habit of saying no to her. It doesn't go well," Kakashi snorted, and Kushina turned to give them an ominous stare. "Err, as I was saying-you should be as safe as possible, heading out. I'd keep your Sharingan open until you meet back up with your friend and get a fair distance away."

Kakashi nodded, lifting up his headband and, after a moment, opening his Sharingan.

"I'm gonna miss this thing."

Minato blinked for a moment, before understanding. "Oh-right. Yeah. Hadn't thought of that. He does have an eye to give back, right?"

Kakashi nodded and walked over to the now open window, turning back for one final 'thank you', when he noticed-

"Uh…Kushina? Are you…"

"It's time for you to go, Kakashi!"

"Well, it just kind of looks like maybe you're-"

"That Sharingan's a drain on your Chakra, shouldn't stand around with it active! ~"

"Well, it just kind of looks like you're pr-"

"Leave. Now."

"Uh…well, see you guys soon! We'll bring good news!" And he was out the window, a perplexed Kousuke following him after a moment.

They watched the open window for a moment, staring into the fog, when Minato turned to his wife. "What was he saying?"

"Oh, I'm sure it wasn't saying anything important, dear."

At that, Minato frowned. "Well, it almost sounded like he was saying pr-"

"-Pretty good looking! Which I'd say I am. Now you should go pick up that chair you knocked over and we can go to bed."

"Uh…ok…"

As Minato opened the door and walked out into the kitchen, Kushina walked over to the window and closed it. "Damn you and your Sharingan Kakashi. I am not getting locked up by him any sooner than I have to."

Zabuza hadn't been thrilled about the idea that a toad was their guide of choice, but had been too tired to argue, needing to save his strength to distance themselves from the village. Neither of them was comfortable stopping until they'd put several miles past them, and even then, it was only because they were forced to. Zabuza all but fell off a tree, landing hard on the ground and only just keeping his feet under him.

"I guess that means this is our stop?" Kousuke asked.

"Here's as good as anywhere else. It's a large enough clearing, and it's plenty late."

Zabuza glared at them. "I can keep going."

Kakashi raised his hands innocently. "What? I didn't say anything about you," Zabuza growled something unintelligible before throwing his pack down, leaning over to untie the ropes holding his sleeping bag and one-man tent.

"Well, I'm gonna go get my own food," Kousuke said, turning and scanning the forest. "Ya think there's a pond or stream nearby?"

Kakashi tested the air for a moment before answering. "South by southwest. Not sure how large it is, but it's something."

"Thanks!" Without further ado, the toad hopped off in the direction Kakashi had indicated.

The young Konoha Shinobi turned around to see Zabuza fumbling with his tent. He walked over and took the tent from him, batting away his hands and rolling his eye at Zabuza's half-hearted growls.

"Just let me. It's the least I can do."

"I can-"

"Oh shut up, would you? You're exhausted, and you're exhausted because you were helping me. At least let me do this," Zabuza sighed and released the tent, sitting down and watching as Kakashi set up his tent. "It's not like anyone thinks you're just tired from traveling. You snuck me into one of the great ninja villages."

Zabuza let out a slightly wheezy laugh. "Suppose I did, huh?" Zabuza looked up at the sky, and laughed again. "Damn, I'm good."

Kakashi snorted, but was in a good enough mood to humor him. "Yeah, you are." There was a moment of stunned silence as Kakashi tied off the tent, deliberately not looking at his companion.

"…huh."

"What?"

"I guess I just figured you wouldn't admit that."

"Zabuza, you've saved Rin's life." He turned and fixed Zabuza with his gaze. "Twice, now. Go ahead and preen, just this once."

Zabuza laid flat out, staring up at a clear night sky. "Well, now it's not any fun."

Kakashi didn't dignify him with a response, just rolling out the man's bed roll and walking a fair distance away to set up his own. As he worked, he could hear Zabuza moving around, working to get in his tent. It seemed to take a great deal of effort, and Kakashi studiously made sure not to turn around, knowing Zabuza would want to hide his struggles.

"Can't believe we snuck into Konoha…" Zabuza's words were slurred with the sound of someone about to fall asleep. "Just…damn, you know? If we could get in…imagine what I could with a squad of ANBU…"

"I don't know," Kakashi said critically. "I've seen the Kiri ANBU, and I'm not impressed."

Zabuza let out another tired laugh, but didn't seem to have any energy left to talk, the only sound coming from his direction soon was deep, even breathing. His Chakra exhaustion wasn't nearly on the level's Kakashi's tended to be, and they'd probably be able to proceed as normal in the morning. He sat down in the mouth of his tent, staring out on the forest, waiting for Kousuke to return. He wasn't seriously expecting any kind of pursuit, but a watch was always a good idea if you didn't want to get caught.

He wondered, idly, how Obito and Rin were fairing. They were probably just bored. Rin would be worrying about them, and blaming herself as things she imagined up went wrong. Obito would blithely reassure her, not offering anything of substance to help the situation, but would sit nearby and pat her on the arm and tell her it was all alright, and not to worry, and a bunch of other things that wouldn't actually help but would make him, at least, feel better.

Just like old times.

So why was he sure that something had managed to go wrong?