Author's Notes: Another strange title. This chappy has less talking and more narration, so bare with me. Im setting things up for a stronger plot than I had originally planned. This chappy was less sarcatic and funny too. I tried, I guess I just wasnt in the mood for witty come backs. LOL As always, please review so I have an idea if this story is working for you or not. Hugs for all those who are reading and reviewing. Thanks so much!

Edit: Have replaced my scene breaks with the only option has given authors, page breaks. Hope it doesnt look too crazy. Thanks for reading.

It's Over and Cockroaches Die

"Hey! Kaka-sensei!"

Kakashi tensed briefly and continued walking.

At least until his path was blocked. Naruto stood in a huff mere inches away from the man he had been looking for all morning. Kakashi having avoided him as best he could without actually losing him. Which theses days wasn't as difficult as it used to be.

Naruto was ANBU after all. He wasn't the struggling loud mouth knucklehead who came blazing in at the last minute just to trip and land on his face. He was tall, like his dad Kakashi noted trying not to grin, and he was equally as talented.

The one thing he apparently didn't inherit from the late Yondaime, was his subtle ability to handle delicate situations. Where his late sensei would find a less obvious approach to Kakashi's temper tantrum, Naruto was up in his face ready to start a fight.

He exchanged a quick glance with Sasuke over Naruto's shoulder and raised the book back up to cover his face, stepping around the hyperactive shinobi, "I told you. Im not your sensei anymore Naruto. Go play with Sasuke. Or Sakura. Like a good little kyuubi brat."

Naruto reached out and spun Kakashi around by his shoulder, "Sakura is the reason I came looking for you. What the hell is wrong with you? She wouldn't tell me what you said to her because she was too busy crying!"

Slowly, Kakashi lowered the book and glanced over at the hand still clenching his shoulder, "You might want to take back that hand before you lose it." His voice was low and dangerous as his eyes flicked back up to Naruto's.

Naruto dropped his hand to his side, no longer angry, just hurt, "I don't know what happened to the man I used to look up to. But the Kakashi I know wouldn't treat his friends the way you have for nearly a year."

"Maybe Im not the man you thought I was." Kakashi countered, painfully aware of the people hesitantly watching them. The plan was working, but it was harder than he thought it would be seeing the pain in Naruto's eyes.

It had been just as hard to make the cold comments to Sakura when he had allowed her to find him two days before, helping Sasuke set up the current situation. They both knew Naruto still had a soft spot for the pink haired kunoichi.

Kakashi shifted on his feet, looking bored as he slid his book into his pouch and plastered a cocky grin on his face to add to the effect of his next statement, "I only told her the truth. Like I told Hinata not hours before. Although, I had expected Hinata to cry not Sakura." he added off handedly rubbing his chin.

Sasuke had to fight to keep the straight face. Genma nearly choked on his senbon. Yamato merely rolled his eyes. Kakashi was improvising as usual. All three men knew he was using Naruto's biggest weakness against him.

As soon as Kakashi sensed his plan wasn't having the desired effect, he automatically used his trump card. He needed Naruto to pick a fight with him. Not give him a heartfelt speech on his behavior. Kakashi grinned under his mask, daring Naruto to respond.

When he didn't, he continued to push the blonde as he turned his back to him and prepared to walk away, "You three have been nagging at me for months. Trying to get into my head. It's too bad Hinata just happened to catch me on the day I didn't feel like keeping my personal opinion to myself."

Naruto growled, pulling back his fist as he rushed the few feet, slamming it into thin air as Kakashi's hand grabbed the back of his neck and his leg came up, tripping the irrate blonde face first into the dirt, "You'll have to do better than that."

Genma appeared at Kakashi's side, "Now isn't the time to attract attention." he whispered, knowing Naruto could hear him. Kakashi started to release Naruto's neck, and nodded to his partner.

Naruto took instant advantage and elbowed Kakashi in the face, rolling with the momentum and kicking him in the side of the head, "Your not Kakashi-sensei! You arrogant, selfish, bastard!"

Kakashi's arm wrapped around Naruto's leg, the other around the back of his head, jerking him forward so they were face to face, "No. Im just the man who is sick and tired of listening to a bunch of sniveling brats complain about their lives!"

Hooking his leg around the other, Kakashi kicked it out from under the blonde only to find Naruto had used his falling weight to jerk him down as well, a foot landing in his chest as he was sent flying.

Landing on his feet, one hand on the ground, he slid back several feet. Naruto was already standing and rushing at him in frustration, "What makes you an expert on other peoples pain!?" he yelled sending several very fast kicks and hits at Kakashi's face and body, trying to land just one.

"Fuck off!" Kakashi growled grabbing Naruto's foot in mid kick, twisting around, his elbow connecting with Naruto's face and sending him crashing to the ground on his back. Genma froze, as well as Yamato. Sasuke looked confused, but hadn't missed the genuine rage in the older shinobi's voice.

Exchanging glances, the three ANBU debated on wether or not the staged fight was about to turn real, for both sides. Naruto was the only one that was suppose to lose control, not the other way around. Clearly, whatever had been making the silver haired jonin act strangely and spark rumors of his sanity was interfering.

Kakashi ignored the blood soaking his mask, even if it was hindering his ability to breath. He had let something in himself slip. Something he had been holding just beneath the surface. And he didn't like where it was taking him.

Unsettled was only a part of his problem he realized as he watched Naruto push up into a sitting position, "It's over. Im done. With everything." he stated clearly for everyone to hear and disappeared before he really did lose control and turn the fight personal on his part.

Genma followed instantly, leaving Sasuke and Yamato to complete the illusion and help get the gossip rolling with a few well placed remarks questioning Kakashi's behavior as they helped Naruto up. But neither jonin felt they had to do much. Kakashi's loss of control, his cold remarks seemed to be working for them.

Naruto jerked away, still glaring at where his ex-sensei had been only moments before. He wouldn't let the tears well up, but Sasuke could sense the pain his friend was feeling. Naruto wasn't one to give up on people, to let them slip away. He was proof of that. He knew the blonde would fight for Kakashi.

But it wasn't Naruto they were trying to convince. Sasuke looked around at the whispering people still lingering, others silent and staring in disbelief. He knew the witnesses would have the story spread to the borders of Fire Country by the end of the week.

The rest was up to Kakashi and Genma. Suspicion and doubt had to be planted like a weed for the plan to work. After the scene in the street, the two of them being seen together and strange behavior observed by other shinobi as well as villagers, all that would be left was the assassination and escape.

Shikamaru shifted within the shadow of his hiding place. He only had to confirm his suspicions now that he had witnessed a small break in the mans armor. After what he had read, or rather what he had managed to piece together from the few clues in Kakashi's file, he was sure he knew the mans motivation behind the mission.

Kakashi stuffed the last of his precious belongings into a box and sealed it with a chakra infused tag. Everything else had been given away or sold. Every cent of his savings had been pulled out of his account to make it look as if he had taken it for himself Instead, it had been placed securely into another account under a different name.

Genma had gone through the same routine. He had even stopped harassing the woman in exchange for being seen with Kakashi in shadier parts of Konoha. The two men carrying on what appeared to be private conversations.

Add in a few secret meetings with an unknown person while being followed by Konoha ANBU who weren't privy to their mission, and they had a cover that even Ryuujin couldn't ignore. And all reports of the two shinobi went straight to Tsunade who did an excellent job of playing her part.

The only piece of the puzzle left was the person they were suppose to assassinate. After much debating and arguing, they finally settled on a person who could live to tell the tale and help spread the rumors even further. A slight deviation from their original plan. But the new target could help their illusion by putting up one hell of a fight and making it look real without getting the two shinobi killed.

Gaara seemed more than happy to play the part for them and immediately arranged a cover story to visit the allied village as soon as possible. Upon his arrival he explained his interest in the mission to infiltrate and take down the so called Dragon God. Apparently Sand had been on the receiving end of Ryuujins customers. Several villages along their border had been attacked over the last three months.

And new, more dangerous weapons weren't the only things he seemed to be specializing in.

When the Kazekage described the effects of a new jutsu and several poisons which appeared to be dispersed in the air by exploding tags, the Konoha shinobi sat quietly for several minutes. With the new evidence provided to them by the Kazekage, it was clear that someone was testing these weapons and planning to start a war.

Kakashi watched the water trickle down the window pane. All the new information buzzing around his head , not allowing him to sleep. Genma sat at the table, senbons laid out in neat little rows. Several already coated with a thin layer of poison he had selected specifically for this mission.

Gaara had insisted the battle look as real as possible. Much for their sake as his own. After all, he was Kazekage. It wouldn't look good for the two shinobi, no matter how talented and experienced, to cause him unbelievable damage.

Kakashi remembered the slight smirk on the red heads face when he had made his request. He honestly believed the young man was enjoying himself and his part in the scene they were about to create. Secretly he wished he knew he would enjoy it as well. It was, after all, the break in his unsettled life he was looking for.

The reason he had suggested the mission.

But now, more was at stake than just his sanity.

What was suppose to be a difficult, be revealing and cleansing mission to eliminate a bad guy and return to Konoha feeling more like his old self, had turned into a nightmare and only added to the odd feeling he had been having for so long. Genma wasn't suppose to tag along. Weapons of mass destruction weren't suppose to be involved. And psycho warmongering baka's definitely weren't part of the Hatake therapy he had worked out for himself.

He was beginning to think he was a lost cause.

He knew the lady pushing the cleaning cart up the hall outside their little room was fighting a lost cause. No amount of cleaning would make the crappy little shit hole he was standing in any more cozy he thought stabbing a cockroach with his kunai.