Chapter thirteen

He hid behind a particularly large tree, steadily holding his kunai, had not yet decided on an all-out assault. Had he been farther away from home he might have done it, but now just outside Konoha's border he stopped. Causing troubles with their neighbors was a no-no. And these guys didn't look that experienced either. It was unfair, really. Below him the ones following him had caught up and were spreading out like a fan, looking for them. The branch he was standing on dipped downwards and he hadn't more than registered the way his stomach lurched before he swung around, knife in hand, ready to stick it through whoever it- Naruto. He lowered his hand and gave an order.

"Focus on disarming them."

Naruto nodded and dropped down to the ground, gleefully creating mayhem in the process. Kakashi hurried after, decided to go after the ones running off, and they were quite a few. A couple of them actually tried to fight him but he paid no mind. As it was now they were a hundred years too early to raise a weapon against him. He was gone maybe ten minutes, came back with nothing more than a few cracked ribs and some dislocated shoulders on his consciousness. In the clearing Naruto was still fighting. A few brave men opposed him, holding kunais in their shaking hands but not getting a chance to use them. Instead of engaging they were being picked off, one by one in a maelstrom of efficiency. He wondered if Naruto savored it, not rushing, but that was so unlike him.

"You're taking your sweet time," he noted, nodding at the ones who remained.

Naruto scowled at him, kicked a guy in the shin, another in the chest with a smooth flowing motion. "They...sent...backup!" He muttered, taking breaks to crack fingers and dragging out wails. With an acquired finality he head-butted the last guy who sank down, almost gratefully. Kakashi looked around at his comment, a rough estimate told him that there was maybe thirty make-shift soldiers in the clearing, all in various degrees of disarray, groaning haphazardly. He had a notion as to why they were there but wanted to make sure. He picked a guy that was lying on his back, cradling his right arm.

"Who sent you?"

The other man looked at him vehemently with a new-found rage, spurred on by his pain.

"No way in hell I'm telling you. He broke my fucking arm."

Kakashi was not impressed. Before the man could protest he nestled a foot under his arm and flung it down on the ground, earning an ear-piercing wail in return.

"Let me try that again. Who sent you?"

"Alright alright I'll tell you just stop!"

Kakashi moved his foot which had been pressing down on his arm. The man blinked a couple of tears out of his eyes, trying to redeem himself in the eyes of someone unknown.

"Tengo sent us."

"Who?"

"Tengo! That girl's dad."

He assumed he meant the one who'd been acting out at the meeting.

"Why?"

The guy just groaned and Kakashi raised his eyebrows, warning him.

"He said that you should be taught a lesson and that you should learn to keep your nose out of other people's business."

Behind him he heard another nin approaching, the chakra signature suggesting Hayama. Without looking he held up a clenched fist, meaning wait. He didn't want interruptions.

"Anything else I should know about? Are there more people coming?"

To accentuate that this was an important question he brought his foot down, just a little bit, but enough to get his point across.

"Argh! No, we're the only soldiers in the village."

And what soldiers you are.

"Thank you," he said curtly, finally leaving the man to fend for himself. He turned and walked towards Hayama.

"Where's Tekuno?"

"He's faster than I am so I sent him back to Konoha for orders." His eyes widened as he took in the ruckus between the trees.

"You did this?"

Kakashi shook his head. "This was mostly Narutos doing, actually."

He looked back at the man in question who hadn't moved, watched as Narutos gaze went from the guy with the broken arm and back to Kakashi. He met his disbelieving eyes. There was an unsettled expression on his face, he looked almost sickened and Kakashi became ashamed of himself on such a primary level that it physically ached. It didn't seem too far-fetched to assume that Naruto had never seen a real interrogation before, at least not under such brute conditions.

I only stepped on his arm a bit, he almost said before he realized how callous it would sound and he was at a loss for words. He didn't know how to redeem himself in his eyes, if it was possible at all, and he was sorry. He was sorry for showing him such a despicable side of his work, but mostly for what he'd seen of him.

I'm not a monster, he tried to tell himself. We all do this. All the shinobis did it. They went out, fought other nin and hurt them, possibly gravely. Sometimes because there was a need for it, because they had been ordered to, which meant they were justified to some extent. He wanted to tell him that the guy had gotten of lightly, that far from everyone could count themselves lucky enough that all they had was a broken arm. He wanted to tell him that he'd broken the same arm, twice even, and it was still working. But to say so would sound mocking, especially when the guy was on the ground, crying. He could try to justify it, to make Naruto stop looking at him like that, but he knew that every word he uttered would ultimately be to step away from the truth. This was the truth. He hurt people to keep his people from getting hurt in return.

He'd long since stopped trying to unite the two sides of the chasm in his mind, the problem being this- if you know it's wrong, why do you keep doing it? Maybe, if he was given a long time to think about it, he'd stop feeling upset. But it was a choice he'd made. He would rather feel bad, inherently bad, than to try and gloss over it, because there was no way to. He only kept doing it because he knew that harm might come to his loved ones otherwise, he did it so that someone else might not have to. Though in the beginning he'd had nightmares of distant screams and soldiers crying out for their mothers in their last moments, which inevitably led to Kakashi thinking of his own mother, whoever she had been. He couldn't recall hearing her voice or even seeing her face, but he had a gnawing sensation of being regarded with disgust if she was ever to find out about her son's actions. In his dreams she yelled at him, from behind closed doors as she refused to look at him, she poured out all her loathing and disappointment and when he was asleep he never knew if the voice he heard belonged to his mother or himself.

When Naruto looked at him from where he stood in the clearing he felt the same kind of disappointment come rushing over him. I know, he thought. I thought better of me too.

As they went back to Konoha Hayama questioned them about the incident. He almost seemed a little sad that he hadn't been there to see it, annoyed at missing the one and only Uzumaki Naruto wrecking havoc with nothing but his hands. Naruto was becoming a celebrity back in Konoha, the people gradually warming up to him after way too many years. It had taken twenty years for some of them to decide that he wouldn't flip and kill them all. Kakashi welcomed the change, however late it was. If it made it easier for Naruto, he was glad.

It wasn't much left on the way home when they met up with Tekuno, who had been looking for them.

"Glad to see you're unharmed," he said as a way of greeting, to which they said nothing. If they couldn't hold their ground against enemies like that they didn't deserve to be called ninja.

"You should have seen it," Hayama said. "Naruto took 'em on all by himself, like a platoon's worth of guys."

"Is that so?" Tekuno asked while keeping a close eye on Naruto who seemed less amused by the minute. He was no doubt unsettled from what he'd seen, and Kakashi once again found himself pondering what he'd done. Field interrogations were often grim, a quick and dirty version. Real, planned questionings were much less painful, instead focusing on breaking the prisoner down until he yielded. Kakashi didn't like that either. Not to say he hadn't partaken in his fair share, but if given a choice he stayed as far away from them as he could. When he'd been in ANBU training Ibiki had said that he had a talent, and the dry statement set his teeth on edge. He knew that he was heartless, he needn't go cultivating it. So he had refused his implied offer to learn from him, was more at ease out in the field where the rules were clearer and objectives remained brief. Infiltrate the village, steal their secrets, don't get caught. Easy.

They got back to Konoha not much later than what they had estimated. The first thing they did was to meet with Tsunade. It was only the most experienced jounin that had standing orders to report to the Hokage directly. Everyone else did it in form of a mission report and debriefing with an assigned officer. Of course there was a downside to the special treatment and Kakashi didn't look forward to the extensive paperwork he knew was waiting for him. At least he had a few days to get it done.

They took turns describing what had happened; investigation, meeting and then the assault. She didn't seem all that surprised by their predicament, without a doubt she knew more than they did, it would only be stupid to assume otherwise. It didn't take more than ten minutes to go through everything, as they turned to leave she asked him to stay behind. Naruto gave him a curious glance but left as well. Neither spoke until the door had been shut behind them.

"I have a mission that I think would suit your request. For now the situation is calm but you know how these things are. It's estimated duration is six months, minimum. Are you okay with that?"

He nodded solemnly, knew not to seem too eager.

"It's fine." Not like he had anything keeping him at home.

"Your job would be to establish a link between Land of Sound and ours, get a little friendly, help them out, you know the drill."

She held out the mission scroll. He reached for it but she made no attempt to give it to him. Instead she stared him down, demanding respect with those piercing eyes of hers.

"Two things. When this-" She waved with the thin scroll, "is done, I expect you to take a vacation. Four weeks minimum. This is me, telling you. No arguments."

"But-"

"You just made it five weeks."

He leaned his head back and sighed, knew he was acting childish but he wanted to work, damn it.

"You need to take it easy eventually, you know that," she said, and her tone had softened. "A worn down regiment is not good for anyone."

He still felt a little glum but knew there was no point in arguing.

"You said there were two things."

"I want your mission report on this debacle on my desk by sundown."

Why couldn't he get a few days to do it, as usual? But then a more pressing thought popped up and Kakashi glanced out the window. The sky was blue but soon the color would start to fray around the edges.

"That's... within an hour?"

"Better get to work then," she said, and he knew he was being dismissed. As he left he might have heard something along the lines of "lazy ass jounins-". But then again, he might have not.

Fifty-four hectic minutes later he dropped the report on her desk, which was devoid of a person sitting behind it. The hokage had gone home for the evening, and he was on his way to do the same when he met Iruka and was dragged into a bar.

He'd never gotten to hear what Iruka was going to say about Naruto since they'd become interrupted by someone who never knew when to quit.

"Sensei?"

Nothing happened, nothing registered.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

He looked up from his bowl of saury, directly coming across Narutos face.

"Deep in thought, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Naruto had finished his meal and he sat so peacefully on the other side of the table that Kakashi had a hard time grasping the concept of him actually leaving, all he felt in his body was a fierce encompassing longing, an unearthly desire for them to remain.

"So..." he said, and Kakashi put his bowl down in response, to listen to him. Naruto continued, "What's our plan for today?"

He didn't answer immediately, instead he sat up properly and straightened out his neck which had been crooked too. It cracked, a dry sound, and it felt like he had gravel in his joints from sitting still for so long.

"First we plan the actual heist, go over our individual roles, check with Pakkun, and if we have time I thought we'd do some training."

He didn't get a reply, but the unguarded smile was answer enough.

Kakashi cleared off the table and Naruto stood up, went to the bathroom. Kakashi watched as he strode by and shut the door upon himself.